Chapter 10

Portal

       

       "I have to find the portal before sundown," I said, as we made our way through the crowded streets towards the address I was looking for.  The locals on the main island were throwing some nasty looking glances out direction as we weaved through the streets clumsily.  Perhaps the drinking wasn't such a grand idea.  "Keep up Mave, you wanted to prove your manhood back on the plane and now you're paying the price, so buck up kid."  I heard him groan behind me and we had to make another stop so he could empty his stomach, again.

       "You didn't have to challenge him like that either!" West yelled back.  I checked map again, thanking whoever was looking out for us that we were still headed in the right direction.  "I told him he wouldn't be able to keep up, damn stubborn idiot," I mumbled as I finally sighed the drugstore that held the portal opening.

       "Why all the secrecy?" Logan asked as West heaved Mave up onto his shoulder.  It looked like Mave had finally succumbed to the tequila and was now as limp as a wet leaf.  I send the smallest puff of air under his big body, softening the weight for West.  He gave me a grateful look and we continued on down the street towards the drugstore. 

       "Miguel has his fingers in too many pies, and thusly his enemies are as wide spanning as they are numerous.  It makes him uneasy, and that in turn makes him very paranoid of attacks.  He has too many weak sides," I said trying to sum it up.

       "Is it safe, where we're going?" he asked suddenly, and it gave me pause.  I hadn't thought much about that, especially with the assumption that it would only be me, but it still seemed like too risky of a move for my father.  I shook my head before my answer.

       "Remy would want to do something public, something to really humiliate the governance, but he wouldn't want to kill me right out.  He either wants to use me or reunite with me, it's too tough to tell without knowing how out of control he has gotten now."  I tried to quell the shiver that ran through me at either of those possibilities, or the secret one that was still hiding in the back of my brain.  "I would never let him touch you," I told him, conveying in my tone and in my stare that I meant it.  Logan sent me a warm smile and we both rolled our eyes when we heard West cursing up a storm in what sounded like Gaelic. 

       "Tell me it's not much farther, he smells like a Mexican sewer."  West looked miserable and I was happy to inform him that it was only one more block to get to the store. 

       "Come on now, it should be right on the roof.  Logan can you fly us up if I cloak us?" I asked looking around to see how many witnesses I had to neutralize. 

       "They don't...at school we don't, what I mean is with this many bodies," Logan started to stammer out, and I realized he most likely never learned to.  I didn't know how the hell I was going to get Mave up on the roof without help and with a scant ten minutes till sunset.

       "It's okay Logan, I can work on that with you if you want.  For now thought, I'm going to ask you if I can touch you for a moment.  I can use that for a few minutes to get us all there, is that okay?" I asked feeling a sudden desire not to overstep, wording it carefully.  I had never mentioned that I had this particular power before, and I saw Logan blanch a little at the suggestion.  Having someone touch your magic, at the level I needed to was intimate and required trust that we truthfully didn't have. 

       Logan took one look at Mave and West, and then to the sky, finally nodding gruffly.  I didn't draw it out but pulled him in for what looked like a hug.  "The closer I can get to you, the easier it is.  If you can relax for me, I can get it your center faster and you won't feel a thing.  If at any point you feel it's too much, then take a look at Mave and West because you are going to have drag their fat asses up the fire exit."  I could feel him laugh slightly, and I used that moment to enter.

       I head Logan suck in a breath, but otherwise he kept calm and tried not to fight me too much.  I pulled my arm up and cupped the back of his head with my palm, placing my other hand in between his shoulders.  I pulled in my breath and reached his center, it was clear and bright, my like his blue eyes and I found it very calming.  I reached out with my own magic, the smoky tendrils snaking around his own, probing for what I needed.  Once I touched it with my own magic I had what I needed to borrow his ability.  I had just stepped back from Logan when I heard her.

       "You've ruined everything Brienne!  You were supposed to get here yesterday, and my little birds didn't tell me you had company.  Now I can't take my time," Candace whined, coming up behind West and Mave.  She had a ridiculous looking pout on her face and I had to check myself before I slapped it off her.  I had to be very careful not to expose us in front of all the humans that were milling around, oblivious to the dangerous situation. 

       "And you have been a naughty girl Brienne, doing that kind of touch magic.  In public too," she continued whistling suggestively, wagging her finger at me.  "It makes me wonder what's so special about him."  She took a step towards Logan and I fought against the urge to go after her.  I continued with the silence, not wanting to give her any more ammunition.

       "And what about these two, no touchy touchy for them huh?  Just here for the party?  I wonder if they know what they are getting into, they must have heard the stories about the kind of parties you Moreau's threw," she teased, running her hand lazily along West's shoulder.  I threw out a whip of my power slicing her palm open, she winced back, holding her hand to her chest and glaring. 

       "That's not nice," she spat out, as she threw a spell out to me and locked me to her, it was so fast I couldn't catch it in time to throw my shields around myself.  I struggled against it, but without openly engaging her we were stuck.  This effectually kept me from going up to the roof without dragging her sorry a*s through the portal as well.  That left me with one option, and West wasn't going to like it.

       'I'll meet you on the island.' I told West, and them blocked him out of my head.  I took a deep breath in and faded them out of sight shortly before sending them right to the roof and through the portal.  I could feel it close up behind them, and I turned to face Candace.

       "Don't be a sore loser Candy, you shouldn't have been cheating and you know it."  She scoffed at my logic, which I knew was wasted on her.  She was the most illogical witch I had ever encountered before, and she wasn't going to let me go without exacting some revenge. 

       "I wanted that island!" she shouted out to me.  "And you embarrassed me in front of Frank, he didn't even let me sit in last time."  I couldn't help hide my smile, and it only served to fan the fire.

       "Oh I'm sure Remy ruined your reputation long before the other night Candy, speaking of which you are in no position to talk about doing things inappropriately in public.  I remember a particularly interesting solstice when you were caught...” it was all I got out before she came at me.  I threw up a dome overhead of us in an attempt to shield the civilians, scanning the area but unable to find any kind of backup that she would have brought with her.  I slashed out wildly with my whip, wrapping my magic around her arm and pulling her to the ground.  I threw another slash out, lifting her head and banging it again on the pavement.  Candy was good with her shields and I needed to really hurt her to get her mind to relax enough to get in.  It wasn't going to be easy.

       "That hurt!" she exclaimed as she recovered, getting once again to her feet.  I casually put my hands into the side pocket of the pack on my back, when I saw something fly in the air towards me and I realized it was a tooth.  I could feel the laugh starting to bubble up, and I couldn't stop it.  My laughter died when I reached into the pocket only to find it empty.  I looked back to Candy and found her twirling my knife in her hands, levitating it in different directions.

       "Stop showing off," I said impatiently.  I detested being toyed with during a fight, it was disrespectful to the magic.  Candy obliged, neatly copying the knife and then sending them in my direction.  I threw up my hand to stop them, and we spent the next ten minutes in a dance.  She would attack and I would do my best to shield, I was waiting for the right moment when she would get tired enough that I could get into her head.  It was getting tiring, she was a fierce fighter, and one of the best metal mages I had ever encountered.  Too bad she was so crazy it was wasted on her erratic illogical mind.

       "Let's just call this a draw Candy, I have to get going and I'm sure there is some schmuck waiting for you at home, tied to the headboards and just salivating for your return.  Don't you want to go back to your house of pain, let off some steam?"  I was getting fatigues with the shielding, and I had to admit far out of practice.  Distraction was my best bet, because killing her was out of the question, Remy would trace to me in hours.

       "Oh I'll let of some steam alright, but you gave me a great idea.  I'll just take you with me, and you can experience firsthand what you seem so interested in."  She smiled, her teeth were sharp, a product of her demon blood that never ceased to disgust me no matter how many times she flashed them.  Over my dead body was she going to do that to me.

       "Oh I know all about that Candy.  I bet it's just like when Remy flogged me?  Then again you taught him how to do that so you should be proud of the missing skin.  Aren't you proud?" I teased, turning slightly so she could see the marks under the straps of my dress.  She was a sucker for pain, one of the reasons she was my father’s mistress for a few years.  Her eyes went wide when she locked on them and it was just the distraction I needed to disable her.  I pushed in to her mind, it was murky and riddled with shields.  I found her nervous system easily, and marveled at the readiness that most of them took to guard their secrets while leaving their bodies so vulnerable.  I dropped her in a sitting position holding her there, but not allowing her to speak or move.  I shook my head at her, moving my finger in an exact imitation of her before.

       "You should work on those shields Candy, I could sever your spinal cord with a little more pressure.  It wouldn't kill you but I could do some damage while your body healed.  Now it's time for your lesson, check out my face," I said walking over to her and pinching her chin hard, forcing her to look right in my eyes.  "Remy was working on this particular spell for over two years.  The thing is, it tends to go wrong, as you can tell.  Lucky for you, he taught me how to control it through practice, months and months of brutal training and even still it's hard for me to control.  He called it eternal fire, I know what you're going to say, and yes it is a terribly dramatic name but it fits.  Because I can burn you alive with this spell Candy, no regeneration, no healing, just a slow and painful death.  I am an excellent healer and even still my face is fucked, go ahead look at it."  I saw her controlled expression, and I almost complimented her on it before I saw the mild panic that filled her eyes as she traced the patchwork skin.

       "So here's what we are going to do.  I am going to get up and walk away, and you are going to stay right where you are, aren't you?" I asked rhetorically while nodding my head to cue her answer.  "Great, now you are additionally going to leave the island business alone and I might even let you win a weekend or two if you can convince Frank to let me back into some games.  Other than that, I see your face and I'm going to use you as target practice."  I moved to walk away, grabbing my bags and walking down the street in the opposite direction. 

       Just as I crossed the bubble, I was forced to a complete stop when I walked straight into West's chest.  Mave was beside him, looking a little green still but mostly together, and Logan was behind him and uneasy expression on his face. 

       "What they hell?  I sent you all away, through the portal," I informed them with an exasperated voice as I pulled them into a secluded alley.

       "Like hell we were going to leave you there, she could have had backup.  Not that it mattered since we couldn't reach you." West said talking to me like I was mad.

       "The whole point of that was to keep you three safe."  I felt West stiffen.

       "We can take care of ourselves Brienne, and you sure as hell aren't going to pull that s**t again.  If we want to stay and fight we are perfectly capable."  He could crack nuts on his jaw it was ticked out so far.

       "Oh really, and what would happen if she had backup and they got a jump on you.  Now it's me against Candy and her thugs, with the added threat of whatever they would do to you.  You would make me vulnerable, I can't fight them all and control what happens to you, so I removed you from the equation."  All three guys turned awkwardly still, and I had the feeling I stepped over a line somewhere along the way. 

       "Vulnerable?  That's what it comes down to with you, what's best for Brienne, what you can control.  Screw that, I call your bullshit.  We could have helped, but you don't know what it's like to rely on anyone else.  You probably think you don't need anyone else."  Clearly he thought I would thank him for staying, but I didn't know how to get him to understand.

       "I don't, I didn't then either.  I got through hell all on my own," I said putting my chin up, proud of myself.

       "It doesn't always have to be that way, and for the gods sakes it shouldn't be that way."  I shook my head, his reality and my own were on two sides of the river, never to cross.

       "Caring for people is nice, but when it comes down to it all they do is put you at risk." I said, repeating a personal mantra that I had learned the hard way.

       "Have you ever cared for someone else?" West asked through gritted teeth.  He was fuming now, and my own anger was rising to the occasion.

       "Yes you arrogant b*****d!  You want to know where it got me?  He lured me to trust him, and my attention starved mind let him in, and one night he told me he was leaving.  I begged him to stay, begged him to take me with him.  You know what he did?  He left me to go to the governance, knowing a raid was coming the next morning, knowing that my father planned on using me again that night, like he had so many nights before.  I watched him walk out, never knowing that come the next day I would see him storming through the woods as my father’s friend raped me.  That's what I got for caring about someone."  I felt the tears welling up and I pushed them back, this wasn't something I should shed tears over, it was never my fault.

       "My my, I thought you would turn tail and run.  How this night is full of surprises," Candy said from the far end of the alley.  I audibly sighed, rolling my eyes.  I checked over my shoulder and saw Sarim at the other end of the alley, my eye roll turned into pure fury.  I was done with this s**t today.

       "Well hello Sarim, didn't see you there before.  I get a two for one special, how many points are two demon sisters?"  I was bouncing on my heels a little, warming up my arms by my side and shaking out my wrists.  The urge to unleash myself was stronger than my rational side at the moment.

       "You froze my throat before I leave you with a warning of my own.  Remy is looking for you sweets, it's only a matter of time before he finds you so I would prepare if I were you.  Velhaim told me he's been working on something, he wouldn't tell me what but it made him shiver in his Viking boots a little.  He's been surfacing, asking questions upstate, making the rounds at the clubs.  Frank sent me out here to tell you myself and I couldn't resist trying to bully the island out of you.  You've become quite the feisty little b***h now, it almost makes me proud.  I'll see you around darling," she said as she whistled, calling off her sister and disappearing into the darkness.  All the rage in me had my arms shaking, and I dropped to the ground screaming my frustrations out into night.