Keepers & Killers (The Alchemy Series)

by Augustine, Donna

  "We're at The Cave." He waited until I caught up to him. "Stay close to me. This place can be a bit unsavory," he said and he put a hand on the small of my back as we walked toward a solid steel door that swung open as we neared it. A strange girl with purple streaked hair stood by the door but didn't speak as she closed it after us.

  "What is this place?" My first impression, or what I could see of it as my eyes adjusted to the dim light, was that it was a complete dump. The second was that we were sorely out of place; every pair of eyes landed on us, and they weren't friendly either.

  "It's where the Fae and the wolves hang out when they are on our side and don't want to be near humans. I'm sure you'll recognize a lot of them."

  As I scanned the room, I realized I did. "Should we be here, after what Vitor said?"

  "This is my town. Nobody tells me where I can go." His hand on my back pushed me forward.

  I nearly gagged on my first breath of heavy smoke filled the air. It didn't smell like pot, but it wasn't cigarettes either. Men and women lounged about as a weird song I'd never heard played loudly, thumping bass vibrating the floor. The men outnumbered the women by about two to one, and the females that were present all seemed to be coupled up. No little pockets of two or three girls grouped, like you'd expect to see in normal club.

  "Why are there no single women?" I asked. I'd always gotten a chauvinist vibe from the wolves and I was feeling vindicated and annoyed all at once.

  "They only come here with men," he replied, having no idea how that would irritate me.

  "Why? They can't be without a man?" My voice started to rise.

  "Maybe at some point you can go over there and start a women's lib. Right now, I've got bigger concerns. That's my guy, in the corner."

  I looked across the smoke filled room to the corner where a weird little man sat. "It figures you wouldn't care. You and your people, that's all you worry about."

  His arm tightened around me as we changed direction suddenly. He yanked me into a dark nook and his body blocked out the room.

  "This isn't the place." His words were serious but I refused to be put off.

  "Easy for you to…"

  "Stop and listen to me; half of the men in here would like to tear you from limb to limb for what you did to Tracker. They'd like to kill me for allowing it."

  I knew he was right. I had also started to feel a sense of security when I was with him. No one ever messed with him, so if he was really concerned about that, he wouldn't have brought me here. "Why did you even bring me here?" I asked, as I realized there had to be another intent.

  "Because I needed them to see you are off limits." He angled closer and I didn't know myself what he was about to do. His hand cupped the side of my head. The light bulb went off then. He was making it look like I wasn't just with him, I was with him. I just wish it felt as fake as it was supposed to be, instead of the close contact sending my hormones all into a tizzy.

  I wanted him to lean closer at the same time I was afraid he'd do just that. In my nervousness, I started to blather, "Don't you guys have a news letter or some other means of getting the word out?"

  "No, and even if we did," he leaned in close enough that I could feel the stubble on his face graze my neck, "it wouldn't be nearly as much fun as this."

  Did he just nibble on my ear lobe?

  He leaned his head back but his body still hovered close to mine. His eyes spoke volumes. This was quickly turning from a sham display into the real thing.

  "So what else are we doing here?" I said, as I tried to steer this back into a safer zone. I was a touch disappointed when it worked and I saw his face grow serious again.

  "The guy in the corner runs this place. He might have some answers."

  He looked concerned. He had the same hunch I did: whoever this senator was, he was bad news. He finally stepped back and we headed over to the owner.

  He was an odd little man with almost black hair, but not quite. Even in the dim light, a strange greenish highlight shimmered.

  "Burrom," Cormac greeted the stumpy little man. Burrom simply nodded in the direction of a hallway off the back of the main room. He stood up from his stool, proving just how short he was. He was smoking a pipe with whatever strange tobacco was filling this place with a weird odor. It trailed behind as we followed him into a room that was surprisingly clean, compared to the club. Inside was a monitor, displaying a picture of the hallway and also several different vantage points of the club . A rustic looking table that appeared to serve as a desk sat in the corner with a single chair. It appeared he didn't do much entertaining in here.

  "You know you're going to get me in hot water," Burrom finally spoke. His voice sounded surprisingly deep and mismatched for his size. "I don't get involved and I don't take sides."

  "And you know you don't want to piss me off. Now, what do you know? And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," Cormac said in his scary voice. At least I'd think it was his scary voice if I were Burrom.

  "I don't know much. Just that he's not right. He only came in here once, with Tracker." He did a little hop to get himself seated upon the table.

  "You know more than that." Cormac declared.

  "It's only a hunch."

  "Tell me." He took a step closer to Burrom. Cormac might have been trying to bully information out of him but I had the strange feeling he liked this small Fae.

  "He's not one of us. And by that, I mean neither Fae or Werewolf."

  "Why do you say that?" I asked.

  Burrom hesitated for only a couple of seconds before he tried to explain. "When I met him, Tracker said he was one of them, which I knew for a lie. I knew he wasn't pure Wolf but I figured he was some sort of relation and it was simply a stretch on the truth. We don't normally shake hands, that's a human thing, but he extended his hand to me. I thought he'd assimilated, but something niggled at me, so I threw up a blocker when I grasped his hand." He paused and looked directly to me, "It stops an inflow of energy," he explained and then continued, "I felt something odd. It wasn't a spell, but it sure as hell wasn't human or Wolf either. He was trying to do something to me."

  "What?" I asked.

  "I've got no idea." He shook his head and looked as frustrated by the lack of information as we were. You could tell he wasn't used to being in the dark on anything.

  "Any guess what he might be?" I asked.

  "No."

  "You see him again or hear anything, you call me immediately," Cormac said.

  Burrom nodded. We left his office and we headed out through the club. When the fresh night air hit my lungs, I couldn't take a breath deep enough to cleanse myself of the smog we'd just left. I watched Cormac's Ferrari pull up; the kid threw him his keys and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

  I was just about to walk around to my side of the car when Cormac bum rushed me and tackled me to the ground. My body hit the pavement as I felt the burn of flesh as it was shaved off my body as I slid along the rough surface with two hundred plus pounds sliding on top of me. My first thought was to start yelling that just because I could take a beating didn't mean they should think it was okay to rough me up all the time. Before I could say anything, bullets whizzed past my head and ricocheted through the alley answering the question. His entire weight crushed down upon me.

  "Cormac?" I asked, hoping the dead weight didn't mean what I thought.

  Nothing.

  "Cormac!" My voice sounded slightly hysterical to even me.

  I didn't hear anymore bullets and I needed to get him out of there. From what I did know, Alchemists could take a beating, I knew that from personal experience. What I didn't know was how much of one. There were limits. Cormac had reminded me on several occasions that we could be killed.

  As I felt the sticky warmth between our bodies, I knew that even with our capabilities, you still needed blood. If he bled out, it would be game over. I pushed at him with a strength I didn't know I had and rolled out from underneath him. I didn't
wait even a second before I grabbed his arms and started to drag all six feet plus of him toward the passenger side of the car. If I hadn't had so much adrenaline pumping, I'm not sure I would have made it, but I had to get him out of the open. The car was the nearest cover in an alley where we were caught like fish in a barrel. When nothing shot at us again, I assumed the shooter had taken off.

  I should've looked around, but I didn't, so intent on dragging his lifeless body to the car. I was in pure reaction mode. Until a bullet whizzed so close to me I felt it move a lock of hair away from my face.

  Then I saw him. The senator stood in the alley, about ten feet from me. Silver temples, accented dark hair. He was impeccably dressed in an expensive suit with cuff links that peaked out of the sleeves and shoes that gleamed. But no gun.

  "That would be my sniper," he waved toward the rooftop of the building we had just come out of. I saw a man dressed in all black, complete with a ski mask, who stood there with a gun pointed on me. I looked down, a little red dot danced against the white of my shirt.

  I let Cormac's arms fall to the ground and stepped in front of him to shield him from any more bullets, knowing he was hanging on by a thread.

  "What do you want?" I had no other plan than to buy Cormac's body time to repair some of the damage.

  "I want this world and I want you dead. All of you."

  He was bluffing. If he wanted me dead, he'd have me shot right now. "Than do it."

  "Not yet." He was gloating.

  "What are you waiting for?" I goaded in anger. Have I mentioned I have more balls than brains?

  "The right time. Payback." He smiled a sadistic smile.

  "For what?" I couldn't understand the hatred I felt pouring out of him.

  "Because you and your people made me and then turned on me because you couldn't stand that I was superior," he sneered, as he lost some of his superior appearance and control.

  "I didn't turn on anyone."

  Another shot fired and I crouched over Cormac, thinking they were going to try and finish him off. I looked to the building top, and tried to locate the sniper and saw a man I thought was Burrom by his small stature. The small shape did a leaping arch that struck the sniper in the throat with an agility that surprised me. I'd be surprised if he hadn't crushed the sniper's windpipe. So much for questioning him afterward.

  I made a move toward the senator and he jumped back away from me. He was afraid of me. Why? But before I could take another step, bullets rained at our feet.

  I looked up to see Burrom with the gun.

  "I don't know who you are," he called down from the rooftop, "but take your fight elsewhere."

  The senator and I stared at each other as we both debated our options. My gut said Burrom wouldn't shoot me, but I felt torn in two. I wanted to pursue the senator but I didn't know how badly Cormac was injured. I stared at him for another second that Cormac didn't have and I saw him gloat.

  I envisioned ripping him from limb to limb when in actuality I was running back to the car. I found the keys lying close to where we had gone down.

  I looked up to the rooftop where Burrom still stood guard with the gun in his hand. He gave me a nod and indicated he had my back as I quickly - or as quickly as I could - dragged Cormac into the passenger side.

  I jumped into the driver's seat, planning on running the bastard over if he was still standing there, but he was gone. I tried every button on the dash and steering wheel until I figured out how to get the Bluetooth working. "Call Dodd," I said, and hoped Cormac didn't have him stored under some weird pseudonym.

  "Hey Boss. How'd it go?" I heard his deep voice answer.

  "Not good." It took supreme concentration for me to keep the panic from my voice.

  "Jo? Where's Cormac?"

  The panic in Dodd's voice didn't help matters.

  "He's here with me…but barely."

  "What do you mean? Why isn't he speaking?"

  "He took some bullets and I think he might be bleeding out." I looked at Cormac's lifeless form.

  "Does he have a pulse?"

  I reached over with my right hand and tried to get a read, as I flew through the streets.

  "Does he have a pulse?!" Dodd's voice filled the car as he screamed.

  "I'm trying! Hold on!" My hands shook so badly it was hard to feel the faint pulse, but it was there. "Yes."

  "Is he still bleeding?"

  "I think so." I looked over at the pool of blood on the seat under his crumpled form and thought it looked larger than it had been.

  "How far away are you?"

  I knew this area like the back of my hand but I still had to look at the street sign as my brain froze. "Only a couple of blocks away." I ground the car's gears as I tried to shift into fourth.

  "Pull directly into his private garage. I'll make sure all the gates are open and I'll meet you there."

  And then I was alone, or at least it felt like it. Cormac hadn't moved once. My brain replayed the scene and I couldn't remember how many bullets had been fired, maybe too many to count. I glanced over to where he was slumped against the seat and hoped he would start speaking. I'm not the squeamish type but I'd never seen so much blood come from anyone. Stop. Looking. Just drive…you're almost there. I gripped the steering wheel harder and pretended my hands weren't shaking.

  I flew up the ramp into the private garage, everything was open, just as promised. Standing in front of the door, only about ten feet from my trailer, stood Dodd, Dr. Sabrina, who I remembered from the night I'd gotten radiation overdose, Buzz and Ben. I drove the last couple of feet before I hit the brakes.

  Dodd had Cormac out of the car before I'd even screeched to a complete stop.

  "Lay him down and sit right here, Dodd," the doctor instructed as she kneeled next to him without a thought to the pretty white sun dress she wore.

  A tube was already hanging from Dodd's vein and the doctor inserted it into Cormac's arm a second later.

  "Well?" Dodd asked, the first of us to utter the question.

  She felt his pulse, opened his lids and gazed into his eyes with a light. "We're good."

  "Should we move him?" Ben chimed in, as we all looked at Cormac, lifeless on the ground.

  "I wouldn't bother. He'll be up soon enough. With the new injection of blood, he'll be standing on his own in another ten minutes."

  I felt the tension slip away like a storm wind blowing in after a boiling summer day, bringing a new set of issues with it.

  "What happened?" It was clear Dodd instinctively took charge when Cormac couldn't, and his ease in the position made me wonder how often that was.

  I gave them all a quick recap as Dodd grilled me for details I couldn't answer.

  "This doesn't make sense. How could a sniper have snuck up on Cormac? He smells a sniper from ten miles away. There has to be more. What were you doing?" They all stared at me.

  "I don't know how. He just did. That's all I remember," I said defensively. Why was everyone looking at me as if it was my fault?

  "And when you pulled away, the senator was just gone?" Dodd continued to interrogate me.

  "Yes. Can you grill me later after we know he's okay?" I asked, I was still uneasy at the sight of him lying there. I had an irrational urge to kick him and scream at him to sit up.

  "Relax. Doc gave us the thumbs up." I saw him look over at my trailer. "Hey, do you have any beer in there?"

  I threw my hands up, aghast at the question. "No, I don't."

  "That sucks. Okay, so you thought he was scared of you?" The last question had a tone I found hard not to be insulted by.

  "Yes. I think he was scared of me." I spoke a bit slower to get my point across.

  "If that was the case, why didn't you take a shot at him?" He shifted in his spot still seated next to Cormac.

  Sabrina knelt down next to the two of them and started to withdraw the transfusion of Dodd's blood.

  "I didn't try to take a shot because of your almost dead friend? Burrom, on the
roof, with a gun aimed at us?"

  Sabrina looked at me as I talked with my hands as I became more and more agitated.

  "Do you want me to take a look at those?" she asked, looking directly at where my sleeve hung, shredded.

  I held up my arm and got a good look at the road burn already scabbed and healing. "No, I'm fine."

  "I think you could've gotten one good blow in," Dodd said, having trouble letting the subject drop.

  "He was bleeding out on the pavement."

  "Look, no judgment here, I just think I could've pulled off at least one shot is all," he replied, clearly passing judgment.

  "Leave her alone," Cormac said and startled me from my annoyance at Dodd. All eyes fell to him as he started to sit up, not even eight minutes after I'd pulled in. Were the doctor's calculations wrong or was he just one tough S.O.B.? I'd guessed the latter.

  He was on his feet a minute later, looking l a hundred percent, other than the fact he was wearing clothes soaked in blood, riddled with bullet holes, that is.

  "He disappeared completely?" Cormac asked as he took off his bloodied shirt.

  "Yes. You heard all of that?" I asked, a bit startled. Did his brain work better than mine? He'd just almost died blocking bullets meant for me; was it wrong to feel jealous?

  "Nothing? Not a trace?"

  "Yes. That's what I said." I looked at him, so sure on his feet. He was the picture of health again.

  "Dodd, call Burrom and find out what he saw." Then he turned toward me. "You. Don't leave this casino." I watched him walk from the garage.

  I've never been good at following directions. All you have to do is look at my Ikea bureau with the crooked drawers to figure that one out.

  Chapter Five

  "So what do you think?" Lacey asked.

  "Huh?"

  "Jo! You need to pay attention! I just can't figure him out," Lacey complained as she lounged on my couch, feet on the armrest, while she waited for her toenails to dry.

  I looked down at my phone again. I called Rick the moment Cormac left yesterday, in hopes of setting up a meeting. It was two in the afternoon the next day and still no call back? I was starting to think he wasn't that anxious to see me.