High Voltage

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Angelique
Voisen

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-194-3

Cover
Artist: Jay
Aheer

Editor: Melissa
Hosack

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
 
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a
work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To
readers, both new and old, I’m forever grateful for your support. I hope you
enjoy Volt and Heath’s story.

HIGH VOLTAGE

Havoc’s
Crew, 2

Angelique
Voisen

Copyright © 2015

Prologue

Volt at Fifteen

“Volt, I’m not sure about this,”
Kevin Smith said uncertainly.

“We’ve talked about this, Kev. Do
you want to continue living in that shithole of a foster home until you’re
eighteen?” Volt asked.

Hot summer air blew across their
faces. The old airfield had been abandoned
for
decades
so grass grew like a parasite through the cracked landing strip.

“I don’t know, Volt. Maybe we
should talk about it more.”

Volt gripped Kevin’s arm in warning
when he took a purposeful step forward. Kevin was about to kick at the neat
circle of chalk Volt had painstakingly drawn on the ground. He loved Kevin
almost like a blood brother, perhaps even more. When he saw the slender boy
being bullied by the older kids living with the Fosters, Volt took it upon
himself to protect Kevin. Volt had always been big, and he knew how to use his
fists to make his point. Besides, the Fosters didn’t care about any of them.
They collected kids like souvenirs.

After the bullying incident, they’d
been inseparable. Kevin didn’t know it, but he was the only decent light in
Volt’s screwed-up world.

At fifteen, Volt was bitter and
jaded. He’d been passed like an unwanted mutt from one foster home to the next
by an uncaring system. Some complained he was too violent and too dangerous to
keep. Deep down though, Volt knew they were terrified of him and the power he
possessed. Even the little things like the random sparks he’d summoned from
electrical sockets or making the lampposts outside flicker during an electrical
outage frightened them. None of them understood. They were just normal mortals
without a spec of magical talent in them.

Volt was an Elementalist. He had
the aptitude and the abilities to generate, manipulate, and master an element.
In his case, it was electricity. Not many individuals in the supernatural
community possessed his unique ability, but if he truly was so powerful, then
why did he feel so helpless all the time?

“How will summoning a demon help
us, Volt?” Kevin asked, not backing down. He shifted his broken glasses on the
bridge of his freckled nose, his expression one of concern.

“We don’t even know it will work.”
Volt snorted. “If it does, then we can ask the demon anything we want. I can do
some serious shit with my power, Kev, but it’s not enough. If I had more, then
even the system can’t stop me from going where we want.”

“Volt, we’re kids. Where will we
go?” Kevin
asked,
voice impossibly gentle.

Volt jerked back from the hand on
his shoulder. His skin tingled in warning. The bile inside him rose.
I’m a fucking bastard for wanting my best
friend, and I’m too cowardly to even tell him how I feel.

“Lyon City’s underworld is teeming
with supernatural thugs, Kev. A wizard who can cause serious harm is going to
be a welcome addition to any team.”

“What about me, Volt?

“What about you?” Volt tried to
smother his rising anger. Didn’t Kevin understand he was going to take care of
both of them from now on?

“I’m just a skinny mortal. What use
will they have for me?”

“Don’t worry your little head off,
Kev. You’re mine, and I protect what’s mine.” The words came out of Volt’s
mouth before he could stop them.

You’re
mine? Fuck, I’m going to freak him out even before we can run away.
To
Volt’s surprise, a smile appeared at the corners of Kevin’s lips.

“Am I yours, Volt?”

Volt glowered at him. “Trust me.
This is going to work, Kev. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Alright, Volt.
I trust you.”

Volt nodded and began to walk the
length of the enormous summoning circle he’d spent months studying. Given Lyon
City had a large population of integrated supernatural
denizens,
it was easy getting illegal resources once Volt knew the right people.

Hell, getting the banned books was as
easy as getting a hit of heroin or coke if one had the cash. Volt hadn’t told
Kevin, but he suspected Kevin knew about the side jobs he’d been doing for the
local gang of werewolves when he skipped classes. It wasn’t anything dangerous.
Just shorting out a security camera here and there, but it sure paid for his other
education in the arcane arts.

Volt took the utility knife from
the pocket of his battered denim jacket.

“What the hell, Volt. What’s with
the knife?”

“Blood’s the usual cost for a
summoning circle. Now shut up. I need to focus.” Volt drew the blade across his
forearm. It was a clean slice, and he began sprinkling the circle with his
blood.

“Felor, from the depths of the
underworld I summon you,” Volt said. More gibberish words flowed out of him,
words he’d memorized by heart over the weeks.

He’d told Kevin he had it all under
control and it was going to be all right. It wasn’t. The first hint that things
began to go haywire was when the circle glowed a terrifying crimson color, the
color of freshly shed blood.

Then someone screamed.
A boy.
Kevin.

Numerous cuts were suddenly
appearing across his body, as if a phantom claws was slashing viciously at him.

“No. Fuck, no.” Volt abandoned the
chant and ran for Kevin.

He didn’t make it. By the time he
was cradling Kevin’s bleeding body against his chest, no sound came out of the
other boy.

“W a delicious blood sacrifice,” a
deep and inhuman voice said from somewhere in the circle. The voice made all
the hairs on Volt’s back rise, but his anger got the better of him.

“There was no mention of a fucking
sacrifice.”

“Foolish boy.
Did you think your pathetic blood was enough payment for a lord of the
Otherside? No. This is just the beginning, Volt. You’re mine now, Elementalist.
Not the other way around.”

Volt howled, and his power snapped
off its leash. Electricity coursed from his body, lashing uselessly at the
phantom entity still inside the circle. It wouldn’t be long before the demon
could escape the circle.

Mocking laughter bubbled from the
creature.

“Boy, you have a long way to go.
Why don’t you save yourself the grief and agree to be my slave? Together, we
can do great things.”

“I want nothing to do with you,
demon,” Volt hissed, clutching Kevin to him.

Warmth was fading from Kevin’s body
and soon Volt would no longer be holding the boy he loved. He’d only be holding
a corpse.

“Then death is your answer?”

“Fuck you, Felor.”

“What a pity.”

The light around the summoning
circle snapped and Felor was free. Volt caught sight of the demon’s true form.
He swallowed. This was exactly what he deserved. Volt deserved to die after
murdering Kevin, the only light in his hellhole.

Felor flew at him, an unstoppable
force of nature, but before he could reach Volt, an invisible kinetic force
slammed him several hundred feet away. A bald, ebony-skinned man in an
impeccable suit stepped in front of Volt. Where flesh peeked, Volt could see
swirls of colors he didn’t think were normal tattoos.

“Do you like playing with
inexperienced boy wizards? Perhaps its time you played with a real wizard.”

The stranger cracked his knuckles
and Volt could feel a tremor beneath him. The ground was shaking, he realized,
paralyzed with fear. Volt had an uneasy feeling he knew who the powerful wizard
was, or rather, who he worked for.

Displaying real talent like that
meant only one thing. The wizard worked for the Lyon city council, the
supernatural community’s only ruling body. When it came to dangerous and
forbidden magic, just like what he’d done, they could play judge and executor
without needing the permission of the human authorities. The supernatural
community was given the rights to deal with their own centuries ago when they
revealed themselves to the human world and signed the accords with the mortal
authorities.

Volt swallowed. What did it matter
if this city council member came here to kill him? Volt had nothing and he’d
kill the only important person in the world to him.

A shrill and monstrous cry howled
through the air at the wizard’s challenge, and then the menacing aura of the
demon was gone. There was just silence in the airfield. When the wizard turned
and began walking to him, Volt saw the crossed swords badge of the city council
on the left breast pocket of his suit.

Volt glared at the man, even though
a new sort of fear coiled in his belly. He wasn’t going to run. If Volt was
going to die rightfully for his sins, he intended to die bravely. He owed Kevin
that at least.

For the first few minutes, the
wizard simply just looked at him and Volt wondered what he saw. Did he see the
misunderstood kid or the dangerous threat to his city?

“My name is Havoc, what’s your
name, kid?”

Volt laughed. “Why do you need to
know my name when you intend to kill me?”

“I’m not here to kill you, kid.”
Havoc’s gaze moved to Kevin. “I’ve seen my fair share of tragedies over the
centuries, young naïve wizards like you who didn’t know the consequences of
their actions.”

“I didn’t mean to kill him,” Volt
whispered. He was surprised when a large hand fell on his shoulder.

“I know you didn’t, but everyone
needs to atone for their sins one way or another, kid.”

“Volt.
My
name’s Volt, not kid. If you’re not going to kill me, what are you going to do
with me?”

“Bring you home. Teach you the
arcane craft. I have two other boys, Blaze and Gale, under my guardianship.
They’re also Elementalists like you. I’m sure you’ll get along with them.”