Bonding Nameless (Bonding - The Ultimate Guide Book 6), page 6
Mike walks in with a scowl and a cup of iced tea.
“Mike!” I squeak and hold up the book. “Look at this!”
“I saw. They’re duds.” He grumps his way over to me with a pout.
“What?” I glance down with confusion as my hopes fall to the floor.
“That Artificer guy said that box was full of protection spells. He lied. I grabbed a whole handful of useless rings.” He sits across from me as I gape at him.
“What?” I manage to get out weakly and then snap out of it. “Give me one! Let’s compare it to the book.”
“Whatever,” he shrugs as he pouts. He plays in his jacket pocket, sifting through random items until he produces three of the rings. “Now I know why no one wants to wear one. You haven’t even put yours on.”
I dig the forgotten ring out of my pocket, surprised it’s still in there after everything, and jam it on my first finger.
“Sorry, Mikey. With all the shit going on I forgot.”
His expression lightens as he takes in the ring on my finger.
I put the rings next to the picture and shift it around.
“There’s writing on the inside that matches,” he points out and tilts one of the rings to show me. Mine looks subtly different with the stripe of gold but I can focus on that later. I don’t think any of these rings really work for me anyway.
“Mike. I think you just saved an entire race,” I breathe out in wonder. He blinks at me stupidly and then scoffs.
“You don’t have to butter me up, I’m not that upset about it.”
“How big was the box Mike?” I insist, brushing that aside.
“It was more like a barrel. I bet he’s super pissed he made all that stuff and then the sales for them hit rock bottom.”
I squeal so loudly that several people come rushing in to witness my embarrassing moment. A lot more people than I had originally thought.
Sparky immediately starts investigating if they’re trustworthy. Mitri, the necromancer House Head Derrick and two armored guards, all three of the guys from the Salt House of gnome nightmares, and the vampires and were from the strip club Mitri took me to. Svend the berserker, Aldric of the fae, Edrick of House Murnau and a few people I don’t recognize follow along with Octavius. They’re all clean so I can speak freely.
I snatch the book up and rush to Octavius as he stands tugging at an ear.
“Keep that type of sound to yourself. Some of us have excellent hearing.”
“Shut up, you’ll be making it next!” I hand him the book and he gives me a scowl.
“A disease repel ring!” I bounce on my toes and his attention snaps to the book.
“Are we this concerned over a paltry illness?” Edrick sneers as Octavius devours the words as quickly as I did. Svend moves to read over his shoulder.
“No longer made,” Octavius growls out and shoves the book back at me.
I shake my head with a grin. “The Artificer has a barrel full of these things! A barrel!”
His jaw drops and Svend’s eyes widen in surprise. I spin to face Mike as he takes in the scene with confusion. “We need that barrel, ASAP, Mikey.”
“I don’t feel like arguing about him ripping me off. He gave them to me for free, Bea. These guys can have them.” He tosses the rest onto the table as they gape at him.
I let out a frustrated growl and turn to Mitri. “On a scale of one to ten-”
“I will shoot Mike.”
“Wait!” I shout out and grab his wrists even though he hasn’t made a move to grab his guns.
His lips twitch up in a smirk as Mikey panics behind me, dropping under the table for shelter.
“I meant can we steal a barrel of rings from the dick and get away with it!”
An eyebrow arches as he takes in my hopeful face. “I will negotiate with him for a cheap price, dorogoya. We do not steal from the Artificer.”
“I don’t know if I can afford that,” I drop my hold on him to pace again. “You know he’s going to hike the price up until it’s ridiculous.”
“Not to me.”
“Ugh. I think Ben has my money hidden somewhere.”
Before I can pass him Mitri catches my arm. “You no longer purchase things.” Then he walks out.
“The fuck?” I turn to Mike with a bewildered look.
“I’m not telling you,” he gives me a haughty look that looks wrong from a guy hiding under a table. “You made me get second degree burns hugging Mal earlier and didn’t save me. Your service for healing that by the way.”
“You made me hug it out with King first you little asshole! You know I hate that shit.” I protest with a glare. When did I heal him? Probably Sparky’s doing.
He shrugs and climbs out from under the table to take a judgmental sip of his tea. “You’re a horrible mender.”
“No shit,” I clap back weakly then rally again. “I don’t like holding guys that are sobbing their eyes out, Mike. It’s awkward as fuck because I bat a fat zero at comforting people.”
“I never would have guessed,” one of the vampires from the club pipes up and I curl my lip as I face him.
“How do any of you get anything done?” Derrick asks in his creepy voice filled with censure.
“We don’t,” Mike and I say simultaneously.
“Everything’s just one clusterfuck after another and then surprise, here’s another problem,” I grouse.
“Speaking of problems,” Mike shifts around to pull another book close. He looks really smug as he flips it up to show me a picture. “Check out these spiders. I mean, you saw them in person but wow. That’s nightmare fuel.”
“I don’t want to look,” I shudder in revulsion and shut my eyes, willing him to put the book down.
“As big as a horse. And that’s the small ones!”
“Don’t make me throw up, Mike.”
“Their venom can liquefy you within seconds. Seconds!”
I shake my head as the shivering gets worse.
“And their webs are strong enough that they’re impervious to breaks, tears, fire, and cold of course. You could never escape.”
My eyes open wide and I jerk forward, reaching for the horrifying image. “What did you say?”
“They also eat each other so I guess there’s some population control- Hey!”
I jerk the book out of his hands as he mutters grumpily.
“Where did you find this book, Mike? What section?” It describes the spiders perfectly.
The book is handwritten and the drawings are sketches so real they look like they’re about to leap off the page. I want to throw it into a fireplace immediately.
“I didn’t. It was lying on the table when I got here this morning. I thought the brownies were being nice.”
I gape at him in awe. I can’t help it. The most useful shit just falls into his lap and he has no idea.
“What else do you have?” I ask quietly and the rest of the ragtag group joins the table, pulling up chairs in an awkward formation.
I notice that they all leave a giant gap around Derrick which makes the clustering on my side of the table worse. They might not know what Mike has done or what he’s capable of but they’re invested.
Mike sits up and glances around the new faces with a smile, happy to be helpful.
“Did you know that nullifiers can create a bomb effect over an area that lingers?” He nods as he holds up another book with wide eyes. “That’s so cool. It wipes out magic based anything for miles, maybe farther if the nullifier is powerful enough.” He sets that one down to grab another one.
“How long does it last?” Octavius interrupts with a glance at Derrick.
“Collin can make the nullification permanent if he chooses,” he replies solemnly.
“It would cancel out any hexes,” Grant offers but Derrick shakes his head.
“That would be if he were on our side. With torture involved… I’m not sure how much he could take. I also believe my brother would convince him to do it to keep him from suffering. A dual pronged attack at any weakness Collin may have. He has excellent control of his abilities, far surpassing anyone recorded.”
“Or he could be hexed and a mindless puppet by now,” Edrick puts in unhelpfully.
“Would that work on a nullifier?” Mike asks innocently. Derrick shakes his head as Edrick gives him a scowl.
“You think that’s why your brother was taken as well?” Svend asks grimly.
“Perhaps. Maxx is powerful but not the strongest of the House. It makes no sense for him to be taken for the purpose you’ve explained to us.”
“No one controls death,” Mike nods along as if he has some clue what they’re talking about.
“He could nullify the rings,” I slump back.
“Then you will be on the front lines as well,” Svend shrugs and everyone looks at me as though they’re expecting a protest.
“If I can figure out how to make everyone immune before that it would limit risks but I think you’re right.” I rub my temples as I try to figure out how many people that would be.
But the base sample knowledge I have is from fourteen years ago and I’ve tried my hardest to forget it. Plus, I never made Aodhan immune I don’t think. I had to heal him over and over.
“You can’t be a million places at once,” Mike protests with a frown. He smacks my arm with a book when I don’t respond. “You have to be at the party. If you don’t show up everything will go to crap!”
“Fuck,” the pressure against my temples starts throbbing just shy of pain.
“We will have the rings,” Octavius frowns at my mini meltdown. “Your distraction is needed more than your presence on a battlefield.”
“Wilson is the test for the virus.” Svend strokes a hand down his face as he takes in the books around us, changing the subject.
“As well as Riley,” Octavius adds and the pair glare at one another.
“Maybe Ann as well,” the vamp from the club puts in with a frown. “If it’s mutated.”
“Ann’s Master said she seemed almost mindless by the end. He assumed it was continuous torture,” the boss wolf adds.
“Shit,” I don’t know if there’s a way to lean back harder in my chair but I’m trying. I hope that barrel is gigantic and Collin calls out sick that day.
“So vamps can catch it too? That’s a leap,” Grant of Salty Bitch House says and his fellow husbands nod.
“I don’t know if we’ll have enough rings.” And the problems start rising again.
“We will give them to the soldiers on the front lines,” Derrick says thoughtfully. “My House will not require them.”
“We’ll have to get the children out. The vulnerable,” I wince as I take in the tense expressions around me.
“A mass exodus of fledglings will be hard to hide,” Edrick gives me a patronizing look and I barely stifle the urge to flip him off.
“There’s always bunkers,” Mike shrugs and flips a page of the book he’s reading.
We all turn to him and he glances up and starts at the unwavering attention. He turns to me, “You know what I’m talking about. Those doomsday preppers that have bunkers to hide Humans from Other attacks? Stock them with food, self-contained units?”
“Do you know anyone who would have such a thing?” Octavius asks doubtfully.
“Sure. Phillip has one and it’s huge. He lives on the corner of the divide close to where Ben’s house was. He always said being that close came with risks and he’s ready for it. Do you think Ben living there is why he’s so paranoid? He’s a little out there.”
“If Ben can keep the armies down on that side no one would ever know. But he could cause a panic with his presence so he’d have to eat and bail,” I chew my lip. “We could slowly start sending them over like a school field trip or something. Maybe a fae glamour to make it look like they never left?”
“I can arrange that,” Aldric says with a nod.
Mike is still off in lala land with his imagination and muttering to himself. “Nullifying magic would make Human weapons more efficient.”
“So we can’t rely on any rings of fuckery to shield us,” I wince.
“Surely there’s a nullification for Human weaponry?” Edrick says in exasperation.
“Like an EMP?” Mike snaps back to reality with a curious tilt to his head. “I mean, that would knock out electronics but it wouldn’t stop a bullet or anything.”
“Where the fuck are we going to get an EMP? Or multiple EMPs? It’s not like you can get one at a hardware store.” I rest my head on the table and bang it a few times.
“Well,” he gives me a narrow-eyed look, “You don’t seem to have a problem with stealing stuff.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I clap back and sit straight so he gets the full effect of my glare. “By the way, you’re welcome for me stealing your books back from your ex, dick.”
“There’s a government testing facility a few miles away from my old job. We had to get an entire shipment of phones replaced because they got damaged during a test. The driver got too close to the site. Ruined the truck and everything. They were pissed because the Judge ruled in our favor for them to pay for it all. It was a whole thing.”
“Mikey. You’re my best friend,” I tell him solemnly and a small smile begins to grow across his face.
“Really?” He asks suspiciously, despite his happy look.
“Mine too,” Svend leans back with a grin.
“Mine as well,” Derrick intones with a slight bow to his head.
Each person at the table gives him a respectful nod, even asshole Edrick, and his eyes widen and get a little misty. “Wow.”
“You feel bad about being Human now?” I tease.
“Ben will still eat me,” he protests immediately.
“You know I won’t let him do that, Mikey.” I shake my head with a small laugh.
“Hey, if I get in really good with that elf chick do you think I could convince her to grow killer trees?”
The random shift in subject matter makes me shake my head. My jaw drops as I stare, “Where the fuck did that come from?”
“I dunno. It just seemed cool,” Mike mumbles as his cheeks flush. “Can you imagine a Human versus a tree? No mercy. And they won’t be affected by nullification because they would be all natural if an elf grows it. No magic necessary.”
“You know what? Go for broke and ask,” I wince, feeling sorry for Melisande already. She seemed way too sweet to go for this idea, no matter how cool it sounds.
Svend laughs at my expression as the others start going through books and tossing out ideas. A heavy thump sounds behind me along with the tinkling of metal. Then another and another.
I turn to see Mitri standing by three barrels filled with rings.
“Babe. You’re amazing!” I jump up to give him a hug.
Peacemaker: “Of course.”
Vendetta: “Your lack of faith in us is showing.”
It’s completely silent at the table and I twist my head to look. They’re all staring at me with a series of expressions. Confusion, concern, and disbelief being the major winners.
“What?” I demand with a glare.
They all find somewhere else to look quickly. Octavius gets up to peer into the barrels.
“I’ll take this one.”
“I’ll have the other,” Svend glares and they get in a stare off for the ages.
“I think there’s enough that everyone who’s fighting can have one.” I hope. Please let this work. “We don’t have to argue over it when it’s sitting right here for free.”
They all turn to me with glares.
“Fine.,” I snap out and tighten my arms around Mitri’s waist. “Mitri, you can say who gets them.”
When Mitri’s lips twist up into a menacing smile I raise an eyebrow at them.
“Or you guys can behave and take care of it yourselves. Your choice.”
They all look around at each other and seem to decide as one.
“We’ll do it,” Octavius speaks for the group and I give a firm nod.
“Good call.”
I spin back around and Mitri looks down at me, the serial killer smile still in place. “Your service for this. I know you don’t give a shit.”
“On the contrary. They all owe me a boon now.”
Several people pause as they dig through the barrels and I wince.
“Can we hold off on the blackmail until this whole thing is over with?” I ask him with a whine. “Please?”
Mitri’s smile somehow gets darker as he takes in all of the wary faces around him. “We shall see, dorogoya.”
I untangle myself from him and he takes my seat at the table. I glare at the back of his head and then let it go to hover behind Mike.
“Where’s Aodhan?” Svend asks me as he appears at my side.
“Sleeping,” I keep my voice down but I don’t know why. More than half of them have bat ears.
“Now?” Svend asks with a suspicious side eye.
“Sleep hasn’t been happening around here,” I give him a flat look. “Let him rest.”
“I haven’t really helped Mal though,” Mike interrupts our stare off and I glance down at his book.
There’s a picture of a lock around a heart but no chains. The symbol is the same as what I’ve seen in Mal’s chest.
“What have you found?”
“Well, he admitted that he’s cursed. As if that would make me see him in a different light,” Mike scoffs.
“Yeah, your hero worship is strong, young one,” I pat his shoulder and Svend covers a laugh with a cough.
He glares up at me, really angry this time. “He’s my friend and nothing I’ve found helps. All it says is that he needs some kind of big pulse to release the lock for the first time. After that it’s supposed to be easy to shift back and forth.”
“A big pulse?” I tilt my head, trying to read where he’s pointing. “Like energy?”
“It’s confusing because it says it’s guided by intense emotion.”
“Mal is grumpy enough to pull it off,” I offer with a wince.
“Anger is intense for berserkers, not dragons,” Mike looks up at me as if I’m a student he’s very disappointed in.
