Authors: Liz Schulte
Catastrophe
Catastrophe
Copyright © 2015 by Liz Schulte
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Life changes fast.
A single situation can go from exciting to terrifying with one single act or word. The people or places you thought would always be there are lost to time and change. There is nothing more natural in the world than change, but knowing that doesn’t take away the pain of loss when you wake up one morning and realize everything is different—or even worse, you are all alone.
The feeling is suffocating. It bears down, threatening to snuff the flame of life until it feels like you will have no choice but to be extinguished. The stress becomes too much and the burden too heavy to bear. Failure is imminent, but then something amazing happens.
Life carries on.
You may not notice it immediately. Sometimes it takes days or weeks or even months to see that you have not been beaten down by the world, though you may have stumbled. Instead, you pick yourself up and leave the heaviest burdens behind so that you may rejoin life, hopefully smarter and stronger than the last time. It won’t keep you from falling again. The next time you might even fall harder and your burdens may be heavier than the first, but just like before, you will get up again because that is what life is.
Living isn’t about perfection. It isn’t about always winning—a lesson that was extremely hard to learn. It is, however, about believing in yourself when no one else does. It is about standing tall and knowing that if you place one foot in front of the other, your feet will find the path they were meant to be on and the burden you carry upon your back will one day make you stronger.
The adventures before you will be frightening, but it is in those times when uncertainty that hangs overhead that the most beautiful and unexpected parts of yourself are revealed.
Do not run from adventures. Seek them. And when you fall, always stand up again, for there is more ahead.
-Femi
“What do you mean ‘I can’t do it’?” I stared into Sy’s perfectly chiseled face that always seemed to have the beginning of a smile. The good-natured half-elf looked more human than elf when he smiled, which was probably why he did it so much. “I can eat an eighty-ounce steak in less than an hour, no problem. Maybe even two. Sign me up. I will prove it.”
Just the smell of this place was making me hangry, even though I’d just eaten about an hour earlier. My metabolism was fast, even for a Sekhmet. Food, medicine, alcohol, it all burned faster through me, which was great for my pants size but hell on my wallet.
Sy nodded, obviously struggling not to laugh at my very real pain. “I have no doubt you can eat your body weight if you really put your mind to it.”
Was he humoring me? I narrowed my eyes. “I
can
.” I wasn’t a wisp of a thing, either. With my boots on, I probably hovered somewhere around six feet tall. My muscles were long and lean like a cat’s, which wasn’t a surprise, since I was a descendant of the goddess Sekhmet. In fact, I had many catlike features I quite enjoyed—like nine lives.
“However, the people in there”—he nodded to the packed, well-lit, rowdy-looking saloon—“can’t see you. So there will be no free eighty-ounce steak tonight.”
I sighed. That was such bullshit. I looked back at the restaurant. The Abyss never had anything fun like that. “Humans get everything.”
“They don’t have you.” He slung his arm over my shoulder. “Plus, if that offer was good in the Abyss, the restaurant would go out of business. Everyone would get the free steak.”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. He wasn’t wrong. Plenty of the supernaturals could eat massive amounts, and then the other half didn’t eat food at all. This place would totally tank outside of the human world. I ran my tongue over my teeth. The smell of meat wafted through the air directly to my stomach, which rumbled with eager anticipation. “Well, I have to eat something or I am going to start chewing on my arm. I’m starving. Why are we even here if it isn’t to eat?”
Sy shrugged. “This is where Holden said to meet.”
“That evil bastard.” My stomach protested again.
Holden was a cranky jinni who was married to my best friend. He didn’t even like places like this. It was too crowded, too touristy, too much fun. He probably wouldn’t even try to eat the big steak. He definitely wouldn’t ride the bull. If it weren’t for Olivia and the kids, who were all basically family to me, I’d kick his ass for bringing me here if food wasn’t somehow involved.
“Less and less, I’m afraid.” Holden’s velvety voice brushed against me, making me momentarily forget I was mad. “You’re late. The council is waiting.”
“What?” Sy said, catching his arm before he could leave. “Why is the council here? I wasn’t informed of a meeting.”
Holden gave him a hard stare, until Sy let go of his arm. “They didn’t tell me why we were meeting, just to make sure the two of you came.”
He opened the door to the restaurant and went through. Never looking back or pausing, he walked with long strides through the clumps of people waiting for a table without so much as brushing one of them. All eyes trailed after him as he went. Every jinni had his/her own area and level of expertise designed to tempt humans toward one of the seven deadly sins. Holden was a master artist in lust. His presence in the room threatened to siphon every ounce of inhibition, which was probably why he moved fast and purposefully, so he could minimize damage.
That was the thing with jinn that made them so dangerous. Logically, if you saw one you should head as fast as you could in the other direction, but no one ever did. They were magnetic, or at least the ones like Holden were—and thankfully there weren’t many like him. Even I, a nonhuman, wasn’t immune. And this was him in complete control. Had he been emotional or at all upset then meeting here would have been impossible. Orgy riots would probably break out, and the mechanical bull, dear God, would never be the same.
He slipped through a closed door marked “private party.” Sy reached around me, pressing his hand against the door to keep it closed as I tried to follow Holden inside.
I glanced back at him, still annoyed and hungry, hoping that on the other side of that door was a buffet. “What?”
“Do you know what this is about?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Pretty sure we find out in there.”
His lips thinned slightly. “Olivia hasn’t said anything?”
Olivia was Holden’s wife—technically not his wife, but basically the same thing. We met because she had a penchant for trouble, and I loved trouble. So between the two of us, things were never boring. But since her new job as an Angel of Death and adopting two kids, life had been quieter. I still chased after bounties, but without heaven or hell gunning for us, it seemed kind of mundane. If I were being completely honest, I missed the way it used to be, but I was happy for her. Olivia was happier now than I had ever seen her, and she deserved that more than anyone. “Why would she? She’s not supposed to get involved.”
Sy raised an eyebrow.
Okay, okay, so not getting involved wasn’t Olivia’s strength, but this time she really hadn’t said anything. That either meant she was getting better at staying out of Abyss matters or that Holden simply hadn’t told her. The latter was more likely. Olivia couldn’t stand to see injustice, and that wasn’t going to change overnight. I shrugged.
“Fine. Look.” He glanced at the door. “Whatever happens or whatever they say, just don’t agree to anything or speak unless you are specifically asked a question. The council is tricky. They will bend and twist whatever happens in there to their own purpose, and before you know what’s happening you will have agreed to something you never intended to agree to. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times. They are a lot like the fae in that regard.”
“I’ll be fine.” I tugged on the handle, but he pushed against it harder.
He moved close enough I could feel his entire body pressed to mine as he murmured in my ear, “I mean it, Femi. There’s no room for friendship when the council is involved. As soon as you walk through that door, Holden isn’t your friend anymore, and neither am I. You need to protect yourself. They make impossible demands, but more than that, once they pull you in…” He shook his head. “They don’t let go.”
I leaned back into him slightly, rubbing against him because I knew it would drive him crazy. “You worry about me too much,” I said, turning around against him and running a finger down the hard planes of his chest.
His pewter eyes darkened and he leaned in a little closer, dragging the tips of his fingers down my cheeks. “Someone should.”
I leaned in for just a moment like I was going to kiss him then slapped my hand against his chest and give him a little push back. “We don’t have time for your nonsense, soldier,” I said with a laugh. Sy was too much fun to mess with. “I’ll be fine.”
He took a step back, shaking his head good-naturedly, but still looking entirely too worried.
Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. I felt my pockets, but they were empty. It had to be in my car. I smiled at Sy. “With the necklace the witches enchanted for me, humans
can
see me.” I hadn’t had a reason to use it since the case Olivia had talked me into taking, but this was the perfect excuse. “That steak is going to be very happy in its new home.” I licked my lips and patted my stomach. “You know, once I find out what they want. Let’s get this over with.”
I opened the door, feeling much better now that food was once again in my immediate future. Inside the room the lighting was dim, but it was easy enough to make out everyone sitting around the heavy, round table in high-back chairs.
Holden sat next to the dragon Leilah, who was wearing sunglasses, as she always did. On his other side was another woman with long white-blonde hair. Next to her was an empty chair then on the other side of that was a man, also in sunglasses, with a thin face and slicked-back hair. Next to him there was a man who nearly blended into the shadows of the room. Everything about him was dark, including his entire eye, which was blacker than the darkest night. A man in a long coat with red eyes sat next to the shadow guy, and across the table taking up two spots was a huge man who barely fit into the room, let alone his two chairs. I started toward the empty chair next to the blonde, but the dragon held up her hand.
“You are fine where you are.” She motioned to Sy, who took the seat, looking a little too comfortable in it, like it was his natural seat. “Now that we are
finally
all here”—though I couldn’t see it through her sunglasses, I would have sworn she shot Sy a look—“we can begin. The first order of business is the bounty hunter.”
All eyes turned to me.
“Femi,” I said with a half-wave. “And you guys are?” Now that I finally got to lay eyes on the council, I was more curious about them than ever. What were their names, what were they, what qualified them to rule the Abyss? Why did it all have to be a secret? How did they select new members? I had questions and they had the answers. Combine that with a huge steak and today was shaping up to be a really good day.
“She doesn’t look like much,” the red-eyed man said. “Why her?”
I stared back at the creepy bastard. I didn’t ask to be here. They’d tricked me into coming, and as far as I could see there was no food to be had. The very least he could do was show me some respect, and I opened my mouth to say as much, but Sy caught my eye and shook his head ever so slightly, so I bit down on my lip instead.
“She’s here because we asked her to be here,” Leilah said. “I have worked with her before, she knows of our existence, Holden knows her, and Sy says she is the best.”
“What about the humans?” the blonde said with a higher voice. “They are not likely to perceive her.”
“Which she could use to her advantage, I would think,” Leilah said. “The human deaths are of no consequence to us. We are merely concerned with the deaths of our own and the implications that could arise from them.”
“It could also be a disadvantage,” Holden said, his face completely impassive. “Perhaps the necromancer would be a better choice for this particular mission. She is a witch. She could resolve the issue quietly.”
“And expose ourselves to another?” the big guy rumbled. “Let the skinny Sekhmet try. If she fails, the necromancer can be sent for.”
“Humans can see me,” I volunteered, and Sy pressed his lips together so hard they turned white. “I have a…um…necklace. It’s not important how. But they can see me if I need them to.” I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but there was no way I would let Frost (the necromancer) steal my job simply because she was human.
Even Holden gave me an impatient look, but Leilah smiled. “There you have it. Any other objections to my choice for this mission?”
Silence rang through the room.
“Very well. I move to enlist her on a trial basis for this mission.”
“Second,” the slicked-back-hair man hissed.
“All those in favor?” she asked, and everyone but Sy and Holden raised their hands. “Passed,” she said. “Femi, will you accept the assignment?”
“Probably, but you haven’t told me what it is,” I said.
Sy closed his eyes and Holden looked even stonier than before. Leilah nodded. “You cannot be told until the job is accepted.”
Well, that was a shitty way to do business…but I was curious. What could possibly be so important that the council would be involved? It had to be big, like things were about to go down in flames and the very fabric of our world was about to be shredded, or they wouldn’t give a rat’s ass. “Fine. I’ll do it. Now what is it?”
She produced a piece of paper out of thin air and carried it around the table to me. “This is the contract. Read it carefully. Sign in blood.”
I glanced over it. No exposing the council. No talking about the council to others. And then a bunch of stuff about how I was signing of my own free will and willing to risk bodily injury or death. I understood the risks and was cool with them sacrificing me for the greater good if need be. Blah, blah, blah.
I used a sharpened fingernail to cut my finger, and I pressed it to the paper.
She immediately went back to her seat. “Excellent. Holden and Sy will bring you up to speed on all relevant information after our meeting. You may go.”
I stood there a moment longer, not comprehending her words, still reeling over the fact that my two friends in the room didn’t even vote for me. I had no idea what the job was, but I could do it better than Frost could, that was damn sure. They had both worked with me. I had saved—
“Femi,” Sy said, and I looked up. Everyone was staring at me again. He glanced toward the door.
“Oh. Well, this has been completely uninformative and strange,” I said, bowing slightly before I left because I didn’t know what else to do.
I headed out to my car and dug around in the glove compartment and then center console, and then I finally found the enchanted necklace on the floorboard of the passenger side. I flicked a chunk of candy off it and put it around my neck. That steak was mine.
****
After the waitress made the announcement to the rest of the restaurant that I was going to try to eat the eighty, a bright light was pointed at my table and a timer set at sixty minutes appeared on the wall. People all around me sized me up and found me lacking as the steak and all the sides were brought out to me. Apparently I was a girl, too thin, and my pants were too tight. I curled my lip at the salad. Rabbit food wasn’t usually something I ate, but apparently I had to consume it in order to win—a necessary evil.