MADNESS: Book One of The Shadow-Keepers Series

by Jas T. Ward

  But Jess wasn’t going to let Reno forget who was in charge and that was why the torture of watching them together was meant to be lesson. It was a lesson all right. A lesson on how to hate even more than Reno had before.

  So for months, he sat as he was shown when Emma and Jess laughed, kissed, and worse of all made love. He was given the view without mercy and had to hear the sounds even when he wrapped his arms around his head to block them, begging for Jess to stop.

  Resentment had already grown thick between them long ago, so hate grew strong and unbreakable in that foundation. He had taken that torture and did his purpose as always, hating it more and more, because even if it was through Jess’ eyes at least he could still see Emma. Albeit making sure to inflict pain and injury as a reminder for when Jess regained control.

  Reno called her Witch because when they met that perfect night, he didn’t know her name and was unsure what Jess had told her, as Jess had met her first. The two halves did not often share experiences like they once had as children so he had no idea what had transpired between her and Jess. So, as a cover, he chose a nickname of what she was in life— Witch.

  All of that seemed to have no end in sight until Jess made a fatal mistake that would bring destruction to their joined existence forever.

  Jess broke Emma’s heart.

  Reno had never learned why, because without warning or reason, Jess stopped showing him...well anything. He had begged and pleaded for Jess to at least show him how she was, even if it ripped his heart apart to be a back seat driver in their love affair. But rather than get his plea, he was locked away even tighter than before and had literally been kept in the dark for months in the Hole.

  So Reno was pushed to do the one thing he had never even dared to even contemplate before. Ignore his purpose, sit back and do nothing.

  It had not taken long for Jess to be overtaken by the insanity he had kept at bay from the hero for over a century.

  The plan took its toll on Reno as well. Since he was a part of Jess’ mind, as it deteriorated so did the head space he was contained in. He had gotten weaker and became less substance the further Jess slipped into insanity. But Reno didn’t care.

  They would both be destroyed and at least his torturous existence would end. And if they were gone, Jess could never hurt his Witch again.

  It had been almost over, with him too weak to even speak or move in the small, dark and cold head space, when Bounce had had offered him the one thing he had never even thought was possible.

  Reno would have his own life with his own body.

  Sure, it was to save Jess since the hero was all anyone cared about, but Reno had grabbed at that chance.

  Jess had more than happily agreed as they hated each other enough. There were no promises it would work but at least Jess would be freed of the insanity, and of him. Reno’s existence was the one at risk as Bounce would do anything to save one of his Breakers and he wasn’t even a whole being.

  But it had worked with the help of an ancient Asian man by the name of Mr. Hahn. And when Bounce asked him after the transition what he wanted with his new life the answer for Reno had been simple. His own life; one with no one knowing what or who he used to be or who he had been a part of. A fresh start and new.

  And now three years later, after months of getting used to a body that still had delays, when his mind told it to do one thing and it sometimes responded a split second later, he had been assigned to Reno, Nevada.

  The rumors of Jess’ ‘Sundown’ side had been whispered about. That the seemingly perfect hero had a flaw. A dark side that the man called Sundown, which did the most brutal and violent deeds needed. Little did they know how true those rumors were, for he was Jess’ Sundown side; it was the name the little boy had given his dark half when they first became joined in destiny.

  Reno didn’t want anyone to know, and be judged for that past, or think he was a freak. Not to mention Jess was never told how successful Bounce’s little experiment had been with the help of both Mr. Hahn and a woman he still didn’t know anything about.

  The excruciating pain of the separation was a distant memory, like some say that of childbirth or just a shadow in the back of his mind.

  But Reno remembered it being bad, as in the worse of the bad that he had ever felt. And that was saying something.

  So Bounce had agreed and as far as anyone knew, even to Jess, he had ceased to exist that day. Jess had recovered and became one of Bounce’s enforcers and a true heroic bad-ass. And Reno had been sent to Reno, Nevada, a Breaker now in his own right with the brand proudly scarred on his left forearm. But the brand was so much more than that. It was a direct connection to the Grid.

  The ‘stamp’, as the Breakers called the brand was made up of evolving, tiny nano-bots of energy. They could feed back how the Breaker was doing, when they were in danger, even the locale to be pin-pointed and be tracked.

  They called it going online. And a simple thumb print press that was encrypted and encoded on the Grid was all it took for a Breaker to do so.

  That brand also showed a secret fellowship to members of the city who worked covertly for the Grid.

  Kept hidden otherwise from the very realm of mankind in which they fought to save.

  Reno was proud of being a Breaker, of being a hero like Jess. He had done his job and done it well, as night after night he took on dozens of Energy Eaters without back up or help like the other Breakers. He was grateful for the chance given to him and didn’t want to ruin his one chance so he obeyed every rule.

  Without question and without complaint. Again.

  It worked out well for him as it served a dual purpose. He was able to feed the nature of what he was—a creature of pain and violence—and do his job of Eater-goo-be-gone.

  It fulfilled his duty as a Breaker and it fed the need to still have pain and violence in his existence. It was as needed as breathing so he made sure it stayed happy. Since insanity had caused his creation when Jess’ psyche had split as that little human boy, he couldn’t be split from it when he was transitioned. So now that same insanity was his to deal with. It was no longer Jess’ burden to hide and be buffered from, but Reno’s.

  Due to that, and developing a ‘good side’, he now was a split of his own. Light and dark had to exist together so just like Jess; he too had a Sundown side. One he could tap, just like Jess, to handle the worst pain and violence.

  But unlike Jess, he treated it well, and they shared in everything. Always seeing and feeling whatever he saw and experienced. No way was he going to treat his dark side like Jess had treated him.

  Not that the side was needed very often. He made sure to never let himself tap on the border that kept the madness at bay. The reason for that was that as much as he was still amazed that Bounce had parked him in his new body, he was also scared he could somehow break the connection. Cause too much damage and his split essence would somehow be snapped from its supernatural connection with a body it had not been created to be in and his only chance with it. So he took precautions out of that fear to not go too dangerous and dark.

  Like the sugar. He always had candy on him, and strawberry licorice rope was his candy of choice. It dissolved slowly and was durable even when he fidgeted with it in his fangs or was fighting. Sugar seemed to quiet the constant buzz he had in his head almost as if the sweetness dampened the insanity by changing the chemistry in his brain. .

  He didn’t really know actually why or how, only that it worked. So as long as he had violence or pain, and candy, he was level and in good shape.

  But back to the yucky task at hand...

  As the thick gel began to sluice into the city’s drainage system, Reno squatted down with the licorice rope spinning in his lips, to put a finger in the tar black and red mess.

  He grinned as he drew a happy face in it, being sure to draw a tongue at the side of the mouth. He got bored waiting for it all to turn to liquid so he was always looking for a way to waste the time.

&nb
sp; Reno was mostly happy and you were supposed to share that. Even with goo.

  That was about to change.

  Chapter Two

  Transfer

  “What the Pac-Man are you doing?”

  He was still squatted down watching his former happy face become a sad face as it turned into the water stuff when he heard the god Bounce’s voice behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Reno smiled and looked back down. “I don’t know. I figure it didn’t smile much and should go out happy.” He stood and wiped his Eater goo covered hand on his jeans as he turned to face Bounce.

  Bounce rolled his eyes, snorted and pointing, not appearing amused at the puddle. “They go back to Hell, Reno. They probably do not find that a happy prospect.”

  Reno frowned as he pursed his lips left and right to look back down at the Eater slick. “Oh, uh, I didn’t really think about that part.”

  Reno knew he wasn’t really the smartest of Breakers and had never been good at decisions.

  That had gotten him into all this, so maybe it was a mix of good and bad just like him. Bounce had named him Reno, which was fine, because a lot of Breakers adopted the city they were assigned to when they were first turned. Reno had never had a name other than Sundown so he had no problem with the new moniker. It had stuck, and he kind of liked it.

  His frown deepened as he rolled his gaze to Bounce’s, whose eyes were hidden behind dark shades even now in the dark of night.

  No one really knew what Bounce was. There were all kinds of legends and whispers about that too. All that was really known was that the god was uber-powerful, ancient, and could change his appearance to be anyone or no one in a blink.

  Bounce’s eyes were like a mood ring in the fact that they changed depending on whatever mood the god was in. But they all knew he held their existence in his moods and his grasp so the Breakers both respected and feared that.

  He was taller than most with a lean muscled physique and olive skin with intense, but super-model perfect features. Some said he was Oriental while others said Polynesian. But Bounce never said. And no one dared to ask.

  Even Reno wasn’t that stupid.

  Reno did know the god had a very odd fixation on the Eighties right down to the vintage t-shirts Bounce always wore. The man actually could make the Thriller jacket he was wearing now along with a Ms. Pac-Man t-shirt look deadly. Toss in the mint-condition Air Jordans and Bounce had a certain style. The eighties never looked so cool.

  As the Eater ooze had finally liquefied into nothing more than water, Reno couldn’t help but wonder why Bounce was here as he did an internal mental double-check.

  He had made sure to obey all the rules and procedures and as far as he knew, careful not to break a single one. His human losses were a big count of zero and he made sure he always dropped the injured off at the hospital and never the morgue.

  And even if the fighting took place right in front them, the humans never remembered any of it. A side effect of the Eater’s bite was it contained which caused the human to forget an incident once the feeding had begun. It actually benefited the Breakers and helped keep it all hidden much to the Eaters frustration.

  He stood next to Bounce, crossing his arms as he spun the Twizzler faster in his fangs to cut the god a sideways glance.

  “Am I in trouble or something? I mean, uh, I’ve been doing good right?”

  Bounce looked over and nodded. Actually Reno was exceptional at his job. His tallies were highest of any of the new initiated Breaker’s and higher than even some of the senior ones. The young Breaker never complained or bitched about anything for the man truly did not take a solitary thing for granted.

  Bounce had also learned that Reno donated a large portion of his income which was pro-athlete salary size to the local homeless shelters and shelters for abused women and children.

  It wasn’t a requirement that the Breakers give anything back to society other than protect it and Bounce was unsure why Reno did, but it amazed the god all the same. Not that he let Reno or anyone know that, for he was not one to loosen his much feared grip on his soldiers.

  “Let’s go back to your place, Reno. We need to talk.” Bounce saw the man’s look of fear and calmly shook his head. “No, you are not in trouble and you have done nothing wrong.”

  As they walked, he knew Reno was worried, as would any Breaker be. But considering Reno’s past and the man’s deep-seated need to make sure he did right to keep his existence, he knew that Reno’s worry was far more justified than the rest.

  Reno unlocked the downstairs of a stairwell that led to a small apartment above a coffee shop. Despite the fact the Breaker made millions, he still lived in an efficiency apartment that some would call a rat hole and some would note it down next on a list to condemn.

  Walking into the small space, Reno tossed his gear on the door side table to let Bounce walk in and closed the door behind them.

  “Uh, there’s a chair. You can have it. I’ll stand.”

  There was indeed a chair along with a blanket covered pallet on the floor along with a small TV with a cable box sitting on a milk crate most likely from the coffee shop below.

  There were no other rooms but a kitchenette that consisted of a hot plate and a small fridge that stood in one corner with a small shower and toilet in the opposite corner.

  Reno knew it was a plain apartment with not a single sign of the money and power of the Breaker who lived here. But Reno didn’t care. He was used to simple and small, and besides, he couldn’t think of anything he really wanted money-wise. His only splurge was paying for cable so he could watch his cartoons.

  Reno loved cartoons regardless of the time they were made. The classics, the modern ones, Disney or Nickelodeon; it didn’t matter, he loved them all. He figured it was because he had never had a childhood of his own. If he did? He so would have watched cartoons constantly.

  Bounce eyed the chair as if doubting its ability to hold his size or weight but chanced it as he sat down anyway. It did give a groan of protest and Reno could not help but let out a snicker as Bounce almost gingerly brought an ankle to his knee.

  “Why don’t you get a nicer place, Reno?”

  He shrugged at the god’s question and went over to the fridge and pulled out a juice pouch and stabbed a straw in it. “Want one?”

  Bounce smirked and shook his head no.

  Okay, fine. Reno didn’t really drink beer and he was a sucker for the juice and the Kool-Aid ones too. He loved the things and maybe Bounce didn’t, but with Reno’s need for sugar he never liked the usual beer or other drinks of the others. The more sugar the better.

  Walking over to pick up his gear holster on the entry table that held twin XD 9mm’s and daggers, Reno went to the curtain that cornered off one end of the room acting as a closet for storage. Just a few clothes, but dozens and dozens of coffee cans. So many that they toppled and he had to catch them as he tried to hang his gear belt up. One rolled and landed in front of Bounce, stopped by the god’s boot resting on it to end its continued escape across the floor.

  Bounce bent down and picked the can up, a brow arching as he pried the plastic lid off. It was packed full of cash to the brim that was so tightly packed it seemed to test the integrity of the metal can’s seam. He looked up at Reno. “You’re keeping your pay in cans?”

  Reno opened his mouth to speak as he juggled the cans trying to revolt and stood back, hands braced for them to fall again as he restored them back to messy columns. He glanced over at Bounce and looked back at the stacked cans.

  “Well, I don’t really spend it but to pay rent and food. And uh, cable. But I give a can a week to the shelters. They don’t know it’s me as I just leave the can in the donation box. The cans keep the money dry and make it easy to carry. And the shop gives me the cans for free.”

  He had been told not to drink coffee as it made him so hyper he was a danger to himself. The one time he did it had been scary and Bounce slapped that rule on him. Something about squirrels sh
ould never be allowed to suck on crack rocks nor Reno coffee.

  He had all kinds of rules that made him different than the others, but he didn’t care if Bounce put a million rules on him if it meant he had his own life.

  He walked over and took the one can Bounce held and added it to the rest and then pulled the curtain closed. That’s when he gave it too much thought and his eyes widened to look over at Bounce. What if donating his pay was wrong and he had just screwed up by telling Bounce. Or, maybe Bounce already knew and that’s why he was here.

  Reno spoke in a very quiet voice as he pointed at the curtain as if he was waiting for the reprimand or even worse, punishment.

  “I make sure I don’t let anyone see me. But uh, I kinda know what it’s like is to be without a home in the cold and dark so that’s why I donate some of my pay.”

  “Good job, just keep putting our heads in a noose. Would you like me knit us a scarf to cover the bruise? Shut. Up.”

  He winced as his dark side decided to point out in his head that he wasn’t making Bounce’s job very hard by babbling on and on as he looked over at the god.

  “I checked the rules and it didn’t say anything against it. But if you tell me to stop, it’s stopped. Okay?”

  Reno found himself rubbing his hand over his brand nervously, a habit he had developed since getting it, to feel the smooth yet raised lines on the skin of his arm, as if afraid it was going to be taken away.

  Bounce softened in tone and expression as he watched Reno’s nerves spike up and rise from the man’s fragile ego. “It’s not in the rules because I don’t believe any Breaker had even considered doing so. You’re fine, Reno.”

  Bounce glanced around the small place and then back to Reno as he crossed his arms on his chest, causing the chair to let out another moan of protest.

  “Well, it should be easy for you to pack.” Smirked and pointed a finger to the curtain. “With the exception of that stash, of course. I’ll send a Relay from the Grid to deposit that in a bank account for you.”