Inhuman Heritage

by Sonnet O'Dell

  “Yeah, now imagine that I only found out three days ago.” DJ made all the appropriate faces and gestures that accompanied pure shock.

  “Didn’t your parents raise you in the ways of your people?”

  “Nope. From what I’ve been told my dad only appeared on the scene once in which he attempted to kill my mom. She took me and went into hiding.” She’d found a really good place to hide too, another reality, a whole other world. A world where I had grown up fairly normal only now I knew it wasn’t the world I was supposed to grow up in. I still didn’t understand a lot, like how had mom kept me on the other side without making me wear some kind of charm like my locket.

  “That sucks. I mean I know what it’s like. My dad is what we would call a lone wolf. He roams, he knocked up my mom and when she found she was having a boy they let her move in here knowing I’d be born with the gene.”

  “At least you know there are other beings like you. I have no idea whether my mother had any family, if there is a ‘people’ to belong to.”

  “What’s the name of your…err species?” I let out a little snort of amusement, he was doing his best not to offend me, bless his heart, but it was kind of nice having someone to talk to about it that kind of got it.

  “Phoenix.” DJ cocked an eyebrow.

  “And we’re back to Marvel superheroes again…”

  I laughed, I couldn’t help it.

  “Not like that. Like the mythological bird but human shaped. That’s how my mentor described it to me. I suppose like humans evolved from fish, we evolved from the ancient firebirds or something. I’m not a geneticist or an evolutionist so I’m just guessing wildly at the moment.” I looked intently at the bar like it would hold the answer.

  “So was it true what Travis said? About you and a vamp?” I looked up at his face and felt confusion, he was waiting for an answer and I realized he was trying to change the subject.

  “Yeah, I am, I was going out with a vampire. I don’t know where we stand right now. We had a massive fight and then well…” I waved my hand in a dismissing gesture because I was not going back to the other topic if I could help it.

  “I hear they’re real cold.”

  “They can be but then again he always told me I was hot enough for the both of us.”

  “You’re certainly hot,” he said and then started to blush realizing what he’d said.

  “Why thank you.”

  “If you two are done flirting,” said Farir joining us, “we need a plan. Sorin is in danger.” He leaned his dark elbows on the bar and looked between our faces, we were both slightly embarrassed. I coughed a little and rubbed at my face with the end of the sleeve of the sweater. The cut on my cheek had completely healed without so much as leaving a mark, it must have happened at the same time the bullet wound healed.

  “As I told you before, Sorin is in a room with Brie that is sealed by magic. She will have to let them into the room or they will have to bust through the wall. It all depends on how suspicious she is of Seth.”

  “Well I know she doesn’t like him,” said DJ trying to reassure us. “He slaps her on the ass when she walks past him and that ticks her off, big time.”

  “So she won’t be inclined to let him into the room you think?”

  “It’s less likely that she will, especially considering the time of night and if she smells others are with him, she definitely won’t.”

  “This is still not a plan,” said Farir who looked anxious to get moving and to cracking some skulls. I got that he was worried about the boy but surely we had a little time. Less than half an hour had passed since Seth and his crew had left.

  “DJ, do you know where all the candidates live?”

  “Yeah. It’s a small community. Pretty much everyone knows where everyone else lives,” he said shrugging his big shoulders like it was a big thing.

  “Think you could wake them up and get them to the community building, we could use some back up.” DJ nodded and I turned my body to Farir. “While he’s doing that you and I will head for the community building. He took all his people with him which probably means he intends to secure the building, so we’ll have to take out his sentries on the way to find him.” Farir looked pleased at the prospect rubbing his fist with his other hand.

  “No killing if you can help it, let’s just take them out quick and quiet. The less warning they have that we are coming the better, right.”

  DJ got up from the stool he’d perched on and walked around to the side of the bar I was on reaching under the counter for something. He handed me an aluminum baseball bat.

  “Thought you might want the help.”

  “This will do nicely.” I swung it experimentally. “Let’s get going.”

  “Shouldn’t we sync watches or something?”

  “DJ!” He gave me a boyish grin as we walked out of his bar and then went our separate ways.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I learnt in short order that it is hard to sneak through the streets, even in the middle of the night, when you have a mountain of muscle like Farir following you. He had a vicious look in his eyes that said he was on the prowl, he was prepared to rend limbs if it would keep Sorin safe. We came to a crouch at the end of an alley just across from the community building. I could see two guys on the steps. I studied the scene for a minute checking that they were the only two sentries when I saw two others, they were walking up and down along the sides of the building, they only came into view from the front every five minutes or so. I was thinking about the best way to move in. Farir was chomping at the bit to attack.

  “So how long have you been Sorin’s protector?” The question disarmed him, his breathing calmed slightly and he swallowed hard before answering me.

  “Since he was born.” I was timing the side guards so I knew exactly how long it took for them to make a circuit.

  “So you know what happened to his real mother?”

  “Yes,” he said sadly. “She died in childbirth. We barely managed to save him but we made sure he grew up healthy and strong.”

  “He’s a good kid,” I said leaning back away from the corner. Farir looked me directly in the face waiting for me to tell him something. I took a deep breath.

  “There are four guys outside, two standing on the steps and two more making sweeps of the side of the building. That means there has to be another four inside including Seth and his right hand man.”

  “Can you take out two by yourself?”

  “If we do this smart I think we can. A circuit seems to take them seven minutes, if we catch them while they are out of sight of the guys on the steps then we can still sneak up on them too.”

  “Good idea, last thing you need is for them to tag team you.” I rolled my eyes at his big tough werewolf bit and peeked around the corner again.

  “The only problem is that in front of the community building is a nice open space. One of us needs to get across to the other side to be able to sneak up from the left.”

  “No problem,” he said and he shot out from the alley skidding into one on the opposite side of the road. He’d been a blur of movement, I’d barely caught him.

  I peered back around the corner and the guys on the steps showed no sign that they’d noticed him either. I was a little cross though, if he’d been seen he could have blown the whole thing. I signaled for him to go back and round the buildings. I ran as quietly as I could down my side and using the building for cover edged around to where I could see the wolf making his circuit. I hid my body in a doorway and hoped that Farir was being smart and waiting till the guy was walking back from the front to attack him or he’d be ready to jump the guys on the steps before me. I tapped the bat against my leg counting in my head and watched as he appeared marching down towards the back. I took a deep breath, and raising the bat I crept up slowly up behind him. I swung and it connected with his skull with a deep ringing thud.

  He crumpled to the ground groaning, he wasn’t out so I closed my eyes taking a dee
p breath and hit him again. He stopped groaning and lay still on the asphalt. I crossed myself. I’m not really religious but it seemed like the thing to do. Giving thanks to some higher power for the smashing of a bat over someone’s head going right. I was painfully aware of the contradictions there. I could hear a scuffle from the front and cursed Farir for his impatience. I ran along the side of the building.

  Farir was holding one of them up by the scruff of his shirt pummeling him in the face. It looked like the guy was already out but reason obviously really ticked him off because he just kept punching completely forgetting about the second guy who’d hit the wall but had not been knocked out. He was coming up behind Farir ready to stab the other man in the back. I leapt to the side of the step bringing the bat down hard on the guy’s hand; he dropped his weapon crying out in pain. It made Farir turn to look and his eyes were wide as if he had been sure he’d knocked the guy out.

  I brought the bat in an uppercut into the guy’s chin sending him spilling down the steps backwards. This time he stayed down and I had to stare hard at Farir before he dropped the other guy like a rag doll against the wall. I shook my head in disappointment. I was very tempted to tell him he had to wait outside and watch my back until the others got here. I opened the door carefully. The other two I’d expected were at the end of the middle corridor watching the door down to the main chamber. I let the door fall silently shut.

  “Two down the corridor, right in front of the door.”

  “We could rush them?”

  “And make a lot of noise in the process. No, I think this one you will have to leave up to me.” I placed my hand on the doors and focused on what was just inside, the pool of water with the wolvesbane floating in it. I wasn’t very good at magic that involved water mainly because I largely connected to fire magic but this one spell I was very, very good at. I could make mist. Well, technically it was water vapor or steam but it worked on the principle of introducing fire magic to water to create a smoke screen. I could feel it sweep over the surface, tumbling over the sides like it was dry ice and creep along the corridor towards the men. There were no windows in the main door so Farir couldn’t see what I was doing, it made him hop nervously from foot to foot. I let the fog creep towards the men, getting denser the closer it got, they breathed it in and it wrapped around their lungs. I made it heavier, made it press around them stopping them as they tried to breath. I pushed the doors open walking into the hallway, I could no longer see the men and the pool was empty of water. Farir stood behind me and I could see the hackles on his neck rise at the sense of magic in the air. There were two thuds as bodies hit the floor and I let go of the spell. I brushed it away and the fog cleared to show the two guards passed out on the floor. I fell back into Farir’s arms. Whatever my body had done to heal itself, it had pretty much taxed me magically. I was supposed to have accepted this great power but where the bloody hell was it when I needed it? I took deep calmly breaths and he let me rest against him for a moment.

  “That…” he said, “was pretty creepy, amazing and well executed, but creepy.”

  “Don’t worry, stay on my good side and I’ll never use magic against you.”

  He gave me a little smile not sure whether I was joking or not, then again I wasn’t quite sure myself. I looked at the wolvesbane flowers that sat in the dried up pool and sympathized, they were left adrift in a sea of nothing. I started towards the left hand door.

  “Sorin’s room is this way,” I said leading the way down to where we would find out if the boy was okay. I was not prepared for what I saw when we got there. The wall next to the door had been torn through like it was cardboard instead of brick and Brie was fighting manically to bite and claw at Sphynx boy who had Sorin tightly tucked under one arm. Sorin was squirming and kicking with all his might too but the small boy could not overcome the strength in the large man’s one arm. Farir snarled and began to advance. I threw myself in front of him and pushed him back out of sight.

  “No,” I said in a horse whisper. “We have to wait. If he sees us coming Brie becomes a hostage and we won’t be able to fight him.” I leaned around the corner to watch. Sphynx backhanded Brie so that she fell against the wall and slid to the floor. He started walking away down the corridor heading for the main chamber. The chamber that was already decorated ready for there to be a new king. I shook my head; Seth seemed to have a sense of drama to him. I broke cover and ran to Brie’s side as soon as I was able to. She looked at me from under trembling lids.

  “They didn’t use the door. I tried…”

  “Shhh, it’s okay. We’ll take care of it from here.” She gave me a weak little nod and lapsed into sleep. Farir was hard to hold back as I took a minute to lift the poor shifter off the floor and lay her out comfortably on the bed in the room but I managed it with a few short but sharp commands. I was very tempted several times to yell heel, like you would when training an over excitable dog to sit put. Farir glared at me for taking so long.

  “He’ll be alright. That little boy is tougher than you think.”

  “Let’s just go save him already, I don’t like all this sneaky sneaky careful silent stuff.” I let him walk ahead of me for once so I could mutter under my breath.

  “And you wonder how you managed to get hit on the head.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The doors to the main chamber were wide open and I could hear voices from inside. Farir circled the large hall to come up to the doors on the opposite side of me and I looked in. Seth was sitting in the center throne, his legs crossed over and his fingers laced over his knee. Sphynx boy was standing in the middle aisle at the front, his arms were stiff and I knew it was because he was holding Sorin in place in front of Seth.

  “So, you’re the young man we’ve been waiting for,” said Seth leaning forward and uncrossed his legs putting his hands flat on either knee. “I need you to do something for me.”

  “She told me about you, you’re a bad man.” Sorin’s little voice was as tough as I’d ever heard it.

  “Now that’s just not true. I just want to make the system fair. Do you know that bitten wolves are treated almost like second-class citizens here?” Sphynx boy stepped to the side and for the first time I could clearly see his little body. He was being brave, he wasn’t even trembling. He’d been let go but Sphynx sat close letting him know that if he tried to run he’d be caught.

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, it means they treat us like they are better than us. We can’t take certain jobs because we aren’t born wolves. Now I ask you, Sorin isn’t it? Does that sound fair to you?” He gave the boy his best pity my lot smile, self-deprecation with just a tiny hint of intent of honor. Sorin crossed his little arms over his chest defiantly.

  “Did you know that until the end of the reign of Queen Victoria pack law stated that bitten Weres were to be executed on sight, and that some packs still enforce that rule. I think you got off okay.”

  Seth growled at the boy and his fingers clenched on his knees. Sorin didn’t relax his defiant posture.

  “I didn’t want to do this, boy,” he claimed as if it really hurt him to say such things, “but we have your protector. I will hurt him if you don’t agree to do as I ask.” I thought Sorin might waver at the first threat but he stood firm.

  “I was told you’d threaten me. Farir knew the risks, he would yell at me if I helped you. I promised not to and I won’t.”

  Seth’s fists clenched and unclenched on his legs. He stood and began to pace, back and forth, back and forth. I could almost see the thoughts forming above his head. He couldn’t take the brand, it was useless without the magic to go with it. What could he threaten the boy with to get him to comply? Threatening his own life would be pointless because the threat was empty. If the kid died so did his chance to become king. Then something must have clicked because he turned to the boy, a cold light in his eyes.

  “What if I said I would hurt the woman?” Sorin’s little body flinched like
he’d been hit. “Oh yes we have her too, all tied up and helpless. Frank, show him your chest.”

  Sphynx stood up pulling his black tee over his head. The scar in the middle of his chest was large, ragged and almost sun shaped with tentacles striking out from the center. Seth gave the boy a cruel smile.

  “She did that to him, in your defense and you can’t imagine the things he wants to do back.”

  “You…you would hurt Cassandra?” There was no mistaking the sound of tears in his voice. In taking care of the boy I’d inadvertently become his weakness, the only person he couldn’t bear to see hurt. I turned to Farir.

  “It’s time to put your furry suit on.” Farir took a step back beginning to undress. I turned my attention back to Sorin.

  “I’ll let him hurt her boy. Give me what I need. Make me king.”

  I made my dramatic entrance.

  “Now why would he want to go and do a thing like that?” Sorin turned at the sound of my voice, tears marked his little cheeks and it cut up something inside of me. Maternal instincts perhaps. The boy began to run for me. Sphynx boy was quick to make a grab for him. I raised my hand and concentrated on hitting him, not with a weapon but with power. It smashed against him before he could reach him sending him flying back over the thrones into the wall. Sorin wrapped himself around my legs sobbing against the sweater making the edges damp. I patted his head.

  “They said they’d hurt you.”

  “Shh, ain’t no one gonna hurt me.”

  To punctuate my statement, the white wolf stalked around us to stand in the way of the buff wolf that had ripped itself out of Sphynx’s skin. They stalked towards each other sizing each other up, circling each other, waiting for the other to make the attack. Seth started coming up the aisle towards me, I pushed Sorin back behind my body and stood ready to defend us both.

  “You’re ruining everything again,” he snarled. I gave him a wicked little smile.

  “Yeah, I have a tendency to really mess up the bad guy’s day.” He pulled back his fist to punch me but I ducked, thrust my hands into his gut and threw him, mostly using his own momentum, over mine and Sorin’s head. He skidded out into the hall and grabbed Sorin by the shoulders.