Chapter Nine

 

At midnight, the hour of Nalini’s nightly attacks, the group assembled themselves in a circle at the front of the pyramid. They knew that Tristan and Tiernan wouldn’t be coming this night and had no choice but to fight the daemon’s that would be coming for Nalini.

“Hold your positions no matter what! If you need help or fall, call out,” Morgan ordered. For the fifth time that night.

Declan was still trying not to laugh every time he looked at the teen boy hefting the massive sword that appeared to weigh more than he did. It was the memory of what Morgan had done with it the moment he held it that kept Declan from even grinning. There was no denying the kid was deadly and obviously remembered everything he’d ever known in the past.

Even Chris had stared at Morgan in open-mouthed surprise when the guardian had not only hefted the sword but swung it through the air with a grace and power they hadn’t seen in anyone before. All of the Dranovians and even the Valendrans and Tezarians were expert swordsmen but watching Morgan had been like watching swordplay for the first time.

The Guardian had shown them moves that had left even Dizarion and Asha watching Morgan carefully to learn something new. Declan just hoped that having such a powerful ally would ensure that Nalini would remain safe this night.

“I can fight, you know. You taught me!” Nalini snapped. For the fifth time.

Declan almost felt sorry for her, being forced to stay within the center of the circle. But he was in full agreement that Nalini remain safe while the rest of them handled whatever daemon’s decided to show themselves.

Dizarion, Asha, and Tarona had remade another barrier, even though there was no hope of it holding any better than the last one. It would buy them time, and that was all they needed to keep Nalini from death. At least that was what Declan was praying for.

“I feel them,” Morgan snarled as he looked up at the ceiling of the mountain.

Moments later they all saw the first daemon become ensnared in the energy net at the ceiling of the mountain. Declan raised a brow when Morgan flipped his sword through the air, expertly caught it and gripped the handle tightly.

“Come on you bastards,” Morgan growled.

It was easy to feel the anticipation running through the guardian’s energy and Declan couldn’t blame the kid for wanting some blood from the bastards who’d tortured his daughter for so long.

The creature’s shadow had barely solidified in front of him before Morgan had spun around and decapitated it. Four more quickly followed and Morgan got another three before Chris sputtered.

“Dude, why am I here if you aren’t going to share?” Chris half-joked.

“There’s plenty to go around,” Morgan snarled as he pointed upward with his sword.

“Oh shit,” Chris whispered as he looked up to see the ceiling crawling with hundreds of shadowy forms that were heading to the hole in the barrier.

“Hold the formation,” Morgan warned again as the daemons began to fall through the breach.

Seconds later there was no more speaking as dozens of daemons solidified around the circle surrounding Nalini.

“Give her to us, and we’ll let you live,” one of them hissed out.

Morgan decapitated the daemon within seconds and without a word began battling and killing everything within reach of his sword. Taking their cue from the guardian of war, Dizarion, Asha, Declan, Chris, and Isabel started working on the daemons in front of them.

It was Tarona and Morgan who seemed to be taking out the most daemons. Morgan acted like a man possessed, cutting through everything that came near him before the daemons began backing away from the group. Morgan held his sword above his head, and his dark eyes blazed with power and fury as he stared at the silent daemons.

“You come for my child, and you’re coming for me! I am Kartikeya, Murugan, Ares, Tyr, Horus, Belus, Chi-Yu, the Terran Guardian of War!” Morgan roared as his body exploded with energy and power.

Morgan had barely spoken the first name before the daemons started fleeing to their shadow forms as they tried to escape through the hole they’d created in the barrier.

Instead of allowing any of them to leave, Morgan charged the retreating daemons, his sword preventing them from shifting as he slaughtered all in this path. Declan turned to Chris and Nalini as Morgan got further from the group.

“Stay with her!” Declan ordered Chris, Isabel, and Asha before he took off after Morgan to cover the guardian’s back.

Dizarion was hot on his heels as Declan reached Morgan who had become surrounded by terrified and wounded daemons. Tarona was shooting at anything trying to escape through the energy barrier as they battled those who’d not been able to achieve their shadow forms before Morgan had cornered them.

“Is Nalini all right?” Declan asked Chris through the shengari’.

“Yeah, we’re fine here. Seems like you guys are having all the fun. We’re being left alone,” Chris replied, sounding a little miffed that he’d been asked to stay behind.

It took another hour before Morgan, Declan, and Dizarion looked around to see nothing but bodies and charred dust littering the entire floor as far as they could see. Declan turned to Nalini with a huge grin and held his arms open as she ran towards him.

He swept her up into his arms and cuddled her slight form close to his chest. Declan couldn’t contain the intense happiness that swelled up inside of him as he held her. Until that was shattered by a sharp poke in his side and he turned to look down at Isabel who was frowning up at him.

“You’re covered in blood and icky stuff, and now you’ve gotten her filthy too. Don’t you have showers here?” Isabel asked before she winked at Nalini and turned her attention to Morgan. “Are you all right, honey? You need a shower too.”

Declan looked at Nalini in shock, and she just shrugged her shoulder.

“You’re impossible to resist,” Nalini whispered with a grin before she hugged him again.

“That’s not true. You’re an asshole, but I still love you. Next time, leave the Night Walker behind with the women,” Chris said with a slap on Declan’s shoulder.

Nalini only laughed as she slid down Declan’s chest until she could stand on her own. She looked down at herself with a huge frown.

“Mother is right, I need a shower now too,” Nalini admitted with a wrinkled nose at the mess on her sari.

“I think Haruki’s mate, Deanna, left some of her clothes here that you can use. I’ll go see if I can find them,” Declan offered.

He headed to the pod that Deanna had used when she lived here and had studied the pyramid. As he rummaged through the drawers and held up the clothes, Declan knew that most wouldn’t fit Nalini’s petite frame. He grabbed sweatpants, T-shirts and anything else he thought Nalini might be able to wear while they washed her own things.

Declan had an armful of clothes when he finally met Nalini in front of the pyramid where he’d left her. He was a little surprised when Isabel came from out of nowhere and took the clothes from his arms.

“Since there is only one shower room, the boys decided that Nalini and I should shower first. I made coffee for you guys and found some snacks for you. The others are in the dining hall, so shoo!” Isabel said with a grin as she gestured to where the other guys were.

“Will you be OK?” Declan asked Nalini, hoping she’d invite him to join her but knowing she wouldn’t.

“Yeah, Mom will be there,” Nalini replied with a blush before she followed Isabel to the shower stalls.

Declan’s heart constricted in his chest when Nalini turned back and gave him a brilliant smile. He waited until the women were safely inside the shower pod before he looked down at himself and shook his head in disgust.

Bypassing the dining hall, Declan headed to the nearest hose spigot and began cleaning off his hands and arms. When they were clean enough, he stripped off his shirt and cleaned off his chest. If he had to wait for a shower, he wasn’t going to do it covered in daemon blood and flesh.

“This shit just feels wrong,” Declan muttered to himself as he scrubbed off his chest.

“The fact that you even noticed that says a lot about your character.”

Declan whipped around and faced Morgan who was casually leaning against the pod. The first thing Declan noted was the guardian appeared to have already cleaned himself up and changed his clothes.

“Noticed what?” Declan asked, wondering why Morgan was there.

“The wrongness of their blood and flesh. It isn’t just the daemon’s energy that resonates evil. Every part of their being is a warning to the good and even those souls on the edge,” Morgan explained as he watched Declan carefully.

Declan snorted and shook his head.

“Let me guess, recognizing the difference tells you I’m a horrible guy or something.” Declan couldn’t believe that he’d just battled with the kid and Morgan was still going to give him shit.

Declan glared at Morgan when the kid burst into laughter.

“Honestly, after the way Isabel has gone after you, I can understand why you’d think the worst. The truth is, it shows what a good man you really are. I think the One God chose well for my daughter.” Morgan grinned then walked away leaving Declan staring after him in open-mouthed shock.

“What the hell was that about?” Declan muttered when he finally recovered.

Declan finished cleaning up the best he could at a spigot and headed to the dining hall hoping Chris would know what had gotten into the strange kid.

My father-in-law, Declan thought with a shake of his head. This is as fucked up as it gets. Who’d have ever thought a mission for a damn flower would end up like this?

A thought struck Declan, and he broke into a jog, slamming through the dining room door and sighing in relief when he saw the strange guardian having a cup of coffee with Dizarion and Chris. He ignored Morgan’s raised eyebrow, grabbed his own cup and sat down at the table across from the Guardian of War.

“What do you know about an ancient flower that could prevent and reverse beast death?” Declan asked.

Chris immediately turned his attention to the kid, hoping like hell that Morgan would have some information that could help them find the elusive plant.

“Is that what led you to Nalini? You thought my daughter was this flower?” Morgan toyed with his coffee cup, keeping his gaze from the Dranovians.

Declan ran a frustrated hand down his face. He was going to get sick of having everything he did being placed under a microscope. Especially by a child. A Guardian of War and his mate’s father but still a physical child.

“I was in the area looking for the flower and found Nalini instead. My dedication to protecting her does not negate my need to find the flower,” Declan snapped.

He knew he’d been a little too aggressive when Dizarion sucked in a sharp breath and Chris choked on a swallow of hot coffee. Declan was too tired and irritated to care.

Morgan looked up at Declan, and they spent several tense moments staring at one another before Morgan cleared his throat. He turned to Dizarion.

“None of you have told them? Not even his brother, Tristan?” Morgan asked the Night Walker.

Dizarion shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he shook his head.

“We aren’t allowed to interfere with this. Because of what has occurred because of their father, the only way to correct the imbalance that was created is for them to find it themselves,” Dizarion said with an unreadable expression.

Morgan narrowed his eyes at the Night Walker, and they were silent for several moments before the guardian nodded his head three times.

“Oh, this is bull shit!” Chris erupted in anger. “You act like my father never did a good thing in his life! Yeah, he fucked up! We get that! But damn, you guys could act like you got a soul and buy us a clue!”

Declan actually clapped his hands at Chris’s outburst because his brother had said almost verbatim what he was thinking of saying. When Morgan and Dizarion looked at him with shock, he snorted.

“Give me a break. Dad has his faults, but he’s never been a bad guy. He’s saved tens of thousands of hybrids, clones, Relian-hybrids and every variation of the beast species you can think of, not including humans! You know we’re going to need that flower! Not just for my family,” Declan argued as his eyes dared anyone to say something bad about Grai.

Nalini, Asha, and Isabel came in at the tail end of Declan’s comment, and they looked questioningly at Dizarion and Morgan. Chris wasn’t done speaking his mind either.

“The odds are already stacked against us between Satalis, the Daemon Kyn, Relians and their cult of human and anomalous psychopaths and the world governments in collusion with every nasty one of them. Did any of you count on that? But we gotta help you fix all that shit and find a flower to save our people?” Chris knew damn well they were all shocked at the rate of societal decay and hadn’t expected the world to be so bad.

The room was silent while Morgan and Dizarion had another telepathic conversation with one another. Asha sighed and shook her head, giving away that she’d also become part of their personal argument.

“What is this about?” Isabel demanded since Morgan was too busy with Dizarion and Asha to tell her.

“We need to find the flower that can cure beast death,” Declan said as his eyes bore into Morgan and Dizarion.

“You mean the Brahma Kamal?” Isabel asked as she took a sip of coffee.

The way Morgan, Dizarion, and Asha gaped at the young girl immediately put Declan on alert.

“I don’t know. Did it cure and reverse beast death?” Declan prodded.

“Yeah, I asked you if that was the one when we were still in the cave,” Nalini offered, wondering if he’d heard her earlier.

“Silence!” Morgan roared as he slammed his hands down on the table startling everyone. “We cannot discuss this with them! Some rules must be followed!”

Isabel snorted and waved her hand at Morgan in dismissal before she turned to Declan.

“Don’t mind him. He must have forgotten how many times we’ve had this conversation before. He’s the guardian subject to certain rules, and I’m the Prime who isn’t always supposed to adhere to the same ones,” Isabel explained with a cheeky grin.

Morgan only growled before he turned sharply to Dizarion.

“It makes sense,” Morgan muttered.

Dizarion and Asha grinned broadly and nodded in agreement with Morgan’s odd statement.

“Now he gets it.” Isabel winked at Morgan.

“Does anyone remember the part about buying us a clue?” Chris asked as he put his head in his hands.

“In times like this, when things have gone awry, the One God always has a way to even the odds. As Declan noted, his Father isn’t a bad man. Just a desperate one who made a mistake. It doesn’t balance with the enemies you face so you were sent Nalini, who brought us. Morgan can’t tell you anything, but I can. So what do you need to know?” Isabel explained with a wink and smile at Morgan.

“It’s that simple?” Chris couldn’t hide the shock from his voice as he looked at Morgan, Dizarion, and Asha.

“We have been able to do things this way in the past,” Morgan agreed with a shrug.

“What is it and where can we find it?” Declan asked.

He scooted closer to the table and set his comm to record Isabel’s every word.

“It’s called a lotus but is, in fact, cacti and can be found in Kedarnath. Where you found me,” Nalini explained.

“You were there and didn’t find it?” Chris asked Declan.

“He wouldn’t have,” Isabel interjected. “It only blooms one night between July and September and only for a few hours. It’s found in the higher elevations throughout the Himalayas.”

“One night? A year? Forever?” Declan asked incredulously.

“A year,” Nalini said with a small smile as she laid her hand on his thigh under the table. “There are fields of them in Kedarnath and the Valley of Flowers. It’s also called the Night-blooming Cereus or Queen of the night.”

“How are we supposed to save anyone with a flower that only blooms at night, once a year and is only found in a small area of the damn planet? What the hell kind of shit is that?” Declan demanded angrily.

Although he was thrilled that the search for the plant was now over, he was more than a little pissed off that it was still going to be like pulling teeth to get the damn things.

“Mikal said it only took one petal to heal Tiernan’s beast. How many petals does this thing have?” Chris asked, almost afraid of what the answer would be.

“Oh, there are dozens per flower. The Hindu people know that they come from the One God and pick them and leave them at the temples in Kedarnath and Badrinath. It is even grown in window boxes,” Nalini explained, hoping to ease the frustration she could feel in Declan.

“We can grow it. With Dad’s technology and all the places we got around the planet, we can find one where we can grow it,” Chris suggested to Declan, liking the idea the more he thought about it.

Declan grinned broadly, unable to believe how easy this had been. As far as missions went, this one turned out pretty damn good. He looked down at Nalini and put his hand over the one she had on his leg.

Turned out really damn good, Declan thought then saw Morgan frowning at him.