Clash of Flames: An Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department)
Page 18
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
The 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
The 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.”
“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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Bones Coffee Company
You may have noticed that Ian and Rachel drink coffee from the Bones Coffee Company. This is a real place! I contacted them after seeing one of their ads because I just knew that Ian would drink their Bourbon Barrel Blend! haha :D
Anyway, I was able to get the nice folks over there to provide a discount code for Ian Dex fans.
I thought it’d be cool if any of you coffee drinkers out there wanted to try out their stuff and get a 20% discount while doing it!
Note that I do not receive any compensation when you use this code. This is just a nifty perk for you because I love my readers!
www.bonescoffee.com/discount/DEX20
You’ll see the discount applied at checkout…
Thanks to TEAM ASS!
Advanced Story Squad
This is the first line of readers of the series. Their job is to help me keep things in check and also to make sure I’m not doing anything way off base in the various story locations!
(listed in alphabetical order by first name)
Adam Saunders-Pederick
Bennah Phelps
Debbie Tily
Hal Bass
Helen Saunders-Pederick
Jamie Gray
Jan Gray
John Debnam
Larry Diaz Tushman
Marie McCraney
Mike Helas
Natalie Fallon
Noah Sturdevant
Paulette Kilgore
Penny Campbell-Myhill
Sandy Lloyd
Scott Reid
Tehrene Hart
Thanks to Team DAMN
Demented And Magnificently Naughty
This crew is the second line of readers who get the final draft of the story, report any issues they find, and do their best to inflate my fragile ego.
(listed in alphabetical order by first name)
Adam Goldstein, Amy Robertson, Barbara Henninger, Beth Adams, Bethany Olsen, Bob Topping, Bonnie Dale Keck, Carmen Romano, Carolyn Fielding, Carolyn Jean Evans, David Botell, Dawn Blankenship, Denise King, Dorothy Phillips, Emma Porter, Helen Day, Jacky Oxley, Jim Stoltz, Jodie Stackowiak, Kathleen Portig, Kevin Frost, Laura Stoddart, Mark Brown, Mary Letton, MaryAnn Sims, Megan McBrien, Megan Thigpen, Michael Stivers, Myles Mary Cohen, Patricia Wellfare, Pete Sandry, Rob Hill, Ruth Nield, Sara Mason Branson, Scott Ackerman, Sharon Harradine, Stacey Stein, Stephen Bagwell, Steve Woofie Widner, Tony Dawson, Zak Klepek.
John P. Logsdon
www.JohnPLogsdon.com
John was raised in the MD/VA/DC area. Growing up, John had a steady interest in writing stories, playing music, and tinkering with computers. He spent over 20 years working in the video games industry where he acted as designer and producer on many online games. He’s written science fiction, fantasy, humor, and even books on game development. While he enjoys writing lighthearted adventures and wacky comedies most, he can’t seem to turn down writing darker fiction. John lives with his wife, son, and Chihuahua.
Christopher P. Young
Chris grew up in the Maryland suburbs. He spent the majority of his childhood reading and writing science fiction and learning the craft of storytelling. He worked as a designer and producer in the video games industry for a number of years as well as working in technology and admin services. He enjoys writing both serious and comedic science fiction and fantasy. Chris lives with his wife and an ever-growing population of critters.
Crimson Myth Press
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This is a work of fiction. All of
the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by John P. Logsdon & Christopher P. Young
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Published by: Crimson Myth Press (www.CrimsonMyth.com)
Cover Art: Jake Logsdon (www.JakeLogsdon.com)