Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #20 November 2015 | Page 88

he was struggling to control the waves of pain going through his body, and his hand would not let go of the amulet that appeared on his neck just seconds after they fell down. He didn’t even notice his wound any more. over her black frilly skirt and corset top instead of changing. The door opened with a heavy creak. Aksel was standing there, in a white button-down shirt and black pants. His hair was wet, and that meant it looked more like a bird’s nest than the neat banker-esque do he usually wore. “Hello.” He smiled somewhat mechanically, though his eyes showed the welcome the rest of his face didn’t. It was so easy for Jake to curl up in a ball on the floor and just give up. But only one could break down at a time. Lucas reminded him that he had to be the strong one. He gripped Patrick’s hand tightly and took a deep breath. “Tell me we’ll bring her home, and that we’ll get to pump that bastard so full of silver there won’t be a piece of him that’s not melting.” “Hi, can I come in?” Lindsey nodded in thanks as Aksel moved away to let her through. “We’ll bring her home, and we’ll pump that bastard so full of silver there won’t be a piece of him that’s not melting.” Patrick’s voice emanated conviction and calmness. He needed to pull both of them together if they hoped to have a chance in hell to save themselves, let alone Margo. Zetal would not stop coming after them. And they needed to be ready. “Do you want juice, coffee, blood? I think I have some in the freezer. Might be a bit old though.” Aksel closed the door. Patrick pushed the daggers further away on the floor and sat Jake down. They managed to calm Lucas down long enough to talk. “If I’m not wrong, that was dimension magic. Which means we might have an answer right here.” Patrick’s words made Jake straighten up. “What good does it do?” Lucas’s voice was quiet. He didn’t move for all the time Patrick was wrapping up his wound, just sitting there, leaning his forehead on his free hand. “Look, if we can’t bring her back from whatever dimension that asshole put her in, we can at least make sure he doesn’t live any longer than it takes us to kill him.” Jake put a hand on Lucas’s arm. door. *** “Who is it?” A voice sounded through the “Lindsey.” She spent her entire climb up the narrow stairwell on the phone, getting the address for her next stop. She left as soon as the Vuur walked out of the bar, settling with throwing a long black coat “Nah, I’m good.” She let her wavy red hair down from her ponytail, and dropped her coat on a nearby chair. His apartment was orderly as always, white walls with grey carpeting and pale taupecoloured furniture, with a completely black marble kitchen right to the left of the entrance. She was certain that if she walked into the bedroom she would find the same queen-size bed with dark-blue bedding and the heavy oak desk with a small laptop on it, and the three wall-sized bookshelves filled with books and scrolls. The same completely grey bathroom with a shower and a bathtub. Every single item was also probably in the same place. She always wondered how the hell he managed to be so obsessively neat and not be crazy. And then she noticed Aksel was tired. His long pale face had a slight shadow to it, as if someone had brushed a low opacity grey filter over it. He looked like one of Mike’s soft photographs. “I was wondering when you were going to show up.” Aksel placed his hands in his pockets. “Ted told me you were there.” Aksel waited patiently by the door for her to settle down. She was always moving so that was no easy task. He learned a long time ago that the only one that could make Lindsey stand still was Lindsey herself. “I figured, he tells you everything.” Lindsey plopped down on one of the couches. She had to resist 88