Blood for blood

by Tobi Grim

  “Yeah. Little nervous.”

  Sledge nodded, leaning back on the couch and laying his arm along the top. Lupa looked him up and down out, without being too obvious. He was wearing black jeans with a studded belt, and a black button up shirt with some sort of racing car logo on it. It must be old, weren’t any fucking racing car groups around anymore.

  Lupa’s stomach did a flip. Her fingers felt tingly. “Oh!” she exclaimed, peering at her hands.

  “Hittin’?”

  “I think so. I feel… strange. And floaty. Oh. Now my heart is beating faster, this what you felt?”

  “Yeah… bit likin’ that.”

  Lupa looked around the room, things seemed… sharper. Clearer. She felt amazing. She felt like she could take on every wolfblood in Black City on her own. She glanced over to Sledge grinning. Then suddenly her smile dropped. Oh fuck. Oh fuck fuck fuck. She shot up and backed against the wall, staring at Sledge with wide eyes.

  “You not feelin’ right?” Sledge stood up slowly and took a step towards her.

  “No! Don’t come near me…” she couldn’t breathe, this wasn’t right, surely it was the pill fucking with her?

  “Wantin’ me to get you a drink?”

  She stared at Sledge, feeling trapped. Feeling panicky. This couldn’t be fucking right, could it? Was she really feeling this? “You’re… a wolfblood.” She whispered.

  “What?” Sledge looked at her, his face trying to hide it. “Aint knowin…”

  “Don’t bullshit me. I… I can feel you! I can feel your magick too…”

  She couldn’t breathe, her breath was coming in too short, he… he was like her? He was a fucking hybrid or some shit? Why had no one told her? Why hadn’t Hammer fucking told her? Why hadn’t Sledge fucking told her he was like her?

  “Shit, Lupa… I aint… I aint knowin’ you could sense through the spell.” Sledge’s face fell, he clearly didn’t want anyone to know. Wait… Hammer could hide fucking wolfbloods too? What the fuck!

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” She hated the whining sound in her voice. She tried to calm herself. Why would he fucking tell her?

  “I aint… I dunno. I was thinkin’ maybe if you trustin’ me…” he sat back down and lit a smoke, not looking at her, “Aint no one knowin’ I’m both except Hammer. And his mother. But she aint round no more. When I hearin’ bout you bein’ like me I wantin’ to meet you. But Hammer aint likin’ that. He aint trustin’ The Organization.”

  Fuck. How had they learned to hide it? Were there other wolfbloods in Hammer’s ‘trusted men’? And could that mean… one of them turned on him when they found out about the nest? Fuck shit fuck. Lupa felt on edge, her whole body felt alive with magickal energy. She felt like-

  “Hey, witchy girl? Thinkin’ you may wanna stop that… if’n you can…”

  Lupa frowned at Sledge, he was staring at her like he was afraid she might… she peered down at herself, black lightning was bouncing off her body, reaching out for something, reaching out for Sledge. She shifted her gaze back up at him. He was on his feet now, coming towards her.

  “You knowin’ how to get rid of all that magick?”

  “Fuck. I don’t know… I never had this shit happen before…I might hurt you, don’t come too close!”

  He didn’t listen, continuing to come towards her, he stopped and stood directly in front of her. Lupa studied his face, what the fuck was this guy thinking, she could kill him if he touched her. Maybe she even wanted to a little bit…

  “Don’t-”

  Sledge placed his big hands on her shoulders and she felt her power shoot out at him, her body was shaking, it was too much, she tried holding it back, holding it deep inside her, but she couldn’t. She didn’t have a fucking hope. Sledge grimaced above her, she could feel his hands on her vibrating and then he punched the wall behind her with a growl. Her body relaxed, the power lessening slightly. She stared at his arms, cruel red marks branched up his forearms. She could see them running up his tattooed neck as well.

  “I a’right,” he growled, stepping back to give her room, “I aint seen nothin’ like that before. Thinkin’ I might be able to help push it somewhere else. You a’right?”

  She turned and gaped at the wall where he punched it. Fuck. Pushed it somewhere else for sure. Black scorch marks ran up the plastered wall, one touching the high roof and continuing halfway across it. Fucking hell, that shouldn’t have been able to happen...

  Her body still felt overactive, as though she could feel the air moving around her. Shit, what was she supposed to do with all this magickal energy? Placing her hands against the wall behind her she closed her eyes, trying to focus her energy into the tips of her fingers and let it slowly dribble out into the brick beneath the plaster, and down into the earth. Her mind was racing, she felt like she could hear the earth groan as is started accepting the slow, drizzle of power coming out of her.

  “My mother was a wolfblood,” Sledge said, “Aint knowin’ her. The wolfbloods dun killed her when I was a baby. My dad blamed me for her dyin’. Sayin’ if I weren’t born they never woulda knowin’ she betrayed her kind. Not that I knew when he sayin’ that.”

  Lupa opened her eyes slowly to see Sledge was lighting a smoke. He offered her one, but she was too worried to move her hands, so he placed it in her mouth and lit it, then turned away from her slightly.

  “Apparently my Da’s family had witch bloodline, but my Da aint havin’ no powers. Thinkin’ he was jealous when I showed signs, breakin’ my nose and sayin’ if he caught me doin’ it again he’d kill me. I aint never let him see again, I aint never doin’ it again. Not that I really knowin’ what it was. Just before Hammer found me and killed my Da, I findin’ out I got wolfblood. I gettin’ angry from fightin’ and locked myself in the bathroom to hide. When lookin’ at myself I seein’ my eyes turn yellow. I yellin’ out. Aint know what’s goin’ on. My Da came in and beat the shit outa me when he seein’. Sayin’ I was the twisted thing that came out my Ma. That bein’ when I ran away… and then Hammer findin’ me.”

  Lupa puffed her smoke with one eye closed, trying not to get smoke in it. Her chest was heaving and her body was aching trying to hold the power back, if she let it go too quickly she could destroy the fucking wall, or worse... But she watched Sledge. He ran a hand over his head and glanced at her quickly.

  “Hammer’s mother was a real nice lady, she dun teach me lots of shit about magick and wolfbloods. I aint really understandin’ most of it, but she still teachin’ me like I deserved it. Hammer be hidin’ me when he takin’ me in, his mother tellin’ me people might wantin’ me dead if they knowin’ I had a mix of both. She sayin’ I the only one she ever knowin’ of.”

  Lupa’s mind was wild with thoughts, there was someone else like her. She wasn’t the only leper in this city, maybe there were more? What did this fucking mean? And how was this drug letting her see through the spell? Her fingers burned as she forgot to control the energy.

  “Givin’ me your hand. I got the spell on me to hide magick, it seemin’ to takin’ out some of the sting. Go on, I aint mindin’.” Sledge stood with his hand out towards her. She looked at the lightning welts running up his arm and shook her head. He didn’t drop his hand, just kept holding it out, waiting. “It bein’ my idea to help you. You aint lettin’ me though.”

  Lupa felt sweat slide down her neck. She had to do something, but what if she hurt him more? Or worse, killed him? Strong magick killed wolfbloods, and witches if it was powerful enough. She had no idea what the spell on him to hide his power could do, fuck, it could do nothing to help.

  “Aint thinkin’ bout it, Lupa, just give me your hand. You sayin’ you’ll trust me. Go on and trust me. If somethin’ bad happenin’, just call Hammer, he’ll know what to do.”

  Great. But she knew she couldn’t hold it much longer, and if he was insisting on standing so close she could end up hurting him anyway. He pulled the almost dead cigarette out of her mouth and put it out, holding his
hand back out towards her.

  Lupa glanced up at him then back down at his hand, slowly pulling her own away from the wall. He calmly waited. She dropped her hand into his and felt him almost absorbing her. She screamed, she couldn’t hold onto it, she tried to pull away from him but he grabbed her arm, his whole body shaking, his teeth bared, and fangs sprouting slightly. His eyes turned yellow. Oh fuck. She looked down at their hands, his fingernails were growing into claws, he was… but that was it. No more. He let her go and stumbled back a few steps, her black lightning flickering off of his body.

  “Shit.”

  She went to go to him but pulled her hands back, it wasn’t all gone yet, and it was fucking building inside her again. She tried to focus her mind, pushing her power back into the wall and slowly pushing it down into the earth again.

  “I’m a’right, just givin’ me a minute.”

  How long had she been on this drug? Half an hour? And hour maybe? Shit, she still had way too long to go. What the fuck were they going to do? They couldn’t keep going like this, it would surely fucking kill him. Fuck fuck fuck.

  “Thinkin’ maybe,” he said, taking a deep breath and looking at her with his own eyes again, “Thinkin’ maybe we needin’ to find somethin’ to do. Get you usin’ your magick some other way. I aint sure how many more of them I can take.”

  She watched him, worried, but he was smiling. Lupa relaxed a little and smiled back, making sure not to lose control of the power. “That as much as you change?” she asked.

  “Yeah, as far as I knowin’. You shouldn’t have been able to see nothin’. That pill makin’ you see through the hidden, ey?”

  “Seems that way. Guess you’ll probably have to tell Hammer about that…” she looked around the room, hoping for her racing mind to think of something… of course.

  She pushed off the wall and ran into the kitchen and found her herb tin, grabbing out bay leaves, horehound, and wormwood. She pulled open one of her cupboards, snatching a ceramic dish from its depths. She opened another cupboard, picking out two charcoal rounds, placing them in the dish and lighting them.

  “What you doin’, witchy girl?” Sledge cocked his head, watching with interest.

  “Using this power for something productive. Putting wards on my door… fuck it, with this much power may as well ward the whole fucking building.”

  Lupa dumped the herbs onto the charcoal as they started smoking, she grabbed two jars from near the sink. Powered egg shells and raven eyes. She poured some of the egg dust on the smoking herbs, and added two raven eyes.

  “Protection of the mother hen, grant me your power! Watchful eyes of the raven, grant me your power! Obligare ad saga!” The smoke was filling the room quickly now, making it hard to see. “Open the door for me, would you?” she said to Sledge.

  The power in the room was building, or was it in her? She couldn’t fucking tell anymore, her skin was rippling with magick, her very soul on edge. She closed her eyes, letting the magick in her dance within the smoke, spreading along the walls of her apartment, down the hallway and throughout the building.

  “Sled- Lio, come here. I need your blood.”

  Sledge appeared out of the thickening smoke “What for?”

  “This spell will ward against wolfbloods, and… you and I are wolfbloods, it will need our blood so you are welcome here and I’m not kicked the fuck out of my own house.”

  Sledge nodded and held out his hand, she took it and held it over the dish, pulling a small knife from the drawer. He watched her carefully, like he was waiting for her to stab him or something, but she didn’t have time to worry about that.

  “I offer blood to appease the spirits of protection, hear my words,” she sliced Sledge’s wrist, and then her own, holding them both over the hissing coals, “May none cross my path with ill intention, my power commands it, ego præcipio tibi!”

  Lupa felt her body spew forth power, the room pulsating with it. Sledge grunted as his hand balled into a fist. She smiled, she felt so alive with magick. Her senses feeling every movement, every drop of magick feeding itself into the walls, into the flooring, warding the doors of the building. She held on until the last possible moment, letting the magick leave her body and finish her spell.

  Lupa took a deep breath, letting go of Sledge’s arm as hers fell to her side. The warding spell was probably far stronger than required, but she needed to get rid of all that fucking power somehow. Would more end up building up inside her again because of Hammer’s pill? Fuck. She hoped not. She wasn’t sure what the fuck else she could find to do with it all.

  “Drink?” she asked Sledge, the room was clearing of smoke, but her eyes still stung a little.

  “Thinkin’ maybe somethin’ stronger than beer if you got it?”

  She laughed, he looked just as shattered as she felt. But considering he had taken two hits of her boosted black lightning, he actually looked pretty good. Sledge was inspecting the small cut on his wrist as Lupa poured them both a straight bourbon. They knocked it back and she poured them another, with her hands starting to shake a little.

  “How long has it been?” she asked Sledge, refilling their glasses again.

  “Almost three hours. How you dun feelin’?”

  “Like my whole body has been used.”

  Shit, how had three hours gone by so quickly? She grabbed the bottle and went to sit on the couch, but her legs failed her, as she started to collapse, Sledge caught her easily and gently placed her on the lounge, sitting next to her.

  “Sure you a‘right?” He pulled the bottle from her hands and filled both their cups.

  “Shit. I feel like everything has been taken out of me, but… not, at the same time. There’s still magick building in me, but not as quickly now. I will be able to absorb it or get rid of it fairly easily if this is the end…”

  She took a long drink and glanced over at Sledge. The welts on his arms and neck looked less angry now. She couldn’t believe he did that for her. Had the spell on him helped absorb it? Or was it just pure will on his part? He shouldn’t have been able to do that…. She bit her lip, she could still sense his magick and his blood… would that go away as soon as the pill wore off? Or now that she had broken through it, would she always feel him just like he really was?

  “So um… you going to tell Hammer what the pill did? I mean… now that I know… about you?”

  Sledge downed his drink and filled himself another, then leaned back against the couch. His expression appeared troubled… “Aint thinkin’ I should be hidin’ it from him. Owe him a lot. Owe him my life. But…” he looked at her, “if you askin’ me not to, I won't.”

  She knew she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t make him lie to his boss, keeping the truth of something so big from someone he respected and owed his full loyalty to. “No, you can tell him.” She felt exhausted all of a sudden, her eyes heavy, “Anyone else ever seen through? I mean… does everyone know how powerful Hammer is?”

  “Aint thinkin’ anyone did. He always hidden round people. Even people him trustin’. Thinkin’ someone would have said if’n they seein’… you a’right?”

  ⃝

  Lupa woke up in her bed. What the hell was the time? She rolled over; eight forty-three am. Shit. She hadn’t slept so late in a while. She looked around the room, seeing Sledge sitting on the couch at the end of her bed, he seemed like he was watching her, but she couldn’t quite tell in the gloom.

  “What are you still doing here?” she asked, yawning and sitting up.

  “Aint thinkin’ I should be leavin’ you alone. You just dun passed out, so I puttin’ you to bed and keepin’ and eye on you… I spoke to Hammer… he pretty keen to be hearin’ about how you felt. And how you dun seen me…”

  She couldn’t see his facial expression, the curtains were closed behind him and the room was pretty dark still. She sighed, grabbing a smoke. She needed to call Slasher… and she needed to call Dameon… neither of whom she could tell about Sledge.

&nbs
p; “You…” he lit his own smoke and cleared his throat a little, “You thinkin’ you tellin’ The Organization about me?”

  “No. I won't. I… I know what it’s like to have them watching my every move, not trusting me because of my blood, keeping a careful eye… only really been the last three or four years that they finally trusted me, letting me live in my own place and that sort of shit. You don’t need that. You don’t work for them, they could just… kill you. Or worse; ask me to.” She wished she could see his face. There was so much she wanted to know about him, but… he probably didn’t even know himself. Just like her. “You don’t have to hang around if you don’t want. I have to call Slasher about the wolfblood breaking in. And I need to call my Protector about trying the pill… don’t worry, I won't mention it to him either. He can be trusted, but… I won't. He doesn’t need to know…”

  Sledge nodded and got up, she scrambled out of bed to stand with him. “Thanks, witchy girl, you… thank you. You coulda dun killed me when you saw…” he stood there watching at her for a moment, then looked down at the ground.

  Sledge walked out of her room and she followed. He was standing near her front door with an odd look on his face, like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure he should. Or… could? “Seein’ you soon.” He said finally, giving her a half smile and leaving.

  Once again she stood there wondering if she had missed something. She was usually pretty good at reading people, but Sledge really had her guessing, but not the same way Hammer did... Fuck it, she had shit to do. If he wanted to tell her something, she was sure he’d get to it eventually. And if he didn’t… well, nothing she could do about that.

  She stared over at the wall with the scorch marks up it. Fuck. She’d have to repaint it. She sighed and grabbed her phone, pulling up Slasher’s number and sitting down on the couch. Time to get busy.

  Slasher wasn’t happy that Lupa hadn’t told her straight away about the wolfblood. And she was pissed about Hammer’s clean-up crew being the ones who sorted out the mess. She told Lupa to come in that afternoon and hung up. Lupa sighed, she’d known Slasher would have been annoyed, but she guessed she was going to get a talking to now. Dammit.