by Liam Lawson
So was Soraya.
Each of the women was standing on the railing of the bridge, each opposite from each other. Their hands were bound behind their backs and each had a noose around their necks. It took me a moment to realize that each noose was actually only a single rope. It looped down beneath the bridge, binding Caroline and Soraya together. If one was taken down it would yank the other off the bridge. There was a very real chance of strangling them or breaking both of their necks.
Albert stood between them in the middle of the bridge, a gun in one hand, cell phone in the other. He was saying something into the phone but I didn’t know what it was. I’d dropped my phone and the remains of the fetus he’d forced his wife to abort and live with for months in the dark somewhere on the path behind us. I didn’t care. My prey was before me and it was time for him to die.
Albert caught sight of the wolfhounds coming for him and screamed. Whatever he’d been planning, he’d expected a boy, not a hunter leading a pack of monsters. The gun came up roaring. It fired loud and fast, drowning the sound of the wolf-hound’s snarls. He turned the gun on Soraya.
I screamed and let fly a torrent of green fire from my hand. It struck his hand in a steady stream, driving it back and throwing off his aim. His scream turned from panicked to pained as he stumbled back and the gun went off again. Soraya and Caroline both started screaming as well.
I wanted to kill Albert. He was my prey. He’d wronged me and mine and needed to be made to suffer for it. But Caroline and Soraya were terrified for their lives.
I wrenched myself out of the hold of my spell, staggering as my momentum suddenly shifted. I’d jumped off the back of a slow moving truck once and the sensation wasn’t dissimilar. The girls pulled away with alacrity, almost blurring in front of me. I only had a second to get the help I needed.
“Nicole! Help—” I almost said, help Caroline. If she was as caught up in my spell as I had been, hearing her mother’s name wouldn’t be enough. She needed to hear, “Mom!”
The sock-patterned wolf-hound dropped back from the other two as they hit the bridge, diverting towards Caroline. Green flame spilled from her mouth and a moment later Nicole stood before Caroline. I sprinted for Soraya, calling fire to my hand. I had to burn through that rope before anything yanked one of the two women from the bridge.
Scarlett crashed into Albert a moment before Absinthe, ripping his gun arm from his torso in a spray of blood. Absinthe went low, hamstringing him. Both kept running, Scarlett with the arm dangling in her mouth like a puppy playing fetch. They circled back, green flames licking their fangs.
Soraya was saying something, talking fast in Spanish. I couldn’t understand her. My ears were still rang from the gunshot. I took her in my arms and burned through the rope dropping down from her neck. As soon as she was free I pulled her from the railing and burned through the ropes holding her hands.
She threw herself into me, pulling me into a hug.
I wrapped an arm around her and spun to check on Nicole and Caroline. My sister was back in human form and had her mother off the ledge with her arms around her. The ropes still bound Caroline’s hands and neck, but at least there wasn’t anything that was going to pull her over the edge now.
Absinthe and Scarlett struck Albert again, ripping out chunks of his body as they ran over him, sending him bouncing across the ground in great splats of blood. I kissed Soraya’s forehead and extricated myself.
I stalked toward Albert, calling fire to my hands. He was, somehow, still alive after the girls had torn into him and I needed to correct that. I stood over his body, looking down at the meat he’d become. My hearing was slowly returning and I could make out his gasping. His blue eyes, the eyes Nicole had once had, glared at me. I’d expected them to be clouded over with pain, and pain was there, but more than anything else they burned with fiery hate. This man hated me in a way nobody ever had.
That was okay. I hated him too.
I raised my hand, the fire in my palm growing brighter and hotter, bathing the bridge in green light. Sirens screamed, cutting off the wet noises coming from his mouth, blue and red light battling my green. I spun around, fire still in hand. Two Woodhurst PD SUVs had pulled up the bridge and cops were piling out, guns up and ready. All of them were screaming. I couldn’t make out their words but I didn’t need to. Everyone knows what a cop says when they’ve got their gun pulled.
I bared my teeth. No. No-no-no! I couldn’t not finish him now!
I turned back to Albert. I had to finish him…but the light was already gone from his eyes.
A gunshot rang out.
I spun around, raising my flames automatically as Scarlett staggered back, pawing her face. Another gunshot rang out and I felt the wind as the bullet passed by me.
The real monster was dead and all the cops saw now was a rogue mage with horns and a bunch of giant fire breathing wolves standing over a shredded corpse.
“Get out of here,” I ordered. “Go! Run and transform!”
I let my fire die down and raised my hands. Soraya, Caroline, and Nicole were already on the ground, sobbing from the look of things. Absinthe and Scarlett threw me looks. Those bullets probably wouldn’t kill them, but I didn’t know for sure. I didn’t know if they could only killed by silver or if their regeneration extended to human form. But they sure as hell could be hurt by those bullets, as evidenced by Scarlett’s bleeding muzzle. If they transformed, the fire might scare the cops into putting more bullets into them and they’d be smaller as humans, more vulnerable.
“Go!” I ordered. I couldn’t stand to see them hurt anymore because of me. “Go!”
They took off, running past me and vanishing into the woods.
I lowered to my knees and then was driven to the ground by cops, my hands forced behind my back as they put me in handcuffs. I stared at Albert’s corpse as they read me my rights, wishing I’d been the one to kill him. I could still take credit for it—probably would to keep the girls out of trouble—but I’d missed out on the satisfaction of being an active participant.
As they pulled me to my feet and marched me to the SUV however I spotted Soraya, Nicole, and Caroline with a pair of female officers. Nicole was completely preoccupied with taking care of her absolutely hysteric mother, but Soraya watched me. She looked like she was about to cry. Her lower lip trembled but no tears spilled from her eyes. She was alive. They all were.
I’d made the right call. With that, a sense of peace settled over me as I was shoved unceremoniously into the back of the cop car.
Chapter Twelve
Prison was boring.
I mean, I was only in a cell for one night, but damn. It was a good thing I was exhausted or it would have seriously sucked. They tried interrogating me again without a lawyer, but I closed my eyes and ignored them. I actually fell asleep sitting in the interrogation room. They tried to play nice cop with someone other than Jenkins this time. I was tired and not having it. When that didn’t work somebody decided to try and play bad cop.
I said I wanted my lawyer over and over until the interrogations stopped. I was put into a cell with nothing to do but stare at the wall and let my body remind me how much it fucking hurt. If the bed had been comfortable this actually wouldn’t have been too awful. I got used to the stench pretty quick and was able to fall into a coma-like sleep.
The next morning I was told someone had posted bail and met Bob Avery outside the department. He had a sheen of perspiration on his forehead despite the early hour. Texas was letting us know in no uncertain terms that it was ready for summer. The heat and humidity were horrific and I loved stepping out into them.
“You posted my bail?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said. “You’re our client now.”
I grimaced. “And Eleanor is...?” She had done so much for me already. I couldn’t let he continue to pay my legal fees too. Not for a law firm like the one Mr. Avery worked for.
“Oh, Dr. Hardin only brought you to our attention,” Bo
b Avery said. “Avery, Franklin, and Ross has decided that representing you is in our firm’s best long term interest. This case is pro bono and we hope that you will come to us for future services as well. I understand you are launching an online modelling company. You will certainly want us to make sure your contracts are in order.”
“Uh…” It actually took me a minute to remember what he was talking about. The girls had been working with our neighbor Thomas to build some sort of website that they could model on and they’d named it after me. The Horned Mage. The whole thing sounded kind of dumb to me, but I wasn’t really a part of it.
“There are going to be a multitude of opportunities and opportunists coming your way in the future, Mr. Marshal,” he said. “We would like to ensure that you are equipped to handle them in a mutually profitable relationship.”
I blinked at him. How the hell did he figure all this? Then again, ‘Avery’ was on the name of the firm. Who knew what kind of resources at his disposal. And I needed help. The fact was I was getting into trouble regularly and dabbling in legal grey areas, and maybe some black ones, more and more often.
Slowly I nodded and we shook hands.
“You’ll receive an email shortly with all of our contact information,” Bob Avery said. “Please don’t hesitate to get in touch, day or night.”
We walked over to his car, a four door pickup truck that looked like it could haul freight. I glanced over at Bob in his tailored suit then at the truck. I wasn’t sure if they went together perfectly or not at all. Weren’t lawyers supposed to drive BMWs or luxury cars?
Once we were in the truck and pulling out onto the road he said, “Now that there is no chance of us being overheard, bring me up to speed. Please start with why on earth you felt it was necessary to go after Albert Marshal yourself and jump out of the window of a hospital to avoid the police?”
I took him in. Bob was a solid, older man. What Texans referred to as a Good ol’ Boy. He probably conducted most of his business on a golf course and held secret prejudices. Maybe he had a ranc somewhere with a few cows for fun. Not at all the sort I associated with or had ever found myself inclined to trust. And yet…
“You’re my legal counsel, right?”
He nodded. “I am.”
“So everything I say to you is in confidence?”
“Absolutely. Though I have to warn you, I cannot know about any crimes you are about to commit before you commit them or I am obligated by law to report them. Also, I cannot help you plead innocent if you tell me that you are guilty.”
I hadn’t known that. I thought lawyers were supposed to be slimy guys who helped those who could afford it get away with whatever they wanted.
“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Albert had…blackmail material. Photos and videos of Nicole. He’d been…abusing her for years.”
“I see,” Bob said. His face was a stony mask. “And you do not want this evidence to surface?”
“No,” I said. “Neither of us do.”
“Then is there any other evidence of abuse?” Because it would be hard as hell to prove without it and that would be my best defense in the case of his murder.
It wasn’t mine to say. But I had to say it anyway because it could protect all of us. I wasn’t worried so much for myself as for Nicole, Scarlett, and Absinthe. If Nicole’s secret could protect them all and keep them safe, I’d give it.
“She’s carrying his child.”
At that, Bob Avery’s mask cracked. Only for a second. “I see.”
There was so much weight to those words. It felt like for a moment I got to see the real man. And he empathized with us.
“And your relationship with her now?”
“Is complicated,” I said.
He chuckled. “I have a feeling I’m going to be hearing that a lot from you. Thank you for trusting me with this. It might just be enough to keep you both out of prison.”
He pulled into a parking lot and I suddenly recognized where we were. I’d been so caught up in the effort of telling him about Nicole and Albert that I hadn’t paid attention. The word’s creepiest hamburger faced mascot stared down at us from above Happy Burger. Through the window, I could see Soraya sitting at our usual booth. I hadn’t realized that they opened this early.
“Your support system let it be known that this was where you would need to be after you were let out,” he said with a grin. “You have some very special women in your life, Mr. Marshal.”
I grinned at him. “Yes, I do.”
#
When I slid into the booth opposite Soraya her expression didn’t change. She didn’t say anything.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” she said back. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come in or not.”
“You’re my best friend,” I told her. “Of course I was coming in.”
She blushed and looked away, one of her wavy locks sliding over her shoulder to dangle over her breasts. She was hiding her figure under an enormous football jersey today instead of a hoodie. Considering the heat I couldn’t blame her. It was a shame though that she hid her gorgeous figure. I stopped myself from continuing that line of thought. She was my best friend. I was sleeping with her stepsister. My adopted father had just kidnapped her and threatened her life. I really, REALLY, shouldn’t be thinking about her breasts. Her big, glorious breasts. Stop it!
“I’m sorry,” we both said at the same time.
She held up her hand. “Let me go first.”
I had so much I want to say but forced my mouth closed and gave a nod. I owed her…a lot.
“Thank you,” she said. “For saving me. That man…he was your…adopted dad. He said he was going to force you to pick between us, that—that I was going to die.
“In the months since you’ve broken your curse, I barely recognize you anymore, Caleb. But…I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I asked for space and you gave it to me. I’ve tried to be cool with what you’ve got with Scarlett, I really have been and…I’m still trying to be. It’s just, a lot, you know?
“And you’re spending more time with your girlfriends now than with me and I missed you. I miss hanging out with you. I’m not sure if we can go back to that though.
I leaned forward, unable to hold back anymore. “Why not? I miss spending time with you, too. We can still be friends, Soraya.”
She slowly shook her head. “I don’t think…I don’t know if I can do that. I used to think that there was more between us. I thought…but then you ended up with Scarlett. Then with Absinthe. And now…now there’s also Nicole.”
“Yeah but—”
She held up a hand. “But nothing. You’re making it work with them. Maybe you even love them. But that’s the point. I don’t want to be with someone who has to make it work with me. I don’t want to be another accident, Caleb.”
Now she did tear up. “If you really wanted what I thought you wanted between us, you would have made it happen. I’ve seen what you can do, Caleb, and I’m not talking about your magic.”
Wait. Was she saying what I thought she was saying?
“Maybe I gave you mixed signals and that’s on me,” she said. “But…I’m not waiting anymore, Caleb. Not when being close to you hurts so much and puts me in danger. I know that’s not your fault, but you’ve had how many close calls since breaking your curse?”
I stared at her. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying…it hurts too much to just be your friend. I’m saying that…since you don’t want more…that I need to step away from you. This, whatever is or might be between us, it can’t stay like it is, and we can’t go back to how things used to be. You’ve got three girls in your life now, not including your mother who’s going to need all kinds of help. We can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to either of us and it isn’t fair to Scarlett.”
She stood up from the booth. “I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it.”
I stood up too. “Wait. The only reason I didn’t
—I didn’t want to…we’re best friends. And then—”
She gently put a hand on my arm, cutting me off. “’And then,’ ‘and then,’ ‘and then,’ Caleb. There’s always going to be an ‘and then.’ And I wasn’t worth overcoming them for.”
She stepped around me and made her way to the door. “I’ll see you in class.”
I didn’t watch her go. I sat back down in the booth and let the tears come because I’d lost her. They came all the harder because she was right. And because I had no right to cry over her and that somehow made it worse.
Chapter Thirteen
I stayed in that booth for another hour and a half. I got myself under control and then had a burger. There’s a reason it’s called comfort food, after all, and no one made them better than Happy Burger. After I’d eaten and regained my composure, pulling together what dignity I had left, I walked home.
Between the time in the booth, the walk, and the time spent in the prison cell, I had a lot of time to think. Normally I’m pretty stupid about making good use of my time but this time I used it, thinking about what I needed to say to the most important people in my life. It hadn’t gone so well with Soraya, but I still had words for Scarlett and Absinthe.
Even so I found myself frozen on the driveway leading up to Eleanor Hardin’s house and our loft over her garage. I would have to talk to her next and thank her for everything. The same with Valencia. It was sweet of her to come out to support her daughter’s boyfriend after what we’d been through together.
Eventually the heat drove me forward. If I stayed outside any longer the summer heat and humidity would melt me and then I’d never get the chance to say what I needed to say to my girls. Assuming they’d still have me. My feet had never felt so heavy as I made my way up the stairs to our place.
The door flew open and Scarlett threw herself into me. I teetered backward on the edge of the stairs and nearly fell over backward. Scarlett grabbed us and yanked us upright but I stumbled into the loft and fell on top of both of them.
