Invincible Chronicles of Nick - By Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,10

with him. It felt like electricity jolted him. There was no denying the intensity of this creature’s presence.

He was Death, and he’d ridden in on a pale horse.…

CHAPTER 3

Okay, Death wasn’t exactly on a pale horse. He was carrying it.…

Nick wanted to run for the door, but he couldn’t get his feet to obey. It was like every joint in his body was locked by some invisible force.

“Morty!” Kara said excitedly. “Your ears must have been burning. I was just going to come and find you.”

His gaze never left Nick’s. “Really? No wonder I knew to come out, then. Must have heard all of you screaming for cookies of Death.”

Nick watched as the pale horse, which was no bigger than his hand, reared up on the stack of cookies. Its color was like nothing he’d ever seen before. A strange mixture of blue and white, the color seemed to be a living entity all its own. The miniature horse snorted fire from its nostrils before it ran down Morty’s arm and vanished inside the pocket of his hoodie.

WTH?

More than that, was the image of Morty dressed in black armor, brandishing a sword. His black hair whipped around his face and shoulders, while his eyes glowed a fierce, vibrant red and his skin glinted like it was bronze and not flesh.

Nick glanced around to see if any of the weres had noticed. If they did, they gave no indication.

“Would you like a cookie, kid?”

It took him a second to realize Death was speaking to him. “What?”

“Do. You. Want. A. Cookie?”

He could have done without the tone that said Death thought he was a moron.

When Death offers a cookie, or anything else, refuse.

Yeah, that definitely seemed like the wisest course of action.

Nick shook his head. “I just ate. A lot, and I’m still burping syrup. Thanks, but no thanks.”

The corner of Death’s mouth quirked up in wry amusement.

Kara frowned at him. “You should try them, Nick. They’re delicious. No one makes cookies that taste like this.”

Probably because arsenic was a key ingredient.

He patted his stomach. “Have to watch my girlish figure. ’Cause if I don’t, no one will.”

Death laughed as he handed the tray to Kara. “C’mon, Nick, let me show you around.”

“I think I’m good.”

Completely oblivious of the fact that Nick was highly disturbed by their stygian cook, Aimee grabbed a cookie off the plate. “That’s a good idea. You two have fun. I need to get back to payroll, anyway.”

Mama…, Nick silently whimpered.

Morty grabbed his arm and all but hauled him through the swinging door that led to the kitchen, where two giant brutes were cleaning. One was humongously tall and bald, with dark eyes that missed nothing. He had a tattoo at the base of his neck that looked like some kind of angry bird. The other was not much taller than Nick. His brown hair was cut short.

Death clapped the tall one on the shoulder. “Nick, meet my two companions. Pain and Suffering.” Pain was the big one, and Suffering the smaller of the two. “You’ll have to ignore Suffering, since he’s mute.”

“Mute?”

“Mmm … You know, you should always suffer in silence.”

Nick would laugh, but he was afraid Pain might hit him for it, and since he was Pain, best to leave him be. “Nice meeting you two…” He looked around nervously. “Oh, wait! I hear my mom calling. I better go see what she needs.” He turned to leave, only to find that his legs were locked again.

Death sauntered over to stand in front of him. “Don’t play coy, Cajun. We don’t like that.”

Yeah, and he didn’t like being stuck in the kitchen with ghouls either. Sometimes you just didn’t get what you wanted. “What do you want from me?”

“Normally, it’d be your life and your soul.” He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, I can’t take either right now. Sucks to be me today.” He slapped Nick so hard on the shoulder that it made him stagger. “I was sent here to teach you.”

“Teach me what?” Dying painfully in a back alley somewhere?

“How to understand augury.”

Nick scowled. “Ahhhga … who?”

“Augury,” Death repeated. “The art of divination.”

Okay, that made absolutely no sense to him. “But you’re Death.”

Death gave him a droll stare. “I know, kid. Believe me, it’s not something you forget. But there are many agents of death, messengers as it were. I am only one. In my opinion, I’m the best one. However, there are plenty more out there able to do the job. Poseurs mostly, granted. But