House of Slide Hybrid

by Juliann Whicker

  I bit my bottom lip. I never should have left without telling Grim that the Hybrid was awake and very dangerous. I’d left Grim helpless in the hands of Aiden while I’d gone off to see Lewis, not that I’d known he would be there. I rested my head against Lewis’s shoulder, inhaling the smell of him, knowing that I felt less guilt and regret than I should.

  I touched the handle poking out of Grim’s pants leg with trembling fingers. “He just flipped out and stuck you to the wall? Are these butter knives?”

  “Indeed,” Grim said, soberly. “I can’t say that I’m impressed with his etiquette, seeing as he used both hands at the same time, but what else do you expect from a renegade Hybrid. I trust that you will only use your right hand should you ever be in the position to use them.” He gasped as Lewis pulled out the knife in his other ankle.

  I turned away from my uncle and Lewis, getting a white chair from the white table so that Grim could stand on it instead of staying pressed by Lewis against the wall.

  “Don’t you think you could do that a little bit faster?” I asked Lewis as I slid the chair under Grim’s black shoe.

  “He’s giving me time to heal,” Grim said, calmly. “Slow, yes, painful, very, but efficient use of blood. Don’t rush the process, Dari. I’m certain that after I’ve had the chance to heal, your friend will be pinning me to the wall in his own way. He’s right. I did not protect you adequately.”

  I looked up at Lewis, startled. His eyes glowed. He didn’t look angry or vengeful, but he didn’t meet my gaze, either.

  “Thank you for walking me home. Also thanks for unsticking my uncle from the wall. I probably couldn’t do that without passing out or throwing up. I appreciate it. You wouldn’t waste all that effort by doing that, would you?”

  “Stick someone to a wall with butterknives? Crookedly?” he added, grinning at me. “That’s the part your Wild uncle really hates. No. Aiden is more creative than I am. I’m more likely to put his nose through the back of his skull.”

  I swallowed and pulled back, feeling my heart race in my chest. He was joking. Of course he was joking only I’d had his soul and I’d felt that, the need to crush, destroy, to send the world into a sparkling mess of shattered glass.

  My mind raced while I searched for a solution. I turned and left the room, moving fast so that I was at the door before Lewis realized what I was doing.

  He held it closed above me, abandoning my uncle who was only half unpinned.

  “Where are you going?” he growled.

  I lifted my chin in the air. “I don’t like violence. If you’re going to threaten my uncle, I’m going to be somewhere else.”

  His eyes glowed as he leaned down, capturing my lips with his, pulling me against him in an embrace like he didn’t care that my uncle hung behind him. I held back, but his lips tasted like nectar, his tongue making me gasp and forget where I was even who I was.

  “Dariana,” my uncle’s voice broke through the fog making Lewis pull away.

  Lewis clenched his jaw and ducked around me, out the door, shutting it behind him, leaving me alone with my uncle while my lips burned.

  I stared at the white door, at the handle that was still warm when I touched it. Should I go after him? He’d left just like that. He’d left and I couldn’t call him, but I knew where he kept his car. If I climbed into it, eventually he’d come.

  I blinked as I pulled my hand off the knob, turning to Grim with a smile. My smile faded as I looked at my uncle, at the weapons he held in his hands, reminding me of the gallery, the night I’d been responsible for my uncle Stephen dying.

  Knees weak, I sank down at the table, folding over the top like a rag doll.

  “You were going to fight him,” I said, numbly.

  “He required a show of strength, reassurance so that he could leave you in my care,” Grim said, soothingly as he slumped into the chair beside me. “We live in a violent world, Dariana.”

  I laughed, a choking sound that reminded me of his laugh. He’d kissed me like he’d never stop, and then he’d left without taking me with him. How respectful, at least it would be respectful if that’s what I’d told him to do. I couldn’t remember what I’d said I wanted. I wanted him. But I couldn’t trust him. Could I? I sat up and looked at Grim, studying his sunken eyes and pinched face.

  “Can I get you something?” I asked.

  He shook his head slowly stood, taking the bloody knives in his hand to the sink. When Lewis had taken out the knives they hadn’t had any blood on them. Grim moved so slowly. How long had he hung there? Had Aiden really done that to keep him from following me to Lewis?

  “Do you need me to get bandages or something?” I really hoped I didn’t have to go back into the room for medical supplies. I’d been lucky to come away with nothing more than a little burn. I looked down at my bandaged wrist.

  “If you’d get the mop from the cupboard,” Grim said, nodding to the closet at the end of the kitchen. “I think this room could use a good clean. Don’t worry,” he added gently. “The Hybrid is strange but not homicidal. Not that I enjoy being toyed with, but there are worse things than being pinned to a wall.” He suddenly leaned forward to press down on my shoulder with his hand while giving me a very serious look with those dark blue eyes that seemed to bore into me, carrying all the grief and sorrow of the world with them. “Are you all right?”

  I jumped from the suddenness of the movement, from the fact that I had to nod then shake my head no. I didn’t want to tell him about my failure, but how could I not?

  “I’m fine. I’m sorry, Grim. The Hybrid woke up and showed me where Lewis’s garage was while you were talking with someone. I knew that he was awake and dangerous, but I didn’t tell you. Instead, I snuck out. It’s my fault that you got stuck to the wall. I knew the Hybrid was unstable,” I said running my hand over the bandage on my wrist. “Aiden apparently has a long history of psychopathic behavior that Lewis warned me about.” I stared at the walls where smudged blood stained the white.

  “Well that’s better for my ego. I’d hate to be so thoroughly handled by anyone less than an old one. They’re the ones with too much Nether blood. They have difficulty dying. I’d heard that Aiden had been thrown into the Netherrealm for good. Your father supposedly did that, but apparently not.” He shook his head slowly. “Strange times when legends walk among us.” He gave me another piercing glance. “Why didn’t you complete the blood bond?”

  “How do you know about that?” I demanded.

  He laughed, a strangely wheezy sound that faded away. “Blood is my gift, my curse. I could hear his blood screaming for you from the other room. It’s only a matter of time.”

  I swallowed. “Everything is a matter of time. If you have enough time that’s all you need,” I said firmly as I stood up and headed for the mop. I did my best to fill the mop bucket while he collapsed on a kitchen chair again, looking more tired and haunted than ever, his dark circles pronounced against his white face. He was a doctor and so he should know what to do about his injuries, but he seemed shaken up. I reached out, trying to feel what he felt, but there was nothing wrong with his emotional barriers. I felt nothing but my own guilt and the stunned realization that Lewis had kissed me. A lot.

  I smiled with the sound of the clock ticking above the stove and the swish and drip of the mop as my music. When the floor was immaculate and I’d wiped down the wall, leaving nothing but white around the black gouge marks, I stood looking at Grim for a long time.

  “If there isn’t anything else I can do for you, I guess I’ll go to bed,” I said, worrying that he might be staying up for me, or that he was too tired to go to bed. As momentous as the night had been, I felt like I was going to crash. Dying your hair took a lot out of you.

  “Good,” he said, nodding slowly before he stood with a lurch. He stayed still for a few moments, seeming to find his balance before he shuffled with me towards the hall. “I have to renew the runes around the perimeter. You should go to bed. I think you h
ave school tomorrow. I suppose I’ll drive you down in the morning unless Satan shows up. I expected him to drop by after he stopped at Ace’s warehouse, but it looks like he got distracted.”

  “That’s great. Are you sure we’re safe here? Maybe you should drive me home now, and we can stay in Sanders.” I didn’t like passing the room where the Hybrid had been, the tangle of sheets still waiting to be washed and smoothed into place. I didn’t want to think what would happen to him when the uncles caught up to him, but he couldn’t be allowed to run around sticking butter knives through people.

  Grim laughed, a dry raspy sound that made me want to make him a cup of tea and tuck a blanket around him. “The Hybrid caught me off guard, but it will not happen again.” There was steel beneath the exhaustion that made me shiver and remember that I was the only defenseless one who was afraid of things like strange houses and monsters in the woods. If he hadn’t been caught off guard though, he wouldn’t have been stuck to the wall. That was my fault. “You will be safe here, and I need to keep you until I receive word from Satan or one of your parents.”

  “My dad might come?”

  “If your father was in a position where he had to face the Hybrid again, it would be best if we were all as far away from the conflict as possible, particularly you. I don’t think he’ll be asked to represent the House on this front, but then again, what do I know about Slide?”

  I stared at him, wondering why he’d talk about his own father like that, like he was a corporation that had possibly iffy methods that Grim didn’t entirely approve of. “Don’t you know everything the House does?”

  Grim laughed, another laugh that made me wince. “Oh, Dariana, if I knew everything then I’d be like your brother—smart enough to let the rest of us take care of the details while he rolls around in heaven. Good night.” We stood at my door, he waited watching me until I’d closed my window and locked it before he nodded, then pulled the door shut silently behind him.

  I climbed into bed fully clothed with the light on, listening to the sounds of the house, thinking that I would never fall asleep, but when nothing happened for long enough, my eyes drifted shut.

  ***

  Large, scarred hands gripped the steering wheel tight enough I could feel the grooves in my fingers through the burning. The hands spun the wheel and the car whined as it took a corner fast enough it didn’t feel like all four wheels were on the ground. The engine grumbled, but the mustang kept racing through the patches of illuminated pavement lined with piles of gray snow, visible through the cracked windshield. Houses flashed by lit by porch lights, enormous houses that looked vaguely familiar to me as the car sped up the snow covered hill.

  A hulking figure crossed the street in front of me, a dim face beneath a slouchy hat with a burning ember hanging from his mouth that I saw the split second before the mustang leapt forward and plowed into my uncle.

  The hands spun the wheel while the leg shoved down on the brakes, the car still moving as the hand jerked on the door handle. I watched the door spring open then I stepped out into the dark, cold street, before something hit me and I flew backwards towards the concrete. I knew the smell of cigars, of gunpowder, felt the rush of familiarity even as I twisted my raging hot body, grappling for position as I went rolling over the street with Satan. His enormous fist came at my head, a dizzying blow that caused a sound, not a whimper but a roar that accompanied slamming Satan’s head against the pavement. My body trembled with the rage, the heat. There was so much heat, like I was inside a volcano burning to ash.

  “Evening,” Satan said through gritted teeth. It sounded more like, “Veeng”.

  I managed something muffled before Satan caught me under my chin and my head slammed into the icy pavement sending sparks across my vision. There was the space of half a breath before Satan howled as I rolled, dislocating his shoulder before throwing him off me, across the road. He slid across the icy cement, halting at the curb. It took him longer this time to haul himself to his feet while I started towards him.

  He grinned before he turned away from me, rushing at a fence he managed to scale without breaking his rhythm. I cracked my knuckles as I followed him, exhaling steam into the frosty night as I followed over the fence. With a scramble I was over it, falling down in a way that would have been more graceful if I hadn’t landed on a dormant rose bush whose thorns caught the leg of my pants.

  The moment I struggled with the thorns was all Satan needed. I heard the click of a lighter then saw a rush of flame coming towards me, faster than I could move or think. I watched my hands spread, as though the fingers could hold back the fire. I waited for the pain, but the flames weren’t as hot as I already felt inside my chest where everything burned. The flames curled around me then died leaving behind the slight scent of roses.

  “Nice,” Satan said with a grin before he sent another explosion at me. This one wasn’t flames but energy, chaos, and shrapnel. This time when I ducked and raised my arm, I felt the shrieking agony of skin melting off my fingers. I opened my mouth but no sound came out, no sound was anywhere except an exhale of breath and the click as one hand flicked open a lighter. My own flames wrapped around my body, distancing the pain of the hand even as my head throbbed with an excruciating headache. I reached out, throwing fire at Satan; it was his turn to burn. I watched his face encased in flames until when the fire went out I could see that half of his face was exposed to the bone, bits of white reflecting in moon and firelight as I crossed the darkness between us. I was on him in a moment, shoving him to the ground while Satan’s face squirmed as the flesh began to knit back together.

  “GUARDIAN! The roar came out of my chest at the same time as I slammed a fist into the side of his face with unbroken skin, mixing blood with the white bones and newly healed pink flesh.

  Satan twisted and I let him go, clenching and unclenching my jaw as I stood up before I finally flicked the lighter closed. I exhaled heavily with arms across chest, the flaring pain in my arm throbbing in time to the nails scraping palms as I stood, watching Satan’s skin and muscle work together into layers, like worms crawling across his face as he lay there, not fighting.

  Every muscle in my body was clenched, burning with a fury that wanted him to fight, to make some move that would justify destroying him.

  Satan sat up and coughed up some blood then put his head in his hands, the lines of his scars untouched while his skin was raw. “Your lips look swollen like you’ve been having a good time. You went to find her?” He lurched like he wanted to get to his feet, but only ended up on his side, staring up at me, his teeth in a grimace that made him look skeletal, already dead.

  “She came to me. The Hybrid, Aiden, sent her out into the dark without protection to find me. When she saw me, she didn’t scream, she didn’t cry, she smiled as though she didn’t understand what I could do to her, as though I were her friend. You’re supposed to be this legendary figure. Satan, Son of Slide, but she doesn’t even know the danger I am to her. You want to train her? Why don’t you start by keeping her alive? You’re supposed to be good at what you do; you’re supposed to be the best, not some weak, sloppy, paid mercenary who doesn’t understand or care about the stakes.” My low voice burned even as it ground on, dark, furious. I stepped back, as though I might do something regretful if I didn’t get more space between us.

  “She sought you out?” Satan looked up thoughtfully, the bone fully concealed by his mostly healed skin. “That’s odd.”

  “Odd?” I practically spit in the low burning voice that should have warned Satan to be careful what he said. “What’s odd is the way that you as her guardian protect her. She is a bloodworker’s soulmate, with a soul so bright it’s a beacon that draws darkness to it. She walked the streets alone while shadows stalked her. Do you know how easy it would be for me to drain her dry? Do you realize how defenseless she is without any skills, without my fury? Of course you do. Naturally if you want to protect someone you don’t guard them, you send them out into the
night.”

  “She’ll be well protected,” Satan said, cutting off the voice that had been ringing through the night, a voice that accused the deadly uncle without the slightest concern for retaliation. “She’ll survive Training. She’ll even survive Tattoos. If there was a chance that she’d survive without them, well, no one wants to watch her suffer, but as with all things, we’ll make sacrifices so that she’ll be able to live. Personally, I want her to live through the end days, not only to do the deed, but to have a chance to dampen that bright soul doing something fun. Maybe you’ve been busy with that tonight. You smell like her.” He grinned, teeth straightening as I watched. “We both know that the soft kind don’t make it. House of Bliss was only the beginning. Dari made an impression at that art gallery with your soul that no one is going to forget. There’s no tower high enough, no country remote enough, no army built strong enough to keep her out of the middle. Things in the middle tend to get squished. I wish that Dari hadn’t met the Hybrid, but it seems that it was meant to be, the same way that you in a place she could find you was meant to be. Why didn’t you drain her?”

  I exhaled harshly before I turned away from him, clicking open the lighter. “I’m a Hunter first, a Bloodworker last, many other things between. There are far more, other things I’d rather do with her first. You shouldn’t like any of them. You’re supposed to keep that soul perfectly untouched.”

  Satan’s rough chuckle rolled through the cold night air. “You keep her soul untouched. Do you hear me?” he asked as I walked away. “I’m not the only one meant to be her guardian. Come on, don’t you want to see the surprise daddy has for you?”

  I stood still for a moment before turning slowly, barely catching the small object Satan had hurled at me. Everything got dark for a second then I could see a dark stone dangling on the end of a leather cord.

  “What’s this?” I asked. I could see in my periphery other shadowy figures gathering around. I could feel the tension in Lewis’ muscles as he didn’t run, didn’t move as the shadows became more substantive.