Pound of Flesh_An Urban Fantasy Novel

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Then I guess I’ll have to give him you,” I said, my mouth turning downward. I felt my heart beat ten times faster than normal as the sadness inside of me curdled into anger. I still felt tired. I still felt drained, and I couldn’t help but think the cracks forming on my mother’s amulet had something to do with that. Still, now wasn’t the time to worry about that. When this was over, I could devote some energy to it, but I had to survive first.

  Isa turned to face me. She floated a few inches above the ground as she moved toward me as quickly and effortlessly as a leaf in the wind. Power roiled off her in sheets. It was sweet and sickening. And it was everywhere.

  My eyes slid past her, to Renee. Her hands were chained together, and those chains ran to a hook jutting out of the floor. She had obviously been tossed around in the few minutes it took me to get back up here because a long cut ran across her forehead, presumably the origin point of the blood staining the floor in a circle around her.

  More than anything, I wanted to reach out and pull her away from this nonsense. If I could get her out of here in the next sixty seconds, I’d win. To do that, I had to make it past Fulton. Otherwise, she’d use Isa’s fairy powers to turn me into dust and then feed Renee to the Founder. Whoever the hell that was.

  “Can you eat through chains?” I asked Gary quietly, careful not to look over at him and give away the one advantage I had in this situation.

  “With a little bit of hot sauce, I can eat through anything,” Gary answered, also not looking over at me. Though honestly, he could have screamed his words while dancing a jig and doing a handstand and Fulton would be none the wiser. Such was the nature of the beast. But, nine times out of ten, when someone whispers at you, you whisper back. Gary was no exception.

  “You’ll have to choke it down dry, I’m afraid,” I said in similar statuesque fashion.

  “The things I do for you,” he muttered and rushed off toward Renee as she struggled against the chains holding her. A rush of relief flickered across her features when she realized Gary was coming to lend a hand.

  Or a set of teeth and an iron cast stomach.

  Either way, I was about to contend with the strongest woman I had ever known and her crazy ass alter ego. So, not a gold star day for me by any means. Still, if I’d wanted an easy job, I’d have been a professional ice cream taster.

  “Isa, you don’t have to do this,” I said, letting the energy pool inside of me while I racked my brain for a way to stop the fairy without it resulting in my death.

  “You don’t know me,” Fulton said, floating in front of me. “You don’t know what I’ve been through, living inside that bitch’s head for all these centuries. I was born there, you know. And not yesterday. No. I sprung from a single fracture, the first tear in her psyche. When I came though, when I burst forth in glorious Technicolor, you can imagine how disappointed I was. This woman, this person who gave birth to me was nothing more than a long-lived two-bit floozy. She’d had thousands of years, and what had she done with it besides sleep with some skinny kid and start the Trojan War?”

  “She did what now?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting up. “You don’t mean what I think you do, do you?”

  “I don’t know,” Fulton gave me a sly grin I’d seen Isa use a thousand times before. “Maybe she’s lying. I have no access to her part of the brain. I’m just going by those damned journals she leaves. She said you were a pretty good lay though. So she probably has a penchant for exaggeration.”

  Fulton flicked her hand and electricity burst from her fingertips like she was a Sith lord. It smashed into me, and as my muscles started to seize and my clothes began to smoke. I managed to mutter a reversal spell that grounded her power. It still felt like someone had attached a car battery to my nipples with jumper cables, but I’d live.

  ”That’s not yours, is it?” she asked, eyeing me up and down. “That power, it’s older than you. It’s more than you can handle.”

  “We’ll see,” I answered. Steeling myself, I let my mother’s power flow through me and enter into me in a different way. Fairies are pretty durable. Some people even say they’re unbreakable. But if I could use my mother’s magic not on Fulton, but on myself, jazzing myself up to Stallone levels of strength, maybe I could test that theory.

  Channeling the power into my muscles, I felt myself grow stronger, so strong in fact, my muscles actually expanded beneath my skin. “Pretty sure I’m strong enough to rip you in half now.”

  “Oh goodie,” Fulton answered, still floating before me. “I do love a fool and his errand.”

  I rushed her, throwing a vicious Mike Tyson right cross as she fluttered backward through the air like a goddamned butterfly. My blow sailed by her, and as I twisted to bring my left hand around and tag her in the chin, she zigged and zagged away from me at the speed of light. As I hit nothing but air, her horrible giggle filled my ears moments before her bony elbow smashed into my throat.

  Thankfully, I was stronger now, and my body was more apt to take a beating. I dealt with the throat punch like a champ and used the slight shock she felt at my durability to smash my fist into her pretty face.

  She flung her backward like a ragdoll. She smashed into the window with enough force to send a spider’s web of cracks out along the plate glass.

  I took a step forward, intent on finishing the job. If I could drive her through the window, I’d win. I wasn’t sure if such a fall would kill her, but it’d give me more than enough time to get Renee out of here.

  “You think you’re so tough with your silly little amulet,” she said, a singsong factor in her voice giving me the creeps. “Let’s see how tough you are without it.”

  The amulet around my neck pulled sharply. Looking down, I saw it was sitting exposed on my chest. I reached for it, but Fulton snapped her fingers and the clasp snapped at my neck before flying toward her outstretched hand. I reached for it, but my hands closed around empty air as my mother’s soul rocketed toward the fairy.

  My throat tightened and I rushed for the necklace, but Fulton’s finger moved again, holding me in place. I froze under the force of her will, stopping practically mid-stride so all I could do was watch in horror as the necklace landed lightly in the palm of her outstretched hand.

  “Is that a soulcatcher?” she asked, looking from the necklace to me with a horrible jolt of glee in her eyes. “Someone tried to give me one of those as a gift once. I didn’t take it then. Didn’t much care for the chap inside. But this one? I think I’ll keep this one.”

  Rage rushed through me, primal and panicked. My mother was in there, and I’d be damned if I was going to let anything happen to her.

  “I’ll kill you,” I choked out, frozen in place the same way Renee had been back in that court room. “I’ll peel the flesh from your bones.”

  “Even if it is a bit worn,” she said, ignoring me completely. She tossed it into the air and it hovered there. “See those cracks,” she pointed to the imperfections at the end of my mother’s amulet. “They come from misuse, from accessing the energy inside too forcefully or frequently. It’s a shame too. I bet there’s a lot of power in here.”

  My heart leapt up in my chest. That was why my mother had never done anything like this before. She was a smart woman, and a brilliant witch (taste in sexual partners aside). She must have known using her powers in an offensive manner would have compromised the stone housing her. Then, when she had no choice, she did it anyway. She put herself at risk to save me, and now I wasn’t going to be able to do anything to save her. If she broke that, it would break my mother as well, scattering her soul into as many pieces as the stone might split into. I couldn’t let that happen. She had done so much for me. I couldn’t let her down, not tonight.

  “Who’s in there, Roy?’ Fulton asked, shaking her head. “Is it someone important to you? Is it someone you love?” She leaned in so her face was tinted red by the shine of the amulet’s energy. “I hope it’s someone you love.”

  Fulton splayed her
fingers, and the stone shattered into a thousand disparate pieces. I felt a chest hollowing pain kick in and fell to the floor. My mother’s energy emptied from me quickly, leaving me a husk of what I had been seconds ago, but that didn’t matter. My mother was gone. After all that work, after all that sacrifice, her soul was lost to me forever. I was never getting it back. And that devastated me. As I turned my eyes upon Isa, a surge of rage filled me. I didn’t care if she’d been my friend or not, or if she was experiencing some weird mental break. I just wanted to tear her fucking head off and shit down her neck.

  Red tinted my own eyes as my demon roared back to life inside of me, hungry as ever and ready to feed.

  Her hold on me shattered as I took a step forward. Her eyes widened in shock as I raised my hand in the air and made a fist as the entire building shook so violently, I nearly fell. I didn’t give a damn though. Let the whole place fall down. Either way, this fairy was going to get her wings clipped.

  I lunged at Fulton, throwing a hundred punches if I was throwing one. She blocked each of them easily as I screamed and raged.

  “What?! What the fuck is so important to you, anyway?” The sentence burst from my lips as my fist slipped by her defenses and caught her hard on the shoulder. She stumbled back half a step and turned that same insane grin on me.

  “The most important thing in the world, of course,” she answered and the way she’d said it made me think she’d been waiting a long time to tell someone. “Freedom.” Her nostrils flared as she gestured toward Renee. “He’ll come. He’ll take your little girlfriend with him, use her to do whatever it is he needs done, and then he’ll eradicate this cancer from my body once and for all. That fairy bitch will be gone, and I’ll finally be the me I was always meant to be.”

  She punched me hard, so hard in fact, her fist broke through my abdomen. I felt the life drain out of me along with a quart or so of blood as she pulled her fist free of my gut and let me fall to the floor, staining the white carpet with my own blood.

  The entire building was bouncing around like a jukebox as Fulton stood over me.

  “Atlanta first,” she grinned. “Then, I’ll see how it feels to take over the entire country. Hell, you could be looking at the next President of the United States once I free myself of all these anchors around my neck.”

  My aching stomach turned in frustration. All of this to rid herself of Isa, to get rid of the primary personality in her mind once and for all. If only Isa were here. If only I could pull her out and let her see what was going on. But I couldn’t. I was going to die here, bleeding out and holding onto this tacky white carpet and… and the bag of white powder that sat at my right hand.

  It came back to me now, the Hemlock I had tossed off the counter when I was afraid Gary was going to play with it. He said it could be used to treat the Madness. That was obviously what Isa had been using it for. So why not now?

  Slowly, I wrapped my hand around the bag.

  “You won’t win,” I whispered because it hurt too much to talk.

  “Is that right?” she chuckled, and the sound grated on my ears. Well, I’d be damned if this was the last thing I heard. “And how do you figure that?”

  As my vision started to fade and darkness encroached from all sides, I whispered something I knew she’d never be able to hear.

  “What?” she asked as the world shook around us.

  I whispered again, this time even softer.

  “Goddamn it. What are you saying?” she asked and leaned in closer to me.

  Bingo.

  “I said you’re a stupid bitch. That’s what,” I snarled, shoving the Hemlock square into her face.

  Fulton stumbled backward, grabbing at her face.

  I struggled to stand, but couldn’t quite manage it. That was probably a bad sign. The fairy’s entire body shook like a bucket of paint in a mixer. Slowly, it subsided and Fulton’s hands fell from her face, I could tell from the destroyed look in her eyes and the frantic and confused expression on her face, Isa had taken control again.

  “What in the ages old world?” she whispered, looking around in horror.

  “You?” I muttered breathlessly. “You’re--”

  She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time, and as her eyes took in the gaping wound in my abdomen, horror filled her features.

  “I did that to you?” she asked, tears filling her eyes. She already knew the answer. “It’s me, isn’t it?” She shook her head in a way that was so heartbreaking, I would have cried. She hadn’t even known. “I’m Fulton.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, looking past her. Gary had nearly succeeded in freeing Renee. He was chewing through the last chain. A frantic ray of hope rushed through me.

  “I knew it was bad,” she said. “I knew I was sick, but I thought I could handle it. I never dreamed it would go like this. I never imagined that I would--” She looked down, her voice getting uncharacteristically somber. “I’m sorry.”

  “We have to stop it, Isa. Before Fulton comes back.” I tried to crawl closer to her, which was a pathetic way of moving, but my legs didn’t seem to want to move correctly right then. She rushed toward me, and I clutched her arm as she knelt beside me. “She called on somebody named the Founder.”

  Her eyes lit up with worry as her head snapped toward me. “The Founder is coming? You have to leave. He’ll take this entire building down when he comes. He’s unstoppable. You have to go!”

  “Then let’s go,” I said, and pulled at her arm. I had to get us out of here, and that meant all of us. But something in Isa’s eyes, a sort of reminiscent look that sprawled over hundreds of years without blinking, told me she was thinking something else.

  She stared at me for a long time.

  ”We both know how this ends, Big Boy. There’s no cure for the Madness, and I’d rather be dead than risk letting something like this take me over.” A slow smile crept across her beautiful face. “So do what you have to do and give a girl her dying wish.” She leaned forward. “Well, that and a kiss.” She pressed her lips against mine, and I felt a spark of energy pass between us. Then, as if provoked from some outside entity, the demon in me roared hungrily.

  That was what she wanted. Of course it was. Though it hurt like hell, though it hurt more than nearly anything in my life, I pressed my palm against her chest and let the demon do its work.

  “That’s a good boy,” she whispered as she felt her entire being feed into me. “I’ll see you on the other side, Big Boy. And just for the record, I like her. I think she’s good for you.”

  I didn’t have a chance to ask who she was talking about, because the instant the words left her mouth, her body crumpled in my hands.

  I didn’t have to ask though. I already knew.

  As I knelt there with Isa’s lifeless corpse in my arms, Gary and Renee came running up to me. The world was still shaking, and I had to get them out of there. It was the only way. It was sort of sad, like maybe Isa had known I’d need the strength. Hell, she probably did. One last gift from her, I supposed.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, laying Isa down gently and turning up to Renee.

  “Fine. You?” she said, looking me over.

  Looking down, I saw that Isa had left me one last gift. The wound in my gut had been healed completely. Thank you, fairy girl.

  “I’m fine,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “And I’ve got enough power to get us the fuck out of here,” I added, feeling Isa’s residue surging through me. “So let’s get going.”

  Gary hopped up on my shoulder and I grabbed Renee’s other hand. “Hold on tight,” I said and let Isa’s power wash over me.

  A moment later, we were standing on the rooftop of a building across the street from the one we were just in.

  The entire structure shuddered, but no one saw it through the magic hiding what was going on inside.

  Then, with a roar and a flash of Hellfire, the entire building imploded onto itself, disappearing into nothing.

  Isa ha
d been right. The Founder took the whole building with him. But he didn’t get Renee, and as I looked over at the clock on the BB&T Bank Building as it turned over to 12:01, I knew he wouldn’t. It was a new day. The Founder had missed his window. Thank God for that.

  “That’s so wild,” Renee said from beside me, looking at the gaping mass of nothing where the building used to be and the near endless line of clueless schmucks as they walked by.

  “Wanna hear something wilder?” Gary asked, his tone almost mocking. “Roy Boy called you his girl.” The imp grinned. “He really did.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” I answered, color filling my cheeks. “I just meant that, in comparison to all the other girls in the world, you were the one that was closest to me.” I swallowed and blinked a few times. “You know, in proximity. It was just for clarification purposes. It was just--”

  “Would you just shut the hell up already,” Renee said, grabbed my hand, spun me toward her, and pressed her lips hungrily to mine.

  And just like that, the crappiest day of my life wasn’t so bad anymore.

  28

  “I can’t believe how well the Impala is driving,” I said, careening down I-20 with Renee cuddled up next to me. It had been two weeks since everything went down, and aside from a couple of nightmares, everything looked to be returning to normal.

  Well, normal plus a girlfriend. So I think it’s safe to say we can stack this entire situation safely in the “win” column.

  “I told you my guy does wonders,” Renee said, resting her head on my shoulder. It’d taken me awhile to get used to the idea of being alone when I’d decided relationships probably weren’t in my best interest a couple of years ago. Turned out it took me practically no time to reverse that thought process. “He can do something about this upholstery too if you let him.”

  “Hey now, woman,” I said, letting my voice dip into a mock Southern accent and squeezing her tight. “Don’t you go trying to change me now. I like my upholstery.”

  “We’ll see,” she shrugged.