by J. E. Taylor
Austin gave him a nod.
“If I knew where your girlfriend was, I could do a clean sweep of the building, but I don’t want to risk turning her into dust by accident.”
Austin’s eyebrows rose.
“I can annihilate at will.”
Austin narrowed his eyes. What this guy just revealed was a little too farfetched, and he wondered if Tom really had it all together or if he was just fucking with him for fun.
Tom broke out in a grin and looked out the window. “I’m not fucking with you. What I possess is what most people think nightmares are made of,” he said and slid his gaze to Austin. “And while I wish it was all just a nightmare, it’s as real as us sitting in this cab.”
“So, demons, magic, ghosts, and freak-level psychics exist. Next you’ll tell me vampires and werewolves exist, too,” Austin thought and stared Tom down. The slow fade of his smile left Austin as uncomfortable as he had ever been. The half-hearted shrug that followed left his core hollow and roiling.
“Are you telling me...” he said aloud and caught himself before he said too much. If he truly had that kind of weapon at his side, he would do well not to piss him off. He sighed and formulated his next question carefully. “What doesn’t exist?” he finally thought.
Tom stared out the window, and Austin thought maybe he hadn’t heard him. But the minute that thought popped into the forefront of his mind, Tom glanced at him and signed, “I heard you.”
“And?”
Tom curled his hands like he was losing an internal debate, but he kept eye contact. “I’ve never met a werewolf,” he finally signed.
“So...” Austin started out loud and filled in the gaps in his mind. He shivered and caught his grimace in the reflection of the window. “Why tell me this?” he said with his hands.
Tom stared at his rudimentary sign language. “I have no idea,” he signed back. “I usually don’t start yapping about all this shit,” he continued offering a shrug. “I guess I’m tired enough to talk. Especially after the last few months.” He wiped his face and shook his head as if he were clearing the cobwebs.
The cab slowed to a stop in front of an abandoned warehouse, and Tom peeled cash from his money clip and handed it to the driver before they got out and stood street side. They both stared at the dark building before Austin pulled out the sheet of paper again. The address matched, and he handed the paper to Tom just to make sure. The hardness in the muscles of his companion’s jaw made him fold the paper and put it away.
“They’re in there, aren’t they?” Austin said, and even though his voice was soft, it echoed off the brick and metal structure.
Tom nodded. “I can’t tell if Hunter is in there, but I can tell there are a lot of people guarding entry to a room with orders to kill on sight.” He closed his eyes and hung his head, putting his hands on his hips as he did so.
Austin read the physical cues. “Are we going to have to... you know... hurt them?”
Tom nodded without opening his eyes. “Ya,” he said aloud, his voice holding enough trepidation to keep Austin quiet.
He didn’t have to ask how he felt about it. It was clear he didn’t want to harm anyone. Austin only wanted to pummel one person, and he really didn’t care who else he would have to take down to do it. Tom turned towards him.
“Ever kill anyone?” he asked in sign language as well as inside his head.
Austin shook his head. “No.”
“It’s not easy and it haunts you for a very long time,” he said. “Even when it is warranted as self-defense.”
Austin dropped his gaze to the pavement and nodded, feeling very small in comparison to the man next to him. He had witnessed murder, and the person responsible was inside the building. Up until today, killing had never entered his thoughts, but what this man had in mind for Paige just wasn’t something he could let loose on this world.
“If you’re not willing to do what it takes to get to my girlfriend, why did you come?”
Tom pressed his lips together, sending a glare in his direction. “I came to make sure you didn’t get killed trying to rescue her.”
“Fine. Let’s get this game going,” he said and stepped toward the building. Tom’s hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him. He pointed to a broken window instead of the door.
“Less attention. They expect you to come through the front door.”
“They are expecting me?”
He nodded. “That’s what is worrying me. Well, that and the murderous rage inside you.”
Austin stopped in front of the window. “Like you wouldn’t do the same for your wife,” he said, meeting Tom’s gaze.
“I have.”
His admission sent a shockwave through Austin, and even without an explanation, he believed Tom.
“And you’re right, I would do it again if I had to. But I’m equipped to take on multiple attackers, even without the supercharge. I’m a third degree black belt in jujitsu. Both my brother and I teach that as well as karate, so I’m not without skills. You are. A psychology degree isn’t going to get you very far in there. You can’t talk your way out of this one.”
His brutal honesty got a rise out of Austin, but it wasn’t because he was full of shit. It was because he was so right it hurt. He stepped aside and waved Tom toward the window, inviting him to go first.
Tom ducked through the available hole and the darkness swallowed him. Austin took a deep breath and followed.
Black Magick Chapter 11
Paige’s knees screamed almost as much as her shoulders. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep for the next ten years. Hunter promised her a long life of misery, but she had the distinct impression that was just a farce. She also knew Austin wouldn’t just sit around and leave her at Hunter’s mercy, and he was betting on that.
The men who had accosted her had drifted back into the shadows like mindless sentries, but Hunter crossed the room to stand in front of her. He crouched down and lifted her chin, studying her swollen features with a critical eye.
“I hate you,” Paige whispered, issuing a deadly glare.
He didn’t speak; he just stared until the silence encompassed the room.
Paige wanted to shift under his gaze, but she didn’t even have the strength to yank her chin from his grasp.
“I’ve dreamed of this for months,” he said, his voice no louder than a whisper. “But outside of screwing with you at the museum, this has not satisfied my need for revenge. You banished me.”
His eyes flashed with enough anger to layer another set of chills over her already freezing form. His fingers dug into her cheeks, and she kept her teeth clenched against the pain and fear ripping her insides to shreds.
“You will scream for mercy before I am done with you.”
“Promises, promises,” she uttered. She wondered just when she had lost her mind, but it had the desired effect.
Hunter blinked and dropped his hand, sitting back on his haunches.
The door on the far side of the room creaked, and Paige’s gaze moved from Hunter to the tall man stepping into the room. Even from this distance, his blue eyes radiated in the darkness like beacons. His gaze locked with hers, and she almost heard the “shhh” as his finger covered his lips.
Unfortunately, Hunter turned toward where her eyes had been drawn. He stood and turned, crossing his arms as the stranger halted after another step into the room. Austin stepped next to the stranger, and Paige’s heart sank.
Hunter uttered the same ancient words he had before. But the stranger’s brow knit, and his hands started to move. Austin focused on the movement and shrugged.
“You brought a deaf mute as backup?”
Austin chuckled and nodded. “I figured it was safer than being at your mercy.” His gaze moved beyond Hunter and landed on her. His wince at her condition was visible to both Hunter and her.
Hunter just laughed.
“Kill the deaf mute,” Hunter ordered. “And bring that idiot over here,”
he added.
The men hidden in the shadows moved into view. Every man in the room carried a sharp object from knives to axes.
Austin’s jaw dropped open. The first traces of fear filled his eyes as they locked with Paige’s.
Two large men hauled him toward Paige but stopped halfway across the floor where he was turned to witness his friend’s death.
The stranger assessed the threat surrounding him before he traded a glance with Austin. The complete absence of fear in his eyes shocked Paige, but there was remorse. He sent a nonchalant half-shrug like this outcome had been expected. As the men got closer, the stranger shifted his stance into one that was vaguely familiar.
Hunter’s laugh rang out, pulling the stranger’s gaze his way. There was something hard reflected in his blue eyes, something that made Paige swallow the hope that flared.
Austin struggled to escape from the grip the men had on him, but it was useless. He was not equipped with the rugged muscles that tensed under the stranger’s shirt. Paige couldn’t place where she had seen that particular look before, and she just stared.
The first clod lunged and the man parried, knocking the blade from the attacker. He threw him into the line that had closed in behind him. In one move, he took out three attackers, but he didn’t have time to recover before an axe swung. He jumped out of the way, but the blade left a clean slice in his shirt. He fought valiantly with only a scratch here and there. Until the entire group attacked as one.
The man fell in the middle of the mêlée, and a couple of the weapons appeared bloody before they plunged in again.
“You bastard,” Austin whispered, still struggling while the men holding him turned him in Hunter’s direction.
The roar that came from the center of the attack zone snapped all their gazes, and each and every attacker fell like a blast had gone off in the center of the group. Each, and every, one was out cold, and standing undamaged in the center of them was the stranger. He gave Hunter a tilt of his head, and then his gaze landed on Austin.
He snapped his fingers, and the two men holding Austin fell in an unconscious pile as well.
Hunter remained stunned and blinking as Austin’s fist connected with his face, knocking him down. Hunter got his bearings quicker than Paige could have foreseen, and he was on his feet and behind Paige before any of them took a step.
Cold steel pressed on her throat.
“Don’t you dare,” Austin said.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I please,” Hunter growled, but the knife flew out of his hand, clattering on the floor as the stranger approached.
His glare was intimidating and hauntingly familiar.
“What the fuck are you?” Hunter asked with his hand still balled in Paige’s hair.
“Your worst fucking nightmare.”
Paige heard the words as clear as day in her head, but the words from his mouth were just a jumble of non-articulate sounds. The venom that came with the words, along with the righteous anger in his eyes, tripped her memory, and she recoiled as much as possible in the chains.
His hand pushed out like a stop sign, and Hunter’s grip on her disappeared just before the thud. The man’s gaze dropped to hers, and he waved his hand like he was knocking a gnat out of the way. The chains holding her in place disintegrated.
Austin caught her before she face-planted on the ground.
“He’s mine,” Austin growled, and the man turned his hard glare in his direction.
“Not yet,” he signed and said at the same time. He walked over to the table of dark toys and scanned the horrifying contents before reaching out and picking up a simple pair of scissors.
When Austin went to set her down, Paige grabbed hold of him, keeping him in place.
“Don’t become him,” she said, her voice cracking with panic.
His murderous gaze softened. He slowly scanned the bruises traversing her skin, and his expression turned cold like his heart turned to ice. “He has to pay,” Austin said in a tone she had never heard from him.
The high-pitched scream pulled their attention to Hunter, and all she could see were his hands gripping air at his sides. The man stepped away, tossing the bloody scissors to the side along with the fleshy stub of a tongue. He turned and started to walk away, but Hunter’s scream turned into a growl and he launched through the air. A quick sidestep and Hunter landed face down. The man didn’t even glance at where Hunter fell. Instead, he approached Austin and Paige, unbuttoning his dress shirt as he crossed the distance.
He stopped in front of them and peeled the silk off his back, handing it to Paige.
“Thank you,” Paige whispered as Austin helped her slip into the fabric, covering up her naked and bruised form.
The man turned his head toward Hunter in time to catch a flying blade an inch from his face. The air rippled, and a burst hit Hunter, tossing him like a rag doll into the far wall. Then the man pulled a phone out of his pocket and tapped a few keys before taking a seat next to Paige and Austin.
“If he wakes up before the cops get here, you can knock his ass out,” he signed. Blood dripped from the hand that had caught the knife.
Austin gave him a simple nod.
“Who are you?” Paige whispered.
He extended his uninjured hand. “Tom Ryan,” he said when she tentatively accepted the handshake. His voice in her head was clear, unlike the words tumbling from his mouth. “Jackass over there won’t be able to control anyone ever again. It’s kind of hard to cast a spell without a tongue.”
Paige stared in confusion and then looked at Austin. “How come you weren’t affected by his spell?”
Both men pulled out elaborate medallions from under their shirts.
“His wife knew how to counteract his spells,” Austin said.
“Is that... bloodstone?” Paige asked, mesmerized by the ancient stone symbols hanging from simple silver chains. The Celtic knots made her gaze bounce to Tom’s.
He nodded.
She blinked a few times at his sheepish smile, and then the familiarity clicked once again.
“You starred in a movie...” Paige whispered reverently.
“No.” He shook his head but the wry smile remained. “Can’t act without a tongue.” He opened his mouth showing the stub.
“I swear, you look exactly like the actor in...” She trailed off, searching her memory for the title of the horror movie.
He chuckled, glancing in the direction of Hunter before signing. “I get that from time to time,” he said and kept his gaze glued on Hunter. A crease appeared between his eyes, and he scanned the unconscious bodies littering the floor.
“This isn’t over yet.”
Black Magick Chapter 12
Austin stared at him, dumbfounded by the signed words echoing in his head.
“What do you mean it’s not over?” he asked and glanced at Paige. Her eyes were full of the physical pain racking her form, along with an exhaustion that was as palpable as the anger flooding his veins. Every time he looked at her, at the bruises and dullness of her once vibrant eyes, his fury nearly overrode all senses. Austin pressed his lips together, pulling her closer in a protective reflex, but her wince made him relax his grip.
Opposite needs yanked at him. On one hand, he wanted to rip Hunter to pieces just to satisfy the growing beast in the center of his being. On the other hand, his need to be there, to protect Paige from what was coming next, to be her rock, overrode the murderous rage.
He glanced around the room, searching for the danger reflected in Tom’s tense features. Tom tapped out a number and set his phone on speaker before handing it to Austin. Even before the cellphone hit his palm, Raven’s Irish brogue came over the line.
“Tell her I need that counteractive spell,” he signed as some of the men he knocked out started stirring. “They are still programmed to kill me. Knocking them out didn’t erase the command.”
Austin relayed the message as Tom took to his feet. With three distinct piles of unconsciou
s bodies scattered across the room, his gaze jumped from Hunter to the group that tried to kill him. His greatest threats were the weapons still within reach of those men.
“What’s he doing?” Raven asked as silence dragged over the line.
“Um, I don’t know. He’s just standing there assessing things,” Austin said. Tom’s hands moved again, signing, while Austin translated. “He said when they wake, they’ll go on the attack again unless you can counteract it.”
“And he can’t make the asshole who cast the spell rescind it?”
Austin gave a sharp laugh—Paige did, too—and he cleared his throat, meeting Tom’s gaze for a moment. Tom glanced at Hunter and then back at Austin with a quick shake of his head.
“Uh. No.”
“He didn’t kill him, did he?”
Tom’s eyes rolled and he signed, “Does she have a spell or not?”
“Uh, no, he didn’t. I think you might want to get a move on with the spell,” he said, his focus pulled to the shuffle to their right.
A couple of the men were climbing to their hands and knees. When their eyes focused on Tom, the kill command clicked in every wrathful feature on their faces.
“Come on, Raven, they’re coming for me and I really don’t want to have to hurt them again,” Tom signed and Austin translated.
Tom shuffled away from them, and Austin sighed with relief. Being in the kill zone wasn’t something he relished, and by the looks of these zombie-like men, that’s exactly where this was headed. Paige couldn’t move quickly in her condition, so Austin said a little prayer.
“Who are these people?” Paige asked, pulling the shirt tighter around her as she pressed herself closer to Austin.
“I’m not quite sure, but at least they’re on our side,” he said, meeting her wide eyes before glancing at the oncoming attackers.
“Sweetie, we’ll explain as soon as we get you out of this mess,” Raven said through the phone line. Then the most lyrical words rang through the room, creating a silver mist that flowed from ceiling to floor, cleansing the space with an ethereal shine.