Sherrilyn Kenyon - Infamous

Nick grabbed his backpack from the floor, shrugged it over his sore shoulder, and ran up the street toward Ursulines as fast as he could. Luckily Bubba’s store wasn’t all that far from Sanctuary. But he didn’t want to push it. The sooner he got there, the happier his mom would be.

He didn’t slow down until he reached the doors of the three-story red brick building that housed one of the most famed bar and grills in New Orleans. There was a huge bear of a man at the door to greet all newcomers. Most wouldn’t think anything about it, but Nick knew whoever was on door duty was there to assess the threat level of any preternatural clientele entering the building. And for reasons no one would explain, the doorman always had them cue Sweet Home Alabama on the jukebox whenever Acheron showed up. There was much about Sanctuary Nick still had to learn.

With long blond hair and beefy arms, the doorman was fierce and intimidating. Until he recognized Nick and gave him a wide, cocky grin.

Nick let out a relieved breath. Oh good, it was Dev. One of four identical quadruplets, Dev was always easygoing and fun to be around. While Dev’s brothers, Cherif and Quinn, were nice enough, Remi was the one who scared him. If Nick had to face his mom in this mood, he was glad Dev was on duty. He was the one being who might keep his mom from killing him.

“Hey, Dev.”

Dev clicked his tongue. “Nicky, Nicky, Nicky … I don’t envy you, mon fils . Your mama gonna take a bite of your hide and mount it to the wall.”

If the knot in his stomach drew any tighter, he’d have diamonds in the toilet later. “Yeah, I don’t envy me either. Want to trade?”

Dev laughed. “You’d think that, but no. Believe me, you don’t want to see my maman when she’s angry. You, Maman likes. Me, not so much most days. Trust me, she has a bear of a temper.”

Nick snorted at Dev’s play on words. Dev was poking fun at the fact that he and his family were shapeshifters whose alternate form was that of a bear.

Shaking his head at Dev, he went inside. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dark interior.

Dev’s sister Aimee was at the bar, picking up drinks.

“Now where were you, mister?”

He jumped at his mom’s angry tone in his ear. How had she snuck up on him? Dang, he could rent her out as a ninja.

“At school. I had detention.” Go ahead, Nick. Throw gas on that fire.…

“For what?” she growled.

“Being late.”

She narrowed her blue eyes at him. “And why were you late?”

“Stone slammed me—”

She flung out her hand to signal him to shut-up. “Don’t even start that. You take responsibility for your own actions. You hear me? Now why were you late?”

He ground his teeth as he forced himself not to show any kind of anger toward her. But he was really getting tired of being treated like an idiot who couldn’t tie his own shoes. “I didn’t get to class until after the bell rang.” There, that was the truth.

“Nicholas Ambrosius … do not test me. Not today. I am not in the mood for your crap.”

You hear me, he mocked silently in his head. ‘Cause he wasn’t quite stupid enough to do that out loud.

He forced himself to speak in a calm tone. “I don’t know what to tell you, Mom. I screwed up by not calling and I’m sorry. It was a bad day at school and two of my friends are under fire. I was just trying to help them, and I wasn’t thinking about myself.”

She frowned. “What do you mean ‘under fire’?”

“Someone started attacking them publicly and posting awful pictures of them and insults for everyone to see.”

Anger darkened her gaze as he struck the nerves in her that Grim had mentioned. The one thing his mother couldn’t stand was for anyone to gossip or speculate about someone else. She’d had too much of that done to her when she’d ended up pregnant with him. “Who?”

“You don’t know Spencer, but Brynna was the other one they attacked.”

“Addams?” she asked incredulously.

He nodded.

Now his mother looked as sick as he’d felt. “Why would anyone attack Brynna?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I was trying to find out. She ran out of school crying earlier, and I just wanted to help her, you know?”

Finally his mother hugged him. “All right, Boo. You’re forgiven, but still grounded.”

Of course he was.

She gently pushed him toward the small booth where he normally did his homework. “I’ll bring you some food. You get your homework started.”

Not happy about this at all, Nick obeyed before he got into more trouble. He sat down and started rummaging through his backpack. As he pulled out his math book, he saw that shadow flit across the wall again.

Turning his head, he tried to pinpoint it. But it was gone so fast, he wasn’t sure he could trust his eyesight in the dim room.

Suddenly, his grimoire heated up beneath his hand. With a hiss, he snatched his hand back. He blew cool air across his palm to help with the stinging while he opened the book with his other hand.

“All right, what are you trying to tell me?” He pulled out his pendulum and pricked his fingertip. Reciting the spell to activate it, he squeezed three drops of blood onto the page. For a second, it didn’t react. Then the blood rolled across the page until it formed words.

Horror. Terror. Nightmares. Dreams.

Some things are never what they seem.

Discord. Strife. Shame and Pain.

Into all lives, they will rain.

But none of them will cut so deep …

As the enemy you did not see.

He was still trying to decipher it when his gaze was drawn to the napkin holder. There in the shiny metal, he glimpsed the future to come.

It was Brynna, and she was hanging by her neck in her bedroom.

Nick jumped up and fumbled for his phone. He had to get ahold of Brynna before she let her hurt feelings overtake her common sense. Life was hard for everyone, but pain was transitory and it would eventually leave. He knew that better than most since he’d been spoon-fed a steady diet of shame, humiliation and agony since the moment of his birth.

Death was forever. There was no undo button on it. Not unless you knew how to summon Artemis, and even then, there was no guarantee she’d take you.

His hand shaking from his panic, he dialed Brynna’s number and waited.

She didn’t answer.

As he was hanging up, his mom returned with a hamburger and fries. Her brows drew together in a worried frown. “What’s wrong?”

“Ma-m-mom, I got to go.”

The fury returned to make her eyes snap blue fire at him. “Sit your butt down, boy. You’re on restriction.”

“I know. But—”

“No buts,” she snapped. “Sit down and do your homework. Now!”

He shook his head. “You’re going to have to ground me again. I’ve got to go check on Brynna. I got a really bad feeling, and she’s not answering her phone. I have to make sure she’s okay.”

She took a step back and eyed him suspiciously. “Is that really what you’re doing?”

“Cross my heart, Mom.” He made a small cross in the center of his chest. Something he only did when he meant it.

“All right. Go on and check on her, then. I won’t hold that against you. You want to take the burger with you?”

Nick grabbed it from her tray, then kissed her cheek. “Can I leave my books here? I’ll be back as soon as I make sure she’s not doing something stupid.”

“Sure.”

Taking a bite of his burger, he headed for the door.

“Hey, Nick?”

He paused to look back at his mother and swallowed his food. “Yes, ma’am?”