Carnage: Nate Temple Series Book 14

by Shayne Silvers

  Since I didn’t, Yahn would have made very short work of me, humiliating me in such a way that neither of us would ever be able to forget.

  In a way, it was exactly what Yahn warned would have happened to Alucard and Tory if he’d moved forward with abducting the Reds. They would have lost their minds, and they had no problem with using their powers at the moment.

  I took a deep breath. “Thank you, Kára. Like a broken clock, you—”

  I ducked as she flung a bottle of tequila at my head. It shattered on the wall behind me, crackling as it shorted out a neon sign. I grinned toothily, having anticipated it. She didn’t even look back at me, but instead continued to pour another drink as if nothing had happened. “You’re paying for the new sign,” she said casually. Yahn stared at me, baffled.

  I sighed and made my way over to him. “You were right. I was less right.”

  Yahn smirked faintly at my non-apology, but he still looked wary of the consequences he’d racked up in calling me out like he had. “Just to be clear, I almost took them anyway. I could have, but it felt counterintuitive to what you really wanted. To the outcome we need that will allow us all to walk away from this. It was not an emotional decision on my part.”

  I placed a hand on his shoulder, and he stiffened instinctively. “Your plan was better. I just didn’t see it because I also didn’t consider how much they cared about you. I knew it, based on talks with Alucard, but I considered the Reds a far greater prize. No offense to you, of course.”

  He nodded. “I understand. They’re a family.”

  I smiled at him. “Apparently, you are as well. And that’s why you’ve been promoted to Alucard’s hostage.”

  Yahn nodded. “That’s why I stuck the note she wrote to the windshield of their car before they left. Figured the note was vague enough to make them think Peter had taken me hostage. They definitely saw it, judging by how fast they took off for Chateau Falco.”

  I grunted, impressed. He really was a good strategist. “Perfect. Callie got hers?”

  Carl nodded. “I used his own sword to pin it to her door,” he said proudly. “I put some of his blood on it for authenticity.”

  Yahn winced guiltily.

  I stared at Carl and then glanced at Ryuu, still sleeping on the floor just inside the doorway. The pups were guarding him, not looking very trusting. “Why was he bleeding?”

  “He resisted a bit,” Yahn said.

  At the same time, Carl answered in an overenthusiastic tone, “It just fell right out of him.” His tail twitched erratically behind him at the blatant lie—like a version of Pinocchio’s nose.

  Kára choked on her drink. I sighed. Ryuu looked none the worse for wear. “Fine. Gunnar should have his, too, so it looks like we’re all set.”

  Yahn studied me for a few seconds. “I challenged you.”

  I chuckled. “I’m not a shifter, Yahn. I’m just a temperamental man, as infallible as anyone else, I would imagine. And it’s in my best interest to not have another yes man working with me.”

  His shoulders finally relaxed. “Thanks, Nate.”

  I appraised him thoughtfully. “You’ve come a long way, Yahn. From sparkly leotards to badass womanizer. It’s pretty incredible, actually.”

  He shrugged. “I still like to dance. I just don’t flaunt it. I’m teaching the Reds salsa.”

  I grinned. “Good. We all need to hold onto our weirdness. Carl has his shoes—”

  “My shoes are not weird,” Carl hissed. Yahn smirked.

  “And you have dance,” I said, shrugging.

  “What about you?” Yahn asked me, grinning curiously.

  I thought about it for a moment. I smiled to myself, coming up with the answer quickly. Then I turned away, not answering. “How about some liquid courage, Kára? If you would be so kind.”

  She’d been watching us thoughtfully, analyzing our every word. Then she jerked her chin at the bar. Three glasses of tequila already sat in a row. She grinned, leaning against the back counter.

  I motioned for Carl to join us and leaned down over my glass. “Okay. I’m going to meet with the Horsemen and see if I can convince them who I really am. If I can’t, I’m immediately fleeing through a Gateway back to the Armory. If you don’t hear back from me within one hour, meet me there,” I said, reaching into my pocket to pull out a few of the Tiny Balls I had borrowed from Pandora. I held them out to Yahn. “You’ll need these.”

  Yahn nodded, accepting the marbles as he considered my plan. He slipped them into his pocket. “Should we just go there now?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “The Horsemen have access to the Armory—Callie has her own private entrance, as a matter of fact. I don’t want to risk any of them accidentally running into you guys before I have a chance to talk to them—for better or worse. Wait an hour and head there.”

  Yahn cleared his throat. “Okay. Do you have a plan to convince the Horsemen not to kill you on sight? Because it can’t be anywhere Zeus might see—like Chateau Falco, the place you picked on the note.”

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “I was thinking Niflheim or the Armory—another reason I don’t want you guys going there early. The real Peter couldn’t get into the Armory, even if he had one of those,” I said, pointing.

  “That could work, but it doesn’t buy you any time. Just privacy.”

  I nodded. “I think I’m going to have to go nuclear.” Everyone looked at me anxiously. “I’m going to have to unleash the Temple charm,” I said soberly. “It’s a power I’m reluctant to use. There is no defense against—hey!” I snapped, glaring at Kára.

  She was chugging straight from the bottle, shaking her head in the process.

  Yahn reached out and set a glass marble on the bar top. I glanced down, frowning at the Tiny Ball. The word Vaults was etched into it. I looked over at him, confused. “Grimm Tech won’t help either, unless you’re suggesting we set up an ambush. Which isn’t a terrible idea—”

  “No,” Yahn said. “Vaults, not Vault. Plural,” he said, lifting it up for me to see. “It’s to the Freak Bank, not Grimm Tech, although now I realize the glaring security flaw,” he said, pursing his lips. “Anyway, I struck a deal with their Board. They permit me to make Tiny Balls that lead to their lobby in exchange for me making Tiny Balls to aid them in collecting outstanding debts.” He shrugged. “Equal trade, and this way we don’t have to deal with the security and logistics of shipping large quantities of gold.”

  I stared at him incredulously. Kára was staring at him, impressed. “And why does Grimm Tech need large quantities of gold on hand?”

  Yahn frowned. “I’m a dragon. And it’s always good to have a rainy-day fund on hand.”

  I stared at the ball, wondering why the bank was better than Niflheim. Then it hit me. “Their security floor,” I breathed, stunned. “It’s practically impenetrable.”

  Kára frowned. “How does impenetrable security help?” she asked, sounding concerned and suddenly not as impressed with Yahn’s suggestion.

  Yahn was grinning smugly. “It can supposedly break through any illusion. Any illusion. The only trust bankers believe in is their own institution,” he said, alluding to a financial trust.

  I clutched the Tiny Ball with an excited grin, recalling the last time I’d been there. It had revealed all sorts of crazy—even unknown—things about me and my friends. “If this works…” I whispered, “the Horsemen would see the real me.”

  Yahn folded his arms. “Only one way to find out, but you can use Niflheim as Plan B. This way could be more efficient and less violent. Think it will work?”

  I wrapped an arm around him and tugged him close in a macho hug. “Toe-tah-lee.”

  He smirked. “I lost that accent—and the pudginess—years ago, Nate.”

  I sighed. He’d lost the exuberant cheer as well. Things like that happened after enough near-death experiences. “Yeah, I know. But we can’t forget how we got here,” I said, thinking back on Pandora’s advice. “Life�
�s about the journey, not the destination.”

  Kára watched me thoughtfully, and I wondered how open Pandora had been with her. If she’d given the Valkyrie the same advice.

  “You should probably go, Confucius,” Yahn said, glancing at his phone.

  54

  I stood near Ruin’s tree on the front lawn of Chateau Falco, feeling naked and afraid. Exposed. I wasn’t, because I wore one of the eyepatches I’d stolen from Grimm Tech. Still, my hands shook with both guilt and concern as I waited.

  One by one, my Horsemen approached from different directions, eyeing each other and their surroundings suspiciously—likely wondering why the others were there. Because I’d told everyone to come alone and not flap their lips.

  Alucard wore flip flops, swim trunks, an unbuttoned linen dress shirt, and large, Ray-Ban sunglasses. With his outfit and tanned skin, he looked like the boss of a drug cartel south of the border. The look of barely restrained violence in his posture only added to the image. Don Alucard was ready to hand out some Colombian neckties. Maybe the glasses were to somewhat mask the warning gleam in his eyes. He’d almost killed Raego.

  Callie openly carried two katanas, her arms folded so that the blades crossed her chest like spikes. She wore the same style of clothes she’d had on at her picnic, but these were pristinely white. Maybe she had a bunch of the same outfits. Her face was utterly devoid of all human emotion. I was betting one of those blades belonged to Ryuu.

  Gunnar carried Mjolnir loosely at his side, and he wore jeans and a white v-neck—probably so he could easily tuck his beard away when he was calmly pinning me down and ripping out my innards before Ashley called him to dinner. He wore a white eyepatch with a silver coin in the center, and that strip of leather made me decidedly uneasy for some reason.

  With my Titan Thorns, I couldn’t sense my Horsemen, and they couldn’t sense me. But they could sense each other. They acknowledged their compatriots in silence, quickly realizing this was some kind of setup and not seeming particularly concerned about it. They’d all suffered abductions, so their suspicion of each other slowly faded as their eyes shifted to their surroundings. I flinched every time one of them swept a cold glare over me, even though I knew I was invisible.

  I took a deep, reassuring breath, and then lowered my eyepatch to let it hang around my neck. “Long time no see,” I said snidely, getting into the mindset of Peter for Gunnar’s sake. The others had never met him. They tensed, spinning to glare at me with unbridled hatred. The fact that I—Peter, in their eyes—held their friends captive was the only reason they didn’t immediately rip me in half. We all knew it. I patted my satchel. “I’m looking for Nate. He missed a meeting I requested, leaving this behind in his stead. You’re going to help me open it if you want to see your loved ones again. I die, they die. Oh, and Alaric is watching,” I said with a sneer, “so don’t try anything funny. Let’s go,” I said, motioning for them to approach.

  And, with balls of solid steel, I turned my back on them. I waited until I heard them draw close, barely managing to hide my anxiety. I brandished my hand theatrically, careful to show off my cuff like I was using it for magic, and I flicked Yahn’s Tiny Ball down before me. A Gateway screamed to life and I leapt through.

  Rather than wait for them to follow, I hurried forward until I stood just before the edge of the vast open space leading to the teller lines. Right here, I looked like Peter, but one step backwards and my illusion would be shattered. The bank was surprisingly empty for the middle of the day. I saw only one teller, and he was staring at me with open fear.

  I opened my mouth to tell him not to even think of hitting an alarm when he promptly disappeared. I stiffened, my mouth clicking shut. I scanned the rest of the lobby, suddenly uneasy. Where was everyone? But my Horsemen calmly stepped through the Gateway.

  Callie was the last through, and she slowly sheathed the swords over her back so the hilts poked out over each shoulder, making her look like Calliepool. Without a word, she turned around, gripped the edge of the fiery portal, and snapped it like a stick. The Gateway winked out with a gurgled thump, sending a shockwave of air outwards. Just as calmly, she turned back around and nodded to herself satisfactorily. I stared incredulously. I…hadn’t known that was possible.

  And it very likely should have incinerated all of us—or set off the alarms. Using the VIP access of Yahn’s Tiny Ball must have granted us privileged access because the gargoyle sentries remained inert.

  Although Callie’s action had been pointless—the Gateway had been about to wink shut all on its own—it was a humbling display of power, and a psychological shot aimed directly at me. Whatever Peter thought he knew about magic, Callie could dance circles around. Peter was nothing but a gnat buzzing around her ears—and she was only one of the Horsemen he’d managed to piss off. The fact that he’d had to resort to abduction to get her here was the only way he could have bested her. And the outcome of that was yet to be determined.

  Alucard and Gunnar had fanned out a few steps to scan their surroundings for potential ambushes or innocent bystanders. The grim set to their jaws told me they were equally wary about the lack of customers during lunch hour. Or lack of employees, for that matter.

  “Consider this Switzerland. If any magic other than that Gateway goes off, these statues come to life and beat down everyone.”

  They stared at me in utter silence, their faces devoid of any reaction to my words.

  I calmly took a step back, holding my breath.

  The three of them lurched forward suddenly. Alucard ripped off his glasses and crushed them in his hand, staring at me in disbelief. I realized that his eyes were bloodshot.

  Callie clutched at her chest, her legs wobbling unsteadily as her face contorted in confusion and pain. Guilt quickly overtook her emotions and her face paled—because she was here now for Ryuu, and hadn’t shown up to Hermes’ meeting about Nate, perhaps.

  Gunnar dropped his hammer, making a small crater as it destroyed the tiles below. The glowing light around the hammer—crackling blue arcs of electricity—fizzled out and he stopped breathing.

  “Nate?” Callie whispered, no longer a hardboiled wizard but a frightened woman.

  “What the hell is this?” Gunnar demanded.

  “Where. Is. Peter?” Alucard demanded in a strained rasp. “If you killed him, I will never forgive you,” he said, aiming his rage at me. The real me. Nate Temple.

  Did he not believe what he’d just seen?

  “Yahn was never in danger,” I told Alucard, lowering my eyes. “I didn’t mean to abduct him, believe it or not. He gave me a birthday tackle through a Gateway.”

  Alucard stared at me, unable to make sense of my words.

  “Your pups are safe, too, Gunnar. Better than safe, actually,” I said, smiling at him. “They were running around like lunatics when I shared a drink with Yahn less than an hour ago,” I continued, shrugging. I pointed at his hammer. “You almost killed me with that earlier.” Gunnar stiffened, opening his mouth wordlessly.

  “What about Ryuu?” Callie whispered, looking desperate.

  I nodded with a compassionate smile. “He’s fine. He was sleeping when I left to come here. I’m not even sure if he knows he was taken yet,” I admitted. “I’m sorry, Callie,” I said, watching her eyes swell up with tears.

  She crashed to her knees, letting out a sob of both relief and pain. “How…could you?”

  The accusation cut deeper than almost anything I’d ever felt. I hung my head in shame, accepting their anguish. I had no regrets over my plan—not in the slightest.

  But that meant that I needed to accept the related consequences. To accept their blame without deflection. To keep their loved ones safe from Zeus—unlike Alice—I’d had to beat the god of lightning to the punch—to strike first, so to speak. And I’d had to make it believable.

  “To keep them all safe, believe it or not. And to give you plausible deniability. Zeus was planning to do exactly what I did to you. Because
he’s been running around town wearing my face, trapping me in the guise of Peter and Carl in the guise of Alaric. He’s the one who took Alice,” I whispered, gritting my teeth. “She wasn’t as lucky as your loved ones. She got taken by a real monster. In your case, a monster saved your loved ones. If I’d approached you in any way other than this cloak and dagger scenario, Zeus had assassins watching you. All of you.”

  Tense silence answered me. But I didn’t miss the troubled looks they shot each other to hear about Alice and the assassins. I wasn’t naive. I didn’t expect a parade. I’d walked into this knowing that this was the best-case scenario.

  Trust had been broken. Their pain would not be brushed under the rug, even after my explanation. Their leader had struck them each in the heart, knowing the swiftest and surest way to shut them down. And it had worked, all in less than a single day. That thought would fester in the backs of their minds every time they looked at me in the coming days.

  “He speaks the truth,” Kára said, stepping out from behind them. The Horsemen jolted in alarm, crouching warily. I flinched. What the fuck? What was Kára doing here?

  55

  Thankfully, Yahn stepped up beside her, nodding. Alucard gasped like someone had physically ripped his soul from his mouth. “We were never in danger. Well, Gunnar almost killed Nate, I heard,” he said calmly. “Other than that, not even a scratch.” He glanced at me with a guilty shrug, pointing a thumb at Kára. “She asked about the risk to innocent bystanders and I realized that I hadn’t even considered the customers or employees,” he said. He glanced over my shoulder. “They’re now in a private meeting to give us some privacy. Once I was confident these three had seen through the illusion, I had the manager disable the alarms, so you can use magic again. The anti-illusion field always stays on, which is probably a good thing right now,” he said, assessing the somber faces.

  It was my turn to shake my head in anger. But…I was also proud of Kára’s initiative. Pandora had said my actions had unintended consequences—that no matter what I did, others would take their own initiatives and risks, especially to keep me safe.