friend.”
Before Caleb could comment, the principal stalked past them and into the room. Nick stood on his tiptoes so that he could see Tendyk show the principal the horrific montage through the window in the classroom door.
His pocket started vibrating. Nick pulled out his Nokia 9000 and flipped it open to see he had a new e-mail. As he tried to access it, his phone blew up with texts about Brynna and the photographs. Apparently, their classroom wasn’t the only one spammed with that filth.
An instant later, a door down the hallway opened. Brynna ran out, sobbing hysterically. Laughter from her classroom rang in the hall and mixed with the laughter of the jerks around him. Laughter that was only drowned out by a few dickweeds making offers to her.
His heart aching, Nick started to go after her and calm her down.
Caleb caught his arm in a tight grip. “I can’t stress enough to you that you need to stay out of this.”
“Why?”
“Use your powers, Nick. Look at what’s about to happen.”
Nick glanced around until he found something shiny enough to use for scrying … the silver on the water fountain. It wasn’t very big, but it was enough that he could focus his powers with it.
And there in that small, two-inch strip, he glimpsed the horror that was about to become Brynna’s life over this single act of cruelty.
In that moment, he completely disagreed with Caleb. “She needs a friend.”
“Yes, she does. But right now, the administration is looking for someone to blame for this. You walk in there too soon and this will be hung around your neck. Trust me.”
That would be his luck, too.
Even so, Nick would deny it if not for the fact that Caleb had a lot more life experience to draw from. You didn’t argue colors with Picasso. Car facts with Richard Petty. And you definitely didn’t question human behavior with Caleb.
Standing down, Nick felt that strange sensation again. While Caleb had assured him this was human in origin, he wasn’t so sure.
There was something else here. Something dark. Cold.
Lethal.
And it wasn’t Caleb.
CHAPTER 3
Adarian froze as he felt a sensation he hadn’t experienced in thousands of years. For a full minute, he didn’t move as he tried to pinpoint it. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear it belonged to Noir’s primary guardian. But he’d made sure when he escaped the dark lord’s Nether Realm that the only creature who could find him would be punished to the point he’d never be able to track him down.
No, it couldn’t be Seth. Seth was still being tortured. Noir would never take a chance on sending Seth after him.
This was something else.
Where are you…?
More to the point, What are you?
He felt the creature pulling back before he could locate its exact position. Had it detected him? That was always his biggest concern. While he couldn’t be defeated openly, everyone was susceptible to a sneak attack, especially when they didn’t know what was stalking them.
“Malachai! You have a visitor.”
His gut tightened. Was the visitor the one he’d sensed? Or was it someone or something else? His senses and powers on full alert, he allowed the guard to cuff him so that he could be escorted to the visitation center.
As one of the most ferocious and feared inmates in Angola, he was always heavily guarded and never allowed near civilians without being fully shackled. Something he found hysterical since the only thing that kept him here was himself. There were no walls built by man that he couldn’t tear down with a whisper. No chain forged he couldn’t melt.
But he chose to live here for several reasons. The primary one being that all of this concentrated human malice cloaked his presence from those who were searching for him. The inmates’ negativity and hostility also fed his powers. With so many willing victims and predators on tap, his juices never thinned. He always had someone feeding him.
To a demon, this was paradise.
The guard opened