He looked over at Bertram and then back at me.
“It no longer matters,” he said, growling. “You must die now.”
“Either tell me or I’ll call you ‘Span,’” I warned him.
“Span?”
“Yeah, Span Dex,” I said, proud of my own little joke. “Get it?”
“No.”
Well, that ruined all the fun.
“Come on, fuckers,” I taunted them. “I’ve got more fun waiting for you.”
I ran for the next obstacle.
Chapter 35
This time, when I spun around, I found that Bertram and Span were not directly behind me.
“Guys?” I called out, scanning the area. “Hello?”
“Hello,” they said from my left.
I jumped and turned toward them.
Their hands were already glowing, and this time they weren’t building up energy pulses. Bertram’s hands were red and Span’s were blue, signaling they were going to go for a fire and ice attack.
My shield would withstand it, but I needed to fire back…unless…
“All right, all right,” I said, putting up my hands in surrender. “I give up already.”
They eyed me suspiciously. I couldn’t say I blamed them for that, seeing as how I’d fooled them multiple times already. But I had to keep playing the game.
The thing was that Span stood only a few feet away from Portman’s spikes. It was a nasty contraption whereby a pole was covered with long, pointy metal sticks. It was wound up via a spring release, similar to that of the catapult. If I could just get him to step on the trigger, he’d be unable to drink a beer without springing a leak.
But how could I get him over there? I couldn’t just ask. Then again, I did have another skill.
“Hey, Span,” I said, using my compelling voice, “scoot over to your right a few steps, would ya?”
He did as I instructed, but Bertram yelled “No!” and dived at him.
It was too late.
The click sounded, the magical illusion disappeared, and a massive pole unhinged, sweeping directly at my brothers. The grotesque sound of flesh being stabbed made me wince. I also triggered the magical flamethrower. Unfortunately it was pointing the wrong way, so it didn’t really do much except light up the night for a few seconds.
I walked over to them, seeing the light slowly fading from their eyes.
They looked up at me in unison and said, “Dick.”
Death settled in.
Just as I thought everything was said and done, a slow, methodical clapping sounded behind me.
I spun around to find Kevin was standing there. He was covered in dust and his jacket was sufficiently torn.
But he didn’t look angry.
If anything, I’d say he appeared relieved.
“I wanted to kill you for flinging me across the desert,” Kevin said smoothly. Then, he shrugged. “Honestly, I wanted to kill you anyway. It’s what I do. But now that you’ve taken out my brothers, I feel that I need to thank you first.”
“First?” I asked, stepping away and getting myself ready. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, I still have to kill you,” he explained. “It wouldn’t do to let you live after what you did to me, but I sincerely want to thank you for destroying my brothers.” His face was one of pure elation. “I’ve been wanting them dead for years. They’re such sticklers for protocol. I’m not like them.”
“No,” I agreed. “You’re really not.”
His serenity put me on edge. I didn’t want to know what the hell went on behind those eyes, but I couldn’t imagine it was pleasant. Well, maybe pleasant to him, but most anyone else would feel pretty fucking disturbed.
I glanced around the area. There was only one of Portman’s contraptions left, and it was to Kevin’s right.
“Ah,” he said with a slight chuckle as he followed my eyes. “You have another plaything for me to fall for, yes?”
Damn it.
“Uh…”
He reached over and ran his fingers across the rock, and the illusion disappeared, revealing the spike pit.
“How’d you…” I started but stopped when Kevin stepped aside and motioned toward a body that was seated on the ground about fifty feet away.
It was Portman.
“What the hell?”
Kevin stared at me.
“He told me everything,” he said. “That’s the kind of thing that compelling magic can do, no?”
I swallowed hard. “Is he dead?”
“Not yet,” Kevin answered, as if it really didn’t matter one way or the other. “I needed him to bring me back here first, and also to teach me how to disable his contraptions.” I must have twitched, because he added, “Oh yes, he was very forthcoming with information after I began unraveling his thoughts. I know where his wife lives, you see?” He looked so serene. “Oh, the things a man will do to protect his family.”
“You’re seriously one sick piece of shit,” I seethed.
He grinned in response.
So he had somehow made it to the Jeep, took care of Portman, dug into the werebear’s brain to extract needed information, and then got a ride back down. But I should have heard the truck, right?
Speaking of the truck…
“Where’s the Jeep?” I asked.
“On the other side of the hill there,” Kevin said, pointing. “We couldn’t get too close or you’d hear us.”
“Ah.”
I suppose I should have felt their arrival, too, but I’d been so caught up in dealing with the other amalgamites that I clearly missed it.
Kevin clapped his hands three times and Portman got to his feet. He came walking over at a brisk pace.
When he arrived, I studied his eyes, finding them dulled. He was one hundred percent under Kevin’s control.
“Now,” Kevin said in a jolly tone of voice, “we can go about this any number of ways, but the ones I find most compelling are either you fighting him, you fighting me, or you fighting us both.” He grinned. “Which do you think makes the most sense?”
“Me fighting you, of course,” I answered, playing on the fact that Kevin had demonstrated he loved to kill. “If I fight Portman, that will be five seconds at most. He’s no match for either you or me, as you already know. But on the off chance that he gets lucky and kills me, then you’ll be robbed of the pleasure.” I shrugged at him. “Same holds true for my fighting both of you.”
“Hmmm.”
I put my hands behind my back and began building up energy.
“Now, if you don’t mind my being killed by hands other than your own,” I added, and then gave him a look, “or if you’re too afraid to fight me one on one, then choose as you see fit.”
He clearly did not appreciate the implication that he feared fighting me alone. Being ganged up on was a fear he did have, which became apparent when Bertram, Leo, and Span had threatened him, but I didn’t think Kevin believed I was any match for him. To be fair, I didn’t know if I was or not, either.
Now that Portman was in the picture, though, I was going to have to play this carefully.
“Wait a sec,” I said, as a thought struck me. “How’d you track down the Jeep anyway?”
“Oh, that,” Kevin answered, waving a hand at me. “I landed on the hill up there,” he said, pointing. “It hurt rather badly, and I was pretty pissed off, but my body began to heal and about a minute later, this guy came driving up. That allowed me to calm down and plan my next move.”
Unreal.
Portman had parked over where the catapult flung stuff. I could only hope he’d done that on purpose, thinking he could finish whoever got flung up there. Obviously, he’d arrived a bit too late.
“Interesting,” I said an instant before bringing my hands out from behind my back.
Kevin dived off to the side as I cast a volley of liquid flame at him. It struck the boulder he’d been standing in front of, causing it to sizzle.
My shield buckled a
moment later when Kevin flung a seriously powerful mass of energy my way.
I didn’t know if our other brothers had the same level of power or not, nor would I ever know seeing as how they were all dead, but this guy was definitely an uber.
“Portman,” I commanded with pure magic, “run away now!”
“Portman,” countered Kevin, “sit now!”
Portman dropped to a seated position, but he was busily trying to hop away from the scene, using his buttocks. It seemed he had listened to both our commands.
Kevin grinned and fired an energy pulse toward Portman. I cast a shield on my friend at the same time. Part of the energy made it through, causing Portman to grunt and fall over.
“That’s the problem with you goody-goody types,” Kevin cackled. “You’ll risk yourselves to save others. It’s why you always lose.”
I scoffed at him.
“Have you ever read a book or seen a movie, pal?” I asked. “The bad guy rarely wins.”
“True,” he sighed, “but you have to admit that it’s so much more fun when they do.”
I wanted to argue, but he was kind of right. And why did the bad guys get all the cool-looking gadgets? The good guys always inherited the junk that was just slapped together, barely staying intact, and always breaking down. But somehow they won anyway.
There was another thing with bad guys…they always wanted to be even badder.
“You know what, Kevin,” I said, lowering my hands “maybe we’re going about this all wrong.” I put on a serious face. “I was only fighting you because all of you guys were ganging up on me. You know how that is.”
He nodded.
“The truth is that I’ll bet that you and I could team up and wipe the shit out of anything.”
“Why would I need you to do that?” he countered. “I’m strong enough on my own.”
“Of course you are,” I agreed, egging him on, “but doesn’t every evil villain need a sidekick?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Sidekick?”
“Exactly,” I replied. “Someone who hangs on your every word, who backs you up in big fights, and who gets you coffee whenever you need it.”
He lowered his hands for a moment too.
“I could use a coffee right about now,” he remarked.
“And what better person to be your sidekick than your little brother?”
“Who?”
I squinted at him. “Me, Kevin. I’m your little brother, remember?”
“Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry.” He rubbed his chin. “But I thought you said you didn’t want to be a bad guy?”
“I did say that, yes,” I admitted, pretending to agree that it was indeed a quandary. Then, I snapped my fingers. “I’ve got it!”
“What?”
“We have to test my loyalty to you, Kevin.”
He weighed that for a moment.
“How?”
“Yes, how?” I agreed, though I knew exactly what I had planned. I allowed a smile to creep upon my face. “Have me walk on over there and kill Portman.”
Kevin looked at Portman and then back at me.
“But he’s your friend, right?”
“Exactly,” I said. “If I can’t kill my friend for you, I certainly won’t kill anyone else for you.”
My brother nodded slowly. He was crafty, obviously, but I had the feeling he wasn’t quite able to grasp the bigger picture, and what I was planning was definitely bigger-picture stuff.
“But I wanted to kill him,” he mumbled.
“Okay, then just have me rough him up some.”
Kevin’s eyes lit up. “You mean like torture?”
“Yes! Yes, that’s precisely what I mean, Kevin.” I began rubbing my hands together. “And if I do that before you kill him, you’ll get to hear his screams even more.”
“Oooh! Hadn’t thought of that.” His smile was so large that the whites of his teeth were competing against the glow of the moon. “Yes, yes, do that!”
He was clapping his hands like an excited five-year-old who was just told he was going to the Super Bowl.
I gave Kevin a wink and then strode purposefully toward Portman. Just as I got near the rock that controlled the spike pit, I feigned a trip and keyed in the activation sequence. It started a counter from five seconds.
“Damn rocks,” I said, pushing myself up and wiping off my PPD suit.
“Yeah,” agreed Kevin, “I really hate—”
The ground shimmered and Kevin glanced over, looking confused.
In a smooth motion, I whipped out Boomy and plugged my older brother right on the shoulder, flinging him off balance and sending him careening into the pit.
He yelled out as he fell and then shrieked upon impact.
I rushed over and found him with a spike through his leg and another through his upper-right chest. He was a mess, but he was also still alive.
Thinking quickly, I hopped down into the pit in an empty location and moved over toward Kevin. There wasn’t much time before his lights went out forever, so I had to get to him fast.
I reached out and put my hand on his head, hoping that one of the special skills Gabe the vampire had given me would work. It was called Flashes, and its job was to tell me something about a person’s past so I could plan.
My desire was for it to tell me about my youth, our parents, my sister, and anything else I could get from it.
Nothing happened.
On the hope that I could summon it by using the power directly, I closed my eyes and thought the word with intent.
Flashes.
Chapter 36
I was in that familiar room again. It was the one with the large containers that I couldn’t help but feel held bodies.
The place looked like a lab of some sort. Whosever’s eyes I was looking through for this Flashes event was wearing a white robe, so I was guessing scientist or doctor, or both.
I couldn’t tell, but I had the distinct impression these were the same eyes I’d looked through during all of the Flashes I’d enjoyed. Trust me when I say I use the term ‘enjoyed’ rather loosely.
The guy got up and started walking down a hallway, glancing left and right at the different enormous canisters. There were no outside windows wherever this place was housed. If I were to guess, I’d have gone with it being underground.
It just seemed so dreary.
We pushed through a doorway that led to a downward-sloping floor. The hallway grew darker and darker until only the dim lighting from the embedded bulbs in the ceiling lit the way. I couldn’t feel the temperature, but something told me it was getting colder, too.
Finally, we reached another set of doors. The guy keyed in a code, but I couldn’t see that for some reason. His fingers had blurred during those few moments.
When he pushed into the room, I spotted four metallic tables lined up side by side. On each of them were bodies that connected to familiar faces.
My brothers.
Bertram, Leo, Span, and Kevin were lying there, face up, all naked except for a towel that had been laid across their midsections. Their eyes were closed and I couldn’t detect any movement to indicate they were breathing. But I didn’t sense they were lifeless, either.
The doctor slipped on gloves and then proceeded to poke and prod each of them in turn.
I wanted to look away, but it wasn’t really possible since I had no control over Flashes.
Fortunately, he didn’t do any prostate checks.
That would have been scarring.
Finally, he gave each of them a shot that contained a bluish liquid.
Each set of eyes fluttered for a moment after receiving the injection.
The doctor took off his gloves and threw them into a wastebasket. I watched as he turned on the water in a large, silver sink and began scrubbing his hands. After a good thirty seconds of washing, he rinsed off the soap, dried his hands off on a towel, and then looked up into the mirror.
I felt my stomach sink.
That was a f
ace I’d seen many times over the past year. It was a face I’d grown to hate, but also one I’d learned to trust. Not implicitly, mind you, but the trust had been built up, for sure.
But now I was left questioning everything I wanted to believe.
It just didn’t make sense.
The face I was staring at belonged to Gabe, and he was smiling.
“Well done, Ian,” he said, using my first name. “You have passed all the tests I’ve set before you over this year. I am impressed and quite proud.”
What the fuck was going on?
“Disposing of your brothers was the final obstacle,” he added. “Now, you must come and see me.”
He turned away.
“Where the fuck are you?”
He turned back.
“You can find me in an underground area via a hidden zone by the Absinthe tent near Caeser’s.”
“Shit,” I said, shocked that he could hear me. “Are you actually able to hear me? Because, if so, let me just say that you are one sick mother—”
“And, no,” he interrupted, “I’m not actually speaking to you live, if you’re thinking that. I just assumed you would ask the question of my location.” He smiled. “In fact,” he added while looking back at the tables that contained my four brothers, “this was recorded before I sent them out to the desert to confront you.”
My brothers were beginning to move.
Gabe turned back to the mirror.
“Since you’re watching this message,” he pointed out, “it’s obvious you have succeeded. I will miss your brothers, but they never would have been able to fill your shoes anyway.” He then gave me a small salute and added, “See you soon, son.”
Chapter 37
I climbed back out of the pit and rushed over to Portman. He was just sitting there sobbing. I’d never expected to see him like that. It was disturbing because he was usually so tough and strong.
“You okay?” I asked, kneeling down and checking his eyes. They were no longer dull. “Your eyes are clear.”
“Where is he?” Portman whispered, looking terrified.
I assumed he meant Kevin.
Clash of Flames: An Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department) Page 14
