Illusion

CHAPTER 4

Nick came awake to the sight of Amanda and Tabitha standing over him. His cheeks stung as if someone, probably Tabitha, had slapped him a few times in an attempt to revive him.

Amanda let out a relieved breath.

Tabitha snorted. “We’re in luck, T. He’s not dead … yet. We didn’t kill him. Hallelujah! We don’t have to call the lawyers or hide another body.”

Another?

Scared of that thought, Nick scowled at the familiar raven-haired Goth queen who was decked out in black leather pants and a black bell-sleeved shirt. This was what he knew. Thank God, he was home. “What’d you do, Tabitha? Run me over again?”

She duplicated his frown. “When did I run over you the first time?”

Selena slapped at her arm. “I told you, Tab. He’s from an alternate place where he knew you.”

Nick winced at Selena’s disgruntled voice. Dang, it hadn’t been a dream, after all. He was really here.

With them.

Worse? They’d multiplied. There was now a total of five Devereaux sisters. Tabitha, Amanda, Tiyana, and Selena he knew. The other one he’d seen in a picture pinned by the register in the store.

“I’m Tiyana,” the one closest to him said.

He caught himself before he mentioned that they’d already met here in this store. But that had been in a different life, and in a different time. “And you?” he asked the other one, who was leaning against the counter, looking completely bored.

“Karma.”

“The woman who works with bulls?”

Karma snorted. “Yeah. And I’m the vengeful, mean one, too. You’d do well to remember that.”

“Duly noted.” Nick sat up slowly with Selena’s help. He felt weak and dizzy. Disoriented.

What had happened to him?

“Now that is wicked.”

He frowned at Tiyana, who was staring at him like a lab experiment that had just sprouted a new head from its belly button. “What?”

“Your aura. It’s…” She locked gazes with Selena. “He’s not crazy. What he told you is true. He doesn’t belong here. We have to get him back to his realm or something terrible will happen there and here.”

“I don’t know. He’s kind of cute. Can’t we keep him?”

“He’s not a puppy, Tabby.”

Tabitha smiled. “Maybe, but he’d look awesome in this spiked dog collar I have at home.”

Nick moved over to Amanda, who seemed to be the safest bet in this family of homicidal loons.

Amanda glanced at him over her shoulder. “For the record, if they attack, I’m throwing you at them and running for the door.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She shrugged. “How you think I’ve survived so long in this family?”

Tabitha cocked her head as she studied him with unsettling scrutiny. “So what are you, exactly?”

“How you mean?” Nick asked.

She approached him slowly until she had him pinned between her and Amanda. “You look human, but…” She took a lock of his hair between her fingers and studied it. “I know you’re not the undead. You’re blond, yet you’re not a Daimon. Demon, maybe?”

To his shock, Amanda leaned forward and smelled him.

Stepping away, Nick screwed his face up at her. “Hey! That’s gross.”

Amanda shook her head. “Can’t be demonspawn. He lacks their stench.”

“Yeah well, I did have my biweekly bath this morning.”

Amanda gave him a dry stare. “You still haven’t answered my sister’s question. What are you?”

“Mostly confused and, honestly? A lot scared.”

Karma laughed. “At least he’s not stupid.”

Shaking her head, Tiyana snorted. “Karma and Tabby, don’t bleed him until we know what we’re dealing with. His blood could be potent. ’Cause let’s face it. Things are only sent into alternate realities for one of two reasons.”

“To hide,” Amanda said.

Tabitha folded her arms over her chest as she eyed him with an unsettling intensity. “Or to be killed in a realm where they’re weak.”

Nick started to deny it. But like it or not, he was probably here to die and they were the closest things to protection he had, and while Tabitha was extreme, she could fight. “It’s definitely one of the two. And if I knew how I got here, I’d know which one was right.”

Karma pulled out a knife that was similar to Nick’s Malachai dagger. “You threaten my family, and I will end you.”

Tiyana pulled Karma’s hand back. “Don’t bleed him,” she repeated through gritted teeth. “Blood has power and we don’t know what blood he holds. Until we do, we need to keep him whole.”

Karma put her knife away.

Shaken and trying not to show it, Nick turned back toward Tabitha. “Do you stalk vampires and Daimons here, too?”

“Yeah. Your point?”

“The paranormal exists here in your world, like mine. Maybe we can find some of it to help me get back home.”

Tabitha looked past him to Karma. “Sounds like we should take him to your house.”

“Worth a try, I guess.” Karma turned her head to Tiyana. “Unless Her Supreme Majesty objects.”

Tiyana rolled her eyes. “You’re such a bitch.”

Unaffected by the insult, she smiled. “That’s Karma, baby.”

With a pain-filled groan, Tiyana headed to the register. “Take Tabby and Mandy with you in case there’s trouble. Selena, stay with me and we’ll search through our grims and see if we can find something about this.”

Nick thought he was safe until Amanda held her hand up and a knife came flying out from the counter to land in her palm. She tucked it into her back pocket.

Gaping, he was stunned.

“Telekinesis,” she explained nonchalantly as if that was an everyday thing.

Which, to him, it actually was.

“Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to have it myself. But where I come from you don’t believe in any of this.”

“Who says I believe here?”

He didn’t comment on that dichotomy as Amanda led him outside to her white Toyota. He got into the back while the twins took the front seat. Karma eyeballed him with blatant hostility through the window before she went to her red Honda Nighthawk and pulled on her helmet so that she could follow them.

After belting herself in, Tabitha turned around to pin him with an intense stare. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“I cut class.”

Amanda pulled away from the curb. “You shouldn’t do that.”

“I know, and I don’t normally, but extreme circumstances led me to the path of juvenile delinquency this morning. Besides, I didn’t even know what my classes were or where they were. I didn’t want to look like a complete idiot.” He didn’t mention the fact that he’d almost passed out at school like he did in their store.

Something was tugging at him and until he knew what, he didn’t want to be around innocent victims who wouldn’t know how to protect themselves from the paranormal should it appear and pick a fight. For that matter, he wasn’t sure if whatever it was was trying to pull him back to his realm or join him in this one.

“So what am I like in your world?”

He smiled at Tabitha’s question. “Very similar to here. But your hair is shorter and you wear tighter clothes.”

That seemed to please her. “And Mandy?”

“She doesn’t have any powers where I come from. At least none that any of you have talked about. She’s the normal to your eccentricity.”

She playfully hit Amanda on the arm. “I guess some things never change.”

Amanda glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “What about you? How do you know for sure that you’re not you?”

“For one thing, I’m a lot taller in my world. Have dark hair and my father’s dead.”

Tabitha gasped. “Triple Threat’s dead?”

Nick shook his head. “No. In my world, he’s a friend, not my dad. The man who fathered me is the one who died. Not Bubba.”

“Interesting.”

Nick didn’t miss the underlying note in Tabitha’s voice. “What is?”

“That he and you would be so different while we’re not.”

“Yeah, I know, right? I can’t figure that out. And people I know for a fact are demons in my world are regular humans here. Why is that?”

Instead of answering, Amanda sucked her breath in sharply. “That’s what you really are, aren’t you?”

“Yes, he is,” Tabitha said before he could even part his lips to speak. “You should have seen the dance his aura just did over that question.”

Nick gasped out loud as he was pinned to the seat with an invisible hand. “Hey! I’m not like that.”

“How do we know?” they asked simultaneously.

“Do I look evil?”

Tabitha narrowed her gaze on him. “Evil seldom looks it.”

“Yeah,” Nick choked out as the grip around his neck tightened, “but we all fight with you. And I work for a Dark-Hunter.”

Tabitha scowled. “What’s a Dark-Hunter?”

Of course she wouldn’t know that. He’d forgotten that unlike him, Tabitha wasn’t really part of their hidden world. “Immortal warriors who are owned by the goddess Artemis. They spend eternity fighting Daimons and anything that threatens the safety of this world … or my world, rather.”

“He could still be lying,” Amanda said to Tabitha.

She shook her head. “No. His aura says he’s not. I believe him. He has this whole innocent puppy look.”

Great. That was so the image he was going for. He might as well be dressed as a dork again.

Finally, Amanda released her death grip on him. Nick rubbed his neck, grateful he could breathe finally. Coughing, he straightened his clothes.

“So what’s it like to be a demon?” Tabitha asked.

“Like being human, except I have a lot of scary things who want to kill me and suck out my powers. Or worse, stick me in a cage so I can serve them.”

Tabitha snorted. “Sounds a lot like my life.”

“You think that’s why you were sent here?” Amanda asked as she turned a corner. “Something’s trying to capture or kill you?”

“No idea. We tried to bind my powers last night. I’m thinking maybe the spell we used might have backfired.”

Tabitha shook her head. “No. It takes something with serious juice to rip someone from their universe and put them in another. Definitely not a misfire or runaway spell. Had to be done intentionally.”

That did not make him feel better. Kind of like a nail through his shoe. And if it was done intentionally, where was the responsible party?

Nick looked around nervously.

Amanda pulled into the narrow, tiny driveway of a small white shotgun. They got out as Karma parked her bike on the street in front of the house. After dismounting, she took her helmet off and held it by the strap as she joined them then led the way to her front door.

After she unlocked it, Nick followed them inside. “So why exactly are we here?”

No sooner had he asked the question than a bowl went flying at his head. With reflexes honed by fighting the worst of the paranormal world that liked to ambush him, he ducked.

The bowl shattered against the wall.

Tabby gave him an impressed smile. “Nice reflexes.”

“Hey!” Karma shouted out in a hostile bark. “What have I told you about that? Until you learn to pay bills again, lay off my stuff!”

“Who’s she talking to?” he whispered to Tabitha.

“Henrietta, I think.”

He frowned. “Who?”

“An irritating ghost.” Karma set her keys down on the small table in the foyer before she placed her helmet on the coat tree. “She came with the house and we’ve been at war ever since she told me to get out.”

Nick arched a brow at her bravado. Had a ghost told him to hightail it, he’d vapor off so fast, all he’d leave behind was a blur. “Why don’t you?”

Karma looked at him as if he was the one who was insane for asking a logical question. “My house. I told her when she learns to pay the bills, I’ll move out. But I’m not taking a hit on the price just because she’s too lazy to pack her things and move on. And let’s face it, she has a lot less to pack.” Karma tilted her head back to speak to the ceiling. “Start with me, and I’ll break out the ghost torment equipment again. See how y’all like that, huh? I’ll knock down walls, move furniture, and I’ll start playing Bauhaus on all the speakers. I know what a big Peter Murphy fan you’re not.”

“Okay.” Nick took a step closer to the door.

Amanda laughed. “Relax, kid. We’re here for Karma to commune with the spirits and see if they know what’s after you and why you’ve been yanked from home. With the exception of the Lalaurie mansion, her house is the most haunted in the city. There have been more murders here than anywhere else in Louisiana.”

Nick was aghast at her nonchalant tone over something that traumatized him. No wonder Madaug was always complaining about his older brother and the family Eric wanted to marry into. Madaug was right. All the Devereaux sisters were nuts. “Are you serious?”

Nodding, Tabitha pointed to the living room. “There was still blood on the walls from the last double homicide when she moved in.”

His jaw slack, he was completely flabbergasted as he faced Karma. “Why do you live here?”

“Any idea how much a house in the Quarter costs? Especially one this size? I got it for a steal.”

“Yeah, but aren’t you afraid?”

Karma laughed at his concern. “Baby, the scariest thing in this house is me. Unlike others, I know how to protect myself from the evil here and to torture it when it gets cute. Trust me, they have more to fear from me than I have from them. And it seriously pisses them off.” She headed up the stairs.

Nick really wanted to leave.

And I thought my life was whack.…

“C’mon.” Tabitha tugged at his arm. “We’ll protect you.”

Yeah, that was comforting. Never.

Nick glanced up at the large wrought-iron light fixture over their heads and remembered when the one in Kyrian’s house had tried to turn him into hamburger. He really didn’t want a repeat of that. “Just don’t let nothing drop another chandelier on me.”

With no real choice, he followed them upstairs to a bedroom that had been turned into a meditation room. Except it had an altar in one corner with a collection of African and Native American prayer fans lining one wall, along with leather bags, and rattles made from different animals. A dozen painted rawhide drums hung on the opposite side. The walls around him were painted a light blue with gold and white stamped over it.

Singing words Nick didn’t understand, Karma began burning incense on the altar while Tabitha and Amanda sat on burgundy floor cushions that had been arranged in a circle. Karma sprinkled some kind of herb thing over him before she swept the incense toward him with a large handmade feathered fan.

Nick sank down on the cushion closest to him and looked at Tabitha and Amanda. They joined in with Karma’s chant.

Some invisible force pulled Nick’s hair.

“Hey!” he snapped, rubbing at his head where it stung.

Karma said something in that language he couldn’t decipher.

“I hope you’re telling it to leave me alone.” No sooner had he spoken than another spirit punched him in the back, knocking him forward. His anger rising, Nick hissed.

The spirit jerked his hair again.

Furious, he rose to his feet to confront his unseen tormentor. But faster than he could blink, something grabbed him by the throat and launched him into the air before it pinned him to the wall, right in the middle of the prayer fans. Insane laughter rolled through the room like thunder.

Unable to move, Nick struggled to breathe as something that felt like a boa constrictor wrapped hard around his body, squeezing it tight.

Out of nowhere, a deep masculine voice whispered in his ear. “Well, well. What have we here? A tiny little morsel, being offered for my daily snack? Don’t worry. The pain won’t last long before I kill you.”