Maxon (2 page)

“You know it was,” I say.

“So, how were they?” asks Ty. He doesn't need to add ‘in bed.'

Both guys stare at me, fixated. When it comes to my love life, they're worse than the paparazzi. I'd like to say that I screwed the girls senseless, but I didn't. They were human nurses who work with vets from Iraq. We started taking about PTSD—why, I don't know—and it was a total mood killer. I took them out for ice cream and drove them home. They said I was a really nice guy. So, I got friend zoned, which was bad enough. Even worse? It didn't bother me.

The High Prince Maxon, a really nice guy.

Shoot me now.

There's no way I'm talking about that disaster, so I dodge the question. “Don't you pack of dicks have anything better to do than talk about who I nail?”

“No,” they say in unison.

Thankfully, I don't have to continue with this depressing conversation because the desert sands start to darken once again. Black clouds reappear in the skyline. A low chittering noise fills the air. The ground gently shivers beneath my feet.

Ty lets out a low whistle. “Whatever's coming up, it's a big one.”

Zee sets his fists on his hips. “In that case, I'm calling it.”

I shoot Zee a thumb's up. “The next kill's yours. You going in solo?”

“I'll give it a try.” Zee scans the horizon. “It's not like my battle twin's here.” When you have a battle twin, you always fight better as a pair.

In Zee's case, his battle twin is Raj from Kamal, a thrax house that specializes in hunting demons with hawks and tigers. They're also one of the big five houses, along with Striga, Horus, Acca, and Rixa, where I'm from. We do everything together, which makes me wonder.

“Where the hell is Raj, anyway?”

Nizam shrugs. “It's his turn to babysit Uther.”

I nod. There's nothing you can say to that. Uth's been working on his new ‘phase bomb' for months now. You practically have to kidnap the guy to get him out of his lab. The man's a nut job, but a brilliant one.

Beneath my feet, the ground rumbles and heaves. I suck in an excited breath. Any second now, something demonic's gonna appear.

Only, it doesn't.

For a long time, nothing happens. The desert stays unnaturally quiet. Some small part of me warns that I should be more pumped and battle ready, unless I want to get myself killed. Another part thinks that may be an improvement.

With an ear-piercing shriek, hundreds of little creatures pour out of the sand. These tiny monsters have rodent features, glowing yellow eyes, and blood-red scales. My muscles tense with anticipation. With a great battle cry, Zee launches into the fray, slicing through the tiny demons with his long scabbard. My tail itches to help him.

Let Zee give it a try, Maxon. Don't jump in too early.

While I watch Zee swing away, my mind automatically classifies the kill. These are Rodentia, a cross between rat and lizard demons. By themselves, Rodentia aren't too tough. It's when they move together that things get tricky.

“That's the Scarlet Horde,” says Ty. The way he's gripping the fireball charms in his pocket, I know he's anxious to jump in, too. “Class B demons.” We rank demons by letter. The higher the letter, the tougher the kill. But Ty's wrong on this one.

“Class A, actually,” I say.

“Even better.” Ty's mouth twitches with excitement. “Since Raj is a no-show, maybe I should step in and help out Zee anyway. What do you think, M?”

I'm about to answer when a new voice calls out from behind us. “Who says I'm a no-show?” We turn around to see Raj and Uther high-tailing it toward us.

Ty grins. “So you finally got Uth out of his hidey hole.”

“Tell me about it,” says Raj. “Fucking miracle.” Like everyone from the House of Kamal, Raj has cocoa skin, brown hair, and a hunting animal. In Raj's case, it's a black hawk named Jetal.

Uther rakes his hand through his short blonde hair. He has a wrestler's build and no interest in anything other than blowing shit up. “It's not a hidey hole, guys. It's my lab.”

I chuck him on the upper arm. “We know that, Uth.”

Raj cups his hand by his mouth. “Yo, Zee!” He calls. “Want company?”

Zee mows down a short wall of Rodentia. “Always, my friend.”

Acting in sync, Zee and Raj align back-to-back and go to town. Meanwhile, Jetal circles the skies, picking off the odd demon rat, shaking it dead, and dropping it back into the horde. The battle twins move in unison, skewering the mini-monsters with lightning speed. It sure looks pretty to see them fight. Beyond that, I don't get the appeal of having a twin. I've tried it, and other warriors are never fast enough. I end up spending more time trying not to kill my partner than downing demons.

In short order, the horde is wiped out. Little rat-demon carcasses lie scattered across the desert floor. Raj and Zee let out whoops of joy while Jetal hops around the carnage. I'm about to give the ‘all clear' when the ground starts rumbling again. Fresh chittering sounds fill the air, but this time, the noise is deafening.

More are coming.

Suddenly, a huge and writhing mass of Rodentia pours out of the desert floor. This time, they're packed in so tight, the tiny bodies make a kind of fountain as they stream onto the sands.

“They're everywhere!” cries Zee.

“We need backup!” calls Raj.

I slowly rise to my feet. Time was, a battle like this would really get my blood pumping. Now, I can't seem to focus. For some reason, I only want another beer. I do have enough sense to grab my baculum, which are a pair of silver rods that can be ordered into the shape of almost any weapon, assuming you want that weapon to be made out of angel-fire. For this battle, I order my baculum into the shape of a long-sword.

What the hell is wrong with me anyway?

After following Uther and Ty into the fray, I start slicing down Rodentia with my baculum and dragon-scale tail. Ty casts fireballs to burn more into little crisps. Uther sits down in the middle of everything and starts fiddling with something in his lap. I battle over to his side.

“Uth, you do realize the rest of us are fighting?”

“Yeah, yeah. My new bomb's almost ready.” He holds up a block of gears and wires. “Phase bomb. Will open up a hole into anywhere. We can go straight through the desert floor, even.”

My tail takes down a half-dozen Rodentia at once. “Why would we want to do that, Uth?” I keep mowing down mini-demons as Uth gets all gushy about his plan.

“Charybdis sucks in all the best demons and then stores them underground.” He lovingly presses the bomb against his chest. “Now, we can go right into the heart of it. No more waiting for the demons to come to us, get it?”

I summon a lightning bolt to fry a small cluster of Rodentia into ash. Smells gross, but it's effective. While I battle on, Uther keeps staring at me like a happy puppy who's done an especially neat trick and now wants his bone.
Ah, Uther.
The guy's not what you call a traditional thrax warrior. Never has been, either. His bombs sure work wonders, though… When he can get them to work.

I change my baculum into two short-swords—gotta love how you can change a baculum fire-blade in the middle of a fight—and start taking down Rodentia two-handed. “We've got plenty to kill up here.”

“Don't you want to know what Charybdis is hiding? Like, all of it?”

Used to be, maybe I did. Now? Not so much.

I flatten more Rodentia. “Be sure to keep the little buggers off you.”

Without looking up, Uther screws something into the bomb with his right hand while lancing a demonic rat with his left. “You got it, boss.”

A figure stalks out of the darkened tunnel. He's humanoid and stocky with a rodent face, red-scaled body and long, rat-like tail. I'd know this guy anywhere. He's a Class A job called the Scourge. This demon is what turns a small pack of Rodentia into a massive horde of trouble.

Oh, yeah.
My day just got a whole lot better. More of the old kick of battle excitement moves through my veins. Not a ton, but I'll take it.

I stride over to stand before him. “I'm Maxon Vidar Xavion Aquilus, High Prince of the Thrax. Surrender and live.”

The Scourge makes a chittering sound, which is then echoed throughout the horde. He speaks past a mouth of long pointed teeth. “Never.”

I grin. “Glad you feel that way.”

To kick things off right, I slice through the Scourge's tail with my own. Mine's covered in dragon scales. His is a major liability. Plus, losing your backend is a real game changer. You get attached to your tail, and not in the obvious ways. Chopping it off always makes my opponents do something dumb.

The Scourge glares at his bloody tail-stump, howls his lungs out, and then rushes at me with his short-sword. Not a great plan.

Blow after blow comes at me from the Scourge. I block them all with my right arm, which is also covered in dragon scales. It's my own built-in shield and I love it. We trade punches and lunges for a while. It's only a matter of time before this demon slips up again.

Sure enough, the Scourge makes a bad play for my jugular. I grab his short-sword with my bare right hand and fold it in half. Gotta love dragon scales.

The Scourge's big yellow eyes flare red. Now, he's really pissed. Things are about to get fun. I move into fighting stance and start whaling on his head. Then, I follow up with kidney punches to the gut and deep knee kicks to the belly. I've been trained in every kind of martial art out there, plus a bunch of stuff you only learn on the streets. This is one of the few times I get to use it.

At last, I'm really getting into the zone. Adrenaline pumps through me. You'd think I was a junkie scoring a hit, I'm so fucking happy. Sure, my knuckles are sore and the Scourge is down, but I don't give a crap. I'm not stopping for anyone.

That's when the Scourge's rat face turns into someone else's. It becomes long and black with a nose like a knife. Small red eyes lock with mine. I can never forget that face.

Armageddon, the King of Hell.

This freak abducted me when I was three years old. I still have nightmares about it.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I roar.

Wrapping the demon into a sleeper hold, I start speed-whaling his temple. The skull cracks, and there's no question about it. This bad boy's dead. I drop the carcass onto the ground.

Catching my breath, I scan the battlefield. All the Rodentia are toast. Their bodies cover the desert floor in a solid bloody mass. The guys stand around me, their mouths hanging open. Not good. The fight's long over. I must've been beating up on a dead demon for a while. There's a long pause before anybody speaks.

“What did you mean before?” asks Zee slowly.

“About what?”

“You were talking to the Scourge. You wanted to know what he was doing here?”

A wall goes up inside my mind. On one side, there's the guys. On the other, there's the truth. I'm guarding that wall with everything I've got. No way I'm admitting to seeing Armageddon.

“I don't know, Zee. I was in the zone. Whatever.”

“You lost it for a while,” says Uther.

My defenses go on high alert. Uther's getting way too close to the truth. What I say next isn't a thought-out thing. More a knee-jerk response.

“Lost it?” I repeat. “You don't get to say that to me. You spent the battle playing with bomb toys instead of fighting like a thrax.” The second the words are out of my mouth, I feel like a total ass for saying them. Uth's face gets all red.

And the worst thing is, I was only getting on his case for telling the truth.

Uther was right. I totally lost it. Isn't it bad enough that I don't like fighting or fucking anymore? Now, I have to have flashbacks on the battlefield, too. Man, this crap mood of mine better let up soon. I start giving orders, and that makes everything feel a little more normal. “Ty, cast an incineration spell. We need these carcasses out of here. Then, lock down Charybdis. We're calling it a day.”

“Sure thing, M.”

While the rest of the guys clean up, I pull Uther aside. “Look, man. I'm sorry about what happened back there. I had no business saying any of that. You're different, and I know you get flak about it. But I want you to hear me right now. I respect the hell out of what you do. You're an important part of the team.”

Uther stares at the ground. “If you say so, Maxon.”

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“Keep calling me on my shit. You're the only one with the balls to do it.”

Uther cracks a smile. “Does that mean my balls are bigger than yours?”

“In your dreams, pal.”

Ty jogs over to join us. He does not look happy.

“What's wrong?” I ask.

“I can't get the sealing spell to work.”

“What?” I've never heard of Ty being unable to cast a spell, ever. “You sure?”

“I'm telling you, M. Something's immune to my magic.”

I jog over to Charybdis. Sure enough, bizarre lights dance under the grains of sand. Everything's in different shades of blue, and none of it's human-made. Doesn't look demonic, either.

What can do something like that?

For the first time in I don't know how long, my pulse skyrockets. Every cell in my body vibrates with life and energy. This is the kind of electric excitement I've been missing for months…the charge that only happens before a really badass battle.

A new opponent is coming.

I can't wait.

Lianna

As I rush through the darkened forest, one thought stays stuck my mind.

Crap, I'm running late.

That worry, as much as anything, is why I head-butt the flying frog.

“Sorry, Franklin,” I say quickly. “Didn't see you there.”