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That was the last category Xevikan had expected “Your girl is a ghost?”

“Yeah, I know My life is really messed up And so are most of the people in it But I don’t mind” Nick sed hard “I wouldn’t have made it back here without Kody, and I can’t leave her there alone I owe her too much to just walk ahile she needs me”

“I see”

Nick headed for the hallway, then paused as he realized Xevikan wasn’t following after hiht?”

“Yeah, sure We’ll be in the kitchen Don’t wait too long or I ht scarf up all the jambalaya No one makes a better batch than my mom”

Xevikan waited until he was alone before he shut the door As he turned, he caught sight of himself in the dresser mirror and winced No wonder Mrs Gautier had reacted to him the way she had He was hideous like this His fanity

If only they’d listened But no, they’d been too angry to hear anything more than their own condemnation He’d been used and then throay as if he was nothing more than useless, unwanted rubbish

Nick and his mother, alone, had treated hiiven hinity He wasn’t sure how much of his poere left His family had stripped the majority of them from him when they cast him out And the Malachai who’d enslaved him had taken his own toll on theht be able to repay Nick’s kindness

Closing his eyes, he mustered as much as he could and allowed his conscious spirit to leave his body and traverse through realms he used to travel effortlessly

It took several otten how dizzying it could be How disconcerting

“Kody!” he ht spirit

“I’m Kody You are?”

He turned toward the demon and shook his head “You’re not the one I seek”

“But I could be”

Shaking his head at her offer, he drifted away fro It seemed to take forever as he retraced Nick’s path to the other side

He was just about to give up when so in pain, he turned toward his attacker, ready to battle Until he saw the s at him Instantly, he reirlfriend, and it allthis world!” She rushed hi to take over”

“Don’t lie to me You’re the Šarru-Dara! I can smell it on you”

“And you are Nick’s Kody”

She retreated a step “How do you know that?”

“I’ve coreen eyes “You can’t do that I can’t go back there Ever”

“Yes, you can I have the power to restore you”

“As what? Your blood slave? Forget it!”

He laughed at her assuhost You have no true blood hich to feed me”

“Oh There is that” She screwed her face up as she continued to watch him warily “Then how can you take od can do that”

He forced himself not to react to her words “I can do it, too” He held his hand out to her “Trust me, Kody”

“Why should I trust the Šarru-Dara?”

“For the same reason you trust the Malachai”

She snorted at him “You make all kinds of sense, don’t you?”

“Only on occasion” Still, he held his hand out in invitation, waiting to see if she’d spit on him like everyone else Honestly, he couldn’t bla he was familiar with either

She stared at his proffered li to believe ely, I think I am”

“Then I swear It’s not a trick, Kody I will take you hoainst his For a full minute, Xevikan couldn’t breathe at the warm softness in his hand It’d been centuries since anyone had touched him for any reason other than to cause him pain

First Cherise

Now Kody

In that ranted Unlike all the ones who’d come before him, the Ambrose Malachai had no idea what it was like to exist in solitude To be truly despised and betrayed by everyone To have no friends

No fainable

Unable to resist the impulse, he closed his eyes and pulled her hand to his cheek to savor the sweet scent of her warm, soft skin

She shifted nervously “U?”

He wanted to hold her there forever But she didn’t belong to hi his eyes, he lowered her hand and pulled her back with hih the darkness As he returned to his body, she was alrasp, but he refused to let the others take her

An act of kindness deserved an act of kindness It didn’t deserve to be heartbroken For Nick, alone, he would defy them all

Even his parents

No one would take this woht

And once Xevikan was restored, fully, there would be plenty of paybacks to come But that would have to wait

First he had this to take care of

Finally, he got her through in one piece Unscathed He released her hand and left her to stand by the bed as he asped out loud the otten how much pain his wounds had left him with That brief respite froled to breathe

“Are you all right?”