“I am in no mood for comedy. The only reason you are still alive is because you have something to offer me. If you deny me what I want, then I am done with you. I am back to business as usual and you’re dead. Now, tell me how to get into his house. Tell me where he is most vulnerable. Where his kids go to school. Where his wife gets her hair done. I want to know everything.”
“You know, I would love to share with you all things Nicholas Jayzon, but the one thing you should probably know is that he isn’t someone you have the ability to take on; however, I bet Nicky would be more than happy to pay you a nice sum of money to let us go unharmed.”
“Very well. I can use that. Cut off his finger and we will send it to his boss.” Dornan announces.
“My finger? Well don’t cut my bourbon holding finger, I need that one!” Two men come at me, and I fight them off, accidentally killing one of them with his own knife. The next thing I know, there are a dozen guns pointed at my head. I go down to my knees with my hands laced behind my head.
“Impressive. Keep your fingers for now. I don’t need them. I think I would rather hurry this game up anyway. Put them back in their cages while I make a call.” Copper uses my phone and kindly puts it on speaker for us to hear.
“Eli, I am about ready to walk out the door with Kayla, what do you need?” Nick answers.
“Oh, this is not Eli, but I do have him caged up and preparing to die.”
“Who is this?!”
“This is the man that is going to torture your men unless you give me what I want.” Dornan smiles wide.
“My men? Alright, what exactly do you want?” Nick ask smoothly.
“I want to work together and form a union. We can split the profits fifty-fifty.” Nick starts laughing hysterically. “I wouldn’t laugh if I were you. I am not a man you want to make angry.”
“Let me tell you what you’re going to do. You are going to let my men go, unharmed, you are going to lose my number, and never bother me again because if you don’t, you are going to make me very angry, and I guarantee you don’t want to do that.”
“Let’s not squabble over whose dick is bigger. I am sure we can come to a reasonable outcome that will satisfy us both.”
Nick sighs. “I’m tired of talking. I have plans with my wife, and I need to get to them. Do you have anything important to say before I have you killed?”
“Oh things are about to get very interesting for you, Mr. Jayzon. I have been watching you and your sweet little children. In fact, I have seen your wife, and I assure you, I will be fucking her in the ass right in front of you before the end of the week and selling off your kids to the highest bidder. Enjoy your plans, Mr. Jayzon, while you can because there might be someone there ready to take it all away. If you decide to change your mind about making a deal, feel free to call me back at this number. You have six hours.”
I cringe as does Terrence. “Oh shit, you should not have said that,” I say, shaking my head.
“Do you hear me, Jayzon? And do you understand what I am telling you?”
“I hear you, and I will be seeing very soon. I promise,” Nick seethes.
Nick hangs up abruptly, and Dornan looks at us curiously. “Huh, brave man to hang up on me. I like guts like that. Too bad I am going to have to kill him.” He tosses my phone and takes out his own. “How long until you have them? Make sure you take care of the guards first, then use his children and wife to control him. Kill one of them if you need to. I want this Jayzon guy alive if at all possible. I want to torture him personally. Thank you for the opportunity gentlemen,” he says to Terrence and me.
“Congratulations, you’re going to die. You know that, right?” I nod to him.
He laughs. “On the contrary, I think this is going to be fun. To prove it, I will allow you to live long enough to watch. Now, if you excuse me, I need to call my partner and invite him to the victory party.”
They are kind enough to leave us dog bowls full of water during our stay. I can only imagine what Cat is thinking by now. She is never going to let me leave the house again.
“At least Nick will be here soon,” Terrence says.
“Yeah, that’s great.” Rescued by a devil... again.
Suddenly, there are some loud discussions going on in the room next door. I hear a man’s low voice talk to Dornan about us. “Where are they?”
“In there. If you want them, they are yours. Just name the price.” Dornan says.
I see some shoes but can’t twist my body enough to look around some furniture to see the man in full. “I said I wanted the other one too. Where is he?”
“He didn’t come this time, but I am sure we can lure him in with these two.”
“Do I look stupid to you? I will not pay for half a job done. Now you tell your friend, your partner as you call him, I am not interested in his games. I want my city back under my control and my control only.”
“He wants that too, and we … he thinks we could have a great partnership.” Dornan abruptly stops speaking and sounds as if he is having trouble breathing.
“I don’t need a partner. What I need is to eliminate competition, and that includes you and your partner if you get in my way. I allow you to live only because you serve a purpose for me, but I can easily fill your role with others much less stupid.”
“Ithan, there is no reason to be hostile. We are only offering you a chance to be a leader among leaders,” a new, yet familiar, voice says.
“Of course you would show up, Marius. I don’t like you. I am not sure why exactly. Maybe it’s your dumb looking face.”
“Hey, most people would consider me handsome.”
“Clearly they are morons too. I told you I want nothing to do with your … army. I have all I want here. All I want is for these people to be removed from my city as soon as possible. Do what you want with them, but I want them gone, and I want you gone soon after. Don’t call me again unless you have them all or have disposed of them for good.”
“Ithan, at least give us a chance to explain who you are dealing with,” Marius pleads.
“I told you, I don’t care. Let’s go. I have more important business elsewhere.”
“Oh well, don’t worry about him. We will try to tempt him another way, so what is it you need to show me, Copper?” Marius asks as he and Dornan enter the room.
I look up to see Marius standing next to Dornan. “Oh shit.”
“Well, hello. Long time, no see. So, I assume that since I don’t see the other one, you are luring him here with these two?” Marius says, not bothering to remove his sunglasses as he looks down on us.
“Even better actually. I called another with even more money,” Dornan claims with excitement.
“It wasn’t about the money, you moron. I told you who I wanted. I don’t care about anyone else!”
“But I tried to find him. He is nowhere to be found. He hasn’t been home in days. I have men sitting outside his house day and night and nothing.”
“Did I ask you for excuses? No, I want results, and if you can’t succeed in what I am asking of you, then I will find someone that will!” Marius screams, throwing his arms around in anger and causing Dornan to cower in a corner like a scared animal. He obviously has seen Marius in action before.
When I hear some extreme destruction outside, I decide it best to sit as far back into the corner of the cage as possible and be thankful I have some protection from the debris about to explode around us. “Guess who’s here?” I say to Terrence.
Marius looks down at me. “Who did you call?” he steams.
“I called a man named Jayzon.”
“Ryan?”
“Um no …”
Marius’s sunglasses fall off his face, and his eyes grow so wide I am sure they are going to pop right out of his head. “You fool!” Marius swears under his breath as he frantically searches out the windows. “I have to get out of here before …”
“Sir, I don’t understand. You are so powerful and strong, why
do you seem so worried?” Dornan asks, becoming increasingly unstable.
It only takes a minute longer before we hear doors coming down and people screaming. A man walks in, sweating and shaking, “S …Ssss .. Sir...”
“What the hell are you doing in here? Get out there and stop them!” Copper yells.
“There is no them. There is only him …” the man says, dropping to his knees with exhaustive fear.
Copper runs to his safe and takes out a handgun before locking the door to the room. “Oh yeah, that’s going to work,” I mumble.
“Shut up! Fire at will and kill anything that moves, including these two idiots if they even so much as breathe too hard!” he announces to anyone that will listen although most seem to be wanting to jump out the window, including Marius.
Dwayne busts down the door, and Nick walks through, looking the scene over. “Marius. I have been looking for you,” Nick says with a sinister smile.
“I don’t have anything to do with this, Nicholas. Let me walk out of here or else.”
Nick spins in his direction and forces Marius against a wall. “Or else what?” he fumes.
Wow… this is getting good.
“You have no cause to harm me, and you know it. You have to let me go. I have harmed no one, only this man has.”
“Oh shit! He just threw you right under that bus, Copper.” I laugh along with Terrence.
Nick steams for a while longer. “Go, but tread carefully, very carefully … or else.” Nick releases Marius, and he runs like the wind out of the house and I am sure as far away from here as possible. Nick straightens his jacket and turns towards us.
I smile wide. “Hey Nicky! What brings you into town?”
He cocks his head low enough to see inside our cages. Terrence nods, and I wave. “Are you in a … dog cage?” he asks.
“Um, yeah, yeah we are. You see, Ginger and Margo are at the groomers until tomorrow and Nate wasn’t sure where to put us so they could keep an eye on us, so Copper here, suggested that we would be safe here, and with water feeders and all.”
He rolls his eyes and then looks over at Terrence. “Why are you here?”
“I … I don’t know,” Terrence sighs.
Dornan looks as though he is about to vibrate himself apart at the seams. “Who the fuck are you, and what did you do to my men?”
“Shut up. I will deal with you in a minute,” Nick demands.
“Oh, you will deal with me now.” Dornan comes at Nick with a gun.
Nick turns to him with a finger up. “I said in a minute.”
“Oh-kay.” Dornan stands back as his men drop their weapons and run. Wow, they can run fast too, especially that little one.
Nick unlocks the cages, and we climb out. “You two owe me one. Kayla is not happy about missing our date night or our son being approached by one of this low-life’s idiots.”
“I am assuming that guy didn’t live long?” I laugh, but Nick doesn’t find my assumption funny at all. “Alright, we …” Terrence coughs loudly. “I mean … I certainly owe you one, and I will surely keep that in mind next time you need me to do anything. Oh wait, I just recalled the many favors that you owe me.” Nick rolls his eyes. “Actually you and your wife both owe me a few favors if I recall correctly.”
“Fine, we owe you.” Nick admits.
“Okay, with that in mind, I would also like to ask one more tiny favor first. Can we just keep this little incident to ourselves? I would really like the Eli in trouble part kept out of the final story.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Nick swears under his breath, shaking his head at me. He takes a deep breath and points at Copper. “You—you pissed me off.”
“I am highly connected. You don’t want to touch me,” Dornan whimpers, trying to point a gun at Nick with shaky hands.
Nick looks up into the man’s eyes. “No problem.” Nick sends the guy to the ground screaming in pain as he fights through his chest to get to his heart. His final breath was a bloody one and not one I enjoyed watching … much. “See, all you have to do is come to an understanding.”
“I told you!” I say to Terrence who instantly rolls his eyes.
We walk out to see Kayla standing next to the car with a man lying dead at her feet, a shoe in his neck. “What happened here?” Nick asks.
“Nick, I tried to be nice, but he wouldn’t listen. I think you scared him too much. He kept insisting that he was going to take our car and use me as a hostage. I told him that simply wasn’t going to happen, and next thing you know, he is trying to jump into the car, scare the kids, and wake up the baby. I did what I had to do.”
“Of course you did, Princess.” Nick takes her hand with a kiss to her cheek.
“And you owe me a new pair of shoes, Nick.”
“Eli will take care of that. Won’t you, Eli?” He glances my way. I nod exasperated. “Now, let’s get back into the car and go see my brother.”
The car door opens, and little Nick comes running out, greeting me with a giant hug. “Uncle Eli!”
“Hey Little Nick, how’s it going?” I pick him up, causing him to laugh as I drop him upside down and back up again.
“Good,” he giggles. “I have so much to tell you.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I got all A’s in school, and I have a new girlfriend, well two actually, but one gets on my nerves, so I don’t know if I can keep seeing her ....” he keeps going on about his innocent life as I listen intently, nodding. “And Daddy has been teaching me how to judge souls,” he says excitedly.
“Oh …” I glance at Nick. “Wow, that’s … well that’s not normal at all. What’s wrong with you Nick? Haven’t you ever heard of playing catch?” Nick shakes his head with a smile. “Don’t worry Little Nick, Uncle Eli will teach you something even more fun.”
“Like what?” Little Nick asks in confusion as if nothing else could be better. I guess he’s right. What could be better than telling bad people they suck thiiiissssss much.
“Like, playing catch.” He doesn’t seem that impressed. “And eating ice cream.”
“Yay!” he yells.
“Yaaayyyy!” I smile wide at Nick. “See, I’m still cooler than you.” Nick sighs with a shake of his head. “Don’t be jealous, Nicky. It’s not becoming.”
CHAPTER 15
Ryan
Now that we know what they are after, any why, we can better prepare for their attack. I didn’t expect the dragon would ever be mine when I grabbed that dagger’s handle and raced towards Savage. That moment, the moment when I drove that dagger into Savage’s heart, something inside of me changed. I felt it immediately, and I saw it in his eyes as he left us. I had taken something from him, and not just his life. His power is now mine. I have had nightmares worrying about what I may become to the point I finally had to confess my fears to my brother. It was only a few weeks before I was moving, and I hated to cause him more worry, but he’s still my brother and my best friend. I need him, if for nothing else than to listen, until I can figure it out. That day, though, I was hoping he would have the answers I wasn’t able to find on my own.
I find him sitting in his office, working as he always does. The man loves control and knowing everything is in perfect working order. I walk in, shut the door behind me, and sit down, slowly bringing my eyes up to his.
Nick sits back in his chair, staring at me with a long exhale. “What’s wrong Ryan?”
“Something happened when I killed Savage. I felt a change inside of me. I am not sure what it was, but I felt it.”
“Maybe it was only the revenge being finally met? You released all that hatred and anger finally.”
“Possibly, but then there is the dragon.”
“The dragon? You mean the blade itself?” I nod. “Didn’t it burn up in the fire?” I shake my head. “You brought it out with you?” I shake my head. “Then how did it get out?”
“It flew, I suppose.”
“It just flew out on its ow
n?” he asks with a cock of his head.
“It got out somehow because it keeps showing up wherever I go. No matter how far down I bury the blade, it still ends up next to me. It drove me nuts, so I screamed at it to tell me what the hell it wanted and then this big thing happened, and now, well….now it follows me everywhere I go.”
“What do you mean it follows you?”
I am not really sure how to explain this part to him. “I think it’s best that I show you.” I stand up and walk out of his office, running into Eli on the way out the door. Apparently, he was coming in to try and bitch to Nick about Amery again, for the third time this week.
“Nicky, I had an idea that I think you can help me with. I know you said you can’t have Amery killed because of some demon lord rules or some shit, so is there any way you can simply have him sentenced to a cave somewhere? Somewhere really far away?” he asks as I laugh and continue my way outside.
“Again, Eli, Amery is a Lord of his own realm. I have no power over him unless he steps out of line and breaks the Council’s rules.”
Eli follows us outside. “And what exactly are these rules he would have to break?”
“Eli, just ignore him. Cat clearly loves you, so what is your problem?” Nick sighs.
“I can’t stand him. That’s my problem.”
“He’s jealous of you is all and likes getting under your skin. Stop being a baby about it and befriend him. I’m sure you two could be the best of friends if you would only open up to him,” I suggest without cracking a smile … at first. I try not to laugh as he stares at me, completely annoyed.
He gets in my face and points his finger. “Listen here, Jayzon Jr …” Before he can finish, the dragon flies out of the deep sky and onto my shoulder, squawking adamantly at Eli. Eli backs up several feet, looking at me with the same shocked expression that Nick has. “Um, Ryan, there seems to be a giant ugly bird on your shoulder. New pet?”
“This is what I was trying to tell you, Nick. When I got tired of it constantly moving from the place I put it in, I yelled at it and then this happened,” I say holding out my hands. “It always finds me, and if anyone confronts me, it kills them. A man accused me of taking his parking space the other day. It was no big deal, but the man got out of his car and chased me down to start a fight. He was drunk and a lunatic, nothing I couldn’t handle, but before I could do anything, this guy flies down grabs the man, and carries him off to … I have no idea where, but the man’s arm fell out of the sky a few moments later,” I say as Nick sighs and Eli slides behind Nick.