Bad Seed

by Gareth Vaughn

  Sean did feel like he could get off and get it up again in record time. He probably could, if he wanted, which was at the moment almost tempting. But they had to get themselves free and get out of here before Percival returned. Sean didn’t have a good feeling about their fate if Percival was willing to tie them up and beat Dane.

  “So what do we do?” he asked.

  “We wait.”

  “Are you fucking serious, Dane? We can’t wait. If he did that to you while you were unconscious, what’s he going to do while we’re awake? Torture us? Kill us?”

  Dane licked at his lip briefly. Sean didn’t like that Dane wouldn’t look him in the eye. He struggled to sit up, grunting and groaning, but fell back down to the ground again. Maybe if his feet hadn’t been tied…Sean tried not to panic. He didn’t like what Dane’s silence indicated. Mostly that he was right—Percival was going to kill them, possibly take a little more of his anger out on them first.

  “Looks like he used my own rope to tie us,” said Dane. “Who knows what he did with the rest of our weapons. I don’t know about you, but I can’t cross fifteen feet of water that deep trussed the fuck up like this.”

  “So we just let him have his way with us?”

  Dane snorted.

  “Can’t tell if I’d like that or not. I’m so fucking horny right now I—”

  “That’s not what I meant, asshole. I don’t want to give up and die.”

  “Too young for death?”

  “If I was any closer to you I’d consider taking a little anger out,” said Sean. He blinked hard, pushed back the rage. “I think this magic is fucking with me.”

  Dane started a laugh that immediately turned into a groan.

  “That’s because it is. Prolonged exposure to heightened levels of magic shit can actually scramble your brain goop. Or so the Order’s said. Percival doesn’t really have to do anything to us if he wants—after a couple of days of constant high-intensity magic, we won’t be a threat to him or anyone.”

  “So we do have time to figure out how to escape.”

  “No, you don’t,” said Percival. He crunched toward them from the other side of the island, and from what Sean could see from straining his gaze, he was dressed in gray, with cloudy crystals at his wrists and belt. He wasn’t smiling, but Sean could tell he was pleased.

  He circled them like they were prey, analyzing them. When he came around behind Dane he kicked him in the back of the knees. Dane winced and groaned, then swallowed back the sound. Something molten and angry surged up inside Sean, but tied as he was, he could do nothing but marinate in it.

  “Decrypters,” muttered Percival, the word sounding filthy when he spoke it. “I told her you wouldn’t stand by and let them do anything the legal way. Not in your nature, is it?”

  Sean tried to wriggle closer as Percival lifted a foot and brought it down on Dane’s hands. He ground down and Dane swore.

  “Is it?” he asked again.

  “Stop that,” said Sean, not knowing what else to do. He did have a good reprimand voice, having practiced on a number of students. Percival actually did as told and removed his foot. When he looked up he offered a horrible grin.

  “Wish I could let you go. I don’t have a problem with civilians, even if they do pick shitty lovers.”

  “I’m actually very good in bed,” said Dane, and Percival kicked him again, this time in the back, hard. Dane gasped. “I wasn’t offering anything to you.”

  Percival kicked him twice more, then, because he seemed to like it, continued, cheeks flushed, eyes alight. Sean could only imagine the magic was affecting him, too. He shouted until Percival stopped, backed off, and leaned up against a tree, half-panting, half-laughing.

  “He’s right, you know. I wouldn’t want to kill you so soon.”

  “Does your mother know you’re here with us?” asked Sean. He had to distract Percival. And if he couldn’t do that, he had to draw some of the blows to himself or Dane would never make it. He’d gone limp at some point during the barrage of kicks and lay, breathing shallowly, eyes shut.

  “Adonia?” Percival curled his lip and laughed. “Does she know anything?”

  “You,” said Dane in a whisper. Sean wished he’d shut up. “It was you, not them.”

  “Correct.”

  Sean swallowed as Percival wrung his hands, looking like he was struggling to talk himself out of maybe strangling Dane. If he did that, Sean was unsure how he could stop him, and the thought of watching Dane have the life choked out of him nearly made him vomit.

  He had to keep a clear head, though. He seemed to be the person Percival responded better to. He forced down his nausea and tried to think with his emotions and desires running wild. It was difficult to be calm when he wanted to murder Percival with his bare hands.

  “You killed Bethany? I don’t understand.”

  Percival continued to flex his hands, but switched his glare from Dane to Sean.

  “What’s there to understand? They weren’t going to do it. She was single handedly ruining the family business and what was their reaction? Hazel called up the woman to scare her and Adonia filed paperwork.”

  His distaste was sharp. Sean winced. Percival inclined his head at Dane.

  “You know, I envy them as much as I hate them. Decrypters can do whatever the hell they want. But we can’t. We’re bound by rules and laws and even when we don’t break them we’re hunted down and punished.”

  “But you did break them, Percival,” said Sean, trying to coax him like he would coax a student to the correct answer.

  It was the wrong move. Percival started shouting.

  “He had no right to be here! How many times were you here, poking around?” He kicked at Dane again.

  “Percival,” said Sean.

  He’d started pacing, kicking up leaves as he went.

  “We’re minding our own business. That’s all. That’s all we ever did. I take care of Uther, help with the growing, they manage the business. Simple. Then this non-magic health fiend starts using magic like we’re licensed to do—did you know the reapplication process for witches is every year and costs nearly a grand? Bastards like him can just find a well and use it.”

  He kicked at Dane again, but this time he missed.

  “How much you want to bet we’d be held responsible for letting her do whatever she wanted?”

  Sean didn’t understand the ins and outs of any of this. He tried to think of something to say, but Dane spoke first.

  “So you killed her,” he said. “Bad move if you wanted the Order off your ass.”

  “It was supposed to look like an accident. She put her own shit in her smoothie, didn’t know what she was working with, and died. You’re just not good at connecting the obvious dots, are you?”

  “Nope,” said Dane, smug as hell. Percival crossed to him, grabbed his bound wrists, and pulled back hard until Dane yelped. Sean could see his face, twisted in pain several feet away from him, and glared at Percival.

  “Let him go,” he ordered.

  Percival released him.

  “Whatever you say, professor. He’s yours, isn’t he?”

  “Not if he has anything to say about it,” said Sean, wincing when Percival laughed at that. “I don’t understand how you did it all. With the seeds.”

  “I should be more worried about confessions, but neither of you are going to be able to tell anyone, so. And while I’d love to inform my family, it’s better if they don’t know how I wrapped everything up so neatly. Yes, I harvested the apples here. This is where we get the pips for the poison extract, too.”

  “I’m guessing only you come out this far.”

  “Nobody else needs to. I handle the things they don’t like—too messy or unpleasant. Anything too far from home, our poor aged Uther, and of course Bethany. When I realized neither my mother nor sister were going to take care of her, I followed her. I bought a smoothie when the Bigfoot wasn’t around and asked the kid working there to add the bag of
seeds to her mix and shake it well. People tend to trust you when you act like the good friend of someone they know.”

  “But we looked into it,” said Sean.

  Percival shrugged.

  “Yes, you did. And if the Decrypter had been content enough to do his job and leave us alone after Adonia explained her paperwork, you wouldn’t be here. You could have let this all drop. You wouldn’t have to die here.”

  Sean swallowed and forced his face calm.

  “Is that what you’re going to do? Kill us?”

  Percival grinned, a terrible, toothy grin that made Sean’s blood run cold.

  “Haven’t decided yet. Killing’s not as satisfying as I expected. Maybe I’ll just watch you deteriorate. I’ve never witnessed what too much magic can do to the mind—they say very strange things. You could teach me a lot.” He paused. “I’ll be back shortly. Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone.”

  He retreated to the far end of the island where Sean couldn’t see whether he had a boat or not, not that it mattered. When he turned back, Dane was staring at him, and he hated the look in his eyes. Sean looked away, trying to push back the fear that had taken over him.

  They were going to die here.

  Chapter 26

  The pain came and went like tides, the effect of the magic numbing him and then releasing him. Dane groaned every time the aching returned, the feel of wrenched shoulders and bruised ribs. He alternately couldn’t feel his fingers and felt them as sausages or twigs—magic, messing with his mind.

  They didn’t have long. Irreversible effects could start less than a day into extreme exposure, and while he couldn’t judge the time perfectly, the fact that it was dark and getting colder by the minute wasn’t a good sign.

  “Dane?” asked Sean, words coming to him as if from a distance and then smacking against him like he’d been shouted at. Fucking magic. “You still awake?”

  “Yeah.” He spoke toward the lump that was probably Sean. The moon was low yet and not giving much light, and Dane could see various lumps where he knew none existed. “What is it?”

  “You sound funny. Really fucking drunk.” Sean snorted in amusement. “Slow and slurred.”

  “It’s the fucking magic.”

  “Yeah, yeah. We’re going to die out here?”

  Dane breathed out hard. Sean didn’t sound completely in control of his mind himself, too entertained by the situation to be serious. No point in holding back from him.

  “Probably. Unless you got a good way to talk the bastard into releasing us.”

  Sean chuckled, groaned, and chuckled again.

  “My dick’s so hard…what a way to go. Wish I could reach my phone. I should call my doctor.”

  “You got a lot more to worry about than how long you’ve had your damn erection,” said Dane. For a moment, he thought he could hear the sluggishness in his voice, then he realized it was his ears fucking with him. He could hear a lot of other things, too, things he knew weren’t real. Footsteps up the sides of trees, the sound of clouds pressing down against the treetops squeaking like straining balloons. Yeah, the magic had pretty much fucked up his brains. Shit. He’d thought he had more time.

  “I should worry about yours. You won’t be gentle that frustrated, will you?” Sean paused and Dane squeezed his eyes shut but he could still see the grin on Sean’s face in his mind, pulling up the sides of his face towards his ears, too big to be natural, a bit like one of Ned’s tricks. “Shit, thinking about you makes it worse. I’d let you do anything to me right now…”

  “That’s the magic talking.”

  “It’d feel amazing. Electric. I can tell.”

  “It’s the fucking magic, Sean. If you don’t stop thinking about sex, you’re not going to come up with a way out of here—”

  “So you need me.”

  Sean sounded so smug. Dane opened his mouth to reply and was hit by a wave of pain as the numbing effects of the magic loosened briefly. He leaned forward and groaned into the leaves and dirt, the entire world spinning beneath him. Shit. Things were serious.

  “Dane? You all right?”

  “I’m a solid bruise and the world is rocking. I can feel my brain turning to pudding. Yes, asshole, I’m fine.”

  “Oh, good.” Sean paused, then his tone got serious. “So Percival’s a witch?”

  “What does it look like?”

  “I thought witches were women?”

  The ground stopped rocking under Dane and turned to something lumpy and jiggling. He still had the presence of mind to know it was the magic fucking with his head, but the sensation, so very real, made him nauseous. At some point all he’d be able to experience was this shifting reality and not know the difference. What a fucking humiliating way to go. He’d always assumed he’d take a bullet or make a misstep trying to kill something. Regular Decrypter ways to die. Not this. Not have his brains turned to a puddle by a whiny little witch.

  “Not always,” said Dane, figuring there was nothing better to do than answer Sean’s questions. “They’re matriarchal, generally, but anyone can be a friggin’ witch. It’s the kind of magic.”

  “I think I like magic. Feels like pillows.”

  “Yeah, well, if you wanted to use it you’d have to be a wizard. Those use books and shit. Witches channel magic, that’s why they got all that nature crap.” Dane groaned as the ground evened out like a waterbed and he felt the pain in his side like every rib was broken. “Fucking witch. I’ll kill him.”

  “If he doesn’t kill us first.” Sean paused. “Didn’t you go out with a wizard once?”

  “No, asshole. I killed her familiar. And I don’t go out with people.”

  “You go out with me.”

  “No I don’t. I fuck you. We fuck. That’s different.”

  “Right,” said Sean, but it sounded like he was singing the word.

  Dane groaned. He wished he had his gun. At this point he’d rather blow his own brains out than feel them turn to mush.

  He wondered whether Percival had tossed his weapons somewhere or just left them on the island. It wasn’t as though he or Sean could actually move much, especially not now. If his weapons were stashed somewhere…Maybe they had a chance after all. He tried to roll, wanting to look, feeling a wave of pain crash into him and then envelope him like the worst kind of hug.

  “Stop it,” said Sean, sounding very sober. “Dane, you’re making my spine do weird shit. Just stop.”

  Dane consciously clamped his mouth shut, realizing he’d been singing, and wondered if he should apologize. A moment later Sean breathed out in a loud sigh.

  “There, it’s still again. Don’t fucking do that. I don’t want to hear happy songs about you shooting yourself.”

  Dane licked his sore lip, tasted blood. He clenched his teeth, thinking it was probably better if he just shut up. Shit, he didn’t want to think he was this far gone. He shivered. It was definitely sometime in the middle of the night—they’d been here on this island too long. They’d have to get off now or—

  “You’re laughing now. Fuck, Dane, you’re scaring me.”

  “Just thinking we have to get off now. The island, right? But fuck have I been hard half a day now and—”

  “Since when is your erection more important than mine? Stop laughing.”

  “Don’t bother. I find it interesting,” said Percival, and Dane nearly jumped out of his skin. He even felt it shifting over his body before resettling in place. Fucking magic. He hated it. He blinked hard and strained his head to see the witch. Percival was leaning against a tree, watching. Dane saw glinting crystals where his eyes were, but that had to be his head.

  “Percival,” said Sean, sounding saner than Dane felt. “Let us go. We’re not a threat to you like this.”

  “Decrypters are always a threat,” said Percival, tilting his head toward Dane. He tried to curl his lip at the witch but suspected he was only grinning foolishly. “They’re only harmless when they’re dead.”

  “Y
ou think the Order won’t track you down if you kill me?” asked Dane, struggling not to laugh.

  “Oh, you told them you were coming here?” Percival sounded completely unafraid. The moon was a bit higher now, enough to see a little better by, and Dane could tell he’d left his tree and come closer. He tensed, sure he was going to get kicked again, then forced himself to relax. Better to take it calmly.

  Percival laughed, walked around behind Dane, and tapped the back of Dane’s neck with his shoe. Dane swallowed. With the magic, it almost felt good, but he knew it’d be bad if Percival actually kicked him there.

  “You see, Decrypter, I don’t think you said a damned thing to them. You’re arrogant and not that bright. Why are you even here in Bleu Falls? Was it a reprimand? They’ll think you fucked off somewhere. They won’t suspect me. They can’t suspect me. Adonia’s done the right thing, every step of the way. And I can clean you up before anyone comes to investigate. By then I’ll be in with the Family, anyway.”

  “They don’t know you’re here, do they,” said Sean, not a question. “Your mother and sister.”

  Percival’s foot left the back of Dane’s neck and he stalked over to the professor.

  “That makes them the perfect cover for me, doesn’t it? The Order will believe them.”

  Dane didn’t fucking care about that, but he liked that Sean was drawing Percival’s attention to him. His back toward Dane long enough, Dane could possibly take him down, or at least try. He was as good as dead anyway, and he’d rather go down fighting. He rocked back and forth, the magic convincing him he could get enough momentum.

  “How do you think they’d feel about you murdering Bethany?”

  “Oh, Bethany, Bethany—it’s always Bethany with you. The Decrypter doesn’t give a shit about her, why do you?”

  “I guess I must see myself in her,” said Sean.

  He sounded convincing. Hell, Dane was convinced. Percival scoffed.

  “You won’t end up any better than she did.”