Dead Man Running (Raised Book 1)

by Stevenson, Sharon

  Forty - Pete

  I paced the room. I’d already discovered trying to go outside, even into the hallway, was physically impossible. It wasn’t fair. Britt had stolen me from my one true purpose. I was meant to be in the Royal Guard. I was not meant to be some bimbo’s bodyguard, or one of her whores, or whatever the hell else she forced us do.

  Cal glanced up at me. “Sit down. You’re making me nervous.”

  “I can’t stand this,” I said, feeling ready to explode.

  “Neither can I,” he muttered, flicking through a magazine.

  I took a breath. “I need to get out of here. I need to hear that music again. I need to get back to the castle. I can’t live like this. It’s going to drive me crazy.”

  “Uh, I think that’s already happened. I thought the castle was the last place you’d wanted to be? You’ve changed your tune, buddy.”

  “This sucks ass,” I muttered, tugging at my hair. I looked to the mini-bar. It would only be time-passing but it would be better than nothing. Feeling a little drunk would be better than this. “What ones are booze?”

  “We’re lucky number five covered for us,” Cal told me. “She refilled without telling Britt you’d drained them all. So, no doing that again, right?” He sat up and pointed the bottles out to me. I took three before he cut me off with a slap on the wrist. I was tempted by the others but not enough to risk getting a boner in front of my surfer roomie. “Hey, how come I can’t tell which ones are which?”

  “I’m not telling you that,” he said, perusing his magazine.

  “So it’s on purpose?”

  “You’re new. There’s a trial period.”

  “Piss off!” A trial period?

  He shrugged and muttered something less than favourable about my intelligence under his breath. It probably didn’t matter anyway. Chances were I wouldn’t be getting out of here anytime soon. I took the bottles of assorted booze to my bed and sat down. This was really sad, getting drunk just because I couldn’t get in the Guard. No wonder they didn’t want me. I was a loser with a capital L. I tanked the bottles all the same.

  The door opened. Cal sat up straight and then hopped onto his feet. Ridiculously, he bowed. I found myself doing the same thing. Oh, well. At least it’s involuntary then. Britt came over and sat on my bed. She glanced at Cal and ordered him sweetly to wait in the hallway. He did so without a word.

  That bastard left me alone with the conniving bitch who’d taken me away from my destiny. She put her hands on my face.

  “Poor boy, heard the voice of another planet and now he thinks he’s destined to a life of servitude at the hands of the evil King.” She pouted and pinged my forehead with her middle finger.

  Like that, I snapped back out of my reverie. What the hell had I been thinking? I didn’t want to join the Royal Guard. I suddenly understood the concept of brainwashing intimately. Something in that DVD had made me want something I didn’t really. I shivered.

  “Good. Now, you’ve caused me a whole heap of trouble little Scottish boy and I can’t let that go unpunished,” she said it all with an undercurrent of delight that made me shudder. “So… I’m going to kill one of your friends. I need a sacrifice and I’m going to let you choose who gets to be it.”

  “I won’t let you kill anyone,” I swore, knowing how foolish that sounded.

  She smiled indulgently. “Nine told me you had honour. I didn’t believe that until now. It makes this whole thing so much more fun for me.”

  There was nothing I could say. I had no way of stopping her.

  “So here’s your choice: your cousin, the boy who’s technically a virgin, your beloved Kit, that feisty girl I’ve got captive upstairs, or your pathetic neighbour, the User who thinks he’s tricky.”

  None of them was acceptable. Killing anyone was just wrong, never mind my brother, the girl I wanted to be with and a guy I knew… Okay, so Nick wasn’t exactly a best friend but that didn’t mean I had the right to sign his death warrant. That she would even push such a fucked-up choice on me blew my last fuse. Rage filled me. “I will find a way to kill you.”

  “That’s not one of your options, Petie. You’ve got two hours. I’ll be back to take your choice.”

  She left. I wanted to go after her and smash the brains out of her head. If I’d thought I’d get away with that, I would have damn well done it. There was no way she’d let her Animates be capable of harming her. I didn’t care if it killed me. She wasn’t touching any of them, not if I could help it.

  Cal came back into the room, face slack. “What was that all about? She didn’t find out about the mini-bar…”

  “She’s just a fucking psychopath.”

  “Oh?”

  I had to think. There had to be some way to stop her. Cal was watching me curiously when I turned his way again. “Wouldn’t happen to have your manual, would you?”

  He frowned at me. “Manual?”

  Right. Shit! That was a Scottish thing. Cal had probably been raised illegally. No Adjustment Therapist for him. “Never mind.”

  I lay back down, banging my head off the headboard. There had to be something I could do.

  “Can you quit that? Please?” He sounded rattled.

  “Fuck! Fuck!”

  I had two hours to come up with a plan. My friend’s lives were on the line. Britt was a complete psychopath. Even if I had the moral deficiency to enable me to make a choice like that, she’d ignore my decision and kill them all anyway. She wasn’t giving me a chance to save anyone; she was just trying to torture me. I had to find a way out.

  Forty-One - Nick

  I met Mickey at Pete’s flat. He was relieved when I’d called him, after some initial pissy-ness for the whole knocking-him-unconscious thing before, and he told me he’d gotten another User involved to help us out. I put the beer down after I’d drained it. He sat down and lowered the sound on the shitty vamp opera.

  “Christ that was good,” I said, flopping down beside him and just enjoying the comfy seat.

  “So she got Pete back?”

  “That’s about the size of it,” I told him, grabbing another beer from the ice bucket under the coffee table. “My magic fucked off, and it’s not come back.”

  “Shit. I still don’t get how it happened. How come we got separated?” He’d emptied about six bottles as far as I could see before I got there. He cracked another.

  “She hit us with a greatest fears spell when we were leaving.” The teleport had been hers. The bitch had let us out of there just to mess with us.

  “Greatest fears?” His voice slurred a little.

  “Mine’s not having my magic. Pete’s was joining the Royal Guard. You got separated because yours was something else.” I did wonder what, but he didn’t seem overly eager to divulge.

  “Right,” he said, guzzling some more beer down.

  “And you were never dead, like I was saying on the phone. I just made it look that way to get Pete back.”

  “Uh-huh,” he said, gazing at the TV.

  “So who is this guy, the User you’ve roped in?” I took a sip of my second beer, determined not to get sloshed like he was. I needed to be sharp. Without my magic, my brain was all I had left. I wanted it functioning properly.

  “Just a guy. We know him from school.”

  “Okay. So, what’s the plan?”

  “We need to get the bitch to rip up Pete’s contract. Doesn’t seem likely now though, not when she’s been given him back by the Guard. I guess we need to find the contract and destroy it ourselves. Anyway, if we can get that contract destroyed he’ll sign yours. Tim’s not interested in him.”

  Curious, I thought. “Why’s he bothering to help then?”

  “He’s a friend. Christ, what are you the grand inquisitor or something?”

  “Okay, then.” I didn’t really care, anyway. “What level is he?”

  “Eight, maybe nine now. Who knows?”

  If he’d known a level 8, he never would have called me in. It
didn’t make sense. I was starting to worry about Mickey and his unanswered greatest fear.

  “Did you face your fear?” I had to know. If he was still wallowing in it, he could be a massive liability. Not that I wasn’t, but then I wasn’t drowning myself in beer.

  “Of course,” he said, sounding offended.

  “What was it then?”

  He snorted. “Like I’m telling you.”

  “But you did face it? You had some sort of epiphany and the fear was gone, right?”

  He smiled slackly. “That’s what that was.”

  “Right, good. Okay then.” The booze was probably more about his friends being held captive. The plan had almost worked as well. Almost wasn’t good enough. “Have you got a pen?”

  He shrugged. “Pete’s flat. You’ll need to rake.”

  He motioned to the stack of papers on the coffee table. I had a rummage and came up empty handed. Getting up, I headed for the kitchen and started opening drawers.

  “Who goes there?”

  I jumped back from the drawer. “What the hell?”

  It was most likely an A.I. of some sort; maybe of the burglar detector variety. I opened the drawer fully. Nothing jumped out at me. I shut it again.

  “You don’t sound familiar.” The disembodied voice sounded suspicious.

  “Well, neither do you,” I told him, whoever he was. “Can you tell me where I might find a pen?”

  “What do I look like, a lost property office?”

  “I don’t know what you look like.”

  “And you never will. Get out before I call the police.”

  “Don’t call the police. I’m a friend of Pete’s.”

  “I’ve only got your word for that. Where’s Pete?”

  “He’s not here. Mickey is.”

  “Mickey’s got no right to be here when Pete’s not in. He’s a loiterer. Loiterers!”

  I pinpointed the voice to an old radio. Strange. Most A.I.’s liked to be able to move around. Why anyone would put artificial intelligence into something that couldn’t move was beyond me. I decided to cut my losses. I’d go home and grab a pen from there. I closed the kitchen door and looked in on Mickey. He was asleep on the couch. I closed the door over and left him to sleep. It was probably better if he didn’t wake up anytime soon. I went across the hall, took a shower and changed into clean dry clothes without any chains on them. I found a pen and put it in my pocket alongside the contract I’d drafted. Then I went back to Pete’s place, picked my beer back up and waited next to Pete’s sleeping cousin.

  Forty-Two - Kit

  Britt wasn’t long in coming back. She sang softly to herself as she made her way to the wet bar. Pouring for two, she filled the short glasses and brought them over to the coffee table.

  “Well, that’s Pete been given his deadline. I wonder what decision he’ll make. I’m thinking you and that cousin of his are a little more important than a neighbour, but who knows how he’ll make his choice? It’s exciting stuff.” She was babbling. It was irritating, but more than that I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about and I didn’t want to have to ask. She took a drink and hummed under breath after the swallow.

  “Who do you think you are?” I asked.

  “I’m Britt. You’re one of my pets right now. I know who I am. I don’t need anyone to tell me.”

  “You’re an ugly talentless nutcase,” I snapped.

  She laughed. “You are so funny, Kitty-cat. Such a shame you’re interested in that trouser-sniffing cousin of Petie’s. You never stood a chance. So blind. You could have been with Pete instead. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been killed. One tiny little choice made differently and your entire life might have been less tragic. Isn’t it sad? It makes me think. I’m glad I’m not you.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mickey wasn’t gay, and I didn’t like the insinuation that he was. He’d had girlfriends, just not the right one. This woman was completely insane. She was making shit up to try and make me cry or something. I wasn’t falling for it.

  “Don’t I? Petie’s done nothing but think of you since I’ve had him here. I even sent in one of my clones and he turned her down.”

  I snorted. “You’re not as pretty as you think.”

  “I don’t think. I know. Men throw themselves at me, offering their lives to me for the promise of a kiss. Does that ever happen to you, Kit?” She gave me a pout before she downed the rest of the alcohol in her glass. “Do men ever even look at you?”

  “Apparently Petie does,” I snapped back, tearing her stupid story apart. I know I’m not stick-thin but I’m hardly morbidly obese, either. A size sixteen does not an elephant make. I glared at her.

  “Well… there’s a big difference between love and lust,” she said, picking up the second glass and leaning back in her seat. “If only you could see the differences yourself.”

  I refused to be drawn into her twisted conversation any further. She was only enraging me. Whatever she had planned, I was powerless to stop, but if I got the chance I was going to take her down with me.

  She continued poking at me with her ridiculous lies and drinking her stupid whiskey. The booze reeked. I wished I wasn’t still feeling sick. It was making it that much worse. She glanced at the clock above the bar a handful of times. When she finally got up, I knew this was it.

  “It’s time. I’ll be right back!”

  Forty-Three - Nick

  Mickey was snoring and dripping beer from the bottle in his slack hand into the space between the couch cushions. I contemplated taking the bottle away, but I didn’t want to wake him up. I was still thinking about it when the guy teleported in. I looked up and stepped back warily. The ginger guy from the castle looked at me. His blank expression didn’t change.

  “You’re Mickey’s friend?” I was uneasy at the very thought.

  “That would be right,” he said, glancing Mickey’s way and sighing briefly. “You must be Pete’s neighbour, Nick.”

  “Eh, aye and your name is?”

  “He never said, then?” He didn’t seem surprised. “It’s Tim. Shall we get going before he wakes up?”

  “One thing,” I said. “She put me under a greatest fear spell. I can’t use magic until it breaks.”

  He sighed. “You couldn’t break it?”

  “I wasn’t sure how.”

  “Whatever,” he muttered, snapping his fingers. “You’re good to go.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  “The plan?” He gave me something resembling a smile. “Follow my lead.”

  Very reassuring and only a little bit creepy. He grabbed my wrist, and we were standing in Britt’s penthouse suite an instant later.

  “Nick! What took you?” Kit asked, sounding hesitantly relieved.

  “We’re here now.” I could tell she’d been bound, my magic back and in full working order. I broke the spell easily enough.

  She got up and hugged me for it. Then she stepped back quickly, folding her arms. “Thanks.”

  “Is that a yes to a real date?” I figured I might as well chance it.

  “Britt’s with Pete,” Tim spoiled the moment, glowering at us as if he didn’t approve. The guy had a foot long stick up his bony arse.

  “What do we do?” Kit shoved her shoes on and looked at me. “Who’s he?”

  I shrugged. “Mickey’s pal. He’s higher level than me.”

  “So we can take her?”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Tim said. “You two should leave.”

  He was a total downer. I couldn’t imagine Mickey being friends with him. There was something weird about this whole set up. Kit batted my arm back when I tried to put it around her.

  “We need that contract. I’m not leaving without Pete.”

  “I’ll bring him back,” Tim told us, going towards the doors.

  I just didn’t trust him and with good reason, I thought. “He works for the King.”

  Kit’s eyes widened. She hit me. “You br
ought a recruiter? Are you nuts?”

  “Tell it to Mickey.”

  “Get the hell out of here, now.” Tim wasn’t messing around.

  Kit frowned at him. “You’re not taking Pete for the Guard.”

  “The Guard doesn’t want him.”

  The whole conversation was giving me a headache. I really didn’t want to be standing around when Britt got back. I never wanted my magic taken from me again.

  Kit moved back when I tried to grab her again. She put the couch between us.

  “No!”

  “Oh for…” Tim flicked his wrist at us. When I blinked, we were back at Mickey’s flat. Kit staggered back in her heels, bumping into the couch. I helped her steady herself. She stared at me.

  “What just happened?”

  Forty-Four - Pete

  Britt came back as promised, two hours on the dot from the second she left before. Cal shot me a worried look. I was fairly sure he was concerned I was going to attempt something insane and that she might think he was somehow involved. He was overly bothered by the thought of getting in trouble.

  The involuntary bow pissed me off, but I figured I was better served saving my energy for the murder attempt I was cooking up in my half-baked brain. Britt wasted no time sending Cal out of the room. He gave me one last subtle headshake on his way out and then I was left alone with her, in her stupid flimsy silk robe that was partially see through. That awe I’d felt when she’d first sought me out was back. She smiled at me knowingly. It was something she could turn on like a tap. I wanted to punch her extraordinarily beautiful face.

  “You’ve made your choice?”

  “Screw you,” I said, wincing at the pain in my head the second after I said it.

  “Now, now, Petie. Is that any way to talk to your master?”

  I gritted my teeth. My right hand curled into a fist. I wanted to hit her. I wanted to do it. She cocked her head at me.

  “I think not,” she told me, taking my left hand and placing it on her shoulder. “That’s better.”