“Are you really going to let this happen? You know Wretch is going to kill him.” I wanted Brun to hear her answer.
“I know that. I told him to stop these stupid experiments years ago when a couple of mutants burnt down one of my houses. Husbands never listen.” He’d been dismissed.
Wretch hadn’t moved, but he heard her. “Did you hear that Brun? She wants me to kill you. Wipe you from her life.”
Brun flinched. “Honey, you don’t mean that. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you.” He whined.
“Of course not, you imbecile, you’ve been under a spell for seven hundred years.” She bragged.
The warehouse went silent. Brun and Wretch turned to see her smiling with her arms crossed over her chest. She leaned back against the wall looking very happy. “You think someone would marry me of their own free will?”
“You had plenty of men after you. I had to fight for you.” He was hurt. Whimpering to any woman wouldn’t win a spot in her bed.
With Obsidian, I’m surprised she got into the same one with this guy even once.
This was a new twist for the week. My airways were clear, and I got to watch this idiot breathe his last. My safety was guaranteed until Wretch killed Brun and since my friend liked to play with his victims, I would get a nice memory to take to the ether. I was sure neither of us would survive and my choice to do this alone made me even happier. Our friends were safe at the mansion, we would wound her in the process, maybe even kill her, and they would be safe. Until this week, I didn’t know it was important to me. Now, I understood it was the most important thing to me.
“The only man who wanted me was an Emperor.” She taunted him.
“You loved another human, and I’m disgusting?” He was still whining.
“He was brutal, evil, left thousands of men to die for his vision, knew that women had their place, but made an exception for me.” She looked happy as she said that.
The emotions didn’t fit on her face. I thought I knew who she meant but decided against asking.
Wretch was calm and relaxed. “You were a consolation prize, Brun.” He taunted.
Wretch hit a sore spot. Brun rushed toward him shifting at the last moment. Obsidian pulled me with her to the other end of the area. I hung over the door where the equipment was delivered earlier. It was the safest I’d ever been in a fight with demons. That was, unless she decided to crush me, and then I didn’t stand much of a chance at surviving. I lengthened my talons.
Wretch and Brun wrestled on the floor. They shifted between human and demon forms. Brun kept shifting into aquatic animals, squid, octopus, and jellyfish. Wretch stuck to various demon forms with built in weapons. Brun hit him in the face. Wretch punched through Brun’s midsection. They shifted, grunted, and kept pummeling each other.
Each time Wretch got him around the neck, Brun shifted into an octopus and squished out of the hold. At one point, Wretch cut off three of his arms, and they all grew back.
“Why are you wasting my time?” Obsidian said with an icy tone.
Wretch stopped wrestling and stood up as a giant lobster with one claw around his waist. He took the other claw and closed it around Brun’s neck. The man tried to shift, but ended up back in his original form. He pushed against the claws. His struggles opened up wounds on his stomach and neck. The smell of fear, urine, and blood filled the air.
“What do I get for killing your husband, grandmother?” Wretch’s hatred for his family filled every syllable.
“If you are looking for eternal gratitude, you’re delusional.” Her response was crisp.
“I want immunity for New Orleans.” That was a start for us.
I wanted to interrupt and ask for permanent immunity for humans, us, and our friends, but she chose that time to increase her grip. I had to concentrate to keep her from crushing me. It didn’t appear to be intentional.
She was focused on Wretch. “One or two years?”
“Two centuries.” He was good.
“I’m not willing to give that up.” Her grip tightened on me.
He pulled the claw away from Brun’s neck. “Then your name will continue to be tarnished by association with this prick. We’ll publicly announce his experiments on shifters, making sure to use your name. You’re the most dangerous woman I’ve ever known, but if the entire shifter community decides you need to die, they will hunt you down cutting you to pieces, no matter how many of them die in the process.”
The doctor sighed in relief. “I told you he couldn’t kill me. He’s weak, my love. He can’t kill anyone. Just like you said, weak, and malleable. You keep me alive. I’ll make as many demon hybrids as you want. You’d have your own private army.”
“I lied, you idiot. He’s half dragon and could fly out of here with you right now dropping you into the ocean so far out you would drown before you figured out where you were.” Her admission frightened Brun.
He turned to her as the information sunk in. “Dragon?”
“She didn’t tell you?” Wretch smiled. “I’m the child of her younger sister and her dragon lover.”
As he spoke, he shifted into dragon form. Dragon DNA had to be present for the scales to grow, demons could try to mimic the look, but true dragon form was a birthright. Brun hung there with a confused look on his face.
“Two hundred years, grandmother. Or he lives.” He hoped she valued her reputation more than tormenting us.
“You have my word.” She agreed with a wave of her hand.
That was too easy. Something in my head said we should refuse it, but the safety of my friends overrode the instinct.
“Your signature.” A paper showed up in front of her with a pen. “Sign it.” Wretch was good.
She signed the paper and he cut off Brun’s head. The human-demon hybrid didn’t disintegrate since he was human first. Wretch spelled the body away.
“You have your deal, Wretched Spawn. I leave New Orleans to you and the Death Dealer for two hundred years.” She vanished dropping me to the floor.
Good thing I was in dragon form and my scales work like armor.
I shifted back to human, as did Wretch. “I don’t believe her. Something feels very wrong about this.”
“She signed the agreement.” He spelled it sending to the Court.
I shook my head. “Still don’t believe it.”
“The last line of the agreement said, if she breaks it she admits to masterminding the entire DNA scheme. She volunteers for execution and will expose herself to a reveal spell so that all of her dirty deeds will be known before she dies. Her signature is her confession.” He had to have written that himself.
“She has a copy of it?” She signed it so fast she didn’t care what was in it. That bothered me.
“It was transmitted to her office as soon as she signed it. You want to drink his soul?” He beamed.
“No thanks. I’m good.” Something was wrong.
Brun’s soul screamed as it floated to the ether. “Betrayal, bitch, lied to me, used me, I’ll hunt her soul down from the day she dies and will destroy her.” Then he disappeared.
“Can he do that?” This was new territory for us.
“No. That was ego.”
“Arrogant to the last wisp of sulfur smelling air.”
“She signed that fast. Any idea why?”
“We are formidable.” His confidence irritated me today.
“Because we have backup, and she can’t get in and out of New Orleans with Adam and Mike knowing. They have eyes, ears, and snouts in every neighborhood and a pack in Baton Rouge that can report anyone who shows up there. Now let’s go tell them about our deal with a demon.” Oh shit.
He grabbed me, and we appeared in the foyer of the mansion. It was covered in blood. Angie sat at the top of the stairs with Grace shaking in each other’s arms. Tears streaked their faces, and Grace’s was covered in blood. Angie was so upset she gasped for air. I saw the paper bag she held, forgotten, in her hand.
“She killed them. All of them.” Grace announced.
I walked around to each of the bodies. Adam’s body was severed, his heart and lungs lay on the floor. Mike’s torso was the only part of his body left intact. His arms, legs, and head were askew. I reached down closing his eyes. Two of the best friends I’d ever had were in pieces on my floor.
If this spree didn’t end soon, I would become psychotic so I could chase down every member of Wretch’s family and rip their hearts out. “Are you two hurt?”
The women shook their heads, but didn’t move. Their gazes riveted to the blood trails snaking across the marble foyer.
“I hate your family.” I shouted punching the floor.
There was a thump from the basement, and I felt as much as heard the shout that accompanied it.
“She missed George.” Wretch vanished.
I walked up the stairs and took each woman’s hand. “She’s gone.”
“For how long, though?” I’d never heard Grace that scared.
“Two hundred years.” I hoped she lived by that now. I would take us decades to rebuild a network.
“Did you get that shit in writing?” That’s my girl.
“As a matter of fact, yes.” I still didn’t believe she would abide by it.
Protocol and confessions aren’t shit to this woman. I wanted the entire demon and dragon hierarchy after her. I shifted back to human form spelling clothing as I ran up the stairs. Grace collapsed into me, and Angie fainted. I picked her up carrying her downstairs.
If George survived, he was stuck in a cell in the basement. I tried to pull away from Grace so she didn’t have to see this, but she didn’t let go. When I tried to pry her fingers from my arm, she hissed at me. So, we all went down the narrow steps to the basement bouncing against the walls, three bodies wide.
Wretch stood in the hallway between the cells we’d found George and Adam in before. He had his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face. Angie raised her head and I set her on her feet. She wobbled and held on, but I admired the strength she showed.
“There isn’t anything funny here, Uncle Fester,” Grace said to him.
He turned to us and spoke the release spell so fast I barely recognized it. Angie walked over hugging him hard.
Greg stepped into the hallway from the right cell. His body covered in weeping welts, he sat on the floor and leaned against a wall. There were chunks of flesh missing from his sides and arms. Like he’d been gouged with a shovel. The wounds weren’t bleeding and looked cauterized.
“I take it Mike and Adam didn’t make it?” He asked after looking at our faces.
“No, Greg. They didn’t.”
George walked out of his cell, and his arms were gashed. She took chunks of flesh from him as well. He fared better than Greg.
Angie pushed on Wretch’s chest. “I’ll check their wounds.”
George’s wounds weren’t bleeding. “She kept cutting pieces of me off and then sealing the wound.”
“She took enough to mimic the experiments on other humans,” Angie said. “If she really did agree to stay away two hundred years, we know what will accompany her when she comes back.”
“Zombie shifters.” Grace started to laugh. It turned to tears. “That bitch is going to make stronger demons and come after us again?” Her face was ashen, and she held onto me. She looked exhausted.
“Honey, you won’t be here in two hundred years,” Angie said. “I won’t be either if this keeps up.”
Wretch’s face fell as he realized the threats from his family would eventually drive her away.
“My parents know how to infuse you with dragon DNA. If it takes, you will be immortal.” A secret I’d kept my entire life leapt from my lips so fast, I didn’t know I’d said it until the shocked silence followed.
We’d done this four times in Mexico during wars. I’m not sure my parents still knew how, but if she wanted to be immortal, she should get a choice of species.
“Cim?” Wretch looked at me. “Never thought to mention this before?”
“I kept my promise to my parents. The secret was safe until we might need it to survive. I don’t want Angie smelling like sulfur for eternity. Better that she has a less malodorous option.”
The look on her face let me know she would never accept either option. I would be surprised if she stayed around more than a few more months.
“I have to call the pack and let them know about Adam and Mike.” Greg stood up on wobbly legs shuffling to the stairs.
“His son is not ready to be Alpha,” I said.
“He knew that. Dale’s pack in Baton Rouge will absorb this one until he’s ready. One of his uncles will be assigned to watch over him. In our world, losing an Alpha happens, so we keep contingency plans in place.” Greg was the strongest wolf I’ve ever met. Including Adam.
George looked confused.
“Hunters in the woods,” I said in response to his unasked question. “Angie, who do we call at the station about Mike? I know he never married.”
Greg stopped as he reached the stairs. “He’s part of our pack. We’ll notify the members on the force. They’ll come by and get his body. His replacement may not be paranormal. If the wolf we put in Angie’s office stays, that would still give the pack access to the morgue.” He climbed the stairs with visible effort.
“We had too many appendages,” Wretch said in a quiet voice. “Too many vulnerabilities. No wonder she signed the pact. With Adam, Laythe, and Mike gone we won’t be able to keep track of all the demon activity. We’re more vulnerable now. The city would’ve stayed safe without you and I, but with those three gone, we can’t protect more than the Quarter.”
“They died protecting Angie and me.” Grace clasped to my side. “I came back this morning. Mexico was boring. If I’d stayed home…”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference. We’ve fought her, and she doesn’t kill randomly. Her reputation is for ruthless assassination. She doesn’t leave people alive by accident. This was intentional, and there’s little we could do about it.” I tried to comfort her.
“Even Wretch can’t beat her one on one and he’s a demon.” George added.
“Thanks, George.” Wretch said hitting him on one of his open sores.
Grace walked over and hugged him. I heard barfing upstairs.
“Greg found the bodies. His stomach could use some strengthening.” Wretch vanished.
“Is there anything down here I need to clean up?” I asked George.
“No, boss, I’ve got it. It’s cathartic for me.”
Grace, Angie, and I went up the stairs. I led them to the den and turned on an old cartoon show. We wouldn’t watch the news for a while. I poured them strong drinks and grabbed a bag of chips from the kitchen.
“The image in the foyer is burned into your memory. There’s no reason to go back out there until we’re done cleaning up.” I left them alone.
Wretch and Greg stood in the foyer having found Mike and Adam’s severed limbs. Adam had shifted at one point because his wolf tail lay next to him. Angie and Grace ignored me and came in.
We stood in silence and stared at our friend’s remains. Tear burned my eyes as I remembered years of sharing laughs with them. Stakeouts with Adam entertained me because his pack was everywhere. There wasn’t a street corner café without a wolf as a regular. Mike’s strength was his tenderness with humans. He hated abuse of any kind and started on the force because human friends of his were raped at a college party.