The Demon's Game (The Guardian Series Book 4)

by Rain Oxford

  “And I hate riots, so please don’t test that hypothesis,” I said. I could feel Mordon roll his eyes.

  “You think you won, but you have traitors among you, mortal,” the demon sneered.

  “You mean Nano? Nope, he was on my train the whole ride.” That caught her off guard and I knew I was correct.

  “Dylan, how did you…?” Nano trailed off.

  “It’s obvious,” I said. “Vivian has been crying and she and Nila are both covered in reddish dirt, while you’re clean as a whistle, but dressed in black. Ilea had a split second of relief on her face when she saw you, while Vivian had a mix of horror and heartache. I know you wouldn’t actually betray me, because that would mean betraying Vivian, who you love more than anyone. I also know it takes a lot to make Vivian cry. Therefore, it’s obvious that you’ve been playing the demons and haven’t been able to tell Vivian for her own sake.” They all stared at me, so I looked at Mordon. “Wasn’t that obvious?”

  He patted me on the shoulder. “Sure it was, buddy.”

  “Your offer for mercy… that extends to me, too, right?” Ilea asked slowly. I could see it behind her eyes that she was looking for a way to manipulate the situation to her advantage.

  Mordon opened his mouth and I patted his hand to stop him. “If you promise not to harm anyone, you will be welcome here for as long as you keep that promise. That includes forcing others to do your bidding.”

  She smiled brightly, but I knew that particular smile from dealing with Emiko. “Then I surrender. And I offer you a gift. Since these two so readily pledged themselves to you, I think it’s only fair to make up for destroying Janus. You two, kneel before Dylan,” she barked at the red and blue haired demons. As if acting instinctively, both demons came forward and knelt on the ground as ordered. “Choose the next guardian of the void. Whoever you don’t choose will be killed immediately.”

  “They have both already been freed,” I explained to the stubborn demon.

  “We choose to serve you, Dylan. We prefer balance to mercy and for your pardon, we wish to make it up to you,” the blue-headed demon said.

  His brother looked suspicious. “But we’re not going to be your pets.”

  “Why would you choose to be guardians of the void when you were just freed from it a few minutes ago?”

  “Until Janus is found, someone must guard the barriers in his stead. Without him, there will be nothing left here.”

  “Zeb, are either of these demons powerful enough to control the others?” I asked.

  “No, master. Ilea would have either one chasing his tail in no time flat. It is her intention to make you think you are in charge while she acts behind your back.”

  “What about them together?”

  He considered it. “That would be possible.”

  “You can only choose one,” Ilea snarled.

  “Master, I believe she’s forgotten who she is talking to. Would you like me to silence her?”

  “No need,” Divina said, but it was Ron who stepped forward.

  My nine-year-old’s eyes had changed from their bright green to an eerie milky green color and his expression was cold. “Demon, by making peace with Dylan specifically for you own gain, you have threatened the balance.”

  “How have I threatened the balance?”

  “You seek to rule the realm with Dylan’s magic. There are many paths ahead where you could betray the balance. I cannot let this pass.”

  I tried to stop my son, but the bracelet sparked against my skin and my magic failed to respond. White light shot from Ron’s hand and Ilea burst into ash. Apparently, she hadn’t inhabited a body like the other Ancients preferred to.

  Then Ron turned to me and there was no recognition in his eyes. Hail and Mordon both tried to force themselves between me and Ron, but I pushed them away. Although Hail was clearly talking to Ron through their bond, Ron wasn’t having it. Divina put a shield over me, which I knew wouldn’t hold up against the balance.

  Mordon pushed me away and I actually lost my balance, but Ghidorah caught me. God, the guy was huge. When Ron raised his hand to me, Hail wrapped his arms around Ron from behind. Ron hesitated and his eyes started to change back to their darker color.

  Suddenly, Ron shook his head and collapsed in Hail’s arms. Ghidorah let me go, but as he tried to steady me, his hand closed on the bracelet… and pulled. The metal cuff snapped off easily and I just stared in shock as it hit the ground.

  I was so stupid. Ghidorah’s judgments were acts of the balance. Ghidorah was, if anything, a servant of the balance; he could have taken it off at any time.

  The rest of the demons either returned to the void or waited patiently to pledge not to harm anyone. “Zeb, take care of them,” I said. Realizing the danger was over and we had won, the gods began returning the people to their own worlds. I wanted to thank them, but they seemed to be in a hurry and I was more worried about Edward.

  “You need to know the names of your two new demons,” Xul said. “If they are going to keep the demons of the void in line, they will need your support and guidance. They are both young and need training. They could also do with a secondary name, like how I go by Zeb.”

  “I will support them, but I have someone else in mind to train them.”

  “Hello, son.”

  I turned to see my father, who was nearly identical to Edward. Every time I saw him was bittersweet, because I knew he was dead and lost to me. “Hi,” I said weakly. He hugged me and I couldn’t get my arms to move to hug him back. Mordon stepped behind my father.

  “You’re doing it wrong,” he whispered and took my arms to forcefully wrap them around Ronez.

  We both laughed and separated. “Do you think you can train these two to take Janus’s place? Is Janus really even dead?” I asked.

  “I don’t think Janus is dead, but he certainly is missing, and the void needs a warden. I can shape these two up, but your demon is right; you need to know their names. Without it, if they get out of line, you cannot do much.”

  I looked at the two demons who were both still kneeling in the dirt. A word whispered across my mind, as foreign as the Enochian language, and the blue-haired demon raised his eyes. I nodded that I heard him. His brother met my eyes and another word appeared in my head. Both of the demons were skittish, but they were honorable according to their customs.

  “Do either of you have nicknames to call you by in order to hide your real name?” They shook their heads. To the blue-haired demon, I said, “I will nickname you Blue Jay to keep your true name a secret.” His red-headed brother looked nervous. “Your nickname is Phoenix.” I stepped back. “Now both of you get up.”

  All of the gods except for my wife had vanished and taken all the people with them except for Ronez. The only people left were my father, Ghidorah, the boys, Mordon, Xul, Divina, and the demons.

  “I’m going to check on Edward. I’m sure he just lost track of time with Meri, but he should have come when the Guardian distress signal went off.”

  “Dylan, one of those demons is untrustworthy,” Mordon warned me.

  Xul had reduced Ilea’s pack to a group of ten demons who were willing to swear not to harm anyone. Those who wanted to continue Ilea’s work were sent back to the void. While I figured there would be some problems with betrayal among them, I didn’t think we’d have one so quickly.

  Grateful to have my magic back, I sent my energy out over the remaining demons. The energy came back to me with a sort of image. Most of the demons weren’t all that different from people. One of them, however, was as least ten times more powerful than the others, and he had nothing but greed and disdain for humanity.

  He grinned at me, knowing full well that I had discovered him. “You have enslaved one of us and killed another, but you cannot defeat us,” the demon said. He looked very similar to Xul, but he was a little taller, cleaner, and had a few more pounds of muscle. The others backed away, probably as much afraid of being associated with him as being caught i
n the cross fires.

  “Do I know you? I know you.”

  “I looked a little more familiar the last time you saw me.”

  “I thought Regivus killed you,” I said. This was the demon who got around Xul, who’s easy defeat bothered me.

  He scoffed. “The Iadnah mildly broke my grip on the universe. I was not destroyed, only sent back. It was really just annoying.”

  “I prefer friends to enemies,” I said. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “But it’s so much fun. You are known to strike fear in all demons. When I destroy you, there will be no doubt who is more powerful. Then there will be nobody standing in my way.”

  “There are twelve gods, nine Guardians, my sons, the most powerful dragon alive, and my demon standing in your way.”

  He smirked. “All I have to do is defeat you and they will fall. Even the gods could never overthrow us.”

  “But you can’t defeat me today. So run, demon, and have more than words to back up your threat the next time you face me.”

  He held up his hand as if to attack, but it was a distraction. Mordon growled and I turned to see another Ancient attack him. This was another female with long black hair and dark brown eyes. She moved far faster than a human and had the dragon on the ground, pinned in a split second. An energy shield went up around them, she pressed her palm to his heart, and a black glow emanated from her fingers.

  Sydney tried to attack the female Ancient, but Xul held the dragoness back. As hard as she fought his hold, she wasn’t a match for the demon.

  Mordon’s eyes, claws, and teeth shifted. He reached up to claw his opponent and ended up convulsing in pain. She looked at me, grinning. “I can stop his heart before you can twitch.”

  Mordon’s skin started to darken. “No! Don’t shift!” I yelled. “What do you want?” I asked her. Fortunately, my brother listened to me.

  “We’ll take your book,” the male Ancient said.

  “Why? What good does it do you when you can get here from the void?”

  “The minor demons are our servants. If their names are in the book, there will be nothing in this universe to keep them in the void except for us. Also, if they fail to accomplish what we want, we can hold it over you.”

  “So that if I don’t do as you say, you’ll destroy Earth.”

  “Of course. However, if you don’t hand over the book now, we’ll kill Mordon, and your death will be imminent.”

  “Dylan, you cannot give up the book,” Divina said.

  Her next words were drowned out as Mordon shouted again in agony. Pain started seeping through our bond when a wall suddenly went up between us. Mordon was trying to protect me from his pain. The Ancient pressed her palm harder against his chest.

  I opened the flap on my bag and reached into it for my book, which tingled and pulsed with power as I pulled it out. The male Ancient gestured to the female and the glow faded. Mordon panted hard.

  “Swear that if I give you this, you will never endanger Mordon. None of you will. If you do, you will never see the outside of the void for the rest of eternity.”

  He grinned. “You have my word that your dragon will not be harmed by my hand.”

  “That is not a binding oath,” Xul warned me. “He will betray you.”

  The Ancient grinned wider. “Believe me or not. However, if you refuse to give us that book, we will kill the dragon now.”

  Sydney fought harder against Xul, but it was in vain. I held the book out and it shot from my hand to the Ancient’s. His sneer made me nauseous.

  “You really are not as powerful as we were told. I am almost disappointed.” The enthusiasm in his eyes told me this wasn’t over. He vanished, but in his place appeared Rilryn.

  “How could you give him the book?!” Divina screamed at me.

  I ignored her and helped Mordon up. Once standing, he punched me in the shoulder. “Why the hell did you do that?” he asked me, angry but still weak from the Ancient’s attack. “We need to go after him and get it back.”

  “You are more important than that book. Just trust me.”

  “What are you doing here?!” Xul yelled at Rilryn.

  I was hoping for one tiny bit of good news on this lousy day, but the Guardian looked haggard. “Rilryn, are you okay? Did you get the weapon?”

  “I did, but it was stolen from me. I think I was followed.”

  “Dylan, he is the one who has betrayed the gods!” Xul exclaimed.

  The confusion on the Guardian’s face told another story. This was my father’s friend; I could trust him.

  “I don’t understand. I never betrayed the gods. Who are you?”

  “Ry? What happened?” my father asked.

  The Guardian’s brain caught up with his eyes and he stumbled back a step. “You died.”

  At that moment, at the absolute height of confusion, the last thing we needed was anyone else appearing. Out of everyone I could have expected to join us, the last was Rasik. Since Azenoth had retired his first two Guardians, Rasik was much younger than the others and had his share of ditsy moments. The cruel grin he gave me was out of character, but so was the staff he held.

  I knew little about staffs. The only one I knew of was extremely powerful and had a crystal on the top. This staff was the same in most ways to the mage’s staff, nearly as tall as Rasik, but on the end was a scarab made of lapis lazuli. I knew enough about Egyptian mythology to realize that this would not end well.

  When it suddenly dawned on me how it couldn’t have been anyone else, I wanted to smack myself. Why did I always have to be too late? Rasik wasn’t at Edward’s cabin when we were spied on, and when he explained that he was intercepted by Azenoth, I never bothered to confirm it with the god.

  He raised the staff at my brother and I had no time to think. I pushed him out of the way, towards Divina, and put a shield over both of them. I knew it was the Guardian’s intention; I knew I was the real target.

  I felt the oddest heating sensation and then nothing.

  Chapter 17

  Hail

  I felt the power of the staff before the Guardian could use it. At that moment, the only thing that mattered was protecting Ron so, using his own magic, I created a shield around him. The Guardian was very quick, however, and light shot from the stone on top before my dad could do anything to defend himself.

  He didn’t collapse like I expected, so I hoped that he was fine. Rilryn and Ghidorah both started to attack Rasik, but the traitor waved his hand back and they both dropped, unconscious. The shield Dad put over Mordon and Mom disintegrated.

  “Dylan…” Mordon groaned as he started to collapse. Mom caught him.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” Mom asked.

  “I don’t know.” Mordon held up his hand, forming a ball of fire, but the fire instantly turned to ice. He dropped the orb and it hit the ground, spreading frost over the grass that only stopped a few inches from my feet.

  All of the demons who had surrendered as well as Xul knelt and bowed. For a few seconds, I thought it was just creepy, until Ron knelt, too. His eyes were the same milky-green they were when the balance was in control.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Can’t you feel it?” He was breathless, dazed, and I was trying not to panic.

  “Ron, stand up.” There was no acknowledgment. I grabbed his arm and pulled him up, but he wouldn’t stand on his own. Dad turned to us and a chill ran up my spine. He grinned, cruelly, like I had never seen from him before and I knew it wasn’t my father.

  Only when he turned to Rasik did I feel like I could breathe again.

  “You are the one who woke me,” the being that possessed my father said. Rasik nodded, still holding the staff in front of himself like a weapon. “Why?”

  “I have enough power to defeat the gods, but not the balance. I knew with your help, I could conquer---”

  Dad waved his hand in a nonchalant gesture and Rasik convulsed. What looked like his shadow, a dark copy of hi
s figure, was torn from him. He screamed until the dark shape was detached, and then he dropped dead.

  “Not interested,” my father said in a bored tone. The shade-copy burst into ash.

  “What are you?” Mom asked, shaking.

  The aura of this being inside my father was powerful, and grew more so with every moment. Every instinct I had screamed at me to get Ron and run. Since I was always willing to start a fight to protect my brother, the flight instinct was foreign to me.

  “I am far more powerful than you. Now, bow.”

  “Get out of my husband.”

  He laughed. “You know nothing, you pathetic little child.”

  “I am Iadnah!”

  “And I can crush you into dust before you can blink. You can feel my power.”

  “Are you an Ancient?”

  “I am far more powerful than those worthless creatures.” Mordon, of all people, tried to strike Dylan with lightning, but Dylan just waved his hand and it vanished. “You can die first.” In his palm formed a sphere of bright white energy, which he aimed at Mordon. Just as the magic reached the dragon, it was repelled as if by an invisible wave and then dispersed. The being possessing my father was clearly startled. “What is this magic? There is nothing in this universe more powerful than me.”

  “I am Dylan’s balance. You cannot hurt me in Dylan’s body.”

  “I am more powerful than the balance of this pathetic universe.”

  “There is nothing in this universe more powerful than the balance.”

  “Then why does this child bow before me?” he asked, indicating Ron, who was still trying to kneel. He held out his hand like he had done to Rasik and Mordon yelled in pain. The shadow of Mordon emerged, just an inch from his body, before Mom shoved him away. He hit the ground, too injured to rise, but alive. Mom, on the other hand, was now the target.

  My father wasn’t stopping. This was my family, and though I knew it wasn’t my father in control, I couldn’t have stopped my actions. I left Ron’s side and wrapped my arms around Dylan’s waist. “Please, Daddy, don’t hurt Mom!”