Page 27 of Infamous (Chronicles of Nick 3)
“Please tell me it’s not zombies again.”
Nick laughed. “No, Madaug’s been banned from making games. If his brother Eric ever finds one again, he has a giant magnet he’s going to set down on Madaug’s prized computer.”
“Ouch.”
“Exactly. Not that Madaug needed the threat. He learned his lesson quite well.”
Acheron nodded. “I imagine so. Anyway, back to school. What’s going on?”
“Someone has set up a Web site and they’re posting garbage about my classmates. Mostly made up, but enough truths to make it look authentic. Now students are going at each other’s throats over it.”
“Echrichta.”
“Bless you.”
Ash laughed, this time giving Nick a flash of his elongated fangs. “In Atlantean the Echrichta were the children of Pali, the god of strife, and Diafonia, the goddess of discord. Their grandfather was Misos, the Atlantean god of war and death. Before wars broke out, the Atlantean gods would unleash the Echrichta to stir up emotions and get the people ready to attack each other.”
That had to be the coolest accent in the world. There was nothing to compare it to, but in spite of the fact that Acheron was male, Nick loved to hear him speak his native language. “How do you say that? Ecka—encha—Encharada … Enchilada?”
“You have to catch and roll the uvula in the back of your throat on the r’s. So it’s heck-RAH-ta.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna quit before I embarrass myself. So were they human in appearance? Ugly snot monsters? Or what?”
“They were extremely beautiful. At least on the ouside. Inside … Echrichta literally means ‘she who stirs excrement.’”
Nick burst out laughing. “What? Are you serious?”
Acheron nodded. “I swear. In my day, in Atlantis, men were respected. Women were feared … and for good reason. Hell hath no fury.”
Nick agreed with that. Women and girls carried a grudge like nobody’s business. Sue Tilling was still mad at him for bumping into her on the playground in kindergarten. “I have to say they scare the crap out of me most days. Kody can render me speechless with the raising of one eyebrow.”
“Exactly. Men can beat each other to a pulp and still walk away friends. With a woman, once an enemy, always an enemy. Women will sit like a spider, for years, waiting for the chance to strike. They never forget and seldom forgive.”
Nick cringed. “You’re scaring me, Ash.”
“Sorry. But just remember this. No woman has ever killed a man while he was washing dishes.”
Nick scowled at him. “What?”
“It’s another Atlantean saying. If you keep the woman happy, she’s less likely to cut your throat.”
“Man, y’all were whacked. So what did these troublemaking, excrement-stirring goddesses do?”
“The kind of stuff you’re talking about at Your School. They’d go in and tell someone’s secrets and claim they’d heard them from someone else, usually a friend. Or they’d just make things up to break apart friendships and homes. It was what they lived for. They’d go to humans and whisper in their ears, playing off their fears. Sometimes it was overt and other times it would be as subtle as saying, ‘Hey Nick, I saw Kody this afternoon when at the mall. Man, she’s looking really happy these days. And her friend Tom she was with … wow. You could tell he was loaded. Expensive clothes. Rolex. He was so impressive and smart.’”
“How would that upset me?”
“Let’s say that Kody had told you she couldn’t be with you that same afternoon because she had to study.”
“Yeah, okay, that would not make me happy.”
Acheron nodded. “And you’d probably fight with her over it, especially if she hadn’t done it. You’d think she was lying about it, and she’d think you didn’t trust her.”
Nick let out a low whistle. He could see where that would get ugly fast. “It’s kind of like an evil silkspeech.”
Ash stiffened for a second. “How do you know what silkspeech is?”
Nick let his Cajun accent out in all its glory. “I be hanging with me some Goths.”
That placated him. “Silkspeech isn’t just the tool of demons and gods. While it’s potent in their hands, it’s deadliest when in the hands of a human who’s incapable of feeling happiness. Or worse, one who takes happiness by hurting others. Jealous people who trade in gossip and who feel the need to take someone down a notch so that they can feel superior.”
“Oh, I know people like that.”
“Sadly, Nick, we all do.”
Yeah. And it was sad.
The nurse came in to glare at Nick. “Those men got away. But I will find out who they were. What were they doing in here anyway?”
“Protecting me.”
“From what?” she asked, arms akimbo.
Acheron arched a curious brow.
Nick didn’t want to tell her or Ash about the demon part, so … “There’s an escaped felon trying to kill me.” There. The truth with vague details. The Echrichta might excel at lies, but Nick excelled at creative truth. Something that was a talent in and of itself.
“I’ll warn security about this.” She checked his IV bag, then put a needle into it.
Acheron cocked his head. “What are you giving him?”
“Just a small sedative.”
One that was already kicking in. Man, it was strong. The room blurred. He heard Acheron saying something, but he couldn’t make it out at all.
Freaky weird. It was even making him hallucinate. Instead of seeing the nurse, he saw his father.
No, wait …
That was his powers kicking in. The nurse was his father.
Nick tried to speak, but couldn’t. All he could hear was the sound of him coding as he passed out.
CHAPTER 12
“Come home, child, and be rewarded.”
Nick heard that tender voice. It was feminine, but not his mother’s. Warmth suffused him as he tried to find that unseen woman through the darkness that enveloped him.
“Fight her, Nick.” That was Kody. “Think of me, baby, and come toward my voice.”
Nick hesitated. It wasn’t in him to blindly follow anyone. “How do I know it’s you?”
“You know me, Nick.”
Yeah, but he wasn’t stupid. Any more than he was trusting. “If you’re really Kody, tell me where we met.”
“In school.”
That was a vague and safe bet. “Where in school?”
“In class, silly.”
He made the sound of a warning buzzer. “And for the million-dollar question … you’re absolutely wrong. No Nick for you, jerkweed!”
Now he was being cursed by a man’s gruff voice. In the back of his mind, he wondered if that might be Noir, but there was no way to know for sure. And he wasn’t about to ask since the last thing he wanted was for the dark god to get any kind of boost to his powers.
“Nick?”
He jumped at the sound of “Kody’s” voice right behind him.
A dull greenish light flared so that he could see her. Only …
His mind locked up over the way she was dressed. Her brown hair was pulled back from her face and held high on her head in an intricate braid, with the majority of her hair falling down her back. She had a leather halter with fringe hanging down the front and back. Her short leather skirt was also fringed and leather bands that held sheaths were wrapped around her arms and thighs. Along with another sword and sheath that she wore diagonally across her back.
Ringed with heavy black eyeliner, her green eyes were the color of deep emeralds.
She smiled at him before she chucked him lightly on the chin. “Close your mouth, baby, you’re drooling.”
He probably was. Any normal heterosexual fifteen-year-old would. “My baby is h-a-w-t!” Then he remembered the masquerade trick. “You are my baby, right?”
She handed him his sword and grimoire. “Yes, I am.”
Only the real Kody would have known to bring those to him, and where he kept them. Grateful she knew him so well, she took his weapons, then heard the sound of something beating loud and fierce in the sky above them. “Where are we?”
“The Fringe Realm.”
She said that like he should know exactly what she was talking about. But, he had no clue. “I don’t understand. Where’s the Fringe Realm?” What’s the Fringe Realm?
“Think of it like a protective membrane that keeps the worlds within their respective boundaries.”
Nick placed one hand over his ear as the sound became louder. “And what’s causing that?”
Before she could answer, that attacked. They were like flying monkeys that had mated with dragons. Their bodies were more humanoid, yet their faces were dragon-shaped and their pale tan skin made of scales. Large fangs curled like tusks out of their mouths.
Kody flipped around his back to catch the first one that reached them with a sword stroke. The others descended on them rapidly.
Pulling his sword hilt out, he held it in his palm and imagined it the size of a Scottish claymore. It quickly shot to that size so that he could fight. His heart pounding, he stood at Kody’s back as they fought against the beasts.
“Don’t let them separate us,” Kody warned.
“I’m not letting them do anything.” They definitely had the home team advantage, and were making use of it. I’m not going to be kibble today.
At least that was the intention. But intending something and being able to do it …
Much easier said than done. Nick crouched low as one of the dramonks came at him. He rose up and stabbed it in the middle of its chest. Screaming, it twisted around and reached a huge claw toward him.
One second, he thought he was a goner, and in the next, Kody pulled him back and was between them.
Instead of it grabbing him, it got her. She cried out in agony and anger as it snatched her from the ground and launched toward the black sky, clutching her in its claws.
In that moment, a rage he’d never felt before came over him. His vision dimmed as words formed themselves in his mind. When he spoke them aloud, they came out as a guttural growl, in a language he knew without ever having been taught it.
She is mine. Let nothing touch her save the Ambrosius Malachai.
The words rolled out like a sonic boom that shook the air around and ground beneath him. He let the words continue to fill the ether until he merged with it.
The ether is yours to command. Breathe, Ambrosius, breathe. Let it empower you. It is your blood. Your lineage.
Your Right.
Nick felt it seep inside him, thick and heady. Something entered his mouth. It tasted like blood, but instead of repulsing him, he craved it. Leaning his head back, he drank his fill. And with every swallow, he became stronger and stronger.…
Death is my friend. He walks to my right. War walks to my left. I am their commander and I am the one they serve.
And Kody was his chosen one.
No one took from him. Not without paying with their lives. Lowering his head, he threw his arms out, spanned his black wings, and launched himself toward her. One of Noir’s larger pets came at him. He shot a blast of fire at it. With one shrill scream, it burst apart.
Nick ignored everything as he closed the distance between him and Kody.
Kody saw the shadow that darkened the creature clutching her. She looked up, expecting another enemy.
What she found was so much worse.
Nick had converted to the Malachai. His skin was black and red swirled together into a beautiful pattern that faded into his ebony wings. His eyes were a vibrant reddish yellow. And yet, he was still incredibly handsome.
In that instant, she saw the real reason why he had to be saved.
He was unique. His mother’s blood and his father’s. He was a creature unto himself.
A creature of hatred nurtured by love.
One who would fight his own to save her life. No other Malachai would ever do such.
Flying with incredible speed, he grabbed the gritale by its head and snapped its neck. It let go of her. Kody fell through the dark sky.
Until a hand caught hers. Her heart pounding, she stared into the face of ultimate death. Into the blazing eyes of a creature known for its merciless cruelty.
The Malachai has no heart. It can feel nothing but hatred. It thrives on it. It seeks to feel it even when it shouldn’t. That is its mother’s milk. Its only pleasure comes from consuming the blood of its enemies.
For the first time, she feared him.
Nick placed her on a ledge above the cavern they’d been in. And as he rose, jet-black armor covered him. Dark gunmetal spikes glistened from the shoulders. His hands were now vicious claws. From his left shoulder, there were three pendulums that fell down the front of his body. One for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. The epaulettes came down to the juncture of his biceps, where they formed a sharp point. And in the middle rose a deep, bloodred stone. A stone that had been named the eye of the dragon. They charged him and kept his armor invincible.
