Jocelynn Drake - [Asylum Tales 02]

by Dead Mans Deal

  The ogre recovered from his bespelled wonder and charged me with a roar, raising his meat cleaver high. Heart pumping, I quickly shifted, sidestepping him at the last second so that he flew past me through the opening. I jumped inside the paper yard and waved my hands up in the air. The remains of the fence mended in a flash and wrapped around the ogre, trapping him in a steel net. He fell over with an angry shout, his arms locked against his body as he thrashed about.

  Leaning over him, I reached through the chain-link fence and pressed two fingers to the head of the meat cleaver, repeating the words I had uttered before. The metal blade melted like ice cream on a summer sidewalk, soaking into his pants. Sure, he was still far from harmless, but at least he wasn’t waving a meat cleaver around like some demented butcher. I could do without any fresh nightmares to haunt me—I already had plenty.

  Footsteps across the gravel-covered pavement drew my attention away from my prisoner. His mad-cow bellowing had drawn his companions. Three more ogres were running in my direction, knives drawn. As I desperately scrambled for another defensive spell, my eyes lit on a patch of dirt and fine gravel a couple feet away from me. Running to the patch, I slid beside it, falling to my knees. I scooped up a handful, my short fingernails scraping against the concrete. Muttering another spell that I had never had the chance to work before, I held my hand open before my mouth and blew out a steady stream of air. The wind kicked up at my back, sweeping down across the ground before lifting up into the chests of the approaching ogres.

  They slowed as they lifted their arms to shield their eyes. I squeezed my own eyes shut, straining to hear their footsteps over the wind that grew in its ferocity. The spell wasn’t strong enough to generate a wind that could stop the ogres, but then I wasn’t trying to do that. The scuff of feet on concrete sounded close, but it also sounded as if they were approaching much slower. Someone cursed in a gruff voice before something large hit the ground. Holding my breath, I waited, body tensed. They were damn close. I could hear the rustle of their clothes as they moved. A part of me was waiting to feel the ripping of flesh as a knife dug deep.

  It wasn’t until I heard two more heavy thuds hit the ground near me that I breathed a sigh of relief. I murmured a few words and lowered my hands to the ground as if I was pressing the air to the earth. The wind slowed and died down.

  Lifting the collar of my T-shirt, I ducked my face inside, wiping my eyes with the interior of the shirt before daring to open them. Two ogres lay on the ground less than three feet away, their snores reverberating through the silent air. The third one was a little farther away, curled up into a ball on his side, while the ass wrapped in the fence had even dozed off. It had been a little closer than I would have liked, but it worked, and so far, no one had been killed.

  The spell was called Sandman’s Kiss, and I had never worked it before. However, I had used other sleep spells before so I knew the theory behind it. I was also pretty decent at manipulating the weather. It was only a matter of combining a few things to get the Sandman’s Kiss working. The dirt on the ground was twisted into a sleep agent and the wind was the delivery method to get it into their eyes. The only problem was that I was fucked if I was stupid enough to get it in my eyes.

  With a grunt, I rose back to my feet and brushed off my hands on my jeans. The sleep spell lasted roughly an hour on humans and like-size creatures. I was hoping that it would last at least half as long on something the size of an ogre. I couldn’t imagine that it would take me that long to locate and deal with Reave. My best chance for handling the dark elf was to catch him by surprise.

  Unfortunately, it looked like the shouting ogre had ruined that for me. A heavy metal door screeched as it was pushed open and an ogre leaned out to look around. Spotting me, he frowned, his large brow furrowing so that his eyes were cast in shadow. My steps slowed as I warily approached the building while he watched me.

  “You Gage?” he said almost in a grunt.

  “Yeah,” I called, stopping several feet away with my hands out to my sides, waiting for the attack to come.

  The ogre grunted again. “Reave’s waiting for you.” He moved back into the building but one hand held the edge of the door, propping it open for me. Yeah, I wasn’t so comfortable with that. When I entered the dark building, I would be at a disadvantage as my eyes struggled to adjust from the bright sunlight I was currently standing in.

  Spreading my legs wide, I reached out with both hands, feeling the power filling my frame as I magically grasped the edge of the door. With a jerk, I pulled it free of both the ogre’s grip and the doorframe. The metal door groaned and shrieked as it jumped from the building and flew across the empty yard. The ogre lurched back and I could hear shouting from inside the old paper mill as sunlight poured unexpectedly into its entrance.

  I waved one hand at the guard and he stepped back into the shadows as I approached. Pausing just over the threshold, I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, trying desperately to discern more than vague shapes of large creatures moving around in the shadows. An increase in the sound of shuffling feet on gritty concrete nearly had me taking a step back in to the yard, but I couldn’t backpedal. I needed to take out Reave, or at the very least hand him over to the Towers so that they would stop their madness.

  Using the same spell I had called up to rip the door off its hinges, I pushed outward through the building. Sounds of stumbling filled the silence. Large crates fell over and crashed to the ground, and still I pushed until the energy reached the outer walls. Wood creaked and groaned before one board after another flew off the large windows that lined the walls. Loud guttural shouts echoed through the empty building as large squares of light shot through the air to land in regular patches on the floor. The shadows receded, but then so did the dark figures that had been looming in the blackness, waiting for me.

  As I stepped onto the main floor of the mill, I found that I was alone except for the ogre who had held the door open. There was some shuffling coming from the deeper shadows near the back of the warehouse and behind some of the large machinery that had never been taken from the building. I didn’t see any new giant-size lawn ornaments, to my relief. Apparently none of the trolls had been caught by the light. I didn’t mind beating the shit out of these assholes, but I was trying to avoid killing anyone if I could help it. Well, anyone but Reave.

  Loud clapping jerked my head up to a second-floor catwalk that looked down on the main floor. Reave was standing overhead, a twisted grin on his thin lips. “Well, this is a surprise. Someone isn’t too worried about the Towers, now, is he?”

  “Why should I worry about the Towers when you’re determined to destroy us all?” I shouted, tapping down the urge to rip him off the catwalk with a surge of energy. I didn’t need to. With a hiss, Reave vaulted over the rusted metal railing and landed lightly on his toes right in front of me.

  “That’s just it. None of us should feel the need to worry about how the Towers will react,” he snarled. “You’re all power-hungry monsters determined to wipe us from the earth. You need to be stopped.”

  “Yes, they need to be stopped.” I sidestepped him, trying to keep a comfortable distance between us as we circled each other. “But whatever you’ve got planned is going to get everyone killed when a new war breaks out. That’s what you’re driving us toward. Not freedom. Just death.” I was unarmed except for my magic and Reave was fucking fast. The meat cleaver I melted earlier was starting to look pretty damn good.

  “You’re afraid—”

  “Of course I’m fucking scared! You’re threatening my family and friends. You’re threatening millions of people who have never done a damned thing to you.”

  Reave sprang at me, swinging his fist at my face. I ducked away at the last second, but it was close enough that I could feel the breeze against the tip of my nose. I threw a couple punches at him but never connected. The bastard was too fast.

  Large beefy arms wrapped around my chest from behind, pinning my arms to my
sides. The arms squeezed my chest, making it difficult to draw a deep breath. I had forgotten about the ogre who had opened the door for me. He’d snuck up on me while I was busy with Reave.

  The dark elf laughed as he came closer, watching me struggle. I kicked out with both feet, hitting Reave in the chest with enough force to send him stumbling backward onto his ass. At the same time I jerked my head back, breaking the ogre’s nose when it crashed into his face. The ogre dropped me on a howl of pain as he backpedaled.

  Landing easily, I turned in a circle on my toes, waving my arms in the air as I called together large amounts of magical energy. The air crackled and my skin tingled against the charge as I was gathering. This wasn’t so much a spell as it was me forcibly moving around energy. Regardless, Gideon was going to put my ass in a sling any second now, but I couldn’t stop. As I turned to face the ogre on my second turn, I pushed the energy outward, knocking him on his back and thrusting him out of the building through the open doorway. I continued to spin, turning back to face Reave in time to see him rise to his feet. Throwing my arms out to my sides, I shoved the trolls gathered in the shadows against the wall, leaving me alone to deal with the Svartálfar.

  “I want the names of the people you plan to sell the information to,” I demanded, taking a step toward the dark elf.

  “Information? What information?” he replied with a grin.

  “The locations of the Towers. How many do you know?” I didn’t care that the trolls and ogres in the area could probably hear me. I would take them all out, destroy the entire building if I had to in hopes of protecting the people of Low Town. And to do that, I had to stop the information that Reave was trying to traffic.

  The dark elf’s voice was low and cold when he spoke. “All of them. All seven.”

  I kept my face blank, but inside I breathed a sigh of relief. He was still missing one. Unfortunately, knowledge of even one Tower location was one too many.

  With a wave of my hand, I shoved some raw energy at Reave, pushing him across the floor until his back was pressed against a support beam in the middle of the warehouse. His arms were pinned to his sides. Gritting his teeth, he struggled against the spell that held him captive, but he was trapped as long as I could concentrate on holding him to the beam.

  “Who are the people trying to buy the information?” I asked again.

  “And why should I tell you?”

  “Because this has to end. These people trying to directly assault the Towers need to be stopped before they kill us all in another war.”

  “You’re right. This does have to end, but it’s the Towers that need to fall. The people of this world won’t continue to bow to their whims. We’re done,” he said with a low growl.

  “I understand your frustration and hatred, but—”

  “You understand?” Reave tipped his head back and laughed, the horrible and slightly mad sound echoing through the large room. “You understand nothing. You’re one of them. You’re only trying to protect your own interests in hopes that they’ll let you into their exclusive club again.”

  “Not if I can help it.” I reached back with my right fist and plowed it into his face, hitting him across the cheekbone and snapping his head back so that it bonged off the metal support beam. “Tell me their names!”

  “No,” Reave grunted. “The Towers need to be stopped.”

  I fisted my hand again to hit him but didn’t. Beating Reave senseless wasn’t going to get the information out of him and I wasn’t skilled enough with the kind of enchantment spells I would need to go digging around in his brain for the information. He needed to be handed over to the Towers so that they could pry out the information and stop the chaos that was swirling around the world.

  “Fine,” I said, dropping my hand back to my side. Reave watched me through narrowed eyes, waiting for me to attack again. “You’re the only one who knows all the locations. The information has been contained. I’ll hand you over to the Towers. They’ll kill you and stop hurting the rest of the world in an effort to protect themselves.”

  The Svartálfar gave a low chuckle that made my skin crawl. I took a step back, glaring at him, as his laughing ground to a halt. “That’s where you’re wrong, warlock.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “After the destruction of Indianapolis, I had a feeling that you’d come knocking on my door and I needed a little insurance.” Reave paused and licked his lips as he watched me like I was a bug under a magnifying glass. I was hardly breathing, waiting to find out who else he had blessed with this damning information, but I was afraid that I already knew. “Dear Robert has been such a valuable employee and he has such a hatred for the Towers that I knew he’d want to help. So I pulled him aside and helped him memorize each location. Now he’ll spit out the information to anyone who asks and he won’t be able to stop himself.”

  I sucked in a harsh breath as I stumbled a step backward. That was where my brother had disappeared yesterday. It wasn’t about getting a change of clothes. He was checking in with Reave.

  I cursed, suddenly sick to my stomach. If I took Reave to the Towers now, they would pull loose the information on Robert as well. They would demand his life along with Reave’s. My mind scrambled, trying to find a way to hand over Reave without trapping Robert as well but I couldn’t think of anything. If I killed Reave myself, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to convince the council that the threat had been taken care of. I needed the Svartálfar alive with his mind intact to hand over to the Towers if we were to survive this mess.

  Stunned by Reave’s revelation, I forgot about the binding spell. Reave leaped at me, plowing a fist into my gut before I could react. I stumbled but caught myself before I could fall on my ass. Rage pumped in my veins, burning a new hole through my soul. Reave had endangered my brother’s life with his plans. He endangered us all. I’d put this asshole on ice somewhere until I could find a way to protect Robert and then I’d hand him over for torture in the Towers.

  “You wanted to take on a warlock. Well, now you’ve got one,” I growled.

  A wide grin slithered across Reave’s face as he palmed a long, curved blade that had been hanging at his side. “You? You’re no warlock.” He chuckled. “You’re some kid who couldn’t cut it with the other grown-ups, so you ran. And now I’m going to cut you down.” The dark elf took a step, slicing at me with the curved blade in his right hand. I dodged it in time, watching the knife swing wide of me, but it was the unseen blade in his left hand that got me, digging into my side before I could react.

  I groaned, my body clenching and stiffening as the pain exploded out from my side. Reave jerked the blade free, twisting it as he pulled. I clapped my hand over the wound, struggling to slow the bleeding as I scrambled for a new spell that would knock Reave unconscious without taking his head off in the process. Subtle spells weren’t my specialty.

  Grinning, Reave slashed with both knives, backing me up. This was fucking ridiculous. I was trying to fight him with magic when I didn’t need to. Releasing my side, I dodged one blade while blocking his other arm with mine as it attempted to slash across my neck. My side screamed and my back throbbed, but I ignored the pain as I lifted my leg and kicked him in the knee. Reave moved at the last second and I only clipped it at an angle, but it was enough to get the dark elf to warily back off while favoring that leg.

  “I think we’ve had enough fun for one day, boy,” he said. “You’ve got more to worry about than just me.” The bastard came at me fast. I dodged and blocked what I could, but the pain in my side and steady loss of blood was slowing me down. In the end, it was a foot in the sternum that put me on my back in the dusty warehouse. I jerked upright again with a groan, but all I caught was a glimpse of Reave’s back as he sprinted out of the open doorway, disappearing into the bright midday glare of the fenced-in courtyard.

  Another groan slipped past my clenched teeth as I got to my feet and ran to the doorway, grasping my side with my left hand. My feet ski
dded through the dirt and gravel as I stopped in the open area and looked for Reave, but he was already gone. The ogres I had knocked out were still lying on the ground, but the one who opened the door was missing. He shouldn’t have been able to get away that fast, but I had a feeling he had sprinted to wherever Reave’s car was stashed and started it in the event that the Svartálfar would need a fast getaway.

  “Fuck!” I shouted. I shuffled across the courtyard, holding my side, grumbling about Reave, the Towers, and my own stupidity. I even paused long enough to kick one of the sleeping ogres in the head. He snorted once and rolled over before continuing to sleep, undisturbed.

  When I reached my SUV, I stood next to the front grille and lifted my shirt to look at the cut. It didn’t look that big, but the bleeding hadn’t slowed. A good portion of my shirt and the left side of my jeans were soaked. Swearing again, I pulled the wound closed with my left hand while whispering a quick healing spell. I used just enough magic to knit the interior wounds and close the skin. I didn’t want to waste the energy on the blood or the pain.

  With a sigh, I leaned against the grille and glared at the old paper mill. This trip had been a disaster. Reave had fled and I had no idea if he was even going to remain in the area now. Robert had the information, making him a massive target. I was hoping my brother thought he still needed me. Strangling Reave sounded so good, but a living Reave with brain intact was the only thing that was going to stop the Towers. But now that seemed impossible since I didn’t have a clue as to where he had gone.

  As I stood there, trying to pull together the energy to move, I heard a strange, leathery, flapping noise. Wincing, I pushed back to my feet and twisted around, looking for the source of the noise. I didn’t think it was Reave—the bastard had to be at the edge of town by now—and it wasn’t the sort of noise that would come from an ogre. As the sound got closer, I looked up to see something I had never expected to see within the confines of Low Town.