dark faerie 06 - ever dead (15 page)

“Is Hank better today?” she asked quietly while holding Luci’s gaze.

Luci stood and made her way before Dulci.

“Yes, he does seem better now. He had some memories of the past I think…and made his stick turn into a snake.”

Luci shivered before she spoke again. “I hate snakes.”

Chapter 27

Although Hank had left his apartment in a good mood, the day quickly turned against him with the discoveries of two more piles of ash. Eating away most of his day, he worked at investigating the piles and helping to collect evidence.

He had also spent the whole day conflicted.
He
now knew what was going on…and why, but he couldn’t tell anyone!

“They wouldn’t believe me if I told them anyway,”
he mumbled to himself for the fourth time that day.

But he
had
to do
something!
He couldn’t just ignore the rampant taking of life on his streets!

Sighing heavily, he watched Luci chase after a squirrel as they made their way back to the precinct from lunch. Taking a seat on a park bench while he awaited her return, Hank realized that wasn’t the only thing troubling him.

He would be starting his training today!

Or was it tomorrow…or tonight…

He shook his head at the conundrum, doubting seriously he would ever understand the manipulation of time.

Thinking about the training again, he found that he was looking forward to it in a way.

After all…who
wouldn’t
want to learn magic?

But he wasn’t sure how the doubling up of days was going to affect him. He was only human after all…would he be up for the stress and strain of experiencing the same day twice in a row? More to the point…could he work through the same day twice and not go crazy?

Sighing again, Hank lifted his eyes to look for Luci, amazed that the park was fairly deserted except for one man walking his way. Following the man’s progress as he approached, Hank suddenly felt himself tense up.

There was something not exactly kosher about the fellow, not the least of which was that he seemed to be staring at Hank!

The tall man’s long coat trailed behind him as he continued briskly forward, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses that rode a long, pointed nose.

Hank glanced around quickly, looking for Luci. She would be able to sense if the man held any danger, something that he’d long counted on.

Unable to find her, he turned back toward the man…just as he pulled a sword out of his coat!

Hank jumped to his feet nervously. Feeling the comforting touch of his staff in hand, he braced to defend himself as the sunlight glinted off of something on the man’s chest.

A Kolograt Medallion!

The man came to an abrupt stop ten feet from Hank, a menacing grin on his face. His features morphed from human to darkness in a millisecond as a glimmer wove through his body. The man tossed his sunglasses and stared at him with deep, yellow eyes. Full of fury and hatred, Hank had never seen anything like it aimed towards him.

“You seem much too puny to be a threat to us, wizard. Destroying you will hardly use enough exertion to work up a good appetite for the feast I have planned to celebrate.” Raising his sword above his head, he stopped as the grin returned to his face.

“Who are you?” Hank took a slight step back, gripping his staff as though his hand could crush through its stem.

“Pironin sends his greetings.”

The blood coursing through Hank turned cold at the words. Changing his stance in reaction to the course of the man’s attack, he suddenly felt a new confidence well within him. He sensed an amazing strength there like he never experienced before, a feeling of unfathomable power.

The man’s sword sliced through the air toward Hank’s head, the speed of the attack unsettling as Hank deftly parried the blow with his staff. Noticing the man’s uncontrolled forward momentum, Hank crouched low and swept his left foot out, tripping the giant as he went by.

Not waiting for the man to fall, Hank quickly stood and brought his staff to bear on the man’s head, catching him on the right ear.

The large man bellowed in pain but quickly regained his feet. Turning around again, he then swung the sword horizontally at Hank, narrowly missing his stomach as he quickly jumped back out of the way. A whoosh of air hissed past his head, sending his dark hair flying.

Landing in a crouch, Hank swept his right leg across to hook the giant’s ankle, once again sending the man to the ground. The ground shook with a thunderous shake as the weight of the Unseelie slammed down, sending up debris in its wake.

Rising again, Hank thrust the end of the staff at the man’s face, a satisfying crunch telling Hank that he’d broken the man’s nose. A rush of dark, black oozing blood poured out of his face, drenching his clothes in seconds.

Seeming to ignore his injury, the assassin popped back up in seconds, again raising his sword above his head for a strike. Inexplicably, Hank raised his staff in the air vertically with both hands before bringing it straight down with staggering force. Energy tingled down his arms as the staff reached the ground, a large sonic
boom
accompanying the strike.

The earth moved around the staff, raising up in a circle and spreading out from the impact like a violent wave. Deftly riding through the shaking himself, Hank watched in awe as the accelerating force toppled the giant to the ground with an earth shaking “
ooof
.”

As the rumble of the strike died off, it was replaced with a snarling growl before Luci leaped on the fallen man, teeth bared and going for his throat. She snapped her jaws at the thing, not reaching far enough to do any damage before the faery swiped her away in a disgusted jerk. Luci jumped back from being thrown, barking louder than ever.

“Luci!” Hank yelled, worried about her sudden involvement in the melee. He’d never forgive himself if she was hurt. Rushing toward the dog, he quickly pulled at her collar when a ring of fire suddenly formed around the Unseelie man.

Luci immediately took note of the fire and bounded clear of it, joining Hank to watch as the snarling giant returned to his feet, spitting obscenities in a foreign language as he glared at them. Raising his sword above his head, it was clear that the man was going to brave the fire to get at Hank again. He pointed a fleshy finger towards them, snarling a curse in his booming voice before suddenly crumbling in a howl of pain. As Hank and Luci watched, the assassin burst into flames as an ignited sword pieced through his chest from behind, causing him to disintegrate into ash in mere seconds.

As the man disappeared from sight, the flames inexplicably died down, revealing another person in a hoodie…holding his ever present flaming sword. Extinguishing the fire, Benton sheaved the sword behind his back and planted his hands on his hips, shaking his head pitifully at Hank. He still wore the same mocking smirk and those blasted sunglasses covering his ever judging eyes.

“Just how fucking long were you going to wait before you
killed
that asshole?”

Chapter 28

Benton stared down Hank menacingly, his hands filled with balls of flame. He smacked his gum, making sure to blow intermittent bubbles with it to snap in the most annoying manner. He threw Hank a mischievous smirk as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Dulci asked for the fourth time. “It’s not imperative that you test yourself on your first day.”

He glanced at the beautiful woman, but turned away quickly, worried about her beauty distracting him from the looming attack.

Hank, Dulci and Benton were standing in a small meadow close to Dulci’s cottage. It was Hank’s second Monday, and they had started with defensive maneuvers.

After watching Hank defend himself against the Kolograt assassin, Benton had insisted on it.

Hank hadn’t been too keen on Benton being a part of his training, but Dulci had soon swayed him.  As a human/fire elemental, Benton was the obvious choice, she argued. He lived and fought on both sides of the barrier wards, and as such, knew a lot that Hank would need to know about
both
worlds.

If only the kid wasn’t so damn obnoxious.

“I’m ready,” Hank replied as he nodded toward Benton, eyeing him intently.

Dulci moved back a few steps and stood next to Luci, wearing a look of worry.

Benton grinned as he bounced one of the balls of fire up and down in his hand. “You’re sure there, Buckwheat?” Benton smirked, lifting an eyebrow. “These may sting a little bit if you miss.”

“I’m honored you care,” Hank replied sarcastically. “We could do with a little less talking and a lot more lobbing.”

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Benton leaned back and tossed a ball of flame at Hank who nimbly parried it away.

He grinned, pleased with his newest magical skill.

Dulci had earlier taught him a spell that cast an aura over the staff…much like a force field. By activating the aura, Hank was able to easily extend the reach and power of the staff.

Benton continued tossing balls of fire at an increasing rate toward Hank, who deftly knocked them away one after the other.

A sneer returned to Benton’s lips as he started spicing things up, increasing both the force of his throws as well as the number thrown at once. He was having a grand old time.

Hank worked at deflecting the rapidly approaching orbs, sweat breaking out on his face at the effort.

Suddenly, one got by him, singeing his arm as it passed.

Yelping at the sudden pain, he then watched as Benton threw himself on the ground with laughter, pleased with himself for having nicked Hank with the flame.

“Good thing I was only putting out about half power dude, or you’d-a-been toast!”

Anger quickly welled up in Hank, the pain and embarrassment overcoming his rational side as he gripped the staff tightly. The kid was going to get it one day.

“
Hank
?” a melodious voice filled his head.

Glancing left, he saw that Dulci was smiling at him.

“
Injury and pain will seldom be avoided on the field of battle,”
Hank heard in his head,
“You must use the pain to focus your powers…you can not take it personally.”

He nodded his head at Dulci in understanding before turning once again toward Benton.

“Good shot, Benton,” he called out with a rigid smile to the elemental still rolling on the ground.

Without warning Hank leaped into the air, spinning around completely before landing on one knee. Simultaneously he brought the staff gripped in his right hand down hard in front of him, the rounded end striking the ground with a
boom
!

A one-foot wide sheet of ice made its way quickly across the ground, cracking its way toward Benton. Hearing the approaching noise, Benton tried to leap clear of it before the coldness caught up to him, freezing him to the ground where he sat.

Anger shown in his eyes as he tried to ignite his one free hand, finally yelling out in frustration when the fire kept fizzling out.

“Good thing I was only using half power,
dude
,” Hank called to him, “Or you’d be a Popsicle!”

The meadow was silent as Benton stared daggers at Hank. Before long however, Benton’s face softened, the start of a begrudging smile forming on his lips.

“Touché my untrained wizard, now how about getting me out of this ice trap of yours?”

Hank’s face went from victory to worry in a split second.

“Come on, Hank,” Dulci coaxed, “You’ve made your point, now reverse the spell.”

Hank turned toward Dulci apologetically.

“Tamaki taught me the Ice Kata years ago Dulci…but he never really got into how to reverse it…”

“Are you kidding me here?” Benton yelled across the meadow.

“We have to do
something,
Hank,” Dulci pleaded, “We can’t just leave him there like that!”

“Well…” Hank gulped down his embarrassment, “The ice should melt…eventually…He is a fire elemental, right?”

Benton glowered at him, the heat of his power already melting the ice. Still, it was going to take him
full
power to get himself out of that mess. Hank beamed at the thought.

Chapter 29

The first week of training went by in a flash.

Waking up in his own bed every morning, Hank was never sure how he had gotten there. Surprisingly, however, he always awoke feeing somewhat rested.

This had initially been a big worry for him…putting in two long days in a row and not falling over in exhaustion.

Rising from his bed on Saturday, he moaned as his muscles rebelled. Even though he wasn’t outright exhausted, that didn’t mean the long days weren’t taking their toll.

His muscles ached in places he never felt before. His mind was also being worked as the long-ago teachings of Tamaki began to be pulled from the recesses of his mind and brought forth to be coupled with his newer magical teachings.

Hank smiled at the thought of his teacher. An unexpected benefit of his training was that he got to spend so much time with Dulci.

A warm glow filled his being as he thought about the oracle…her melodious voice…her long golden hair… She was certainly the highlight of all the craziness surrounding him lately. He looked forward to seeing her every day.

His dreamlike musings were interrupted suddenly by something dragging across his leg. Opening his eyes, he saw that Luci was at his feet, her Frisbee lying on the floor beside her.

Sitting back on the edge of the bed, Hank spent a few minutes lavishing some extra attention on the canine.