"You are Nick." Her tone was testy.

"Exactly. How can I not know who she is?" How could he not have seen her as he looked back? For some reason, she was a complete ghost to him. No matter what power he used, he couldn't find this piece of his past. Even with certain aspects altered, he should stil be able to hone in on her.

Yet he couldn't.

Why?

Artemis shrugged her thin shoulders. "You forgot her. It happens. You were human ... once."

But he wasn't human now. Now he was the type of creature he and Tabitha had once hunted and put down like a rabid animal. More than that, he was hungry.

Starving.

Artemis took a chance by being here with him. Every time he fed from her blood, he grew stronger and deadlier. It was getting harder and harder not to kil her with his powers and absorb her G.o.dhood.

Harder to not destroy everyone and everything.

I won't do it.

Yes, you will. In time. You can't change what you are. Fight all you want. In the end, you are what you were born to be and nothing will ever change that.

But he refused to believe it.

He stared at himself on the wal as the younger him innocently rode in the back of Bubba's SUV toward a destiny that had been carved in blood onto his heart. C'mon, Nick, don't let us down. I need you to be strong, kid.

Smart.

Most of al , he needed himself not to make the same mistakes. Some things, such as meeting Simi while he was young, were already changed.

But others ...

He ground his teeth as he saw the future as clearly as he saw his past.

Karnarsas, the final battle where he would command his father's army, was coming. And when it did, if he didn't change the past, he would destroy the rest of the people he loved. ...

All of them.

CHAPTER 14.

Nick got out of the SUV in front of Bubba's store and checked the time on his cel phone. Ooo, he was cutting it close. So much for food. . . .

"Hey, guys? I need to be heading up to my mom's club before I get grounded." Again.

Mark, who was standing on the sidewalk, shot his head up in a gesture reminiscent of a spooked deer. "Hey, Bub? You catch a whiff of that?"

What? Had someone ripped one in the car?

Nick was just about to blame Caleb when Bubba froze. Two heartbeats later, he tossed keys at Nick. "Kids, get in the store. Now!"

He started to ask them what was up when he saw something that left him stunned.

Zombies.

Not like the ones who were his converted cla.s.smates.

These were the real thing. Flesh rotting. Bad smel ing. Limb losing. Eye jel y oozing ...

Zombies.

And they were coming at them with speed a puma would envy. Madaug let out a yelp as he ran to the door. Nick and Caleb fol owed while Bubba and Mark pul ed out two basebal bats from under the seats of the SUV in an act that strangely reminded him of Mary Poppins and her bag of goodies.

Simi came out of the SUV and acted like she was going to head for the zombies until Bubba caught her arm.

"Get inside with the boys, Simi."

She actual y pouted. Nick could tel she wanted to argue, but with a curt nod, she ran to them.

Bubba cursed. "Tel me again why I put the flamethrower up in the store?" he asked Mark.

Mark hefted his bat over his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure the cops had something to do with that."

Bubba popped the first zombie to reach him in the head with his bat. "Wel , the next time I decide to do something so stupid, remind me it's better to be in jail than dead."

"Hurry, Nick!" Madaug pushed up against him as Nick fumbled with the keys and lock.

Nick ground his teeth. It was hard to do this with only one hand. "I'm trying. Dang, Bubba. How many keys you got on this ring, anyway?" He'd already tried a dozen and not a one worked. He only had ten more to go.

"It's the one with the green rubber piece around it." Bubba knocked the head from the zombie closest to him. "Green." Strike two. "Rubber." Strike three. "Piece." Caleb pul ed the keys out of his hand so that he could open the door. "They're getting through, Nick. We gotta hurry."

"I knew I should have left that duck urine on!" Mark snapped.

"That'l teach me to bathe when I know better." Nick could feel the putrid breath of the zombies on his neck when he final y slung open the door and fel into the store. Simi ran inside, Madaug started in, then cried out as one of the zombies grabbed him and yanked him back toward the street.

Caleb had to force himself not to expose his powers and use them as he fought the zombies off and let the other two into the store. He could feel the stank of dark magick. It permeated even the air he was breathing. Whoever control ed the zombies was a force to be reckoned with.

An ancient force.

Not as old as him by any means, but stil someone comfortable with their powers who knew them intimately.

He'd fought it earlier. This time, the bokor had reinforced his or her strength. And because these zombies had no living force or wil of their own, they were far more dangerous than the students had been.

Unlike the students, they had no attachment to life anymore.

No lingering compa.s.sion or reason. They were evil souls summoned into the bodies of the dead.

This was the blackest of magick. The kind that not even he dealt with. Only a true dark spirit like the Malachai could summon an army this size and control it.

These were mindless kil ing machines.

Kind of like the Charonte, though Caleb had to give Simi credit. Unlike the others of her species he'd known in the past, she was holding her human guise and not breaking it to chow down on the zombies. Someone had trained her wel .

Growling low in his throat, he hit the zombie holding Madaug. The zombie's skul broke, leaving its mandible to hang from a strip of tendon as some kind of cold green ew slimed his hand. It felt like two-day-old snot.

"Oh, gross!" Caleb wiped his hand against his shirt.

"Zombie goo."

"Ooo," Simi breathed. "I wonder if it tastes like chicken?

What do you think?"

Caleb scowled. "I think I'm never eating guacamole again as long as I live."

Ignoring them, Nick beat the other zombie back until he was able, with Simi's help, to shove Madaug into the store.

"Hey!" Caleb snapped as he realized Nick was about to lock him on the outside with their attackers. He pushed the door open and glared at him. "No man left behind." Nick scoffed. "This ain't the army, boy. It's every man for himself. Fal behind. Get eaten."

"I'l remember that the next time you're the one on the outside and I'm the one in the store."

Nick flashed an evil grin at him. "Yeah, but then the rules wil change." He grabbed the door as another zombie tried to open it. "Ah no."

"What?" Caleb asked.

"You left the keys outside."

Caleb groaned at his stupidity, then helped Nick hold the door closed as more zombies swarmed. "What kind of idiot doesn't have one of those flipper lock things on their door?" Nick gave him a duh stare. "Bubba. 'Cause al someone has to do is break the gla.s.s and then they can switch it open and be inside the store. You know Bubba's Code: Always use keys." Which was why he had so many on his key ring.

Caleb felt his muscles bulge as he held the door tight while the zombies tried to pul it open. "I swear, Nick, I should throw you to them. After al , I don't have to outrun the zombies. I just have to outrun you."

"That's cold, dude."

Maybe, but if the zombies got in, he was going to sic Simi and her barbecue sauce on them, humans be d.a.m.ned.

"Stand back," Madaug said.

Nick looked over his shoulder to see Madaug with a rocket launcher. Oh, no way. Where on earth had he found that?

Was it loaded?

What a stupid question. It was in Bubba's store. Of course it was loaded and functional. And probably modified to take down half the city block whenever it was fired.

Nick widened his eyes. "That's not what I think it is, is it?" Madaug shrugged. "I don't know, but I think you better duck." They'd barely moved before Madaug fired at the zombies outside. The rocket exploded in the door, sending gla.s.s and zombie parts everywhere. Green and red ooze streaked through the night.

Simi actual y licked her lips as if dying for a taste of it.

Nick gaped as more zombies headed for them. "Dude, for a genius that was real y stupid. Now we have no door and, I could be wrong, but they look to be multiplying." They heard the zombie converts they'd locked in the hidden room earlier-yel ing for release-from the surveil ance monitor Bubba had turned on earlier to make sure they were al right. Wel , some were. Others were in the room crying for their mamas.

Meanwhile Bubba and Mark were outside whooping and hol ering in al their glory as they fought off the undead. Nick ran to the back to get the ax.

I really need my arm functional again . Or better yet, a genetic implant that left him with one arm as a chainsaw like Ash in Army of Darkness . Now that he could definitely use right now.

Then again, he'd settle for both arms working.

A chil went through him as an image flashed in his mind of him being attacked by ...

Not a raven, but the raven had been there, watching like a freaked-out guardian. And Nick's arm had been whole and working. ... The images were in the back of his mind, but he couldn't focus on any one of them in particular. Just fleeting glimpses that were gone as fast as they'd appeared.

Had it been a dream?

But the memory felt real.

"Yee frickin' haw!" Bubba shouted.

Running back to Madaug and Caleb, Nick looked to see Bubba stunning the zombies with the cattle prod before he beat them with his bat. The man was having way too much fun while Nick was stil worried about dying.

The zombies closed in.

Nick swal owed his fear and pul ed Simi behind him to protect her. "Why hasn't one of the neighbors complained about this? Where are the cops when you need them?" Caleb snorted. "Probably eating beignets. As the old saying goes, when seconds count, the police are just minutes away." And it was looking like a kil ing field out there as panic took hold of Nick. Bubba and Mark were driving the zombies back like psycho ninjas, but even so the sheer number of the zombies was going to overwhelm them sooner or later.

Terrified, Nick watched as more came from the shadows.

These seemed to be created and sent in. ...

Not for kidnapping. These were here to murder.

Nick kept Simi from running around him to join the fray. She might be tal , but she'd be no match for the zombies, who continued coming while Madaug tried to reload the rocket launcher with another round.

He wasn't going to be satisfied until he blew al of them away.

Nick saw a flash of silver. Afraid it was more undead reinforcements, he kicked back a zombie, then froze as he recognized what was out there in the night.

Ash and Kyrian.

And as they joined the fight, he realized another thing. They were the ones who real y fought like ninjas. Ash with a staff and Kyrian with a sword. It was incredible. While Bubba and Mark were fierce, Kyrian's moves were so graceful, they were like a violent bal et as he twirled, sliced one zombie, and then pivoted to catch another.

Nick kept waiting for Ash to use his powers, but for some reason he didn't. He merely used his staff to bash and deflect the zombies. Then he remembered what Ash had said. No doubt he was trying to remain incognito while there were witnesses around.

Though that didn't make sense if Ash could mind-wipe everyone. Could it be he simply enjoyed the fight like Bubba and Mark?

Between them and Bubba and Mark, the zombies didn't stand a chance. In only a few minutes, there were green bodies of ew littering the street.