Suddenly realizing why they chose the direct route, I emptied the clip on Jonas as my mind scrambled for a plan. The bullets did little more than piss him off. Driven to a snail’s pace, he growled as he waded forward through the hail of fire. A smug smile broke out on his marbled face when my gun clicked empty.
The wiser of us, my asshole puckered and signaled a retreat.
To the sound of stomping feet, I stuffed my gun into my pants as I swung around the corner and headed for the back door. It crumpled on its hinges before I could make it there. White smiled at me through the ruin of the door, looking like a reject out of a Stephen King novel.
The run-n-gun approach out the window, I figured I’d take a page out of their operating manual and go through rather than around. My shoulders stooped, I barreled straight toward White, who only smiled wider at my approach. At the last second, I faked left and dodged right.
It almost worked.
White shifted toward my feint, but even off balance he managed to get his hand in the way as I ran past. It was like running into an I-beam.
A loud bell went off inside my skull and I felt my feet fly out from beneath me. A second later, my back slammed into the ground, my head following it down with a thump. My momentum slid me across the floor as wooden splinters poked me in places a Penthouse Letters reader might blush to hear about. The slide ended ten feet down the road after I’d bumped over the small doorstep and tumbled into the yard.
My eyes swum in their sockets as I stared up at the star-filled night sky. Not sure which were real and which were a byproduct of having my brain scrambled, I decided it best not to lay there and try to figure it out. Rolling over, the world swaying around me, I reevaluated that decision. It probably was best just to stay there.
Of all my bad habits, I really need to give up getting smacked in the head. I wonder if there’s a patch for that.
Black and White stood just outside the doorway, their amused smiles grating on my battered nerves. They looked down at me and White shook his head.
“Care to come with us now?”
“Yeah, I’m starting to think that might be a good idea.” White went to help me and I waved a hand at him. “I got it, just give me a second. At least let me get up on my own.”
A silken chuckle eased from his mouth as he stepped back to Black’s side. “By all means. I wouldn’t want to impugn your manhood, such as it is.”
“Thanks,” I told him, forcing a couple of coughs.
My head resting on the ground, I pulled my left knee under me and kind of leaned to the right. Hoping my body blocked my movement, I slid my hand into my right pocket. As soon as my fingers wrapped around the vial, which was miraculously intact, I slid it out and pulled my other knee up while coughing a couple more times.
“Any time now.”
“Just a sec-” Mid sentence, I broke out in a fit of coughs, my hands going to my mouth. I rolled to my side as though I were choking, and turned my back on Black and White. Almost frantic, I popped the stopper on the vial as I heard them coming toward me. With a little lean to raise my head some, I emptied the contents of the vial into my mouth and swallowed fast just as I felt their cold hands latch onto me. With a gentle push, I left the vial slip from my hand and slid it across the grass, toward my feet.
“Come on now, surely you aren’t that hurt.”
They pulled me up and held my arms, not even bothering to restrain me. I squirmed a little and stumbled forward and they tightened their grip to keep me from falling over. My feet barely touching the ground, they led me across the yard and through the gate to the front, the vial still on the grass behind us; unnoticed.
As we neared what I presumed was their black van, I felt the warm rush of Lucifer’s blood as it merged with mine. The gentle tingling ran through my veins, easing away all my aches and pains. A pleasant tickle played at my groin and I fought the urge to give in to it, knowing it was just foreplay for the mind-fuck to come. The feelings growing more intense, I clenched my teeth and waited.
Suddenly my body went rigid, my muscles screaming in agony as they surged with mystical energy. A rabid, foam-mouthed scream slipped loose from my mouth as molten lava ripped through my innards. My vision went white and I could feel myself twitching like an epileptic.
Though I couldn’t see them, Black and White held on. Snippets of their words pierced the haze of my whirling mind, but I couldn’t follow what they were saying. It was all gibberish to me, like watching Oprah.
Then just as suddenly as it hit me, the pain passed and I dropped limp in their grasp. They set me down on my knees but kept ahold of my arms. White leaned over to look me in the face.
He huffed, irritation finally tainting his smooth delivery. “No games, Trigg. Go with us peacefully or we’ll do this the hard way.”
I focused my eyes on his and broke into a wide grin. “Let’s go with the latter.”
Confusion stampeded across his face and I didn’t let it go to waste. A quick jerk of my arms pulled them around in front of me, the men crashing into each other with a kettledrum boom. They fell to the ground in a tangled mess of thrashing limbs.
Their hold on me broken, I stepped away and summoned my energies as they fought to get to their feet. Unlike before, my horse and buggy magic needing a steep hill to get going, the power roared to life like a Ferrari. The feeling was orgasmic.
Black and White, now back on their feet, eased away, clearly realizing something had changed.
“Leaving so soon? I thought you wanted to chat.”
White spun without a word and ran for the house. Black went the opposite direction, racing across the yard. Not wanting to damage my house any further, I went after Black.
Envisioning a sword, my magic complied. Made of pure mystical energy, a shimmering blade appeared in my hand, illuminating the night.
Though Black had a head start, it wasn’t much of one. A quick leap put me at his back as he scrambled to get into the van. While he dug in his pockets for the keys, I grabbed his shoulder from behind. There was a clank as my hand latched on, my fingers sinking in a little with a muffled metallic squeal.
Without hesitation, he threw an elbow at me, but with Lucifer’s blood flowing in my veins, I saw it coming. The shimmering blade of my sword met his triceps midway and cleaved clean through. His severed arm boomeranged passed to land in the yard behind me.
Black didn’t scream, but I nearly did.
I’d expected to see spraying blood and hacked up meat, but there wasn’t any of that. Instead, the stump of his arm was a solid mass, one big hunk of reflective steel. Inside the fleshy cocoon, it flowed like water, swirling in the wound. No clue what Black was, my eyes were transfixed.
He took advantage of my hesitation and yanked his shoulder free. He took another swing at me, my mind waking up, and I moved to defend, but it had been a feint. He spun and bolted down the street as I regained my balance. I watched him go. He wasn’t so fast I couldn’t catch him, but I didn’t want to waste the energy. Having used some of the blood to heal Scarlett and me a couple of times, I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be Super Frank on the lower dosage. If White was still in the house, I was gonna need the boost.
Spurred on by the thought of powering down, I raced inside. Chatterbox whistled and hopped up and down to get my attention.
“ Dooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrr,” he said as I charged into the living room.
I looked to my shattered back door and let my senses go. While they hadn’t exactly been on the money earlier, I’d been able to feel Black and White. That feeling wasn’t there now. They were gone.
The timing was perfect. I could feel the magic of the blood slipping away, a subtle tiredness trickling over me. My mystical blade flickered and died, no longer needed.