I was tempted to grab my cell phone from my bag but stopped myself in mid motion. I had been wanting to call my dad for a while now, but my pride got in the way. It was times like these where I needed him, where I wanted to talk to him and ask for help. But I shouldn’t be the one to contact him first. He disowned me, not the other way around. He chose her—he chose Angela.
After a few minutes, Jones got back inside the SUV and handed me a small Walgreens plastic bag. Inside were a pair of cheap Oakley knockoff sunglasses and silicone ear plugs.
I glanced at Jones and raised an eyebrow.
“Those ear plugs are used by swimmers. So instead of walking around with those headphones on, these are more discreet.”
“And the sunglasses?”
“I have a theory. Your hearing has amplified so I’m thinking that your other senses might be affected as well. It might or might not, but let’s be prepared just in case.”
“Ah, I see,” I said as I opened the package, took out the gel plugs, and put them in my ears.
“How does it feel?”
“Surprisingly good. My hearing seems like it’s back to normal.” The coolness of the gel warmed my ears. I sighed.
“Good because if we plan on looking for Greed, then we’re going to have to go to some very noisy places,” he said as he started the car and pulled away from the curb.
We drove past the Elvis impersonator again and luckily I couldn’t hear what song he was singing this time.
“Do you have a plan on finding him?” I asked once Jones pulled into a parking lot not too far from where we’d just been.
“Yeah, we’re going to the Devils Lair.”
“Wait, like the one back home?”
“Yup,” he nodded as he turned the engine off and got out.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and ran to catch up.
“So how many Devils Lairs are there?” We were on the strip passing all the casinos, I was so distracted I needed to jog behind Jones to keep up.
“There’s one in almost every major city and town where a large number of supernaturals populate the area,” he said as he turned onto an alleyway. It was littered with garbage cans tipped over and trash on the ground. I was trying to play tourist while attempting to keep up with Jones—yeah, it was so not working.
“So he’s going to be there?”
“Maybe, maybe not. But Greed is going to be attracted to his sin, so it’s just a hunch, but he might be a hardcore gambler. If not, this is still the best place to ask questions.”
We reached a dead end or at least I thought it was. Jones ran his hand over the brick wall till he found what he was looking for. He pushed a brick into the wall and turned his wrist like he was turning a door knob. He pulled his hand back, a door opened in front of him, he walked in, and held the brick wall open for me.
“Come on, we don’t have all day Black Falcon,” Jones said with a smirk on his face.
Rolling my eyes, I followed behind him as we went down a dark hallway that soon opened up to a bar like the Lair back at home. With a few differences, the lights were a bit dimmer and had a much more intimate atmosphere. There were a few patrons in the Lair, but overall it was pretty empty.
“Two waters please,” Jones ordered once we got to the bar.
“You boys new in town? Never seen ya around these parts,” the bartender said as he slid us two glasses.
“Yeah, we’re here on vacation. Got a break between assignments, thought what the hell, might as well enjoy our time in Sin City,” Jones said casually.
“Ah, you’re both guardians huh?” The bartender said as he dried some washed glasses.
“Yup,” I nodded, wanting to be more engaged in the conversation without saying too much. I’d learned this month that sometimes it was better to let Jones do most of the talking. There was still a lot about this world that I needed to learn.
To keep me hidden, we’d planned to have me pose as a guardian working with Jones like he did with Angela.
“Hm…while it isn’t odd seeing your kind around here, this one,” he pointed to me, “looks different.” He stared at me with squinted eyes, trying to place what I am or who I really am. He gave up. “Never mind, just don’t start no trouble. I know how you guardians get when you get an inch of freedom. You take a mile,” he said over his shoulder as he went towards the end of the bar to take someone’s order.
Once out of ear shot I turned to Jones and asked, “What did he mean by that?”
“Guardians aren’t perfect Max, don’t forget that. While we have rules we need to uphold, they’re many who don’t—i.e., fallen angels,” Jones said as he scouted the bar.
I had never thought of guardians as sinners, but I guess anyone can fall into temptation. It just seemed to me that they were made to be…good. But it makes sense with all the fallen angels we’ve come across.
“Hey, check out six o’clock,” Jones said turning back around to the bar. I looked behind me to see a guy walk in and take a seat at a table with two other men. He sort of reminded me of Jack Sparrow, oddly enough. He had a Middle Eastern complexion with brown dreadlocks that fell almost to his mid back. His yellow, almond shaped eyes were outlined with a thick black eyeliner that is so not meant for guys.
“Okay…what the heck am I looking at?”
“His name is Josiah. He’s a warlock, a very famous one might I add,” he said as he snapped his fingers to the bartender.
“A warlock?! You mean like a sorcerer…like Merlin?!” I said in a loud whisper.
“Calm down Max, yes, a male sorcerer. I don’t know about Merlin, isn’t he more like a wizard?” Jones said as he ordered a rum and coke.
“There are wizards too? Dude are vampires real also?”
“Max, don’t be ridiculous. Vampires aren’t real,” Jones said nonchalantly as he got off his bar stool and started to walk towards the warlock.
How was that a ridiculous question? All this supernatural stuff, of course I was going to think about vampires.
Staying behind I watched as Jones went to the table where Josiah was seated and offered him the rum and coke. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but they laughed at something and then looked at me. I straightened my back and stared at them with confidence. I held in a grunt as my muscles tightened and I felt the pain from our workout the other night.
After a few minutes and a couple laughs, Jones walked back with Josiah in tow and they sat on either side of me at the bar.
“Max, this is Josiah, Josiah, this is my partner Max.”
“Heya Max, nice to meet you. Loran here tells me you guys are looking for a good time,” Josiah said slyly, with those weird eyes pinning me to my seat. Could he be Asian as well?
Going into character, I grinned. “Yeah, you know, we have to seize the day and all that. Who knows when our next assignment will end?”
He nodded in agreement and slid a business card over the bar top.
“There’s a game going on tonight, the buy in is ten thousand. You boys in?” He said and I picked up the card that had an address and password on it. “Lucifer.” Yeah, real creative.
“Depends, who’s going?” Jones asked.
“Ah, I can’t tell you that my friend. I have to keep this exclusive as well as protect the privacy of my clients. You understand,” Josiah answered suspiciously. “Why do I have a feeling that you two aren’t really here for a good time?” He questioned, squinting those cat eyes at us.
“Because they’re not,” the bartender said, “this one looks really familiar but I can’t place him yet,” he said pointing at me again. This was getting dangerous.
“Fine, we’ll cut the crap. We’re looking for someone who owes us money,” Jones said, “His name is Nikolai. You know where we can find him?”
The bartender froze in place and if Josiah wasn’t suspicious before, he was now. His yellow eyes looked fiercely at us.
“I’m sorry boys, we don’t know a Nikolai around these parts,” he said hopping off his b
ar stool. He threw three gold coins on the bar top and was about to leave.
“I find that hard to believe Josiah. I actually think you know exactly where he is, I think you all know. So let’s make this easy, tell us where we can find him and we’ll get out of your hair,” I said with a smirk as I eyed his dreadlocks.
Jones and I were now on our feet, waiting on the warlocks next move. I wasn’t the Maximillion from before, I wasn’t scared of anyone anymore. Never again was fear going to take over me; I had nothing left to lose.
“Make it easy? Are you trying to threaten me? Better yet, do you even know who the hell I am? I don’t think you do because if you did, you wouldn’t be as cocky as you are now.”
Through my peripheral vision, the two men he had been sitting with earlier started to walk our way. “We know who you are. A pretty decent warlock, very well-known but that doesn’t matter much to me,” I said rubbing the pad of my thumb and pointer finger together; feeling the fire literally at the tip of my fingertips.
“Oh, kid that’s music to my ears. Being underestimated is so rare now a days. I’m happy to know we still have a few idiots running around who don’t know just how powerful I really am.” His two goons were now standing on either side of him.
Sizing them up, I pin pointed their weaknesses before taking my next breath. This would be too easy.
“Alright I told you guys not to start any problems in my Lair. You know the runes are in place so take this outside,” the bartender said, coming around from the bar. I had completely forgotten a rune was drawn to keep powers disabled. What they didn’t know was that it did nothing to me. But I couldn’t blow our cover, it would complicate things and possibly force Greed to leave town.
I looked to Jones, who nodded in silent understanding. Without our powers, we could still take these guys on.
Not even a second later, one of Josiah’s goons grabbed a bottle from the counter and swung it towards my head.
Let the games begin.
At a questionable speed, I raised my forearm towards the arm with the bottle, blocking the impact. My fist made contact with his jaw, he dropped the bottle, and it shattered into tiny glass pieces. That’s when the commotion erupted.
Jones and I stood back to back taking on the two goons.
“Duck!” Jones yelled and we dropped down as both of our opponents swung and hit each other. We moved away from the bar top to avoid being cornered. What we didn’t expect was the rest of the patrons at the Lair to stand up and join the fight. While I might have been confident with those other guys, I’m not too sure we could take on a dozen without using our powers.
“Whatever you do Max, don’t use your powers. If we get captured just let them take us. We can escape later,” Jones whispered breathlessly as the first three patrons reached us, their fists swinging wildly.
Captured?
What the hell was he talking about? Beat us up, yeah but kidnapping, I doubted it. The most they’d do was kick us out…right?
Two guys were punching me in the ribs while I tried to grab the guy in front of me. One guy came from behind me and put me in a head lock, while the fist of the one in my line of sight hit my face. The metallic taste of blood trickled into my mouth as I gasped for air after another punch to my gut. I tried to settle my breathing and control my anger, because I couldn’t blow our cover by using my powers. One thing I knew for sure was that Jones and I had to work together. So if he said let’s get captured, then we’re getting captured. If we don’t have each other’s back, then we won’t survive any of this. That realization made me feel like a total jerk for acting the way I have these past couple of weeks.
I felt my right eye start to swell close and I looked around for Jones as multiple fists hit my skin. It wasn’t until I heard a loud grunt to my left that I saw Jones limp body slam onto the ground. There were too many of them.
“Still feeling confident now, kid?” Josiah said as he crouched in front of me. I was being held up by both arms, not able to stand on my own. “You don’t mess with the most powerful warlock in the West Coast, understand?”
I couldn’t answer with words but a gurgle of blood seeped out my mouth. “Yeah, didn’t think so.” He chuckled as his two goons dragged me towards the exit.
My boots stumbled over each other and I became dead weight. I was too weak to do anything and all they did was laugh.
“Josiah, what are you going to do? Remember they’re guardians, they might come looking for them,” I heard someone say, but I didn’t have the strength to lift my head up.
“Don’t worry, no one’s coming for these punks. They don’t seem important to the guardians, but they’ll be valuable to me for the fights.”
“I don’t know, I told you that dark haired boy looks really familiar. Don’t risk it.”
“Tom, you worry way too much. Did you forget who I am? I’m the most powerful warlock around, no one’s going to cross me…not even the guardians.”
“Well why were they looking for Nikolai? They could be Warrior Angels sent to look for him.”
“Oh please, these fools are warriors? Ha! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while. Michael hasn’t sent anyone for Niko in more than a century.”
“Josiah, be careful, there are rumors around the Lairs that the seventh has been found. There very well may be warriors looking for him.”
There was a pregnant pause in their conversation and I couldn’t lift my head to look at their faces. But they said everything I needed to hear.
They knew where Greed was.
I tried to piece everything everyone said, but the throb of a headache that had formed made it difficult. The little I knew from movies, Michael must be an angel. I think he’s the one who took down Satan. I don’t know, that’s something I needed to ask Jones when I get the chance. But the one thing ringing in my mind was the fights. What was he talking about?
My thoughts were interrupted when I was grabbed by my hair and I looked up. It took all the strength left in me not to wince.
“He’s out cold,” Josiah said with a smirk. My eyes were practically swollen shut, but I could see through slits.
“Take them to the cells.”
5
“Ppsssttt…Max? Wake up!” The clanging of metal stirred me awake or at least conscious. I could barely open my eyes. “Ppsssttt, dude?” Jones’ voice whispered to me as another banging of metal rang out.
“Stop it! I have a damn headache, man,” I finally said with cotton mouth. Ugh, not again. I got my eyelids to partially open, and I was met with darkness; very little light came in from behind me. I struggled to sit up and accomplished it by leaning on my elbows. I looked to my right and left, and all I saw were concrete walls. The metallic smell of blood filled my nostrils and I didn’t want to think about where it came from. I slowly turned to look behind me and was met with jail-like bars closing me in. Great. So this is what he meant about being captured.
In the cell across from mine was Jones leaning against the bars. He looked bored and dirty.
“Why did I let you convince me to do this?” I moaned as I tried to get up.
“I don’t always come up with the greatest plans but then again you couldn’t outright reveal yourself. They were already somewhat suspicious of you,” Jones said as I rested against the wall.
“Yeah well, I seem to always get captured and knocked out. I’m not liking this habit.”
Jones snorted. “They should start calling you the Blackout King.”
I glared at him. “Now what? I heard Josiah mention ‘the fights;’ what’s that about?”
“About that…” Jones backed away and diverted his eyes to something much more interesting on the ground. Because that’s not weird, nope not at all.
“Out with it Jones, we obviously don’t have all day.”
He sighed. “Josiah is one of the heavy hitters in the underground fighting scene here in Vegas. He sort of enslaves angels and demons to cheat and win fights by using their powers
.”
So he was pretty much trying to tell me we were slaves now. This is not how we were supposed to find Greed. I knew it was going to be tough finding him, but I definitely wouldn’t have guessed I’d have to fight for my freedom—Gladiator style.
“How do we get out of here then?”
“We don’t. If Greed is anything like his nature, he’ll be betting at these fights.”
“And if he’s not?”
“We’ll escape. Until then, this is our best shot. The fallen angels may have had an idea as to where he might be, but they don’t have an exact location. Now we need to do the heavy work.”
The heavy work was for us to join a fight club. Fantastic, this is like a dream come true. Seriously, I’m wasn’t even trying to be sarcastic. Well, maybe just a little.
“Fight Club is so one of my favorite movies. Can I be Brad Pitt?”
“Max, get serious. I’m more suited to play Tyler Durden,” Jones said as he puffed out his chest. Oh, brother.
Footsteps echoed off and I didn’t get to respond. The sound of heavy boots approaching made Jones and I look to one another and shut up. We hadn’t devised a plan so now we’d have to wing it.
The man that stopped in between our cells was Josiah, his auburn dreadlocks picked up in a thick ponytail—a hoop earring on his right ear. He’s definitely trying to be Jack Sparrow.
“Hello there boys, how’d you sleep?” He said with a smirk I wanted to smack off his face. All I could do was grill him.
“I’ll take your silence as good. I am sorry it had to come down to this, I really wanted us to be friends.”
“Then why are we locked up?” Jones asked calmly. Like it was just another day in the office.
“Because I saw an opportunity and I took it. You see I run the underground fights around these parts and I need skilled fighters. And since you were able to knock out two of my best guys—you two owe me,” he said with a lazy grin.
Greed (Sins of the Fallen Book 2) Page 3
