“Look, Reave, I think you need to consider this a little better. Who says that I’m going to allow you to pursue any of those options? I am a warlock after all.”
“A warlock who has had his wand taken away. In the four-plus years that you’ve had a shop, this is the only evidence we have of your using magic,” Reave countered, waving the glossy picture in front of me. “In battle with another warlock. I’m beginning to think that you’ve been banned from spell casting. But then, if I’m wrong, strike me down now. Attack me with magic and I’ll set you free, never to bother you again.”
Attack was the sticking point at that moment. I couldn’t attack. I was only permitted to defend, and even then I was on thin ice. If I attacked Reave or any of the brutes filling the closed bar, Gideon would have to have my head on a platter to serve up before the council. Staring at Reave, I mentally ran through the list of spells I could sling across the room with a quick word or two and maybe a flick of my wrist. Of course, I could think of nothing that wouldn’t immediately kill, and there wasn’t shit that Gideon wouldn’t instantly detect. I was in serious trouble. I had to escape Reave and his cohorts the old-fashioned way or I was going to be lynched.
Reave leaned forward and smiled wide enough to show that some of his perfectly white teeth had been filed to sharp fangs. “So I thought.” His gaze darted to someone behind my left shoulder a couple of seconds before large hands gripped my arms and shoulders. “I’ll be generous and give you a little time to think about my offer. I’ll expect your cooperation before dawn.”
The hands holding me started to pull me backward through the bar, but we didn’t get far before Reave’s voice rang out again. “And don’t forget: he may be a warlock, but he can’t do anything to you.”
A deep chuckle rose up beside me just before a fist smashed into my jaw, snapping my head around. Reave’s muscle had finally figured out the full implications of my discussion with their boss. I was a warlock, one of the group that had killed and tortured millions over long centuries, but I couldn’t retaliate with magic.
Of course, that didn’t mean I was without options. Relying on the hands that were still holding me in place, I leaned all my weight on them as I pulled my legs up and kicked my assailant in the chest. The large beefy man flew backward, crashing into tables and chairs, sending furniture flying. Another man released me in surprise and I took advantage of it. Swinging my fist around, I connected with a nose. Bone crunched under my fist, followed by a gush of blood. I managed a couple more swings before I was brought down by more assailants than I could handle in the confined space.
Awash in a surge of pain, my last clear thought was on Freddie as he stood slightly off to the side, looking afraid and more than a little worried. I focused just a little power on him so that my thoughts penetrated his. As blackness crept around my eyes and ribs broke under a well-placed kick, I left him with the compulsion to find Bronx and tell him everything. With consciousness slipping through my fingers, I prayed that he did.
Chapter 21
The scrape and crunch of heavy footsteps along concrete woke me, but I was soon left wishing that I had remained unconscious. My head throbbed in time with my heartbeat, bones were broken, organs were bruised, and there was a nasty copperish taste in my mouth from all of my own blood I had swallowed while I was out. This was becoming too much of a recurring theme in my life and I could really do without it. Whoever said a warlock’s life was glamorous, filled with naked moonlit orgies and pixie livers, was an idiot.
My entire body flinched at the sound of the metal bolt scraping as it was pulled across the door to the little room I was in. A groan escaped me as a fresh wave of pain rippled up my nerve endings; I had yet to even attempt to sit up. My room was pitch-black except for a little sliver of light seeping under the door. I didn’t know what time it was, but I didn’t think I had been knocked out for the entire day and through the night. I couldn’t see Reave yet. I hadn’t had a chance to figure a way out of this mess.
I cringed as the door swung open, hoping that I wasn’t faced with another beating.
“Oh, man! Gage! They beat the crap out of you!” moaned Freddie. His knees creaked and popped as he squatted down in front of me just beyond the open doorway.
“Yeah, Freddie. It’s been a real bang-up day,” I muttered, closing my eyes with relief. He didn’t act as if he was about to kick the shit out of me, so I figured I was in the clear for now. I lay still, trying to collect my thoughts. I knew a couple of healing spells that would at least mend the worst of my injuries and shouldn’t draw too many questions from Gideon if he noticed. However, the sound of another set of feet on the concrete had my eyes snapping open again, sending a fresh stab of pain through my brain.
Turning my head slightly so I could look up, I found Bronx staring down at me with a frown cutting into his broad face. His pale blond hair seemed to glow in the overhead light, while his brow cast his eyes in shadow. Apparently, the compulsion I’d pushed into Freddie’s mind had worked. Sort of. I had hoped that Bronx would help me get out of this mess, but I was also hoping that he wouldn’t be so obvious in his approach. I had wanted him to sneak in and then sneak me out. It was probable that Bronx had caught the attention of Reave. Not a good thing.
“Bronx,” I rasped, laying my head back against the cool concrete floor. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Uh-huh. Tell me another.” Bronx’s sarcasm rumbled over me and I smiled, ignoring the pain that lanced through my split bottom lip. There really wasn’t any use in trying to hide anything from the troll.
“It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“It will be when Trixie gets a look at you.”
I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut. I definitely had to use a healing spell now. If Trixie saw me looking like I had been dragged through the city behind a pickup truck and then trampled by elephants, she’d knock the shit out of me as soon as I was healed. And that’s nothing compared to the earful I’d receive while I healed. Besides, she had enough to worry about and didn’t need this as well.
“How’d you get in?” I asked, trying to summon the energy to move.
The shuffle of feet and a grunt from Freddie drew my attention away from my pain. The thug had stood and moved out of the room so Bronx could approach. “Back door.” My friend reached down, placing his large hands under my arms, and lifted me to my feet. A pained hiss slipped through my clenched teeth, but otherwise I managed to keep from shouting. “Can you move?”
I nodded, feeling my brain slosh around in my skull. “In a minute.”
Bronx turned his head and looked at Freddie. “Tell Reave that I’ll bring him in a few minutes.”
“You’ve met Reave?”
The troll positioned me so that his hands were on either side of my chest as he held me up in front of him. He heaved a heavy sigh as his eyes darted away from me before wandering back. “I’ve had dealings with Reave in the past.”
“Worked for him?”
Bronx flinched at the question, but continued to meet my gaze. “For a while.”
“Well, at least you got out. Changed occupations.”
“And yet, here I stand.”
It was my turn to flinch. Because of me, Bronx was back in his old boss’s clutches, putting him in a very vulnerable and awkward position. I couldn’t imagine that it had been that easy to leave the first time and I doubted that it would be all that easy to leave tonight. “I’m sorry, Bronx. I didn’t know. If I had, I wouldn’t have sent Freddie for you.”
“Not your fault, and if you hadn’t sent Freddie, I would have been pissed.” Bronx lowered his head and narrowed his eyes on me, his face taking on a more menacing quality. “And you don’t want to see me pissed.”
I smiled again at his attempt to scare me. “Trixie’s right about you. You are a big teddy bear.”
Bronx snorted. “You say that again and I’ll let you fall on your ass.”
“Actually, you ought to let me go so I can take care of
this mess.”
Bronx stepped back and dropped his hands to his sides. I stumbled a step backward as my legs were forced to support my own weight. Pain curled through my body, eating away at conscious thought for a moment before I managed to rise above it and concentrate on my healing spell. Closing my eyes, I focused on the spell, sending a wave of energy through my body so that it washed up from my feet to the top of my head. When the last of the energy dissipated, I breathed a sigh of relief. I still ached and my head throbbed a bit, but the broken and fractured bones were mended. My organs were no longer bruised and I felt like I could stand without falling over.
“You look a little better,” Bronx admitted, crossing his arms over his massive chest.
“Good. Now, let’s go kick Reave’s ass.”
I tried to take a step forward, but Bronx laid a restraining hand on my shoulder. “Gage, you can’t.”
“What?”
“If you were going to kick ass, particularly with magic, you would have done it already. At least you should have done it already, scaring Reave off. But you didn’t or couldn’t, doesn’t matter. Freddie told me what’s going on.” Bronx paused, his shoulders slumping. His hand on my shoulder tightened, as if sympathizing or reassuring me. “You need to accept his offer.”
“Are you insane? I’m not working for that murdering, conniving asshole!” I shouted, pointing toward the open door behind him.
“I don’t see that you’ve got much choice. Death or Reave’s offer.” I dropped my hand, but continued to glare over the shoulder of my friend. Work for the mob. What a horrible, gut-twisting thought! My business was honest, relatively so, and it was my own. There were no threats or shakedowns. I didn’t escape the authority of the Ivory Towers to now find myself under the thumb of a Svartálfar.
“Are you still working for them? Were you sent to my shop to spy on me and get me to bend to Reave’s demands?”
Bronx gave me a hard shove. My back slammed against the wall in the dark room and I slumped there for several seconds as his low growl sent a shiver of fear through my intestines. “I left Reave’s association. It was ugly and hard, but I did it. I haven’t been back in contact with him or his people in over five years. Not until now and only because you needed me.”
My heart lurched in my chest as I looked at my friend. What had I done to Bronx by dragging him here? What was he risking? “Bronx, I’m sorry. I—I didn’t mean it,” I stammered, hating myself.
The troll’s shoulders slumped a little bit, but his face was still an unreadable mask. “I know you didn’t. No one wants to find themselves in this position, and you just have to make the best of it. Death isn’t an option. Trixie would never forgive either of us if I let you make that choice. We’ll find a way out of this.”
Staring at Bronx standing in the light of the open doorway, his head slightly bowed and his shoulders slumped, I realized that he was right. It wasn’t just my life that was on the line when it came to Reave. If Reave handed me over to the Ivory Towers or to a lynch mob, I was done and Trixie was still in trouble with the Summer Court. It also didn’t solve Tera’s immortality problem. Furthermore, Bronx would once again find himself in the clutches of the Svartálfar. Of course, if I killed Reave, we’d all be in the clear. Unfortunately, I’d need to use a spell or two to accomplish that and then Gideon would kill me. And I was back at square one.
Forcing one corner of my mouth up in a smile, I pushed off the wall and patted Bronx on the shoulder as the troll stepped out of the doorway and into the hallway. “We’ll figure something out,” I murmured, my eyes slipping over the pair of armed figures standing at the end of the hallway. One particularly ugly troll with an eye patch stared at Bronx, a smug grin on his fat lips.
“Always knew you’d be back,” the troll said as he leaned against the wall, blocking our way.
“Just a little business, Covington.” Bronx didn’t even look at the other troll as he stood, waiting for him to move so that we could continue on our way to talk to Reave.
The one-eyed troll leaned close to Bronx, crowding him, but my companion didn’t waver despite the obvious threat. I clenched my fists at my sides, fighting to keep my mouth shut. “You think it’s goin’ to be that easy? You’ll just slide back into your old spot?”
“I don’t want anything to do with Reave and his associates.”
“Trust me, you’ll be begging to be welcomed back before Reave’s done with you and him. And then you’ll have to follow what I say.”
“Doubtful.”
The troll snarled as he stepped back. His large fist swung at Bronx, aimed for his face. Bronx leaned back just in time to see the punch slide by him, while he placed a hand on my chest to hold me back so that I wouldn’t be hit as well. I waited long enough for Bronx to drop his hand before I launched myself at the unknown troll. Threading my fingers together, I slammed my doubled fist into the troll’s face, snapping his head back as blood exploded from his large nose. As he stumbled backward, I kicked him between the legs, bringing the troll to his knees with a high-pitched cry of pain. It was a low blow and one I didn’t often use, but the troll was more than twice my weight and had three times my strength. He was going to rip my head off. Sometimes you have to even the playing field in order to survive. Besides, he was harassing Bronx, and my friend didn’t deserve it.
To my surprise, Bronx stepped forward and wrapped one arm around my waist. Picking me up, the troll carried me at his side down the hallway, past the wheezing troll I had attacked and his shocked companion.
“You can’t help it!” Bronx barked, raising his voice for the first time since I’d met him. “You have to get in trouble no matter where you go.”
“I do not!”
“My experiences with you prove otherwise.”
I struggled against his grip, but it didn’t budge. Bronx was undoubtedly right, but he didn’t need to carry me around like a disobedient child. “Put me down!”
“Can you restrain yourself until we get out of here?”
“Possibly.” I wasn’t going to make any promises that I couldn’t keep and we still had to face Reave.
Bronx made a sound in the back of his throat that didn’t sound encouraging, but he paused long enough to let me return to my own feet before he walked down a set of dark stairs to the main room of the Strausse Haus.
“Try. I don’t have any plans to die here today.”
With that, my temper instantly deflated. I decided it was time to shut my mouth and start thinking because it wasn’t just my life and future that were on the line. My actions would also have an impact on what happened to Bronx from here on out and I needed to stop acting like an idiot.
Reave was standing at the bar, talking to the bartender, when we entered the room. He straightened and smiled at us before returning to the same booth he had been sitting in when I’d first met him. The lights in the bar were on, but shadows still crowded thickly in Reave’s booth, making it a little difficult to read his expressions. Not that elves were known for being the most expressive, but it would have helped.
“Bronx, it’s so wonderful to see you again! Come for a visit?” Reave asked in mocking tones that instantly had me wanting to throw him into the wall of alcohol bottles behind the bar. When the dark elf failed to get a rise out of the troll, he turned his attention to me. Leaning forward so that he could rest his forearms on the table, he moved into a shaft of light, revealing a particularly evil grin. “Gage, you’re looking . . . healed. Ready to talk?”
“It doesn’t seem like I’ve been left with much choice,” I said, forcing a lightness in my voice that I didn’t feel.
“It really doesn’t have to be that way.” Reave settled back into the booth again, letting the shadows wrap their arms around him. “This could be a quite enjoyable arrangement for all involved if you just relax and do as I request.”
“What exactly will you be requesting of me?”
“Oh, nothing too taxing for a former Ivory Towers resident. I’
ve got a few places of business that could use some protection spells. Maybe a cloaking spell or two. I’m sure you’re talented enough to handle something like that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest while shifting from my left to my right foot. “Fine.” Right now, it didn’t sound too bad. The places he would send me would naturally be places where he housed the bulk of his illegal activities, but no one would be hurt by those spells. Unfortunately, I was sure that Reave would up the ante as time went by, compromising my morals a step at a time until I was in way over my head. I had to get out as soon as possible.
“There will be a few other errands here and there. Not too much. I don’t want to interfere with your tattoo parlor.”
“I’m not going to hurt anyone for you, so just get that out of your head now.”
“No need for that. I’ve got plenty of muscle in my employ already. You’re a fine instrument to be used for delicate procedures. Creatures, like your friend Bronx, are blunt objects used for basic things such as enforcement.”
I clenched my teeth so tightly my jaw began to throb. I wanted to hit him, throw him, hurt him in some way, either with my bare hands or with magic. It didn’t matter. I hated that Bronx was forced to stand there with me and endure his derisive remarks. Bronx was a skilled artist and a compassionate friend. He deserved to be treated with respect.
A large hand landed on my shoulder and gently squeezed. I looked up to find Bronx watching me, a half smile tilting up one corner of his mouth. It was only then that I noticed a crackle in the air. The lights in the bar were flickering and the sound of static crinkled around us from the charge of magic in the air. In my anger, I had summoned up energy, but wasn’t releasing it, so the charge was building around us. Cocking my head to the side, I cracked my neck and released a slow breath out of my mouth to unroll the tension from my body. At the same time, the energy in the air dispersed and everything was quiet once again.
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