“What brought you all the way out here?” he asked after he tackled Nox and hugged him exuberantly.
“Just wanted to drop something off,” Nox said while Nelson and Shelby shook hands and clapped each other on the back likestoic federal agents. Personally, Nox preferred Tighe’s way of greeting friends. “It’s great to see you, buddy!”
“Welcome to our little slice of heaven,” Shelby said as he shook Nox’s hand, then pulled him close for a hug.
“It is heaven and it’s everything I imagined for you and Tighe.” Their lives were complete now that they had each other and Tighe was no longer restless or felt the need to wander.
“What’s this?” Shelby asked when Nox handed him his medallion.
“A token of my friendship and gratitude.”
“You didn’t have to?—”
Nox cut Shelby off. “I know. Just like you didn’t have to trust me when I told you I needed help with an impossible mission. And you didn’t have to come running when I was in trouble but you dropped everything without hesitating.”
“This is…!” Tighe’s voice shook with awe as he held the medallion in both hands. “This is a treasure!” He held it against his chest as he embraced Nox. “Your friendship was already a treasure and now I have this! Thank you!”
“The way you trusted us!” Nox stood back, equally in awe as he smiled at Tighe. “You met three perfect strangers in the woods and trusted us with your life and you endured a car and so many other strange, new things for us.”
“You saved my life!”
Nox gestured for Tighe to come closer. “I might have saved myself with that one because Iwould notwant to fight you. I didn’t know what Dùbhghlas was up to but I knew it wouldn’t be good for me or humanity if I didn’t stop it. Gaining a friend and setting Shelby up with his perfect man was just an amazing bonus.”
There was no way Tighe would let them leave without sharing a cup of tea but Nox and Nelson couldn’t linger too long, they still had two more stops to make.
“We’ll see you on Friday!” Shelby said, waving them off as Nox and Nelson ducked into the Continental.
Their next stop was only forty-five minutes away, on a winding country road that split off from a forgotten rural highway. In the middle of a sylvan sanctuary sat a lovingly restored farmhouse and inside it, a former demon dwelled with his adorable, angelic lover. For Nox, this was a particularly meaningful stop because his relationship with Smoak had been the most complicated but had changed him the most, aside from Nelson.
Smoak stared at the medallion for several moments before shaking his head. “I can’t take this.”
“Sure, you can!” Nox gripped his shoulder and gave it an affectionate shake. “It’s a token of my friendship and gratitude for your support.”
It no longer hurt or gave Nox a queasy feeling to touch Smoak. They had yet to figure outwhatSmoak was exactly in the aftermath of his demon death, but his aura was growing more and more like Niall’s and Niall’s aura was presenting more and more like a nephilim’s would.
“Gross. That’s exactly why I can’t take it.” Smoak’s face pinched as he eyed it warily. “I don’t wantproofthat we’re…friends or whatever,” he said in an embarrassed mumble.
“Don’t say that!” Niall protested as he wrapped his arms tight around Nox. “He doesn’t mean it. We both love you and wouldn’t have all of this if it weren’t for you.”
“Loveis way too strong!” Smoak shook his head at Nox. “Don’t listen to him. You’re alright,for a sun god. And I appreciate what you did for Niall and for this,” he said as he gestured at himself. “But don’t make it a bigger deal than it really is.”
Nox nodded along slowly, pretending to listen, then launched himself at Smoak. “Give it up!” he said as his arms closed around Smoak. “You love me!”
“I promise, I don’t.”
“Liar!” Nox whispered, kissing Smoak’s cheek loudly before releasing him. “Get over here,” he said to Niall and they shared a quick but tearful embrace.
“Thank you for saving him and giving him a chance to start over,” Niall said quietly. “Cenn’s at peace now and it’s changed who he is when he’s…” He coughed suggestively. “There’s no telling how many souls that’s saved.”
Even without his demonic powers, Smoak was still more powerful than the most ancient and prolific demons and had yet to be challenged. His children still served him but Smoak had made several changes to the demon’s charter and their code of conduct. They were to save their most malevolent acts for those who had earned them and to punish those who had victimized the innocent. It was no longer a demon’s duty to seduce the innocent, as there were more than enough willing to barter for fame, glory, or a grocery list of worthless reasons.
Justice over malevolence was an ethos Nox could get behind.
“You did all the hard work,” he said to Niall. “It was your pure soul and stubborn heart that changed him first and it was you who dragged him kicking and screaming into this friendship.Noneof this would have happened without you.”
Friendship was a mild word for the relationship Nox and Smoak shared. They were more like brothers or even twins, in certain ways. He suspected that Smoak had been created much in the same way the Dagda had and possibly at roughly the same time. Their existence balanced each other and kept the arc of humanity from veering too close to the dark or blinding itself to the light.
Just as Nox needed Nelson to balance the god within, he needed Smoak to balancethem. The Dagda needed Lord Smoak to contain the dark and keep it sacred, to prevent it from becoming lawless and depraved like Dùbhghlas would have made it had he prevailed. An evil, unchecked Father of All Demons would result in a brutally all-powerful Dagda that would not only destroy the world, but all that they loved and cared for the most.
