Ren exchanged a bemused frown with Kateri. "Why would she ask that of you?"
A wry, evil smile curled his lips. "I am a messenger, after all. It's what I was created to do."
The way he said that shivers over her. And in that moment, she flashed to Nick's real form. His skin should be black and red, with glowing eyes and gold armor. In his true body, he was a winged demon. One of the highest level. He was evil in its purest, rawest form.
And she didn't trust him even the slightest bit.
Ash shifted his weight to one foot and assumed a total power stance that said, boy, don't make me kick your ass all the way to the state line. 'Cause I will. And no, you won't enjoy it. "You still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here? And to stop the semantics game ... what missions or message did Artie put you on?"
"I'm to protect Artemis's blood and make sure the gates stay sealed tonight."
Acheron appeared stunned by those words. "Really?" His tone dripped with sarcasm. "I would think you'd have a vested interest in seeing them opened."
Nick snorted. "You don't know me as well as you think you do."
Acheron swept his gaze over them. "Guys? Will you give us the room, please?"
One by one, they filed out.
Ash didn't speak until he was alone with Nick and he was sure none of the others could hear their discussion. "Cut the shit, boy. I know what you want, and why you want it, and you can't have it."
Nick rolled his eyes. "I'm tired of fighting with you, Ash. I know what you think of me and I really don't care. But let me tell you a few things you don't know about me, Lord Omniscient to most. You've asked why I'm with Artemis. It's the one place I can go where Stryker can't see through my eyes. Well ... he could see, if he wanted, but since the sight of his aunt sickens him, he withdraws from me the minute I enter her temple. And I finally have a modicum of peace."
Damn. Nick did have it bad if dealing with Artemis's tantrums and moods was his idea of serenity. Ash almost felt bad for the Cajun. "There are ways of blocking him."
"No, there's not. Not the way your mother has him trained. Thanks for that, by the way. You could have slaughtered Stryker and you passed."
Ash shrugged. "I could have slaughtered you, too."
"Can't tell you how much I appreciate that kindness."
Ash took a step toward him. "Nick-"
"Don't Nick me. You have no right. You brought back Amanda and Kyrian. You left my mother dead."
Ash winced at a truth that burned him as much as it burned Nick. "I know. But I couldn't bring her back, Nick. Not really."
"Because she didn't want to be here anymore. I know. She was sick of her God-awful life and happy to be dead. You felt sorry for her and so you left her dead to keep her from suffering. Thanks for the consideration. I deeply appreciate it, cher."
Ash heard the anguish underneath those words and it scorched him. At one time, he and Nick had been best friends.
No, they'd been closer than that. He considered Nick his brother, and he hated to see Nick in this much pain. "Your mother loved you. You were her life."
"Apparently not. But I've accepted that."
"Then why do you want the time stone?"
Faster than Ash could react, which said a lot about Nick's skills, Nick grabbed him into a headlock.
Ash started to fight until he realized what Nick was doing. While Ash could see into the future, he could never see the lives of anyone who'd become close to him.
But Nick was able to use his powers to show him what Nick was going to become.
And it was terrifying. Through Nick's eyes, Ash saw Nick's true demon form and the army he led against the world. Gone was the fun-loving boy who used to tease Ash. The one who had wormed his stupid way into Ash's heart, and taught him a lot about human life and normality. Damn, how he missed their friendship.
"My mother is the only thing that kept me human, Acheron," Nick growled into his ear while he continued to share his bloody and brutal destiny with him. "Every single day I live without her, I lose more of my humanity. There's nothing that anchors me now. Do you understand?" He released him.
Ash struggled to breathe as the images began fading. "I thought you hated me."
"I hate every fucking body. Don't you understand? I can't help it. Welcome to the club. Now let's light the sign that we're open for business." He raked a sneer over Ash's body. "Newsflash, Atlantean-you're really nothing special to me. Hatred is who and what I am now. It rules me entirely. Menyara has tried everything, as has Artemis. Nothing works. Without an anchor, I can't stop the metamorphosis." He gestured toward the door the others had left by. "You're afraid of the gates? I pick my teeth with the bones of better evil than anything those gates guard. When I become the Malachai, there is nothing that can stop me."
"The Sephiroth."
Nick shook his head. "I've seen me kill him. Jared is weakened by his past and guilt, and by the weight of a conscience I am losing day by day. When I no longer have mine and he still has his?" He shrugged. "You don't want to know how easy he dies. Remember, he's like my mother. He wants to die. He's long done with this world and everything on it. He even tried to kill me so that he'd be released."
Ash swallowed as he remembered the past. Nick was right. Jared wouldn't put up a fight, and without that ...
Nick would destroy everything.
While Ash was considered a final fate god, he wasn't the only one. Almost all pantheons had at least one god of fate. They all basically balanced each other out. But Nick wasn't a god. While Nick's predecessors had been created from the same primal source of power that fueled the gods, Nick's species had been created as a servant for Ash's mother.
To end the world.
Ash was the only person who walked among humanity who knew the real origins and role of Nick's demonic race. Back before time itself, there had been six gods who sprang from the primal source. Three who clung to good and three who craved evil. Three gods of creation and three of utter destruction.
After they'd fought the Primus Bellum that almost destroyed the earth and all humanity, those gods had slept for a long time. Until Nick's premature ascension to his Malachai powers. Then two of the dark ones had awakened. Noir and Azura.
They were scouring the earth in search of their missing half-sister, Braith, while never knowing that Braith sat imprisoned in the Atlantean hell realm. That she had given birth to a son ...
"I can help you, Nick."
"Yeah ... then bring my mother back."
To those who didn't know better, that sounded like a whiny child. But that wasn't what Nick was saying and Ash knew it. Nick was a creature of destruction. While his powers were virtually infinite, they were not without some limitation.
The Malachai-the nuclear bomb for evil-was a tool of annihilation. He couldn't create or restore life. He could only take it.
Nick couldn't walk through time, not without a tool such as the time stone. Nor could he identify a god until he was either sent to kill it or it revealed itself to him. Nick could tell it was paranormal, but not what degree. However, once identified as a god, Nick had all the power he needed to kill it and take its powers.
And Artemis had sent Nick in to guard the Ixkib....
He would laugh if it wasn't so typical of her. How could the twin sister of Apollo-a god of prophecy-suck so badly at seeing the future?
"I can't get your mother back now, but if you can trust me again..."
Nick let out a sinister, bone-chilling laugh. "Trust? My father trusted and what did it get him?"
Ash shook his head. "Trust had nothing to do with it. Your father died because he sired another Malachai. Had you not been born, he would still live."
"I still won't trust you."
"Fine, just stop trying to kill me."
Nick sighed, and for a second, he was again the smart-mouthed Cajun kid Ash had welcomed as a friend. "I can't promise that either, boy ... have you not been listening to me? I'm speaking English here. I can't stop my true nature. It's like asking the moon not to rise or the ocean to quit making waves." He spat each word out separately. "My nature is death. You're alive. That sheer fact, regardless of any other, makes me want to kick your ass and kill you. This is why I need help, and I can't go to a therapist. I just might eat them and I don't like the taste of human...." Ash didn't even want to know how Nick knew he didn't like the taste of human. "At least Artemis has a fighting chance if I go bad on her."
"We will get through this."
"You better be right, Ash. 'Cause if you're not..."
Ash's mother would finally win and the world of man would lose everything.