And in that one heartbeat when his anger and hatred were at their highest point, when all he wanted was vengeance and blood, he let it go and released all that negativity from his body and heart.

There was no need in holding on to it now at the very end of his life. Not when he had so many regrets that saddened him and made him wish he’d spent his finite time more productively.

And with the people who’d mattered most to him.

The biggest regret inside his heart was his inability to save his mother and Caleb.

Not being with Kody, during these final precious minutes.

Yet there was one last regret he could take care of before he died. While it wouldn’t render aid to those closest to him, it would to one who had helped them all in the past.

At least he hoped it would. And if he could help one last person before he died, then he could go in peace.

His eyesight blurring and fading, he pulled out his grimoire. It and the dagger Livia had stolen were two of the most powerful tools a Malachai had, and the two he’d first mastered. Sort of. No one ever really mastered the grimoire since it was possessed by an ancient yōkai—a mischievous eastern oracle spirit that had been trapped by his father and tricked into the book. The only way to communicate with her was to offer Nashira a blood sacrifice.

Blood has power and yours has more than most. Make sure you guard it and bleed as little as possible. Caleb’s words of warning went through his head.

A little late since he was now bleeding all over the place. It saturated his ugly Hawaiian shirt and the ground around him. And it covered the necravitacon where his father had trapped her centuries ago.

“Nashira,” Nick gasped weakly, hoping this worked and that he could free her before he died, “hear me and step forward. Not in words, this time, but in your woman’s form. The time has come for you to be restored. A favor to a favor. A Malachai once took you from this world, now the time … has come … for a Malachai to return you.” He held the book to his chest and prayed for it to work.

The air whipped around him, like a violent hurricane. Strong and furious. It drove the crows back as a cloud of dark purple smoke rolled out of the grimoire. It rose up into a column by Nick and Aeron’s side.

A pair of perfect lavender eyes formed to stare incredulously at him. The smoke turned into tendrils of long white hair that was fastened with purple flowers bound in flowering ribbons. Then, ever so slowly, the smoke solidified into the rest of her body.