Breaking a bottle over my brother’s head wasn’t the same as murdering or raping people. I didn’t know these wolves, and administering a death sentence to them without really doing my homework was against everything I believed in.
Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to kick some furry ass though.
The main wolf sank teeth into my arm. It hurt like hell, and I howled in pain, but it was nothing in comparison to what he was about to feel.
I muttered some Latin, sending electricity running through my blood, blood which now flowed into this wolf’s mouth.
He pulled back, body shaking and convulsing as he fell backward and crashed into a table, reducing it to splinters.
The world was red, and my heart raced as a pair of wolves rushed toward me.
“Thicken,” I muttered as they sprang forward at the same time. Wolves were like that, always in sync with their pack members. It was part of what made them so dangerous… and so predictable.
My spell took immediate effect, turning the air between those wolves and me into something much thicker, and stranding them in mid-leap.
I was taking inventory of what I’d just done, probably patting myself on the back a little bit too much, when a shot of intense pain ran up my leg. Looking down, I saw a broken pool stick jutting through my right calf.
Falling to the floor, I looked back. Scott was dealing with two wolves, golden energy whirling like twin typhoons at his hands. He couldn’t help me though. That was fine. I wouldn’t need it.
The wolf responsible for what had just happened to me stood over me, his body completely transformed into full on rage beast mode. He snarled, causing flecks of saliva to splatter across my skin as I muttered more Latin.
His gaping maw went straight for my neck as I finished my spell. As his teeth were about to sink into my tender flesh, blue energy flung him upward, pinning him against the ceiling and leaving him yapping like a house dog whose tail had just been stepped on.
I tried to stand, but it was no use. My leg wouldn’t hold me. Falling backward, I felt yet another wolf grabbing at me. A cry of pain leapt from my lips as the damned animal flung me across the floor by my scalp.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to pull some more magic. I was a little tapped though. The spells I’d cast were heavy ones. I needed a minute or two to make sure I had enough energy to really put this wolf on his ass. Did I have a minute though? If I didn’t, that would leave me with a horrible choice. Either let myself be turned into a werewolf chew toy or turn my demonic nature loose on this guy and let the results speak for themselves.
Suddenly, a blur shot by me and the grip on my hair vanished.
Looking up, I saw a guy who could only be described as an even prettier version of Edward Cullen with bright red hair and a denim jacket holding the wolf up by the scruff of its neck.
“You know the rules,” the kid said, staring at the wolf. “You make nice, or you make gone.” His eyes turned to me. “And with a noob, Trent. You should know better than that.”
The wolf snarled in response and started chomping the air around the kid.
He dropped the wolf and took a lighter from his pocket. Pulling it out and striking it, he put the flame up to his face. In the light of the fire, I saw a bright red mark across his eye.
“Don’t get cocky and forget why you don’t take a run at me, Trent.” He pushed the lighter back into his pocket and sighed. “Now get your pack and get out of here. You guys have had enough for tonight.”
The kid looked over at me. “You mind letting these guys down?” He motioned to the wolves stuck on both the ceiling and in the air.
I moved my hand and the spells lost their potency. The wolves fell to the ground in a heap, and I watched from the floor in amazement as they trotted out with their literal tails between their literal legs.
Who was this guy and how did he strike such fear into their hearts?
“Thanks,” Scott said, walking over toward him.
“Don’t give me that ‘Thanks,’” the kid said, shaking Scott’s hand. “You know you shouldn’t have come back here owing them money.” He looked down at me. “Can I assume the demon is with you?”
“He’s my kid brother,” Scott said almost apologetically, like this guy might have something to say about it. It confused me, but also irked me a little. This guy didn’t get to have an opinion about me and mine. I didn’t care who he was.
“Brothers.” The kid grinned. “Always trouble, aren’t they?”
Scott smiled at me. “Roy. I want you to meet C-guy.”
18
“You’re kind of a weird combination of shit, aren’t you?” C-guy said, polishing off a beer and laughing at me.
I sighed and rubbed the bandage that had been wrapped around my leg. Scott and this kid had pulled me up to a stool and helped me out, but now that the adrenaline from the fight was gone, it really hurt.
And instead of giving me a drink to dull the pain, Ralphie was giving me the stink eye instead. I couldn’t blame him though. I had kind of trashed his place.
“I’m not exactly a normal freak, if that makes any sense,” I said, finally getting around to finishing what remained of my original drink.
“I know all about that, my man,” he answered, pushing his empty bottle away. “Scott should have filled you in on that.”
“He hasn’t told me anything,” I said, looking toward the bathroom where my brother had vanished a few minutes ago. “Just that your name is the C- guy, that you’re a good listener, and that you’re older than you look.”
“That wouldn’t be hard, would it?” C-guy asked, shaking his head. “The first time I came in here, Ralphie actually carded me. He had no idea I was older than the fucking port this entire city is built on.”
“How?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “How is that even possible?”
“I told you, I’m kind of unique. And the name isn’t C-guy, by the way. That’s more of a nickname your idiot brother has for me. When I knew him, my name was Christopher. Now it’s Callum.”
“And neither is the real thing,” I said, knowing a thing or two about fake names myself. I had worn more than a few in the various cities I’d lived in over the years.
“If you said my real name, shit would get real,” he promised. Pointing upward, he added, “The Big Guy is kind of mad at me. He doesn’t like to hear it.”
“The Big Guy?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You know, the big Big Guy.” He smiled. “That’s why the wolves listen to me. They’re afraid of the mark he stuck me with.” The lighter made a reappearance, and he flashed the mark again. “You know, sevenfold and all.”
“Sevenfold?” I muttered, pretty confused. Then an idea sparked across my mental landscape. Only… only that wasn’t possible… was it? Then again, I’d just learned my girlfriend was descended from a Greek goddess, so maybe? I took a deep breath. “That’s the Mark of-” I shook my head. “Wait. The Big Guy is…You’re Cai-”
“Don’t say it!” he said, throwing a finger in my face.
“Like the Biblical Cai-” I tried to say anyway. Cain, like actual biblical Cain who slew his brother?
“Don’t say it!” he repeated.
“Wow,” I muttered. “You are older than you look.”
He laughed loudly. “Look,” he said. “Scott told me what you’re going through, and I have to admit, it’s kind of a shitty situation, but it’s not the end of the world.”
I sighed heavily. “I know that. I’m just kind of lost, is all. I have a kid I never knew about. My girlfriend- well, the girl who used to be my girlfriend is a literal goddess, and the people I hate more than anyone else in the world are the only people helping us.”
“That’s the Big Guy for you,” C-guy mused. “He loves nothing more than intense irony.” He shook his head. “But it’s not you know, the end of the world, I mean. I should know. I’ve been through it twice. Once with ice, once with a flood. You kind of start to see the signs coming
. I know you probably feel like shit, and I wouldn’t blame you, but you can’t really afford to let it get you down, can you? Especially with some dickhead stealing seven years of your life.”
I shook my head and turned to him. “I just hope I can make it right. I hope that- when all of this is over- there’s still a place for me. I just-”
“You feel like the world doesn’t belong to you anymore,” he answered. “I’ve felt that way since the invention of the wheel.” He grinned at me. “The truth is, it doesn’t. The world doesn’t belong to anybody. The only thing you can control is what you do and the people you choose to surround yourself with. Sure, sometimes crap gets confusing. People die and your long lost father traps you in a dimension in Hell but hey,” he shrugged. “At least people can call you by your name.”
He stood. “Now, I hate to drink and run, but I’ve got a couple problems of my own to see to. Tell your brother I’ll see him around. Tell him the next time he wants to make you feel better by goading you into a fight- do it like a civilized person and go to Applebees.”
“Goading me?” I asked. “You mean this isn’t a place of peace and harmony?”
“The War Room?” he chuckled. “No Roy, this isn’t a place of peace and harmony. I think Scott just wanted to help you feel like yourself again.”
“I’m guessing you don’t know anything about the Tantibus either?” I asked.
“Nah,” C-Guy said. “I hear tickets for that are impossible to get on Broadway.”
“Right,” I answered, realizing this trip was entirely to get me to feel like me again.
“Don’t be too hard on him about it,” C-guy said. “I don’t know you, but it looks like it might have worked.”
“Maybe,” I said, and knocked against the bar for another drink because the second I saw Scott, he was totally getting punched in the nose, and I wouldn’t be half as kind as a fucking werewolf.
19
“You’re being stupid, Roy,” Gary said, staring up at me as I paced back and forth in the back alley that served as the mystical hiding place to what I had come to learn was called The Nest. It had been a few weeks since I returned home and a couple of days since my impromptu trip to the ‘Not Big Easy.’ Still, I felt on edge.
The alley was nothing fancy. It was little more than a dead end covered in trash and graffiti. Though, why the Astra Coven decided it was a smart move to hide a sprawling mansion with a winding staircase leading up to what was basically the new Mt. Olympus was beyond me.
Seemed like they could have put it in a nightclub or a Starbucks, anywhere that didn’t smell like trash really.
They didn’t though. They put it right here, beside the three dumpsters I had been circling for the last two weeks.
“What else is new?” I muttered, my eyes flickering down at Roy. “I told you, I’ve got a job to do. If you don’t want to help me, then by all means, go back inside and fold Abram’s robes again or whatever it is you do around here.”
He pulled to a sharp stop and gasped, his hand racing to his chest in over exaggerated shock. “You know I’m a utility manager!”
“Whatever that means,” I scoffed.
“It means that when shit goes down, I’m there to clean it up,” he answered.
“Then get ready,” I answered, shrugging and continuing what had quickly become my routine pacing. “Because shit’s definitely about to go down, dude.”
“Sure as hell smells like it,” he answered, pinching the flap of skin on his oblong face where a human nose should have been.
“I don’t know why you’re not taking this more seriously,” I said, spreading my hands out wide and glaring at him. “I told you guys what was coming. I told you how serious it was, and what do I get? Practically laughed at.”
“What do you expect, Roy boy?” Gary asked, hopping up onto a ledge so we were on more on an even eye level with each other. “Yeah, there’s some massive nightmare monster coming to kill Renee. So what? Do you have any idea how many things have come to kill that woman in the past seven years? I’ll give you a hint. If you’re thinking the answer is ‘a shit ton,’ you wouldn’t be wrong. Renee can handle herself. She’s Zeus’ daughter. That comes with more than a few tricks up her super glowy sleeves.”
I huffed loudly, as frustrated as I had been since I had returned to this plane of existence. How could Gary, of all people, not understand what I was talking about? We had been through hell together, that imp and me. Now that I was back from the literal Hell with a true blue warning, he was telling me I was taking things too seriously. It was like I didn’t know him at all anymore.
In fact, it was like I didn’t know anything at all anymore.
“And what if she does?” I countered, looking him right in his spider eyes. “What if she does manage to do what you say? What if she can fend for herself?” I shook my head hard. “You know that killing this thing will actually open the portal and free my father.”
“Then bring him on!” Gary yelled, tapping his long feet against the brick ledge. “Let him come! Renee will kick his nasty ass back to whatever pocket dimension he’s been trapped in.”
“You don’t know my father,” I answered, feeling my jaw tighten as I thought about all the horrible things he had done to me while I was in that place. It seemed that every horrible thing that had ever happened to me was a direct result of my father. I couldn’t allow that horrible affliction to spread to the rest of the world.
I wouldn’t.
“And you don’t know Renee,” Gary answered bluntly.
My face fell, a prick of angry pride exploding in my chest. How dare he tell me I didn’t know the woman I still loved. Things might have changed, but nothing could ever change that much. Nothing. “You might want to rethink what you just said,” I said, a warning heavy on my tone.
“You know what I mean, Roy,” he answered, sighing and looking up at me. “I’m not saying the two of you don’t have like a connection, or whatever. Obviously you do. I remember when you guys couldn’t stay out of each other’s pants. It would have been disgusting if it wasn’t so damn sweet. I’m just saying a lot has changed, especially with her, and if you’re still looking at her like the powerless attorney she used to be, you’re wasting your time.” He nodded firmly. “That time that could be better spent if you don’t mind me saying.”
Another spike of hurt blossomed inside of me. I knew exactly what he was alluding to. It was another of the many things which had changed in the time I had been away, the most important one by far.
“How is Luc?” Gary asked, using my son’s given name.
I sighed loudly as I leaned against the brick of the alleyway. “I honestly wouldn’t have any idea,” I admitted. “The kid barely talks to me. Essie told me about his problem, how he can’t force the demon side of himself down far enough to keep his eyes from going red, but it’s almost like he doesn’t want me to help him.”
“Can you blame him?” Gary asked, folding his arms and glaring at me. “From what I can tell, you weren’t very open to the idea of listening to your father either.”
“That’s different,” I scoffed, moving toward him as the insinuation that I was anything at all like my father caused my blood to pump faster and much more furiously. It was like Vin Diesel was shifting gears inside my arteries.
“Why?” Gary asked in his annoying imp voice. “Because your father left you when you were a kid?”
“That’s not the same,” I said quickly. “I didn’t know Luc was even a person before a couple of weeks ago.”
“You think he cares about that?” Gary asked, his oblong mouth twisting downward at me. “All that kid, who’s an amazing little person by the way, cares about is that you weren’t there. He grew up his entire life the same way you did, with those bastard warlocks telling him how no good he was, with those robed fuckers blaming him for the DNA bouncing around inside his body, DNA you gave him before you split.”
I looked at Gary for a long time after that. He was r
ight. Of course he was. What happened wasn’t Luc’s fault. He was just a kid, probably scared, angry, and more than a little bitter.
“So what the hell am I supposed to do about it, Gary?” I asked, blinking and looking to my best friend for some kind of guidance. “You’re right. Everything has changed, and I don’t know anything. Hell, I don’t even know who the president is anymore.”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he muttered.
“The point is, no one will talk to me, Gary. Renee has been dodging me like I have some kind of goddess killing cooties. Essie is being her usual delightful self, and Luc would rather if I wasn’t here at all. Which actually just mirrors the way the rest of the Astra Coven has been treating me since I’ve arrived.”
“You’re special to Renee,” Gary said. “Which gives you more power over her than they have. It makes them uncomfortable. For all they know, you could convince her to turn them into pigs or something. You wouldn’t be so wrong to do it.”
“Can she do that?” I asked, wondering how I felt about that possibility. I mean, I was fond of bacon, and mystical bacon…
“Probably,” he said, waving off the question. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, they were douchebags to you, and now you’ve got the opportunity to get even. They’re scared to death. At least, that’s what I’m getting from Abram’s constant nail-biting. I swear, that guy is going to give himself an infection.”
“I don’t care about that,” I answered as defiantly as I’d ever said anything. “I don’t give a damn about revenge. All I want is to do right by the people I care about. Well, that and save the world.”
Gary looked at me for a long instant.
“You seem tense, Roy boy,” Gary said, shaking his head at me from his stoop on the wall as though the idea of me being less than absolutely calm was something to be judged for. “You gotta shake that off, bud.”
“Shake it off?” I balked, glaring at him. “This isn’t some shampoo commercial, Gary. You’re not going to make me feel better by telling me to lather, rinse and repeat. If I’m tense, it’s because I’ve got damn good reason to be.”
Blood and Treasure_An Urban Fantasy Novel Page 9