High Voltage (2 page)

“I don’t deserve to live.”

Volt gasped when Havoc suddenly
grabbed a handful of his shirt.

“Look at the dead boy, Volt. Look
at him.” The force in Havoc’s voice made Volt look. He wanted to throw up.

“Are you really going to take the
cowardly way out, Volt? Will his death
be
for
nothing?”

“What can I do?” Volt asked, not
looking away from Kevin’s face. Havoc was right. He was running away like a
coward by wanting death rather than facing the reality of his actions.

“You can use your power for good,
Volt.”

Volt stared at Havoc. “You’re
seriously going to use that cheesy superhero movie line on me, old man?”

Havoc relaxed his hold on him, but
the weight of his gaze remained, intense and penetrating.

“This isn’t a superhero movie,
Volt. This is hard reality. Are you willing to take a second stab at life?”

Volt closed his eyes painfully and
when he opened them, Havoc was still there, waiting patiently for him. “Yeah I
am.”

Chapter One

Heath Bones, former wizard
apprentice, had been feeling at the top of the world after announcing he’d quit
being his master’s errand boy.

“Free at last!”

He even did some ridiculous fist
pumping in the air and a little dance.

The warehouse that functioned as a
morning market during the day was fortunately empty and quiet at this time of
the night, so no one could see his elation. Despite his misgivings, Heath took
once last look at the office he’d work at for several years.

Havoc’s Crew was one of the best
freelance magical demolition outfits in Lyon City, but it sat in a shitty
location above the warehouse of a morning market near the city slums. Still,
the dingy little office had been his home for as long as Heath remembered.

“I did the right thing.” His words
sounded uncertain in his own ears.

Havoc, a powerful Elementalist, a
wizard who excelled in mastering the four elements, had picked Heath up during
his travels when he was fifteen. It was apparently one of Havoc’s hobbies,
picking up talented orphans. Havoc had picked up his adoptive sons Blaze, Gale,
and Heath’s master, Volt, a few years earlier and raised them as his own.

Come to think of it, Havoc’s habits
might have been passed to the rest of them since Blaze and his new mate also
adopted an orphaned girl, Sarah, whom they picked up months ago.

Heath didn’t have a rough
childhood. His mother had been a wizard and his father had been a tabby
shifter. They were crazy about each other, but were killed in a car accident
and no one wanted to take care of a kid born out of interspecies relations. The
wizard community didn’t want to claim him and neither did the cat shifter
community.

Deciding he was too old to raise
another kid, Havoc had given the reins of Heath’s education to Volt, who was a
complete bastard. Havoc was a saint compared to Volt, who wasn’t the easiest
person in the world to deal with.

The man was a slave driver who’d
rather ask Heath to pick up his laundry or escort out his whores after he was
done with them, rather than teach him the arcane arts. The only reason Heath
put up with Volt was because he wanted his master more than he wanted anyone or
anything else in the world.

He had it bad, and he knew it.
Heath had his share of nervous fumbles and quickies throughout the years with
men who wanted the same thing, but none of them were Volt.

“Goodbye, guys.” His throat felt
tight as he dragged his eyes away from the office.

Havoc, Gale, and Blaze had been his
only family, but he didn’t think he could stand another day seeing his master’s
face or cleaning up his messes.

Fuck. Didn’t Volt know anything
about his feelings at all?

The last straw had been picking up
Volt’s usual laundry earlier that morning and seeing his teacher’s latest boy
toy. Hearing the boy toy ask Volt who the hell he was made him inwardly realize
just how stupid he’d really been.

Hanging around until Volt noticed
him won’t get him anywhere.

The elation he’d felt after he’d
announced he was quitting melted away. He hadn’t even told Havoc he was
leaving. Heath just stalked out after shouting at Volt he’d quit. What a fool
he was, thinking things between them were starting to change.

After Blaze found his mate a few
months back, Volt had been easier to talk to. Volt had even surprised Heath by
being unexpectedly kind and driving him back to his apartment on some nights
they worked late at office. Heath even began to look forward to the little
things, like the stolen and casual conversations with Volt during lunch or
dinner.

Volt was beginning to open up to
him and he’d taken it as a positive sign. Heath was beginning to know Volt
little by little. He’d discovered the little things, like how Volt hated
oranges but loved grapefruit, or how Volt could occasionally be funny with his
dry jokes.

Heath was wrong though. Volt wasn’t
going to change. He would always be one insensitive whoring
son-of-a-bitch.
  

Would Havoc be disappointed? Havoc
had asked him a number of times if he wanted a new teacher. Gale was willing to
teach him and they were both
aeromancers
, capable of
manipulating wind, but Heath had steadily refused.

Nothing he could do about it now.
Even if Gale became his teacher, he had to see Volt everyday at the office.
Thinking about the office made him remember Havoc set him up as the office’s
receptionist in the first place to help him pay his bills.

Damn. Now he had to find a new job
too.

Heath dragged his sorry ass down
the flight of stairs leading to the first floor of the warehouse. The stalls of
the morning market were all closed up. Above him, the lights of the warehouse
precariously flickered. Heath couldn’t help himself. He let out a snort.

The flickering lights were probably
Volt’s doing. The Elementalist had a pretty short fuse and was dangerous around
anything that ran on electricity when he was pissed.

“Go electrocute yourself for all I
care, master.”

Heath had to remind himself Volt
was no longer his master, or his anything.

“I have to quit double thinking my
decision. What’s done is done,” he muttered to himself.

Besides, it wasn’t his style to
back out after he’d made his decision. The wind outside the warehouse cooled
and soothed his nerves. The skin of his back pricked though, and his feline
senses tingled. The little metaphysical cat inside him opened its green feline
eyes and sniffed at the air.

The air felt tainted and hard to
breathe in. Something didn’t feel right. Heavy footsteps neared him, filled
with purpose and ill intent.

They
don’t sound like human footsteps
.

Heath scented the air again, and
the noxious scent of sulfur caressed his nostrils. All the hairs of his back
stood up.

“Sulfur only means one thing,” he
whispered.

Demons.

Heath hastily reached out for his
cat buried inside him. Never mind he was still dressed. Bones popped and orange
fur began to cover his human skin. The advantages of being such a small animal
were numerous. Heath had escaped more than his fair share of dangerous
situations during cases with Volt by turning into a cat and disappearing into
the city’s numerous holes and corners.

“Always
assess the situation you’re in, Heath.”
Volt’s voice unexpectedly spoke in
his head.
“You aren’t a full-blooded
Elementalist like me or my brothers. It makes you weaker, but being able to
shift to a cat has its advantages. Fight smart, and run if you need to.”

Heath wriggled out of his human
clothes. In his cat form, he was more aware of his surroundings. The smell of
sulfur hit him twice as hard. The office called back to him. He could scamper
back into the warehouse and get help. Blaze was probably still there together
with Levi, his bear shifter mate.

Volt was there too, and no way was
Heath going to owe the bastard a favor right after he’d announced he’d quit.
Heath scampered into the night instead, and away from the only home he knew.
The air felt cool against his face, but the reek of sulfur followed after his
heels.

Heath had to get out of the open.
He intimately knew the alleyways and buildings around the warehouse at the back
of his head. The footsteps grew louder behind him, gaining momentum.

Suddenly, his paws weren’t
scrambling on solid ground. Heath shrieked and yowled, but his small paws only
hit hard leathery skin and his body remained trapped around an enormous clawed
hand.

“Hush, little
kitty.
Don’t struggle and I won’t hurt you too badly,”
a vaguely human voice hissed.

Heath ceased struggling to snarl at
the thing holding him. All the fight bled out of him when he saw the face of
his enemy. Heath beheld curving ebony horns and a face more other than human.
Harsh and inhuman lines made the face convulse into something grotesque and
alien.

It was laughing, Heath realized.

His heart sank and threatened to
burst out of the confines of his chest. He was going to die without ever seeing
the bastard face of his smug master again.

****

Volt retraced the steps his
apprentice took, cursing as he did so. His lungs rattled as he blew out another
puff of smoke. Fuck was he pissed. Even remembering the expression on Heath’s
face and hearing him whine about how smoking was going to be the death of him
pissed Volt off even more.

Heath looked far too happy,
strutting
his little ass and proudly telling Volt he quit
being his apprentice. Good riddance is what Volt should’ve said if he was
smart. Good riddance wasn’t enough.

He’d been tempted to reach out for
the boy’s slender frame, slap him across his knee, and teach his fool
apprentice never to speak to him in such a tone again. Heath squirming and
begging on his lap as his hand descended over and over against his ripe little
ass was a good image.
The right image.

Volt glanced down at his body on
the way down the stairway of the warehouse and cursed at the visible bulge in
his pantsuit.

“Double fuck.”

Anger and desire didn’t naturally
go together, he was sure of that, but every time Volt thought of his apprentice
snarling at him, it made him even madder. How dare the little shit walk out on
him after all the things he’d done for him? He couldn’t even begin sorting out
what he was feeling. Volt couldn’t remember the number of times he’d thought of
spreading Heath across his knee. Heath always looked so strung and tense Volt
was sure all Heath needed was a good spanking.

Hold on a second there. Didn’t Volt
promise himself he’d see Heath as nothing but his apprentice?

Thinking otherwise was going to
bring him nothing but trouble. Oh, Volt had seen the occasional curious glances
Heath spared him whenever he thought Volt wasn’t looking. They were definitely
interested glances, but a man like Heath didn’t fit his needs.

Volt wasn’t blind to the intense
longing in Heath’s gaze. Heath wouldn’t be content with one wild night to
satisfy his itch, and Volt didn’t do commitments. He’d rather spare Heath than
have him hurt.

Besides the truth was, he didn’t
deserve Heath one bit. If Heath knew about his sordid past, he wouldn’t even
look at him again. Even after fifteen years, Kevin’s death still haunted him.
It not only haunted him, but Volt was sure some part of him was broken and
could never be fixed. Fear of seeing someone he loved die again because of his
foolish mistakes kept him from opening his heart to anyone. If Volt needed a
body to warm his bed, whores were enough. Whores only asked for money and he
had money, but he had a feeling Heath would want his heart, even if it were
broken.

A spark of
electricity crackled up his arm by reflex as he scented the unmistakable smell
of sulfur outside the warehouse. Volt’s nostrils flared. There was a demon this
close?

Either the demon
was brave or stupid. Anyone worth their salt in Lyon City knew it wasn’t the wisest
idea messing with the men of Havoc’s Crew. It wasn’t just large-scale
demolition they excelled at. They also excelled at large-scale supernatural
extermination.

He wasn’t aware
of clenching his fist, or the warm tingle of energy coursing up his arms.
Mingling with the pungent smell of sulfur was the mix of feline musk and a hint
of vanilla. Volt would recognize Heath’s scent anywhere. Hadn’t he often
wondered what it would be like to press his nose against the slender pale line
of Heath’s neck?

Volt bent down
where the demon’s scent was the strongest. He touched the fine dusting of
sulfur left behind and the drying droplets of blood on the gravel. Screw this.
Heath was no longer his problem. “If you’re smart enough to get caught by a
demon, you’re smart enough to get free.”

The more he
stared at the droplets on the road, the more
Volt
felt
unnerved. Saying those words was one thing, but keeping to them was another
matter. Heath had struggled. Heath had fought, but he had lost. Pride filled
Volt at the knowledge. Heath was a fighter.

“Fuck.” Volt
rose, following the trail of blood. It led him to the dead end of a back alley.
On the dirty brick wall, the demon left him a calling card.
A
symbol written in blood.

Volt wasn’t
afraid of a lot of things that went bump in the night. Elementalists were
nowhere at the top of the food chain, but they weren’t at the bottom. He could
handle himself just fine, but seeing the mark on the wall again after so many
years made his blood run cold.

All the demons
who
came from the supernatural realm of the Otherside had
call names. Names foolish wizards and third-rate magical hacks could use to
call them to the real world and give them physical shape.