FIVE
The next morning, Sebastian simply absorbed the bliss of taking time off. Sure, he had to go to Rome in a matter of days, with Mars’s pets Aspen and Rogan for company, but that was a small price to pay for a month of complete solitude. Imagine! No scheduling dates, buying flowers, falling head-over-heels for a woman he would have to cut loose less than a month later, breaking both of their hearts. Freedom had never been an option before. He needed to dedicate his last working week to making his approach better. He spent hours outlining the process he used to distribute the tablets a few nights before and listing suggestions for future outings. The sooner he was able to make it fool-proof, the sooner he would be able to deliver this freedom to his brothers and sisters.
The thought of his brethren still suffering the same emotional turmoil he no longer had to face made him feel guilty. Sure, they handled it better than he did and always had. Only the Golden Arrows closest to Sebastian could guess how sensitive he was about their charge. No one else would guess that underneath his hard, serious exterior, Sebastian shouldered the depression of every single mortal he serviced. His brethren, most of them, accepted it as part of their job. Sebastian couldn’t, even though he understood it. Still, Sebastian felt all Golden Arrows deserved nothing less than the freedom he was enjoying.
That thought propelled him back into his office for the first three days of the week. He spent all his days and most of his nights developing a new tablet that would dissolve faster and was smaller without being fragile. Dear Jupiter, the flexibility he’d have if he could just use a liquid form! But that wasn’t possible. His blood changed when it touched the air, especially for extended periods of time. He thought maybe, one day, he could give his ideas to someone with more experience in these matters, maybe at the Temple in Rome. Sure, he’d picked up plenty of chemistry and lab experience over the years, but he hadn’t used it since sometime around the mortals’ Great Depression, when Mars had to make the Lead Arrows stop their operation entirely. Those were dark enough times without their help.
By late afternoon on Wednesday, he’d made a dozen more tablets in a lighter weight that dissolved faster. He was happy with his efforts, but exhausted. Sebastian sat back in his desk chair and glanced out the window. It was drizzling outside. He decided he needed to get out, stretch his legs, and get a bite to eat. He ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth, barely glancing in the mirror as he swiped up his keys before running out the door.
Walking toward his favorite coffee shop in Bucktown, the Sacred Grounds, Sebastian felt like he was floating. Independence was grand. The only thing spoiling it for him was the situation surrounding Jeremy. Thinking about it brought tightness to his chest. While it was easier for Sebastian and his brothers to accept death because death was never finite for Arrows, it was still hard to go through his days knowing Jeremy wasn’t going to be with him anymore. Sebastian and his siblings knew without doubt there was an Afterlife. This planet was only a tiny little speck in the universe. Since time was all Sebastian had, he simply looked forward to seeing his brother again on the other side, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to miss him in this world.
His smile started to fall as he thought about the pain his brother must have suffered in death. Garrett confirmed Jeremy had been bled out, completely, his mark burned off. All Arrows had a mark on their right shoulder, given to them in their rebirth into this life. All the marks were shaped like an ornate wrought iron post, an arrow. Jeremy’s had been burned off his flesh.
Sebastian was outright frowning now as he turned the last corner and entered the coffee shop, taking his regular seat in the back. He absently ordered his coffee and a sandwich from the waitress, ignoring the suggestive glances from her as he pondered the circumstances surrounding Jeremy’s death. Sebastian leaned back in his chair, turning over the evidence in his mind. If his mother was right, the Lead Arrows would have just as much to lose from the Golden Arrows’ demise. Who could benefit from the fall of their empire? Psyche was right about them being a target for many immortals these days. Arrow Temples had risen to the height of power. Love and hate were commodities that never depreciated in the mortal world.
He was distracted from his thoughts as the waitress returned to his table, swinging her hips. He nearly chuckled as the waitress placed his coffee on the table and her phone number on a napkin, which he ignored. She was a pretty little thing, but he had no desire to work during his month off. The bliss of being able to turn down women made him nearly giddy. He took a drink of his coffee and sat back in his seat, stretching out his long legs.
The truth is, many immortals would benefit from the fall of the Golden Arrows. Any other immortal looking for more territory would aim toward the Arrow empire first if they really wanted more power, only no one had been ballsy enough.
Until now.
In the beginning of the population boom, they hadn’t had to worry about that. So many new souls, so much to go around. Then the world started rotting. People started dying, killing each other and themselves. Mortals continued to worship possessions and money to this day, and, much to their own demise, there wasn’t a god behind it. They stopped praying for things that mattered, and the gods behind those commodities had so few believers, such little faith to live off of. It was making them desperate. Now the immortal world was unstable and becoming more so every day. The Arrows’ portion of the empire was the only one that was still thriving. Prayers for love, revenge, and war never ceased.
As if these clues weren’t vague enough, there was the way Jeremy had been murdered. Sebastian never heard of an immortal being drained for blood. Obviously, the Golden Arrow blood had power, but, like Sebastian observed when setting up the tablets earlier, the blood changed when it was exposed to air. The blood drained from Jeremy would have been useless. Also, if one was going to drain the blood for use, why would they do an impromptu draining in an alley? There was also the possibility the body had been drained elsewhere and dumped in the alley.
He didn’t like the sound of that.
Before Sebastian got any further into his musings, he was interrupted by a female voice saying, right in his ear, “Shit, I can’t believe it.”
Sebastian glanced quickly over his right shoulder, startled, to look into the face of a skinny woman with long, red hair. By the look on her face, she wasn’t happy to see him. He quickly went through the catalog of his recent breakups, but didn’t recall this one. Of course, he didn’t claim to remember every single girl he’d dumped over the last thirty years, and this woman didn’t look to be much older than that. By the look on her face, whatever he’d done had been something which deserved capital punishment, at least.
Sebastian turned slightly, glancing around the shop, before looking into the very angry face of the tall, pretty woman. Struggling to look cool under fire, he said, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“I’m Alex. I saw you at Berlin the other night.”
Oh fuck. This was the tall red-head that caught him dropping a tablet in a beer. She looked different in the daylight without all that makeup and the six-inch heels. Sebastian struggled not to panic. He couldn’t afford for some mortal to ruin his research. He was careful to keep his face blank as he shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been to Berlin lately.”
Alex rolled her eyes, shifting the bag she shouldered to ease the weight as she glared down at him. “Whatever. I already know you’re a perpetual liar.”
Just then, his waitress came back to the table carrying his sandwich wrapped in deli paper. He quickly slid a twenty, which was far more than the sandwich and coffee was worth, onto the table. Standing, he picked up his dinner, deciding home was the best place to eat after all. The waitress’s mouth popped open as she saw how much money he’d left.
“Keep it,” he said.
Alex tapped her foot as she looked at him and then glanced at his waitress. “You know this guy is a sicko, right?”
Okay, now this chick was just pissing him off. “Listen lady,” he said, his waitress’s eyebrows jumping into her bangs at the drama going down right in front of her. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m leaving.”
Sebastian turned to walk out of the shop, past the upturned eyebrows of his waitress. He didn’t look back as he pounded his way out of the door and onto the sidewalk. The sun had set while he was in there thinking and waiting, and the evening was setting in.
“You have a real problem, you know that?”
This time, Sebastian actually cursed and turned. He glared down into the hazel eyes of the fiery red head and tried very hard to keep his composure, thinking of how much trouble he would be in if he revealed himself to a mortal. “Look. Back. Off. Get it? You don’t like me. I don’t like you. I don’t care.”
Alex snorted. “I do care. You’ll just go to another bar to try that shit again, won’t you? Don’t you know you’re sick? That you’re hurting people? Does date rape turn you on or something?”
Okay, that was too much. This snotty little brat had no idea the lengths he went to helping fixing mortal lives like hers every day, and he was not going to waste two more minutes with some ungrateful little hot head. He took a threatening step closer to Alex, and she had the decency to swallow loudly and take a step back before Sebastian leveled her with his eyes and said, “That’s enough. I’m leaving. Don’t follow me.”
His glare boiled her down as he turned with a whip of his head. He thought he might have seen her chin wobble a bit before he turned away, but he chose to ignore it as he stomped off. Half a block later, he slipped into an alley to take a short cut home.
And nearly ran into Aspen.
“Sweet Jupiter!” He hollered as he jumped back. Sebastian whipped his gun from his holster just in time to point it directly at the barrel of her gun as it came up. Aspen glared at him over the cold steel of her weapon, sneering. “Aspen?” Sebastian asked. “What are you doing here?”
“It looks like you need someone to help you stay out of trouble at the moment.” Aspen grunted, her gray eyes staring him down.
“What…are you following me?”
Aspen opened her mouth to answer when a loud bang sounded from deep in the alley. Both Aspen and Sebastian whipped their heads toward the sound as clouds moved to cover the sky, throwing them into darkness. Thunder started to rumble, which was eerie in comparison to the soft summer breeze they had been standing in moments before. The storm was obviously conjured.
Sebastian glanced over, nervously. “Aspen, what the hell are you doing?”
Aspen looked at Sebastian, her eyes cold and alert. “This isn’t me.” A strong wind burst through the alley, nearly upending them both. At that moment, a squeal sounded from behind them, and Sebastian nearly swallowed his tongue as he looked behind him to see Alex. “Alex, run!”
“No, stay!” yelled Aspen.
“What?” Sebastian demanded. “Are you crazy?”
Aspen looked over at Sebastian and grumbled. “We can’t let her go now, chief. She’s seen us standing here with guns for Jupiter’s sake, and she already thinks you’re a rapist. You wanna explain this to Psyche or Venus? I sure as hell know I don’t want to call Mars and ask for bail.”
Sebastian nearly cursed out loud as he realized she was right, but there was no time for him to respond to Alex because a large creature of the night hurled itself out of the dark and launched itself directly at Sebastian. Aspen grabbed Alex and thrust her onto the ground as Sebastian jumped to the side, shooting at the lower demon, whose claws just barely missed him. The bullets fired loudly in the alley as the shots plunged into the creature’s chest. The demon was only about twelve feet tall hunched over, which wasn’t much of a threat under normal circumstances. Of course, fighting a demon in an alley in Chicago wasn’t going to go unnoticed for long. Sebastian groaned as he realized he was going to be in trouble after all. The demon started advancing, and none too quietly. Its roar was deafening when it hurled its head back, reeling from the pain of the new bullets, smoke billowing out of the holes in its chest.
Sebastian glanced nervously behind him, expecting mortals to come into the alley any second because of the noise. Aspen was grabbing Alex up off of the ground. Alex’s eyes looked about to pop out of her head, and Sebastian might have found it funny if it hadn’t been for the situation at hand. “Sebastian, look out!” Aspen yelled. He whirled back as the demon recovered and made a second jump at him. Sebastian’s few seconds of distraction cost him. The beast scratched his arm, tearing long, jagged marks into his flesh. Sebastian yelled in agony. The demon’s talons seemed to be poisonous. His flesh started bubbling immediately, and the pain was excruciating. Aspen shoved Alex back down again, telling her to stay put, as she ran to help Sebastian fight off the demon. Its oil-slick skin and razor-sharp teeth were her primary concern. The injury he had suffered was making Sebastian weak. Aspen looked at him, quizzically. Sebastian looked over and gasped at her as he fired another shot into the demon. “Poisonous.”
Aspen jerked her head back toward the beast, jumping to miss a swipe of claws herself. She ran around to the nearest fire escape and pulled herself onto the first level. From there, she fired half a dozen shots at the back of the beast’s head as it lowered itself to finish off Sebastian. Unearthly wails filled the air as the ammunition broke through the beast’s hide. It reared and turned around, swiping at Aspen, who jumped to avoid the claws and was forced to dive to the ground. It was a long fall, and she felt her ankle snap as she landed. She cried out in pain. The ankle would heal quickly, but not quickly enough. The demon was retreating though, badly wounded from the bullets. Sebastian sank to the ground on his knees, his arm beginning to go numb, his skin clammy. He looked up in time to see the demon disappear in a gust of wind and pillar of smoke. Aspen advanced slowly to Sebastian, limping badly because of her injured foot. Sebastian cried out as the sting of the poison intensified, and his head went heavy.
Aspen looked over at Alex, who sat mutely on the ground. “Well that shut you up, didn’t it?” Aspen asked, grinning. Alex seemed to shake herself as she stood, looking around, but she didn’t speak. Her eyes were dilated and seemed huge on her face. “Shit. She’s going into shock.”
Sebastian would have replied, but his motor skills were getting worse. Suddenly his arm went completely numb, and he fell against Alex, who jumped out of the way. Aspen lifted a hand to steady her. “Listen,” she said.” Why don’t you just sit down a minute?” Aspen tore the sleeve off of her shirt as Alex sat, numbly. Tying the fabric around Sebastian’s arm, she moved to help him stand. Fortunately, Aspen was nearly as tall as Sebastian, and well-muscled. She bowed under his weight, but she could handle it. As long as he stayed conscious.
Aspen started walking to the far end of the alley, away from the street, which they had to avoid now. “Alex, you need to come with us.”
Alex shook her head slowly. “No! I…” Suddenly, Alex started shaking from head to foot.
“Damn it!” Aspen yelled as Alex hit the ground. Aspen dropped Sebastian to the brick wall, where he slumped, before she dove down next to Alex’s body. “She’s convulsing!”
Sebastian groaned. His vision was getting rough. “Aspen, we have got to get out of here.”
Aspen rolled Alex to her side, feeling along her head. Suddenly she stopped and lifted her hands, jumping back. “Shit, shit!” she yelled. That snapped Sebastian back enough to have him looking over at Aspen as she looked at him, her eyes filled with worry. “You got your blood on her.”
So? Sebastian thought. His face must have registered that thought because Aspen yelled at him. “Wake up, damn you!” She shook her head and realized how screwed she was as Sebastian fell to the floor of the alley. “I got my blood on her too.” Just as she reached in her pocket for her cell phone, a huge crack of lightening filled the alley with light. That was the last thing Sebastian saw before everything went black.