by C. B. Miller
“No more games. No more tricks.” He hissed.
Maurice opened his jaw wide and leaned in. I pulled a knife from my bandolier, driving it into an eye and raked downward. He pulled away and two more of his eyes exploded as the blade slid through them. He clenched his claws, digging into my shoulder and ripping into the flesh beneath.
I hurled the knife and it sliced off part of an ear as he turned his head away. In one smooth motion, I drew and flung another knife. The blade buried into his back as he ducked. I fell backward as he pushed against my shoulder and loomed over me.
Maurice plunged his fangs into my belly and warmth spread throughout my body. I plucked the knife next to his head out and drove it in to the back of his skull. His body went rigid and collapsed on top of me as I stabbed him over and over.
In a daze, I pushed his bulk off of me, and cut free of the webbing. The sick warmth from his venom was spreading slowly through my system and my vision blurred while I scanned the room for Alex. I stood up and the room swam, forcing me to sink back to my knees and crawl. I reached the cocoon surrounding Alex as a hand burst out from it. She tore through the webbing and gasped at me.
“Hey, there. I think I’m going to go to sleep now.” I mumbled and the world went black.
Chapter Thirty-One
My entire existence was an open wound, and I was bathing in salt water. Everything hurt, and I let out a wordless scream as I opened my eyes. I was surrounded in a green aura, and Alex hovered over me, a mask of concentration on her face. Two eternities passed as my flesh healed and knitted back together, guiding by her magic. The glow faded along with the pain, and she slumped to ground, bracing her hands against the floor as she panted.
I sat up and groaned. The webs around us were decaying into a sticky, tacky mess, and disappearing into ephemeral smoke. Only half of Maurice’s body remained as it dissolved into nothingness as well. The other cocoons had fallen over, the web’s no longer strong enough to support their weight, but nothing stirred within them.
“Why does magical healing hurt so damn much?” I whispered.
“Must be all the weakness leaving your body,” Alex replied. She was battered and bruised, but otherwise looked unharmed. “Hey, next time – I get the mage, and you fight the magic eating beast.”
I rubbed my hand through my hair and chuckled.
“Yeah, that wasn’t the best move. Just, he was about to. I didn’t know how to clue you in.” I stammered.
We stood there for a moment taking in the carnage. My head throbbed and my legs were groaning in protest at having to support me. I was tired plain and simple.
“I think I want to sleep for a week after this.” I said wearily.
“Agreed. At least you have people toto go back home to.” Alex tone somehow managed to sound resolved even in light of that depressing realization.
“I am going back to my boss and coworkers. Not quite the same thing as going home to friends and family. It’s not like my work is done here either. I’m not sure if Eden’s cleaners can fix this on their own.” I said.
Turning to look at her I reached out and lightly gripped her shoulder. “I am sorry they’re gone. I know there is nothing that I could have truly done to have stopped it from happening, but if I could have….”
Alex grimaced. It was hard to tell if it was from her pain or my sincere if hollow words. Just from what I have seen the mage community seemed to be tightly wound together with little of the infighting vampires and their kind had. I guess immortality and ever growing power does things do you, and while mages were stupidly powerful they were still mortals. Death comes for us all eventually and takes us to the other side. Makes me wonder about vampires and what happens to them when they are destroyed. They call it Conversion, but you die in the process. Cease to live at least. Kind of makes a person wonder if the reason they call it Conversion isn’t more than just human to vampire, but something deeper.
I pushed those thoughts away and realized that Alex was looking at me, lines of concern crossing her face.
“Why do you work for Eden? If she is half the monster in the tales we have heard, I can only imagine what hell her service must be like. There’s an alure to vampires and I have worked with wights before. They are all so, well head over heels in love with their masters. I figured it was some sort of low grade mind control or state created by their vampiric masters but... You are different. What keeps you working for a monster like her?”
“Purpose.” I said quietly. I wiped achunk of gore off of my body and stopped as it began to disappate into smoke.
“Purpose? What do you mean?”
“I owe her a favor, a debt I’m paying with my life, or until she feels it’s paid. To be honest, this all feels like it means something, I just haven’t figured out what yet. Besides the yuck factor, it’s normally not so bad. I tried to smile but it felt plastic and fake as I looked at her..
“A debt?“
The smile faded from my lips. “My life for the lives of some friends. We were in a bad situation and throwing in with Eden was the lesser of two evils “
Alex made low noise of acknolwedgement and thankfully just let the subject drop. She scanned the room and its mess,
“You mentioned something about Eden’s cleaners?”.
“Being a vampire can be a messy business. She’s got people now to take care of her messes, and the mess that her organization makes. Unless you think you can magic all this out, and modify a ton of memories in well fell swoop?” I raised an eyebrow at her as I spoke.
“No, I think I’ll pass on that if you have people.” She gave me a light tap on the shoulder and laughed. “I guess not, and this isn’t something we’d want the authorities to find either?”
“I don’t think either of us want to answer questions about these freaks.”
The smell in the room was finally getting to me. Not only was the spider body giving off a nasty acrid smell as it dissolved into nothing, but the combination of pungent incense and weed combined with the smells of death that made my head pound and my stomach roil. I wanted a shower, and then a long soak in the hot tub. I looked down at my hands for a moment realizing how much blood had just been on them recently. A shower won’t clean all that away.
“Speaking of messes, I probably should see if Shirene is ok.” .
We walked about out the secret passageway in the Aezzai’s room and back into the basement. Colin’s body laid on the floor, his skin sunken in against his body like something had hollowed him out. The long spider legs that had emerged from his back looked jellified, almost like gummy worms left out in the hot sun and were slowly melting. That was someone else’s problem for sure. They are probably just going to burn this place down I imagined.
The room was much like we had left it. I did a quick head count and it looked like a few people were missing. They were probably just sober enough to attempt to drive out of here. The rest were still in a daze or were unconscious. Shirene was still bound by the webbing, struggling against her bonds which were starting to weaken and fall away as they too dissolved.
I bent down and helped Shirene extract herself from the rapidly decaying mass wrapped around here. As I cleared the sludge from her, she clawed it away from her mouth and nose, sputtering as she did so.
“Kaedin?” She stammered in amazement. She sat up and pulled me into a bear hug. I
bet she was a bit surprised I came to her rescue. Especially after I had blown her off the other day at the Great Divide. Now that she was free, I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Turns out Colin was worse than you thought. So, my girl here and I decided to deliver a bit of justice.” I jerked my thumb back towards Alex and then brandished the gleaming black blade everyone seemed to be interested in. Alex wasn’t ‘my’ girl but she was my girl too. Besides it wasn’t on me on how Shirene took it.
I was going to miss working with Alex when I got back to the normal groove of things with Eden I realized.
“Your girl?�
� A little bit of the light in Shirene’s face faded.
Of course, she focused on that part of my explanation.
I extended my hand out to Shirene and hestiantly she reached up and allowed me to pull her to her feet. “I need to talk to her for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
“Kaedin, why do you have a sword? What’s going on?”
“Shh, I’ll explain everything in a bit.”
I wasn’t going to, because that made the cleaners’ job harder. Rewriting memories is easier if you don’t have to blot out the truth.
Shirene, stunned into silence which was kind of what I was hoping for, followed me over to Alex in a fugue state.
“Alex, we should get going. Can you tell if any of these people are in serious danger?” I was hoping that her magic would speed along diagnosing any health issues fairly quickly.
Her hand swept over the groggy masses of people They looked like they were returning home the morning after at a college party, groaning from too much fun the night before. A wave of power rippled from her hand as she gestured and they all settled back down into slumber, subcumbing to unconscious bliss if I could judge anything by the looks on their face.
“There are no Aezzai young infesting them if that is what you were wondering. I have a feeling we interrupted the fertilization process.” .
“That would have been useful earlier.” I mused.
Alex shrugged. “Probably. But too slow with another mage around.”
“Hey, umm you care to….” I dipped my head toward Shirene.
Alex waved her hand again and Shirene yawned before sinking to the floor fast asleep.
Alex headed for the stairs and started up them before looking over her shoulder.
“Well, are you coming?”
Narrowing my eyes, I studied her for a moment.
“I need to make a call, hang on.”
I took my gaze from her and scanned the room quickly. I was able to find what I was looking for relatively quickly, a pile of cellphones where on a table in the corner. With this guestlist I can only imagine how damaging photos of the drug-filled orgy would be to their careers. Or maybe the right type of spin to propel them to the next level. I matched the lock screen photo to one of the sleeping beauties and using their thumb unlocked the phone.
Thirty seconds later I hung up the phone, turned it off, and stuck it in my pocket. I needed to wipe it later when I was far away from here and Eden’s. Attention to the small details to remove any sign of our involvement was paramount. Dismissing my blade, I slung Shirene over my shoulder and followed Alex up the stairs.
Alex snagged a pair of keys off the kitchen counter and then turned, leaning on the counter to look at me. She bit her lower lip for a moment and looked to the side.
“Kaedin, what is going to happen to Shirene? This is her home, where are you going to take her?” There was a conflicted concern in her voice.
“This is one of her homes.The cleaners are on the way. I’m not sure how they will spin this tale honestly, but her husband is dead and this is all just stuff at the end of the day. We will chill at Eden’s while they put the story together, whatever it may be and then Eden will send her on her way.” I said with a slight shrug.
“And she will probably be a wight like you, or some other vampiric plaything?” Her voice grew hard as she spoke.
I didn’t want to admit that possibility. I couldn’t dismiss it either. Shirene was witness to the Aezzai, magic, a cult, and who knows what else. The number of dismembered supernaturals upstairs meant it was likely she knew more than she had told me in the Great Divide.
“I really don’t know. Worst case scenario, yes. My personal bet is she isn’t worth Eden’s time or effort so…”.
“I guess she doesn’t have to come with me, just with everything going on… my first instinct was to get her away from this mess. Elizabeth is still out there too.”
Alex nodded and we walked through the front door. She froze three steps into the yard. Standing a half dozen paces from us was MacKenzie.
MacKenzie held up her hands gesturing for calm.
“Whoa cowboy! I am just here to deliver a message and Jamaal’s regard.” She said taking back a step.
“That’s some interesting timing you have there.” Alex said. Quills bristled along her body as she relaxed into her battle stance.
“Hang on a moment. If MacKenzie here wanted a fight, we would being fighting.” I walked up beside Alex and took a step in front of her as I spoke. I turned and addressed MacKenzie. “You do have shit timing you know that right?”
I wanted to know how she got away from Amari and the other enforcers at the Black Mamba too, but I had a feeling she wasn’t going to reveal that secret.
She simply held her hands out in front of her and shrugged, her head cocking to the side in acknolwedgment.
“I would like to personally thank you for saving my life. I also am deeply sorry for my earlier accusation. Jamaal extends his apologies as well, and hopes his interference didn’t hinder you too much. He would like to show you the depths of his regret by providing you with a free round trip to New Orleans, all expenses paid for up to two months. He has a proposition for you personally. If you are so inclined, he would love to meet with you for a one on one meeting. No tricks, no complusion.” MacKenzie smiled the entire time and it looked genuine.
“Jamaal understands that you have no reason to trust him so as a further token of goodwill he wanted to provide you with information Markus the Grey was sure to have withheld. “With that she reached slowly behind her and even more slowly brought out a small weathered leather journal. She gently set it down at her feet, and withdrew a business card and a burner cellphone, and laid them onto of the journal.
“If you are interested in learning more and hearing Jamaal’s offer, you can use the phone to call the number on the card. “She smiled sincerely again and tipped her head to me. Spinning around she sauntered off towards the gate.
Neither of us moved as we watched her walk away. About halfway to the gate she turned and shouted back. “I look forward to seeing you again Kaedin. I hope it won’t be too long. I’d like to show you around my haunt in the garden district.”
She blew a kiss my direction, turned, walked out of the gate and then out of sight.
“Thought you weren’t seeing anyone?” Alex asked.
“Oh, fuck off.” I told her, frowning at her jest.
“Who is Jamaal?” She asked
“He’s like Eden but based out of New Orleans. A major enough vampire that I have heard the name. Vampires as a rule don’t tend to leave their territories unless there is a great need to do something. And if he was willing to send his agents thirteen hundred miles away.... At least he didn’t come here personally, or if he did we don’t know. That would probably invite some nasty conflict between Segane and him. Maybe all of Eden’s cohort. People with organizations like Eden, Segane, Mr. Johnson, and Jamaal make formal requests when visiting each others territories. At least publicly. That’s the protocol or something like that.“
“You aren’t going to take them up on that offer are you?”
“Umm.... hell no. But I am going to entertain his misinformation campaign by taking the stuff. Which by the way, my hands are full so can you grab it for me? Pretty please?” I batted my eyes at her.
Laughing she scooped up the stuff and we headed toward back to my car. I placed Shirene in the backseat and turned back to Alex.
“Well, I guess this is it? Thank you. Thank you for having my back when you didn’t have to.” She said, a small grin crossing her face.
Her smile was infectious and I returned it, giggling at our torn and ripped clothing.
The air held a weird tension between, like a bad date continued for way too long and at the end of it all maybe things were ok.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked.
“It wasn’t just Maurice or whatever that thing’s real name was. I guess I’ll stay with the Gr
ey for a bit till I figured out what my next steps are. Now that Colin is dead, I might track down Elizabeth. Figure out what her role was in things at the very least..“ That fierce determination in her eyes made me appreciate the fact I have always been on her side.
“When you get settled in, and find more of your bearings, call me. I’m like to know more about her role in things, and if there’s more to do, I’m in. I told you I would help avenge your coven, and if she had a hand in their deaths,that pledge is not complete.” I held out my hand as I spoke. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like I was making a choice that was truly mine, and I wasn’t just reacting to things. I could have told her slaying the Aezzai was all I could do. Hid behind Eden’s shield, claimed I was her responsibility and ultimately beholden to her will. But in this, I need to take risks and forge my own path. Here, in this moment was a small step to doing so. There was little chance a mage would call on my help but I hoped my offer showed my support was genuine and without strings from Eden.
“Is that really your call?” She asked. Her face was still a wall of resolve and anger. Behind it all I could see the grief in her eyes. Maybe there was a shred of hope I was telling the truth too.
“My call or not, I can be convincing when I need to be.” I grinned and batted my eyes medodramaticly.
Her hand shot out and gripped mine. Slowly she shook it with a firm grasp.
“I am beginning to trust you, but I don’t know if I could trust Eden. Her reputation isn’t the best, there is a difference between fear and respect. I hope you know that. Don’t put yourself in a position where you have to choose loyalties.” She said quietly.
“You know where my loyalty lies Alex.”
“Yes, and that scares me.”
“Until then.”
I let go of her hand and she walked away, a white SUV beeping in the distance as she clicked her stolen fob. .
I took a deep breath and I watched her pull away in the BMW before I drove off to Eden’s Garden.
