15. Descent
Title: Descent
Author: Terion
Disclaimer: Not. Mine.
Rating: Caution for...some swearing, someone nearly getting brain with a bat, and a bit of brooding.
POV: Nicolas "Nick" Dresden
Book or TV verse: Book verse, AU after Proven Guilty...sequel to Recovery, Move Forward, Come Together, Breakdown, Beautiful Day, Tread Lightly, Web Weaving, Life Refreshed, Soul Repair, Loss of Faith, Faerie Fire, Life Anew, Secrets, and My Defending Angel.
Summary: Fighting the good fight can be a pain sometimes. Especially when you have things that you can't let get out unless you want to die a messy death.
“Virg, duck!”
The rainbow-haired woman dropped and a huge claw made of branches swept through the spot where her head had been. She rolled out of the way, losing the sword in her hand along the way, and came up cursing. I charged past her with my rowan wand in hand, funneling power into it as I howled, “VERAS!”
A fireball the size of a soccer ball roared forth and hit the golem in the chest. Bits of its branch and leaf body caught fire and it roared in rage, fixing its cold green eyes on me.
“Wizardling,” it hissed in a voice that rustled like the wind through leaves.
“That’s full fledged wizard to you!” I snapped back. Reaching to the messenger bag hanging at my hip, I drew out a five-foot length of rope as I tucked my wand inside. Grasping the rope with both hands, I swung it a few times then started to spin the weighted end of it in a wide circle. Focusing, I channeled power into the rope, enlivening the careful enchantments I’d placed on it. The rope shimmered then burst into flame, twisting into a fiery whip that lashed around like a snake as I hissed, “Veras, veras din!”
The golem roared again and charged at me, huge arms extended above its head. I grinned and flung the rope at it with a hiss, stepping backwards out of its path as I let go. The rope lashed out and whipped around the golem’s torso, binding tightly around it and setting more of it on fire. It bellowed angrily and stumbled towards me, lashing out with a huge arm. I flung up my right arm in response, focusing on the silver band about my wrist and brought my shield up in response.
The strike threw me off my feet and shattered the brittle shield I’d called up. Luckily it just sent me rolling across the pavement and not flying through the air as the shield had taken the brunt of things. I heard it roar and start after me but was happy to look up and see it stumble and fall. Virg darted past me then and snatched her sword from the ground, rushing at the fallen monster with an Amazonian howl. She leapt to its shoulder and started hacking viciously at the thick branches that made up its neck.
“Puny mortals!” roared the golem as it got back to its feet. Virg staggered then flung herself low and grabbed onto one of the branches, clinging to the things back like a leech. She kept right on hacking after a moment and the golem bellowed, “I’ll crush you both!”
I staggered back to my feet, shaking my head to stop the ringing. Then I ripped my sword from its sheath and charged at the golem’s legs - I couldn’t risk anything else with Virg clinging to it. It flung an arm at me but I rolled out of the way and came back up to slash at one of its thick legs. Three branches snapped and it staggered before roaring and swinging at me again.
As I flew through the air again, my shield shattered for a second time, I heard Virg scream that Amazon howl again. Then she was screaming, “Shield! Now!” and dropping next to me sans her sword. I sat up weakly and focused, drawing the shield around us in careful, flexible layers - I had the time now to manage it. The effort made me see stars and I hope whatever Virg had used would be going off soon.
The golem exploded a moment later, sending pavement and branches flying like missiles. I managed to hold the shield through the storm then released the energy, collapsing in an exhausted heap immediately. Virg leaned over me worriedly but relaxed when I smiled at her.
She jabbed me in the arm and jibbed, “Big baby. You need to practice more.”
I snorted at that. “When?” I asked, “I spend most of the day doing class work.” Slowly pushing myself upright, I looked around at the pretty much demolished parking lot with a groan. “Great. You see my rope anywhere?”
“No. But the cops are going to be coming soon.”
“Gee, I wonder why? Could it have been the freaking grenade you threw in the golem?!”
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” asked Virg as she helped me to my feet and steadied me with an arm around my back. There are few people that can do that since I’m maybe an inch shorter than my dad and she’s one of them. Being short and stocky can give an advantage sometimes.
The aikido I begged my sister to start teaching her after her brush with the White Court helps too.
“And your uncle gave me that,” she added as she surveyed the destruction. Then she bent and picked up my sword, leaning around to sheath it for me.
“Hells bells, never tell Dad that!”
“Do I look like that much of an idiot? Hey, there’s part of your rope.”
“Oh great,” I groaned as I spotted another piece. “That’s five months work down the drain. Bob’s going to gripe at me.”
Virg sighed and started trudging to where we’d parked the car, dragging me along with her. “At least we’re alive,” she said cheerfully.
I snorted and dug out the Beetle’s keys, handing them to her when she held out her hand. Then I pulled away from her and dragged myself around to the other side of the car to crumple into the passenger seat. As she climbed in and moved the seat up, I extended an arm to say, “Home, James.”
“Yeeees, Massster,” she hissed mockingly in response and coaxed the old car to life. As we puttered away, the first of the black and white’s arrived on scene to figure out why it looked like a tree had exploded in a parking lot.
They’d be trying to work that one out for a while.
As she drove, Virg kept darting glances over at me as I shifted in the passenger seat. “You okay?” she asked softly.
“Just tired,” I replied, staring out the window. “I’m not as good at shielding as Dad. It takes a lot.”
“He’s had more practice.”
“Yeah but when the hell do I have time to practice? I have so much class work I’m going rusty except in potions. Those I can make while studying.”
Virg shrugged and said, “Drop out. Work with your dad instead of…fuck, I don’t even know what your degree is!”
“Criminology,” I replied wearily. “I have this weird idea to be a wizard lawyer. Or a cop like Mom.”
She blinked then murmured, “You want to try to chance things. In both worlds.”
“I’m gonna try.” Sighing, I continued, “The Council hasn’t updated anything in centuries. And it needs it. ‘Cause I know disobeying the Laws is bad but going against it once shouldn’t be an immediate death sentence.”
“Jesus,” breathed Virg. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel and I could understand why. We’d told her that the Council existed and about the Laws but that was it. Dad’s disfavor with them, his past, Molly’s, and my own screaming’s at them during various meetings since being elevated from apprentice we left out. I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore though. “That’s barbaric.”
I snorted and sneered, “Its tradition,” in a mockery of the Merlin’s voice. “This is the way things are done, and have been done, and will be done forever. Unless someone does something.”
“Is there nothing that can change now? Nothing your dad can do?”
“Dad’s just a Warden - and one only pulled in because he was needed. He does all he can already. Only Senior Council can pull string like that to change things.”
“But you think you can?”
“All I can do is try, Virg.”
She frowned then turned to look at me as she pulled the Beetle into the gravel parking lot at the apartment. “I’ll help. However I can,” she said with fire in her eyes.
I smiled and nodded, saying, “I knew you would.” Then I climbed out of the car and just barely saw the baseball bat whirring towards my head. Instinct took over and, despite weariness, I ducked and jabbed my arm out at my attacker’s torso. My hand, held stiff with the fingers all together, stabbed into his stomach and knocked the air out of him. I think I broke a rib too. He staggered and I kicked at his ankle, snapping bone and making him drop with a squeal of pain, which was echoed a moment later by Virg’s Amazon howl. As I picked up the Louisville slugger he’d tried to brain me with and planted a foot in his guts, I glanced over the top of the Beetle. Virg had another thug subdued, her arm wrapped around his throat, and seemed to have that under control.
Applause, slow and even, sounded from nearby and a man with dark hair gone gray stepped out of the shadows near the door.
“Impressive. I didn’t think you’d see that coming.”
I snorted and smacked the bat into one hand as I pressed my foot down harder on the thug. His already broken rib cracked and the guy decided not moving was the better way to survive.
Virg blinked at the man and snarled, “Who the fuck are you and what the hell was this?!”
The man smiled, all fatherly and kind, and looked at me with feral eyes. “You know don’t you, Nicolas?”
My eyes narrowed at that. No one but my mother had ever and ever would have permission to call me by my first name.
“Its Dresden to you,” I hissed. Then I added, “Virg, meet Gentleman Johnnie Marcone. And you can call her Miss Wakefield. Now what the hell is this all about?”
Marcone just smiled and replied, “I find myself lacking on the magical side of things.”
“And you think Nick is gonna work for you?!” exploded Virg. “Fuck that shit! He…” I held up a hand to cut her off and she snarled, “You’re not seriously thinking about doing this, are you?!”
“Of course he is. After all…he’s been living alone since he graduated from high school.”
My hand convulsed on the slugger and I hissed, “How do you know that?”
“I make it my business to know things,” replied Marcone. “And I know that your dear father had been absent since two days after you graduated. He left you here, telling neither you or your sister a thing.”
“Nick,” breathed Virg, “Nick, is this true?”
I hate it when the shit unexpectedly hit the proverbial fan.
Glaring at the old man with what I hoped was the utmost venom he’d ever seen in someone’s gaze, I snarled, “Yeah, so what? I’ve been covering his cases and no one’s noticed the difference.”
“Yes but you dropped out of college to cover for him.”
“I’m going back once I get money to live on,” I snapped, ignoring Virg’s disbelieving look. “And I won’t take you offer - I like my money without blood on it. Now get the fuck away from my home.”
Marcone sighed and said, “You’re as much a fool as he is.”
“Better a fool than a criminal,” I shot back at him. He gave me a fatherly smile and I resisted the urge to smash his face in with the slugger in my hands.
“My offer will remain open for some time. I hope you’ll reconsider.”
“I won’t.” Lifting my foot, I kicked the thug in the kidneys and he grunted before rolling away. “Now that your minions and go,” I snarled, nodding at Virg over the car. She released the other thug and shoved him away from her, a venomous look on her face. The two slinked back over to their master, who nodded briefly at me and smiled again before turning to walk away.
As they vanished towards a dark car parked down the street, Virg came around the Beetle and slammed me back against the passenger door.
“What the fuck is going on? How did you get mixed up with the mob? And the hell didn’t you tell me?!”
“Can we do inside and talk about this?” I asked softly, nonplussed. “I think my family problems have been aired to the world enough tonight.”
She glared then hissed, “Fine,” as she released me. Her harsh gaze remained on me as I went down the concrete steps and lowered the apartments wards with a muttered word.
It hurt to have her looking at me like that.
She strode right in and sat on the couch, idly patting Mouse as the aging dog padded up to her. I didn’t sit down; instead I walked to the icebox and grabbed one of the ale’s my dad had kept in there for as long as I could remember. Usually I didn’t drink even if I was twenty-one and kept getting them from Mac.
Tonight was the exception.
Walking back, I stood and drank for a moment, gathering my thoughts. Then I sighed and started to speak.
“Dad got entangled with Marcone years ago. Busted down the door of his club before he took down a sorcerer, which started rumors that he’d pulled a hit for Marcone. And that’s that. Dad’s asked him for his help, helped him, and fought against him periodically since then. He’s a devil but he’s the devil we know.”
Virg nodded and asked, “What about your dad?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “He didn’t tell me anything; just up and left. The Council, me, Liz, and Uncle Thomas were the only one’s that even knew he was even gone until now.”
“Why?”
“Do you know how many enemies my dad has? If they all knew he wasn’t here, they’d come after Liz and me and probably kill us. And they’d take James and turn him into something horrible.”
Virg frowned and breathed, “You could do a thing about it, could you?”
I shook my head slowly and took a harsh swing of the ale, wanting suddenly to get very drunk. “No,” I replied stonily. “I’m in the same weight class as Dad magically but I don’t have the skill to duke it out with the things he’s pissed off. And Liz has the skill but not the raw power. There’s no one nearby that could help us in time if something came after us. So we tried to keep it quiet.”
She stared for a long moment then sprang to her feet, rushing over to hug me tightly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. I gently patted her back and breathed, “I know.”
After a moment she asked, “What now?”
“Now?” I replied. “Now I want to get very drunk then go to sleep.”
“Nick…that’s not going to help any.”
“I know. But it’ll stop me from thinking for a few hours.”
She just gave me a sad look for a moment then went to the icebox and pulled out two more bottles. As she walked back and handed me one, she said, “You’re a noble idiot. But you’re my noble idiot.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I think.”
Virg smiled and reached up to touch my cheek, trying to meet my eyes. I focused on her mouth and didn’t move my gaze from there - a soulgaze wasn’t anything I wanted in the state I was in.
“No more secrets?”
“No more secrets.”
“And I’m free to help you out?”
“Wha…Virg, no…”
“Uh-uh, no,” she said with a shake of her head. “I’ve got money to spare and you know it. And you need help handling your dad’s cases? I’m your new help with no need for paying except that you take my damn money.”
“Your parents money,” I pointed out.
She sighed at that. “Better theirs than Marcone’s.”
Ouch.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “You’ve got a deal.”
She smiled and clinked her bottle against mine before tossing half of it back. “That’s that then.”
I nodded then we both sat on the couch, me drinking myself numb and her watching me with a look that was half pity, half worry. When I wanted to care, I just drank faster.
As the alcohol sank into my system, it turned me into a babbling madman. I don’t know what I told Virg but I ended up lying curled up on the couch with my head in her lap, her fingers running through my hair, and her tears dripping onto my face. And I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I hadn’t seen my sister, brother-in-law, or nephew in a year and a half. Liz was just too scared of what might happen if she was seen near Dad’s apartment or me. I look and act too much like him for my own good and can be mistaken for him well enough that I can run his cases. She called and that helped a little. But it wasn’t the same.
My mother was years dead and I had no comfort from there. I couldn’t even bring myself to visit her grave.
My father had vanished without a trace, leaving me alone. With bills, his cases, college, and wizarding, I was barely surviving. What money he’d left hadn’t lasted through the first three months.
My uncle popped in on occasion but those were spare moments and never long. He’d offered to help me with money but I’d refused it.
Mom’s family…I didn’t have the heart to call Grandma and tell her Dad had left me alone. She was having health problems as was and I wanted to keep her around for as long as I could.
Everyone else I had was either gone or going.
Except Virg. She was here, with me, and over and over I heard her whisper that. And that she wasn’t going to leave me.
I wrapped my arms around her knees and closed my eyes wearily. Because I knew that couldn’t be.
Virg was human and I was a wizard.
Just like Mom and Dad.
Sooner or later, something would happen to her. And it would leave me with nothing but Bob so long as my dad stayed hidden away.
Then…then I don’t know what I’d do.
I don’t want to be alone.
Author: Terion
Disclaimer: Not. Mine.
Rating: Caution for...some swearing, someone nearly getting brain with a bat, and a bit of brooding.
POV: Nicolas "Nick" Dresden
Book or TV verse: Book verse, AU after Proven Guilty...sequel to Recovery, Move Forward, Come Together, Breakdown, Beautiful Day, Tread Lightly, Web Weaving, Life Refreshed, Soul Repair, Loss of Faith, Faerie Fire, Life Anew, Secrets, and My Defending Angel.
Summary: Fighting the good fight can be a pain sometimes. Especially when you have things that you can't let get out unless you want to die a messy death.
“Virg, duck!”
The rainbow-haired woman dropped and a huge claw made of branches swept through the spot where her head had been. She rolled out of the way, losing the sword in her hand along the way, and came up cursing. I charged past her with my rowan wand in hand, funneling power into it as I howled, “VERAS!”
A fireball the size of a soccer ball roared forth and hit the golem in the chest. Bits of its branch and leaf body caught fire and it roared in rage, fixing its cold green eyes on me.
“Wizardling,” it hissed in a voice that rustled like the wind through leaves.
“That’s full fledged wizard to you!” I snapped back. Reaching to the messenger bag hanging at my hip, I drew out a five-foot length of rope as I tucked my wand inside. Grasping the rope with both hands, I swung it a few times then started to spin the weighted end of it in a wide circle. Focusing, I channeled power into the rope, enlivening the careful enchantments I’d placed on it. The rope shimmered then burst into flame, twisting into a fiery whip that lashed around like a snake as I hissed, “Veras, veras din!”
The golem roared again and charged at me, huge arms extended above its head. I grinned and flung the rope at it with a hiss, stepping backwards out of its path as I let go. The rope lashed out and whipped around the golem’s torso, binding tightly around it and setting more of it on fire. It bellowed angrily and stumbled towards me, lashing out with a huge arm. I flung up my right arm in response, focusing on the silver band about my wrist and brought my shield up in response.
The strike threw me off my feet and shattered the brittle shield I’d called up. Luckily it just sent me rolling across the pavement and not flying through the air as the shield had taken the brunt of things. I heard it roar and start after me but was happy to look up and see it stumble and fall. Virg darted past me then and snatched her sword from the ground, rushing at the fallen monster with an Amazonian howl. She leapt to its shoulder and started hacking viciously at the thick branches that made up its neck.
“Puny mortals!” roared the golem as it got back to its feet. Virg staggered then flung herself low and grabbed onto one of the branches, clinging to the things back like a leech. She kept right on hacking after a moment and the golem bellowed, “I’ll crush you both!”
I staggered back to my feet, shaking my head to stop the ringing. Then I ripped my sword from its sheath and charged at the golem’s legs - I couldn’t risk anything else with Virg clinging to it. It flung an arm at me but I rolled out of the way and came back up to slash at one of its thick legs. Three branches snapped and it staggered before roaring and swinging at me again.
As I flew through the air again, my shield shattered for a second time, I heard Virg scream that Amazon howl again. Then she was screaming, “Shield! Now!” and dropping next to me sans her sword. I sat up weakly and focused, drawing the shield around us in careful, flexible layers - I had the time now to manage it. The effort made me see stars and I hope whatever Virg had used would be going off soon.
The golem exploded a moment later, sending pavement and branches flying like missiles. I managed to hold the shield through the storm then released the energy, collapsing in an exhausted heap immediately. Virg leaned over me worriedly but relaxed when I smiled at her.
She jabbed me in the arm and jibbed, “Big baby. You need to practice more.”
I snorted at that. “When?” I asked, “I spend most of the day doing class work.” Slowly pushing myself upright, I looked around at the pretty much demolished parking lot with a groan. “Great. You see my rope anywhere?”
“No. But the cops are going to be coming soon.”
“Gee, I wonder why? Could it have been the freaking grenade you threw in the golem?!”
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” asked Virg as she helped me to my feet and steadied me with an arm around my back. There are few people that can do that since I’m maybe an inch shorter than my dad and she’s one of them. Being short and stocky can give an advantage sometimes.
The aikido I begged my sister to start teaching her after her brush with the White Court helps too.
“And your uncle gave me that,” she added as she surveyed the destruction. Then she bent and picked up my sword, leaning around to sheath it for me.
“Hells bells, never tell Dad that!”
“Do I look like that much of an idiot? Hey, there’s part of your rope.”
“Oh great,” I groaned as I spotted another piece. “That’s five months work down the drain. Bob’s going to gripe at me.”
Virg sighed and started trudging to where we’d parked the car, dragging me along with her. “At least we’re alive,” she said cheerfully.
I snorted and dug out the Beetle’s keys, handing them to her when she held out her hand. Then I pulled away from her and dragged myself around to the other side of the car to crumple into the passenger seat. As she climbed in and moved the seat up, I extended an arm to say, “Home, James.”
“Yeeees, Massster,” she hissed mockingly in response and coaxed the old car to life. As we puttered away, the first of the black and white’s arrived on scene to figure out why it looked like a tree had exploded in a parking lot.
They’d be trying to work that one out for a while.
As she drove, Virg kept darting glances over at me as I shifted in the passenger seat. “You okay?” she asked softly.
“Just tired,” I replied, staring out the window. “I’m not as good at shielding as Dad. It takes a lot.”
“He’s had more practice.”
“Yeah but when the hell do I have time to practice? I have so much class work I’m going rusty except in potions. Those I can make while studying.”
Virg shrugged and said, “Drop out. Work with your dad instead of…fuck, I don’t even know what your degree is!”
“Criminology,” I replied wearily. “I have this weird idea to be a wizard lawyer. Or a cop like Mom.”
She blinked then murmured, “You want to try to chance things. In both worlds.”
“I’m gonna try.” Sighing, I continued, “The Council hasn’t updated anything in centuries. And it needs it. ‘Cause I know disobeying the Laws is bad but going against it once shouldn’t be an immediate death sentence.”
“Jesus,” breathed Virg. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel and I could understand why. We’d told her that the Council existed and about the Laws but that was it. Dad’s disfavor with them, his past, Molly’s, and my own screaming’s at them during various meetings since being elevated from apprentice we left out. I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore though. “That’s barbaric.”
I snorted and sneered, “Its tradition,” in a mockery of the Merlin’s voice. “This is the way things are done, and have been done, and will be done forever. Unless someone does something.”
“Is there nothing that can change now? Nothing your dad can do?”
“Dad’s just a Warden - and one only pulled in because he was needed. He does all he can already. Only Senior Council can pull string like that to change things.”
“But you think you can?”
“All I can do is try, Virg.”
She frowned then turned to look at me as she pulled the Beetle into the gravel parking lot at the apartment. “I’ll help. However I can,” she said with fire in her eyes.
I smiled and nodded, saying, “I knew you would.” Then I climbed out of the car and just barely saw the baseball bat whirring towards my head. Instinct took over and, despite weariness, I ducked and jabbed my arm out at my attacker’s torso. My hand, held stiff with the fingers all together, stabbed into his stomach and knocked the air out of him. I think I broke a rib too. He staggered and I kicked at his ankle, snapping bone and making him drop with a squeal of pain, which was echoed a moment later by Virg’s Amazon howl. As I picked up the Louisville slugger he’d tried to brain me with and planted a foot in his guts, I glanced over the top of the Beetle. Virg had another thug subdued, her arm wrapped around his throat, and seemed to have that under control.
Applause, slow and even, sounded from nearby and a man with dark hair gone gray stepped out of the shadows near the door.
“Impressive. I didn’t think you’d see that coming.”
I snorted and smacked the bat into one hand as I pressed my foot down harder on the thug. His already broken rib cracked and the guy decided not moving was the better way to survive.
Virg blinked at the man and snarled, “Who the fuck are you and what the hell was this?!”
The man smiled, all fatherly and kind, and looked at me with feral eyes. “You know don’t you, Nicolas?”
My eyes narrowed at that. No one but my mother had ever and ever would have permission to call me by my first name.
“Its Dresden to you,” I hissed. Then I added, “Virg, meet Gentleman Johnnie Marcone. And you can call her Miss Wakefield. Now what the hell is this all about?”
Marcone just smiled and replied, “I find myself lacking on the magical side of things.”
“And you think Nick is gonna work for you?!” exploded Virg. “Fuck that shit! He…” I held up a hand to cut her off and she snarled, “You’re not seriously thinking about doing this, are you?!”
“Of course he is. After all…he’s been living alone since he graduated from high school.”
My hand convulsed on the slugger and I hissed, “How do you know that?”
“I make it my business to know things,” replied Marcone. “And I know that your dear father had been absent since two days after you graduated. He left you here, telling neither you or your sister a thing.”
“Nick,” breathed Virg, “Nick, is this true?”
I hate it when the shit unexpectedly hit the proverbial fan.
Glaring at the old man with what I hoped was the utmost venom he’d ever seen in someone’s gaze, I snarled, “Yeah, so what? I’ve been covering his cases and no one’s noticed the difference.”
“Yes but you dropped out of college to cover for him.”
“I’m going back once I get money to live on,” I snapped, ignoring Virg’s disbelieving look. “And I won’t take you offer - I like my money without blood on it. Now get the fuck away from my home.”
Marcone sighed and said, “You’re as much a fool as he is.”
“Better a fool than a criminal,” I shot back at him. He gave me a fatherly smile and I resisted the urge to smash his face in with the slugger in my hands.
“My offer will remain open for some time. I hope you’ll reconsider.”
“I won’t.” Lifting my foot, I kicked the thug in the kidneys and he grunted before rolling away. “Now that your minions and go,” I snarled, nodding at Virg over the car. She released the other thug and shoved him away from her, a venomous look on her face. The two slinked back over to their master, who nodded briefly at me and smiled again before turning to walk away.
As they vanished towards a dark car parked down the street, Virg came around the Beetle and slammed me back against the passenger door.
“What the fuck is going on? How did you get mixed up with the mob? And the hell didn’t you tell me?!”
“Can we do inside and talk about this?” I asked softly, nonplussed. “I think my family problems have been aired to the world enough tonight.”
She glared then hissed, “Fine,” as she released me. Her harsh gaze remained on me as I went down the concrete steps and lowered the apartments wards with a muttered word.
It hurt to have her looking at me like that.
She strode right in and sat on the couch, idly patting Mouse as the aging dog padded up to her. I didn’t sit down; instead I walked to the icebox and grabbed one of the ale’s my dad had kept in there for as long as I could remember. Usually I didn’t drink even if I was twenty-one and kept getting them from Mac.
Tonight was the exception.
Walking back, I stood and drank for a moment, gathering my thoughts. Then I sighed and started to speak.
“Dad got entangled with Marcone years ago. Busted down the door of his club before he took down a sorcerer, which started rumors that he’d pulled a hit for Marcone. And that’s that. Dad’s asked him for his help, helped him, and fought against him periodically since then. He’s a devil but he’s the devil we know.”
Virg nodded and asked, “What about your dad?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “He didn’t tell me anything; just up and left. The Council, me, Liz, and Uncle Thomas were the only one’s that even knew he was even gone until now.”
“Why?”
“Do you know how many enemies my dad has? If they all knew he wasn’t here, they’d come after Liz and me and probably kill us. And they’d take James and turn him into something horrible.”
Virg frowned and breathed, “You could do a thing about it, could you?”
I shook my head slowly and took a harsh swing of the ale, wanting suddenly to get very drunk. “No,” I replied stonily. “I’m in the same weight class as Dad magically but I don’t have the skill to duke it out with the things he’s pissed off. And Liz has the skill but not the raw power. There’s no one nearby that could help us in time if something came after us. So we tried to keep it quiet.”
She stared for a long moment then sprang to her feet, rushing over to hug me tightly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. I gently patted her back and breathed, “I know.”
After a moment she asked, “What now?”
“Now?” I replied. “Now I want to get very drunk then go to sleep.”
“Nick…that’s not going to help any.”
“I know. But it’ll stop me from thinking for a few hours.”
She just gave me a sad look for a moment then went to the icebox and pulled out two more bottles. As she walked back and handed me one, she said, “You’re a noble idiot. But you’re my noble idiot.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I think.”
Virg smiled and reached up to touch my cheek, trying to meet my eyes. I focused on her mouth and didn’t move my gaze from there - a soulgaze wasn’t anything I wanted in the state I was in.
“No more secrets?”
“No more secrets.”
“And I’m free to help you out?”
“Wha…Virg, no…”
“Uh-uh, no,” she said with a shake of her head. “I’ve got money to spare and you know it. And you need help handling your dad’s cases? I’m your new help with no need for paying except that you take my damn money.”
“Your parents money,” I pointed out.
She sighed at that. “Better theirs than Marcone’s.”
Ouch.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “You’ve got a deal.”
She smiled and clinked her bottle against mine before tossing half of it back. “That’s that then.”
I nodded then we both sat on the couch, me drinking myself numb and her watching me with a look that was half pity, half worry. When I wanted to care, I just drank faster.
As the alcohol sank into my system, it turned me into a babbling madman. I don’t know what I told Virg but I ended up lying curled up on the couch with my head in her lap, her fingers running through my hair, and her tears dripping onto my face. And I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I hadn’t seen my sister, brother-in-law, or nephew in a year and a half. Liz was just too scared of what might happen if she was seen near Dad’s apartment or me. I look and act too much like him for my own good and can be mistaken for him well enough that I can run his cases. She called and that helped a little. But it wasn’t the same.
My mother was years dead and I had no comfort from there. I couldn’t even bring myself to visit her grave.
My father had vanished without a trace, leaving me alone. With bills, his cases, college, and wizarding, I was barely surviving. What money he’d left hadn’t lasted through the first three months.
My uncle popped in on occasion but those were spare moments and never long. He’d offered to help me with money but I’d refused it.
Mom’s family…I didn’t have the heart to call Grandma and tell her Dad had left me alone. She was having health problems as was and I wanted to keep her around for as long as I could.
Everyone else I had was either gone or going.
Except Virg. She was here, with me, and over and over I heard her whisper that. And that she wasn’t going to leave me.
I wrapped my arms around her knees and closed my eyes wearily. Because I knew that couldn’t be.
Virg was human and I was a wizard.
Just like Mom and Dad.
Sooner or later, something would happen to her. And it would leave me with nothing but Bob so long as my dad stayed hidden away.
Then…then I don’t know what I’d do.
I don’t want to be alone.