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“Malachai!”

Startled, Nick turned around to find Zarelda behind hi”

“They?”

“The ones ant you dead They’ve tracked you down” She passed her hand through both him and Livia “I can’t stop them Not even she can see me Only you, Nick But you need to know They’re about to attackwith you?”

Nick glanced over his shoulder at Livia “You really can’t see her?”

“See who?”

Nick shook his head as Zarelda ran for a wall and vanished into it “Never ether”

“I don’t understand”

“I’ht?”

She nodded

“Then that’s et back to the others Now Take me to where you found ht inside theainst some inner force so that she could disobey him

Finally, she let out a frustrated sound She threw her head back, wrinkled her nose, and sto had just happened “Fine” It came out like an insult the way she said it

But before she could ood on his order, another flash blinded him to the point he saw stars from it He held his hand up to shield his eyes fro out, followed by a blast that exploded so close to Nick, he could feel the heat of it

Livia returned the attack with a blast of her own “Xevikan! Down!”

“I’, Livia Mind your place”

It took Nick a second to understand the creature’s words through his thick, heavy accent Man, it made Kyrian’s and Talon’s sound mild by coination

Dressed in black pants and a long leather coat of an archaic style with a hood that concealed his features coous Until he stepped closer to Livia and Nick realized he was probably only an inch or two taller than Nick was in his noruy had an aura about hirace He definitely had a high body count on so other than Castlevania

For that uy’s heavy combat boots were probably laced with soid fro She raked hirand entrance “Oh little boy, do I have to school you on your manners? I know you were thrown out by your mother just minutes after she spawned you, but trust me, I hold even less love of you than she did”

He stepped closer to her as if trying to intier frame And he did dwarf her Even so, she didn’t flinch or back off a bit

“Why do you protect so so weak and ineffectual, Liv? The only place this one can lead us is straight into defeat”

Laughing, she stepped back and held her hand out toward Nick “Fine If you really believe that, take hiaped at the way she just casually threw hihtmare creature this was “Excuse me? I’m not pour chien here, cher”

Livia didn’t comment as she stepped back, out of the line of fire

Great He really was dog food With no place to run, Nick braced hirowl came out frohtning sizzled over the creature’s entire body It intensified and danced around hiuished fury The hood fell down against his shoulders, exposing his perfect features

Nick held his arainst whatever attack he planned to unleash Suddenly, the lightning stopped For a full

Then slowly, the man lowered his arms and raised his head He curled his lip “Damn He really is the Malachai”

Coht show, Nick arched his brow as a pair of searing hazel eyes est he’d ever seen Like a kaleidoscope of reddish earth browns and greens The color reminded him of rust nestled in su about hiuy not only wrote the book on weird, he printed and owned every copy Unlike virtually every guy on the planet, his hair wasn’t a single color

It was three

He parted it on the left side of his head The bulk and longest strands of his hair that fell from the part were a very vivid and unnatural dyed bloodred Froht unnatural yellow—like ani said, his peekaboo roots, and strands that were laced through in places, were jet black—which had to be his real hair color Cut short in back and longer in the front so that the red draped over his right eye, his hairstyle gave the i at Well, that, and the intense hatred that came from the visible left eye Yet the oddest part of all was his dyed, arctic blue eyebrows