The Beast Within (4 page)

“Oh, shit,” Tony said. “Bigger family than you thought.”

Aaron stole a glance at his partner. Tony was grinning.

The creature roared.

“We really have to go.” Now Tony laughed outright, his voice as joyous as a kid’s on Christmas morning.

The creature leaned in, its breath stinking of earth and decay. It swiped its long arm at them. Tony ducked under. Aaron dove back out of reach. The creature swiped again, this time sending a row of machines flying into the aisle, blocking Aaron from his partner.

“Tony, watch out,” he called as the creature sent a fist squelching down into the floor just a foot from where Tony had just been. Aaron scrambled around another bank of machines, searching for his partner, just as the overlarge Selart began to do the same. It stepped over the rows, one after the other, dripping head scanning left and right. The creature’s contained family hooted and howled inside their refuges, concealing the sound of Tony’s retreat, which was useful in keeping him safe from his pursuer, but made it difficult for Aaron to spot him.

“Aaron.” Tony popped up from behind a long bench near the front. “Use the ball.”

The creature whipped around at the sound of Tony’s voice and barreled toward him.

“How?” Aaron shouted. He turned the object over in his hand, but it gave no hints as to its detonation.

The creature continued on its path toward Tony.

“How do I use this thing?” Aaron repeated. It didn’t matter. The creature was too close. He pulled out his sidearm. Regular bullets. Generally useless. He didn’t have much of a choice. He discharged the entire clip into the Selart’s back. It barely grunted from the impact. He re-holstered and ran toward Tony.

The creature scooped up the bench and raised it over its head. The sight of Tony crouched at the creature’s mercy sent a reverberation through Aaron.

“No,” he called out. His voice was already lowered, guttural. He raced ahead, his joints cracking and shifting painfully.

“Control, mi hombre guapo. Control.”

Tony scurried out of the way as the makeshift weapon came crashing down. The tiles where he had been crouching splintered. Frustrated, the Selart struck again and again, pounding down the heavy seat as Tony scuttled out of the way, each time coming closer to being crushed.

Aaron’s fingers popped and cracked. Their shifting makeup made it nearly impossible to hold the sphere, let alone examine it.

“Come on, Tony. Answer me. How do I use this thing?”

“Throw,” Tony sputtered as an edge of the wood grazed his ribs. Crimson blossomed across his side.

“You’re in the way,” Aaron countered. His voice was a true growl, now. “Get out of the way.”

“I’m trying.” The amusement had gone from Tony’s voice. He ducked a blow, then another, moving back each time, cornering himself against the front window.

“No! Get out of there,” Aaron yelled.

The Selart swung again. Tony jumped out of the way. The bench crashed through the window, and Tony followed it outside to safety.

“Now,” Tony shouted.

Aaron threw the ball. The creature stabbed its hand through the glass shards in an effort to seize Tony. It didn’t see the spreading, mutating net of light emanating from the sphere. The mystical webbing slammed into the Selart, then sliced through him. Cubes of substance fell to the floor and splashed as mud. The outcry from the machines rose to a murderous combined scream. Death filled Aaron’s nostrils. Overcome with the scent of the kill and his morphing body, he threw back his head and howled. He clamped his hands over his mouth, praying the interior din absorbed the sound as one of its own.

“Aaron,” Tony shouted from outside.

“Don’t’ let him see, mi hombre guapo.”

“I’m fine. The creature’s down. I’m coming out,” Aaron shouted.

The beasts in the machines banged and wailed, but no others emerged to confront him as he backed toward the door. Why would they? He was of their world, and they knew what his kind was capable of. Mildred—his thoughts led him to seek her out—was a sodden lump in the bottom of the washer, regarding him with something akin to pity. More likely she was simply despondent over her fallen family member and the damage done to their refuge. Either way, he was not welcome, monster or no.

With the immediacy of the kill over, Aaron pulled in his focus. One by one his joints slid back into place. The coarse black hairs that had begun to protrude from his flesh receded. He cleared his throat, relieved when a normal sound emerged. He hit the door and backpedalled out.

“Sticky Fingers one, Mud Butt zero,” Tony said from the curb, his joviality already on the rebound.

Aaron double-checked the interior to be sure they weren’t being pursued, then turned to his partner. Tony had pulled himself over to a defunct parking meter and leaned against the pole, examining his side by poking at it with a filthy finger.

“Stop touching it,” Adam said.

“Bug you, the squishy stuff?” Tony grinned. He looked up at Aaron. His merriment briefly faltered, but returned in a flash.

“Systemic infections bug you?” Aaron retorted. “God knows what we touched in there.” He kept his voice light, but worry gnawed at his gut. Somehow, Tony had seen. But he wasn’t mentioning it, yet. Why?

“Good point.” Tony dropped his hand. “Well, that went well.”

Aaron couldn’t fathom the depth of the remark, so he did not answer.

“Come on. No long faces. We scored one for us,” Tony said. He pushed off the concrete and stood, wobbly legged.

Aaron reached out and secured his partner’s arm. Tony gave him a brief glance, his expression inscrutable, then let Aaron help him into the passenger seat, and turned over the keys without comment.

“What now?” Aaron asked. “You need a hospital?”

“Nah, this is an easy one. I have medicine at home I lifted from op-tech that’ll seal this right up.”

“You steal a lot from op-tech?”

“Only what I need. Or want. Didn’t see you complaining a minute ago.”

“Why don’t you just requisition it?” Aaron pulled the car away from the curb as quickly as possible. He checked the rear-view, but the street was clear, as he had expected.

“Braven has become a little stingy with what weapons we can and can’t take out of the office. Doesn’t want our stores too stripped in the case of emergency.”

“Like what happened in California?”

“Yep.”

“She said she was vigilant.”

“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one. Turn right, there.” Tony pointed to a street. As Aaron followed his directions, he continued, “She’s become obsessed with doomsday protocols.”

“Where are we going, exactly?” Aaron asked. Avoiding discussing California had become an art form for him.

“To summon Qi.”

“Where do we go for that?”

“Anywhere. That’s the beauty of the power word Mildred just gave us, it opens a portal for Qi anywhere the summoner wants. There’s a bit of a lag time, though, between the summoning and the arriving, so I thought we could get comfortable and have some food.”

“Okay,” Aaron agreed. “Where to?”

“Like I said, I have some stuff at home to patch up my side. Thanks to my brilliant navigation skills we are already on the way there, so turning around would be a waste of company gas. You don’t want that do you?” He flashed a smile that struck Aaron in the chest and warmed him all the way to his groin. “Plus, I’m injured and shirtless. I’m going to need you to help me fix that.”

Cleaning up Tony he would happily do. Putting a shirt back on him, though, well that was a damn shame.

“We can order in. There are some really good restaurants that deliver nearby. We can fill up and wait.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Aaron followed Tony’s next gesture and pulled up in front of a three-story brick building. A deserted shoe store occupied the ground level.

“Entrance is around back,” Tony said as he hefted himself from the car with a groan of pain.

Aaron shut off the car and came around to the other side to help Tony. His partner draped an arm around his neck with a grateful nod.

“Lost more blood than I thought. No worries, though, we’ll fix that soon.” Tony settled into Adam’s shoulder and let him take some of his weight. “It’s a steep staircase.”

“It’s okay.”
More than okay. Heaven
. “I’m stronger than I look.”

“I’ll bet.”

Aaron again had to wonder what his partner had seen, how much he suspected. Since he was a special agent who put the mystical two and two together every day, Aaron was certain he had come up with the correct answer. Hell, most people at Kapre probably suspected the answer already. The question was, what would his new partner do with the information? Aaron couldn’t expect him to sit on it out of loyalty. They had only been working together half a day, and half of that half Aaron had dedicated to being obnoxious and judgmental. He shook off the gloom. There was nothing he could do except prepare to bolt if the worst happened and an acqxterm team was sent to retrieve him. Until then, he had a beautiful man leaning on him and a promise of sponge baths and dinner. Not too bad for a last night before criminal exile.

Even with sweat and blood and tiny stabbing flecks of glass rasping across his skin from Tony’s battered body, it was the best few minutes Aaron had spent since Carlos had practically packed his bags and pushed him onto a plane to Maryland. He helped Tony around to the back. Tony opened a narrow door with a key he pulled out from behind the light fixture.

“Very secure,” Aaron commented as Tony worked the lock.

“I figure I can handle any human that enters, and anything else that is going to come in won’t be deterred by a deadbolt.”

Aaron couldn’t argue the logic, so he shut the door behind them and helped his partner up the metal stairs. The door at the top was unlocked and Tony waved him inside.

“Do you snore?” Tony asked as he disengaged himself from Aaron and turned to face him.

“Why?”

“We might be waiting a long time for Qi.” He gave Aaron a wink. “I’m going to call in to Braven, let her know we won’t be in the rest of the day.”

Oh good God.
Aaron marveled at the sculpted bare back of his partner as Tony turned and pulled out his cell phone. Heat and foolish excitement raced through his veins at the thought of a private night spent in the company of Tony Harper.

Chapter Six

Summoning Desire

An open steel staircase bisected the downstairs living area, leaving the kitchen with its elongated island counter on one side, the couch and television on the other. A makeshift gym stood behind the stairs. Acrobatics mats covered the floor in the area. A boxing dummy stood sentry outside the glass door of the bathroom, his menacing countenance daring Aaron to pass. Jump ropes, weights and medicine balls all hung from an organized hook and shelf system on the far wall. Tony was a man who liked to keep in shape. But, then again, that was obvious to anyone with functioning eyeballs. Aaron glanced back at his partner. Blood still trickled down his side unchecked. If he lost much more he would likely pass out. Aaron gave the dummy a half-hearted swipe to the nose as he entered the bathroom in search of wound care supplies. The medicine cabinet held a ridiculous number of cologne bottles, the vanity drawers and cabinets only grooming supplies.

“Yes ma’am. We will have a full report to you in the morning.” Tony’s voice became clearer as he approached the bathroom. He appeared in the doorway, cradling an impressive number of black candles in one arm. He clicked off his cell phone and jammed it into his pants. He grinned like a kid who had just convinced his mother he needed a sick day.

“Now let’s make a call to Qi.”

“What about your wound?”

“It can wait a minute.” Tony stood the black vigil candles on the vanity. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and began setting the wicks aflame. Aaron watched the light dance across Tony’s features, softening the angled cheeks and jaw with its glow. “I want to get Qi here tonight. We need to figure out who came through that portal, and what amateur mystical jackass was trying to clean it up.”

“Or was rushed into cleaning it up. Maybe they got interrupted.”

“That, too. Only one way to know for sure. Close your eyes and concentrate on Qi.”

Aaron obeyed. Tony lit the last candle and let his own lids fall shut.

“Messifluotitious,” he chanted softly. “I use the word of power to summon Qi. Qi, come forth. It is my will and command.”

“That’s it? Qi’s not one for pomp ceremony, huh?” Aaron remarked after it became clear the ritual had ended.

“Apparently not, which is good because I really don’t want to have to get chicken blood out of the grout again.”

Aaron made a face.

“And chickens smell disgusting even before they’re disemboweled. Speaking of, this thing on my side doesn’t smell too pretty, either.”

“No wonder. You were digging at it with your cesspool fingers. Who knows what came off of those washing machine lids you touched. Let’s get you cleaned up. Where do you keep your medical supplies?”

“Over there, by the tub.” Tony said as he sat down on the closed toilet seat.

“You mean the indoor pool?” Aaron remarked. The bathtub was the jetted kind, large enough to comfortably accommodate two large men and whatever activity they could together imagine. Aaron’s groin tightened. He fought not to look back at his partner lest his own imaginings—or worse, desperation for them to come true—conveyed on his face. Instead, he opened the door of an antique dentist cabinet. The shelves held boxes of bandages and tape, bottles of antiseptic and an array of brown jars each marked with odd symbols.

“That one,” Tony said as Aaron touched a larger jar. “The one with the flattened smiley face looking symbol on it.”

Aaron took the container and a roll of bandages.

“Won’t need those.”

Aaron glanced back at his partner. He was poking the bloody gash in his side once again. Fresh blood trickled out.

“What about the peroxide?” He wrinkled his nose in distaste at Tony’s dirty fingers probing the open wound.

“Nah. This stuff’ll do the trick. Takes care of most everything.”