Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Surely, he would feel something if Nelson was dead. Nox kept telling himself that he would know.
Smoak, on the other hand, had nothing to report after returning from another scouting mission. “I’ve questioned everyone I could find and no one has seen or heard a thing.”
“How is that possible?” Nox shouted as he spun and looked around the study. His friends stared back at him with raw, blurry, worried eyes—their fears as vibrant as his.
“I’m sorry,” Smoak said softly, bowing his head from his spot in the corner. “I’ve ordered my children to search any place that’s ever been tied to Dùbhghlas but he’s…vanished and taken his entire operation with him.”
Nox hurled the book he was holding over Merlin’s head and through the study doors, sending it spinning into the foyer.
“You’re sorry!” he screamed at Smoak and scowled at Merlin and Clancy and then at everyone else.
After two days, he was tired of hearing their apologies.
“Tell that to Nelson! He’s hurt and alone but I’m sure he’d feel better knowing you’re all so sorry! ”
“Outside!” Smoak bellowed, streaking across the room and slamming Nox into the terrace doors, throwing them open and sending him tripping down the steps.
The doors slammed behind Smoak as he advanced on Nox, his nostrils flaring and his eyes glowing menacingly.
“You will never speak to me like that again. And fuck you for talking to them like that!” he hissed angrily and pointed at the study.
“They are here because they love you and you needed them, not because they fear you or owe you a goddamn thing. They’re giving you everything they can—as am I—and that is all you can ask of us. ”
“I know!” Nox punched at the air, furious with himself, Dùbhghlas, and the nightmare they were trapped in.
“I know that!” he whispered and cried as he jabbed at his temple.
“But the god that you keep telling me to listen to wants to punish everyone and now, it wants to see everything burn! I’m fighting that every moment I’m conscious and I’m trying to be the leader everyone expects me to be and at the same time, I’m scared, Smoak.
I’ve never been this scared and I spent most of my life thinking I was going to be eaten by the Dagda. ”
Smoak cringed appreciatively. “I understand but you need to get your shit together. Fast. Dùbhghlas has your throne!” he said urgently.
“I’m not worried that Nelson will give him anything useful—he’s too smart and too devoted to you.
I’m worried about what Dùbhghlas could do with Nelson.
We both know how much magick a man can absorb if he’s exposed to a god or a demon and Nelson has that pure and mighty soul…
That valkyrie will be drawn to it like a moth to a flame. ”
“With Nelson,” Nox echoed weakly, shaking his head.
“He’s too strong but I’ll lose my mind if something like that happens to Nelson.
” He had assumed that Dùbhghlas took Nelson to hurt and weaken him.
He was so scared of losing Nelson and the mortal life they were building together that he hadn’t considered what Dùbhghlas might do with Nelson, given his fondness for necromancy.
“I’d lose him forever!” Nelson would be damned for all of eternity and would never make it to Mag Mel1 if he gave up his soul.
“Would you get a grip!” Smoak gave Nox’s cheek a swift slap. “You know what boring-ass Nelson isn’t doing right now?” he asked and Nox shook his head. “He isn’t feeling sorry for himself or giving up. He’s learning, he’s planning, and he’s waiting to make a move. Let’s not leave him hanging.”
“I appreciate that you’re trying to help but you’ve given me more to worry about.
Thanks for caring, though.” Nox smiled as he reached for Smoak’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
A wave of queasy uneasiness hit Nox and Smoak brushed his hand away, shuddering.
“Oof! Not pleasant,” Nox noted and took a step back.
“Because this is unnatural.” Smoak gestured between them. “We should be fighting but we’d rather play house and pretend we’re buddies. Feelings fuck up everything, I tell you.”
“I didn’t realize demons had feelings.”
Smoak narrowed his eyes at Nox. “Not me. I was referring to you. You’re soft and it’s fucking everything up for the rest of us. I’m just…taking a break and enjoying my time with Niall. I’ve been at this for a millennia, you know?”
“A break? Is that what’s going on with you and Niall?” Nox chewed on his lip and hummed suspiciously. “Does Niall know this is just a break?”
“It’s none of your business,” Smoak snapped.
“I think it’s a lot more than that and there’s something going on here, too,” Nox said as he waved between them. “We could be besties.”
Smoak set Nox away from him. “You’ve taken this from unnatural to fucking ridiculous. That’s not happening.”
“We’ll see.”
“Get back in the house and apologize to your friends,” Smoak said, pointing at the study.
“Right.” Nox tapped his brow, then jogged up the steps. He paused at the door. “Thanks, Smoak. I appreciate the kick in the pants and I honestly wouldn’t mind if we were true friends, not just allies because Niall made you.”
“I would mind,” Smoak replied with a shrug. “On your way.” He shooed Nox along but was smirking as he followed him inside.
The twins were seated on the sofa with Everly and Fletcher, and Niall was with Tighe, Howard, and Merlin by the poetry books. Shelby, Fletcher, and Clancy had gathered by the decanters and turned when Nox cleared his throat.
“I’m so sorry, everyone. There’s a war going on inside of me between a god and a scared, stupid kid and I am not handling it well.
I took it out on you and that wasn’t fair.
You’ve all done so much and I am deeply grateful for your friendship.
I wouldn’t have been able to hold it together if you weren’t here. ”
“It’s cool,” Bryn said and raised his tumbler. “You’re dealing with a lot and you’re in a lot of pain. Me or Arawn would have snapped you out of it if Smoak didn’t.”
“I’m glad it was Smoak, then,” Nox replied with a nod at Smoak.
Their chat had given him a reason to hunt harder but Smoak had picked a terrifying incentive.
“He was onto something out there, though. WWND?” he asked, only to receive several blank stares and a few groans so Nox continued.
“What would Nelson do if he was out of fresh leads or hit a dead end? He’d go back to the beginning. ”
Everly raised his hand hesitantly. “To Coudersport?” he guessed and Nox cheered.
“Exactly. He’d set aside the questions we can’t answer and take a fresh look at what we do know. And we learned a lot at Coudersport.”
“We did, indeed.” Merlin turned to his boards. “We know he could have as many as eighteen more Fomorians and he has a valkyrie, among other undead things… There aren’t a lot of places you can hide with that kind of company and they couldn’t have gone that far without being seen.”
“It’s not like they can board a flight to Fiji,” Clancy said, resulting in snorts and other suggestions for destinations.
“Wherever they are, it smells like hell,” Nox predicted. “So someplace big and probably in the country and isolated. What else? No idea is too silly or too small to mention.”
His mood hadn’t necessarily lifted but he was glad that Smoak had pulled him back from the brink. It was getting harder to ignore the irate god and the temptation to wield the very powers he feared.
Smoak wouldn’t have known that Nox’s panic began to mount as the sun went down. But he had focused that panic into something more constructive, thankfully, and given Nox a reprieve for the night when Merlin came over with a cup of tea.
“I thought you could use this, but what if I put on a pot of coffee and we pulled an all-nighter?”
“That sounds like a brilliant idea,” Nox said gratefully.
“I thought so,” Merlin said as he smoothed a hand over his bald head. “Let’s get takeout too. You barely ate dinner and that Thai place you like is open late.”
“Even better.” Nox’s appetite was nowhere to be found but he could never say no to a big bowl of Tom Kha Gai with extra mushrooms. The soup might lift his spirits and he’d have something useful to do instead of dwelling on things he shouldn’t with no one but the cats for company.
Clancy excused himself from the conversation by the decanters and hurried over to join Nox and Merlin.
“Shelby had an interesting idea: we should put the word out to the Parks Service and the ISB. They have eyes and ears all over the wilder parts of the East Coast. He said that Tighe could check with the hiking community too. Apparently, it’s tight-knit and they keep a close eye on what’s going on along the Appalachian Trail. ”
“That’s really smart!” Nox said, looking around Clancy and giving Shelby a thumbs up but he waved it off.
“He said it was all Nelson,” Clancy whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“That was how they located Tighe’s brother, Eoin2.
Nelson and Shelby worked together and coordinated their sources and the various field offices.
I’m retired but I still have friends all over the FBI,” he added and Nox wasn’t faking it when he pumped his fist and cheered.
“We should hear something in no time! It only took a few hours to learn Tighe’s name once we put out that sketch.”
“Possibly…” Clancy said cautiously. “Tighe and Eoin weren’t hiding and Dùbhghlas would only move at night. If he’s smart, and we know he is. He ambushed you at Coudersport because it’s isolated and he knew no one would notice if a really big fight broke out.”
“I know but we haven’t had a lot of good news lately and Smoak just hit me with a sledgehammer. That wasn’t a gentle pep talk out there,” he told them.
“What did he say?” Clancy asked and Nox widened his eyes suggestively.
“He reminded me that the worst case scenario isn’t Nelson dying, it’s him undying.”
Merlin stifled a whimper and nodded. “It crossed my mind but I refused to even think about that,” he admitted in a whisper.
“If anyone can outwit and outlast Dùbhghlas, it’s Nelson,” Clancy said, then forced out a heavy sigh. “How much can a man take? And against a powerful demon, Fomorians, and an undead valkyrie,” he said and mouthed an apology at Nox.
“All the more reason to stay focused and work as fast as we can to find him. That was the other part of Smoak’s not so motivational DeadTalk,” Nox informed them.
“Fuck me…” Clancy groaned and rubbed his brow. “You know times are dark when you’re agreeing with a demon.”
There was a serious hum from Merlin. “I know, I find myself agreeing with him and appreciating his contributions and don’t like it. Not one bit.”
Nox smiled as he watched Smoak fawn over Niall with the teapot. “I do. There might even be a chance that we could become friends.”
“A demon and a demigod?” Merlin scoffed. “What’s next? A snake and a mouse? A rabbit and a wolf?”
“Am I the cute helpless thing or the thing with fangs?” Nox asked, not liking the implication that he was helpless. “I could take Smoak.”
They heard a booming laugh from the study but ignored it. “I don’t doubt it,” Clancy said loudly, then shook his head. “Be friends with him if you like but never forget what he is.”
“Agreed,” Merlin said quietly. “He is only loyal to himself and Niall.”
Nox’s head tipped from side to side as he considered. “That’s fine by me and it seems to be working in our favor, but I still think he’s coming around.”
Not only that, he was starting to believe their friendship wasn’t as impossible as everyone made it out to be.
And like his relationship with Nelson, Nox suspected that he was always meant to meet Smoak and that their destinies were intertwined.
He couldn’t imagine anything that would repulse Smoak more and smiled as he imagined sharing his theory.
He also thought of Nelson and this time, his smile spread.
“I can’t wait to tell Nelson about this. He’s going to be horrified.”