Sherrilyn Kenyon: Invincible

“I don’t understand. Why take souls?”

Kyrian shrugged. “It’s what nourishes them. They have to keep a living soul in them or they die.”

That was harsh. For them and especially for the person they killed to get it.

“How do they take souls?” Nick asked.

“No idea. I asked Acheron that question once, and he refused to answer. He’s good at that.”

“So did he teach that to you, too?”

Kyrian smiled, not the tight-lipped smiles of the past, this was a full-blown one that showed off his fangs. “He did, indeed.”

“I give you an A-plus, then.”

Kyrian cocked his head, watching him as if waiting for Nick to run again. “Are we good?”

Nick considered it. He probably should be terrified and bolting for the door, but Kyrian had been there with him, fighting zombies and protecting his friends tonight. He’d opened his house to Nick’s mom.

He seemed okay.…

You can trust him. For the first time, Nick knew who that weird deep voice in his head belonged to.

Ambrose—his whacked-out uncle who swore he was here to help him. Strange, how everyone kept claiming that. But—

“Nick?”

They both jumped at the sound of Nick’s mom in the hallway, calling his name.

Kyrian went to the door and opened it. “We’re in here, Mrs. Gautier.”

Stepping into the room, she looked around suspiciously, as if she expected to catch them doing something illegal, unethical, or unnatural. Tiny, petite, and beautiful with bright blue eyes, his mom had always reminded him of an angel, especially when she wasn’t wearing makeup—something he hated on her. Her blond hair was rumpled and she was dressed in a black T-shirt that went all the way to her knees. It looked like Kyrian had loaned it to her to sleep in. At twenty-eight, she was really young to have a kid his age. But that had never mattered. It’d always been the two of them against a hostile world.

“Nick? Is everything okay?”

“It’s all good, Mom.”

She gave Kyrian an arch stare that said she didn’t believe Nick’s answer. “You sure, boo?”

“Absolutely. Mr. Hunter was just telling me that I have tomorrow off since I worked so late tonight. Isn’t that right, Mr. Hunter?”

There was an amused gleam in Kyrian’s eyes as he realized Nick had manipulated the situation to his advantage. “Yes, that’s correct.”

“Couldn’t you have told him that outside?”

Kyrian pressed his lips together in an effort not to smile and expose his teeth. “Nick came in here to get online and play. I was just telling him he needed to go on to bed.”

Oh, the rat …

Pulling the parental censorship card? That was just rude. Unconscionable. If Nick weren’t the victim, he’d applaud the quick thinking. But the last thing he needed was for his mom to have yet another reason to ground him.

She leveled an angry stare at him. “Nicky…”

Nick held his arm up in surrender. “Mom—”

“Don’t you ‘Mom’ me, boy. I can’t believe you’d do this when you know better. Get your butt in bed. Right now. March!”

Rising from his chair, Nick growled low in his throat and cast a warning snarl at Kyrian. He’d get him …

Eventually.

Kyrian let out an evil closed-lipped laugh. “I’ll show you to your room.”

His mom was having none of that as she blocked the doorway. “He can sleep in my room. With me.”

Kyrian released a tired sigh. “I wondered where Nick got his suspicious nature from. You’ve taught him well.”

His mom smoothed a stray piece of blond hair back from her face and tucked it in behind her left ear. “Yeah, well, I’ve seen the ugly side of people too many times. No offense to you, Mr. Hunter.”

“I assure you, I’ve seen an even uglier side of them than you have. Many times, myself. Call me Kyrian, please.”

That seemed to embarrass her. She gestured to Nick. “Come on, babe. The sun’s already up. You need to get some sleep. You’re still getting over that gunshot wound.”

What she didn’t know was that it had healed, courtesy of some powers he didn’t want her to know about. If she did, with his luck, she’d report him to the authorities and he’d end up naked in a lab somewhere as an experiment. “Do I have to go to school?”

“Since it starts in less than two hours, no.”

“It won’t be open today anyway,” Kyrian said, drawing their attention back to him. “The police are still investigating it.”

His mom frowned. “How do you know?”

“I talked to one of Nick’s teachers.”

“Which one?” Nick was dying to know who on the faculty to avoid for fear of them ratting him out to his fanged employer.

“Ms. Pantall.”

Great. Just great. She’d never thought much of him, anyways. She was one of the lead faculty members who wanted him expelled. But there was nothing he could do about that tonight.

Nick yawned as his exhaustion caught up with him.

His mom tsk ed. “See how tired you are?”

He hated when his mom asked stupid questions. It took all his restraint not to smart off. But he’d already skated past one restriction tonight. No need to court another one.

So minding his tongue, he followed her back to their room. Like Kyrian’s office, it was huge. Bigger than their entire itty-bitty condo, which he loathed. And it had a king-sized bed, so his mom wouldn’t kick him in her sleep. She spun around in bed like a rotisserie chicken, and he despised anytime they had to share sleeping space.

But the four-poster bed looked like it could easily hold a family of ten in it. The neatest part to him was that the blue and gold comforter matched the wallpaper. Even the gold-foil-looking stuff, which was really cool on the walls. He’d seen that on TV shows … and horror movies.

His mom turned to him. “How’s your arm doing? You need any more medicine?”

Nick had to force himself not to react to her question. He’d already forgotten about that again. Crap. He better remember; otherwise, everyone would want to know how he healed it so fast.

“It’s okay.”

“Good. Now hit the sheets.”

Nick went to the other side and slid in. The moment he was settled, she pulled him against her and started playing in his short brown hair. He cringed and squirmed, trying to escape her. Unfortunately, she was like quicksand. Once you were dumb enough to get into its reach, it was over. “Ma! What are you doing?”

“Can’t I hold you?”

He screwed his face up in distaste at the mere thought of it. “I don’t know why you worry about Mr. Hunter when you’re the one who’s always sexually harassing me, Mom. Gah, can’t I even go to sleep without you groping me?”

She popped him on the butt. Not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to get his attention. “Stop saying that. Showing my baby affection with a hug is not sexual harassment. You know, there are a lot of moms out there who have no sense of maternal instinct at all.” Those who threw their kids out of the house and into the gutter because of a single mistake, like keeping a baby they didn’t want her to. His mom didn’t say it, but he knew when she ranted on this topic that it was a tirade against her own parents, who’d abandoned her when she was his age. “Be glad you have a mother who loves you.”

He was glad of that. A lot, since she was basically the only person on earth who did. But now that he was a full head taller than her, it was weird when she tried to cuddle him like he was a baby. He could be almost seven feet tall like Acheron, and she’d probably still try to pull him into her lap. “Sorry, Mom. I’m just really tired.”

“I know, precious.” She leaned over, brushed his hair back from his face, and kissed his cheek. “Good night. Sleep tight.”