Page 90 of Cultivating Caden
No, this wasn’t going to happen.
Slowly, painfully, Quade put one foot in front of the other.
“It’s good to see that you’ve gotten stronger. I was afraid that you’d be the same screaming brat that cried when I helped myself to Marissa.”
Quade hadn’t been that boy in a thousand lifetimes, and it was high time this bastard learned it. He continued to move, until the demon grinned.
“By the way, I suppose I should tell you. Your… mate—” The words were said with such revulsion. “—and that freak kid of yours? They’re here, looking for you.”
The words he said caused Quade to falter.No. They couldn’t. Even if there was a way, they knew better than to follow.
“You’re lying.”
That half smile again. “Am I? Look at the tree. See how the portal has opened?
In the trunk, a swirling vortex of energy cascaded outward, as if searching for something. Or someone.
“As soon as they set foot on this planet, the tree reached out to Caden. It’s calling him home. The two will merge into one, and it will use Caden’s life force to save itself. That will be the tree’s weakest moment. That’s when I will cut them both down. You’re going to lose everything you care about in a matter of moments.”
“You’ll destroy yourself.”
“No, I won’t. With the death of the tree, a vacuum will open, desperate to be filled. I will sacrifice a thousand—ten thousand—demons. They’ll fly into the portal, and their energies will be absorbed. The tree will be reborn anew, free from the need to have a sprite. Its energies will be malleable, and I intend to be the one to wield them.”
“What about your demon lord? Surely he has something to say about it.”
The demon scoffed. “I ruled for over a hundred years. It wasn’t stupidity that got me where I was. I know how to manipulate people into doing what I want. The men on motorcycles? Whisper in their ears, telling them of a place where they can satisfy their urges. It was what was needed to start Caden on the path I’d chosen. As soon as he was with you, I sent the skin-walker. It was with the express intention of pushing the two of you closer together. I needed you with him, so that you’d bear witness to my moment of triumph.”
So he’d orchestrated Caden’s need to protect himself, which resulted in the death of the men who’d hurt him? The demon was the one responsible for the death of the clerk at the gas station?
“You can’t win.”
The already-ugly features twisted into a snarl as the demon stalked to Quade, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him in the air. “Seeing you like this? I’ve already won. You left me to suffer eternal torment! You don’t know what it was like. The beatings. The torture. Every day was an eternity, and with every breath I took, I cursed your name.” He leaned in and sniffed Quade. “You were my brother.”
Anger surged through Quade. He was surprised to find his hand had morphed into a claw, but not so shocked that he wasn’t prepared to use it. He lashed out, catching the demon across the face. It threw Quade down and howled its rage.
“I am going to fucking gut you. Every day, like I was, until I found the strength to win. You’re going to watch as demons—mydemons—lay waste to your world. Everything you hold precious will die screaming.” It twisted its head to the side and smiled. “Starting now.”
Quade snapped his head in the direction the demon was looking. It had told the truth. Ten and Caden were here. They were being marched in by smaller demons, who didn’t seem overly concerned whether they were hurting Quade’s family. He snarled and made to leap at them, but the demon grabbed Quade by the back of the head and threw him to the ground.
“You’ll go nowhere. I’ve waited untold millennia to see this, and I won’t have you interfering. It’s time we see about remaking reality itself!” He turned to the group that was keeping Caden and Ten. “Hold this one. If he escapes, it’ll be your lives.”
The demons swarmed over Quade, burying him beneath their fetid bodies. Their claws sliced through his skin, and the blood oozed down his sides. None of that mattered, though. The big demon reached for Ten, who drew away, obviously knowing it for what it was. When Quade saw the look of revulsion on his son’s… face… his struggles increased. He had to get to his family, if for no other reason than to find out what Ten had done this time.
