by Lyn Brittan
The room had little in the way of decoration, better to say none at all. Some chairs, a canoe in the rafters, three small card tables and a couple of mattresses thrown along the wall.
Nothing. Well, almost.
“Jackpot!” Fanchon Marie sped over to Luca. “A sat phone. Should work anywhere.” Fanchon Marie gave him the phone. “But who to call?”
Good question. No one was close enough to be of immediate assistance. Per Breznik'’s own words, though admittedly untrustworthy, his parents and relatives had been captured or at the very least watched. Her family, per tradition, left town the night of the wedding and wouldn’t be able to return in time to help. Besides, Breznik made it perfectly clear he wanted Luca and Fanchon Marie to show up alone. Not that he cared to bring a whole lot of people and anyway, but Breznik would be able to sense an army of magic infused persons from a mile off. Then there was the issue of trust. Given Stephan’s earlier betrayal, he couldn’t be sure who to call in his own household, besides the kidnapped Gregorio, for help. For all intents and purposes, he was alone.
Unless....
Luca grabbed the phone and started to dial. There was one creature that Breznik wouldn’t be able to track as easily. If only he could convince him to help. “Hello? Sean? I need you again.”
He got what he expected. Luca closed the phone. “The pleasant version is that he said ‘no’ and wished me luck.”
“What? He can’t abandon us,” she said, slamming her hand against the table. “I thought he was on our side.”
“The only side he’s one is Callie’s, and she’s still laid up in bed, unable to move or speak. He said he’d help if he could, but to move on without him.”
“So he’s gonna let us rot out here?” Her rising voice and uplifted hands served only to calm Luca down. He walked over to his wife, grabbed her face between his hands, and said, “It’s good to have you back.”
“Focus on what’s important, Luca.”
“I am.” He pressed his lips to hers and forgot their surroundings for a moment. Luca ignored the life and death scenarios and thought about their kiss at the altar. He re-lived that moment over and over again, gained strength from it. Luca was so close to having everything he wanted out of life. One more hurdle to jump. He placed a single last kiss on her nose then pulled back. “All right, baby, are you ready?”
“To get the friend, save the city, and become a hero for all eternity? I guess so.” Fanchon Marie shrugged under his gaze. “This will require a major amount of good fortune and fortuitous luck, ya know?”
“I like our odds.”
He didn’t really. Their odds were crap. Fighting Breznik and saving the day was one thing, but getting to Breznik proved to be a mighty first obstacle. Without the benefit of a motor boat, they would have to take the slow route with the canoe from the rafters. Fanchon Marie had to stand on Luca’s shoulders to reach the thing and with one last uumph, they brought it to the floor. Magic would have worked, but the ancient nodes were too far in the other direction, and they needed to conserve their resources, which dwindled after their last attack. Perhaps they should have though. Inside the boat was a clutch of breeding and angry water moccasins.
Luca intended to dump them out, grab the canoe, and go on about their rescue. His wife made that impossible. Her high pitched squeals were like nails run across knives in his ear. Desperate fingers clawed his face as she tried to climb up his body.
“Calm down, woman!”
“Sn-sn- snakes. Oh God Luca. Go, go, go, go, get me out of here.”
“I am trying,” he said though clenched teeth, “but it is difficult with talons in my eyes.” They sunk in deeper, and they both screamed for mercy.
“We are quickly reaching the point where you need to fear me more than the damned snakes. Calm down!”
In the end, she didn’t. He had to carry her to the doorway and go in alone to get the canoe. A quick stunning spell kept the snakes in place for the fraction of a second it took him to get out the there. “Let’s go.” Luca led the way down the pier with one end of the boat under his shoulder while Fanchon Marie followed behind with the other.
“Sorry honey. I have a thing about snakes.”
The fact that she’d been dead today once already, kept her alive. “Okay. We travel as far as we can by daylight, but it will be impossible for us to make it there before morning. When night falls, we will have to pull over, tie down the boat, and hit the trees.” Luca heard her sigh behind him, but she said nothing else. There were no real alternatives – trees or alligators.
They tossed the boat in the water, stretched a bit and rowed. Louisiana girl that she was, Fanchon Marie supplied the technique and Luca, the muscle. It took a few minutes, but soon, the two had fallen into a rhythm and a companionable silence. Under any other circumstances, it would have a fun afternoon excursion: a happy, newlywed couple out for a spot on the river. Minus the constant threat of death. The river rocked them as a mother would rock a cradle. Cranes sang their song from the banks, while water moccasins, likely attracted by the vibrations of the oars, darted around the boat, popping their heads up every so often. With continued luck, nothing larger would come over to investigate.
The gentleness of the water belied the furious exertions in the boat. What had started out as easy, timed rotations became a muscle-ripping, pain-laden laborious journey. As one hour turned into three and then four, the heat of the sun combined with the weight of the water, allowed waterfalls of sweat to cascade down the planes of Luca’s body. Still, he didn’t stop. Gregorio needed him, and he fought thought the pain as long as he could.
Every so often, his muscles would give out, and he’d tumble back into the canoe until the pain subsided. In those moments, Fanchon Marie made token rows in the water. She never propelled them too far, but wanted to be as much a part of this as she could. He knew she felt some responsibility for Gregorio’s entry into this mess, and his little warrior woman strove to help fix the situation, despite the injuries her body had sustained.
None too soon, he brought the journey to a stop. “That’s enough for today,” Luca said, as he shielded his eyes from the sinking sun. “We need to rest. Looks like a boat house up ahead. We will tie up there for the night.” He had no idea of what they would find. A family? The Morlena? Any other random and impossible thing? He prayed fervently for an absence of snakes and dragged a rough first over his chin. It hurt. So did the rest of his face. Though beginning to scab over, it throbbed like hell. He could only image what it looked like. That, however, was an issue for later. He cracked his neck, took a deep breath and walked inside.
Turns out they had to face nothing. Someone, or multiple someones, abandoned and ransacked the house ages ago. Bits of a nearby tree grew into the opposite side of the building and every so often, a small portion of the murky swamp below lay visible though partially rotted floorboards. They swatted away cobwebs dangling from the low hanging ceiling. Not exactly his usual palatial digs, but it would do.
“This isn’t how I intended to spend my second night with my husband.”
“It will be okay, Fanche.”
“How can you say that?”
“How? Simple, everything is always okay in the end. If it’s not okay then it is not yet the end.” Exhausted, but in an impish mood, Luca extended his hand. “Now, shall I should you how I intended to spend my second night with my wife?” That got him a kick in the shins.
“Uh, no. We’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, you dumbass. Look around, we are holed up in a busted up, beat down shot house in the middle of the river, and you decide to get fresh?”
I thought fear would make you desperate.”
“Not that desperate. You’re as crazy as he is!”
“Come here, wife.” He opted not to give her time to stand up in righteous indignation. Luca rose to his knees, guided her body down onto his, and spread her legs on either side of his torso.
He wondered if she ever fully grasped how much she
meant to him. He intended to show her.
“Luca, this place—”
“Do not look at this place or its walls. Concentrate on me.” Luca removed his shirt and laid it down as a barrier between Fanchon Marie and the filth and grime beneath it. His wife’s body and emotions had been tested far beyond the limits of what anyone should have to suffer through. For the rest of the night, she would know nothing but tenderness and pleasure.
Slow hands took each of her arms and massaged them, while careful to avoid the tender wrists that had been bound not so long ago. Luca let his lips dot feathery kisses from the inside of her palms up to her elbow. When he came across a bruise he swore to himself and added another round of torture to inflict upon Breznik.
“Tell me about snakes.”
She breathed deeply. “When I was a kid, one of my sisters put a couple of garden snakes in my bed. Traumatized me for life.”
“Ouch. What did you do to deserve that?”
“Nothing. Probably. I don’t remember. Luca, my life is divided into two halves: a time of youth, rainbows, glitter, and unicorns, and then A.S.E.”
“A.S.E.?”
“After Snake Era, also known as After Sisters Ended Innocence. Way worse than dying the day after your wedding.”
Luca laughed in her ear before he leaned her back against the floorboard. His massages had continued during her story. With a few additional seconds of attention, he’d be able to do anything he wanted with her, but he relented as Fanchon Marie fought to stile a yawn. Poor thing. Eager but tired. “Go to sleep, love. I’m here and I’ll hold on to you all night.”
“Tomorrow, too.” She mumbled as she nuzzled deeper into his chest.
“And tomorrow will come when it does. I will be here then, too. For now, close your eyes, hold my hand and kiss me awake when sun comes up.”
****
Morning came entirely too soon, and it brought with it the weight of the entire damn world. Though Fanchon Marie greeted him as he’d asked last night, Luca’s shoulders still sagged while the orange-red sun laughed though the window.
“Time to kick some ass, dear husband.” She had woken up in a sickeningly good mood. He figured she was just happy to be able to sleep and wake again – a vast improvement over her previous situation. “Any additions to the game plan?”
He knew what she was really asking. Are we willing to lose Gregorio to save the city? He’d mulled over the thought and possible ways around it several times during the night and had still not come up with an answer. A few different scenarios played themselves out in his head in those sleepless hours, but each failed in the light of one big, freaking problem.
Breznik.
More specifically, Breznik on Morlena land. Nothing was more powerful than a Rom on his land. Not even if he combined Fanchon Marie’s magic with his own, he had no certainty it would it be enough. Still, odds beyond shit provided only a worry, not an excuse. At the end of the day, he knew would not be able to look at himself in the mirror if he didn’t at least try to save his cousin and oldest friend.
“Still working it out, Fanche. I am open to suggestions.” Her shrug said enough. Gregorio may well be dead already. The bait useless now that Luca was partially on the line. “Come on. Let’s finish it.” This could lay claim to being the bravest and dumbest thing they would ever do together. With any luck, it wouldn’t be their last.
The murk of the bayou turned to bubbling sludge the closer they got to the Breznik homestead – if you could call it that. In older days, the estate must have been a grand thing. Cracked and wobbly fences cut a path from the pier to the old plantation home. Faded and flaking mint green shutters hung and swayed like massive waving hands from the second and third floors.
Somewhere in that house, sat Gregorio.
She must have seen the look of worry on his face. Dainty fingers traced his pursed lips. “Either way Luca, we won’t leave without him.” They couldn’t. With what Breznik knew, leaving Gregorio behind, even dead, would be nothing short of a sentencing of undead eternal servitude. He either walked out or flew away, but he wouldn’t stay there.
Luca stopped short. New sensations. Eyes. “We are being watched.”
“I know. I can feel it, too,” Fanchon Marie added. She slipped her hand into his but never slowed her step. “Best to present a united front. One last kiss for good luck? I’ve always loved putting on a show.”
Their lips crashed together. He didn’t give a damn about who saw them. Let them all watch. If he must die today, let it be with her kiss on his lips. Let every single last Morlena know that he claimed her. That his brave wife fought at his side for his man Gregorio, as hard as she’d fought for him.
Fanchon Marie attempted to pull away, but his hand held her pinioned against his waist. He kissed her until his courage grew. He kissed her to remember what he had to fight for. Not just Gregorio’s future but their own. He kissed until he killed his earlier doubts and until he knew they would all walk out of here today.
“How cute.” A voice projected by magic thundered though the trees. “Come closer. Up, up, up the lane. I have your friend just here, just so.”
Luca advanced, but kept his gait slow. No, not out of fear, but thought. He needed every second more to formulate a plan as much as he could. The fluidity of the situation killed him. He couldn’t make any decisions until more of the players showed their hands. “I need to see Gregorio. Make sure he’s still alive.”
“He is. At least for now.”
“Proof, Breznik. You understand, of course, if I do not trust you as deeply as you would like.”
The voice bellowed a tree trunk rattling laugh. Their ears and eyes followed the sound to its home. There in the archway of the decaying mansion, occupying a space between two mighty Corinthian columns stood Breznik, a tiny dot against the whitewashed pillars. “Come closer. You know I can’t see you like this.”
Luca crossed his arms. His stance matching his attitude. “No, but you can hear me just fine. Now bring out Gregorio. I need to see that he lives...and that his body does as well.”
They couldn’t hear, but Breznik must have said something to his toadies. Within moments, a bloody Gregorio, of indeterminable consciousness, tumbled from the top of the porch, down the steps and into the red, iron rich soil below.
Luca’s steps quickened. Along with his heart rate. The closer he got to the porch, the more his anger grew. Red. Hot. Dangerous, like a bit of kindle set fire inside him.
The tips of Luca’s fingers twitched and burned as if the nerve endings had fallen asleep and recently awoken. Magic. Crazy, powerful, slap you in the face magic. Why to him? Why now? The power hit him so much, that it hurt. He’d not felt this since the first time he stepped foot on his property in New Orleans.
Luca turned to Fanchon Marie, searching for an explanation or, at least, validation on her face. He saw nothing beyond the same mask of steely faced concern and dedication she’d had so often before. It almost felt like...home?
Luca stopped so fast that he nearly tripped. Grabbing his wife by the abdomen, he pulled her closer to his side as he spoke to Breznik. “Have someone send Gregorio as an act of good faith. I’m sure you must have some telekinetics in your clan.”
They were just close enough to see him roll his eyes. “What about me, exactly, reads ‘stupid?’”
In case God was listening he prayed, “Just enough.” Luca felt his Touching Stone and gris-gris burning to life. Luck at last, seemed to make an appearance. Luca took one solid step forward, and the magic in the ground swirled to surround him heavy and thick, though no one else seemed to have noticed. Was the place so charged that its magic seeped out the earth? Or, had the impossible happened? Had the Morlena land turned against its owner? That would be a new one, though crazier things had happened.
Actually, no. They hadn’t. Things did not work that way. But what, then? Unless....
Time to test out the impossible. “Do I have your word? Gregorio’s life in place of my o
wn?”
“NO!” Fanchon Marie jumped in front of Luca to face him. “Have you lost your freaking mind? He can’t be trusted Luca, and I need you. We need you.” Then much softer, in a voice below a whisper, “If this is part of some master, genius plan, now is the time to tell me.”
He said nothing. Instead, he walked around her to get an unobstructed view of Breznik and his sick, lopsided grin. To insane man’s clear delight, Luca dropped to his knees, with hands splayed out on the ground, prostrate to Breznik. “I give my all for my people.”
Fanchon Marie clawed at his back. “Please don’t do this. Luca, I’m begging you.”
****
The rat bastard! She couldn’t believe he’d be so stupid as to think that crazy megalomaniac could be trusted. And Luca, her husband, the father of her unborn child, stood there like an idiot, willing to forfeit his life for his friend.
What about her?
And the baby?
She kicked him again in the back for good measure. If he had a super-secret “oh my gawd” plan, it’d be right about now that he needed to let that sucker rip. Instead, he knelt like servant for Breznik, country, glory, and anyone else to see.
Gregorio started half-crawling, half-dragging himself towards them. His jaw hung down, twisted and swaying to the right, clearly broken in at least two places. Garbled, pain-inducing words, came from his lips and his heart. “No, Luca. Don’t. I–” He collapsed in pain, unable to carry on.
She paused at the sight at him but merely for a moment. Luca dominated her mind. If they lost him, they lost everything. She couldn’t let it end. Not like this. Fanchon Marie dropped to her own knees in front of him. “Please, honey, I’m begging you.” She shed all trappings of pride. “Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do, but not this. Don’t ask me to have to go through this. Please, I—”
She wanted to say more, but the earthquake cut her off.
Yeah. Earthquake...wait. Earthquake? Mounds of dirt and once solid ground rolled and swayed like underground worms in bad eighties movies. The topsoil surged forward like a stream, circling the unseeing form of Gregorio over and over again, created ruts in the ground. A trench or rather, a protective moat.
