Page 16 (1/2)
Acheron walked over to hih the bars to touch the blood on Nick’s face His gaze never wavering, he pulled his hand back so that he could taste Nick’s blood
Nick griet like hepatitis or parvo or so been vaccinated recently? I would also suggest so while he ignored the question, Acheron rolled the blood around his tongue “You’re absolutely hu” Without another word, he walked toward the door
Biting her lip apprehensively, Simi approached Nick “I’m so sorry He’s really not as bad as you think” She reached out to touch his hand “He’s just—”
“Si” Without a backward glance, she ran after Acheron
Sighing, Nick thought they’d forgotten hie back to the doorless guest room Well, at least Acheron put him on the bed He’d take that for now
Bewildered and tired, Nick stared up at the ceiling and tried toSo the short Ash and Sied the question, ere their parents?
As if on cue, the Ash froht of Nick’s torn clothes and the blood that stained them “I’m sorry”
“That’s what your sister said”
Kid Ash moved to stand next to the bed He waved his hand over Nick and the pain went away instantly Too bad the injuries didn’t go with it But hey, he’d take it “Why didn’t you just tell randdad what he wanted to know?”
“Because I don’t know the answer” It was s over the edge of the bed to sit up “Why do you live here with him? Where are your parents?”
Sadness darkened Ash’s eyes as he o It’s why randfather is the way he is After my parents were killed, he turned on everyone, especially anyone as human”
“Why? What happened?”
The wall shimmered before the chair formed out of it It walked forward, into the room, and stopped beside Kid Ash As if that was a normal occurrence and not totally whacked out, he sat down on it and sighed “I guess you’ve figured out we’re not entirely hulanced at the chair “Um … yeah Not like it’s hidden here, and the hell-monkeys pretty much blew the lid off it in public”
He nodded “My father was huoddess” He paused to study Nick’s non-reaction “You believeI’ve seen today, I’lanced away froave up her powers to live in the mortal world with randfather, some men broke into our house and killed randdad went crazy and kind of declared war on the entire world”
“I’randfather’s lunacy But when he heard that Thorn was looking for you and that you went to our school, he was paranoid you ht pose a threat to us Me and Sim have been on lockdown ever since and we’ll remain here until he decides you’re not a threat to us or he kills you He’s terribly overprotective that way”
Nick could have respected that, had he not spent the last hour trying to keep a de to do withback “I don’t know I hope he lets you go”
Nick arched a brow “You say that like he ate the last person he trapped here”
Oh yeah, that was not a look a guy wanted to see on so in the balance “I should be going”
“Ash?”
He paused to glance at Nick
“The Thorn I met earlier is a psycho, but I promise that I would never hurt you or Simi I don’t turn on my friends and I don’t cause them harm My mama raised randfather of that He’s not used to honorable people Only those who are out to do as e as possible … and usually to the most innocent” And with that, Ash vanished and left hiain and melted
Baffled, tired, and defeated, Nick stared up at the ceiling and tried to remember what life had been like before all the insanity had started In some ways, he missed the naive assumption that the world was only inhabited by humans But honestly, it’d been no less evil Not really The ene about demons, they didn’t pretend to be your friend They declared their enly Full frontal assault
Hu ways to stab you in the back and cut your throat Many ti more than their own petty a his eyes, Nick allowed his thoughts to drift back to the world he knew The friends he could count on While his life was hard—so, it was his
And he ht possible
Nick released a long, pent-up breath and relaxed in spite of the stress of being here His ears rang as he drifted to sleep
But no sooner did he feel his body go li the sound, Nick suddenly found himself in Caleb’s elaborate e
At first, he thought he was drea on the stairs with his hands over his ears as he cowered It was the strangest sensation to see hi so out of character
Zavid was covered with bruises and bleeding cuts as he stepped over the body of three twisted de labored frolared at Caleb “You and I need to discuss the definition of protected, Malphas, because mine is apparently radically different from yours”
“What is that?” “Nick” screamed in a tone that could double as a sonic weapon while he pointed to the de one hand up to his ear, Caleb visibly cringed “I really ht be a major pain ht … and he doesn’t screairl who just had a spider run up her arrabbed his arht, don’t”
Zavid bared his fangs at Caleb “I think we should hand him over and let them have his worthless hide”