“Sorry, Pop,” I whispered, “but you’re just too much of a shit to be allowed to live.”
With that, I bypassed magic completely, having the sneaking suspicion that it might backfire on me. Knowing Gabe, that was a definite possibility.
Instead, I took out Boomy, stuck it under his chin, and ended his sorry ass.
But the fun didn’t end there.
The moment Gabe hit the floor, a swelling of magic began building up around his body like some type of self-destruct mechanism.
Time ceased a moment later, returning the world around me to its normal speed.
I glanced back at the door, seeing how far I was from it. That explained why this room had been so goddamn big. Gabe wanted to make sure that if he didn’t win, I sure as hell wouldn’t either.
My legs pumped with everything I had, but there was no chance.
I couldn’t escape it.
It was not the kind of explosion you’d expect from a bomb, though. I didn’t fly across the room and slam into a wall and there weren’t any concussive effects. In fact, there wasn’t even a sound.
The magic merely shredded the layers of venomous power I had throughout my body. I felt wave after wave fading away, piece by piece, until there was nothing left but who I was before the infamous Sylvester biting event.
I was drowning in anguish, like someone had given me the most tremendous high of a lifetime and then snatched it away, leaving me in a state of horrendous withdrawal.
Finally, I crashed to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness.
My groans were so weak, it was hard to tell that they even belonged to me. But seeing as though I was the only live body in this room…
Footsteps sounded.
Okay, so maybe I wasn’t the only live body in this room.
Shit.
I fought to open my eyes, to stay conscious, but it was damn near impossible. My brain just refused to cooperate.
But then I felt a set of hands lift up my head, sending a wave of power into me, bringing my mind back online slightly.
Hers was the face of an angel.
She had black hair and hazel eyes. Her skin was olive and as smooth as silk. Unlike my brothers, though, she looked finished…like she had a soul or whatever the hell you wanted to call it.
“Wynn,” I rasped as she continued her curious study of my face, “is that you?”
“Yes,” she replied. “And you are Ian. I have studied you alongside Father for years.”
“Yes.”
“You have killed him,” she said without inflection, no anger in her voice. “I was unable to do so.”
I swallowed. “Got lucky, I guess.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“But now that he’s gone,” I promised her, “we can be a family. A real family.”
She smirked as a wave of evil caressed her eyes.
“I’m afraid that won’t work for me,” she said. “With you out of the way, I’ll be free to run Father’s…my empire without interference.”
“But…” I started, but I trailed off as she dropped my head on the hard floor, bringing the haze back to full.
“Time to die, brother,” she whispered in my ear.
“Back off, bitch,” came a louder voice, one that I’d heard many times over the years. “Do it now or you’ll be so fucking full of holes that you’ll look like a goddamn springboard.”
Rachel Cress had entered the room.
CHAPTER 46
Wynn stood up and looked across at my officers. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were all there.
They had to be.
Everything went dark for a moment and then came back.
I was clearly fading in and out of consciousness at this point.
“We’ll meet again, brother,” Wynn said, giving me a gentle kick to the stomach. “Mark my words on that.”
Then she turned and walked away.
The next time my eyes opened, I saw Rachel kneeling next to me.
“Babe,” she said, slapping my face lightly, “are you there? Come on! Answer me!”
“I’m here,” I said through ragged breaths. “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.”
“So you’re okay, then?” she asked, the look of concern grave on her face. “You’re going to make it?”
“Yes,” I answered, already feeling the healing effects of my body underway. “I just need time.”
“Good,” Rachel said, drawing her fist back. “You son of a bitch.”
The punch cracked me square in the jaw, turning the world black again.
CHAPTER 47
T he next time I awoke, I was in the hospital. My entire team was in there with me, and they didn’t look happy.
Rachel walked over to my bedside.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I pulled my hands up to protect myself.
“Yes.”
She rolled her eyes at me and grunted. Then, without much effort, she pulled my arms out of the way.
“Why did you do it?” she asked.
I knew what she was talking about, of course. Why did I leave them all behind while I went out and fought this battle alone? They knew the answer to the question already, but they clearly wanted to hear it from my lips.
“Because you’d all have been killed,” I said.
“That wasn’t your choice to make.”
“It damn well was my choice to make, Rachel,” I shot back in a raspy voice, pushing her away from me. “Whether or not you all like it, I am the chief of the Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department. That means that I have to make decisions from time to time that you will not like.”
I was starting to feel like one of the Directors at that point.
Maybe this was the kind of thing they dealt with at their level?
Damn it.
I had to tone it down a bit. Not only was I being a dick, but my head was threatening to explode.
“Look,” I said more quietly, “you’re my team. I know each of your strengths and weaknesses.” I glanced over at Warren. “Most of you, anyway. The point is that you would have all been killed. I know this to be true,” I stated emphatically. “And you three mages know it as well. You admitted that you wouldn’t have a chance against me when I was in full power. What would you have done against six of me?”
“Six?” asked Griff.
“My father, sister, and four brothers,” I said. “And, by now, I’m assuming you know that Gabe was my father?”
They nodded.
I looked from face to face.
“You would have all died,” I reiterated. “Now, you can hate me as much as you want, but at least you’re able to do that because of the decision I made.”
There was nothing more to be said. They knew I hadn’t made my choice lightly, and they knew they would have certainly been killed if they’d have joined me in this fight.
“You’re still an asshole,” Rachel grunted.
“Worse than that, babe,” I replied, certain she wasn’t about to be happy about my next proclamation, “I no longer have those uber powers. They got wiped out after I killed Gabe.”
“None of them?” she asked, her eyes distraught. “There has to be at least something left.”
“Actually,” I said, frowning, “I don’t really know.”
With a grunt, I pushed and my fangs popped out.
“Aw, thit.”
CHAPTER 48
T he Directors were already there when I’d arrived. My body was mostly healed, but I was definitely exhausted.
Regardless, this was the moment I’d been waiting for.
“Mr. Dex,” O said, breaking the ice, “we’re glad to see you are doing well.”
“Thank you.”
“We obviously have many questions,” he continued, “but we want to first give you the opportunity to tell us what you know.”
I smiled and looked away for a moment. There was so much I could tell them, but they knew all of it already. Well, most of it
anyway.
“Let’s just say that I’m fully aware of who created me,” I said. “I’m also aware of why he created me, what his plans were, and also his history.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Kind of feels like getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar, doesn’t it?” I asked, but I got no response. “What you don’t know is that there were quite a few more ubers created. He’d moved before you guys tried to destroy him.”
“You must understand that—”
“Oh, I understand, Director Zack,” I interrupted. “You were doing what you thought was right. You were trying to save countless lives from the designs of a madman.”
“Yes,” Zack whispered.
“And I’m sure you understand that Gabe was trying to accomplish the same thing.” I crossed my legs, which didn’t feel great since I was still admittedly very sore. “The difference between you and him is that…” I sighed. “The difference is that you were in the right.”
The bottom line was that I actually felt that way. Misguided or not, the Directors had made the right choice when shutting down Gabe’s work. Going in with a killing strike was probably not the best idea, but I assumed there was a reason for that as well.
At this point, I felt they at least owed me some honesty, though.
“Why did you blow up that building?” I asked.
“As you know, Mr. Dex,” O answered, “there are some things we cannot divulge.”
“Ah, bullshit,” EQK stepped up to the conversation. “This prick just fucking killed Gayyyyyybe, and you’re still holding on to your precious secrets?”
“EQK, now is not—”
“Kiss my tiny testicles O-gasm,” EQK hissed in response. “Dex here just killed his family in order to save this town—the world—from being overrun. I think our sorry assess owe him a little transparency.”
“I’m warning you, EQK.”
“We blew up that building because we knew your foreskin of a father was a complete psycho,” EQK bellowed. “We also knew that his followers were just as nuts as he was. So, we called in a strike and kerpow, those bitches were dead!” He then coughed. “Or so we thought.”
“You are relieved of duty, EQK,” O stated.
“No, wait,” I called out before O could press the button. “If you kick him out, you may as well accept my resignation right now.”
Again, silence.
“What are you saying, Mr. Dex?” asked Silver. “Are you giving us an ultimatum?”
“You’re damn right I am,” I replied, uncrossing my legs and getting to my feet. “I’ve spent my entire life being dicked around, gentlemen. That’s going to stop. One way or the other, that’s going to stop.”
I looked at each of their positions, one at a time. No, I couldn’t actually see them, but I wanted to make sure they could see the seriousness on my face.
“We all know EQK is a pain in the ass,” I stated. “He’s probably one of the biggest cock massagers I’ve ever met, too.”
“I appreciate that,” EQK said.
“But he’s also stepped up to bat for me more than once,” I continued. “Time for me to repay the favor.”
I let that sink in for a moment.
Then, I softened a bit, but not too much.
“Guys, it comes down to this: My sister is out there, and she’s not a good person. Whether or not you keep me on the force, I’m going to hunt her down and I’m going to kill her.”
I looked at the floor for a moment, feeling the weight of my own words.
“She’s my last known living relative, but I know it has to be done.”
If I was being honest right now, I’d say that I felt a lot of trepidation about what I was doing here, but I genuinely didn’t feel I had much of a choice. The world had just become even more dangerous, and I was the only one who had a chance to stop the threat.
Frankly, I doubted my restricted powers would match Wynn’s, but what I had was better than what anyone else had. Besides, my team of fantastic officers would stand by my side…as long as I let them.
“You need me, gentlemen,” I reminded them. “Now, I’m not going to be one of those guys who manages from the bottom up just because I have leverage. You have your jobs to do and I have mine. I don’t want that to change.” I set my jaw. “But I will not play the hide-information-from-Ian game any longer. You will give me all of the information I need from this point on, without hesitation, or I will walk from this precinct.”
“Fuck yeah,” EQK bellowed. “Finally, Wrong Sex Dex steps up to the microphone!”
CHAPTER 49
T he next night was just as beautiful as the one before. I sat out in the desert, atop a hill, staring out at the stars while thinking.
Rachel had wanted to join me for once, but I told her I needed a little time alone.
She wasn’t too happy about that, but after reminding me that I had to turn in all the officer evaluations in the morning before heading off to an appointment to donate a batch of baby batter to the Netherworld weretiger restoration effort, she gave me a kiss and let me go.
Ugh.
It’d been a long year and a lot of shit had happened.
People had died, friends were hurt, relationships were strained…
But there were good things too.
Portman’s marriage was back on track, for example. Plus, Rachel and I were finally in a committed relationship that looked to be running as smoothly as could be expected, especially since we were now playing with the valkyries pretty regularly.
“Are you okay, honey?” asked Lydia through the connector. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“I’m fine, baby,” I said, cracking a smile. “Just taking a little break, is all.”
“Well, if you need anything, you let me know.”
Feeling that I could finally say whatever I wanted around her, now that there was a newfound agreement in place with the Directors, I felt comfortable enough to open up a little more to her.
“I’m just sitting out here looking at the stars,” I said. “I know things are going to get difficult soon, so I need to center myself.”
“I understand,” she replied. “Thank you for telling me that, lover.”
“You bet,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later, my little digital deviant.”
I smiled to myself, cutting off the communication as her giggle faded away.
That’s when a new voice chimed in.
“Hello, brother,” said Wynn through my connector.
How she’d gotten through on this frequency was a mystery to me.
“Hello, Wynn,” I replied. “Where are you?”
“To your right,” she answered.
I looked over and saw a small light a few hills over. So she’d come out to watch the stars with me?
“The sky is beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “I’ve not seen them in a long time.”
That was sad.
Obviously, Gabe had kept her locked away from the world as he molded her into what he wanted.
Fortunately or not, Wynn and I were too far apart to do any real damage to each other, but I had the feeling that she just wanted to have a moment of family time before ending everything.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want the same thing.
Yes, she had planned to kill me before, but that was yesterday.
She was alone now, and I was sure that fact was weighing heavily on her.
Gabe was no longer there to pull her strings and tell her what to do.
The world looked different when you were alone.
I sighed.
“It doesn’t have to go this way, you know?”
“Yes, it does, brother.”
I was afraid she would respond like that.
Wynn wasn’t going to give up her position.
We may have been related, but we were raised in totally different ways. She would forever seek to look out for number one, just like the man
who had trained her.
“That’s unfortunate,” I whispered. “It’s also sad that so many people are going to have to die in the process.”
“Sacrifice is necessary,” she replied.
Yep, definitely her father’s daughter.
“I’m going to come after you,” I warned, looking back over at her. “I have to.”
“You must follow your path, brother,” she said. “Just as I must follow mine.”
We sat in silence for the next twenty minutes, staring at the sky.
Finally, I saw movement over on her hill.
“It was nice to have this time together, brother,” she said. “I’m sorry you are unwilling to join me, but I understand your position. Please know that I will do my best to make your death as quick and painless as I can when the time comes.”
“Thanks, Wynn,” I replied sadly. “I’ll do the same for you, should our roles be reversed.”
And with that, my sister disappeared into the night.
The End
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EXCERPT FROM BLOOD CROSSED
CHAPTER 1
I ’d faced down vampires and werewolves and everything else over my time as a Retriever in the Netherworld PPD, but this was the first time I’d been saddled with a rookie.
His name was Reaper Payne and he was tall, lanky, had glowing eyes, and a perpetual five-o-clock shadow. He also wore a long black coat and a leather cowboy hat. He looked a bit out of place, truth be told.
The Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 5 - 7 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department Box Sets Book 2) Page 43