“A dragon, detective, and mage puree served by one Chef TK. Sorry, bad idea.”
“This TK sounds dangerous,” Roque said. “Are you sure we want to meet her?”
“Want is a strong word,” I said. “We need to meet her for the dragon’s blood collector thingamabob, but I wouldn’t say we want to meet her, per se.”
“It’s not a thingamabob,” Monty said as he started gesturing. “The receptacle is called a runic nullifier.”
Monty traced runes in the air in front of Roque, who studied them intently.
“Are you sure you can do this?” I asked Roque. “I’d rather not end up in the Arctic, or in several parts.”
“I’m confident I can handle a teleport out of the Moving Market,” Roque answered. “I may not be on Dex’s level, but I can hold my own.”
“Holding your own doesn’t inspire confidence,” I said. “Are you sure you can’t do this, Monty?”
“Tristan, are you certain of this location? It’s rather remote.”
“Her brother gave us two locations,” Monty answered. “This one makes more sense from a defensive position to draw in an enemy.”
“Are you sure about this, Monty? He’s probably rusty in the teleportation circle department.”
“Roque can handle it, unless you want to wait for Tessa. I’m sure she’ll dispatch the Doorman to come search through the rubble.”
“You know what? There’s no time like the present to get out of Dodge.”
THIRTY-THREE
Roque began the cast of a violet circle on the ground. I saw him wince and clench his jaw as he released the energy forming the circle.
“You okay?” I asked, worried. “Are you sure you can do this?”
“Of course,” he said, nodding his head with a tight smile. “It’s been some time since I cast. Runic use is much easier as a dragon.”
“I bet,” I said, looking at Monty as I stepped to the side while Roque worked. “You better FedEx his ass to Dex as soon as we get the blood. I think he’s reverting back to tall, dark, and scaly.”
“It’s a complicated cast,” Monty muttered under his breath. “He has to pinpoint the location, then factor in the Market’s movements while creating a trajectory for us to arrive. It’s like threading a needle on a trampoline during an earthquake.”
“That really boosted my confidence in his ability to do this.”
I looked over to where Roque was still tracing runes in the air. Violet symbols filled the circle below him as sweat formed on his brow.
“Almost there,” he said with a grunt. “Then we can leave.”
“I don’t trust him,” I muttered under my breath. “He seems to be barely keeping it together. If he goes full dragon in Japan, Fumiko won’t bother with politeness. She’ll blast us on sight.”
“I will check the cast before he activates the circle,” Monty assured me. “Once we get to Japan, I will contact both TK and my uncle.”
“I’m telling you, Monty, I may not know energy manipulation like you do, but he seems off.”
“We have very little choice at the moment,” Monty said. “Unless you’d like to cast a teleportation circle that savagely dismantles our bodies in transit? Like I said, I’ll check the circle before we go.”
“How soon before your broken magic is fixed?”
“My magic—is not broken…merely taxed beyond my current capabilities at the moment. I should be near full strength by the time we reach Japan.”
Something was off, but Monty wasn’t sharing.
Just then, Roque nodded and lowered his arms. The violet circle pulsed with energy. Monty stepped over and began examining the symbols.
“Well done,” Monty said with a nod of approval. “This is serviceable and should put us in the shrine.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Roque answered, slightly winded. “It’s been a while. That was unexpectedly difficult.”
Another explosion rocked the tunnel behind us. We all turned to look, but the dust and debris was too thick.
“It would seem Tessa has grown tired of waiting,” Monty said, stepping into the circle. “Let’s go.”
“I think that’s our signal to vacate the premises,” I said. “You ready, Rocky?”
In the distance, I could just make out a figure running towards us.
The Doorman.
Red orbs raced around him as he got closer. His silver staff gave off a soft glow as he increased his pace.
“It won’t close in time,” Roque said, looking at the symbols, and then looking off into the direction of the Doorman. “The Doorman will get through.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The circle—it won’t close…It won’t…Ahhh.”
Roque squeezed his head as he staggered back a step. He looked at me, and I could see violet energy glimmer in his eyes. He slid forward in a blur, and drew Ebonsoul from its sheath.
“What the hell? What are you doing?”
“No time,” Roque said. “We have to do this now!”
“What are you talking—?
Roque sliced across his hand in one fluid motion, reached across, gripping my wrist before I could react, and cut across my palm.
“I’m sorry, Simon,” Roque said. “I hope this works.”
“Fuck!” I said, looking at the wound in my hand. “Are you insane?”
In another moment, Roque resheathed Ebonsoul, clasped my hand and placed his wound over mine.
“What are you doing?” I said, the shock reaching me before the pain. “We need a receptacle!”
“I’m sorry it had to be this way,” Roque said. “I won’t be joining you today.”
He shoved me back into the circle and gestured. Violet light erupted in my hand as intense pain shot up my arm, bringing me to my knees.
“No!” Monty tried to step out of the circle, but a wall of energy kept us inside. “Don’t do this, Roque. Uncle Dex can help you.”
“Go save your hellhound and the vampire, Simon,” Roque said, his skin transforming to scales, as his body expanded. “Thank you for believing in me, Tristan, but I think it’s too late for help.”
I saw Roque revert back to full dragon form as the Doorman closed on him. He looked back one last time, roared, and slammed his body into the ceiling, collapsing the tunnel as a violet flash blinded me.
THIRTY-FOUR
We arrived in Japan at night. I looked around, nearly losing my balance; I placed a hand on the ground to stabilize myself. We were in some kind of stone building, but I couldn’t make out the details. I lay still on the floor until the room stopped spinning. The cool stone felt good against my face.
“Whaft did he dosh?” I said, slurring my words. “Monthee, I donth feels so goof.”
My body flushed hotter than it ever had been, Monty was saying words faster than I had ever heard. All of my senses were firing, but nothing was making sense. More pain wracked my body, and I screamed.
When the agony subsided, I grabbed Monty by the sleeve and tugged until he looked at me.
“I can hear purple,” I said, the slurring gone. “But red tastes horrible. Don’t eat the red.”
“Stop talking,” Monty said. “You’re delirious from the dragon’s blood. Bloody hell, was he trying to kill you?”
I opened my hand and violet light shot upward. Monty grabbed my hand, forcing it closed—plunging us into darkness again.
“Purple is a pretty color,” I said. “It smells so purple.”
“I need you here—now,” Monty said next to me. “Dragon’s blood, yes. Not drake’s blood. I don’t know how many drops…a gashful! He sliced his hand and then sliced Simon. The wound isn’t healing. Yes, he’s still alive. Don’t ask me how. Just get here, now!”
“Hey, Trissy…Trissy,” I said. “You know what would fix this? Hellhound slobber. Do you have any?”
“I’m currently all out of slobber. Don’t move. Help is coming.”
“Hell is coming? So run, you cur…run! You tell them I’m c
oming and hell’s coming with me!” I yelled. “When is hell coming, Wyatt?”
A part of my mind, coldly calculated that I was currently on my way to batshit town for permanent residency. Whatever the dragon’s blood had done was slowly and finally, zillerfrying my remaining brain cells. This realization hit me gradually, packed its bags, and quietly exited my mind, taking the voice of reason with it.
“Simon, stop talking,” Monty hissed at me. “Where the bloody hell is he?”
I hissed back and pointed at Monty.
“Don’t you black mamba me, kiddo.”
A green flash filled the room, and I saw a portal open. I sensed two people enter the building we were in.
“Sorry for the delay, boy.” A man’s voice. “I figured I’d get some help for this one.”
“How is he?” A woman’s voice. “The energy signature is significant.”
“My energy level is over nine-thousand!” I said, turning to the voices.
“Sliding deeper into insanity as you can see,” Monty said. “Not that he wasn’t halfway on the slope to start with. Help him.”
“That’s what I’m here to do, Tristan. Now move back. Dex, place a temporal pocket around him. Let’s see if we can arrest the effect of the blood.”
“Don’t arrest me!” I yelled. “I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot no deputy.”
“How long has he been in delirium?” the woman asked as a green glow wrapped itself around me. “Dex, adjust the field and see if you can track the tainted blood.”
“Since we arrived,” Monty said. “He was lucid until the cut and shortly after, then he slipped into the state you see now.”
“Understood,” she said. “Open the hand, Dex.”
“Bloody hell,” the man said. “It’s going to kill him if we don’t get it under control, curse or no curse.”
Purple light filled the room again, and I saw the faces of an old man and a scary lady. My brain struggled with the faces. I knew them.
“Flex! Tiki! You’re here. Thank you for coming! I think someone threw up a wrench in the bucket I’m going to kick—wait, no, that’s not right.”
More pain stomped on my chest, grabbed me by the neck and started to punch me repeatedly in the face. I screamed then. I felt flames burning my body and saw violet energy wrapping itself around me.
“I’m going to sedate him,” Tiki said. “His body is fighting the runes.”
“Ignis…ignisvitamins!”
“Tristan, get a shield ready, now,” Tiki said. “I can’t believe he remembers the magic missile command, of all things. Remind me again, who thought that was a good idea?”
“Ignition!” I yelled, but nothing happened. I felt the power building up in me and needed to get it out. “It burns…I’m burning.”
“Dex, he needs to be bled of that power somehow.”
“Aye, lass,” Flex said. “I’m giving the siphon all I’ve got.”
“He used the blade on Roque,” Monty said. “Can we simulate it?”
“Roque? The dragon?” Flex asked. “How did you face him?’
“Irrelevant,” Tiki said. “If we use his blade, it will create an energy feedback loop. I’m fairly certain that will kill him, although why he isn’t dead by now eludes me.”
“Where is the blade?” Flex asked, looking around. “It’s not in the sheath.”
“Ssshhh.” I put a finger to my lips and pointed to my chest. “It’s in here. Secret pocket.”
“He internalized it,” Monty said. “Dissolved it into mist and absorbed it into his body instantly.”
“Too much power,” I muttered. “It’s too…much…power.”
“There’s no way to do an erasure,” Flex said. “He’s bleeding off too much energy.”
“Ignis.” The word was coming to me. “Iggy Pop?”
“Tristan, get the shield over him. Now.”
I saw Monty wiggle his fingers at me. I wiggled mine back and saw my hands covered in violet energy. When I looked down, my entire body was covered in the same energy. A dome of golden light materialized around me.
“By the power of numbskull…I have the power!”
“Dex, reinforce the shield—I’ll add the portal. His curse is fighting to regulate the dragon’s blood, and failing. We may lose him.”
“Tiki, tiki, tiki torch,” I said, patting her on the back of her hand. “No one is fighting. We are all peaceful warriors here, Fuu, you Samurai Champloo sandwich you.”
More pretty colors wrapped themselves around me. It was a rainbow of goodness.
“Tiki torch?” Tiki said, sounding upset. “I’m sedating him—now.”
“Try not to kill him, lass.”
“Is that what we’re doing?” Tiki said. “The nullification field is in place.”
“Ignis…Ignisvitae,” I finally managed. “That’s it!”
The room erupted in violet light. All around me, I saw orbs of violet materialize. Suddenly, I heard a sound like raindrops, if raindrops were made of concrete.
“Shutting him down…now.”
Those were the last words I heard before slipping into darkness.
THIRTY-FIVE
“You should be dead—permanently.”
It was TK.
She was wearing her usual black on black ensemble, except this outfit came complete with a deep hood, which she currently had over her head, providing an extra dose of menace.
I tried to sit up and found myself immobile. Green tendrils of energy wrapped themselves around my arms and legs, and buried themselves into the stone beneath me.
My everything ached, hurt and screamed at me with every breath I took. Even my hair was in agony.
“What the hell,” I said with a groan. “Why does it feel like someone hit me with a wrecking ball…repeatedly?”
“How…are…you…alive?” TK asked. “The initial amount of dragon blood in your system should have destroyed you.”
“I’m feeling pretty destroyed right now, trust me.” I looked over at the restraints keeping me in place. “Are these things really necessary?”
“Yes.”
I looked around. We were in a small, stone temple. The floor was covered with tatami mats, except where I lay. Shoji doors separated the space from the outside. From what I could tell, it was still night. I let my eyes adjust to the low-light conditions and looked around again. I noticed small, grapefruit-sized craters covering the ceiling and walls.
“Are those…”
“Yes.”
“Did I…”
“Yes.”
“You seem upset,” I said, treading softly into this conversation. “What happened?”
“Before or after I had to encase the shrine in a nullification field?”
“After?” I asked, dreading the answer and hoping I didn’t blast anyone.
If she had to enclose the entire shrine in a nullification field, things were nearly cataclysmic. It meant I was a threat to everything in the general area.
“You punched through Tristan’s, Dexter’s and my shields,” TK answered. “Right before I was forced to disconnect you.”
“Disconnect me?”
“Shut down your synapses.”
“You turned off my brain?”
“It’s more difficult than it sounds, especially when trying to keep the subject alive.”
“I appreciate the ‘keeping alive’ part—thank you.”
“We almost reconsidered that near the end—you were getting dangerous.”
I didn’t know what was scarier: the fact that she was able to discuss my demise with such ease, or that after I ingested dragon’s blood and lost control, she thought I was getting dangerous.
My body felt like it had been beaten with a bag of hot hammers. The pain around my skull signaled that my brain was currently trying to crawl out of my head through my eyeballs.
“What time is it?” I asked with a groan. “How many hours have passed?”
“Early evening.”
; “Early evening?” I asked, confused. “It was early evening when we got here. We are still in Japan, right?”
She nodded. “We’re in the vicinity,” TK answered, looking outside. “You and Tristan arrived here last night.”
“Last…night? I’ve been unconscious this whole time?”
“I wouldn’t say unconscious; more like pre-conscious,” TK said. “You were semi-responsive and managed to recall certain events, including, of course, the trigger for your magic missile. Other things eluded you, like how to get the energy coursing through you under control.”
“I didn’t quite manage that, did I?”
“You absorbed an obscene amount of dragon blood, which would’ve killed anyone else,” TK started. “Then, you proceeded to unleash magic missiles—after I had sedated you.”
“After you sedated me?”
“Did I stutter?”
“Not in the least,” I said. “Please, continue.”
“I had to shut down your entire synaptic system without disabling your autonomic system,” TK said. “This allowed Dex to siphon and then shunt the energy away from us.”
“Is that even possible?”
TK narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re still here.”
“True.” I nodded slowly to avoid increasing the intensity of the drumline practicing in my skull. “Is Monty? Dex?”
“All of us are fine, if not somewhat worse for wear,” TK said. “I understand the Blood Hunters absconded with your hellhound.”
“I’m getting him back,” I said, feeling a surge of energy I’d never felt before. “Esti and her psychohunters will regret taking him.”
“Calm down before I add more restraints,” TK said, adding more restraints.
“But you’re already adding—”
“Because you haven’t calmed down. Now, calm down and wait for the others.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“Why am I not dead?” I asked, looking up at the cratered ceiling. “That dragon’s blood should’ve ended me.”
“By all rights you should be deceased, boy,” Dex said, walking into the room. “But we both know how well that takes with you.”
Reaping Wind Page 14
