Familiar Beginnings

by Alice Winters

  But maybe that’s not what Havoc wants to do.

  He grudgingly holds a stick out to me, meat a little burnt, but better than nothing.

  “Thank you, even though it nearly killed you to be kind to me,” I say.

  “It was disgusting.”

  I smile at him as I take a bite because I know he honestly must care a little. When we finish eating, I toss the stick into the fire and crawl over to him as he warily watches me. He’s still naked and probably cold, but he’ll be warm enough soon.

  “Give me your hand.”

  “What are you wanting to do with it?”

  Always untrusting. “I’m going to chop it off, what do you think I’m doing with it?”

  “Who knows. You’re very strange.”

  “I’m not strange,” I say as I grab it so I can examine the shackle that’s cut into his skin. I can smell the rot and can only imagine the pain it causes him. So I press my thumbs against the runes as I close my eyes. My magic breaks the runes almost immediately, and I unlatch the shackle. I slowly pull it away from torn and bloody skin, pieces of flesh falling with it from years of irritation.

  “Do you realize what you’re doing?” he asks, voice quiet.

  “Yes.”

  “I could kill you.”

  “Maybe. But you won’t.”

  Havoc grabs me, slamming me against the ground as he towers over me, freed hand around my throat. The other shackle is still on, but the magic is broken, so he could take them off himself.

  “I could kill you.”

  I look up into his blue eyes. “I see that.”

  “Are you not afraid?”

  I raise an eyebrow. “I should be. Your arms look like they could snap me in half, and you have that scowling thing going on that makes most people shake and want to piss themselves. I’m pretty sure you love that part the most. You almost feed off it, if I had to guess. But, Havoc, you have to understand that I was raised by people who hated me, then I was picked up by a workhouse that tried to pretend they were an orphanage where I was treated like an object. The abuse we saw there was no better than anywhere else, and I nearly killed them by burning the place down. Then when I thought that maybe, finally, I had someone to care about me, I ended up with Geoff who beat me and abused me and used me. Yet there was this… thing in the basement that was a complete asshole, but he used his behavior to cover up how he truly felt. He also was treated like shit by humans, yet sometimes he’d show just a fraction of kindness toward me that would make me feel so damn happy. Because honestly… it was the most kindness I’d ever seen even if he was trying to act like he was evil while doing it. So no, Havoc. I’m not afraid. I’ve gotten tired of being afraid.”

  His grip loosens on me. “Fine.”

  “But what I will do,” I say as I sit up, “is release you. I needed your help escaping Geoff. But now that I’m free, you’re more than welcome to leave.”

  He looks at me in shock. “You’ll let me go?”

  “Of course,” I say as I reach out, but before I can touch his bare chest, he grabs my hand.

  “Wait.”

  “What?” I ask, curious why he’d want to stop me now. He literally almost sacrificed my life to be free and now he’s not sure?

  “Are you different?” He seems hesitant… or maybe hopeful.

  “From the other mages?” I ask, confused.

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t think you’d be asking me if you thought I wasn’t. You know me, Havoc. I know you think I’m hiding some type of evil inside me, but I’m not hiding anything. It’s all out in the open.”

  “Maybe that’s why I don’t like you,” he says, but it has that joking tone he’d have when we talked in the basement. The one that made me trust him and try my hardest to free him. But I get it. Even “freedom” isn’t true freedom. Not for a creature like him.

  “I’m willing to let you go.”

  “Then what? Geoff instantly calls me back? I’m a demon. I’m given no choice. I was created to serve greedy mages like you. I will never be given my freedom. From the moment I was born, it was taken from me. For now, don’t cancel the hold. I see you as the lesser of two evils. You will never understand.”

  Sometimes, I think I understand more than Havoc will ever believe. “I do understand. This is the first time I’ve been faced with freedom and if you stay with me, it’ll be the first time you’re faced with it as well. If you don’t want the spell broken, I’ll treat you like a man as long as you’re willing to act like one. If you disrespect me, treat me like I’m a fool, and leave me behind to die again, then I’ll reassess this plan. But for now, let’s at least stay together for a time.”

  “I will assist you until Geoff’s dead,” he says as he stares me down.

  “Deal.” I hold out a hand to shake on it and he stares at it funny.

  “I don’t want to touch you.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me? Why did I save you?”

  He groans, like he needs everyone to know that it wasn’t his idea to touch the disgusting human.

  I give him a smile which only further disgusts him. “Have a seat and let me clean up your wrists and ankles.”

  Now he looks downright suspicious as I go to the saddlebag and pull out a kit I’d packed knowing that there was a possibility one of us would get injured.

  I take his hand and lift up a small bottle of amber liquid.

  “What is that? Poison?” he growls.

  “Yes! I saved you just to pour poison on your wounds.” I pour the “poison” that should help him heal over the dying skin. Thankfully, demons are much more resilient, so he’ll heal soon.

  When I’m finished, his wrists are bandaged in white cloth that stands out against his dirty skin, and he looks confused more than anything.

  “Now we just wait for my flesh to rot off from your poison.”

  I sigh as I head over to the horse. “Are you always going to be this dramatic?”

  “I sure as hell plan on it.”

  Chapter Eleven

  According to my demons, Geoff has control of the main points of my district. He’s keeping people from using the transportation and the city center. And if anyone threatens to get in his way, he’s killing them without a care. I know he’s hoping to draw me out, especially by announcing that the boss of the district has abandoned his responsibilities.

  People have become fearful because they know the dark mage from tales and stories that made him out to be a monster, not a human. But now, he’s feasting on the hearts of others to make him stronger, and word of his victims is spreading fast.

  I slide into a seat at the breakfast table where Havoc, Evan, and Yoko are all seated. Oh, and Nicco is being creepy in the corner.

  “I think we’re running out of options,” Evan says. “The videos Yoko has posted of you reaching out to them has helped calm your citizens some, but has it helped enough?”

  I lean back in my chair as I try to think about our next step. That is the very moment something slams into the glass window inches from where we’re sitting. Evan screams and throws his arms up like he’s going to call upon his plant power to help us. Havoc jumps back and kicks the entire table toward the window, sending plastic cups flying. And Yoko and I just sit there in shock about the chaos around us even though there’s nothing outside the window.

  That’s when a tiny clawed hand smacks the window and I realize what it is.

  “It’s just one of my demons,” I say.

  Why they didn’t realize that a house has a window and slammed into it, I’ll never know. I glance out and realize that it’s Popsicle, the dumber of the two gargoyle-looking demons. When One’s not around to keep him in line, he just radiates stupidity.

  “The door,” I shout.

  He cocks his head this way and that, so I go to the door and shout for him to come. One reaches me first and comes inside as Havoc rights the table he’d flung across the room.

  “What’d you find, Popsicle?�
�� I ask.

  The lesser demon’s eyes get huge. “You found popsicle? I want it. Red? Is it red? I want red.”

  “I thought that was your name?” I say.

  “Ohhhhhhhhh.” He thinks for a moment. “Ohhhhhhhh.”

  I hate dealing with lesser demons. “One?”

  The other demon literally pushes him out of the way, making his head slam into the wall. So much for them liking each other. He doesn’t seem to mind, though. “Yes! Oh. Right. We found the two. One human and one… thing.”

  I pull out my phone and show her the pictures of Lanni and Johnson. “These two?”

  “Yes! Although that one,” she points at Lanni, “looks like this.” She proceeds to flop on the ground and stick her tongue out. I can only assume she’s pretending she’s dead.

  So has Lanni left her body? Or did Geoff get to her first?

  “Can you show us where?”

  “Yes! But you have to fly. Lots of ground guards. Here and there and everywhere!”

  “I can go,” Havoc says.

  “Yes, but you’re not going alone.”

  “Did someone say… fly?” I look up as someone else appears in the doorway that I never wanted to see again.

  Havoc growls at him, which is really not surprising, Havoc doesn’t like many. But unlike Nicco, the vampire who I actually like, I’m with Havoc with this one. So I slam the door on the gorgeous angel.

  “For the love of the gods, how the hell is everyone finding us?” I growl.

  “Was that Marco?” Evan asks as he pets one of his plants like it’s a dog. He’s just stroking the broad leaf. I’m pretty sure I’m surrounded by crazy people.

  “Yes, that was Marco,” I grumble.

  “I called him to help us. I assumed we needed all the help we could get.”

  I raise an eyebrow, wondering if Evan remembered how much “help” Marco was. “You do remember him harassing me, right? Like all the sexual harassment?”

  Evan pets his plant a little faster. “But he… could help?”

  I groan as I pull the door open and stare at Marco who immediately looks butthurt. He’s a gorgeous angel who knows he’s gorgeous and tries his hardest to make sure everyone else knows he’s gorgeous too. The issue with that is his rotten and narcissistic personality. He has also tried telling me how much he loves me but in an annoying and unwelcome way. Why he can’t just find someone else to annoy, I’ll never know.

  “Are you going to apologize?” he asks.

  I think about it for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry your face is the only thing nice about you.”

  He gives me a huge smile. There’s even a little tinge of red to his cheeks as he ruffles his feathers. “Thank you.”

  That was not a compliment at all, and it disgusts me that he thought it was one, but I also know it’ll be less hardship just to let him have it. So I give him a pained smile and turn away. “I’m going to call my demons here. Yoko, could you please tell everyone what we’ve learned so far and get them here?”

  I call for my remaining demons to return to me, which they should be able to do within the next half hour. Then I turn as Etienne walks in with Leo.

  “Wow… did you take all the good looks when you fell from heaven?” Etienne asks Marco.

  Marco grabs his chest. “Oh my gods, you think I’m gorgeous too? I know, like do all of you feel ugly when you’re in a room with me?”

  Etienne’s face sours. “Ew. Leo, go beat that creep up for me.”

  Leo doesn’t look convinced, but he also doesn’t seem too upset about Etienne’s remarks which tells me he does this stuff often. I’m pretty sure he says it to see if Leo will get jealous. “You want me to beat up the guy you just said looks gorgeous?” Leo asks.

  “No, I made a general statement about his looks and then he started talking and I was disgusted.”

  Marco’s still flaunting around and spreading his wings, oblivious that Etienne now hates him. Marco slides up next to him and smiles at him. “Hello, tiny creature.”

  “Married, fuck off,” Etienne says as he grabs onto Leo. “Leo, help! There’s a creep!”

  How the hell are we supposed to be the saviors of mankind? We can’t get along for five minutes. I can’t even prevent my own sanity from slowly draining away.

  I look over at Havoc, hoping just setting eyes on him will help, but he’s too busy whispering something to Nicco who has bent a spoon in half out of anger.

  I can’t be the only normal one here, can I?

  I look over at Yoko and we lock eyes. Ah, I have found kinship amongst the chaos.

  Once my demons assemble, we drive within a mile of the building where my demons claimed to have seen Lanni and Johnson. After that, we walk from the parking lot to the wooded area where my crew will make their stand.

  I turn to everyone and realize that I’m left with the strangest group of helpers. But everyone is ready to assist, so we’re going with what we’ve got. And somehow, I’ve become the leader of them all.

  “So the plan is for the Penetrators to flank them, right?” Iya asks.

  “Please stop calling us the Penetrators,” I say. “I can’t even think when you say that.”

  “Then… what else could we be called?”

  I ignore him. “Because of the amount of people surrounding the building, Marco is going to fly me in while you guys wait to assist. One has volunteered to be my illusion. She’ll look like me and taunt them so when they see her, they will most likely try to attack. At that point, she’ll draw them back into a trap you guys have laid out in the woods here. Everyone with me so far?”

  There’s a lot of head nodding and even a hair flip from Marco, so I assume that means they are.

  “Perfect. If at any point you believe it’s too much, pull back. I’m going to hope Geoff is inside the building with Lanni and Johnson. If he is, I will try to engage only if I think the setup is ideal for it. If it’s not, I’m going to pull back. Do not hesitate to pull back. If you think circumstances are not ideal, retreat. Please, please be careful,” I say. “I couldn’t live with myself if one of you was horribly hurt because of this.”

  “You act like this is your fault,” Baron, always the kind-hearted one, says. “We all need to stop him. Not just you.”

  Havoc shifts his attention. “Like… it almost seems like it’s the fault of someone who brought him back to life,” Havoc says as he stares at Etienne.

  Etienne quickly looks away, eyes huge. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But just because I understand your frustration, I’ve already volunteered to be at the front. But I still have no idea what any of you are talking about because it wasn’t my fault at all.”

  Everyone stares at Etienne as he starts kicking at a rock that bounces into his horse’s hoof.

  “Anyway, everyone good?” I ask.

  There’s a chorus of “Yes” and a single “Penetrators unite!” that I pray I heard wrong. Havoc shifts into a raven as I step up to Marco.

  “I’m so excited to carry you. What kind of hold do you want?” When I don’t immediately answer because I haven’t fully comprehended it, he says, “This is my favorite.” He steps up to me, grabs my ass cheeks in his hands and pins me against his body like that.

  “No! Just a regular hold!”

  He looks perplexed. “Okay.”

  Then he kneels a little and slips one hand between my legs before interlocking it with his other hand that snakes around my hip. “Like this?”

  “What the fuck? No! Why do all of your holds involve my balls or butt?”

  “For safety, of course.”

  “Of course,” I say sarcastically as he releases his hold.

  “Alright, let’s try this. Hop up.”

  I don’t hop up, but he lifts me up anyway and tries getting me to wrap my legs around his waist. Clearly, Havoc has had enough at this point and flies into Marco’s face where he begins beating him with his wings.

  “Dammit, bird!” he cries as he drops m
e to protect his face. “What would make you guys happy? Huh?”

  “Just hold on to me normally.”

  “I’ve tried!”

  Havoc pecks the side of his face.

  “Damn you, bird! I just want to be pretty. Why does no one like me?”

  “I think you asked and answered your own question with that,” I say. “Now, try again. Normal hold.”

  He wraps his arms around my body in a surprisingly nonsexual way. “Better?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Yay,” he says sarcastically as he leaps into the air, his wings pulling him straight up.

  I’m not the biggest fan of having my life in Marco’s hands. The issue is that he might see his reflection in a cloud or something and drop me by accident. So I cling onto him tightly and try not to look down. We attempt to get up high enough that no one will see us as we’re going overhead, but it just means I’m in his arms even longer. I don’t want to use my illusion when I’m pouring my illusion magic into One to make her look like me.

  “Did I ever tell you how handsome you are?” Marco asks.

  “Wait, I thought you could only see your own dashingly good looks.”

  “I mean, you’re nowhere near as handsome as me, but for a human, your looks are to my liking.”

  I’m not sure if that was a compliment or a jab. “Wonderful, thank you.”

  He smiles, face inches from mine. “You’re very welcome.”

  “What’s that asshat saying to you?” Havoc growls.

  “Just talking about how pretty he is,” I say.

  “You think I’m pretty?” Marco asks. “Aw, thank you. Did I ever tell you how big my penis is?”

  “I can currently feel your penis, we’re clinging onto each other so hard.”

  “That’s true! You’re both cute and smart.”

  How any of that classified me as smart, I’m not sure, but then again, a rock is smarter than Marco.

  “What could I do to get you to like me more?” Marco asks.

  “You could stop harassing me, stop pretending like you’re better than everyone, and stop reminding me that you have a penis; that would be an amazing start.”