House of Slide Hybrid (15 page)

“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 have 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.

“Only thing Sanders, Dari’s dad, wanted from Bliss. It’s some kind of rare stone to protect the wearer from possession and other metaphysical entanglements he said. It’s kind of a welcome to the family gesture. Makes you all warm and fuzzy, don’t it?” Satan said with a smile that was truly horrific in his grinning skull. It almost distracted me from the others. I should have run from the uncles closing in on me but instead I stood there, holding the cord in my large, scarred hand, swinging the stone back and forth.

“Welcome to the family?” They were there. It was all the uncles, every single one besides Grim in the darkness of the winter rose garden waiting for the order to attack.

“Yeah. For the Intended, it’s not bad. Most fathers would stick something in your ribs for spending unchaperoned time with their daughters.”

I stopped breathing, so still that I could have been made of stone, motionless. “Intended?” The word came out different than all the other words, angry, dark, there was curiosity and something more there, something vulnerable.

Satan grinned. “You didn’t drain her dry. You’re supposed to be dead. Of course, since Dariana had her soul when we came back from Bliss, it was assumed that you were probably at large. I don’t know many people who work the death angle as successfully as you. At any rate, who else would be as lethal as you, who liked her for more than her ability to liven up an art show? You mentioned protecting her like you’ve put some thought into it.”

“I’m a Hybrid. I don’t have a House.”

Satan waved his hands dismissively. “Ancient House of Carlisle is enough.”

“My father’s house?” My voice was thick with disbelief. “There is no House of Carlisle.”

Satan shrugged. “Dari’s mother, who still has her guardianship, approves if conditions are met, which apparently, they are. You showing up all altruistic gives me the idea that you actually like the girl.”

“What do you want from me?” My voice was completely empty, void of emotion and attachment.

“Don’t die until she’s under control. That’s all. She needs you if she’s going to survive.”

“She’s nothing but soul bait to you. Why should I try to keep her alive only to be sacrificed for the good of the cause?” I asked in a cold hard voice that could chip ice.

Satan shrugged. “Lliam House of Caresh, Raoul House of…”

“All vying for the honor of playing guardian to the sacrificial lamb—she must feel very flattered.” I held the stone up before my eyes and took in the dull red color, like dried blood. “Victus sum.”

I held up the stone slowly, then taking a deep breath, dropped it over my head.

***

I sat up breathing hard, my legs tangled in the sheets and clothes that had managed to get twisted while I’d been sleeping. The bright room was still lit with the fluorescent bulb that I’d left on. With a thump I managed to land on the floor, twisting my wrist when it hit the ground, making me yelp.

The door flew open, my mother standing with her hands like claws, as she swept the room with her cold gaze. “Bad dream?” she asked in a low voice even as she smoothed her dark suit with hands suddenly pale and innocent.