Familiar Beginnings

by Alice Winters

  “It’s that creepy fucker!” he yells, and even though the “creepy fucker” is the very friendly vampire Nicco who lives in my other house and would, in no way, try to harm me, Havoc karate chops him right in the neck.

  “You little pencil-dicked piece of shit!” Nicco yells with his thick British accent as he rushes at Havoc.

  For some reason, they hate each other. It doesn’t help that Nicco is slightly creepy, even by vampire standards, and just appears out of nowhere without announcing himself or telling you he’s coming.

  I just cradle Menace to my bare chest as Nicco bitch slaps Havoc. Which literally has to be the worst move he could possibly make. “Children, please stop.”

  Havoc’s got him in a headlock now. “Hurry, get the tub filled, let’s drown him,” Havoc says.

  “Can you drown a vampire?” I ask thoughtfully.

  “We’re sure as fuck going to find out!”

  How did this become my morning? “We are absolutely not going to find out! Havoc, let him go. Nicco, don’t slap Havoc.”

  Havoc grudgingly lets him go. “He was being creepy!”

  “That’s like saying Menace was being hairy. That’s just what Nicco does. Hey, Nicco. I’m surprised to see you here,” I say, since I’m pretty sure he never leaves the house, let alone drives four hours here. Or did he run the whole way? That sounds much more likely. Probably terrifying people along the way.

  He turns his attention to me. “Your barrier on the house broke… I knew the only way that’d happen was if you were dead. But… I couldn’t believe you were, so I ran here, and then I threatened people until I found your scent and followed you here,” he explains, confirming my running hypothesis.

  “Thank you for the concern. I’ll make sure I get the barrier back up on the house, but it’s probably ideal you’re here instead of there, since Geoff knows where that is. We should probably get together as a group and figure something of use out,” I say as I slowly stretch my sore limbs.

  I don’t have any clothes since I don’t even know whose house this is, so I put on what I wore yesterday, even if it is dirty and stiff with dried blood. Havoc and Nicco snub their noses at each other while I dress.

  “What is that thing?” Nicco asks as he points at Menace, who instantly hisses at him.

  “That’s Menace.”

  Nicco scrutinizes him for a moment. “It’s not normal.”

  “He’s not?” I ask in mock surprise. I pick Menace up and admire his red fur, then tickle his chin to see if I can get him to display his black tongue and needle teeth of death.

  Nicco rolls his eyes at my sarcasm while Menace starts yowling, clearly dissatisfied with me messing with his face.

  “Oh, stop that,” I say as I flip him onto his back like he’s a baby and boop his little black nose.

  He bites my finger but thankfully doesn’t sever it.

  “Why do you pick up the evilest things?” Nicco asks as Menace gently takes my hands in his soft paws and then extends all claws like he’s prepared to skin me.

  “He loves me,” I say, and then I lean over and kiss him right on the forehead. That startles him still, but I notice his claws retract.

  “For some strange reason, he likes you,” Havoc says.

  “Everyone likes me.” I give him a wink, and he shakes his head.

  Together, we make our way into the hallway and down the stairs to the living room where there are a few people including Evan, Baron, and Yoko. It’s instantly clear whose house this is when I think about the abundance of plants lining the hallway, in the bedroom, and in the living room. They’re everywhere. Exotic-looking things I’ve never even seen scale up the wall to the point that I can’t even tell what’s wall and what’s plant.

  “We must be in your house, Evan,” I say.

  “We are! I’m surprised you noticed!” He’s dead serious.

  “The color of the carpet just gave it away.”

  He chuckles politely, not getting it at all, like everyone has a mini rainforest in their house.

  “We were trying to find someplace safe,” Sam says from behind me. I turn and see him with Iya tailing him. “I reached out to Evan, hoping he’d know a place outside our district but not too far. Since his house was right on the district edge, we decided to come here.”

  “I’d like to call a meeting with anyone willing to work with us,” I say.

  “I’ll get everyone,” Evan says before heading into the hallway.

  All of us pile into the living room where Yoko pulls out a seat for Havoc and me. We sit and wait for Etienne, Leo, and Badrick to come down.

  Once they’ve arrived, they turn to me, so I take it as a cue that I’m supposed to start figuring things out. “So… we know Geoff has Johnson and Lanni. I doubt he has any need for Johnson besides leverage over us. As for Lanni… I’m not sure if he’d want her magic or not, seeing as we don’t know what her magic is or if he can even take it. But he knows we want them, and we need to get them back,” I say.

  “You also need to reach out to your district. Don’t forget that you’re the leader of the district, and they’re relying on you,” Evan says.

  “Ah… yeah. I’m not very good at this leader stuff. I think we need to find someone else to take over when I’m done with all of this. I like just doing whatever I feel like when it strikes me.”

  “Since Miles has technically died, Geoff’s control should be off him now, right?” Sam asks.

  I shrug. “We hope, but there’s no way to test it until we’re face-to-face with Geoff again.”

  “What if we do a public announcement? Set up a trap or something?” Havoc suggests. “There’s no guarantee Geoff will go, but he’ll probably send some of his assholes.”

  I nod, liking the thought. “We still have the valient to deal with, wherever that is. He might send it.”

  “Do you think he’s controlling it?” Etienne asks.

  “I didn’t think there was a way to, but if there is, I’m sure he’s figured it out,” Havoc grumbles.

  I lean back in my chair as I try to think it all through. “I’m going to send some lesser demons out. We need to figure out where Johnson and Lanni are being held. I also want to make a public announcement so my district doesn’t think I’ve deserted them. Do you think we can figure that out? And while that’s happening, we can hopefully find a way to get Johnson and Lanni back.”

  “It’s worth a try,” Sam says. “The police department is trying to keep everything manageable.”

  Leo catches my eyes. “Make sure you’re resting. I know Etienne brought you back, but you were pretty weak when you got here and my healing magic is pretty low, but I did my best.”

  “I’m good, thank you.” I feel weak and my neck hurts, but I’m honestly healing faster than a human would.

  Everyone stares at me, some with narrowed eyes, some with hard expressions.

  “I’ll summon some demons and then go rest,” I say, hoping to appease them. “I also need to put my longevity spell back on. I don’t want to get wrinkles like you guys.”

  I get a lot of glares on that one. I leave them to complain about me and head back to the room I started in to begin summoning some demons to help.

  “Need help with anything?” Havoc asks.

  “Having you just standing around looking menacing generally whips them right into shape.”

  “I like that,” he says. “Want me naked?”

  To me, that sounds like a splendid idea, but maybe now isn’t the best time for it. “You don’t really need to be. I’ll probably look like a perv then.”

  He thinks about it for a moment. “But aren’t you?”

  I can’t help but grin. “Nope.”

  He looks aghast. “Aw, we left our sex painting on the floor. I hope no one messes with it.”

  I think about it for a moment before grinning at him. “I wonder who had to wash the sex paint off me.”

  Havoc gives me a huge grin filled with glee. “That is the greates
t thought I’ve ever had. Did they even get between your butt cheeks?”

  I hold my arms out and examine myself. “I had it everywhere, but look how clean I am.”

  “I bet it was Yoko.”

  “It was me.”

  I turn to the doorway and look at Baron who is leaning against the doorframe. “Aw! Did we get to second base?”

  “I got to a lot of bases that night with you,” he jokes. “Everyone said that since I’m used to being naked with people because I’m a werewolf, I got to clean you off. Like… why was there so much paint? And it was everywhere.”

  I’m trying my best to not laugh at the look he’s wearing. “You didn’t need to clean me up that well! I could’ve taken a shower today!”

  Baron raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t just going to let you lie coated in paint while you were trying to die.”

  Havoc folds his arms across his chest. “I’m feeling a little jealous now.”

  I shake my head. “Oh, hush. You hugged and kissed me last night; that should make up for it.”

  Havoc scoffs. “I wasn’t talking about you. I didn’t get a sponge bath last night!”

  “You wanted a sponge bath from Baron?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. It was just months ago he couldn’t stand the man because he stabbed me when he’d been possessed, and now he wants a sponge bath by him.

  “You won’t give me one, so I have to take what I can get,” Havoc explains.

  Baron shrugs. “I’ll go get the water and the sponge. Get undressed.”

  I snicker as I sit on the floor. “You heard him, Havoc! Take it off!”

  Havoc is too busy fake pouting to take anything off.

  “Anyway, I was just bringing you some pain pills,” Baron says as he holds out some water and gives me the pills. “Havoc, can you take pain pills?”

  “They won’t work very well on me, but I’m fine.”

  With the pills in my system, I start summoning demons. Mostly ones I’ve worked with previously, so I don’t have to go through the whole “listen to me or else” nonsense I’d like to avoid. When I have six minor demons summoned, I send them off into the city to keep me informed on what’s happening, who is where, and to look for Lanni and Johnson.

  Then I turn to Havoc. “I’m going to rest a bit longer, and then I’ll be ready to go,” I assure him. I wish I was ready to do something now, but my body is physically exhausted. I guess dying takes a lot out of you.

  “I think resting is in your best interests,” he says as I erase the summoning circle before heading over to the bed. “While you rest, I’m going to go check some things.”

  “Then I’ll go with you,” I say.

  “No, you’ll stay here,” he says as he kisses my forehead. “Right here, got it?”

  I stare at him. “No, you’re not leaving me, dammit.”

  “I’m not going to leave you. I’m just going to get some weapons. We need weapons, right?”

  “No,” I say stubbornly.

  He picks up a potted plant. “What are you going to do? Ficus them to death? You know Evan has shit for weapons.”

  I glare at him. “Send someone else out.”

  He stares at me. “I can fly and am the size of a raven—you know, since I can turn into a raven—and you want to send out who, exactly? And who do we care the least about and decide they’ll be the destined one to get the weapons?”

  I snicker. “Shut it. Fine. Just… please be really careful. I won’t be able to rest with you out there.”

  “I’ll be extremely careful,” he says as he urges me over to the bed before kissing my forehead. He then picks up Menace, who instantly bites him, and sets the evil cat in my arms.

  “Squeeze this thing while you wait. Preferably to death,” he says as I hug Menace to me while he hisses at Havoc.

  “Okay. Please be quick and careful.”

  “I will,” he says before heading through the door.

  I sink down on the bed feeling useless and helpless. Sometimes having a human body is such a fucking pain that I hate it. As soon as he’s gone, I kick myself for not going with him. I should have gone with him and now he’ll probably get hurt while I’m helplessly lying here.

  I decide to distract myself with my memories.

  When I open my eyes, I’m confused. I slowly look around, wondering where I am and what’s going on. Then I sit up quickly, startling a black bird that’d been perched on me. Why was there a bird on me?

  When I see the horse grazing, everything comes rushing back to me. Breaking Havoc’s binds, the asshole planning on deserting me, and him finally coming back to help.

  “Havoc?” I ask as I look around me.

  Have I seriously lost a demon already? I’ve had him not even hours and he’s already run off.

  “Dammit, Havoc, where are you?” I ask as I get to my feet, feeling light-headed for a moment. I lean against the horse to steady myself as my eyes fall on the black bird that’s staring at me.

  I cock my head; it cocks its head.

  I lean in, it leans in.

  “What is that thing?” I cry to no one in particular.

  And that’s when the bird distorts and Havoc appears so quickly in front of me, it’s like my mind is playing tricks on me.

  “‘That thing’?” he asks with a huge scowl. “Have I been reduced to a thing at this point?”

  I open my mouth to apologize before remembering that he was going to leave me! “You asshole!”

  “I do have an asshole. Why are you asking? Oh right, you fancy the lads, don’t you? My asshole is not for you.”

  “Ew, gross. No! You tried leaving me.”

  He dramatically grabs his chest. “Me? I would never! I care far too much about you, Miles.”

  My brow lowers at his ridiculous reply. “You tried leaving me.”

  “But I didn’t! Doesn’t that make you happy?”

  I grumble.

  “Ah, such a happy noise you just made! I’m so glad we get to work with each other. Are you sending me back?”

  “For that, I’m keeping you until I die,” I growl. “And I don’t plan on dying any time soon.”

  “Splendid. I can’t wait to help you die, I mean, keep you alive!”

  I narrow my eyes at him. He narrows his eyes at me.

  The relationship between a demon and a mage is a beautiful thing.

  “Let’s get as far as we possibly can from Geoff before he finds us and makes us like each other again over our mutual hatred for him,” I decide.

  “Good idea. I was tired of holding up your weak body, so I just let you slide off the horse. It’s a good thing the horse didn’t step on your head. He was so careful too. It was impressive how he purposely avoided your head.”

  “Hilarious how a horse cares more about my head than you.”

  Havoc smiles at me. “I already can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  “Me too.”

  And so we begin walking. We lead the horse for a little while to give him a break from our weight. Once I get tired, I climb onto the horse’s back. That’s when Havoc shifts into the raven and lands on my shoulder.

  His talons sink right into my shoulder in some type of death grip. “Ow, dammit!”

  “Suck it up.”

  That straightens me right up as I turn my head quickly to look at the raven. He completes this action by pecking me on the side of the head. “Ow, fuck! You can talk?”

  “Of course I can talk,” he says, voice bouncing around in my head. It’s like my own thoughts, but it’s clearly his voice.

  “You’re in my head,” I realize.

  “That’s what happens when you force someone to be your slave.”

  “First off, I didn’t force you. It would’ve been really hard to force you to do anything when I was writhing around on the ground while trying not to die. Secondly, can all demons do this?”

  “No, I’m better than them.”

  “Of course you are.” He digs his talons tightly into
my shoulder while assuring me it’s to keep himself from falling off. I could take a tumble down a cliff, and I’m positive he would never fall off with how tightly he’s digging his talons in.

  We ride for a while before deciding to stop for the night. I tie the horse so he can graze, and then I gather wood for a fire as Havoc heads off to hunt something to eat. It’s weird being free outside of Geoff’s watch. He rarely let me leave the house without him by my side because he always wanted complete control over me. And now… now I’m free.

  I can’t help but smile at the thought as I light the wood on fire with my magic.

  “Why are you grinning maniacally while staring at burning sticks?” Havoc asks as he walks up with two rabbits.

  “Maybe that’s just how my face looks.”

  “I’d work on getting a new face, then.”

  “You’re evil,” I say, which really shouldn’t surprise either of us.

  “Thank you.”

  He sits down and pulls out a knife, making the rune-covered shackles clank on his wrists. I know they’re there for protection, and without them he could technically harm the mage if the mage isn’t strong enough to control him. Am I strong enough? If I’m not, he could kill me no matter how many times I order him not to. But if they’re on, he can’t touch me.

  He skins the rabbits and sticks the meat on a stick before holding it over the fire.

  “Are you going to share?” I ask curiously.

  “You mean you’re not going to order me to give you everything and leave me to get the scraps?”

  “Wasn’t my intention.”

  “Then no. All for me.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “That’s so strange… I feel like I have many memories of me sneaking food to you.”

  He lets out a grumbling noise. “Fine.”

  He’s acting snippier with me than he usually does. Shouldn’t he be happy I’ve broken his connection to Geoff? Or does he hate me now that I’m his master?

  For some reason, that thought makes me sad. I would’ve believed he’d know me at least a little after all the years we’ve spent with each other.

  He cooks the meat in silence as I think about what we could or should do. I think the best course of action is getting as far from Geoff as possible until we’re confident that we can stop him.