Invincible Chronicles of Nick - By Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,74
pain.
And bleeding at the corner of his mouth.
Ah yeah, this was just like that moment in Terminator 2 when the evil chrome cyborg takes over the body of the nice security guard.
Except the real Caleb wasn’t usually all that warm and fluffy either. Something that made them even harder to tell apart.
“Which of you’s real?” Nick asked.
“The one limping, silly.” Simi flashed in beside Nick and leaned against his shoulder. “Can’t you tell the difference between the cute Malphas and the fugly fake one?”
Not really. If Caleb wasn’t limping and bleeding, he’d have no clue.
Nick frowned at her. “What’s going on?”
With her bright purple hair, which matched the color of her lipstick, pulled into pigtails, Simi let out an adorable sound that defied description. “Them nasty demons done found you. Kind of. See, there’s a big bounty on your head—” She brushed her hand over his hair to emphasize her words. “—and if some mean nasty can find you and bring you in to have your brains eaten by their overlord, they get freed. So win–win. Well, not for you ’cause it would probably hurt to have your brains eaten. Though the Simi is pretty sure they’d kill you first.” She paused to think about that with a strangely cute expression. “Then again, some don’t, ’cause they like the sound of screams on the way down. I wonder if brains scream on their own.… Hmm. The Simi sees an expulsion coming on. Not ex…”
“Periment?”
“That’s the word.” Smiling, she touched him on the tip of his nose. “Experiment. Thank you, akri-Nicky. Good of you to use your brains while you still have some. The Simi’s so proud for you.”
“You’re not helping my panic, Simi.”
“Oh.” She grinned at him. “Sorry. The Simi will be silent. Until it’s not time to be silent anymore. Silent. I likes that word. Ever notice some words are just pretty to say?” She beamed like a beautiful doll. “Silent Simi.” Her face fell as she touched her forefinger to her lower lip and pouted. “Oh, wait, no. The Simi don’t like the way that sounds at all. Blah! A silent Simi is not a good thing.”
“Sim?” Caleb grunted. “A hand, please?” Good Caleb was trapped in a headlock by the other Caleb.
Nick started forward.
Good Caleb threw his hand out and stopped him. “Don’t get hurt.”
“I feel like a yo-yo.”
“Better than what I feel like, buddy. Trust me.”
The bad Caleb withdrew from the good one the moment Simi entered the fray. He started for the door, but Simi tossed her hand out and wrapped what appeared to be a sticky rope around him. She reeled him to her like a fisherman ready for some swordfish steak.
“Oh, no,” Simi said. “We can’t have that. Where you going, Mr. Meanie-Pants? You don’t hurt people then run. That’s just rude.” She looked back at Caleb. “Can the Simi barbecue him, or is he on the ‘No Simi’ eat list?”
Caleb looked at the demon coldly. “Bon appétit, babe.”
This time when Simi smiled, Nick saw that her teeth were serrated and sharp. With a cry of delight, she vanished with the demon in tow.
Nick blinked several times as he tried to digest everything that was happening. “Simi’s a demon.”
“Yeah.”
Simi was a demon. He kept repeating that in his head.
Well, that certainly explained a whole lot of her weirdness away. But still …
Nick was aghast. “For the record, do I know anyone not a demon or a freak?”
“Yes, you do. Not sure if Bubba and Mark go into the latter or not, though. I’m too tired to mentally categorize them. You figure it out, and I’ll go with your Dewey decimal.” Caleb collapsed on the sofa with a loud groan. “Are you all right?”
“Maybe, but my mom will kill you if she sees that blood on her couch.”
Caleb looked down at the big stain that was spreading across the cushion where he lay. “I’ll clean it before I go. I just need to lie here for a minute. You have no idea how much pain I’m in. And—” He narrowed his gaze on Nick. “—who told you?”
Um, that was random. “Told me what?”
“About your destiny.”
Was he serious? “Dude. You did.”
Caleb cursed, then winced. “It wasn’t me, Nick. That stupid Fringer grabbed me and tossed me into Lataya.”
Nick had no idea what he was talking about. “Who is that?”
“Not a person. It’s a place. Think of it like a dungeon for demons where your powers get zapped.”