by Jessica Roe
“Dude, I don't wanna hear it,” Nicky grunted. Zay got a stupid amount of action—too much action—and he didn't keep shtum about it either. “Who?” Fine, it had been a while. Nicky needed to live vicariously through someone.
“Callie.”
“The waitress from the diner down the street?”
“Yup.”
“Talk about playin' it close to home.”
“Who cares when it comes to a bird that fine. You should see her naked. Her tits are—”
Charles hurried in from his office, looking hassled, and Zay shut up immediately.
It was so odd to see Charles looking anything other than calm and collected that Nicky paused the game. Walker, Queenie and Kain trailed in behind him. They all wore matching confused expressions.
“We're having a meeting,” Charles announced, shutting off the console.
“Dad!” Zay complained, slumping down on the sofa. He threw his controller at Nicky, who caught it easily. “I was kicking his arse.”
Nicky arched his left eyebrow. “Dream on, loser.”
“This is much more important than silly computer games,” Charles snapped. Still, the others didn't seem to take him entirely serious. Everything was more important to Charles than computer games. But they respected him enough to sit down and wait patiently for him to start.
“I've just had word from Starla.” Starla was a moderately harmless Witch—a Kitchen Witch, whose only real power was in herbs and potions. She lived at Yarmac and Bogely's with Terelle and Cadby and the others. Nicky had met her once; she'd reminded him of his sweet old Grandma. “There's talk amongst the Witches. One of them has made a deal with Pablo.”
Walker heaved a weary sigh. “What kind of deal this time?”
“Starla didn't know what was being exchanged, but apparently it's something important to Pablo, which makes it important to us. Luck is on our side, however, because she was able to find out where the deal was taking place. We need to stop the exchange from happening.”
“When is it supposed to be going ahead?” asked Queenie.
“Tonight.”
She bit her lip, looking worried. “That doesn't really give us much time to prepare.”
“We have no choice. Anything that Pablo is interested in is surely trouble.”
Nicky, who had been watching the whole conversation with growing bewilderment, stuck his hand in the air. “So, uh...who's Pablo?”
Every face in the room turned his way to stare.
“Didn't you read anything in that book I gave you?” Charles questioned, looking very much like he already knew the answer.
Nicky scratched his head. Awkward. He remembered the book that Charles had presented to him on his second day as a Guardian. It had been an old notebook, probably written by Charles himself, full of hand written words...page after page after page of boring hand written words. Nicky had never liked reading all that much. He'd tossed it to the floor and it had landed somewhere underneath his bed—where it probably remained. “Man, it was really long...” He heard Zay snigger and resisted the urge to throw the controller back at his stupid English head.
Charles tutted. “Well, if you'd have read the book, you would know that it was a detailed list of all of the main troubling suspects you need to watch out for in New York City. Pablo is, and has always been, at the top of that list.”
“Pablo Nunez,” said Zay, his whole demeanour becoming serious. “God, even his name makes me want to go and punch a wall.”
“Wait.” Nicky scrunched up his face as he thought. “Pablo Nunez. I've actually heard of him before. Isn't he that insanely rich guy? The one that owns all those hotels?”
“More than half the hotels in the state,” Charles confirmed.
“Yeah, that's right. Didn't he take over the whole business when his dad died?”
“Pablo never took over from his father,” Kain spoke up. “because he is his father. It's a big ol' complicated mess.”
“What do you mean, he is his father? Is this a gross incest kind of deal? 'Cause I don't need to hear about that.”
Walker shook her head at him like he was the biggest douche on the planet. “You're the biggest douche on the planet.” He was getting good at reading her. “How would that possibly be an incest thing? What, he slept with his own mom before he was born and got her pregnant with himself? Idiot.”
“He's an Immortal,” Charles piped up quickly before Nicky could form a rebuttal—he'd gotten very apt at intervening before their arguments got out of hand. “Which, as you must know, means he doesn't age and can't be killed. For hundreds of years he's been passing his empire down from 'son to son', which is of, course always, himself.”
“I don't get it. How in the hell does he get away with that? Someone must have noticed that he always looks the same.” It really said something about Nicky's life when that was what he questioned, and not the fact that they were talking about an Immortal.
“He very rarely ventures out into the public eye. He has many people who work for him to conduct his business, and people see what they want to see, it's the way of the world. If you'd never been introduced to the supernatural world, you'd just see a man who took after his father. And then you'd likely forget all about it.”
“But no one ever mentioned anything?”
“Perhaps. But if they did, it never went far. Pablo is a very powerful man.”
“You're saying he silenced them?”
“That's very likely.”
“So, what did he do that's bad enough to make it on to the top of your bad guy list? Apart from...silencing people...” Like that didn't sound bad enough, in a mobster kind of way.
“Pablo Nunez is a big jerk face,” Queenie cheerfully informed him. She hardly ever insulted anyone, so Nicky chose to take her seriously. “The biggest jerk face ever. He's got his nose in everything that's bad and wrong about NYC. His hotels are really just a front for all his illegal ventures.”
“Illegal ventures in the human world or the Outcast one?”
“Both. His public image has him at one of the richest men in New York, but in reality he's probably one of the richest men in the world.”
“At least seventy percent of the Outcast problems in our city are down to him,” Zay added. “He makes it impossible for us to do our job properly. No one can get rid of him as he's impossible to kill, and he's too powerful to have arrested. He's the whole damn reason we have hardly any funding. The Guardian Elders have declared NYC a lost cause until a way of dealing with him can be found. Which there obviously isn't.” He ran a hand through his hair, messing the blonde curls and leaving them sticking out all over the place. “It's a frustrating position to be in.”
The Pablo situation was obviously a big deal to his team. He didn't like the idea that there was a problem they couldn't solve. “There has to be something we can do.”
Charles looked unusually resigned. “Aside from stopping him when we can, like tonight, there really isn't.”
“You might as well get used to being a part of the biggest joke of the Guardians,” Walker snapped, pushing herself off the sofa. “Because that's all we'll ever be.” She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Sending the rest of the group an apologetic smile, Queenie followed. She was usually the only one who could calm Walker down when she was having one of her temper tantrums.
Nicky raised a questioning eyebrow. “What's her deal? I mean, apart from her usual moody ass deal.”
“Walker used to be a Tracker,” Zay explained. “One of the best, I heard, especially for her age. She graduated Guardian School at the top of her year and was even given her own Tracking team to lead once she'd left. But four years ago she made a mistake which got a few people killed. Most of the Guardians said that it was because she was only twenty two, and so too young for her own team, but that's bull. It was just a mistake, a stupid accident. She led her team into a trap set by a rogue Fire Elemental, but it's not like she knew the place was literally
going to blow up. She was sent here to be a Keeper, and going from Tracker to Keeper is like an unsung demotion. They said it was because of her injury, but it's not like the Fire Elemental did any permanent damage. All she has is a scar on her leg.”
Nicky remembered the few times when Walker had absent mindedly rubbed at a spot on her leg. “Aw, man.”
“And being sent here as a Keeper, of all places,” Charles added. “was the ultimate insult.”
“Jesus.” Nicky cringed. To him, there was nothing wrong with being a part of the NYCGD, but then he hadn't been involved in the Guardian world for as long as the others had. He hadn't yet met any of the other Guardians and experienced the prejudice the others had spoke of. He didn't really know what to say. “No wonder she's so uptight.” It sounded lame even to his own ears, but it seemed to diffuse the tension in the room.
Charles pursed his lips, looking as if he was fighting a smile. “Speaking as someone who had met Walker on a number of occasions before her incident, I'd have to say...ah, no. No, that isn't the reason she's so...uptight.”
Nicky snorted. “She was like that already, huh?”
He nodded. “But you can't blame her for her lack of people skills really. She was brought up like a soldier. Her father had her Tracking with him before she was even ten years old.”
“That sounds...like it would suck. Are all Guardian kids brought up like that?” If they were, then he'd definitely gotten lucky by joining as an adult. His childhood might have been full of shadows, but at least he'd gotten a childhood.
“A few. But most are brought up with relatively normal lives. Children of Keepers usually stick to one place, so they're able to go to school, have friends. The same goes for children of Trackers, if only one parent is a Tracker. The Tracker parent can travel, while the other parent stays at home. But if both parents are Trackers and the child has to travel with them, they usually have tutors.”
“But they don't all go chasing monsters when they're kids, do they?”
“No. Obviously they're brought up knowing about the Guardians, and some may learn basic skills from their parents if they wish it, but most only learn the serious side of things if they chose to become a Guardian and attend Guardian School.” When Nicky started laughing, Charles frowned. “What's funny now?”
“I'm just imagining a teenage version of you, skipping around school wearing a cloak and a hat and humming the Hogwarts theme tune.” Zay and Kain laughed.
Charles heaved a sigh and left the room. “Utter children.”
“We're not children,” Zay grumbled.
The boys looked at each other for a moment.
“X-box?”
IT HAD JUST turned eight later that night when Nicky found himself sat in the restaurant bar of a super posh hotel—not one of Pablo's, but it still felt dangerous. Charles had insisted they dressed smart, which made sense, but Nicky still felt out of place in his Tuxedo, even if it was custom made and fit him perfectly. He'd never looked so sharp in his entire life, and he kind of wished his parents could see him. Zay and Charles looked right at home in their blazers and bow ties, and he wondered sulkily if it had something to do with them being English—maybe they had a whole James Bond thing going on. Walker, who had pulled her big girl panties on and stopped sulking, was perfectly elegant in her little black dress. She held no purse, so Nicky had no idea where she was concealing the weapons she never left headquarters without. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know.
He slowly sipped at his drink as his gaze drifted over the room, searching for trouble.
Zay nudged him with his shoulder. “Check out the blonde and the red head over there.”
Nicky glanced over at the two beautiful women sat at the opposite side of the bar. The red head was smiling seductively at him, and her blonde friend was eyeing up Zay like he was a piece of candy. Nicky winked at them.
“It isn't playtime, boys,” Charles scolded. “Keep your eye on the ball, not on the ladies with the minuscule dresses.”
Sighing, Zay and Nicky tore their eyes away.
“Charles,” Walker murmured. “Look who we've got here.” She nodded discretely at the diners, where two men were weaving their way through the tables, heading for the doors.
“Who are they?” Nicky asked.
“The skinny blonde with the cut up eyebrow is Zebb D'Angelo,” Walker told him quietly. “Don't let his friendly face fool you; he may look charming enough to con a nun into dropping her panties, but he's rotten to the core. His buddy with the shaven head is Uang Niu. He's even worse than Zebb. Seriously sick in the brain. He's mute—word has it that his tongue was cut out as a teenager when his tribe found out he'd been spying on them for another tribe.”
“Pablo's guys?”
“Two of his worst,” Zay confirmed. “And we know Pablo trusts them more than his other thugs. He always sends them out on the important jobs. The fact that they're here isn't good.”
“Are they Outcasts?”
“No. They're deadly all of their very own human merit.”
The two men slipped through the restaurant doors and Charles nodded for the gang to follow after them. They hurried through the hotel foyer and stepped outside just in time to see Zebb and Uang disappear around the corner of the building to where the staff parking lot was located. They approached the corner and Nicky and Charles peered around it carefully.
The staff parking lot, unlike the one for guests, was sparse, probably due to the lack of lighting and the fact that it was out of the way, which made it a paradise for thieves and muggers. Only one or two brave souls had left their cars, the rest probably at home or in parked out in the other lot. One car was close to the corner, and Charles silently gestured for the others to move behind it.
Zebb and Uang had stopped in the middle of the lot next to an old, beaten up looking vehicle. An elderly woman hobbled towards them. She was frail and dainty looking, and her pale yellow hair bounced around her head as she shot them a cheery grin.
Charles shook his head. “Damnit, Yagoona,” he whispered.
Nicky had read about Yagoona—Charles had found the book and tossed it at Nicky's head, insisting that he read it before they left. Yagoona had been number #12 on the list. She was a Witch, one with even less power than Starla, and was untrustworthy and money driven, which was a terrible combination. Somehow, Nicky had expected her to be uglier, more evil-witch-cartoon like. She didn't even have any boils, which Nicky felt was a huge disappointment.
Yagoona was pulling a man along behind her by his arm. He was swaying and unsteady on his feet, like he was drunk. When they stopped by Zebb and Uang, Nicky placed the man with a jolt. It was the Fire Elemental they had failed the catch, and from the from the way Charles cursed under his breath, he had realized it too.
“I thought the Tracker had caught up with him,” Nicky said quietly.
Charles frowned. “He must have gotten loose before Hubert could take him in. I wonder why he hasn't called it in.”
“What's wrong with him?” they heard Zebb question Yagoona. He was eyeing the Fire Elemental with distrust.
“Oh, I gave him a mild sedative.” Yagoona waved a hand like drugging guys was no big deal. “So hurry this up. He'll be asleep any second and I'm not holding him up.”
Zebb still seemed mistrustful. “How did you get him away from the Tracker?”
“Ha! I didn't have to. He'd already escaped. Set the Tracker's hands on fire, he said, and tied him up in his own hotel room.”
“Remind me to inform the Guardians of that when this is over,” Charles breathed. “Someone will need to check on Hubert.”
“When I heard about it,” Yagoona continued. “I found him an' I told him I knew he was being hunted down. I told him I knew some people who could help get him outta the city.”
“God, you're a mean old bitch.” Zebb seemed oddly pleased. “And he just believed you?”
“Desperate people will believe anything.” She shrugged, and Nicky kind of wanted to
head butt her in her sweet old lady face. “Besides, look at me...I'm a li'l ancient thing. It's not hard to fool people when you're this adorable.”
Zebb was obviously happy with her response, because he took a wad of cash out from the inside of his jacket and handed it over. She snatched it up quickly and pushed the Fire Elemental in his direction.
Nicky felt sick right to his stomach. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. They were trading the Fire Elemental as if he were an object, a possession. When Charles had told them about the exchange, Nicky had thought it would be a weapon, or even drugs. Not Outcast trafficking. And if Pablo was really as bad as the others had said he was, Nicky couldn't even imagine what he would use the Fire Elemental for.
He didn't care what the Outcast had done; he at least deserved to be treated, sentenced, like a human. “We have to do something,” he hissed. “Now!”
“We will,” Charles promised, gripping his arm. “Any moment, so you need to be ready. But we have to wait and make sure there aren't more of Pablo's men hiding in the shadows. Never underestimate him. Pablo is always two steps ahead.”
But when Nicky looked, he couldn't see anyone else. Charles was just being overly cautious, and it made Nicky wonder how often he let things happen on missions because he was waiting for something that wasn't there. Maybe that was the reason Pablo had so much power over the city, and why the NYCGD had such little funding. What they needed was someone to takes risks, because sometimes jumping in with both feet was the only way to get things done. And wasn't he the unchallenged ruler of risk taking?
Zebb yanked the Fire Elemental by the arm, and Nicky made up his mind. “Screw it.” He shook off Charles' grip and shot up and around the car, shrugging off his suit jacket and running straight for the assembled group. He heard Walker throw out an ugly selection of curses behind him, but he ignored her.
When she spotted his approach, Yagoona quickly scuttled away, but Nicky didn't care. She wasn't his target.