by D. N. Leo
“But I won’t let that happen to you.”
He chuckled. “You might be the only good decision I made in my immortal life, Thunder. Now, can you tell me what upset you about the Scorpio key?”
“What will happen if you don’t deliver this key?”
“You can’t answer my question with a question.”
“Please, Keymaster!”
He nodded. “All right, you always get your way. If I violate the contract with my client, they have the right to take my life. This is because, in addition to the money they paid me, I get power and energy as well. That is how I support my immortal life. You see, it’s not as simple as giving them their money back.”
“I understand. And to answer your question, it’s not that anyone said anything incorrect to me about the key. It’s just that the door this key opens is significant. I thought I’d let you know.”
He smiled. “There are gateways, and there are doors. There have to be keys to open them. The multiverse needs keymasters to make keys.”
“How many are there like you?”
“Several. Hundreds, maybe. I don’t know. But I am the best.” He grinned.
“Yes, you are.” She smiled at him and shoved a hand into her pocket, playing with the piece of bloodstone she had just harvested. Bloodstone melted and didn’t retain its shape when Keymaster worked on it. But it always behaved however she wanted it to. She thought it was because she was the child of angels. But gathering from the prophecy and what Teacher said, she knew there was more to this ability.
“You know that the compound I made for you so you can retain the shape of the stone is poisonous, right?”
“Yes, child. But it can’t kill me because I’m immortal.”
“What about your client?”
“Well, that’s their business.”
She shrugged. “How much do you read into a prophecy?”
“Why? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Just something I read.” She headed back to the woods.
“But I don’t have anything here for you to read.”
She laughed. “I didn’t say I read anything here.” She charged back to the woods to look for Teacher. She had so many questions to ask. But more importantly, she had a deal to make.
Chapter 9
Caedmon gave Alyna a thumb-sized chip while she stood next to her bed and put on a light jacket.
“This is so I can monitor your vital signals. It transfers the information to my wrist unit. You’re only sixty percent recovered. And we want that percentage to go up, not down, or you won’t make it to the Summoning.”
She nodded. “How do I wear it?” She looked at the device. It looked like a coin.
“Stick it wherever you want, preferably somewhere close to your heart.” He smiled then went to the corner of her bedroom to get himself some water—and give her some privacy so she could place the device.
He came back to her and opened his palm. On it were two pills. In his other hand was a glass of water. “These painkillers will last you all day under normal conditions. That is, as long as you don’t engage in intense physical activity.”
She took the pills and downed them without hesitation. “Thank you,” she said as she tied her hair up in a high ponytail.
She looked quite feminine with her hair down, he thought. But when she put her hair up, she looked combat-ready and quite formidable, which was necessary for her position.
Lorcan stuck his head in at the doorway. “Ready?”
“I am,” Caedmon said and looked at Alyna.
“Yes,” she said.
Lorcan smiled. “All right, I know they’re recruiting at the fight club, and naturally there will be some intense fighting. But you are not to engage in a fight. Keep your adrenaline at the lowest level possible.”
“Sure,” Alyna said.
“Caedmon!” Lorcan cocked an eyebrow. “Where did you put your vitals monitor?” he asked, looking at his unit and adjusting something.
“Excuse me?” Alyna asked
“He’s asking me. He monitors my vitals,” Caedmon said to Alyna. “I put it on my chest,” he said to Lorcan.
“Anything I should know apart from the importance of monitoring our vitals and the fact that we shouldn’t fight even though we’re recruiting people at a fight club?” Alyna asked.
Caedmon chuckled. “You should know that Lorcan is a control freak. If he doesn’t get his way, he will be a pain in your neck.”
“Hey, boy, I gave you those devices, so be nice. You shouldn’t fight because you’re in recovery from injury, Alyna. But this boy cannot have his adrenaline go up even the slightest notch because he’ll shift. We’ve done detailed analysis on this. Adrenaline level is one of the triggers. There might be others, but that’s all we know for now.”
“I can control my adrenaline level, Uncle Lorcan.”
“If you say so. Alyna, Orla is in the living room. She said she has something to tell you.”
“Okay.” Alyna cast a disapproving glance at Caedmon for not telling her about the adrenaline issue, then she exited the room.
Lorcan looked at Caedmon. “Are you sure about all this?” he asked.
“Twenty more days, and I’ll take the Scorpio key back to Eudaiz where it belongs. Which part of that do you think I’m unsure of?”
“What if you shift again before that, and you can’t reverse?”
“I’ll deal with it.”
“That’s not good enough, Caedmon. In your time, you’re a commander. You are responsible for many important things. Many lives depend on you. You can’t afford to be sentimental about this.”
“I’m not being sentimental, Uncle Lorcan. Well, the reason I’m here might have been sentimental. But we’re past that. There are several ways to get the key, but I am now committed to this one, and we’re closer than ever. If the key falls into the wrong hands, this material Earth dimension will collapse. Sedna will have died in vain.”
“So you accept her death now and have given up the idea of sending a creature back to the past to fix it?”
“I’ll never accept her death. And I resent the fact she made that decision without consulting me. We shared a life together, and she didn’t respect that. But I’ve moved past that now.” He paused. “There’s an issue with my new condition that might complicate the matter at hand…”
“As if this hasn’t been complicated enough. Okay, hit me with it.”
“I might lose my Silver Blood eudqi.”
“You what?” Lorcan whirled around. “How can that be possible? It’s in your blood.”
“Silver Blood is foreign to my body. I still have my natural Eudaizian eudqi, but the superpower of Silver Blood is a foreign energy added to me. It doesn’t seem to have synergy with new foreign elements that are metaphysically different. And shapeshifting is metaphysically different at all levels. Therefore, I could lose it.”
“That’s plain wrong. What about your Uncle Roy? He’s natural werefox, and his body accepts Eudaizian and Silver Blood eudqi.”
He shrugged. “Well, it didn’t work for me. Maybe a magical creature can take Eudaizian energy. But a Eudaizian like me can’t take in anything magical. So, at the moment, the only super power I have is via shapeshifting. It’s like a twisted joke of fate. So if we’re talking about controlling my adrenaline so I don’t shift, I’m not sure I should. What if the situation calls for it? What if I need the power?”
“The power is only good if you can control it. At the moment, you can’t. Plus, you know the adrenaline triggered you to shift. Alyna took more than twenty stab wounds before you snapped back. I don’t think she wants to do that again. You haven’t yet figured out what makes you change back to your form. Shifting now might be a one-way ticket, Caedmon.”
“What if—”
“There is no if. If we can’t sort this out, as much as it hurts my ego, I’ll have to inform Eudaiz. And you know what your parents will do. They’ll bring the entire council here if that�
��s what it takes to bring you back intact. It’s not just your life that is precious to them, Caedmon—it’s your make, how you were born, and what you represent.”
“Thanks for the reminder!”
“I know that’s a lot of pressure on you. But you came here—you didn’t think it through. So now you have to fix it. You can’t go back to Eudaiz now as a were-lion and a commander who’s lost his Silver Blood eudqi!” Lorcan was so angry his eyes flashed a blue shade, and he almost shifted.
Orla stuck her head through the doorway. “Alyna’s waiting!”
Lorcan growled some profanity and strode out.
Orla gave him a questioning glance.
“He’ll tell you later.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“You two don’t keep secrets from each other.”
“If you say so.” She shrugged. “Off you go. Alyna is waiting outside already.”
“What did you tell her?”
“About what?”
“You asked for Alyna earlier.”
“Oh, it was nothing. I gave her some lipstick. She looks like a ghost after losing all that blood.”
He nodded and exited the room. He knew Orla was lying.
Chapter 10
Alyna entered the fighting room of Amaraq Northside. The staff had been running a recruitment campaign to find replacements for Tomkin and Ben. The two key figures of the club departing at the same time had left the club in chaos. They had help from others, but there were so many more clubs in other places she had to take care of now that she was the leader of Amaraq. The Northside club had contributed a lot to Amaraq’s reputation in the private security business. It was not only one of the larger clubs, but it was also where she’d started. She wanted to be here personally to see this through.
But now she had just discovered her phobia—she wasn’t at all built for doing business. Whenever she’d walked into this club, either Tomkin or Ben had greeted her, feeding her with all the information she needed. She had taken their business assistance for granted.
She cast a glance at the crowded floor now and recoiled. She couldn’t put a single name to the faces of the administrative staff. She recognized only those who were fighters.
Caedmon walked right beside her, as agile as a cat. She shouldn’t compare him to a cat because that made her think of her fat, long-coated cat, Lazi. Caedmon was more like a leopard. So why then did he shift into a lion instead of a leopard, she wondered. And why hadn’t she shifted yet? After all, she was made before him.
She gave herself a real hard mental slap in the face. She was brooding and daydreaming like a teenager. The last time she had daydreamed like this was just before the car crash. And since then, there had not been a single moment when she wasn’t focused on her mission. Everything she did had a purpose. But since she had been turned by Teacher, her tenacious focus on her mission had been reduced, and she noticed she was easily sidetracked by random thoughts.
She shook her head to regain her focus as a man in his late thirties approached.
“Alyna, would you sit on the usual platform?” the man asked.
“Of course,” she said, and because she couldn’t remember his name, she stopped there.
Caedmon reached out his hand for a handshake. “Caedmon. I just took over Amaraq business.”
“Yes. Shaun Flinn. I handle general administration. I mostly worked with Ben, not Tomkin. I know about what happened.”
“That’s great. Could you give me a quick run-through of the staff profiles and who is doing what at this point so we can make some progress and fix up the place?”
“Sure.” Shaun gestured toward the office.
Caedmon turned, winked at her, and placed his hand on her back to guide her to come with them to the office. He had read her mind and understood her fear, she thought. She could have taken it to mean he cared. But at the moment, it felt humiliating. It meant she depended on his help when it came to business.
“Alyna,” someone called from behind them.
They turned and saw a man in his early forties approaching. Caedmon stepped forward and reached his hand out. “Caedmon LeBlanc.”
“Oh, I heard. You’re the new boss.”
“Oh no, I’m not your boss. She is.” He gestured toward her. “What’s your name?”
“Len. I handle equipment supplies.”
“By equipment, do you mean weapons, Len?” she asked.
“Yes, weapons included. But Pukak didn’t want to put weapons down as a specific and separate category on the books.”
“But it’s necessary,” she said. “With the important event coming up, we can’t afford to rely on fistfights.”
“Okay, from now on, weapons will be its own category on the books. I’ll need the list of inventory to decide whether we need to place more orders. Who are our suppliers?” Caedmon asked.
“We don’t use anyone specific. I just procure whatever is available and most affordable on the market,” Len said.
Caedmon shook his head. “We need a system. I’ll need a list of the suppliers you recommend. I have some suggestions, too. ExtremeX is the best that I know of. It’s one of the LeBlanc’s business lines. Consider that an internal resource.”
Len frowned. “I thought the LeBlancs were in the pharmaceutical business. Are we talking about chemical weapons?”
Caedmon chuckled. “Chemicals are a separate business line. We don’t mix chemicals and weapons. That’s for amateurs. I need the list. Preferably as soon as possible.”
Len nodded and scurried away.
They heard the bell and the announcement that the final rounds of the recruitment had begun. Alyna was asked to take her place on the judge’s platform. She had done this countless times, both as a judge and as a contender. She had never lost as a fighter and had never had a problem judging.
She couldn’t believe it, but this time she had butterflies in her stomach. What the hell? She shook her head and tried to shake the worry from her mind when she felt Caedmon’s hand on her shoulder. He gazed into her eyes and wore an easy smile.
“You’ll be all right,” he said.
He read her mind again? How is that possible? she thought. She tugged discreetly at what Orla had given her before they’d left for the fight club and felt easier when she knew it was still there, safe in her pants pocket.
As soon as she settled in the judge’s chair on the platform, she zeroed in on the two final contenders—a male and a female. Pukak had told her that history suggested that males and females used to be separated in physical combat competitions because female fighters were considered physically weaker. But that tradition was long gone.
There were techniques where female fighters clearly held the advantage over male counterparts. These days, those who were smarter and used their own resources to their advantage were the ones who won. And nobody argued with winners.
The male fighter with unusual, striking green eyes looked straight at Alyna. He had the eyes of a paranormal creature, but he wasn’t a mage. She could tell.
“If I win, I’ll be your second,” he said to Alyna.
“We are recruiting for club manager. Here, you will be taking care of administrative duties and training juniors. That was made clear in the advert.” She glanced around and found Shaun standing in a corner. She looked at him and signaled for him to move forward.
He stepped up. “That’s right. I placed the advert in the database. We are looking for a club manager.”
“I understand. But I fight for more than that. And the club’s long-held tradition is that positions can be won with fair and open competition. I am taking this opportunity to challenge you for the second position.”
She was about to respond but found Caedmon’s hand again on her shoulder, holding her gently.
He stepped forward and stared straight at the man until the man took a step backward. “I have taken over all Amaraq business, and I am the one to make decisions about anything business-related
. I won’t interfere with club tradition. However, today we’ve paid for the advert and the venue to recruit the club manager. If you want more, then go fight elsewhere. You will not do it at the venue I paid for, and you will not use up staff time that I also paid for.”
“Who the hell are you?”
Caedmon smiled. “The only thing you need to know now is that I’ve decided I won’t pay for the second position in Amaraq because I don’t think Alyna needs one. That means there’s no need for another fight. Now, if you are no longer interested in this position, please leave and let the other contender,” he glanced quickly at the name card, “Lissabel, win.”
The man stepped forward and growled. His eyes sparked with a glowing green hue. “I challenge Alyna.”
She stood up, but Caedmon turned and smiled at her. “You shouldn’t have to worry about this trivial matter, Alyna.”
She got the hint and sat back down.
Caedmon returned to the man. “I understand—and admire— your ambition. But we have…how many clubs, Shaun?”
“Over two hundred.”
“You see? You are trying to win a recruitment for just one club here. You can challenge the leader, but you need to work up the ranks first, don’t you?” Caedmon smiled at the man.
“I don’t care. I have to fight her!” the man growled and leaped out of his fighting square.
Alyna stood up, and Caedmon grabbed her shoulder. “Don’t Alyna!”
As he held her shoulder, she could feel his adrenaline rising. It rose in waves, but it didn’t show on his cool face. He was trying hard, but she wasn’t sure how long he could hold out before the animal took over again.
“You have to calm down, Caedmon. We’re getting out of here,” she said.
On the fighting ground, Lissabel jumped after the man and engaged in a fight. Alyna saw a great fighter in front of her, vicious and skillful. The man was unable to direct any of his attention toward Caedmon and Alyna because Lissabel looked as if she could take his head off with her bare hands.