by Doug Burbey
"Absolutely, sir. I'll order up a cluster fuck op for Ms. Bennett's team." Johnny smiled as he pulled out his phone to begin texting.
"Oh, and Johnathan, don't forget to say happy birthday to Mrs. Lin outside. She turned 71 today. I think there's still some cake in the breakroom. Grab some on the way out. It was wonderful. Cream cheese frosting."
"Um… sure Sir," Johnathan replied uneasily as he shuffled out the door under Kelvin's watchful gaze.
Chapter 32 - We Meet Again
On the ride back from MIT Kayter hadn't come to any conclusions about the ICER's. But by the time she got back to her RV, she figured she'd proved herself to be the world biggest idiot and hoped she'd never see the old guy again. By morning her mood hadn't improved much but her determination to remember her job crystalized.
Her job was to eliminate scouts, provide close in backup, and not to get herself killed. At no point was she supposed to be bait, the way she'd played it last night. The fact that she'd had fun didn't change the stupidity level of her actions.
In a foul mood, embarrassed, and knowing she needed to improve her gear, she headed to Hunter Gear, hoping Miriam would have her order ready.
A black F150 sat in the parking lot but being a popular truck, she didn't do more than give it a half glance. The owner didn't seem to be lying dead outside of HG, so they were probably a hunter.
That's cool. Miriam mentioned there was someone she thought I should meet in the area. I just never want to run into that guy again. DK? Just yeah, luckily he was up at MIT not here.
Shaking the thoughts off and determined to never see the man again, she pressed the buzzer to get in. A click and the door unlocked letting her into the short hallway. She still hated that walk, knowing all the weapons pointed at her where she couldn't see them.
The second door clicked open as she walked up and she entered the workshop and glanced around. In the back she could see John K and another guy, but Miriam called her name and pulled her attention over to her.
"Morning, Kayter. How are you this morning?"
Kayter shrugged, small talk had never been a thing with her.
"Thought I'd see if my order was ready. I think things are heating up."
Miriam's eyes darkened and she nodded. "Yes, we were just hearing that. While it might be good for business, that idea does not excite my soul."
"No, but it doesn't surprise me." Kayter commented, following Miriam as she moved across the workshop.
"I can't say it does me either. Stupid loopholes in blood magic treaties. But, the idea of anything we call demons keeping their word is probably just as stupid." She reached down and pulled out a dark green, almost black, bodysuit. "Here, this should fit. John is working on the other part of your order. Come on over. There is someone I wanted you to meet anyhow. He's local and spent time in the military."
Kayter followed, but most of her attention focused on the item Miriam had just handed her. The workmanship was excellent, as she expected, but she really wanted to investigate the enchantments. She could feel them tingling at her fingers.
"What exactly did you manage to enchant into it?"
"Well the material I make it out of is cut and impact resistant. I wove in greater levels of cut resistance, energy renewal, and boosted strength. Given the conversation we had, I altered my pattern a little. If you bleed, the enchantment will absorb it and pull it in for a short-term boost."
"Strength boost? How much?"
"Standard is about ten percent, most bodies can't take more than that. I took a guess that as an abomination you can probably handle up to twenty-five percent. Figured if you got cut under that, you'd need the boost."
Kayter whistled softly, still fingering the material and arched a brow.
"Nice, you even accounted for crotch access."
"I've had catheters setup; they are not fun and active movement can be decidedly painful." Miriam's voice held wry experience and Kayter smiled and looked up. "Besides, I wanted to introduce you to someone. Declan Kenner, this is Kayter Reynolds."
Kayter froze, the smile twisting to a grimace as her eyes landed on the last person on Earth she ever wanted to see again.
I wonder - if I wish hard enough will a portal open up and suck me into hell. That would be preferable to this.
"Oh, we've met." Outside of a battle, his voice had a certain softness to it, a softness that reminded her of Dad. It meant that when the softness went away you were in big fucking trouble.
Miriam glanced back and forth between the two of them. "Why do I feel like there is a story here?"
"Nope, no story." She had to get the hell out of here. "I'll come back later for my boots. Let me get you paid Miriam and I'll get out of your hair." She knew she was babbling, but no way in hell could she handle facing this man right now. As far as she was concerned the only saving grace so far was that he seemed to be alone.
"John, Miriam, do you mind if I borrow your office for a bit? Ms. Reynolds and I need to have a talk." Before she could make her escape, and only the inability to leave without paying for the bodysuit stopped her, his hand gripped tight around her arm above the elbow.
"Is there bad blood between you? You know I won't allow customers hurt on my premises." John had stood up and his gravelly voice filled the air with menace.
"I won't harm a hair on her head. We just need to have a talk about why I am appearing in her dreams and why she crashed a portal opening yesterday." Declan's voice held velvet smoothness.
Kayter wanted to protest, to scream, but she knew to her bones the worst that would happen is she might die from embarrassment and the chewing out her inner father would give her. But, if she was going to work in this area she needed to prove that aside from the other day, she didn't normally act like a reckless fucking idiot.
"Nah, I do need to talk to him. I just hoped I could put it off for a decade, maybe two."
She kept her focus on Declan but she thought she saw Miriam bite back a smile.
"Well, not willing to let you in my office but feel free to use the entryway."
Kayter stiffened and she felt Declan stiffen also but he only replied in that same soft voice. "Thanks, Miriam."
In short order she found herself in the unimposing entryway. Her skin started crawling, and that was before she turned to look at Declan Kenner.
Chapter 33 - Dressing Down Kids
As soon as the door to the main room closed behind him, Declan released the young woman's arm. She moved away from him to lean against a wall, her arms defensively crossed over her breasts and absolutely no expression on her face.
Kayter Reynolds. Fuck, last time I saw her she must have been eight? Ten? Would have been when John and I were still on the same base, way before it got bad. Before the war and Ypsilanti.
As always that one word caused ripples of something to run up and down his spine. But he pushed it away and leaned against the door looking at her.
"John Reynolds was your dad? Commander of 1-66 Armor?"
She jerked her head up and down in a sharp nod.
"Huh. That explains a few things." He never took his eyes off the young woman as she relaxed a tiny bit. "It doesn't explain why any child raised by him would have run into a situation in such a reckless fashion, much less walk into someone's line of fire."
A dull flush crept up her face. The odd colored lights in the room made it look orange.
"While I get that you didn't train in small squad tactics, I cannot believe any child of Reynolds would not understand basic weapon safety and how to not get shot in the head - not to mention running into a situation like that with no damn back up. What the hell were you thinking?"
"Well, I…"
Declan cut her off, visions of her dead body lying at his feet and her dad demanding to know why he hadn't saved his daughter pushed him into saying more than he intended. There had been something about John Reynolds you just had to respect, even when you wanted to punch him in the teeth for being a stubborn monolithic asshole
.
"Your dad was a complete hardass and we butted heads constantly on tactics that we had to use, especially there at the last. He didn't like the choices I made and I didn't like how he kept thinking we were going to live through the war. But I respected the hell out of him and he was a brother. Right now, I'm tempted to pretend you are my daughter and set your ass straight."
Her head jerked up and her eyes narrowed.
"Untrained I can deal with, reckless I will not. But, what the hell were you thinking? You couldn't take on all those demons with just a sword. Don't get me wrong, I would have been dead in the first thirty seconds if I had tried that shit. But you must be careful. This isn't a fucking video game where you can hit reset if you die." Declan growled pushing away from the wall glaring at her.
"I don't have time for this shit. You are not allowed to die, or act like an idiot, or cross into people's line of fire. Trust me, I've seen too many good people die because not shooting at the things trying to kill them would have cost them more than the dumb schmuck who got bisected by your field of fire."
He felt his temper rising as all the ways that entire scene could have gone wrong played in his mind and how he would have one more dead child on his conscious. He had too many of those already.
"Look, it might not be my place to school you, but if you are going to stay in this town, on my turf, you need to make some decisions. And how you're going to survive this is one of them. You're going to have to decide if you want to stay a soon-to-be-dead lone wolf samurai or be part of a group. If you choose the group, you need to learn how to work with people, or you're going to be the next Reynolds to fall in battle. Your call but if you stay the lone ranger, just fucking get out of the way when my team shows up."
"I can't use liabilities that put my team and mission at risk and I'm not going to watch another Reynolds die. Get my number from Miriam. Call me immediately if you need me. If you need back up I'll be there." He fought back rage and frustration at not knowing what to say and with her just looking at him, a stunned look in her eyes.
"And this is why I never had kids, I don't know what to say to them." With a vicious turn, he moved and yanked the back door open and yelled into the work area. "Miriam, give her my contact info. I'm gone and open the goddamn front door please."
A click sounded at the other end of the hall, the signal of freedom, a place away from these emotions.
"I need a drink," he muttered and headed out, brushing past the girl who stood there, pale and guilt-stricken. He just kept walking out to the truck and got in it, headed straight home. He didn't plan on stopping the drinking until the faces of the dead stopped staring at him.
Much later, staring at a college game, he hated college games, it occurred to him that he might have been a bit harsh and maybe owed her an apology.
Giving apologies sucks, almost as much as college football games.
Chapter 34 - Toys and Picnics
Shane had tucked Toy into his bed. He might contemplate seducing her later but right now sex didn't even register in his list of things to do.
And isn't that a sad thought.
The corruption of the blood ate at him, the knowledge of the choices he had made, but none of it mattered. With a new world, a new universe, he could stop the corruption.
Kelvin of the White City? Demons are pretty damn literal. Could he mean the white house? Or someone from DC? That might work, tons of white stone shit there.
Even as he thought he typed into search engines, the name Kelvin would help being relatively unique.
Then what the fuck was the DK thing? Why has Declan been on my mind, how can he be part of this?
His mind shied away from the raw weeping wound that was his actions at Ypsilanti, he'd done the right thing. Maybe someday he'd believe it.
"You can't betray dead men, so get over it," he muttered to himself, but the feelings still lurked. Maybe someday he'd find out how Declan walked out alive. A beer, a talk, if Declan didn't shoot him on sight.
Using search engines, he found the only thing that made sense, Kelvin Ordonio director of a small but oddly well-funded group, International Cooperation Emergency Responders. The subtext of the website screamed Demon Control and he smirked. He'd never get that close to someone that high up but his direct reports might be an option.
Social media provided the answer he needed. People never locked their accounts so only close friends could see them, which meant it didn't take him to long to find out about a picnic the next day that most of them would be attending.
It's been a while since I've been to a picnic. Guess I better pull out my glamour and thrall abilities.
Those were always harder for him to use but with the supply of Fae blood, he should be able to pull it off for a while.
He spent the evening in preparation for a picnic, then crashed on the bed next to Toy. At least he had a king bed so he didn't have to deal with her snuggling, or so he thought. He woke up the next more entangled in pale limbs and red hair.
Shane lay there looking at the ceiling, trying to remember the last time he'd woken up with a woman and drew a blank. He cataloged the sensations and realized they were nice and his hand started to drift.
Enough. You don't have time for this and taking advantage of a young woman is still beneath you.
He pushed the girl away, speaking as he rolled out of bed. "Up. We have a picnic to go to and you are going to be my arm candy."
Toy looked up at him from under red hair that resembled a chaos theory diagram more than hair. "Okay. I've never been candy before." She crawled out of the bed and Shane watched and enjoying the show.
Just because he didn't believe in forced sex didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy free eye candy.
Besides, she'll distract anyone looking for strangers. She all but radiates innocence and lack of intent.
That thought rattled in his brain but he pushed it down in order to live with his choices, his questions about Declan, and what he would do with his new universe.
"Toy, I think you should move in here."
I can control her better that way and she is a ripe young lamb for any wolf that comes by.
Toy paused on her way to the bathroom turning to blink at him. She tilted her head and shrugged, looking at the ground. "It's Jane. Just as well, with my cousin gone," her voice caught a bit and she wavered then shook herself, "I don't have a way to afford the whole rent. I'm on scholarship at the university."
Without another word she headed into the bathroom and Shane grinned, ignoring the dying quivers of his morality.
I do love people who let me use them, makes my life so much easier.
He pulled out clothes, arranged some room for her stuff in the closet, and made plans to keep his very valuable Toy safe. You didn't take risks with possessions like her.
They spent the morning moving her minimal possessions to his apartment. He hadn't known women could exist with so little to their name. Outside of her books, she had two suitcases worth of clothes, three pairs of shoes, and a small box of jewelry. She didn't even own makeup. Shane hadn't been around women in a long while but he remembered their counters of stuff. Toy had none of it. It struck him as odd and it was one more thing to push deep into the well of things to ignore.
Dressed in a sundress, sandals, and with her hair braided back from her face, she came across as fresh and pure. It touched odd parts of him as they walked in the park, looking for the faces and names he'd memorized from various websites - looking for an easy mark.
A large, handsome African-American man sat at a picnic table, a ways away from the mass of people laughing and having fun. He looked bored and almost disdainful.
Bartholomew Boyd, Director of Operations. Perfect. With him, I can maybe figure out exactly what is going on with this little group and maybe get some more insight.
Shane took a deep breath, pulled on the glamour, and dumped persuasion onto the man as he approached.
"Barry, good to see you again."
; The man looked at him blankly, then his eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry. I don't believe we've met."
"Sure, we have. I'm Marcus, this is my lovely Toy." He gestured at Toy who smiled sweetly and waved even as he poured on the entrancement, ignoring the oily feeling coating him from the inside of his mind out.
Barry's face went slack, then blank a bit. His eyes glazed over and a half smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, hey Marcus." His voice trailed off after that and Shane backed off the entrancement. If he pushed it too hard the guy would be a drooling idiot for hours.
"Nice day huh? Toy, why don't you go get us some drinks."
Toy smiled at him, with an odd tilt of her head with a strange smile. "Sure." she said and walked over towards where refreshments, including beer on draft, were being served.
"So Barry, I wanted to catch up on Kelvin's plans. Make sure everything is good to go."
"Sure. Magic will be gone shortly; the plan is working well. Eliminate all the Fae, all the mages, and let all the demon hunters get killed. Everyone's on board." He smiled a bright wide smile and chilled Shane in places he didn't think he had anymore. "Hell, he's even working with a demon, playing him, to make sure everything works exactly how it needs to."
Shane swallowed and forced a smile as Toy came back holding two beers, she handed one to both of them. Then she sat down on the table and stared at the trees.
"Bezzid?"
"Yeah, think that's the name, though Kelvin is cagey about stuff like that. Always has all his moves planned out in advance."
"And how is he going to get the demon hunters killed?"
Why the hell do I care? Those people are dead and have always been dead. You don't live that life, get hit with rage, and live long.
Declan's face, the young man he'd known so long ago, flashed in front of him. He pushed it down, away from his memory.
"Mostly incrementally, but some he's converting. Never hurts to have good fighters on your side." Barry frowned, a furrowing of his brows and Shane upped the entrancement, sweating at the power. He could use demon magic so much easier but Fae he struggled with. It felt different and he didn't have the blood to make it easier to use. Training had taught him how to use it but it would always be difficult. Demon, ah that was like riding a bike.
