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Not in a mood to deal with the others, Nadir ported back to earth before any of them could catch up with her.
CHAPTER16
NADIR
After rushing through a cool shower, Nadir dressed in black sneakers, cargos, and a long-sleeved top and left her occasionally visited, and thus very dusty, Earth home for an evening run. The warm Indian summer air carried humidity like a blanket, irrespective of the setting sun. She breathed the fall scents in and launched herself uphill along the sidewalk. Nadir set her pace purposefully, knowing if she ran at full pace, her daemon nature would be impossible to ignore.
The relative ease of her pace did little to calm her mind, even after she’d run for miles.
Nadir—no,Meri—despised what Belial had made her into. Time hadn’t made it easier. She still wasn’t comfortable in her new skin, despite the safety it afforded her in Sheol to look the part of a daemon. Maybe she just hadn’t had enough time to get used to it. Or perhaps she just missed how she used to look, daemon ink and all. Or, if she was honest, being in her human skin felt like she wasn’t trying to hide the creature she’d become, proverbial warts and all.
Sure, some of her new talents were mind-blowing. Most, she wielded with such ease she might as well have been born with them. Yet, she hadn’t been. Instead, Belial had orchestrated her shift into his daemonic minion, but he hadn’t done it to save her from death at the hands of some daemon. No. Belial had strategically crafted her just like he’d done with his magical tre’jor blades, and now she was just another faceless arrow in his quiver. As if it wasn’t bad enough to have lost her humanity, the daemon had also stolen her autonomy, sublimating her will with his ancient, indomitable might.
She was trapped under his proverbial thumb, with no escape.
For eternity.
Nadir held nothing against her cabal-mates. They were just as pinned down by the Prince of Sheol as she was.
Not caring where or how far she ran, Nadir crossed the Highline canal trail, where she sped through full darkness. The path was a blessed solitude, unused at night because of the city’s safety regulations.
Considering that she was likely the most dangerous thing which had run the trails in some time, Nadir barked out a bittersweet laugh. Only a daemon like herself would defy the city’s rules. Considering no prison could hold her, human laws were no longer of any consequence.
The stars overhead shone with such brilliance she could see the surrounding landscape with ease. When dark shapes jagged across the night sky, Nadir recognized the outlines of bats. Seeking the colony out, she meandered through a meadow to a large, hollowed-out cottonwood next to a naturalized lake fed by the canal. Bats filled the air and the occasional wingtip whipped by within inches of her head, yet she didn’t flinch, taken in by the grace and beauty of these tiny creatures.
A familiar vanilla and musk scent whispered by her on a wind-swept breeze. She let out a sigh. “How did you find me?”
Azimuth’s footsteps became audible as he walked through the crisp leaves to join her by the lake. “I ported over to your house not long after you left. Then I followed you at a distance as you worked out your frustration.”
Nadir frowned. “You’re not usually that quiet.” In her frustrated state, she hadn’t noticed him at all.
“I have a handful of useful skills,” he replied.
Heat rose in waves from her flesh. “I remember a few. I’m just surprised anyone could follow me and I didn’t notice.”
“I was lucky to keep the wind with me.” A tentative brush of his fingers stroked across Nadir’s shoulder to her neck and then snaked down her spine.
The shiver he elicited from her rolled up her back, and Nadir fought to keep mental focus. “No, I’m not down with this right now. If you want to help me eviscerate Belial, we can get freaky after I’ve covered his library’s walls with his bowels.” Nadir spoke through the slightest baring of fangs.
Azimuth cricked an eyebrow, folding his arms in front of him. “I don’t imagine that would work out in your favor.” He ambled around to face her, his aura cool, calm, and collected.
His poise only served to infuriate Nadir. “At least I’d get my point across!”
Azimuth barked out a laugh, his demeanor humor filled. “It is amusing to consider. However, his viscera would certainly damage many ancient and irreplaceable tomes.”
“I don’t care,” Nadir she hissed. “This situation is intolerable! He treats us like disposable toys, just like his magic blades. He didn’t even bother to warn us that the sancre might destroy our powers, too. Nevertheless, he instructs us to go, and we are left with no alternative but to follow his will without hesitation. I don’t feel you truly understand how belonging to the prince and having no choice in all this tears me apart.”
His carriage stiffened. “None of us misses how upset you are with the situation. I ask you not to forget that we all feel the impact of his choices in our own ways. Consider that time has perhaps made us more used to his conduct and dogma.”
His reasonableness did nothing to calm Nadir’s ire. “I know you’ve been sworn to Belial for hundreds of years. Maybe you can’t see his behavior with clarity because you’re just so inured to his daily abuses. You can’t just keep lying to yourselves, believing that things will be okay if you keep following his psychotic orders.”
A white shimmer flickered across Azimuth’s gaze, gone in a moment as he regained his composure. “What would you have us do?”
“You could start by telling him no?”
The slight crease between his brows, coupled with the scent of incredulity rolling off him, spoke before Azimuth did. “We are oath bound to obey his commands. If we refused, he would be within his rights to destroy any of us who disobeyed.”
“So, he might slaughter us if we disobey, but frankly, he could knock us off if he just feels like it, too. What’s stopping him?” Nadir heard the frustration in her voice, the raised pitch of her anxiety coloring her words.
