Invincible

CHAPTER 7

Nick paused outside the Mediterranean Greek Café on Decatur to catch his breath. At least the images had finally stopped shifting through his head and he had some clarity of thought.

Not much, but better than it’d been when he’d left the Café Du Monde. At least now the people around him looked normal.

Man, how had the hippies in the sixties ever survived drug binges? What idiot would do this to himself intentionally? It was bad enough when it happened by accident. Who would want to live like this if they could stop it?

Nick rubbed his eyes and took a deep, fortifying breath.

All of a sudden, he heard a bell sound as the door to the restaurant opened and out came a beautiful dream.

For a second, he thought he was still hallucinating as Casey Woods, one of the cheerleaders from his school, stopped in front of him. Up until Nekoda had joined their class, Casey had been the only woman for him. Her long dark hair was always brushed until it shone, and her curves were killer in street clothes, but in her cheerleader uniform they were the stuff of legends. He’d spent more days than he could count trying to imagine how great life would be with her as a girlfriend. Unlike the Neanderthals she went with, he’d actually treat her right and dote on her.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t even noticed he was alive. An impressive feat, since he’d sat right beside and in front of her in several classes over the years. But hey, Casey was Casey, and a girl that popular couldn’t be bothered to notice the poor, awkward scholarship student who’d invaded their ranks. For that matter, almost no one in his school really saw him as anything other than a target to be kicked and bullied. He was used to that.

Dressed in a lacy blue top and a pair of jeans, she smiled as she caught sight of him. “Hey, Nick. You okay?”

Oh yeah, he had to be a coma or something. The last time Casey had been this close to him, she’d argued with her best friend that she had no idea who he was.

“Uh, all good.”

She frowned at him. “You don’t look good. You look kind of green. Are you going to hurl?”

“I hope not.” ’Cause that was all he’d need for this day to be even better. Barf all over their homecoming queen. Yeah, that’d just make it for him and get him relegated to loser status until the day they graduated.

To his complete shock, she reached out and touched his forehead. “You don’t have a fever.” She held her bottle of water out toward him. “Here, sip some of this, and see if it helps.”

Stunned, he straightened. “Are you all right?”

“Of course. Why would you ask that?”

’Cause she had never been this nice to him, ever. Honestly, it was scary. Was the apocalypse coming?

Was this Death in disguise screwing with him? Now that would make sense. There had to be some horrifyingly foul reason why Ms. Hottie-Snotty was talking to him like he mattered.

“You and I don’t normally hang out.”

She smiled. “I know. My bad. But now that you’re hanging with Tad, it’s okay.”

Ah, that explained it. Tad Addams was one of the cool, rich kids. The older brother of Nick’s friend, Brynna, he’d taken him to school with Casey the other day.

Man, she was shallow. Most people didn’t admit that about themselves. He had to give her credit that at least she was honest.

He shrugged the water away. “I’m fine.” He indicated his arm in the sling. “Pain got to me for a minute. But I’m all good now.”

“Oh, okay.” She pulled the water back and cradled it against her breasts—second thought, he should have taken it. “By the way, have you heard the latest gossip?”

“That we have a new coach?”

She blinked at him with a vacuous expression. “We have a new coach?”

Obviously not the gossip she’d heard. “Uh, yeah. Caleb told me about him.”

“Oh, I hadn’t heard that. Good. I know Stone and Rick were worried about us making it to State this year with the team down and the coach arrested.”

Stone …

It took all Nick’s willpower not to curl his lip at the mention of that pig. No, dog. He’d just learned last night that Stone was a shape-shifting werewolf who was a pig in both incarnations.

Not wanting to think about Stone and his running crew of imbeciles, Nick turned Casey back to their original discussion. “What did you hear?”

“Oh, there’s been a rash of thefts at school. Tanya went in to get her homework this morning from the office, and she overheard the secretaries talking about it. A bunch of lockers were broken into, and some things were taken out of classrooms.”

“No kidding?”

“She said it was a bad scene. Hope you had nothing in your locker worth stealing.”

He snorted. Yeah, right. He didn’t own anything of value. “Just books. They’re free to take as many of those as they want.”

“I hear you. Oh, and she said we have a new principal they’re bringing in from Baton Rouge. His name is—get this—Richard Head.” She burst out laughing.

Nick winced as he saw the detention train a-coming. Dick Head. Ah man, that was so wrong to have a name like that and to go into education on a high school level. Twisted, twisted, twisted. “And I’ll bet he has no sense of humor about it.”

“You know it. But then again, you can call him Dick Head all you want and say you were only using his name.”

“True. Man, his parents must have hated his guts.”

“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

It did, indeed. “Well, I guess I better get going. I need to check in with my mom at work.”

Casey frowned. “Can’t you call her?”

“It’s her first day on this job, and I don’t want to get her into trouble.” If he got her fired again in less than twenty-four hours of losing her last job, she would absolutely kill him. Better to go poke his head in the door to see what she was up to, then head over to Kyrian’s to work. “I’ll catch you later.” He started toward Ursuline.

“You mind if I walk with you?”

Nick’s eyes widened as a total state of befuddled huh possessed him. Was he in the Twilight Zone? “You want to walk with me?”

She smiled a smile that warmed him completely. “Do you mind?”

“Uh, no.”

“Cool.” Then she did the most peculiar and amazing thing of all—she stepped forward and wrapped her arm around his good one so that they could walk arm in arm. “So, Brynna told me you have a job. Aren’t you young to be working?”

Am I in some alternative universe? Was his evil doppelgänger going to shoot out of the alley and attack them like some character in a video game?

All right, Grim. What’s going on?

Grim didn’t answer. No one did.

Casey stared up at him expectantly with a pair of goo-goo eyes that made his insides quiver.

C’mon, Nick. Answer her question. “I’ve had a job since I was twelve.”

“Really?” Her eyes brightened. “That’s so impressive.”

For the first time in his life, he actually felt proud. “Well, I’m the man of the house and I have to take care of my mom. I like buying her nice things, and I don’t want to spend her money on her—that just seems wrong to me.”

“You know, it’s so rare to find a boy who thinks that way. Last Christmas, Stone gave me his sister’s earrings their mother had given her that she didn’t want. I was so angry when I found out, I didn’t speak to him for two whole hours.”

“Wow, two whole hours. You really punished him.”

She screwed her face up at him. “Are you mocking me?”

“I would never mock the homecoming queen, especially not when she’s holding on to me. Why are you doing that, by the way?”

She rubbed her hand up and down his biceps in a way that made him really uncomfortable. “You have nice arms. Manly.”

Yeah, right. He had arms like the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Hardly manly. More like thin and stringy.

She started stroking his biceps.

Nick jumped away from her. “Um, Casey. I’m kind of seeing someone.” Though they weren’t technically going together, he had feelings for Nekoda, and he didn’t want her to think he was two-timing her even though he wasn’t single-timing her either. Okay, that didn’t make sense.

Still …

Casey put her hands on her hips. “Since when do you have a girlfriend?”

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?”

“Not at the moment.” There was no missing the invitation in her tone or the one in her eyes.

It was so tempting.… But the one thing he knew about her and Stone was that they were constantly breaking up and getting back together. Last thing he needed was to give Stone another reason to harass him.

“Look, I really need to go.”

Before he could break clear, Casey pulled his phone out of his pocket with something that suspiciously felt like a grope. That and the hot look on her face sent a shiver over him. She put her phone number in and then added it to his speed dial.

“Call me sometime.” This time when she slid the phone back in, there was no missing her grope. Rising up on her tiptoes, she nipped his chin with her teeth and tongue. “But don’t wait too long, Nick.” Her breath went straight into his ear, making his entire body burn.

Stunned, scared, and intrigued, he couldn’t move as she sashayed down the street. She cast a look at him over her shoulder and bit her lip in the most provocative way he’d ever seen.

Oh yeah, the world was definitely going to end. There had to be a countdown clock somewhere. ’Cause stuff like this didn’t happen to Nick Gautier. It was more believable that his classmates were turning into zombies out to kill him than it was for Casey Woods to come on to him.

Why?

Yesterday he’d been completely invisible to her. Today it was like someone had decloaked him in the middle of enemy territory.

Unsure of what to make of it all, Nick headed to Sanctuary. Home of the weirdest of weird.

“Is there no normality left anywhere?”

Relax, kid.

Nick let out a relieved breath as he heard that familiar voice in his head. “Ambrose, bro. Where have you been?”

Busy. Why? Have you missed me?

Not really. “I just had one of the hottest girls in school come on to me.”

Casey Woods?

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

Relax. You’ll end up taking her to your junior prom.

Nick arched a brow at that land mine Ambrose had shoved him into. “How do you know that?” he asked again.

I know a lot of things about you, Nick. Past, present, and future. Casey isn’t one of the people you need to fear. She’ll be a good girlfriend in high school and an even better friend later on.

And that, too, made him drop his jaw. “She’s going to be my girlfriend?”

Ambrose laughed in his head. Getting women won’t be your problem. Keeping them is another. And whatever you do, make sure you don’t ever touch Simi. Don’t even hold her hand. Think of her and Tabitha Devereaux like sisters.

“Why?”

Just do what I say! This time he got the demon tone from Ambrose. That deep, guttural growl that actually made him jump. After a second, he heard Ambrose sigh. Sorry, Nick. But there are things you have to trust me on. Things I can’t explain. Believe me when I say I am truly the only person in your life, besides your mother and Kyrian, who truly has your back. When everyone else turns on you and seeks to bring you down, I’m the only one who will never betray you. You have to believe that.

“You say that, and yet where have you been all my life?”

I’ve always been with you. From the moment you were born. There’s never been a time in your life when I wasn’t there beside you. Just like now. I see everything you see. Hear what you hear and feel what you feel.

“How?”

I’ll teach you that power in time. For now, trust me. One day you’ll understand why I’ve been hidden all these years and why I had to wait for certain things to happen before I made my presence known.

His mom always said that trust was something you earned. And it wasn’t something you gave easy. Too often, it was a tool your enemies used to hurt you with. Give them nothing, baby. Not until you have no choice. The world is harsh and it is cold. People can be good and decent, but most of them are only out for themselves and they’ll hurt anyone they can.

Sad thing was, he knew his mom didn’t say things like that lightly. Criticism wasn’t in her nature, so whenever she did it, he knew to pay attention.

Go live your life, Nick, Ambrose said, intruding into his thoughts. Enjoy your day and stop worrying so much. Check on your mom and go to work.

He felt Ambrose leave him.

Nick looked up at the perfect blue sky above. It was a beautiful day. “And I am certifiably insane. I’m seeing demons in my friends, shape-shifters, and hearing voices from lunatic uncles.” How had this nut farm become his?

Sighing, he turned the corner and crossed the street to Sanctuary. This time, he saw the difference in the bouncers. While this one looked just like Rémi, he had his hair down around his shoulders and an easy smile that somehow managed to be both friendly and intimidating all at once. As Aimee had told him about earlier, this one had a cool double bow and arrow tattoo on his biceps.

“You must be Dev.”

His grin widened. “You must be Pain in the Nick.”

“Huh?” A wave of apprehensive nervousness went through him.

“Don’t wet your pets. Just a figure of speech. Your mom’s been talking about you all day, boy. You are her favorite topic.”

“Well, I try hard not to be her favorite hemorrhoid.”

Dev laughed. “She said you were sharp and entertaining. I can see she’s right. Go on in and make yourself at home.”

Their friendliness amazed him. Mostly because he had a feeling they weren’t like that with everyone. How could they be? They had one heck of a secret they kept from the public.

Nick wandered inside. It was a lot busier now. Wren was still busing tables, but the bartenders had been changed out. They were two more Dev clones, which should make one of them Cherif and the other Quinn. But the coolest thing was that the band was onstage doing a sound check.

Mesmerized, Nick wandered over to watch them. So this was the Howlers. He’d never seen a live band perform before. It was actually kind of neat.

“Hey, Colt, your mic’s not on,” the lead singer said to the guitarist.

“Done on purpose, Angel. I don’t need to be singing backup, anyway. We don’t want to clear the house.”

The drummer laughed as he adjusted the wing nut on his snare.

They were so cool. Aside from the fact that they were all shape-shifters, they were dressed in clothes his mom would throw away. Torn jeans and ragged shirts. And when they played, it was magic.

Oh yeah, he wanted to be in a band.

“Hey, baby.”

He turned at the sound of his mom’s voice. “Hey, Ma. How’s it going?”

She was beaming and her face was bright. “It’s been a great day. How about you?”

“Generic.” Not entirely true, but she didn’t need to know about his weirdness. Otherwise, she’d ban him from leaving the house until he was ninety.

She ruffled his hair. “I have about an hour before I get off work.”

“Oh, okay. I need to get to Kyrian’s, anyway. I’ll catch a streetcar over.”

“I’ll drive you.”

Nick jumped at the sound of Acheron’s deep, scary voice right behind him. If that wasn’t terrifying enough, Acheron stood an even six feet eight. Swathed in Goth black from the top of his long hair to the tips of his biker boots, he had an aura of I’ll kill you for breathing that was more intimidating than Grim’s. “Dude! Put a bell on. You don’t walk up on a brother like that and scare the crap out of him.”

“Sorry. Didn’t realize you scared like a little girl.”

Nick stiffened in indignation. “Ain’t no little girl here, honcho. Maybe you. Definitely not me.”

Shaking his head, Ash laughed.

His mom looked at the two of them skeptically. “Be careful with my baby, Ash. He’s all I got, so drive like you’re hauling eggs.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Ash indicated the door with his head. “You coming?”

“Depends. You going to drive at Warp Speed One or Ten?” ’Cause the last time Nick was in Ash’s Porsche, the ancient immortal had done things a car shouldn’t be able to do.

“I’ll keep it under ninety.”

“Then I’ll try not to claw the interior.” Nick waved at his mom as he followed Ash out the rear side door to the lot in back, where his black Porsche made an awesome sight.

One day, he needed to get him one of those. Of course, that was after he managed to get his license. For now, though, he was content to ride in Ash’s.

“Do I have to open the door for you again?” Ash asked as he pressed the button to unlock it.

Nick gave him a droll stare. “Nah, I think I can manage.” He’d been afraid of tarnishing it before. Now he was getting a little used to it.

As soon as he was in and buckled tight, he looked over at Acheron. “Kyrian said you have fangs. Do you?”

Ash tilted his head down, but since he was still wearing those black opaque sunglasses that never left his face, Nick couldn’t see his eyes. “Is it important?”

“Maybe.”

Ash opened his mouth, and sure enough, there they were.

“Wow. You are good at hiding them.”

“You have no idea.” He tore out of the lot and gunned the engine.

“So have you ever drunk blood?”

Ash downshifted to get around a cab. “What did the two of you talk about?”

“Kyrian said he doesn’t drink blood. Made me wonder if you do.”

Ash ignored the question as he slowed down. Frowning, Nick looked to see what had caught the immortal Atlantean’s attention. To the right, down a side alley, the police had gathered and cordoned off a section of the street. Unfortunately, such sights tended to be common in New Orleans.

“Looks like a burglary.”

“No, Nick. That’s a murder scene.”

“How can you tell?”

“Psychic powers, remember?”

Oh yeah. How could he forget?

Acheron pulled to the corner and parked his car. “You stay put. I want to check this out.”

You know, for an immortal being with eleven thousand years of living, Acheron could be mighty stupid. Like Nick was going to wait in the car while there was something to see …

He did at least give Ash time to get out of sight before he opened the car door and headed over to the scene. There were a bunch of tourists and locals loitering as well as several journalists and camera people. Nick sidled along the edge of them until he could see the outline of where the body lay, covered by a black tarp. The sight of blood on the street was disconcerting. Man, it looked brutal, and it made him wonder what had happened.

“How many does this make?” one of the officers asked another.

“Second one in twenty-four hours.”

“Did they notify the parents?”

“Not yet. No one wants to have to go knock on the door and tell someone their fourteen-year-old son won’t be coming for dinner. Damn. I hate it when it’s a kid. Friggin’ senseless. I got a son the same age. Makes me want to go home and hug him, then lock him in his room until he’s grown.”

Those words slammed hard into Nick. The vic had been his age.

And no sooner had that thought gone through his head than he felt his pendulum heat up to a burning level.

The book, too.

Hissing from the pain of it, Nick snatched the book out of his back pocket and flipped it open. “What Lassie? You going to tell Timmy about the well?”

On the page where he’d dropped his blood the night before, the words rearranged themselves.

Look and you will see,

That which was can never be.

When they seek a boy your age,

Run, you flippin moron, run!