The vantage point of the image shifted, bursting through the wall of the building with a flash of apricot-colored light. An amphitheater filled to the brim with werewolves sprang into view. There had to be at least a couple thousand of them there, and standing on stage was none other than Alabaster. He appeared to be talking animatedly, and behind him, I could see a really terrible PowerPoint showing images of our fight. I couldn’t hear anything he said, but I could guess. He was blaming us for taking out the King of Wolves and rallying his troops.
“Are they coming here?” Gordon asked, and his voice was a bit shaky. Since he’d been nothing but confident before, it was a bit scary, but to be honest, I was terrified too. If even ten percent of those werewolves came here, they could raze the whole city.
“Yes. Alabaster is doing a very good job of blaming us, which isn’t very hard since you are one hundred percent at fault for attacking them with your ritual.” She gave Gordon a pointed look that made me want to step in and defend my brother, no matter what he’d done, only I didn’t because I was really glad it wasn’t aimed at me. “We need to keep that from happening. If we don’t, everyone will die.” She shook her head. “That is why I have recalled my doppelganger. Hear me when I say this Gordon Vance, we will not stand with you. I will evacuate this city and leave you to your death.” She nodded at me in a way that made my blood run cold. “And if Alabaster asks it of me, I will turn you over too.” The image vanished, and the uncomfortable silence that remained, settled over us.
“I can see where you’re coming from since you and Atlantis owe us nothing, but at the end of the day, we’re mages too,” I said, trying to fill my voice with confidence even though I was terrified. Even knowing about an attack with that many werewolves, all we could hope to do would be to kill a few of them before we all died. Even that might be pushing it. Worse, she wouldn’t help us. With friends like this…
“You have to understand,” Morgan began, her voice calm and practiced, like she was used to doling out bad news. “It is a simple choice. Save everyone here in exchange for you four animators and the prince? That’s a non-choice.”
“I know,” I growled because it was true. It was like all those stupid movies where the heroes fought to save some person of little consequence to the universe and hundreds of them died in the process. Those odds didn’t play in real life. “So what’s the alternate plan? I doubt you came to talk to us just to steal French fries.”
“I want you to help your wolf defeat Alabaster and take control of the wolves. If he can, we will win.” Morgan looked at me like she believed I could somehow accomplish that, which was scary in and of itself since I had no idea how we’d do that. “I can just no longer help you do it directly.”
“I thought that was the plan all along. Wasn’t that what Justin was supposed to be doing this whole time?” I said it a lot louder than I’d meant to, but Jesus, what did she expect me to do?
“Your master’s plan is flawed.” Morgan shook her head. “I have visited the oracle and she says faking power won’t work. She says we need to go to the wolf god and ask him to grant Justin real power. It is the only way for him to gain the throne.”
“How are we going to find the wolf god?” I asked even though I really wanted to know why Sheev’s plan wouldn’t work. Moreover, I wanted to know who the oracle was and talk to her myself.
“I was hoping you’d say that, Annie.” She smiled and touched my hand with her fingers. It was a strange gesture, almost like she felt sorry for me. “I can send you to him.”
“Are you out of your goddamned mind?” I cried, pulling away from her and leaping to my feet so suddenly, I banged my thighs on the table. “I have no clue how to deal with the wolf god. Hell, I don’t even know who that is.”
“Okay, you know what, I was hoping you’d just go, but you’re going to be difficult. Truth be told, the oracle said you and Justin have to go together but gave no more guidance. I have already sent the prince. Now you must follow him,” Morgan said, standing, and as she did, she snapped her fingers, causing the world around me to drop away. I tried to push off her power as it hit me, but it was like trying to bail out the Titanic with a thimble. The cold, icy embrace of her magic swept over me, and as it did, it dragged me down into darkness.
And you know what the sad thing was? The really sad thing?
I hadn’t even gotten to finish my beer.
16
I slammed face first into the rocky volcanic crags of Mount Doom. At least, it seemed like that because the air was full of sulfuric smoke, and the sky was tinged with orange like someone had broken the sun open and let its juices spill across the horizon.
As I tried to orient myself to my strange new surroundings, I dug my fingers into the blackened stone beneath me. I wasn’t quite sure where the hell I was, but I was betting I’d just gotten an awesome one way ticket to meet the God of Wolves. Maybe I could take it back for a full refund.
“So you did come. I wondered if you would,” Justin said, and I turned to see him sitting on a rocky outcropping studying me like I was a strange bug. “I told them not to send you.”
“Wait, what? Why wouldn’t I come?” I asked, hurt filling my voice even though I hadn’t meant for it to. “Why wouldn’t you want me to come?”
“My mother died.” He sucked in a breath and stared at the sundered heavens above. Lightning crackled across the malevolent sky as he shut his eyes. “She never did anything to anyone, but your brother killed her, and even though he’s a genocidal maniac you’ll probably defend him because he’s your brother, and I just can’t deal with that right now.”
“I can’t defend my brother, but I understand why he did what he did.” I stared at him, and it must have had some heft behind it because he turned his cornflower blue eyes on me. It was almost enough to make me momentarily forget how mad I was being stuck here, but then I remembered he didn’t even want me here and that wasn’t fair. “That doesn’t make it right, but it does highlight why this war needs to end. We can’t just keep killing each other over and over again.”
“She was my mother.” He said the words in a way that made me want to hug him. To hold him until it stopped hurting him. While I didn’t quite get the attachment, because I hadn’t known my mother, he had. Hell, his mother was practically Mrs. Claus, and never hurt anyone, and I did know how it to have family torn away from you. It was why I couldn’t let go of Gordon, even though he had killed a good woman, probably thousands of good people.
“I’m so sorry, Justin.” As I stared at him, his pain broke everything inside me, and for a second, I actually considered flipping my switch because I didn’t want to deal with it right now. Only that would be the coward’s way out, and besides, I was supposed to care for him. If I couldn’t help him now, well, what did that say about me?
I moved toward him, and as I reached out toward him, he didn’t move away. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. “I know there’s nothing I can do to make it better, but please, if you let me, I’ll try.”
“I know,” he said, swallowing hard as he buried his head into my shoulder. The smell of him was intoxicating, and as I held him there, I realized I had no idea how to actually comfort him. Still, I had to try. If Justin meant anything to me, I had to try. Not because there was a war brewing between our two people. No because he was someone I cared about, and I wanted him to feel better.
“What can I do?” I asked, running my hands through his blond hair. “Whatever you need, I’ll try.”
“It’s enough to know you care,” he said, pulling back and looking me over. I could tell he was upset, but I could also see his mettle returning. That was good. I definitely didn’t want to sit here on Sauron’s doorstep for a minute longer than we had to.
“I’ll always care,” I said as the lightning overhead crackled and thunder boomed.
As we stood there looking each other, it started raining, spilling big fat drops of crimson fluid down upon us. It was warm and made
me feel like the sky was bleeding. I huddled inside my ruined hoodie, wishing Alabaster hadn’t shredded it.
“Let’s go, Annie. I don’t want you to catch a cold.” He shook himself like a dog as he got to his feet and came toward me. Even drenched in blood rain he was still nice to look at, especially because he filled out an Aquaman T-shirt in a way that would have made Arthur Curry proud, if a bit jealous. “The sooner we meet the Wolf God, the sooner I can fix all of this…”
“All right. Where do we go?” I asked, sweeping my gaze around the blackened plains. There was a small path to my left marred by tufts of dead grass. It spiraled upward across the mountain like someone had whimsically wandered up there before and that’d simply become the way.
“Up.” He pointed up the path, and as he did, lightning flashed, illuminating a small cave at the top of the mountain. My calves cringed at the sight of it. That was going to be a heck of a walk, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually eaten a substantial meal. Had it really been dinner a couple days ago? It certainly felt like it.
“Fucking Morgan stealing me from my fish,” I grumbled and began moving toward the path. Justin caught up to me as we stepped off the mountain and onto the path. The world seemed to grow darker, and the shadows more malevolent as we began to move. Still, this was starting to suck. I could feel my socks sloshing inside my shoes, and I knew that was going to lead to blisters in a hurry. Man, the things I do because people magically transport me to Mordor.
I’d say it was eerily quiet, but it wasn’t. While there were no sounds of bugs or birds, the sky was going absolutely bat shit, and I hoped it wasn’t because of us. I’d never been here before, and it hadn’t exactly been on my bucket list because I didn’t fancy getting myself eaten by the god of wolves.
“So what’s his name?” I asked, gesturing vaguely in front of myself. “The wolf god.”
“I have no idea.” Justin shrugged. “I didn’t even know there was a wolf god until the oracle told me. Speaking of which, you people are fucked up.” He scrunched up his nose and shivered like a monkey had jumped over his grave. “I mean what kind of thirteen-year-old girl lounges around naked in a pool of blood. It’s creepy, and I felt like I needed a shower just from looking at her.”
“Yeah, well, everyone’s got to pay the mortgage.” I shrugged at him because I had no idea what to say to that since I hadn’t even known there was an Oracle before a few minutes ago.
“Well, maybe if mages weren’t so fucked up, we wouldn’t be in this situation!” he snapped, glancing at me. The words hung there between us, and as they did, I saw my chance at maturity hanging by a thread.
I could ignore his comment. I could chalk it up to nerves and the fact he’d lost his mother. But I couldn’t. I’d been persecuted by his people for being born and he was victim blaming. Well, fuck that.
“You know what,” I said, rounding on Justin and poking him in his broad chest with my finger. He was so warm I could feel the heat wafting off him despite the humidity. “I didn’t do anything to you. I tried to help you.” I glared at him while he walked right by me and kept marching. Still, I could tell from the knotted muscles in his back, he was tense. Good.
“Not hard enough, Annie.” His words were nearly lost in the howling wind, and as he continued walking, I instinctively ground my hands into tight fists.
“Fuck you, man!” I growled, leaping on him before I could stop myself. He spun as my fist bounced off the rock hard muscle of his chest, but I didn’t care. I kept hitting him anyway. In fact, as tears started to leak from my eyes, I hit him harder. “I tried for you!”
The wind whistled through the dead grass as we moved, making me glance around apprehensively. I didn’t like this place, and with every step we took, the air grew thicker. We’d only moved a couple hundred yards, but it felt like it’d been miles. Sweat plastered my hair to my skin, and as I wiped my brow with the back of my hand, I contemplated pulling the sweatshirt off.
I didn’t because I was just wearing a t-shirt underneath and I didn’t feel like having it plastered to my body by bloody rain. It’d make me look like I was in a gore covered wet T-shirt contest, and I wasn’t about to let Justin have that kind of show. He hadn’t earned it.
He grabbed my wrists and squeezed. Not hard enough to hurt me, but hard enough for me to know I wasn’t going to be hitting him anymore.
“You say that,” he said, leaning in close to me. The crimson rain had matted his blond locks to his face and caused bloody tears to trail down his skin. “But how do I know it’s true? How can I trust you after what your brother did?” He raised an eyebrow. “How can I know you’d pick me over your own people?” He released me and touched his chest with one hand. “I couldn’t even ask you to do that even if I thought you would pick me.”
“It works both way! How do I know you won’t huff and puff and blow my house down?” I cried, hitting him because he should have known better than to release me. The blow rang down my arm, and I was instantly glad Gordon had healed me after the fight with Alabaster. If he hadn’t, there’d be no way I could keep this up. It’d have hurt my ribs too much.
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said, ignoring my blows as he wiped the rain from his eyes and glared at me. “You should know that.”
“You know that indignation you’re feeling right now, Justin?” I snarled, walking past him. I was so angry I was about ready to actually try to hurt him and that wouldn’t help either of us. “That’s what I felt when you tried to blame me for not trying hard enough.”
He stopped. I know because I didn’t hear his steps on the path behind me. I wasn’t sure how long he stood there because I was too busy marching toward the cave and alternating between hating him and myself.
Was he right? Had I not tried enough to save the wolves? I thought I’d tried as hard as I could, but at the end of the day, I’d lost and maybe, just maybe, that was my fault. Maybe I could have done something differently? Only… only I didn’t think so and fuck him for making me doubt myself because fuck him twice.
I whirled on my feet to yell at him some more but found he hadn’t moved a single step, and now we were over a hundred paces apart. He was on his knees in the middle of the path with his face in his hands and from the way his shoulders moved, it made me think he was crying.
Only men didn’t cry. At least they weren’t supposed to cry. Admittedly, I’d seen more than my fair share of men cry, and it always broke something inside me because it wasn’t supposed to happen. No. Men were supposed to be, and I say this knowing how it sets back the cause for women everywhere, but men were supposed to be manly. They were supposed to chew metal and spit bullets, supposed to wrangle a horse barehanded and chop down a fucking tree. They weren’t supposed to collapse into tears.
Still, Justin was strong, both physically and emotionally, and he was showing me this side of himself, showing me this vulnerability. It made my heart ache, but we didn’t have time for feelings or more pain right now. Not with the sky literally bleeding on us and our people about to go Hatfields and McCoys on each other.
“Justin, please get up,” I said, putting my fists on my hips. “I know your world is turned upside down. I know I suck and I’m not able to help you through it, but right now I need you to shelve all of that. So please, stand the fuck up and come here. We’ve got a vicious wolf god to try to appease, and I know you can do it.”
I’ll admit, part of my statement was motivated because I couldn’t deal with watching him like this. I just couldn’t. No. He had to get up… he had to be okay, and oh my god I had totally fallen for him.
“Please get up?” I whispered, and I wasn’t sure if his keen super werewolf hearing caught my words or if he’d just decided to get to his feet, but he did. Bloody rain streaked across his Aquaman T-shirt.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at me, and I barely heard him across the distance. He tried to smile, failed, and hung his head as he moved toward me. His chest expanded as he s
ucked in a breath and overhead the lightning cracked, spilling white light across the horizon.
“Why are you sorry?” I asked as he neared.
“Because I never meant to make you cry.” He looked up at me. This time he almost smiled, and it made my stupid traitorous little heart sing. “I never meant to blame you… it was just easier, and for that, I’m sorry.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and shook himself like the dog he was.
“I’m sorry too,” I whispered. “I should have been more considerate.”
“It’s okay,” He smiled at me and reached out to take my hand. I pulled away and took a step back from him. I wasn’t that easy.
“It’s not okay, Justin.” I let a breath out through my teeth as I turned back toward the cave and decided to attempt maturity. “We have promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.”
“I don’t think you’re quoting Mr. Frost quite right,” he said as he moved next to me, and we stared at the cave. Lightning flashed again, painting the horizon in white and revealing the twisted shadow of a wolf the size of Madagascar.
17
A bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of us, sending arcs of blue electricity crackling through the air. It was so bright I turned away from the blast, shielding my eyes as the wind shrieked, and the heavens thundered. The smell of blood and wolf filled my nose as Justin moved in front of me.
As I turned my gaze back to the flash of lightning, a shadowy caricature of a wolf emerged from the din and sat down on the debris strewn lava rock. Then it started scratching its shadowy ear with one paw, causing wisps of smoke to ripple off of its black fur and spiral into nothingness.
“Why have you come here?” it asked, and its voice resounded across the heavens. Lightning cracked and thunder boomed. The wind howled, and the rain grew torrential.
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