Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (20 page)

They blinked doubtfully despite the confident twinkle in my eyes. “You’re up to something, boy.” I nodded with a smile. Mallory shook his head and took Ashley by the arm. “Okay. Let’s trust him and go. We’re only dead weight here, at best. Collateral damage or leverage, at worst.” I nodded my agreement. “You better be back, boy. I know where ‘yer final resting place is. And I will make ‘yer afterlife a living hell. Turn the family mausoleum into a museum. Maybe leave ‘yer journal outside ‘yer sarcophagus so everyone can read the true stories from ‘yer youth.” He winked darkly and I laughed aloud.

“You do that.” I gripped forearms with him and hugged Ashley. Alucard watched us thoughtfully, but nodded his head in farewell to each of them as they swept past him. They didn’t return the gesture, causing Alucard’s lips to tighten in disapproval. Courtesy was a pretty big deal to this guy. I turned to look at him. “Alright. Just you and me. Come on. I’ve got an appointment in two hours, and I’d rather not be late.”

Alucard blinked back incredulously. Almost as if bluntly stating that I couldn’t possibly be that overconfident. That much ego simply couldn’t fit into one person.

He didn’t know me at all.

Chapter 19

A
lucard clutched the umbrella over his head to protect himself from the sun, careful to keep every millimeter of flesh hidden. Lucky for him it was the size of one of those golf umbrellas. I thought myself very mature for not teasing him about how ridiculous he looked walking around in November under an umbrella. In a burned down cow pasture.

We both looked utterly ridiculous.

I was very eager for the duel.

Listen, I’m not crazy or anything. Sure, it was a duel to the death, but I had a plan…

And I was finally getting the chance to field test my new powers in a battle setting. It would be a great opportunity for me to actually cut loose, to both try and replicate my old wizard’s spells using my new power, but to also see exactly what strange new abilities I could dream up on the fly.

Sure, practicing with Mallory and Gunnar had been immeasurably helpful, but I couldn’t go all out, and most of the magic I had been used to throwing around had definitely been focused on going all out. Overwhelming aggression. I wasn’t really a half measure guy in
any
area of my life. I ate the whole pizza. If I wanted to order a plate of hot wings at a restaurant, and someone asked politely if they could have one, I was more likely to order them their own appetizer rather than sharing. I overfilled my dinner plates. Over committed on estimated arrival times. What I mean to say is that you probably would never find me trying to learn swordplay by looking for me in a park, expecting to see me swinging foam swords with other errant knights in a cosplay outfit. You’d have better luck searching in a seedy warehouse district where I would be getting bloodied against experienced swordsmen using blunted wooden practice swords to teach me the hard way.

I looked at the world as all or nothing. An extremist, I had once heard it called. It might have stemmed from missing the
sharing lesson
day at Kindergarten. Then out of pure spite, refusing to learn it after I got back.

Alucard followed me along the once familiar – but now ashen – trail through the cow pasture. Neither of us spoke, although I could sense Alucard growing impatient, which just broke my little heart.

Not too long now…

As if on cue, the bright sun-filled sky suddenly winked out like someone had thrown a light switch, and was replaced by a dark, imposing sunset. A line of fire traced the edge of the earth in the distance. We stood in an impromptu ring of crepitating torches, and beyond that was only an impenetrable void of mist and blackness. Creatures of the night could be heard fighting, mating, and hunting in the void, but none entered the circle of fiery torchlight. And no sunlight actually touched the ground. Alucard’s shoulders hitched in alarm at both the scene and the sounds of violence, but seemed to slightly relax at my lack of reaction.

I turned to him to see that he was watching our surroundings as if fearing a trap. I grinned. “Welcome to the
Dueling Grounds
. The farm has seen too much heat lately.” He grunted at my pun. “I don’t want the owner to pay the consequences if you and I make a bit of a ruckus.” I leaned forward conspiratorially. “
Spoiler alert
. Causing a ruckus is kind of my thing.” My grin stretched wider, darker. “Consider this my one minute warning. Here are the rules,” I took a deep breath as if preparing to recite a laundry list, “Anything goes.”

He watched me, calculating. “Anything goes.” He repeated flatly.

I nodded. “No holds barred. To the death.” I began to turn away but hesitated, holding a finger up over my shoulder. “Almost forgot,” I said, glancing back at him. “If the chance arises, I will let you speak last words before I destroy you. I expect you to do the same… in the unlikely event that you win. No trickery, just out of respect. Agreed?”

He listened, eyes narrowing at the threat, but finally nodded. “I’ll give you your minute to get your affairs in order.” He muttered, rolling his eyes.

“And remember. You’ll owe me a favor if you win.”

He merely shook his head in disbelief. “Fine.”

I tossed my coat off, rolled up my sleeves, and stood in the center of the clearing taking deep, relaxing breaths. Alucard watched me, reading me, waiting for a trick, and counting down. I closed my eyes.

I wasn’t afraid in the slightest. For one, it was only one vampire. And for the most part, a single vampire was not evenly matched against a wizard as long as the wizard had fair warning. Even though I was no longer a wizard, but a
Maker
, I liked my odds. Secondly, there was no chance for cops to see me throwing magic around, which was an ever-present paranoia of mine. Thirdly, there was no chance for collateral damage – biological or architectural. We were alone, and in a cow pasture, or another dimension of some kind, for all I knew. The Minotaur had never elaborated.

I opened my eyes slightly, squinting at him. “Go time. In thirty seconds,” I murmured softly, relaxing my shoulders as I closed my eyes again, opening my fingers to caress the warm air around us.

I cleared my mind of entirely all emotion, removing the crutch of anger that let me cheat to use my new powers. Once eliminated, I quested about in my peaceful, tranquil mind, trying to find a more reliable and natural way to tap into my new abilities. A stubborn, instant gratification fueled part of me began to mutter lazily.
Why? You already know how to use it. Stop wasting our time. Destroy him already!
I tuned the voice out.

But it had a point. Kind of.

I just didn’t like having to rely on anything or anyone. It was a weakness in my eyes. A crutch. And anger could definitely be a weakness.

It was fairly safe to say that I was often angry in a fight, so that was good. But I had also managed to survive too many times to count where I had been too terrified to be angry. Therefore it made sense to nip that reliance in the butt while I had the chance. Especially when tip off time with the Grimms was rapidly approaching.

I peeled away even more of myself, silencing the impatient voice still nagging at me.
Kill the fanger, nooowwww…
the voice trailed away as if falling down a deep dark hole.

I delved into my mind, emotionless, detached, analyzing my core belief system and pondering how I had used to tap into my powers as a wizard. I could still feel the familiar space in my soul where my power had once resided. Now it was empty, but…

There
. Faint, fluid tendrils of…
something
weakly latched here and there like the appendages of a stubborn octopus, the other end leading off into the darkness. I smiled, mentally following the cords, watching them grow thicker as they flowed through each section of my body. They looped back and forth several times, wider, stronger, and more resilient the further I traveled, until finally darting off to end at two specific points in my body.

My head.

And my heart.

The two throbbed in opposing rhythm.

Their pulsing combined into a steady beat, like a steady drum roll that began to fill me with confidence, power, and…

Peace.

Like my own miniature soundtrack.

I sunk deeper into myself, allowing the pattern of sound to fill my body, mind, and soul. And then I submitted to the glorious power, anticipating an explosion of euphoric magical light that would cause Alucard to surrender in tears of awe at the dreaded power of the first Maker in centuries.

But nothing happened.

I waited some more.

Some more nothing happened.

“Time’s up, Temple.” Alucard hissed, and I felt the air shift as he launched his fangs at my face.

Chapter 20

I
needed more time. I dove to the side, fingers latching onto the pistol in my pocket. I managed to squeeze off a few shots at a nearby blur of fabric, and heard a soft grunt before the pistol was knocked from my hand, instantly numbing my fingers. I kicked out with a boot, connecting solidly with Alucard’s torso, sending him into a nearby bench where he folded.

My anger pulsed instinctively, fueling me with enough power to stay alive and add a little bit of oomph to my kick. Which was slightly alarming. I hadn’t consciously chosen to use my power to kick him. Yet another reason I needed to get a grip on my new power.

Alucard groaned from across the clearing and I frantically dove back into my mind.

I knew the tendrils hadn’t been there before my magic had been taken from me. I had to be on to something. I knew it.

As I drew closer to the nexuses of power over my heart and mind I realized that the pulses of sound were actually not sound at all. That was merely how I had translated it in my mind. The pulses were oddly akin to the reservoir of power I now constantly felt beneath my feet. I heard Alucard stumbling to his feet in the distance and knew I only had a few seconds.

When using my anger to tap into the power I had apparently been forcing the power to obey my command by sheer strength, rage, and will. Straight from the source. The never-ending river of power beneath the earth’s crust. Which was a tad arrogant of me.

But apparently I had a conduit right inside of me all along.

To use the river of power successfully, I had had to force it to my will, not submit.

Perhaps…

I opened my eyes in a squint, having lost track of time. Alucard was racing towards me, claws outstretched and a hungry gleam in his eyes. He launched himself at my throat again. “Gack!” I bellowed in challenge, diving away from his attack and rolling to safety. He didn’t stop there. He landed in a skid, turned on a heel, and dove again. I reached out to the center of my heart and mind and instead of submitting to the power, I sent my essence out in a claw, clutching the cords of power in a metaphysical fist.

Then I squeezed.

Power exploded out of me in a torrent of wind and justice.

I felt like a god damned superhero.

A hot line of fire slashed across my throat, but the brief sensation of pain was instantly overwhelmed by magic so alien I could hardly comprehend it. My world suddenly exploded in a mushroom cloud of blue that resembled the color of the most ancient of arctic glaciers. Power ignited my veins like a lit fuse, flooding my body with raw, alien magic. A second shockwave shattered the night and I fell to my knees. I was sweating profusely around my neck and chest. I began to laugh in triumph, my voice sounding oddly raw.

I had done it.

I had learned how to use my power at will. All by myself. Which was important to me. It wouldn’t have felt as good if I had accomplished it while training with Mallory. It had taken a real fight to break it out of me.

I began to feel very dizzy, but imagined a ball of fire, and it was suddenly there, although weak, sputtering. Then it died. I blinked. Tried it again, but all I saw was a spark before that too died.

I frowned and studied my surroundings, expecting to see a disheveled or disintegrated Alucard lying on the ground of a now dystopian world. The ground in a thirty-foot radius was completely clear of debris, and the torches all leaned away from me as if repelled. I looked up at a slight motion to see Alucard was hanging from a tree outside the clearing. He was staring at me in disbelief. He lifted up a bloody claw and I blinked. I touched my throat and it came away slick with blood, not sweat. I wasn’t dizzy from the power. He had freaking cut my artery.