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Game over
A tear slid froainst claimed him for the final round
CHAPTER 19
Nick felt hi down another abyss And with each second that passed, his stomach cramped more After all his best efforts, he was headed south instead of up to the Pearly Gates It figured
Man, would his ed hiotten hi muscles
But then he hadn’t lived the most perfect of lives And he only had hiht him here The saints knew, his ht and narrow As the old saying went, there was a reason why there was only a single stairway to heaven, but an entire highway to hell
Finally, he stopped his free fall For once, he didn’t sla that didn’t jar him at all Well, at least hell wasn’t as hot as they’d told hie, he opened his eyes to face the devil on his own turf
Nick scowled as he stared up into a fa, Satan, you look a lot like a demon friend of mine Are you related to Caleb Malphas?”
“Siain Preferably somewhere that’ll count”
Simi tsked as she moved to stare down at Nick, too, and rub his cheek in a motherly fashion “You don’t want to do that, Akri-Caleb You gots a big enough mess to clean up already Why you want to add lanced around the room He was flat on his back, in Caleb’s house “I’m not dead?”
Xevikan shook his head and ust “This is our Malachai?” He scowled at Livia “Please, gods, someone tell me this is some kind of sick joke”
“Not a joke” Caleb offered Nick his hand “C’et you up and over to holy ground to coain”
“What ritual?”
Xevikan lifted his hood and concealed his face “Putting us back in our boxes”
Taking Caleb’s hand, Nick allowed the demon to pull hiot the cheat code to catch me up?”
Caleb rubbed at his bruised jaw “It wasn’t until Arabbed your body that it dawned on n soul would leave this realm, and with your essence here, it would naturally return to its vessel… And so it did”
Sirinned “When it did, Akri-Caleb healed your body”
Heck of a gamble the demon had taken with his life “You had no doubt it would work?”
Caleb looked about nervously “No … none whatsoever” Yeah, that robotic tone called hied nonchalantly “Only an idiot tells a Malachai a truth he doesn’t want to hear”
“Yes, but I could learn to love that idiot”
“Sure you could” Caleb narrowed those dark eyes on hiht?”
Nick cocked his head as he took a ht he was used to Yeah, he e point He’d even take the scar above his eyebrow and those despised “cute” dih he was a little dizzy, it wasn’t so bad
But there was one thing he definitely wanted to check on
Holding his hand up, he manifested a fireball in his hand “Oh yeah Missed you, baby” He clenched his fist and extinguished the flarinned “Where’sher at Bubba’s store”
Caleb’s words stunned him While his mom loved him and Menyara, she was no fan of Bubba or Mark “She’s okay with that?”
“Not really Told she attempted to claw out Mark’s eyes when heto explain to her why she couldn’t see you in theTropical Storm Lacy”
“Beautonius” Nick frowned as he took in the blood covering his defenders Each one of therateful for their loyalty Heaven knew, they didn’t have to “Do we need to get y’all to Sanctuary for Carson to look at and patch up?”
“What do you care?” Xevikan snarled from the bowels of his hood
Caleb stepped between theainst the cut she had across her stolanced at Xevikan “We always do”
Nick inclined his head to her “Thank y’all, by the way You didn’t have to help”
Xevikan scoffed “Of course we did It’s e do Bleed for the Malachai”
Nick looked at Caleb for an explanation “I thought the ušuallu were crazed killers ould tear the world apart without s, Nick” Caleb glanced at them in turn “They require a firm hand on their leashes, otherwise they have a nasty tendency to turn on their masters It’s why the Malachai keeps them contained”
“Yeah, but that’s not what they’ve shown me They’ve been really decent … to all of us Heroes, even”
Livia arched her brows as Xevikan lowered his hood to stare at hi intensity
Caleb shook his head “No, Nick, don’t even think what I know you’re thinking Trust ed”
“Careful, daeve,” Zavid said in a low tone “You’re treading dangerous ground”
Caleb ignored hiot history with Xevikan You cannot trust him At all He will betray you It’s why he’s marked and cursed”
Xevikan had no reaction to those words at all It was as if he expected nothing else
NickAcheron and Kody have taught me There’s always two sides to every story What’s your version?”
Only then did he look at Caleb So odd and painful passed between theiven a fate and punishe radiated in that thick accent
Nick didn’t knohat their history was, but he couldn’t punish someone who’d bled for him Someone who hadn’t hesitated to defend them all
Even Caleb, who seemed to hate him Surely Xevikan couldn’t be that bad? Or else he’d have stayed out of the fight and let the Arelim have them