Infinity Chronicles of Nick

chapter 8

Nick froze in front of Ash's shiny black car.... No, not car. Friggin' Porsche 911 Turbo! Talk about epic. His heart actually started pumping like a freight train at the prospect of riding in it.

"How can this be your car?"

Ash shot him a "duh" stare. "Well, I wrote a really big check that didn't bounce to the dealer and then the most amazing thing happened.... The salesman gave me the keys and let me take it home. It was like magic."

Nick gave him a peeved glare. "Only I'm allowed to be that sarcastic."

"Trust me, Nick. I've got many more years of practice at it than you have. Now hop in."

"Hop in? Dude, are you out of your ever-loving mind? I can't touch this. I might leave a fin-gerprint or something."

"Oh the horror. Guess I'll have to trade the piece of junk in and get a new one if that happens. By the way, don't breathe on the upholstery or I may have to gut you." Ash slid into the car without missing a beat.

Even thoughAsh had been kidding, Nick hesitated. He'd only seen cars like this in posters and online. The price tag for it was more money than his mom made in ...

Fifteen years.

At least.

People lived in houses that cost less. He lived in a house that was probably cheaper than the tires on this thing. Dang, what would it be like to own something so fine?

"Nick, get in. I don't have all night."

Biting his lip, Nick pulled his shirttail up so that he wouldn't tarnish the pristine black paint with a paw print. Ash had already put his backpack in the floorboard. Man, this was such a cool car. Careful not to leave a shoe mark on the tan interior, he got in and shut the door. "Are you a drug dealer?"

"No." Ash let out a short laugh. "I'm a wrangler."

"A what?"

Ash started the engine with the key on the left side of the steering wheel. How weird was that? "I manage people." "What kind of people?"

"People like you. Hard-headed. Stubborn. Irritating and smart-mouthed." He shifted into high gear and kicked it.

Nick grabbed the door handle and held on for his life as Ash pulled into traffic at superson-ic speed.

"Relax, kid. I'm not about to dent this car."

Nick wasn't so sure about that. "You like to drive fast, don't you? How many tickets have you gotten, anyway?"

Ash didn't answer. Probably for the best since Nick didn't want to end up as a hood orna-ment on someone else's vehicle. Last thing he needed to do was distract Ash while he was driving at warp speed.

Or attempting to anyway.

Nick cringed as Ash weaved between two huge semis. "Gah, do your parents know how you drive? And where did you get your license anyway? The Blue Light Special at Kmart?"

Ash laughed. "Who says I have a license?" Nick let out a cry of alarm.

"Relax, Nick. Remember, I have evil Jedi powers. Nothing's going to touch us." He down-shifted and they shot forward like a bullet.

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the zombies. Stoooop ..." He swore the car actually left the ground to avoid being slammed by a car pulling out.

Yeah ... evil Jedi powers indeed.

He looked over at Ash, who was driving through the dark night with his sunglasses still in place. "How did you get those powers anyway?"

"They were a gift on my twenty-first birthday."

"You're that old?" Nick would have sworn he wasn't any older than eighteen or nineteen.

Ash laughed again. "Somewhat older than that."

"So what did you do for the gift? Sell your soul or something?"

The humor fled his face. "Something like that."

This was getting good. Nick would kill to have the kind of powers Ashdid. "Who'd you sell it to? The devil?" Now, with anyone else, that would be a stupid question, but since Nick had seen what Ash could do, he knew Ash had gotten them from somewhere, not the local Wal-mart.

Ash paused before he answered Nick's question. He didn't like talking or even thinking about his past for a multitude of reasons. But his ownership wasn't something that was that big a secret, since most of the people he knew had sold their souls to the only person who could control him. "I'm owned by a goddess, Nick."

"Which one?"

"Artemis. Ever heard of her?"

Nick scratched his ear. "Greek goddess of the moon, right?

"The moon's associated with her, but Selene is actually the goddess of the moon. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt." "And what does she hunt?"

"Most days, me," Ash said under his breath. Clearing his throat, he spoke louder. "She's basically retired now. Most of the ancient gods are only powerful when they're worshiped by followers."

"Most?"

Yeah, some, like Acheron, didn't need followers to charge their powers. They were the really dangerous ones because their powers never waned. And unfortunately, Artemis could and did tap into his powers when it suited her to. But lucky for the world, she really didn't care about using them except againstAcheron himself.

When he didn't clarify, Nick asked another question. "Are you one of the ones who's weak?"

"I never said I was a god." But somehow Nick seemed to sense what he was. Another thing that made him different from everyone else.

Nick fell quiet as he digested Ash's comments. Ash didn't say it, but there was something about him that was so powerful he could almost feel it in the marrow of his bones. If he wasn't an ancient god, he was something ...

Equal to it.

"Well, you know, you haven't told me what you are, Ash." "Just think of me as a powerful immortal and you'll be fine." Nick cocked his brow as he zoned in on one word in particular.

"Immortal?" "Yeah."

"So how old are you? Really?" He must be totally ancient. "Two, three hundred years?"

Ash gave a testy smirk. "Over eleven thousand."

Nick's mouth fell open in disbelief. It wasn't possible. He could nof be tf?af old. "Bullshit!"

"Watch your language, kid."

"Okay, bullcrap. There's no way. We didn't even have people back then. You're yanking my chain."

Ash shook his head. "I assure you, we did. I was even on a first-name basis with some of them."

Nick remained still as that sank in and he tried to imagine the world Ash must have come from. What would people have been like back then?

Was Ash just full of total garbage?

"You're really not kidding, are you?" Nick asked.

"Dead serious."

Still, he couldn't believe it. Could people really be immortal? He'd seen the movies and read the books, but...

"How? Are you a vampire or something? What made you immortal?"

"Really good DNA."

Nick rolled his eyes. Ash's glib answers were starting to irritate him. He wanted an answer and he wanted one now. "Oh, come on. I have to know about the who-do voodoo that you do.

Most of all, I want to know how I can become immortal ... well, not at my age 'cause that would suck. But in a few years when I'm filled out and in my prime." He grinned at Ash. "Make me immortal."

Ash wasn't charmed. "Look, Nick, I don't like talking about my powers and not a lot of people know what I can do. I'm trusting you with a secret and I expect you to keep it. If you can't..." He tilted his head down as if he was looking at him over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Well, I'm sure your mom's going to miss you."

"Not half as much as I'd miss me if you killed me." He blinked like a girl and leaned against Ash's shoulder. "Please don't hurt me, Ash. Please. I don't want to die while I'm still a virgin.

At least let me get laid before you kill me—which according to my mom I can't do until I'm married and I can't do that until I finish college. So you have to wait a good ten years before you snuff me. Deal?"

Ash shoved him back onto his side of the car. "You're really not right, are you?"

"Yeah, I know. It was all the paint chips I ate as a kid. They were good, but chromosomally damaging."

Ash let out an audible sigh as he forced himself not to laugh at Nick's antics. He was really beginning to like the kid a lot more than he should. There was just something about him that was infectious. "Ten years, huh?"

"Yeah, you can kill me when I'm twenty-four, provided I'm not still a virgin, but not a day before that."

"All right. It's a deal... provided you keep your trap shut."

"Trap nailed shut, sir."

"But at twenty-four..." Ash let his voice trail off. "I'm all yours, babe."

Ash shook his head. "I don't intimidate you at all, do I?"

"Well, when you chased me through Kyrian's house, I did wet my pants a bit. Guess I'm not housebroken after all. My mom will be so disappointed after all she went through to potty train me. But once you let me live ... your big mistake ... now I know you think I'm too cute and fluffy to kill."

It was really hard to be agitated at someone with that kind of humor. And in all honesty, it was nice to be around someone who wasn't trying to prove himself, wet himself, or posture.

It'd been a long time since someone who knew he wasn't human had treated him like one.

"You are cute and fluffy, but never forget, kid, that I'm a carnivore from a time and place where we had to kill and skin our food in order to eat it."

Nick's eyes widened as he tried to imagine Ash dressed like a Goth caveman in a studded black loincloth chasing down saber-tooth tigers and killing them with a spear.... Did they have saber-tooth tigers eleven thousand years ago?

Did people have loincloths or did they hunt naked?

Dang, his teachers were right. Some of that trivial crap could come in handy.

But that wasn't the point of this conversation. Nor the point of what Ash was telling him.

"You just like to scare people, don't you?"

"As much as you like to annoy them and for the same exact reason."

It kept people from getting too close. Nick did it so that others wouldn't mock him or so that when they did, it didn't hurt as much.

What was Ash trying to protect himself from? It was definitely something to think about.

Ash pulled up to the curb in front of Nick's house, which looked all the more dilapidated after he'd been in Kyrian's neighborhood.

To Ash's credit, he didn't react to the ramshackle house in anyway.

Nick gave a low whistle as he saw a couple of people on the street stop and stare at the car. "Man, my neighbors must be freaking out. First I get picked up by a Lexus and now I'm being dropped off in a Porsche. It's a wonder they're not calling New Orleans' finest to report suspicious activity."

Ash scoffed as he turned the car off. "I think the LEOs have more important things to worry about tonight than the cars coming to your house."

Nick frowned at the word he didn't understand. "LEOs?"

"Law enforcement officers."

"Ah ... cool anagram."

"Acronym," Ash corrected. But this time when he spoke his accent was extremely thick with the first part of the word coming from deep and low in his throat—like a growl. It was a really cool sound.

"Wait... Say that word again."

"Acronym." And poof, Ash now sounded like anyone else on the street.

"That's so awesome that you can toss out your accent. How do you do that?"

"Lots of practice. Now if you don't mind, I need to dump you out so I can get down to my business."

"Which is?"

"Wrangling people ... which right now is you. Get out, Nick."

Nick opened the door and rolled out of the car. Ash grabbed his backpack and followed him up the short, crumbling walkway that was overgrown with grass and littered with pebbles.

Not to mention a few cockroaches that scattered out of his way. Some of them ran up under the plant Bubba had sent to him.

Trying not to think about the roaches, Nick barely made it into the door of his house before his mom threw it open and grabbed him into a tight hug. "Arm! Arm! Arm!" he said quickly as she hurt him.

She released him immediately. "I'm so sorry, Boo. I was just so scared and then to see you ... I could beat your butt blue, boy. Don't you ever worry me like that again. You hear me!"

Nick rubbed his hand over his injured arm, which was still stinging from her hug. "You know, I hear they have medication for those kind of vicious mood swings, Ma. Maybe you should consider taking some?"

She scoffed at him. "Don't you dare get lippy with me after what you've put me through today. You're lucky you're not grounded over this stunt. If you'd been any place other than work, you would be." She turned back toward the door to close it and froze as she saw Acheron on the porch. Her face went white as she took in the size of him.

"It's okay, Mom. He's a friend of Mr. Hunter's who brought me home."

Acheron held up Nick's backpack for her to see. "I was just carrying this in for him, Mrs.

Gautier. Sorry I startled you."

His mom smiled as she caught herself gawking. "It's okay. I just..."

Ash smiled. "Yeah, I know. It's a hazard of the height and clothes. I tend to freak out a lot of people."

Not to mention that lethal aura that sizzled in the air around him. But Nick was beginning to get used to that.

"Do you work for Mr. Hunter too?" his mom asked.

Ash set his backpack down by the door. "No, ma'am. We're just old friends."

She smiled. "You don't look old enough to have old friends."

Nick snorted at her making the same assumption he had. "Trust me, Mom, he's a lot older than he looks."

"Well, thank you for bringing my baby home. I appreciate it."

"No problem." Acheron turned toward Nick. "Keep your nose clean, kid. I'll see you around."

"Thanks, Ash."

He inclined his head before he left.

His mom locked the door and moved Nick's backpack away from the threshold so that they wouldn't trip over it. "He's a bit peculiar, isn't he?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"So how did your first day with Mr. Hunter go?"

"It was all right." Aside from the zombies, Rosa's lunacy, and Acheron, but no need to completely terrify her. Only one of them needed to freak out at a time.

"Good. Now I better get ready for work." She headed for her room.

Nick pulled her to a stop. "I don't think so."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I want you to quit tonight."

Sighing, she twisted her arm out of his hold. "Stop with the nonsense, Nick. You know I can't quit. We need the money."

"No, Ma, really. Mr. Hunter's going to pay me four thousand a month to work for him."

Her jaw went slack as her eyes narrowed in anger. "Doing what?"

"Running errands, like he said."

"Oh no, no, no. I'm not having any of that. No one pays that kind of money for running legal errands. I want you to quit first thing tomorrow."

"No, Mom. It's all legal. I promise."

Still she refused to believe him. "Not for that kind of money it's not. What kind of fool do you take me for? I wasn't born yesterday. I—"

"Mom, listen. Please. He really is loaded like you've never seen before. Ash told me that Kyrian thinks I'm underpaid. The guy has no concept of how much money he's paying me.

Really."

"No one is that loaded, Nick, that they'd just throw forty-eight thousand dollars a year at a kid for running errands. Think about it."

A day ago, he'd have been right there with her. But after today... for some reason he believed in Kyrian and his intentions. "Yeah, he is. Trust me. I saw the house and you ain't never seen nothing like it. So you can quit dancing. I'll be making enough working part time that you won't have to do anything but stay home." Just like they'd always dreamed of.

His mom hesitated. "I don't know."

"Please, Mom. Trust me."

Her features softened as she cupped his cheek in her hand. "Tell you what. You work for him for a couple of weeks and after you get your first paycheck then we'll see, okay?"

Nick curled his lip as he realized her tactic. She was shutting him down and not really listening to a word he said. "Why don't you believe me?"

"I think you misunderstood him."

"I didn't."

She brushed his hair back from his face. "We'll see, Nick. We'll see."

God, he hated that tone she used. It was so condescending and what she was actually saying is that he didn't know what he was talking about. He wasn't stupid.

Whatever. He was too disgusted to keep arguing when it was obviously futile.

She went to go dress. "I left you some eggs and cheese on the stove in case you're hungry."

Nick cringed at her words. He should have thought to bring her some of Rosa's gumbo.

She wouldn't have forgotten about him.

Next time ...

"I'm full if you want some more. Kyrian's housekeeper fed me about an hour ago." "Was it good?" she called from her room. "Yeah."

She poked her head out of the door. "Better than my cooking?"

He started to say yes, which was the truth, but self- preservation kicked in. He'd made the mistake of saying Menyara made better biscuits once and his mom hadn't taken it well. "No.

No one's gumbo can touch yours."

She winked at him before she closed the door.

Nick let out a relieved breath that he'd sailed past that land mine without getting his butt kicked over it. It wasn't often he passed those tests. I'm getting better at dealing w'th women.

Today his mom. Tomorrow an actual girlfriend....

Like Kody.

Maybe I should call her? Since he hadn't seen her at school, he still had her Nintendo in his pocket.

You knowyou dont have her number.

Oh yeah. That was a problem. One he'd fix first thing tomorrow when he went to school.

And this time, he wouldn't wuss out. He'd actually ask her to go have beignets with him.

Nick headed to the counter and picked up his worn-out copy of Hammer's Slammers, then headed to his room to read. He was just skipping ahead to where he left off last night when his mom pushed back the blanket.

"I'm heading out. You need anything before I go?"

"I'm good."

"Okay. Mennie said she'd come by later and check on you. I'll be home a little after dawn."

Nick set his book down as he thought about her taking the streetcars to and from work while more zombies could be out on the street. His mom would barely be a snack for them.

"Would you mind if I went in to work with you tonight?"

"You need to rest."

"Yeah, but with all this weird sh—" He caught himself before he said something she'd ground him over."—stuff going on, I'd feel better if you weren't by yourself."

A slow smile spread across her beautiful face. "You going to be my protector?"

"That's my job, isn't it?"

"All right. Grab a jacket and I'll tell Mennie."

Nick did as she ordered. She didn't often let him go to the club on school nights, but he'd meant what he said. He didn't like his mom out by herself. New Orleans could be dangerous on its best nights and since she was all he had ...

He'd guard her with every breath in his body.

By the time he had his jacket on over his bad arm and had reached the porch, Mennie was outside with her.

"Why don't you borrow my car, chere?"

His mom hesitated. "You know I don't like being responsible for other people's property.

Besides, it's hard and expensive to park it in the Quarter. Bourbon Street's already blocked off."

"Then park it on Royal. Please, Cherise. I'd feel better if you two weren't roaming the streets in the wee hours of the night by yourselves. Think of poor Nicky."

His mom looked at him before she nodded.

Menyara handed her the keys, then kissed Nick on the cheek. "You watch over your mom."

"Always."

His mom smiled at her. "I'll leave the keys on the counter so that you can get them in the morning." "Sounds good."

His mom turned and led him down the steps to where Menyara's dark blue Taurus waited next to their beat-up red Yugo that needed repairs they couldn't afford at present. Nick got in first. It was weird to be in Mennie's car without her. Normally they only rode in it whenever there was a hurricane coming and they needed to evacuate when their own car was broken down.

Or Nick needed stitches.

Not wanting to think about that, he buckled himself in while his mom started the car.

She ruffled his hair. "You know, since I have the car, you could stay home."

"Nope. You still have to walk from Royal to Bourbon."

She shook her head. "Myfierce little bulldog."

"I'm bigger than you."

"I'm meaner."

She always said that, but it wasn't true. His mom was the kindest person he'd ever met. It was one of the reasons why he was so protective of her. In many ways, she was still a doe-eyed innocent who only saw the good in people.

Impossible to believe, but she even defended his dad and there really was nothing good to be said about that man. He was like the devil himself.

Closing his eyes, he listened to the zydeco playing low on the car radio. That and Elvis were his mom's favorite kinds of music. Zydeco, she said, because it spoke to her Cajun roots. Elvis because it reminded her of being a little girl and playing with her cousins and sister. Apparently they used to get together and try to out-Elvis each other. And that thought made him grimace as the Mojo Nixon song "Elvis Is Everywhere" started echoing in his head—it'd take him days to get that to stop torturing him.

And it didn't make sense that they impersonated Elvis since they were all girls, but far from him to interject sanity into anything, especially after the day he'd had.

They reached Royal Street and parked two blocks from her club. Nick got out and scanned the street where tourists were walking, some stopping to browse in the windows of the antique and jewelry stores that lined the street. They were only a few blocks away from Liza's store. She should be closing up right about now and getting her receipts together for her deposit.

He walked his mom to her club, then hesitated at the back door as she knocked for admit-tance. "Do you mind if I go check on Ms. Liza?"

She gave him a suspicious scowl. "Is that really what you're doing?"

"I promise. I don't like her dropping cash at the bank alone."

His mom kissed him on the cheek. "I don't know how I raised such a great son. Go on, but don't be gone long."

"I won't." He nodded to John as he let his mom in, then reversed his tracks back to Royal Street and over to the doll store.

Just as he thought, Liza was at the counter batching her credit card machine. She looked up and smiled at him as he knocked on the window.

Crossing the shop, she came to the door to let him in. "Well, isn't this a surprise. What are you doing here, sweetie?"

"I came to work with my mom and just wanted to see if you needed me to walk with you to the bank."

She locked the door behind him. "How thoughtful of you and yes, I'd love to have company. I'm just about done. You want a cola or something while I finish?"

"You got any cookies?"

"Always."

Nick skipped around her to go to the back room where she usually kept her fresh-baked cookies. Oh yeah, now this is what he was talking about....

He didn't know what she put in them, but they melted in his mouth and left him aching to eat his weight in them.

"By the way," he called out as he grabbed a handful. "Thanks for sending some to the hospital. They made my day."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. Gautier. Have you been to Kyrian's yet?"

"Was there earlier." He came out of the room to stand with her behind the counter. "Met a friend of his named Ash Parthen-something I can't pronounce."

She went completely still.

Nick wondered what that meant. "You know him too?"

"I do." She tucked her bills into the blue envelope she used to hold the deposit money.

"Any idea how to say his last name?"

"With great respect." She winked at him. "It's Pahr-thin-oh-pay-us. Ack-uh-ron Pahr-thin-oh-pay-us."

"Yeah, that's a mouthful. I don't think I even want to know how to spell it. Can you imagine having to learn that in kindergarten? And I thought Gautier was hard. I was almost ten before I stopped putting an 's-h' in it."

She laughed.

Nick had just finished the last of his cookies when she reached for her jacket. Shrugging it on, she went to set the alarm while he waited by the door. As soon as it was beeping, she led him out and locked it tight.

Liza wrapped her arms around his good one. "You know, I miss these walks with you. Any chance I can steal you back from Kyrian?"

"You'll have to talk to him about it. Since he paid for the hospital, he kind of owns me." "I'm sure he pays better too."

"A little bit. But he doesn't bake me chocolate chip cookies.

Laughing, she stopped at the ATM and made her drop. Nick escorted her back to her car and waved to her as she got in and left him on the street in front of her store. He was just about to head back to the club when he heard a strange sound coming out of the alley that cut between her store and the one next to it. It sounded like a dog....

No, it was the same sound he'd heard outside of Kyrian's house earlier. The sound of zombies hunting him.

A chill wind blew against his skin and he could swear the sky darkened.

All the lights on the street failed as several car alarms went off.

"Whatthe ..."

Something came out of the alley so fast he couldn't even identify it as it rammed into him and knocked him back.