"Gah, do your parents know how you drive? And where did you get your license anyway? The Blue Light Special at Kmart?"

Ash laughed. "Who says I have a license?" Nick let out a cry of alarm.

"Relax, Nick. Remember, I have evil Jedi powers. Nothing's going to touch us." He downshifted and they shot forward like a bul et.

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the zombies.

Stoooop ..." He swore the car actual y left the ground to avoid being slammed by a car pul ing out.

Yeah ... evil Jedi powers indeed.

He looked over at Ash, who was driving through the dark night with his sungla.s.ses stil in place. "How did you get those powers anyway?"

"They were a gift on my twenty-first birthday."

"You're that old?" Nick would have sworn he wasn't any older than eighteen or nineteen.

Ash laughed again. "Somewhat older than that."

"So what did you do for the gift? Sel your soul or something?"

The humor fled his face. "Something like that." This was getting good. Nick would kil to have the kind of powers Ash did. "Who'd you sel it to? The devil?" Now, with anyone else, that would be a stupid question, but since Nick had seen what Ash could do, he knew Ash had gotten them from somewhere, not the local Walmart.

Ash paused before he answered Nick's question. He didn't like talking or even thinking about his past for a mult.i.tude of reasons. But his ownership wasn't something that was that big a secret, since most of the people he knew had sold their souls to the only person who could control him. "I'm owned by a G.o.ddess, Nick."

"Which one?"

"Artemis. Ever heard of her?"

Nick scratched his ear. "Greek G.o.ddess of the moon, right?

"The moon's a.s.sociated with her, but Selene is actual y the G.o.ddess of the moon. Artemis is the G.o.ddess of the hunt."

"And what does she hunt?"

"Most days, me," Ash said under his breath. Clearing his throat, he spoke louder. "She's basical y retired now. Most of the ancient G.o.ds are only powerful when they're worshiped by fol owers."

"Most?"

Yeah, some, like Acheron, didn't need fol owers to charge their powers. They were the real y dangerous ones because their powers never waned. And unfortunately, Artemis could and did tap into his powers when it suited her to. But lucky for the world, she real y didn't care about using them except against Acheron himself.

When he didn't clarify, Nick asked another question. "Are you one of the ones who's weak?"

"I never said I was a G.o.d." But somehow Nick seemed to sense what he was. Another thing that made him different from everyone else.

Nick fel quiet as he digested Ash's comments. Ash didn't say it, but there was something about him that was so powerful he could almost feel it in the marrow of his bones. If he wasn't an ancient G.o.d, he was something ...

Equal to it.

"Wel , you know, you haven't told me what you are, Ash."

"Just think of me as a powerful immortal and you'l be fine." Nick c.o.c.ked his brow as he zoned in on one word in particular. "Immortal?"

"Yeah."

"So how old are you? Real y?" He must be total y ancient.

"Two, three hundred years?"

Ash gave a testy smirk. "Over eleven thousand." Nick's mouth fel open in disbelief. It wasn't possible. He could not be that old. "Bul s.h.i.t!"

"Watch your language, kid."

"Okay, bul c.r.a.p. There's no way. We didn't even have people back then. You're yanking my chain." Ash shook his head. "I a.s.sure you, we did. I was even on a first-name basis with some of them."

Nick remained stil as that sank in and he tried to imagine the world Ash must have come from. What would people have been like back then?

Was Ash just ful of total garbage?

"You're real y not kidding, are you?" Nick asked.

"Dead serious."

Stil , he couldn't believe it. Could people real y be immortal?

He'd seen the movies and read the books, but ...

"How? Are you a vampire or something? What made you immortal?"

"Real y good DNA."

Nick rol ed his eyes. Ash's glib answers were starting to irritate him. He wanted an answer and he wanted one now.

"Oh, come on. I have to know about the who-do voodoo that you do. Most of al , I want to know how I can become immortal ... wel , not at my age 'cause that would suck. But in a few years when I'm fil ed out and in my prime." He grinned at Ash.

"Make me immortal."

Ash wasn't charmed. "Look, Nick, I don't like talking about my powers and not a lot of people know what I can do. I'm trusting you with a secret and I expect you to keep it. If you can't ..." He tilted his head down as if he was looking at him over the rim of his sungla.s.ses. "Wel , I'm sure your mom's going to miss you."

"Not half as much as I'd miss me if you kil ed me." He blinked like a girl and leaned against Ash's shoulder. "Please don't hurt me, Ash. Please. I don't want to die while I'm stil a virgin. At least let me get laid before you kil me-which according to my mom I can't do until I'm married and I can't do that until I finish col ege. So you have to wait a good ten years before you snuff me. Deal?"

Ash shoved him back onto his side of the car. "You're real y not right, are you?"

"Yeah, I know. It was al the paint chips I ate as a kid. They were good, but chromosomal y damaging." Ash let out an audible sigh as he forced himself not to laugh at Nick's antics. He was real y beginning to like the kid a lot more than he should. There was just something about him that was infectious. "Ten years, huh?"

"Yeah, you can kil me when I'm twenty-four, provided I'm not stil a virgin, but not a day before that."

"Al right. It's a deal ... provided you keep your trap shut."

"Trap nailed shut, sir."

"But at twenty-four ..." Ash let his voice trail off.

"I'm al yours, babe."

Ash shook his head. "I don't intimidate you at al , do I?"

"Wel , when you chased me through Kyrian's house, I did wet my pants a bit. Guess I'm not housebroken after al . My mom wil be so disappointed after al she went through to potty train me. But once you let me live ... your big mistake ... now I know you think I'm too cute and fluffy to kil ." It was real y hard to be agitated at someone with that kind of humor. And in al honesty, it was nice to be around someone who wasn't trying to prove himself, wet himself, or posture. It'd been a long time since someone who knew he wasn't human had treated him like one.

"You are cute and fluffy, but never forget, kid, that I'm a carnivore from a time and place where we had to kil and skin our food in order to eat it."

Nick's eyes widened as he tried to imagine Ash dressed like a Goth caveman in a studded black loincloth chasing down saber-tooth tigers and kil ing them with a spear. ... Did they have saber-tooth tigers eleven thousand years ago?

Did people have loincloths or did they hunt naked?

Dang, his teachers were right. Some of that trivial c.r.a.p could come in handy.

But that wasn't the point of this conversation. Nor the point of what Ash was tel ing him. "You just like to scare people, don't you?"

"As much as you like to annoy them and for the same exact reason."

It kept people from getting too close. Nick did it so that others wouldn't mock him or so that when they did, it didn't hurt as much.

What was Ash trying to protect himself from? It was definitely something to think about.

Ash pul ed up to the curb in front of Nick's house, which looked al the more dilapidated after he'd been in Kyrian's neighborhood.

To Ash's credit, he didn't react to the ramshackle house in any way.

Nick gave a low whistle as he saw a couple of people on the street stop and stare at the car. "Man, my neighbors must be freaking out. First I get picked up by a Lexus and now I'm being dropped off in a Porsche. It's a wonder they're not cal ing New Orleans' finest to report suspicious activity." Ash scoffed as he turned the car off. "I think the LEOs have more important things to worry about tonight than the cars coming to your house."

Nick frowned at the word he didn't understand. "LEOs?"

"Law enforcement officers."

"Ah ... cool anagram."

"Acronym," Ash corrected. But this time when he spoke his accent was extremely thick with the first part of the word coming from deep and low in his throat-like a growl. It was a real y cool sound.

"Wait ... Say that word again."

"Acronym." And poof, Ash now sounded like anyone else on the street.

"That's so awesome that you can toss out your accent. How do you do that?"

"Lots of practice. Now if you don't mind, I need to dump you out so I can get down to my business."

"Which is?"

"Wrangling people ... which right now is you. Get out, Nick." Nick opened the door and rol ed out of the car. Ash grabbed his backpack and fol owed him up the short, crumbling walkway that was overgrown with gra.s.s and littered with pebbles.

Not to mention a few c.o.c.kroaches that scattered out of his way. Some of them ran up under the plant Bubba had sent to him.

Trying not to think about the roaches, Nick barely made it into the door of his house before his mom threw it open and grabbed him into a tight hug. "Arm! Arm! Arm!" he said quickly as she hurt him.

She released him immediately. "I'm so sorry, Boo. I was just so scared and then to see you ... I could beat your b.u.t.t blue, boy. Don't you ever worry me like that again. You hear me!" Nick rubbed his hand over his injured arm, which was stil stinging from her hug. "You know, I hear they have medication for those kind of vicious mood swings, Ma. Maybe you should consider taking some?"

She scoffed at him. "Don't you dare get lippy with me after what you've put me through today. You're lucky you're not grounded over this stunt. If you'd been any place other than work, you would be." She turned back toward the door to close it and froze as she saw Acheron on the porch. Her face went white as she took in the size of him.

"It's okay, Mom. He's a friend of Mr. Hunter's who brought me home."

Acheron held up Nick's backpack for her to see. "I was just carrying this in for him, Mrs. Gautier. Sorry I startled you." His mom smiled as she caught herself gawking. "It's okay. I just ..."

Ash smiled. "Yeah, I know. It's a hazard of the height and clothes. I tend to freak out a lot of people." Not to mention that lethal aura that sizzled in the air around him. But Nick was beginning to get used to that.

"Do you work for Mr. Hunter too?" his mom asked.

Ash set his backpack down by the door. "No, ma'am. We're just old friends."

She smiled. "You don't look old enough to have old friends." Nick snorted at her making the same a.s.sumption he had.

"Trust me, Mom, he's a lot older than he looks."

"Wel , thank you for bringing my baby home. I appreciate it."

"No problem." Acheron turned toward Nick. "Keep your nose clean, kid. I'l see you around."

"Thanks, Ash."

He inclined his head before he left.

His mom locked the door and moved Nick's backpack away from the threshold so that they wouldn't trip over it. "He's a bit peculiar, isn't he?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"So how did your first day with Mr. Hunter go?"

"It was al right." Aside from the zombies, Rosa's lunacy, and Acheron, but no need to completely terrify her. Only one of them needed to freak out at a time.

"Good. Now I better get ready for work." She headed for her room.

Nick pul ed her to a stop. "I don't think so."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I want you to quit tonight."