“And Harvey and Leland, too?” I said with accusing eyes. “You’re all right with that, also?”
She cursed under her breath. “Nobody asked you to bring them here.”
That was true, and frankly I would have been much happier during this entire mission if I’d not brought them along. So far they’d done little but get in my way, test my every last nerve, and pal around like a couple of long-lost friends.
“Look,” I said firmly, “I’m not going to leave, so you either help me out or all four of us die.”
The angst on her face was monumental.
I missed seeing that look.
“Use Time,” she mouthed, keeping her face taut.
“But I only have one more use of that.”
“So?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” I said, blinking. “What if we need it at some point in the future?”
In response, Rachel pointed across the ring at Rex the uberwolf. Then she raised her eyebrows in an “are you fucking kidding me?” fashion.
She was right, of course, but…
“Do you have any other suggestions?” I pleaded.
“Suicide?”
“Wait,” I said as a smile grew on my face. “You said you’d rather be down here fighting than me doing it, right?”
She squinted. “Yes.”
“Then let’s go with that.”
“Slight problem with that plan, Einstein,” she said in a rather pedantic tone. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but I’m kind of stuck in a cage hanging over the arena.”
It was my turn to point out her stupidity. Thoese moments were rare, so I quite relished them.
“Not if I Channel you.”
Her look changed from sour to impressed. So you know, that, too, was a rarity.
I hadn’t used Channel in a long time. It was one of the first skills I’d discovered. The problem with it was that not many people liked having themselves channeled through me. But in this instance, there wasn’t much choice.
“It’s a solid idea,” she stated with a nod, “but the only way you can do that is if we touch or if you can get through to my connector.”
“Damn it,” I said. “Forgot about that.”
“But it gives me an idea,” she said as she tapped on the metal bar of her cage. “You could use Harvey’s strength, if he’ll let you.”
A slow smile crept upon my face as I began to nod.
It wouldn’t be nearly as effective as using Rachel’s magical capabilities, but it’d make me easily double as strong as I was normally. There was still the problem of dealing with Rex’s speed, since Haste was out of the picture now.
Still, it was better than nothing.
“Harvey,” I said through the connector as I closed my eyes, “I’m going to need to channel your strength in order to fight in round two. Are you cool with that?”
“Do whatever you gotta do, Chief,” he answered. “We all die if you lose anyway, right?”
“Yes.”
“One question, though,” he asked with a voice that seemed to quiver, “is it gonna hurt?”
“Only if he hits me or bites me or whatever.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not just channeling your strength, Harvey,” I said, “it’ll be like we’ve merged.”
“That sounds creepy.”
“It’s not a sexual thing, you weirdo.”
“I never said it was, Chief,” he commented. “I just meant that it was creepy because we’d be occupying the same head.”
“Ah, sorry.” I coughed. “Anyway, you’ll be in my head as a bystander. You won’t have any control, but you’ll feel what I feel and I’ll have access to all of your strength in addition to my own.”
I glanced over at him and he nodded, but he didn’t look like he was all that interested in playing. To his point, though, it was either this or certain death. At least this would give us all a chance at round three.
“And you have to keep silent, no matter how bad it hurts.”
“Why?”
“Because we can’t let him know that I’m using your strength or he’ll just destroy me with speed.”
“Got it, Chief,” Harvey agreed stoically. “I’m ready.”
I closed my eyes and reached out.
Chapter 22
I stood across the arena from Rex as I felt the power of a full werebear adding in to my amalgamite strength.
“Question,” I yelled out, making sure all the wolves could hear me. “Is it fair that you have superior speed to me? I know how important it is for everyone here to see an even battle.”
“Superior speed is merely part of who I am, Mr. Dex,” he countered. “All wolves are faster than humans, as you know.”
“Stronger, too,” I replied. “But we’re not talking about standard wolf-speed here, Rex. We’re talking about the level of speed that you know is far beyond anything normal.”
“So?”
I shrugged. “Hey, if you want to cheat your way to victory, that’s your call. I just thought that werewolves were an honorable sort.” I did a quick scan of the arena. “I guess I heard that wrong.”
Rex stood there for a moment, taking in what I’d just said to his flock. He was a wolf who had a decision to make. It was one thing to flaunt your power to non-wolves, but his followers weren’t going to be all that forgiving if they felt he was winning unfairly. It was fair that he use every asset available to him, of course. I was completely aware of that. Hell, if I had Boomy in my hand, I’d have unloaded a flurry of breaker bullets into Rex’s head by now. But that wasn’t the point. These were wolves. They had a code, at least when it came to challenges, and this was a challenge game, right?
“No,” Rex said finally, “you were not wrong in your assessment of my race, Mr. Dex.” He began walking forward. “However, you are wrong to assume that my use of my assets is against our moral code. We, as wolves, are superior to every race in every way. For me to squelch one of my skills in order to bring myself to your level would be the real break in honor, Mr. Dex, for I would not be giving you my full ability.”
He’d used my own logic against me.
Smart.
“This is why I wished for you to utilize any of your particular skills, Mr. Dex.” He raised his hands at the crowd. “You see, I want your best in this fight because it is the way of the wolf when in challenge mode. In return, I have no choice but to provide my best as well.” His gaze was rather uppity as he said, “Do you understand, Mr. Dex, or shall I bring out some crayons and draw you a picture?”
The wolves chuckled.
“No need to be a dick about it, dude,” I spat back. “Unless, of course, that’s also one of your special skills?”
The wolves chuckled louder until Rex spun on them.
They silenced.
“It will be a pleasure to finally kill you, Mr. Dex,” he breathed while closing the distance between us. “I only wish I could do so one thousand times instead of just once.”
I held my reply as I prepared for his onslaught. While I knew there was no way I could keep up with his speed, I also had learned enough about the way he moved during the first round that I could make guesses. What I didn’t want to do was give away my level of power until I had no choice. It would only take one interaction with my strength to let him know he’d have to keep his distance while picking me apart piece by piece.
There was no way he was going to fall for any more of my tricks either. He’d proved that when I tried for the old “you’ve got something on your fur” routine.
Too bad I didn’t have any tennis balls on my person. Maybe he’d be up for a game of fetch.
I nearly laughed at the thought.
So that left me with the only option I had. Get the hell beat out of me while hoping I could get my hands on Rex in such a way that I could end him.
Oh, and I had to stay away from those damn teeth of his, too.
“Fine,” I said, readying myself for some serious punishment
. “Why don’t we quit talking about it and get to it?”
In response, he smiled in his doggish way, cracked his jaw, and headed back to his side of the ring.
Great. He was planning to really make a show of this for his crowd of admirers.
I, too, backed away and got myself as close to the arena wall as possible. If nothing else, he’d have to attack me from the front. I knew how fast Haste allowed me to move, and since his speed matched mine when I was using that skill, I also understood what I needed to do to cut down on his options.
“Kill him, Ian,” Rachel shouted from her perch above the action. “Rip his fucking throat out.”
That was definitely an option with my newfound strength.
I nodded at her as our eyes locked for a moment.
In all my years, I’d never met anyone quite like Rachel. Tough, independent, gorgeous, and willing to call me on my shit at the drop of a hat. Yes, I’d bedded down with more women than Hugh Hefner, but they were all just lustful excursions. Sure, I really liked a lot of the ladies I’d been with, such as Serena and Paula, but nobody was like Rachel. Nobody.
But now wasn’t the time to get all sentimental.
There was a massive wolf standing across from me who was harboring some seriously nefarious intentions toward me.
If my head wasn’t in the game, there’d be no future for any of us.
I tore my eyes away from Rachel and steeled my nerves. If Rex thought this was going to be easy, he was in for quite a surprise.
“Get ready, Harvey,” I said through the connector, “here comes the pain.”
My werebear partner merely whimpered in response.
Chapter 23
The blur known as Rex came zooming across the arena. I barely even had time to lift my arms in the hopes of blocking the initial strike.
I failed.
He clubbed me right in the chest with such a ferocious blow that I thought certain there’d be a hole when I looked down. My back slammed against the wall, too. There was no give. It was like a lumberjack taking a sledgehammer and crushing it into you at full power while you were flat against concrete.
“Owwwwwww,” came the booming yell of Harvey the werebear.
It was so loud that everything stopped.
The crowd ceased its cheering.
Rex slowed to a crawl and looked over at where Harvey sat.
Even the pain I was feeling seemed a distant ache as my brain struggled to think of the words I could use through the connector at him.
Fortunately, he recovered.
“Uh,” he said, “that looked really painful.”
You could have heard a pin drop, and this was a dirt floor. “I’ve seen a lot of, uh, mixed martial arts fights in my day, but that was…” He held out a congratulatory thumbs-up with a wince. “That was just…wow.”
“Thank you,” Rex replied with a confused look.
While I wanted to borrow Rachel’s line and call Harvey an idiot, he’d inadvertently helped my situation.
Again, Rex had slowed to a crawl.
I took advantage of the opportunity and locked on to both of his wrists. Then, I squeezed.
His muzzle spun toward me and he shook his arms fiercely in an effort to get away.
No dice.
He growled and snapped at me, but I just pushed him out farther. He went into a blur while spinning and turning and pulling, but the combination of my amalgamite strength and Harvey’s werebear power must have made it feel like Rex had irons on his wrists.
Finally, he stopped and leveled his eyes at me.
“Clever,” he said, panting. “I must admit that I hadn’t expected you to use the werebear against me. But it’s still only a matter of time before I tear you to shreds.”
With that, he leaped up and tried to kick me.
Now, if you’ve ever danced with a dog by grabbing their front paws and prancing around a bit in dancing fashion, you’ll know that they have very little ability to use their hind legs. You’d expect that this would be different with a werewolf. Turns out, not so much.
“You look ridiculous,” I said as the wolves in the crowd began howling with laughter. “Seems like your adoring flock agrees with me as well.”
His eyes began glowing red.
I didn’t know exactly what this meant, but I couldn’t imagine it would be good.
Then he bared his teeth, completing the incredibly creepy visual. His breath didn’t help the vibe either.
And that’s when the word Flashes hit me.
Now, unlike the other little fun games that Gabe the vampire had hooked me up with, Flashes wasn’t something I could control. Or, if it was, I had no idea how to do it. Flashes just seemed to trigger when it wanted to. The first time it’d happened was when I’d bumped into Shitfaced Fred on the old Strip. The second time was when a chunk of Charlotte the dragon’s flesh landed on me in Blood Bane Tower. This time, though, it seemed that Rex had to get riled up enough to trigger the event.
The world froze.
Chapter 24
Just like the other two times Flashes kicked off, I found myself looking through the eyes of a mystery person. I never knew who it was or if it was even the same set of eyes every time. It felt the same, but that was probably because it was me living through it.
I was standing outside of a building in downtown Vegas. I recognized the place, but I couldn’t remember the details of it. There was a haze around my memory of it, almost like what happened whenever I caught sight of one of the Directors.
There was a side door that led down a flight of stairs. I’d kind of hoped we’d be going through a main glass entrance so I could catch a reflection of who I was floating around inside.
Maybe next time.
At the bottom of the stairs was a hidden zone. This was similar to a null zone, but it was further masked with runes so that not even supernaturals could find it…unless they knew where to look.
The area lit up for a moment and I saw a portal open.
It wasn’t the standard portal I was used to. This one looked more like a black door-sized void that didn’t so much jump from one dimension to another, but rather just acted as a regular, well, door.
The person I was inhabiting stepped inside and walked across a room that had various industrial vats running along the walls. I couldn’t see anything in any of them, though, because they were all made of metal. The center of the room had various tubes, beakers, and computers. It reminded me of my chemistry classes back in high school, but on a much larger scale.
We walked through another doorway that led down into a dark dungeon-like cavern.
Seated in the middle of the room was Rex. I recognized him immediately because of the red circle of fur that was on his right shoulder. It looked like a bullseye.
He stared back at whomever it was that I was inhabiting and nodded a few times. Obviously, my ride was speaking to him, but I couldn’t hear anything being said.
Rex’s eyes weren’t the glowing red I’d seen before. They were blurry and dazed, and he looked majorly out of it.
He was either in a trance or he was drugged.
Either way, it wasn’t the same level of Rex I was dealing with in the arena.
Another person came into the room.
This was more a sensation than a visual, though, because I couldn’t see this person. I just knew that…she?…was there.
As if confirming my suspicions, Rex turned a weary head toward her and then jumped to his feet, a howl releasing from his lips as anger filled his face.
The scene suddenly changed.
I was no longer in the dungeon or whatever it was. Now, I was standing in a forest somewhere that I couldn’t place. If I had to guess, I would have said somewhere in Washington state or maybe even Canada.
The body I was in began to float up until we were looking down at the clearing. Magic? Was I in a mage of some sort?
From the side of the clearing walked a small wolf that had a red circle on its shoulder.
Was this Rex, but younger?
A set of other wolves slowly closed in on him.
It looked like my pal Rex was about to be ambushed.
I couldn’t help but think he deserved it. Then again, it was clear that he’d gotten out of this fight alive or I wouldn’t be standing in an arena with him in the real world.
So, what was the point of this vision?
One thing I’d learned from Flashes thus far was that they always had a point—some means of allowing me to defeat the bad guy or maybe an indication of how I could escape a critical situation. Yes, I’d only had two episodes before this one, but both were beneficial to me in some way.
The wolves dived at him.
He jumped to the side and tore the throat from the one closest to him. The instant the dead wolf hit the ground, Rex grew slightly and a flash of light surrounded him. This made the next wolf to hit him die even faster than the first.
With each successive death came greater power for Rex.
Greater size.
Greater ferocity.
Could that be the message here? If Rex killed me, he’d get my strength and abilities? If so, it was even worse because he’d also be getting Harvey’s power.
After a few wolves had met the maker, though, Rex’s size increases stopped.
So there was a limit.
That was good, at least, and it made sense. If there had been no limit, he could have just gone and hunted down supernaturals and killed them all until he was the most powerful beast to ever walk the earth.
But that was it, wasn’t it? He needed me because I was unique. He’d probably killed every other type of supernatural out there, inheriting their skills and abilities.
He was essentially the wolf version of me.
Rex was an amalgamite in wolf’s clothing.
Shit.
Chapter 25
Flashes stopped, leaving me dazed and a bit confused, but I refused to let that hinder my grip on Rex’s wrists.
In his world, not even a second had elapsed, but his eyes settled on me and he squinted. It was like he knew that I knew.
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