CHAPTER ELEVEN
At dusk, Xypher paced the small condo, wondering if he was making a mistake by staying with Simone. For all he knew, his presence here was an even greater threat to her than leading would be.
He felt the air stilling an instant before Jaden appeared. His unholy eyes were a particularly vibrant shade of green and brown.
"You have it." It was a statement of fact, as if he could sense the amulet.
Xypher pulled it out of his pocket and held it in his hand. No larger than the size of a quarter, it looked like a piece of green turquoise with delicate silver scrollwork around it. It seemed so harmless. It was hard to imagine this object bringing down a god, but then, salt was a completely innocuous substance while being power fill enough to ward off an army of demons. "I have it."
Jaden extended one hand and waited. Xypher dropped the amulet into his palm.
Taking a deep breath, Jaden closed his hand and held it reverently. When he opened his eyes, they were bloodred, "Thank you."
The gold bracelet fell open and hit the floor at Xypher's feet. "How did you do that?"
He scoffed. "As if I'd explain the source of my powers to you, demon. Merely be grateful that you have fulfilled your part of the bargain."
Xypher could feel his powers growing with each word Jaden spoke. This was what he needed. What he had to have.
Leaning his head back, Xypher laughed. For the first time in centuries, he felt like the god he was. And with those powers came sudden clarity.
"You knew about Simone's parentage ..."
Jaden shrugged. "Of course I did. Who do you think her father bargained with for her protection? I took his soul in exchange for binding her powers from her and the rest of the world."
A shiver went down his spine. "You betrayed him by allowing her to be converted."
Red licked the hides of Jaden's eyes as he glared at him. "I betrayed nothing. She exposed herself. By being bitten, she undid her father's bargain. I told her father at the time the drawbacks of my shield. He never thought she'd come into contact with other demons."
Poor bastard. He should have known his daughter would find mischief.
Then again, had it not been for Xypher, her secret would have been safe forever. He had no one to blame for her current situation except himself and he hated himself for his part in her conversion.
"What of her mother?" he asked Jaden. "Was she a demon, too?"
"She was human."
That baffled him. Humans and demons seldom ever interacted in anything other than a combative situation that almost always resulted in the death of the human. "How did they end up together?"
Jaden placed the amulet in his pocket, "Simone's mother was an unfortunate mistake. Palackas, Simone's father, was a bound demon who stumbled across her one night while he was carrying out an order for his master. One thing led to another ... He inserted part A into slot B, and he fell in love with her, but as to be expected, his master refused to release him. Rather than come to me, he ran for freedom to be with her. His master called out the hounds to hunt him down, and either return him or kill him. They hunted him for years until they found his scent here in New Orleans, Because Simone's mother and brother held the scent of the father, they found them and killed them instead of him by accident."
"Why did Simone live?"
"Unlike her brother who inherited all of his mother's humanity, she had her father's demon genes in her. Enough that her blood held its own unique scent apart from her father's. The Skili weren't authorized to slay anyone except her father and so she was spared."
"But they killed her mother and brother."
Jaden snorted. "Have you ever met a Skili? Just because they look human doesn't mean they have a brain. They're dogs. All they smell is blood and genetics. They thought the two of them were her father. Palackas's master was pleased since he thought their deaths would bring Palackas home again."
But it hadn't. The poor man must have been lost after their deaths and stricken not only with grief but guilt. And fear that his daughter would soon join his wife and son.
The Skili were an elite tracking force that was sent out to destroy any demon who violated their laws. Part human, part bloodhound, they had no will of their own. All they did was track and kill. If Palackas hadn't known why Simone had escaped, he'd have been terrified of the Skili finding her next.
"Did her father know why they didn't kill her?"
"He didn't ask."
"You mean you didn't tell him."
Jaden shrugged nonchalantly. "He summoned me for a bargain. Who am I to dissuade a demon when he offers me his soul?" He gave Xypher a pointed look.
Xypher cursed as he remembered the bargain he, himself, had made with the demon lord.
"My father killed himself."
Xypher turned at the sound of Simone's quiet voice. She stood in the doorway behind him, holding on to it with a grip so tight he could see her knuckles turning white. Her wan face worried him.
Jaden took no mercy on her. "He killed himself to protect you, child, and to appease his master. Even if he'd gone back to his master at that point, his master would have ordered his execution. He'd been gone too long from his bindings. Plus there was still the matter of you to worry over. The last thing your father wanted was for you to be captured and turned into a slave, too. So he took his fate into his own hands and used his life force to seal our bargain."
"You bastard!" Simone ran at him.
Xypher caught her to his side and held her in place. "Don't, Simone."
"He let my father die!"
Xypher could feel the anguish of her cry, but it changed nothing. "You can't attack him, Simone. He'll kill you."
One comer of Jaden's mouth quirked up. "And I'll enjoy every minute of your dying."
She lunged again. "You're a monster."
"I can be. But I prefer the term . . . 'broker.' "
Growling, she fought against Xypher's hold. "Get out!"