Illusion: Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon Read Free Book Online Page A

what had happened to the poor Aamon demon on the floor. “You went in her stead?”
    He nodded. “I knew what slavery meant for our kind. I couldn’t let my sister do that. I knew she’d never survive it.”
    And given the scars on his body, he was right. Nick had told her that the Norse gods had used Zavid for gladiatorial matches where they’d bled him to the brink of death. That they had dehumanized him to the point that he hadn’t even remembered his own name when Nick had met him.
    They had called Zavid “Beast,” and a beast was what he’d become. All he’d known. Only Nick had seen through the feral hatred to the heart of the man.
    Nick, alone, had saved Zavid when anyone else would have put their head down and kept going, leaving the Hel Hound to die. Especially after the way Zavid had attacked Nick and Caleb.
    And her.
    “How did your sister die?” Caleb asked quietly.
    Zavid swallowed hard before he answered. “Zarelda tried to free me from the goddess.”
    In that moment, Kody finally saw the true heart inside Zavid that had called out to Nick. The Malachai was always able to see straight through someone’s façade. To know their weaknesses so that he could destroy them more easily. Up until Nick, every Malachai had used that knowledge to hurt and to wound.
    To kill.
    Nick used it only for good.
    There were so many reasons she didn’t want to kill Nick, even though she had every right to demand his head on a platter. Even though she was under orders to do so …
    Trying not to think about that or her past, she met Caleb’s frown. “You think Zarelda might know something about Grim’s plan?”
    “No. But she might know something useful.” Caleb shifted his gaze to Zavid. “You’re the only one of us who can summon her.”
    He laughed bitterly. “No. I can’t. Hel stripped that power from me as punishment after Zarelda tried to release me. I have no telepathy whatsoever. Haven’t had it for centuries.”
    That closed that door effectively. Running out of ideas, Kody turned back to Caleb. “Know any necromancers?”
    Caleb gave her a wry grin. “Actually, I do. Talon can commune with the dead.”
    “The Dark-Hunter?” Kody asked to make sure they were traveling along the same idea path.
    “You know anyone better?”
    Yes, but she’d purposely avoided Acheron. For many reasons. “How’s Talon going to react if we show up at his cabin in the middle of the day? As far as he knows, we’re human kids who hang out with Nick.”
    “Point taken.” Caleb growled. “I’m out of ideas, then.”
    That left her with only one other option and it was the closest thing to Acheron she dared approach with something like this—Acheron’s demon daughter. “Let me see if I can contact Simi.”
    Caleb laughed. “Good luck with that.”
    “Don’t scoff, oh ye who has no better idea.”
    He held his hands up in surrender. “Fine. Call me if she starts to eat you. Maybe I can stop her.”
    From anyone else that might sound odd, but since Simi was a Charonte demon with a ferocious appetite, it was a possibility. “I think I’ll be all right. Just don’t let Cherise find out she has two unexpected house guests and that her baby boy isn’t her baby boy.”
    Caleb visibly cringed. “On second thought, I’d rather go with you and take my chances with Simi.”
    “Sorry, slugger. Cherise at least knows you. We can’t risk her running into the other two on her own.”
    “Fine, but the next time something puts you on its menu, I will remember this.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” Smiling, Kody flashed herself back to her house.
    Her smile died the moment she saw the large recurve bow on her wall, over her bed. It was so hard to be with Simi when Kody knew what would one day become of them all. It was an ending they kept speeding toward, and one way or another, Kody had to derail it.
    And while Simi knew Kody wasn’t human, she had yet to guess the truth of who and what she really was.
    And why she was