The Demon's Apprentice (22 page)

“Dominic King!” I yelled. The Hellfire amplified my voice so that it shattered glass and cracked wood, and sent shards of glass flying into the room. The challenge alone knocked him off the bed and across the floor. Alexis scampered across in front of me to gather her pants and top, then found an out of the way corner to hide in. I stepped through the shattered window and flung my hands forward, screaming the release phrase for the spell at the top of my lungs. “
MITTERRE
!”

Infernal flame flew across the room in a solid column of sickly blue and black, leaving a dull
boom
in its wake. King almost got a strong enough defense up, but not quite. The purple miasma of his shield bowed in for half a heartbeat before the hellish flames, then it buckled. The blast hit him mid-chest and flung him across the lodge. As in: through the wall, across the main room, and out through the other wall. I crossed the bedroom to the smoking ruin of the inner wall, sparing a moment to give Alexis a glance and a nod as she scrambled into her clothes.

Brad and the boys cowered back when I stepped into the main room, caught between me in my adolescent wrath, and their master’s twisted spell over them. Their half-naked master clambered back in through the hole I had sent him out through, looking stunned and worried.

“Who the hell are you?” he blustered.

“Chance Fortunato, asshole!” I yelled back at him as I pulled the TK wand from my pocket and the paintball gun from its holster on my left leg. Without stopping, I sent a blast from the TK wand screaming across the room at him and flung him back out through the same hole.

He came back in barely a second or two later, and I had to hand it to him for sheer balls. Not many people could handle a blast of Hellfire, much less survive a telekinetic blast as a chaser. I suppose that should have been my first clue as to how deep in it I really was. When he moved again, it was an impossibly fast leap into the room. I barely got a TK blast off before he was right in front of me, and I was sliding across the floor on my back. It was only after I stopped moving that I felt the pain in my chest from where he'd stiff-armed me. My arms were heavy as I tried to get the wand back up, but I found myself staring at empty hands. Then, he was in front of me again, with his fist drawn back and a savage snarl on his face. I barely had time to think “Not again!” before it came crashing down across my face and the world went black for the second time that night.

Chapter 14

~ Never assume anyone you’ve broken will stay that way. ~ Infernal provern.

I woke up to a new ringing in my ears and the sound of flesh on flesh. The whole left side of my face felt like it was on fire and my arms were pinned behind me by something firm, but kinda fuzzy. There was another slap across my left cheek, and my head was rocked to the side.

“Wake up, boy,” King growled. My eyes grated open, though the left one only came up about part way. “Time to scream.”

“You,” I rasped, “hit like a girl.” That earned me another slap, and maybe a few more minutes of semi-consciousness. When my focus cleared again, King was still there, with his index and middle finger of his right hand pressed against my forehead.

“Who's with you?” he demanded. The reverb in his voice and the pressure in my head were demanding an answer. It felt like it would be so much better to tell him what he wanted to know, what he deserved to know, so I could be good and he would reward me. The compulsion hit my mental wards like a bug on a windshield. “Who brought you here?”

Another compulsion broke against my defenses. I knew I could hold him off pretty much indefinitely, but eventually, he'd figure that out. I had no idea how long I'd been out, but hopefully, Lucas and Wanda had called the police by now. Still, I needed to give them as much time to get as far away as they could, and wait for the cops to get here.

“I…I came…” I whispered, willing him to lean in closer. He did, and I drew my head back and smashed it into his nose. There was a sickening crack and I felt cartilage give against my forehead before I saw King staggering back with his hand over his nose and blood streaming over his scraggly beard. “I came alone!” I said defiantly.

King howled in pain for a moment, then straightened and started pressing against his nose with his fingertips. My stomach lurched as I heard a grating sound, then he pulled his hands away. No more blood flowed from his nostrils, and his nose looked close to straight.

“Werewolf, dumbass,” he chided me. “I can heal from most anything. He's not alone, boys.”

“He hangs out with some Goth bitch named Wanda, and that loser, Lucas Kale,” Brad offered.

“Good thinkin',” King said with narrowed eyes. “Pete, take a couple of the boys and head for the road. Check by the gate.”

I cursed silently. How had he figured out I was stalling? Had his mind control worked somehow? “What makes you think I'd drag anyone else along?”

“If you came alone, you'd want me to think you didn’t.” He gave me a smug grin as I thought about what he'd said. He was right, if I'd been alone, I'd be trying to make him think the cavalry was coming when it wasn't, so he wouldn't want to hurt me for fear of being found out. In trying to buy my friends some time, I'd admitted to doing something stupid instead.

“You're not as dumb as you look,” I admitted. He just gestured to Brad in response, and suddenly, I was hoisted over his shoulder. He carried me into another room and dumped me on the floor. My head bounced off what felt like concrete or stone, and I saw stars for a moment. When my vision cleared, the lights were on, and I could see that I was in a kitchen. Everything was done in industrial steel and institutional white except for the red stone floor against my face.

“You son of a bitch!” Brad hissed, and my inspection of the floor was interrupted by his boot in my stomach. “Who was that bastard with you at school? Who shot Rick?” Each question earned me another boot to the body. With my hands tied behind me, I couldn't protect myself very well, even curled up into the smallest ball I could manage. He kicked me one more time, and I spewed lunch across his shoes. With a curse, he danced away from me.

While he was wiping his shoes clean, Alexis slipped in and closed the door. Her eyes zeroed in on me as I lay there gasping and retching, and a frown flickered across her face. Brad started for me again, but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Brad, please,” she said softly.

“Don't tell me you feel sorry for this punk,” he sneered.

She shook her head and closed her eyes before turning them on him full force. “No, it's not him. You know I hate it when he makes me go with him like that,” she said softly. “I need your touch, Brad.” She melted into his arms for a moment, then his hand went to the nape of her neck. He pulled her head back by her hair and nuzzled at her neck before he covered her mouth with a deep kiss. His other hand reached around and groped at her ass while he held her against his body.

“He didn't get too far this time, did he?”

Her voice was rough as she forced out a “No.”

“Good. You're still mine, no matter what he does to you,” he murmured as his hands wandered over her body.

After a moment, she pushed back against him. “Brad, not now,” she protested.

“C'mon baby, don't tell me you're getting modest all of the sudden.” He grabbed her ass and pulled her back to him. She shoved herself away from him and stepped back.

“You don't get it,” she spat at him. “You never did.” She shoved him toward the door, and he gave her a lost look before he shook his head and slipped out into the main room. She threw another curse after him before she turned away from me and put her hands on the counter.

“Last thing you want right now,” I managed to get out, “is sex.”

“Shut up!” she cried. “Besides, what the hell would you know about it?”

“More'n you think.”

“Yeah, right. What the hell do you want from me, anyway?” Her eyes were dark, and the question caught me off guard.

“Nothing!” I finally managed to get out. “I didn't even plan on getting involved in all this. But I saw what he was doing, and…I just…I know what it's like, okay? And I couldn't…I couldn't just…I had to do something. Even if it was stupid.” I saw a faint hope in her eyes. For a moment, it looked like she was going to say something. Whatever it was, it was lost when the door opened.

Three of the werewolves trooped in with limp forms over their shoulders and laid their burdens down unceremoniously before turning and leaving. One of them handed Alexis a bundle of things on his way out, and her eyes went to the people on the floor before she set whatever it was on the counter. Three pairs of feet were all I could see no matter how hard I craned my neck. I recognized Wanda's chunky wedge heels and Lucas's worn sneakers, but the pair of leather loafers and black slacks were new. Who was that guy?

“What the hell were you thinking, bringing them back here?” I head King scream in the front room. “Why didn't you just kill them?”

“We've never killed anyone before, sir,” one of them protested. There was a thud and a yelp from the front room, and I saw someone fly past the door.

“Too bad. Learn quick, boy. Better him than you!”

“The third guy's a cop!” someone called out.

“What?” King bellowed. “Son of a bitch! You idiots took a cop?” More thumps and cries of pain followed.

“We didn't know!” one of the guys cried out. “He wasn't in a cop car, and he didn't have a uniform on!”

“He prolly told someone where he was going,” King growled. “Pigs don't go nowhere alone.”

“What do we do, sir?” Brad asked with a tremble of desperation in his voice.

“I'm thinking! We gotta get rid of them somehow…leave no trail back to us,” King replied. The rest was cut off as Alexis pushed the door closed. She stepped out of sight, and I heard water running, then she was kneeling beside me with a rag in her hand. For a moment, she seemed undecided about something as she cocked her head at some muffled sound from the front room. Then she slipped her hand in her right front pocket and pulled something out.

“We have to get your friends out of here,” she whispered as she reached behind me. I heard the click and scrape of handcuffs being unlocked; suddenly, my wrists were free, and Alexis was tucking a pair of handcuffs lined with pink fur into her back pocket.

“Yours?” I had to ask. She just nodded and blushed. Monkey brain expressed its approval, and I slapped it back down before it could conjure up any visuals to distract me. As I was wrestling my hormones, she reached down and snapped the rope around my ankles. I sat up and she pressed the wet rag into my hands. While I wiped my face off, Alexis went back to the door to keep an eye on things. I knew she was a victim here as much as anything, but I still wasn't sure how far I could trust her. At the moment, though, I didn't have much of a choice. She was our only shot at getting out of here alive.

My knife, wallet and a couple of my cinnamon candies were on the counter's smooth surface, next to a leather shoulder holster and another wallet. Once the knife and my wallet were back in my pockets, and one of the cinnamon candies was burning my tongue, I flipped the wallet open to see a badge and ID. Officer Demetrius Collins’ stern face stared back at me from the card. Lucas' keys and Wanda's cell phone were under the holster, and I stifled a curse. How in the hell was I going to get all three of them out of there?

As my brain wrestled with the problem, I went to the end of the counter and flipped my knife open. Lucas and Wanda were just tied up, and the ropes were easy enough to cut through. Collins' feet were tied, but he was handcuffed like I had been…only without the cute fur. It was a good bet his key was in someone's pocket in the front room.

“Inside my right shoe,” I heard Collins say softly. His eyes were open, but glazed with pain. My jaw empathized with him. I tucked my fingers inside the top of his loafer, and found the key duct-taped in the lining on the inside of his ankle. A few seconds later, his hands were free. Lucas moaned as he tried to sit up, then his bleary eyes found me.

“You brought the cops at least,” I told him by way of greeting.

“Told you sidekicks never listen,” he shot back, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head. He turned when Wanda stirred, and went to her side, murmuring softly to her as she came to.

“What in the Hell are you mixed up in, Fortunato?” Collins asked, as I handed him his gun.

“A bunch of stuff I'll explain
after
we leave, officer. For the moment…you're going to have to trust me a little.”

“I have to get you kids out of here is what I gotta do,” he argued. Stupid grownup.

“Good idea. You got a plan to get us out of here without anyone knowing?”

“Through the storeroom,” Alexis answered from behind me. I hadn't heard her even move. Collins nodded, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. I hated to leave my wand and Dr. C's paintball gun behind, but I wasn't about to risk my friends for a couple of replaceable toys. I grabbed Lucas and Wanda's stuff and handed it over, then followed Alexis to the door to the store room.

“The delivery door leads to the back of the lodge,” she explained as she pointed to the double doors not twenty feet away. “Go to your right once you're outside, that'll keep you downwind of the pack. You should be able to see the road from there.” Collins took the lead as I nodded and gestured for Lucas and Wanda to go in front of me.

Alexis touched my arm as I turned for the door. “The pack's territory ends at the edge of the camp. If you can make it to the road, you might be able to claim safe passage from there. The boys won't like it, but they'll deal with it if you're out of bounds.”

“What about King?”

“He…I don't know, Chance,” she answered after a moment. “The only rule he follows is the Law of the Wolf.”

“I'll make do,” I told her. She nodded and stepped back as the door closed, and I was on my own. Collins waited at the outer door with his hand on the knob. I gave him a nod, and he pushed the door open. There was a dry groan of metal on metal as rusty hinges grated against what had to be years of disuse. Collins winced as he pushed the door open hard and sprinted to his right. Lucas pushed Wanda ahead of him as we followed. When he got to the corner of the building, Collins stopped and peered around the edge before he waved us forward. The open field of the parking lot beckoned to us, awash in the orange glow of a sodium security light. My friends started forward, and Collins followed as soon as I passed him, his right hand tucked beneath his left arm, on the butt of his pistol.

We made it only a few steps into the lot, where we were nice and exposed and yards from any cover, when the first yells erupted from inside the lodge. Our jog had barely turned into a sprint when four black-clad forms streaked out of the front of the lodge. They blurred around in front of us, and I heard more feet on turf as the rest bounded up behind us. Collins’ gun came out, held with the barrel pointed at the ground between the jocks and us. His eyes flicked toward me when I put a hand on his shoulder.

“You'll only piss them off if you shoot them with that,” I explained. Truth was, the only weapons that would even slow them down were somewhere in the lodge, and without them, we were wolf chow. Collins didn't look like he believed me, but he didn't try to shoot the Weres, either. The boys circled us, standing with their fists clenched and eyes glowing. 

“Well, well, well,” King sneered as he came into the light from the front of the lodge. “You're a tricky bunch.” Collins’ gun came up, and a red dot appeared on King's chest as he spoke.

“Stand down!” Collins ordered, but King ignored him, instead glaring at me.

“A tragic animal attack is about to claim the lives of three stupid kids and a New Essex police officer.”