Sherrilyn Kenyon - Invincible

Panic seized him. Did he know? Had Nick left something out of place?

I’m an idiot. And he was about to be a dead one.

Sweat broke out on his forehead as he returned to the coach’s office. He pushed open the door to see Devus sitting with his hand in the drawer he’d just rifled through.

“You have it, Gautier?”

“Have what?”

He growled at him. “Don’t play coy with me, you little punk. You know what I’m talking about. Hand it over. Now.”

Nuh-huh. He wasn’t about to return the box to him. Terrified, he glanced around, wondering if he could remember everything Xenon had taught him.

“Where is the next set of items?”

Oh that was what he was talking about. Nick let out a relieved breath as his fear subsided. “I didn’t get anything else yet.”

“What?”

Nick shrugged. “Sorry. Between class, homework, football practice, and work, I haven’t had five minutes to myself.”

Devus shot to his feet. “How dare you! You’ll pay for this. By the end of the day—”

“Yeah … I don’t think so.” He used his thoughts to summon Kody and Caleb. “In fact, I want the items I stole back so that I can return them.”

“You can’t have them.”

Trying not to be obvious, Nick attempted to make a circle on the floor with drops of the potion Xenon had given him.

The coach grabbed him and yanked him hard. “What are doing?”

“ADD. I have such a hard time holding still. Can’t help myself.”

“Maybe prison will be able to help you out with that.”

“You think?” Nick asked sarcastically. “Tell you what. How about I send you where you belong, and you die quietly and leave us alone.”

The coach grabbed him by the throat. “It’s going to be a pleasure to ruin you, trailer park.”

“It’s going to be a pleasure to banish you, Bates Motel.” Nick kneed him.

Releasing him, the coach doubled over to cup himself.

Kody popped in a heartbeat before Caleb joined the party. As soon as the coach saw Caleb, he cursed. “You? You’re supposed to be dead.”

Caleb appeared as confused as Nick felt. “What?”

The coach clapped his hands together and summoned his demons again.

Kody vanished.

“Hey.” Caleb snapped. “Not a good time to get scared.”

He and Nick put their backs together to battle the ugly winged beasts. Nick glanced over to the cameras. “How long do you think it’ll take before the office sends security?”

“Eternity,” Devus answered. “I made sure they can’t see anything that goes on in here. Now I’m going to offer you both as a sacrifice to my master.”

Caleb manifested his sword out of thin air. Nick pulled the one Ambrose had given him out of his pocket. No bigger than a pocketknife, it looked harmless. Until he closed his eyes and imagined it larger. It immediately shot to full size, and the moment it did, Devus gasped.

“You’re the Malachai, not Caleb.” He gestured to his demon army. “Get them both, but bring me the Malachai’s sword!”

They descended on them in one fierce wave.

Nick sliced the first one to reach him in half. He ducked the blow from the next one, and went low to the ground. Popping to his feet, he was able to stab the next one who approached him. Nick trusted his sword, and it whispered to him what to do. With its help, he fought like he’d been born to it.

But they were still being overrun just by the sheer number of their attackers. He was growing weak, and Caleb wasn’t much better.

Nick slipped on a bloodstain that forced him down to one knee. In this position, he was at a major disadvantage.

I’m going to die.

His sword was getting heavier and heavier. He wouldn’t last much longer.

Just as he felt his arm give way, Cody appeared with Xenon at her side. She tossed the Necromancer the backpack with the heart box in it before she ran to them.

“Nice to leave us here,” Caleb snapped.

“We needed a calvary.”

Caleb glanced over at Xenon. “When’s he going to help?”

Xenon yanked the box out of the backpack. “Right now.” He started chanting.

Nick continued to fight as one demon caught him with a kick straight to his solar plexus. Ah, man, that hurt. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear it just kicked his ribs out of his back.

More demons arrived.

“Something’s not right.”

Nick scowled in Xenon’s direction. “Dude. Not a phrase I want to hear right now. Really.”

“Want to or not,” Xenon muttered in a calmness Nick’s panic didn’t warrant, “this isn’t working.”

“What do you mean, it’s not working?” Caleb asked.

Xenon jerked Nick away from the next attack wave that Kody and Caleb engaged. “Are you sure you gave me something personal from the coach?”

“Yeah. It was a picture of him when he was human.”

“I need something closer to him than that. Something that matters that is uniquely his.”

The coach laughed at them. “There’s nothing I care about. Nothing at all. You’re all going to die.”

Kody cried out as she went down and was swarmed. Caleb yelped as a demon sank its teeth into his shoulder.

Devus was right. They were about to lose.

Refusing to believe it, Nick cast his gaze around the office, looking for something, anything that was personal to the troll. Everyone cared about something.

Damn the stupid coach. Was it too much to ask that he at least make a grocery list?

Why couldn’t—?

Nick’s thought ended as he remembered an important detail. Smiling, he reached into his back pocket and jerked out the handwritten list of items the coach had wanted him to steal. That handwriting was as personal as it got. Thank you, Grim for that lesson. He handed it to Xenon.

“We’re back in business.” Xenon quickly shredded it and added it to the box. He started chanting again.

Devus finally took his attention off the fight to see what Xenon was doing. His face blanched as he saw the box.

“Nick?” Xenon called. “You’re on.”

Nick stabbed the demon in front of him, then rushed to the circle he’d created. Summoning his powers, he imagined the girl so that Xenon could pick her out.

Together they left the human realm and descended into an abyss so dark, it was painful to be there.

Xenon put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “What was her name again?”

“Julianne.”

“Julianne?” Xenon shouted. “Can you hear us?”

Nick sensed her presence. Most of all, he sensed her fear. “It’s me, Julianne. I’m here to help you.”

She appeared in front of Nick. “Will you save me?”

He held his hand out to her. “Come with me, and we can take back your heart and free you, once and for all.”

She placed her icy hand into his. The moment their skin touched, they were sucked through a vortex and dumped back into the coach’s office. Nick caught Julianne against him as they returned to keep her from falling over.

The moment she appeared, the demons shrieked as if in agony and disintegrated.

Devus shrank back as soon as he saw her. “No. It’s not possible.”

Julianne, whose skin was an iridescent gray, pointed an accusatory finger at him. “How dare you keep me trapped all these years. You had no right to do what you did. No right.”

As she spoke, Nick felt his powers surge. He saw the fabric of the universe around him and smelled its sweet scent. He knew what the best punishment was. How to set all of this back to an even score. Changing the words of his chant, he didn’t banish Devus like they’d intended. No not at all.

He swapped the coach’s life force with Julianne’s.

Devus screamed as he was sucked into the vortex. His screams, like him, were swallowed whole. Meanwhile Julianne was bathed in a bright yellow light. One that danced from her fingertips into the box where her heart lay. The heart glowed an instant and then dissolved.