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Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back with the most peaceful of expressions on her beautiful face The storm outside picked up fervor while they waited
Nick held his breath, praying this worked They needed backup in the worst way iinable But more than that, he’d sell his soul for just a tiny bit of his powers to work
If I ever get theain Even if they turn Madaug into another goat Heck, at this point, he’d even kiss the surly spirit that inhabited his Malachai grimoire
“Mark’s just down the street, but he can’t h the demons to reach us” Bubba returned to frown at Kody “What’s she doing?”
“Unfortunately, nothing,” she said with a sigh “It’s not working I can’t reach anything on our side I’m co the distance between them, Nick ran his thumb down her jaw “Ca c’est bon, cher t’bebe We have you”
Kody scoffed at his blind optis she loved most about him “What can I do? I’m only one person”
Nick tsked at her in true Cajun fashion And when he spoke, his accent was thicker than frozen roux “Noho’sexcuses, eh?”
She wanted desperately to be irritated at him, but he made it iood And unfortunately, it wasn’t just his delamor that made him so irresistible “Don’t make me take your mother’s bat to you, boy”
He gave her that char Even in this incarnation when he lacked the incredible good looks she was used to There was just so “Come now, cher No fret on that face de jolie You done stood toe-to-toe with the Malachai What’s a few thousand generic derin widened “That’s the spirit”
“No, Nick Slaughter for us Feast for therin warmed her as he took the bat from his mother and hoisted it over his shoulder “Ah now, cher, I plan to pass a good tih, the tough get napalm”
Heck of a time for hier before he totally gave in to insanity? “What are you talking about?”
Nick exaer “Contrary to what you and Caleb and Madaug think, I am actually literate And between the riround with Malachai blood What say we practice a little che his lead “How do you et when you mix my blood with holy water?”
She sucked her breath in sharply at the e that evoked “Deh the hallway toward the church that was attached to the convent “That’s right, cher I was an altar boy for three years here and at St Louis … I knohere all the good stuff is kept”
He opened the doors with a grandiose flair “We canit at theht of it caused hineur a stroke this co Saturday when I lay this confession on hi my Acts of Contrition and Hail Marys frohed wearily as she took the bat back frolu hi me that? I detest that nickname”
“Sorry,” Nick said sheepishly “In our world, it’s the name Michael you detest, and I can’t really call you Dad ’cause that’s just creepy and weird … anyway, can you sit tight on my mom while we do this?”
Cherise took a step toward hierous thing I’ve done … even today”
“Is that supposed to be co out ofCherise and kiss her cheek “Don’t worry, I’et back hoot”
Cherise cupped his face in her hands “For the record, I’m proud of both my Nicks”
“Thanks” He took her hand and placed it in Bubba’s before he turned around and vanished into the hallway that connected the convent to the church
Unsure of as happening, Kody followed after hi about Nick was suddenly very different He held a new confidence in hier felt guilty for ruining his mother’s life As if he realized that he had real value to the world and wasn’t the loser other people had called hie that he would find it nohen he had no powers to draw on No real protectors to keep him safe from harm
And yet it was there And it was undeniable Inside, he wasn’t the same Nick he’d been when all this started
Beenuflected and crossed himself in front of the nave before he went to where the keys were kept
Savitar came up behind her and leaned down to whisper in her ear “Are you absolutely sure he’s the Malachai?”
“I aht He’s not like any that has coin to fathom how this boy becomes the beast that killed e”
Kody bit back a s out of the mouth of someone as so very different hi like the acerbic Chthonian who’d taught her to surf before she was out of diapers The Chthonian who’d trained her on how to call and co-lost days of innocence
Even though they weren’t related by blood, Savitar had been like a grandfather to her
“Would you ed you?”
Savitar quirked a brow at her sudden request “Why?”
“Because I’ve missed you A lot, and I haven’t seen you in centuries”
“But I’m not the same as the ht now, I could really use it”
Nick paused as he saw Kody with Savitar She threw herself against hi while And it was obvious fro embraced by anyone It made Nick wonder if the Savitar in his world was the same
And he still had so many questions for Kody that he needed answered What was Savitar to her? Really? Because what he saw right now said that she loved and adored the man All the time he’d known her, she’d never trusted anyone Not really
Yet she’d trusted Savitar, even in this real not to think about it or be jealous, Nick ran holy water into the large plastic bin the volunteers used for storing cleaners And even that uilty
It’d been drilled into him from birth that holy water was sacred They even had a special, separate drain they poured the excess down so as to keep it away froular water