Far Too Young To Die: An Astraea Renata Novel

by Wayne, Douglas

  The blood.

  His face instantly changed from one of approval to one of disgust. He didn’t focus his rage on the two who’d tied us, however. His gaze was on the men with the guns.

  For a moment I thought about telling him which asshole shot Aiden, but before I could his eyes stopped on the one responsible. His legs and arms shook violently, which gave him away. If all the men were like that, I would’ve thought about trying to get out of here. Instead, the others avoid looking at the man in black and focus on whatever they were beforehand.

  The bald one pushed through the crowd right behind the guilty party and walked up behind him. His hand reached around the other’s throat long before the trembling man could’ve known what was happening. His fingernails tore into the tender flesh of his neck, ripping it open like a Christmas present. Blood oozed out at first, but it quickly changed to shooting spurts as the nail crossed through the man’s artery.

  The man dropped his weapon and reached up with his man to cover his pulsing throat as if his hands would be enough to stem the flow of blood. He placed one hand on the wound and removed it just as fast. Realization hit him as he lifted the hand upward and noticed it already covered with blood.

  His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground where he continued to bleed for a minute longer until his heart gave out.

  The front row of the crowd, except for the two who’d tied us up anyway, took ten or twelve steps back from the carnage. Guess these guys didn’t know what they were in for.

  The black haired man strolled to the center of the stage where he raised his arms in the air. “Relax, my friends. His fate will not be your own.” If the people in the crowd believed him, they didn’t show it as they continued to keep their distance from the stage. “As some of you know, my name is Julian. I am a close friend, and business partner of Walter. My bald companion here is Lauden. I would introduce Walter, but he is busy making sure business runs smoothly as usual.”

  He surveyed the crowd as Laudin made his way up on the stage, licking the blood off his hands as he made the slow walk up the stairs. “Today you are here because we wanted to thank you for everything you do, regardless if that’s distribution, sales, or even if you are a valuable customer. I want to thank you from the bottom of my sick and twisted heart.” He pointed down to the man on the ground. “We are forgiving people. As long as you listen to instructions and do your job, we are easy to work with. Those of you who believe you are above the rules. Those who believe they can do whatever they want. This is the fate that awaits you.” He sat down on the edge of the stage. “Your death might not be so gruesome, or as fast, but I assure you it will happen.”

  Lauden finished sucking the blood off his fingers and spoke. “We didn’t intend to kill Clide today, but he acted on his own in injuring one of our honored guests.” He walked over to Aiden and placed his sharp nails against his soft throat. “This is Aiden Wright. Some of you may know him personally. Until recently, he was one of our most valuable runners. But it seems his greed got the better of him. One day he slipped up and sold a package to a pig. Got himself locked up nice and proper.”

  “Before you freak out, getting caught by the cops is not a problem. It happens to the best of us. All it takes is a momentary lapse of judgment to find yourself behind bars.”

  Laudin nodded. “Aiden messed up because he sang like a little bird. He decided his freedom was worth more than a dozen of you in this crowd. For that, we cut ties with him over a week ago.”

  The once docile crowd quickly changed into an angry mob. The people I swore were about to throw beer bottles at us earlier threw them at Aiden. The two black suited men moved away, laughing while the mob had fun.

  I wanted to scream out at them, to tell them to stop, but with Julian and Lauden so close made me decide that might not be a good idea. Something was different about those two, but I couldn’t make it out. They were definitely in charge of the people in the crowd, but I suspected they weren’t everything they looked to be.

  After letting the crowd batter and bruise Aiden for a few minutes, Lauden held his hand in the air causing the crowd to settle down. Aiden was in bad shape. Bruises and cuts lined his face and arms where the trash and bottles had wrecked havoc on his body. His nose seemed to take the worst of the abuse though I admit it may have had something to do with the blood oozing over his lips from it.

  Lauden kicked at a few of the beer bottles still littering the stage as he made his way towards Aiden. He had a wicked grin on his lips and he puffed out his chest, seeming to walk with pride through the surrounding chaos. He stopped in front of Aiden and rubbed his thumb along the blood smear coming from his nose. The hand jerked to his nose where he took in a deep breath of the blood’s stench. He exhaled the smell as his eyes rolled toward the back of his head, like he actually enjoyed the smell. If I wasn’t disgusted before, he took it to the next level as he placed the thumb in his mouth and sucked it dry.

  I looked away to keep from vomiting all over the stage. Most people would be sickened at the sight of blood. Sure, there were a few exceptions, but something told me he was not one of them.

  He was something else.

  I was willing to hedge my bets on him being a vampire, but without seeing him feeding on Aiden I couldn’t be sure. But as I looked over at Aiden’s battered frame once again, I got the feeling I’d find out the truth soon enough.

  A commotion rang out in the back of the crowd as a group of hooded men pushed their way through the crowd. About a quarter of the way through the crowd, a small group of people held their ground, stopping the hooded men’s advances. A circle formed around the group as the crowd looked for some easy entertainment.

  Each of the hooded men raised a fist in unison which looked like a challenge to the men standing in front of them. But before the others could react they all flew backwards into the crowd, knocking over the first few rows of people. From there, the rest of the crowd stepped aside, leaving a clear path for the hooded men to the stage.

  “What is this?” Lauden asked, walking away from Aiden.

  “Looks like someone is crashing your little party,” I said.

  Lauden and Julian both glared back at me before making their way down the stage to meet the group heading their way. When they reached the ground the hooded figures stopped, leaving fifty feet between the groups. Each side stood there for what seemed to be an eternity, waiting for the other to make a move. I was about to goad Lauden and Julian into action, but before I could I felt a hand brush against the skin of my arm.

  I held in a scream, not wanting to divert any attention upon myself though I had to admit it proved to be a challenge. When I glanced over my shoulder and noticed Greg feverishly undoing the rope around my writs, I was glad I did.

  “Is that you?” I said, motioning my head towards the hooded figures standing still in the middle of the crowd.

  Greg nodded. “Best I could come up with in short notice.”

  “How’d you find me?” I asked as he tore the duct tape between my wrists. Thankfully, he left the tape on my skin. He probably figured a scream or grunt from my lips would divert the people’s attention at the bottom of the stage. I couldn’t argue with that logic though I knew it would hurt like hell to take it off later.

  Once I was free, Greg grabbed my arm and dragged me to the back of the stage. I ripped my arm free and shook my head.

  “I can’t leave him here.”

  “There’s no time. Those automatons are there for show. If anyone gets close, they’ll see they are nothing but cloth floating on air.”

  I wanted to ask him how they flung the first group of people who stood in front of them, but decided it could wait. Seconds were far too precious to waste on questions that could be asked once we were in a safer place. Ideally my house, but I’d settle for anywhere right about now.

  “Just watch my back,” I said, then crept across the wooden stage, careful not to kick any of the trash towards the group at the bottom of the
stage.

  I reached Aiden after a moment and whispered in his ear. “Don’t make a noise. I’m getting you out of here.”

  Aiden held his gaze downward, yet still nodded slightly.

  Surprisingly, the ropes around his hands were loose, as if they wanted to keep him tied to the pole long enough to do something more sinister to him. The skin around the duct tape was red and irritated, making it look like he’d struggled against his restraints as the crowd pelted him with trash. Once his hands were free, I carefully tore the duct tape between his wrists. He grabbed a corner of the tape with his hand and peeled it back, but he stopped when I placed my still taped hand on his and shook my head.

  We turned around, and I noticed Greg standing at the back of the stage, furiously waving us to hurry, so I grabbed Aiden’s hand and we carefully made the trip to the back of the stage.

  “We need to run,” Greg said as he helped both of us off the stage. “My automatons are about out of power.”

  I wasn’t sure what made his constructs tick though I suspected it was something he shouldn’t have done. But given the circumstances, I was sure the wizard council would understand his reasoning for creating them to begin with.

  Greg led us down the bank towards the boat I’d seen while being paraded onto the stage. It was a very nice, modified jon boat with a wooden floor covered with green tinted indoor-outdoor carpeting. It had two sets of benches, one at the back of the boat next to the outboard motor I couldn’t make out earlier and another about three feet in front of it. Each bench had a plastic seat attached to the metal on a swivel. At the front of the boat, there was another wooden platform. On it was an elevated swivel chair next to a trolling motor with foot controls.

  I helped Aiden take the seat in the center of the boat before taking the spot up front near the trolling motor. As a child, I’d spent enough time on the lake with my father that I had a good idea how to work it. Greg took the final seat near the back after undoing the rope tied to a metal bracket on the wooden dock.

  A loud commotion broke out back towards the party. I guessed the crowd had been coaxed into attacking Greg’s air automatons, meaning our time was up. It wouldn’t be long before the people noticed we were no longer on stage and scoured the area looking for us.

  I placed the trolling motor in the water and kicked it to life. We slowly made our way to the center of the lake, watching the stage to make sure nobody was watching us. Once we were too far away for me to crash into the shore, I closed my eyes and said, “nebula,” between the electric pulses shooting into my neck.

  A white foaming mist lifted from the water, surrounding the boat with a dense fog that obscured the view of the stage. While we were blind to the party we’d just escaped, the fog also concealed us from them. It was a fair trade-off, especially since the spell took no concentration to work aside from the initial word.

  Greg pulled out his phone and pulled up a satellite map of the area then directed me to a spot on the other side of the lake to pull off. With the slow pull of the motor, the trip across the water took about an hour. Greg held the pull string of the outboard motor the whole time, in case we had to make a faster getaway, but we all agreed it was better for the trip to take longer and be quieter than to get away fast and announce it to the world.

  Once we reached the shore, I backed the boat into the muddy bank. Greg jumped out and pulled the boat onto land and helped Aiden and I out. He led us along a trail in the woods, watching his GPS as we walked. We ended up at his car, he’d parked along a two lane asphalt road that wound through the forests. We got in and drove back to Greg’s house, not saying a single word until we were inside and safe.

  - 20 -

  “What the hell is this thing?” Greg said, furiously trying to pull the metal collar from my neck. I explained what it was, and why they had put it on me.

  “If it blocks your concentration, how did you create the fog?” Greg asked before jerking his hand away. He waved it in the air and backed away.

  I tried not to laugh. It wasn’t funny, but he’d been intent on ripping it off with his bare hands. Not the smartest idea though I admit it was entertaining.

  “Some of my spells don’t take much concentration aside from the initial burst. The fog just creates a pocket of air cold enough to create the fog. Once it’s started, the rest happens on its own.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Aiden interrupted. “Can you get it off?”

  Greg shook his head. “The automatons took all my power. It’ll be a week or more before I could do anything again.”

  That’s the problem with not using your power. Without regular practice and training, skill and power atrophy with time. Greg does what he can, when he can, but as long as he was being watched he’d never get close to his potential.

  “It’s a long shot, but I have a friend who is good with stuff like this. Maybe he can do something with it.”

  “Jace?” Greg asked. “He never leaves his house.”

  “More reason to trust him with this.”

  “I’m not sure,” Greg said.

  “We don’t have much of a choice. As far as I know, there’s a tracking chip in this one too.” I sat back, grabbed both of his hands and looked him in the eyes. “You saw the people at the party. If they come here looking for me, what do you think you are going to do against all of them?”

  Greg shrugged. “I’ll just call the cops. Let them handle it.”

  “We’ll be dead long before dispatch could even send someone,” Aiden said.

  “The longer we sit here, the worse it’ll be. If we can keep moving, it will be harder for them to track us.”

  Before he could protest, I grabbed his car keys off the table and made my way to the door with Aiden limping close behind me.

  “Ast,” Greg said with a sigh. I looked back at him and noticed the concern in his eyes. “Be safe.”

  I nodded, and we walked out the door. We got in the car and started the drive across town.

  Aiden removed the washcloth from his nose and examined the blood that would surely stain the center. It had stopped bleeding in the last hour, but he said it still hurt. Aside from his nose, the rest of his face had some scratches, but was otherwise in good shape. He also had a large bruise on his ribs where one had cracked from the impact of a bottle. Thankfully, the wound I thought would be the worst, ended up not being too bad at all. The gunshot wound on his leg had only ended up grazing his skin. It was deep enough to require a few stitches, but he’d decided to just gauze the hell out of it and hope for the best. In any case, I drove carefully to avoid jarring him too much.

  Since the time in the cage, he was in a better mood. By that, I mean he had finally stopped saying that our capture was his fault though I believed he still thought it was.

  It wasn’t important.

  I wasn’t about to leave him with Julian and Lauden, regardless of what had happened.

  “Have you met Julian and Lauden before tonight?” I asked as we turned onto the highway.

  “Once. They were at a house on the south side of the city when I showed up with a delivery. When I walked inside, they took the guy who ran the house back to another room, so I can’t tell you much about them.”

  “What time of day was it?”

  “Night,” he said. “I did most of my work late at night. More buyers out in the dark.”

  That didn’t help me one bit. I still suspected the pair were vampires. If they weren’t they were sick bastards who got off on the sight and taste of blood. There was too much ecstasy in Lauden’s face when he licked it for my taste, but even that was no guarantee he was a night walker.

  “How about that party? Have you been to one of those before?”

  “Once, about six months ago.”

  “Was it like that one?”

  He shook his head. “It was just a party. Most of the street crew was there along with a few hundred buyers. Lauden and Julian didn’t show up at that one.” He glanced over at me. “I never knew th
ey were that high in the business until tonight. I figured they were street dealers looking to buy more product.”

  “What do you know about Walt?”

  “He’s in his thirties. Owns three more houses just like the one the party was at. He personally meets everyone who works for him.”

  “Did you meet him at night too?”

  “I met him for lunch. He wanted to welcome me into the company and wanted to go over what he expected from me.”

  “Which was?”

  “I was on call most of the night. If they needed me to make a run, I had to stop everything I was doing to make it.”

  “That would suck.”

  He shrugged. “Wasn’t too bad. You get used to moving on the fly after a few days. Normally I’d hang out in a bar or something to pass the time. I didn’t drink,” he said, giving me a serious look. “Pool just helps me wind down.”

  I nodded. “Don’t think I’d drink either. A DWI is a guaranteed way to get your car searched.”

  He snorted. “You’d be surprised how many runners learn that the hard way.”

  I smiled. It didn’t surprise me at all. If most of the runners were anything like Aiden, they were young and looking for a way to make a living without having to deal with the daily grind. That meant Walt would have no issues replacing any of them for someone else if they were to get caught and had their stash confiscated.

  We pulled up to Jace’s house sometime around four in the morning. It was a two story Victorian-style house about ten miles south of Atlanta. I pulled the car into the gravel driveway and parked behind two pickup trucks parked side by side.

  As we walked around the front, I noticed most of the lights were off in the house. All except for one room up on the second floor which was illuminated by the flashing white and blue glare of a TV against the open window.

  We walked up on the wraparound porch and approached the door. I pressed what looked to be a doorbell on the right side of the door and turned around to wait for the lights and camera. Aiden glanced at me questioningly until two bright white floodlights winked into existence, nearly blinding me. I gave it a second and waved at the camera.