Special Rewards (The Coursodon Dimension Book 2)

by M. L. Ryan

  “You’re leaving now? What paperwork is so important?” He often traveled as part of his job, but usually he wasn’t called away on a moment’s notice.

  “We don’t have to depart immediately, but the Xyzok jet that we flew on yesterday is still here and it is scheduled to leave for Illinois in an hour. The inter-dimensional portal that will take us closest to where we need to be is near the airport, so if we go now, we can be back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Otherwise, we will have to wait for another plane to be dispatched, and the itinerary might not be nearly as convenient.”

  “Oh, that makes sense.” Grabbing my purse and keys, I added, “Hey, while you’re there, can you find out if Hewlyxnathin wants to crash here or stay in a hotel when he visits? I forgot to ask before we left.”

  “Will do. Maybe I can convince him to come a few days early.” Alex turned to me as we went into the carport. “It was obvious this morning that you can’t wait to transform.”

  I chuckled and started the RAV4. “Am I that easy to read?”

  “The arm flapping was a dead giveaway,” he teased. “Seriously though, if I was Yterixa, I would be eager to discover all that is possible in animal form.”

  “It is kind of addictive,” I admitted as I pulled out of the driveway. “I have all the abilities and instincts of a hawk, yet still retain all my human thoughts and memories.” I recalled the amazing sensation of soaring high above the ground, completely in control and without any of my usual acrophobia. “Flying is the most incredible rush.”

  “I can imagine. Oh, and before I forget, I had your reward money exchanged for U.S. currency while we were in Courso.” He dug into his back pocket and produced a folded piece of paper. “I didn’t want to carry cash around, so here’s a check. I’m putting it in your pocketbook so it doesn’t get lost.”

  I was slowing down for a red light, so I grabbed it before it fell into the dark depths of my purse. “Hey, wait a second, I want to see that.” Unfolding the banknote, I read some of the most beautiful words I had ever seen: Pay to the order of Hailey Parrish, the sum of twenty-five thousand, three hundred and fifty-six dollars and twenty-two cents. I was still staring lovingly at the document when the insistent honking from the driver behind us interrupted my rapture. The light turned green and I was holding up the lane. Begrudgingly, I shoved the check into the center section of my bag as I guided the car through the intersection. “Too bad I left my checkbook at home,” I griped. “If I had a deposit slip, I’d stop at the credit union on the way back from the airport.” I made a mental note to get it into my account first thing in the morning.

  We picked up Sebastian, and he spent most of the ride to the airport vowing to make the life of whoever neglected to have them amend their reports on a recent operation as uncomfortable as possible. “I had a full body herbal wrap scheduled this evening with the most glorious masseuse,” he complained.

  “Does the massage staff usually do body wraps?” I asked. I hadn’t ever had either a massage or a body wrap, and I was curious who did what at fancy spas.

  “Of course not,” he chided as if it were the stupidest question he’d ever heard. “It is a five-star resort. The masseuse and I were going to be wrapped together.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “You mean you can pay to have a member of the staff bound naked to you?” I knew rich people paid for lots of bizarre stuff, but this seemed illegal.

  “I would never exchange money for such an activity. It was a date.”

  “Leave it to you to discover a new way to utilize the spa services,” Alex joked.

  I dropped them off at the private jet hanger, and then did some errands. When I returned home, the previously clear sky was now full of billowing, dark clouds. This time of year, we often got spectacular thunderstorms in the late afternoon or evening and from the look of the fast-moving cumulonimbi looming from the south, there was going to be a doozy in an hour or so.

  Vinnie greeted me at the door, rubbing his chubby calico body against my legs. It wasn’t that he was thrilled I was home – from past experience, I knew he had at least a couple more days of punishing me for the audacity of going out of town – he was just advocating for treats. I obliged, he scarfed them down and then unceremoniously turned his butt to me and stalked out of the room.

  As I predicted, an hour-and-a-half later, the sky opened up and a rip-roaring monsoon commenced. With thunder so loud it shook the windows and rain pelting the roof, this storm was a classic. I sat on the back patio and watched as lightning flashed in seemingly every direction; cloud to ground, across the sky, in web-like illuminations. When a bolt struck something close enough that I could smell the ozone, I decided I should retreat to the safety of the house.

  Just as I closed the sliding glass door, the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and I couldn’t imagine who would be visiting in this kind of weather. The view through the peephole wasn’t the greatest; between the downpour and the darkness – I really should remember to replace the light bulb next to the door – I could barely make out the outline of a person. I called out, “Who is it?” to the short, pudgy guy standing on my stoop.

  “Hailey? It’s me, Walter, Walter Robinson.”

  C-Tranq? Here? Then, like a bad meal coming back as acid-reflux, I recalled my mother mentioning Walter was back in town. Shit. I so don’t need to listen to whatever religious crap he is selling. I chastised myself for not pretending I wasn’t home when I couldn’t identify my guest. Calculating the odds that he might go away if I disguised my voice and told him Hailey wasn’t home, he knocked on the door and yelled, “Hailey, I know you’re there, your mother told me what kind of car you drive and it’s sitting in the carport.”

  Reluctantly, I opened the door. “Hey, C-Tra… I mean Walter. Why on earth are you out in this storm?” I figured I would talk to him for a minute and tell him I was on my way out. And then move to an undisclosed address overnight.

  Walter scurried inside. My mother was right, his complexion had, indeed, gotten better, but even after a couple of seconds I could tell he was the same smarmy pervert I knew from high school. It wasn’t that I was such an insightful judge of a person’s character; he was staring at my boobs. Granted, I was wearing a tight shirt, but that was no excuse for not looking me in the eye.

  “You should have called before you came over, I was just about to go out.”

  He looked me up and down. “In your pajamas?”

  I glanced down at my attire; I was in a tank top and shorts. It was what I usually slept in, but it could have just as easily been regular hangin’-at-home casual wear. “These aren’t my pajamas,” I corrected. Normally, I would at least be somewhat polite, but there was no way I was going into detailed explanations with someone I hadn’t seen since high school and, frankly never liked much. Besides, I knew he was here as an emissary from my mother to help save my soul. Three strikes, you’re out, C-Tranq. “I really have to go.”

  “Well, maybe we can schedule a meeting some other time.” He placed what he probably thought was a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Your mother told me how much you want to get in touch with your spiritual side, and I think I can help you.”

  I eyeballed his hand, then shifted my gaze to his insipid grin. Apparently, he wasn’t nearly as stupid as he looked, because he removed his mitt without comment. I had to think fast and come up with something that would both get him immediately out of my house and discourage him from future visits. In a flash of brilliance, I had it.

  “Walter, whatever my mother may have told you, I am not in need of saving, reprogramming or any other religious instruction. In fact, I just joined a church last week. I’m now a Reformed Copacetic and I’m very happy with their teachings.”

  Walter blinked repeatedly. I could practically see his weasely brain churning in overdrive trying to place my made-up religion. “I’m not familiar with that denomination,” he muttered finally.

  “Really? It is quite popular here in the southwest.” I guided
him toward the door. “Our most sacred tenet is that we can only associate with other Copacetics, so I’m going to have to insist that you leave. You wouldn’t want to get me in trouble, would you?”

  He seemed flustered and confused, but what was he going to say? If he refused to go, it would be as if he was spitting in the face of my newfound theology. As I opened the door, he took a tentative step outside, but turned around as if he had forgotten something.

  Before he could speak, I said, “Thanks for understanding, Walter.” Flashing the most beatific smile I could muster, I closed the door in his face.

  The rain hadn’t let up any, which meant I couldn’t hear when he started the engine of his vehicle. From the darkness of the kitchen, I peeked out of the blinds and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the car’s tail lights move down the driveway. “What an asshole,” I grumbled as I turned to check out my dinner choices in the fridge. There wasn’t a huge selection, and it was just me, so I grabbed a burrito from the freezer and popped it in the microwave. Just as the timer went off, there was another knock on the door.

  Shit, did Walter forget something or did he figure out there’s no such thing as Copacetics? I flung open the front door, ready to scold C-Tranq for returning. It wasn’t Walter, however. It was Lyjwix.

  Ushering him inside and out of the downpour, I asked, “Lyjwix, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m sorry to intrude,” he apologized as he swiped some rain off his sleeve. “Is Alexander here? I have some urgent information to share with him.”

  “Too bad you didn’t call first, he’s out on Xyzok business. You could have saved a trip in this horrible weather.”

  He glanced around the living room. “And Sebastian? Is he away as well?”

  “Yes, they both left this afternoon.” I realized Lyjwix was dripping on the floor and was probably cold as well as wet. “You want some coffee or something?”

  He removed his coat and handed it to me. With a small flick of his wrist, I was thrown across the room into one of my bookshelves. His lips curled. “Thank you, but I don’t think we’ll have time for libations.”

  ~28~

  I landed on my ass, surrounded by four shelves-worth of paperbacks and Lyjwix’s wet coat. My back hurt like hell where I had smashed into the cheap fiberboard, and to add insult to injury, the cabinet had toppled onto my head. A little woozy from the impact, I pushed the broken pieces of wood, books, and dripping Burberry trench coat off me and tried to stand. Whatever was going on, there was no way in Hell I was going to take it sitting down.

  Lyjwix’s smirk widened as he stepped closer. Before I could get to my feet, I was air-borne once again. This time, instead of being flung, I sort of floated, paralyzed, a few inches off the ground. While Lyjwix controlled my movement with his right hand, he grabbed a chair with his left and placed it in the center of the living room. He maneuvered my body onto the chair, and with another flick of his hand, ropes materialized and wound themselves around my torso and legs. Ironically, I was now tied to the same seat to which Rachel had been shackled the day before. If I get out of this mess I’m so going to burn this fucking piece of furniture.

  “There. Now we can have a discussion.” He glanced at his reflection in the sliding glass-door and smoothed his hair. Apparently satisfied with his appearance, he sat on the sofa, with one arm casually draped over the back cushions and surveyed his handiwork.

  “I suppose you are wondering what is going on,” he began after a moment. “I probably should just get on with what I came here to do, but I feel you have a right to know why I must kill you.”

  Wonderful. Nothing better than a courteous murderer with a distorted view of rectitude. I pulled against my restraints, not really thinking it would have any effect, but more because it seemed like the thing to do.

  Lyjwix wagged his finger. “Ah, ah, ah, you are quite trapped. And if you were thinking about shifting into your bird form and flying the coop, so to speak, you needn’t bother. I have blocked your Yterixa abilities.”

  Even though I wasn’t certain I was capable of form-bending in this dimension, I focused on transforming on the off-chance that he was lying about preventing me from doing so. When nothing happened, I still didn’t know why I didn’t shift form, but whatever the reason, I was still stuck. As long as he wanted to converse, I figured I might be able to buy some time until I figured out what to do.

  “I don’t understand. What did I ever do to you to make you want to attack me?” It was a pretty lame opening line, but it was the most pertinent question under the circumstances.

  “It is not what you have done to me. It is what your existence does to all Courso. As a loyal supporter of the royal family, I felt it was my duty to put an end to your ill-conceived relationship with the prince. I hoped that you would simply grow tired of one another, but when that did not come to pass, I tried to discourage you with fear. But neither arson nor a poisonous snake made you question your attachment.”

  A flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by a loud crack of thunder, accentuated his ominous remark. “Are you saying that the torched tree and the booby-trapped gift basket weren’t meant as warnings for Alex? They were meant for me?”

  Lyjwix leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “Well, the message should have been abundantly clear: That if you were around the prince you were in danger.”

  “You want to kill me because I’m human? You’re the head of the Department of Trans-Dimensional Affairs. Don’t you have to like humans to have that job?”

  “It is not that you are human,” he seethed. “It is that you are human with magic. Not a Courso-Human hybrid mind you. You are wholly human with stolen magic.” He said “stolen” like it was the filthiest word he knew.

  “I didn’t steal anything. Sebastian’s magic decided to take up residence. Either way, it’s hardly a reason for murder.” I don’t know why I was arguing with him, getting him riled up was probably not in my best interests. I took a deep breath and tried be less contrary. “Lyjwix, I thought we were friends.”

  “I admit, once I met you I began to rethink my original objections. But that was before you were revealed as Yterixa. The ability to bend is a noble and rare gift and many in my family have been endowed with the capacity to transform. For a mere human to possess such mastery is an affront to Yterixa everywhere. It is heresy!” He was shouting now, and his face turned bright red. Holding a fist in the air, he bellowed “I will not stand for my family’s legacy to be tainted by the likes of you!”

  As quickly as his anger rose, it subsided just a rapidly. In an instant, Lyjwix returned to soft spoken and serene, and even his complexion returned to a more normal hue. The mood-swing from incensed to almost dispassionate showed me just how truly disturbed this guy was. I was in deep, deep shit.

  Deciding it was best not to piss him off any further, I tried to move the conversation to what I hoped was a less charged subject. Given the fact that a crazed maniac had tied me up and wanted to off me, it was a toss-up if I’d be able to pull that off. I summoned my best neutral tone and asked, “What did the guy that attacked me and the king have to do with all this?”

  “Stylexincax? He was just pathologically opposed to the mixing of Courso and humans. Never to the point of violence, but it didn’t take much to convince him to take his hatred of humans to a more…physical level. Unfortunately, his devotion to the cause was significantly more developed than his ability to carry out our plans. He managed to burn the tree and get the Coulubrix delivered, but the attack outside the restaurant was a complete debacle. He was just supposed to frighten or wound you, but he came very close to killing Alexander and Tannis. I had no intention of harming any member of the royal family.”

  Lyjwix leaned into the sofa’s cushions and assumed the same nonchalant pose he adopted earlier. “Of course,” he smirked, “That was how your desecration of the Yterixa legacy was revealed. I knew then merely ending your relationship with the prince was not enough.” H
e tapped his fingers against the back of the couch and pursed his lips. “Why Stylexincax strayed from the plan to kill only you and decide that Alexander should also die is a mystery. Had he not foolishly used you to lure the prince, he would have slit your throat immediately and I would not be forced to complete the task myself.”

  The “keeping-the-lunatic-talking” scenario didn’t seem to be working very well. I was still tied up and Lyjwix’s resolve hadn’t wavered. I don’t know what I expected, but forcing the bad guy to see the error of his ways always seemed to work in the movies. I decided to try a different tack.

  “You’ll never get away with this. Your magical signature will be all over the place and Alex and Sebastian will know it was you. And they won’t abide by Xyzok regulations when they hunt you down.” It was heavy-handed, but at this point, I guessed I didn’t have much to lose.

  He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Oh my, I am afraid you are woefully uninformed. The electricity of the lightning interferes with one’s signature. They won’t even be able to tell a Courso was here, much less determine a specific identity.” As if on cue, another flare of lightning illuminated the room. “That’s why this is so perfect,” he continued, his bright green eyes sparkling with amusement. “I happened to be in Karttyx’s office today when she was informed that Alexander and Sebastian were on their way to take care of some such thing. I thought this could be the opportunity for which I have waited. And when I did some investigation and realized there would be violent storms here, I knew fate had tipped its hand.”

  “But they’ll still know I was murdered. They’re not going to just shrug that off.”

  “Ah, but they won’t know. I plan to immobilize you — magically of course, but untraceable due to the storm — then burn down your house. It will appear that you were overcome by smoke, and perished in the fire. It is quite brilliant, if I may say so.”