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"How so?"
Aave him an arch stare "I’o there, and let’s leave it at that There are so to purge it"
"Yeah, but if you know me, then you know--"
"Nick!"
Gah, he hated that exasperated tone adults used
Fine Whatever He wouldn’t press the issue There were plenty more questions he had And he dreaded the next one, but he had to know "And within cohtet better, not worse
"It’s different this tis are the same and others…"
"Name some," Nick prodded when he didn’t continue
A before Nick’s stoop "You already know about the Dark-Hunters and Squires I didn’t find out about theh school You inal past, I met her just before I became a Dark-Hunter"
Nick sucked his breath in at that unexpected bomb "I become a Dark-Hunter like Kyrian?"
Ah his mind Dark-Hunters were immortal warriors who protected mankind from the preternatural evil that preyed on them While each DH ca that united the horrific had happened to theoddess Arteainst the one who hurt them
Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to knoould happen to hi, especially if he couldn’t see it coht you ed It played out for you, the same way it played out for me and the others For some reason that is lynchpin event and it never alters It’s what happens after that, that goes in varying directions"
Nick let that rattle around in his head What would be worse than being shot by a friend? I e on Alan and Tyree for that, but not so et it
So most likely, he wasn’t the one who died Who else would be in his life in just a few years that he’d care that much about them?
Girlfriend?
Wife? Would he be married by then?
Possible, he supposed His wife’s betrayal hat had made Kyrian a Dark-Hunter Talon became a Dark-Hunter after his wife died and his sister was killed
Who do I lose?
Not wanting to think about that right now, he returned to quizzing Ambrose "What else is different?"
"You’ve already e of his lips that made Nick wonder what caused it "I didn’tfor Kyrian But the change that concerns us most is that my father died when I was ten"
Nick frowned "My dad’s still in prison And alive as far as I’ve been told"
"Yeah This is the first time that’s happened Damned if I knohy He should be dead by now Because he’s not, it’s allowing enemies to find you sooner than they should be able to"
Nick definitely didn’t like the sound of that "What do you mean?"
"What Itheir powers here in New Orleans--you and our father--and there should only be one in existence at a time Once a new Malachai is born and reaches puberty, the other dies--usually violently so--"
"Are you telling row up and kill me?"
A cruel smile twisted A Russian roulette If they don’t inherit your powers, the human part can’t handle your Malachai demon blood and they die before they’re ten The one who reaches ten and lives … that’s the one ill replace you"
That explained so much about his father’s attitude toward hi I’ll die around their tenth birthday?"
Ambrose sarcastically touched his nose to let Nick know that he was correct "That’s the way it’s alorked in the past One of the beautiful things about us … Until we use our powers, we are invisible to alods and preternatural creatures If they try to see our future, they see one that looks hue They have no way of knoho and e are until we evolve and flex our powers But the one thing that has always held true--there can only be one Malachai deain ods Both sides were required to put their soldiers down"
Nick grimaced at what he was sure was a euphemism "You mean kill them?"
Ambrose nodded "But the commander of each side was spared One Malachai One Sephiroth They exist in balance and so long as the truce holds, there can be no ed?"
"No idea With our luck, by co to the past as a Malachai, I screwed the pooch to the point it’ll never walk again It’s the only thing I can think of But since you didn’t have powers yet, I didn’t think it would be a proble is out of synch here, and no one knohat it is All we know for sure is that your power is concentrated with Adarian’s So long as your father lives, there’s a cos"