The Demon's Apprentice

by Ben Reeder

  “We're outside your territory, King. You hold no sway beyond that gate.” Were or human, he had an ego a mile wide, and he wasn’t going to stand for losing face in front of anyone.

  “I'm in charge wherever I am, boy,” he said, “especially with this bunch. I was making werewolves before your mother was spreading her legs for the locals.”

  “Did he just go straight to insulting your Mom, Chance? Because that’s like, the ass end of lame,” Lucas asked from behind me. His voice was high and shaky, but the insult was a lot better than anything I could come up with.

  “Shut your mouth, boy!” King bellowed. He put his hand on the paintball gun, but stopped as he heard the hammer click back on Collin's pistol. Behind me, I heard Lucas gulp, but he stood his ground, and so did Wanda.

  “Careful, Fido, they’re on my turf now. And the kid’s right, you did go straight to ‘Yo Mama,’” Collins remarked, as he stepped up beside me.

  “I go where I want, pig. I take what I want. Borders, rules, they're for the weak.” He snarled in my face. As if to make his point, he held his hand up and let me see his fingernails grow into claws as his hand deformed. I could smell his breath, stale beer, and something that smelled like a mix of rotted onions and rancid meat.

  “You're still outnumbered and outgunned,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady as I reached up and pulled his hand away from the gun. I backed up a step, and Collins followed suit. “So, right now, no, you don't. Right now, you're the weak one. Obey, or suffer. So…stay…good dog.”

  As I talked, I'd been backing up, and by the time I threw the last insult out, Alexis and I were standing next to Lucas. He had his seat angled forward, and we piled into the passenger side as fast as we could. I could see the dome light in a blue Neon click on as Collins got into it, then I heard the Falcon's engine rev as Lucas backed away and did a quick turn-around in the middle of the road.

  “Are we clear?” Lucas asked from the front seat.

  “For now. He'll have to go back and get his bike. But he can find me, no matter where I am. Look, um…” she faltered and touched Lucas' shoulder.

  “Lucas. That's Wanda.”

  “Thanks, you guys. My friends…call me Shade,” she told him hesitantly, and robbed him of the ability to speak for the rest of his high school career, short of divine intervention.

  “Come on, Chewie,” Wanda said. “Geez, always thinking with your hormones.” I didn’t get the reference, but evidently Lucas did. He shook his head, then made a low trilling sound deep in his throat as he headed for the highway. I reached in to my book bag and pulled out the baggie holding the sliver of claw and the strand of what I now knew was werewolf hair, and dropped the three hairs I had plucked from the back of Dominic King’s hand in with them. I had a hunch I wanted to play, and I’d need something personal of King’s to play it.

  “Dude, that was…wow,” Lucas said softly over his shoulder.

  “You so saved our asses,” Wanda added.

  “I told you guys I was the most dangerous thing out there.”

  “You were right,” Alexis said from beside me. I smiled at the compliment, and took a quick stock of myself. I hurt…a lot. My right arm was trying to cramp up, my left wrist felt like it was on fire, and my ribs felt like they’d been kicked by a horse, not to mention the shiner I was working on. Top all that off with the monster of a headache that was forming behind my eyes from overdoing the magick end of things, and getting punched in the face so many times, and I was going to feel like three different levels of Hell by morning. On the plus side, both of my friends were okay, and I'd been kissed by Alexis Cooper, the hottest girl in school. It didn't hurt that she thought I was the most dangerous thing out here, when she had a cop and a whole pack of werewolves to choose from, including herself.

  I curled up against the passenger side of the car and tried to ignore the pain my body was in. My right arm refused to do anything other than lay against my side, and my left really, really wanted to join it. My face was on fire, and my head was pounding.

  Shade’s hand on my cheek was a pleasant surprise, but her kiss was even better. Like the first time, it was like having a million volts of electricity shoot through me, and this time, it held the promise of a whole lot more. Her lips were hot on mine, but soft, and there was a passion to the kiss that the first one hadn’t had, nice as it was. My left arm went around her as we melted into it, and I felt her tongue touch my lips as she drew back a little to look up at me in the darkness. Lucas was just pulling onto the highway as we stared at each other: I in surprise, and she with an intensity that made my soul want to open up to her. But, after seeing what being in my head had done to Dr. C, I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “What was that one for?” I whispered to her.

  “Because I wanted to,” she whispered back. Her left hand slid inside my jacket and she laid her head in the hollow of my left shoulder as she pulled herself closer to me. She squirmed around a little to get comfortable, then rubbed her cheek against my chest for a second before she settled it back where she had started. I heard a soft sigh escape her, and felt her breath through my shirt, a warmth that slowly spread to other places. She felt good next to my body, and I didn’t mind things the way they were.

  We were safe for the moment. The regular pattern of light and dark from the streetlights, the hum of the Falcon’s motor and the sound of her tires on pavement all made for a temporary haven of peace as we drove. I was in the company of friends, with the memory of a beautiful girl’s kiss still tingling on my lips, and her warm, soft curves pressed up against me. It was enough to help me forget, for a few minutes, how deeply screwed my life was just then.

  I didn’t think I could say the same for Lucas and Wanda. They were quiet in the front seat, and I knew their lives had been completely changed by what they’d seen tonight. To their credit, they'd handled it pretty well, seeing werewolves for the first time and surviving the experience. They’d also been faced with another revelation: their new friend was a warlock. They got to see me at my worst, handing out pain and destruction like candy. I might have saved their lives, but they had still seen what I was not only capable of, but willing to do. For now, them not freaking out was good. I just wondered if they’d do so well if they knew the rest.

  We took the exit for the Pittsburgh/Joplin area, and slipped back into regular life. Fast food restaurants, convenience stores, strip malls, and office buildings surrounded us, and I saw Lucas’ hands relax on the steering wheel. He took the longer-but-brighter path back to the school, and parked under one of the light poles in the parking lot.

  Shade stirred as we stopped, and my left side felt suddenly cold as she sat up and moved away from me. One hand went to move a loose strand of hair from her face, and she looked at me with a sheepish smile. We crawled out after Lucas and Wanda and stood in an awkward group for a couple of seconds before I broke the silence.

  “Shade, you’d better come with us to talk to Dr. C. He’ll know what to do.” I winced as her eyes went wide.

  “We can’t tell a teacher about this!”

  “Why not?” Lucas asked, as Collins pulled in behind us. “We already told a cop.”

  “Dr C’s a wizard,” I explained. Lucas and Wanda traded a wide-eyed look.

  “I really can’t tell him, then! Wizards kill Weres!” Shade was backing away, toward the darkness.

  Collins appeared next to her, looking concerned. “You planning on letting me know what this is all about, Chance?”

  “You gonna arrest me?”

  “For what? Kid, no one’s gonna believe me if I try to tell ‘em about this. Hell, I saw it with my own eyes, and I don’t want to believe it!”

  “Look, I can explain, but we need to get inside, okay? Just…trust me on this. Inside, good: opposite of out here, bad.”

  “But…a Conclave wizard, Chance,” Shade protested. She backed to the edge of the circle of light.

  “He’s pretty cool. Believe me, he had every ri
ght to turn me over to the Conclave earlier, and he didn’t. He’ll hear you out. He’ll hear me out.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Shade asked from the edge of the light. Her eyes flicked to Collins, then back to me.

  “I looked into his mind tonight, and…I know him. He’s not about absolutes or rules. He’s more into doing what’s right. And he gives a damn.”

  She took a couple of steps closer, and I held out my hand. As soon as she took it, I headed for the door.

  “You read Dr. Corwin’s mind?” Wanda asked in a voice that was just above a whisper. Her eyes were wide, with a familiar gleam to them.

  “No, we looked into each other’s minds. It’s a lot different than simple mind reading. You walk around in their head; they walk around in yours. You see everything about the other person while they look at your life like an open book. It’s…disturbing.”

  “But you can…”

  “Yes.”

  “Could you…”

  “No.”

  “You didn’t even hear the question!” she said hotly as we headed up the steps.

  I pulled the door open and stepped inside. “You wanted me to show you how to do it,” I told her. I narrowed my eyes at her, daring her to lie to me. “Everyone asks that.”

  “Why wouldn’t you show someone how to do it?” Lucas asked.

  “It’s invasive. And, I think it’s against one of the magi’s rules.”

  “But you’ve done it before,” Shade said softly.

  “Lots of times. It…used to be part of my job…before. Look, let’s go talk to Dr. C. I’ll explain everything then.” I got four nods, and started down the hall, moving stiffly.

  “What the hell did you used to do?” Collins asked.

  “I’ll tell you in a minute.” My arms were stiffening up, and my legs were still burning from sprinting half a mile uphill. The stairs were a new challenge now, but I finally made it to the top with the tops of my thighs feeling like they were on fire, and we started our weary way down the hall to the science lab.

  Dr. C was waiting for us, still looking a little messed up, but that was mostly the haunted look around his eyes. He took in the bruises forming on my face and the dirt on my clothes, then his eyes flicked to Wanda and Lucas, who were covered with dots of Were blood. I tried not to make a face, but Dr. C saw the grimace that scrunched up my nose. I hadn’t been able to see the blood on them in the weak light out at the camp.

  “What did you get them into?” he asked me seriously. He frowned when he saw Collins come in behind me. “And how did the police get involved?”

  “The jocks’ hang-out turned out to be a Were den,” I explained.

  “He told us to stay in the car, Dr. Corwin!” Wanda added quickly.

  “I followed them out,” Collins explained. “Fortunato’s a person of interest in a murder investigation.”

  “Which almost explains why you’re here. And where do you come in, Alexis?” Dr. C asked patiently.

  “I’m…I was…one of the werewolves,” she answered quietly, “or…I was part of the pack until tonight. I didn’t want to be, but…” She sat down, and tears began to course down her face. “Dominic turned me…for Brad…when we were in eighth grade. He’d already turned Brad and the rest of the guys, and they were the big football stars, even in middle school. Brad told me it meant…” she paused for a moment and wiped her eyes. “He said no one else could go out with me. That I would kill my date if I ever went out with anyone but him…or that he would. It was supposed to be perfect.”

  “But?” Dr. C prompted her after a few seconds of silence. I gave him a dark look, and he held up one finger to silence me.

  “Our freshman year, Dominic started having us…do things. Beat people up or rob them. I stole things, too, but he had me do the solo jobs. The quiet ones. We didn’t want to at first, but Dominic said it was time to pay him back for what he gave us. That’s when we started to learn about the Law of the Wolf. One of the boys, Jesse, tried to leave last year. Dominic…killed him. Slowly. After that, none of us dared to challenge him. Then I found out that I wasn’t just Brad’s girl any more. Dominic started ‘borrowing’ me. His right as pack alpha, he said. And when I tried to say no, he…” She couldn’t continue.

  I came up to her and knelt in front of her, not knowing what to do, just wanting to do something. She looked down at me, then pulled me to my feet, took my hand in hers and laid her face against my knuckles. When she rubbed her cheek against the back of my hand, her face went slack and relaxed. I looked over my shoulder to Dr. C with a confused look on my face, but he only smiled and shook his head. I moved so I was standing beside her, and laid my hand on her shoulder. She leaned her head over to lay her cheek on my hand for a second, then straightened and took a deep breath.

  “Brad and the boys enjoy taking runs,” she said softly. “I started to do my own jobs for him, if they were going to steal things from people who could afford it. But even if we didn’t want to, Dominic could make us do it. He’d get in our heads, and we’d be doing what he wanted us to do. It was like he was there, pulling our strings or something. But tonight, when Chance hit him with whatever it was he did…he couldn’t make me turn anymore, like he used to. I mean, I felt the call, but I…I didn’t.”

  “She saved our asses, Dr. C,” I offered.

  “She made all the other werewolves calm down long enough for us to get out of there!” Lucas chimed in.

  “Yeah, she’s cool, Dr. Corwin,” Wanda said. Shade looked from one face to another as we vouched for her, and I saw her eyes go all misty again.

  “I don’t doubt that she is, guys. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to her. Alexis, did you calm the other wolves, like Lucas said?”

  “I’ve always been like the pack’s mother. Since Dominic never helped us out, I was sort of the one to keep the peace when the boys got a little high strung. They may be jerks sometimes, sir, but they’re still my friends.”

  “Alexis…”

  “Shade,” she corrected him. “It’s my pack name. When I turn, my fur is black.”

  “Okay, Shade,” Dr. C continued, “from what all of you just told me, I’d have to say you’re probably an alpha. Specifically, the alpha female of the pack, or an alpha female, depending on your desires.”

  “Doc, you aren’t making a lot of sense,” Lucas prompted him.

  “Sorry, it’s hard to concentrate tonight. Shade, you're a bigger threat to Dominic than you know, simply because you may be his equal as a werewolf. Alphas are rare, and even the weakest alpha can still be very potent. The Conclave isn't sure of their full range of abilities. However, we believe that they're not only able to induce the change on other werewolves, but they can sometimes prevent it, as well. And, they’re reputed to be able to call on the power of the pack to make themselves more powerful in battle. If he knows you’re an alpha, he’s going to go to great lengths to get control over you again. Which is an abomination in and of itself, to say nothing of the way he ran the pack.”

  “Dominic’s big on blind obedience. The Law Of the Wolf: the strong rule, and the weak obey, or suffer. He always made it seem like he was the only alpha, and that was that.”

  “Well, I’m sure that’s not the true Law of the Wolf. So, why did he let you go?”

  “He didn’t. I walked on my own. I left the pack.” The pain in her voice mirrored what I’d seen in her eyes after she had touched Brad. Her wolf instincts needed them, I guessed, and stepping out of that circle must have been hard to do.

  “He didn’t challenge you then and there?”

  “No, I waited to see who my rebellious little bitch was gonna run to,” came a voice from the back of the room. We all turned to see Dominic King crouched in the empty window frame.

  Chapter 15

  ~ Even a demon will keep his word when his pride is on the line. ~ Johann Faust 15th century mage

  Wanda let out a little yelp, and Lucas didn’t quite stifle a curse. Dr. C, Collins, and I
all drew weapons. Mine wasn’t loaded, but I was betting King didn’t know that. Shade’s shoulder went tense under my right hand, and I felt as much as heard the low growl she let out. King just looked at us and gave a satisfied grin. Smug bastard.

  “You’re on neutral ground, King,” Dr. C said calmly.

  “Yeah, the flagpoles out front are kinda hard to miss,” King said. “Ain’t gonna stop me from killing the boy for trespassing on my pack’s turf.” He hopped down from the windowsill and walked halfway across the room.

  “Careful, King,” Dr. C said in a chilly voice. “The boy is my apprentice. If you’re accusing him of wrongdoing, you’ll face me in challenge, not him.”

  “I ain’t gonna challenge him, mage. I got the right to just kill him. Besides, the Council won’t give a damn what happens to a warlock anyways.” His words must have hit a nerve with Dr. C, because a bright red dot appeared on his chest, and I heard Dr. C take a sharp breath. King turned and started for the gaping window. “Hell, I could kill his family, and the Conclave would prolly give me a damn medal or something.”

  My heart started pounding in my chest as I felt my world start to crumble around me. This was my fault. My mother’s and sister’s death would be on my hands.

  “Dr. Corwin, you have to do something!” Wanda cried.

  The red dot disappeared, and I saw Dr. C’s gun drop. “I can’t,” he said softly. King started laughing, and I felt a line of ice slide down my spine.

  “Challenge!” I called out, the words hard on the heels of a half-formed thought. The silence that fell was thick, and I felt every eye in the room turn to me.

  “What?” King chuckled as he turned to face me again.

  “Chance, what the hell are you doing?” Dr. C demanded.

  My thoughts tumbled around in my head as I asked myself the same thing. “Dominic King, I accuse you of the murder of Sidney Chomsky,” I heard myself say.

  “Who the hell are you to challenge me?” King demanded with a sneer.

  “I am Chance Fortunato,” I said, and for the first time in years, I stood straight and tall. Anger coursed through my body like fire. “Mr. Chomsky was my Master…and he was my friend. As his apprentice, I challenge you to trial by combat.” The word Master barely tripped me up, but where Mr. Chomsky was concerned, I could use that word without getting too messed up.