Infinity (32 page)

Dhani Dhani Madabauhn.

Thank goodness he only had to say the latter to kill them. Along with one more bit.

He had to touch them too. Gross, but effective, and the moment he said the words and put a hand on them, they fell to the ground like a bunch of bad actors.

Bubba and the others stood back as Nick made his way through them until the only ones left were the three demons who hadn't been banished.

The mortents glared at him.

"This isn't over, Malachai," the woman spat at him, her eyes glowing deep in the dim light.

Nick scoffed. "Oh yes it is. I banish your smelly arses back to the holes they crawled out of. You do not command me and you never will."

Evil laughter rang in his ears. "You say that today, but come tomorrow ... it's so much easier to go wrong than it ever is to go right. We will win this. You'll see. Before all is said and done, you will be on our side. This I promise you."

Nick didn't believe it for a second. "You should never underestimate the stubbornness of a Cajun guttersnipe. We wrote the book on cutting our noses off to spite our faces." Glaring at them, he used his newfound powers to banish them.

Tabitha wiped the blood off her sais onto her pant legs. "That's right. Get thee behind me, bitches. I don't got no time for you. Ha!"

Nick shook his head. "Good thing there's only one of you, right?"

Eric snorted. "You do know she has a twin sister?"

Nick didn't even want to contemplate that gene pool. Right now, he was merely glad to have the demons gone and his life not threatened.

At least hopefully not for the next hour or so.

Kody came running up to him. 'Are you all right?"

Before he could stop himself, Nick pulled her into his arms and held her. He just needed to feel someone close to him who wasn't trying to eat his brains or kill him.

And God, she felt great.

"Yeah, I'm all right. How did you get here?"

She pulled back to gesture toward Mark. "I was surrounded by zombies when he showed up with his monster truck and ran them down. He told me to get in and I didn't argue."

Nick laughed. "I think that's how I got sucked into all of this." But it didn't explain everything.

He went over to Bubba, who was packing up his crossbow and bolts into Mark's truck. It was so good to see him alive, even if he did have a gash and bruise on his forehead. Nick would have hugged him in relief too, but knowing Bubba he might shoot him for it. "I saw the truck blow up. I thought you were dead."

Bubba pointed to Alex. "I told you about those shapeshifters and their wicked powers."

Alex held his hands up. "You're lucky they worked. At my age, it's a rare thing that they do what I want them to, and they're what caused the truck to explode when I used them to get us out."

He turned to Caleb, who had his arms crossed over his chest as he cocked one arrogant brow. "Oh, they kicked my ass hard. I'll be limping for a few weeks, no doubt. But I'm a lot tougher than I look, and while they might have had me on the ground for a few, they weren't demon enough to keep me there."

Nick jumped as he heard something shattering behind him. Turning around, he saw Madaug at the gaming console, where he was smashing it with a pipe he must have found on the ground. He beat on it until both the machine and the disc were busted beyond repair.

Then he stomped both and ended up by jumping up and down on them.

Once he finished his tantrum, he went to his mom and hugged her close. "I'm so sorry for everything I did." He looked down at Ian and grabbed him too. "I'm so glad you're both all right. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. I love you guys so much."

Ian grinned. "Does this mean I can come into your room whenever I want?"

Madaug shoved at him. "Don't push it, E. I'm not that grateful."

Eric and Tabitha joined them. "Thanks, Nick," Tabitha said. "We owe you."

Nick shook Eric's hand. "I would say any time, but really, next time zombies attack, call Bubba. He's the one ready to believe you. Remember the number: 1-888-Ca-Bubba. 'If he can't fix your problems one way, he'll fix them another.' There ain't no Nick in that slogan. After this, Nick's retiring to work for Kyrian as a go-fer. That's all I want to do. I don't want to know nothing about zombie slaying, duck urine, or anything else paranormal. Ever."

But Nick still had one person left to speak to.

Mark.

"How did you survive?" he asked as Mark left Simi, who was licking her fingers and joined them by the truck.

Mark flashed him a grin. "What? Did you forget the first rule I taught you, boy?"

Nick scowled as he tried to remember Mark's various rules for survival. "Duck urine chases away every living and unliving thing?"

"Nah, that's number six. Rule number one: I don't have to outrun the zombie. I just have to outrun you. How you think Eric and Tabitha got captured?"

Tabitha laughed. "Oh please. Inspector Gadget over there made a blowtorch out of Eric's art sealant and a lighter. I'm not sure the house is still standing, but he got us out of there and Simi covered the rest of our retreat. We'd have gotten away completely had Eric not tripped and I made the mistake of going back for him while Mark was hot-wiring a neighbor's car."

Nick laughed at more proof Mark wasn't completely insane. Never go back for the fallen unless you want to be captured or killed. Unless the fallen was Bubba, who usually had a larger calibre of weapons.

Mark sighed. "By the time I realized they weren't behind me, they were gone and I was sick over it. I really thought they'd gotten eaten. But luckily I saw your girlfriend under attack and, with Simi's help, was able to get her to safety."

Nick nodded as he ran all of that through his mind. He only had one question left. "So how'd they get Stone?"

"Stone was here?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah, the coward ran out and left us the first chance he got.

Alex curled his lip. "You know, he's what gives werewolves a bad name."

Madaug's mom let out a deep sigh. "You know, guys, I've had enough excitement for one night. Bubba, can you take me home? Ian needs to be in bed. Madaug and Eric need to be grounded, and I just want to forget that I ever heard of anything preternatural. At least until I have to get up in the morning and deal with the Dark-Hunters." "Sure."

Alex grinned at her. "So does this mean you're surrendering your Squire status, Mrs. S.?"

"Not on your life. It just means I need to rest." She lifted Ian up into the truck, then climbed in behind him. "Eric and Madaug ... get your butts in here."

Eric gave Tabitha a quick kiss. "I'll call you later."

Bubba opened the door to climb in while Tabitha and Mark got in on the other side. "Let me run them home, then I'll be back to grab the rest of you."

Nick nodded as Nekoda took his hand into hers and held it tight.

He, Caleb, Simi, Alex, and Nekoda stayed behind.

Nick went over to the game and sighed. "You know, it was a fun game. But for the whole zombie conversion thing, he'd have made millions on it."

They all froze as they heard something rustling in the shadows. Nick pulled Nekoda behind him as Alex flashed himself from their group to the source of the sound.

A few seconds later, he threw Stone into the light.

Nick glared at him. "You loser dork."

"Ah, shut up, Gautier. You're nothing but trash anyway."

Nick grinned. "Yeah, but I'm trash with a seriously modified cattle prod." He stuck the tip of it against Stone's hip and sent him flying.

But it had an additional effect that Nick hadn't expected. Not only did it shock him, it turned him from human to wolf to human and back again.

"What the--?"

Alex backed up as Nick looked at him. "That's the bad thing about being a shapeshifter. You hit us with electricity and we lose control of our forms."

Gaping, he looked back at Stone, who would try to curse him during the few seconds he was a human as he flashed between forms. "How long's he going to do that?"

"You gave him a pretty good jolt. Probably an hour."

Nick laughed. "Bonus round."

Alex shook his head. "And on that note, I should get home too. I don't want to get grounded either. See you guys tomorrow at school." He disappeared into thin air.

Nick looked at Nekoda. "You're taking all of this weirdness in stride. Should I be afraid?"

"I almost got eaten by zombies tonight, Nick, and I rode in a truck with Bubba's driving. Some guy flashing out of the room and another one turning into a dog isn't exactly the scariest thing I've seen in the last few hours."

Simi came up to lean against Kod/s shoulder. "Oh, the Simi thinks you've seen things much, much scarier than that."

Nekoda paled a bit, but didn't elaborate.

Nick pulled her away from the others so that he could speak to her with a little bit of privacy. Gah, this was awkward. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but deep inside he was still afraid, even after everything they'd been through, that she'd shoot him down.

"Urn, Kody... I was wondering ..." He let his voice trail off as his fear mounted.

Just ask her out already.

Good grief, Nick, she kissed you.

Yeah, but she'd thought they were going to die. Now that they weren't dead she might be regretting that kiss. Wishing she'd saved it for someone who was better looking. Smarter.

Someone not dressed in a goober shirt.

"What?" she asked.

Man up, boy. You faced dowi demons tonight. Howcan you shirk now?

Then again, fighting demons was a lot easier than asking out a girl he really liked. They couldn't hurt his feelings.

With one word, she could crush him.

Just do it!

Taking a deep breath, he glanced away and spoke before he chickened out. "Would you like to go to the Cafe Du Monde with me tomorrow after school and grab some beignets? That is, if my mom doesn't ground me for life for letting Bubba tranq her?"

Time seemed to hang on forever before she spoke. "Sure. I'd like that a lot. But no more zombies, okay?"

In that instant, Nick felt like he could fly. "Yeah, all right. No zombies."

But in his head was the voice of Ambrose.
You only learned part of lesson one tonight, kid. You have nine more to go. Do you really think making time w'th a girl is the thing you should be focusing on?

Honestly? Yeah. 'Cause when he looked into Kod/s eyes, he could see into the future. There was something about her that warmed him, and after this night, he really needed that.

Especially given the challenges he would have to face in the future.

Lighten up, old man. This is my life, not yours, and I intend to make the most of it.

Ambrose flinched as he heard Nick's voice in his head with words that sent a cold chill down his spine. But he pulled back and left the kid alone to enjoy his victory.

"Unfortunately, Nick, you are living my life and God help us both, we're making all new mistakes."

He just hoped that this time they didn't kill everyone he loved.

As for Nekoda ...

Ambrose had learned long ago to fear anyone he let near him whose past and future he couldn't see. Anytime he'd made that particular mistake, the person had done their best to destroy him.

And in his gut, he knew Nekoda would be no exception.

A new face. A new chance.

But would it be enough ... That remained to be seen.

It was almost dawn before Bubba dropped Nick off at Kyrian's house. They'd had to run back to the store to let Brett and company out of the storeroom before Nick could face the dragon known as his mom.

Caleb stood beside him in the driveway while Nick looked up at Kyrian's mansion with holy terror gnawing on his gut.

"You ever had something you really dreaded doing?" Nick asked him.

"Yeah. It usually starts first thing in the morning when the alarm clock sounds and I know I have to go to school to learn stuff I already know."

Nick could definitely commiserate with that. "How do you stand it?"

Caleb shrugged. "You're my assignment, Nick. You do what you have to do or a bigger demon eats out your liver and uses your spine to pick its teeth."

The sad thing was, Nick wasn't sure he was joking about that. "Yeah, well, I just want to say thank you for everything you've done to keep me safe. I'm really sorry you got swarmed tonight and beat on so badly."

Caleb was completely stunned by the heartfelt words. Not once in all these centuries had anyone ever thanked him. Not even when he'd bled for them.

Nick held his hand out to him.

He started to mouth off, but changed his mind. He wasn't going to slap down someone who was being nice to him. It was too rare. "My pleasure, Nick." He shook his hand and inclined his head to Nick's newly healed arm. "By the way, you might want to keep that thing in the sling for a while yet. Your mom would freak out if you show up healed."

Nick tucked it back into the sling. "Good point." He took a step toward the door, then stopped. "See you tomorrow?"