Branded (25 page)

But now was not the time to ask about that. On their way here they’d had to hide in random empty rooms twice to get out of the way of patrolling guards. This was where his ears came in handy. It was easier to sneak around when you heard the enemy before they heard you. No time to get caught up in a fight with guards. They had to get done before the poison got to Asher.

Unaware of his thoughts, Asher rounded another corner. “Steps,” he whispered and José followed him carefully. José let his right hand trail over the cool stone wall as they descended into the cellars of the fortress. Of course Ketsu couldn’t have positioned his stupid artifact somewhere closer to the exit.

Some sort of insect crawled onto José’s hand and made him draw back. He shook it off.

When he focused again, the sound of someone breathing stopped him cold. Somewhere down the stairs in the adjoining hallway, two people breathed.

“Guards?” Asher stood still.

“Probably. Two of them. But they’re not moving. Sounds like maybe they’re sleeping.” If Fangs had poison pills, maybe he had sleeping pills as well.

“Lucky bastards.” Asher continued farther down the stairs. “Let’s not wake ‘em, then.”

José nodded and went on. Treading as quietly as possible, he tried to sneak past the guards, but Asher kept standing right in front of them. José swallowed. Was he up to something stupid?

José was about to reach out and stop the little idiot when Asher spoke up. “Should be this room.” He opened a door, almost without sound.

José held his breath as he followed Asher inside. Once he inhaled again, he was hit with a horrible stench. ”What—” he stopped himself and closed the door. ”Blood,” he whispered then. Something was reeking of blood.

“There's four bodies in here.”

José scanned his surroundings, finding the four cold spots.

“They're pretty bloody, yeah,” Asher went on. “Could’ve been human once.”

Could have been?

Asher’s steps echoed in the large and empty room as he walked up to one of the corpses. “They got burn marks, too. Guess Fangs wants to pin this on us. I wouldn’t do it like this, though. I would—” he stopped talking mid sentence. “Uh, shit.”

“What's wrong?”

“Dizzy.”

Was it the blood? No, Asher wouldn't react so strongly to that. So, then…

“Think it’s the poison?” José walked up to Asher and put a hand around his shoulders to steady him.

“Maybe.” Asher straightened himself. “It's fine.” He brushed José's arm off. “Passed.”

“Alright.” José tried to push his worries aside. There was no time for that. “Let's get this over with. Where's the stupid thing?”

“Middle of the room. C'mon.”

José followed Asher’s steps. “Don’t go all the way. There’s barriers that’ll drain your magic.”

“I can see them,” Asher said. “Right here.”

José stepped up beside him, and transferred all his magic to Asher.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll take it back in a moment.” José went farther, through the barrier. A small shock went through his body like electricity. It didn’t hurt, but it pulled at his core, as if looking for something. Magic. It retreated when it didn’t find anything.

“Where to from here?” José couldn’t find the thing’s heat signature.

“Like three steps ahead of you. It's pretty fugly. Kind of a let-down, but I guess it suits Fox-Face, really,” Asher said. “I mean, an all-powerful, glowing, glittering… triangle? Really?”

“It’s a triangle?” José stepped forward.

“Some sort of triangular stone, yeah. It’s floating, too.” Asher snorted. “Fucking triangle of doom… Gimme a break.”

José ignored him. He’d figured that the ‘triangle of doom’ was floating because his hands were already on it. He ran his fingers over the side of the object to get a better idea of what it looked like, of what it was. It felt smooth and cool, as if it was made of glass. The magic it exuded was so strong he would have felt it without touching. Now it pulsated beneath his fingertips, almost as if it were alive, beckoning him to try and make it his own, telling him that he would be incredibly powerful, godlike even, if it was his.

And yet he knew that it could never be anyone’s but Ketsu’s. It held the same aura. The same ill intentions, arrogance, delusions of grandeur. José sensed a force behind it that was out of anyone’s control. By logic, objects couldn’t be evil, but this one managed.

“You making love to that thing?”

José drew his hand back. “Jealous?”

“Should I be?” Asher’s voice sounded strained. He’d said he was alright, but they really didn’t have any time to waste. José turned back to the artifact.

“Go wait by the door,” he told Asher. The bloodsucker hadn't said as much, but destroying a magical object could have all sorts of consequences. The thing could evolve into a monster and eat him up for all they knew. Well maybe not exactly that but…Better safe than sorry.

“I’ll need that magic back.” José didn’t wait for permission before he tapped into their bond. Channeling the energy into his hands, he concentrated as much heat as possible until the air warmed up around him. The glass-like material under his fingertips didn't seem to react. Maybe he should have just taken it and smashed it against the wall. “Mierda.”

“What's… wrong?”

“This isn't gonna—” he stopped himself. A rush of energy took hold of him, just when he thought he'd pushed as far as he could go. Magic streamed into his veins with the force of a flood breaking a dam. The energy overspilled into the artifact, filling it with pure, violent heat until it sizzled.

“That's pretty,” Asher said. And it was Asher’s magic flowing through José’s veins right now. He focused again. Just a little more. Just a bit more heat and…

“Think it's gonna—”
whoosh!
A small inferno exploded before him. Thank God he was a fire elf. The heat didn’t burn him. But the force of the explosion sent him flying until his back hit the wall with a painful thud, knocking the wind out of him. He fell to the ground. Tremors ran through his body as the floor shook beneath him. The magic that had been released in the explosion spun out of control. The stones of the building groaned and grumbled under the pressure of trying to contain it.

José slowly got up on his feet, trying not to fall right over again. “Asher?” he called out, trying to locate him. The noise and the smell of blood in the air made it difficult to focus.

“Over here.” It sounded like Asher was waiting by the door as he'd been told. José took a step forward, feeling awkward with his feet on the shaking ground. Where exactly was the door again…?

Fire.

He sensed fire. Not much, just a little flame. It went out—and flared back to life.

Asher's lighter.

José took another step, this time in the direction of the flame; he started walking.

Out of nowhere, Asher jumped him, made them both tumble to the ground.

What the—
A deafening rumble sounded through the room as something heavy crashed to the floor next to José.
Shit.
Was the ceiling coming down?

“Close…” Asher said.

“Thanks.”

“Never mind.” Asher sounded out of breath as he rolled off him.

José got up and offered Asher his hand. “You alright?”

“Peachy.” Asher accepted the help, and José didn’t release his hand. It was safer when they were together, for both of them. And of course that bloodsucker was taking his sweet time in getting to them, if he was going to show up at all. He’d promised that he would, but he’d already proved that he wasn’t any more trustworthy than the lavalight. Not like José had any choice, though.

Asher led the way to the door, walking slow but steady out into the hallway.

“Who are you?” an unknown high-pitched voice asked.

“Intruders!” Another one.

Had to be the two guards that had been sleeping before. José groaned and moved to stand in front of Asher. The gesture was as much to protect him as it was to prevent him from doing something stupid.

“Oh, holy shit,” the second guard said. “Nia, look, they killed the magicians.”

A grim smile tugged on José’s lips. So they thought exactly what the bloodsucker had wanted them to think. There was no time to argue about that, though.

“If you’re smart, you’ll run. The building’s collapsing.” As if to put emphasis on José’s words, a few pebbles rained to the ground in front of him.

“That’s impossible,” the guard with the high voice and the ridiculous name said. “It’s just an earthquake. This building is very stable. It’s a master piece of architecture, you’ll see that there is nothing that could make it fall apart. Isn’t that right, Taro? Taro?”

“Looks like your friend is smart.” José had heard the other guard run while Nia rambled. “Now I really don’t want to force you to your luck, but,” he let a small flame appear in his palm, “if you want to fight it out…”

“No, no, no, this is unthinkable!”

“Your outfit is,” Asher said. “Now fuck off.”

“My outfit is—” the guard ended the sentence with a shriek as José burned the ground beneath him. “You won’t get away with this!” he said before running

“Yeah, that’s right. Run, chicken, run!” Asher gave a short laugh. “Think there’d be feathers if you fucked him?”

Where had that come from?

“I don’t think I want to find out,” José said. “C’mon, out of here.”

Without another word they walked in the direction that the guards had left. They needed to go faster, but rubble still came down from the ceiling and Asher seemed to have trouble coordinating his steps. The first time he stumbled, José chalked it up to the violent shaking of the ground. The second time, soon after the first, José had to grab him around the shoulder before he could fall flat on his face.

“Aw, man,” Asher said. “This is so not cool.”

“It’ll be alright.” José voiced his inner mantra, trying to be heard above the rumbling around them.

“Nah, I just thought if I had to die then—” the last part of the sentence was swallowed up by the grumble of another piece of ceiling crashing to the ground beside them. “Shit. You’re never gonna make it out of here.”

“We,” José corrected him automatically. “And we’re gonna make it out of here.” Of course, the chances of even one of them making it out alive were grim. Still, a part of José hadn’t given up yet and wouldn’t. It was never over until you admitted it was.

“Sure,” Asher said. “And Santa Claus lives on the North Pool.”

“Pole.”

“What?”

“Forget it. Can you go on?”

“Just a sec.” Asher took a deep breath and straightened himself. José kept his arm around his shoulder, just to be sure. As they continued on, Asher came to rely on his support until he reached a point where he was sure to fall if José let go.

It was pointless to go on like this; they would never make it out and every step was taking more of a strain on Asher than could be good for him. José cursed under his breath. He’d upheld his end of the deal, so where was that stupid vampire?

When Asher stopped to catch his breath, José decided it was enough. The ground wasn’t shaking as badly now they’d gotten away from the center of the quake. Maybe they would have a couple minutes.

“Break?” Without waiting for a reply, José lowered Asher to the floor.

Asher’s relief was audible in the breath he exhaled. José sat next to him and listened to the fortress. The low, threatening sound of stone grinding against stone was still there, quieter now, but never-ending.

“José?”

“Mhm?”

“I don’t think I can get up again.”

“It’s alright,” José said automatically. Empty words, but what was he to do? His mom would have told him to pray for a miracle. He snorted. If he’d ever needed one, it was now. But if he was going to pray for anything, he would pray for the bloodsucker to show up with the antidote. And for the chance to kick him again, a million times, at least, and it would never be enough.

“I think you should—”

“I’m not leaving.”

Asher chuckled, once. “Wasn’t gonna say that. I want…” He leaned in and put a hand on José’s cheek. José pulled Asher closer until he felt his breath warm on his skin. José’s composure cracked when their lips touched and their noses rubbed together and he dabbed his tongue into Asher’s mouth. It could be the last time. It couldn’t be. He didn’t want it to end. He felt hyper aware of every little motion Asher made. His tongue, his lips, his nose, his body as he settled in José’s lap and deepened the kiss. José wished he would go on forever. And then it was over.

Asher broke off first, breathing hard. José pressed him to his chest, unwilling to let go. He liked Asher where he could feel the warmth of his body. Through their bond, a simple feeling of happiness radiated off Asher. How could he be happy?

“You know,” Asher said, “I really wanted to fuck again.”

José couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his lips despite the circumstances. “Yeah. Me too.” He wasn’t sure exactly when or how he’d grown to like Asher, but it had happened, and he wasn’t going to deny that now. He tightened his grip on his little idiot when, just a few feet away from them, another part of the ceiling came crashing down.