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

by Shayne Silvers

  “You are in much the same position. And your plan was to murder me anyway.”

  I nodded in shame. I could still feel my wizard’s power inside me, but for some reason could not access it yet. Which meant we were still connected somehow. And seeing him before me, a physical entity, but knowing that we were still somehow connected, I suddenly had a crazy thought. “Exactly. But together… we may just stand a chance.”

  “Explain…”

  And I told him my crazy plan. It didn’t take more than a few seconds. And although it sounded impossible, I pointed at him now. “Kind of puts proof to the possibility.”

  “Freedom…” he whispered longingly. But then he frowned, looming over me. “I was bound to partner with you, and then you caged me. Lied to me. Why would I trust you?”

  I cast my eyes down. “You tried to change me. I don’t like change. I want to go back to being me. A wizard. Not someone’s pet. And I’m hoping… that maybe you do, too.” This didn’t make him happy, but at least he seemed to appreciate my honesty. And his curiosity was piqued. “I’m not just saying that so you won’t kill me.” I crawled up into a crouch, slowly, so as not to startle him as the arena continued to build with the sounds of violence. I shot a quick glance out of the corner of my eye. Alucard looking to tear out Ashley’s throat, and Sonya looking to help him, even though it was to kill another friend. Anything to win her… father back.

  “What if I simply choose to inhabit another body? Give them my gifts for a time before I’m strong enough to overcome them.”

  I nodded slowly. “You could try.” I pointed a thumb at Mallory. “He’ll stop you though. Even if he doesn’t, I’m pretty sure that without my help, everyone here is going to die, and you don’t look strong enough to switch from body to body while you bet on a winner…”

  He growled, leaning forward aggressively. Mallory reacted.

  I threw up a hand at my bodyguard. “No! Give him the chance to decide for himself! That’s all he’s ever wanted…” I whispered the last, still cringing in pain from the loss of my power.

  My Beast flinched as if struck. “Don’t presume to know my motivations, child. I’ve been around for eons.”

  I nodded respectfully, trying to ignore the sounds of battle raging beyond us, knowing it was my friends. Tory screamed, and my friends fell to their knees, shaking their heads in pain. Then another voice shouted, and they shambled back to their feet, looking dazed. As if they were being forced to listen to two different masters. “But I imagine most of that was as someone’s bitch,” I said softly, spotting the Beast Master and his daughter glaring down at the ring from their royal stand.

  The Dark Presence quivered at my words, but finally let out a sharp, frustrated nod of agreement.

  I reminded him what lay in store for us if we continued as we had. Judging from his reaction, Shiva had been right. A god would indeed gobble us up in the future. He had obviously experienced it before. My question was how it worked. If he was centuries old, and had experienced that before, how did he truly exist? Was he attached to some physical totem – not my cane, because I had made that – or after his host died did he just roam the earth looking for a new vessel to inhabit? A new Maker to be born. I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I looked up at him. “None of us truly wants that. I propose a temporary… partnership.”

  And I watched him think about it. There really wasn’t a choice, to be honest. With the curse in play, he was going to die unless we freed Camilla. Which wasn’t looking likely. He could fight me, but he would still die. But with my plan… the curse might not affect him. It might just be enough to free him. I glanced at the cane pointedly, then back to him.

  “There is no guarantee this will work…” But I could see he knew his other options were guaranteed death.

  I nodded. “But we can try. And we’ll have fun doing it…” I smiled. I glanced around the ring, adjusting my spectacles a bit. Then I very discreetly tapped my belt, and clicked on the two wooden cuffs I had stolen from the goblins. As they snapped into place, my forearms hummed with power for a moment, letting me know they were still functioning. I knew nothing about them, so didn’t know if they regularly needed to be charged, or if they just worked. His eyes widened. “And people have a bad habit of underestimating me. Never ends well. For them.” I winked.

  My Beast… my partner studied me for a good long time, and I began to twitch in concern that he was either going to deny me, or that his decision would come too late.

  He finally nodded.

  And slammed back into me, no longer restrained by the Prison, no longer dominated, but no longer trying to coerce control from me either. A partnership. A true partnership.

  In case you’re wondering, a true partnership feels an awful lot like your soul being flushed down a toilet.

  But the sickening feeling faded, and I felt a sharp warmth replace it deep in my chest. Nothing really, power-wise, but enough to maybe pull one last trick. And possibly kill myself doing it.

  I climbed to my feet to find Mallory staring at me in astonishment, mouth opening and closing wordlessly. I gave him a sharp nod, and turned to the warriors fighting each other.

  Mallory was suddenly a blur, racing to jump between Ashley and Alucard, who looked on the verge of killing each other. Tory was wobbling on her feet as she tried to pull Sonya from the fight. But apparently, Sonya didn’t want to leave.

  The teenage mutant ninja dragon lashed out with one razor-sharp talon, biting deep into her adopted mother’s leg. Tory gasped, and then threw the unruly child a good dozen feet to slam into the wall of the ring. Then she collapsed to her knees, clutching her head as she screamed.

  And green fog washed out from her, over the pit, striking the beasts.

  Ashley the black werewolf – airborne in mid leap to attack Alucard – crumpled into human form. Alucard fell to his knees, clutching his head just like Tory. Ashley slammed into him, knocking them both sprawling.

  Tory fell onto her chest, unmoving, and the fog dissipated.

  The Beast Master was now in the ring, and striding towards Tory with a murderous gleam in his eyes. Mallory threw a spear at him, but the man merely flicked his hand and the spear sailed harmlessly away. Two more spears appeared in my bodyguard’s hands, and were cast just as rapidly, but they didn’t faze the Beast Master as he also flicked them away, and finally reached Tory.

  He grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her to her feet.

  Tory groaned – struggling weakly, bleeding heavily, and eyes dazed.

  And then I saw the Beast Master’s little girl was also standing in the ring, holding her head as she concentrated deeply on something. Perhaps she was some flavor of beast shifter? And Tory’s power was still affecting her? It would explain all those claw marks. She had been attacked by a shifter, and had been infected by the gene.

  And a wacky thought hit me as I watched her familiar actions.

  They looked an awful lot like when Tory…

  My Beast murmured in my ears. Just now figured it out, did you…?

  “You knew?” I shouted at myself, well, the Dark Presence. The Beast Master glanced at me sharply, frowning in confusion at my random comment. The crowd was silent with rapt attention. This was way more than they had paid for.

  Of course… Males cannot control beasts… My own Beast said as if speaking to a particularly slow child.

  I…

  Blinked. Then stared at the bald-headed psycho.

  Boris was the hologram face in the Wizard of Oz movie. He wasn’t the Beast Master. And I suddenly realized who the… man behind the curtain was.

  Out of nowhere, Van Helsing sucker-punched Boris, knocking him a dozen feet away. A good chunk of hair was torn from Tory’s scalp, which seemed to wake her up, pain receptors activating a boost of adrenaline.

  Alucard was suddenly beside her, helping her to her feet. He ripped off part of his shirt to tie a make-shift tourniquet around her leg. Mallory threw a spear at Boris’ back, intending to
kill him on the spot. The spear jerked to the side, and the wizard – or whatever flavor of magic user he was – slowly unfolded from the floor, turning to glare at Van Helsing with sheer outrage.

  “You dare bite the hand that feeds you?” He shouted. “I should have known better than—”

  “Die, Beast Master!” Mallory interrupted, launching both of his spears at Boris, and then sprinting at him in a dead run, fists aglow with a golden nimbus of power.

  “It’s not him,” Tory whispered weakly, and Alucard began nodding furiously, staring at me pointedly before pointing a finger at the child who stood with her head down, hands slowly rising in the air as if lifting a great weight to either side of her. Her hands reached a crescendo as Tory slammed her eyes shut, mimicking the gesture in a last-ditch effort. The girl threw her hands down, and every shifter in the ring collapsed.

  The crowd roared, but this time, not in joy, but terror.

  After all, a good chunk of them were beasts.

  Mallory was suddenly sideswiped by a gorilla. He struck the wall of the ring with a crack, rock splintering out from his back in a spider web.

  The gorilla reached down for one of the spears that had magically reappeared in Mallory’s hand, and tried to take it away.

  The smell of burnt hair filled the air of the pit as he turned into a pile of ash and monkey dust.

  I lifted my voice to the crowd, shouting as loud as I could as I rounded on them with an insolent grin. “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?”

  And, yes, it felt exactly as awesome as I had hoped it would.

  “Whoever stays behind will die,” I added, smiling up at those in the crowd still standing.

  Chapter 56

  I used the moment of incredulous silence to scan the crowd for the Huntress or Gunnar.

  But all I saw was a sea of angry faces.

  One voice shouted back, mockingly. “Oh? You’re going to do that all by yourself, Maker?”

  I found the man behind the voice, and shrugged. “You’re probably right. That wouldn’t make any sense. One guy, killing everyone here… kind of ridiculous when you say it out loud like that,” I admitted.

  Several more in the crowd belted out dark laughter, backing up the first challenger.

  “What I will do is pick up a pile of new toys. As spoils of war.”

  A hushed moment of silence met my words. Then a low growl replied. “No toys here, boy. Just grown-ass monsters excited to see you taken down a peg. It’s more than we paid for. I came here to see death, not the death of a legend. But no complaints!”

  I grinned back, smiling. “You see yourself as monsters, bloodthirsty killers, no doubt dangerous folk. Beasts, as a matter of fact.”

  Their silence was beautiful.

  “But you know what? I’ve got a Beast Master of my own. If I win, I get a bunch of new chew toys to take home and play with. You heard I’m a Maker… one of those dangerous, mythical, juiced-up, elusive creatures that were once hunted to practical extinction by the Brothers Grimm.”

  I paused, slowly addressing each face.

  “Took care of that nuisance, didn’t I? Now, there are no more Grimms to keep you safe from me. Because, well, I had a disagreement with their business plan,” I shrugged. “So, here I am, a freshly-minted Maker, with no Grimms to keep me in line. No targets to practice on. Because, well, all my targets have met unfortunate ends lately.”

  I shrugged with a dramatic sigh.

  And then I took a page from Alucard’s earlier speech, ticking off my fingers. “The Brothers Grimm. The old Dragon Lord. A gaggle of geese – or Angels, if you prefer. A smattering of demons. Hell, even the Four Horsemen think I’m cool,” I leaned forward, “and owe me a few favors. They even offered me a temp job once. Haven’t taken it yet. Kinda have my hands full being a badass already. Let’s see…” I tapped my lips thoughtfully, smiling as my Beast purred in approval. “Oh, that’s right! Rumpelstiltskin, the Academy… their Justices and their Grandmaster. Man, it sounds so impressive when I list them all like that. Almost as if,” I smiled out at them, squinting hungrily. “I shouldn’t be fucked with…”

  A few dozen of them snuck out, but a dozen of the more hardcore remained, dancing on their toes, trying to decide whether to leave or not. To save face or call my bluff. I didn’t know which party the Syndicate would include. Those pretending to be scared, or those rightly pissed, calculating the odds. But I had openly disrespected them by mentioning Rumpelstiltskin.

  On purpose.

  “Here’s how it’s going to pan out. One of us is going to win this showdown.” I pointed at Boris, then myself. “And the other will die a truly horrifying death. The winner will then be looking to recoup his losses. Rebuild his army. Pick up some new toys. So, how about it, ladies and gentlemen? You paid to watch a show…” I paused dramatically. “But all that’s left are openings to participate in the next show… Who wants to be someone’s bitch next week?”

  They fled. Some even helped drag an unconscious body or two with them, not wanting their friends to wake up collared to one of the psychos in the ring.

  Boris had approached during my speech, and was glaring at me. “You didn’t need to tell them all that.”

  I shrugged. “I kind of felt like killing less thugs than I had to tonight.”

  “You really think your fledgling Beast Master can out-control me?” he growled.

  I shook my head. “No, but she can out-control her.” And I pointed at the girl in the ring.

  His daughter.

  The man flinched.

  And with a roar, Alucard, Ashley, and Sonya latched onto Tory. Her eyes shot wide open, literally spitting green fire. My three shifter friends – beasts – slumped to the ground, releasing Tory, but I saw tendrils of power now snaking out from them, boosting her with what seemed like limitless power. Her wounded leg didn’t seem to bother her at all. Green fog suddenly swarmed her, and I heard roars from deeper within the quarry.

  Where the other beasts waited to kill everyone.

  And the ground beneath my feet began to thump as if a heartbeat the size of a locomotive had suddenly awoken some truly large and terrible monster.

  The Fae? What the hell kind of monster had they sent this time? Or was it simply Tory’s power? Or was there some uber-beast under the child’s control.

  The Beast Master child slumped to the ground, struggling to fight back, but it was no use. Her eyes winked out, no longer glowing with green light. The thumping continued to shake the ground, which could mean only a few things. Either the child had lost control of her secret beast…

  Or the Fae were galloping in.

  Boris considered the quaking ground with a thoughtful frown, but when nothing seemed to happen, he shot a look at his daughter. She was awake, but barely, breathing heavily. “Enough!”

  I grinned at him. “I had really expected more from you. Once again, role models letting you down. One thought from me, and my Beast Master will make this place Ground Zero.”

  He took an instinctive step closer, practically foaming at the mouth. “You forgot one thing, Maker. No matter how powerful you,” he glanced at Tory, “or she is, I have broken their minds. Sure, I didn’t control them, my daughter did. But I broke their spirit. Release them, and your city will be torn to pieces. Your Beast Master can never let that control go. Ever. For even a moment. It will consume her. But at some point, she must sleep.” He smiled. “Even still, my daughter has to use only the faintest of her powers, or lose consciousness, or fall asleep, and the guard will open the gates. He already has his orders. Because the moment she falls asleep, the beasts will respond, no longer under control. This will alert the guard, and he will unleash them. Such horrors will visit your city that even I can’t comprehend it. And it will be all.” He took a step closer. “Your.” Another step. “Fault.”

  I glared back. “You’re bluffing.”

  “Try me,” he grinned, eyes twinkling with madness. We stared at each other for a time, waiting for the other to
break. And the thumping beneath our feet continued, increasing in speed, as if the heartbeat was growing excited. Finally, he spoke again, seeing that I wasn’t willing to back down. “Or, you can tell your Beast Master to stop. I will let you live, and you can take your friends away. We shall never have to cross paths again. Although my employer will not be pleased about the situation. Might even want to talk to you about it in the near future.”

  The Syndicate.

  He continued. “I am curious… how do you control your Beast Master? I hadn’t thought it possible for a man to control beasts, let alone a man to control a Beast Master.”

  I really hoped Gunnar and Rufus were almost finished. If not, things were going to go very badly for me. With his threat, I couldn’t think of a way to use my last spell to Maximum Effort. With no other choice, I entertained him, tapping my spectacles. “These. Been in the family for generations.”

  “That’s not possible. Nothing can control a Beast Master.”

  I shrugged. “Well, it’s nothing like what you’re doing. Manipulating your own child.”

  He seethed, eyeing my spectacles for a moment. Then he began to laugh, a dark, foreboding sound. “You truly have no idea why I do what I do, do you…?”

  I shook my head. “Kind of obvious. You’re a psycho who gets off on power. Even at the expense of using your own daughter,” I answered, disgustedly.

  “No,” he said softly. He glanced sadly at her. I motioned Tory to ease off, but she had heard his words, and hadn’t knocked her unconscious. She released the girl, and the child gasped, climbing unsteadily to her feet as she regained her bearings.

  The girl took one look at me. “You can’t take my toys!” And she stomped her foot.

  I blinked. “They aren’t toys. They’re people.”

  She was shaking her head violently. “No, they’re my toys. I brought them to life. Tell him, Daddy!”