His stark cheekbones acted as accents to the power which swirled around him. His deep-set eyes glared at me with intense fury, and his forehead crinkled with either curiosity or even more anger.
“I’ll ask you one more time,” the guy growled, his dark lips receding as they revealed shockingly white teeth, which ground together with fury. “After which, I will roast your disgusting imp until he is little more than a pile of cinders.”
Well, that answered that question. This dude could definitely see Gary, and he didn’t seem very impressed. It really wasn’t fair. Gary was quite impressive as far as imps went.
My body tensed as I read the situation. Though this kid was obviously formidable and though he commanded magic I hadn’t seen enough of yet to be able to identify, he was confused. It was in his eyes, in the way they darted back and forth between the three of us, the way they read the room, and the way they widened as he took things in. He had no idea where he was. If I had to lay money on it, I’d wager he had no idea how he got here either.
“And after we saved your life,” Gary scoffed. “That’s a fine ‘how do you do’.”
“My life is meaningless when compared to the safety and security of the rain queen,” he answered, red, fiery energy crackling around him. Steam rose thick around him, the wet carpet reacting to the heat pouring from his powered up body. That sentiment seemed equal parts loyal and depressing. This guy definitely needed a pep talk, or one of those Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
“You won’t get any argument from me,” Gary answered, pursing his oblong mouth in what had to be the imp version of throwing shade
“Who are you talking about?” I asked the guy, shooting Gary a withering glance meant to shut him up. Knowing my impish best friend, it wouldn’t work for too long. Still, it silenced him for the moment, and that was better than nothing. “Who is the rain queen?”
Rage replaced confusion in his eyes as the steamed wafted up into his field of vision.
“Do not lie to me! I know you know her!” he screamed in an accent I was still trying to place. “Do not lie to me! The proof of her abilities is in this very room!” His head turned frantically from one end of the soaked area to the next.
Steam still billowed up around him as the fiery energy pulsated a brighter red. It was obviously connected to his emotions and-given that I had basically just blown my wad dealing with the massive bee man, unless I wanted my demon half to feast on this kid, I was going to have to try to talk him down. Hmm, now that I thought about it, was this why my demon had been ready to feast on him when he fell unconscious in the living room. Had it realized he was a supernatural snack?
Either way, getting ahold of him and sucking him dry seemed like a pretty tall order, given the scowl of rage plastered across his still glowing face.
“That wasn’t her, my man,” I said, holding my hands out in front of me and trying to keep my voice as even and unthreatening as possible. “Whoever your rain queen is, she must share some parlor tricks with me, because I did that.”
“Blasphemy!” he shouted, his voice cracking the way a kid’s might if he got too scared.
My eyes darted over to Renee. More than anything, I wanted her to hightail it out of her, to get herself to safety. That was a bleak prospect though, given that something we couldn’t see or even identify was after her.
Besides, she was as stubborn as they came. I couldn’t even keep her in the bedroom when she thought I was getting stung by bees. There was no way I’d be able to convince her to leave me alone with this guy, no matter how stern my stare was.
All I could do was stay close to her and hope I could calm this kid down. It would have helped, of course, if I knew what the hell he was talking about.
“I get that you’re upset, and I get that you’re confused. Really, I do,” I continued. “But you’re obviously some sort of supernatural, given the sheer amount of energy you’ve got floating around you. So, I’m going to go ahead and assume you’ll believe me when I tell you I’m a warlock.”
“I am no creature!” he spit out, staring at me like I was the worst kind of person. “I am Bhandal, and I have been imbued with the spirit of my ancestors, the greatest lives to ever touch the Balobedu Tribe. Their strength flows through me, giving me power beyond that of even the gods, and I will use that power if you do not tell me where the rain queen is.”
The steam surrounding this kid was gone now. He was burning too hot, blazing too brightly. The idiot was going to put a hole in the carpet if I didn’t calm him down quickly. Either way, I was fairly certain I wasn’t getting my security deposit back.
It was then that something he said brushed off some cobwebs in my mind. Warlocks are taught about most of the supernatural creatures that lurk in the world. As children, we learn about vampires, and demons, and all the hundreds of other races that bounce around this planet under the noses of humans who are better off having no idea about it.
I never paid much attention to those particular lessons. As a half-demon, the warlock community treated me a lot like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer before he lit Santa’s way one fateful Christmas Eve.
Still, you could only block out so much, especially before the advent of iPhones. Every once in a while, bits of information seeped through, and hearing this guy talk about his tribe sparked a memory regarding one of those bits.
“Listen, Bhandal,” I started, staying close to Renee and looking the kid right in the eyes.
“I’m pretty sure he said his name was Band-Aid,” Gary chimed in from his perch on my shoulder.
“Shut up,” I muttered, keeping my eyes locked on the kid’s so he’d know I was serious about what I was getting ready to say. “I’ve heard of your people. They’re South African, right? They’re very honorable, an old civilization.”
“Old enough,” Bhandal barked back. “And so honorable that the taking of our queen would result in nothing less than full scale war.”
That didn’t scare me. Thinking back on my lessons about this particular tribe, I remembered they were a small subsect of a larger one that-in itself- wouldn’t be near sizable enough to threaten America. That didn’t mean that this kid couldn’t threaten me though, and it didn’t mean that it wasn’t in my best interest to get to the bottom of whatever was going on here.
This person, this member of the Balobedu Tribe, had been used as a weapon in an attempt to take out either me, my girlfriend, my best friend, or some combination of the three of us.
This was the work of the Benefactor, whoever he was, and now that Bhandal seemed to be free of whatever spell he had been under, it seemed like he’d be my best bet at some much needed information.
“The rain queen is your ruler, correct? Forgive me if I’m wrong, it’s been a while since I learned about any of this, but she’s nobility who has been imbued with supernatural abilities. They’re passed down from generation to generation, mother to eldest daughter and the like, right?” I asked, hoping I was right since it was all coming back to me now. I remembered this story with strange clarity. It must have been a slow day for ESPN back then or something.
“She is our gift from the gods, proof that we are a chosen people. Without the rain queen to bless us with her presence, our crops would dry up, our rivers would run no more, and the joy in the hearts of our children would cease to exist.”
“So, why’d you let her go?” Renee asked bristly from beside me.
“Renee!” I said in a chiding voice, looking over at her. She had her arms folded over her chest and a determined look in her eyes. Though I hadn’t seen her at work much, I knew that look. She was getting down to business, and since she was a District Attorney, that could only mean getting to the truth.
“No Roy,” she said, throwing a hand up to stop me. “I might not have studied about rain queens and superpowers and all of that, but I did study foreign and diplomatic law. I know that a visiting monarch requires a lot of paperwork and back and forth.” She shook her head. “And that paperwork wo
uld have gone right past my desk. If the rain queen is in town, it’s not in an official capacity, and that leads me to believe that this guy has got something to hide.”
He extended a powered hand toward Renee, and I threw myself in front of her, my heart racing. Burning to death wasn’t at the top of my wish list, but it was a lot more palatable than watching it happen to her.
“How dare you question my honor?! I am the right hand of the queen. I am her protector and her voice. I am the shadow that walks at her back.” His eyes went wide and his face took on a definite ‘pissed off’ visage.
“You’re ineffective is what you are,” I answered flatly. This agitation wasn’t getting us anywhere. If I was going to get to the bottom of this, I was going to have to push through the layer of righteous indignation that surrounded him every bit as completely as the power exuding from his body. And getting through that meant it was time for some real talk.
“How dare-”
“Because I dare,” I said, cutting him off. “I dare because you, power of your ancestors, shadow of your queen, and mother of dragons that you are, is out of your depth here. You don’t know where you are.” I shrugged. “You’re in Atlanta, by the way. Eastside, by the Varsity. You don’t know how you got here. I’m guessing you were taken over by a malevolent force who’s after me and mine. And you have no idea where the most important person in your life is. Now, while I don’t have the answer to that question, I can help you out with it. I’m guessing by the region in which your tribe lives and the fact that you’ve all but healed of the thousands of bee stings that covered your body, the magic of your ancestors is generated by the Great Rain Belt. Am I right?”
He didn’t respond, instead looking at me with stalwart and never resting eyes.
“Look, you might be brimming with power, bro, but we both know you’re screwed without your queen. You want help, you have to open up. I’m not asking for your deepest darkest secret. I’m asking if the energy shooting through your veins now originated from the Great Rain Belt. You can answer that question.”
He took a deep breath as if weighing the options before him. “Yes,” he said finally. “Yes, it does.”
“Good,” I said, muttering a chant and clapping my hands together loudly.
A wave of green energy shot from my hands, moving effortlessly through the fiery energy surrounding Bhandal and colliding with him. It centered on his chest and moved up into his eyes, causing them to glow bright green.
“Don’t be startled,” I said, moving toward him and nodding at Renee to caution her to stay where she was.
Gary held his position on my shoulder, but I could feel him tensing up, the claws on his feet sinking painfully into me.
“This isn’t meant to hurt you. Your energy source is from the earth, from this dimension. It means my warlock energy is compatible with it, and it means that I can open myself up to you.” I settled in front of him, watching images of what I had been through since moving to the city flash through his eyes. “What I’m showing you is my recent past. I know you know it’s the truth. I know you can feel that. Watch my life. Know I’m not here to hurt you. Know I had nothing to do with you what happened to you or with whatever’s going on with your rain queen. Know that-”
“You’re a demon,” he said, breathing heavy. His eyes grew large and whipped back and forth in his head as the memories processed through his head; all my years in one fell swoop. “You’re an abomination. You’re the seed of evil.”
Oh right. He got a sneak peek into that part of my life as well. A wave of shame which I couldn’t really account for lay on me. Being who I was-being what I was- it had always been something I felt the need to explain and apologize for. Even as I grew older and began to understand how little control I had over something like this, the sensation was still there.
“Only half,” I admitted. “And I can keep it under control… for the most part. What you need to focus on is-”
He threw his hand out in front of him as the images flickered away. He had seen it all. All that was left was for him to react.
“I have seen what I need to see. I have walked in your shoes, as your people say, and seen what lies in your heart and mind.” He blinked hard. “Your true self has been laid bare to me.”
That was an unsettling idea, especially given what I did whenever my demon side got a little peckish.
“You have to understand,” I started. “The people I consume, they’re-”
“You’d see other things too,” Renee said, her voice stern and loud. “If who he is was laid bare to you, then you’d see something other than evil. You’d see a damn good man who does what he has to so he can do what’s right.”
A swell of pride billowed up inside of me. Listening to Renee talk about me like that, watching her look past the demon stuff and see the guy I really wanted to be (the guy she apparently already saw me as being) was enough to make this crappy situation bearable.
“Perhaps, but that’s not important,” he said, looking up at me as the fiery energy disappeared around him. “Something has corrupted my mind. Something has taken my rain queen, and something threatens the queen of your life as well.” His eyes slid over to Renee. “Even now the ancestors whisper in my ear. They tell me what is important. I need to see nothing more to know what needs to be done.” He moved toward me, faster than I ever expected him to be able to. “We must help each other, Roy Morgan, and we must start right now.”
10
“How long is that bastard going to be in there?” Gary asked, looking at the closed door of my bedroom and inquiring about the South African native who had been in there for the last forty-five minutes.
“I have no idea,” I admitted, leaning forward on my couch and grabbing my second beer of the hour. “I guess that depends on how long it takes for someone to communicate with the spirits of their dead ancestors.”
“That’s so stupid,” Gary said, hopping up onto the glass coffee table Renee helped me pick out after my last apartment went up in mystical flames and pacing around the top of it. “Dead people are dead. Who cares what they think?”
Instinctively, my eyes moved to Renee. I scanned her features for hurt. After all, the loss of her brother was still fresh on her mind. Instead, I was met with a chastising glare.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, shaking her head.
“Like what?” I answered, pretending not to understand exactly what she meant.
“Like I’m some fragile thing you’ve got to tiptoe around.” She stood, huffing. “Yes, my brother is dead, but you know what? A lot of people you know are dead too. I don’t assume you can’t function because of it.”
“I never said that,” I answered, confused about the flicker of anger I saw passing through her eyes. What had I done wrong? I was trying to protect her, for God’s sake. What was so bad about that?
“You didn’t have to say it,” she accused me. “It’s in everything you do. You walk around here, throwing yourself on top of every grenade.”
“Because I’m a cop. That’s my job!” I replied, a flourish of indignation blossoming in my chest as well. I was the good guy here. Demon or not, eating people or not, I was a good person, dammit. Renee obviously had no idea how hard that was for me, and I didn’t want her to.
I didn’t want her to know about the years of struggling with my darker side. I didn’t want her to know about the sleepless nights or the hunger pangs that-even now- flirted with being more than I could handle. What I did want though was not to be met with anger for trying to do what any upstanding boyfriend would. Guess that was too much to ask for.
“This has nothing to do with you being a cop, Roy,” she said running a hand through her long, wavy hair and taking a deep, steadying breath. “It has to do with me.” She blinked hard and looked up at me, the anger leaving her eyes, the tense rigidness fleeing from her body. “I didn’t have a very easy life, Roy. I mean, I didn’t have to worry about a deadbeat demon dad or a coven of warloc
ks who hated my mom so much they wouldn’t even let her pass on after she died, but things were hard for us.”
Her eyes went to the floor, and I found myself moving toward her. Even after just yelling at me, this woman had a magnetic quality. She was a damned flame, and I was a moth. No matter what, I couldn’t stay away.
“We didn’t have a lot of money. We didn’t have a lot of anything. I spent my entire life becoming the kind of person I needed to be to protect my brother. The streets were hard, and they would have chewed him up and spit him out. I wouldn’t let that happen. I got tough along with them. I got tougher than them and, because of me, Nic’s feet never had to touch the ground.” She shook her head. “And then he went and died, anyway.”
Regret filled me. I wished I would have been more sensitive somehow, even if I didn’t really know how to do that, even if I didn’t realize I was pissing her off in the first place.
“That’s not your fault,” I said softly.
“I know that,” she said sternly. “I’m capable. I’m strong. I’m still that tough girl protecting her brother, even if he’s not here anymore.” Her hands balled into fists at her sides. “I won’t be treated like anything else, Roy. And I won’t have you looking at me like something you need to protect, even if there is god knows what after me. You and me, we’re a team. We’re equals. Otherwise, we’re not anything. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
I looked at her for a long moment, at the circles around her tired eyes, at the hard line of her lips, at the way she wasn’t shaking even a little. She was good. She was proofed in fire, and unlike me, she was free of darkness. We weren’t equals. She was so much better, and if I was doing a bad job of letting her know I felt that way, then I needed to do something about it. “Yeah,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away from her... She was Goddamn spectacular. “I get it, Renee.”
“Good,” she answered, sighing audibly and settling back down on the couch. “Now get me another beer before you sit down. Lord knows I could use it.”
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