Invincible Chronicles of Nick - By Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,29
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