by John Corwin
"Don't make me do it myself," Shelton said.
"You touch my car and we'll have a problem," the man replied. "I'm a lawyer and I'll sue your ass back to the Dark Ages."
"You mother fu—"
"Hey!" I grabbed Shelton and jerked him back inside the car.
"But—"
"Just hush, okay?" I told him.
The lawyer smirked. "That's what I thought."
I clenched my teeth and got out of the car. "How about I make this easy for you." I walked over to his car and gave it a nice firm shove. Rubber squealed and smoked as the car slid to the left, positioning it right between the lines as god intended it.
"What—how?" the lawyer gibbered. "That's impossible!"
Shelton slid into the driver seat and piloted our car into the now-open parking spot.
I wiped my hands together and grinned at the lawyer. "Next time you park like that, I'll wad your car up into a ball and shove it up your ass, okay?"
Shelton roared with laughter. "That's a good one, man."
The lawyer pulled out a phone. "I'm calling the cops!"
Shelton discreetly slid out his wand and flicked it. The phone sparked and smoke poured through cracks in the screen. "Aww, man, this just isn't your day, is it?"
"My new phone!" the lawyer wailed.
We left him crying in the parking lot and ordered pizza at the counter.
Shelton called Cinder while we waited on the pizza and asked him to meet us. The brick ovens in the community seating area made the room several degrees warmer, but not enough to be uncomfortable. We found a couple of chairs at the table closest to the door and waited on the food.
"I feel a little guilty for shoving that guy's car," I told Shelton when he ended the call. "I should know better than to exhibit my abilities in front of noms."
"Meh." Shelton waved it off. "That guy was a grade-A douchebag. Even if he tells anyone, who's gonna believe him?"
A man with slicked back blonde hair and a friendly grin stepped into the seating area. I did a double-take because he looked exactly like—"Cinder, is that you?"
He stepped up to the table and extended a hand. "Hello, Justin, it's been a while. I took an omniarch portal directly here since Shelton said you needed to speak with me."
I shook his hand and marveled at how warm it felt. "It's been less than a week since I saw you."
"Whoa, I like the new look, buddy." Shelton slapped Cinder on the back. "You still hitting up the night clubs?"
Cinder stood stiffly at the end of the table. "Indeed. The patrons are intriguing, and I've learned a great deal about human mating rituals."
"Uh, sounds a bit creepy," I said. "How did you make your skin warmer?"
"I have been experimenting with methods Fjoeruss told me about." Cinder turned to Shelton. "I assume the wedding will proceed as planned?"
"Yep." Shelton took a sip of his beer. "Rehearsal dinner tonight, wedding tomorrow."
"Man, we're really cramming it in, aren't we?" I said.
"There will be a great deal of cramming in," Cinder said. "Tonight we will be cramming at the bachelor party."
Shelton snorted. "What are you going to be cramming, Cinder? Strippers?"
"After watching numerous movies based on bachelor parties, I determined including strippers would be a poor decision." The corners of his mouth tugged down into a gruesome frown. "It seems they usually end up in car trunks or buried in the desert."
Shelton buried his face in his hands in a vain attempt to muffle his laughter.
"No strippers is probably a good idea," I agreed, barely able to keep the grin off my face. Before he could reply, I quickly changed subjects. "Speaking of Fjoeruss, do you know how I can contact him?"
"I apologize if it sounded like I spoke with him recently, Justin." Cinder managed a stiff shrug. "I have not directly heard from him for months."
"What about indirectly?" Shelton asked.
"In exchange for letting him study how I achieved consciousness, he agreed to share his secrets for creating gray men." Cinder stepped back as a server delivered the pizza, though his eyes never left Shelton. "After I fulfilled my part, he assigned one of his gray men to contact me on occasion with information."
"He didn't just hand over the entire recipe?" I asked.
Cinder shook his head. "Fjoeruss is rarely straightforward. His methods are puzzling, but interesting."
"Delegating one of his golems to contact you doesn't sound that puzzling," Shelton said.
"You would be correct," Cinder replied, "but to learn the secret of changing skin color, I had to find the golem hidden in a field of tulips in Holland. For answers to making realistic skin, I had to wrestle women in a mud pit at a bar in Nevada."
My jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? How does any of that help?"
"I believe he wished to show me by example," Cinder said.
"Next time you have to mud wrestle women, let me know," Shelton said. "I've got to get a video of that."
I pressed my lips together to repress a smile. "The important question is, did you win?"
"I was told to lose," Cinder said. "Afterward, the golem with my answers emerged from the crowd and gave me instructions."
I hated to derail the amusing conversation, but we could talk about the adventures of Cinder at the bachelor party. "Getting back to Fjoeruss, can you think of any way to contact him?"
"The last gray man I spoke with is still in my lab," Cinder said. "Once I have gathered all useful information from him, he will presumably return to Fjoeruss. Perhaps I could ask the golem to pass along a message."
"I hope that works," Shelton said.
"May I deliver the message to the golem?" I asked.
Cinder nodded. "Of course."
"Why don't we just follow the golem?" Shelton said.
"I doubt the golem will return to Fjoeruss's current location," I said. "Besides, you know how picky he is about people just dropping by."
Shelton wolfed down a slice of pizza. "Yeah, wouldn't want to get dropped by his elite golems."
After lunch we took the car back to the ranch and from there traveled through an omniarch portal to the underground mansion in Queens Gate. A new one was being built aboveground where the old one had once stood before Daelissa's forces destroyed it and murdered Jeremiah Conroy. The underground one was almost an exact replica and had more or less been my home ever since the war started.
The omniarch sat in a small round cavern. The stairs leading up to the old cellar had been cleared of rubble and were even now being worked on by crews. We went the opposite way, out a door, through a wide corridor and into a large gauntlet room used for practicing magic. Cinder had set aside a portion of the room for his lab.
The gray man sat in a chair, face expressionless, eyes staring straight ahead. Aside from slicked back silver hair and the gray cast to its skin, the golem looked the spitting image of Cinder. Then again, so did all the gray men. Forged in the likeness of their creator, Fjoeruss, they were some of the creepiest creations I'd ever seen—aside from Cinder.
"Never understood why Fjoeruss likes having an army of clones," Shelton grumbled.
"Oh, he has plenty of other ones," I said. "When Mom and I tracked him down at his headquarters last time, I found out the janitorial staff were all golems."
"Four-oh-five, I have need of your service," Cinder said to the motionless golem.
The thing stood and turned its unnerving stone gaze to him.
"I need you to deliver a message to Fjoeruss," Cinder said, seemingly oblivious to how creepy the other golem was. "Justin Slade will give you the message." Cinder stepped back.
"Tell Fjoeruss that unless we have his help, another crystal meteor event could occur," I said. "Even worse, Cephus may open a portal to the void with a new arch he's constructed. We need help breaching a Murk barrier protecting Cephus, the one who attacked Eden."
The golem replied in a dull monotone. "You will receive help by tomorrow."
I
felt my forehead pinch. "Fjoeruss is coming?"
The golem didn't answer.
"Well, at least it's something," Shelton said.
"I suppose." I turned back to the golem. "Did Fjoeruss anticipate us asking for help?"
The golem stared blankly ahead.
"I require information about emotion," Cinder said.
"What do you wish to know?" the golem replied at once.
Cinder looked at me. "Apparently, it was only authorized to answer something specific."
"Classic Fjoeruss," Shelton grumbled.
"It's more than I'd expected." I walked around a curtain and found lifelike limbs and torsos spread out on the floor. "Yeesh!" I jumped back. "It's like a shop of horrors in here."
Shelton stepped around and jumped back. "Christ Almighty, Cinder. Can you put this stuff away when you're finished working on it?"
"Apologies," Cinder said, scooping up arms and legs and dumping them into a chest. "I forgot how unsettling this might look."
"Did you make these?" I asked.
He nodded. "I am practicing making parts now."
Shelton took off his hat and scratched his head. "Next thing you know, he'll make his own girlfriend."
"That is one of my goals," Cinder replied calmly. "The last step—creating the spark—will be the most difficult for me since I am incapable of magic."
"I'm sure you'll figure out something." Shelton slapped his hat on his head.
I went back to the mansion and was instantly accosted by a vicious hellhound. Cutsauce was the first hound I'd ever summoned. He was also the size of a small Chihuahua and not very bright. I picked him up and let him happily lick my face, his brimstone-scented breath making me feel right at home.
"Did you miss your daddy?" I said. "Who's my happy pup?"
He yipped and wiggled in my arms. I put him down and he followed me upstairs where I flopped into bed and took a much-needed nap. Elyssa woke me with a good hard shaking since her tender kisses apparently hadn't done the trick.
"Ungh—is it time already?" I groaned.
"It's time." She brushed her lips across mine. "Up and at-em, sunshine."
I felt groggy and almost put off telling Elyssa about the bad news, but procrastinating wouldn't make it easier. "Before we get started on the festivities, I need to tell you something."
Elyssa's eyes narrowed. "Tell me what?"
"Victus let slip to Cora that I told the council about her background." My throat went dry. "She'd just told me the sky fishers would help. Now they won't because I was an idiot."
She pursed her lips and nodded. "Cora is pretty upset, I guess."
"Yeah." I ran a hand down my face. "She agreed to finish repairs on the skyway, but we just lost a huge advantage."
"Tell me exactly what happened."
I told her everything in detail and waited with bated breath in the hopes she knew of some way to help.
Her forehead wrinkled. "What's this about Victus's boy, Conrad?"
I shrugged. "Cora seemed kind of taken with him for some reason."
"That's odd. I wonder if he reminds Cora of her daughter." Elyssa bit her lower lip. "I think we should go visit her tomorrow after the wedding. Maybe we can convince her to help."
"Should I bring flowers and chocolate?" I asked, standing up and stretching.
Elyssa shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt." She slapped me on the butt. "Now, go get ready."
I showered and tossed on jeans and a button-up shirt then went downstairs.
"My lovely little lamb!" A curvy blonde gripped me in a tight hug and kissed me on the cheeks. "It's been too bloody long."
"Stacey!" I kissed her on the cheek. "It's been months."
She loaded a sigh with regret and released me. "Children are taxing, love. It seems I never have a chance to leave the house."
"Where's Ryland?" Elyssa asked.
A smirk tugged Stacey's lips. "He's tending the twins so I could escape and do my bridesmaid duty."
I chuckled. "I'll bet he loves that."
"Oh, he quite enjoys it," Stacey said.
"You certainly don't look like you've had children," Elyssa said.
"My stomach was so stretched, I thought it would never pop back into shape," she said. "I couldn't even shapeshift during the third trimester." As a felycan, Stacey could morph into most feline shapes. Her mate, Ryland, was a lycan which made them a somewhat unlikely pair that had worked out quite well.
I grimaced. "Seems like it would be kind of rough on the fetuses if you shifted into panther form."
"Perhaps." Stacey traced a fingernail down my arm. "When are you lovebirds having children?"
"Uh—" Panic flashed through Elyssa's eyes. "Not now. Not for a while. I mean, we're not even married yet."
I tried not to laugh and failed. "Someone's a little flustered."
"Someone's about to get punched," Elyssa shot back, violet eyes sparkling.
Another blonde stepped through the front door. "Stacey!" Katie Johnson ran across the foyer and gave the felycan a hug. Once she pulled away from her, she repeated the performance with me. "Justin!" Hug. "Elyssa!" Another enthusiastic hug.
After the hugs were over, Shelton came into the foyer. "We're ready to get started."
"Lead the way," I said.
We went into a rarely used part of the house and into the grand dining hall. The front half of the long room had been rearranged with rows of chairs replacing the long tables, and a raised platform where the ceremony would take place.
Thomas Borathen stood at the front of the room, face set in stone while Bella spoke with him. She turned and saw us and motioned us forward. "Come, everyone get into positions. The commander doesn't have time to spare."
"Your dad is marrying them?" I asked Elyssa.
"As head of the Templars, he's ordained," she said. "Though there are plenty of others who could do it just as well."
"At least they didn't request to use the Church of the Divinity," I said, talking about the church Daelissa's Exorcists had used for their nefarious activities.
Elyssa put a finger to her lips. "Don't give Shelton any ideas."
I spotted Adam Nosti and his girlfriend Meghan Andretti up near the front. I shook his hand and pulled him in for a bro-hug while Meghan exchanged greetings with Elyssa.
"Sounds like we have a real challenge with this Cephus guy," Adam said.
"Remember when you hacked the shield protecting the Chalon?" I asked.
He chuckled. "How could I forget? If you're asking if I can hack through a Seraphim shield, the quick answer is, I don't think so."
"Damn." I bit the inside of my lip. "I know the magic is different than what Arcanes use, but I hoped it might have some similarities."
"Seraphim magic is primal, the energy woven into different uses," Adam said. "Arcane magic is flexible and requires spells to make full use of it. If something is made from a spell, it can be hacked."
"Makes sense," I said. "Is there a way to counter Seraphim magic with Arcane spells?"
"That's an interesting question," Adam said. "It's something I've been working on."
"Hey, enough with the war talk," Shelton said. "This is my special day."
Adam snorted. "It's the rehearsal dinner, not the wedding."
"Every day is Shelton's special day," I said.
"Finally, the fairy princess wedding you've always wanted," Adam said with a grand wave of his arms.
Shelton's face turned bright red and the women burst into laughter.
"I apologize, Harry," Cinder said. "I did not realize you wished a fairy princess wedding or I would have planned a more suitable bachelor party."
That only brought more laughter which, of course, went completely over Cinder's head.
Bella brought everyone back under control and divided the bridesmaids and groomsmen then instructed us how to proceed. I'd never been to a nom wedding, so I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be pretty simple—lining up in the hall outside and escorting in t
he bridesmaids. Thomas quickly ran through a rehearsal of the ceremony, and we were done.
Butler golems brought in the food afterward, heaping platters of empanadas, flat arepas, and enough beans and rice to feed an army. I was just digging into the chicharrón—thick pork bacon—when my ears popped, as if the air pressure had suddenly changed.
I caught a confused look from Elyssa and saw Stacey looking around.
"You felt that too?" I asked Elyssa.
"It's like an omniarch portal opened nearby," she said.
"But we have portal blockers around the mansion," I said. "The only way in is to use the omniarch itself."
A bad feeling inserted itself between my stomach and my heart. I pushed away from the table. "Something isn't right."
"It must have been close," Elyssa said.
Much to the alarm of the others at the table, I leapt up and ran into the hallway. I didn't find a portal, but I found what had come through the portal. A malaether crucible sat on a pedestal, the malevolent energy swirling and crackling inside. On the pedestal was a note that simply read: From Serena with love.
Chapter 23
The glass globe looked exactly like the malaether crucible Serena had made away with at the end of the war right when I started the final boss fight with Daelissa. Though it wasn't large, it could nuke the entire mansion if the glass broke. Thankfully, it looked intact, leaving me to wonder what sort of message Serena meant to send. What really sent a cold chill into my chest was how easily she'd pulled this off.
I channeled aether into my body, ready to throw up a shield at a moment's notice.
"Oh, god," Elyssa breathed. "Why didn't she set it off when she had the chance?"
"No idea." I examined the pedestal from a distance.
The rest of the group joined us a moment later.
"Son of a buck-toothed vampire," Shelton shouted. "Can't they give us a moment's peace around here?"
"Where are the portal-blocking statues?" I asked him.
"Last I remember, there's one in the middle of the west wing, same with the east, and another tucked into the chandeliers inside this hallway." He peered at the string of chandeliers lining the tall ceiling and pointed to one about thirty yards behind the pedestal with the bomb. "I think it's in there if I recall correctly."