A Proposition

MADDIE

“So, Mads. We…uh…need your help.”

I smirked. I couldn’t say I didn’t see it coming.

I knew those pretty boys couldn’t last long running ~my~ business. Now they had come for some advice on the casino.

Plus, Hael and Loch had brought me chocolate-covered strawberries and a new fluffy black bathrobe.

They would have to do better than that, but it was a start.

“Spit it out,” I pressed them.

We were sitting on the couch in the living room. I wrapped my new robe around me and cuddled into it.

~This is, like, basically as good as a boyfriend,~ I thought happily.

Loch stared at his hands while Hael pulled at his hair.

As I looked at them closer, I realized they ~did~ look bent out of shape.

“So…Nautica and the slayers killed a rogue,” Hael began.

“Storm found him hanging from meat hooks. It sounded…awful,” Loch added.

I held my arms as a shiver went through my body.

“How can I help?” I asked.

Sure, we weren’t on good terms, but this was bigger than business.

“Really, you’ll help us?” Loch asked.

“Of course. You’re my mates.”

~Plus, you’ll get what’s coming to you when my plan is complete…~

I shoved that thought aside. There were more important things to think about.

“Thanks, Maddie.” Loch lunged toward me and kissed me quickly.

“Woah, woah. This doesn’t mean I’m not mad. It just means I don’t want you to die.”

Loch retreated.

“Fair enough.”

“So what do I do?” I asked.

The brothers exchanged a look, which is how I knew I wasn’t going to like it.

“Well, we need someone who knows the Skeleton Quarter even better than the slayers do,” Hael said.

“And, uh…we thought it would be good if you talked to Nautica,” Loch continued. “You know, slayer to slayer. Then you could draw him out into the open.”

I nodded slowly, looking back and forth between my mates with narrowed eyes.

“So, I’m bait?” I finally asked.

They both shook their heads.

“Definitely not!” Loch insisted.

I pinched my chin, considering the situation.

I was definitely going to be bait—that much was clear. But I was confident I could do the job.

And it’s not like I didn’t have my ~own~ bone to pick with that fucking bastard. Nautica was a clone of my father, my other worst enemy in the fuckin’ world.

“Alright, I’m in,” I told them, and both brothers reached for me again before holding themselves back. “But one thing.”

I paused for a moment, enjoying my mates’ undivided attention now that I, for once, held the power.

“Don’t underestimate Nautica,” I warned them. “The guy may have blue hair, but that bastard is smarter than he looks.”

HAEL

Later in the evening, Loch and I enjoyed a glass of whiskey and a game of Dragonschess in the library.

We were both happy that the plan was working out.

Maddie was cooperating for once. It didn’t matter that she was still angry at us for cutting her out of the casino…

Or that she had volunteered for an extremely dangerous mission.

I cleared my throat as I stared at the board. While it was normal to take one’s time in a round of Dragonschess, Loch and I both knew I was pushing the limit.

“Something on your mind, brother?” Loch asked. He leaned back onto the couch opposite mine.

“Just thinking too much,” I replied, moving one piece forward on the board. It was a bad move.

I took a drink, then pushed my crystal tumbler away from me. I wasn’t in the mood to drink.

“You’re worried about Maddie?”

Of course my brother knew exactly what I was thinking.

“I know everything is going according to plan…but what if…something happens?”

Loch shuddered.

“I’m worried too,” he admitted.

“Why are we playing this stupid game anyway?” I asked, even though the game was my favorite. I shoved it out of the way. There were more important things to do.

“Let’s plan for tomorrow.”

Loch and I began to mind-link, which was faster than talking.

Hael

We need to ensure that we are ready for ANYTHING.

Loch

Wherever Maddie goes, we need to know.

Hael

We will pay close attention…

Loch

And follow behind her at all times.

Loch

That way, we can swoop in whenever she needs us.

Hael

And Nautica won’t be able to lay a finger on her.

Loch

Precisely.

Loch

We might as well get a workout in…

Loch

So we’re warmed up for any heavy lifting.

Hael

I like the way you think…

In mere minutes, my mood had completely turned around.

Before, I was anxious. Now I felt ~prepared~.

Loch and I made our way to our home gym. We didn’t come here often, as our bodies were naturally in peak fitness, but now, it felt good to move.

I jumped on the treadmill and turned it up ~high~.

Then I maxed out the incline so I was sprinting uphill.

My muscles quivered to life, pumping with explosive strength.

I pretended Maddie was ahead of me, in danger at the top of the hill. I gave everything I had to make sure I reached her in time…

After a few miles of that, the anxiety in me had worked its way out.

I got off the treadmill just as Loch settled a large barbell back into its holder.

“That feels better,” he sighed as he wiped the sweat from his face with a towel.

“I agree.”

I turned to look out at the glittering skyline of Requiem City. We could see everything from here, and no one could see us.

It made me feel powerful, confident…and prepared for the next day.

“You know, when Maddie said that thing about Nautica being unpredictable, I practically got chills,” I said to my brother.

“Me, ~too~!”

I pushed open the door and held it for my brother.

“Then it’s good we’re taking her advice,” I said as we left.

MADDIE

The next morning, I set out on my mission.

I pounded the pavement with my combat boots all the way to the Skeleton Quarter.

The sun glared in my eyes, but I glared right back.

My mates had made me a nice breakfast, then watched me quietly as I ate.

“You guys are freaking me out,” I’d told them.

“We’re just thinking, mouse,” Hael had said absently.

They’d been weird, but I wasn’t really scared about anything.

I was the bait, and as soon as Loch and Hael learned where Nautica was hiding, they would come get me.

So I headed into the Quarter, the territory marked with broken glass.

My personal theory was that Nautica and his loser sidekicks would be lurking in the center.

There, the streets were the smallest, the dirtiest, and the most dangerous.

“Looking for something, miss?” an old man with no teeth called to me from his cardboard bed on the sidewalk.

I ignored him and kept going until even though it was the middle of the day, the street itself was dark.

I stood in the center of a street that no car had traveled in weeks. The sides of the road were gutters, filled with overhead canisters, old syringes, and stray bullets.

It was enough to give even ~me~ a scare. But I chose to ignore that too.

“Nautica!” I called. “Come out from the shadows, you piece of shit!”

My voice hung in the Quarter’s fetid air. A few dogs barked at me from far-off alleys, but in general, it was quiet. Almost eerily quiet.

The buildings looked unassuming: mostly abandoned properties turned into drug dens. Creepy, but harmless.

Suddenly it felt like someone was behind me…

I turned around, fear in the pit of my stomach. Loch and Hael were coming, but what if the slayers hurt me, like, right away?

A moment later, there were hands around my neck, strangling me from behind.

Before I had time to scream, a bag was thrown over my head. Next thing I knew I was in the back of a car.

***

When the bag was finally pulled off my head, I glared at the dim room. My wrists were tied to a rusty metal chair.

Nautica’s ugly blue hair was the first thing I saw.

“Hey, you motherfucker,” I greeted him.

Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to antagonize him, but I didn’t care.

“My mates are on their way here, you know,” I warned.

He stepped closer to me, his arms crossed over his chest. His creepy little smile only grew larger…as if that was exactly what he wanted.

He laughed insanely as he ripped off his shirt, sending it flying to the ground. Then he pulled down his pants.

I turned away so I wouldn’t have to see his naked body.

But what I saw in the warehouse only made me more sick…

A large pool of blood took up more than half the floor. And from the ceiling, slabs of dragon meat hung from hooks. Beneath one of the dragon’s butchered legs was a huge metal tub.

I blanched at the sight, shaken to my core.

But Nautica was just getting started.

“Dragon blood!” he cried, walking across the floor and stepping into the congealing pool.

In one sickening instant, I understood what was going to happen. He crossed over to the metal tub and began to climb a ladder that was rested against it.

He paused at the top for a moment, gazing into the pool of blood…

And then he dove.

When he emerged, he cackled to the sky triumphantly.

“I slayed the beast myself,” he yelled to me, “and butchered it too.”

I spit onto the ground.

“Rot in hell!” I shouted.

“I’m afraid I won’t. I have other plans. RILEY!”

With that, Nautica exited the pool. He strode toward me, completely covered in thick red blood.

The sight made my stomach turn.

One of his minions carried him a huge golden goblet. Nautica smirked as he dipped it into the pool of blood…

As he took a drink, I couldn’t contain my disgust any longer. I vomited onto the ground, and when I looked up, Nautica was coming toward me.

His hands and face were dripping with dark, thick blood.

“RILEY!” he shouted again, so close to me that I flinched.

The mindless servant obliged with a long dagger…

My heart began to beat rapidly. I knew Nautica was dangerous, but I didn’t know he was out of his fucking mind!

Would my mates be able to make it to me in time?

Nautica pointed the blade at me. I didn’t want to let him see my fear, but I worried my composure was cracking.

Before the blade could touch me though, he turned it around and pointed it at himself.

With a startling shout, he drove it into his chest with all of his might.

But he didn’t die.

He didn’t shriek…or bleed…like a normal person would.

Instead, the dagger shattered, falling in shards to the floor.

And Nautica was just fine. His followers at the perimeter of the room began to cheer.

“I’m untouchable,” he said softly, his bloody lips pulled into a twisted smile. “The dragon blood made me invincible.”

He cackled as his minions continued to shout. Nautica flexed his biceps before he roared at me, flecking my face with spit.

My stomach turned, but I had nothing left to vomit.

The situation had gone from grim to pure hell.

And my mates had no idea what they were in for…