Infamous (21 page)

But that was mild compared to the all-out panic that set in a second later when Bane appeared in Thorn’s office.

“We got a problem.” He passed a stern look from Thorn to Caleb.

“What?” Thorn asked.

“Noir has caught a scent of your little buddy and he’s about to declare war on you to get him back. He thinks you’ve found him and are planning to use the Malachai against him.”

“Of course he does. Paranoid idiot.” Thorn threw his hand out and illuminated the opposite side of the room. Images flashed until they focused on one of the walls that surrounded his fortress. There were all manner of entities headed their way. Nick could only identify a small percentage of the demons, the rest …

“Are those bugs?”

Three heads turned to give him a look that questioned his intelligence.

“Yes,” Bane said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “The baddest ass in all the universe is attacking us with big giant bugs. Help me, I’m being clobbered by a flea. Quick, Malphas, fetch the Raid.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “What are they, then?”

Caleb sighed. “You know how Greeks have a three-headed dog that guards their Underworld?”

“Yeah.”

“Those are what Noir uses to guard his. Basically, they’re bloodhounds with exoskeletons so that certain classes of demons can’t hurt them or escape them.” He flashed an evil grin at Nick. “For the record, kid, you happen to be on that list.”

Oh. And the bug-dogs could climb straight up a wall, as was proven when they reached Thorn’s territory and, without hesitation, walked straight up it.

Caleb looked at Thorn. “How much fire can you conjure?”

“Not enough to take all of them out. It would drain me too fast and leave me at Noir’s mercy.”

Nick’s heart raced. “We’re dead, aren’t we?”

“No, Nick,” Caleb said in a deceptively calm voice, “we’re worse than dead.”

Nick widened his eyes. “What’s worse than dead?”

Smiling, Bane clapped him on the shoulder. “Lucky you, you’re about to find out.”

*   *   *

Kody!

Nekoda literally jumped where she stood in Nick’s hospital room as Caleb screamed in her head.

What?
she asked, projecting her thoughts to him so that the other people in the room wouldn’t think she’d lost her mind.

Which she most likely had, but she didn’t want to be confined to one of the mental floors for it.

Wake Nick up.

She glanced over to Menyara and Cherise, who were talking in a low tone to Dr. Burdette on the other side of Nick’s bed.
I can’t, Caleb. Not exactly alone here.

Yeah, well, if you don’t get him conscious, he’s about to be enslaved to Noir.

Terror consumed her. That was all they needed.
Are you serious?

Do I sound like I’m kidding?

No, he sounded panicked. Which made her blood race even more. Caleb didn’t panic as a rule. He was always eerily calm no matter the threat. If he was rattled, it was bad.

But how could she get Cherise, Menyara, and Bubba’s mama out of the room?

If she set it on fire …

That would be bad. And it’d most likely get her banned from the hospital.

C’mon, Kody, think.…

Caleb’s voice was even more insistent.
Nick’s about to die, Kody. We can’t hold them.…
His sentence ended in a sound of anguish.

Glancing around, she tried to find something to use to distract the women so that she could wake Nick. But the hospital room was about as bare as anything could be. Drat!

If she went over there and started shaking him while he was hooked to all that equipment, they’d think she’d lost her mind. Her luck, they’d call security.

I have to do something.

Fast.

With no choice, she focused on Cherise and pushed her thoughts into Cherise’s mind.

His mother shook her head, then scowled. “You know,” she said to Menyara and Bobbi Jean, “I think I’m hungry all of a sudden. Why don’t we grab a quick bite downstairs in the cafeteria while he’s still sleeping?”

Both women looked at her like she’d lost her mind. Especially since she’d insisted the entire time that she be near Nick.

“You sure?” Menyara asked.

Cherise nodded. “We won’t go far. We can rush back if something changes.”

Menyara and Dr. Burdette exchanged frowns, since that had been their argument for hours as Cherise refused to leave in case Nick needed her.

Kody prodded them. “I’ll stay with Nick and let you know if he wakes.”

Cherise smiled. “Thank you, Kody.”

Kody waited until they were gone before she rushed to the bed. “Nick?” She shook him gently. “C’mon, baby, wake up.”

But he wasn’t responding at all.

She shook him more vigorously. And still he didn’t move.

Caleb?
She tried to reach him again.

He didn’t answer, either. Panic consumed her. What was going on?

Was she too late? Had Noir already captured them?

No, it couldn’t happen. It didn’t bear thinking on.

Her heart racing, she kept trying. She was the only hope they had.

I won’t let you guys down. I promise.

*   *   *

Nick was quickly learning that on the paranormal food chain, he was kibble. And everyone else above him on that chain wanted a bite out of his hide.

That being said, Bane, Caleb, and Thorn were taking the brunt of the fight so that they could keep him from being dragged off by one of the others.

If only I’d brought my sword with me.

He knew better than to let that out of his sight. It was one of the few things he’d been given that never let him down. The sword always worked the way it was supposed to. Pointy end went into his enemies and made them bleed.

Simplicity of design and dependability were beautiful things.

Oh, wait a second …

A weird thought occurred to him as he bashed one of the demons over the head with the book in his hands.

Could he summon his sword into this realm? It was infused with part of his DNA. Supposedly it was in tune with him, and he’d been working for months on the ability to summon his sword when he needed it. It was supposed to come to him on his command.

Nothing else worked the way it was supposed to, why should the sword obey him? Especially since he was in another dimension.

Still, it was worth a try. An effort wouldn’t cost him anything.

Not trying was a guaranteed failure.

Closing his eyes, Nick did his best to imagine the sword in his hand, its ornate hilt filling his palm. Just as he started feeling the heft of it in his hand, he was struck in the chest.

Nick staggered back as something else hit him and pain exploded through his entire body. He opened his eyes to see mortent demons right on top of him. Ah now, that was just rude. And he was tired of dealing with mortents. They smelled and they were just plain old obnoxious.

Other demons had Thorn on the ground. Caleb was bleeding profusely and Bane was pinned into a corner.

Man or mouse …

Time to be judged and he better not be lacking.

Nick opened himself up to the ether and let it whisper to him, at the same time he called for his sword. Light exploded all around them. Half the demons hissed, shrinking back from it.

Holding his hand up, Nick continued to whisper even as he was forced to avert his eyes from the light to keep from going blind.

The other half of the demons renewed their fight to reach him. And as they drew so close that he could feel their fetid breath on his skin, a clap of thunder rang out in his head. One second, they were nipping at his heels, in the next, he drove them back with a booming blast that sent all of them tumbling.

Nick started to laugh, until he realized that he couldn’t turn whatever it was off. Worse, it was building up, faster and faster, trying to take control of him. He cried out as pain rushed through his veins. It felt like he was burning from the inside out.

Caleb shouted something at him, but he couldn’t hear it.

I’m dying.

And there was nothing they could do to stop it.

CHAPTER 10

Nick felt his life force draining out of him. Then, just before the darkness took him under completely, he fell back into nothing. Desperate, he tried to grab on to something to stop his rapid descent. Anything.

Still, he fell.

Until he hit a sharp object that stabbed him so deeply, he was surprised it wasn’t protruding through his chest. He waited for …

He didn’t know. Disoriented and sick, he only wanted to wake up at home and have everything back to normal.

But that was easier said than done.

I have to face whatever it is.

Opening his eyes, he went rigid, unable to believe his sight. For once, it wasn’t something from a horror movie. Instead, he stared into the face of heaven and it was smiling brightly at him. “Kody?”

She clutched his hand. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“So did I.” He tried to move, then groaned as absolute misery pierced him. “Did you beat me?”

“I didn’t, but someone did.”

Bristol.

How could he have forgotten? The worm had jumped him on his way to Liza’s.

All of a sudden, Caleb appeared in human form on the opposite side of the bed. Thank goodness, he lived, but the peeved light in his eyes said he wanted to finish what Bristol had started.

Then, he glared at Kody. “Could you have cut that
any
closer?”

She gestured to Nick. “Talk to your friend here. He was the one who wouldn’t wake up.”

“Yeah,” Caleb breathed, turning his vicious glare back to Nick. “What was that you did?”

He scowled. “What do you mean?”

“Do you recall the Nether Realm?”

Duh. Not exactly something you’d forget without massive amounts of electroshock therapy. “Of course I do, and I
never
want to go there again.”

“That makes two of us.”

Kody glanced back and forth between them. “So what happened?”

Caleb jerked his chin toward Nick. “Your boyfriend turned into a human torch and annihilated a number of demons before you yanked him out of there.”

She appeared impressed by his description. “A torch? Really?”

Caleb nodded. “So what happened, Gautier? What’d you do?”

Shrugging, he tried to remember. “What always seems to happen when I’m under attack. I was trying to summon my sword and then something from deep inside me grabbed ahold of me. Next thing I know, you’re yelling at me to not use those powers. I kill a bunch of stuff and then you yell at me again for not listening to you.”

Caleb didn’t appear nearly as amused by his explanation as Kody did. “You need someone to yell at you.”

Nick snorted. “Got plenty of volunteers for that job. Really don’t need any more.”

Caleb made a sound of supreme annoyance.

“Is he awake?”

Kody stepped back so that his mother could run to the bed and throw herself over him.

Nick grunted as his mother struck one of his sore ribs. “Ma, you’re killing me.”

She lifted her head to glare at him. “Good, I want to kill you. I swear, Nick, you’re going to be the death of me.”

A stab of pain lacerated his heart at her words. It was a bad reminder of why Ambrose was doing this.

To keep his mother alive from whatever he’d done that had gotten her killed.

Guilt gnawed at him. Not just over what he’d done in the past to hurt her, but over whatever future stupidity he was going to commit. He’d put her through enough. He didn’t want to do anything else to make her cry. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“No, baby. I’m the one who’s sorry. When I told you not to fight, I didn’t mean for you to not protect yourself. I never, ever meant for that.”

Her words confused him even more. “But Mom, all my fights are me defending myself. I never throw the first punch.”

She grimaced at him. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

His indignant anger begged him to lash out at her for
that
comment. But he held it back. “I’ve tried, repeatedly, and all you do is ‘don’t but Mom, me, Nick’ and then you refuse to hear anything I say.”

Sniffing, she swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about that, Boo. I’m going to try and do better. I promise. And you can fight anytime you want, okay? Just don’t let them hurt you like this ever again. I’d much rather bail you out of jail than put you in a cemetery.”

“Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six,” Dr. Burdette said from behind her. “That’s always been my motto. And it’s the one I raised Michael on. I told him that I would never get on to him for defending himself, but if I found out he backed down from someone out of fear, his back porch was gonna be pink.”

“Michael?” his mom asked.

Nick snickered. “Bubba.”

Dr. Burdette made a painful moan. “Please, don’t call him that. I cringe every time I hear it.”

His mom frowned. “Why do you hate it so? I’ve known a lot of good Bubbas.”

Dr. Burdette made an irritated sound in the back of her throat. “Lucky you, Cherise. My animosity goes all the way back to my first day of school. Bubba Clark, may he roast his tenderloins in the devil’s hottest pit. There I was, all pristine in my white handmade dress my mama had worked so hard on. I felt like a fairy tale princess. Had my little pale yellow hat, and a matching patent leather purse. I thought I was the cat’s meow and felt all pretty and girly. Next thing I know, I get shoved from behind and fall, scuffing my purse, my shoes, and putting dirt on my dress. Even worse, that little rat refused to apologize for it. Being the child I was, I laid into him with everything I had. And I might have been a little girl in a frilly pinafore dress, but I had three older brothers who taught me how to lay a man low, and sister, that day I did. I had him on the ground, crying like a baby after milk. Therein started a rivalry that goes on to this day. Bubba Clark has made me miserable any time he can, right down to pretending to be a policeman when I was on dates with Michael’s father. Anytime we kissed, he’d shine his light in our windows—until the day Bruce beat the tar out of him for it. So I cringe whenever I hear the name, and the fact that Michael would use it … I’m going to start calling him Mickey again just to watch
him
make the faces. That’ll learn him.”