Slow Burn

by Sascha Illyvich

  Guns lifted, trained on Max and Derrick’s chest. “You two are the most dangerous, boss lady said. So you go first.”

  Derrick lifted his head. “Sure. But one last request?”

  The guard on the left, dressed in camouflage from head to toe except for his mask with slits for his eyes, grunted.

  Three large barrels stared back at them.

  Rob swallowed hard enough to be heard.

  “What?”

  Derrick looked at Max, hoping he picked up on his queue to play the familiar game they’d used in the past to distract guards when close combat wasn’t the best option.

  Max nodded. Signal received.

  “I’d like to offer my brother a stick of gum.”

  The gun pointed on Derrick lowered slightly. “Gum?”

  “Yes, chewing gum. Nothing special. See?” He reached into his jeans pocket, slowly pulled out a pack of gum, and held it up for the gunman and his cronies to see.

  “Fine. Lame as it is. You’ll all be dead in a moment.” Camo asshole grunted again.

  “Max.” Derrick pulled a strip from the pack and held it out for him. “Gum?”

  “Yeah, sure.” His eyes remained neutral.

  Both men stepped away from Rob, moving closer to the armed guards. “Would you care for a piece?” Derrick waved the gum in front of the guard’s nose.

  “No.” He brought his gun back up toward Derrick’s head. “Make with the chewing and let’s get on with this already. I’m getting nervous.”

  “No need for nerves.” Max took the gum, unwrapped it, and put the piece in his mouth. He began chewing. Loudly.

  Derrick took another step closer to the guard in the center. “Max, I think we should shake hands one last time. Brother to brother.”

  Max smiled. “You’re right. It’s been fun, brother.”

  The guards looked at Max and Derrick with obvious curiosity.

  From the corner of Derrick’s eye, Rob watched with the oddest expression on his face.

  Derrick grabbed Max’s hand, shook it firmly. Then with puma speed, he jerked his brother to his chest and pushed him back into the guard in the center.

  The two flanking him stumbled back, temporarily losing control of their guns while they regained footing. They both took aim.

  “Patty cake.” Derrick clapped one hand to Max’s then swung hard. His fist connected to the faceplate, cracking the protective gear and splintering glass. Bone might have crunched, too.

  The guard yelled and dropped to his knees.

  On second thought, bone definitely crunched. Derrick put enough power behind that punch to make sure of it. No one abused him, his family, or his lover.

  Max did the same thing to his opponent, leaving only one guard standing.

  Before he could get his finger on the trigger, Derrick leapt into the air and changed forms, becoming the puma as he landed on the man’s chest, knocking him down.

  The gun slid out of reach. Max darted over, picked it up, and aimed the weapon at the guard’s head.

  Derrick snarled. He bared fangs. This was what the beast wanted. He needed to see the fear in the man’s eyes, loving every bit of it. Reveling in it. You took what’s mine.

  The man’s eyes widened, jaw opened, and he started to shake. “No man, not….what the fuck? No!”

  Juices dripped from the puma’s jaw. It set a heavy paw on the chest of its former captor and watched panic spread across the man’s face.

  “I’d tell my furry brother here real quick where they took his girlfriend, or not only will you get your throat ripped out, but I won’t shoot you.”

  Tears streamed down the man’s face. He shook beneath the puma but could barely move with the weight of the giant cat atop his chest.

  “I don’t know man, I don’t know! We were hired and not told anything! I swear it!”

  “Move, Derrick.”

  The puma lifted its head but kept predatory eyes fixed on the former guard.

  “He’s useless. If we kill him, we’ll be no better than those who would oppose us. You know my rule.”

  Yeah, Derrick knew his brother’s rule about not killing when unnecessary, but fuck, the beast could care less. Derrick took one swipe across the man’s throat and dug into flesh.

  The man screamed.

  Derrick walked off the man’s chest and turned away only to hear the loud crack of gun against skull.

  He shifted back into human form and cracked his knuckles.

  Max unloaded the chamber of the weapon and slung it over his shoulder. “Thank God your girlfriend is wearing your trench coat.”

  Derrick lifted an eyebrow.

  “Remember, I bugged that coat.”

  “Good. Let’s get Rob out of here and to some place safe before we find his sister. And my lover.”

  By now, Rob could stand by himself, but he moved with slow confusion. The drugs had taken a toll on him, definitely.

  Derrick held Rob up. He patted the man’s back to comfort him but he could smell the rancid chemicals racing through his system. “They drugged you pretty badly, didn’t they?”

  “They…thought…thought I was one of you.”

  “Fuck. Max, listen. Take him to the hospital. I know what they gave him. He needs emergency care now. Something’s wrong with Carmela. Those Spetznaz were not shifters, were they?”

  “No man. Pure humans. I’ve never encountered this woman, but something was definitely wrong in the brain department. Did you see the way she shook?”

  “Like she was losing control of her nerves?”

  Max nodded. “Yeah. What’s her game?”

  “No idea. Take Rob in.”

  “I’ll meet you back at your place in an hour and we can pinpoint that signal. I have some business to tend to.”

  “Right.” Max slung one of the rifles over his shoulder, picked up a clip that fell by the other two guards, and gave them both one last kick in the ribs for good measure.

  * * *

  An hour later both Max and Derrick had made it back to the loft.

  Derrick paced back and forth while he glanced out the window. The moon hung just above the horizon while the first rays of daylight began to break through the sky.

  Max stood over his bench, screwdriver in hand, tinkering with a cell phone. “They got Rob in right away and administered antidote. He should be fine in a day or two. I left him with someone I trust. He should be safe.”

  “Shayla?”

  Max didn’t answer.

  Point for him. Shayla was good people, even if she occasionally played for the wrong side; her heart had always been in the right place. Now if she and Max could ever figure out how to find that balance and happiness…he dropped the thought. It took him how long to realize his fate had been with a woman he couldn’t ever imagine loving? Instead, he simply nodded. “Good. Now, where is Sonja?”

  Max didn’t miss a beat, nor did he look up from his cell phone. “Impatient to ruin my bed, are we, and make sure the pregnancy sticks?”

  Derrick held back a snarl as surprise grappled him. “What?”

  “Tell me you didn’t already know.”

  Derrick cocked a brow. “Sonja’s pregnant?”

  “With your child, man. Good job.” Max didn’t look entirely unhappy about this news but Derrick couldn’t read his brother’s expression as shocked as he was. “Probably happened the first time, honestly. Dad told us.”

  Nodding, Derrick closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “She’s pregnant.”

  “With your child.”

  “You just said that.”

  “I know. It bears repeating because this is a game changer.”

  Max had a point. But fuck, now? How would Sonja react? She had trouble at first with the bond; this would ruin her career wouldn’t it? What about her life? Derrick sensed she’d try to run once this was all over but he wouldn’t let her. He planned to convince her to stay with him, try a relationship, even though neither of them had any real-world experience out
side of casual flings. But they could try. They could make it work if they both were patient.

  He’d have to convince her he was good for her. Easy.

  But a baby?

  How could he have missed that?

  Derrick ran his hands down his face, looked up, then back at Max with renewed determination. “This changes nothing right now. I want her safe because…” He had to admit to Max what Max already knew. “I love her. Do you know what they’re going to do to her?”

  Max nodded, flicked the lighter in his hand open and closed, then slid it back in his pocket. “Yeah, I heard. Ark-KaotiK will be playing and all of us will be eliminated. The thing I want to know is how are they generating buzz in such a short time?”

  “I’m curious to know that, too. But if we can stop the show…” He closed his eyes in thought. “No, that wouldn’t work.”

  “No.” Max interrupted the silence. “We can’t stop the show. The Anti-Shifter League has money and power along with a healthy dose of influence. If they’re promoting this show, there has to be a political reason for it along with the obvious destruction.”

  “You must have missed the whole shifter-human war bit Carmela ran her mouth about.”

  “I did, man. I was coming in and out of a drugged trance thanks to her little bitch help.”

  Derrick rubbed his eyes and looked at his brother. Max’s hair stood on end from the shower, looking slightly funny, but somehow the look still fit him. He wore black around him like a cloak, as though night wasn’t dark enough for him.

  It made Derrick realize he had more in common with Max than he’d ever thought.

  Max lifted his head and set the screwdriver down. “You’re going after your mate with me. We’ll find her because she’s wearing your trench coat. There’s a transmitter in the collar of the coat. Let’s hope she still has it on. Using this cell phone, I can pinpoint her location. We can figure out a plan on the way in.”

  “You’re always one to rush in and play hero.”

  “Hey, it’s your girlfriend. And I want you two out of here.”

  “Thanks, brother.” Derrick frowned and leaned against the kitchen counter he’d fucked Sonja on earlier.

  Max grinned and puffed on a cigar. “It’s nothing personal. I just have a life, too.”

  Derrick snorted. Things must be getting interesting with Shayla. He glanced sideways at his brother, saw his unreadable expression, and decided not to press the issue. There’d be time for that later, if they made it out alive. “So be it.” He looked out the window. “You know Carmela’s a shifter, too, right?”

  Max looked up from the cell phone. “Yeah.” He set the screwdriver down, searched the workspace for something, then picked up a file and tossed it to Derrick. “Here.”

  Derrick grabbed the manila folder and began thumbing through it.

  “She hides her identity well. A medical condition once thought to be cured by shifter blood. But in the end, it just made her worse and drove her slowly insane. She’s also a known epileptic, prone to fits, though usually medication handles those pretty well.”

  “I see that. I’m guessing she’s off her meds.” Derrick leafed through papers, articles with headlines about the atrocities the Anti-Shifter League supposedly prevented, led by Carmela. But what stuck out for him was her medical file. Outlining her neurological damage and the attempt at containing and healing it by introducing the shifter gene into her body, the record showed progress, then regression. “She has some sort of palsy that fucks not just with her muscle coordination but her mind. It's a mutated version of the disease that's come into existence because of the shifter community.” Derrick looked at Max, watched him tinker with the cell phone and screwdriver again.

  “Yeah.” Max flipped the cell phone shut.

  “That explains the hate mongering bullshit but… still leaves us hanging.”

  Silence filled the space until Max came around and stood before Derrick. “You do intend to tell her you’ll never leave her, right?”

  Derrick stiffened. “What are you talking about? It’s not entirely my call. Once she realizes she’s pregnant, this is going to cause a whole fuck load of mess, not to mention the shit storm the media will create once they find out…if she decides to keep the baby.”

  “Dude, you two have spent a lot of time together. Trust me, the reality of that on your heart must be in your mind. I get it. But…” Max let out a long breath, his shoulder and chest heaving. “She’s carrying your child. I don’t think she’s the kind of woman who would up and abandon that responsibility.”

  “I could—”

  “No. You both could. Just trust me.”

  “Yeah.” Derrick shrugged. “She knows. We’re bound.”

  Max dropped his cigar and his eyes widened. “Dude, what?”

  “You couldn’t tell?” Derrick blinked. “I thought you’d be the obvious one to point it out.”

  “No, man.” Max picked up his cigar, dusted off the ash, and flicked his torch open. The click echoed in the space between the silences. “I smelled the pregnancy, that’s much easier to detect. I had no idea, but then again I’ve been drugged up for the last several hours. And avoiding this place for even longer.”

  “She’s the one that told me. I…she brought me into a trance with her voice and let me run through the jungle as a puma. It was…” Derrick blinked again, then closed his eyes and focused on the stillness in his mind. “Amazing.”

  He opened his eyes to see a cloud of smoke rising from his brother’s cigar. “Yeah, I can imagine. It’s been said that the binding of two mates is incredible, but according to legend you should be going insane from lack of contact.”

  “I know.” Derrick rubbed his forehead. “I know. I don’t know why I’m not feeling any of the effects of the bond.”

  “That is odd. Also, this is really the first time it’s been mentioned. Even Erick didn’t say anything when Sonja came into the shop a few days ago.”

  Derrick nodded again. “Yeah. How weird.” He retrieved a cigar from Max’s humidor, cut the tip, and used Max’s torch to light the foot. It took a few seconds, but finally the smell of sweet earth and cocoa filled the room, and then whispered across his palate. He ran a free hand through his lengthy mane. A realization hit him. “If they’re going to play a show then they’re going to want to get the word out to all the shifters.”

  “Locating them is the obviously easy part. We could probably sneak in through the back and have you planted in the audience, since that’s really more your scene than it is mine and you blend in better than I ever could.” Max snorted.

  “Oh, come on, what’s not to like about head-banging chicks who like to fuck and get a little rowdy?” Derrick rolled his eyes.

  “Look at me. I fit in with the Goth crowd but I’m not as dark and brooding as you guys.” Max chuckled. “Besides, you need to get as close to Sonja as possible.”

  “No, you’re angry like us. What if they have guns trained on the band?”

  “I thought of that. We need to make it look as though working for us is not as bad as what will happen if they continue to work for Carmela.”

  “So we’ll do a basic infiltration and corner her second in command.”

  Max blinked and punctured the air with his cigar for emphasis. “Exactly. I’ve got a team ready. I’ll call Honey Badger One and get him to put things together tonight.”

  Honey Badger, what a funny thing. Derrick hadn’t thought of Roman in months but apparently he’d still been working covert ops with Max. Good for them both. The loner had a reputation even darker than his alter-ego was rumored to be, according to Slovich. “We should probably hit the bars now and find out where the show is. I’m betting it’ll be an underground type thing. Since her goal is to wipe out as many lives as possible, it’ll probably be a guarded secret. What’s the best place here to find that crowd?”

  Max closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “I’m not really sure. I don’t go out much outside of the local b
ar scene with a few friends who work with me on occasion. I’ll have to make some phone calls.” He opened his eyes and took a draw off his cigar.

  Thick smoke blew past Derrick’s sensitive nose and added to the already humid air. Florida and California were almost opposites in weather. Well, beautiful scenery and hot girls abounded in both states, but he’d found his mate so the skin held no real appeal to him. “Guess it’s time for bed then after we finish up here.”

  Max nodded. “Time is on our side.”

  “If we’re lucky.” Derrick could only hope they had time. It would probably take half a day to canvass the bars in downtown Miami, and maybe spread out. Though he had to wonder if Carmela had made this a public thing on TV since she’d mentioned televising the show. If that was true, why wasn’t the news covering it?

  The late night news probably wouldn’t waste time on a death metal band, but surely daytime TV would broadcast it.

  He’d be a father soon. Possibly. He didn’t know what the birth rate was for half-human, half-shifter babies and how many actually survived. He’d never bothered to ask, figuring he’d never have kids because he wasn’t the committed type.

  At least not when he was a spy. Now that he was…otherwise employed, what next?

  And again, what of Sonja’s feelings? How will she deal with this? How could he even tell her when she was who knows where? Was she okay?

  Worry niggled his stomach while he flipped through channels on the TV, finding nothing and feeling frustrated. Of course, it was still early. They’d returned around three a.m., showered, lit up cigars, poured drinks, and talked. But now, they needed rest. Daylight had barely broken and the sun’s first rays peeked over the ocean in the distance.

  * * *

  Several hours later, the two spread out, canvassing local biker bars and known shifter haunts for news on the underground metal show that posters were promoting as the end of all metal shows. Dread worried Derrick but still, he and Max had dressed appropriately for the show. The location bordered the eastern coast near the Jacksonville area, making it a lengthy drive.