twice cursed mage 05 - claimed

by J. A. Cipriano

“A fucking kraken?” Ricky said, her voice going high pitched. “No fucking way.”

  “Necto!” I said, ignoring her words as a tentacle of flame exploded from my hand. It went straight through the portal and stuck to something inside with a wet thwip. A shrill snarl filled the air and reduced my courage to a drop of quivering jelly.

  Ricky looked at me, and as she opened her mouth, probably to protest my crazy plan, whatever was on the other side jerked on the tentacle attached to my cursed hand, pulling us off our feet and through the tear in reality. Thankfully, I had enough sense to release the spell as we touched the surface of the portal, otherwise who knows what would have happened. While I had wanted to escape via the portal, the absolute last thing I wanted was to be dragged through God knows where by a fucking kraken.

  As it was, hitting the portal sort of felt like getting a bucket of ice water dumped over your shoulders on a hot day. You know, if by ice water I meant liquid nitrogen and by hot day I meant taking a long walk on the sun.

  Needless to say, when we emerged on the other side of the portal to find ourselves standing on a tiny island about twice the size of a large suitcase, it felt like my entire body had shattered under the stress of the journey. As I patted myself just to make sure all my bits were in place, the air howled around us and pink light pulsated in the sky like an aurora with a bubblegum fetish.

  “So you rescue me from Junkyard to bring me into Hell?” Ricky asked, turning to look at me like all my bats had left my belfry. Man, she didn’t know the half of it.

  “What’s the big deal?” I asked, and as I said the words, my cat screamed in my head loud enough for Ricky to raise her eyebrow at me.

  “Did you hear that?” she asked, giving me a tentative sniff. She wrinkled her nose in displeasure. “You smell like cat.”

  “Why have you ventured into Hell?” my cat said, and the displeasure in her voice was unmistakable. As I opened my mouth to respond, she appeared in front of me in the flesh. Thankfully, she was in cat form. If she’d shown up as the corpse bride, I’m not sure what Ricky would have done. I mean, I’d seen her that way a few times, and it still freaked me out.

  “Mac, who is that?” Ricky asked, glancing from the cat to me and back again.

  “Ricky, meet my demon.” I glanced at the cat, unsure of what to call her. “Demon, this is Ricky.”

  “I know who she is,” my demon snapped, and the wind whipped around of us and lightning crackled across the pink sky, which was altogether weird given it came from a tiny calico. “That does not answer my question as to why you have come to the unclaimed regions.”

  “I, um, needed a way out?” I offered because it was the truth. To be fair, I’d thought the portal might bring me to the forest of mirrors, but evidently, whatever Junkyard had tried to call had come from the unclaimed region, whatever that was. Either way, I was guessing it was bad if guys like Vassago and his ilk couldn’t hold it long enough to lay claim to it. I mean, those guys didn’t seem like the type to just let stuff go.

  “This is unwise even for you, Mac Brennan,” the cat said before leaping up onto my shoulder and perching there like an unwanted parrot. “I shall lead you out. If we are caught here, it will spell disaster.” She turned her cat gaze on me and pushed her face close to mine. “I will not bother to threaten you if we fail. Doing so here will be far worse than anything I could do.” The way she said it scared me on a visceral level. If even my demon couldn’t protect me, I really didn’t want to hang around.

  “What’s so bad about this place in particular? I mean, we’re in Hell, isn’t it all bad?” Ricky asked, moving closer to me. She seemed surprisingly good with the cat, which struck me as odd, but what can I say, my girlfriend was adaptable.

  “Even angels fear to tread here.” The cat shook her head. “This is where the exiles too dangerous to be kept in chains are sent. Not just because they are powerful, but because they are crazy.” She shook her head.

  “Awesome,” Ricky replied, glancing at me. “You officially take me on the worst dates ever.”

  “Wait until you hear what happened to his last girlfriend,” my cat said before pointing one black and white paw at a nearby floating island. “Leap over there.”

  “Last girlfriend?” Ricky asked, arching her eyebrow at me, but I ignored her because I was too busy leaping to said island because the possibility of falling to my death in Hell’s wasteland suddenly didn’t seem quite so bad.

  The gravity was a lot less than I expected, and despite it being several feet away, I made it with ease. Well, that was good, I guess.

  “Yeah, the girl who shot me in the hospital.” I thought about elaborating, honest, but before I could, the sky in front of me tore itself open and Harbinger came flying through the opening, looking angrier than a Texas Rattlesnake who had run out of beer.

  “Miss me?” he asked, reaching out and grabbing me around the throat with one clawed hand. “You thought you could run.” He shook his head. “No one escapes me.”

  “Put him down,” the cat on my shoulder said, and the sound of her voice whipped out of her like a tornado. He staggered backward like he’d taken a kick in the teeth, his hand releasing me like fucking magic. He shook his head for a second before turning his gaze upon the cat. His jaw fell open in shock. It was weird.

  “You’re alive,” he said, and the awe in his voice surprised me. He seemed almost reverent.

  “Yes,” she said, but before she’d completed the word, he’d supplicated himself before us. “Why are you accosting my chosen?”

  “Forgive me, Matriarch,” he said as something inside the cat seemed to shift as she spoke. “I did not know. We thought they had succeeded…”

  “Enough,” she said, her tail flicking behind her in annoyance. “My enemies cannot know I have returned.”

  “As you say, mistress.” Harbinger lowered himself further to the ground, and I shot a look at Ricky who looked like she had no idea what was going on. “What can your humble servant do for you?”

  “Go back through and destroy them all, drop the dome, and vanish until I call for you.” The cat grinned, and a chill scampered down my back. The prospect of violence and bloodshed caused her pleasure in a way that let me know she wouldn’t hesitate to sunder the entirety of the planet for her enjoyment. I could feel the glee coming off of her like a tongue licking the back of my neck as she envisioned every single person I’d seen ripped limb from limb by Harbinger. I wasn’t sure who I had made a deal with, but she was getting scarier and scarier by the minute. So why the fuck had I done it? There had to be a reason, but I was starting to think I’d been one hell of a fool.

  I wasn’t sure what my cat’s relationship was with Harbinger, but something told me if she could order him around like he was a fucking slave, she was really fucking powerful. Still, I wasn’t exactly excited about the possibility of venturing through Hell’s uncharted lands looking for an exit sign. If Harbinger was going to do the heavy lifting, I was all for it.

  “Your will shall be done,” Harbinger replied, and I suddenly felt bad for the special ops guys on the other side of the tear. Silver or not, I was pretty sure Harbinger would go through them like condoms at a whore house.

  “Excellent. Be sure to leave the council member alive. My servant will take him,” my cat ordered, turning her eyes upon the white werewolf. “Rise and go forth, my pet.”

  “Wait three minutes and come through,” Harbinger said, glancing at Ricky and I as he rose. The look on his face was a mixture of fear and excitement, but I couldn’t quite figure out the reason for either since he didn’t seem to fear anything and my demon obviously didn’t want him dead. Then again, she didn’t want me dead and she scared the shit out of me.

  Before I could ask him about it, Harbinger leapt through the tear in a flash of bubblegum light. A moment later, Ricky landed on the platform beside me, and looked at me in confusion.

  “How the fuck did you order Harbinger around?” Ricky gulped, staring at the port
al. I couldn’t hear anything from the other side, but that didn’t stop the growing sense of unease settling around my shoulders. “He’s like a god among werewolves.”

  “Because he is mine to do with as I wish.” The cat eyed her coolly. “Just as Mac Brennan is mine to do with as I wish.” She gave me an amused grin that revealed way too many pointy teeth for it to be good. It was the grin a great white shark would give you before it bit you in half. “I make good on my promises. It is why only those who wish to become the most powerful come to me.”

  “Which explains why you’ve probably been locked up since time began,” Ricky said, staring at me as she spoke.

  “It is not an unwise idea to entertain,” my cat said as she faded from sight until just her smiling face remained. “But it is a dangerous one to try. The villain always escapes.”

  “Well, that’s fucking creepy,” Ricky said, looking me up and down.

  “Rick, you don’t know the half of it,” I said, reaching out and taking her hand. It was a little awkward because she was still a hulking werewolf and her hand was like a catcher’s mitt. “Ready to see a bloodbath?”

  “Yeah,” she said, rubbing her arm with her free hand. “Everything about this place gives me the creeps.”

  Chapter 25

  Bloodbath probably wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the strewn mishmash of bodies littering the junkyard. As I kicked a dismembered arm out of the way, I wondered if the soldiers had gotten some good hits in on Harbinger. Not that I cared that much. The vast majority of them had stood by while Ricky had fought for her life. In my book, they were all dirt bags.

  As we approached the exit as quickly as possible, we found the big white werewolf standing in front of the gate, and from the look of things, he’d been waiting a while. Guess three minutes had been too long. He had one clawed foot on Junkyard’s chest and held him pinned down on the ground. It made me smile too because he looked like he’d spilled his drink all over the crotch of his pants. At least, I hoped it was his drink.

  “Took you long enough,” he said, glancing at us. “What do you want me to do with this one?”

  “Remember what I said about the ketchup?” Ricky said, walking up to the pinned council member before I could say anything.

  “No can do, chickadee,” Harbinger replied, his gaze sliding off Ricky and fixing on me. “The Matriarch was very clear on having him finish the guy off.” He pointed one clawed finger at me. “Besides, only a demon can kill the council members.”

  “Is that so?” I asked, somewhat surprised. I hadn’t thought about it, but maybe that was why they were so fucking hard to kill, and why, I’d had to use Mammon’s staff. Only, hadn’t I killed one by shooting her a whole bunch of times in the head?

  “Well, angels could do it too, but that’s because they’re sort of the same thing.” He shrugged.

  “I shot one to death,” I replied, dismissing his angel comment because it was unhelpful.

  “Newsflash, hotshot,” Harbinger replied, pointing at my blackened arm with one hand. “You are part demon, or at least close enough for it to count. Any weapon you use will react accordingly.”

  “Part demon?” I asked, and he waved off my question.

  “Back to my original question. What do you want me to do with him?” Harbinger tapped his wrist with one finger. “Ask the Matriarch. I have shit to do. Saudi Oil fields don’t run themselves.”

  It took me a moment to understand what he meant because I was still reeling from the whole part demon thing. I mean, I think I knew he meant my Cursed arm, but what if he didn’t? What if I was actually becoming part demon? No, that was crazy.

  Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

  “Is he telling the truth?” I asked, reaching out to the cat in my head. I found her waiting patiently with a mischievous grin on her face. As she came into view, I got the distinct impression she was laughing at me.

  “About them not being able to kill the seven because they’re not demon? Yes, but you can kill them, even though you’re not really a demon in the traditional sense. That makes it a lot more difficult. That’s probably why Mammon gave you that staff. Speaking of which…”

  The cat sauntered up to me in my mind’s eye and rubbed her cheek against my leg. I felt the bond between us strengthen as she did it, and I realized that every time she did it, she was marking me, claiming me as hers. And she did it all the time. How many times had she rubbed up against me here? She didn’t seem like the type to do it on accident, and that almost made it worse because I wasn’t sure why she did it.

  My arm reached into my pant leg and pulled the pimp staff free from the spot where I’d strapped it to my leg. Only, I hadn’t done it. The cat had done it, and I didn’t like it one bit.

  I also didn’t like how the Harbinger called her the Matriarch. The title wasn’t exactly pleasing to hear, and not just because she’d referred to Asmodai as the Consort and Mammon as the Gambler. No, it was because Patriarch’s tended to rule the fucking roost, and near as I could tell, wasn’t Lucifer supposed to be the ruler of Hell?

  As I had that thought, Harbinger caught my attention with a low whistle.

  “That’ll work,” Harbinger said, admiring the pimp staff as I held it out. “How did you get that?”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Ricky said, stepping between us. “Why do you have that?”

  “I got it from Mammon. He gave it to me to deal with these guys,” I said, popping the top. As I did, pink light the same color as the uncharted lands exploded from its surface.

  “Mac, don’t,” Junkyard said, still trying to squirm away. “You don’t realize who you’re working for.”

  I heard him speak, but for some reason it didn’t register because I was filled with the sudden, inexplicable urge to kill him, to dash him from this world and the next. It was weird because I’d wanted him dead before for hurting Ricky, but this wasn’t caused by that. No, this was the cat’s bloodlust leaking into me, and even worse, I liked it. A lot. I was so fucked.

  “Me not killing you isn’t in the cards,” I replied, stepping up to him and holding the cane like a croquet mallet. “Hope you’ve said your goodbyes.”

  “If you let me go, I’ll tell you about the Matriarch.” I stopped in mid-swing and looked down at him. I had to kill him, and not just because I’d promised it to Mammon. No, I had to do it because of what he’d done to Ricky. That couldn’t stand. Still… I could spare a couple minutes, couldn’t I? I glanced at Ricky, wondering what she thought, and as I did, I felt her presence touch my mind through the imprint like a calming wave.

  “Mac, wait,” Ricky said, holding a hand out. As she touched my shoulder, my hands moved of their own volition, slamming down on Junkyard’s skull and splattering his life across the pavement. Ricky grabbed me and shook me. “I said wait! What the fuck?”

  “I didn’t…” I said as I stood there holding the bloody cane. My gaze looked to my blackened hand. I hadn’t meant to kill him.

  Harbinger looked at me for a long moment. “Good luck,” he said, and then disappeared into a puff of white smoke. I stared at the spot, mouth agape as ice began to fall from the sky even though it was hot as fuck. It almost made me want to catch the news to see what sort of conspiracy they’d blame this on. After all, this was ice not frogs or bugs.

  “Did he just vanish?” Ricky asked, and I glanced at her. She looked as shocked as I felt. I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but something was clearly fucked up. Still, we were basically in the clear. I guess some battles it’s good enough just to walk away from, and unlike Junkyard, we were walking away.

  “Yeah… you supernaturals are getting too crazy for my liking,” I said, trying to ignore what had just happened. The cat had forced me to kill Junkyard because she didn’t want him to tell me who she really was. That was the second time she’d done it. What’s that saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

  “It makes me feel really good about myself to hear y
ou refer to us like you’re not one of us,” Ricky replied, moving past me toward the exit. As she did, she reverted to the red-haired athlete I knew and loved.

  “You know what I mean,” I said, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her so she was facing me. Her green eyes sparkled as I stared into them and my heart suddenly went haywire in my chest.

  “Do I?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at me. “I mean, for all I know, all your feelings are a result of the imprint.”

  “They’re not,” I said, and I’d never been more sure of anything in my life. “All I’ve wanted to do since the moment Vassago grabbed me was get back to you. I couldn’t feel you when I was in New York, Hell, I couldn’t feel you until I stepped foot in the city. If my feelings weren’t real, I wouldn’t have felt them when I didn’t feel the imprint.”

  “Maybe,” Ricky said reluctantly, but I could tell from the look in her green sea-glass-colored eyes, she wasn’t buying it. “I’m not sure how it works across distances exactly, but it doesn’t make sense for the affects to fade. If it did, a simple road trip to Vegas would cause the imprint to stop working. If that was the cause and you were suddenly free, wouldn’t you run? I know I would, but that’s never happened.” She took a deep breath. “As far as I know, the only way to break an imprint is through death, and even that doesn’t always work. I’ve heard stories where an imprinted mate died. They… they don’t end well.”

  “Well then everything is going to be fine,” I said, moving closer to her and resting my forehead against hers. “Because I don’t plan on dying, and I’m sure as hell not going to let anyone kill you.”

  “I believe you when you say that, Mac.” She took a deep breath and stepped backward. Her eyes dropped to her blood-spattered white tennis shoes like they were the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. “What concerns me is your demon. She’s scary.” She huffed another deep breath. “I mean, Harbinger is scared of her, Mac. Don’t tell me you didn’t see that. It was plain as day, and while you’re dumb, you aren’t that fucking dumb.”