by N. P. Martin
"You know what?" I said as I angrily turned back and picked up the syringe once more, stabbing her in the neck with it. "Why don’t I put you to sleep instead? That way, you can shut the fuck up."
Whatever was in the syringe must’ve hit her immediately, for a second later she fell over onto the floor, and a second after that, she was unconscious, the spiders still racing over her. Holding my hand out, I directed my thoughts to them: Your work is done. Go back to your nests now.
Almost unbelievably, the hundreds of spiders covering Chambers’ prone body began to pile of off her, marching in lines up the wall and across the ceiling, disappearing back into the hole in the tile.
"Wow," I said simply with a shake of my head as I watched the last of them go, before turning myself invisible and leaving the room.
Chapter 5
I remained unseen until I had left the building and ducked up an alley just down the street a ways. Once there, I dropped the invisibility spell and took out my phone, first calling Monty, who annoyingly, never answered even after several rings. "Come on, Monty, for fucks sake," I said impatiently as dark clouds seemed to gather overhead, threatening heavy rain. After a few more rings, I hung up and called Dalia instead.
"Corvin, I’m in the middle—"
"Whatever it is, drop it. You and Davey need to get out of the house now. Just go."
"What? Corvin, what’s—"
"I don’t have time to explain, D," I said as I kept watch down the alley to the main street. "You just have to trust me. People are going to be coming for you, so you have to leave now. Find somewhere to lay low for a while."
Dalia remained silent for a moment, probably processing what I was saying. "Okay, Corvin" she said after a long pause. "I’ll get Davey and go, but I expect a full explanation at some point."
"And you’ll get one. Just for now, find somewhere safe to go and stay out of sight."
"How serious is this?"
"As serious as it gets. I’ll call again when I get a chance."
"Corvin?" she said as I went to hang up.
"Yeah?"
"Please be careful."
I said nothing as I hung up and then tried Monty’s phone again, but he still wasn’t answering. Quickly, I wrote out a text and sent it to him, telling him to vacate his apartment right away. Hopefully, he would get it in time. If not, I would juts have to try and find him at his apartment. First, though, I needed to warn Amelia of what was happening. As I was about to dial her number, the screeching of tires at the end of the alley made me look up with a start to see a black car with men in dark suits piling urgently out of it. At least two of the men were clearly armed. "Shit!" I said, turning to see that the alley was a dead end and I had nowhere to go. Well, almost nowhere. There was still my magic, which I could use to create a portal, but as I was about to, a movement by the side of me alerted my attention to a rat sitting on top of a dumpster. I stared into the rat’s beady black eyes for a second before looking back to the men still advancing up the alley toward me, seemingly in no hurry now as they probably figured they had me trapped.
"Don’t make this any harder than it has to be," one of them said.
We’ll see about that, I thought.
As an experiment more than anything else, I turned back to the rat, that tingly sensation in my belly that I felt earlier when I had addressed the spiders. Get them, I thought to the rat, spreading my consciousness out so that every rat in the nearby vicinity would pick up on my command. And indeed, just a few seconds later, rats began to appear from everywhere, crawling up out of the line of dumpsters, running down walls and emerging from unseen holes in the ground in various places. The men who had come for me all stopped in their tracks as dozens of large rats gathered in the alley to stare balefully at them, waiting like an army on my command, which I soon gave.
Attack!
The rats all moved at once, swarming as a pack toward the men, their little legs carrying them at speed while they squeaked and screeched like they were going into battle, which they were—for me. The dark-suited men began to back down the alley again, but they didn’t move quickly enough to escape the rats, which swarmed over the men like a tidal wave, scurrying up trouser legs, landing on backs, their claws and teeth ripping at flesh. The men screamed as they tried to run back to the car. One of them started shooting at the rats in a panic to keep them away, but there too many for that, and soon the men were overwhelmed. But before the rats could kill them—which I have no doubt they would’ve done—I called them back with a mere thought, and they abandoned the men immediately to go back to wherever they had scurried out from in the first place. Despite the circumstances, a broad smile spread across my face as I watched the bloodied men scurry back to the car like rats themselves.
The first rat I made contact with was now sitting on top of the dumpster again as it stared at me. "Thank you," I said to it, just before it wrinkled its nose and scurried off behind the dumpster.
As I opened up a portal in the alley and got ready to step into it, I felt a new sense of excitement and wonder well up in me. Perhaps, I thought, there’s something to this demigod thing after all.
I didn’t know if the men who came after me were local Council guys or Benedict’s own security team. Whoever they were, they had moved on me faster than I expected, which probably also meant they would move fast on Monty as well, so I knew I had to find him before they did.
But as it happened, I was late to the party anyway, despite portaling straight to Monty’s apartment from the alley. When I got there—appearing in the living room of the apartment—I found no sign of Monty, but plenty of signs of a struggle. The TV was knocked over from its stand, the screen now smashed as if someone had trodden on it. The coffee table was upturned and a few ornaments also lay smashed on the floor. "Monty?" I called, knowing I wouldn’t get an answer. Going to the window, I looked down to see a half naked Monty being bundled into the back of an SUV by more men in dark suits. No, I thought. How did they get here so quick? It was obviously a different team outside. Benedict had clearly come from London prepared, the bastard. Cursing, I formed another portal and landed outside by the building’s front doors, but I was too late. The SUV had already pulled away, its tires screeching as it sped out of the private carpark. "Fuck!"
I stood staring helplessly at the car as it screeched around a corner before disappearing. Now that they had Monty, they also had leverage over me, which Benedict would no doubt use soon enough, probably demanding that I turn myself in or…what? Would he go as far as killing Monty if I didn’t comply? Benedict was a ruthless operator, so I had no doubt he would go that far, especially now that I knew he was also a Disciple of Apep. Somehow, I was going to have to get Monty back, but I had no idea how just yet. I didn’t even know where they were taking him, though if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was the same black site where Iolas was being kept. I’d find out soon enough, but first I had to get to Amelia, if Benedict’s team hadn’t gotten to her before me. Although, god help them if they had. They’d get a nasty shock if they tried to take Amelia in. All the same, I needed to check on her.
Before portaling away again, I called Dalia once more. "Are you out?" I asked her.
"Yes," she said, sounding out of breath. "And just in time. Who are these people, Corvin?"
"Disciples of Apep."
"Those assholes again? I thought you finished them all off at the Hell Fire Club?"
"So did I. It turns out they’re a lot bigger than just one cult. Shit is getting serious now, D. They just took Monty before I could stop them."
"What?" she said. "Took him where?"
"A black site, I think."
"You have to get him back, Corvin."
"I know."
"Do you need our help?"
I shook my head. "You can help me by staying low for a while. I’ll call you when things change."
"You better had."
When I hung up the phone, I portaled straight to Amelia’s house, app
earing in the entrance hallway, absurdly pleased with myself at the accuracy of my portals these days. I stood for a moment, aware of how quiet the house seemed to be. Normally there would be staff milling around, other elves and orcs connected to the business. Looking out the window, there didn’t appear to be any orc security outside either. "Amelia?" I called. "It’s me. You here?"
"What are you doing here?"
I spun around to see Amelia coming down the broad staircase, dressed only in shorts and a thin top, her milky white skin and silvery-blond hair making her seem like a tall, slender ghost floating down the stairs. Her face seemed harrowed as she looked at me without much reaction.
"Are you all right?" I asked her somewhat hesitatingly, as I was still in shock from her appearance.
She sat on one of the bottom stairs and shook her head at me. "That’s a dumb question," she said bluntly.
Of course it was. How could she be all right so soon after everything? Idiot. "I know this isn’t a great time for you, and I’m sorry for having to do this, but you have to leave with me now."
"Leave? Why?"
"There’ll be people coming here. Men with guns who’ll want to take you away."
She sighed and shook her head, seeming unconcerned. "What men?"
"Disciples of Apep," I said. "They also work for Benedict Bonneville."
She frowned as that last piece of information seemed to get her attention. "Isn’t he Council?"
"He is, but he’s also a disciple. I haven’t long found out myself. His men just took Monty."
Amelia rubbed at her temples for a second, as though she were having trouble processing what I was saying. "Why would they take Monty?"
"To get at me," I said, coming to stand by the bottom of the stairs, her scent intoxicating me like it always did, despite the circumstances. "It’s a long story, and one I don’t really have time to tell. We should leave here, before the thugs show up."
"So let them come. I’m not going anywhere."
I stared at her for a moment, realizing this was going to be difficult, as she wasn’t of her right mind. She was grief stricken, traumatized and clearly depressed. Taking a chance, I went and sat beside her on the stairs. "It would be better if you came with me," I said gently.
"Where to? Where is safer than here?"
She had me there. I hadn’t given much thought as to where I would take her. "You could stay in Belfast, at the Ó Duinn castle. It’ll be safer than anywhere."
She snorted and shook her head. "With a bunch of vampires? No thanks."
"Things have changed, Amelia," I told her. "A lot. The whole world is at stake now, not just us."
"What do you mean?"
Before I could answer, I heard a noise from outside. Getting up, I ran to the window to see a back SUV enter the driveway, after having hacked the security gates it seemed. "They’re here," I said, running back to her. "We need to go now."
"I told you," she said, standing up and fixing her blue eyes on me. "I’m not going anywhere. You can leave if you want to."
I shook my head at her. "You actually think I would do that?"
She said nothing for a moment, then started walking toward the east wing. "I’m going to strap up. You coming or what?"
I couldn’t help but smile. For the first time in a while, she sounded like the Amelia I knew…and loved. "I’m coming."
Near the end of the east wing, Amelia opened the door to a room that turned out to be an armory. Every wall in the large room held racks containing guns of every type imaginable, from high-tech military grade automatic rifles to pistols and even crossbows. On the floor were boxes containing grenades of different types, and at least one crate of plastic explosives. "Help yourself," she said as she went straight for the pistols, selecting two large semi-automatics, which she proceeded to slide magazines into.
"Jesus Christ," I said in awe. "There’s enough here for a small army."
"That’s the idea."
"I’ll pass, though. I prefer to use my magic."
"Up to you," she said, standing now as she held both guns, still managing to look deadly even in her bed clothes. "Are these guys here to kill or capture? Not that it matters."
"Capture, I think."
"Well, that’s not going to happen."
"Where’s all of your security?"
"I sent them away for a while. I needed to be alone."
There was a loud crash from the entrance hallway as the front door was bashed in. "We could’ve been doing with them now."
A slight smile crossed her face. "What’s wrong? Are you afraid?"
I pursed my lips slightly as I shook my head. "I can handle myself, as you well know."
She came close to me as our eyes locked for a second, then she turned and walked away. With my magic at the ready, I followed her out of the armory and down the hallway. She moved silently in her bare feet, both guns pointed out in front of her. As she moved, my gaze drifted unavoidably to her ass—which looked tremendous in those shorts, by the way—and to the little bunny rabbit logo on the back, which made me smile. But my smile was soon cut short when a dark-suited agent rounded the corner suddenly, a gun pointed our way. "Don’t move!" the agent shouted. "Or I’ll—"
That was as far as he got before Amelia blew half his head off with one of her pistols, the noise from the gun deafening in the confines of the hallway. Before I even had time to feel shocked, she was moving forward again, boldly rounding the corner into the entrance hallway, where she immediately began to shoot once more, firing both guns in different directions, getting off at least a dozen rounds as the other agents fired back at her, bullets whizzing past her and embedding themselves into the walls behind her. Then she stopped shooting and moved out into the entrance hallway, and I rounded the corner after her, my right hand out and ready to shoot off a magic blast should I need to.
But as it turned out, I didn’t need to at all. As I came into the entrance hallway, there appeared to be only one agent left, standing by the front door, a gun aimed at Amelia. But as he began to fire, Amelia gracefully dropped down onto the floor, landing on her back with both guns pointed at the remaining agent, both of which she fired, emptying at least a dozen rounds into him, driving him back through the door entrance and out onto the steps outside, where he then collapsed in death, his white shirt now soaked with blood.
Just in case, I did a quick sweep of the entrance hallway and the adjoining hallways to make sure there were no more agents hiding anywhere, which there didn’t appear to be. Four bodies lay on the floor in the entrance hallway, and one on the steps outside. Amelia was back on her feet, her guns held down by her side now as she stared at the bodies on the floor. "Well, that was satisfying," she said. "Just what I needed, in fact."
"A little bit of gun-based therapy?" I said with a wry smile, having no sympathy for the dead agents, considering who they worked for.
"The best kind."
"You fancy a little more?"
Amelia’s smile brought that fierce brightness back into her eyes. "Give me a moment to get changed."
Chapter 6
While Amelia was off getting changed, I remained in the entrance hallway, surrounded by bodies as I took out my phone and called Benedict’s number. "What have you done with Monty?" I asked him when he answered, unable to keep the anger from my voice.
"Corvin," he said, sounding a lot less jovial than he normally did. Clearly the gig was up in his mind. I was now the enemy, so no need for pleasantries anymore. "I wondered how long it would take you to call."
"Where is he, Benedict?"
"The same place your girlfriend will soon be."
I snorted slightly as I looked around at the dead agents. "You’re wrong there. Know how I know?"
"Please, do tell."
"Because the men you sent to get her are all dead, that’s why. They’re bleeding out around me right now, in fact."
He went silent for a second. "I should’ve had you killed a long time ago," he said. "I w
anted to do it, but our dark savior had other ideas evidently."
"Dark savior? You mean Erebus?"
"I see you’ve been filled in."
"Why are you involved in this, Benedict? I thought you were a Council man."
"I was until I was shown the futility of continuing to work to a pointless agenda. I’m nothing if not a practical man, Corvin. The Disciples showed me another way, another future."
"Living as a machine in a dead world? What kind of future is that?"
"The world will die one way or another. Erebus is just speeding up the process, and making sure there is still existence for us Disciples. Imagine what kind of world we could create, controlling technology from within. The human race as we know it is dead in the water. It’s time to evolve, and for a new form of life to arise. The new breed, if you will."
"I will do everything in my power to see that that doesn’t happen, I promise you that."
Benedict laughed coldly. "Because you’re a demigod?"
"Yes." For the first time, I actually believed it.
He laughed again. "You don’t even know how to use your powers, and even if you did, you will not stand up against Erebus. His might is unstoppable."
"I guess we’ll see about that," I said, not feeling particularly confident in the face of his absolute faith in his god, Erebus.
"I don’t think we will," he said. "You won’t get the chance. Return to the Council building on Dame Street. If you don’t, I’ll have your friend killed, just as you killed my men."
"Goddamn you, Benedict!"
"You have one hour."
"Benedict—" He hung up the phone before I could say anything else. "Fuck!"
"What’s the matter?" Amelia was at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in black leather tactical gear, a gun strapped to each leg.
"Benedict wants me to come in or he’ll kill Monty."
"How long?"
"One hour."
She came off the stairs and came to stand beside me. "Do you still believe Monty is at this black site?"
