Branded

by Ana J. Phoenix

  “Look at that,” the lizard said, “someone’s playing hard to get.” The three of them laughed among themselves.

  “I’ll stop playing hard to get once you stop playing fugly.” Asher narrowed his eyes at that stupid lizard, who shot him a dirty look in return. Asher grabbed the pillow from the bed in case he needed to throw it.

  “Good one,” the human guy said, voice booming as he laughed and patted the lizard on his back. “C’mon, don’t scare the kid off on his first day. He’ll come around.”

  “Will not,” Asher said, but they didn’t listen to him anymore as they moved around the room getting ready for bed. Huffing, Asher lowered the pillow onto his knees and buried his head in it. The smell of sweat filled the room as the three strangers undressed.

  Just then Asher would have given a lot to be back in a forest clearing with Blind Guy. His eyes closed, his nose wrinkled and his head filled with memories of better times, he stretched out on the floor in between the beds and tried to go to sleep.

  ***

  The next morning Asher left the room before his roommates woke up. Walking down the hallway, he tried to figure out where exactly he was. The sun barely lit the corridors he passed through, and when he looked outside, fog covered the village like a blanket, hiding all the lame ass buildings from sight.

  Early morning was the best time of the day. When the rest of the world was still too asleep to bother him… or tell him to stay for breakfast, and how about lunch together, and maybe dinner, too?

  Please.

  Being an early bird had its advantages.

  Like right now the only people in the hallways were some guards who would need a good dose of caffeine before they’d take any notice of him. If Asher could find the gardens and take a look around the area, maybe he could get a clue where they had taken Blind Guy. Maybe then Asher could change Blind Guy’s mind about all this. Things were boring without him.

  He hadn’t made much progress when one of the guards approached, saying that he had to come along to the meeting room where 'General Ketsu' was waiting for him.

  “Great…” Asher mumbled and followed. He’d continue his search some other time.

  When he entered the room, Foxy was standing in front of a large wooden table with a map spread out over the length of it. Two other human looking people stood to his side, arguing about something in hushed voices. Foxy looked up when the door fell shut behind Asher.

  “Asher,” he said, “come over here and look at this.”

  Asher huffed, but did as he was told. The map was marked with several red crosses and blue lines that he couldn’t make any sense of. Boring. He looked up at Foxy. “You know, not sleeping’s really bad for your skin.”

  Foxy raised his eyebrows at him, and even the two strangers shut up for a moment to shoot him looks. Asher rolled his eyes. “Everyone knows that.”

  Foxy’s left ear twitched as he narrowed his eyes at Asher. “I believe I have more serious problems to worry about. Now shut up and listen.”

  “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

  “We are here.” Foxy pointed to a blue cross on the map. “These villages have been purged. And these villages are under military control.”

  Asher watched Foxy’s fingers dance over the map but stopped listening. His stomach was nagging him. “Do you have food somewhere around here?”

  Foxy stopped speaking. Then, “Have you been listening to a word I said?”

  “Uh… Shorten it down?”

  Foxy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Forget it.” His pearl necklace flashed. “I’m having someone else take care of you.” He pointed to a corner of the room. “Go wait there.”

  “What about breakfa—”

  “Now!”

  “Gee…”

  Once Asher had sat down in the corner, Foxy returned to studying the map and talking with the others. They were discussing something about splitting forces that Asher didn’t care about.

  Then the double doors creaked open and someone strode in. Asher looked up. That back looked damn familiar.

  “What took you so long?” Foxy narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.

  “I’ve been out—” Sounded familiar, too.

  “You’re always out somewhere lately.”

  “Well—”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Foxy looked at Asher, “I need you to take care of that insolent dragon there.”

  “I’m not sure I—” the stranger started speaking, then shut up when he turned around. It was Fangs. What the hell was he doing here? Asher jumped up from the ground, staring at the bloodsucker. Fangs eyed him with an unreadable expression, and nodded once.

  “Asher…”

  “You know each other?” Foxy said, eyebrows raised.

  “In passing,” Fangs said.

  Asher shot him an incredulous look. “In passing? You drank my blood.” As he spoke, Fangs’s eyes pierced him with a glare that told him to shut up.

  Foxy only gave the two of them bemused glances and cleared his throat. “I guess we can skip the introductions, then.”

  ***

  “What the hell are you doing here working for that fox guy?”

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Fangs said, walking down the corridor and signaling Asher to follow. “What about your boyfriend? He said no?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend. You know where he is?”

  “Same place you’ll end up if you don’t follow orders around here.” Fangs turned to face Asher. “Are you sure you’re cut out for this? What would your mother say if she could see you, about to burn down a village? What must that elf think of you now?”

  “Screw you. I don’t care.”

  But an image of his mom crossed Asher’s mind, how she would stand there, a triumphant smile on her face, saying ‘I told you so.’ He shrugged it off.

  “C’mon, let’s get this over with.” Asher picked up the pace, before he could consider what Bind Guy would think of him. Whatever was going on in his head was a mystery to Asher, anyway.

  ***

  A couple of hours later, Asher found himself standing on a cliff. Or rather, a few feet away from a cliff, behind Fangs and a bunch of people who claimed to be magicians. Or something like that.

  The cliff oversaw the village they were going to attack, but Asher had no desire to get any closer to the abyss. Even as a dragon, you could never be too careful around cliffs.

  “Asher, don’t you want to join the conversation?” Fangs called out to him.

  “I can hear you.” Asher didn’t move. Fangs and the others were discussing details that didn’t interest him. He already knew he was supposed to fly over that village and rain his fire down on it. This time, there would be no Blind Guy to stop him, either. The villagers wouldn’t pose much of a problem. An easy job, Fangs had said.

  At the vampire’s signal, Asher spread his wings and took to the air, flying toward the village. The setting sun was giving the wooden huts an orange glow, almost as if they were on fire already. Other than that, the village looked a lot like the one with all the penguins. That one would have been easy to set on fire too. But he’d been with Blind Guy then…

  A bunch of children looked up at him as his wings cut the air above them. They waved, one of the girls with flowers in her hand.

  Hopefully they were fast runners.

  The magicians closed in on the village, sneaking around the forest. The poor inhabitants would never know what hit them when the attack came.

  A weight settled on Asher’s back and he strained his neck to see that the bloodsucker had come to sit on him. Where had he come from? Could he teleport?

  “It’s time,” Fangs said.

  Asher looked down again, past the smoke that rose up from the chimneys of the little huts. The magicians walked into the village, hiding behind the houses. Waiting for him to start.

  Asher took a deep breath. Filled his lungs with air that would be turned into a storm of fire the moment he exhaled.

  “Y
ou sure you want to do that?” the vampire on his shoulder said. Asher growled with his mouth closed.

  “Look at all those people. Think you can end them?”

  Asher looked. A gust of wind carried the children’s laughter up to him.

  “I’ll stay in this world forever before I help you kill people.” Blind Guy's voice resounded in his head.

  Oh what the hell… He wasn't killing people. And he wasn't Blind Guy. He closed his eyes, pictured the pretty flames that would light up the village, seeing bright orange, red and yellow behind his lids. He could do this. If there was one thing he could do, it was this.

  “You're not burning houses.”

  Damn! Where had that come from? Asher snapped his eyes open. Blind Guy could take his misconceptions about him and stick them where the sun don’t shine!

  “You’re doing this now?” Fangs asked.

  No.

  Asher turned his head and exhaled a bout of fire into the forest, burning the trees at the outskirts of the village.

  “That’s not what you’re supposed to—”

  “Shut up!” Asher rolled over sideways, hoping to shake the vampire off. He needed space to think.

  A scream rang through the air. Asher’s gaze darted down. The magicians had taken his misled fire as the cue to start their own attack.

  Fuck.

  This village was done for, with or without him.

  Flames were already eating up the corners of the huts, eager to gobble up the rest as the magicians strove forward, casting their spells.

  “Look at that,” Fangs said, still clinging to his back. “Think those children are going to make it?”

  Asher searched the crowd of running and shouting flurries of people, some of who tried to defend their homes even as the roofs caved in behind them. The children were running down the main road, pursued by one of the magicians.

  A little boy stumbled over his own feet, fell face first into the sand. The magicians closed up. One of the girls tried to pull the boy up as the magician lifted his hand—

  “We picked new flowers!” The voice of that other little girl flashed through Asher's mind. An image of her and that boy. Smiling.

  Before he knew what he was doing, Asher inhaled and breathed out flames onto the sandy street, into the way of the magician, who doubled back. The children held onto each other as they ran away.

  “That’s a direct disobedience of orders,” Fangs said.

  “Fuck you!” This was not what he’d signed up for. No matter how pretty it all looked. This was slaughter.

  “Not interested,” the vampire said, and disappeared from his back.

  A burning sensation shot through Asher’s claw where that bracelet still clung to him. His claw pulsed and something drew his power right out of him.

  Oh shit.

  His body transformed back into his human form; he couldn’t stop it. He had to get to the ground. Fast. But his wings vanished. And then he was falling.

  He hit the ground mid-transformation.

  Pain exploded in his left side where he landed and made him squeeze his eyes shut. Goddamnit! He bit his lips to keep from crying out as he rolled onto his back. This was exactly why he stayed away from high places.

  He exhaled, tried to calm down. Something wasn’t right with his leg. And someone was sobbing nearby.

  Where the hell was he, anyway?

  The heat, the smell of smoke and the creaking of burning timbers made it seem like he had landed somewhere amid the fire. When he opened his eyes, a burning hut loomed into his vision. And there was another one on the other side of the street.

  “Why are you doing this?” someone asked.

  Ignoring the parts of his body that protested movement, Asher propped himself up on his right arm and strained his neck to see a woman kneeling behind him on the road.

  “Wasn’t me.” Carefully he ran his fingers over his left arm, checking for damage. He cursed when he brushed the bracelet. That stupid piece of…! He should never have let anyone impose their fucked up taste in jewelry on him.

  The hut in front of him crashed in on itself. Sparks rose up into the air. The smoke made his eyes water and his throat scratch. The woman behind him wailed.

  “I hope you die!” She got up on her feet. “You and all those others!”

  She walked away.

  When Asher opened his mouth to say something, the smoke made him cough. Pain tore through his shoulder as he fought for air that wasn’t laced with soot.

  It was too fucking hot too. And no blind fire elf around to stop the fire.

  Asher stared at the flames around him, trying to focus on the flurry of red and orange and all that black. Listening to the groaning and snapping wood, he tried to block out the hurt as another cough took hold of him.

  Fire made everything easier.

  If he just focused on it, if he could just lose himself in it. But his vision swam and he knew he needed to get out.

  He did not want to die in this place.

  Grinding his teeth, he sat up.

  “Found you!” A blurry figure approached and Asher had to blink several times to recognize the shape of that goddamn vampire.

  “Fuck off!” Asher tried to jump to his feet, but his ankle screamed out at the pressure and forced him to fall flat on back. Goddamnmotherfucking—

  “Now, I'm only taking you where you actually want to be.”

  “Fuck that!”

  Fangs came to stand by his side and looked down at him, turned something in his hand. Asher couldn't see what it was, but the bracelet flared up on his wrist and all the weight of a freight train slammed down on his injuries.

  He wanted to scream, but there was no air in his lungs and he couldn't breath, he couldn't fucking think.

  Black spots danced before his eyes as his body shook, trying to get away from an inescapable pain, until it just gave out.

  ***

  And then the sensation stopped just as suddenly as it had begun. José sat in a corner of his cell, leaning back against the wall and holding his head in his hands. Qué demonios had that just been? The tattoo on his shoulder still pulsed faintly.

  Why was Asher getting hurt?

  José raked a hand through his hair. It was quiet now. Maybe Asher had disobeyed orders. Oh, the irony… José snorted without any real amusement. And why should he care? Asher had made his own choice.

  But you brought him here.

  Oh, shut up, he told himself. Like that mattered now…

  He perked his ears when footsteps echoed down the hall, approaching his cell. But he didn't get up, didn't want to. And neither did he want to talk to anyone.

  “You there!” a guard's voice said as the door to his cell creaked open, “C'mon, boss wants to see you.”

  Tell the boss he can go fuck himself.

  José stood up slowly and followed the guard's voice, knowing that there was no point in rebelling.

  “Hurry it up a little, will ya? Boss gets impatient.” The guard shoved him.

  “Yeah, sure.” José’s voice was heavy with the insults he didn't say as he marched on toward a destination he didn't want to reach.

  Chapter 21 - Interview with the Fox

  “In there.” The guard pushed José in the direction of a door. As José went inside, the guard positioned himself behind him to block his way out. As if José was stupid enough to try and run. He’d already figured out that his magic was being blocked by the bracelet on his arm. There was little he could do.

  “José,” someone said. Ketsu. José recognized the voice. And that fox-smell. The man was standing in front of him, a couple of feet away. “How do you like your accommodations? Not much daylight down there, but you wouldn’t care, would you?”

  José kept silent.

  “Take a seat,” Ketsu said.

  José didn’t move. He wasn’t going to humiliate himself by searching the room until he bumped into a chair.

  “I see you still haven’t warmed up to me.”
/>   No way was José going to honor that with a reply.

  Ketsu sighed. “I really don’t have time for this.”

  “So let me go.”

  “No.” Ketsu approached. “We’re just going to have to do this differently.” The fox grabbed José’s arm and shoved him into a chair. José’s back protested the harsh treatment as Ketsu’s scent invaded his nose and made him look away. “You want to sit for this.”

  Sit for what?

  Ketsu’s hand landed on his forehead.

  “What the hell are you doing?” José wanted to reach up and get that hand away from his head, but a sudden pain stopped him. It felt like needles were drilling into his skull. His hands flew to his head. There was nothing there.

  “Just figuring out what makes you tick.” Ketsu’s voice sounded the way the lavalight had spoken to him. Like it was right inside his head.

  “Get out!”

  “When I’m finished.” The needles loosened in places and sank deeper in others, piercing José’s brain. José bit down on his lower lip, telling himself that they weren’t real. “What’s that there?” he heard Ketsu say.

  The pain faded, and José exhaled as Ketsu’s presence vanished and all thoughts fled his mind.

  And then he was ten years old. Doing his homework at the kitchen table. He looked up to the sound of jiggling keys. His oldest brother, Emilio, was standing in the door way, the biggest smile on his face. “Guess who’s taking you to your piano lessons today.”

  “What, Dad’s letting you drive?”

  The next second he was sitting in the backseat of an old taxi cab, watching his father and brother argue in the front of the car. He smelled burgers and when he looked out the window, they were about to pass his favorite fast food joint. “Can we grab something to eat later?”

  “Your mom wouldn’t like that,” his dad said.

  “But-”

  “Not now!” His father looked back at him. “I’m trying to get your brother not to drive us into the next tree here!”

  “Hey,” Emilio said, “I’m not that-”

  “Watch out for that car!”