Have Artifact, Will Travel (The Immortality Curse Book 5)

by Peter Glenn

  Glancing around, I spotted one of the discarded revolvers. I’d never had much reason to use guns before, but maybe now was as good a time as any.

  I ducked and rolled, picking up a revolver in my off hand as I came back up to a kneeling position. I’d only get one shot at this. I aimed for Kedron’s heart and squeezed hard.

  The effect was immediate. A deafening roar escaped the mouth of the gun as fire exploded out the front of it. I heard Carmine groan a second later as a large red mark appeared on her left shoulder.

  I’d missed Kedron, then, but at least I’d hit something.

  Carmine’s grip on Allie’s arms eased, and the girl thrashed, striking out with her newfound freedom. She smacked Carmine in the injured arm with one hand and managed to send Kedron’s dagger wide with the other.

  Before I could even reach her, she was on top of Carmine, biting hard into her other hand while the cultist screamed to high heaven.

  Wow, that girl could move.

  I glanced down at my revolver again. I thought about trying to hit Kedron or Hobart with it, but my aim wasn’t great, and I was afraid I’d hit Allie instead. So I let it drop to the ground and renewed my grip on Grax’thor.

  With Carmine’s attention fully on Allie, it was easy to slide my sword through the back of her neck and end her existence. She went slack a moment later and fell to the ground in a heap.

  Only two more dickheads to go now.

  “Hobart!” I shouted. “Come, let’s finish what we started!”

  To his credit, Hobart didn’t seem fazed by Carmine’s death or my brashness. He let go of Allie’s legs and brandished his sword all in one movement, turning to face me.

  That left Allie to fend for herself with Kedron, but I’d just have to hope she could hold her own for a little bit longer. Hobart would die soon enough. I was sure of it.

  “You’re going down,” Hobart told me through clenched teeth.

  “You first.”

  With that, Hobart lunged for me, coming at me with a powerful swipe to my midsection. I brought my own weapon up to block the blow, sending his blade wide. We were still really close to Allie and Kedron, so I backed away slightly to get some distance. I didn’t want her getting caught in the crossfire.

  Hobart came for me again, hacking at my right side. I parried the attack and continued my retreat, moving slowly.

  Behind me, I heard a few screams as Isaiah burned another few cultists down and the harried sounds of people running for the doors, but I ignored it all. I needed to focus on Hobart.

  I made a quick swipe to his right side, and Hobart batted the blade away. But I’d been expecting that. I turned my blade and brought it inward, trying to score a slice against his abdomen. Blade met flesh, and a small gash opened up on his stomach.

  Hobart howled and lunged for me again, clutching his new wound with his free hand. His blade almost connected with my sword arm, but I danced out of the way just in time.

  He came at me with a high swipe and our swords clashed in the air over and over as his swings grew stronger and stronger.

  I was starting to feel the strain of combat, but somehow, Hobart’s strength was steadily increasing.

  Then I remembered he was also a mage. I needed to end this quickly before he overtook me.

  Hobart’s sword came in a little too high on the last swing, and I wasn’t able to fully block it in time. It sliced through robe and Wham! shirt, leaving a red line open on my chest. Fresh pain filled my core once more as I barely stayed upright.

  I tried a quick lunge at his legs, but Hobart maneuvered his sword into the right spot in plenty of time.

  We clashed again and again as I spun around in a lazy circle, trying to keep him from scoring any more blows. Soon enough, I had my back to the altar. Part of me desperately wanted to see how Allie was faring, but if I took my eyes off Hobart for even one second, it would be my end.

  A bead of sweat fell into my eye, stinging and blinding me for a half second. It was all the opening Hobart needed. He came at me with a heavy thrust, and I wasn’t able to fully block it in time. His sword bit into my free arm, going all the way through and spattering blood on the altar behind me.

  Pain arced through my arm, and it was all I could do to keep standing. I made a weak swing at Hobart, but he knocked it away like it was nothing with one robed arm while he pulled his sword free of me with the other.

  More pain shot up my arm as blood rolled down it. Too much blood. He’d scored a good blow that time.

  Half-blind and running on empty, I made one last desperate thrust, coming in low under his guard and aiming for his groin.

  This time, Grax’thor found purchase, and at the last second, I turned the blade upward, biting deep into Hobart’s gut.

  I watched as the mage’s sinister grin turned into a frown, and the man finally fell to the ground, dead.

  “Well done, Damian,” an icy voice said from behind me. It was Kedron.

  Slowly, I turned around to face him. He had Allie held fast in one arm, a dagger at her throat. How very quaint and déjà vu.

  Allie mouthed the word “sorry” at me. I shrugged and offered her a half-grin. It was the best I could do at the moment. She’d tried her best. And besides, I was half-dead myself at this point and not really in any shape to take out Kedron either. But I leveled my sword at his head anyway.

  At the very least, I’d get points for flair.

  “But you’re far too late,” Kedron continued. “Your blood has spilled on the Jade Jaguar, initiating the ritual. How ironic that you’ll be the one to see our god revived when you tried so hard to stop it.”

  I glanced down at the altar. Sure enough, there were several droplets of blood on the back of the Jade Jaguar. That strange glow from before was back, and it was glowing brighter.

  Damn. I guess my luck only went so far.

  “Put down your sword, Damian,” Kedron commanded. “And you in the back, put your hands up, too.” That last bit was aimed at Isaiah.

  “Tch. Like hell I will.” I raised my sword another half inch or so. If I was quick enough, I could skewer him before he could act. Not that I had the kind of energy left to do that.

  Behind me, I heard the click of several rifles being readied at the same time. The hair on the back of my neck stood on edge, and I turned around to see the riflemen from the roof. They’d descended, and now all twenty or so of their rifles were aimed at either me or Isaiah.

  “Fine,” I spat. I let Grax’thor fall to my side. “You win.”

  “Indeed I do,” Kedron started laughing. It was every bit the maniacal laugh you’d expect of a killer like him.

  Kedron started chanting some words of a language I didn’t recognize. His voice rose in volume as he went along, and the Jade Jaguar started to glow even brighter.

  Soon, the glow enveloped the whole altar, including the offerings at the base of it. All of them glowed with some sort of sickening, dark light. It was hard to describe, but it was like a black glow that had somehow become bright.

  Kedron’s chanting increased in speed, and I heard a strange growl emanate from the altar. A tear in the air opened up over the Jade Jaguar. Something was coming through the gateway, and it wasn’t going to be on my side.

  I sized up Kedron. Chanting like he was, there was the faintest chance I could kill him before he could harm Allie.

  Of course, then all the guns trained on me would fire, and I’d be dead, but at least she’d live through it, and Isaiah and Sheila, too. Where was Sheila, anyway? Had she died at the hands of the cultists? I suddenly was none too sure.

  All in all, to me, it felt like a worthwhile trade-off. Stop the summoning of some ancient crazy god and save my friends. All it would cost was my life. I was strangely okay with that.

  In my head, I thought about Grace and LaLuna. They would miss me, but they’d make it out fine. They had Mei to help guide them through things. And Mei was the best friend anyone could have.

  Grax’thor flew ba
ck into my hand, and my fingers curled around her hilt. The shape inside the tear was starting to become visible. It was an odd mix of fangs and claws surrounding a lidless eye. How creepy.

  It was now or never. I gauged the distance, readying Grax’thor for another throw. Goodbye, world. It was fun while it lasted.

  Several screams erupted from behind me, throwing the room into chaos. I turned my head just a little to get a glance at what was happening. About half of the riflemen were laying on the ground, clutching their heads and screaming as blood poured out of their mouths and noses.

  The remaining riflemen looked around for the cause of the disturbance. I did, too. There, in the back of the room stood Sheila, holding a bloody finger high in the air.

  Sheila had come for us at last! And what an entrance.

  Isaiah was the first to act. He sent a fireball hurtling into the closest group of riflemen, bringing them down in a mass of flames. Sheila sent her own fireball hurtling into another of them.

  The remaining riflemen turned their attention on the two mages, and I spun around again to face down Kedron, my blade at the ready.

  “Stop!” Kedron yelled. The chanting stopped, and the tear in the air started to close in on itself just a little. “Put down your sword, or I’ll kill her. Then we’ll all die!”

  “No can do, Kedron.”

  In the next instant, two things happened. I sent Grax’thor flying through the air, and Kedron hissed as Allie bit hard into his dagger arm. Kedron doubled over in pain, letting her go and dropping his dagger in the process as my sword went sailing through the spot where his head had just been.

  So much for that.

  “You little bitch!” Kedron roared. He smacked Allie hard across the face, and she went down.

  Kedron picked up his dagger and lunged for me. I didn’t have my weapon anymore, so it was all I could do to try and dodge out of the way. But I was tiring fast, and the ground beneath me was slick with my own blood.

  I slipped on a puddle of the stuff and tumbled to the ground. Kedron fell on top of me, a wild look in his eyes. He lashed out with his dagger. I turned my head just in time to keep it from biting into my eye socket, but he still scored a glancing blow along my temple.

  More blood poured out of me, and I felt my consciousness starting to slip.

  Kedron slashed for my head again, and I grabbed for the blade. I managed to keep it off me, but only barely as the blade bit into my tender hand. Kedron pushed down harder, and I felt the tip of his dagger graze my cheek.

  It was no use. He was too strong, and I was too spent. This was it.

  “Say goodbye, Damian!” Kedron hissed.

  “Go to hell.”

  I closed my eyes as the dagger slipped free from my grasp.

  But the blow never came. I heard Kedron grunt, then blood spilled out of his open mouth and down onto my face. It was disgusting in a way I couldn’t quite describe, but hey, at least it wasn’t a dagger.

  Kedron’s body went slack, crushing my own as I coughed, trying in vain to get the tinny taste of his blood out of my mouth. Gosh, this was awkward, and icky. How ironic that I was going to die from getting crushed and not by a weapon.

  A moment later, I felt strong hands grab Kedron’s body and throw it to the side. Air rushed into my lungs, and I coughed again, spurting more of Kedron’s blood everywhere. I was so going to have to burn these clothes.

  Allie was standing there above me, heaving, holding the offering dagger in her shaky hands. It was slick with Kedron’s blood, too. Well, at least I knew who’d killed him now.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I thought I was a goner.”

  Allie took in a couple of breaths and nodded, then she let go of the dagger. It fell clattering to the ground as Allie dropped to her knees and started sobbing.

  With the last of my energy, I pushed myself up to my knees and hobbled over to her. Off to the side, I noticed the glow around the altar dimming as the dark energy went back to wherever it had come from, and the tear in the air closed back up.

  I put my non-bloody arm around Allie’s back and squeezed her tight. “There, there,” I said, coughing heavily between the words. “It’s over now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Allie nodded again and kept sobbing. She leaned into my chest, covering her eyes.

  “It’ll all be okay,” I assured her. Even though I had no way of knowing if that would be true. But it didn’t really matter at the moment. “Everything will be okay.”

  16

  A little over a week had gone by. We’d spent several days resting and recovering in Steamboat Springs before Isaiah had bought us all tickets to Seattle. He’d promised to send Sheila and Allie wherever they wanted after a quick stop in our hometown.

  My arm injury had taken the longest to heal, sped up a bit only because Sheila had managed to find some homebrew healing bourbon out there somewhere. It wasn’t as good as Mei’s, but what was?

  In the meantime, Sheila and Allie had spent a lot of time together talking, chatting, and going antiquing. I’d sworn they were going to need two checked bags just to take home all their extra stuff, but somehow, they’d managed to cram it all into one.

  Whatever. At least they were happy. Or as happy as they could be, given the circumstances. I still heard Allie break into sobs every night after she was certain we were all asleep, but then Sheila would go comfort her, and the sobs would slowly die down.

  I could only imagine what those final moments had been like for her. Even though Kedron had left her for dead, taken her hostage, and finally offered her up as a sacrifice, the man had been her mentor, and her only real anchor after her parents had died.

  What would it feel like to have to kill someone that had meant that much to you? I could only imagine. I mean, sure, the situation with my brother had been similar, but we’d never been on as good of terms as Allie had been with Kedron, so this would have been much harder on her, and the thought of almost killing my own brother still makes me shudder weeks later.

  At any rate, we were all at Mei’s now. Isaiah had wanted to stop off and show off our successful retrieval of the Jade Jaguar to all the bar patrons and finally close this case, and had insisted the girls come with us. For once, Sheila had agreed. My guess is she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Allie yet. With her on board, Allie had jumped at the chance.

  The four of us walked down the stone steps into Mei’s bar, heads held high. It was a joyous occasion. Isaiah and I went down first, followed by Allie and Sheila. They were holding hands. They always seemed to hold each other’s hands wherever they went. They were so cute.

  “Welcome back, lug heads!” a loud voice boomed as the interior of the bar became fully visible. “About time you showed up.”

  A warm feeling settled into my chest. It was Mei. She was staring at us, face beaming, looking about as happy as can be.

  “You know me, Mei,” I answered back. “You couldn’t keep me away if you tried.”

  Mei snorted. “You got that right. Come here!”

  She walked forward, and we met about halfway into the bar. I embraced her. She felt warm, and welcoming in a way I couldn’t quite describe. It was always good seeing Mei. Especially after a long absence. Almost as good as seeing…

  My eyes trailed past Mei, looking at one particular patron sitting at the bar.

  “LaLuna!” I cried. I let go of Mei, and headed over to her.

  “Hey stranger,” she said, smiling at me. “Miss me?”

  I brought her in for a hug, too. She was soft and firm in all the right places. I felt a tinge of arousal peek out at the mere touch. It would have been embarrassing, but I didn’t think anyone could see it based on the angles.

  “More than you can know.” I held her for another moment, gently rubbing her back as I did so, then I took a seat next to her and kept staring into her eyes.

  “So, how’s Grace?” I asked.

  LaLuna chuckled. “Haven’t seen me in two weeks, and the first thing you do is as
k about Grace?” She shook her head. “Typical.”

  “Hey, what can I say? I’ve missed my little bundle of joy, too.”

  LaLuna smiled at me. “She’s good too, don’t worry. Mei and I kept her plenty busy while Dada was off having fun with his little friends.”

  “Dada, huh?”

  LaLuna nodded. “She’s been saying that word a lot lately. I think she might like you.”

  “Well, don’t worry. My heart’s set on you.”

  LaLuna laughed again, and the sound made my heart soar. “Don’t I know it.”

  “If you two lovebirds are done behaving like idiots, we have a victory to celebrate,” Isaiah said over my shoulder a moment later.

  I turned to face him. “That’s right. We found it!”

  “The Jade Jaguar?” Mei said.

  Isaiah nodded. He reached into a small pack he was holding and produced the tiny object. We’d cleaned all the blood off it, so it looked pretty nice and sparkly sitting there in his hands. “The one and only.”

  “Ooh,” everyone at the bar said almost in unison. It wasn’t until that moment that I even realized that Hank and Sevin were there too.

  “Sevin! Buddy!” I cried, turning to face him.

  “Mon ami!” Sevin replied. He came over and gave me a light hug. “I was worried about you after that last fortune telling.”

  “What fortune telling?” LaLuna shot me a flat look and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Oh, it was nothing.” I waved a hand dismissively. “Just something about great peril and great rewards. Nothing to write home about.”

  “Nothing to write home about, huh?” She shot me an icy glare. “Only if you don’t want to come home to me.”

  “Ouch,” Hank said, wincing. “I’m glad I don’t upset my sweetie like that on a regular basis.”

  My cheeks burned red as the bar erupted in laughter at my expense.

  After a moment, LaLuna placed her hand gingerly on my shoulder. “It’s all good, don’t worry about it. Just don’t do it again.” Her hand gripped me hard as she said that last bit.

  “Message received,” I said, grinning at her slightly.