“Fine, I’ll bring her. But for the record, I’m not happy about it.” That was the understatement of the year. There wasn’t a single fucking thing about bringing her with us that I liked.
“Henry, can you inform Britta to meet Jackson and company at the portal?”
“Of course.” Henry turned smartly and rushed back out of the door.
I stood to follow him out, and Adam made a noise that turned me back around to face him.
“Take this book with you, and finish the story.”
“It seems to come alive in my head when you tell it. Are you sure we just can’t finish it together when I come back?”
“There may not be time.” He handed the book to me. “I want your word that you will finish it as soon as you get the chance.”
“Of course. I need to know what happens.”
“Be safe out there.”
I turned and walked out the door. It wasn’t long before I was moving at a full sprint. We needed to get ready. It was about time we got back out into the field. Adam had been holding us back for some reason, and it had been driving me crazy. I lived for times like this. Something about being back at the arena and training had been bringing me down. It was like training just wasn’t enough anymore. I needed something more intense or I felt like I was wasting my time. It seemed like my emotions were always closer to the surface than they had been before. It was different, but I liked it.
By the time I made it back to my room, I was nearly bouncing with anticipation. Within the hour, we would be out in the field, working to save someone’s life. That was the kind of thrill that I needed. If it meant we got to bring down a few demons along the way, even better. I was tired of hearing about how to fight the damn things. I was ready to pull out my swords and see what they were made of.
Opening the door, I flew past the living room before turning around at a quick sighting of red hair out of the corner of my eye. April was sitting on the couch, and I didn’t even say hello. I walked back into the room and pulled her into my arms. I gave her a kiss. When we broke apart, I couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to be loved, especially by someone I knew would never betray me.
“What was that for?” she asked, smiling back up at me.
“We’re going into the field. Go and grab your gear.”
April broke into a little happy dance. “Awesome!”
“I’ll grab Marcus and swing by your place. I’ll give you the details on the way.” She turned and started to leave. I didn’t want to ruin her mood, but I had to tell her about Britta now. If she found out just as we were about to leave, April would be pissed. There was really no good way to say it, so I just blurted it out. “Britta’s coming with us.”
April rushed back toward me and smacked me in the chest. “What the fuck, Jackson?”
My hands rose up into the air on either side of me, and I backed away a step, trying to defuse the situation. “It wasn’t my choice. Adam made the call. He really wants us to keep her close so we can spy on her.”
“And you’re comfortable with that?”
That was the whole point. I wasn’t comfortable with it, not by a long shot, but Adam had given me a home when I had nowhere else to go. The other side of that was Stillman had been the one to arrange it all. Was he really such a bad guy? It was hard for me to reconcile what Adam had told me versus what I had seen for myself. When we got back, I was going to have to sit down with my mom and figure some things out.
“I’m not really comfortable with it. Doing this makes me feel just a little slimy.” April gave me a look that let me know I was saying the right things. “I just don’t know how to say no to Adam, and who knows, maybe she’ll actually be helpful.”
“She might be, but I don’t trust her. If you can’t trust someone you’re fighting beside, mistakes can happen.”
“I know. Maybe I should talk to her before we leave.”
“I think that’s a good idea. I’ll grab Marcus. You head over to Britta’s.” She turned and then looked at me over her shoulder. “And Jackson?”
“Yes, my love.”
“No hanky panky.”
“As if you had to say it.” I blew her a kiss as she walked out of the room. I didn’t turn back to the bedroom until the door closed behind her. Man, I loved that girl. She could twist me around her finger or beat me to a pulp. Either way, I couldn’t get enough of it. I guess that was how it felt when you finally met the right one.
My go bag was in the corner of the room. I pulled my swords and gear out and started to change. It was kind of funny I felt like maybe leather had become our official uniform. Don’t get me wrong; I was a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy, but this outfit rocked. I’m not talking about the skin-tight leather you would see at a nightclub; this was loose-fitting and magically enhanced. This leather would turn an off-center strike from a blade; might even be able to take a swing or two from a set of claws.
The vest I had on over my shirt would stop a gunshot, even one from a pretty-high-caliber rifle. That was something magic had on a regular bulletproof vest. Our enchantments could do just a little bit more. Granted, that only mattered if I slipped up and let my shield down, or somehow all of our magic was blocked. Hopefully, that would never happen. Before I got to my jacket, I slipped on my harness and sheathed my swords. I finished it all off with a nice leather coat. It was custom-tailored so the hilts of my swords slid through slits along the shoulders. The entire ensemble was all in black. What, you’ve never seen Underworld?
I was ready to go, but I wasn’t ready for what was coming next. Before I would be able to leave, I had to talk to Britta. Henry would have already told her we were leaving and that she would be joining us, but April was right. It was better if I talked with her first. She couldn’t be very comfortable with the idea of coming with us, and I needed to change that if I could.
I found my way to Britta’s room quickly. It seemed like the steps to her place had been ingrained into my head. I could have probably found my way there with my eyes closed. Granted, that was all in the past. Our relationship stood on a knife's edge between friendship and oblivion. She had used me at a time when I was vulnerable. At the same time, I had found out who I really loved. This whole friends thing was going to be interesting, if it worked at all.
I knocked on the door and heard her say come in. The door was unlocked, so I opened it and walked into the room. It brought back a rush of emotions being here again. Seeing some of the same items scattered around the room that she used to keep at my place. It made me feel uncomfortable and sad. We would never get back to what we had, but maybe we could forge something new.
She walked out of the bedroom, her pants on but unzipped and just wearing a bra. I stood there for a second, not knowing what to say, and then she looked up.
“What the hell, Jackson!”
“I, uh, I was just hoping to talk with you before we headed out.” Yep, that was me, still super smooth with the ladies.
“Next time a little warning would be nice.”
She said it smirking at what must have been a shocked look on my face. I hadn’t looked away yet, and I probably should have, because seeing her like this was pushing some not so healthy thoughts into my mind. Somehow I managed to squeak out, “Well, I did kind of knock at the door and waited for a response.”
“I thought it was just Henry coming back for something. I didn’t mind because he isn’t interested in all this.” She moved her hands up and down, indicating the luscious body that I couldn’t take my eyes off of.
“Speaking of all that,” I said, pointing at her, “why don’t you finish getting dressed so we can talk before we head out?”
She flipped her hair back and let out a giggle before turning and heading back into her room. She was screwing with me, and damned if it wasn’t working just a little bit. I was pretty sure she mumbled something like men as she walked away. It was true we weren’t always able to think straight when a half-naked woman was in the room. That didn’t
mean that I couldn’t control myself. It might have just been slightly harder to do than it should have been.
Five minutes later, Britta reappeared. She was fully dressed this time. Thank God. But that didn’t make it a hundred percent better. She had this Resident Evil outfit going on. Her shirt turned into half a dress on her right side, going all the way down to her knees. Her left side was bare except for the shorts she had on, showing off her long and slender leg. She had a gun strapped to her thigh there, and I knew from experience she had two others tucked in holsters under each arm. She also had a long knife in each boot.
It was crazy how the bubbly, flirty girl turned into a sexy killing machine. But hey, that was kind of what we did. I thought it was even better how Britta modeled her look after Mila. I mean, what guy didn’t love Resident Evil? Back then, I probably would have killed an entire facility of zombies just to meet her. Who was I kidding? I’d still do it, even now.
“So what’s this talk all about, Jackson?”
“I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We need to be able to trust you out there.”
“So we broke up and now you can’t trust me?”
How much should I tell her about what I knew? Was this the time to lay all of my cards out on the table? I wanted to trust Britta. I really did. That didn’t mean that I could, or even that I should. She had betrayed me, betrayed us. She had fed information to a member of the Council. The same Council that let us face Gaston alone; the same Council that cut off the West Coast from any aid and forced us into an even more dangerous lifestyle.
“It’s more than that, Britta. I know what you were doing when we were together.”
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.”
“I know that you were working for Stillman.”
Her face fell. Then she sucked in air as if she had been punched in the gut. Her legs failed her then, and she fell to the ground. I rushed forward and cradled her fall, leaving us in a tangled heap on the floor. The sobs shook her body then, and I found myself comforting her. I didn’t know her side of the story, but it must have been pretty bad for her to be having a reaction like this. I felt betrayed, but the pure gut-wrenching emotions she was displaying now ebbed away at my anger.
“Jackson, I’m so sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”
I brushed the hair out of her face. “I’m not ever going to tell you what you did was ok. I won’t forget it, but I’d like to know why.”
“Stillman has my family. Well, that isn’t exactly true. Our family fell on hard times, and Mr. Stillman helped us out. He still supports them and makes sure that they are ok. When he found out we were together, he threatened them if I wouldn’t keep tabs on you. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Well, shit. I never thought it was going to be something like that. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wouldn’t ever expect her to betray her family, and whatever she learned about me probably wasn’t that helpful. It did shine Stillman in a pretty negative light. I wondered just how evil the man really was.
“Well, you will be happy to know that Adam has asked me to keep you close and report back whatever I can find out.”
She started to laugh then. I had to admit it was kind of funny both of us had become pawns in a larger game. A game we didn’t have enough information about to even decide which side to choose. Now that we knew exactly where we stood, we could try and make this thing work.
“So you ready to go and save the day?”
Britta stood up and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You’re damn well right I am.”
“Then let’s do this.”
She placed a hand on my arm. “Jackson, do the others know?”
“They do.” Her face fell again. “When we get back, I think the four of us should sit down together. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. We can use what we know to help the Ascendancy. We're a better team with you than without.”
She let go of my arm and smiled. “That’s nice of you to say, but it isn’t exactly true.”
“It’s true enough. You wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t bring something to the table.”
Britta followed me out of her room, and we headed down to find Marcus and April. Henry was there with them, waiting to open a portal for us. April took one look at us and knew something had happened.
Marcus laughed at me and said, “Damn, bro, I see you still have a way with the ladies.”
I looked back at Britta and noticed that her eyes were puffy and her cheeks were red where she had wiped away the tears. April gave me a questioning look, and I mustered up half a smile. “We’re all good. Britta’s ready to kick some demon ass.”
April and her exchanged a look before Britta spoke. “Hell yeah, let’s do this.”
Marcus laughed again. “What exactly are we doing, anyway?”
“One of ours has been taken. We need to find him and extract.”
“Who was it?” April asked. She still had her eyes on Britta. I couldn’t tell if she was sizing her up or if she felt sorry for her. They would probably never be friends, but that didn’t mean she didn’t empathize with her a little bit.
“Nitro.”
Marcus’s face went stone cold. “Shit.”
I knew what he meant. Everyone loved Nitro. He was a high-strung adrenalin junky, but somehow was still fun to be around. Now if we didn’t do something about it, no one would ever see him again.
Henry stepped forward and activated the portal. “Good luck.”
“We’re not going to need it,” Marcus said, stepping through. April and Britta followed.
Henry gave me a grim smile. “Bring him home, Jackson.”
“I’ll do everything I can.” I stepped through the portal, feeling the familiar tug in my belly. I stepped out into an alley behind a warehouse. I guess it really didn’t matter where we were. We had a job to do. No demon was kidnapping one of us without paying a heavy price for their mistake.
CHAPTER 7
JACKSON
The warehouse across the street looked like every other building on the block, except for the fact that it had a much nicer lobby, that and the fact that there weren’t very many people inside. Every other building was teeming with workers as they loaded trucks and moved packages around. At least we knew we were in the right place.
I looked over my team. I knew Marcus and April could hold their own. Britta was capable, but I’d have to keep an eye on her in case she got in over her head. All of them were looking at me now, waiting for my final instructions.
“All we know is the rest of Nitro’s team made it out of the building. He went through a door on the last sublevel and just disappeared. Marcus, I’m counting on you to be able to sniff out that magic when we get down there. Everyone else, kill anything that moves while Marcus finds our boy.”
Everyone nodded; the orders were easy. We needed to be in and out of this building fast and without letting any of the demons live. Any one of the demons could get a message to wherever Nitro was being held, and then it was game over. The longer this part of the mission took us, the more likely it would be that we would find Nitro dead. I held up a hand and watched the street for the perfect time to breach the building. When a large truck drove by, I dropped my hand and started running. My team followed on my heels. When we entered the lobby, no one tried to stop us. It was weird; the building was too quiet. If there were any demons here, they weren’t showing themselves.
We found the stairwell and headed down until we reached the bottom. I opened the door, and all of us went into the room. It was completely empty. No Nitro, no demons, no stacks of equipment or packages. Something was wrong, and I had the feeling that the longer we stayed here, the worse it was going to get.
“Marcus, get to work. Everyone else, keep your eyes peeled.”
We spread out around Marcus, and he started walking back and forth across the room. I could feel his power creeping out and running over everything around us. T
here was no doubt in my mind that he would find what kind of spell had been cast here, and then we could track it to Nitro’s location.
“Jackson, we have a problem.”
“Not what I want to hear right now, buddy.” I could feel my nerves starting to fray. The longer we stayed here, the more likely it was that something would go wrong. The lack of any kind of demon activity was really starting to worry me.
“There was a portal created in this room. I can re-open it, but I have no idea where it is going. It would be a one-way trip.”
“And that’s all we can do? So it’s either go and try and save our boy or do nothing?” Neither of those decisions sounded too appealing. The portal could open anywhere, including back in hell. Was that a risk I was willing to take?
“Yeah, man, I hate to admit it, but that is all I got.”
Marcus looked upset by the fact that he couldn’t do more. Frankly, the fact that he could open the demons’ portal to get us wherever they went was pretty damn impressive. There was no way I could make this call alone. Everyone had to know what they were in for. “I can’t tell you guys to do this; it’s just too damn risky. So we will put it to a vote. Who wants to go through the creepy demon portal and try and save Nitro?”
“I’m with you, bro,” Marcus said.
“I already washed my hair, so my schedule is clear,” April said with a laugh.
“I didn’t get all dressed up for nothing,” Britta said with a wink.
“Fuck it. Let’s do this. Marcus, open the portal.” At that moment, I could have been making the decision that ended all of our lives, but if it was me on the other end, I would have hoped that someone was coming for me.
Marcus held his hands out to the side, palms facing the floor. I could feel him pouring energy into the air around us. At first, nothing happened, and then slowly, a flicker of light started to appear. The light grew and changed colors. The edges danced in red, and the center was slightly black. I could see the strain on his face as he pushed everything he had into re-opening the portal. Finally, the room grew silent, and my ears popped. He had bridged the gap.
Demon Stone (Ascendancy Legacy 4) Page 5