Chapter 3

*5 years later*

“Where is the child, Nira?” asked a tall, handsome man with solid, cold black eyes and dark hair. Wearing an evil smirk on his face, he stalked closer to Nira around gently worn furniture and children's toys. His fingers singed the fabric that he touched as he toyed with his powers.

“You will never have her!” Nira backed away from him, her violet eyes flashing with panic and fear as she determinedly led Mordecai away from where Theanna hid. Nira looked around the living room of her home, her long white blonde hair falling out of its holder as she desperately tried to find some way to stop him. Her heart raced as she wondered if this was the end, the end of what Galena could see.

“My oh so naive Nira. You cannot stop me. I’ll have her and her power, it’s been foretold,” Mordecai stated coldly, with absolutely no humanity or mercy in his eyes.

As he came within steps of Nira, his evil aura made it hard for to breath. She knew she was out of options. Just then, the front door burst open as Mikael ran into the room. “Nira! Run!” Calling upon the very last bits of his old Daemoni powers with everything that he could, he shot forth a blast of energy that made Mordecai simply pause instead of doing any real harm to him.

Mikael wore a look of panicked resolve as he tried perilously to save his family. He could care less about his life, it was his wife and child that had to live. His little Thea was so sweet and beautiful. He had to save her.

Mordecai laughed as he raised his hand and made a squeezing motion, causing Mikael to claw at his throat, unable to breathe. “You were a fool, Mikael, to abandon your power. Without it, the child is mine!”

With an evil psychotic laugh and a simple twist of his wrist, he snapped Mikael’s neck, killing him instantly. If this was all of the resistance he'd face, getting Lucifer's powers as his own was going to be easier than he could have hoped. Then not even his mother would be able to stop him and his ultimate plan, remaking all of the realms under his rule.

“Mikael!” Nira screamed in horror, the pain of losing her husband, her mate, filling her heart with a fierce hatred directed at Mordecai as she watched her husband fall limply to the ground. Without thinking, just reacting to her emotions and heartache, she attacked her uncle, using her nails to claw at him.

Nira was nearly half his size and no match for Mordecai. Despite the flailing of her hands he grabbed her by the throat. Pulling her close to him as he squeezed and cut off her air, he demanded harshly, “Where is the child?”

Nira dug her nails into his hand, refusing to answer. Suddenly, the sound of a child’s cry cut through the noise of their fight and panic filled Nira's eyes. “Mordecai, no... please, she’s innocent,” she gasped out, begging for her daughter's life.

“You are of no further use,” Mordecai coldly replied as he snapped her neck and tossed her aside to fall dead near her husband.

Following the sound of crying, he found the young girl, with pink curls and scared pink eyes hiding in a closet. She cried as she sat curled into a ball as if to make herself as small as possible. Picking the terrified child up by her throat, Mordecai laughed cruelly as she kicked and screamed. “Just like your mother. Such fire, such spirit!”

Suddenly, she emitted an energy wave that burnt his skin. Mordecai maliciously smiled as he closed his eyes and absorbed the energy wave, musing to himself, “Such power.” Placing a hand on her chest he pulled at her essence and power, taking it from her and into himself. The girl began to scream in pain as he pulled her life force from her.

Before Mordecai could finish, a large fearsome Daemoni burst through the front wall of the house, throwing Mordecai across the room. The child burst from his hold and flew into the Daemoni’s arms. “You cannot have her,” he hissed with power. “She is mine!”

Mordecai stood up and dusted himself off as if the Daemoni's appearance was nothing more than an annoying distraction. “Damian. I wondered if you had become as weak as I’d heard. Reducing yourself to protecting an inconsequential child. How pathetic for the Prince of Ikisat.”

“Not so weak.” he snarled as he held the child close and threw a powerful blast of energy at Mordecai, forcing him from this realm. With a snort of derision at how easy he’d been to remove from Earth he suddenly remembered that he was holding Nira and Mikael's child in his arms. His betrothed. The pull to save her had been so strong. Her soul had called to his. She’d needed him and only him to save her. That was such a foreign yet powerful feeling. Looking at the weakened young girl, her beauty filled him with a sense of awe.

She watched him, appraising him. It was then that he realized she saw him in his true Daemoni form and wasn’t afraid. Instead, she seemed fascinated by his appearance. A soft smile filled her face and she reached up and gently caressed his cheek, causing him to pull away in surprise. Non-Daemoni were always afraid of him in this form especially on Earth, except, it seemed, this sweet, innocent child.

The child’s hand then went limp as her pink eyes rolled back into her head and her breathing became so shallow it almost stopped. Realizing that Mordecai had pulled too much from her young body she was starting to die, he felt a panic he’d never felt before rise inside of him and fill his heart. No, he couldn't, he just couldn't lose her. She was too important to his heart already.

Without thinking, but simply responding to the feelings in his heart, he laid his hand on her chest and shared his life’s essence with her. As she gasped at the power that filled her, she took a deep breath, opened her eyes and looked at him. For one so young, her eyes conveyed a deeper understanding. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

“Shh, Zoqa. You’re safe now,” he whispered as he held her to him. As he transformed into his human form, he held her close and slowly made his way through the destruction of her home. Stepping over the debris carefully, he noticed a stuffed rag doll bunny in the rubble on the floor. Bending down and picking it up, he shook it free of dust and handed it to her. As she hugged the bunny to her chest, her sweet smile made him feel something strange that was only further strengthened by her placing a kiss on his cheek.

Suddenly a bright light filled the room as Mordecai reappeared causing the child to scream in fear and hold onto Damian tightly. Instead of Mordecai, the man that appeared was Darius, Mordecai’s twin brother. Damian watched as Darius immediately went to Nira and cried out in pain, “Oh Nira! NO!” Holding her body to his chest he looked up with hatred at Damian as he demanded, “Why did you do this?”

“I didn’t. Why would I attack Nira and Mikael? I was honor-bound to them. You know this. This was the work of Mordecai,” Damian spat angrily. “Besides, why else would Theanna react to you as she is?” He continued to hold the terrified child protectively in his arms, her face buried in his neck.

“Give my granddaughter to me, Daemoni,” Darius ordered, his attention now on the little girl as he stood up and approached them.

“No! Not until she’s safe and you’ve finally dealt with Mordecai. He wants Theanna’s power for his own. He nearly killed her for it. I warned you that you needed to deal with him but you didn't listen.”

“You can't protect her either. You know that she isn't safe in your realm, her soul is too pure,” Darius growled.

“She’ll be protected while she’s there. Galena has the ability to protect her with her powers for a short while. She’ll remain with me until Mordecai has been dealt with. She is the safest there. The whole of Ikisat will protect her,” Damian stated as if it were a simple statement of fact. “Once he’s been dealt with then she can come live with you, but not until Mordecai is no longer a threat.”

Realizing Theanna was shaking and hiding her face in Damian’s neck, Darius dropped his arms and looked at her sadly. “She believes me to be Mordecai.”

“She does.”

With a nod, Darius turned and returned to where Nira and Mikael laid on the ground. “Keep her safe, Daemoni, OR ELSE.” Laying a hand on Nira and Mikael’s bodies he vanished with them.

“Come, Zoqa,” Damian said as returned to his home with Theanna. Travelling between realms was second nature to him. He simply left one realm and arrived in another in the blink of an eye. He looked forward to when he could explain it to Theanna and even teach her how to do it.