Ascension: Nate Temple Series Book 13 Page 6

  I had an altogether different fear, but I didn’t dare voice it. Anyone I encountered could be Loki in disguise. I’d just backed him into a corner, so I was running under the assumption that he was actively searching for a way to get the Bioloki and Gleipnir without having to fulfill his part of our agreement. So to agree to walk into a warded circle with a stranger who might actually be Loki? No way. Even if she wasn’t Loki, I didn’t have time to play cross examination with Niko.

  “First impressions matter, Niko, and yours was an abduction attempt. Tell me you only have my best interests at heart, and I’ll agree to your terms.”

  She sighed. “How can I promise that? Everyone paints you as a monster. Offering you a truce when you might actually be the narcissistic sociopath that the Academy preaches is more than fair. If our roles were reversed, would you make that promise?”

  I let out a resigned breath. “Not a chance in hell,” I admitted, unable to argue her logic.

  “Exactly.”

  “I’ll consider it, Niko, but right now, I really have to go.”

  She sighed disappointedly. “Stay sharp, Nate. I think things are only going to get worse with the increased payout. I’m ready to handle this quietly whenever you’re ready to come in.”

  “I never come quietly,” I growled instinctively.

  Alucard burst out laughing, and it took me a moment to realize how my words had sounded.

  “Well,” Niko murmured, sounding amused. “That’s something.”

  “Goodbye, Niko,” I said, my face beet-red.

  “One more thing—” I hung up before she could finish.

  Chapter 10

  I rounded on Alucard. “Did you kick him to death?” I demanded, pointing at Wrenchface as I stormed over, pocketing my phone as I moved.

  He was too busy laughing to answer, taking deep breaths to compose himself.

  I glanced down at Wrenchface and blinked. His nose was destroyed in a cringeworthy manner, and blood covered his face. I stared at him, shaking my head in disbelief. Although the strange twist in luck had worked in our favor, it was still concerning. Because luck could turn on a dime, as any lifelong gambler well knew.

  I might slip on a banana peel and cause a ten car pileup or choke to death on a feather.

  But nothing unlucky had happened to us. Had Loki done something to me? To Alucard? Some kind of insurance policy, maybe? Since nothing bizarre had happened until we entered the warehouse, I couldn’t rule Niko out of the equation either. Maybe she’d helped me more than she had admitted. Maybe not.

  Without further evidence, I couldn’t do anything about it other than pay close attention over the next few days. I’d ride Lady Luck as long as I could and hope I got off in time.

  Alucard finally regained his composure and joined me. “Crazy. I think the wrench broke his nose and sent the cartilage right up into his brain. Like that movie where the dude outside the bar accidentally killed that guy.”

  I turned to give him a flat look. “That describes every action flick circa 1985.”

  “It had Ghostrider in it.”

  “Nicholas Cage? Are you talking about Con Air?”

  He snapped his fingers. “That’s the one. I’ve been thinking about that for ten minutes,” he complained. Then he eyed me pensively. “Man, you lead a sad life to remember crap like that.”

  I rolled my eyes, staring down at the guy. It really had been a one-in-a-million shot.

  “What about the trash bag guy? He survived, right?” I asked, shooting a glance at my watch.

  Alucard winced. “Broken bottle of whiskey sliced his inner thigh. Bled out.”

  I ran a hand through my hair and let out a curse.

  “With all the other stuff we have going on, how important is it that you talk to one of these guys?” Alucard finally asked, his voice rough.

  I turned to look at him, frowning. “What do you mean?”

  He pointed down. “How badly do you want answers about this girl and the apparent billion-dollar contract on your head?” he asked. “Scale of one to ten.”

  I frowned at the bizarre hypothetical. “Seven?” I finally said, shrugging. “I have no idea. And I don’t see how that’s relevant—”

  “Seven?” he sputtered.

  I shrugged. “Eight?”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I know some voodoo.”

  I blinked, and then slowly turned back to him. “You know voodoo,” I said flatly. “And I’m just hearing about this now, why?” I asked incredulously.

  “It’s dark stuff, Little Brother. I try to keep the past where it belongs, but I was raised in New Orleans. Kind of an obvious connection.”

  I frowned. Now that he put it that way…

  “You’re a necromancer?” I asked doubtfully.

  He smirked. “Neck romancer, definitely. But necromancy…” he shrugged. “I’ve been known to dabble.”

  I grunted. “Alright. Pick one who looks important. We’ll take him back with us.”

  “What about the other bodies?” he asked, grabbing the broken nose guy by the ankle. I frowned at his hands, a stray thought coming to mind. I let out a tired sigh, lifting my hand to remove all the evidence in one blazing inferno.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket and I frowned, plucking it out. I read a text from Niko.

  There should have been eight of them, not seven. Next time don’t hang up on me.

  I stared at it for a few seconds, not comprehending. Then it hit me. “Son of a—”

  The wall on the far side of the warehouse blew inwards in a shower of flame and shrapnel. “You’re all dead!” a large, hairy man bellowed without even looking our way, blindly hurling fireballs ahead of him. They struck a pile of pallets not even close to us.

  “We missed one,” Alucard murmured, looking confused by the man’s target.

  “Protect him!” I snapped.

  The eighth wizard spun in surprise, momentarily pausing to frown at my words.

  And that’s when I saw the sheet of flaming metal begin to fall down from over his head, perfectly angled to decapitate him. I flung up a hand to catch the debris with a blast of magic.

  He, on the other hand, lifted his arms to unload fireballs on me.

  I gritted my teeth, tossing up a weak shield as I continued to hold the roof up over my attacker’s head. “Maybe you could hurry the hell up and knock him out before something kills him,” I growled at Alucard. “I think this place is cursed with bad luck.”

  He muttered unhappily, glancing at his fists. “Play shield for me.”

  “Sure. I’m not already doing that or anything!” I snapped, flicking my eyes towards the wall of air currently being pelted by balls of fire.

  “Well, make more of them. I can’t knock him out from over here,” he growled, already running away so that I couldn’t snark back.

  I very seriously considered letting one of the fireballs clip him, but with our luck it would somehow kill the wizard I wanted to take alive.

  So I began flinging out more magic—surgical blasts of cold air to freeze his flaming projectiles, sending balls of ice ricocheting up into the rafters, walls, and—

  I grinned as one clipped Alucard in the shoulder. “That’s what you get, Sparkula!” I hooted.

  Alucard took it like a champ, ducking under a fireball I missed in my celebratory taunt, and closed the rest of the distance in a blur.

  He slid under the last blast and uppercut the wizard in the jaw, knocking him up on his tiptoes. Alucard immediately grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair, yanking his head back, and sank his fangs into the wizard’s neck. It lasted only a moment, but I watched as the wizard’s eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp. Instead of catching him, Alucard took a quick step back so that the man crumpled to the ground.

  Alucard turned his head to spit out a mouthful of blood, grimacing in disgust.

  I released my shields and used my magic to shift the collapsing roof to crash a safe distance away. Then I jo
gged over, studying the wizard to make sure he was still breathing. “You don’t like blood? At all?” I asked Alucard, remembering that even with his Daywalker powers, he still hadn’t minded blood on occasion.

  He spat again. “His blood tasted foul. Like licking the handle on a slot machine in Vegas.”

  I frowned. “That’s both incredibly nasty, and ridiculously specific.”

  He nodded, spitting out a third time. “First thing that came to mind. Can if I have some of yours to wash this nasty taste out of my mouth?” he asked eagerly, and I could tell that he was being completely serious.

  I shook my head. “That’s a monumentally stupid idea. We’re both Horsemen, now. I don’t even want to think about what could happen.” I glanced down at the unconscious wizard. “No more voodoo, at least,” I suggested happily. “Silver lining.”

  “Fine,” he muttered unhappily. “Let’s just get out of here. I need a drink. Anything to wash this out of my mouth.” He reached down and grabbed a hold of the wizard’s legs and stared at me, waiting. The building was burning nicely now—thanks to the eighth wizard’s additional fire—and I knew the growing flames would be enough to withstand the rain and delete all evidence on their own.

  I opened a Gateway back to Chateau Falco, but I didn’t immediately step through. Alucard was still pouting. “Hey, you see that propane tank?” I asked, pointing at a small tank sitting near the wall where the fire was stretching closer.

  “Yeah. Looks like a hazard,” he murmured, sounding amused. He dropped the wizard’s leg and cracked his knuckles. “You ready?”

  I counted to three in my head and then shouted at the top of my lungs. “PULL!”

  Alucard lunged forward, snatched the propane tank by the handle, and flung it up into the air. I formed a ball of fire in my palm and hurled it at the tank in mid-arc. It exploded on contact with a concussive thump and I grinned, finally stepping through the Gateway.

  Chapter 11

  Ashley began cursing me out the moment we were through, calling me nine flavors of idiotic for blowing up a propane tank with the Gateway open.

  Apparently, she and her pups had been playing a short distance away from the Drop Zone—an area beneath a giant willow tree that I had designated for Gateways—and Calvin and Makayla had abruptly bolted towards us, knowing that a sudden portal of sparks meant that their godfather was back home—and he usually carried snacks. Luckily, Ashley had caught them before they hopped through into the unlucky warehouse of death. I let the Gateway wink shut before they got any fresh ideas.

  They were yapping excitedly at me, wagging their tails so hard that it began throwing off their balance, causing them to stumble and trip. They were both about the same height, although Calvin looked broader in the chest and shoulders. Calvin was white like his dad, and his eyes were so bright and pale that they took my breath away when he really focused on me.

  Makayla was solid black, taking after her mother—other than the white socks up her paws. The pups suddenly stopped and cocked their little heads, their eyes latching onto the unconscious wizard Alucard was dragging behind him. Bubbling growls soon rolled out of their throats, making them sound like nothing more dangerous than tree frogs.

  Alucard dropped the wizard’s feet and grinned at the curious pups. “Snack.”

  The pups began circling the body from a safe distance, their hackles rigid as they tested their curiosity.

  I shot him a disapproving look for Ashley’s sake and reached into my pocket to pull out two strips of jerky, tossing one to each of them. They momentarily forgot about the wizard and attacked the jerky like piranhas, growling at each other in warning.

  I let out a sigh, hiding my usual anxiety to see them. Despite how mellow and accepting Ashley and Gunnar were about the whole thing, I still wasn’t sure what to make of their kids being born as wolves rather than babies. Pandora has promised me that they were completely healthy and that it had been necessary for Freya to save their lives, but beyond that, I had been given very cryptic and vague assurances. Gunnar had even demanded that I leave it alone and not worry about it. I’d temporarily agreed to stay out of it, but I was coming dangerously close to hunting down Freya myself to demand real answers.

  “What if the shrapnel had flown through and hit them!" Ashley demanded, planting her fists on her hips.

  I looked her in the eyes. “That would have been a valuable lesson for Lady and the Tramp,” I said in my best wizardly voice, using the nicknames I had given her pups.

  Ashley cleared her throat. Actually, it sounded more like a very hostile growl, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. “Pratchett is not an acceptable excuse.”

  I grunted. “Pratchett is always an acceptable excuse. Hogfather is the shit.”

  She met my eyes, and they were definitely hostile now. “Mentioning harm and my pups in the same sentence will get you an ass whooping. And I told you not to call them that.”

  I nodded, wondering why she was so on edge. “Take a breath, Ashley. You know I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to the furballs, and it’s my right as godfather to spoil them, toughen them up, and tease them. It’s in the by-laws.” I glanced around, frowning. “Where’s Gunnar?” Then I narrowed my eyes, noticing an anomaly. “And who the fuck is that?” I demanded, pointing at a strange Dodge Charger in the drive, parked up near the fountain by the front door. With the sudden puppy onslaught and angry mother wolf, I hadn’t immediately noticed the car through the screen of hanging willow branches, even though they offered very little cover.

  “You have guests,” Ashley said. My shoulders instantly tensed in alarm. She was only just now telling me this? What if they’d seen my Gateway? No wonder she was on edge! “Gunnar is entertaining an old FBI friend from Quantico and his partner. They used to be sparring partners, and Gunnar is using that to keep them busy.”

  “Gunnar is boxing the FBI guy?” Alucard drawled in disbelief. “Most people just make a pot of coffee or something.”

  Ashley waved a hand, cutting him off as she turned back to me, shooing me back towards the trunk of the willow tree as if to get me out of sight. “They’re definitely Regulars, but the old friendship bought Gunnar some time. They have questions about a sighting of you near Stonehenge—before you destroyed it. Then the message carved into the parking lot outside that bar in East St. Louis, courtesy of Thor. You are supposed to be globetrotting. It would look very strange for you to suddenly be here when Gunnar is inside telling them you are not here.”

  I grunted angrily, wanting nothing more than to stroll inside and tell them to get off my property, but Ashley was right, so I followed her advice and began walking out of sight from the entrance and all the windows, grumbling unhappily.

  “Why is Alucard dragging a dead body?” Ashley asked, leaning down over the wizard and sniffing audibly.

  Alucard cocked his head, glancing down. “He’s not dead. He’s happy,” he said, kicking the wizard in the ribs. The man groaned but didn’t wake. “See? He laughed.”

  Makayla, having already gobbled down her jerky—yipped and tripped over her own paws in an effort to tear the dead wizard’s shirt.

  “Girl, you’re built like an improper fraction,” I said, shaking my head with a chuckle.

  “Nate!” Ashley hissed. “You cannot say things like that to a lady!”

  “Heh. I got you to use my nickname.” She folded her arms, her eyes practically blazing. I sighed. “Life is suffering. I’m strengthening her princess claws—”

  I cut off as the front door to Chateau Falco opened. Ashley and Alucard turned to look, crouching low so as not to be seen. Gunnar walked out, wiping a bloody lip with a grim smile. Shit. I felt an icy chill roll down the back of my neck. Had he eaten the FBI?

  Seeing blood on Gunnar’s lip, the rest of the Randulf clan suddenly went berserk, threatening to give away our presence. Ashley, being the sensible, responsible mother that she was, suddenly exploded into her werewolf form in a shower of shredded fabric and let out
a vicious snarl. In her fury, she stomped down with one of her paws, directly onto the unconscious wizard, hard enough to crack a few ribs or maybe his spine. He lurched up with a gasp.

  Which, of course, immediately sent the pups into a frenzy of barking and yapping.

  In the span of one or two seconds, I realized I had a fucking situation on my hand as two FBI agents strolled down the front steps after Gunnar, their heads already turning to find the source of the barking. I flung up a hasty illusion shield between us and Chateau Falco and latched onto all three werewolves with my magic.

  Gunnar’s eye had widened in horror, obviously sensing Ashley hulking out and hearing the pained gasp of the wizard over Calvin and Makayla’s barking. Werewolves had enhanced senses, and to feel so much sudden anxiety from all three of his family members, it was all he could do not to hulk out and kill everything within a one-mile-radius. Especially since my illusion was blocking the real situation and he had two FBI agents walking directly behind him.

  All three of them stared in our direction, and I held my breath, hoping my magic had been good enough to hide us, because I was already seeing stars at juggling so many different flows of power right after juggling so many flows of power in the warehouse.

  My wizard’s magic was out of practice these days, which I was beginning to realize was a fucking problem.

  The FBI Agents frowned thoughtfully, looking directly at us. Since it would be even more bizarre to suddenly silence the pups barking, I focused on just keeping them still until the FBI Agents left.

  “Our puppies must have found a rabbit,” I heard Gunnar tell the FBI Agents in a loud voice, smiling strangely. “Ashley is probably trying to chase them through the brush.”

  The two men were pure stereotypes, one blonde and the other dark-haired, but both were clean cut, freshly shaved, and sturdy in the shoulders. The blonde guy was slightly taller, but other than that, they could have been created in the Quantico factory for all the individuality they displayed. The taller one held his jacket over a shoulder, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up. I thought I noticed blood on his knuckles, and the beginning of a shiner under his left eye.