Rise of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 3) Read online

  “Hell,” I answered sternly.

  “Whatever the reason, Abel thinks he can save you by doing this. He thinks he can absolve you of something and he’s willing to give his soul to see it done.” She shook her head. “I’m not ready for that. He was untainted, Cain. You and I; we were different. We were touched by fault and weakness. So much of the world’s strife came from us. But, if that’s true, then shouldn’t it also be true that much of the world’s grace came from Abel and your father? If the first bad people in the world are responsible for all the rest, then shouldn’t the same be said for the first good people and all the kindness, compassion, mercy, and justice that followed in their footsteps. Abel is a good soul, a pure spirit, and I won’t see him give that up. Even for you.”

  I stared at my mother for a long moment after that. “That’s the first reasonable thing you’ve said in a very long time,” I answered.

  “I’m glad you agree,” my mother responded. “Now get through that portal.”

  I nodded at her and jumped through the thing. I found myself outside of a ramshackle log cabin without windows and with a solitary door. Pearl, Merry, and Andy stood in front of it, staring at the structure.

  “What are we doing?” I asked, as my mother came through the portal and it closed behind her. “Why aren’t we going in there?”

  “There’s a force blocking out entrance magically,” Pearl answered. “I’m guess it’s that damn Irishman again. His luck powers are very potent. So potent, in fact, that he’s not allowing me to teleport us into the actual house.”

  “Then how about we just walk in?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “What’s stopping us from doing that?”

  “Because Wilma is a survivalist,” Merry answered. “And her houses are always armed to the gills with booby traps for people who might want to break in. If we just teleported in there, it could set off a series of events that would put us all in danger, not to mention Amber.”

  “Well, isn’t that convenient?” I muttered sarcastically. “Can’t you just, like magically defuse them or something?” I asked, looking to Pearl.

  “If I knew where they were,” she responded, holding her hands out in front of her as though she was getting ready to cast a spell.

  “Can’t you just access her memories?” I asked.

  ‘After what I need to calm her down enough to stop her from killing all of you? I’m afraid to even attempt to kick that hornet’s nest. The last thing we need is an already paranoid woman coming back into control of a body that now has access to the mystics.”

  “She’s right, Uncle C,” Andy said. “I was definitely not a fan of that lightning storm.”

  “What the hell are you doing then?” I asked, looking over at Pearl.

  “I’m scanning the area for mystical signatures,” she answered. “I might not be able to find Amber thanks to the Irishman, but I would be able to sense Abel if he were here.”

  “If?” I asked, a spike of hope rising in me.

  “Unless he’s found a way to hide his signature from me too, he hasn’t shown up yet.”

  “Which means all we have to do is make it through a deadly obstacle course and to that cabin on the off chance Amber and Kyle are inside,” I said.

  “Or you could just scream for the girl,” my mother said. “Surely she’ll come running if she hears her mother’s voice.” She shrugged. “Unless she’s anything like my children, that is.”

  “I don’t want her running through this front yard,” merry answered quickly. “Without Wanda to guide her, she’s bound to get herself killed trying to get to me, even without the smarts of Solomon.”

  “Wisdom,” I corrected.

  “Whatever,” she scoffed. “it doesn’t matter. This house might look like a log cabin, but it’s a fortress on the inside. It’s completely sealed off, which means it’s-”

  “Soundproof,” I finished.

  “She wouldn’t be able to hear me even if I did scream for her,” Merry said.

  “Fine,” I muttered. “We’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.” I started to move forward.

  “What are you doing,” Merry said, grabbing my arm.

  “Don’t worry,” I answered. “I’ve served in two world wars and countless other battles. I know what a minefield is and I know how to work my way around it. I’ll be okay.”

  “You’d better be,” she answered, looking me square in the eyes. “And bring my daughter back with you.”

  “And be quick about it, Callum. I can’t place a spell on you to keep you safe. Given the nature of Kyle’s effect on this place, I’m not sure you’d be able to enter with that much magic surrounding you. I’d say it was a good thing. I’d say it would keep your brother out, but my guess is he’d blow right through it with very little trouble. Our only chance is to get out of here. We need to hurry though,” Pearl said, turning back to me. “I feel a practical tidal wave of energy heading this way.”

  “Abel’s on the move,” I figured. “Stand back.” I turned my attention to the cabin and the field right in front of it. It was about 1one hundred yards, the size of a football field, and the secrets hiding within it were the only things keeping me from her.

  “Wait,” Merry said, still clutching my arm. She turned me toward her, and looked up at me with eyes so shockingly bright that I was surprised they weren’t full of magic. “There’s a safe room in the basement on the lower left floor. I’d bet anything that’s where Amber and Kyle are. Wilm changes the access code every few weeks but, you have that pocket knife, right? You can just cut right through.”

  “Absolutely,” I answered, nodding.

  “When you get in, they’ll be a kill switch. It’ll disable all the electronic security measures. Also, you know, maybe once Kyle sees that it’s us out here, his luck will take down these defenses. We’ll be able to get in without having to worry about the traps and then we can teleport out of here.”

  “No,” I answered, taking a deep breath. “If you teleport ever, my brother will find you. When I get to her, I’ll bring her out to you, and then you run. Get to the car I stole and take it somewhere, take it anywhere. Take Kyle with you and start a life somewhere with Amber.”

  “Wait a second,” Merry said, grabbing onto my shirt sleeve now. “Why are you talking about this like you’re not going to be a part of it?”

  “Uncle C,” Andy broke in. “You said your brother is on his way. We don’t have time for this.”

  “I know,” I said, nodding at my nephew. I looked back down at Merry, knowing I would have to be heartbreakingly quick with my explanation. “Nothing as changed, merry. As much as it breaks my heart to say, it’s the truth. I’m still a danger to her and to you in my current state and, until I can fix that, I can’t be anywhere near you. Amber’s safety is the most important thing.” I blinked hard. “It’s the only thing.”

  “You’ll fix it,” she protested. “You have to fix it. You’re our best bet here, Callum. You’re my best bet. I can’t do this without you. I don’t-” She looked up at me. “I don’t want to.”

  “I don’t want you to either, sweetheart,” I said.

  “Then stop this whole ‘you won’t ever see me again’ stuff. I have an idea. I know what we can do, how we can be safe.” She moved closer. “So go get my daughter and bring her back to me. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about, but I didn’t have time to question her. Andy was right. I needed to get moving, but not before one more thing.

  “And Callum,” she said. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips against mine, kissing me deeply and quickly. A jolt of the sweetest electricity I had ever felt started at my toes and ran its way up my entire body. “Come back to me,” she whispered as she pulled away.

  “Yes ma’am,” I muttered.

  Looking at her for just another beat, I spun and took to the field. Though we all had a lot at stake, part of me was still buzzing from that kiss. And, while that might sound foolish and misgui
ded, it did set me on a sort of awesome autopilot. With my flames fanned anew and my determination stoked even more, I found myself innately reverting back to the man I had been in World War II, the man who spied mines in a minefield from a mile away.

  I had watched Alexander the Great conquer the known world, after all. I knew more than my share about military strategy and the human condition. As such, I could almost guess where the next trap would be.

  I skillfully dodged two mines; both to the eastern side of the most worn footpath, where seventy percent of mines tend to be. There was a small line of razor wire running across the ground right by the front porch, and then another, even thinner, line behind that. The second, I surmised, was likely electrified, but I leapt over both of them with ease. I strained my legs, aiming for the second step. I couldn’t jump far enough though, and my back foot did land on the first step. Just as I’d expected, I found it to be hollow and unable to support my weight. It gave way under my foot, which sunk down into an emptiness that I was sure dropped off into some sort of pit.

  Luckily, having guessed this, my front foot was on the second step, and I used that leverage to pull myself up.

  Finding the second step to be sturdy, I stood on it for an instant, wondering what I should do next. For some people, the first step being hollow would have been enough protection. From the vibe I got from Merry though, Wilma seemed to be the kind of woman who liked overkill. Still, she would need a pattern that she herself could remember. The first step had been hollow and the second was sturdy. So I decided to skip the odd numbered steps, and rely on the evens. That got me up to the porch in a jiffy, and that was where things would be interesting.

  The front porch was the last line of exterior defense. It would only serve that the big guns would be there. Of course, as I scanned the area, I never imagined the ‘big gun’ in question would have fur.

  Before I knew what was happening, I heard a scuttle and felt a weight press against me.

  I slammed hard to the floor of the front porch. I felt heat and moisture over me. Looking up, I expected to find a dog growling at my throat. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. As I gazed up at the creature inches from my face, I saw that what had settled on my chest was nothing other than rabid wolf.

  “Of course,” I muttered. “Of course it is.”

  25

  The animal snarled on top of me, its teeth bared and its eyes trained on my throat. My hands flew up to it’s own throat, pushing it backward and keeping its snapping jaw from locking around a part of me that was very soft and vulnerable. Normally, dealing with a wolf would be something of a cake walk. I would just give it a punch in the snout, let it chomp at me a time or two, and get away. It would hurt, of course, but I usually had a witch handy to magically fix me up. And it wasn’t like the injuries would kill me.

  Only, this time, they sort of would. I wouldn’t stay dead, of course, but the interim would be of my body being hijacked by a horrific creature hell bent on killing a girl who (if we were lucky) was only a few feet away from us.

  I couldn’t be cavalier about it this time. I had to be careful. I had to make my health and wellbeing a priority. Which was to say, I had to act like every other person on this spinning blue rock.

  I thought about the knife in my back pocket. I wouldn’t use it to kill the animal. It wasn’t the wolf’s fault. I was the one trespassing after all. All he was doing was keeping his home safe. I would have to give him a quick cut or two though, just enough to get him scurrying into the woods.

  Therein lied the problem though. The knife was in my back pocket; a pocket I could not get to without moving at least one of my hands. As it turned out, my hands were the only thing stopping me from having my throat ripped out.

  Damnit. Having to worry about whether or not you died really sucked.

  I took a deep breath as the wolf snapped at me; it’s mouth growing closer to me as I got weaker against his pull. I could feel the creature’s paws digging into my chest and its rapid heartbeat through them. Wilma had undoubtedly trained this thing to kill on sight, and he was a good wolf. He was going to follow the lead of his alpha.

  I didn’t have time for this. I couldn’t be out here, fighting a damn wolf, when my brother showed up. I needed to be gone. I needed to have Amber with me, preferably across a state line somewhere. I didn’t have a choice. I was going to have to move one of my hands, grab the knife, and plunge it far enough into this wolf to get him off of me. Of course, moving one of my hands meant the wolf would almost certainly overpower me, clasping onto my neck with its teeth. I wouldn’t be able to survive an attack like that. I needed to move quickly, to move precisely. It was the only way to have a chance of not being mauled to death.

  “Who the hell even has a pet wolf,” I muttered, taking another deep breath (maybe my last for the moment) and quickly pulling my right hand away from the wolf’s neck.

  I reached for the knife in my back pocket, arching my back as much as I could with the weight of the wolf pressing on me to make room. With my left hand, I tried to stave off the wolf. It was no use. As I fumbled around, trying to get the knife, the wolf dove toward my throat. I could feel the fur and the warmth of its mouth as it opened it maw over my neck. I steeled myself, readying my body to once again belong to a stranger.

  Instead of feeling the horrific crunch of teeth around my throat though, I saw a blur of color and felt the weight pull off of me. The wolf was flung against the wall of the cabin and there, standing over me as he looked at the wolf with yellow eyes and fangs of his own, was Clint.

  Who the hell even had a pet wolf? I guess I sorta did.

  “Clint,” I muttered, catching my breath and jumping to my feet. I pulled the knife from my back pocket and stared as the wolf composed itself, glaring at us and growling.

  “Put that away, Callum. You won’t need it,” Clint promised, and then he emitted a low growl of his own. “Our friend here knows better than to attack you again. Isn’t that right?” Clint growled again, and the wolf growled back to match.

  Clint’s eyes grew wide and his growl got even louder, even more threatening. The wolf’s growl quieted and the animal moved away from the door sheepishly, bowing its head as it galloped off the front porch and into the woods, artfully dodging all the traps Wilma had set.

  “That’s what I thought, bitch,” Clint muttered, watching him leave.

  “Thank you,” I said, looking back at my werewolf friend. “You must have just gotten here? Did you watch me get through the field? Is that how you got through unscathed?”

  “Didn’t watch,” he admitted. “But I could smell your path, and there’s no need to thank me. That’s just what I needed. It feels good to be an alpha again.”

  ‘Where’s Aria?” I asked, turning back toward the door.

  “She bolted,” Clint said and moved toward the door himself. “She said that, if the world was ending, she had places she’d rather be, business she needed to take care of.”

  That didn’t surprise me. Aria had never been the ‘ride or die’ type. She was already dead, for one. All vampires are. More than that, she had a ‘look out for number one’ mentality and, to her, there was no one better suited for that title than the person staring back at her from the mirror. You know, if vampires had reflections, that is.

  I didn’t dwell on that though. There wasn’t time and, what was more, I didn’t care. I had fire power and it wasn’t like a vampire who didn’t even want to be here would make the difference between Abel winning or not. He was too powerful for that. If he caught us here, it was over.

  “The world’s not going to end,” was all I said. “Not on my watch.”

  “Our watch,” Clint corrected me. “The gang filled me in on what’s going on. I got no magic and a hell of a right hook. I’m coming in with you.”

  “Yeah you are,” I smiled. I jammed the key into the lock on the door and cut the damn thing out. The door swung open though, as it did, an alarm sounded. I nodded at Clint
and we both made our way through the doorway.

  “There’s a safe room in the basement. I think that’s where they are. I’ll check that, but I want you to scour the rest of the house looking for them. Be careful. There’s probably more than a few traps set up through this place. If you see them, you howl for me.”

  Clint nodded wordlessly. He was an alpha, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take orders with the best of them. You don’t start out as alpha, after all.

  “And Clint,” I added, glaring at him. “If you see my brother, you get the hell out of here. Do you understand me? I won’t have you dying for this.”

  “Everybody dies eventually, Callum,” Clint said. Then, smiling a little, e amended. “Well, almost everybody. Let’s get this done.”

  With that, my friend morphed into a wolf, his clothes ripping to shreds as he leapt through the air, landing against the hardwood and trotting off.

  The interior of the cabin was nicer than the outside would have let on. This place was clean, with a flat screen television, and a state of the art kitchen. No one was roughing it in here. I didn’t have time to appreciate the surroundings though. I needed to get to the basement, and quick.

  Scanning the room, I saw a trip wire toward the left hall and a board in the right wall that looked slightly askew. That wasn’t a coincidence, not in a place that was as nice as this. I would pass by that wall, set off the trip wire, and be shot or sliced in half or set on fire. Basically anything that that damn cartoon coyote would have up his sleeve for the roadrunner. I wouldn’t be surprised if an anvil fell down on my head.