15. Chapter FifteenMarcus
Chapter Fifteen
Marcus
L opez had us meet in an abandoned warehouse in the worst part of demon territory, where the paranormal police department only visited when they received 911 calls. Otherwise, the block was desolate, where the surrounding streets were run down and only slightly more inhabited by unfortunate demons who couldn’t afford a better situation or were not allowed to live in areas near humans or other more accepted monsters like me. Although, I was barely tolerated above demons. I didn’t have the human look that vampires, fae, or shifters could have, and orcs weren’t as numerous. However, we’d had a treaty with the humans for over 150 years now, so we were accepted. This was unlike most demons, who had magical limitations in the areas where they could go alone without a sponsor to accompany them.
Since the election of our new mayor, demon rights had expanded, but there were still monitoring and qualification requirements. Thugs like the ones in Death Mask more than likely had no access to non-demon territories, limiting their crime life to harming other demons and any non-demons living in those boundaries. Assuming they didn’t have allies to get them into non-demon territories, which I didn’t doubt. Although there were nicer, lower crime areas within demon territories or open boundaries, those where all walks of life could visit, even the more high-end areas, were still subpar to other parts of Baltimore. The area we were currently in was definitely a slum.
Daria placed her hand on mine, and only then did I realize I was gripping the steering wheel so tightly my skin was ashen. I instantly relaxed my grip, feeling ashamed. How could she have any faith in me keeping her safe if I continued to show my nerves? This wasn’t like me. Then again, I’d never had anyone I’d cared about at risk when I did my missions in the past. There was no emotional connection to weigh me down with worry. Now I had two. My brother and my flower.
I tilted my head from side to side, cracking my neck.
Daria grimaced, calming my nerves with slight amusement. “That was so gross.”
I side-eyed her. “You’re about to put body parts together and reanimate them. I thought you’d have a strong stomach.”
“Everyone has their triggers, and cracking bones makes me gag.”
We’d parked down an alley a block away from the warehouse. I’d left the keys in the car for one of my allies to pick up and be our getaway driver. Daria opened her door, and I jumped out, racing to her side. I wanted to chain her to me; the desire to protect her was almost overwhelming. My heart tightened in my chest, and I let out a breath to steady myself.
Daria turned and wrapped her arms around my torso, pressing her cheek to my chest. I tapped my chin to the top of her head, enveloping her in my arms with a tight squeeze. Her sweet scent filled my nostrils, appeasing my nerves like a sedative. I squeezed her tighter. “We shouldn’t let them know we’ve connected like this,” I said more to myself than her.
“Well, hopefully, they aren’t looking at us,” she began. “But I don’t care. I needed to hug you. I feel like I can’t breathe.”
“I know, baby. Trust me, okay? We’re getting out of this.”
She didn’t respond but didn’t argue either.
When we got to the warehouse, I only had to knock once before some flunky with a face tattoo opened the heavy sliding steel door. He looked over to Daria and smirked, and it took all my internal power not to snap him into two. He wordlessly moved to the side, and we walked in, Daria following closely behind me.
Inside was more organized than I anticipated. The large space was sectioned off for multiple purposes. We were led past a TV and gaming area, a pool table, and a bar area with more seating. Toward the back was a makeshift kitchen and dining area. There appeared to be a bathroom down a hall in the back and an office with windows overlooking everything.
Cat calls, and whistles filled the air as we walked through the warehouse. I made a move in the direction of a demon who made one particularly disrespectful comment about Daria’s body.
Let it go. Daria called in my mind.
Let me break one finger.
While that’s oddly sweet, it’ll throw things off if they think I’m important to you. This was your plan.
She was right. Logically, I knew that, but it didn’t mean I wanted to listen. If they lay a finger on you, I will kill all of them.
Damn, John Wick. You actually growled in telepathy. That’s kind of hot. I need to hear you growl more often.
My mind almost wandered to me bending her over, fucking her, and growling in her ear until she came. I shook my head at the image. This was the last place I needed to fall off focus. They were distracting me, and it was working. I snarled in the direction of the asshole, some short prick with long hair. “Show some respect; she’s doing you a favor for free .”
He grabbed his crotch. “I have another favor she can do for me.”
“Rude!” Daria shouted.
My mind went dark, and for a moment, I turned reason off. Before I could stop myself, I was in front of the man, my hand on his throat, lifting him in the air. I could snap his neck with barely any effort. He was a demon, but I could tell he was low-level by his foul stench. He gagged, clawing at my hand at his throat. I barely felt the scratches as I squeezed tighter, envisioning his eyes bulging out. I could feel things tense around me, the chatter and music dying out.
I turned my head sideways, eyeing several gang members moving closer in my direction. “I will snap his neck before you can even try anything, and she will not do anything for you if you do. Now you will fall the fuck back and allow her to do what she came here to do and nothing more. She’s suffered enough; she doesn’t need to hear your bullshit.”
A loud banging echoed through the room, and I turned my head to see Lopez standing at the open office door. He hit his fist against the door. “Everyone do as he says. We didn’t bring her here for this.” The bald man, more fit and taller than I thought, looked over to Daria with a wide smile that failed to reach his eyes. “Sorry for the brutes. Ignore them.”
She frowned, her lips pursing, but I could feel her fear radiating within her. Lopez shrugged, moving past her lack of response, and looked back to me. He waved a hand at the demon in human skin I was currently almost choking to death. “Do you mind not killing him?”
I grimaced and tossed the fool across the room and onto the pool table. Lopez narrowed his red eyes. “I guess I should have specified, but then again, what should I expect from the great Marcus Tolsen.” He looked back to Daria, who still looked scared out of her mind. My hands shook with the need to push her behind me and get her away from the sight of the demon. “Do you have any idea of who the man is that has been watching over you these last two weeks? Folks used to talk about him like he was the boogeyman. And that’s saying a lot since many demons are boogeymen. I guess he was ours. Started when he was a fucking kid, too, did you know?”
I grumbled, wanting him to shut the hell up. Daria didn’t need to know how deeply awful I’d been in my past. She was frightened enough. Still, when I looked into her eyes, she seemed curious to hear what Lopez was saying.
Lopez, sensing he had her attention, widened his grin as he leaned back on his door. “He had to be 13 when he made his first kill for his father, from what I heard. Took out an orc competitor. It was like he was fucking born to do this shit. One time, he took out a grandfather, father, and son from a crime family. In order, days apart. Nothing they could do, even when knowing he was coming for them, worked. No one’s escaped him or even caught him. Yeah, we knew we’d gotten the right guy to do this job.”
This wasn’t helping my cause with her. “We’re here now. Where’s my brother?”
Lopez raised a hand, still looking at Daria. “We’ll get there.”
Daria’s eyes widened in a mix of confused fear. Her hands balled in fists at her side. “And yet you decided to kidnap his brother. That doesn’t seem like a wise thing to do to a guy who never fails.”
“Eh, desperate times call for desperate measures. Well, let's go start the resurrection. We’re set up in the back lot.”
He moved to head down a short hall toward a back door. I put an arm in front of Daria to stop her from moving. “She’s not doing anything until I see my brother.”
Lopez kept walking, and other flunkies followed after him. “You’ll see him after.”
“How do I know if he’s even still alive? It’s not happening.”
Lopez stopped walking and turned his head sideways to one of his people. “Go get him and meet us out back.”
We began following him and went through the door to the outside. It was dusk now, and the back lot was empty except for a few cars and motorcycles facing the side of a graffitied wall of another building across from us. Wild plant life crawled up both the dilapidated building and the warehouse with litter tossed about on the ground. On the ground between the vehicles and the other building was a cleared space, and a blue tarp holding pile of bones organized into a skeleton layout. I shivered, something cold dripping down my spine. My sense of magic was low-level, but I could tell that the bones were very powerful, and they filled me with dread.
This was bad news, and I suddenly wondered if I could change the plan to get Daria and Sam out of there before she did the resurrection. It would result in definite war, and I would have to go to my older brother for help because as many allies as I had, it wasn’t enough to fight this gang. I was not foolish enough to believe that they were all here now. Death Mask was more than low-level as a gang, and they weren’t all idiots. I wasn’t even sure their top leaders were here beyond Lopez.
Before I could decide what I would do, I heard the door open, and I turned to see my brother get pushed outside. He looked exhausted, dark circles still under his dark blue eyes, and he seemed thinner than the last time I’d seen him in person. His wrists were cuffed together, and he moved slowly, although his ankles weren’t bound, so that was good. I could work with that. When he looked over at me, his face lit up, and a stab of affection hit me. He was foolish and impulsive, but he was my little brother, and I loved him.
“You ok, Sam?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’ve stayed in worst establishments, but they ain’t getting a good review from me. Zero fucking stars. Do not recommend.”
The demon behind him, a fat guy with long dreads, slapped him on the back of the head. Sam hunched his shoulders, and I growled, taking a step forward.
Lopez raised a hand. “Don’t be an ass, Snake. We treat our guests with kindness.” He gave me a slimy smile. “Your brother is alive. Now, can we get started?”
I didn’t respond, still debating if I wanted to give my allies the signal to distract the gang.
Marcus? Daria questioned in my head. Let’s do this. The path of least resistance is best. I want to avoid any of us getting hurt if we don’t have to.
I don’t have a good feeling about this. Those bones.
They give me the chills, too. I’ll let the police know after this is over. And who knows, maybe I won’t be able to raise it.
If you start to feel off, stop.
Got it, boss.
I snorted, and Lopez raised an eyebrow. “Let’s get this over with.”
Lopez moved his hands in Daria’s direction. “The stage is yours, little mama. Do your thing.”
Daria inhaled a deep breath and then let it out before walking over to the tarp. She dropped to her jeans-covered knees and stretched out her arms, hovering her hands over the bones. Then she closed her eyes and stood still for several minutes.
Nothing happened.
“I knew she couldn’t do it,” one of the goons surrounding us muttered.
“Well, excuse me,” Daria called. “You’re asking me to resurrect a pile of unattached bones. I need silence, please.”
“Shut your fucking mouths!” Lopez spat to his people. “Everyone.”
I kept my attention on Daria, every nerve in my body on edge. If she couldn’t do this, I was certain they would kill her, along with the rest of us. I had prepared for that outcome. Nothing would change.
Sweat gathered at her forehead, and I could feel her energy shift out of her. If she needed anything from me, I would give it to her. Another benefit of the claiming was that we could draw power from one another.
And then the bones rattled, stilling everyone in the space.
I watched in open-mouthed fascination as the bones slowly slid together by themselves, taking on the shape of a humanoid being. Once connected, muscle came from nothing and wrapped around the bone. Scaly red skin appeared at the joints and spread throughout the form. Teeth filled the open mouth, eyeballs with yellow irises sprouted from the sockets, and four black horns protruded from his scalp. After some time, we stood in wonderment at a fully formed being. The demon was incredibly tall, about my height, and only slightly slimmer. His feet were actually hooves, similar to a horse’s, and at the end of his fingers were two-inch-long black talons. Thick red spikes protruded from his elbows and shoulders. He was nightmarish and built for battle. What the hell had she brought to life?
Daria struggled to her feet, and I rushed to her side to help her. She was drenched in sweat now, her curls matted to her forehead and cheeks. She wiped at her eyes with one hand as her other held tightly to my arm.
Lopez appeared on her other side, and I pulled her closer to me. “Why isn’t he moving?” he asked in a low voice.
Daria nodded. “I need a moment. It was a lot to bring him back like this. I’ve never brought anyone back to form. I didn’t think it could be done, at least not with a regular human. It’s a good sign that I could do this much, but it takes a lot of power.”
Lopez gave a tight smile. “Do you need an energy bar or drink? You’ve come so far, why stop now?”
I glared over to him, wanting so badly to take her out of there. “She said she needs a minute.”
“Are you her man now? Taking care of your woman?”
Don’t let him know you have feelings for me! Daria’s voice rang in my head.
She was right. It would show a weakness to them and make her more vulnerable. However, in any other circumstances, I would shout my feelings about her to the world.
“I’m just not a fucking asshole. Be happy you got this much out of her.”
Lopez clasped his hands together. “Well, it’s worthless if he doesn’t wake up.”
I don’t know what kind of demon this is, but it looks like it eats children for appetizers. What the hell did I just raise? Please take me to a church after this to cleanse my soul. Daria said telepathically to me.
Anything you ask. I understood her fear exactly. This thing made me almost queasy with the cloud of evil radiating from it.
Daria straightened up and got back on her knees. “I’m okay. I’ll wake him up now. But I can’t make any promises about anything else. It’s one thing to bring him back; it’s another for him to regain control of himself. That is totally up to him and how powerful he is.”
“Oh, he’s powerful, little mama,” Lopez replied with a cocky grin I wanted to slap off his face.
“Ok, I was just managing expectations.”
“How kind.”
I rolled my eyes. You sure you’re okay, little flower?
I’m okay in the sense that it feels like I’ve just run a marathon without having practiced first, but I’m alive. I could use a power boost if you don’t mind.
Of course. I nodded, although I knew she couldn’t see me. She raised her hands again, and, at the same time, I closed my eyes and mentally tapped into our bond. A tightness pulled at the center of my chest. I tugged at that invisible string and pushed my power, my strength, into it. It would travel into her and expand. I had to get her to finish this as quickly as possible, and I would give her just enough of my own strength to make that happen.
And then the body on the tarp convulsed. His eyes popped open, and his jaw unhinged as he released a bellowing roar and reached a clawed hand in Daria’s direction.