Invincible

CHAPTER 19

The demons came into Caleb’s home like locusts, swarming them and pinning them to the floor. Nick couldn’t move without being mobbed by them, and the same was true of Kody and Caleb.

“What kind of bachelor party are you throwing, Malphas?” Xenon asked as he came out of the study.

“Feel free to join us.” Caleb was trying as hard to break free as Nick and Kody were.

It was useless.

Xenon vanished back into the room before they swarmed him, too.

“We’re dead.” Nick looked at Kody, wanting to memorize the beauty of her face in case they didn’t have women so lovely where he was headed.

Neither of them bothered to contradict his dire prediction. There was no need. The demons sat on his chest, banging his head against the floor so hard, he was amazed it didn’t split open. Same for Kody and Caleb. They fought with everything they had, but it wasn’t enough to even hurt their attackers.

The demons swarmed together and lifted them up as if they were about to fly them somewhere.

Just as Nick was convinced they wouldn’t survive, Xenon came out of the study like the Terminator. He sprinkled something into the air that acted like acid, especially when he shot fireballs out of his hands that ignited it. As soon as it hit their attackers, they shrieked and flew off with their skin melting.

Chasing them out of the house and down the driveway, Xenon spoke in a calm, soothing voice while he attacked them. It was an impressive feat. One Nick would love to learn. But yelling out obscenities and sarcasm was more his style.

Once they were gone, Xenon came in and locked the door. He grimaced at Caleb. “Thought you said this place was safe.”

“Apparently, I was mistaken.”

“Good job, Malphas.”

Caleb flipped him off for the sarcasm. Then he looked over at Nick. “That was an assassination crew. Somehow they knew you were here.”

That news made him sick to his stomach. “Do we need to go protect my mom?”

Xenon shook his head. “They don’t follow like humans. They’re more like basset hounds. We were attacked because they blood-tracked their target here. That would be you, by the way.”

Crap. “What if my scent leads them to my house and my mom’s there alone?”

“Calm down. Again, they don’t work that way. They can track only a current scent, not a lingering one. Unless you’ve bathed in perfume so strong, it leaves a heavy, lasting impression, you’re safe.” He glanced over to Kody.

“I resent that look, and I don’t wear perfume.”

“Just checking.”

Caleb limped over to Xenon. “Now you know why we have to hurry. Can you have us something by tomorrow?”

“I’ll work on it all night. Not like I need sleep anyway with the crap in my head.”

“Thanks.”

Xenon gave a nod to Caleb before he went back to the office.

Caleb let out a weary sigh. “I’m going to bed. If anyone else attacks tonight, feed them Nick and tell them to go away.”

“Hey!”

But Caleb ignored him as he left them alone.

“I think I’m going to turn in, too.” She kissed his cheek. “Don’t stay up too much later. Otherwise, I’ll be worrying about you.”

“I won’t be long behind you.”

“All right.” She headed up the stairs to the guest wing. The fact that Caleb had wings said it all about how sick his house was.

Nick waited until they were gone before he went to the study to spy on their newcomer.

“You might as well come in, Nick. I can’t stand someone at my back.”

Nick pushed the door open wider and walked into the office that had wood paneling from floor to ceiling. Even though it had a desk and chair, it was sparsely decorated and had a lot of space in it.

Xenon had laid out all his supplies and was combining things into a small black iron pot in front of him.

In a strange way, he reminded Nick of a chef. Graceful and sure, as if the recipe was forever etched into his memory.

“So what are you doing?” Nick asked.

“I’m creating an elixir that will protect me when I summon this girl back for you.”

“Do you think my plan will work?”

Xenon shrugged. “Not an expert on that kind of thing. You will either fail or succeed. One or the other is a given.”

Hmmm …

Nick wandered closer. “So how did you get into this line of work, anyway?”

Xenon glanced askance at him as he added a green leafy thing to the pot. “Answered an ad in the paper.”

“Did you?”

Xenon didn’t respond. “Actually, kid, I need you for a second.”

That made him cringe. “Why?”

“I have an ingredient I need from you.”

Nick didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Come again?”

“Get over here.”

Not sure about that, he did what Xenon said, even though he felt like he should be running in the opposite direction. As soon as he was within arm’s reach, Xenon grabbed him in a GI Joe kung fu death grip and laid open his hand with a blade Nick hadn’t known Xenon had until he was bleeding.

“Don’t pull back.” He held Nick in place to let his blood drip into the pot.

“That’s not sanitary. Ew!” And it burned like crazy.

“Ew is right, but trust me. You’ll be glad you have this.”

Not at the moment. As soon as he was free, Nick ran out of the room and retreated to the guest room Caleb had made for him. He practically jumped into the rice plantation bed that was elevated from the floor. Without pausing, he climbed under the covers and returned to nursing his throbbing hand.

He blew air across his palm, trying to stop the stinging.

Until the wound knitted itself closed.

His jaw slack, Nick stared at the scar that was right where his cut had been. Yeah, that was strange.

Go to sleep. Don’t think about it.

But it was hard not to.

C’mon, body, cooperate. He had a busy day tomorrow, and he needed to be fresh and alert. Especially since he’d be taking down the coach …

Nick entered the school with Kody on his right and Caleb on his left. Heads turned as the three of them walked shoulder to shoulder to his locker. Dropping his backpack on the floor, Nick opened his padlock. “All right. The challenge is to find the box with the heart in it.”

“We’ll be looking.” Kody headed off toward her homeroom.

Caleb clapped Nick on the back before he took off, too.

While Nick swapped out his books, Stone shouldered his way to him.

“What’s that? A new shirt, Gautier? Don’t tell me Goodwill’s out of tacky.” He was referring to the fact that Nick had been forced to borrow one of Caleb’s black shirts for school today, since he hadn’t packed an overnight bag.

“Grow up, Stone.”

Stone went to shove him.

Nick dodged with a skill he’d never had before. In fact, he could see every blow Stone was going to make an instant prior to Stone’s doing it.

He had to force himself not to strike the oaf. But if he did, he’d get suspended. “You’re not worth the paperwork, Stone.” Nick picked his backpack up and left him standing in the hallway to sputter.

Yeah, that felt good.

Real good. And he’d take longer to savor it, but right now he was on a quest. Something that had him skipping study hall so that he could search Devus’s office while the coach taught his history class.

This time he was a lot more cautious about breaking in. He slipped into the room and pulled his pendulum out.

“All right, baby. Work for Daddy.” He drew a quick sketch of the room on a page in his book. “Where is the heart box?”

At first nothing happened. Nick tightened his grip, ready to scream. When all of a sudden, the pendulum finally began to swing for him.

Ah, baby, thank you!

He watched as it formed a large circle around the room model. After a few seconds, it narrowed down to the desk.

“Right side?” he asked.

It swung to yes.

Delighted, he kissed the pendulum and slid it into his pocket. Nick opened drawers and …

Nothing was there.

The stupid thing had lied. He was so mad, he wanted to hurl it into the Pontchartrain. But he didn’t.

Trust it. Ambrose’s voice had never been louder. With a deep breath, Nick searched the drawers again.

And again there was nothing. Until he realized that the drawers looked a lot deeper on the outside than they did on the inside.

There was a false bottom.

His heart hammering, it didn’t take long to find the panel and open it. Sure enough, there was the same box he’d seen in the mirror.

Excited and scared, he quickly put everything back the way it’d been and tucked the box inside his backpack. With ninjalike skills, he crept out and away from the office without being detected. As soon as he was clear, he called Caleb and Kody to update them on the status of Operation Payback.

Nick had barely reached his class when he heard his name being called over the intercom.

“Ms. Turtledove? Would you please have Nick Gautier report to the gym? Coach Devus wants to see him about an urgent matter.”

Panic seized him. Did he know? Had Nick left something out of place?

I’m an idiot. And he was about to be a dead one.

Sweat broke out on his forehead as he returned to the coach’s office. He pushed open the door to see Devus sitting with his hand in the drawer he’d just rifled through.

“You have it, Gautier?”

“Have what?”

He growled at him. “Don’t play coy with me, you little punk. You know what I’m talking about. Hand it over. Now.”

Nuh-huh. He wasn’t about to return the box to him. Terrified, he glanced around, wondering if he could remember everything Xenon had taught him.

“Where is the next set of items?”

Oh that was what he was talking about. Nick let out a relieved breath as his fear subsided. “I didn’t get anything else yet.”

“What?”

Nick shrugged. “Sorry. Between class, homework, football practice, and work, I haven’t had five minutes to myself.”

Devus shot to his feet. “How dare you! You’ll pay for this. By the end of the day—”

“Yeah … I don’t think so.” He used his thoughts to summon Kody and Caleb. “In fact, I want the items I stole back so that I can return them.”

“You can’t have them.”

Trying not to be obvious, Nick attempted to make a circle on the floor with drops of the potion Xenon had given him.

The coach grabbed him and yanked him hard. “What are doing?”

“ADD. I have such a hard time holding still. Can’t help myself.”

“Maybe prison will be able to help you out with that.”

“You think?” Nick asked sarcastically. “Tell you what. How about I send you where you belong, and you die quietly and leave us alone.”

The coach grabbed him by the throat. “It’s going to be a pleasure to ruin you, trailer park.”

“It’s going to be a pleasure to banish you, Bates Motel.” Nick kneed him.

Releasing him, the coach doubled over to cup himself.

Kody popped in a heartbeat before Caleb joined the party. As soon as the coach saw Caleb, he cursed. “You? You’re supposed to be dead.”

Caleb appeared as confused as Nick felt. “What?”

The coach clapped his hands together and summoned his demons again.

Kody vanished.

“Hey.” Caleb snapped. “Not a good time to get scared.”

He and Nick put their backs together to battle the ugly winged beasts. Nick glanced over to the cameras. “How long do you think it’ll take before the office sends security?”

“Eternity,” Devus answered. “I made sure they can’t see anything that goes on in here. Now I’m going to offer you both as a sacrifice to my master.”

Caleb manifested his sword out of thin air. Nick pulled the one Ambrose had given him out of his pocket. No bigger than a pocketknife, it looked harmless. Until he closed his eyes and imagined it larger. It immediately shot to full size, and the moment it did, Devus gasped.

“You’re the Malachai, not Caleb.” He gestured to his demon army. “Get them both, but bring me the Malachai’s sword!”

They descended on them in one fierce wave.

Nick sliced the first one to reach him in half. He ducked the blow from the next one, and went low to the ground. Popping to his feet, he was able to stab the next one who approached him. Nick trusted his sword, and it whispered to him what to do. With its help, he fought like he’d been born to it.

But they were still being overrun just by the sheer number of their attackers. He was growing weak, and Caleb wasn’t much better.

Nick slipped on a bloodstain that forced him down to one knee. In this position, he was at a major disadvantage.

I’m going to die.

His sword was getting heavier and heavier. He wouldn’t last much longer.

Just as he felt his arm give way, Cody appeared with Xenon at her side. She tossed the Necromancer the backpack with the heart box in it before she ran to them.

“Nice to leave us here,” Caleb snapped.

“We needed a calvary.”

Caleb glanced over at Xenon. “When’s he going to help?”

Xenon yanked the box out of the backpack. “Right now.” He started chanting.

Nick continued to fight as one demon caught him with a kick straight to his solar plexus. Ah, man, that hurt. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear it just kicked his ribs out of his back.

More demons arrived.

“Something’s not right.”

Nick scowled in Xenon’s direction. “Dude. Not a phrase I want to hear right now. Really.”

“Want to or not,” Xenon muttered in a calmness Nick’s panic didn’t warrant, “this isn’t working.”

“What do you mean, it’s not working?” Caleb asked.

Xenon jerked Nick away from the next attack wave that Kody and Caleb engaged. “Are you sure you gave me something personal from the coach?”

“Yeah. It was a picture of him when he was human.”

“I need something closer to him than that. Something that matters that is uniquely his.”

The coach laughed at them. “There’s nothing I care about. Nothing at all. You’re all going to die.”

Kody cried out as she went down and was swarmed. Caleb yelped as a demon sank its teeth into his shoulder.

Devus was right. They were about to lose.

Refusing to believe it, Nick cast his gaze around the office, looking for something, anything that was personal to the troll. Everyone cared about something.

Damn the stupid coach. Was it too much to ask that he at least make a grocery list?

Why couldn’t—?

Nick’s thought ended as he remembered an important detail. Smiling, he reached into his back pocket and jerked out the handwritten list of items the coach had wanted him to steal. That handwriting was as personal as it got. Thank you, Grim for that lesson. He handed it to Xenon.

“We’re back in business.” Xenon quickly shredded it and added it to the box. He started chanting again.

Devus finally took his attention off the fight to see what Xenon was doing. His face blanched as he saw the box.

“Nick?” Xenon called. “You’re on.”

Nick stabbed the demon in front of him, then rushed to the circle he’d created. Summoning his powers, he imagined the girl so that Xenon could pick her out.

Together they left the human realm and descended into an abyss so dark, it was painful to be there.

Xenon put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “What was her name again?”

“Julianne.”

“Julianne?” Xenon shouted. “Can you hear us?”

Nick sensed her presence. Most of all, he sensed her fear. “It’s me, Julianne. I’m here to help you.”

She appeared in front of Nick. “Will you save me?”

He held his hand out to her. “Come with me, and we can take back your heart and free you, once and for all.”

She placed her icy hand into his. The moment their skin touched, they were sucked through a vortex and dumped back into the coach’s office. Nick caught Julianne against him as they returned to keep her from falling over.

The moment she appeared, the demons shrieked as if in agony and disintegrated.

Devus shrank back as soon as he saw her. “No. It’s not possible.”

Julianne, whose skin was an iridescent gray, pointed an accusatory finger at him. “How dare you keep me trapped all these years. You had no right to do what you did. No right.”

As she spoke, Nick felt his powers surge. He saw the fabric of the universe around him and smelled its sweet scent. He knew what the best punishment was. How to set all of this back to an even score. Changing the words of his chant, he didn’t banish Devus like they’d intended. No not at all.

He swapped the coach’s life force with Julianne’s.

Devus screamed as he was sucked into the vortex. His screams, like him, were swallowed whole. Meanwhile Julianne was bathed in a bright yellow light. One that danced from her fingertips into the box where her heart lay. The heart glowed an instant and then dissolved.

Julianne threw her head back and gasped as it was magically put back inside her. Tears sprang to her eyes as her grayish ghost form turned human. Breathless, she stared at Nick in wonderment. “How did you do it?”

He swept his gaze around Kody, Caleb, and Xenon. “No idea whatsoever.”

Laughing, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close. “You are my hero. Thank you. A thousand thank-yous.”

A guy could get used to this. Minus the bloody nose and aching bruises that were making it hard to breathe while she held him like this. Not to mention he caught a venomous stare from Kody that said she didn’t appreciate Julianne mauling him.

“Uh, Julianne? I can’t breathe. Can you let go?”

She released him immediately and wiped away her tears.

But no sooner had she done that than a bright flash of thunder shook the windows of the office. It clapped so loud, it caused them to stagger.

Out of nowhere a huge …

Well, it had the body of a horse, face of a lion that had met the business end of a shovel, and the tail of a goat. Man, that was some messed-up DNA there.

It snarled at them. “How dare you destroy my…” His words trailed off as he saw Nick. He started toward him.

Xenon stepped between them, cutting off his access to Nick. “Stand down, Trys. This one doesn’t belong to you.”

Trys spat on the ground at Xenon’s feet. “We’re not finished, you and I. I’ll be back.”

“I know. I can smell you already.”

Trys vaporized.

Nick pointed to the lingering mist. “What was that?”

Xenon shrugged. “I’m not just a necromancer. I have a few other jobs, too.”

Caleb held his hand out in that Jedi mindwipe manner. “Don’t ask, Nick. He won’t answer.”

Nick held his hands up and ceded the point to Caleb. “Hey, we’re all fed, and none of us are dead. It’s a good day from where I’m standing.”

Xenon shook his head, then glanced at Caleb over his shoulder. “I’ll be expecting payment later.”

“It’ll be there. You’re the one person I’d never dare cheat.”

“Until next time.” Xenon literally flashed out of the room.

Nick sputtered. “Where’d he go?”

“Not just a necromancer,” Kody and Caleb said in unison.

“What an amazing world this is,” Julianne breathed as she discovered the light switch and kept turning it off and on. Then, she ran back to hug Nick.

Kody put her hands on her hips as she curled her lip.

Caleb laughed. “Tuck your claws in, kitten. I’ll take care of getting our girl home.” He sighed heavily. “I better not get detention for this. If I do, Gautier, it’s coming out of your hide.”

“What else is new?”

Caleb and Julianne vanished.

“Where’s he taking her?” Nick asked Kody.

“Back to where and when she lived before Devus killed her.”

Nick widened his eyes as disbelief poured through him. “Can he do that?”

“Yes, he can.”

Chalk up another wicked power for Caleb. Who knew?

Exhausted but relieved, Nick leaned back against the desk. Kody moved to stand by his side.

“Is this what I have to look forward to?” He dreaded the answer.

She laughed. “You know the Chinese have a curse.”

“And that is?”

“May you live an interesting life.”

Nick would laugh if he weren’t so worried about just how interesting things were going to get. He used to look forward to the future. Now he wasn’t so sure he was going to have one.

“Don’t look so glum.” Kody kissed the tip of his nose. Then she pulled a small leather band out of her pocket and tied it to his wrist.

Nick frowned at her actions. “What’s this?” He turned it around until he saw that it had her name on it.

“You’re no longer the only freshman without a girlfriend.” And with that, she flounced out of the room.

Nick’s heart thumped at what she’d just done. Holy snikes …

Well, if this was the reward, maybe getting pounded by demons wasn’t so bad after all.

Yeah, I am definitely sick in the head.

“Well? What news do you have?”

“Our corrupter is in place and is one the young Malachai now trusts.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Gautier will be turned, and soon, we will be free.”

Free …

The most glorious of all words, and when they were free, the blood of man would flow down the paved streets like rivers.