by Lisa Daniels
Mason had always been terrified, at the back of his mind, that he was exposing his own family to danger by working with these people. By going to such places. His fears lessened from the knowledge that he never talked about them, but you ideally didn’t want to piss off necromancers who could then set an army of dead people on you. How many times had he seen those fights, and the unrestrained ferocity of two animated corpses lunging at each other?
How many times had he seen Regal and Ellie fight, with more skill than the rest of the competition?
Too many times.
Ellie took him on an enthusiastic tour of the mansion, followed by Talia and Janos, once they had cleaned up the blood and seen the shifter’s accelerated healing taking care of the wounds.
Such a big place, with many security holes, Mason thought, not entirely comfortable with the idea of multiple rooms and potentially secret passageways, and an alternative entrance into the mansion from a small, locked bunker positioned just outside which used to be the servants’ back entrance to the cottages they would have lived in, once upon a time. But even those cautious observations couldn’t shake from him the feeling of gladness. Ellie still wanted him in her life, and he honestly couldn’t see, couldn’t imagine ever doing this job for anyone else. She’d been his first job, and the money made was the gateway out for so many members of his family, low caste and worthless in their part of society.
Hell, in the past, his kind were used for lighting fires and keeping furnaces going. They were excluded from congregations, excluded from anything that mattered. The greenskin dragons with their cursed green fire and lack of worth.
He wasn’t worthless to Ellie. He followed her, the ghost of a smile upon his face, allowing himself to sink into the memories. First meeting her as a disheveled, snotty brat, drunk on the love of her mother, lonely from the absence of her father, and promptly deciding that she and Mason were going to have the Best Fun Ever.
They did have a lot of Best Fun Together, since it was nice to be with someone who didn’t have any concerns about the world or think about adult problems at the time. Then when her mother had died… when her father took control of her mother’s guardian angel spirit…
It all started going a little more wrong from there.
“So, were you ever in any danger at all? Did Mason need to use any heroics to save you?” Talia asked, clearly interested in their past. “Or was it low-drama?”
“Oh, he’s gotten me out of some sticky situations over the years,” Ellie said brightly.
“Name your worst.”
“Hmm, let me think… probably the time when I was ganged up on by about six kids in school, and they wanted to do serious damage to me—one had a switchblade. Mason swooped in and scared them all off.”
“Oh, wow. Someone honestly had a switchblade?”
“Guess they’re easy to sneak in. I’ve had harassment, people spitting. The usual. I don’t think anyone seriously tried to kill me before, apart from those kids. What about you?”
“Eh… I can think of a few,” Talia replied, sharing a rather knowing smirk with her bodyguard. “Mason sounds like a good one.”
Mason brimmed with pride from behind, not exactly too opposed to listening. He remembered the incident with the gang of kids, too. Generally an awful ringleader with friends who were followers and did anything he asked—including threaten, beat up, and possibly kill a girl with necromancer powers.
Not hard to overthrow, but the sheer malice of them was not encouraging for Ellie, putting her off higher education, compounded by her dad’s persuasions and what happened with her mother. Mason also needed to take emergency time off, to deal with issues in his own family, like when his mother went down the drug route, and his oldest brother had witnessed a murder, and generally all-round bad news.
Somewhere along the line, he’d lost an Ellie he thought he knew, and found one stranger, wilder, less prone to listen. Yet there was still always that old bond between them that persisted through all those years, even when Regal had first asked his daughter if she wanted a new and better guard than a low-caste dragon.
All that remained now was to see if he’d get approved for police protection. Otherwise, his options looked just as glum as before.
Chapter Five – Ellie
Going to the police proved nerve-racking, at the least. The kind of nerve-racking that left her doubtful and wondering if she’d be accepted as a credible information source at all, despite her previous confidence. Worse, what if they didn’t want to use Mason at all? Then she’d be stuck with a stranger, and the one person in her life who actually cared for her beyond everything would be gone forever.
She thought she’d been prepared to lose Mason before. She never expected how much it actually hurt when facing him directly, knowing what they once had, believing it to be gone.
She didn’t want him to be gone. She waited with him now, her foot nervously tapping the ground, as the police-employed necromancer finished up another interview, and then she’d be ushered in to offer her information and have them directly judge her.
It’s my sister, Talia had said. She’ll be cool, as long as your info holds true. Try not to look too nervous—she does hate obvious signs of weakness.
Comforting… not.
“You know what you have is gold,” Mason rumbled, his stark green eyes watching her carefully. “Just be sure you’re prepared to do this. It doesn’t come easy, to betray someone who did raise you.”
Ellie let out a snort. “Are you serious right now? The people who raised me were my mother and you. Not my dad.”
Mason’s brow furrowed in confusion. “You were excited to do the same thing as your father. You wanted to be like him. Or am I imagining that?”
Ellie flushed in embarrassment of the memory. Yes, okay, she did admire her dad, once. What little kid didn’t want to please their parents?
Right before she found out that everything was a lie. Her stupid, soppy, worshipful feelings felt like little worms in her now, unpleasant and not a part she wanted to exhume or remember, because that belonged to a past Ellie, an ignorant one, who still had a complete family and a bodyguard that was cool and honestly a great person.
She wanted to lock away that ignorant Ellie and forget she ever existed. She was newer, wiser—an adult who should have broken away from the situation a long time ago. It took her father’s incident with Crimson to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. After that, she didn’t want anything more to do with his world.
Even if she had gotten thrills out of it for a while. Even if a part of her enjoyed the attention of people chanting her name, cheering for her victory or screaming for her demise.
Now, however, she wanted to join the legal side of the world. She wanted to start earning her money in a more respectable way.
The call came for her to walk in. The nervousness wriggled through her as if being possessed, and it took everything in her to remain calm on the outside as she entered the interview room, facing the famous Rosen Grieves herself, the most prominent necromancer in the police force today. With one other surprise: a red-headed woman next to the dark-haired Grieves observed her with bright, attentive eyes.
Ellie recognized her immediately. “You’re Crimson, aren’t you?”
The red-haired woman twitched her lips into a smile. “That I am. Nice to meet you… Eleganza.”
“How? How are you here? What—” It dawned on Ellie the moment she let the questions slip out of her mouth. “You were part of a sting operation, weren’t you?”
“Unfortunately,” Crimson said. “There were a lot of bodies going missing, and a lot of angry people. They summoned me all the way from Ireland to help do something about it.”
“Lucky you had that guardian angel to help you, right?”
“Lucky,” Crimson agreed. “She’s gone now. She made a new oath to me. So your real name is Ellie Lockhart. Mine is Morgana Hargraves.”
“Not sure if I’m pleased to meet you,” Ell
ie replied, though she reached out her hand to shake Morgana’s all the same.
“Rosen Grieves,” said the stern-faced, dark-haired woman who looked as though she could murder with a look. Ellie gripped her hand and found Rosen squeezing the life out of it. She hid the sign of pain as best as able, until Rosen let go with a hawkish smile on her mouth.
“Morgana is here because she has interacted with you before. She offered to come back to America when we asked, because you would need a fellow necromancer to help you get integrated within the service if this does work out, and I’m busy, mostly,” Rosen said. “I’ll still find some time to work with you, of course.”
Morgana gave Ellie a long, hard look. “Are you planning to tell on your father?” It annoyed Ellie, the amount of concern she could hear in Morgana’s voice, as if she understood. Worse, she probably did. She’d spoken directly to Ellie and Regal when disguised as Crimson. She knew something of their interactions together. Ellie had only intended to help Morgana out so that her guardian spirit didn’t get stolen. Perhaps that spirit meant something special to Morgana. Perhaps Regal was planning to kill her. Either way, Ellie helped…
And fed information to the police as a result. Because this bitch was with them the whole time.
“I wouldn’t have made it all the way here if I wasn’t prepared to do what I must,” she responded curtly. She noted how the bodyguard that was with Morgana happened to be a different one from the bulky male she’d seen before. Namely, being female and having faint suggestions of bear blood in her. “What happened to the guy that you were with last time?”
“He’s busy on another task,” Morgana said. “But we keep in contact.” Something in her tone suggested that it was more than just contact, but Ellie wisely kept her opinion to herself.
Prompted by Rosen, she began to divulge all the information she could think of. She started with her father’s experiments on two guardian spirits he’d managed to procure, in conjunction with his super boss, Zaimov. No last name provided, though by the looks of it, Rosen had heard of Zaimov as well. Her confession tumbled along about the various deadrings set over the country, and some of the names of the necromancers involved in the sports, though she only knew their stage names. Everyone kept themselves secret. Probably for the reason of what Ellie was doing now.
“Okay, this is enough to get you under witness protection,” Rosen said, when Ellie finished. “I bet my sister will be delighted. We’ll have to keep an eye on you, as I’m sure you’ll understand. As long as you do what you say you’re going to do, everything will be workable.”
“Can you guys hire Mason to be my bodyguard? If you’re planning to get one to protect me,” Ellie said casually, though her heart was in her mouth. Now that she thought about it, there was a high chance they’d say no, right? Since he was a direct link to Regal. “If he goes back home without me, he’ll be fired. Or worse.” She wasn’t sure if Regal knew about Mason’s family. She’d never said anything, and she couldn’t remember Mason saying anything, either.
“Hmm.” Rosen now examined Mason, taking in his slight build. “You have the qualifications?”
“I do.” Mason drew himself up straighter, more proudly. “I can forward my CV and ID number.”
“Do so. What kind of protector are you? Your eyes are an abnormal green.”
“Dragon. Low-caste,” he added, when Rosen’s eyes popped in amazement.
“Ah. So you wouldn’t be that expensive. Is a low-caste worth it?”
“Absolutely,” Ellie said fiercely. “He’s really good. And he’s only on a wage of twenty-four thousand a year. You can afford that, right?”
Rosen smirked. “Don’t get too excited. It’s not a promise we’re giving.”
“I won’t accept anything else,” Ellie said, grabbing for Mason’s hand and holding it tightly. About a second or so later, she regretted the move, but to save face, she hung on gamely to Mason, beaming brightly and sharply to ward off any potential questions. Mason’s hand was strong and warm in hers, and she’d held it plenty of times before. This time wasn’t any different, right?
At least the approval didn’t take too long for the police to accept Mason after all that.
With Mason’s online documents, and his ID verified, the police saw no reason to dismiss him. Within a week of Ellie selling her soul to the police precinct, it was official. Mason had become her bodyguard, and proudly so.
The sense of relief that offered was amazing.
“I can’t believe you were seriously considering dumping me forever,” Mason said. “Very rude of you.”
“I would have paid for you if I could,” Ellie said, smiling fondly at her protector. “You think I want to leave behind the person who gives me piggybacks and buys take-out treats just so I can experience them?”
“Oh, I see,” Mason said lightly in response to that. “You just want to have a servant around, correct?”
“You’re not just a servant! You’re important!” She fell silent, though, a slight trace of guilt within her. She was prepared to leave him behind. Even with all their background. Just as she was prepared to leave her father. A part of her thought they should still separate, because she needed to cut every last tie of her life back then away. How else could she start completely afresh? How else would she avoid the temptation of her former life?
But the moment she realized she didn’t have to lose Mason, she’d leaped on it instantly. Because in spite of everything, she wasn’t quite as mentally prepared as she thought.
“The new wages will be better for your family now, Mason?” she asked, idly stretching out on one of the newly set up deck chairs in the garden. Mason stood a little awkwardly beside her, the shadows of the huge, pink umbrella shade casting peach light contours around him. His green eyes were darker, less luminescent, his nutmeg-colored hair pinkish at the tips.
“They will be. I’m just… I’m hoping this won’t bring down the wrath of Regal on them.”
“He doesn’t know, right? You never said?”
“Does that matter? It’ll be obvious I have some kind of family—everyone does. No, I didn’t mention them, and he has no awareness of where they might live if I had ever let something slip.”
“Just don’t tell him you’re with me. Just act like you couldn’t find me. I left the country, I lied to you. He doesn’t think you have an independent mind, after all.” It stung a little to say that, but her father did think of Mason as a faithful meat-puppet that followed Ellie around as per his instructions. Mason’s mouth thinned into an annoyed line. “I don’t think my father will hurt you.”
Not unless he really, really wanted me back. Rosen didn’t think that Ellie returning to Regal as a double-agent would be smart. She had a strong suspicion that Zaimov would arrange for a way to make Ellie and Mason disappear. He might even have some awareness of where Ellie went, or suspected she might have been a liability to defect for some time.
Ellie wasn’t entirely sure, but there was something about Zaimov that suggested maybe he could see all your secrets, including the ones you didn’t want to admit to anyone.
Like she’d be more sad in her life if Mason were to die, rather than her father.
“I want this job. Rosen’s shown me the contract; I get almost double what I was being paid before. I ain’t complaining.” He grinned, though the grin died almost instantly. “Though it does mean my time with you will be limited, once you settle. Because I may need to defend other targets in the future. We won’t be together like we were anymore.”
“Better than not seeing you at all,” Ellie replied, meaning it. “So I consider all of this worth it.”
Mason finally mustered the willpower to sit down, rather than stand and hover awkwardly. He rapped his fingers on the white, plastic table, ignoring the orange juice planted there for him. At that point, Talia passed, intending to head toward the pet cemetery to visit her favorite cat, Willow. Visiting meant something entirely different to a necromancer, of course. She s
topped to look at them, a rather mischievous smirk upon her features. “Good news from my sister, right? You get to spend a lot more time in Mason’s presence. D’you know, I remember you talking about Mason when we were messaging and voice chatting together. How he’s the best, most wonderful bodyguard you could ever hope for...”
Ellie blushed red like a beetroot and violently motioned for Talia to shut up. Meanwhile, Mason just looked more and more amused.
“I don’t say any of this to him! Come on, Talia, that was private.”
“You two don’t seem all that private to me,” Talia responded, grinning. “When’s the wedding?”
At this, Ellie’s indignation expanded inside until it threatened to explode. “I’m going to murder you!” She dove after Talia, who sped away, cackling like a witch. Talia wasn’t quite as fast as Ellie, so they ended up in an ungainly heap upon the ground, acting less like adults and more like little kids. A brief surge of anger made Ellie contemplate just what it might be like to face off against Talia in a deadring, before she clamped down on that and let her friend get away with the teasing. The world of deadrings didn’t suit Talia at all. But maybe Talia was just a nice person, with a good upbringing, with no one pushing her into illegal activities.
When Ellie returned to the table, Mason’s drink was fully drained and his arms were folded as he regarded her in amusement. “You’ve not changed much, I see,” he said, now luxuriously stretching himself out, putting tension upon his muscles. “Still eager to wrestle people into the mud.”
“Excuse me, but did you hear what she was saying?” She turned to Mason, still puffed up indignantly. “We’re just friends, hanging out, doing friend things.”
“Of course we are,” said Mason. “Though we are definitely what you might call ‘friends with benefits’.” Just when Ellie thought she would explode with shock and embarrassment, Mason added, “Because I’m also your bodyguard, of course.”
