I spun on my feet, swinging the axe again. This Romani, a woman with blonde hair, a heaving chest, and eyes that could have drawn blood if they were properly utilized, caught the damn thing bare handed.
I looked up at her. She grinned at me as another of the Romani slammed into my back, grabbing my arms and pulling them backward.
I held on tightly, trying to keep the axe firmly in my grasp. I felt a sharp pull on my neck. Whoever was behind me had just snapped the stupid thing. That wouldn’t end well for him. What was sevenfold of a broken neck anyway? For the moment though, it was definitely worse for me. A flood of pain tore through my body. I tried to hold steady, to keep standing, to keep the axe in my hand. My body wasn’t cooperating though, and as I fell to the pavement below, I felt the axe slip from my grasp.
The woman stood above me, the glowing axe in her hand. She looked down at me with more disdain than I had perhaps ever seen coming from a person, and that was saying something, given the sheer amount of hate I had inspired over the millennia.
“Finish it,” Red beard said from somewhere behind me.
The woman huffed and, for just a second, I thought I saw a hint of hesitation. I had to go for it. It was my only shot.
“You’re the one holding that axe,” I said, my voice weaker than I expected it to be. “You’re the one who’ll be taking the swing, the one who’ll be connecting with my flesh.” I swallowed, which was a particularly acute brand of hell given the current state of my neck. “And you’re the one who’ll have to pay the price. I’ve seen people get their comeuppance. I’ve watched it happen more than once. It’s never easy. It never doesn’t hurt. And this.” I tried to shake my head, but it didn’t exactly come out right. “If you do something like this, I can’t even imagine how gruesome your end will be.”
She blinked hard at me. The idea that I had perhaps gotten through to her flittered through my mind.
“My death will be gruesome,” she said in a voice so light that it was almost a whisper, but it will be nothing compared to what your life will be once I’m done with you.”
Damn. Goddamn.
She reared back, raising the axe over her head. I flinched, taking a deep, slow breath and preparing to be chopped into pieces.
Suddenly a blur of white shot through my line of sight, knocking the woman away from me.
Clint stood over me, naked, sweating and huffing loudly. “Get up!’ he screamed, a hand on the axe and another plowing away at the woman’s midsection. “Get the hell up!”
With me flat on my ass, the Romani started at Clint. And, given that fact they didn’t need to worry about any sort of divine retribution, any hesitance they might have experience with me was completely gone in terms of the temporarily neutered werewolf. It would take more time than he had at the moment for his body to produce enough residual magic for him to be able to turn again.
I hurt like hell, and my body still didn’t particularly want to obey my commands, but I needed to fix this. If Clint died, that would be on me, it would be because I stripped him of his powers.
It was ridiculous. I had taken the power from everyone in an attempt to help my chances. Instead, I had completely screwed myself. Hell, the only reason my own abilities weren’t hampered was because they didn’t derive from magic.
“My abilities,” I muttered, realizing what I could do. “Say it!” I screamed to Clint. “Say my name!”
The Romani poured over him, enacting their revenge for something the man had no control over in the first place. The only reason Clint and his pack had ever been in gypsy country in the first place, let alone served as the killers they had been, was because they were under the control of the lunar coven. He and none of his people had ever willingly hurt any of the Romani, and the poor bastard had already lost the pack on top of that. Not that the Romani gave a damn about any of it. They were old school people who apparently still lived by old school rules. I mean, who in their right mind still gave any power to a king anyway?
I took another breath, placing my palms flat against the pavement and pushing up. Obviously, Clint hadn’t heard me. Otherwise, this goddamn place would be shaking by now. My body screamed as I pushed myself to my knees, my head hanging a little to the side as my neck was having trouble supporting it in its current state.
I moaned in agony as I got up on one foot and then the other. The Romani hadn’t been paying much attention to me. Why would they? I was as defeated as I was going to get; all hobbled and useless. Still, I was on my feet, and I had no idea what I was going to do. My axe wasn’t in play anymore. The gypsy bitch had that. I did have the enchanted knife in my pocket, but at this point, nothing short of death was going to stop them. If I was going to save Clint, if I was going to make sure Merry and Amber were safe, I was going to have to kill every last one of them, hobbled notwithstanding.
I moved toward them, aching as I reached around to my back pocket and pulled out the knife. My vision was a touch askew, half because of the pain and have because I was looking at the world all lopsided. It didn’t matter. I was trained in almost every sort of fighting style known to man, and a few that weren’t even known anymore. I could probably take these gypsies out, current disability and all.
As I neared them though, I realized I wasn’t going to have to. It came to me as muffled at first. Then the noise wafted to my ears like a song, piercing through the circle of angry and rampaging Romani.
“Cain. Cain. Cain. Cain. Motherfucking Cain.” I heard Clint say over and over again, his voice wavering as he was hit with what was (at the very least) devastating blows to the head and body.
Hearing the sound, I let out a sigh of relief and allowed the horrible pain to do the job of knocking me back down to the ground. I wouldn’t need to fight anymore. The Big Guy had always seen me being addressed by my name as enough of a signal flare to get to work. He would take it from here, in whatever manner He saw fit.
I felt the earth shake just a little under my back, but it felt tame, like more of a warning shot than anything else. Luckily, Clint wasn’t about to give up. He kept saying my name, kept chanting it like a prayer.
Suddenly, I saw clouds fill the air and claps of lightning sear the night sky, and knew the form the Big Guy preferred at the moment.
“Here we go,” I whispered, letting my body go limp. Lighting, fast and furious, struck the circle of Romani. It traveled between all of them, lighting them up with enough electricity to stop them in their tracks. They fell like dominoes, and I wondered if Clint would survive. He was in the middle of them too.
I wouldn’t have time to consider that too much because as soon as my head painfully turned back toward the night sky, I saw a bolt of lightning headed right in my direction as well.
“Very funny,” I muttered in the direction of the Big Guy before the electricity struck me. It stung at first, and I smelled the scents of burning flesh and hair. Luckily, I was weak enough to pass out not long after that. The last thought that ran through my head before the earth melted away was of Andy.
15
I woke slowly, hearing a methodical beeping sound and feeling much less pain than someone with a broken neck who had just been struck by lighting probably should have. My eyes opened slowly, revealing a crinkled ceiling, a pair of long fluorescent lights, and a hanging clear bag in my periphery.
I was in a hospital, hooked up to machines and pumped full of drugs. That must have been why I wasn’t in the most physical pain I had ever felt. A horrible thought passed through my head. What if I was paralyzed? What if I was lying in this bed because I was physically unable to get out of it? That would suck balls. My body didn’t heal rapidly or anything and, though I had never experienced such a debilitating injury in my long, long life, I had to imagine it wouldn’t heal at all from something chronic like that. I would be stuck like this for all eternity, or until a procedure came along to fix it.
Pushing the thought of a debilitated forever out of my mind, I clenched my hands into fists just to
check. It felt strange like there were pins and needles in my palms, but it worked. So that was good.
Grunting, I tried to push myself up. This caused the pain I should have been feeling this whole time to spark up.
“Damnit,” I muttered, reaching for my neck, the source of my pain, and finding it wrapped into bandages and some sort of thin metal.
“How now!” a voice came from in front of me. I looked forward to finding a blonde dude in scrubs and one of those ‘I’m a doctor’ long coats on. “Don’t try to move too much. You were hurt pretty badly.”
He put hands on me and pushed me back flat onto the bed. I tried to fight him off but, like I said, I was pumped full of drugs and not exactly at full strength. Plus, the bed didn’t feel too bad.
“Where am I?” I asked, during holes into the dude with narrowed eyes as he looked down at me.
“Technically?” he asked, scrunching his face up like he’d just bit down hard into a lemon. “You’re in a basement, but I like to think of it as a makeshift hospital. At least I do these days.”
A basement? Damn. Had I been kidnapped? Was I being held against my will and, if so, did the people doing it know the sort of sevenfold hell they were about to find themselves in for the infraction?
“My name is Kyle Watson. I’m a doctor, an amateur archeologist, and a secret lover of the romantic comedies of Kate Hudson.” He smiled.
“Are we on a date and no one told me?” I asked, trying to push myself up again.
“Not at all,” he answered, pushing me back down. “But this isn’t a very orthodox situation, and I want you to feel comfortable with me. Your body’s been through a lot, Callum. I had to cut into you to set your neck back up, and I found a lot of scar tissue in there. Though, judging by your age, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
My age? What did this bastard know about me anyway?
“I’d say you were probably close to death when she brought you in, but we both know that isn’t true, don’t we?” he winked at me.
Okay. So he knew a lot.
“Who is she?” I asked, reaching up to feel the wrapping around my neck. “Who brought me here?”
“A woman who absolutely did not want to tell me the truth about you. I can tell you that much.” He grinned. “Though, to be honest with you, I can’t say I blame her. Telling a coworker that your friend is an immortal Biblical figure isn’t exactly the sort of thing you just drop over coffee. Luckily for you guys, I’ve always had a bit of an affinity for that kind of thing.” He shook his head. “She seems pretty devoted though. She stayed here with you pretty much the entire time you were out. She probably wouldn’t have left now if not for having to pick her daughter up from school.”
Her daughter. “Merry,” I said, swallowing hard. “You have to get them back here.” My mind went back to the Romani. If they survived the lightning, then they would most likely be coming after her. I couldn’t do her much good on my back, but I’d still rather have them here than anywhere else.
“She’s okay Callum,” he answered, smiling at me. “They’re both okay.” He shrugged. “I mean, if you count having to have a root canal as okay.” He pointed to his teeth. “I told Merry not to let the kid have too much sugar.” He shook his head. “But you know Amber. That little girl just adores chocolate.”
“You work with her?” I surmised, pushing myself upright again. “At the hospital.”
“I’m in my residency,” he said, coming toward me in an attempt to push me down again.
“Son, I was in the Crusades, World War II ad Vietnam. I don’t need you treating me like I’m fine china.” I blinked. “Which is another place where I kicked a lot of ass. How long have I been out?”
“Three days,” a familiar voice ran in from the other side of the room. Tearing my attention away from Dr. Haircut, I looked toward the door. Andy was walking through it, holding a couple cups of coffee in his hands and wearing a face full of what had to be at least two days’ worth of scruff.
“This one hasn’t left much either,” Dr. Haircut said, motioning to Andy. “I thought I was going to have put in another bed.”
“Nothing Uncle C wouldn’t do for me,” he answered, handing the doctor one of the cups and nodding at him. “Six sugars, four creams, right?”
“Absolutely,” he grinned, taking it and gulping it down.
“I guess if anybody’s going to give themselves diabetes, it might as well be a doctor,” Andy grimaced, shaking his head and walking toward me. “How’s the neck?”
“Still broken,” I shot back. “How are you?” I couldn’t lie. Though I was hurting a little, most of my discomfort came from the fact that I was embarrassed. I still didn’t know what was going on here, and I was routinely getting my ass kicked regardless. I should have been better than this. I shouldn’t be letting myself get like this. I was off my game. I wasn’t myself. A lot of it probably had to do with the secrets I was keeping. Still, some of it might have been because I hadn’t seen my brother since the ordeal with our mother and the coven. Over the last hundred years or so, I had gotten used to seeing Abe’s face. I had come to depend on him to help me clear the gunk out of my mind. Now that he was gone, it was starting to pile up.
“I’m not great, Uncle C,” he answered. “I tracked the sisters to the children’s wing of the hospital, but they got away.”
“Did they kill anyone?” I asked, remembering just how responsible I was for all of this and bracing myself for the answer.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “At least the hospital didn’t report any unusual deaths.” He shook his head. “Not that it was due to me at all.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Doc,” Andy said, looking over at Haircut. “Why don’t you give my uncle and I a minute or two?”
He nodded, still displaying what was apparently a never faltering smile. “Of course,” he chirped, raising his coffee and heading toward the door. “Just try to keep him from getting out of bed altogether.” He shrugged. Though. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I always figured the guy in the story would be stubborn.” He chuckled, apparently really satisfied with himself and headed out, closing the door behind him.
“That guy is like a windup toy,” I grumbled, looking at the closed door.
“He’s the only reason things didn’t get a hell of a lot worse,” Andy answered.
I narrowed my eyes. “Spill,” I commanded.
“When I got to the hospital, the sisters had cast some kind of spell on themselves. They were invisible. Cameras didn’t even pick them up.”
“How’d you know they wee even there then?” I asked, leaning forward.
“Because the windup toy could see them,” he answered, looking toward the door.
“What?” I balked, glaring at Andy. “Why? What is he?”
“I have no idea,” Andy admitted. “I don’t even think he knows, but when the sisters saw him, they high tailed it. I think he was the reason a nursery full of babies weren’t killed.” He took a swallow of coffee. “When I got the call about you, Merry suggested we bring him in on this. You obviously needed medical attention, and your injuries were too severe for you to realistically be alive. Merry said Kyle was always kind of weird, big into mythology and science fiction.” He rolled his eyes. “You know the type and, when I made the connection, I figured he was our best bet. He’s a good kid, Uncle C. A little bit of a Brady, but good nonetheless.” He looked me up and down. “And he’s good at what he does too. Merry said you should have needed another two surgeries to fix the damage those damn gypsies did to you.”
“The Romani,” I swallowed. “Where are they?”
“No idea,” Andy said. “911 directed the call to the precinct, who let me know—given that I’m your emergency contact. I was first on the scene and, when I got there, there was only you and Clint.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Is he-”
“He was unconscious when we got to him and stayed that way until he transformed
into a wolf a day and a half ago. Scared the hell out of Kyle, but he’s okay now.”
“Good,” I said. “But the sisters are still out there, the Romani want to make Amber their queen, and we still don’t know who’s whispering in her ear and why.”
“Can’t worry about that right now, Uncle C,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re still healing. All we can do is take it easy until the axe falls.” He shook his head again. “And don’t ask about your axe. The gypsies must have taken it. I did manage to pry your knife from your hand though. It wasn’t easy. The damn thing was fused tight.”
I looked down at my hand for the first time and saw a huge bandage encasing it.
“Damn,” I muttered.
Andy’s phone rang, and he answered. “Wait. Slow down,” he said, turning and moving his hand to his head the way he always did when something crappy was taking place. “I can’t understand you. What are you talking about? On the roof? What the fuck is she doing on the roof?”
My chest tightened.
“Calm down,” he said, looking over at me. “I’ll be right there.”
He hung the phone up and ran a hand down his face.
“Andy,” I said firmly.
“That was Merry. She couldn’t find Amber when she got to the school to pick her up. She went back home and found her standing on the roof. Apparently, the voice in her head is telling her to jump.”
And, just like that, the axe fell.
16
“This isn’t a good idea,” Dr. Haircut said, looking from Andy to me and back again. He was still smiling (of course), but otherwise, his face held a sort of concerned look about it. Not that I gave a damn. The hospital gown I had been wearing was on the floor, and my shirt was halfway on.
“I don’t care,” I answered, pulling it down the rest of the way and looking at the good doctor. He was all of twenty-five years old, a baby in the medical industry. Still, he had probably learned more about the human body in his few years than I ever would in my eternity. Still, I couldn’t afford to let his opinion matter, not with Amber’s life at stake.
Curse of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 2) Page 9
