“Fine, Ma.” He squeezed her back gently so that he didn’t hurt her.
She nodded. “Okay. I’m going to beat some sense into these bracque crotte, mon petit garçon. Anyone goes to jail for murder today, it’ll be me and they’ll have you over my dead body.”
Now his eyes widened at her choice of words. While calling them a crazy turd wasn’t technically profanity, it was so unusual for his mother to insult anyone that it shocked him.
Ruffling his hair, she kissed his cheek and turned toward Virgil. “Point me toward someone, anyone, so that I can kick their stupid butts and get my baby home. No one messes with my boy!”
Like him, Virgil towered over the much tinier Cherise Gautier. And even the vampire lawyer, Virgil Ward, stepped back in fear from her fury. “Yes, ma’am. Right this way.”
As he led her away, Bubba stepped forward with a laughing grin. “That’s right, fear the mighty Chihuahua. Whoo, boy, your mama has been riled up since the moment they came by for you. And I am sure that officer is in therapy right now and will remain there for the rest of his life. I had no idea your mama knew that kind of language. Thank God, I’m not the one what ruffled her feathers. Remind me to never rattle her cage unless I make sure she’s padlocked in it.”
Nick snorted. “I’d be offended if it wasn’t the truth. Love the woman, but her temper’s like a head injury. It’s hilarious only so long as it’s happening to someone else.”
“Yeah, that be about right.” Bubba winked at him, then sobered. “How you holding up?”
“Ça c’est bon, n’est pas? Just a little baffled by this.” Nick cringed as a cop came a little too close and eyed him like some Friday night hoodlum.
Bubba glanced around. “So where’s the rest of your crew? Not like you to run solo.”
“Caleb’s on his way. Said he’d be here any minute. What about you? Who’s babysitting Mark?”
Laughing again, Bubba scratched at his dark hair. He was one of the few people Nick looked up to. Both figuratively and literally. But not by much. He probably had an inch on him in height. Muscle-wise, Bubba was a monster beast. As a former football player, he had the kind of body Nick would kill for. And unlike Acheron, Caleb and Kyrian, he wasn’t lean. He was Terminator muscle. The kind that made even tough guys gulp and stand down.
Which was one of the reasons why Nick was agreeable for Bubba to date his mother. So long as the two of them were together, Nick knew no one would hurt his mom. Bubba was a fierce attack beast who’d tear them to shreds if they so much as grimaced in her general direction.
And Cherise Gautier had no fear of him whatsoever. Bubba was always respectful of her and was as easily cowed by the barking Chihuahua as Nick was.
He liked that quality in a man. It made him feel better about being scared of his mother.
“Mark’s actually out on a date of his own.”
Nick gaped at the last thing he expected to hear. Not that he should be surprised. Mark was a far cry from a mutant life form. It wasn’t so much that Mark couldn’t get a date as much as Mark disdained the hassle of dating. And his last relationship had ended so badly, the man had PTSD from it.
And burn scars.
“Really?”
Bubba held his hand up to swear by his statement. “Believe me, I’m as shocked as you are. I think he has a head injury from our last taping.”
Nick burst out laughing at the reminder of their “survival tip” that had almost killed them both. While videoing an episode for their Zombie Alert Network, Mark had slipped and fallen from his chair, hit his head and knocked a rack of MRE’s down on top of him. Somehow one of them had fallen in such a way that it’d set off a flare that then struck a display and almost set fire to Bubba’s entire store.
“So who’s he out with?”
“The nurse from the burn ward.”
Snorting and shaking his head, Nick settled down into a nervous laugh. “He should probably marry this one. It’d save on the medical bills.”
Bubba scoffed.
Suddenly, someone grabbed Nick from behind. Hissing in fury, he turned to punch them, only to find Caleb there. “Boy!” he snapped. “You’re lucky I didn’t take your manhood just then.”
When Caleb didn’t respond with something snotty, a bad feeling went through Nick. But this had to be Caleb. Otherwise it would trip his perspicacity and he’d see the truth of who and what this creature was.
Unless it’s the other Malachai.
A smile twitched at the outer edges of “Caleb’s” mouth—as if he were reading Nick’s thoughts.
The Malachai took a step toward him at the same time Nick felt his mom at his back.
Unaware of the creature with them, she smiled at them both. “Hey Caleb, mon beau-coeur. I knew you couldn’t be far behind my Boo.” She stepped past Nick to hug him.
Nick started to protest until he saw the expression on “Caleb’s” face. At first it was startled alarm that settled down to all-out shocked disbelief. And then there was a longing, so profound that it choked him for the demon. It was obvious he’d never been hugged before and there was nothing quite like one of his mother’s hugs. The closest thing Nick could compare it to was being wrapped in rose-scented sunshine. It warmed every part of the soul and could soothe any pain or ache in an instant.
No wonder my dad couldn’t resist her. She never saw the bad in anyone. Not him. Not his father.
Not the creature whose eyes began to tear.
Right before they flashed red and his nostrils flared.
Clearing his throat, “Caleb” mumbled something, then ran for the door.
With a hurt look, his mother turned toward him. “Did I do something wrong? Is he okay?”
Leave it to his mother to quell the most horrific evil in all the known universes. Not with a fight or a shout.
With a simple hug.
“I think he had to whizz, Mom.”
“Nicholas! I trained you better than that. I swear, boy! The things you do!”
He rubbed at his eyebrow. “What can I say, Ma? I’m not quite housebroken yet.”
Bubba laughed. “You want me to beat him for you, Cher? Be glad to. Or worse, I can make him clean Mark’s bathroom.”
A smile broke across her face. “I’ll just make him clean his. Trust me, there’s no worse punishment. Have you seen the biohazard experiments he has growing on his sink?”
“Ah, gee! Now who’s being mean?”
Virgil approached them with Kyrian and Acheron. All three of them had a satisfied gleam in their eyes. “Well that was so easy, I feel bad to bill you for it.” He handed a piece of paper to Nick. “You’re free to go. And I suggest you buy your mom dinner, kid. We should all have an advocate like her in our corners. Dang. I’ve never seen anyone set a judge back that fast, and so politely.” He clapped Nick on the shoulder, then left them.
Even Kyrian was smiling enough that Nick caught a flash of his fangs. “He’s not joking. Your mom is quite the lady, kid. So glad I’m not the one who riled her.”
Kyrian clapped him on the back. The moment he did, Nick was jerked out of his body. Time stood still.
No longer in the police station, he was far in the future. Back in what he’d prayed was once a nightmare.
He saw himself as the Malachai, leading his army of demons through a devastated New Orleans that was burning all around them. Explosions went off like a pyrotechnics show. The rumble of thunder mirrored their hunger and anger.
All that was left intact was St. Louis Cathedral.
Where the last of the humans in the city remained cowering.
No, not cowering. Preparing a last stand. Tabitha. Bethany. Amanda. Kyrian. Their daughter, Marissa. Their son who’d been named after Nick.
And Kody.
With their daughter.
Nick froze as he suddenly knew the faces he hadn’t known before. Even though he was outside the building, he could see them inside it. Feel their panic. And their bravery.
Kody’s mother, Bethany—an Egyptian goddess— grabbed their daughter, Chastity, and placed her in Kody’s arms. “We’ll hold them back. Take her and run.”