by Tobi Grim
“I want to leave. Now.” She responded, hearing the coldness in her own voice.
Dameon nodded and put his arm around her shoulders heading for the house, she put her wrist against her dress so no more blood could fall on the ground. No way she was risking a damn thing in this place.
“Is everything ok?” Mrs Corpore asked, her eyes appeared worried.
“We have to fucking go, we’ll be in touch,” Dameon spat, not stopping his stride.
Lupa could feel the anger rising in her. She was embarrassed and mad, how dare they try fuck with her! Dameon opened the door of his van for her and she climbed in, slamming the door and wishing she could start wailing on someone.
“What happened?” Dameon asked as he started the engine.
“When I was coming back something fucking attacked me. It looked like a wolf, but was too big.” Taking a breath, Lupa turned her eyes to her Protector, “Definitely not a wolfblood. And my guess is, whoever transformed themselves into it, has never seen an actual wolfblood.” Now that she could think about it and not just react, the creature hadn’t looked exactly like a wolf either. “It wasn’t quite right though… its eyes were blue and human like…it stunk of magick and blood. We are definitely dealing with witches, Dameon. The teenagers had a bit of info, but not much… though there’s a house I want to check out that has apparently been abandoned for six months. But not now.” She looked down at her wrist. The bleeding had stopped, and it was closing over.
“It cut you?”
“No… that was part of the spell Hammer… gave me. The wound healed up after it was cut during the spell, but when the wolf thing put its paw on me, it split back open. The spell must have worked.”
Lupa desperately wanted to check her side, but then she would have to tell him about what had happened, and right now she just wanted to get home. Home where it was… silent…. No, that wasn’t right, she didn’t want to be alone…
“Stay at mine tonight?” she looked over at Dameon hopefully.
“Course. Are you ok?”
“Yeah… I’m ok now. Fuck. I bet they did that to try get us to look into wolfbloods more… although… if they know that we can sense wolfbloods and magick…maybe they were trying to tell us to back off… what the fuck are they doing!”
Dameon looked like he was struggling with his own fiery anger, his scarred knuckles were white from how tightly he held the steering wheel. Lupa turned and stared out the window. Shit. This wasn’t good. Could they really handle this? Did she care? Fuck. And she was going away tomorrow… she couldn’t cancel on Sledge, she had said she would go… but she didn’t want to leave this so… open…
✽ ✽ ✽
Lupa went into her bathroom to change while Dameon got them a drink. She pulled her dress of carefully and checked her stomach. Shit. Most of the stitches had come out and there was blood dried around it, the opening looking ragged. She quickly cleaned it and the dried blood on her wrist, then pulled on a baggy t-shirt and her black jeans.
“Vodka.” Dameon handed her a glass and followed her to the couch. “The place looks really good. Have you cleaned?” He gave her a cheeky grin.
“I do that once in a while, thank you very much.” She glared at him mockingly and lit a smoke, tucking her legs beneath her.
“So, when do you leave with Sledge?”
Dameon didn’t let his eyes meet hers, just pulled out a crushed cigarette packet and tugged a smoke out. The packet sure seemed interesting. She felt really shitty about leaving… but she couldn’t take it back. She had said she would…
“Tomorrow afternoon. I know it’s a fucking shit time, but I already said I would go. And Hammer… well he asked me to. He asked me to look into something else too…” Shit. She hadn’t wanted to get into that, why couldn’t she keeping her fucking mouth shut? Dameon glanced over at her quickly then back down to his cigarette packet.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah… shit. I was going to tell you, but shit’s just been crazy…”
He looked over at her, giving her a small smile. She took a deep breath and told him about the warding spell and the second spell, leaving out that Sledge could sense anything… and that he had seen inside her… and that Hammer had used magick… Once she was done, Dameon looked like he was about to explode.
“He fucking what!? He’s making you still get involved? What the fuck, Lupa, this shit is fucking dangerous. You have no fucking idea what you’re up against!”
“Neither do we right now!”
“But we have each other, we have precautions, we have the fucking Organization behind us. This is just a fucking drug lord with a spit of magick in his blood, letting you go out there alone and vulnerable. Nope. I don’t want you doing this.”
“It’s not your fucking choice, Dameon, it’s not mine either. This is the payment. And once I’m done with it, I can be done with him.” Yeah right. She highly doubted that one. But she didn’t want Dameon to be mad at her, she didn’t want him… fuck.
“Shit…” Dameon ran his thumb along his chin, Lupa wanted to smack it away, but didn’t want to risk making him angrier… “What if I come along? Do you think you could convince him?”
His eyes bored into her. Could she? Probably not. At least, not for all of it, maybe when she actually tried to break the wards… “I can try. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone.”
“Who the fuck would I tell?”
Lupa raised her eyebrows at him. Her almost-mother for one. Or his Gran, who’d had dreams about her already… “Just promise me, Dameon, I don’t want Slasher or Tank getting involved.”
“Why?”
Because they would have the same reaction as him. Because she didn’t want them to know about the black thing in her body, because then Slasher would probably start asking questions… and if questions were asked, Sledge might be found out…
“I just want to get this done, ok? I don’t want a whole fuck tonne of talking about it, or having Slasher get mad at me too… and because we’re bonded. I didn’t have to tell you, but I did. Because you mean a lot to me, Dameon, I just… need you to do this for me. Is that too much to ask? It’s just a job for him… to pay for what he did for me. What he did for us… all of us…”
Dameon’s eyes softened and he reached over and took her hand. “I’m sorry. I won't say anything. I wouldn’t have. I get it, I just… don’t like it. But you knew that, and you told me anyway. I didn’t mean to… y’know. I just worry about you, I am supposed to keep you safe. I couldn’t do that tonight. And I can’t do that with this… but if you can get Hammer to let me come along, even if it’s just when you break them, that would put my mind at ease a little. I shouldn’t have blown up at you. You didn’t have to tell me…”
Lupa smiled at him, glad he understood. Glad he wasn’t going to push it… Although, realistically he had every right to. He was supposed to protect her after all… Dammit, just another thing to feel shitty about. Making him feel like he needed to be sorry when it was her keeping so much from him…
“Want me to check your stomach?”
“Sure.” She lay down on the couch and lifted her shirt up. He frowned as he looked at it.
“Aint look too bad… but I think you should get it stitched back up. You got anything? I can do it for you?”
“Bathroom cabinet.”
Dameon got up and went to the bathroom. All Organization employees were taught first aid, they could need it out in the field where there weren’t any specially trained personnel. Dameon came back with the black first aid box and sat next to her, pulling out the needle in its sterile casing, and the medical thread.
“You ok?”
“Yep.”
She looked at the roof and gritted her teeth, knowing this would be worse now that the wound had been irritated. She squeezed her eyes shut as he started stitching her back up. Shit fuck shit. Why had she fucking agreed to this again?
“All done.”
She sat up and pee
red down at it. It looked much better put back together, she smiled at Dameon and grabbed her cup, finishing the contents. “What do you think we should do about the… cow case?”
Dameon took her glass from her and went to make her another drink. “Well, we can’t do much while you’re away. I can research the people of the town. But my guess is we aren’t going to find much… hey um… do you think Slasher would give me what she knows on blood magick? Or do you think I should wait til you’re back?” He handed her back her glass and sat down.
“Ask her, she’s your Commander too, you know. She would tell you… but what you going to say I’m doing?”
“Researching someplace else.”
Lupa hoped that would work. Slasher would have fit if she found out her almost-daughter was out with Sledge, staying away with him for an entire weekend. She had gotten pissed at her for less to do with Sledge than that. Lupa finished her drink and went to grab the bottle.
“Did you find out anything while I was up checking on the teens?”
“Nah,” Dameon let her refill his glass and took a long drink, “But fuck they were full of gossip. Fucking boring ass people with nothing more to do than bitch about each other. How do people even live like that? Shit… how did I used to live without you and these crazy fucking things going on?”
Lupa laughed. “I swear my life wasn’t always like this, maybe it is you who brought the crazy.” She winked at him and put her feet on the table.
To be fair, it was after Karl’s death that everything go so hectic, but she wasn’t in the mood to go down that particular road. She was in the mood for just spending some time with her Protector, some time in peace with her friend. The other thoughts could bother her another time. Or better yet, not at all.
Chapter eight
“We protect all those we know to be magick…”
Lupa pulled a bag out of her cupboard, she’d never really been away before, how much did she need to pack? She opened the big bag and started loading stuff into it, not really seeing what she was throwing in. Tops, bottoms, underwear… damn. Her heart was pounding, hands were clammy. Oh yeah she was damn nervous. This was going to be… interesting.
Her phone started ringing, she pulled it out of her pocket and checked who it was. Dameon. Shit. “What’s up, Hawk?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to see how you were before you left. How are the stitches feeling?”
“Yeah good. Hey, what do you pack when you go away?”
“Umm… I dunno. Clothes? Toothbrush? Girly stuff?” Fucking helpful. She went to the bathroom and grabbed her makeup and toothbrush. “Think you’ll have reception up there?”
“Don’t know. But I’ll text you if I do, ok?”
“Yeah… be careful…”
“I will. Don’t worry. If he was going to beat me up for my money he would have done it by now.”
Dameon laughed. Good. She didn’t want him to be worrying about her all weekend. At least not too much, she couldn’t stop him from doing his job. Feeling his job. “Ok… well… I’ll let you go. Text me if you can, if not, text me when you’re home safe…”
“I will. Don’t stress. It’ll be fine.”
Who was she really telling, her heart was going fucking crazy. Lupa hung up and took a deep breath. Should she take more than one pair of shoes? She already had her boots on… she shook her head. No. Her boots would be fine.
Her phone beeped, she checked it with slightly shaking hands. Sledge was outside. Grabbing her big bag, and her normal bag, she headed for the door, stopping to pull her long silver knife out of her Hunter jacket. Better to be safe… she took one last look at her apartment and closed the door, heading down to meet Sledge. Heading down to the unknown. Heading down to where… she shook her head. Way to be dramatic.
Sledge stood leaning against his car, dressed in a short sleeved black button up, and black jeans. The glint of his studded belt poking out from his shirt. She forced a smile as she approached him. She was a damn witch, she had no fucking reason to be so nervous. Right?
“Hey there, witchy girl,” he said as he opened the boot for her. “Lookin’ like you been fightin’.”
She threw the big bag in the boot and touched her eye. Shit, he could see the bruise under the make-up? Oh hell, who was she kidding, he would have seen more than enough hidden bruises in his time…
“Yeah. The case I’m on with the blood magick… the fucker surprised me.”
Sledge opened the door for her and walked around to the other side and climbed in. Starting the car and pulling away from her apartment. “How they lookin’?”
“No idea, they took off. Attacked me while I was alone. Ran off once I pulled my knife. They split my stitches too. Fucking bastard.”
Sledge glanced over at her, “You dun needin’ them stitched up again?”
“Nah, Hawk did it.” The suspicious look. Right. “I told him about it, but I didn’t tell him… everything…”
Sledge nodded. She lit a smoke and offered him one, lighting it for him when he accepted. He was turning the car onto the highway that would take them up to Grace City, at the bottom of the mountain. Lupa felt her heart start beating fast and hard again. She was really doing this…
“Aint lookin’ so good there, Lupa, you sure you aint wantin’ me to take you home?”
“No, it’s ok… I’ve just… never been away before… I know it’s not a holiday or anything but… the only other time I’ve stayed out of Black City was with Slasher, when I was younger… and that doesn’t really count…” Sledge nodded, weaving through traffic to a clearer lane. He drove fast, she smiled. Something else they had in common then… “How long is the drive going to take?”
Sledge glanced at her, slight amusement dancing in his eyes. “Goin’ too slow for you, ey?”
She laughed, “I was just asking.”
“Thinkin’ about three hours to Grace City, then another three up to the cabin. We can dun stoppin’ in Grace for dinner if you wantin’? Cabin supposed to be stocked for us, but it bein’ late when we get there…”
“Sounds good, Lio.”
He smiled widely and moved the big car back through the traffic, weaving around those going too damn slow. She gazed out the window, watching the last Black City exit pass them, the exit that went to Ebonyroads. Richy rich suburb. The only well off place in her city. But still her city. She took a deep breath and flicked her smoke out the window. Bring it on.
✽ ✽ ✽
They pulled into a parking spot in Grace City about two and a half hours later. Sledge got out and opened the door for her, shutting it gently as she stretched. Damn she was glad to be able to move about for a bit.
“Where you wantin’ to go?”
“Anywhere I can get a drink.”
Sledge’s smile said he thought the same as his eyes wander down the street. He spotted somewhere gave a small grunt to her and they started walking. The street was… clean, well, cleaner. Lupa looked around at the strange buildings. Sure, she had been here before, but it wasn’t her city, she wasn’t comfortable here. There were too many fucking lights.
“Here.”
Sledge pulled the door of a small restaurant open, she walked in and looked around. Small tables, low lighting, dirty floor, the smell of food, alcohol and cigarettes. Lupa smiled, she liked it. Sledge strode over to a table and pulled a chair out for her, she sat down with a slight blush in her cheeks. He then sat across from her, lighting a smoke and leaning on the table.
“Can helps you?” A skinny, wrinkled up woman asked.
“Steak. Beer.”
Lupa smiled to herself. That was the Sledge she had met, not his fucking job to talk. But she knew that wasn’t the case inside him somewhere. “Steak and … margarita. Keep those coming.” The woman nodded and walked briskly away.
“My drivin’ that bad?”
She laughed, lighting a smoke and leaning on the table as well. “No. Aint a girl allowed to enjoy a few drinks?”
H
e smiled, “Thinkin’ you always likin’ a few drinks. Just remember the road up the mountain aint got bathrooms every ten minutes if you needin’.”
Lupa blushed. He had a good point. And she had been drinking a bit more lately. Hell, life wasn’t exactly calm at the moment either. But she didn’t like the idea of needing to pee every ten minutes. She would have to be careful how quickly she drank. The woman returned and put their drinks down gently, looking from one to the other then turning and stalking away.
“Bitch.” Lupa muttered, sipping her margarita.
“Thinkin’ she just wonderin’ what you doin’ with me. Wonderin’ if you crazy or in trouble.” Sledge didn’t look at her directly, taking a long drink of his beer.
“Maybe she’s just jealous.” Lupa responded, he raised his eyebrows at her, “Bet she wants to get in my pants.”
He laughed and shook his head, she grinned over at him. She liked making him laugh. She wondered if he did that often… She sipped her drink, trying not to drink it all quickly like she really wanted to. Really, really wanted to.
Their meal came and Sledge started eating but Lupa had gone off the idea. She’d much prefer to have another drink, she finished it and handed her glass to the waitress before she could leave. The waitress returned with her drink a moment later, and gave them both another once over before walking off. She sipped her drink and ate a few chips off her plate. The idea of eating a cow… she shuddered. Why had she fucking ordered steak?
“Aint hungry?” Sledge said, looking at her plate as he moved his out of the way.
“Not really… I shouldn’t have ordered steak, the case I’m on… never mind. I can't eat it now. Want it?”
Sledge eyed it for a moment and then shook his head. She shrugged and finished her drink. Sledge glanced around the slowly filling up room. “Should we go then?”
Lupa shrugged, may as well. They got up and went to the counter, Lupa pulled out her wallet and went to give Sledge some cash, but he pushed her hand away gently and gave the cashier the money. They turned and started out, him opening the door for her and following her onto the street. Shit, he really was a damn gentleman, wasn’t he? Or was he just used to using it as an intimidation tactic?
