Out Of The Darkness (14 page)

And he couldn
’t stand the damned demon who was hosting this little talk. The male Kindara had replaced his brother with was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch and Nalik wanted nothing more than to knock him through the floor. Only the fact that his sister-in-law seemed even moderately happy with the demon kept Nalik from simply ridding the worlds of Rathan Malickus, and being done with it.

He had to admit the demon adored Iavius
’s widow. And the more he watched Kindara as she sat at the demon’s side and rocked the demon’s heir, the more apparent it became that she
was
happy with her new life. She wasn’t the exuberant, full-speed-ahead, wild child she had once been with his brother, but there was a calm contentment about her that he knew
hadn’t
been there in the thirty years since his brother was murdered.

The rest of the party to the talks included that damned fool cousin of his Aodhan, Cormac—who glared at the damned demon most of the time, Theo, Aodhan
’s fiery-haired mate—who glared at Nalik with the green eyes that all female Tanisses seemed to possess, as if
he
were at fault for her cousin’s ordeal, Aureliana and a big blue demon Nal had seen a few times, and some others that he didn’t recognize.

Jushua sat at Nalik
’s left, a position of high authority in these types of talks.

Nalik wasn
’t completely sure why they were even having this discussion now. “Is this necessary? Some of us have had a nasty couple of days and wouldn’t mind a break.”

A lie; he felt as fine as he had before he and his female had been dragged to the other world.

The demon smirked at him. Nalik wanted to hit him, and he sensed the other male knew that. Why? Did the damned demon feel that threatened?

“We have war to speak of, and it threatens every world.” Aodhan, always ready for a war.

Stupid of him, when he had a beautiful female that would wait for him. Or try to fight beside him. Did Aodhan not see that, see the very risk he was so eager to take?

“War comes. War threatens. War and death and those who would deal in those, they come. They always come; there is little we can do to prevent it.” Nalik didn
’t know where the words came from. His hand, like his cousin’s, also rested on the hilt of his sword. Like it had for centuries. Only now it was more burden than anything. “I say we should seek not to provoke, but to protect those that need it. The females, the children, the helpless and old. Do they not need our swords more than we need to travel between worlds to find the battles we are best served by avoiding?”

Aodhan glared. “You
’ve grown soft in recent years, cousin. Do you say we should sit and
wait
to have our families threatened? That is not our way.”

“It wasn
’t. But maybe it should be.” Nalik stood, paced around the large war room. Swords, axes, bows, all decorated the walls. He ran his fingers over the spikes on a mace. “What good have we been served by sending our best warriors
to
the battles in the past? How many have we lost? Aodhan, how many of your own cousins’ blood have saturated Gaian ground? And for what? Our numbers still dwindle, we are now displaced from our home—be it temporarily while the fires burn or what—we are still displaced. Our brothers gone—Cormac, what of your own brother?—I held him in my arms as long as I could until his life was gone. Would you risk someone else’s brothers to the same fate? And for
what
?”

The room was silent for a moment, and then Theo stood. “Nalik is right. War will come, whether we are home to defend. Or whether we go out and seek it.”

“And what of the women themselves?” Kindara asked, her babe clutched tightly to her chest. “We will not sit by and watch the rest of you
die
because you think we cannot defend ourselves. Nor will we let our children suffer.”

“Pet…”

“Don’t start, Rathan. You know very well I will fight to defend my children, and my grandchildren, my people. And I don’t think there is a woman among us who wouldn’t. And we have strengths you have all missed in your quest to do these battles so quickly. And we have just as much at stake as you idiot males.”

A diplomat Kindara would definitely
not
be. Nalik felt a rare smile stretch across his lips.

Kindara was the last bit of his family he gave even two damns for. He wondered if she knew that.

“But you should not
need
to fight.” Ren, the big warrior bastard Aureliana had claimed as mate stated. Aureliana had said very little, and that surprised Nalik. He greatly respected the woman, as both a person
and
a warrior.

Although he wasn
’t quite sure exactly what it was
she
was now.

Jushua sat eyeing her as well, as if the older male sensed something about her that concerned him.

As if she knew what he was thinking—and Nalik wasn’t so certain she
didn’t—
Aureliana stood.

A sense of power seemed to surround her, and it had the rest of the room growing quiet. Nalik
’s breath caught when she looked straight at him.

He had fought with her by his side for centuries, had loved her as family for just as long. A rush of emotion hit him and he realized that maybe
Kindara
wasn’t the only woman he was connected to hit him.

Aureliana was his first cousin; how had he forgotten that? In his anger at the brother who had raised her, had he overlooked her? That had been wrong of him; he would have to make amends somehow.

“Nalik is correct. But so is Ren, but he is also
wrong.
He will not like hearing that, but it is the truth. The women do not need to fight. But neither should the men have to.
No one
should be forced to defend their world. But a threat is coming. We can all sense it, and some of us are plagued by it at night. We will
all
be called on at some point to defend our homes and our families. We cannot deny or hide from that. But seeking the battle
now
is not what we should do. There is just
more
that needs to happen in the coming months, to better prepare
all
of us.”

Why did it suddenly sound like someone else was inside Auri? Like a thousand voices blending in to one? Soothing, yet at the same time frightening?

Was she a Laquazzean? He’d heard rumors that she was, but no one had confirmed it in his hearing. He’d heard of what had happened to her and the big warrior a few months back. But he hadn’t paid much attention.

Now he wished he had.

“You know something we don’t, cousin?”             

Aureliana smiled, a mysterious smile that he knew was
not
the Aureliana he remembered. “Many things, Nal. But this isn’t something I
know,
but something I feel.”

“Pardon me, but basing the decisions for my people on something you feel is not a strong enough reason for me. Yet my people number but a fraction of
yours.” Jushua said. “I need something more tangible to take back to my warriors.”

“How secure are your people?” Rathan asked. “We have many tribes and Kinds relocating to here and Levia for now. To better secure their defenseless.”

“We are tied to Euschao now, but our true home is Evelanedea. We have fought these five thousand years to regain control of it. So many of my Kind are still enslaved there. We rescue so many refugees each year and resettle them in Euschao. I have few men capable of defending too many such settlements. I do not want our new world threatened.”

“But it will be,” Aureliana said. “Every world will be, I am afraid.”

“How do I keep them safe? They depend upon me, yet my strengths have always been battle not defense, nor magic spells to surround my people.” Jushua’s pain was easy for Nalik to hear. To understand.

“How many people do you have? You could bring them all here for the next little while. Until the war has ended.” Rathan offered, surprising Nalik. What
kind of demon had ever offered to
help
others? Rathan’s brother was nodding. “We have room in Thrun. After the death of the Rhacshas demons a few months ago, it left their settlements empty. They are not the best, but they are permanent structures that could be repaired.”

“I have four hundred thousand people, spread over a full continent. I do not know how many would be willing to relocate. For those who do not, I must provide protection.”

“The Rhacshas cities will hold around half of that,” the King of demons said. “There are also several areas of Levia, I believe that would hold the rest. Provided the remainder of your people would be willing to relocate for the time being. Ren, would you and your
gamata
be willing to travel to Levia this night, to discuss it with the Wolf god and the girl goddess?”

It was Aureliana who spoke. “Certainly. I wish to speak with Jierra about Ethan and
Elias, anyway. And inform Rydere that Nalik and Cass have been found safe.”

Kindara
’s adopted daughter Jierra lived in the world of the god and goddess, with her
Rajni
, the oldest grandson of that bastard Taniss. Nalik had deliberately avoided the young male who greatly resembled his grandsire.

He couldn
’t guarantee he wouldn’t rip the male into a thousand bloody pieces, simply for his resemblance to Taniss.

He pushed that thought away; it wasn
’t easy—but the idea of harming his
Rajni
’s cousin, whom he knew she loved a great deal, made it a bit easier. Not much. But some.

“I will need to confer with my top men, and my mother. She represents all of the women and children of our people.” Jushua was hesitant, skeptical, and Nalik understood it as well.

This was not what the other man had intended when he’d accompanied them to Relaklonos. Relaklonos was the only other realm connected to Euschao that Nalik had known. It was the only choice of portkeys he could have made in Jushua’s world.

Though he was highly uncomfortable in this realm—he
’d hunted in it too many times to be fully unaware of what could happen here—he was happy to have gotten his
Rajni
here safely.

She had plenty of family here to keep her happy. And if she chose to stay in this layer, he could make do, as well.

He hoped she would get used to having a shadow for the rest of her days in the demon world. In any world, for that matter.

It wasn
’t someone else’s
place
to protect her. And it was time that all knew that.

He was not leaving her vulnerable again.

And the best way to protect her from the monsters of these worlds—monsters far worse than him—was to claim her.

He
’d have his
Rajni
, and soon.

Chapter 29

Cass slept for what had to be twelve hours straight, and only woke when someone knocked close to ten the next morning.

She answered the door, still groggy and feeling a little sick.

It shocked her to see Nalik standing there. He was clean and dressed in clothes similar to the kind she
’d seen Rathan wearing the day before. What was he doing at her room? She’d thought for sure that now that she was safely delivered to her family he’d start avoiding her completely again. “Uh…hi.”

“Good morning.” The words sounded so strange coming from him. He had been abrupt and almost rude since the moment they had met, after all. What did the man want? He had to want something. She wasn
’t that naïve. “I’ve come to fetch you downstairs for breakfast.”

“What time is it here? Does time work the same here?” She
’d have to find a way to get used to that, wouldn’t she?

“It
’s a bit slower than you are accustomed to. Relaklonos is one of the outer layers. So it takes it a bit longer to pass time than Euschao or Evelanedea, which are both in the inner area of the world.”

She understood. Maybe. The inner layers of an onion were smaller than the outer, after all. “And where is Colorado?”

“Gaia is stuck right smack in the middle of the eighteen layers. Not quite as important as most of the humans think it is. There are supposedly a few layers that are far more advanced than Gaia could ever hope to be. Though I’ve never found them.”

“You
’ve been to seven?”

“Eight now.”

She found the idea fascinating—if confusing—and would definitely be asking more questions when she got an opportunity. Right now she was trying ignore the fact that she was standing in front of Nalik wearing only a long t-shirt she’d borrowed from Mallory, and thick socks.

She didn
’t even have on underwear, for goodness sake! “I need to get dressed.”

Brush her hair, wash her face, brush her teeth. Put something over her body before he realized that she was practically naked in front of him.