Texas Showdown

by Aaron Crash

  Sabina had predicted that three new women would join his Escort. Zoey was one. And the Wayne twins just might be the other two.

  He hoped that was the case. They weren’t simple Dragonsouls, far from it. They were as complex as Zoey, and yet being with them felt right. That again, maybe that was exactly what they wanted him to think.

  TWENTY

  The moon finally rose over the horizon, giving Steven light. He’d left the twins in the barn while he walked to the highway. He wanted to flag down Tessa and his incoming Escort. Also, he needed to clear his head, and he wanted to try another divination spell.

  Two thoughts kept racing through his mind. The first? Javier Jones had seen nothing in the Americos Chamber by the Blowtorch Bar and Grill. And from what Javier had said, he’d studied the mysterious underground caverns. Could it be that, once again, Steven’s Drokharis heritage would trigger some long-hidden secret? Or could it be Mathaal’s lifeforce would activate whatever was down there? Also, he was traveling with two very special Magicians. Both Tessa and Sabina were amazing. Maybe they’d find something no one else could.

  Or maybe there was nothing to find, and they’d been lured to Odessa, Texas into a trap. Why did that feel like the right answer? Yes, maybe the Sounders had been at the Grand Lake Aerie to kill him, but a Prime as old as Carlo Bart would have a backup plan, and Zoey could be an unwitting pawn in a complicated scheme. Although not impossible, altering their divination magic would take an unbelievable amount of power. Changing how they interpreted what they saw was much easier. It reminded him of the movie Inception. The plots within plots made his head hurt.

  He reached Highway 302. Unlike Wyoming, it wasn’t all that cold. It seemed obvious, but his brain hadn’t fully registered he’d traveled 750 miles south in a day, like jetlag with temperatures instead of time. And Texas was only getting warmer.

  The other thing plaguing him was the memory of his conversation with the twins when he’d called them from the gas station in Walsenburg, Colorado. They’d given him the rough numbers of Carlo Bart’s resources. And then he’d said something about facing off with Carlo Bart alone. But how could he maneuver the Dragonlord into a duel? Steven wasn’t sure, but those two ideas were swimming around in his brain when he finally cast the divination spell.

  No sex this time. Finally. He’d been casting the divination spell so often, the door in his mind swung open easily. And he saw his Escort fighting. Yes, there was Zoey, in the desert, swinging a huge paw and batting an armored wereboar across the desert. Sabina stood sweating, with Tessa’s guns, trying to shift her form for the first time. Aria shrieked and breathed out a blast of blizzard cold. She was in her True Form, while Mouse fought as a human under her scarlet wings. The Slayer Blade’s fire painted her lithe naked body green. The rattle of machine-gun fire was from the twins.

  Tessa wasn’t there, which is why Sabina had her guns, but the barista was doing something more important than fighting. Tessa had said she was going to perfect her Magica Porta spell, not by creating a new portal in a fire like Liam Strider, but by moving the portal. She’d do it, too. She’d move the opening from Denver to Odessa. Where would the other end emerge?

  Then the events of the night and the next morning flooded his mind. Yes, he could see, step by step, the path in front of him.

  But he saw Carlo Bart, his face red, his fists huge, as he threw a punch at Chazzie. The fear on her pale face, the broken look in her eye, hurt Steven. This plan wasn’t going to be easy. Blood would have to be spilled.

  A voice whispered. His father’s. Be careful of this sight, my son. For the futures change with each breath you take. Magica Divinatio throws shadows as well as light.

  The spell faded. Steven had fallen to his knees beside the hard asphalt. A car rushed past. A beer can clattered after it. He glanced up in time to see a cigarette flicked from the window, arcing like a flaming arrow, orange sparks flaring before the darkness consumed them.

  He thought of his father’s warning. And Sabina’s mistake during their campaign against Rahaab. She’d thought she’d seen a battle at night. That wasn’t the case. Instead, the fight had taken place on a highway during a thunderstorm. Such a mistake could prove costly, if not disastrous.

  Yet the next few moves in this game of cat and mouse with Carlo Bart were clear.

  A dragon crossed the moon above him. It was a slender shape; he saw her flight pattern and recognized the movements. That was Aria. She landed next to him. Jeeves came racing down the highway, the turn signal flashed, and the SUV swerved onto Bluebird Road. Red dragon on his right, Escalade on his left, Steven grinned. His life might be dangerous, but it was also pretty cool.

  Tessa rolled down her window. “Hey, mister! We’re looking for hot BBQ and some spicy lovin’. Can you help four horny girls out?”

  “I can,” he said. “I have a little love nest up the way. Let’s go there and figure things out.”

  Zoey launched herself out of Jeeves and stormed into him. He was gripped and nearly squeezed to death. “It’s okay.” He patted her back. “We’re all together again.”

  She let him go. “I hate being back here. I hate Texas. And Sabina said the Sounders attacked the Wayne twins. I’m going to have to face Juice.” She swallowed but then clenched her teeth. “I can do it. After what they did to me, I can.”

  Fury filled her eyes. Her face grew fur, muscles humped her shoulders, and her arms thickened. The seams on her clothes creaked and cracked, threatening to split.

  “Yes,” Aria growled above him. “That kind of rage will serve us well.”

  Steven hoped so.

  Tessa let him drive to the barn while Aria remained in the skies, watching out for their enemies. But they didn’t have to worry about that for now.

  “Chazzie and Pru are going to need to borrow some clothes,” Steven said. “Tessa, you might be closest to their size. But they’re more slender than you—”

  Mouse cut him off. “Yeah, you don’t want to finish that thought. We’ll find the twins something to cover their perfectly proportioned cheerleader bodies.”

  Tessa laughed good-naturedly. “Thanks, Mouse. Poor Steven was treading on thin ice there.”

  Sabina spoke up from the back. “Steven, you had a vision, didn’t you?”

  “I did. Magica Divinatio is finally working for me. At least a little.”

  “Si, but you still need to use it during a fight. That might be where it’s most effective for you. It is for me.” She laughed. “But then, I’m trying to fight while blind. So, there’s that.”

  Steven pulled Jeeves up to the barn. The twins came out wearing blankets.

  “Okay,” Mouse said. “This ought to be interesting. The Wayne twins.”

  Tessa agreed. “From what you said, this is going to be like meeting Keyser Söze. I don’t believe in the Devil, but I’m afraid of the Wayne twins.”

  “I’ve heard about them for years,” Mouse said, “but we all thought Carlo Bart had them on a short leash. Looks like that wasn’t the case.”

  Steven wondered how the Wayne sisters were going to fit in, or if they even wanted to.

  ۞۞۞

  Chazzie kept near Pru. This was not how she wanted meet Steven’s wives. She and Pru had never been in such a weak position before. They’d lost fights before, sure, but they’d never had to reach out for help. To make matters worse, their Prime was most likely on the hunt for them. He wasn’t dead, they still had their wedding rings on, and things were bleak.

  Would Steven and his Escort even want to bring them on board?

  Tessa’s clothes hung off Chazzie and Pru like potato sacks, which didn’t improve their moods any.

  They talked in the headlights of the Escalade. Dust rose up in swirls, glowing and dancing. Chazzie had studied up on four of the women. Aria Khat was the toughest of the warriors; straight up, she had that old-school fire about her. As for Mouse, the entire Dragonsoul community had written her off as drunk and useless, damaged goods for sure.
Yet here she was, clear-eyed with the legendary Slayer Blade on her back, looking like she had a purpose in her heart. Chazzie was surprised that Sabina was there at all. Word had it she’d been blinded then killed by Gideon Scaramanga. But then Sabina had a tragic past, being juggled around by Scotty Ortiz then Rhaegen Mulk.

  As for the last girl, the werebear, she was a mystery. Zoey looked damn familiar, but for the life of her, Chazzie couldn’t place the face. That made her a bit nervous. But then, she was already so on edge.

  It got worse.

  They were chitchatting about nothing when Steven dropped the bombshell. “The Wayne twins are going to have to betray me. They have to get close to Carlo Bart. The whole plan rests on that.”

  “Yeah, that might get us both killed,” Chazzie said. “It’s a good bet, once he gets us alone, he’s going to murder us. Or get Juice and his Sounders to do the dirty work. I don’t think he’d ask anyone else to—”

  “Maria Diablo would love to see us gone,” Pru interrupted. “And Wyatt Gunn just likes to kill. He wouldn’t give a shit.”

  “Fucking Wyatt Gunn,” Chazzie cursed. “So, Steven, Carlo Bart isn’t going to really buy anything we try to sell him.” The fear was trying to choke her. And for the first time in a long time, she wanted to sit down and cry her eyes out.

  Well, damn. That was not how a Wayne was raised. She could see her daddy shaking his head at her, clear as a Texan afternoon. She clenched her jaws. She’d keep her cool.

  Steven folded his arms across his chest. Those biceps strained the hoodie he’d thrown on. She recalled his taste, his smell, and a tingle went through her. Yeah, they were playing a bad poker hand, but the stakes sure were yummy.

  “Carlo Bart will believe you,” Steven said. “Because you’re going to call him. And you’re going to deliver us to him. But that was all going to happen anyway. We were on our way to the Americos Chamber, and he knew it. I bet he’s close by at this point.”

  “Americos Chamber?” Tessa asked. “Is that what the kids are calling the underground caverns these days?”

  “At least Javier Jones is,” Steven said. “But I don’t get how Carlo Bart could trick us. We saw the red Borromean rings here and nowhere else. The spells he would’ve had to cast are beyond anything we’ve seen.”

  “Si, mi amor,” Sabina added. “To be able to mess with my Magica Divinatio sorcery would take a lot of mojo.”

  Pru let out a sigh. “You guys ever heard of something called Enchantrix? Carlo Bart loved to brag that he’d mastered shit no one else had.”

  Chazzie watched the Latina, Tessa, and Steven exchange glances. Their eyes were wide, and yeah, that surprised them all right.

  “Can he cast portal magic?” Tessa asked.

  Chazzie shook her head. “No, but his divination skills are pretty good. He really excels at Magica Incanto, making magic items, tinkering. He said he had to skip ahead to get Enchantrix. He talked about the high price but said he was glad to pay it.”

  Steven nodded, his mind working. “And I bet he’s never mentioned AnimusChain either, huh? No, he did what Tessa did. He skipped around on the skill tree. But who taught him? How would he have access to the Alpherian abilities?”

  “Alpherian what?” Pru asked.

  “Maybe something about the Alpheros?” Chazzie said, seeking clarification. “We’ve read old scrolls about the Alpheros, but it was like all blah, blah, blah, old stuff. Didn’t see how it really had anything to do with us.”

  “It seems we were mistaken,” Pru said.

  Steven let them in on the secret Mirror-Souled Path and what he called the Alpherian abilities.

  Chazzie shook her head. “Damn. Carlo Bart never mentioned anything about that.”

  Her twin took over. “You have to understand, Carlo Bart isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He wouldn’t know this kind of shit unless someone taught him. Which means he has a secret teacher, one he kept hidden from us. And believe you me, we had him under our thumb for a long time.”

  Chazzie winced. “Yeah, we did. But we don’t expect to do that with Steven.”

  Pru’s glare at Chazzie could’ve melted the needles off a cactus. She felt her face heat up. This honesty thing was going to take some getting used to for the two.

  It might have been Chazzie’s imagination, but the air seemed to get a little colder, as did the looks from the five women in Steven’s Escort. Well, shit, this was not going well at all. Best to just shut up before they made things worse.

  “Call Carlo Bart,” Steven said. “Tell him you’re bringing us to the Americos Chamber. Tell them it was your plan all along, and that you wanted to give him a present. Namely, me. My head on a plate.”

  Chazzie met his gaze. “You’re asking a lot.”

  Steven’s eyes softened. “I am. And he’s going to hurt you and Pru. I saw it. I’m sorry. If you want to back out, I would understand.”

  “No,” Chazzie said. “Me and my sister can take a punch or two.” Chazzie swallowed down her nervousness. “He’s going to believe us. We’ve brought him other Primes. We’ve done this before.”

  Pru let out a sigh.

  Chazzie knew her twin wanted to end with that. But Chazzie, for some reason, couldn’t stop herself. “We don’t want to play our games with y’all. We want you to trust us.”

  “We’ll trust you,” Mouse said. “As long as you don’t fuck us over. Kinda simple. Don’t be duplicitous bitches, and we’ll get along fine.”

  But Chazzie saw doubt in the blonde’s eyes. That doubt was echoed in every other woman’s gaze, even Tessa’s, and she was supposed to be the nice one.

  Daddy Bob Wayne also had another saying. Lies are like chickens; they always come home to roost. And Chazzie and Pru had been lying for a long, long time.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Steven walked with the Wayne twins around to the back lot of the Blowtorch Bar and Grill. They were in their human forms. Chazzie and Pru wore Tessa’s oversized dresses. Steven had Samael’s Lash in its scabbard, slung over his shoulder. If he had to shred his jeans and his dollar-store T-shirt, so be it.

  The moonlight brightened the metal building while the dark seams of the welds darkened. Sage shivered in a breeze, and its scent, along with some other flowery smell he couldn’t identify, filled the air. From far off, a coyote gibbered. A cow lowed.

  The parking lot behind the bar was like Steven had seen it in his visions: flapping yellow police tape, destroyed trucks, burned dirt. The stink of old gasoline and charred rubber eclipsed the sage. The tin shack was the entrance to the Americos Chamber.

  Steven could feel eyes watching him. Well, this was certainly nerve-wracking. A light sweat covered his brow. He was risking everything. Every step of his plan was fraught with danger, but the next two phases were critical, both for his survival and that of the twins.

  Chazzie whipped off the peasant dress she was wearing and let it pile onto the dirt. Pru followed suit. They stood naked in the moonlight; the swell of their breasts shadowed their soft bellies. Both together made him blink. No, couldn’t lose focus.

  Pru grinned at him. “Take a picture. It’ll last longer.”

  He shrugged. “I was made to look.”

  “Look but don’t touch,” Chazzie said a little loudly. “You know the rules.” That was for Carlo Bart, certainly. “Okay, let’s get on with it. This cavern place should be in the shack and down the steps.” She shifted into her Homo Draconis form—pink scales, rose-colored wings, and a tail that flicked out from behind her.

  Pru followed her sister’s lead. She shifted as well. Like when they were human, both appeared exactly the same. Only now, Steven could see the scars on Chazzie’s hip and thigh and the marks on Pru’s side.

  Chazzie ripped off the door to the tin shack. The structure shuddered.

  Steven stepped forward. He drew Samael’s Lash. More and more, clutching the big sword’s grip was like coming home. The shack was built over stone steps descending underground. It was about wha
t he had expected.

  “You two can wait up here,” he said. “I’ll be back in a second.”

  He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight feature. He had a lot of supernatural abilities, but seeing in the dark wasn’t one of them. The walls were stone, limestone maybe. Carlsbad Caverns was only about a hundred and fifty miles to the west, but there were no Americos Chambers there. The shuffle of his footsteps echoed in whispers.

  Down he went, about thirty feet, until he walked into another one of the chambers. This place was similar to the cavern in Grand Lake. Three Homo Draconi stood around an empty pool. Above, the words THIS EYE IS CLOSED were written on the ceiling in dragon script. Instead of friezes of pine trees and mountains, this one had a flat plane where coyote shapes and boar people ran toward a sun on the horizon. There were a few sculptures of trees in the walls but not many. Under them, there were no monsters, just blank stone.

  Steven went to the pool. He wasn’t even going to bother casting a spell. This whole thing had been a ruse to lure him into a trap. Well, it was time to go up and spring it. He just hoped that when all was said and done, Tessa would have the power to fill that pool and move the portal from where it opened in Denver. That was going to take a butt-ton of Animus, but Tessa was special, without a doubt. If anyone could do it, she could.

  He let out a sigh and turned off his phone. The darkness was complete. He was full of Animus; his Escort had made sure of that. He was ready for war. The way up was lit by moonlight.

  He emerged to face Carlo Bart’s army. Three dragons sat on the Blowtorch. All that metal held their weight. Morphlings surrounded him, five deep. Most of the shifters were in black or silver armor: bears, wolves, boars and even a few long, round snakes. The Sounders. Behind them stood a dozen more dragons, mostly female, but a few big males as well.

  Mixed in were men in Kevlar—Warlings without a doubt. A bald, badass tattooed woman held a fully decked-out assault rifle. She eyed Steven. And then there were the Magicians, in jeans or robes, their eyes glowing various colors. Their hands also glowed, casting a mystical light on the scene.