“One more thing,” I said anxiously, holding up a finger, “our father isn’t Steve Wynn, right?”
“No!”
Their response was given in such a way that you’d have thought I’d insulted them. Or maybe they were covering up?
“Kevin?” I pushed.
“He’s not our father,” Kevin replied, even though his brothers seemed displeased by him speaking alone. Obviously, Kevin was feeling somewhat empowered at the moment. “My brothers and I have answered honestly.”
“Is he still alive, at least?” I pleaded.
They went back to their old standard.
“You will come with us.”
Damn it.
While it was becoming more and more clear that my father wasn’t a nice person, I’d at least hoped to have met the guy. As it stood, I had a feeling that wasn’t going to be an option.
“All right, then,” I declared, “if you want me to join you, I’ll comply, but only on one condition.”
“What is your condition?” they asked.
“That Kevin be allowed to come over here and shake my hand.”
They all looked at each other in confusion.
“Why?”
“Because that’s my rule,” I replied firmly. I then waved at Kevin. “Come on over.”
He looked unsure, but his brothers shrugged at him, so he began walking.
I had been careful to stand in the perfect spot for what happened next.
Kevin stepped on the platform that was hidden under the magical covering, signaling that they could not see Portman’s toys. An almost imperceptible click sounded a split second later, and Kevin flew off into the night while yelling in horror.
That was going to leave a mark.
The other brothers watched him fly away, giving me the opportunity to take off toward the next bit of fun.
CHAPTER 34
By the time I got to the tarpit, the brothers were hot on my tail. They were launching energy balls at me, but I had a shield in place to deflect them. Besides, I had a feeling that they weren’t looking to kill me anyway. At least not yet. They were adamant that I join them, and they never specified that with an ultimatum.
I scrambled past the pit and tapped a code into the rock on the other side, just as Portman had taught me. There was a gentle hiss and then a slight shimmering, signaling that the ground cover had slid away and the magical facade now camouflaged the deadly trap that lay beneath.
The first brother to the scene went face first into the pit, causing the illusion to disappear.
The other two backed off, staring down.
I lit up a couple of fireballs in my hand and looked at the pit.
“I’d hate to have to kill him,” I pointed out, “but unless you tell me where we’re going, I will do it.”
“You have already killed Kevin,” Bertram stated, speaking on his own. “For this, we thank you. However, we will not be pleased if you kill Leo.”
“I don’t want to kill, uh, Leo either,” I admitted, and it was true. This was my family, for goodness sake. “But I have a feeling that you guys are not good people, and if your intention is to turn me into a bad guy…well, no.”
“The world will submit to us or they will die,” the three brothers roared like wild beasts, though Leo was clearly struggling. “They need our might and our power, and we will rule with an iron fist, crushing any who dare stand in our way. Order will break through and chaos will fade. We will become the law. Blood will flood the streets. Souls will cry in pain. Death will take both young and old, male and female…and transgenders, too.”
I just stood there blinking when they’d finished. My mouth was hanging open.
They will become the law? Did that mean the Directors were behind them…us? What the fuck?
“Nice speech,” I rasped. “I especially enjoyed how you added the transgender bit at the end of it.”
“We are not prejudiced,” Bertram explained. “We shall kill any and all who stand in the way of order and justice, and we shall do so with fairness and equality.”
“Right, I got that.”
Okay, so that pretty much stuck a nail in the coffin of my having a family. Blood relatives or not, I wasn’t like these guys, and I had no intention of becoming like them either…even if my current magical capabilities pleaded for me to be.
And I was damn sure going to be having words with the Directors about this shit as it was becoming clearer by the second why they’d been so close-lipped with me over the last year.
They wanted this to happen!
At least that was my running hypothesis, which was admittedly based on some loose suppositions at the moment.
Regardless, if it was them, then they clearly hadn’t counted on me being who I was.
Or maybe they had?
Fuck!
“I don’t suppose I can change your minds on this?” I asked hopefully. “I really don’t want to have to kill you guys.”
“Agony and death come to all who oppose us,” they chimed, “including you.”
“I had a feeling you’d say something like that,” I groaned with a sad shrug. “Ah well, I guess this has to happen, then.”
I launched a fireball at the pit. It shot up in flames as Leo screamed his last. Amalgamite or not, burning to death in a tarpit was not something your super healing was going to fix.
That left only Betram and…
Actually, I didn’t know the other guy’s name.
“Hey,” I said as the eyes on my two final brothers smoldered, “what’s your name?”
He looked over at Bertram and then back at me.
“It no longer matters,” he said, growling. “You must die now.”
“Either tell me or I’ll call you ‘Span,’” I warned him.
“Span?”
“Yeah, Span Dex,” I said, proud of my own little joke. “Get it?”
“No.”
Well, that ruined all the fun.
“Come on, fuckers,” I taunted them. “I’ve got more fun waiting for you.”
I ran for the next obstacle.
CHAPTER 35
T his time, when I spun around, I found that Bertram and Span were not directly behind me.
“Guys?” I called out, scanning the area. “Hello?”
“Hello,” they said from my left.
I jumped and turned toward them.
Their hands were already glowing, and this time they weren’t building up energy pulses. Bertram’s hands were red and Span’s were blue, signaling they were going to go for a fire and ice attack.
My shield would withstand it, but I needed to fire back…unless…
“All right, all right,” I said, putting up my hands in surrender. “I give up already.”
They eyed me suspiciously. I couldn’t say I blamed them for that, seeing as how I’d fooled them multiple times already. But I had to keep playing the game.
The thing was that Span stood only a few feet away from Portman’s spikes. It was a nasty contraption whereby a pole was covered with long, pointy metal sticks. It was wound up via a spring release, similar to that of the catapult. If I could just get him to step on the trigger, he’d be unable to drink a beer without springing a leak.
But how could I get him over there? I couldn’t just ask. Then again, I did have another skill.
“Hey, Span,” I said, using my compelling voice, “scoot over to your right a few steps, would ya?”
He did as I instructed, but Bertram yelled “No!” and dived at him.
It was too late.
The click sounded, the magical illusion disappeared, and a massive pole unhinged, sweeping directly at my brothers. The grotesque sound of flesh being stabbed made me wince. I also triggered the magical flamethrower. Unfortunately it was pointing the wrong way, so it didn’t really do much except light up the night for a few seconds.
I walked over to them, seeing the light slowly fading from their eyes.
They looked up at me in unison
and said, “Dick.”
Death settled in.
Just as I thought everything was said and done, a slow, methodical clapping sounded behind me.
I spun around to find Kevin was standing there. He was covered in dust and his jacket was sufficiently torn.
But he didn’t look angry.
If anything, I’d say he appeared relieved.
“I wanted to kill you for flinging me across the desert,” Kevin said smoothly. Then, he shrugged. “Honestly, I wanted to kill you anyway. It’s what I do. But now that you’ve taken out my brothers, I feel that I need to thank you first.”
“First?” I asked, stepping away and getting myself ready. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, I still have to kill you,” he explained. “It wouldn’t do to let you live after what you did to me, but I sincerely want to thank you for destroying my brothers.” His face was one of pure elation. “I’ve been wanting them dead for years. They’re such sticklers for protocol. I’m not like them.”
“No,” I agreed. “You’re really not.”
His serenity put me on edge. I didn’t want to know what the hell went on behind those eyes, but I couldn’t imagine it was pleasant. Well, maybe pleasant to him, but most anyone else would feel pretty fucking disturbed.
I glanced around the area. There was only one of Portman’s contraptions left, and it was to Kevin’s right.
“Ah,” he said with a slight chuckle as he followed my eyes. “You have another plaything for me to fall for, yes?”
Damn it.
“Uh…”
He reached over and ran his fingers across the rock, and the illusion disappeared, revealing the spike pit.
“How’d you…” I started but stopped when Kevin stepped aside and motioned toward a body that was seated on the ground about fifty feet away.
It was Portman.
“What the hell?”
Kevin stared at me.
“He told me everything,” he said. “That’s the kind of thing that compelling magic can do, no?”
I swallowed hard. “Is he dead?”
“Not yet,” Kevin answered, as if it really didn’t matter one way or the other. “I needed him to bring me back here first, and also to teach me how to disable his contraptions.” I must have twitched, because he added, “Oh yes, he was very forthcoming with information after I began unraveling his thoughts. I know where his wife lives, you see?” He looked so serene. “Oh, the things a man will do to protect his family.”
“You’re seriously one sick piece of shit,” I seethed.
He grinned in response.
So he had somehow made it to the Jeep, took care of Portman, dug into the werebear’s brain to extract needed information, and then got a ride back down. But I should have heard the truck, right?
Speaking of the truck…
“Where’s the Jeep?” I asked.
“On the other side of the hill there,” Kevin said, pointing. “We couldn’t get too close or you’d hear us.”
“Ah.”
I suppose I should have felt their arrival, too, but I’d been so caught up in dealing with the other amalgamites that I clearly missed it.
Kevin clapped his hands three times and Portman got to his feet. He came walking over at a brisk pace.
When he arrived, I studied his eyes, finding them dulled. He was one hundred percent under Kevin’s control.
“Now,” Kevin said in a jolly tone of voice, “we can go about this any number of ways, but the ones I find most compelling are either you fighting him, you fighting me, or you fighting us both.” He grinned. “Which do you think makes the most sense?”
“Me fighting you, of course,” I answered, playing on the fact that Kevin had demonstrated he loved to kill. “If I fight Portman, that will be five seconds at most. He’s no match for either you or me, as you already know. But on the off chance that he gets lucky and kills me, then you’ll be robbed of the pleasure.” I shrugged at him. “Same holds true for my fighting both of you.”
“Hmmm.”
I put my hands behind my back and began building up energy.
“Now, if you don’t mind my being killed by hands other than your own,” I added, and then gave him a look, “or if you’re too afraid to fight me one on one, then choose as you see fit.”
He clearly did not appreciate the implication that he feared fighting me alone. Being ganged up on was a fear he did have, which became apparent when Bertram, Leo, and Span had threatened him, but I didn’t think Kevin believed I was any match for him. To be fair, I didn’t know if I was or not, either.
Now that Portman was in the picture, though, I was going to have to play this carefully.
“Wait a sec,” I said, as a thought struck me. “How’d you track down the Jeep anyway?”
“Oh, that,” Kevin answered, waving a hand at me. “I landed on the hill up there,” he said, pointing. “It hurt rather badly, and I was pretty pissed off, but my body began to heal and about a minute later, this guy came driving up. That allowed me to calm down and plan my next move.”
Unreal.
Portman had parked over where the catapult flung stuff. I could only hope he’d done that on purpose, thinking he could finish whoever got flung up there. Obviously, he’d arrived a bit too late.
“Interesting,” I said an instant before bringing my hands out from behind my back.
Kevin dived off to the side as I cast a volley of liquid flame at him. It struck the boulder he’d been standing in front of, causing it to sizzle.
My shield buckled a moment later when Kevin flung a seriously powerful mass of energy my way.
I didn’t know if our other brothers had the same level of power or not, nor would I ever know seeing as how they were all dead, but this guy was definitely an uber.
“Portman,” I commanded with pure magic, “run away now!”
“Portman,” countered Kevin, “sit now!”
Portman dropped to a seated position, but he was busily trying to hop away from the scene, using his buttocks. It seemed he had listened to both our commands.
Kevin grinned and fired an energy pulse toward Portman. I cast a shield on my friend at the same time. Part of the energy made it through, causing Portman to grunt and fall over.
“That’s the problem with you goody-goody types,” Kevin cackled. “You’ll risk yourselves to save others. It’s why you always lose.”
I scoffed at him.
“Have you ever read a book or seen a movie, pal?” I asked. “The bad guy rarely wins.”
“True,” he sighed, “but you have to admit that it’s so much more fun when they do.”
I wanted to argue, but he was kind of right. And why did the bad guys get all the cool-looking gadgets? The good guys always inherited the junk that was just slapped together, barely staying intact, and always breaking down. But somehow they won anyway.
There was another thing with bad guys…they always wanted to be even badder.
“You know what, Kevin,” I said, lowering my hands “maybe we’re going about this all wrong.” I put on a serious face. “I was only fighting you because all of you guys were ganging up on me. You know how that is.”
He nodded.
“The truth is that I’ll bet that you and I could team up and wipe the shit out of anything.”
“Why would I need you to do that?” he countered. “I’m strong enough on my own.”
“Of course you are,” I agreed, egging him on, “but doesn’t every evil villain need a sidekick?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Sidekick?”
“Exactly,” I replied. “Someone who hangs on your every word, who backs you up in big fights, and who gets you coffee whenever you need it.”
He lowered his hands for a moment too.
“I could use a coffee right about now,” he remarked.
“And what better person to be your sidekick than your little brother?”
“Who?”
I squinted at him. “Me, Kev
in. I’m your little brother, remember?”
“Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry.” He rubbed his chin. “But I thought you said you didn’t want to be a bad guy?”
“I did say that, yes,” I admitted, pretending to agree that it was indeed a quandary. Then, I snapped my fingers. “I’ve got it!”
“What?”
“We have to test my loyalty to you, Kevin.”
He weighed that for a moment.
“How?”
“Yes, how?” I agreed, though I knew exactly what I had planned. I allowed a smile to creep upon my face. “Have me walk on over there and kill Portman.”
Kevin looked at Portman and then back at me.
“But he’s your friend, right?”
“Exactly,” I said. “If I can’t kill my friend for you, I certainly won’t kill anyone else for you.”
My brother nodded slowly. He was crafty, obviously, but I had the feeling he wasn’t quite able to grasp the bigger picture, and what I was planning was definitely bigger-picture stuff.
“But I wanted to kill him,” he mumbled.
“Okay, then just have me rough him up some.”
Kevin’s eyes lit up. “You mean like torture?”
“Yes! Yes, that’s precisely what I mean, Kevin.” I began rubbing my hands together. “And if I do that before you kill him, you’ll get to hear his screams even more.”
“Oooh! Hadn’t thought of that.” His smile was so large that the whites of his teeth were competing against the glow of the moon. “Yes, yes, do that!”
He was clapping his hands like an excited five-year-old who was just told he was going to the Super Bowl.
I gave Kevin a wink and then strode purposefully toward Portman. Just as I got near the rock that controlled the spike pit, I feigned a trip and keyed in the activation sequence. It started a counter from five seconds.
“Damn rocks,” I said, pushing myself up and wiping off my PPD suit.
“Yeah,” agreed Kevin, “I really hate—”
The ground shimmered and Kevin glanced over, looking confused.
The Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 5 - 7 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department Box Sets Book 2) Page 39