Death's Mantle: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Revelations Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “I swear, I heard the door. What if someone was watching us?” Kim asked as she made her way to the door and peeked out the peephole. Malcom stood outside, leaning against the wooden post of the porch like he always had. Ian stood a few steps behind him.

  “Not now,” she muttered, turning and leaning against the wall beside the door as she slowly sank to the faux wood floor.

  “Who is it?” Caden asked, taking a step toward her, concern stretched across his face.

  “Kim, are you there? I see your car...” Malcom called from the opposite side of the door, and the sound of his voice made Caden stop in his tracks.

  “Why is he here?” Caden snapped. “Did you invite him over?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t invite him,” Kim replied, burying her face in her hands. This was not good. Not good at all. The last thing she wanted was for Caden and Malcom to get into another fight. She sighed. This wasn’t how the evening was supposed to be going.

  “Well, get rid of him,” Caden replied, taking a step back and sliding out of sight. “I’ll wait over here.”

  Kim huffed and got slowly to her feet. “So much for moral support,” she murmured as she pulled the door open and stared at Malcom through the crack between the door and the jamb. “What do you want, Mal?”

  He leaned heavily on the door like he always did, and the chain snapped to attention. “Are you okay? You look upset.” Malcom smiled at her, his lips peeling back to reveal his near-perfect teeth.

  “I’m upset you’re here.” She shook her head, and his face fell. She couldn’t quite explain it, but the sight of his disappointment tugged at her heart. “You’re not supposed to come around anymore.” She shifted her eyes to Ian who stood there looking like he’d gotten caught putting his hand in the cookie jar. “And you’re not supposed to let him.”

  “He wouldn’t listen,” Ian said with a sigh. “But you should probably hear what he has to say, crazy as it sounds.”

  “See I’m vouched for.” Malcom grinned. “What do you say? Can we come in?”

  “It’s really not a good time,” Kim replied, moving to shut the door. Hopefully she could get him out of here before he caused a scene. Malcom shoved his shoe in the doorjamb, blocking it from closing.

  “It’s important, Kim. I’m sure you have to wash your hair or something, but this is a big deal.” Malcom’s voice dropped to a whisper as he looked around. “It’s about the cyclops.”

  Kim shut her eyes as the word cyclops chased everything away, replacing her thoughts with a dull, aching fear. At first, she couldn’t remember what had happened exactly. Even after she’d been escorted into the school nurses office by a boy she barely knew, she had a hard time recalling exactly what had happened.

  Unfortunately, as the minutes turned into hours, images and recollections of the day’s earlier event had started congealing in her mind, much as she had tried to ignore it. As the word cyclops reverberated in her head, the same face that haunted her dreams surfaced. Was the creature back? She had tried to tell herself it wasn’t real, but every time she closed her eyes, there it was, huge and menacing, and now Malcom was here, talking about it like it was real, but that was impossible. Cyclopses didn’t exist.

  “I’ll let you in, but you’ll have to stop leaning on the door, or I won’t be able to undo the chain.” Even though she had said the words, they felt foreign in her mouth, like they’d come from someone else’s throat. Was she really going to let Mal inside to talk about a cyclops? While Caden was still inside, no less? No… no that wouldn’t work at all…

  “All right.” Malcom stepped back, removing himself from the doorway. “But if you leave us locked outside, I’m not going to be happy.”

  “I won’t, just give me a minute.” She shut the door slowly and against her better judgement, removed the chain.

  Kim 01:02

  Kim spun around, her heart racing in her chest as she spied Caden sitting on the edge of the couch, flipping through one of her dad’s bicycling magazines. She had to get rid of him first. Not because of Mal, though that was part of it. Mostly because she didn’t want him to hear about the cyclops and decide they were all crazy. Then again, Ian had seemed to take the news okay… Maybe Caden would too?

  “Did you get rid of him?” Caden asked when she approached. He dropped the magazine and leaned back, stretching. His muscles strained at his tight grey t-shirt, and for a moment, Kim wondered if he was showing off. Probably not. If he was, he’d have taken his shirt off or slid it up to reveal his perfect abs. He’d done it too many times already for her to expect otherwise.

  Sadly, it worked pretty much every time because the sight of so much touchable muscle made her fingers long to caress him. Her cheeks burst into flames as she shoved the thought away before it could dig its claws into her.

  “No… but I need to talk to him. Would you mind stepping outside for a bit?” Kim asked, and Caden’s angular face took on a skeletal appearance as his smile disappeared into a hard line. Guilt crawled up her spine as the fire in his eyes flickered and went out.

  “Um… why?” Caden asked, anger spilling into his voice. “Why would I need to leave? I’m sure we can be civil.”

  “It’s not that…” Kim’s throat closed up as she tried to force the rest of the words to come out, but how could they? How could she say, “We need to talk about the mythological cyclops that attacked me?” What was she going to add after? “You know, the one I neglected to mention to you?” No… no the chances of that going well were less than none… It would be better if he left, no matter how angry he got.

  “Then what is it, Kim?” Caden reached out and gripped her shoulders. His fingers were warm and…. And he was trembling. His forest green eyes held something she couldn’t quite read… no that wasn’t true, she knew what that look was. It was fear, but of what?

  “Nothing, it’s just… you wouldn’t understand,” she replied, and Caden watched her for a long time, thoughts flitting across his eyes. His features darkened.

  “Well, it’s not like I can go home. You drove me here. I’m like four miles from my house…” he trailed off and huffed out an annoyed breath. “If you want, I guess I can wait in the kitchen…”

  Kim bit her lip. Would that work? Probably not. There was no chance he wouldn’t eavesdrop. And this was a cyclops. He’d definitely come out during the conversation, especially if he heard about her being attacked and saved by Mal. If only she had told him earlier… Why hadn’t she been honest?

  But could she have been, really? Would he have believed her if she said she’d been attacked by a cyclops during school? No…

  “I don’t know if that is going to work,” she replied, feeling like the most unreasonable person on the planet. Was she really asking her boyfriend to leave so she could spend time with her ex after they had just had a fight about cheating? Was that really happening? He must think she was crazy.

  “Fine, you know what… give me a second, I’ll just call for a ride...” Caden turned and walked into the kitchen to use the phone on the wall. She’d almost forgotten he didn’t own a cell phone. Something about his parents not liking the devices…

  Kim chased after him and grabbed her phone out of Caden’s hands before he could dial. “You need to leave now. I don’t have time to wait for your ride to show up.”

  “They aren’t going to come if I don’t call.” He put his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. The feel of his skin pressed against hers made her tremble as he reached out and ran one hand along her cheek. “It’ll just take a second. I’ll wait out back for my ride. He won’t see me…”

  “Hey, Kim, where are you?” Malcom called from the living room. Had he just let himself inside? She cursed herself. Of course he had. She should have left the chain on the damn door.

  “Yeah, hold on a second.” She turned to Caden and kissed him. “Okay, hurry up.”

  “Okay,” Caden replied, taking the phone from her hands. “But we’re going to talk about thi
s later.”

  “What are you doing here?” Malcom asked as he poked his head into the kitchen. He took a confused step backward and gripped the doorframe for support. His ebony skin looked so dark against the white paint that, for a moment, it seemed like he was darkness incarnate.

  “I’m just leaving, we’re done making out for the day. She’s all yours, tiger.” Caden brightened as he spied Ian just behind Mal. “Awesome, Ian can you give me a ride?”

  “I didn’t drive, man.” Ian smiled his “you just sprayed me with soda at the swim meet you huge jerk” smile.

  “How’d you get here then?” Caden looked concerned. “We both know he doesn’t drive anymore.” Caden jerked his thumb at Malcom. “Not like he could afford the gas anyway.”

  Ian shrugged. Caden eyed him for a few moments before dialing into the phone and turning away from them. “Whatever. You’ve been hanging out with dork boy too much, Ian. Careful, don’t get let him stay over too much or his dad might come over to get him,” Caden replied, glancing back over his shoulder, but even though his words sounded angry, concern was etched into his features. “You won’t like that.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ian asked as Caden spoke quietly into the phone and hung up.

  “Nothing,” Ian replied, shrugging as he made eye contact with Mal. The two of them seemed to have an unspoken conversation before Caden nodded once and headed toward the front door.

  As they passed each other, Caden leaned close to Malcom and whispered something Kim couldn’t hear. Malcom nodded back, a strange look on his face. Caden smirked and moved out of sight. A second later, she heard her front door close, which was a little weird because he had left his backpack by the back door. She glanced over her shoulder at the lime green backpack and sighed. How long would it be before he remembered it?

  “Well that was fun,” Ian said with a sigh. “Why did I let you talk me into taking you over here?”

  “Because there’s a cyclops on the loose who is after Kim, and I don’t drive?” Malcom offered, and Ian shook his head.

  “I’m like this close,” Ian pressed his thumb and index finger together. “To not believing you about that.”

  Mal opened his mouth to say something when Caden’s body burst through the kitchen’s back door in a spray of glass and debris. His body slammed into her kitchen table so hard the dark wood shook as he lay there, sprawled across the top of it, barely moving.

  “Oh my god!” Kim screamed, rushing over to him and gathering his broken body into her arms. Fear and horror washed over her in waves as her gaze shifted from him to the broken doorway. What the hell had caused that?

  “I’m in desperate need of a bargaining chip,” Polyphemus roared as he stepped through the shattered door and into the room. He was so large he had to duck his head and squat down on his haunches. One three-fingered hand was clenched around a huge hammer. Shards of pale sapphire glinted off of it as he pointed it at them. “Those barbarians have something I want. They have my wife, and they want someone for her.” He shrugged, and for some reason, the gesture enraged her. “It’s not personal.”

  “Throwing my boyfriend through a door is ‘not personal?’” she screamed before she could help herself. Everything around her went sort of hazy as she stared at the massive creature, her lips curling into a snarl. She was going to make him pay for this…

  It seemed like the cyclops barely moved, but somehow, he was right next to her. The air around him was so hot it scalded her flesh as she stumbled away from him, falling over a chair that clattered so loudly against the pale pink tile it made her hammering heart nearly burst through her chest.

  “Polyphemus, get away from her!” Malcom cried, stepping toward the giant, his hands curled into fists.

  The cyclops glanced at him and snorted. “You have no power over me, Mors. You have yet to truly take on your mantle and see.” Absently, the huge cyclops whipped his hammer outward, smacking Mal in the chest with the weapon. The sound was unlike anything Kim had ever heard, sort of a wet, cracking squelch.

  Mal flew backward, crashing into the refrigerator with such force, he actually dented the front of it. He slid to the ground, leaving a scarlet smear on the metal. The cyclops laughed, a deep, throaty sound that sent chills crawling across Kim’s flesh. “Someday, Mors, you will look back on our encounters and thank me for opening the door for you.”

  The cyclops took a step toward Malcom, his huge hammer raised in front of him. Blood dripped from the jagged, sapphire shards and spattered on the tile, leaving a trail behind him like a macabre Hansel and Gretel.

  Everything around her faded away as she stood. Her skin was on fire, every nerve sizzling inside her. The urge to crush him beneath her heel was so strong, she couldn’t feel anything else. This thing wanted to defeat her? The idea was laughable.

  She sneered and the world went white and opaque as she took a step toward the massive creature. Her footsteps echoed in the tiny room, and the cyclops turned toward her. The smile vanished from his face, and his huge eye widened.

  “No,” he swallowed, swiveling around to bring his hammer in front of him. He clutched the weapon tightly, hanging onto it like doing so would keep him from falling off the world.

  “Leave, now!” Kim said and her voice was like a trumpet call, like the crashing of hooves, like an invading army. “Or so help me…” the words left her in a tumble of rage as she raised her hand in the air and slowly curled it into a fist. Smoke curled off her body as a fog of wrath settled over her mind. Yes, she would destroy him, and it would be a righteous victory.

  Unconsciously, she began to rub her thumb around the top two fingers on her right hand. It felt like she was nursing a fire. A worried look crossed Polyphemus’s face for a split second before vanishing behind an emotionless mask.

  “You’re all the same to me.” Polyphemus’ crooked teeth curled into a cruel smile, and the sight of it sent a tremor down her spine.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked, but even as the words left her mouth, the cyclops reached out with his free hand and seized Ian by the throat.

  “I can trade any of you.” The cyclops jerked Ian against his body, one huge arm wrapping around Ian’s chest and hugging the squirming teen to his chest. “I’ll just take the one who hasn’t awakened yet.”

  Kim lunged, her hands outstretched as Polyphemus began to glow bright white. He vanished as she landed hard on the tile floor, her fingers swiping through empty air.

  Kim 01:03

  Kim knew Malcom blamed himself for what had happened. It’d been several days since Ian’s disappearance, and there had yet to be any sign of him, or Amy and Jesse for that matter. To make matters worse, Caden was still in the hospital. Evidently, being thrown through a door wasn’t something the human body was designed to handle.

  Admittedly, her attitude sort of concerned her because she wasn’t usually so snarky and uncaring, and after all, he was her boyfriend… still, ever since the incident with the creature, something had changed within her, and as much as she hated to admit it, she felt drawn to Malcom.

  She crept up the stairs to Mal’s room though she hadn’t told him she was coming over to see him. Since she’d never returned the key he had accidentally left in her car when they dated, getting inside his house undetected was relatively easy. She just needed to wait until his dad left for work. Thankfully, his shift had started a few minutes ago.

  Malcom was sitting, almost unmoving, in the middle of the threadbare beige carpet covering his room’s floor. A thin line of blood trailed from his lip, down his chin and onto his plain white t-shirt. His left eye was blackened, and his cheek badly bruised. Where had he gotten those injuries from? He hadn’t had them at school a few hours before.

  “Kim, is that you dear? Are you here?” a woman called from downstairs before she made it through his bedroom door.

  Malcom didn’t move. Had he not heard her call? That was a little strange…

  Kim sighed, painted a smile on h
er lips, and went downstairs to meet Malcom’s mother, Marilyn. Her dark face was completely plastered in makeup, and her long black hair was bunched on top of her head in a series of concentric braids.

  She was one of those women who never needed to wear makeup, but every so often she would apply very heavy makeup for a few days at a time. Kim always wondered why she did this, or why she would wear long sleeves in the heart of summer, but never really questioned it. She had long since resolved to let the woman handle her own fashion, even if it made no sense. Besides, who was she to tell Malcom’s mother how to dress and apply makeup?

  “I haven’t seen you in a while. I was worried something had happened between the two of you,” Marilyn whispered, voice quivering as though she dreaded the answer. She turned away before Kim could respond and focused herself on removing groceries from the large paper bag in the middle of their tiny wooden table. It was a hideous thing with green legs and a scarred, battered wooden top. Kim wasn’t quite sure where they had gotten it exactly, but she vaguely remembered hearing a story about it being ‘rescued’ from a restaurant following a bankruptcy.

  Kim smiled awkwardly, not that it mattered because Marilyn was focused on the egg carton in her hand as she carried it toward the refrigerator like it was a priceless Ming vase. There had been one time when she’d broken an egg, and instead of just cleaning up and shrugging it off, Marilyn had gone back to the store for more eggs. It was a little odd...

  “Malcom seemed down. I’m glad you came over to cheer him up. Despite our quirks, you’ve always been such a good girlfriend, Kim,” she continued. “I’d love if you came over more, but I know it’s sort of difficult to arrange a time for you to come over…”

  “Yeah… it’s my fault, I got distracted with some things and didn’t get a chance to make enough time.” Kim gave her a weak smile as a thought struck her. Malcom must not have told his parents they had broken up. The fight seemed silly now, but at the time, it had seemed important. After all, what did it matter if Malcom had wanted to keep his shirt on when they went to the beach?