10

“Oh thank God, you’re all right!”

Cadegan scowled as a strange woman threw herself over him and hugged him close. She was joined by an entire herd of other females, who assaulted him with questions and comments in the strangest collection of accents he’d ever heard. Some were so thick, it rendered their words utter gibberish to him.

Completely disoriented and confused, he didn’t know what to make of it.

Until he focused on the tall blond man, standing near a large mirror.

Rage darkened his sight as his blood boiled in his veins.

“You bloody lamb-fucking bastard!” Forgetting that he was still in Josette’s body, he launched himself at Leucious.

Leucious grabbed him in an iron grip and held him with an ease that was as infuriating as it was frustrating. Damn his strength!

“Hey, hey, hey!” Leucious said. “I saved you and you attack me for it? What’d they do to you, woman?”

“It’s not Josette you saved, Leucious! You stupid wanker whoreson!” He broke off into a string of curses.

Leucious grabbed his throat and held him immobile against the glass. “Cadegan?”

“Anyone know what they’re speaking?” a black-haired woman asked.

“Yeah, it’s old Welsh. But their accents are so thick, I can’t really follow it. Plus, I have a feeling, given Jo’s shrill tone, that she’s using words not found in a standard dictionary.”

Cadegan ignored them as he growled angrily at the brother he hadn’t seen in a thousand years. A brother he wanted to gut. “You have to send me back. Now!”

With an expression of hell-wrath, Leucious tightened his hold to an almost killing level before he slung Cadegan away. “What did you do to Jo? If you’ve harmed her, I swear I’ll see you dead for it!”

Cadegan faced him with fury, wishing he had the powers to rip out his throat. “Oh, aye, I had to have done something to her. God knows, a demon like me could never have tried to protect her, that’s it, isn’t it? That’s all I am to you, brother. Something to be hated and despised because you see yourself in me and you can’t stand it!”

Leucious hit him with a godbolt so hard that it lifted him from his feet and sent him skidding across the floor.

When Leucious took a step forward, another man stepped between them and held Leucious back.

“Enough!” he roared. With short black hair and eyes that were hidden behind a mask of some sort, he turned toward Cadegan. He waved his hand, and froze all the women save three of them, who stood back and didn’t interfere as they tried to understand what was happening and why. “I am Acheron,” the man said to Cadegan.

Cadegan eyed him warily. As a demon, he knew Acheron had partial demonic blood. But it was a different breed than his. And there was a lot more power to this creature than a demon normally wielded. The power to freeze a human was on the level of a god. So he held himself in check, in order to learn what it was he was dealing with. “What are you?”

“Concerned about Jo. Where is she?” At least Acheron wasn’t judging him. Rather, he was only trying to get to the truth of the matter.

“Me enemies swapped our bodies so that they could torture her to get me grandfather’s shield. I was trying to fight them from her when you ripped me here. I have to get back to her before they hurt her. Send me back there, now!”

Leucious gestured toward the mirrors, where Cadegan saw Josette’s beautiful face staring back at him. “Look at yourself, man! How do you plan to fight them like that? They have your powers and you’re in her body. Do you really think you can stand alone? What are you going to do? Sneeze on them and hope they die of a sinus infection in a month?”

“I hate you!” But Leucious was right. Like this, he was useless. Tears filled his eyes. “All the times I prayed for release … I never wanted me freedom for this cost.”

Acheron placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, little brother. We will get her back. I swear it to you.”

Aye, but how?

And in what condition?

Terrified for her, Cadegan dug the heels of his hands into his eyes in an effort to banish the memories that shredded him. “What if they’ve already begun her torture? Just send me back now. Maybe I can offer them something, anything to protect her.”

“I’ll go.” Acheron started for the mirror, but Leucious stopped him.

“You can’t, Ash. If you enter that realm, it’ll strip your powers from you. Immediately. You’ll never get them back.”

“What?”

Leucious nodded. “You know the laws of your kind. A…” He glanced to the women and seemed to catch a slip he was about to make. “A being such as yourself can’t simply traipse into the nether lands of another pantheon without dire consequences.… Not to mention, the entire place was set up to contain and restrict the powers and magick of strong creatures.” He glanced to Cadegan. “I’ll go. You rally an army, and I’ll do what I can to hold them off until they get there.”

Cadegan was aghast at Leucious’s stupidity. “Are you out of your mind?”

Leucious met Cadegan’s gaze. “Always.” He turned back to Acheron. “Call Fang and have him gather Cael, Amaranda, Zeke, Ravenna, and Tristan from our side. You’ll need fighters skilled with swords, and Dark Age tactics. Demon, Daimon, and fey powers are fine. No one can go in who has a drop of god blood in them.”

Acheron nodded. “Give us an hour to get there.”

Leucious held his hand out to Cadegan. “Do you trust me, brother?”

“Only to stab me in the back.” He glanced to the three women, who watched them with concerned frowns. He didn’t know who was who among them, but no doubt they were part of the family Josette spoke of with such warmth and love. “Swear to them that you’ll see Josette home.”

“Don’t worry. They know I will. Karma would have my balls for dinner.”

“Karma?” Cadegan asked.

“The scary bitch right here,” the shortest of the women said. “Jo’s like a sister to me. I’ll kill anyone who harms her.”

“I’ll have her back to you, now, in a minute. So swear I.”

As they started through the portal, Acheron stopped them. “Sim? Human form.”

The dragon tattoo that peeked out from his short-sleeved shirt rose up from his skin. The shadow transformed into a skinny demon with black wings and jet hair. Yawning, she scratched at her eyes like a small child.

“Akri!” she whined through her yawn, “the Simi was just getting to the good part of the dream. I was being stalked by them Nutter Butters dipped in hot sauce. Yum! Yum! Now you done gone and wokested me.” She yawned again. “The Simi hopes it’s important! Otherwise your baby will be very put out with her akri!”

“I need you to go with Thorn and protect him,” Acheron grimaced at Cadegan before he spoke, “and … the woman with him.”

She blinked at Cadegan, then frowned. “But she not a woman, akri. He done got frozed in there and not real happy about it, neither.”

“We know, Sim. Protect them.”

“Okie, akri.” She skipped over to them. “Where we going, Thorny man?”

“Where there are lots of demons for you to lunch on.”

Jumping up and down, she clapped her hands together in glee. “Goodie!” She pulled a bib out from her coffin-shaped bag and smiled. “Well, less go! The Simi be starving! Don’t wants to wait.”

Without another word, Thorn opened the portal and went through it.

Still not sure if he could trust his brother or not, Cadegan followed, and the demon pulled up their rear.

The minute they were back in Glastonbury, the demon made a face of total disgust. “Ew! The Simi done gone and faded out. Well, poo! What an unattractive skin color. Who done thought this was a good idea? I look like a refugee from a talkie!” Pursing her lips, she glanced to Cadegan. “But on you it look real good.” She burst into laughter. “No, it don’t. The Simi be lying, trying to make the two demon men feel better about being suddenly ugly.”

Cadegan scowled at her. “Is she a bit touched in the noggin?” he asked Leucious.

Snorting, Leucious shook his head. “No. Simi’s a Charonte demon. They’re an ancient, fierce race we’re lucky we never had to fight, and she makes me look like an infant in comparison to how old she actually is. But that being said, and thanks to Acheron’s overindulgence of her, she’s the human equivalent of an extremely spoiled and pampered young adult.”

“Psst,” Simi whispered to Leucious. “The term now is ‘new adult.’ The Simi knows you old and all, Akri-Thorny, but you gots to keep up with them changing times.”

Smiling, she wrapped her hands around Cadegan’s biceps. “And Thorny demon-man is right. The akri done gone and made the Simi rotten to the tips of her Demonia boots. But, in a fight, the Simi cleans the house and burns it down with her fire burps.” She gave him a fanged grin.

Still not quite sure what he should make of her, Cadegan looked over to Leucious. “We need to get to Gwyn ap Nudd’s castle. He’s the one who did this to us.”

Leucious scowled. “The sharoc king?”

Cadegan narrowed his eyes at the bastard. “You seem to know a lot about this realm.”

Leucious glanced away.

“What’s that look mean?”

Simi leaned in to whisper loudly. “It’s called guilt. The Simi’s seen it a lot on many human people’s faces. Some other species, too, but not so much.” She stood back. “You two needs to kiss and make up now.”

Cadegan growled at her suggestion. “I’m not kissing him and I’m damn sure not doing the other with him either! He can rot in hell for what I care.”

“No! Not make out. That’s gross! The Simi mean for you to forgives him. He’s your family, after all. If akri-Styxx can forgive and love akri, you can forgive your family, too. He only locked you up for one thousand years. Akri-Styxx was in his icky place for over eleven thousand! Eleven thousand … that’s like forever, and the Simi know ’cause I’ve lived even longer. So see, you gots no reason to be hating. Somebody always gots it worse. Now admit to the Simi that he’s your family.”

“Family I wish I’d never met.”

Leucious shoved at him. “Don’t take that tone with me, like I’m the one who screwed up. You killed humans! You violated our oath.”

“Then we’re even.”

“How so?”

Cadegan grabbed Leucious’s shirt and jerked him to a stop. “You held your hand out to me and promised that you would be the family I’d prayed for. That you’d never throw me aside and walk away. Not for anything. Family backs each other, that’s the lie you sold me, and like a fool, I bought it.”

“You left me no choice.”

Cadegan laughed bitterly. “You had choices, Leucious. I’d have rather you killed me than lock me here, with nothing.” Cadegan shoved him away and started for the castle.

“It wasn’t easy for me, either, you know!”

Cadegan laughed bitterly. “Go fuck yourself, Leucious. And your self-righteous indignation.”

Thorn winced at the hatred in Cadegan’s voice. Cadegan was right. He hadn’t even allowed him to explain himself. He’d acted rashly, and condemned the boy without a hearing.

Too used to being betrayed by everyone and everything, Thorn had lashed out in fear. As powerful as he was, he knew that Cadegan was one of the few creatures who could kill and replace him in their immortal hierarchy. It was why he’d never allowed Cadegan into the Nether Realm where he and his grandfather lived.

Unlike Thorn, who had a human mother, Cadegan was the son of a goddess.

Wait a second … Thorn froze as those words played through his head. The boy was a demigod. “Cadegan!” he called, running to catch up to them.

Cadegan didn’t slow down even a bit.

“Wait!” He pulled Cadegan to a stop. “You’re a demigod, right?”

Jerking his arm free of Thorn’s grasp, he sneered at him. “Aye.”

“Yet your powers work here? How?”

Cadegan curled his lip. “Are you telling me that you sent me here thinking I’d be powerless to fight the others?”

“Not powerless. Just without the god part of your abilities.”

He cursed under his breath. “You’re a dodgy pile of shit, aren’t you?” He started forward again.

Thorn growled in his throat. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t owe you answers. A stern ass-kicking and some knocked-out teeth, maybe.”

Never had Thorn wanted to thrash anyone more. But then, he’d hurt Cadegan badly and he knew it. Wishing he could change things, he caught up to the boy again, and tried not to let the past burn him so much.

Cadegan sneered at him. “Not that you deserve the knowledge, but … me mother was born of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the gods those here pay homage to for their powers. Therefore, they can’t strip me god powers without taking their own. This is the realm of me family.”

A family that wanted nothing to do with him.

Aching for the boy, Thorn narrowed his eyes as a new thought came to him with this new nugget. “Simi? Can you relay that to Acheron? Tell him to bring Talon?”

“Okies, sure, akri-Thorn.”

He handed her the key he’d used to bring them in. “You’ll need this.”

She took it and flew off toward the portal.

Thorn turned back toward Cadegan. “I don’t understand. If they can’t drain your powers, what happened to your mother when she came here? I always assumed she became a midling.”

Cadegan rolled his eyes. “Morgen turned her to stone. She still lives … as a permeant resident in Morgen’s garden of people who pissed her off.”

“What?”

He passed an agitated stare to Thorn. “She came to reclaim me shield, and leave me here defenseless against them all. Only she couldn’t take it from me, as she’d given it to Brother Eurig on me birth, and he’d given it to me when I was forced to war. Only the true owner can transfer it. It must be given, never stolen or taken.”

“She came to free you. She told me as much.”

“Nay. Only as a matter of negotiation. She came for the shield first, and she told me as much. She didn’t trust me to keep me word that I wouldn’t give it over to them.” He let out a short, bitter laugh. “I learned her good on that, didn’t I? She wasn’t the first to make that offer to me. And she wasn’t the last. And still I have me shield. ’Tis the only thing ever given to me I didn’t bleed for.”

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you give it to her when she came for it? You could have been free.”

“Free?” He raked a sneer over Thorn’s body and shook his head. “It’s all what ever protected me without fail. Why would I let it go, and be with nothing?”

Thorn didn’t want to think about that. “Where’s the shield now?”

“As if I’d ever tell you? I’ll go to me grave with it. Then the rest of you can fight for it, for all I care.”

Thorn sighed as Cadegan moved at almost a run to get to Jo. He would use his powers to teleport them, but since he didn’t know the castle, he could do them more harm than good. It wasn’t worth the risk.

And as they hurried, in the back of his mind, he saw the boy as Cadegan had been on the day they first met.

Barely a man, Cadegan had been captured by a group of demons Thorn had been chasing. He’d finally caught up to them and thought it was a mere mortal they held.

As he’d entered their camp, he found Cadegan chained and bleeding from where the demons had tried to torture him for information on his grandfather’s shield. Because he’d been unaware of his true birth in those days, Cadegan had no idea of the powers within him. No idea how to fight the demons who’d been sent for him and Dagda’s Shield.

With a courage that baffled Thorn to this day, Cadegan had been defiantly trying to break free. And when those hate-filled, furious blue eyes had looked into his, he’d seen Cadegan’s father in the boy.

Had felt the untapped powers Cadegan would one day wield.

For either good or evil. Cadegan’s choice alone.

Thorn had killed the demons with ease and freed the lad, even though his common sense had told him to cut Cadegan’s throat before he learned the truth of his birthright and used it against humanity. It was what he’d promised Cadegan’s mother he’d do should the boy ever escape his monastery.

It was something that needed to be done now that Cadegan had taken human life.

Yet no matter how much he tried, how much he knew it’d be for the best to kill the lad there and then, he’d decided to recruit Cadegan instead.

Rubbing his wrists, Cadegan had eyed him with suspicion.

“Who are you?”

“I’m called Leucious of the Brakadians.”

“I don’t know your people.”

“You should know them.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m your older brother.”

Cadegan had stood and moved away. “You lie. I have no family.”

“Aye, you do. Our mothers are different, but we have the same father.”

Scoffing, Cadegan had reclaimed his sword and dagger from the remains of the demons. “I have no father. I’m bastard-born.”

“Everyone has a father, otherwise you wouldn’t exist.”

Cadegan had moved to saddle his horse. “I appreciate your aid, but I needs find me lord and report in afore they mark me off as a deserter.”

“What if I gave you another army to fight for? A far nobler cause?”

Cadegan had completely disregarded his offer. “I can think of nothing nobler than driving the Mercian cythral from good Cymru lands.”

“There’s a much darker threat to your people than just the Mercians and Saxons. One that won’t stop until it lays waste to this earth and holds all of humanity in thrall.”

Cadegan shook his head before he swung up into his saddle. “I’m sure you can find others to fight your battles.”

Thorn had grabbed the horse’s bridle to keep Cadegan from leaving. “Nay, lad. This enemy requires warriors with very special skills and breeding. We are few and they are legion. And I’m always looking for good, worthy men to join my army.”

“And who do you fight?”

“Our father and those he, and others like him, send out to do their bidding.”

Cadegan had scowled. “I don’t understand.”

Thorn had allowed his eyes to turn to their natural demon red.

Cursing, Cadegan had crossed himself and tried to spur his horse.

But Thorn had held him. “I am not your enemy, brother. Like you, I was conceived by our father to wage war upon the world of man. To conquer anyone who got in my way. It’s why you’re undefeated in battle. Have you never once wondered why you have an unholy skill for war?”

The narrowing of Cadegan’s eyes had told him that he was right.

“For a time, I mindlessly served our father. Until I couldn’t do it anymore. Humans need our protection, not our ownership. We fight for all the children like us. Those who only want to live in peace and to have family.”

Cadegan had scoffed bitterly at him. “I know nothing of family.”

“Join me and I will change that. I will be the family you have prayed for. And I will stand at your back, and never fail to protect it.” He’d held his hand out toward Cadegan. “Family defends each other. In all things.”

Indecision had darkened his brow. “Everyone has abandoned me. Why should I put faith in you?”

“Because I won’t throw you away, little brother. Not for anything. I will always be here for you. Come with me, Cadegan. I will show you how to master your powers and use them for good. How to stamp down the darkness that begs for your soul with every breath you take. We do not have to be the monsters we were created to be. No one determines our futures, save us.”

Still, Cadegan had hesitated. Finally, he spoke. “Know that I don’t trust lightly or with ease. But I will put my faith in you, Leucious. Do not betray it, for I will not be forgiving if you do.”

“And I am putting mine in you, as well. Know that if you betray me, I will rain down a hell’s wrath upon you so severe, you will beg me for death.”

Thorn winced as he realized how justified Cadegan was to hate him. He’d fulfilled the wrong promise. Instead of seeing Cadegan’s true heart, he’d let fear and prejudice blind him.

In the bitter end, he’d been no better than the rest. Cadegan was right. He should have killed him, rather than imprison him here in this bleak, hopeless hole. But he’d hoped that he could one day forgive Cadegan.

And so years had passed with him longing for Cadegan at his side again. With him hoping he’d find the strength to put the past behind them and move forward.

Yet every time he’d started to let Cadegan out, he’d reminded himself that the boy had coldly murdered three human beings. Cadegan had to be punished for that. Not just for the sake of his own soul, but to make sure that none of the others Thorn commanded dared to breech their oaths to him. Cadegan had served as a needed example that no one would be immune from punishment. No matter their excuse.

Now that he was with the lad again, he remembered why he’d always sought Cadegan’s company while they fought together. What he’d missed most once it was gone.

There was a quiet comfort Cadegan possessed that was contagious. An accepting serenity from within that kept him from complaining or accusing others. Rather, he focused his attention on what needed to be done and what he was doing.

He only hung on to betrayals. And only so that he’d keep from ever trusting his betrayer again.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Cadegan broke out into a run as they reached the castle grounds, leaving Thorn to keep pace.

As he approached the gate, four sharoc confronted him.

“Out of my way!” Cadegan snarled.

They refused to move.

“Gwyn!” he shouted up at the parapets. “You’d best open this gate, or so help me…”

The king appeared right in front of him. He passed a smug look from Thorn to Cadegan. “You’re too late, demon.”

“Meaning?”

“She’s gone.”

Thorn watched the horror play across Cadegan’s face as he digested those words. “Explain yourself.”

Gwyn gave him an insidious smile. “Morgen could never break you. But once I knew you had a woman you were bonded to, it was an easy thing to switch you out with her while you were here. However, I thought it would be more challenging to get her to Morgen, but once you vanished … easy enough.”

“She’s with Morgen?”

“That she is.”