by M. L. Ryan
Sebastian’s lip curled into a rakish grin. “Are you so certain about that? I wager she is the sort of woman that finds a bit of possessiveness quite enthralling.”
“Twenty bucks says you’re wrong,” I shot back.
He clasped my extended hand tightly in his own. “Make it a hundred, and we have a deal.”
“Deal,” I said assuredly. “You might as well dole out the cash now. This is one bet you are sure to lose.”
“We shall see, my dear. We shall see.”
His overconfidence irked me. “I think I know Rachel better than you. We’ve been friends for years.”
“Perhaps, but you seem to have forgotten she apparently enjoys a bit of S&M. She likely will not flinch when I ask her to call me ‘master.’ You think she would be put off if I refer to her as mine?”
Ugh. He might be right. Before I accidentally witnessed it, I never would have guessed Rachel would let a guy wearing nothing but a ski mask smack her tethered self with a flogger. Yet that scene played out right in the comfort, and what should have been the privacy, of my own living room. And because I let it slip my mind, Sebastian had hustled me out of a c-note. Bastard.
There was no way I was about to admit my folly, so with as much swagger as I could muster, I came back with, “Whatever.”
It wasn’t a particularly elegant retort, but, well, whatever.
21
Ulut didn’t need a lot of time to recuperate from his many months as a dog. A good meal, a shower, and about six hours of shut-eye, and he was good to go. He met us—along with his chaperones—to brainstorm a way to get Keem before more hell broke loose. Before that, Alex asked him many of the same questions that had been posed the night before. Had it been me, I’d have brought out the smart-ass rejoinders the second I realized the queries were reruns, but Ulut didn’t seem to mind the repetition. Or maybe he just understood the necessity.
“Tell us anything you know about Keem,” Sebastian began once Alex was satisfied Ulut’s original answers matched today’s.
“He’s becoming increasingly unstable, I think. When I first started tracking him in the human dimension, he spent most of his time just checking things out, almost like a tourist. At some point, he figured out his magic was more powerful outside of Dekankara, and he began to test his limits.”
Alex looked up from his note taking. “How so?”
“Initially only on inanimate objects, a rock or a tree, and destroying them in various ways. But one night, he came across a kid—maybe eight or nine years old—in a park about ten miles from where he eventually killed the hikers. Keem hung him upside down and dropped him just short of the ground over and over.”
“What was a child doing in a park at night by himself?” I asked, appalled that any parent would allow a third-grader to wander around like that.
Ulut shook his head. “I’m not certain, but he may have just gone off to use the bathroom; I could hear other people nearby.”
“Didn’t he scream and alert his family he was in trouble?”
“He couldn’t. Keem did something so he couldn’t make any noise at all.”
Alex hissed, “Degenerate swine.”
I felt a little sick to my stomach. “Where exactly were you, and how long did this go on?”
Before Ulut answered, Alex added, “And why didn’t you do something to stop it?”
“I did… eventually.” Ulut stared down at his hands, clasped together on the tabletop. “I was watching from behind some bushes. At first, I was shocked. Once I realized what I was seeing, I wasn’t sure what to do. Keem had no idea someone in animal form was tracking him, and I hesitated because I didn’t want to blow my cover. But the boy, he was clearly terrified.” He lifted his eyes and looked directly at me. “I stayed in the shadows, but I started barking. Keem must have worried it would attract attention because he let the kid go.”
Through pursed lips, Alex inquired, “And then what happened?”
“The boy got up and ran away, crying. I followed Keem.”
I tried to imagine the child struggling to explain what happened, and no one believing him. Poor kid. Hopefully, even if his parents didn’t buy the whole some-stranger-held-me-upside-down-without-actually-touching-me story, they figured something untoward occurred and got him some help. Great, he’ll probably need years of intensive therapy and a lifetime of downing psychotropic drugs, but at least Keem didn’t kill him.
My depressing thoughts led to my next question. “When did Keem start butchering people?”
“He moved fairly quickly from inflicting emotional pain to more physical methods. He particularly enjoyed magically immobilizing people and burning them with arcane energy,” Ulut sneered. “It took him a while longer before he actually murdered his victims. I suppose when that became too mundane, he advanced to dismemberment and staging.”
“And you did nothing?” Alex shouted, pounding his fist on the table. “You let Keem torture and murder people, innocent people?”
Ulut drew back in his chair. “I think about that every single day. Each time he preyed upon another human, it tore a piece of my soul. But what could I have done? I was a dog, for god’s sake! I wasn’t able to shift back into a man and, even if I could, Keem would have annihilated me if I intervened.”
“If Keem could so easily dispatch you, what were you planning to do when you found him? Ask him to come with you back to Uncle Jifga?” The veins in Alex’s neck were puffed out, and his face was red. I’d never seen him this angry before.
“I told you, all I was supposed to do was track Keem and report his whereabouts. No one suspected he was traveling to another dimension, and I didn’t anticipate being stuck here as a dog!” Ulut shouted back.
In a softer voice, he added, “I knew the only way to thwart him was to find someone who could help me. And I did—I found you.”
We sat for a minute, inelegantly glancing at each other, until Sebastian broke the awkward silence. “You were faced with a dangerous dilemma. I believe I would have decided to do the same.”
Alex’s face was still flushed from his angry outburst, but he straightened his shoulders and turned to Ulut. “I should have taken your situation into consideration before I accused you of inaction. Sebastian is correct; you made the only choice available under the circumstances.”
I could tell from Alex’s stiff posture and formal word choice that even though he was saying the words, he wasn’t completely convinced Ulut did the right thing. In truth, neither was I. On a purely logical level, I knew he had little choice and given the same situation, I probably would have stood by as Keem unleashed his evil. But in my gut, I wanted to believe I’d have found some way to help those poor people. And that more visceral part of me wondered, even though I knew it wasn’t fair, why Ulut couldn’t have come to their rescue. I didn’t know if I was disappointed in him, or the untenable position in which he was placed, or that anyone should ever have to make that kind of a decision.
“Let us try to limit our discussions to the task at hand, shall we?” Sebastian offered. “Any other issues can be dealt with at another time.” His gaze shifted from Alex to Ulut; the non-verbal admonition not to get their boxers in a bunch was clear.
Alex frowned but responded with a clipped, “When did Keem decide to take over Courso?”
“I’m not completely sure. I couldn’t follow him when he moved into your dimension, so there are gaps of time when I didn’t know what he was doing.”
“But you went through our portal to Coursodon as a dog without a hitch,” Sebastian noted.
“I never got a chance to try because he never left his portal open again except for that one time.
“How did you keep tracking him at all?” I wondered. “Did he always go back and forth in the same spot?”
Ulut blinked. “He might have come and gone in other places, but he reappeared near where I originally followed him through at least three times. He stayed in the general vicinity for a while each time. Like I sai
d, I don’t know if he was popping out in other places.”
“Interesting,” Sebastian murmured, stroking his chin as he pondered this new information. “Perhaps this means his access and egress is limited. We know he emerged and disappeared in North Carolina, and he killed those people in Idaho.”
“There must also be a passageway near Tucson or he would not have been able to kidnap Hailey,” Alex added.
“Speaking of that, if Keem knew he was in deep doodoo with Uncle Jifga, why would he risk going back to the third dimension with me in tow?”
“I’ve thought about that as well,” Ulut revealed. “I suspect your ‘hybrid’ nature confused him, and he wasn’t certain just how powerful you might be. He likely felt more comfortable in Dekankara.”
“Do you call your dimension ‘Dekankara’ as do we?” Alex interrupted.
With a small smile, Ulut replied, “I use the name because I’ve heard you all using it. No one—except maybe Keem and I—has any idea there are other dimensions, so there is no reason to have a name for ours.”
I knew what he meant. You didn’t need a word for something you didn’t know existed. It also made me think of something I’d never previously considered. “Is there a Courso word for the human dimension?”
“Of course,” Sebastian answered, “Snafoo.”
“Like the military acronym, ‘situation normal, all fucked up’?”
“It is just a coincidence that they sound the same,” he explained. “It’s spelled differently. In Courso, snafoo means, ‘no magic’.”
It may have been a mere fluke of language, but I recalled another definition of coincidence was “the quality of occupying the same position or area in space.” That, too, seemed odd, given that we were talking about parallel dimensions. Maybe when this is all over, if I’m still alive and all, I’ll come up with a better name for the human dimension. Although, the more I thought about it, Snafoo might be right on target.
“Alright, based on Ulut’s observation that Keem resurfaced in the same place more than once, let us assume that he is limited to specific geographic locations to enter the other dimensions,” Sebastian said, returning to the original conversation. “Given this new information, I shall have our operatives search more carefully for any grisly murders that have similarities to the ones for which we know Keem is responsible. Perhaps we can narrow down the places where he can enter.”
As Sebastian left to put his plan into action, Alex turned again to Ulut. “Why would he not attempt to conquer the human world where he would not have to contend with any magical defense?”
“He’s more powerful in Courso,” I offered.
Alex inclined his head and asked, “Why do you think that, carisa?”
“Well, if he could enter my dreams back home, wouldn’t he have just explained his threats of doom and misfortune that way instead of kidnapping me? It would be a lot safer.”
“Perhaps he felt the message would be best delivered in person to have maximum effect,” Alex suggested.
I considered that for a moment. “Maybe, but even so, I don’t think Keem is the type to pass up an opportunity to fuck with someone. He would snatch me and then continue to prove how much of a badass he was by tormenting me in my sleep. But he never waylaid my dreams back home.”
“You may be right, Hailey,” Ulut agreed. “Even before all this, he was known for using any means available to get what he wanted. That’s one of the reasons he is notorious throughout Dekankara.”
Keem’s blatant disregard for ethics or the rule of law was completely beyond me. “Despised in three dimensions, what a claim to fame,” I noted sullenly.
Ulut regarded me with a slight wrinkle of his brow. “I doubt that was his goal.”
“I was making a bad joke,” I explained.
Ulut blinked. “Oh,” was all he said in reply.
With a derisive snort, Alex noted, “I suppose it is best to aim high, even if one’s objectives are of the lowest order. I have one more question for now, Ulut. How did you know when Keem entered Hailey’s dreams?”
“At first, I didn’t know for certain it was Keem. I mainly picked up on her agitation and wanted to help alleviate her fear. But when you did your experiment to allow Keem in, I tried to be more vigilant in detecting his presence. I don’t think I was any more successful though. I still relied on changes in her emotions.”
Alex didn’t appear convinced. “You know, caryxa,” I offered, “they use dogs to sense when a person is getting ready to have an epileptic attack even before the person knows it. They can sense changes in their bodies, or brain waves or something. So this isn’t that far-fetched.”
“Perhaps,” he said. He still looked skeptical.
“How common is this dream-invasion thing?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
Ulut shook his head. “I can’t say. I’ve heard of some being able to contact others in their dreams, but I’m no expert.”
Alex tapped his chin as he considered all the new information. Finally, he said, “If there isn’t more you can add at this time, Ulut, I will go help Sebastian coordinate the Xyzok’s strategy to pinpoint Keem’s portals. Hailey, what will you do?”
“I’d like to hang with him. I have a lot of questions about his life as a dog.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed, and I thought he was going to object. Instead, he nodded at Ulut’s babysitters and then drew me towards him. “I’ll see you later, carisa,” he murmured and kissed the top of my head. Before he turned to leave, he glared at Ulut, a look that conveyed an unmistakable, “watch yourself” vibe. Apparently, Alex still had some trust issues.
Now that we were alone—if you discounted the two guards, that is—there were so many things I wanted to ask, I wasn’t sure where to begin.
“Wow, I still can’t quite believe you are—were—Rufus.” I reached out and touched the chestnut curls that covered his head. Grinning, I said, “It feels just like your fur did.”
“I hope that’s the only thing that remains the same.”
“Actually, your overall body type is similar, lean and well-muscled, but a lot less hairy, of course.”
I blushed, not because of what I said, but because of what the comment evoked. I couldn’t get the thought of Ulut’s testicles out of my mind. Those babies were almost identical to my ex-pups. While he was a dog, they were always so, I don’t know, prominent, you couldn’t help but notice them. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I’d considered having him neutered. I even planned to ask the vet about it, but I didn’t get a chance with all the murder and mayhem crap. Ulut asked why I seemed flustered, but I made some lame excuse that it was warm in the room. I didn’t think he needed to know his nads came close to the chopping block. Thank god, I’d dropped the ball on that idea.
“Your ear notch is the same too,” I added in an attempt to cover my inappropriate focus on his nasty bits. “How did that happen?”
“When I was a teen, I had a little run in with a pack of feral hogs. Filthy buggers. One bit off a piece of my ear.”
I’d seen some television show about people that hunt wild pigs in Texas and I was well-aware of javelina, the porcine-like peccaries common in the Arizona desert, but it was interesting that something similar existed in Dekankara. “Were you out hunting?”
“No, the beasts roam all over the village where I grew up. They usually aren’t much of a threat, but I was trying to prove how manly I was by throwing rocks at them. Eventually, they became annoyed and charged me.” Ulut reached up and touched the missing section. “I’m lucky all I lost was part of my ear.”
“I wonder why, as long as your entire body is transformed, you didn’t end up with a whole ear when you were a dog?”
“A good question, but one for which I have no answer.”
“I’ll have to ask Hewlyxnathin if the same thing happens to Yterixa. It’s not exactly the same thing, but my hair has gotten more coppery, like the type of hawk I change into. Does anything like that happen to you?”
“Not really. But I think there are a number of differences between us, shape-shifting wise, that is. You can change in both your own and this dimension, and you have magic and I don’t.”
“Sure you do,” I assured him. “Transforming into a dog requires some sort of arcane power.”
“I suppose, but where I’m from that hardly counts. Although it has provided me with a way to make a fairly good living. I’d be better off if my abilities were of a more overpowering nature.”
“And would you overpower people if you could?” Granted, my opinion was based solely on what I knew of Rufus’ temperament, but it was difficult for me to imagine Ulut forcing his will on others.
He tilted his head and pondered the question. “Probably not. At least, I’d like to think I wouldn’t, but in our world, if you have the power, you use it. As I explained before, Dekankarans live by the idea that whoever is strongest has all the control.”
“It doesn’t sound like a pleasant way to live,” I noted.
“Until recently, I didn’t know any other way existed.” Ulut looked off into the distance. I wondered if he was homesick.
“Do you have any family?”
“My parents died when I was young. I have a brother, but I haven’t seen him in many years. I’m pretty much a lone wolf,” he added with a grin.
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s what Sebastian called you.”
“I think it’s more like the other way around: A sheep in wolf’s clothing,” he observed. “I’m not particularly predatory.”
“There was nothing docile about you when you scared off Keem. Or,” I added, “when you growled at my mother.”
Ulut chuckled. “Her attitude toward you was irritating. I planned to lift my leg on her handbag, but Vinnie beat me to it with his hairball. I thought any additional pet fluids would be overkill. But my original idea for reprisal was decidedly non-aggressive.”
Definitely passive-aggressive, and appropriate for my mother, the queen of indirect expressions of hostility. “Well, thank you for sticking up for me.”
