Gunnar didn’t comment, but he did scan the area before glancing up at the tree thoughtfully. Firm resolve slowly settled onto his face as he realized this was basically a practice run for the Fae.
Because I was telling the truth.
His fiancée, Ashley, had been fatally injured after killing Hercules a month ago. Pan – the Wild God and my live-in bodyguard – had seen the severity of her wounds, grabbed her, and then immediately disappeared. My assumption was that he had taken her to the Land of the Fae – a place where time moved differently, possibly granting him the extra seconds he needed to save her life, because if he hadn’t acted, she would have died in Gunnar’s arms moments later.
I glanced back at Alex, who gave me a nod. “Kai’s ready.”
“Who the hell is K—” Talon began.
Another tree branch slammed into the earth, and Talon jumped away, shooting his gun at the ground as he leapt. The paintballs splattered the branch, which instantly whipped back up into the canopy.
“That was Kai,” Alex answered softly. I didn’t have time to question him on it, but I sure as hell hadn’t known my Beast’s name. Or that Alex was on such good terms with it.
“One minute to get into position,” I shouted, and began to turn away.
“Nate!” Gunnar shouted urgently. I spun at the tone in his voice, only to find a canister flying at my face. I dove to the ground and rolled just as the canister exploded with yellow paint. Then I was hissing into my headset for everyone on my team to run.
“Cheaters never prosper,” Alucard offered in a dry tone as he used his vampiric speed to vamoose the hell out of the danger zone.
“Can it, Glampire,” I panted, hunkering low as I ran.
I heard Gunnar shouting after us, his visor still up. “Hey, Alucard! I wanted to let you know that I had my paintballs blessed by a priest!”
Alucard stumbled, helmet darting my way as he scrambled over a stack of pallets. “He wouldn’t really do that, would he?” the vampire whispered nervously into the microphone.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. But maybe now that you’re a Daywalker, it won’t be a big deal.”
Alucard cursed, and Yahn skidded up behind a bush, laughing happily as he held his gun to his chest in an awkward Charlie’s Angels impersonation.
The next thing I knew, a concussive thump erupted right where he was standing, and all I could see was a giant pink cloud of paint. He had tripped one of the traps Dean had laid out.
I cursed, ignoring the laughter of our opponents.
Team Temple was already down one sparkly dragon, and we hadn’t officially started yet.
Chapter 3
I squeezed the trigger, aiming for one of the blue helmets, but quickly dove for cover as I felt something thrash above my head. A moment later, a long, thick tree branch slammed into the ground like a whip, right where I had been standing, igniting one of the tripwires to unleash a cloud of yellow smoke. Thankfully, the paint didn’t get me.
Paintballs began peppering the earth to the right of me, so I quickly rolled away.
Alucard was keeping Talon pinned down, who wasn’t as familiar with his gun as the rest of us, being a cat-man-thing. He was able to use his gun, albeit awkwardly, but he just wasn’t used to the device, preferring up close combat in the real world. I heard him yowl as he tried to make an escape, only to be plastered with paintballs by Alucard, who chuckled into my headset.
“Kung Pao Kitty is served. Where’s the wolf?” he whispered.
I laughed softly, thankful that Talon hadn’t heard the comment. “No idea. Keep an eye out. I’m going to take down one of the Reds.”
“Affirmative.”
I rolled my eyes. “No one talks like that.”
As the rules dictated, Yahn was lying prone on the ground, having ‘died’ before the game had even begun. Alex was fleeing from the Reds, retreating quickly as they tried to flank him, sending him further and further away from me. I dove behind a bush, wary of traps, and trying to get a bead on the Reds to help Alex, because our guns were surprisingly accurate at a distance.
He was the only Regular out here, but he seemed to be doing well, considering.
I gave him cover fire, just as the Reds both hunkered down behind a barricade.
“Grenade to the right, Alex. I’ll throw one to the left. On three,” I whispered into my helmet.
“Got it,” he panted excitedly.
“One. Two. Three!” I hissed, hurling a grenade as hard as I could over my barricade. Mine came up short since he was so far away, but had the desired effect of startling the Reds just as Alex’s grenade landed on the opposite side of their shelter, exploding almost simultaneously.
The Reds rolled over the center of the barricade in a dead sprint for Alex, shooting their guns on full automatic.
I managed to tag one of them across the visor, and she collapsed with a curse, rolling in the dirt dramatically. Alex stood from his concealment and began shooting.
But his gun ran empty after the third click.
A bush was between me and the surviving teenaged weredragon, but I heard her laugh. “Time to die!” she hooted.
“Heads up,” Alex murmured smugly into my headset.
I blinked as a massive branch swooped down faster than any of the other attacks and clotheslined her, sending her flying a dozen paces closer to me, dropping her gun in the process. She slammed into Alucard, who had been creeping up behind her unseen, sending them both flying into a bush.
I flung my last grenade at them for good measure, because technically, they had to be painted to ‘die’ in this game.
The resulting thump caused a roar of anger as blue smoke covered their tangled frames. “What the hell, Nate?” Alucard snapped in my ears.
“Sometimes you have to sacrifice a paw—”
“Behind you!” Alex suddenly shouted.
I spun, lifting my gun to see Gunnar flying at me in his hybrid wolf form – a giant, bipedal white werewolf – having discarded his slower, human form to achieve his payback for the Great Leafblower Incident. But that left him without a gun, which was the only way to play the game. His stone eyepatch glinted in a ray of sunlight that pierced the canopy from above, and he looked immensely satisfied. His paws slammed against my chest, and I felt them tangle with my shirt before I flew away at the impact, my helmet knocked free from the force of the attack.
Still flying in midair, I glanced down to see two grenades tucked into my shirt. “Motherf—”
They exploded hard enough to paint my face in pink paint and bruise my chest.
Then I hit a bush, blowing entirely through it, scraping myself up in the process.
The bush, of course, happened to be rigged with one of Dean’s traps, which erupted with a gallon of purple paint all over my body. Wet paint, this time. Not the powdered crap.
Gunnar howled, holding his palms up triumphantly.
Which was when a tree branch slammed into the back of his legs, cutting off his howl. He almost did a double backflip before striking the ground with a grunt onto his stomach, where he rolled painfully. Alex picked up one of the discarded paintball guns and unloaded on the wolf, hitting him in the ass a dozen times before releasing the trigger.
Gunnar yelped at the barrage.
I wiped more paint from my eyes, then stared at Alex. He nodded once at the tree, as if saying thank you, and the tree rattled its branches a few times as if giving him a high five. Had… Alex used the tree during our fight? Was he able to communicate with it from a distance? He had spent a lot of time near it over the last few days, whenever he wanted to get away from people. After his captivity in the Land of the Fae, he was inexperienced at social situations, and often needed alone time.
But, this wasn’t something I had expected.
I had freed my Beast – an ancient, sentient being of unimaginable power – into the tree, ending my brief run as a Maker, because I hadn’t liked the idea of sharing a body with such a dangerous force. The Beast ha
d seemed perfectly content with this arrangement, even grateful for it. I didn’t think he was trapped inside the tree, but that he had chosen to remain there. Because I hadn’t forced him inside it – I had simply freed him. Still, he had stuck around inside the tree ever since.
Alex scanned the battlefield, and seeing no one standing, held up his hands triumphantly. “I win!”
Then he abruptly disappeared with a grunt of surprise.
I glared, noticing Yahn’s handiwork. He was a chameleon dragon, and could make anyone touching him disappear. The ultimate stealth mode.
Just then, Yahn appeared from behind his bunker, sniffing the air warily, looking concerned.
I blinked, feeling a sudden wave of anxiety.
If Yahn hadn’t…
“Someone took him!” Gunnar bellowed, sniffing the air as he jogged up to me. Everyone was suddenly on their feet, prancing back and forth as they tried to either catch a scent or get a bead on Alex’s abductor.
Chapter 4
I couldn’t see or hear anything that pinpointed Alex’s location. It was as if he had never been here with us. The tree suddenly began to rattle, a group of its branches seeming to point in a very specific direction. I followed the motion, squinting to see something. Anything.
Unsuccessful, I closed my eyes, reaching out with my senses, my magic. I felt a primal urge tugging at me, wanting to bathe the land with fire and ice, willing to swallow up the world to get Alex back.
Wylde – a deep, dark part of me I had discovered while in the Land of the Fae – wasn’t a person, per se, but a more savage, primitive version of myself.
And territorial was putting his feelings mildly.
He saw Alex as his family, and that family had just been taken, which meant he was practically frothing at the mouth – mad with bloodlust.
But another voice whispered inside me. Where Wylde was loud and savage, this feeling was cold, calculating, and anticipatory – and it was a very, very new part of me. In fact, I had never felt it manifest so directly before, as if trying to encourage me to listen. I had felt its power before, but never communicated with it in any way. It reminded me of a greasy smile given to a young woman at a bar during last call.
I didn’t respond to either of them – not daring to give in – but I did acknowledge them as I continued facing the direction the tree – Kai – had seemed to indicate. I reached out with my magic, and felt both of the alien sensations inside me lend it strength. Not a lot, but enough to notice. I shivered as their strange powers amplified mine, but I didn’t stop them.
“Hurry, Nate! I can’t get a track on him!” Gunnar growled.
I risked a glance with my eyes in time to see the Reds explode into dragon form – large crimson nightmares, easily the size of three Great Danes mashed together – and launch into the sky, sweeping out over the area, heads darting back and forth as they searched for our invisible kidnapper. They were getting bigger, and scarier.
Like all my friends.
But I didn’t have time to admire them right now. I closed my eyes again, reaching further and further outwards, absorbing the sounds of life around us – the growing grass, rustling tree branches, the sighing wind, and a prevailing sense of coldness that was flooding the area. An unnatural cold.
Something that didn’t belong.
“Open your goddamned eyes, Nate! Do something!” Alucard snapped.
Through that alien coldness, I suddenly felt… heartbeats racing across the ground.
Far, far away. Near the wall protecting my property – a good two hundred yards distant.
I focused on the heartbeats, separating them. One set was sharp and fast while the other was lower, heavier, slower. Taking a guess, I lashed out and squeezed one of the heartbeats in an imagined fist. The Reds roared in surprise and I opened my eyes, releasing my magic. I blinked at the sudden emptiness inside me, let out a breath, and wiped some paint from my brow, staring out at where the dragons were landing. I could see Alex frantically kicking something on the ground, shouting incoherently.
I began walking towards them, accepting Wylde’s proud murmur of approval, and wondering where the other sensation had come from – or gone. I let my anger simmer as I continued walking, trying to shake off the residual effects of my strange use of this new power.
Gunnar jogged up beside me, still in his man-wolf form. Talon, Alucard, and Yahn spread out beside us, looking sickened, and very nervous.
Of me.
I ignored them, staring out at the Reds who were trying to calm Alex down, now in their naked human form – having lost their clothes when they shifted to dragon form – grasping at Alex to restrain him.
Any other young man would have forgotten absolutely anything to be manhandled by two naked teenaged girls, but I could still feel Alex’s heartbeat, wild, erratic, and angry. He finally slowed, allowing the Reds to guide him to the ground where they sat beside him, arms placed over his shoulders. They began to stroke his hair, no doubt using their mind control in an effort to calm him down.
“How did he die, Nate?” Gunnar asked softly, not turning to look at me, but fixing his one eye on Alex as we approached.
“I ended him,” I said, without consciously thinking about it. I hadn’t even intended to speak until I reached Alex and verified that he was unharmed.
Gunnar hesitated. “How? The gold light thing?” he asked, pointing at my forearms.
I glanced down to see he was right. Golden light shone from my veins, although it was fading, now. “I… stopped his life,” I mumbled, not entirely sure what the words meant – or the light.
“Okay. But… there wasn’t any fire or explosions, or… anything. It was completely silent.”
I nodded absently as I began to jog, wanting to get away from his questions. “Death doesn’t have to be so loud, brother…”
I heard them jogging behind me, but none of them had any further questions after that.
All my attention was for Alex. I had sworn to keep him safe, and had almost failed. But what bothered me the most was wondering how anyone had broken into my property, and who the hell had they been? Not many even knew who Alex was.
I reached Alex and knelt before him, clutching his face with my hands as I studied him, checking for injury – whether seen or unseen. Plenty of things could harm a person without any visual signs.
He returned my look, and let out a deep breath. “Thank you, Nate,” he whispered.
I pulled him close, squeezing him into a hug. “I’m so sorry, Alex. None of us sensed a thing. Before or after. I almost didn’t catch him in time,” I whispered, my eyes burning and my voice raw. Because something inside of me felt flayed at the brief and nearly fatal encounter. Someone had invaded my home to take an innocent, and I had almost let it happen.
An innocent that I now considered family. Not my son, but in a way… my son.
And a man was supposed to keep his son safe. It was pretty much the most important job.
“Nate, stop. No one could have done better. What you did was good enough. Thank you,” he said, patting my back consolingly, sensing my quivering muscles. I realized that I was fucking shaking, and that Alex was comforting me.
“Good enough… isn’t,” I growled, remembering one of my father’s famous sayings. I slowly released him as I climbed to my feet. I let out a breath and addressed everyone. “Keep your eyes open in every direction. Alex doesn’t leave your sight. Yahn, be ready to get him out of here at the first sign of trouble.”
I didn’t wait for a response as I turned to the body on the ground. He wore a laborer’s outfit, just like the ones working on my wall. I discarded my sudden flash of anger at that fact to flip him over with my boot and get a look at his face. He wasn’t one of the typical crew. This man was black, and everyone working on my wall were white Europeans – all one family.
I memorized the face, even though he was dead, and then crouched down to go through his pockets. He had obviously impersonated one of them, stealing on
e of their outfits. Did that mean one of the laborers was dead? I found nothing in his front pockets, but did find a folded slip of paper in his back pocket.
I unfolded it, my vision seeming to darken into a tunnel as I read.
Get the boy and get out. Or kill some of his friends. Anything. I want Temple to feel pain, to hurt, to know fear, to know failure. Exploit any weakness. He took everything from me. – C.Q.
I crunched the paper into my fist, and almost burned it to ashes at the waves of fury that suddenly crashed over me.
Alucard grabbed my fist. “Don’t, Nate. Whatever it said, we might need it.”
“You’ve got a crazy look in your eyes,” Talon purred. I looked up to see his ears twitching in all directions, as if anticipating an unseen attack, but his eyes were locked onto mine. He also held his great white axe glaive – a polearm weapon with a long, wicked, slender axe at the tip. Even the metal was white. Not bone, but something alien.
I couldn’t even find the humor to laugh at the paint covering his fur.
I tried to steady my pulse and regain control of my breathing before turning to face everyone. “Castor Queen wants revenge against me for taking away his Syndicate and handing them over to the Academy.”
“That’s where they went,” Alucard said softly, scratching his chin. “I was wondering what you’d done with them.”
I nodded. “There weren’t many left. And I didn’t feel like fighting G Ma over them. Most of them are criminals and will face a swift death. But I’m pretty sure some were blackmailed into service.”
“What makes you think that?” Gunnar asked with a frown.
I met his eye, not focusing on the stone eyepatch that marked his missing eye. When I had healed him a few weeks ago after the battle – when I had first donned my Horseman Mask in full – the stone patch had melded into his missing eye as a permanent fixture. His claws were also the same rough, uncut diamond-like material.
War Hammer: A Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Book 8 (The Temple Chronicles) Page 2