Confluence (Godbreaker Book 3) Read online

  Petra raised her head again. “Your clan? You’re an Outsider?”

  Teran let the obvious be her answer and kept her attention on Stuber.

  He frowned at Lucky for a long moment. “If you say so.”

  “Yes, I say so. He’s a friend. And I need to talk to him and this is the only private area.” Teran faced Lucky. “You can’t tell anyone that there’s a demigod in here. She’s a friend of ours. I know that’s hard to swallow, but I need you to be on my side right now.”

  Lucky made a face—then made a worse face, the wrinkles of his skin breaking and oozing. His eyes watered and his hand flew up but didn’t touch. “Dammit. This shit hurts so bad I can’t even think straight. What the hell is going on here? Why do you have a demigod for a friend?”

  Rather than answer, Teran kept a hand on Lucky and turned to Petra. “Do you have anything for pain?”

  Petra gave Lucky a clinical glance, then nodded towards the rolling table off to the side. “Bottom drawer. There’s an aerosol can. Spray that on. It’ll sting like hell at first, but then it’ll numb it.”

  Teran popped the drawer and found the described item. A small, blue can, simply labeled, ANALGESIC, TOPICAL. She uncapped it and, after telling Lucky to close his eyes, gave the burned side of his face a good dousing. He hissed as she did it, but then his entire hunched posture relaxed after a few seconds.

  “Gods in the skies,” he breathed. “That’s magical.”

  “Good.” Teran set the spray down. “Can you focus now?”

  Lucky immediately became suspicious again. Perhaps moreso now that he could focus. “Okay.”

  “You asked me if we’d found him—the one that Sabio told us about.”

  “Right.”

  “We did. And he was what Sabio said: A halfbreed. He’s human, but can use the godtech. It’s called Confluence.” She rolled her hands over each other. “There’s a lot I’m not telling you, but suffice it to say, we started the end of the world and Mala here is on our side.”

  “Oh.” Lucky frowned at the demigod on the table.

  Mala had fallen unconscious.

  “Is that what those things out of the sky are?”

  “They’re connected, yes.”

  “What the hell are they?”

  “Robots designed to seek and destroy all life on earth. More or less.”

  Alarm began to fill Lucky’s face. “We have to tell the others. You have to help me, Teran. They don’t know what’s happening out here…” he stopped. Alarm turned to horror. “What if they’ve been hit? What if one of those things came for them?”

  “Lucky, there’s a lot going on right now and—”

  “Teran!” he interrupted, his tone recriminating. “You left us so that you could save us! Your people! You can’t abandon us now! You have to help me warn them!”

  The back door burst open.

  Stuber whirled, a scalpel held at arm’s length, and nearly took Perry’s nose off. For a flash, Perry’s shield came up, singing the tip of the scalpel, and then dissipated. He looked past the blade to Stuber, with a glare.

  “Nice.”

  Stuber retracted the impromptu weapon. “Try knocking next time.”

  Perry slid in and closed the door behind him.

  “Is that him?” Lucky asked, awe apparent in his voice.

  Perry whirled, taking in the newcomer, and froze, as though he wasn’t sure what he’d just walked into. “What? Who are you?”

  “Are you the halfbreed?”

  Teran answered for him. “Yes, he’s the halfbreed. Don’t mention his size, he’s sensitive about it.”

  Perry still had his longstaff in both hands and rested the butt on the ground. “Who’s the crispy guy?”

  “He’s an Outsider. Lucky. You remember him?”

  Perry squinted. “Maybe.”

  “Teran over here,” Stuber grumbled. “Just waltzed in with him and now apparently we’re supposed to be friends. She told me I couldn’t kill him. Is that true?”

  Perry shook his head. “We’ve got bigger problems right now. How soon until Mala can move?”

  Petra’s eyes shot up from her work. “Move? She’s unconscious and I just got started.”

  Perry crossed to the table and looked at her with urgency. “Whatever you need to do to get her mobile. We need to get out of here.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  ANGRY PEOPLE

  “So, wait.” Stuber held up a bloody hand, confusion evident. “You never found the lady you were chasing after, but there was an old hobo, and now we have to run?”

  “He walked through a wall!” Perry waved his arms in exasperation. “I wasn’t going to listen to him until he did that!”

  “Did you check for a trap door?”

  “Yes, of course I checked.”

  “And?”

  Perry gawked at Stuber. “It was a fucking wall, Stuber. Just as thick and dense as your head.”

  “I’m just trying to make sure,” Stuber gruffed, turning back to Mala as Petra finished closing the wound, the stink of cauterized skin filling the air. “Sometimes you get…panicky.”

  “I don’t get panicky. I’m not panicked.”

  “You sound panicked.”

  Petra nodded, glancing up. “You do sound a little panicked.”

  “No, I’m urgent.”

  “Because of what the magical hobo told you.”

  Perry didn’t even bother arguing that anymore. “Yes, I believe the magical hobo was telling the truth, and I’d like to get out of here quickly before we get blocked in.”

  From the side, Perry saw Lucky lean close to Teran. His voice was low, but still audible: “This is the guy that’s supposed to save us?”

  Perry whirled on him. “Whoa, whoa. What the hell have you heard about me?”

  Lucky was as guileless as someone who’s never bothered to question the beliefs they hold. “You’re the one that’s going to defeat the demigods, end the war, and save humanity.”

  Perry’s hand went to his head in disbelief. “This is insane. Look, I’m not saving anyone. That’s just some shit my Uncle Sergio told you people to get you to find me. If anyone around here wants to get saved, they need to pull their head out of their ass and start working together. I’m just here to try to get them to do that.”

  The door to the room burst inward. Perry snatched his longstaff up, but recognized Petra’s helper, Derrick. He was flustered and fearful. His eyes immediately went to Mala. Utter betrayal came over his face.

  “It’s true,” he murmured. “How could you?”

  Teran had already crossed the room and slammed the door shut behind Derrick, but not before a low noise of dissonance eked through.

  Petra finished sealing Mala’s wound and leaned on the table, looking like she was too exhausted to care. “Derrick, don’t be a prick. I don’t choose my patients.”

  “You chose that one over all the people outside!” Derrick shrilled. “There’re dozens of wounded humans that need your help and—”

  He cut himself off when the tip of Teran’s knife touched the side of his throat.

  “I don’t give a fuck about your personal feelings, Derrick,” Teran whispered into his ear. “How’d you find out we had a demigod in here?”

  Derrick began shaking. He was not the stalwart type. “I heard…when I went for more water. Some people asked me about it. They were angry. I told them it was lies, but…”

  “But now you see that it’s not,” Teran finished for him. “Skip the melodrama. How many people were there?”

  Derrick’s throat squirmed as he swallowed. The knife point moved with it. “Maybe a hundred? Maybe more than that.”

  Teran’s eyes shot to Perry’s.

  Perry’s shot to Stuber’s. “See?”

  Stuber looked flabbergasted. “Magical fucking hobo. Who’d’a thought?”

  “Are they out there right now?” Perry demanded, hefting his longstaff threateningly at Derrick.

  Derrick, still froze
n by the tip of Teran’s knife, managed a tiny nod.

  Perry looked at Mala. Still unconscious. If there was a crowd of angry rabble outside, they weren’t going to make a very quick getaway pulling Mala along in the cart. “Petra, is there any way to wake her up?”

  Petra considered this. “Yes. I have something that’ll bring her to.” She held up a hand. “But, fair warning, it’s not going to be pleasant.”

  Perry frowned. “For her or for us?”

  “Probably neither.”

  A shout from outside, muffled by the walls. It sounded like a lot of people, rapidly getting themselves enraged. Perry strained to hear the words in the dull roar. He couldn’t make it out perfectly, but he got the sense they were demanding the demigod to be kicked out. Presumably so they could thrash her inert form.

  “We don’t have another option,” Perry said. “Whatever you need to give her to get her on her feet, do it.”

  Petra shrugged, reaching for the cart next to the table. “Alright. But I did warn you. And you might want to make sure she doesn’t have her longstaff. Or her shield.”

  Perry stooped over Mala’s motionless body. Her longstaff was laid on the ground near the table. He didn’t know what personal object on Mala operated her shield. He rummaged rapidly through the shallow pockets of her dirty battle attire and came up with nothing.

  Stuber leaned over him, wiping his hands off on a bandage, though a lot of the blood had already dried. “Try that thing around her neck.”

  Perry spied a chain around her sweaty throat. He grabbed it and pulled a large, circular pendant from beneath her chest plate. It was still warm from her body. He felt the thrum of Confluence emanating from it, but when he pressed at it, he could not access it.

  That was it. Her personal object. Just like Perry’s clasp.

  He undid the necklace and stowed the chain and pendant in his pocket, alongside his clasp.

  The sound of large amounts of pissed off people was becoming more evident. It seemed to surround them, making the air heavy.

  “What do you want me to do with this idiot?” Teran asked, digging the tip of her knife into the side of Derrick’s throat.

  Perry shook his head. “At this point, I don’t give a shit what you do with him. But we need to get moving.”

  Petra held a massive syringe in her hand and took the red safety cap off, revealing a needle that looked large and long enough to skewer a sizeable rodent. She shifted her grip so that syringe was clutched like a knife, the needle pointing down.

  “Before I stick her,” Petra said. “Do you all know what you’re doing?”

  “The magical hobo suggested we go back to Legatus Mordicus,” Perry said, looking rapidly between Teran and Stuber. “He was right about the mob coming. Maybe we should do what he suggested.”

  Stuber nodded. “You and Teran make a break for it. I’ll try to hold the mob off and settle things down with Petra.”

  “There’s no settling them down!” Perry grated. “They’re gonna trash this place as soon as they find out that Petra treated a demigod! And Petra—you can’t stay here. You need to come with us.”

  Petra steadied herself over Mala’s body, the syringe poised to deliver its dose. She looked at Stuber. “Franklin, my love, I believe your friend is right. I hate to leave the wounded, but I don’t think we’re going to be getting any work done in the middle of a riot.”

  Stuber needed no further convincing. He only wanted to protect his wife. “Fine by me. I’m assuming we’re heading out the back door?” He hefted his rifle.

  Petra made a face at him. “Yes to the back door. But no to the rifle. We’re going to need you to help restrain Mala.”

  Stuber looked crestfallen. “So Perry’s gets to run point with his fancy staff? Make him restrain her. He’s the one with all the powers.”

  Petra’s expression became stern. “Franklin. You’re the only one big enough to restrain her. And if she’s half the spitfire you’re claiming she is, then she will need to be restrained.”

  Stuber rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He slung his rifle. “Give her the juice. I’m ready.”

  With a surprising lack of her usual physician’s gentleness, Petra rammed the syringe right into Mala’s chest.

  The affect was nearly instantaneous—Petra barely had time to yank the syringe out before Mala came upright, screeching like a nekrofage on fire.

  “UNHOLY GODS OF HELL!” Spittle exploded out of Mala’s mouth as her eyes jagged savagely about, as though looking for a threat, her expression both furious and terrified.

  Those were the only words she spoke. Stuber put his hands on her shoulders, and she moved so rapidly that Perry didn’t even catch what had happened until Stuber’s body went off balance and Mala’s knee cracked into the center of his face.

  Teran ejected Derrick from her grip, sending the man into the wall with a clatter, and then brandished her knife at Mala—for all the good it would do. Stuber recoiled from the table, both hands covering a gout of blood from his face.

  Perry put his longstaff between him and the insane demigod. “Mala! It’s us!”

  Mala didn’t seem to recognize him. She launched herself off the table with the speed of a snake striking and slammed into Perry, taking him full across the room and slamming him against the far wall. Her strength was immense, and her ferocity was insurmountable.

  Perry felt the longstaff being wrenched out of his grasp. He realized that she was going to kill him, and then probably everyone in the room, and he dipped into Confluence, mentally touching his clasp and thinking, Is this really how it ends for her?

  Then Stuber’s massive arms yoked her around the neck, and Mala’s form left the ground. Her feet went up, over her head, and Stuber drove her top-first into the ground.

  Derrick bolted. Perry only caught his movement at the last second, as he ripped the door open and it bounced off the wall. Derrick sprinted into the hall, yelling, “The demigod’s in there! She’s in there!”

  Petra retreated rapidly from the fray, not looking surprised at all. She had warned them, after all.

  “Mala, you giant bitch!” Stuber ground out as she tried to strangle him and he batted her arms away and tried to get a position of dominance over her. “Stop fighting me!”

  Right about the time that Mala lunged off the ground and tried to spear her thumbs through Stuber’s eye sockets, he pivoted deftly and swept up behind her, sinking her into a choke and then dropping to the ground. She went with him, rolling and spitting and growling.

  Stuber got his hooks in with his legs and tightened the choke until Mala’s animal noises faded into gurgles and gasps. “Easy now,” he said, his voice straining to be controlled. “Easy, Mala. You’ve just been given some drugs to wake you up and they’ve made you very frisky. I really need you to calm down and stop trying to kill me. Easy. Easy.”

  Perry watched with a sort of lurid fascination as Mala’s efforts began to slacken off. He wasn’t sure if she was calming down, or just losing oxygen to the brain.

  “Stuber,” Perry barked. “The point was to have her awake, not unconscious!”

  Stuber’s eyes flashed madly at Perry. “I’m fucking working on it, Halfbreed! One thing at a time!”

  Mala made a few half-hearted attempts to elbow Stuber. Her croaking noises became more of a long snore, and right before she passed out, her eye connected with Perry’s and he thought he saw recognition in them.

  Perry jumped forward. “Okay, let her go, Stuber!”

  Stuber didn’t quite let her go, but he did loosen the choke on her neck.

  Consciousness flooded back into her eyes—again. But this time she didn’t come up swinging or screaming. She choked on a giant gulp of air, coughed, and then fixed Perry with a baleful look that made him think it was all going to go around again.

  Someone slammed on the door to the room.

  “We know you have a demigod in there!” a man shouted from the other side. “Kick that motherfucker out here!”

/>   Mala’s eyes, far more with-it this time, swept to the sound of the voice, then back to Perry. “The hell is happening?”

  “Are you done trying to kill us?” Perry demanded hotly.

  “Yes!” she grated. “What did that bitch do to me?”

  “Hey,” Stuber grumbled, still not letting Mala go. “Don’t call my wife a bitch.”

  The voice from outside: “Open this godsdamned door or we’re gonna kick it in!”

  “Mala,” Stuber said. “I’m going to let you go now because I want my rifle. I’d really like for you to be calm and relaxed.”

  Mala managed a nod of the head. “I’m neither but I won’t try to kill anyone.”

  Stuber immediately released her and rolled, scooping up his rifle as Teran and Petra retreated to the rear door. He pulled the trigger, spitting out a barrage of bullets that lanced high into the top of the doorway.

  “That should give them something to think about,” Stuber growled, hauling to his feet.

  Perry caught Mala’s arm as she lurched about the room as though looking for something—probably her longstaff. “You good?”

  “No.”

  “What the hell were you seeing when you tried to kill us?”

  “I was seeing you,” she grunted. “I was just really angry.”

  “Well, that’s not great.”

  “I’m over it now.” Mala clutched her chest and sucked in a breath. “Heart feels like it’s about to explode. Where’s my fucking longstaff?”

  “Uh, yeah…” Perry towed her towards the back door. “We’ll get to that. But we need to get out of here. I’ll explain on the move.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  SEEKING ASYLUM

  Stuber’s warning shots didn’t last long.

  The second the group piled out of the back door and closed it behind them, Perry heard the inner door smash open followed by the raucous cries of a mob. Stuber took the lead, Petra and Teran close behind him, while Mala stuck close to Perry so she could nag him about her longstaff.

  “Perry! Give me my damn longstaff!”

  “You’re not in your right mind.”

  “I’m getting to be of a mind to take your head off.”