Orson

by David Delaney

  Even with Tommy and the Paragon Society breathing down my neck, I couldn't wait to see what this new world had to offer. I wasn't naïve. I understood I was in serious trouble and had, by extension, pulled in the Kellys and Aunt Tina, but if and when I got this all cleared up, life was going to be a wild ride. And I like wild rides.

  Mrs. Kelly slowed as she approached my house.

  "Okay, you two, I need some help. Do either of you feel or sense anything out of the ordinary?"

  I reached out with my magical sense but didn't pick up on anything odd. It was my good old-fashioned human sense of sight that spotted the problem. Tony's pickup truck was parked across the street from my house.

  I pointed. "That's Tony's truck."

  "Tony?" Mrs. Kelly queried.

  "Tony worked with Orson at Costco. He was the other guy in the forklift video. He must be a lot more upset than we thought."

  "This complicates things." Mrs. Kelly tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "Okay, instead of waiting in the car, we will go in with you and help get this Tony to leave, quickly. And then you do whatever you think best —even shifting if necessary — to get your aunt to come with us. We'll follow your lead."

  I nodded. I was the Ollphiest, the Big Bad and yet my stomach was doing flip-flops. The thought of how Aunt Tina would react had me jumping out of my skin. I knew she loved me, our bond was more like mom and son than aunt and nephew, but I was about to ask her to accept a whole bunch of crazy.

  We exited the Range Rover. I took Elyse's hand. I was glad she would be standing next to me when I dropped the truth bomb on Aunt Tina. I moved swiftly toward the front door, figuring that dragging my feet would only prolong the tension.

  I froze halfway across the lawn. I had been so distracted by Tony's truck I had missed some very quirky ripples in the energy flowing around my house. It was definitely some kind of residual effect from magic use.

  Mrs. Kelly and Elyse were instantly alert.

  "What?" Mrs. Kelly asked.

  "Mage mojo, but weak. I'm not sure, maybe it's old, leftovers from the shark-nurse?"

  "I don't think a magical signature would last that long, a few hours maybe, but not longer, certainly."

  Ok, so a mage had been active in or around my house in the past few hours. "Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's a blood mage magic or someone like Lucy."

  "At this point, it probably doesn't matter. Both scenarios would be equally bad," Mrs. Kelly replied.

  I closed my eyes and really concentrated on opening up to my surroundings. There was nobody hiding in the front or back yard.

  Wait.

  What was that?

  It was faint, an underlying vibration being masked by the residual magic.

  Blood.

  Aunt Tina.

  "There's blood." I let go of Elyse's hand; I had to get inside now. I moved with shifter speed, but Mrs. Kelly was faster. She blocked the front door.

  I growled.

  "Orson, we have to be smart, not just rush in. It could be a trap. Do you sense anything else?" Mrs. Kelly spoke in her calm mom voice.

  I tried to calm my mind. It was hard; visions of Aunt Tina broken and bleeding kept trying to flood my mind. Elyse placed a hand on my shoulder. It was enough to calm me. I searched once more, following the residual magic like supernatural breadcrumbs, but there was nothing else: no breathing, no heartbeats, no energy signatures signifying people – it was just blank.

  "There's nothing. It's almost like the entire house is a giant black hole of energy."

  "A shield spell."

  "A shield spell?"

  "Yes. It's warding magic. It's blocking your abilities."

  "That would be a first. He's been immune to every other kind of ward magic." Elyse didn't sound convinced.

  "Agreed. It may be a proximity thing. Maybe you have to be closer to the spell for your defenses to kick in? We need to be smart about this."

  "Mrs. Kelly, I respect you a whole bunch, but my aunt could be inside, she could be hurt or . . ." I couldn't say dead. I couldn't let myself go there.

  "I understand. I didn't say we weren't going in; I just wanted as much information as possible. You should go around the house and come in through the back door. Elyse and I will enter here and we'll take care of the situation."

  Take care of the situation. Mrs. Kelly could make even the most dangerous scenarios sound like a cookie bake-off.

  "Mom?" said Elyse, her worry for Mrs. Kelly evident.

  "It will be fine." She patted Elyse's arm. "But I would suggest cat-form for you, and if you can manage it, Orson, beast-form."

  I nodded.

  The moon wasn't up yet, and the indigo twilight had passed, so the night was extra dark, which would give us extra cover when we shifted. I left Elyse and her mom on the front lawn. They had moved behind a hedge to undress. We would need our clothes after, plus I still had neighbors who would be suspicious of two women getting naked outside. I moved quietly to the back of the house. I tried to peer in the windows I passed, but nothing was visible. Part of the shield spell, I imagined.

  When I reached the back door, I quickly undressed and easily shifted to beast-form. My worry and anger for my aunt fueled my ability. The plan was for Elyse and Mrs. Kelly to wait for the signal – me smashing through the back door – and then to smash through the front door. I figured a few broken doors would be a small price to pay for the element of surprise.

  I let out a window-rattling shriek and jumped through the door. The wood was pulverized into nothing bigger than splinters. Once inside the back door, I could see it. A bubble of energy filled the entire house: the shield spell.

  I ripped at with my claws. I watched, amazed, as the energy shredded beneath my strikes like sticky taffy. After several swipes, the bubble popped, releasing a burst of magic that shook the house. I heard the front door crash open. Elyse and her mom where inside.

  With the shield spell gone, the smell of blood became overwhelming.

  It was the smell of death.

  I roared again.

  Kill everyone.

  This time, the beast inside me had the right idea. Everyone who had dared enter my house and attack my aunt was toast.

  An explosion of the magical variety ripped through the front of the house and shattered all the downstairs windows. I entered the living room; it was a scene straight out of hell. Tony was a crumpled, bloody ball. It looked like all of his blood vessels had ruptured, a look of pain and fear frozen on his face. The walls and floor were splattered with what I assumed was his blood. Aunt Tina was bound to a dining room chair. She was bleeding freely from several cuts on her face and arms. She was alive, but terrified.

  Elyse and Mrs. Kelly were fully engaged in battle with the surviving female blood mage from Arrowhead. I assumed that meant the dude blood mage was somewhere close. I sensed him right before he attacked. He had been hiding in the downstairs bathroom and let loose with a fully charged whammy. It could tell it was a slice and dice spell, because the floor and walls got chewed up as if multiple invisible chainsaws were flying through the air toward me. I instinctively held up an arm to protect my face. I had only been the Ollphiest for a day; it was going to take longer than that to overcome a lifetime of self-preservation instincts. The spell, like all the others so far, just kind of slid around me.

  Oops. The blood mage paled.

  I bared my teeth — all of them.

  My turn.

  I rushed him. I have to give him credit; he stood his ground and shot the same nasty fire spell that they had used to set the forest on fire earlier. The flames erupted around me, setting the living room on fire. I was barely singed. He tried one more spell, the kinetic kind; I was starting to recognize the unique energy signatures associated with each spell. It was also useless against me, but the blast wave caused the fire to explode even wider. I was pretty sure the house was a goner. I needed to get Aunt Tina out of here.

  The blood mage suddenly split into three separate bl
ood mages, all running in separate directions.

  Huh?

  This was new.

  I've played a ton of video games and immediately recognized this as a diversionary tactic. Defensive magic. Two of the three retreating blood mages were mere illusions, meant to confuse me so the real blood mage could get away. Unfortunately for him, I could see magic. I ignored the two distractions and grabbed the real blood mage by the face, my claws digging into his skull.

  He screamed.

  I popped his head like a ripe watermelon.

  It was messy.

  I felt the same odd sensation as I absorbed his magic.

  Aunt Tina! Everything was on fire and the smoke was thick. Aunt Tina's eyes went wide as I materialized from the smoke. She whipped her head back and forth, trying to shout through her gag. I was scaring the crap out of her. Oh well, I thought, no time like the present, and I shifted to human form.

  Aunt Tina's eyes went even wider. I bent over and snapped the ropes holding her, freeing her from the chair.

  She pulled the gag from her mouth. She reached out, touched my face as if for confirmation. "Orson?"

  "Hi. I promise it's going to be okay, but we need to get out of this fire, like now."

  Aunt Tina nodded.

  "I think it'd be better if I carry you, we may have to, um, use an alternate exit."

  "Okay." She held out her arms for me to hoist her up. No questions, no second-guessing, just pure trust — one of many reasons why I loved this woman. I shifted back into beast-form and and picked her up, careful to not cut her with my claws.

  Elyse roared. It wasn't a triumphant I-just-kicked-your-ass roar; it was a roar filled with pain. I whipped around, and through the smoke, I saw the female blood mage towering over Elyse, pummeling her with kinetic whammies. Elyse's cat body was beyond strong, but the blows were taking their toll. She was struggling to get her paws under herself, to gain some leverage, but the blood mage was not giving her an opening.

  I needed to get Aunt Tina to safety, but I just couldn't leave Elyse. The smoke was becoming unbearable. Aunt Tina coughed uncontrollably into my chest, trying to use my fur as a smoke filter. I kicked an overstuffed ottoman, sent it flying like a football, directly at the blood mage's head. Without breaking her unrelenting attack on Elyse, she flicked one of her hands and the ottoman reversed course. I spun in place and crouched over to protect Aunt Tina as much as possible. The blood mage had spelled the flying piece of furniture, because when it reached my back it exploded like a giant wood and fabric grenade. My iron beast-form skin deflected all the shrapnel, but the force of the blast knocked me forward and Aunt Tina was thrown from my arms. I couldn't grab for her, afraid that my claws would slice her up.

  Then something happened that almost caused my brain to short-circuit. A kid — well a guy a few years younger than me, maybe sixteen — materialized out of thin air. One second, Aunt Tina is falling toward the floor, crying out in fear, and then — blink — this redheaded kid in glasses, jeans, and a hoodie appeared, did a horrible job of trying to catch Aunt Tina, and they both collapsed to the floor in a jumble of arms and legs.

  The kid untangled himself, pushed his glasses back up his nose, gave me a quick smirk, and said, "Sorry, dude."

  I was so stunned, that I didn't react fast enough.

  The kid grabbed a hold of Aunt Tina, and blink, they both disappeared.

  Gone.

  I swiped the air where they had just been and nothing, zip, nada.

  Teleportation?

  Was that even a thing?

  In this new insane world I found myself in, I don't know why anything surprised me, but this did. Who was the kid and where the hell had he taken Aunt Tina?

  My fur was starting to smoke from the blast-furnace heat surrounding me. I turned back to Elyse just in time to see Mrs. Kelly, in full beast form, slam into the blood mage. Mrs. Kelly sunk her claws deep, carrying her screaming victim through the glass-less front window, taking a large chunk of the front of the house with her. The sudden influx of extra oxygen caused the fire to whoosh, the flames becoming walls of super-heated death.

  I didn't care if I got burned; that's what super-healing is for. I leapt through the flames toward the last spot I had seen Elyse. My fur was on fire now. Elyse was on her feet, a bit wobbly, but she seemed good. I touched her and she chuffed back, turned, and jumped through the hole her mom had just made.

  A monster battle royal was taking place on my front lawn. Mrs. Kelly and the blood mage had each other in a death grip. Mrs. Kelly's claws were buried knuckle deep in blood mage, but the blood mage had transformed into some kind of scary looking gargoyle thingy. Elyse waited for her moment and then attacked the blood mage from behind, meaning to pull her off of Mrs. Kelly. However, the blood mage had set some kind of shield, because Elyse not only bounced off, but also received a blast of energy for her trouble. The blast flung Elyse into the bushes that separated my yard from the neighbors.

  Some Ollphiest whammy-protection would be necessary to get through the blood mage's defenses. I charged the blood mage and tore at the protective magic shield. She let out a shriek and, gripping her fists tight, released a powerful slice and dice spell. Mrs. Kelly's body erupted in blood, and she went limp.

  Elyse roared.

  I got my claws on the blood mage. Her shield was no match for my claws. I didn't kill her, but I removed both of her hands and then tossed her to Elyse. Elyse didn't waste any time removing the blood mage's head from her body.

  We'd won, but the house was a raging inferno, the lawn was slick with blood and gore, and three shape-shifters were out in plain sight of every neighbor on the street.

  The Paragon Society was going to have kittens.

  Elyse shifted to human form and knelt by her mother. I was going to follow her lead, but I figured I needed stay ready to rumble, because I assumed this was far from over.

  "Mom?"

  Mrs. Kelly's eyes flickered.

  "Orson, there's too much blood," Elyse cried.

  Screw it. I shifted.

  I joined Elyse. She was right. Her mom didn't look great. We needed to get her help, fast. I wasn't sure I should pick her up though. It looked like her body would fall apart; there were just too many cuts and slashes. That last blood mage spell looked like it had blown Mrs. Kelly up from the inside.

  Nasty.

  I could hear sirens, maybe a few blocks away. Someone had called the fire department. My only hope was that they could stabilize Mrs. Kelly until her shifter healing could catch up to all the damage.

  Mrs. Kelly let out a sigh and shifted to her human form.

  "Mom?

  Mrs. Kelly managed a weak smile.

  "Mom, help's coming."

  "I don't think so, honey," Mrs. Kelly whispered, before a coughing fit wracked her body, blood oozing from her mouth and ears.

  "Mom, please," Elyse pleaded.

  Mrs. Kelly went very still, got her cough under control, and opened her eyes. "You'll have to help your father. Promise me, Elyse."

  Elyse was crying. I placed my hand on her shoulder. Tears welled up in my own eyes. Mrs. Kelly couldn't die. She was a three hundred-year-old badass shape-shifter.

  "Elyse, promise me," Mrs. Kelly insisted.

  "I promise. I swear it."

  Mrs. Kelly tried another smile, but she was too weak. "Tell your brothers and sisters that I love you all forever."

  Elyse let out a sob and touched her mom's matted hair.

  "You need to run. Now," Mrs. Kelly commanded.

  Elyse bent down to kiss her mom's cheek, and when she pulled back, I could see that Mrs. Kelly was gone, her eyes staring, vacant.

  Elyse let out a wail of grief. I pulled her into hug. She was trembling.

  The sirens were close. We needed to move.

  "We've got to go," I said, as gently as I could.

  Elyse nodded into my shoulder.

  "Tina?" Elyse asked.

  "I don't know, she's not here. Someone took he
r."

  I thought about my aunt as I gazed down at Mrs. Kelly's broken body and the rage that filled me was complete.

  Yes.

  Now you understand.

  We will destroy them all.

  Sounds good to me.

  I stood and pulled Elyse up with me. I glanced around; everyone was out in the street. The flickering light of the fire gave the scene on my front lawn a surreal nightmarish quality. I spotted more than one cell phone everything was being recorded. I couldn't worry about that right now Elyse and I needed to get gone.

  "Let's get to the back yard, away from all the cameras. We can shift and run for it."

  Elyse nodded, but didn't move, her eyes still on her mom.

  "Hey, are you with me?"

  Elyse shook herself and took a deep breath. "Yes."

  A few of the braver neighbors called out to me. They wanted to know if I was okay. Elyse and I were standing, bloodied and naked, in front of my burning house with two dead bodies and I was fairly certain everyone had seen us shift and they wanted to know if I was okay. The human brain's ability to adapt to the most outlandish situations is truly amazing. Maybe the Society could spin this fustercluck somehow after all.

  We ignored the shouts of people trying to get our attention and ran for the back yard. The sirens were almost on us. We were both about to shift when — blink — the redheaded kid was back.

  He was sitting on the back fence and he was alone, Aunt Tina nowhere in sight.

  "Hi, again." The kid gave us a little wave.

  I growled. My shifter speed propelled me toward the fence in a blur, but he was no longer on the fence.

  "Dude, really? The cops are, like, right down the street."

  I swiveled my head. Redheaded boy was now standing across the yard from me.

  "Where's my aunt?"

  "It's cool; she's totally safe. I swear," Red said, as he held up the three fingers of his right hand in the Boy Scout salute.

  "Where. Is. She."

  Elyse streaked toward Red, while I had his attention.