Blood Dream

by Tobi Grim

  Lupa punched the girl in the face again, not wanting to hear her laughing anymore. “Who?” Isabella just sobbed.

  “I think we can all guess who she means, dear wolf witch,” Hammer said, “How unfortunate.”

  “Unfortunate for her,” Lupa responded, pulling the wolfblood rib out of her bag, thrusting it into the girls stomach as Sledge went to grab her. But he wasn’t fast enough, Lupa smiling into the roaring face of Isabella, “Very fucking unfortunate, bitch.” She let the black lightning force its way into the girl’s body, so hard that she convulsed and blood poured out of her screaming mouth.

  Sledge’s hands were on Lupa, pulling her gently away from the dead girl’s body. “Thinkin’ that bein’ a good idea?”

  Lupa looked up at him, but his face was devoid of any emotion, “Why not? She wasn’t going to tell us anything else.” Sledge let his hands drop and took a step back.

  “Come, we do not need to linger here,” Hammer had a strange smile on his face.

  “What?”

  “I believe Sledge is confounded by your merciless dealings with this girl,” Hammer walked through the door and Lupa followed, hearing Sledge shut it behind them, “We were not aware that you would be so… straight forward. You are full of surprises, my wolf witch. Will you two be staying or shall you depart now that we have some answers?”

  “Thinkin’ we goin’, Hammer,” Sledge’s voice sounded strange, Lupa didn’t like it, but she let Hammer kiss her cheek and followed Sledge out to his car.

  “What?”

  Sledge started the engine and took off fast. “Aint thinkin’ you like that.” He said finally, turning a corner so sharply Lupa smashed into the car door.

  “She fucking killed her family! They killed everyone! They left children… orphaned. She didn’t deserve to be living. She’s in league with the guy trying to fuck with your boss! What the fuck was so wrong with killing her?”

  Sledge slammed the breaks on, throwing his arm out to stop her from hitting the dash. He got out, opening her door for her. Shit, they were already back at her place? She got out, trying to find an answer in Sledge’s eyes, but they were… detached. Lupa stalked across the road, opening her door and storming up the stairs, throwing her own door open and heading to the fridge.

  Sledge shut her door gently and walked over to her, “I aint like seein’ you like that.” He stood in front of her with a strange look on his face.

  Lupa thrust a beer into his chest, “What would you have done?”

  “Aint ‘bout what I woulda done. You different from me… when we bein’ in them dungeons, you aint even bein’ able to look… and,” he peered down at her, his eyes scanning her face, “I thinkin’ you was different. Aint like hurtin’ people who can’t fight back.”

  Lupa shrugged, staring fiercely into his face, “She’s fought back plenty before you got her. Besides, I didn’t torture her. I killed her straight.”

  “You killin’ an unborn baby too. Aint that what happenin’ to you, havin’ someone killin’ yours?”

  Lupa stepped back in surprise, “You don’t get to say that to me. That was completely different… You don’t get to throw shit like that in my face, you were in here,” she tapped her finger against her head, “without a fucking invitation, remember. You don’t get to use that against me! You’re using that to hurt me deliberately, that’s not fucking fair! Besides, she was probably fucking lying! And I didn’t… I didn’t torture her, I just… put her down. Like I would any other wolfblood fucking shit up.”

  Sledge took a step towards her, placing his beer on the bench and taking hers gently from her as she shook all over, “I aint meanin’ to say that. It weren’t fair. You just… aint bein’ like you. It makin’ me worried for you…” he placed his rough hands on her face and looked deep into her eyes. Too deep. “I aint meanin’ to.”

  Lupa felt her lip do a pathetic tremble as she placed her hands on his, slowly pushing them away. “Ok. I get it. Just… don’t… ever say shit like that to me again.”

  Sledge picked his beer back up and opened it, taking a drink and looking away from her, “I’m sorry, I aint meanin’ to… what you wantin’ to do now?”

  Lupa sighed and picked her beer up, opening it and downing the entire contents. “Want something better to drink?”

  Sledge’s eyes glanced at her quickly, then moved away, “If’n that what the witchy girl wantin’, then that be what we doin’.”

  Chapter twenty

  “What will you find…”

  Lupa and Sledge sat on her couch doing tequila shots, Sledge had taken her to go buy something a bit nicer than what she had laying around. She’d slipped a little pill in to help with the thoughts… and she was feeling pretty damn drunk now. She could almost forget what he’d said to her… whatever.

  “Think you’ll see your family again?” Lupa asked, throwing back another shot.

  “Aint knowin’… maybe someday... If’n you come with me. Don’t think I can be handlin’ Aunt Tsura’s talkin’ all on my own.”

  Lupa laughed and bumped her shoulder to him, “Yeah ok, one day I’ll come with you.”

  Sledge smiled down at her, “Thinkin’ you ever wanna be lookin’ into you family now? Makin’ you interested at all?”

  Lupa moved away and lit a smoke, not staring down at it, “Not fucking really. I… maybe one day, but not for a long time.” She filled their glasses again and cheers-ed him before tipping it back, “Think Hammer knows what we are getting into? I’m a little uncomfortable about… tomorrow…”

  “It bein’ tonight, now.” Sledge pointed to his watch with a smile, “Hammer always got himself a plan, and then he always got another three to back them up. He smarter than he let on,” Sledge leaned back and lit a smoke, “But I aint likin’ this one bit. Aint like him to take things like this so… head on. Aint likin’ him puttin’ you in danger… you thinkin’ a wig gonna be enough?”

  “Doubt it, especially now. But I guess we gotta try something… though I suppose there’s no point now, he knows I’m getting involved. When do we go round there?”

  “Hammer wantin’ us at his by two, wantin’ to go through a spell with you, needin’ us to be knowin’ the plan. Thinkin’ we goin’ to the bridge around six or so.”

  Lupa looked at her phone. Great, twelve hours before shit started getting hectic. “Cool.” She flipped it open, three messages from Tank. She sighed and exited out of them, rubbing her forehead.

  “Everythin’ a’right?”

  “Nah, Slasher has been going ape shit, Tank messaged me saying that if I’m going to come apologise I had better message him first so he can… calm her down. And Dameo… uh, Hawk still hasn’t woken up… they haven’t figured out what he’s under, they’ve had to stick a drip in his arm…”

  “You a’right?” Sledge rested his hand on her thigh gently.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Not long now, everything will be good.” Turning to him she gave him a fake smile, “Besides, I got you lookin’ after me.” Lupa looked back at the table. She would be ok. She had to be fucking ok.

  “That’n you do. But I aint bein’ able to help with Protector Hawk… and I aint bein’ able to stay next to you when we gets to fightin’, I gotta keep Hammer safe… he be havin’ everyone watchin’ you though. Aint need to worry about that.”

  “Yeah… I’ll be ok. I could kick all their butts on my own. After all, I am the wolf witch with drugs on her side!” Lupa gave him a wink, hoping to lift the mood a little.

  Sledge moved his hand off her leg, giving her an amused smile as he poured them both another shot, “To kickin’ the man across the river’s fuckin’ face in.”

  Lupa lifted hers up and nodded, “To fuckin’ him up.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Lupa pulled on her black jeans, a tight black shirt and her red Hunter’s jacket. The wolfblood bone blade and her silver blade’s weight, within her pockets, gave her comfort. She shoved her smokes, her pillbox and her phone in the other smaller
pockets.

  “Aint bringin’ you bag?” Sledge was watching her with curiosity.

  “Umm… I wasn’t going to… should I?”

  “Aint knowin’. Can always be leavin’ it in my car if’n you need it…”

  Lupa hesitated, what would she need from her bag? Nothing she couldn’t put in her jacket… providing Hammer let her wear it… “Nah, think I should be fine.”

  “Why you havin’ to wear that jacket? It special?”

  Lupa smiled, “Yeah, it’s Organization issued. It’s woven with silver threading, gives us a bit more protection. Ok. I’m ready. Shall we go?”

  “You dun needin’ your keys?” Sledge looked at her keys sitting on the table. She blushed and grabbed them, going to put them in her coat but then deciding to hand them to Sledge. “What you needin’ me to do?”

  “I dunno… put them somewhere safe. In the glove box or something,” Lupa shut the door behind them as they left her apartment, “I don’t really want anything more on me than I need…”

  Sledge shrugged, opened the car door and put the keys in the glove box, moving so she could climb in. Lupa felt a little strange about wearing her Hunter’s jacket… it wasn’t a wolfblood hunt, and she was suspended… but still… it did give her some comfort. Made her feel a bit safer from the onslaught that was coming for them.

  “Feelin’ ready?” Sledge asked as they hit Blackwater.

  “Nope. Give me a couple of hours and I will be.”

  Lupa took a deep breath and smiled at Sledge’s worried face. Couldn’t anyone just fucking trust her? She knew once she was there, in the zone, she’d be fucking fine. She was sure of it…

  Sledge parked his car out the front, where Maccabee was scanning the street with his arms folded. Lupa followed him up to the entrance, the men nodded to each other as Sledge pulled the door open and let her pass through.

  “This way,” Sledge led her to the door that hid the stairs.

  Lupa followed him up and through to the barren room, noticing the floor was stained where she had thrown up all that blood… best not to fucking think about it. Should she have taken one of those pills before coming here? Probably not. She didn’t know whether it would work against the Gift she was planning on taking…

  “Good afternoon, my fine people, do come and sit yourselves down,” Hammer was smiling at them as he indicated to the two wooden chairs near him, “My lovely wolf witch, you do look ready for battle, would you care to take your jacket off for the moment?”

  Lupa shrugged it off and hung it on the back of the chair, wondering if he was still wary of her, then sitting down and crossing her legs, “So, what have you got?”

  “Straight to the point I see, very well.” Hammer offered her a cigarette and lit it for her, “I have come up with a spell for you, here,” he handed her a piece of paper, but she didn’t look at it, just kept her eyes on Hammer’s, “I presume it should not take you long to memorize with your Organization training. I have adapted it from the book I previously showed you. I believe that we not only have his dirty magick to deal with, but the possibility of blood magick as well.”

  “Possibility?” Lupa raised an eyebrow and half smiled.

  “Yes, little wolf witch, for we cannot be positive he, or anyone associated with him, will use it. Now, The Eastern Man has said we are to meet in the middle of the bridge, each of us with only two people to accompany us, which for me shall be you and Sledge. The rest of our men must wait at least twenty paces behind us. The Eastern Man claims that he would like to make a deal, but I am expecting he wants to make demands, or to attempt to kill me.”

  “So then what?”

  “We meet, I will give a signal to my men, and then the fighting will begin. You, my sweet, shall chant the spell to enhance your weapon, and then you will need to get to The Eastern Man. I am unsure how deep his power goes, but this spell should be able to free the magick and the souls from within his body.”

  Lupa crossed her legs over the other way, feeling restless, and leaned back, “And what if he’s shared the magick with other people? I have to kill them all?”

  “I would not burden you so, my beauty, I believe once he has been disposed of, all that his power touches should be released. The buildings, Protector Hawk, and any others under or sharing his magick. Would you not agree?”

  Lupa bit her lip, maybe. Usually that was how things worked, if a spell caster was killed then all their magick went with them. But… if he’d stolen magick and people’s lives… it could be very fucking different. She looked down at the spell Hammer had handed her.

  “And why can’t I do this on my knife before we go?”

  “Because it will not only infuse to your weapon, it will push magick into the air. Magick that will be there to assist you. If you were to perform the spell before we leave, I fear it would be wasted by the time we reached the bridge.”

  Lupa sighed. Probably. “And why do I have to do it? Couldn’t I put the spell on all your men’s weapons and they fucking kill him?”

  Hammer smiled at her with his eyes twinkling, “Because, Little Red, no one else can do it quite like you. To make this spell work, you will need to kill him. And you will need your magick to kill him, I do not believe he will die from a simple thrust…”

  “Great.” Lupa dropped her smoke on the ground and crushed it out, “Should I take Gift to help…?”

  Hammer raised his eyebrows in an amused look, “If it would please you, does it help your metaphysical magick?”

  Lupa blushed, thinking about when… never mind. “Umm… I don’t actually know… I think it’s worth the risk though, so long as I start the spell before it begins to take over, I think everything should be fine… up to you though.”

  Hammer glanced to Sledge and then back to her, “I believe it would be marvellous to have you boosted in such a way, wolf witch. But for now, Sledge and I have some more tedious details to deal with for this evening, would you mind terribly waiting in my library? You could learn the spell I have created for you.”

  Lupa smiled, a real big, genuine smile, oh yes she’d love to wait in the library, that beautiful place… “I’d like that.”

  Hammer smiled, “Very well. Sledge, I will be just a moment, I shall also get Marcus to start organising the troops and head up. Come with me, Little Red beauty.” Lupa followed Hammer back down the stairs and through the halls to where he unlocked the library for her, and followed her inside. “Are you well my darling? Sledge informed me of your… disagreement with Slasher witch.”

  Lupa threw her coat on the arm of a lounge and turned to Hammer, who was standing very close to her, “I’ll be ok, once we’ve done this I can deal with her…” Lupa wondered how much Sledge had told him… best not to think about it. “I’m fine for tonight, if that’s what you are asking…”

  “Very well, I felt it imperative that I enquire. If there is anything I may do to assist…” Hammer smiled at her and tucked her hair behind her ear, “I do hope you shall still visit me after we are done with this pandemonium. I have quite enjoyed your company.”

  “We’ll see,” Lupa said, giving Hammer a cheeky smile.

  Hammer kissed her forehead, “Indeed we shall. I shall return when we have finished upstairs, you may immerse yourself in this magick I have for you. And you are welcome to look around as much as you please.”

  Lupa watched Hammer leave then flopped herself onto the couch, reading over the spell that he’d written for her… seemed simple enough. Fortunately he’d put all the incantations in Latin so she could read it easily. She frowned at the use of herbs though… would he give them to her later? She sighed, he would have to, she hadn’t brought anything like that with her.

  Getting up, she started wandering down along one of the bookshelves, looking at the names on the spines with mild interest. Nothing really grabbed her though, what did she really want to look at? Well, everything, but not before going into a magickal fight, she didn’t want to put too much in her head. As sh
e reached the end, she saw a book propped up on a large stand and went over to it.

  It was one of the largest books Lupa had ever seen, she opened it and felt her shoulders drop with disappointment; she couldn’t read the language. She wasn’t even sure what it was… she turned a page and saw the beautiful styled drawings she recognised from the book Sledge had on wolfbloods. She turned the pages in wonder, the drawings on every other page were so fucking beautiful. Lupa reached the middle that had a fold out page…

  “Fuck me,” Lupa mumbled.

  It appeared to be Hammer’s family tree… she looked over the names, wishing she knew who they were. Down one end was Hammer’s name, Lupa’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, he wasn’t really that much older than her, she had thought… whatever. She noticed Chui’s name was in there as his daughter, along with Mallet, Lupa sniggered at this, and then one she didn’t know; Mato. So, he had another son, who was almost eighteen. There was no mothers listed for any of them though…

  Lupa started working her way back up, Tank was in there with his other brothers linked via Hammer’s father, his mother had three sisters who each had two children, but Hammer didn’t have any other siblings-

  “Of all the magickal knowledge in this room, you chose to look at this book?” Lupa startled and turned to see Hammer smiling widely at her. Shit. He’d been quick… or had she just lost track of time?

  “Um… sorry, was that not ok?” Lupa quickly stepped away from the book.

  “It was not for me to decide what you were to discover, I merely find it rather interesting. Was the spell adequate for you?” Hammer stepped closer, resting a delicate hand over the pages.

  “Yeah, should be easy enough.”

  “Well, at least your Organization hasn’t let you down on that, my wolf witch, do you read my families dialect?”

  “No… I liked the pictures though…” Lupa felt like she’d just been caught peeping at someone undressing.