Pound of Flesh_An Urban Fantasy Novel

by J. A. Cipriano

  Looking up at him, I realized whatever Fulton had planned wasn’t something I was going to be able to change.

  “I’ll pull the trigger,” Duncan said, shaking his head at me. “But first I’m going to take what I need.” He thrust his hand toward me. I tried to throw myself backward, but his palm collided with the top of my head before I’d made it even a few inches. Goddamn he was fast.

  I felt a sucking sensation like a giant mystical octopus latching its tentacles onto my face. At first, I thought he was going to rip my skin off. Maybe he thought walking around looking like some deadbeat devil spawn’s bastard would be enough to fool the barriers surrounding my apartment. It wouldn’t work. They’d see him coming from a mile away. Even if he could hide his energy signature, he couldn’t replicate mine, and that’s what they were programmed to look for.

  Still, there was a flaw in that plan. Taking someone’s skin didn’t mean you got their memories too. And this hijacking monster had no idea where we were keeping Renee. So at least I had that going for me.

  As I tried to hold on to that though, something pulled at my mind. This wasn’t skinwalker magic. It was borrowed stuff. More than likely from Fulton himself. It was meant to pull the location straight out of my mind. Panic started to blossom in my chest. I couldn’t let this happen, not if it meant Renee’s life.

  I tried to pull back, to free myself as the monster sifted through my mind, but I couldn’t. The attachment was too strong. The pain was acute and real. It sent shivers down my spine and brought water rushing up to fill my eyes.

  The information Duncan needed, surfaced even as I tried to distract him with every random thought I could. I felt the memory slide out of me in a mix of penis jokes and sappy romantic comedies, and as it did, I knew I needed to do something. I had to find a way to stop Fulton from finding out, but what could I do? The rune stripped me of my magic.

  Well… of my warlock magic.

  My eyes widened as a realization hit me. The church had never found a way to combat demonic activity that didn’t involve direct exorcism or a Messiah. That job was left to the warlocks of the world and their innate demon banishing magic.

  Which meant the rune wouldn’t work on my demon side. So, unless there was a warlock somewhere around here I didn’t see, I was free to go to town on this loser.

  I drove my hand into his chest, letting my demonic energy flare out.

  Duncan looked down, confused at first, but then panicked as he realized what was going on. The bright white light of my power as it seeped into him probably hurt like hell. It certainly smelled like hell, as the scent of decay wafted strongly around him, a sign of his impending death.

  “Demon!” he yelled and tried to pull away, but this time it was me that had him stuck.

  I reached into him, clawing at the energy that gave him life and feeding off it. It was strange. I had never fed from a skinwalker before. They tasted all chalky and wrong, like pecan pie topped with sauerkraut.

  Still, eating him would be more than enough to shut him up. Forever.

  “It’s too late,” the skinwalker screamed in Duncan’s voice. “You’re too late. I already know, and Fulton is connected to me! Kill me if you want, but she already knows where the ADA is hiding. She’s going to get her! She’s going to--”

  The last of his energy bled into me, and he fell to the ground lifeless. For all intents and purposes, he still looked like Duncan. Which would give the poor guy’s family something to bury. So that was something.

  However, I had no time to lose. If the skinwalker was telling the truth, then Fulton knew where Renee was being held. What’s more, he had given me another piece of interesting information.

  “She,” I muttered aloud. He called Fulton ‘she.’ It was a woman, which totally made sense given the fact that every time I had ever had my balls crushed in a vice, it had always been by a woman. There should have been little surprise that this time would be no different.

  I rushed to the police car, grabbing the rune and crushing it in my hands. Then, I cast a minor spell to wipe the tape from the dashboard cam and cloak what was going on here for a few more hours. There seemed little sense in getting myself implicated in the murder of a cop. Even if that cop was really a Native American monster. Something told me the courts wouldn’t buy that story too readily.

  Then I grabbed the skinwalker’s body and shoved it in the car. In a few hours, when the cloaking wore off, he’d be found. He looked like Duncan and the effects of my feeding would look like a heart attack. Hopefully that would give Duncan’s family more peace than the truth could.

  Turning back around toward my Impala, I felt the call of my mother’s necklace.

  There was trouble, and I wasn’t sure I was close enough to stop it.

  19

  With the pull of my mother’s necklace heavy on my chest, I threw my flashers on and burned rubber through Atlanta’s nighttime streets. I cursed, wishing that Skinwalkers had the sort of transferable power that would have given me the juice to teleport and skip the traffic. My heart pounded as I called Renee’s phone as well as the one I’d left for Gary over and over again. Neither of them were picking up, which didn’t exactly make happy thoughts burble to the surface of my brain.

  I needed to let them know something was coming because the skinwalker wearing “Duncan” clothes had relayed their whereabouts to Fulton.

  Of course, just because Fulton knew where my magically shrouded apartment was, didn’t mean she could just saunter in there uninhibited. The magic blocking access to my apartment (to any of my places of residence over the years actually) was of a particularly strong sort. Having befriended some Tibetan mystics while on my travels, I’d convinced some of them to gift me a few of their more exclusive spells. Given that Tibetan mystics live their entire lifetimes away from the rest of the world up on their respective mountain tops, you can bet exclusive meant very exclusive.

  So, regardless of how powerful Fulton was, it was unlikely she had ever even heard of the spells guarding my messy two bedroom, and that meant she more than likely wouldn’t be able to break through them.

  Magic is like cooking in that way. If you don’t know the recipe, you can’t make the damned soup.

  That didn’t mean we were out of the woods though. My mother’s necklace, at this very moment, was probably glowing something fierce, letting Renee, Gary, and that witch we’d picked up in the courthouse like I was running a damned supernatural kennel, danger was afoot.

  If they left the confines of my apartment, Fulton would have her people ready to do whatever it was she wanted to do with Renee. And if they stayed, well, there was no magic that could stop Fulton from tossing a couple of cans of tear gas in there to drive them out. Or a grenade, for that matter.

  So I kept calling their phones, and I kept getting the useless tone of that voicemail bitch telling me neither of them were available to take my call right now. If they didn’t do it soon, they’d never be available again.

  Weaving in and out of traffic, I paid little attention to stop lights and even less to the aggravated people I cut off or caused to swerve off the road. They weren’t my problem. Not while a supernatural favor trading mob boss was on his way to my apartment to destroy everything I held dear.

  It felt like it took an eternity to reach my apartment. No matter how fast I went, it didn’t seem fast enough. Especially since the pull of my mother’s necklace was stronger than I had ever felt it before. It burned like someone had tossed a lit match down my throat.

  But what did that mean? What sort of arsenal had Fulton brought to bear? I had been in a lot of sticky situations in the past, always with that necklace hanging around me, and I’d never felt anything like this. Whatever Fulton was planning, whatever her contingency was to ensure she got Renee, it must have been a doozy.

  Skidding to a stop in front of my apartment, I powered up. Red energy encircled me, wafting around me like some animated scent and sending a shock of energy that caused the hairs
on my arms to stand up. The building looked to be intact, no tear gas, no grenade. But that likely meant that I was about to be jumped by a bunch of royally pissed off Fulton loyalists; maybe even Charles Whitmore himself. The smart thing would have been to keep driving, but I didn’t have the luxury of intelligence right now. Renee was up there. Gary was up there. Kennel witch girl was up there. Not to mention a building full of innocent people.

  So I did what any chivalrous moron would do in the exact situation. I flung my door open, puffed out my chest, and stepped out, pretending to be the baddest motherfucker on the planet. Blue lightning energy and all.

  My body tensed as I made my way toward the building, expecting an assault from the shadows. As I neared the brown brick structure, no one came. I was nearly at the front door of the place, thanking my lucky stars or whatever it was that people thanked on the rare occasion life decided not to bend them over, when I heard it.

  It was a low whistle at first, like a seductive sound off in the distance. It grew louder and louder by the second.

  Turning toward the sound, I saw a bright comet of living fire darting across the sky directly toward my apartment.

  My eyes grew wide as I looked at the massive flaming anomaly in the sky. My mind raced, trying to remember if my Tibetan spells protected against acts of random sky fire. It was like the worst home insurance conversation in the history of the world. With that thought still fresh in my brain, the comet did a complete ninety-degree dive… right toward me.

  I leapt out of the way, landing in the Juniper bushes outside my apartment. My body collided hard with the dirt as branches tore at my face and clothes. A rush of heat singed my hair as I tried to burrow beneath the bush for protection like a pathetic squirrel.

  Fire exploded across the door of my apartment before spreading across the entire first floor like it had a mind of its own. Then I realized what was going on.

  The magic protecting my apartment must have repelled the comet, but my spells weren’t applicable to the rest of the building. Fulton was going to burn it down with all those people in it and let my apartment collapse alongside it.

  Again, ignoring the part of my brain that would normally tell me not to rush into a burning building, I sprang to my feet, grabbed ahold of the burning door even though it was on fire and this was totally impossible without magic or very specific gear I didn’t have, and swung the door open before making my way inside.

  My apartment was on the third floor and, given the rate at which the fire was spreading, there was little chance of me making it in time. Still, I had to try. I had to do something.

  Unfortunately, my unique demon/warlock physiology made me neither fireproof nor allowed me to deal with a lack of oxygen. Still, I never let things like logic and common sense stop me, especially when it came to pretty girls.

  Pulling off my coat, and holding it over my face, I made my way toward the stairs.

  The fire was raging all around me, destroying everything in its path like an insatiable, unstoppable monster. My first thought was of all those people, all the people still in this building who had nothing to do with this. All the people who were very likely going to die because of a fuse I lit by catching Charles Whitmore.

  Thankfully, none of those people were in the stairwell as I pushed through the lowest of the flames and made my way up. If they were, I might have stopped to help them, and I didn’t have time for that. As it stood, I could lie to myself and tell myself they’d escaped to safety.

  The stairs were self-contained and nearly free of flame, and at least for the time being, were mostly clear of smoke. This gave me hope. The fire couldn’t get inside my apartment. If I could get there quick enough, then we might stand a chance of accessing these stairs before the fire breached them. Suddenly, like a Monday morning confession, the sprinkler system came to life, doing absolutely nothing to slow the spread of the fire. Damned old buildings. They were basically kindling waiting for a match.

  As a piece of the ceiling tore free and crashed into the stairs inches from my feet, I realized that probably wasn’t going to happen. This place was going to be an inferno long before we got back, assuming we even could get back.

  The entire building seethed as the fire ate through something combustible. An explosion rocked me from my feet, and the only thing that kept me from tumbling backward toward the guardrail. Sweat plastered my clothes to my body as I righted myself and swallowed hard. Not only did I not have enough time, I didn’t have any.

  Bright red light lit up my field of vision. Heat rushed in through the hole in the ceiling as more flame spread from ceiling tile to ceiling tile, bringing enough smoke with it to choke an elephant, let alone a six-foot half-demon with commitment issues.

  The world vanished in a torrent of acrid smoke and tears as I hacked and coughed.

  The stairs beneath me started to shake, losing their integrity as another boom rocked the building.

  The people. All those people.

  That’s when the floor beneath my feet collapsed. My sweat-slick fingers slipped off the guardrail as I tumbled downward like a scene right out of Backdraft.

  Before I could do anything, I slammed into something, but it wasn’t hard, thankfully. In fact, it didn’t hurt at all. Well, that was odd. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, desperate to clear the haze from my vision as my body started to lift through the air.

  “Holy fuck,” I whispered as my vision cleared and I saw what had happened.

  A bright green sphere of energy surrounded me like I was being carried away by one of those freaking Wizard of Oz bubbles.

  Renee stood over me, black hair spilling toward me as she leaned down.

  God, she was like a vision.

  Gary perched on her shoulder, looking decidedly less like a vision as he grinned a fanged smile at me with Kennel Witch Girl skulking somewhere behind.

  “Don’t worry,” Renee said in a voice that, in my current condition, sounded more like melody than actual words. “We’ve got you, Roy. We’ve got you.”

  20

  I woke to the sound of Bob Seger on the radio. I was moving, going forward with the sort of ease and speed that could only be achieved in a car. When I opened my eyes, I realized not only was I in my Impala, but Renee was driving it.

  Okay. So at least two things I highly valued survived the fire and no, I wasn’t talking about Gary.

  “Where are we?” I asked, swallowing to coat my dry throat. God, had I been sleeping with my mouth open? That must have been attractive.

  “Twenty minutes outside of town and rolling,” Gary said, jumping toward me from the backseat.

  Looking back, I saw the witch was back there too. Everyone made it out. Even I made it out, but how?

  “Pull over,” I said, looking toward Renee.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she answered, narrowing her eyes at me and not braking at all. “In case you forgot, we were all very nearly killed not thirty minutes ago. Now might not be the best time for a pit stop.”

  I sat up straight, lowering the radio down even though “Roll Me Away” is undoubtedly one of the greatest rock ‘n roll songs of all time.

  “I remember, Renee,” I said, rubbing my temples. “I swallowed a shit ton of smoke back there. So unless you want the inside of this car to both smell and look like vomit, I suggest you do as I say.”

  She grimaced at me, but threw the blinkers on and slid off the side of the road. A car that had been following way too closely blew the horn as it passed, and I flipped the driver off while stumbling out onto the shoulder. I vomited all over everything. The ground. My shoes. The car wheels. The stupid candy wrappers littering the highway. Even a little lizard that had been sleeping next to a diet Pepsi can. It was disgusting, so was the smell. It made me vomit even more.

  It burned on the way up, like I had swallowed the fire itself. I collapsed to my knees, still retching long after everything inside of me was on the ground in front of me. Tears filled my eyes as I
tried to suck in a slow breath. My abs hurt from the effort of heaving, but thankfully, the feeling started to subside after a few more seconds.

  Admittedly, I was a little sad no one had shown up to help hold back my hair, but then again, I didn’t really have hair to hold back. Still, some company and a soothing word would have been nice.

  Once I was satisfied nothing else was going to come out of me, I looked up and wiped the sickness from my mouth. Everyone had gotten out and stood beside me on the side of the road like they didn’t know what to do. It made me feel a little bad for doubting them.

  Looking at them packed beside each other and backlit by the ambient light of headlights as cars passed us by, I remembered just how I had been saved. That glowing green orb, Renee leaning over me, her hair nearly brushing against my face as she told me I was safe. And to think, I had gone in to save them.

  Swallowing hard again, I ran tired fingers through my hair. “Fulton found us,” I said. It hurt to talk, but in a way I knew would get better as soon as I got some water.

  “Yeah,” Gary answered. His spider eyes narrowing at me. “We kinda figured Fulton had found us when the entire fucking building blew up, but good to have you back, buddy.”

  He leapt up onto my shoulder, danced around like he had landed on a hot skillet, and hopped back to the ground.

  “Damn, bro. You are hot, and I don’t mean in the Channing Tatum way or anything. You’re just actually really hot right now,” he said, rubbing his little green feet with his claws.

  “I ate a Skinwalker,” I said by way of explanation.

  “Seriously?” Gary balked, shaking his head. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

  Sighing heavily, I continued. “He took over a friend of mine, flayed him and wore his skin like a Halloween costume. He worked for Fulton. That’s how she got the information about where you guys were hiding.” I grimaced. “The jackass pulled it right out of my head. I couldn’t do a damned thing to stop it, and now all the people in that building are dead.”