by N M Thorn
“You’re right,” agreed Jim after another short pause and sighed. “After Kal reviewed the wall of fame, he told me straight that I need to let you fight Eve on your own and that I should pull all humans and even Angelique out of your way. In so many words, your mentor told me to leave you unsupported. And when I told him that I would never do it, he said that in this fight you’re safer alone. He said that the presence of humans will hold you back.”
“I see,” said Gunz, wondering if there was something that Kal wasn’t telling him about this Eve. Probably there was, and it was pissing him off. If Eve was so dangerous, Kal should have disclosed every bit of information he had on her.
“I can’t do it, Gunz,” said Jim. “I can’t leave you without any support.”
“Thank you, Jim. But Kal is probably right. This fight is not going to be your average confrontation with a vanilla werewolf. I don’t even know who this Eve is and what kind of beasty she is. Honestly? I don’t even know where to start looking for her.”
“Start from the beginning,” suggested Jim. “When my investigation gets into a dead-end, I usually retrace my steps, going all the way to the very beginning. Think, when was the first time that you noticed something off?”
Gunz thought for a moment. The first time when he noticed a weird behavior of the supernatural community in the city was that incident with a succubus at Missi’s Kitchen. And then there were the demons attacking Tessa. And of course, Master McGrath and his mighty supernatural crew. He told Jim about that.
“I would start with that succubus. Visit the Temptress club. Most of their kind are working there. Have a talk, see what gives,” suggested Jim. “As far as Aidan McGrath and Tessa Donovan, I got whatever I could on them. It’s not much and there is absolutely nothing special there but stop by my office and I’ll give you everything I have.”
Temptress of the Night was a bar-style strip club run by one of the demonic rulers. There were a few of them, controlling different factions of supernatural beings in Florida. It was a more or less successful attempt of some of the members of the supernatural community to fit into the normal, mundane life without making their presence obvious to humans. While succubi and incubi were still feeding on human souls, they were curbing their natural desire to kill and were taking only a little bit of the soul energy at the time, keeping their clients alive and happy, and laughing all the way to the bank.
Jim and his team were always keeping a close eye on the establishments run by the supernatural rulers, but since no one ever was seriously harmed or killed in the Temptress club, they let them be. It was either that or dealing with the demons and monsters sneaking around in the night and killing people.
Not all the demons, monsters and creatures of magic were regulated and controlled by their organizations. Unfortunately, the majority of them were still living by the old rules where humans were on the bottom of the food chain. This is where Jim’s team and a few of the rogue hunters had their hands full.
“I’m on my way to see Aidan McGrath,” said Gunz, cringing inwardly at the thought. “Kal’s order. I have to find a way to work with this self-important asshole. Anyway, I’ll call you after I’m done with him and if you’re free at that time, I’ll stop by.”
After Gunz hung up the phone, he thought about Tessa, fighting with the desire to call her. He was worried about her. She stormed out of his house, leaving behind the only two people who could help her. He lost Tessa’s trust and unfortunately Aidan fell from his shining pedestal too. She was alone, with no one to call in case of trouble, supernatural or otherwise.
Gunz cursed silently, blaming himself for everything that happened, and pressed the handsfree button on the steering wheel, calling Tessa. The dial tone rung five times before the outgoing message of her voicemail started to play. He hung up before the beep, not sure if he should leave a message. After a minute of thinking, he redialed her number. Tessa didn’t answer again, but this time he waited for the outgoing message to play out and for the beep.
“Hi Tessa, this is Zane. I know you’re upset with me and I understand,” he said, trying to sound calm and friendly, “but please, call me back when you get this message. We need to talk. It’s important.”
By the time he finished leaving the message and hung up the phone, he was already turning into the parking lot in front of Aidan’s school. Gunz parked his car at the far end of the parking lot and was sitting for a few minutes observing the school. It was early afternoon and the school was filled with kids. He knew that Aidan wasn’t going to appreciate his daytime intrusion, but at this point he couldn’t care less.
Gunz walked out of the car and clicked the lock button on the remote. The car didn’t beep. He turned around and pulled on the door handle to make sure that it was locked. The push in his back was so unexpected and forceful that he staggered forward, falling on the side of his car. Before he could react, a few pairs of hands twisted his arms back, immobilizing him. At the same time, someone grabbed his hair and brutally slammed his head against the side of the car.
A searing pain exploded in his head and everything went dark.
~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~
Darkness, pain and movement. These were the first three things Gunz registered as soon as he regained consciousness. He remained calm and motionless, hoping that whoever kidnapped him wouldn’t notice that he was awake, and quickly assessed his situation.
Darkness – a tight blindfold over his eyes.
Pain, a constant dull ache in his head – whoever abducted him probably banged his head a few times, even after he was out.
And the movement – no doubt, he was inside a moving vehicle. A slight smell of fresh lumber was lingering in the air. Probably this vehicle was used for construction purposes. It had to be a commercial van, decided Gunz.
He carefully shifted his hands, just to confirm that his wrists were bound behind his back. He smirked. The idiots didn’t use handcuffs and bound his wrists with nylon ties. They probably had no clue who he was and what they were dealing with. Carefully, he scanned the vehicle with his Salamander sense. He registered the presence of three humans – one was a little farther away, in the driver’s seat, and two more were right next to him. He rolled his eyes under the blindfold, keeping his head bowed down to his chest. Most likely, they were Anatoly’s thugs. The men were speaking quietly in Russian and that confirmed his theory.
Gunz channeled some fire, directing it to his wrists. The nylon ties were gone a second later, and his hands were free. Without any rush, he brought his hands up and took the blindfold off. He was on the backseat of a large van with all the windows covered, and the two idiots that were supposed to guard him were so busy yammering away that they didn’t even notice that he was restraints-free.
He leaned back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest. His every move was accompanied by a throbbing pain in his head. He brought his hand up and touched his forehead, feeling the stickiness of blood under his fingers. The back of his head was also sore, but he didn’t bother checking it.
“Hello, comrades,” he said in Russian, an uneven smile curving his lips. “Didn’t Anatoly warn you that you need to treat me with TLC?”
Both men jumped up and spun toward him, their eyes bulging. They looked like brothers – both were tall, beefy, blond, with short military-style haircuts and five-o’clock shadows on their chiseled chins. Poster-children for the American stereotype of Russian thugs from the Cold War era, short of t-shirts with the hammer and sickle on their chests. One of them moved his hand down to his gun holster. Gunz pursed his lips and wagged his finger at him warningly.
“Don’t bother,” he said coldly. “It won’t be necessary. I’ll go with you willingly. Besides, I can kill you faster than you can pull that gun out of your holster.”
“How the hell did you—,” started to say one of the men, but fell silent, catching Gunz’s sarcastic grin.
“No, seriously, boys,” said Gunz, starting to feel frustration as the pain in his head inc
reased. “Didn’t Anatoly tell you how to treat me properly?”
The men exchanged a look and sat down. Even though one of them was still holding his hand on his gun, the second one looked completely at ease. Gunz decided to keep him in his happy oblivion for as long as it was possible. He preferred to be underestimated by his oversized opponents. Just in case.
“Yeah, Anatoly told us to bring a few fire extinguishers,” replied the second man. He pulled a fire extinguisher from under his seat and brought it forward. Pointing at the dent on the canister, he snickered. “He didn’t specify how to use them.”
“That was absolutely unnecessary,” muttered Gunz, lying down across the back seat of the van and put his hand under his aching head. “All you had to do was tell me that Anatoly wanted to meet with me. Do any of you, schmucks, have Tylenol? The headache you gave me is a bitch.”
“You’ll survive,” huffed the second man with a cold smirk. He stepped forward and looked outside through the windshield. “We’re just a short distance away from the final destination. And I’m sure, after you meet with Anatoly, you will need something stronger than Tylenol.”
Gunz didn’t answer. He put his arm over his eyes and relaxed, thinking why Anatoly would send two of his men to bring him over, instead of paying him a visit at his house like he did the last time. He knew that it would be a matter of a few seconds for him to knock out these two morons and escape the van. As frustrated as he was, now he wanted to meet with Anatoly and see what had changed, hoping to get more information on Eve.
The van came to a soft stop a few minutes later. Gunz sat down, staring at his entourage quizzically. One of them picked up the blindfold off the floor and showed it to Gunz.
“This is going back up and so is this,” he said, pulling another nylon tie out of his pocket, a contemptuous smirk on his face. Gunz could see that the idea of restraining him again was pleasing this idiot. Obviously these two were too busy pumping iron when God was giving away the brains.
“You know that neither of these things can hold me for longer than a second,” said Gunz frostily. “Assuming that you’ve got what it takes to restrain me against my will.”
His statement wiped the smirks cleanly off their faces and the men exchanged a troubled look. The one with the gun stepped forward. “Come on, man,” he said sounding almost pleadingly, fidgeting with the ties. “We’re just doing our job. Rules are rules. You said, you wanted to talk to Anatoly? Well, this is the only way you can see him.”
“Fine,” muttered Gunz, extending his hands forward.
“Behind your back,” ordered the thug with the nylon tie in his hand.
Gunz sighed but turned around and crossed his hands behind his back. The man bound his wrists. Gunz grunted and pulled against his restraints. The tie was applied too tight, cutting off his circulation. The second man put the blindfold over his eyes and everything went dark.
They helped Gunz out of the van and walked him through something that could’ve been a driveway. He heard the sound of an opened door and felt the coolness of an airconditioned space on his skin. He was inside a house. One of the men warned him that they’ll be taking the stairs to the second floor. Walking to the second floor blindfolded and with his hands behind his back wasn’t very comfortable, but luckily the thugs weren’t rushing him. One more door was opened for him and his escort finally stopped him.
“Take his restraints off.” He heard Anatoly’s soft voice and a second later his hands were free, and he could see the light of day again.
He was standing in the middle of a large room that was furnished as a private office. The heavy burgundy panels were concealing two large windows, preventing the sunlight from coming in. The room was illuminated by a large chandelier that was hanging from the ceiling. The dark-wood parquet floor was polished to perfection and shone like dark ice, reflecting the soft electric light of the chandelier. Anatoly was sitting behind a massive mahogany desk staring at Gunz over the rim of his glasses. His attentive eyes darted up and he frowned at the sight of the blood.
“Mr. Burns, please,” he said gesturing at a leather armchair, offering Gunz to sit down.
Gunz sat down, noticing that the two thugs shifted a little closer, now standing behind his chair, glued to him like two unwanted shadows.
“Mr. Karpenko,” said Gunz frostily. “I heard you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, Mr. Burns. The situation we discussed a few days earlier has escalated and I needed to make sure that we’re on the same page,” replied Anatoly. He entwined his fingers and Gunz noticed that he squeezed his hands together nervously, his fingernails digging into his skin.
“What’s going on? Do you have anything new on Eve’s whereabouts?” asked Gunz. He glanced over his shoulder at Anatoly’s men. The idea of two jumbo-sized dimwits looming behind his back was making him edgy. He turned back to Anatoly. “You can let your people go. I guarantee your safety. At least for the duration of this meeting.”
Anatoly stared at him for a moment and shook his head, his dark eyes becoming icy-cold. “No, Mr. Burns, they stay.”
Gunz shrugged indifferently. “So, what was so urgent that you sent your people to abduct me and bring me here – beat up, unconscious and restrained? Do you really think that treating me like this will help your cause or make me move faster?”
Anatoly’s eyebrows rose as he stared heavily at the two men. “Beat up and unconscious?” Both men shrunk under his gaze. Anatoly turned to Gunz and said, “I apologize, Mr. Burns. It wasn’t my intent to hurt you.”
“That’s okay, Anatoly. I don’t blame your employees,” replied Gunz with an evil grin. “I’m sure, when they were observing me from their height of six-foot-five my formidable frame of five-foot-six would have an extremely intimidating effect. They had no choice but to handle me quickly and roughly.”
Anatoly grunted, and his thick brows pulled down over his eyes. “Mr. Burns, for what I have to discuss with you, I need your full and undivided attention, as well as a clear state of mind. If you’re in pain and need to heal your wounds, I have a fireproof room here.”
“Your room can’t withstand my fire, and frankly, none of you can, so please proceed. I’m all ears,” replied Gunz coldly.
“Fine, let’s proceed,” said Anatoly curtly. “Yesterday my daughter, Tanya, was kidnapped. My fourteen-year old child was taken from my own home!” He slammed his hand on the table and squeezed his fingers into a fist so tight that his knuckles cracked. He closed his eyes for a moment, his jaw clenched.
Gunz stiffened, bracing for whatever Anatoly was planning to unleash on him. It wasn’t hard to guess that if Eve wasn’t involved in Anatoly’s daughter’s disappearance, he wouldn’t be here right now. Eve was growing impatient. She killed two of Anatoly’s righthand men and now she took his daughter.
Things were moving too fast, becoming extremely personal for the head of the Russian mob. Just like any good father, Anatoly would do anything to see his daughter safe, back in his embrace. But with the ethics and resources of the Russian mob, his fatherly love was becoming a liability for everyone around him.
“Eve called me the same day and informed me that she had my daughter. She even let me talk to Tanya,” continued Anatoly through clenched teeth. “She told me that if I don’t do what was asked of me, seven days from now, she’ll kill my daughter… my little girl…” His voice trembled and trailed off. “I hope you understand the gravity of the situation I am in, Mr. Burns. I need you to work faster.”
“Anatoly, I’m truly sorry it came to this,” said Gunz, “but trust me, I’m doing everything I can to find this Eve. And at this point, it’s not only your blackmail that makes me look for her. There are other circumstances that are pushing me to work on this case.”
“I don’t care what makes you work on this!” yelled Anatoly, rising, slamming his fist on the table. He stood, rigid and tense, staring down at Gunz, his eyes blazing with fury. Gunz met his drilling gaze calmly. “I don’t know what other ci
rcumstances you’re talking about and I don’t give a damn. But trust me, Mr. Burns! You’re going to get cracking. Eve made it personal for me, and I had no choice but to make it extremely personal for you!”
Anatoly grabbed the monitor on his desk and sharply turned it around so Gunz could see the screen. Gunz glanced at the black-and-white video of the security camera and fear twisted his gut. A woman was sitting on a bed inside a tiny dark room with a small window under the ceiling, with an iron grille over it.
“Lena…” exhaled Gunz, cold sweat running down his back.
“That’s right,” said Anatoly. “This is Lena. But wait, I’m not done.”
He pushed a few buttons on the keyboards and the video on the screen changed. Another tiny room with an iron-clothed window. A man was lying on the bed, his hands crossed on his stomach. Anatoly took his phone and dialed a number.
“Please give the phone to Mr. Shevchenko,” he ordered coldly.
Sasha. Alone, thought Gunz, his brain on fire. If he has Sasha and Lena, no doubt Sergei is somewhere there too.
On the video, a tall man in all black walked into the cell and pushed Sasha’s shoulder. Sasha got up and took the phone.
“Mr. Shevchenko,” said Anatoly. “In a minute, I’ll give this phone to the only person who can save yours and your friends’ lives. I hope you can convince him to do what needs to be done.”
Anatoly silently offered the phone to Gunz. He took the phone with unbending fingers and pressed it to his ear.
“Sasha,” he whispered, “do you know where you are?”
“Gunz? You’re the man who —,” he cut himself off and swallowed. “I have no idea where I am. What do they want from you?”
“They want me to kill someone,” replied Gunz, his throat dry. “Not a human… a creature of magic. I still don’t know what she is and where to look for her.”
The man walked back into the room and extended his hand, demanding the phone back.
“Gunz, I don’t care what they will do to me,” said Sasha, speaking fast, “but you can’t let Sergei and Lena die. Gunz—”
