by Devon Monk
“Morning,” Zayvion said. He was sitting in the driver’s side of the car with a plate piled high with bacon. A fresh cup of coffee steamed in the cup holder.
“This is . . . odd,” I said.
“Eat,” he said. “You’re not going into that inn until you do.”
He shoved the plate of bacon at me, and I took it because, hey, free bacon. “Why?” I asked after I folded and ate three slices at once.
“You tuned out on the way over here. Terric said you needed food. There’s coffee.” He pointed.
I reached over, took the coffee, drank. Lots of sugar, lots of cream. Just how I liked it. Come to think of it, the bacon was just how I liked it too.
“I was just resting my eyes,” I said.
“Bullshit,” Zay said. His brown eyes were flecked with gold. So he was a little angry. Or ready to call on magic. Maybe ready to shut me down.
He was a good man.
“Do I look that dangerous, mate?”
He took a minute before he answered, then, “Yes. Terric said you haven’t been eating. And you’re having trouble controlling magic.”
“And you believed him?”
“Is he wrong?”
I gulped down coffee, set the cup on my knee. “He worries too much. And is upset about losing his job.”
“That’s not what I asked you,” Zay said. “Are you listening to me, Shame?”
“Of course.”
He gave me a look. I stopped, put the bacon down, wiped my fingers on my jeans, and turned toward him, pressing my shoulder against the door. “You have all the attention I have left, Jones. What?”
“Allie’s pregnant.”
Holy. Shit.
I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. Shut it. Tried again. “Hell yes! Congratulations, mate! That’s . . . It’s yours, right?”
He punched my arm. Hard.
“Ow!”
“Of course it’s mine,” he said.
“I’m . . . without words. Damn. This is great news. Happy news. Mr. Jones is going to be a papa. How’s that sitting with you?”
Some of the anger and tension drained out of him, replaced by a kind of nervousness I hadn’t seen since we were teens. “I’m thrilled?” He nodded, and exhaled. “A little terrified at times.”
“And Allie? How’s she taking it?”
He smiled. That head-over-heels-in-love look that hadn’t faded in all these years shone up the place. “She’s amazing. Calm. Happy. Beautiful.”
“So what does this happy news have to do with bacon?”
“She’s in the inn. My pregnant wife is in there, Shame. And I need you to be in control when you’re around her. We’re taking precautions until she gets through her first trimester with the baby. She and I aren’t using magic. Not together. Not at all, so far. The doctors . . . There isn’t any information on how breaking magic will affect an unborn baby. So we’re being careful. Very careful. And I need to know you won’t hurt her.”
I could get mad at that. My best friend didn’t trust me. But he was right to be worried about this. He was right to keep his baby and Allie safe from me.
“So?” Zay said. “How are you doing with Death magic? Really.”
“It pulls pretty hard.” I picked up my coffee cup but didn’t drink. “I can stay ahead of the hunger. I can stay ahead of the push to use it . . . let it use me. So far I haven’t done anything . . . certifiably evil. Food helps. Small destructions are good. The rings help.” I lifted my hand to show him them.
“Are you in control right now?”
“Yes.” I was not lying. I wouldn’t lie about this. Zay knew it.
“Good. Finish eating. The Overseer is waiting.”
I shoved the rest of the bacon in my mouth and took another drink of coffee. It was almost cold now. I’d been draining the heat from it while it was in my hand.
I drank it down cold, then nodded. “I’m good.”
He took one last hard look at me. I must have passed muster, because he opened the door and got out of the car.
I left the plate and cup in the car, mostly because I knew it would bother Terric, and pushed my sunglasses closer to my eyes. Looked around.
Huh. We were in the parking lot of my mother’s restaurant and inn. There weren’t any cars here that I didn’t recognize, which meant we were having a private meeting. Zay stopped next to me, a mountain of heat and life.
Man burned like a torch. More so now because he was tied to Allie, to her life, and to the new life inside her.
It was beautiful, really. Rare to see. And I was determined not to let that fall apart because of me.
We walked across the gravel to the door. I paused before opening it.
“How do I look?” I asked him.
He knew what I was asking. Was I throwing death vibes? Was I leaking Death magic?
Zay put a hand on my shoulder. Heavy. Wide. Hot.
I didn’t pull on the life in him. Not a single drop of all that gorgeous, rich life. His life.
He waited a second, then nodded. “You’re good, Shame.”
“Good? Come on, now. You know I am the best, Z.” I gave him a grin.
One eyebrow rose. “You’re all right.”
“The lies coming out of your mouth.” I pushed on the door. “I do not know how she puts up with you.”
“It’s a little thing called love,” Zayvion said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “Can’t run from it, can’t deny it.”
“Sure I can.”
“Now who’s lying?” he said.
We were in the main room. Warm. Smelled of breakfast food, bread, and pies or something sweet being baked for the afternoon crowd, with just a note of sausage or bacon.
The tables that lined windows and filled the high-ceiling and wood-beamed dining area were covered in dark green cloths, and centered with flowers. Chairs were wooden, floor was the original from when the old place had been a train station.
Sitting at one of the larger tables was the Overseer, Terric, Allie, and Victor.
“Morning, everyone,” I called out cheerily. “How goes the plotting and planning?”
“Good morning, Shamus,” Victor said.
Victor was old enough to be my father. I thought of him as my uncle, really. Gray haired, he wore heavy glasses that let him mostly get around on his own since he’d lost nearly all of his eyesight from the magical showdown before the apocalypse.
He had on a suit jacket, shirt, no tie. Looked like he was drinking tea. At his left was Terric, who gave Zay a look, then turned to watch me. Next to him was Allie, and she was beaming.
I didn’t know how I had missed it at the meeting just yesterday morning. But the woman glowed—literally. The life and, yes, magic, inside her was luminescent.
I gave her a big smile. “Al, you little vixen, you. What’s the good news, love?”
She pushed away from the table and walked right on over to me. Unafraid, that woman. She never disappointed. “Did Zay tell you?”
“He did. You’re going to be a mum, eh?”
She nodded, and the smile lit her eyes. “I am. How do you feel about being an uncle?”
“Over the moon.”
“Good,” Zayvion said. “How do you feel about being a godfather?”
That, I did not expect. “What? Are you joking?”
“No,” Allie said. “We are not. Would you be our child’s godfather, Shame?”
“Yes,” I said. “Of course. If you want me to be.”
And then Allie put her arms around me and gave me a hug.
Lord.
I clamped a fist around my hunger and put my arms around her like she was made of eggshells. I was determined I’d drink the life out of the building and every tree for an acre around before I so much as touched the life in her.
My heart slowed to a low, dragging beat. A beat I controlled.
Zay, just behind Allie’s shoulder, watched me. That look told me he’d take me down before I hurt her.
Goo
d man.
She let go of me. Was still smiling as Zay stepped up and put his arm over her shoulder.
“We should celebrate,” I said, letting go of my control enough that my heart stuttered through a beat or two before it got its rhythm back. “Whiskey all around!”
“It’s six o’clock in the morning,” Terric said. “How about we have coffee and pie?”
“Spoilsport,” I said.
“What kind of pie?” Allie asked.
“For you and that godbaby of mine,” I said, “any pie you want.”
“I’ll see what they have,” Zay said.
And then he walked off to the kitchen, leaving Allie behind with us.
Correction: leaving Allie behind with me.
He hadn’t given me a higher compliment in years. It stilled me.
I would not let him down.
Allie and I walked over to the table and she took her place beside Terric, an empty chair on her other side for Zayvion, then Victor and the Overseer.
Eleanor floated over to her favorite perch in the dining room—the bar at the far end.
I sat off to one side of the table, putting as many chairs as I could between me and the living.
“Small group,” I noted.
“We’ve already spoken to the other Soul Complements,” the Overseer started. “So now it’s just the four of you.”
Zay came back from the kitchen with two pies in his hands. Set those on the table. Cherry and apple. Not a bad score.
He applied a knife to the apple pie.
“And what have the others decided?” Terric asked.
The Overseer shook his head. “I’d rather not say. If something happens, I don’t want any of you to have information that might harm the others.”
“So why have all of us here now?” I asked. “Do you expect me to cover my ears and hum while Zay and Allie talk to you?”
“Shame,” Victor said, “please. Show some respect.”
“All right: respectfully,” I said. “You do know we can hear each other?”
“Victor and I agreed it would be best,” the Overseer said. “Since you’ve all decided to stay.”
I turned my gaze to Allie. “Really?”
“This is our home,” she said. “And our home ground. If something comes our way, we know the place and people better than anywhere or anyone in the world. I’d rather fight or hide here.”
I didn’t have to ask Zayvion what he thought about that decision. His heartbeat was steady but hard, just a little too much adrenaline pushing through his veins. He didn’t disagree but he knew they were in for trouble. Fight. Flight. Maybe both.
And they had a baby to protect.
Hell.
Terric and I had already made our decision to stay put. Now there was even more reason to do so.
“Are you staying at your place?” I asked. “There’s room here at the inn if you want.”
“Thanks,” Allie said. “But we’re staying home. We’re close to the well of magic out there.” She nodded. “So we can access that pretty quickly if we need to.”
I didn’t ask her if they were accessing it because it was a powerful deposit of magic or because there was something about the St. Johns well that seemed to make healing with magic even easier. If they were hurt, being near that well might be the best for them. The best for Allie.
Zay was still busy serving pie, by looking at a person at the table, pointing the knife at one pie, then the other, and when the person nodded, cutting a generous slice and sliding it over to him.
The Overseer and Terric both took cherry; Victor and Allie had apple; Zay didn’t serve himself a slice. When he looked at me, I pointed at the apple and he just pushed the rest of the pie my way.
I didn’t bother with a plate. Picked up my fork and had at it, watching the others.
The Overseer sipped his coffee and sat back. He was more tired than he was letting on, and I noticed a slight tremble in his hand.
“So, what aren’t you telling us?” I asked around a mouthful. The new chef kicked ass when it came to desserts. Well, she kicked ass when it came to any of the food we were serving, though I’d go to my grave saying my mum made the best bread known to mankind.
The Overseer considered me, picked up his coffee, and took another drink.
“I could ask you the same question, Mr. Flynn, Mr. Conley, but time is short. Why didn’t you contact me about the Closer’s death?”
Zay had been walking around the table to sit next to Allie. He paused, pivoting just a bit so he faced Victor.
“Who?” he asked quietly.
“Joshua,” Terric answered. “We found Joshua Romero a few hours ago. In a parking garage. Dead.”
Allie put her fork on her plate. “Oh no,” she said. She pressed her fingers over her eyes, holding them there for a minute, then dropping her hands into her lap. When she looked up, she wasn’t crying yet. I could tell that would come later. Instead she had that take-no-prisoners glint in her eye.
That glint always got us in trouble.
Okay: more trouble than usual.
“How?” she asked.
The Overseer glanced at me. Zay took his seat but did not eat the pie. He was looking at me too.
“You do realize I’m not in charge anymore,” I said.
“Fine,” Allie said. “Terric, do you know how he died?”
“Eli Collins,” I said. Allie held her breath and Zay’s eyes pooled with gold. Since Collins was also an ex-boyfriend of Allie’s, and a man who had worked on experimental magic and technology integrations with her very dead, very disturbed father, I understood their reactions. Plus, any memories we’d tried to take away from him had been returned when magic was healed.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
I had a mouthful of pie, so I nodded.
Terric took over. “There are glyphs carved into Joshua. Death, Pain, Binding. It looked like Eli’s signature.”
“I want to see him,” Allie said.
“Allie,” Zay started.
“Don’t need to, love,” I said. “It was Eli’s hand. Swear on it.”
“Will this change your decision?” the Overseer asked.
I didn’t know if he was asking me or them, but I answered, “Not a bit.”
Terric shook his head. “We’re staying.”
Victor was tapping his finger softly on the edge of the table. He might have lost most of his sight, but he had not lost his ability to read people. I figured he had Terric and me pegged. He probably even knew we weren’t planning to wait around for Eli to find us.
Take the fire to the fire, as, really, no one says.
“And you?” the Overseer asked Allie and Zay.
“No,” they said simultaneously.
“We’re staying here,” Zay finished.
Since I was across the table, I think I was the only one who saw Allie’s lips moving ever so slightly with the words Zayvion was saying.
They were probably thinking the same thoughts. Speaking to each other in their minds. Stuck together brain to brain with superelastic Soul Complement glue.
It was creepy.
But they were my friends. My creepy, creepy friends.
“I advise otherwise,” the Overseer said. “I believe you both, well, all of you, would be much safer out of the area. Perhaps out of the United States.”
None of us said anything. I ate another couple bites of pie, then sat back and drank coffee.
Victor’s frown had gone from thoughtful to disappointed. I guess he’d hoped the Overseer could talk sense into Allie and Zay at least. He should know better than that. I’d never seen them do anything but stand their ground.
“Well, that’s settled, then,” Victor said. “Mr. Moretti, I think we’ve heard their final decision on this matter.”
The Overseer pushed away from the table and stood, his fingers resting on the back of his chair. “I wish you’d reconsider, Zayvion and Allison. You have made a very dangerous choice in staying.
”
Zay was already on his feet, his hand reaching down to help Allie up.
A wave of hunger rolled through me, seeing them there, heartbeats joined, alive and burning. I wrapped my hand around my coffee cup and sucked the heat out of it.
Control it, Flynn. Zay’s counting on you.
“Thank you for your concern,” Allie said. “But this is our home. We aren’t going to leave it.”
Said the woman who had stood on the front line of the apocalypse and kicked its ass.
“I admire your courage,” the Overseer said. “And I wish you strength. If I can help, please contact me.”
“We will, sir,” Zayvion said. “Thank you.”
The Overseer started toward the door, and Victor followed a little more slowly.
I wanted to talk to Victor. See if he knew how Dessa fit into all this, but my control was damn near exhausted. And Terric was right there, just a few seats away.
Staring at me.
Being around him usually dampened my need to feed. But it wasn’t enough to be in the same room with him right now. What I wanted was life. Allie’s life, Zayvion’s life. Terric’s life.
Terric waited. He knew what I wanted. Knew he could give it to me.
Knew I knew it too. And was waiting for me to ask.
If I asked and triggered the monster in him, one of us would end up dead.
Besides, I’d had enough of walking among the living for the day.
“So that was fun,” I said as soon as the door closed behind Victor and the Overseer. “The four of us, holding out while our doom sets us in its sights. Just like old times. Unlike old times, I plan to be drunk for as much of this as possible. Who’s up for a bottle or two?”
Terric just shook his head and pushed away from the table. “Has either of you talked to Davy lately?”
Allie answered, “Not for a few days. Why? Is he okay?”
“I saw him last night. We saw him,” Terric said. “And he saw Joshua’s body. He knows it’s Eli behind his death.”
Zay took in a deep breath and did that stare-into-space thing for a second. Used to be he could sort of reach out and feel where people were in the city. Back when he was Guardian of the gates. Back when there was enough magic in the world to open and close magical gates. Back when magic was broken, but a hell of a lot easier to deal with. Except, you know, everyone was pretty damn good at using it to kill one another.
