The Reluctant King

“Is that how he got away?” Jericho asked quickly. I could feel the hope in his magic, but I refused to let myself have any of it.



The Titans mocked him with a derisive laugh.



“He didn’t get away from us,” Mitica spat defensively. “So what? He put up a fight, but nothing else. He was a weak human by then, we were the Titan Guard. He didn’t stand a chance.”



“But he did get away,” I reminded them, although I understood their pride. “I agree with you about him being weak though. I’ve seen Eden’s memories, so I know he wasn’t capable of it on his own. He must have had help.” Everyone nodded along with him and I swore to myself that if they were just humoring me because I was King I would take away all of their retirement funds. “While he was down in the prisons, did any of you notice that he was particularly close to anyone in the Guard? Or how about when he escaped?”



Now they shook their heads like they had no information to offer for my questions.



Which was frustrating.



I could feel their cocky confidence, hell I was practically choking on the chauvinistic arrogance these four guys were radiating and yet losing a guy like Terletov couldn’t possibly be their fault! He had to have been a human when he broke out of the Citadel…. had to have been. We’re still not sure if he has magic or not and if he does how he got it. So who dropped the ball? Had he even made it to the Citadel in the first place?



Ugh… too many unanswered questions.



“Alright, I want the four of you to split up and partner with one of my guys. Take them through exactly what happened that day and what your role was. I’m going to check out this basement holding room,” I waited for everyone to acknowledge me before announcing, “We’re not leaving here without some kind of answers. You can go. Jericho, you’re with me.”



Xander, Xavier, Titus and Roxie had to be the ones to make the first move. I was glad to see that Roxie had chosen Christi to work with. I had no doubt the girl could hold her own, but I wanted this to go smoothly and I had a bad feeling any of the other Titans were going to give her a hard time.



Jericho and I walked forward into the barn and started looking around. The old stone barn smelled like dirt and musty hay. Birds flapped unhappily up in the rafters, angry that we disturbed them. The barn was typical and unimpressive. Old farm equipment hung on rusted hooks protruding from the walls and short, stools and benches littered the hay covered earthen ground. The door that Eden blew off the handles still stood propped against the open hole it had ripped through. Nothing and nobody had been here in years.



Jericho stood next to me yawning and when I gave him a questioning look he nodded at the open doorway that led down into the room Eden had woken up in after being shot in the chest.



“I can feel it,” Jericho explained his yawn while tipping his head in the direction of the basement room. “It makes me feel tired, but also like I can’t move my magic…. like it’s slow and useless.”



“You don’t need to be in here then,” I definitely did not like Jericho feeling anything but perfect form. “Send in Christi, I want to know if he can feel my magic when I’m down there.”



Jericho nodded and walked off. I stared at the open doorway for six more seconds before deciding there was no use just standing there. I needed to get down. I needed to find something.



I stomped down the wooden staircase, my body and weight shaking the weak structure. The room was dark and even mustier than upstairs and quite a bit cooler, but it was completely empty. I stood on the last stair assessing the room; it wasn’t large, but big enough that several people could have been held down here. A slithering feeling of warning prickled my skin and I felt my heartbeat accelerate before I could question why.



Feeling anxious, I stepped off the stair and turned a slow circle in the room. A glint of metal caught my eye from the shadows underneath the staircase. I stepped forward, thinking it was possibly the bullet that had come out of Eden’s chest and realized two things at once.



The first was that my magic was slower down here, I could still use it, but I felt sluggish and out of it. The second thing I realized was that there was a man standing in the corner pointing a gun directly at my chest.



The glint of metal.



Held by a man that had no access to his magic down here, but didn’t need it since he had a gun instead.



Chapter Seventeen



Even with the handicap of incapacitated magic I knew I needed to move and move fast. Not thinking about anything other than dodging the bullet I knew would be coming my way; I dove out of the bullet’s path just as I heard the click of the trigger. The bullet exploded from the gun aimed for my chest and like in slow motion, as if I were in my own horror film, it ripped through my t-shirt digging into my side and slicing through soft flesh. I hadn’t Time-Slowed the moment, but I still felt every second of pain as the bullet continued all the way through the hole it was digging and stayed lodged, buried in my side.



I landed in an uncoordinated clump on the hard dirt floor, gripping at my side where blood spilled out over my clothes and hand. I felt the stinging residue of the magic that was in the bullet and my vision blurred in and out of blackness as I tried to hold on to consciousness. The man in the corner walked forward wearing a twisted smirk. He was blonde, with a blonde beard and even in my pathetic state on the floor I wanted to advise him to shave his flesh colored beard, it looked way unnatural.



“I don’t think this is coincidence, your Highness,” the man muttered, his eyes glinting with excitement. A wave of darkness washed over me and my eyelids fluttered closed. I forced them open, digging my fingers further into the wound, trying desperately to get to the bullet and rip it out of me.



Eden! I shouted into her head, jarring her from whatever it was she was doing, but she was already there, already sending her magic into me. I need you!



I couldn’t hear anything from outside the room and I had no idea if anyone else had heard the gunshot. Had it been loud? On a silencer? I couldn’t remember and now I couldn’t focus through my blurry vision to tell if there was a silencer on the weapon or not. My wound burned hot like lava, spreading the torturous feeling through my body like a sickness. Most Immortals would be unconscious by now, most wouldn’t have to feel the pain as it moved through every inch of my body, paralyzing my magic and sucking away my breath.



Avalon! Eden screamed, sending as much magic into me as she could, but to no avail, the pain consumed her magic as quickly as it had mine. Don’t close your eyes! Don’t let him win, Avalon! She cried desperately.



Through shadowy vision I watched my attacker lift his gun to my heart, and then seeming to think better of it, to my head, right in between my eyes. Eden’s idea came to her as soon as she could calm her panic and forced herself to breathe evenly. I felt the blue smoke move into me, immediately taking away the sharp edge of pain. The smoke had traveled between us before, and Eden had used it to heal countless Immortals by now, but this was the first time she had pressed it into me while we were this far apart. I could feel how the smoke was still anchored to Eden, even as it cleansed out my veins and organs of the evil magic threatening to cover me in darkness.



The blue smoke pushed against the invasive bullet. I felt a bit of it as the bullet moved out of my body, through the tunnel it had burrowed and clinked onto the dirt floor next to me.



Relief.



This all happened in short, breathless seconds and in the last possible moment the smoke finished with my open wound making me capable of moving again. Before my vision cleared completely I rolled out of the way as the gun went off again, echoing thunderously in the small basement room. The bullet hit the dirt floor and ricocheted off while I kicked my legs out with as much force as I could into the knees of my attacker. He grunted and stumbled, his gun swinging wildly in the air.



I kicked my legs out again, only this time to jump myself into standing and flung my fist into the guy’s face, connecting perfectly with his jaw. I felt the bones crunch underneath my knuckles, the sound of his jaw breaking was almost as loud as the gun shot. With my left hand I forced a strong burst of my magic into his gut, sending him flying against a dirt wall a cloud of dust poofing out being him. His weak hand dropped the gun to his side as he slid down to the ground in a sitting position. With one more burst of magic sent at his head, I knocked him unconscious and without hesitation picked up the gun that had sputtered a few feet away.



I examined the gun in my hand, ignoring the shaking of my fingers. I had almost been shot…. In the head…. And I tried to reassure myself that I wouldn’t have died, no matter what. But the nauseous feeling racking my stomach and the trembling of my hands warned me that I didn’t believe that. He was going to shoot me in the head. And by doing so, he would have won.



I growled ferociously out loud and pointed the gun at the son of a bitch that tried to assassinate me. It hurt like hell and I wanted nothing more than to wait for him to wake up and show him what it felt like.



Except then he would slip into a coma and I’d have to wait until Eden could come heal him before I got my answers. I grunted again and kicked at his limp foot.



I wanted a break and I got one. However, he almost got what he wanted too.



“Avalon, what the-“ Jericho shouted from the doorway that he shared with Christi. Both looked



into the room with wide eyes and confused expressions.



“This…. this guy was hiding down here, under the staircase. He shot me,” I gestured to my blood soaked clothes and waved the gun around. “He’s out now, but he definitely works for Terletov. Get me some handcuffs, two sets,” I ordered.



Jericho left right away to get the magical handcuffs that would hopefully keep this guy confined while I questioned him. I stood over him, not trusting him even in his unconscious state, until Jericho returned a few minutes later and tossed the cuffs down to me. I kicked his torso forward and then pulled his arms behind his body quickly, snapping the cuffs on him before he could get the chance to wake up. I did the same to his ankles, knowing that without magic those cuffs would be super tight and uncomfortable against his skin, but not caring. The handcuffs suppressed his magic and that was all that mattered.



I picked him up under his arms, since my magic wasn’t strong enough to lift him and then I dragged him up the stairs and dumped him on the barn floor at the feet of Jericho and Christi. The others had heard our commotion and filtered in, staring at the bound man unbelievingly.



“What are the chances,” I heard Titus mutter, but other than that mostly everyone was silent.



“I’m going back down,” I declared, kicking the guy in the side to see if I could wake him up. “Xander, Xavier, don’t take your eyes off of him. Call down as soon as he wakes up.”



I turned to go back downstairs when Roxie called out, “What are you going to do?”



“He was down there for a reason. I’m guessing, before he even knew we were here. There’s something down there and I’m going to find it,” I explained. A few from my team and even the old Titans moved as if they were going to help me so I had to hold up my hand to stop them. “Listen, I don’t know what’s down there, or who’s down there. And nobody’s magic works down there except mine. If I run into trouble I will holler for you. Otherwise just assume that I’m investigating and that I’ll be fine.”