by J. P. Rice
The kid seemed to have a ton of experience. “Then you understand. Your closest friends could become your bitter enemies. It’s a long ride with many twists and turns. Just when you think you have everything figured out, it turns upside down.”
“Luckily, I only have a few close friends,” he joked.
From experience, I could tell him the number was probably fewer than he thought. As our conversation came to a close, I received a text from Caesar about meeting up to discuss the duel. How convenient. He invited me to a restaurant that the wolves owned.
I needed to remember to bring my dried wolfsbane berries. Just in case the wolves were planning a sneak attack.
Chapter 6
“I’ll have my usual,” Caesar said to the server, who jotted it down on her pad.
She turned and pointed at me with the eraser of her pencil. “What can I get for you?”
“I’ll just have an Iron City. Bottle, please,” I said.
“No problem. I’ll be right back.”
Caesar had asked me to meet him at the Butcher’s Block, a restaurant owned by the wolves. Designed as a rustic log cabin, the fifty-seat establishment was almost full of male wolves. There were also a few lady wolves in the house. I’d never seen them before. As I peered around again, I saw about a half-dozen humans mixed in.
I wondered why Caesar had called and offered to buy me lunch. Something didn’t feel right. Surrounded by a large group of the pack, I kept my magic at the ready. My nose didn’t detect any magic in the air, but I couldn’t let that lull me into a false sense of security.
I dug into my coat pocket and rubbed my fingertips over the wolfsbane berries. I’d already went over the spell in my head. I just needed to say the last three words and blow on the berries.
The crazy winter conditions in Pittsburgh didn’t bother the wolves one bit. They had an arsenal of snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles and they owned several gas stations. They also had a fleet of Bugatti Chiron 4 x 4s, which were Hypercars designed for the apocalypse. Only heavy-duty vehicles were worth a damn in Pittsburgh now.
“So what’s the deal, Caesar?” I asked, getting down to business.
He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his massive chest. “No deal. It’s just Octavius will be away for the next few weeks.”
“What do you mean away?” I asked as irritation started to build inside me. “I’ve got Jonathan up my ass about this duel.”
Caesar peered around the room and lowered his gruff voice. “He had to go to Florida to take care of some business. No big deal.”
“Business? Why didn’t he take you?” I questioned.
Caesar leaned forward and cupped his hand in front of his mouth as he spoke, “He left me to run the operation in his stead. What’s the problem? Tell that vampire scumbag to settle down. Not like he’s dying.” He chuckled.
A loud rap on one of the tables grabbed my attention and I noticed a big wolf in human form stalking toward our table. He growled and pointed a crooked finger at me. I reached in my pocket and scooped out the wolfsbane berries.
“She killed Cicero and now she invades our restaurant. Fuck that, I’m claiming revenge in the name of Octavius,” he yelled dramatically and started to shift.
“Don’t do it,” Caesar warned.
Amber hair sprouted on the backs of his hands and his burgundy track suit frayed at the seams. His shoulders hunched forward and expanded, telling me I needed to act quickly. I stood up quickly and my chair fell to the floor behind me.
Caesar rose to his feet but remained silent. I didn’t want to kill the wolf because then everyone else would rush me and tear me apart. I recast the spell, removing some of the deadly pseudaconitine and adding more power. I mumbled the last few words under my breath and blew on the berries. The dark berries started to glow, and I rolled a few of the magical objects into my other hand.
I tightened my hands into fists and a sparkling stream of amethyst crept out the openings of my fingers. It circled around my hands, creating the shape of a boxing glove. And not a second too soon as the wolf lunged for me.
Caesar threw his huge arm out to stop his friend, but the wolf was too fast, flying past him and closing in on me. Instead of winding up for a haymaker, I jabbed with my left hand, extending my arm as far as I could.
The wolf’s talons screamed toward my face, ready to inflict malicious harm and make me unrecognizable. My heart stopped. Wolves had much longer arms than humans, but he had taken a looping swipe at me. I was hoping that the extra distance created by the swirling magic around my fist would hit him first.
Just before he tore the flesh off my cheek, my fist contacted his chest. The impact of the wolfsbane spell against the werewolf jolted him backward violently. A trail of smoke followed his path.
He knocked over a high-top table full of drinks and continued tumbling backward, smashing into a normal dining table and several chairs, sending everything crashing to the ground. He kept rolling backward in a continuous somersault and crunched into the wall next to the fireplace. The impact had singed his hair and the awful smell filled the restaurant.
I spun in a circle, my fists wrapped in a glowing purple shine with bits of silver dancing within it. “Anyone else? Anyone else have a problem with me?”
The embarrassed wolves lowered their heads in shame. I hated to do this in one of their establishments, but if you come at the queen, you best not miss. I stared at the fallen wolf, smoke rising from his crumpled body as his friends attended to him. He had missed.
The silence in the restaurant told me there were no more challengers so I transferred the berries into one hand and slid them into my coat pocket. Caesar and I sat back down.
“Sorry about that,” Caesar spoke quietly so nobody else would hear him, “But thanks.”
I nodded, knowing he was thanking me for not killing his friend. Caesar was in a tough spot since I was a pariah according to the other wolves. His pack probably expected him to kill me to avenge the fallen Cicero. I was an enemy. But a valuable enemy.
I also knew controlling a pack of wild beasts wasn’t easy. Hell, I could barely control myself.
My amethyst hands started to return to normal. “If it happens again, the next wolf isn’t getting up.” I gestured with my chin toward the wolves in human form helping my attacker back to his feet.
Caesar took a quick peek over his shoulder, glanced back and me and said, “Understood. I think you’ve proved your point.”
The server came back with our drinks and Caesar’s meal. Damn. That was fast. She slid a frosty mug of golden lager to Caesar and handed me the Iron City bottle. Then she placed a plate in front of the wolf, and he nodded in approval.
The server smiled and knocked on the table. She winked at Caesar, turned and headed toward the kitchen.
I zeroed in on Caesar’s meal. He had French fries and raw ground meat smashed between a bun. “What the hell is that?” I asked.
“Brûlée burger,” he stated proudly, smiling and patting his stomach.
“Still doesn’t answer my question.”
Caesar pushed the fries to the other side of the plate so none were touching the burger. “The chef makes a seasoned burger patty and coats both sides with sugar. Then he brûlées it with a blowtorch to make it nice and crispy on the outside. Sweet meat, he calls it. You want one?” he asked, thumbing toward the kitchen.
I sat back and took a swig of my beer. “No thanks. I like Pittsburgh rare, not raw.”
“Your loss,” he shrugged and picked up the top half of the bun. He squirted an enormous amount of Heinz Ketchup on the bun and closed it back up.
I couldn’t even imagine the strange flavors going on there. “I think I’ll survive. So when the hell will Octavius be back?”
“He should be back in the next few weeks,” he said and took a huge bite out of his burger. Ketchup spurted out the sides of the bun and painted the backs of his hirsute hands.
As he set down his burger and
cleaned himself off, I said, “Should be back? No. That’s not good enough. He needs to be back within two weeks from today. That’s the limit on how long I can stall Jonathan. It’s more than fair.”
Caesar held a finger in the air until he finished chewing. “Come on. After what you’ve done to him, he needs this. You owe him that much. You rattled him.”
I peered around the room. I’d sent a pretty clear message earlier, but one could never be too careful. “What are you talking about?”
“Look. This stays right here.” Caesar leaned back and took a quick peek at our surroundings. With no one around, he still lowered his voice, “His head is all fucked up since you busted in and stole the spear.”
That was interesting. “Yeah, but I could only do it because I had the enchanted knife. And that was a fake spear too.”
“I know that. You know that. For some reason, he doesn’t,” said Caesar, as he jammed a handful of fries dripping ketchup into his mouth.
“So what, he’s running away?” I asked.
He grabbed his burger with one hand and held up his index finger on the other. It reeked of a stall tactic. He bit into his burger, chewed the food and swallowed. As he wiped his mouth, he spoke, “Sorry. Starving. He’s not running away. He’s just got to make a little trip.”
“Make a trip? I was under the assumption he was already in Florida.” What were these wolves trying to pull?
“He is,” he confirmed.
“All right. Let’s cut the shit. What kind of game are you playing here?” I asked, tired of the run around.
He sighed deeply, and I chugged some of my beer. He leaned forward and spoke in a bass-filled whisper, “You know about that company, the Lunar Express?”
I’d heard that name when I was staying in Hilton Head. “You mean the private company that makes trips to the moon?”
“Yeah,” he said and went silent.
He stared at his half-eaten burger.
I asked, “And?”
“You figure it out,” said Caesar. He crammed some fries into his mouth and turned away.
I rolled my eyes. “When is Octavius going?”
Caesar gulped from his frosty mug and swiped a hairy finger across his upper lip to chase away the foam mustache. “That’s where the problem lies. He’s supposed to leave in ten days. But the whole thing’s dependent on the weather. Then it could take fourteen days for him to leave.”
“What does he think will happen? That the moon will supercharge him?” I asked, incredulous. How was I supposed to keep a maniacal vampire under control for three weeks?
“That’s what it sounds like. I know it seems ludicrous, but who knows? It’s his money and he can do what he wants with it,” Caesar explained.
I didn’t even want to ask about the astronomical cost. “I didn’t mean it like that. Why aren’t you going?”
He played with his French fries and said, “Shit. I hate flying across the state, let alone going up there. Besides there was only one spot left on this one. Opened up late and Octavius dropped top dollar to prepare for the duel.”
I told him, “The trip and travel will probably fatigue him more than recharge his battery.”
Caesar scraped a little ice off the outside of his mug and stared at it as it melted on his sharpened fingernail. “Think whatever you want. That’s what he’s doing. So stall the vampire until he gets back.”
“Have you ever thought about what would happen if Octavius loses?”
Caesar sat up straight and answered immediately, raising his voice, “No. He isn’t going to lose to some puny vampire. I can tell you that.”
I hated to say it, but he needed to hear it. “Okay. Just saying there’s a possibility.”
“And I’m telling you there isn’t. Now drop it.” He took another huge bite from his burger.
Whatever, sensitive werewolf. My mind started to drift back to my main mission. I needed to find a demon cult to infiltrate.
Chapter 7
My mind drifted from the conversation I was having with the Sphinx.
Girlfriends. Girls who were friends. I’d studied American culture extensively through TV and movies and had a firm grasp on the word girlfriend. With confidence, I could say I’d never really had girlfriends until recently. The Morrigan acted more like a big sister than a girlfriend. I couldn’t show any weakness or open up to her. I had to act tough in her presence.
I’d opened up to my father, but it wasn’t the same. In the most dire situation in my life I’d run into Titania. She’d saved my life before we became friends. Then, I’d met the Sphinx, Kovana. We’d immediately hit it off, becoming fast and furious friends.
I never thought I would become great friends with the dragonfly I’d wronged. The grand painter of life had strange brush strokes sometimes. You couldn’t judge the work until it was finished. Without understanding the ultimate vision, you would assume the painter had ruined the piece several times during production. And then he or she added another stroke and it started to come together.
Two more quick swipes of the brush, couple of happy, little trees over here and the artist had created the most amazing image ever. I’d met my girls under the strangest circumstances, and now I understood how the strangest of life’s brush strokes could turn out to be the most beautiful.
I could picture a buddy comedy starring Kovana, Titania and yours truly. Was Odd Girlfriends taken?
A wicked chill in the barn burrowed beneath my outer layers and ran down my back. I refocused on my conversation with Kovana.
“I can’t believe he’s going to the moon. Does he understand science?” the Sphinx said through her laughter. She suppressed it enough to go back to stretching for the upcoming flight. She concentrated on her legs, which surprised me. Why did she need to stretch her legs to fly?
I bounced on the balls of my feet, trying to counter the frosty temperature. “Octavius isn’t exactly book smart. He’s banking on magic.”
She smirked and shook her head. “Let me know how that works out for him.”
“You should come to the duel.”
She continued shaking her head, her angelic face waving from side to side. “I’m not really into blood sport. Or even the play by play. Just give me the final score.”
I’d forgotten about the Sphinx’s past where she had been forced to duel against many creatures. “Will do. Holy shit, is it freezing. You sure your wings will work in this weather?”
She smiled and extended her wings. She beat them a few times, kicking up a wind burst that slapped me in the face.
“I think we’ll be all right. I’m more worried about you.” The corners of her thin pink lips curled up. “Do you have something to cover your face?”
I nodded and unzipped my jacket. I reached in and produced a black ski mask with openings for the eyes and mouth.
“Nice,” she commented. “Maybe we can rob a bank on the way back.”
I leaned in and gave my girlfriend a hug. She couldn’t really hug back so she titled her head, and our chilly cheeks pressed together. As we broke the embrace, I thought about how I really enjoyed my time with the Sphinx.
To stay warm, I paced in the little barn on Mike Merlino’s property. The Sphinx and I were getting ready for a trip to Pleasure Island so that I could sip Goibniu’s youthful elixir. Mike had gone to his basement to get the carrying harness for us.
I shivered and my gloved hand trembled as I patted Kovana on the base of her neck. Then I dug my fingers into her golden mane and massaged her neck. She lifted her chin, closed her eyes and smiled at the ceiling. “Do you really think you can find the Harp?”
That was the million-dollar question. “I have to. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but it will get done. Nobody else, including ole Mikey, can handle this job. Hell, I don’t even know if I can.”
“So then why are you going?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
I looked at the closed barn door. “You won’t say anything, right?”
<
br /> “But of course. Pray tell.” Kovana’s long eyelashes flickered in anticipation.
I hesitated. Her association with Mike worried me. She lived with the guy and something could slip unintentionally during a normal conversation. The tangled webs of friendship.
“The Dagda,” I blurted finally. “He promised that if I can bring back his Harp, the Gods would let me into the pantheon. It’s strange. A few weeks ago, I would have jumped for joy over this news. But I have a lot of things going on in Pittsburgh now. And the mental price I will need to pay is a steep one.”
“Why do you feel obligated?” she asked and shivered.
I wrapped my arms around her neck and rubbed her mane, trying to warm her up. I spoke softly into her ear, “That stupid saying keeps ringing in my head. With great power comes great responsibility. I always used to think it was idiotic, but it is making perfect sense right now. If I don’t take the chance, Pittsburgh may cease to exist.”
“If the winter presses on, everyone will have to evacuate,” she agreed. “Food deliveries from outside Pittsburgh have already slowed and soon they will come to a stop. The roads are just too dangerous with the traffic lights malfunctioning. Then you throw in Frosty the Hitman, and nobody wants to come to Pittsburgh.”
I shook my head sharply. “I’d almost forgotten about Ice Heart terrorizing the city. I have a personal score to settle with that one. But I’d be satisfied if anyone ended his reign of terror.”
Mike entered the outbuilding with the light gray harness in his hands. He expelled a huge breath cloud as he swung the door shut. The enclosure didn’t provide much relief from the outside. He walked toward us with the nylon carrying device in his hands. It attached to the Sphinx’s body and left a carrying pouch below for the rider.
As Mike laid the harness next to the Sphinx, I wondered if I would fit with all my additional layers.
As he prepared the device, I reminded him, “We were just talking about Ice Heart. Looks like that might land on your plate.”
He looked up at me, his blue eyes gleaming in the dim barn. “I wish I knew what to do, or how to counter his attacks. How do you kill something that’s already dead and made of ice?”