Cards on the Table - Part Seventeen

Part Seventeen

Previously on - Helen and Laurent head over to Willy’s apartment to look for anything that might be useful there. On the way, Laurent tells her more about his involvement, even admitting to killing him. She shoots him in the leg, wounding him and demands to know more.

I gritted my teeth and set aside my confusion. "Willy summoned me. Like a startled animal, I struck out at the first person I saw. The method of transport does nothing for your level headedness. It certainly wasn't premeditated."

She took another step closer, but stayed out of reach. "Why are you helping me to track the killer, when you are the killer?"

"I was the weapon. While your brother did some things wrong, he wasn't a complete fool. I do have an escape clause, like I told you. If I can find the person your brother summoned me to protect him from and kill them then I can be released. The person who gave him the spell must not have thought that I'd be able or willing to quickly enough. I do not like to be used."

"Tell me why I shouldn't see what a bullet to your head does."

"I am the only chance you have of finding and killing the threat to your life and the person behind Willy's death." I held up the hand that wasn't putting pressure on the wound. It was incredibly bizarre to feel my own blood trickling out. "You're an amazing woman and a fantastic detective I have no doubt, but you're trifling with things that you don't understand. You could get lucky, but Changeling luck cuts both ways."

I looked at the wards again and really focused. Another piece clicked into place. "Maybe your brother wasn't that stupid after all."

"I don't appreciate the way you keep talking about Willy."

I rolled my eyes. "He built something into the wards that makes creatures summoned here vulnerable to human weapons, at least while they stand within these walls."

She lowered her pistol and then stepped forward and launched a kick at me. That was a mistake. I caught her foot and twisted.

She turned with the twist and lashed out with her other foot, catching me in the head. She landed on the floor as a result, but the solid foot to my temple laid me out.

We both came to our feet at roughly the same time. "We don't need to do this." I held out my hands.

The pistol lay on the floor behind her. She didn't go for it. Instead she took on a stance not dissimilar to ones I'd seen in Asia many moons ago. "I need to." She stepped forward, hands cocked and ready.

I took a slightly lazier stance, favoring my wounded leg. "Suit yourself." I didn't think that killing her would win me any points for my escape clause. For the first time I wondered if killing Willy left me ineligible. That thought opened me up to a fusillade of punches. I rocked back and caught one of her fists, dragging her over my pivot point and into a sloppy throw. Using sheer strength I launched her across the room. It wasn’t pretty.

She landed in a neat roll and came to her feet. Like the magician her brother might have been, she flicked a wrist and her hand grew two feet of steel. "You're too fucking strong." She spit and a stream of blood spattered on the floor.

I realized that the rod was one of the weapons from her room. There it wouldn't have hurt me. Here and in her hands it would be dangerous. "I don't want to hurt you." I focused my will on the floor in between us.

She came in, the club weaving a pattern in front of her face. It was almost mesmerizing. The way she moved was certainly entrancing. For once I didn't let myself grow terribly distracted.

The floor appeared to open up into a tooth filled chasm in front of her. She didn't hesitate for even a second and stepped onto the all too solid floor beneath the illusion. "Pretty trick." She went low and I lunged at her, hoping to take this fight to the floor.

Her feint turned into a forward somersault and somehow she caught me in the head with her weapon. I went sprawling onto the floor where she had been and could feel an oozing sensation where she'd hit me. I'd been blooded twice. With a roar I made it to my feet and turned. Now she held the gun and the club. I was out of control and rushed towards her.

The gun barked twice, catching me in the center of my chest. Momentum propelled me towards her. I collapsed on top of her, my hands on her shoulders. It took everything I had not to wrap them around her throat. Three times I slammed her body against the floor, each time weaker than the previous. "I am not your enemy." Pain radiated out from where the bullets hit me. Finally, I collapsed, unable to support my own weight. I felt her body under me. This wasn't how I had imagined it.

She squirmed free, slowly making it out from under me. I wasn't heavy by any means, but she'd been rattled by the assault. She stood and looked at me for what felt like hours. "No. You're not. If I get you out of here will you live?"

I shook my head weakly. "I honestly don't know. I do think that if I stay here much longer, my return to hell will be premature." I coughed and felt pain explode in my chest.

She nodded and walked out of my line of sight. I felt her grab my arms and begin to pull. I was thankful for the shape she kept herself in. Once we passed the threshold I felt a coolness wash over my body. When the line brushed past my wounds it was like being stabbed with an icicle. That's not as much fun as it sounds like.

Helen dropped my arms once we left the apartment. "I could take you down the steps but I don't think you'd like the trip."

I put my hands to my forehead and tried to sit up. "Thank you. I believe this is far enough." My body still ached where I'd been assaulted, but I knew that it wouldn't be long before I'd be hale. I couldn't quite manage to rise unassisted. After watching me flounder for a little while, she got me to my feet and made sure that I didn't fall.

"I can accept that the killing of my brother was somewhat out of your hands. You've acquitted yourself well since you did it even if your motives were incredibly selfish."

"If Hell was hanging over your head, my dear..."

"Who's to say it isn't?"

I shrugged. "Fair point. That's something I would take up with your maker."

"You say you can help me. Where do we go first?"

I thought. "There is a man who knows more about the local mystical situation than I do. He helped me to extend my stay. I want to check with him first. I believe that ultimately Mr. Hunter will have the answers we seek, but I don't want to go to him without some more information."

We made it down the steps and to her, as yet, untouched vehicle. She threw the bag with the shotguns into the trunk.