Homeward Bound (Journeyman Book 1)

by Golden Czermak

  “Of course not,” she said back, looking at the ceiling.

  Gage loomed into view, pressing his chest against hers while his hair had molded into the textbook definition of bed head. “I don’t scream,” he said with a underlying growl. “Now take that back or there may be some punishment.”

  “Well,” she said. “Fortunately someone has me immobilized.”

  He leaned in for another welcomed kiss.

  THE BIRDS CHIRPED THEIR melodious morning vocals despite it being another dreary and overcast day. Per Adrienne’s weather prediction, the sun worked to burn its way through the thick mist and cloak of gray drizzle that did not want to leave.

  The Lodge, as it was know by the team, sat quietly on its grassy mat nestled amongst the trees. It was a plain but spacious two-story wood cabin, inviting at first glance if not overly rustic. A separate garage, which also doubled as a workshop, was a leisurely stroll from the main house. It was dubbed Joey’s Supernatty Funhouse by Gage, even though he was frequently in there using the makeshift gym set up in the front.

  From there and other spots around the property, glints of metal could be seen snaking in and out of the ground like a shiny thread. The power of iron being ancient and fundamental, Joey’s father Arthur created the continuous barrier from thousands of molten railway ties before they moved in to use the land as their base of operations. The setup was sufficient enough, when coupled with masking and renewal sigils, to keep the place off of the map while physically repelling most supernatural beings.

  Along both sides of the dirt path between the two buildings were less arcane stacks of lumber to fuel the cabin’s wood burning stove and fireplaces. Gage could often be seen out there chopping after his workouts, getting in his cardio while keeping the place well stocked.

  Overall the place was simple, but it was home.

  Upstairs in the Lodge, Joey had awakened earlier and sat alone beside his bed with the lights off, the room cast in a monotone shade not far off from the ink shading along his left forearm. He could have sworn he heard muffled screams from down the hall overnight, wishing it was his imagination but suspecting it wasn't after what he had seen in the kitchen.

  Gear of all shapes and sizes found itself scattered all over the comforter and floor, while gadgets at various stages of completion adorned multiple rows of shelves lining all four walls. Resting peacefully in the corner of the room, a set of radios sat atop a small desk, their displays dark from inactivity. Beneath their tiny peg feet, a collection of scribbled notes offered some cushioning for the already scratched, antique surface.

  Joey’s room, similar to the JSF, was a “chaotic mess of ordered purpose,” meaning that from the outside it looked as if a hurricane tore through on a nightly basis, but he knew exactly where each and every item was, or at least where it should be in those cases when Gage came in for an unsanctioned raid.

  Joey cleared an area in the center of the bed, his nerdy if not somewhat twisted sense of humor evident in the zombified arm print clawing its way around the edges of the blanket.

  He lifted his phone from its charging dock on the nightstand and slung himself on his back, head landing squarely in the center of the fake blood splatter that was printed on the pillowcase. Teasing some of his long, dark hairs between the fingers of his right hand, he clicked on the photo gallery with the other and navigated to a special folder that he had dedicated to Gage. One at a time, he began to flip back through the pictures.

  He paused briefly on a selfie that caught his eye; this was one he had been sent after Gage had finished a wood chopping session back in June – God what a tease. Covered in sweat with his trademark eyebrow lift, sunlight glistened off the moisture pouring from Gage’s tight body. The unique angle of the shot instantly made Joey think of the view one would have should they be… engaged in nightly cardio, so it was easy to imagine the tree canopy that was in the shot dissolving away to become a ceiling. Perhaps a bedroom ceiling. If he had to admit it: his bedroom’s ceiling.

  He stirred a little before carrying on, stopping at a photo of Gage and himself after their last vampire clearing several months back. Joey’s full sleeve hadn't been finished yet, so the black inks that were peeking out of his bloodied shirt stopped just above the elbow. The both of them stood next to each other, arms around each other’s shoulders, cheesing hard. A quick swipe showed a nearly identical shot, but Gage had playfully stuck out his tongue.

  Smiling loosely, a chuckle worked its way out as he brought a piece of hair down to his mouth and nervously chewed on it. He wondered if he was reading too deeply into things between the two of them.

  Could there ever be anything but friendship here, Joey?

  Gage always seemed to up the level of flirting between the two of them when he needed something - be it some tech to tinker with or a task that needed to be done.

  Would this amount to anything other than an emotionless fling? Do you want it to?

  Joey didn't mind however, since he enjoyed feeling wanted and needed during those times. After all it was Gage, and his friendship meant a lot to him.

  Should something happen, would your friendship be irreparably changed?

  He continued to ignore the voice nagging in the back of his mind, shutting his eyes and sending himself into a world of what could possibly be. The drab melted away and the room was now full of warmth. Gage came in and settled beside him on the bed, wrapping those burly arms all the way around him. It felt like it was going to be good, forever.

  Joey… stop ignoring me. Do you love him?

  He finally took notice of his own questions, pondering on the last one for a while. Gage was someone who managed to hold his attention, oftentimes for way too long a stretch. For some reason, he would keep him high on a pedestal, whether it be his personality, the way he made him feel, the unknown of whether or not he felt the same way, or maybe because he showed a dominant side Joey found intriguing. Whatever it was, Gage was the one making him think ‘wow, this guy talking to me… and we are friends… and I like it.’

  But sadly, forever wasn’t going to start today. Joey’s eyes cracked open and the stodgy gray of the ceiling welcomed him back to reality.

  Bummed, Joey sighed as he looked around the empty room. Gage hadn’t come in, wasn't there, nor was he holding him. Perhaps if his brown hair was longer and more tousled things could be different, but he wasn't that girl.

  His mind was far from the chaotic mess of ordered purpose he knew how to handle. It had become plain chaos in there and the trips he was making down Feelings Avenue would most likely remain one way. Gage wasn't coming toward him in the opposite direction and his life was certainly going to keep on trucking whether or not Joey was in the other lane.

  So with that, Joey tried to evict him from his thoughts, or at least keep things focused on the platonic. But shit, before long he was once again thinking about his ripped body, chiseled jaw, and gruff but characteristic manscaping. That's when he found himself reaching to unbutton jeans in order to ease some of the growing tightness. If the statues of Perseus and Poseidon tattooed on his forearm could close their eyes, they surely would right about now.

  Gage had walked out of his room and was stepping down the hall when he paused in front of Joey’s cracked bedroom door. He was about to knock and check on him, when through the thin gap he noticed him lying down on the bed. Retracting his hand from the distressed door frame, he watched for a moment as Joey made his way into the front of his jeans and his head slowly slid back into the soft pillow. His left pec flexed, striations cutting across the musical score and red flowers that adorned it.

  Gage debated watching the entire thing as his eyes followed the few petals drifting down from his shoulder to elbow, but his stomach heeded the call of breakfast and took back over.

  Knock! Knock! Knock!

  Joey's hands shot back up toward his chest, the jolt nearly sending his phone into his face.

  “Morning, bossman,” said Gage without the slightest indic
ation he had noticed what was going on mere moments before.

  “Oh! Um… hey! Hey there G,” Joey stuttered awkwardly as he casually stretched, then buttoned up his pants.

  “Are ya getting up to anything?” asked Gage.

  “Nothing. Just um… chilling a little.”

  “Ya can't beat that first thing in the morning,” Gage said with an amused smirk.

  Joey caught on to Gage’s not-so-subtle wordplay, replying, “Yeah, it's such a stress reliever. So what’s the deal? You seem more chipper this morning than usual. Did you have a good night?”

  “Oh yes,” he responded, “I had a great night. After the downright exhausting fun of the last few days, it was nice to finally unwind. Plus, I have nothing official on the calendar today, so it's a win all around.”

  Yeah, I bet you had such a great night unwinding with her, didn’t you? Joey thought callously.

  “That's just plain awesome,” Joey said, careful not to let his thoughts slip. “I think I'll take the opportunity to play around in the Funhouse today and see what kind of coolness I can devise for our future missions.”

  “Hell yes,” said Gage with a massive Cheshire smile. He took a quick glance out the window and noticed the sun hadn’t peeked out from behind the cloud cover. “Oh and since I can’t tan today thanks to the weather, figured I would get more wood chopping in at the lean-to after breakfast. Speaking of, Ady’s already downstairs whipping us up bacon and eggs. Ya hungry?”

  Joey’s stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food, but the thought of Gage chopping wood wouldn’t leave. “More wood?” he asked, knowing full well there was more than plenty of it stockpiled. He looked down, catching a glimpse of the photo that was still pulled up. Quickly he closed it, hoping Gage hadn't seen anything.

  Of course he already had. “Well, it’s decent cardio as you know and also great practice for sport fucking,” the big guy replied with a wink.

  “What?!” said a bewildered Joey. He looked up to where Gage was just standing, only to find him already gone.

  How the hell could that moose of a man move so fast?

  Just then, one of Joey’s radios began chirping, followed by another, then another. Soon they were all sounding off, the instrument panels flared up like slot machines as Joey rushed over to see what was going on. He quickly scanned over it all, not knowing where to focus until the flickering amber light on the smallest radio drew his attention. His heart was in his throat as he flipped over the comm switch and listened.

  “Oh damn!”

  SHORTLY AFTER, JOEY BOUNDED downstairs, rounding the corner into the kitchen. The smell of bacon greeted him along with the pleasing warmth from the wood burning stove. His pleasant mood was short lived when he noticed a similar sight to the night before. This time there were no silhouettes.

  Gage clearly stood behind Adrienne with his hand on her hip. He gently rubbed it before leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek. Nabbing a glass of water, he headed over to the breakfast table and sat down.

  “Ah there’s my man!” Gage said, smiling large.

  Joey nodded, giving a half-assed grin in return before walking over to the cabinets himself.

  “Excuse me,” he said to Adrienne as he reached over for a large tumbler.

  “Morning there J,” she said happily. Her mood was quite elevated as well.

  “Morning,” he replied lightly, filling his glass to the brim with pulpy orange juice. He popped the container back in the fridge and kicked the door closed with his foot.

  He took a seat across from Gage, visibly excited. Guzzling down most of the juice, he then thrust his elbows on the table, hands gesturing at a hundred miles per hour, narrowly missing the glass with each pass.

  “Guys! Get this! The channels are lit up about the Noctis. Like all of them… even Gold!” he shouted energetically.

  Adrienne nearly dropped her spatula. Setting it down, she turned to face Joey. “Really? That hasn't happened in a little while. Never too soon though, if you ask me.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, last time it happened was the Incursion of 2010 and before that way back during World War II with the occult stuff the Nazis were dabbling in. Dark times, the both of them.”

  Gage appeared at a loss. “The… Incursion? My bad. I guess I’ve been so wrapped up in dealing with these damn red eyes since getting introduced to this world I forgot to attend my supernatural history lessons.”

  Joey’s face lit up like a beacon. “Well -” he began.

  Adrienne jumped in before he got anymore out, picking up her utensils. “The Incursion was a huge deal for the Journeymen five years ago. You know that the Order is far from perfect these days, a lot of that due to major losses in numbers. A lot happened gradually but most occurred during the Incursion. It all started when there was some internal strife amongst the powers that be on the Council -”

  “When isn't there?” Joey horned in.

  “And one of them,” she continued, “feeling as though his voice was being suppressed, went rogue. He was a powerful archmage, a human named George Thurston. He had some pretty wild ideas on humankind and how we fit in the hierarchy of things.”

  “Yeah,” said Joey, crossing his arms. “Right on top with the any supernatural at the bottom of his grimy boot. Didn't do much for the relations between them all. The wiz then had the bright idea he should steal away with the Grimoire of Shadows from the deepest recesses of the vaults. The shit stored in there you just don't mess with; they're locked away for a host of reasons, none of them good.”

  Adrienne loaded their plates with hot bacon from the pan. “He used the book and coupled it with his own magic in an attempt to gain more power for himself, enough to try and punish the Journeymen for what they'd supposedly done to him and bring his vision of an enslaved supernatural world to fruition. However, his plans backfired when he found a complicated spell that could open a doorway to ultimate power and used it.”

  “Which was his dumbass move number two,” Joey interjected. “Those dusty grimoire spells are incredibly powerful and even their names are meant to scare you away from casting them. It takes genius level talent to do that and an even greater mind to understand what it is those spells are actually doing. Most, if not all, of the incantations and recipes were sprinkled with unequal dashes of riddles and consequence. Of course that time was no different, Georgie taking what the spell was at face value. Again, his dumbass move numero dos. A little humility over hubris would have gone a long way.”

  Adrienne continued, her voice dipping into sadness. “Yup. After the doorway was opened, it quickly became evident to Thurston that it was a massive mistake. We really don't know what it was, but it called itself Andhakara, a name or creature that nobody has found referenced in any of the lore books. It was dark, gruesome, and pitiless, some accounts saying it was so appalling that looking upon it could drive you insane. Now I don’t know if that’s just exaggerated writing from one of the chroniclers, but we all knew that it desperately wanted to be here, in our world. That's when shit hit the fan. Thurston was killed almost immediately trying to placate it and thankfully the Order knew he had the book, so mustered a quick response to the situation. Only a small part of the being managed to manifest itself here before it was stopped using everything the Journeymen had brought to bear upon it. Sadly though, not before there were a lot of casualties and an even longer list of lasting impacts. You’ll notice if you ever see the present day Council: humans are outnumbered on it these days.”

  Joey shot a sideways look toward her while she heaped scrambled eggs onto their plates. Thanks for your input, he thought with a hue of rancor. I'm the knowledge base, bitch. He got up from the table and went to the fridge for some more juice.

  “The icing on the cake?” he said as the liquid poured into his glass. “Andhakara was never actually destroyed. It was only banished back to where it came from, taking the book along with it. So, it's still out there, along with its brethren. We can thank Thurston for yet another o
pportunity for an apocalypse, as if we didn’t have enough options already waiting.” He looked over to Gage as he sat back down in his seat. “So you can see big guy, Gold channel being active again means the Order is concerned about the Noctis in a big away. Something is definitely happening with these demons up in the North, along with other movements in Eastern Europe and Australia. Not to mention the mobilizing of monsters in response even here in Houston. Whatever is happening, it’s global and it’s scary.”

  Adrienne came by to set their plates down, returning to grab hers and another cup of coffee before joining them.

  “I thought they were big trouble,” Gage said as he started eating. “But damn, this is bad news.”

  Joey nodded. “What I was able to gather from what I heard upstairs is that they – the Noctis – are positioning themselves for something massive based on the scale and distribution of their activity. They haven't made any offensive moves yet, appearing to be on hold. Nobody seems sure what they are waiting for, but I would not be surprised if the Order called an Assembly within the next few weeks, my guess would be around Halloween, to address the situation.”

  Gage crammed more food into his mouth, freezing at the mention of a meeting. “Say what?” he murmured. “I guess I missed that class too. We have mandatory meetings?”

  Adrienne let loose a titter, as did Joey. He slapped the tabletop before taking another drink. “Dude, you have definitely been kicking ass off the grid since day one.”

  “Um, yeah,” he said nonchalantly. “That's what we do as Journeymen out here in the field; aka the real world. I thought this was more of an ‘individually owned and operated’ type of thing anyway, doing things my own way, how I like it, to help people.”

  “Yeah that's sort of how it works, most of the time,” Adrienne replied, lifting a bit of crispy bacon and teasing it between her teeth. “But it's like a franchise and we sort of have to keep within the lanes of the brand. Mandatory meetings are rare though and normally only happen when a big deal like this is going on.”