twice cursed mage 05 - claimed (8 page)

“I don’t have a twenty sided die?” I asked, shaking him off of me. “What the fuck am I supposed to do to that? Challenge him to a game of D&D?”

“This is not an ordinary die. For one,” he tossed it on the carpet between us and it came up on twenty, “it always rolls twenties.”

“Awesome,” I said, scooping to pick up the gilded die. It was heavier than I expected. “Now all I need is a vorpal sword, you know, the weapons from Dungeons and Dragons that slice off the head of your opponent when you roll a twenty and critically hit. Then we’d be in business.”

“How about a vorpal cane?” he asked, holding his jewel-encrusted pimp staff out to me. “It’ll work pretty similarly, only instead of decapitation, it will turn their skulls into paste, but yeah, same general idea.”

“Hold up,” I said, examining the die. Each number appeared to glow with preternatural pink light and just holding it made icy spiders crawl up my skin. “Are you being serious?”

“Yes,” he said, snatching the die from me so quickly I didn’t even see him do it. He held the die up in front of his eye. “Just slot the die into the cane like so,” he pressed the die into the center of the diamond on the top, and as he did, it popped into the diamond, reminding me of the dome with the die inside it on the center of a Trouble game board. “And pop the top.”

He hit the top, just like in said game, and the die bounced around before coming up on twenty. The entire cane glowed with eerie pink light as runes along its length came to life and melted along its surface like the contents of a neon lava lamp.

“Now it’s ready to smash some skulls like a police officer at a hippie protest.” He offered me the cane. “Try not to lose it, I’ll be wanting it back.”

“Nice analogy,” I replied, taking the offered cane. I could feel the thrum of energy running through it. I couldn’t quite explain what it was like, but it sort of felt like what I imagined having nuclear launch codes felt like when some douchebag insulted your mother. It made me wonder what else the thing could do. I’d be a fool if I thought smashing skulls was all it did, but I doubted Mammon would tell me. No, I’d have to pay for that information, and at the moment, I wasn’t feeling particularly spendy.

“And it can be yours for the small price of doing something you were already going to do,” Mammon’s voice poured over me, and I nearly staggered under the force of it. Something wasn’t quite right with the guy, but at the moment, he had a point, and I hated when demons had points. It was way easier to deal with them when they were crazy fucking psychos. I mean, he still probably was, and I was sure I could win without his help, but why not? Why fucking not take my cool ass pimp staff and smash some skulls.

“And all I have to do is kill the council of seven and Asmodai for a total of eight total kills?” I asked, staring hard at demon. There was a catch, I just didn’t know what it was.

“Technically, seven kills, since you got one already.” He shrugged. “And I’ll even make it so you don’t have to directly kill them. Them all just being dead works for me.” He held out his hand to me. “What do you say?”

“If I do this, you’ll take over Vegas,” I replied, staring at his white-gloved hand. Part of me wasn’t sure I was willing to hand over an entire city to the demon, but most of me wasn’t sure it’d actually get much worse since Asmodai owned it already. What’s that saying? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

“True, but I already own most of it, anyway.” He smiled, and the glare from his teeth was nearly blinding. “Who do you think turned it from what it once was into the family friendly destination designed not just to loot the random gambler but every day wholesome families?” He thrust out his hand a little farther. “But I’ll play nice. Promise.”

I let out a slow breath. He had a point. Man, I really needed to stop making deals with demons. Every single time I did, it somehow came back to bite me in the ass twice as hard. But hey, I could do that tomorrow. “What if he starts replacing council members?”

“You’ll have to kill them, unfortunately.” He shrugged. “But again, you would do that anyway.”

“You make an excellent point. Looks like we have a deal,” I said, taking his hand, and as I did, thunder boomed outside and the smell of lollypops filled my nose. Weird.

“Glad to hear it,” he replied, and as his words echoed in my ears, he vanished, leaving behind nothing but a pair of singed footprints on the carpet.

Chapter 10

I felt the bullet before I heard it. Pain ripped through my right shoulder as I pitched forward in a sort of half-twist and fell sprawled across the cheap carpet. The cane flew from my hand and bounced away as agony shot through me.

As I tried to figure out what was going on, the old man Mammon had temporarily inhabited started screaming. The crack of another bullet exploded through the room, and the senior’s head exploded into crimson mist that sprayed bloody chunks across the wall behind him. Needless to say, the screaming stopped, and the silence that descended around us brought an unnatural chill with it. Had the old guy been killed just because he was screaming? I couldn’t think of another reason, and something about that made me feel bad because he’d have been fine if I hadn’t landed in this particular room.

The silence was broken by the sound of boots crunching on gravel. My shoulder shrieked in pain as I tried to twist to see who was there, but Sargent’s booming voice froze me in my tracks.

“I wouldn’t go moving if I were you, Mac,” Sargent said, and my spidey sense started going berserk in my head. “If you do, I might feel like I have to shoot you again. I don’t normally miss, so the first one is what I like to call a freebie.” The pain in my shoulder receded a touch as rage surged up inside me, blocking it out. I wasn’t sure how this fucker had gotten to me already, but he was seriously pissing me off, and now he’d gone and killed an innocent guy.

“You should just walk away now,” I growled, and as the words left my mouth, light spilled from my tattoos causing crimson shadows to dance across the room.

“You need to cut that out right now. While you might be all kinds of bulletproof, I’m betting your friends aren’t,” Sargent said in a voice that chilled me to my core. While I wasn’t sure what state Jack was in, Maya most certainly wasn’t bulletproof. Fuck.

“Mac, just get him, I’ll be okay—” Maya’s voice was cut off by the crack of a bullet. She cried out in pain as the sound of her body hitting the ground filled my ears.

“Now, that’s enough of that.” Sargent stepped into view with a Colt in each meaty fist. One was pointed at my face while the other was pointed to my left, presumably at Maya. It was too bad Jack seemed to be down for the count, otherwise we’d have a chance at rushing him. Not much of one, mind you, but a chance.

“I can’t believe you fucking shot me. Asshole,” Maya snapped, and out of my peripheral vision, I saw her gripping her shoulder. “Why does everyone shoot me in the same fucking shoulder? Do you know how much this is going to cost to heal?”

“Your dad told me you were right-handed. Send him the bill. He’ll get a kick out of it.” A grin spread across Sargent’s face as he glanced from her to me. “Yeah, that’s right. She’s not dead because her daddy asked me to spare her.” He knelt down in front of her. “I’m pretty good at shooting people and not killing them too. Trust me, my threat is still a good one. Besides, if I get real pissed off, I might forget I care about what her daddy might want. That’d be a shame, for sure.”

“What do you want?” I asked, through gritted teeth. My shoulder still hurt like crazy, but at least at the moment, he wasn’t shooting me. If I stalled long enough, maybe Jack would get up and beat the fuck out of him.

“See, I’m glad we could be reasonable.” Sargent stood, and as he did so, he gestured for me to rise. “Here’s how it’s going to work. You and I are going to walk out of here all nice and quiet like. Do that, and I’ll let them live. Deal?”

“Fuck you,” I said, trying to get to my feet. As I did, he kicked me in the shoulder and a solar flare of pain exploded behind my temples. I crashed to the ground, barely biting back a scream as my left hand gripped my bleeding shoulder.

“Now, Mac, while I don’t mind hurting you. It is terribly time consuming.” He pressed the toe of his cowboy boot into my wounded shoulder and ground down. My vision went spotty with pain, and this time I couldn’t bite down my cry of agony. “I don’t really like hunting people down. Again, time consuming. I’ve got me a nice place back home. I want to get back to it.”

“So why don’t you just kill me and be done with it?” I asked before he kicked me roughly in the side. I felt my ribs give way with a startling crack. I tried to suck in a breath but found I couldn’t as another fresh bout of pain wracked my body.

“Boss changed his mind after you killed Rachel.” Sargent shrugged. “Wants you alive. That’s bad for you.” He pointed the gun at Maya. “Now while I may like her Daddy, I like being alive way more. Get up, put your hands on the back of your head, and stand there like a fucking statue, or the next round goes in her face. Understand?”

“Yeah,” I said and started to get up. It hurt more than it should have. As soon as I’d complied, he smiled at me, and I got the feeling holding people at gunpoint wasn’t an abnormal occurrence for him. No, Sargent struck me as the type who was used to getting what he wanted.

“Now, was that so bad?” he asked right before Mammon’s pimp cane smacked him upside the head. While it didn’t obliterate his skull, which probably had to do with it not glowing, he flew sideways, his Stetson falling off his head and landing on the carpet as he smashed into the television, knocking it off the cheap black stand and onto the ground. He crashed into the drywall as Jack stepped past me, brandishing Mammon’s cane and picked up the hat. I’ll be honest, I’d never been more excited to see a vampire before.

“Move!” he hissed while putting the Stetson on his head. I wasted no time moving after the vampire. Maya was already falling in behind us, but as we stepped through the door, a nunchuck came flying at Jack’s skull. He blocked with the pimp cane and shoved the martial artist backward.

Bruce wobbled as Maya and I stepped through the opening into the shrapnel hewn street. You know, I’ve heard the expression “it looked like a bomb went off” but in reality, that expression didn’t quite do the street justice. The buildings were torn apart, light poles snapped off like broken, charred twigs. Overturned, burning cars littered the street.

“How are we going to get out of here?” I asked as Maya deftly pulled another black candle out of her purse and lit it while using only one arm. Black smoke spread out like fog from the candle, and as it did, it began to solidify around her.

Maya pointed one finger at Bruce Lee. “I’ll finish this fucker off while you two get Duane. Go! Now!”

I wasn’t sure if her final words were directed at us or at Bruce because as they left her mouth the shadows exploded toward the ninja assassin. The tentacles hit him like a punch in the face, sending him sprawling across the debris strewn pavement and holding him down in a seething mass of darkness.

“Maya, you can’t hold them both off,” I said as a bullet tore through the wall beside my head and zinged by my ear.

“Jack can fly, but he can’t carry us both, and right now, that’s the only way out of here,” she said, whipping out her hand and filling the doorway with a wall of darkness. “Someone has to stay behind. Besides, Pops and I have some unfinished business to settle.”

“Jack, talk some sense into her,” I said, trying to reach out toward her, but as I did, my ribs and shoulder screamed in pain and my vision went dark around the edges.

“Yeah, I got this,” he said, bat wings sprouting from his back as he hefted the pimp staff in his left hand.

As he ambled toward the fallen martial artist, the tentacles surrounding the candle came alive, filling the space between him and Bruce.

“Jack, I won’t let you kill my dad,” Maya said, her voice had an extra-strength creepy quality to it. “I’ve got this. Go.” As she spoke her eyes turned into black voids that made a cold chill swirl in my gut. If this was her dad, I almost felt sorry for the bastard because she really did want him dead. It made me wonder what the fuck he’d done to her. I’d probably never find out, but at the moment, I really wanted her to get her chance to knock him around.

“That’s him?” Jack asked as another shot punched through the wall dangerously close to where I stood.

“Yes,” Maya said, darkness snaking out around her, and covering her body in a suit of black, writhing tentacles. She turned toward the door, and as she did the entire front of the building became encased in a sphere of perfect darkness. “I don’t know if we can kill Sargent without first killing Asmodai. That demon boost he’s got is pretty harsh.” She shook her head and took a step toward Bruce. “I’ll hold him for as long as I can after I finish off my dad, but if it doesn’t start raining bugs in the next few minutes, I’m probably dead.”

I wasn’t sure if she meant she was going to try and kill her own father, but it sure seemed like it. The sad thing was, I sort of wanted her to do it. I mean, okay, I had just made a deal with Mammon to kill Bruce, but at the same time, maybe killing him would ease some of the darkness inside of Maya instead of feeding it. Long shot, I know, but sometimes the boogeyman does need to die.

“Maya, you can’t be serious,” I said, but before I could move, Jack turned toward me.

“Let’s go,” he said, and as I opened my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself, he decked me in the face and everything faded to black.

Chapter 11

When I awoke it was dark, and my mouth tasted like day old raspberry jam. I looked around and found myself lying next to a campfire in the middle of a forest. The smell of cooking meat and pine trees filled my nose. Jack sat a few feet away tending a grill laying over the fire with a pair of metal tongs. An oven mitt shaped like an oversized Spock hand covered his fist as he tended the meat.

Grease popped and snapped as he slowly turned his head to regard me with his piercing eyes, which was about when I remembered he’d sucker punched me and left Maya to die. Sure, he’d saved me, but man, what a dick move. Besides, you weren’t supposed to leave your ally behind like that. Didn’t the vampire have any decency?