Beast Master: A Novel in The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 5)

by Shayne Silvers

  Achilles abruptly picked the glass back up and stared through the lens at the empty space, his jaw dropping to the floor. “H…” he cleared his throat. “Hello… Carl.”

  Carl had sensed my earlier telepathic summons right after Ichabod had shown up, and had entered the room when I pulled the made you look joke. He hadn’t appreciated the intruder in my home, which was now tied to Carl, thanks to my… vision quest.

  Carl stood beside me, glaring with disdain and impatience at the crowd, which was now alternating turns with the glass, and murmuring hello, Carl’s, in startled surprise.

  He turned to me. “Why did they not believe you?”

  The Huntress flinched, as it had been her turn when Carl spoke for the first time. I shrugged in response. “They do not hold me in high esteem at the moment. To be fair, you didn’t believe I could see you the first time either. Then you and your pals tried to kill me.” I shrugged, holding up a hand as if to prove a point.

  He nodded. “That’s true. But it’s been a long time since we last made contact with mortals.”

  I held up my hands, capitulating towards my friends. “Same story, Carl.”

  He finally nodded in acceptance.

  I turned to the crew. “Everyone satisfied that I’m not insane now?”

  Achilles watched me thoughtfully. “Either that or you yanked us all down the rabbit hole.”

  “What about the house?” Sonya asked softly.

  It groaned in response, as if joining in the introductions. Everyone quieted, waiting to hear my explanation. I addressed them with a small frown. “That one is going to have to wait. Possibly for a long time. As are any questions about Carl…”

  They didn’t look happy, but they accepted it. With only a few mutters.

  I turned to Raego. “Since you’ve been so talkative, you’re on daddy duty in the porcu-shine’s place. They need a firmer hand, judging from recent events…” The Reds instantly flared up with arguments, but Raego cleared his throat. Lightly. They flinched instinctively at the sound of the king of their people. Then they shot desperate looks at Tory, but she was shaking her head, too.

  Their shoulders sagged as they silently admitted defeat.

  Problem solved, Raego spoke. “I’ll do it. Someone needs to keep an eye on them. No more Grand Theft Auto. But I don’t like leaving you unsupervised either, Temple.” He smiled.

  I pointed at Carl. Then the rest of the room. “I think they can handle it.”

  The Reds opened their mouths for one last rebuttal, but Raego snapped his fingers, eyes flashing black – iris and all. Which looked startling. Since he was an obsidian dragon, his irises and pupils were the same color when he was in black dragon mode. Two black holes. The Reds sighed in resignation, gathering up their nonexistent things, stalling.

  “Don’t worry, girls. We’ll get him back,” Tory whispered, smiling sadly at them.

  The Reds mumbled something back, and then the dragons left.

  I carefully crafted my lie as I thought through the basics of my game plan for tomorrow night. As far as everyone was concerned, I needed Rufus to get to the chimera so that I could get my Maker’s power back. Gunnar would join him, giving him the chance to also free Ashley and Alucard. Who would then free the kids. Mallory and the Huntress would stalk the crowd, keeping an eye out for threats. Tory and I were taking on the Beast Master, because none of it mattered if we didn’t take him down. Nothing would be said about me really wanting the curse to succeed. That was a surprise.

  It was all about timing.

  Othello would remain behind, of course, having no magical powers. She had work to do anyway. A meeting with Tomas about his recent trip to Germany.

  The only wildcards were Ichabod and Indie. I shook my head. Nothing was ever perfect.

  “Alright. Here’s where we stand. Carl wants to make some new friends. And I want to help him…” My friends began to smile.

  So did Carl.

  Chapter 51

  I fidgeted with the glasses on my nose as everyone else geared up for the circus.

  I had spent the morning wandering the halls, getting to know my mansion more intimately. The secrets she had shared with me were mind boggling. And some of my dad’s past comments began to make much more sense. But I knew I was the first one to bond the house in a very long time, so I wasn’t quite sure how he had known.

  I had spent the rest of the day trying to decide exactly how much power I wanted to bring into my fight with the Beast Master. I needed the curse to rip away the last of my Maker’s power, but couldn’t risk having so much power taken from me all at once that I fell into unconsciousness. Similarly, I couldn’t go in there with nothing, or I would be useless to help.

  So, I guess-timated. I’d been forced to go on a few walks to get away from everyone, burning through my power in calculated bursts without their knowledge. As I burned through my Maker’s power, the odd ripples had diminished in both frequency and intensity. I had also paid close attention to my budding wizard’s power, which seemed to be healing in direct proportion to the drain on my Maker’s power.

  Which was good. But I still couldn’t use it. At all. Which was concerning, making me doubt the entire plan.

  So, I had packed some toys in my pockets.

  I had even considered heading to the Armory, but with all the powers inside of me already threatening to crack my brain open like an egg, had decided it wasn’t wise to tempt myself. Sure, taking the Golden Fleece with me would be fun. But not if it broke my sanity.

  On one of my walks, I had found the spectacles I now wore in one of the cabinets of curiosities my dad displayed near the entrance to Chateau Falco. Nothing special, but they looked old. Which was all I had really needed. An ace in the hole.

  The remodeled Vilnar Range Rover – not unlike the one Gunnar had driven for a short time back when we had met Raego – ticked and purred as it wound down behind me. Here was where things would get dicey. I had about one big burst of energy left, but that was it. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure if it qualified as big. But it had been the best I could come up with. I needed the timing to be perfect.

  And I couldn’t tell anyone what I was doing. Even though they were risking their lives right alongside me. Which sucked. Especially after working to regain their trust. Only so I could break that trust tonight. Purposefully.

  As requested, Raego was watching the Reds – against their will – so that I only had to worry about Tory. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to handle three overly-emotional women as we tried to rescue their dad. Especially with Ichabod in the mix. And Indie. And the Beast Master. And the Fae.

  I shook my head from the dark thoughts. This would work.

  “Maximum effort,” I murmured. Gunnar glanced at me with a frown, but I ignored him.

  I needed the curse to take my power.

  And bring me back to my roots. A wizard. Master Temple.

  No more possession for me.

  Rufus fidgeted guiltily, and I realized I was staring at him with an angry look – not because of him, but because of my thoughts. I had my war face on. “Did I ever tell you thanks?” I asked, tone icy, playing my part.

  Gunnar gripped the wizard’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him how thankful you are. Rufus and I are going to be spending quite a bit of time together tonight.” His lone eye glinted in the moonlight, and Rufus flinched.

  Tory spoke from beside me. “What about Ichabod? Or the Fae?”

  I kind of hoped the Fae made an appearance. I had something I needed to tell them. A suspicion I needed to verify. And increasing the chaos never hurt. At least in my experience. “It will all work out. Let them come.” And I shot her a suicidal smile. It didn’t convince her, because I could see her thoughts were all about one man. Not in a romantic way, but in a responsible way. Alucard was hers. “We’ll get him back. He didn’t mean it.”

  She let out a small sob. “What if he did?”

  “Then he’s an idiot, and he and I will
have a long talk. Either way, we’re getting him back.”

  “Okay…”

  The Huntress stared at me. “I don’t remember you ever wearing glasses to battle.”

  I shrugged. “These ones are lucky. And they make me look intimidating.”

  She squinted doubtfully. “If you say so…” Dean would kill me if he saw them missing from his cabinet. Well, my cabinet, but he didn’t seem to ever consider that part.

  A huddled mass of monsters stood outside the group. The ones only I could see at the moment. “Hey, Carl. And Carl’s friends.”

  They merely stared back, eyes bottomless pits of woe in their albino faces.

  “Right. Not much for small talk.” I turned to my friends to find them staring at me with sick expressions, having not known that Carl and Company were beside them the whole time. “Like I told you, Carl is here on a friend-finding mission. Because I killed a few of his old ones.” I shot him a guilty look. “Sorry about that.” I had killed dozens of the Elders, but Carl had a good reserve team. There were at least a dozen standing beside him.

  Carl smiled back at me, black fangs glistening against his albino scales. “Just gave me less mouths to feed, Master.” His compatriots grinned, nodding, which made me shiver.

  “You know, comments like that make it hard to find new friends.”

  They only smiled, and my friends shivered, imagining his response. “Okay, give me a minute and we can head out. Like I told you, until that curse is broken, I’m going to be less than useless.”

  Gunnar growled. “We’re used to it,” he grinned. I scowled back. “You’re the Trojan Horse…” he smiled darkly in anticipation. “So I can go reclaim my Helen.”

  I sighed. “You do recall that Helen’s husband was kind of one of the bad guys.”

  Gunnar shrugged. “So was Achilles, by that logic.”

  “You say the sweetest things. You should tell the Heel that. I’ll buy drinks.”

  “Is every Temple an asshole?” The Huntress asked me.

  I nodded. “It’s in our dunnah.”

  The Huntress turned to Gunnar with a confused look. “Dunnah?”

  Gunnar shrugged, frowning at me with concern.

  “DNA. It’s pronounced dunnah, phonetically,” I answered.

  Rufus laughed, slapping his knees.

  Gunnar frowned at Rufus. “I don’t get it. That’s not how you say it.”

  “Don’t tell me what I know, Travis!”

  Rufus roared in laughter. “That’s Camilla’s favorite movie!”

  I turned to him, frowning. “Camilla… the chimera?” I asked in disbelief.

  He nodded, wiping his eyes.

  Gunnar simply shook his head, turning to the Huntress with a resigned sigh. “Nate is apparently fine. Let’s go save some monsters.”

  “Not monsters,” I held up a finger. “Beasts.” And we headed towards the circus entrance.

  Tory spoke softly, for my ears only. “Nate, you should recall that the Trojan Horse didn’t survive the invasion.” I frowned at her. “Let’s not repeat that mistake.” And she gripped my hand, giving me a quick squeeze as we continued on.

  Chapter 52

  The guards grinned in recognition as we approached a table blocking the entrance. Shifters of some flavor. We had split up, in order to be less noticeable. I ignored them, peering past their shoulders to see a large tent in the distance, and a line of people headed towards it. I smiled back at the guards, ready to fight my way inside since we didn’t have enough tickets. Instead, they waved me on through with anticipatory grins.

  It was obvious Sir Deuce had told his crew we were coming to crash the party. But that wasn’t what had me on edge. Somewhere in this stink of flesh and blood was Indie. And Ichabod.

  And it was all I could do to not start a war.

  Indie’s life was in danger if she was in the pit.

  Just like Ashley.

  And Alucard.

  And Camilla, the chimera.

  I took a calming breath, adjusting my spectacles, and led Tory by the elbow towards the tent. I just hoped I could find a way to get Indie out. If not, Gunnar and Rufus would try when they went for Camilla. The Huntress was mingling in the crowd with her bow – craftily concealed by magic – so that she looked like nothing more than a young girl. Of course, Van had likely given the Beast Master and his crew descriptions for each of us, and likely expected all hell to break out, so if they knew anything about the Huntress, they probably knew she had a bow with her. And that she was sneaky.

  Mallory was playing third wheel to Tory and I, but remaining a discreet distance away to spot trouble early, hoping that we could handle ourselves from any immediate danger – at least for a few seconds until he could get to us.

  “Let’s follow the crowd.”

  And there was a very large crowd. All flavors of Freaks, mostly leaning towards the overlord persuasion, or at least the deranged. And they smelled of money. A lot of money. And dark hungers danced in their eyes. Those finding no problem with watching fights to the death for casual entertainment. Possible members of the mysterious Syndicate. And I might as well have been wearing a neon sign that said, Nate Temple, #NotMySyndicate, judging by all the angry looks I got. I just smiled back. Nothing else I could do, really.

  Kids fighting to the death.

  We traveled down the rocky slope to the main tent, which was fifty feet tall, and filled with raucous shouts at the fight already taking place in the ring. Canvas walls hung to the rocky floor, and as I stepped through the entrance, I saw the tent was erected around an even smaller pit, a good twelve feet deep from the quarry floor, and judging by the claw marks on the walls, the BM’s pets had either dug it, or they had held numerous training sessions in the last few days.

  My Beast was silent at my hip, and my vision began to pulse blue as my rage grew. Tory grabbed my arm, a look of concern crossing her face. I overcame the feeling, and shot her a grim smile. “It’s okay. I got it.”

  But I didn’t know if that was true. I was gambling. Sure, my plan sounded great. But plans could always go wrong, and I began to find numerous holes in mine as we approached the ring. If Gunnar and Rufus couldn’t find the girl soon, bad things were going to happen. Because even though I could always force the curse to burn through my Maker’s power, I didn’t dare do that until I knew the girl was safe. And a small part of me realized that my whole plan was predicated on my wizard’s power being strong enough to take out the Beast Master.

  When even the Academy was leery about confronting him.

  And the Fae were likely to show up at the worst possible time

  And I hadn’t used my wizard’s power for a long time.

  There was also the very likely chance that Boris the Beast Master – since he likely already knew I was here, or at best, on my way – would throw my captive friends into the ring just to be a dick, and to keep me occupied, forcing me to try and stop a fight that over a hundred powerful, paying customers were eager to watch.

  Indie.

  Ashley.

  Alucard.

  Camilla the Chimera.

  I shook off the feelings of doubt. Too late for second-guessing. None of these scenarios were ideal. But I knew one, if not all, would happen tonight. They just needed to happen at the right times.

  “Don’t worry. They’ll find her, and we will lay waste to this hellhole,” Tory murmured, squeezing my hand.

  A nearby patron scowled at us, and I managed to grin sheepishly, rolling my eyes at Tory. “Women, don’t know a thing about fun,” I grinned at him.

  “Disrespect me again and I’ll rip your heart out,” Tory growled at me.

  After a tense silence, the man nodded, and turned back to the fight, satisfied we were fellow sociopaths.

  Turns out, there were no seats. Standing room only. Tory followed as I tried to get as close as possible to the ring. I would need to act fast if things went south. Which they were going to do at some point. Fighting to get through the crowd,
only to fight to get into the ring, would waste valuable seconds. And the contestants might not have that precious commodity. So, I risked bruising a few egos, and pissing off a few – no doubt powerful – strangers, to get us close. There was no need for hiding, because the BM had to know we were here already.

  We got right up next to the ring, no doubt thanks to my arcane spectacles letting people assume I was next to blind. The glass wasn’t prescription, but it did make my vision a little distorted, what with the ocean of magic ebbing and flowing before me, a result of the myriad of Freaks here. This added to the sense that my vision was indeed impaired, and it worked – people letting us pass without much fuss. Of course, in a place like this, one never knew who exactly to be rude to. Growling at a person for cutting in line could very well be the last thing you ever did.

  So, overall, the crowd was warily polite. And hungry for blood.

  We were just in time to see one werewolf sink his claws deep into the stomach of another werewolf. I flinched instinctively at the sudden intense violence, and also in fear that one of them may have been Ashley, but they were both brownish in color.

  I let out a nervous sigh, and Tory did the same.

  Two gorillas entered the ring, one pointing at the winner, and then at the exit. The winner complied, eyes vacant as he and the gorilla headed back to what I assumed was the direction of the cages outside the tent. The other gorilla picked up the loser, and carried him over a shoulder – also towards the unseen cages. I was pretty sure I saw werewolf intestine outside the body, and shivered. The ring was soon empty, and a large make-shift door of pallets boomed closed behind them. A voice called out from the opposite side of the pit where a disheveled grandstand stood, like where royalty would sit at a jousting event for Knights. Except, grungier.

  It was Boris the Beast Master and his entourage.

  I wondered what kind of money he made on this, and how much of it he got to keep after expenses. I shook my head after a second. Who cared? I was about to destroy it all.

  Van Helsing stood beside him. He locked eyes with me for exactly one second, but it was enough to let me realize something bad was about to happen, and that he couldn’t stop it. Then his gaze continued about the ring critically, like any faithful bodyguard, watching, assessing for threats.