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“Does this have any significance?”
    Sighing, she gave him a pained glare. “Not to anyone other than all sentient life forms on this planet … Never thought I’d envy a cockroach.”
    Zavid rose slowly to his feet and went into a predator’s crouch. He turned a small circle in the room. “Do you feel that?”
    Both she and Caleb nodded. There was no mistaking it. The very air grew heavy, thick. Like the hottest summer on the sun. Thunder clapped so hard, it shook the building and rattled the windows an instant before a heavy blood rain poured down outside, drenching the sidewalks with red water that ran like blood through the street. The winds outside howled with the sound of a dragon’s cry.
    “Well,” Caleb said slowly. “We can look on the bright side.”
    She couldn’t wait to hear this. “And that is?”
    “Modern man will think it’s from a meteorite or some other natural phenomenon. At least no one will be screaming and running for the mountains.”
    “Yeah, but they should.”
    Zavid scowled at them. “What do you two know that I don’t?”
    Kody glanced to the unconscious Nick before she answered. “Ever heard the term ‘u š umgallu’?”
    “The great snake? Yeah? What about it?”
    “The door on its prison is now open for business and they’re being summoned together.” Caleb jerked his chin toward the window. “That piercing screech torturing us? That’s the sound of the Š arru-Dara.” That was one of the seven demon generals who made up the u š umgallu. Each one was deadly on his own, but when the seven came together, they were invincible.
    Not even the gods could stop them.
    “The Blood King?” Zavid laughed nervously. “That’s not possible. Only the Malachai can summon together the u š umgallu and unleash his generals to attack.”
    “Yeah, I know,” Caleb said, his voice laden with sarcasm. “But Nick’s father was killed in battle last night. Whenever the elder Malachai dies, his generals are summoned together from their prisons for one task … to end the world.”
    “What?” Zavid breathed in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
    Kody gave a subtle nod. “After the death of his wife and unborn child, the first Malachai arranged this as the final ‘up yours’ to the gods to ensure that if they broke their word and killed him, he’d take the world with him. Only his son, a full-fledged Malachai, can command the combined forces of the u š umgallu and send them back into their holes.”
    Zavid went pale. “And if we don’t have a Malachai to stop them?”
    Kody rubbed her hand over her face as she contemplated that nightmare. “The six demon generals will join forces and summon together their armies. Then they will cast down all the orders of this earth and rain hell itself upon all sentient beings for eternity. And no one, not even the gods, will be able to stop them.”
    Caleb flashed a taunting grin at the Hel Hound. “Doesn’t it make you all warm and fuzzy? Just think what they’re going to do to us for fun and prizes.”
    Zavid cursed under his breath. “We have to find the real Nick and stop this.” He looked at Kody. “How long do we have?”
    “Till the new moon … roughly three days. At that time, the u š umgallu will unite and come into their own.”
    Caleb let out a sound of disgust. “Even if we unbind Nick’s powers, there’s no way he can learn to control them in seventy-two hours.”
    Kody refused to be daunted. She’d faced much worse odds … of course, she hadn’t really survived those, but still … They had no choice except to succeed. “Then we have to stop them before they’re freed and can summon their armies.”
    “Where do we start?” Zavid asked.
    “Absolutely no clue.” Kody glanced over at the unconscious Nick on the floor before she met Caleb’s gaze. “Did you happen to find out anything useful from our new friend before Cujo blasted him?”
    “He’s from 2002 and as near as I could ascertain, he lives