Branded

by Ana J. Phoenix

  José didn’t know what to say. What Ruigi said sounded sensible, even when José didn’t want it to be. “Maybe you’re lying.”

  “Maybe I’m not. Can you risk that?”

  José bit his lip in silence.

  “I knew you’d agree with me.” Ruigi’s tone made José grit his teeth and clench his fists. He wanted to tell Ruigi to go die and leave him alone.

  “Tell me where it is and how to destroy it and I’ll do it,” he said instead. “On my way out.”

  “Of course. Wake him up.”

  José didn’t want to wake Asher before he was ready, but time was pressing. He put his right hand on Asher’s shoulder. “You got any painkillers on hand?”

  “Certainly,” Ruigi said, “I’m not sure he could walk without some medication.”

  José leaned down to speak the order into Asher’s ear. “Wake up.” The muscles under his palm tensed. Good. “C’mon, Ash,” he tightened his grip, “wake up.”

  Asher’s breathing changed; he was coming to. José exhaled in relief. He wasn’t going to get trapped in a fairy tale fantasy where he had to kiss Asher awake with Ruigi staring.

  “Lemme sleep,” Asher mumbled.

  “Sorry. Not possible.”

  Asher brushed José’s hand off. “Go ‘way.” He sat up abruptly, maybe realizing he’d somehow ended up sleeping in José’s lap.

  “We’re both going away.”

  A few seconds passed in silence, and José imagined Asher looking around in confusion. “What’s Fangs want?” Asher asked. “You teaming up?”

  “No. Yes. It’s complicated…”

  Asher made a noise that almost sounded like laughter. “Too complicated for me?”

  “That’s not—”

  Ruigi cut him off. “Are you going to take much longer?”

  Do you still want that kick?

  “Why don’t you make yourself useful and give me the painkillers?” José didn’t bother hiding his irritation as he extended his hand to the vampire, who wordlessly dropped two pills into his palm. “Gracias.”

  He turned to Asher. “Here. Take these.”

  “What’s that? Tylenol?” Asher sounded hopeful as he grabbed the pills from him.

  “Something like that.”

  Ruigi spoke up again once Asher had downed the medication. “You should be able to stand now. And before you consider running, let me tell you why that would be stupid.”

  Asher slowly got up to his feet and José did the same, his legs on pins and needles after sitting for so long.

  “You think I wouldn’t do something stupid?” Asher asked.

  “Hear me out,” Ruigi said. “What do you think you just took?”

  José felt his mouth run dry at something in the vampire’s tone. Food poisoning. Ruigi had killed those penguins with poison. Oh, shit.

  Ruigi must have seen the expression on his face. “Correct,” he said, “One of the pills was a painkiller. The other one was the same poison I fed those poor—”

  José stopped listening. His body moved on his own, directed by an overwhelming sense of rage at that fucking bloodsucker. That arrogant little bastard who had killed those little creatures and dared talk about it like it was nothing. That stuck-up son-of-a-bitch who was trying to do the same to Asher.

  José’s fist connected with the bastards face, who gave a surprised yelp. Music to his ears. José brought his knee up while he still could and the sound that escaped the vampire’s mouth let him know that he’d hit his target. Dios, that felt good.

  Until his back connected with the wall. Ruigi didn’t even need to touch him to send him flying. His fists still clenched, José let himself sink to the floor. “What the fuck did you—”

  “Touch me again and you’ll never get the antidote.”

  “Fuck you,” José said before he could stop himself.

  “If you decide to behave, however—”

  Asher cut the vampire off. “Thank you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “What you gave me wasn’t Tylenol,” Asher said and José imagined him shrugging. “I’m allergic to that shit, so I’d know by now. But I guess this works, too.” Was he just thanking the vampire for poisoning him? José tried digging into their link, but there was no tangible reaction to what was happening. If Asher realized Ruigi was trying to kill him, he didn’t care.

  “What are you talking about?” Ruigi asked and the cell door creaked as he unlocked it. Where had he gotten that key? Stolen from one of the guards, maybe? Come to think of it, where were the guards?

  “Whatever.” Asher started moving, walked out of the cell and past Ruigi. “Coming?”

  The vampire went after him. “You don’t even know where you’re supposed to go.”

  Asher laughed. A fake, hollow sound. “Does it matter?”

  José shook himself out of his stupor and caught up to the two, grabbed Asher’s arm to stop him from doing anything stupid. And then… he didn’t know. Should he hug Asher? Shake him? Tell him to get a fucking grip? None of it seemed right, and every option would make Asher push him off.

  “C’mon,” José tried, “we’ll run a little errand for the asshole and then we can get out of here.”

  Asher didn’t reply; he did nothing, which was good for the moment.

  “You think you can keep him under control?” Ruigi said.

  You think you need to be kicked again?

  It was moments like these José regretted not being able to glare. “It’ll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth. And if he kept telling himself that, maybe it would become true.

  Chapter 26 - Crashing In

  Playing with one of his lighters, Asher leaned back against the wall while Blind Guy and Fangs argued. About what, he didn’t know, didn’t bother listening. The words poison and antidote were mentioned once or twice. How long would the poison take to kill him? Would it be quick? Bang-boom—and over? Could people still fuck in heaven? Not that he’d get there, but it was nice to think about. Angel-sex. All those feathers might get a little messy, though. Might be just like screwing chickens. Not that he’d ever stooped that low. He laughed.

  Why was Fangs looking at him like that? “Mind your own fucking business.” Aw, had he said that out loud? Well, screw you, Mr. Vampire. Not that he wanted to screw Fangs. And he didn’t want to get screwed. Not by Fangs, not by anyone. Not even by Blind Guy. Not even if it didn’t mean anything. Although he didn’t want it to mean anything.

  Asher rubbed his forehead. His chunks of thoughts made no sense. And the painkiller did nothing against the headache.

  Think of something else. Or better yet, don’t think at all. He closed his eyes, but clearing his mind wasn’t easy. At least, if he died he wouldn’t have to bother anymore. He wouldn’t have to see Foxy again. Shit, he hadn’t wanted to think of that. A memory, he told himself, think of something nice. No, don’t think of Blind Guy. Damn it. Further back. Fuck, why couldn’t he come up with anything that didn’t make him want to punch someone? This was pathetic.

  “Asher?”

  Whoa.

  He almost jumped at the voice. When he snapped his eyes open, Blind Guy stood in front of him. Fangs wasn’t around anymore.

  “Hold out your hand so I can take off your bracelet.” Blind Guy held some sort of green pliers in his hands, matching the color of the bracelet on his arm. How nice. Asher chuckled as Blind Guy grabbed his hand.

  “Hold still.”

  “I think you could cut that arm off and I wouldn’t feel it.” Whatever Fangs had given him, it was strong stuff. He saw Blind Guy’s fingers search their way up and close around his bracelet, but the touch barely registered in his brain. That was, beyond the urge to draw his hand away. He didn’t want anyone touching him. Not even Blind Guy. Or especially not Blind Guy? It was one of the two.

  “You might still need it.”

  “What?”

  “Your arm, you might still need it.”

  Asher shrugged. “Maybe.”
<
br />   “You’re not dying.”

  “Funny. I heard something different.”

  Clink. Blind Guy cut through the bracelet and it fell to the ground. Asher gave it a kick and watched it roll away. Clunk, clunk, clunk.

  “Trust me on this.” Blind Guy’s hand still held on to his wrist. Asher brushed it off.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Basta!”

  The plies flew to the ground and Asher flinched. Hands landed on his shoulders, fingers digging into his skin. “Snap out of it.” Blind Guy tightened his grip.

  Asher narrowed his eyes at him, opened his mouth, but the bastard never let him speak.

  “You’re not dead, okay? So stop acting like it.” Blind Guy paused for a moment, frowned. “I don’t know what the fox made you think, but whatever it is, he’s wrong. You’re wrong. You’re not worthless, and I won’t let you die.”

  Asher looked at Blind Guy, trying to process the words, find a place for them somewhere among the scattered puzzle pieces of his mind. He trusted Blind Guy. Or didn’t he? No, he didn’t want to trust him. That sounded about right. Because Fox-Face had said… But if he was wrong… But he was right about the other things. Asher closed his eyes, inhaled. These were the pieces that exploded when you touched them. Be careful, now, don’t think about—

  “He doesn't want you.”

  Asher bit his lower lip, pushing down the twinge of… disappointment? But he’d known that all along, hadn’t he? How could he be disappointed? He was dying anyway. And no one was going to care, so he didn’t have to care about anyone either. He could live, or die, with that.

  “I won’t let you die.”

  Fuck, he couldn’t think about that now. He couldn’t—

  His mind blanked when fingers tilted his chin up and lips brushed his. He opened his mouth for the kiss, knowing without thinking that he wanted it. More than anything. Because it took his mind off things, because it was José—and damn, was he good at this—because it was fire in his veins, it was being alive. Because he surprised himself by asking for more when José stopped.

  José stayed close for long enough to say: “We have to save your life first and get out of here, remember?” Then he turned around and started walking. “Coming?”

  Asher stared after him for a second before he could get himself to move. No one had ever made him feel like that with a simple kiss. Maybe, just maybe it would be worth it trying to survive all this if it meant that they could fuck again.

  Nothing more than that just… he wanted that. Sex. He needed it. Needed to get close. Physically. Everything else he couldn’t think about if he didn’t want to lose it again.

  ***

  They’d been walking through the dungeon for about half an hour now. José had given Asher the directions the bloodsucker had told him and Asher had taken the lead. He didn’t seem to have any difficulties remembering the directions. Weird when he had such trouble with simpler things. Like names.

  But now was not the time to ask about that. On their way here they’d had to hide in random empty rooms twice to get out of the way of patrolling guards. This was where his ears came in handy. It was easier to sneak around when you heard the enemy before they heard you. No time to get caught up in a fight with guards. They had to get done before the poison got to Asher.

  Unaware of his thoughts, Asher rounded another corner. “Steps,” he whispered and José followed him carefully. José let his right hand trail over the cool stone wall as they descended into the cellars of the fortress. Of course Ketsu couldn’t have positioned his stupid artifact somewhere closer to the exit.

  Some sort of insect crawled onto José’s hand and made him draw back. He shook it off.

  When he focused again, the sound of someone breathing stopped him cold. Somewhere down the stairs in the adjoining hallway, two people breathed.

  “Guards?” Asher stood still.

  “Probably. Two of them. But they’re not moving. Sounds like maybe they’re sleeping.” If Fangs had poison pills, maybe he had sleeping pills as well.

  “Lucky bastards.” Asher continued farther down the stairs. “Let’s not wake ‘em, then.”

  José nodded and went on. Treading as quietly as possible, he tried to sneak past the guards, but Asher kept standing right in front of them. José swallowed. Was he up to something stupid?

  José was about to reach out and stop the little idiot when Asher spoke up. “Should be this room.” He opened a door, almost without sound.

  José held his breath as he followed Asher inside. Once he inhaled again, he was hit with a horrible stench. ”What—” he stopped himself and closed the door. ”Blood,” he whispered then. Something was reeking of blood.

  “There's four bodies in here.”

  José scanned his surroundings, finding the four cold spots.

  “They're pretty bloody, yeah,” Asher went on. “Could’ve been human once.”

  Could have been?

  Asher’s steps echoed in the large and empty room as he walked up to one of the corpses. “They got burn marks, too. Guess Fangs wants to pin this on us. I wouldn’t do it like this, though. I would—” he stopped talking mid sentence. “Uh, shit.”

  “What's wrong?”

  “Dizzy.”

  Was it the blood? No, Asher wouldn't react so strongly to that. So, then…

  “Think it’s the poison?” José walked up to Asher and put a hand around his shoulders to steady him.

  “Maybe.” Asher straightened himself. “It's fine.” He brushed José's arm off. “Passed.”

  “Alright.” José tried to push his worries aside. There was no time for that. “Let's get this over with. Where's the stupid thing?”

  “Middle of the room. C'mon.”

  José followed Asher’s steps. “Don’t go all the way. There’s barriers that’ll drain your magic.”

  “I can see them,” Asher said. “Right here.”

  José stepped up beside him, and transferred all his magic to Asher.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’ll take it back in a moment.” José went farther, through the barrier. A small shock went through his body like electricity. It didn’t hurt, but it pulled at his core, as if looking for something. Magic. It retreated when it didn’t find anything.

  “Where to from here?” José couldn’t find the thing’s heat signature.

  “Like three steps ahead of you. It's pretty fugly. Kind of a let-down, but I guess it suits Fox-Face, really,” Asher said. “I mean, an all-powerful, glowing, glittering… triangle? Really?”

  “It’s a triangle?” José stepped forward.

  “Some sort of triangular stone, yeah. It’s floating, too.” Asher snorted. “Fucking triangle of doom… Gimme a break.”

  José ignored him. He’d figured that the ‘triangle of doom’ was floating because his hands were already on it. He ran his fingers over the side of the object to get a better idea of what it looked like, of what it was. It felt smooth and cool, as if it was made of glass. The magic it exuded was so strong he would have felt it without touching. Now it pulsated beneath his fingertips, almost as if it were alive, beckoning him to try and make it his own, telling him that he would be incredibly powerful, godlike even, if it was his.

  And yet he knew that it could never be anyone’s but Ketsu’s. It held the same aura. The same ill intentions, arrogance, delusions of grandeur. José sensed a force behind it that was out of anyone’s control. By logic, objects couldn’t be evil, but this one managed.

  “You making love to that thing?”

  José drew his hand back. “Jealous?”

  “Should I be?” Asher’s voice sounded strained. He’d said he was alright, but they really didn’t have any time to waste. José turned back to the artifact.

  “Go wait by the door,” he told Asher. The bloodsucker hadn't said as much, but destroying a magical object could have all sorts of consequences. The thing could evolve into a monster and eat him up for all they knew
. Well maybe not exactly that but…Better safe than sorry.

  “I’ll need that magic back.” José didn’t wait for permission before he tapped into their bond. Channeling the energy into his hands, he concentrated as much heat as possible until the air warmed up around him. The glass-like material under his fingertips didn't seem to react. Maybe he should have just taken it and smashed it against the wall. “Mierda.”

  “What's… wrong?”

  “This isn't gonna—” he stopped himself. A rush of energy took hold of him, just when he thought he'd pushed as far as he could go. Magic streamed into his veins with the force of a flood breaking a dam. The energy overspilled into the artifact, filling it with pure, violent heat until it sizzled.

  “That's pretty,” Asher said. And it was Asher’s magic flowing through José’s veins right now. He focused again. Just a little more. Just a bit more heat and…

  “Think it's gonna—” whoosh! A small inferno exploded before him. Thank God he was a fire elf. The heat didn’t burn him. But the force of the explosion sent him flying until his back hit the wall with a painful thud, knocking the wind out of him. He fell to the ground. Tremors ran through his body as the floor shook beneath him. The magic that had been released in the explosion spun out of control. The stones of the building groaned and grumbled under the pressure of trying to contain it.

  José slowly got up on his feet, trying not to fall right over again. “Asher?” he called out, trying to locate him. The noise and the smell of blood in the air made it difficult to focus.

  “Over here.” It sounded like Asher was waiting by the door as he'd been told. José took a step forward, feeling awkward with his feet on the shaking ground. Where exactly was the door again…?

  Fire.

  He sensed fire. Not much, just a little flame. It went out—and flared back to life.

  Asher's lighter.

  José took another step, this time in the direction of the flame; he started walking.

  Out of nowhere, Asher jumped him, made them both tumble to the ground.

  What the— A deafening rumble sounded through the room as something heavy crashed to the floor next to José. Shit. Was the ceiling coming down?