Disclaimer: I do not own Chronicles of Nick

No flames.

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"You want me to what?"

Caleb was used to getting some pretty hefty orders from his tormentor, but most of them had a point to them. However this, this did not make sense… at all.

Adarian Malachai leaned back on his bed giving Caleb the most disgusted scowl he had seen thus far. The demon sneered in a cold tone, "Did you not hear me Malphas, I want you to go to school-"

"What kind of demon dung have you been sniffing?" Caleb growled, of all the things he could be ordered to do, and have to reluctantly obey, this must be the cruelest. He barely got the sentence out of him before Adarian had him against the wall; hand around his throat almost choking him.

"I will slit your throat if you growl at me again, do I make myself clear?" When Caleb nodded his head, he dropped the daeve. "As I was saying you've been given a new task, bodyguard duty."

"Excuse me." Did he just hear that right? What on earth would the Malachai, ultimate destroyer of worlds, want protected?

"St. Richards is a home to werewolves, squires, and other various creatures. Unfortunately, its one of the best educational centers in the country and my son enrolled there a few months ago."

Son? Caleb's eyes widened, "You have a son?"

Adarian rolled his eyes, "Yes Malphas, that's what I just said." The Malachai rubbed his temples like he was developing a headache, "He has no idea what he is, and born to a human mother he is oblivious to the supernatural world. I want you to make sure nothing takes a bite out of him. Understand?"

"No." Caleb shook his head, "What I'm hearing," He pointed to himself, "Is that you want me to go and protect someone who, should he live, will kill you." Has the darkest evil to ever grace the world finally gone suicidal? Or he might have just gone senile.

"Then you're hearing things wrong." Adarian snapped, "I want you to keep the kid protected until he comes into his powers so that I can kill him. And when I do I'll be taking his powers and adding them to my own."

Ah, that made a little bit more sense. The Malachai never cared about their young, only power.

"So basically I'm the babysitter." Caleb deadpanned, "Great."

Adarian ignored the sarcasm in his tone, "His name is Nick Gautier, and I want you to know," he pointed at Caleb menacingly, "He has to be evil and strong, this will all be for nothing if he isn't. Stay close to him, but don't get friendly. He's your charge not your friend."

Caleb grimaced at the little jab to his past, "I don't have any friends."

"Exactly." Could the smirk there be any darker? "Now get going, you have to apply for school." Adarian was enjoying this too much, "Have fun."

Yeah right.

#

Caleb smirked as she walked down the hallway all the girls, human or otherwise, staring at him. Looking around he noticed a couple of werewolves watching him, trying to see if he was a threat no doubt. One of them stepped forth cockily.

"The name's Stone." He smirked. His pack of lackeys were just two steps away waiting loyally for his attention.

"Malphas, Caleb Malphas." The daeve replied drawled.

"Well Malphas, welcome to St. Richards." Stone put out a hand. Caleb's eyes narrowed, the insincerity was practically dripping off this guy. What exactly was this guy trying to do?

"Listen-" he was cut off well Stone moved past him heading for a teen with a god awful Hawaiian shirt. Caleb almost winced at the bright pattern practically shining in the hallway, who on earth would let him out of the house like that.

"Hey Trailer Park is that a new shirt? I honestly thought your wardrobe couldn't get any worse, Goodwill must really hate you." The animal laughed at his own lame joke, or at least it sounded like he was trying to make a joke. The kid rolled his eyes and slammed his locker shut. The lack of attention from the kid must have annoyed Stone because he growled a little bit.

The pack pushed past the kid, literally knocking him to the floor scattering his books from his open backpack. The kid scrambled for his work as everyone walked around or even on his work not one trying to help him. The kid glared over his shoulder like he wanted to pick a fight but then went back to what he was doing.

Caleb wasn't heartless; he walked over to the pond of papers and started piling them into his arms. "Should've forced him to pick these up." Caleb told him.

"Can't." the kid's voice was tense, "Just came back from suspension."

"What'd you do?" Caleb raised an eyebrow. The way the kid had acted when everyone else was stepping on his stuff, it didn't seem like he was the kid to get into trouble.

"You mean, what did he do?" The kid nudged his head in the direction Stone went, "I don't start anything with that jock-rock. Unfortunately the principal doesn't care that he insults my mother and pushes me around. I'm a scholarship kid from the slums and that means I'm trash. Like I'm going to let them talk trash about my mother just because of her job; they want to open their mouths they're gonna lose some teeth for it." The kid snorted, "One day I'm gonna be living large and they'll be the ones being pushed around under me."

Caleb nodded, he could respect someone who thought about karma, "They can't run around protected by their parent's money forever, right?"

"Exactly." Caleb and the kid stood up, and the daeve almost had a heart attack. The kid looked almost exactly like the Malachai, except he was younger, shorter, and a lot kinder looking. The kid held out his hand, "Nick Gautier."

The Fates must be having a field day, Caleb almost groaned as he shook the hand, "Caleb Malphas." Did the only decent sounding person in the school have to be the one person Caleb can't talk to for fear of getting to close?

Nick maneuvered his backpack, which thankfully wasn't horribly unappealing to the eyes, and stuck his hands I his pockets. "So are you new?" Nick asked, "Or have I been in suspension so much I can't recognize you."

So the kid has been out of school more than once, "New."

"Then my advice is avoid Stone, he'll lower your IQ a few points by being in the same room as you." Nick gave a mock-salute. "See you around Malphas; I've got to get to class. The teachers here don't listen to any excuses for why you're late . . . at least not with me."

Well he's bizarre. Funny and kind were not two adjectives Caleb would associate with the son of the ultimate evil. Even without being fully grown the Malachai should be attracted to the darkest of people and the worst of things to do. He shouldn't be wearing tacky shirts that give others an eyesore, he shouldn't be getting into fights to defend his mother, hell he shouldn't even have a mother worth defending. What force of absolute insanity took hold of this guy, and how can Caleb bottle it up and use it for some of the other nasty things he knew?

#

And there it is. Please review and tell me what you think.