Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Invision (30 page)
“Och, now on with you!” Aeron groaned. “You're a mite cruel bastard. No need in all that, mate.”
Laughing, Nick listened to them grumbling as they vanished to go to Caleb's.
Zavid changed into his wolf form and shrank it a bit to walk with them back to his house on Bourbon Street.
While they walked, he held Kody's hand until they reached the stoop of his condo building. “You coming up?”
“Better not make your mother angry. I'll surrender you to her custody and see you tomorrow at school.”
“Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that.”
“Ah, c'mon. Another day. Another survival.”
Xev and Zavid wandered into the building to give them privacy while Nick kissed Kody goodnight. Honestly, he hated to let her go. There was always a part of him that was terrified that he wouldn't see her again.
And as he pulled away and nuzzled her cheek, he had the distinct impression that someone was watching him. All the hair on the back of his neck and arms stood up.
Scowling, he turned his head to find Nathan slowing down on the sidewalk as he neared the stoop. His arms were full of bags from the deli on the corner.
“Oh, hey, Nick, right?”
“Yeah⦔
“You live here, too?”
Too? Nick wasn't sure about that as his stomach tightened in anger. “Maybe.”
Nathan looked as confused as Nick felt. “Um, okay. Well, we just moved into the first floor. 1-C. My mom sent me out to grab sandwiches for everyone since we have yet to find all our kitchen stuff. Or buy any real groceries.”
“Then you are neighbors,” Kody volunteered. “Nick lives upstairs.”
Before Nick could say anything, a little blond girl around the age of ten came running out of the building. “Nate! I'm starving! I'm going to wither up and die if I don't eat soon. Did you get food?”
“Oh my God! Yes! I wasn't gone but a minute. Hold your horses.” He handed one of the bags to her.
Without a word to them, she grabbed it and ran back inside.
Nathan sighed heavily. “My little sister, Elise. She occasionally gets off the chain and blows free. So if you see her running amok, please let one of us know and we'll round her up. She doesn't mean any harm. She just has yet to realize not everyone in the world isn't her best friend. Anyway, I guess I'll see you two at school tomorrow. Goodnight.”
Kody waited until Nathan had vanished. “You still think he's not normal?”
“Nah. That seemed pretty standard stuff. Guess I was overreacting to the way he looked at you.”
“You? Overreact? Noooo⦔
He rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. “All right. That did not require the mocking tone.” Grinning, he kissed her again. “Miss you already.”
“You, too. Are you sure you're all right?”
“I will be.”
“Call if you need me.”
Nick gave her one last parting kiss before he reluctantly allowed her to teleport home.
He headed inside the building to find Xev and Zavid waiting for him in their animal forms. “All right, Mr. Fuzzy. You know the drill ⦠no defiling my bedsheets.” He took a moment to pet Zavid's head. “And it really is good to have you back. Now let's go see what my mom brought us to eat. I'll share anything except the Bananas Foster.”
Everything went well until Nick opened the door and his mother saw his latest houseguest.
“What's that?”
“You know Mr. Fuzzy.”
“Not talking about the cat, Nick. Who's his friend?”
“Oh ⦠you meant Spot?”
She glared at him. “Nick⦔
“Just for a day or two? Please, Ma? He's Caleb's. I told him you wouldn't mind. Besides, I wanted a little company while I recuperated, and I knew you'd object to me bringing Kody home and putting her in my bedroom, even if it was innocent.”
“Now you're just being sassy.”
“That I am, but I come by it honestly. Learned it straight from my mama.”
She harrumphed as she snuggled deeper under her pink blanket while she watched TV. “You need me to fix you anything?”
“Nah, I'm good. You keep watching your program. I'm just going to head to my room.” He paused next to her. “Did you pass a good time tonight with Bubba?”
A blush crept over her cheeks. “I did.”
“That better not mean it was too good,
Maman
.”
She laughed at him. “Stop!”
He stooped to kiss her cheek.
At least that was the plan until she waylaid him to check for a fever.
Nick forced himself to endure her fever check. “Told you I was better.”
“Just wanted to make sure.”
“Satisfied?”
She kissed his cheek. “I am. Now go on with you.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
But she didn't quite release him to his own recognizance. Rather, she caught his hand as he started away and kept him by her side a little longer. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“Michael told me what you said about us going out. You're a good boy, Nicky. Much better than I deserve.”
Nick took a moment to savor the image of her on the couch, knowing she wouldn't always be there. “That's not true, but I love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, Boo.”
Without another word, Nick left her and went to his room where Zavid and Xev were waiting in their human bodies. That wasn't the shocking part.
No, what floored him was that Zavid was fastened onto Xev's neck.
Gasping, Nick quickly entered the room and locked the door so that his mother didn't accidentally stumble onto this and stroke out. “What the devil?”
Zavid pulled away and shrank to the farthest corner of the room as if he expected Nick to beat him.
Xev wiped at the blood on his neck. “Remember when we told you that getting him out and restoring him wouldn't be that easy?”
“Yeah⦔
“Now you know the price of returning him to this realm.”
“And you're good with this?”
Xev fastened the collar of his shirt and rose with that regal grace that always reminded Nick of the way Acheron moved. Fluid and trained. “Would it matter?”
“I don't understand.”
“Do you know what a Å arru-Dara really is, Nick?”
“Blood king.”
Xev clenched his teeth before he spoke in a low, emotionless tone. “Blood
slave
. My blood isn't just used to seal in Noir and Azura. I was also damned to be used as a food source for a lot of different things.”
Suddenly, Nick had an image he really didn't want of why Xev had hated being locked in his nether prison. “I'm sorry. How could you even talk to your father again?”
“He wasn't the only one who did this to me. And in the case of Zavid, for once, I don't mind. 'Course, I'd rather feed him with a cup. But your mother would most likely freak out if she saw
that
.”
“Is this why you wanted to stay here?” he asked Zavid.
He wiped the blood from his lips. “Yes. If I don't feed, I'll return to them.”
Xev sighed. “Because my blood is the lock, it can keep him on this side of the gate.”
Nick winced as he felt bad for both of them. “Is there any way to make it permanent so that you don't have to keep doing this?”
“There's only one way I know.”
“And that is?”
“The Cup of Hebe.”
Nick frowned. “Is that like a cup of coffee? Where do we buy it? Neiman Marcus?”
Groaning in absolute misery, Xev pressed his fingertips to the bridge of his nose before he shook his head. “No, Nick. Hebe's the goddess of immortality. She's the cup-bearer for the Olympians. If he were to drink from one of her cups, it would restore him to what he was before Noir took his body over and pulled him out of this dimension.”
Nick duplicated Xev's groan. “I'm going to assume we can't just walk up and ask to borrow one.”
“No. She's going to want something for it.”
And experience had taught him that it wouldn't be a Mardi Gras throw. Nor would it be pleasant or easy.
Great. Just great.
But right now, his fears weren't the important thing. He saw the expression on Zavid's face that said he was waiting for Nick to send him back and condemn him to living with Noir and his animals for eternity.
That was the last thing Nick would do to anyone.
“It's okay, guys,” Nick said, offering them a reassuring smile he didn't quite feel, but one he hoped he was faking well. “We will get through this.”
Nick had no idea how. Yet they would muddle through as they always did. Even though they still had enemies at the gate. Allies missing and unaccounted for.
And a future even more uncertain. With an unknown Malachai.
All they currently had in their corner was that his powers were holding. For the moment.
Of course, that could change in the next heartbeat.
Worse? Ambrose had been wrong. The Eye hadn't helped him even a little bit. If anything, it'd confused him more. And given him a migraine that still hadn't let up.
At this point, Nick was at a loss. They all were. Meanwhile, the Mavromino was gathering strength. Nick could feel it. The darkness would win if they didn't stop it.
And all the gates would come crashing down.
But come heck or high water, he would stand and he would fight. They all would. Because the only guarantee they had in this was that if they didn't fight, they would definitely lose, and losing wasn't in his stubborn Cajun genes.
You're right, Grim. It's on. And I'm coming for
you
.
Â
Kyrian listened to the police as he stood with Acheron and the parish coroner off to the side. “This is crap and you know it.”
“Crap or not, those are the boys who attacked Nick the night you met him. How many times has he sworn, quite publicly, he'd get them back?” Acheron's voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Yeah, but you were there when he had the chance. He handed them over to the police.”
“And now they've been found slaughtered. Nick's prints are all over the murder weapon⦔
Kyrian cursed under his breath. “He didn't do this, Acheron. You know he didn't.”
“Yeah, but they're calling in a warrant even as we speak. You better go warn him and Cherise, while I call Bill and let them get started on bailing him out.
If
they'll set bail for something this brutal.” Acheron looked over at the mutilated bodies and winced. “Our little Squire's in serious trouble this time, Kyrian. And I have no idea how we'll get him out of
this
.”
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
“That was brutal, even for you.”
Standing on the rooftop of the old building in the French Quarter, Cyprian didn't speak as Laguerre moved to stand by his side while he watched Kyrian and Acheron talking down below. “You wanted him shaken and destroyed.”
“Have to say, you are definitely surpassing our expectations.”
A slow smile curved his lips as he shifted his form to take on the appearance of Ambrose again. “Oh trust me, putting the Eye in his possession was just the first move. Before I'm done, he won't even trust himself.”
Laguerre shuddered as she took in his disguise. “It weirds me out whenever you do that. You look just like him.”
“I should, should I not, Mother? After all ⦠I am his son.”
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