Page 46 of Darkness Defined

The next few moments were a flurry of trying not to get sliced in two while simultaneously avoiding Alex popping out of nowhere to smack me.

When did he get so good at this?

Finally, I sensed him before he could strike. The disk spun harmlessly past my ear and I just barely managed not to flinch. Right as Alex materialized, I caught him and forced him against the wall. He squirmed like the devil and I had to use my full weight to keep him there.

“Alex. Enough.” I tightened my hold on his biceps; he was definitely going to have bruises.

At last, he stopped struggling and glared back at me. As close as we were, I was a little afraid that the fire in his eyes might actually set me alight. I gave him another small shake, still keeping him firmly trapped. The last of the fight went out of him and I relaxed my grip, but didn’t completely let go. He’d been absolutely wild before, this could be a trick.

“Enough,” I said again for emphasis.

“Matt,” he panted, his breathing ragged.

When I looked at his eyes again, the green fire was gone, replaced by total darkness. For a moment, I was afraid the disk of death was going to return.

“I need you to get off of me,” he said, absurdly calm.

“Right. Sorry.” I released him and stepped back. A glance around the room showed that the disk had wrought some very real damage. “What was that about?” Alex stood there looking like he was trying to pull himself together.

I hope it wasn’t a mistake to let him go.

He shook his head, an obvious look of disappointment on his face slicing through me more efficiently than the disk would have. “I’m tired of you always acting like you’re not enough. You’re more demon than half that room.” When I said nothing, he stalked across the space towards the door.

“Alex. Alex, wait.”

When he picked up his bag, I grabbed his arm. He turned to look at me and his eyes were still black. He blinked, and they returned to normal.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” he said, refusing to meet my gaze.

I didn’t know what to say about what had just happened, so I fell on something more familiar. “Are you gonna show me what the practicum is about or not?”

His eyes seemed to search mine for an answer. Then he closed them and dropped his bag. “Fine.”

The following lesson was awkward, not the least of which because it turned out that the disk of death was the lesson. That I could deal with. What I couldn’t handle was that something was clearly bothering Alex and he wouldn’t tell me what. It didn’t matter how I tried to approach it; I got the same stonewall every time. By the time we finally called it, I was immensely grateful it was Tuesday.

I excused myself after the painful lesson and made my way to the warehouse. Already, I could feel the now familiar sensation of excitement and trepidation. I provided the password to the gatekeeper—now chimera’s revenge—and was admitted into the underground scene.

The place crawled with the usual oddities and terrifying creatures straight out of legend. I was proving to be a crowd favorite and Neese’s golden boy, which afforded me at least a modicum of respect when I arrived.

Otto walked up and clapped me on the shoulder hard enough to make me stumble. “About time you showed up. I was beginning to think we were going to have to track you down.” He gave a full belly laugh that grated on my nerves.

I shrugged him off. “What’s on tonight’s roster?”

“Let’s see, we’ve got a Spiculo in the house, if you’re interested.”

“A what?”

He gestured over to some guy that was about my height and covered head to toe with barbs.

I flashed to the sinister Khima. “I’ll pass. What else?”

“Picky, picky. Something certainly has you all fired up. Alright, if you aren’t up for Andy, how about Singe?”

“You mean Carl? He’s a fire demon, right?”

“You better believe it. And unless you want to end up with third-degree burns, I don’t recommend using his day name.”