Dreamleaf Blues (The Book Wielder Saga)

by Sean Davies

  Genevieve sighed and tossed him the grenade. Gaius quickly put it in his trench coat and clasped his hands together cheerfully.

  “Good. Now then, I’ll be seeing you tomorrow to discuss your glorious future as my right-hand woman.” Gaius grinned at his star pupil. “I know you want to attend the festivities tonight, but I’d really advise against it. We’re going to fuck them up in ways that will turn your new fiery hairdo white with fright.”

  “So you meant it, then?” Genie asked, surprised that the Werewolf hadn’t turned on her the second she’d discarded the grenade.

  Gaius smirked. “Every word of it. This unfortunate Annabelle business will all seem like a mere afterthought in a century or two, I promise.”

  Genevieve stood silently for a moment, deep in thought. She had assumed that Gaius would simply attack her after a quick exchange of insults, but his planned betrayal of the Golden Fangs had thrown her completely, along with the shamefully appealing promotion offer. Genevieve knew that Annabelle was gone and nothing she did would ever bring her back, and Gaius was offering her power, prestige, and wealth beyond measure for the rest of her existence. It was indeed a tempting offer, but running constantly on repeat in the back of Genie’s imagination was the horrific, unspeakable ordeal that her lover had been forced to endure underneath Fort Dominia, and it sickened her to the point where she felt physically ill. Genevieve knew that if the roles were reversed Annabelle would stop at nothing to avenge her, and so Genie would do the same for her fallen love.

  “No.” Genevieve shook her head slowly. “I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done, Gaius.” She pulled her other hand from her pocket, which was grasping a detonator, and primed the explosives she’d planted around the restaurant. “You didn’t think I’d leave it all down to one grenade, did you? You know you taught me better than that…”

  “Genevieve, think about this!” Gaius yelled as he noticed the frost-coated duffel bag full of war-time explosives sitting idly by the door.

  “I have done. Your offer was tempting, but you can’t give me back what I really want,” Genie said firmly as she took a deep breath of gas-saturated air. “Goodbye, Gaius.”

  Before Gaius could speak, Genevieve dived backwards out of the office window and pressed the trigger. The Woodsholme Grill exploded in a blinding inferno, instantly incinerating Gaius and any allies he had brought with him. Heat from the forceful shockwave washed over Genevieve as she glided backwards and helped to carry her ahead of the billowing flames. She easily dodged debris in mid-air and landed on her feet in a field, opposite the cremated remnants of the restaurant.

  A crowd of bystanders had already assembled and crowded around Genevieve to check that she was okay. Genie stood immobilised by adrenaline and shock, staring intently at the flames to make sure that no one had survived. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and led her out of the crowd.

  “She’s in shock, I’ll take her to get help, my friend is a doctor!” Veronica said charmingly into the crowd of humans. “She was looking into a gas leak. Someone call the fire service – come on, quickly!”

  As some of the crowd dispersed to find a phone, Veronica quickly walked Genevieve back towards the Open Vein nightclub.

  “I thought I’d calmed you down?!” Veronica grumbled.

  “You did,” Genevieve replied airily. “It helped me kill two golden Fang Captains. Thank you.”

  “You said you wouldn’t run off,” Veronica complained, “and you threw me off the scent, psychically speaking.”

  “I didn’t promise, though…” Genie replied in a daze as her shocked mind continued to process the nigh on endless deceptions she’d been subjected to, and the extreme turn of events that was continuing to unfold.

  Chapter 15

  The Party of the Century

  As another in a long succession of gloriously sunny days fell into night, a series of vehicles parked up next to the Open Vein nightclub, where a large brewery van was still being offloaded by the club’s rear entrance. Lynette and Kavarne, the Werewolf couple from the Shadow Circle, hopped off the back of a beasty vintage motorcycle, while Alexander the Mage and Xavier climbed out of a black ex-military truck and began unloading gear and weapons. The Book Wielder, Dean Savies, stepped out of his classic orange muscle car and looked around at the dark night, pretending not to see the inexperienced Golden Fang spotters loitering on the other side of the road behind a tall hedge row.

  Veronica walked outside the club to meet them. “Hey guys, ready for some guard duty?”

  “Hi, Veronica,” Lynette began loudly and cheerfully. “Yeah, we’re ready to hit the bar while poor old Dean here is stuck in the Gloom!”

  “I’m surprised he still fits in that book of his,” Kavarne joked, slapping the Book Wielder on his belly.

  Dean grabbed his chubby stomach proudly. “Just more of me to love, baby. And don’t worry, wolfie, I’ll be out and drinking you under the table before you know it!”

  Xavier walked over to the Book Wielder and did his best to ignore the onlookers. “Dean, let’s get you inside the club so that you can cross over into the Gloom,” he said, reciting his lines robotically.

  Veronica walked over to the van and spoke loudly to the driver. “You still here, handsome? Want to come in for a drink?”

  The young driver leant out of his window to reply. “Afraid so, missy. On any other day I would, but I’ve got to get down to Gaelliard City after this!”

  “Shit, that sucks – night shift, huh? I’ll go get you a beer, sweetie,” Veronica said kindly.

  “You are an angel!” the driver said, genuinely grateful, even though most of their interchange had been rehearsed beforehand.

  “But I’m a Demon between the sheets!” Veronica said flirtatiously and with a coy wink, breaking from the script.

  “Kavarne,” Alex called from the back of the truck, as he attempted to move a massive double-headed battle axe. “Please give me a hand here!”

  The brutish Kavarne walked over and plucked it off the floor of the truck with one hand. “Come on, Alex, even Veronica can lift my axe,” the Brutebeast joked.

  “And neither one of you can put an artillery battery to shame,” Alex retorted with a smirk.

  Kavarne spun the massive weapon around as though it was as light as the air itself, making sure he was in eyeshot of the spotters. “Let’s get inside with the others, Alex. You never know who could be lurking around in the shadows on a night like this.”

  “At least all the Golden Prick dullards are at their all-male orgy tonight; apparently it’s going to be the sodomy of the century!” Alexander announced with a cheeky grin as they strolled over to the entrance.

  “Nice touch, man, nice touch…” Kavarne whispered, trying to contain his laughter.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Across the road, two Golden Fang gang members clenched their fists in anger.

  “Those motherfuckers,” one of the snooping Golden Fangs, a Werewolf, spat through his clenched teeth.

  “Let ‘em laugh,” the other gang member, a white-haired Mage, replied. “I’ve heard by tomorrow that this shithole club is going to be reduced to a pile of smouldering rubble, you know, as revenge for what they did to the Grill!”

  The Werewolf smirked savagely. “Good, the snobby cunts need to be taught a lesson.”

  A short moment of silence passed by and the Werewolf grumbled again. “What I wanna know is why we’re on scout duty in the first place?!”

  “I heard Seth can’t get a hold of Gaius or his men since the restaurant,” the Mage gossiped.

  “Maybe it was him who did Scythe in,” the grouchy Werewolf mused.

  “Nah,” the Mage said dismissively, “the old dog and his goons are probably busy torturing some poor human, or pulling the wings off flies, or killing puppies; whatever sick shit they get up to…” he joked darkly.

  Another silent pause went by and then the Werewolf sighed in extreme boredom. “How long are we gonna stay here, man?”


  The Mage looked at his expensive gold watch. “Let’s give it another hour, you know, to let them all get wasted. Then we’ll sneak back to the Fort when everyone’s too stoned to notice we’re not on duty.”

  The Werewolf clapped his comrade on the back roughly. “Now that’s a plan I can work with!” he chuckled gratefully.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Golden Fang snake,” Dean said cheerfully as he entered the first floor VIP section of the Open Vein nightclub, with the rest of the guard in tow. “I heard you were switching sides.”

  “Shadow Circle chubbo,” Genevieve replied without lifting her gaze from her latest glass of whiskey. “No side switching… I’m just here to kill Golden Fangsssh.”

  “How much has she had to drink?” Xavier asked Veronica disapprovingly.

  “A lot,” Veronica answered honestly. “But after all the shit the Golden Fangs have put her through, I can hardly blame her. Besides, she did take out two high-ranking members in one hit. Don’t you think that deserves a drink… or ten?”

  Xavier went to say something, but Genie coughed loudly to stop him.

  “Greg’ssh fixing me potion,” Genie slurred, “so you can quit your worryin’ and chillax, gramps.”

  Lynette sniggered. “It’s like she’s known you her whole life, Xavier.”

  Xavier shot Lynette a warning glance and then addressed the group. “If you want to change into tactical gear, now’s the time. Then we’re going over the plan one last time.”

  “I’m staying in this,” Veronica said, gesturing to the spare outfit she’d had in the trunk of her car.

  It was the garb Genevieve had been wearing the first time Genie had met her; a black and red corset, and short pleated black mini-skirt, although she had added a pair of stockings, lace gloves, and large gothic platform boots into the mix. Genevieve thought she pulled the rock-chick look off really well.

  “Thank you, sweetie,” Veronica said, answering her thoughts.

  “It’s very tactical,” Alexander said with a wry smirk.

  Veronica chuckled. “Well, it’s not like us magic users need to do all the acrobatics malarkey, is it?”

  “The things I would do to you…” Genevieve drunkenly announced to Veronica. “If I wasn’t a triple, quadruple, betrayed heartbroken wreck of a woman.”

  “Oh, sweetie, don’t be like that,” Veronica replied softly and sympathetically.

  “You’ll feel better when you’ve lopped Seth’s thick skull from his shoulders,” Kavarne said fiercely. “Me and Lynette are staying in our riding gear, we’ll only be stripping off anyway.”

  Genie studied the muscly hairy hunk of a man, and then the perky Lynette, before shooting him a curious look. “How do you not split her in half?”

  Kavarne roared with laughter. “She’s got a really wide puss-”

  Lynette elbowed her large lover in the ribs to interrupt him. “He’s got a really small dick.”

  Everyone in the room, barring Xavier, laughed as the lovers began a playful scuffle and hurled insults at one another jokingly.

  “One extra-strength Cleansing potion,” Gregory said as he walked out from the back area, “courtesy of the house.”

  “Thanks, Greg,” Genevieve groaned as she took the potion, and then winced as the searing pain in her head burnt away her drunkenness.

  “Good. With that out of the way, let’s talk this through again,” Xavier said, addressing the room.

  “It will be nice to hear the plan using words and not landline euphemisms,” Gregory said quietly.

  “One day, we’ll have our own private phones,” Veronica prophesied. “No need for gibberish codes then.”

  Xavier coughed to get their attention and then began. “Once Gregory’s dancers arrive, they’ll stage a distraction out front. In that time, we’ll move into the brewery van, with the exception of Alexander and Dean who’ll stay here with Gregory and his people. The driver’s taking the truck along the coastal route to Gaelliard City, so we’ll exit on the way and meet the Trinity forces in the area. Genevieve, do not mention that you were at the Woodsholme Grill today. We’ll say it was Golden Fang in-fighting, which I’ve heard was narrowly the case anyway.”

  Genie nodded. “Gaius was planning on killing Scythe before I did, and taking over the gang tonight. The Golden Fangs that are loyal to him are probably still sitting idle waiting for orders, which should make our lives easier. The knuckle draggers watching us outside will be Seth’s thugs, and about as effective as scouts as two giraffes wearing top-hats.”

  The members of the Shadow Circle praised and applauded Genevieve on her overt double Captain kill. Even Dean Savies gave her a congratulatory fist bump.

  “Hopefully all their current lookouts are just as incompetent,” Alexander said with a smile.

  “I’m going on ahead of you guys,” Genevieve declared. “There’s people at the fort who aren’t like Seth, or who are there reluctantly like I was, and they deserve a chance to get to safety if they want out. I’ll sneak in, which should be easy as they still think I’m their Genevieve the saviour.”

  “Don’t even think about taking Seth on by yourself,” Xavier warned. He didn’t need psychic powers to know what she was planning. “He might be an idiot but he’s one of the quickest Nightclaws alive, and worse still, he’ll be surrounded by most of his loyal gang members.”

  “I’m faster,” Genevieve said, sure of herself.

  “Which would make you faster than Xavier,” Lynette purred playfully.

  “You’re a Nightclaw?” Genie asked. “For some reason I took you for an Ironfang.”

  “I dabble in both skillsets-” Xavier began.

  “He’s old enough to have learnt both,” Lynette interrupted jokingly.

  Xavier stared daggers at the cheerful tanned Werewolf and she tried not to giggle.

  “You know where the gear is,” Gregory said indicating to the back area, “and help yourselves to potions.”

  Genevieve went to find a pistol and silencer, in case her favourite bladed weapons proved insufficient, and Gregory sat down next to Dean.

  “So, Dean,” Greg began, swooping his own untidy brown hair from his eyes. “As you’re here, how about snatching me something nice and unique from the Gloom? You know, like you used to, for old time’s sake?”

  “Greg, Greg, Greg,” Dean said, shaking his head sadly. “I’d love to but that’s not the mission. You know I’ve got to stay nice and careful, and safe, here,” he said, eying the flock of gorgeous dancer girls as they waltzed to the back area to get undressed.

  “I guess you won’t be enjoying the open bar then?” Gregory asked scornfully.

  Dean smiled greedily. “Well, I’m sure one or two sherries wouldn’t dull the senses…”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Five scantily dressed women left the Open Vein nightclub, shivering in the cold evening breeze, and began searching for something on the floor.

  “They must be here somewhere,” a blonde woman cried sadly.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find your earrings,” a slim redhead said reassuringly.

  “I’ve got to find them, they’re my mums! Oh, why did I borrow them in the first place…” the blonde said loudly, acting well.

  The women looked around the carpark, making sure to bend and lean excessively as they had been paid extra to do.

  “I’ve found them, I’ve found them!” a full figured, black-haired woman shouted, jumping on the spot.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the blonde sang cheerfully, and snogged and groped her supposed life-saver.

  “Save some for the rest of us!” the redhead said, putting on a ridiculously flirtatious voice, and she joined in the seductive display.

  As the Golden Fangs watched on eagerly, mesmerized by the display, the brewery van backed up as close to the rear entrance as it could and Veronica, Genevieve, Lynette, Kavarne, and Xavier leapt into the rear section. They closed the hatch, and the driver began his long but well-paid journey. />
  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Genevieve had circled round from the back lane where she’d been dropped off, and she had crossed several fields to approach Fort Dominia from the rear. Just as Seth had promised, the fort was a hive of partying action, and Genevieve could see the festivities as she crossed the countryside.

  Fort Dominia was normally lit up, but now it was haloed by a seemingly continuous barrage of fireworks being launched from its battements. The bass emanating from whatever beastly sound system Seth had brought boomed into the night’s sky, and as Genie drew closer she could swear that she felt it rippling through the ground under her feet.

  She quickly reached the rear perimeter wall and leapt over the ancient stonework with ease, thankful that no one had taken her suggestions to repair and guard them seriously. Genevieve stuck to the wall and skirted around to the front of the building. Although she still had free reign of the castle grounds, she didn’t want to engage in a second of unnecessary conversation with her treacherous brethren. Genevieve couldn’t risk losing her temper until she was face to face with Seth.

  Genie froze against the wall as she saw Archie storming out of the entrance with a bottle of Artravenia in each hand. The music was deafening, and the courtyard was a hive of animalistic euphoria and dancing grouped beside a giant array of speakers, but she could just about hear Archie yelling to the gang members following behind him.