“I’m not dead yet.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, his voice low. “The message just hasn’t reached that thick skull of yours.”
He muttered something under his breath and formed a group of six green orbs around his body. The grapefruit-sized orbs were crackling with power and energy, and slowly hovered around him. Every single one of them looked deadly, and somehow I knew, if one of them hit me, it was over…literally.
“Don’t do this, Dex. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Child, not even in your wildest imaginations does there exist a place where you can hurt me,” Dex said, looking around. “Much less in this place. It pains me to do this, but it must be done. I’ll make it quick.”
I saw him take a deep breath and let it out slow. As he exhaled, a thin shield of green energy covered his body completely.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, suddenly very aware of Dex’s deadly intent. “We both care about Monty.”
“Don’t you dare,” he hissed. “If you cared, my nephew would be whole right now. He’s in this situation because of you.”
“You’re wrong,” I said, trying to find some reason in the madness. “He made a choice. I’m here to help him.”
“This is for the best, really,” he said, with a hint of sadness. “You’ve been a failure, a screw-up, your whole life. It’s why you’re on your own—no family, no friends, no one and nothing.”
“That’s not true and you know it, you old bastard.”
The words stung because they hit close to home.
“I checked, boy,” he said. “They bounced you out of the NYTF—the Shadow Company, for dereliction of duty, wasn’t it? They counted on you, but their trust was misplaced. You failed when it mattered the most…just like with Tristan.”
He had done his homework. Shadow Company and my involvement in it had been scrubbed clean from every database, or so I had been told. Apparently, it hadn’t been scrubbed hard enough.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I could feel my jaw clench involuntarily. We weren’t going to find a resolution today—not while we were both still breathing.
“Oh, I know,” he said, getting closer. “I can smell the fear coming off you, boy. You’re a lying coward if I’ve ever seen one. I’ve seen plenty in my years and you, boy, are the worst of the lot.”
“I may be scared, but I’m no coward.”
“Empty words,” he said with a sneer. “I’ll make sure they’re your last.”
With a nod, the orbs raced at me.
TWENTY-FIVE
The rage broiling inside of me broke, replaced by something else—a calm, calculated coldness. I had no illusion of who and what I was facing. Dex was a skilled, experienced mage. My odds at facing him were abysmal. Worse, he blamed me for Monty’s schism.
The small voice that always ran away, shrieking in fear, stood its ground, faced me, and nodded. This place could very well be where I bought it, but I wasn’t going to show Dex fear, no matter how I felt. If he blamed me, fine. I knew who I was, and I knew what was at stake, even if he was blinded by emotion.
I was mortal in this place, but I had no intention of dying here, not today.
I backpedaled away from the orbs, shooting two and destroying them as the other four broke off in pairs to flank me. They arced around the courtyard, hugging the walls on an indirect trajectory to crush me. I waited until the last possible second before diving forward into a roll. They missed, but not by much, searing parts of my jacket, and picking up speed as they blazed past.
The orbs swept across the floor and homed in again. I needed to know if they were on auto-pilot, or if Dex was actively controlling them. I was hoping for the latter, but I needed to make sure.
I opened fire again on Dex, emptying the magazine and reloading as I slid forward, dodging to the side to avoid another swipe from the orbs. At this rate, I wouldn’t last long. The only cover in the entire courtyard was the huge Torii gate at the other end.
Dex didn’t even bother to dodge the rounds I fired. They hit his shield and evaporated with little to no damage. That wasn’t the point; I needed to see if the orb’s trajectories were affected by diverting his attention. If I could distract him, I could make a run for the gate.
I noticed two of the orbs had slowed down.
It wasn’t much, but it was enough. I stood still and aimed for Dex’s head. In my peripheral vision, I could see the orbs closing. They were moving too fast for me to hit now, but if I could slow them down, I had a chance to run for cover.
I fired and missed.
I never miss, not when I’m focused, and there’s nothing more focusing than orbs of death closing in on your location to blast you to bits. I took a deep breath and slowed everything down.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
Everything, except Dex, became background noise: the crackling of the orbs, the ambient energy pulsing around me, the cold stone beneath me. It all blended into the background, unimportant. All that mattered was hitting this shot.
I fired again, twice, and ran for the gate.
This time Dex moved and gestured. The orbs veered away and lost me before regrouping some distance away. He was controlling them, which was both good and bad news. The crackling was increasing in volume as they flew around. Beneath the sound of the orbs, I heard something else, something that kicked me into overdrive.
A high-pitched tone sliced through the air behind me. I slid on my stomach as it got closer, just in time to see an angry, green teleportation circle hiss by. I saw it head for the gate and then veer off to the side, into the courtyard wall, punching a hole in it. After a few seconds, the hole slowly repaired itself. I doubted I would have the same reaction if Dex managed to slam me with one of those circles.
The crackling orbs had reacquired my location and were blazing in my direction. I got to my feet, continuing my dash as I processed what just happened. I had heard a teleportation circle, not something I remember ever doing.
More importantly, Dex didn’t want the gate damaged. He had deliberately altered the trajectory of the teleportation circle to avoid the gate, and smash into the courtyard wall.
The gate was important to Dex, which meant it was important to me. A few seconds later, I slid into cover behind the gate.
“You’ve gotten better at running,” Dex called out. “I would expect no less from a coward.”
Goading tactics. He was trying to get in my head, but I knew this game and had played it all my life. I crouched behind one of the enormous gate legs, the hashira, and tried to catch my breath. The crackling of the orbs diminished and then disappeared entirely, throwing the courtyard into an eerie silence.
If my theory was correct, he wouldn’t fling orbs or teleportation circles this close to the gate. His next attack would be the up-close-and-personal kind. He wasn’t going to risk destroying the gate. At least, I hoped he wouldn’t.
“When Monty needed someone to look out for him,” I called out, facing the nearest wall so my voice would bounce off, hopefully disguising my exact location. “Where were you? Did you even care about him? You abandoned him.”
Silence.
Usually a good thing, but with a master teleporter…silence was a bad thing.
I felt the energy before I saw the green circle form next to me. I dove out of the way as a large mace cratered the ground where I had crouched moments earlier.
Another circle formed under my feet, and I found myself launched to the other end of the courtyard at speed. I bounced off the stone floor and crashed into the wall, managing to twist my body so my shoulder took the brunt of the impact.
There was no flush of warmth to indicate my curse was acting to repair the damage. He wasn’t lying. I was mortal in this place.
“I’m going to do this the old-fashioned way,” Dex said as he appeared several feet away, holding a softly glowing weapon in his hand. “This is going to hurt you, much more than it’s go
ing to hurt me.”
The weapon he held was a nasty-looking hybrid mace-axe.
The two-foot handle of the weapon was covered in glowing, green runes, which matched the symbols along the oversized blade. The mace side, forming the back of the deadly bladed end, was a large semi-circle of steel, covered in spikes.
Getting hit by either side would be detrimental to living. As fearsome as the weapon was, it didn’t compare to the shrieks coming from it. For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating.
“What the hell?” I said, scrambling back and rolling to my feet, putting some distance between us. “What is that?”
Dex hefted the axe in his hand.
“This here is Nemain,” he said, with a small measure of pride. “Had it cursed by Badb herself. Use it too long and it drives you mad. It’s designed to make you piss your pants, before I cleave you in half.”
“I’m going to guess that you’ve been using it too long,” I said, backing up even more. “Considering your present behavior.”
“Ach, boy,” he said with a grin. “I rarely find the need for it. I brought this out special…for you.”
“Really?” I said. “There’s no need to go through all that trouble.”
“Trouble? That’s all you’ve been since you met Tristan.”
“All I’ve been?” I snapped back, raising my voice. “Now I know that thing is baking your brain.”
“Every time I used this weapon,” Dex said. “You know what they called me?”
“You mean besides crazy?”
“Harbinger. The Harbinger of Destruction.”
“You’re a Montague,” I said, trying to step off at an angle, putting even more distance between us. “Destruction is a feature with your family. Why not choose a peaceful resolution? You could transform that into the Harbinger of Goodwill or Strong Coffee.”
He smiled.
“I can smell your fear, boy,” Dex said with a short nod. “I know you’re scared. No one wants to die, but this has to happen. You have to pay for your failure.”
“I didn’t fail,” I said. “Monty made a choice, and I’m here to help him, even if you’re not.”
“No matter,” Dex said, looking down at his weapon. “It all ends today.”
The runes along its haft pulsed green as he gave it a practice swing. The shrieks sounded like someone was strangling a group of angry cats, while clawing nails down a chalkboard. It was blood-curdling.
Nemain made Monty’s Sorrows sound like an angelic choir in comparison. I tried to block the noise out, but it cut through me on a visceral level. If I hadn’t been exposed to the Sorrows, I’d probably be running away in fear and panic. As it stood, the sound of Nemain was assaulting my limbic brain and pushing for a strong case of flight while screaming in fright.
I slid back to the nearest wall as Dex began to close the distance. I reached for my mala bracelet, only to remember, Kali had disintegrated it.
I pressed my mark.
Nothing happened.
No reaction. No flash of power or light, Karma didn’t appear, and time didn’t stop.
“Well, shit.”
“Out of tricks, boy?” Dex asked over the shrieks of Nemain. “Your hellhound is napping, and my nephew is otherwise occupied. No one is coming to save you. You’re going to die…alone.”
The small voice that had been so brave at the outset, was slowly backing up with me, when it whispered one last, defiant word…Ebonsoul.
In a few seconds, Dex was going to cut me down to size…literally. I was mortal, with no shield, and no way to freeze time. I only had one option left. I reached inside and felt for the power of my weapon. The energy of Ebonsoul exploded in my mind, as the blade began forming. The silver mist wrapped itself around my hand as a transparent, violet dome, five feet in diameter formed around me.
“A dawnward isn’t going to save you, boy,” Dex said, slamming Nemain down on the dome of violet energy. “Nemain can cut through anything.”
He sliced through the dome with some effort, as I raised the newly formed Ebonsoul to parry his strike. Violet and green energy flashed between us as I held up Ebonsoul, stopping his downward swing, even as the force of his momentum brought me to one knee. The look of surprise on his face was only matched by the surprise I felt.
“Not anything,” I said, recovering quickly and driving a kick into his midsection. “Maybe you should check the warranty.”
Dex backpedaled several feet out of the violet dome of energy and chuckled, unfazed by my strike, which had been designed to break all of his ribs. I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“I’m going to enjoy ending you, boy,” he said, swinging Nemain. “Come, show me you have the courage to die.”
I stayed crouched inside the dawnward and remembered Rey’s words again: The source of energy is all around you. All you’re doing is aligning to the flow and channeling it.
I thought about Monty going dark and being hunted. About Peaches, and Dex putting him down, Roxanne in danger for being close to Monty, Chi for caring about me. All the people who depended on us, and were knowingly or not, protected by what we did or who we stood against. If I failed here, they were all in danger.
I got to my feet and let myself step into the power around me. It felt like jumping into a freezing lake. I saw Dex’s expression harden as I tapped into the power. He began gesturing with his free hand as the ambient energy in the courtyard crashed into me.
I returned his glare and whispered one word.
Ignisvitae.
TWENTY-SIX
Fear will make you do some amazingly stupid things.
After I whispered the word of power, the dome compressed into Ebonsoul, wrapping the blade in violet energy as the red runes along its blade exploded with power.
The energy raced through my body, looking for an outlet. I extended an arm in Dex’s direction. I felt the power travel down my arm and blast out of my hand in a violet beam.
Heading straight for Dex.
I let all the anger and fear I felt race into that beam, and it took on a darker undertone. The power smelled like burning flesh, which I found strange.
Why would it smell like burning flesh?
I looked at my arm, enveloped in a violet-black cocoon of energy and answered my own question.
My arm was ablaze with violet flames.
I didn’t have much time to ponder burning my arm off as the beam slammed into Dex. He held up Nemain as a shield, and it worked…for about two seconds, before knocking it out of his hands and punching into his chest.
Dex rolled with the blow, and twisted his body, raising a hand to deflect the beam. The violet energy impacted his hand and shot off at an angle.
Right into the Torii gate.
The beam cut into one of the legs, blowing a large chunk of the supporting stone away. The gate creaked slightly, swaying from the impact of the blast.
“No!” he yelled, looking away from me and focusing on the compromised gate. “Shut it down, boy!”
“No,” I said, my voice full of both fear and determination. “You’re trying to kill me, which means you get to die first.”
“Don’t be daft,” Dex said, looking at me and angling the beam away from the gate into a nearby wall. “If I wanted you dead, I could have ended you several times over by now. Now, shut it down, or both you and Tristan are lost.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “You’re trying to kill me.”
“Listen carefully,” Dex said, keeping his voice calm while still deflecting the beam. “If that gate falls, Tristan will be exposed, and you will be trapped here, with me until I can reopen the passage. By the time I can create another gate, it will be too late; Evers or the other sects will have found him, and then I will kill you.”
“That’s not very motivational.”
“I’m glad you’re understanding the severity of your situation, boy,” Dex said with a grimace. “Now shut it down.”
“A few moments
ago, you wanted to blast me.”
“What makes you think that’s changed?”
“Lowering my defenses doesn’t sound like a smart plan.”
“But burning your arm off is?” Dex asked, pointing at my arm. “You keep this up, you’re going to lose that limb, boy.”
I looked down. The violet energy had burned away my jacket sleeve. Wisps of violet colored smoke wafted off the surface of my now darkened arm. I had jumped past sunburn, into sunbaked with a light charbroiling.
“Shit, that can’t be good,” I muttered. “Fine, I’ll stop, but if you start getting murdery, I’m blasting you.”
“Aye, I’m properly warned,” Dex said. “I need to repair the gate, before it collapses. Do you have enough control to stop it?”
“I think so.”
“Now would be a good time,” he said, looking at the gate. “I need to repair that damage before it’s too late.”
I nodded.
I took a deep breath and slowly forced myself to step away from the energy around me. It was difficult, and felt like running in thigh-deep mud. The power wanted to hold on, wanted to continue coursing through my body.
Part of me wanted it to.
I forced myself away finally, with a grunt, falling to one knee. Dex raced to the gate and began gesturing. He had his back to me as he focused intently on repairing the stone.
If I attacked now, he’d never see it coming.
That little voice in my head cracked its knuckles and nodded. It pointed out how vulnerable Dex was, with his back turned, and his focus diverted.
Take him now. He won’t expect an attack—he’s too focused on the gate. This is your chance…kill him. That old fart tried to blast you to little bits. He threatened Peaches. For that alone, you should put the old bastard out of his misery.
No one threatens your hellhound…and lives.
I looked down from my charred arm to the still-furiously working Dex. The energy around me was still there. A sense of anticipation filled me. It was only a word away, and I could be using the power again. It beckoned me to channel it again, enticing me to wield it. With a shudder, I closed my eyes and got my breathing under control.
Walking The Razor: A Montague & Strong Detective Novel Page 18