The Axelridge Series Book 4 Griff's Red Card

(Chapter song ‘Far From Home' by Five Finger Death Punch, ‘Rampage' by John Carpenter)

GRIFFIN

“Awe! My beautiful girl…Come to daddy.” I grin as I pull in my chair and open my laptop.

“Ok, Griff. Don’t ever say that again.” Marcus chuckles as he and Jax takes their seats across the way from me at the Hubs new lighted circle table.

After three months of waiting, the Hub is now usable again. The smell of paint and new electronics was almost as good as Ivy's scent.

It took some doing, but we managed to get the servers transferred to new ones and locked down a month ago and now the rest of the city needs to be brought back online.

“You'll never understand the relationship a genius has with his most valuable piece of equipment.” I say to him as I get right into it and type. “It’s like…” I stop and raise my head. “Telling you to stop kissing your bat.” I drop my head to my screen and continue typing.

“That’s different.” Marcus scowls.

“No, it’s not.” Jax crosses his arms. “Both are creepy as fuck.”

Marcus punches his arm and he cackles.

Noah laughs as he sits down in his seat.

“Alright. Let’s get the first council meeting since the flood out of the way…”

“1 terabyte?!” I lift my head to Finn. “Ya pulling my leg, ya are!” I scowl.

“It’s all we could get right now, Griff. The more sophisticated equipment is going to take some time to deliver.” Finn says as he folds his hands on the table.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this? It may as well be a brick!” I motion to the screen.

“Look.” Finn raises his hand. “I know it’s not what you’re used to…”

“Not what I’m used to?! I’d be lucky to make a fecking food list on this doormat. How am I supposed to get this city off its arse, Finley?” I cross my arms and glare at him.

“Griff, quit being an idiot.” Jax shakes his head.

“Listen here.” I point to him. “I have talent that is valuable. This city relies on that talent and I can’t use it if I have shite for equipment!”

“Griffin, tone it down. You’re waiting and that’s it. Deal with what you have and when the equipment gets here, we'll help you get caught up.” Finn says sternly.

He eyes me and I go back to typing. “Fine.”

“When can you have the power grid back up?” He asks.

“With this? Next fecking year.” I glance at him as I type furiously.

He chuckles out a sigh. “Do your best.”

“Some things never change.”

We all whip our heads to the door and I hold my breath.

“Hey…room for one more still?” Eddie rubs his head with his brow stitched up then stuffs his hands in his pockets. I can feel his nervous guilt from here. I lock with his eyes and give him a smile.

“Always.” Finn grins and walks around the table to meet him at the top of the stairs. “How are you?” He asks as he side claps him.

“Uh…As good as I can be being a demons puppet.” He walks down the three steps to the Hub circle.

“I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we don’t blame you, Ed. None of this was your fault.” Finn says.

Eddie glances around the table. “Don’t lie, Finn. We all know I’m a weak ass pussy.” He turns back to Finn. “I let him in. It took Jax putting a bullet in my brain to get him out.”

“Alistair’s a next level demon, Ed. We knew he’d be too strong. We knew it the first time.” Jax says as he leans back with his arms crossed.

Finn nods. “What I think, and this is total speculation, but I think he got in because you’re still harboring the guilt of Caitlan. I know you haven’t made peace with that. I also know you’re still hanging onto what your father did. You need to talk to someone about that.”

Eddie sucks in his top lip and nods.

“If you clear your soul, he can’t take you again. I don’t think the pot is working anymore.” Finn says.

“But I like pot.” Eddie mumbles as he looks to the floor.

Finn chuckles as does the room. “I know, but maybe try to fix what it’s medicating instead.”

“Ya got nothing to lose, lad.” I add.

Eddie glances at me and smiles. “Ya OK.”

Finn slaps his arm. “Take your seat.”

Eddie bites his upper lip as he walks my way and stops at his chair. I pull it out and dust it off. “Fit for a king.” I grin.

He laughs as he sits. Noah claps his back and shakes his shoulder in a welcome back.

As we settle back into our meeting, I see Eddie in the corner of my eye, rubbing his hand. Those hands have taken so many lives, but none of them were his to bear. That’s the horrifying part. Demons invade and do stuff you wouldn’t dream of. When they leave, you’re left with the guilt and trauma of it all.

I sit back and grab his hand. He looks up at me like he wants to break.

“Don’t, lad. Don’t feel guilty. I know it wasn’t you. This is on him and I will always see it that way.” I squeeze his hand and give it a couple of pushes with a smile. “Help me with this code, yeah?” I tick my head to the laptop.

“OK.” He smiles and pulls his chair closer to mine.

“Bare with me. Finns pockets are shallower than a puddle in the heat of summer.” I grit.

“Griff, that’s not fair.” Finn whines.

Eddie chuckles. “We can work with it.”

“Aye. We shall.” I slap his back and we get started trying to fix the city’s power grid.

“Ok. So people have been moving back slowly. Half the towers are repaired and ready for use.” Finn starts.

“Thank Jesus.” I mumble. I can’t wait to sleep in my penthouse bed again.

“The west end subdivisions are waiting on water and power.” He continues.

“Finn…someone’s trying to come through Comms.” Noah informs.

“Who is it?” Finn pushes the keys to start the holographic monitor.

“Falcon.” He replies.

Finn opens the line and Bastian is on the other end.

“Bastian? I thought our phone conference wasn’t until next week.” Finn looks confused.

“It is. I’m calling about something else.” He looks around at us all and then Finn.

“What about?”

“We need your satellites. Please tell me they’re online.” Bastian says.

“They are, but why do you need ours?” Finn asks.

“We can’t track it fast enough.” He says.

“It?” Jax questions.

“I’m sending coordinates now.” Bastian looks like he’s typing.

“Marcus?” Finn raises a brow.

“Got it. Coming online.” He types on his tablet and all our jaws drop.

Finn jumps up and point to Marcus. “Follow it! SATS 405, 32 and 56. Now!” He snaps his fingers rapidly.

“Ok! Relax.” Marcus growls as he types.

The images flip from one satellite to the next.

“Zoom in!”

“It’s moving again!”

“Follow it! Don’t lose it!”

“Finley, what the hell is that?” I ask.

“Bastian?”

“We don’t know. It just showed up.”

“He’s a fecking beast!”

“Marc, get us closer.” Finn orders.

As Marcus zooms in the animal on the screen. It stands and sniffs the ground.

“A tiger?” Noah questions.

“Ain’t no fecking tiger, mate.” I say low.

“I think I dreamed that once.” Eddie says wide eyed. “But I was high so, it can’t be real.”

“Looks real to me.” Noah responds.

The satellite gets closer and we get a better look. The head is a mash of wolf and cat. The tail is long, sharp and pointed like a Dires. It’s body is built like a tiger.

It lifts his head and roars, we can’t hear it, but surrounding flocks of birds did and they take off in mass panic.

Our jaws hit the floor when he disappears in a cloud of black smoke.

“Demon.” Eddie chokes.

“No. Raven power.” Adam says.

“Raven.” Finn questions.

Adam nods. “A wolf pack on the east coast with teleportation. Black smoke.” He motions to the screen.

“Got ‘em.”

“Where is that?” Finn asks.

“Outside of Missouri.” Marcus confirms.

“Where’s he going?” Finn looks to the second screen. “What do you know, Bastian?”

“Not much. He's fast, skilled and smart. He took down all attempts to capture it. Finn, he went through us like we were flies buzzing around his head. Bullets or explosives have no effect. Darts won’t penetrate his fur. He has a laundry list of powers. We've tried to capture it twice and he kicked our asses.” Bastian eyes him as he crosses his arms.

Marcus follows him as the creature moves again. “Other side of Tennessee.” Marcus reports.

“He’s moving East.” Finn watches as the creature smokes out then reappears.

“He’s moving faster. Recognition is having a hard time keeping up.” Marcus says as he tries to follow the creature.

“Any leads?” Finn asks.

“We asked the usual suspects, but still have no clue. It’s like he just appeared out of thin air.” Bastian says.

Finn stretches his temple. “The mirror world?”

Bastian shakes his head. “Graham confirms all the doors are closed and Damica says that creature doesn’t exist.” Bastian informs.

“Middle of Virginia!” Marcus says.

“Fuck, he’s fast.” Jax says as he types. “Marc, try to pin him down. I need a biological profile.”

“Guys, if he keeps on his current path, he’s going to hit Atlas.” Eddie says from his laptop.

Finn snaps at Noah. “Get Titus on the phone, now."

“South Carolina.” Marcus barks out.

We watch the creature hit the cities and people run screaming from it.

“Don’t lose it.” Finn barks.

“I won’t.” Marcus grits.

The animal tears down the middle of streets and almost causes cars to crash as people avoid hitting him. He smashes against building walls and they crumble like their made of sand. He jumps on cars and they fold easily under his weight. He roars and people run in terror.

City after city, this thing of nightmares terrorizes the people. We watch as he’s faced with authorities and with a single swipe of his tail, he cuts patrol cars in half.

“Fuck me!” Marcus’ brows go up.

“Fucking wicked!” Jax grins and tries desperately to grab as much biological information as he can.

“Bastian, it is going to kill someone! Shut it down!” Finn yells as he points to the screen.

“We can’t, Finn! There’s no stopping it!”

“He’s hit Atlas!” Marcus interrupts.

We are all glued to the screen.

“Titus?”

“He’s not answering.”

“He knows it’s there.”

“What do we do?”

Finn walks up to the monitor. “Nothing we can do but pray.” He mumbles as the creature busts through the gates of Atlas and runs up the middle of the main highway.

He runs through the beaches and people run for their lives. He moves inland and runs through the streets of the main city. He jumps on buildings, tearing up windows and walls as he climbs higher, jumping from building to building.

“What’s he doing?”

“Obviously, he's climbing.” Eddie shrugs.

We all look at him and shake our heads.

“Marc…”

“I’m on his ass, Finn.” He brings up extra cameras from Atlas' down town core.

One building had a camera that the creature ran up to and jumped over.

“Gotcha.” Jax grins. He pulls up a front view of the creature. “I’m going to studying this thing for years.” He mumbles as he leans in and looks over his photo. “We need to catch it.” Jax says to Finn.

“I don’t think so.” Finn shakes his head.

“Finn, he’s reached the tower.”

We watch in awe as the thing leaps across a 7 lane road and lands at the forth and fifth stories. Concrete falls like rain as it scales the outside of the tower, leaving a trail of destruction behind it.

“Titus is going to be pissed.” Marcus whispers.

“This is awesome.” Jax chuckles like a kid at Christmas as he takes furious notes.

We watch him scale the 45 stories and stop just below Titus' balcony. We see Titus and his guard hit the railing. The creature roars and shakes his head. Titus' guard opens fire on the creature as Titus attacks with his tridents power blasts. The creature swipes his paw sending Titus’ trident and half his guard, falling to the street below.

“Holy shit!” Finns brows go up.

Titus tries to grab at the creature as it leaps over his balcony and continues to climb to the top. It stops and doesn’t move.

“What’s it doing?” Bastian asks.

“Just…sitting there.” Finn answers.

In nail-biting silence, we wait for it to do something. It starts to shimmer gold and wind surrounds it.

“I think it’s trying to shift.” I say.

“Not trying to….” Eddie says.

The creature melts into an extremely large muscular man. He has blonde hair that’s close cut and a hard square jaw. His well defined muscles are massive and flex as he holds on with massive claws.

“That asshole’s jacked! Oh my God.” Jax says with shock

“Marc! Face recognition now!” Finn snaps.

“On it.”

The satellite spins around and snaps a picture of the man’s face as he looks out to the ocean. It appears on the holographic monitor like a mugshot. We stare at it while Marcus searches for information.

“Why does he look familiar?” Finn asks as he rubs his chin. “Marc.”

I will admit. He has a face that tweaks the brain, but ya just can’t place it.

“Hold on. I’m triple checking this because it’s not fucking possible.” He answers.

“Marc!”

“Fine!”

He hits a button, sending the file documents to the main monitor.

“No. It can’t be.” Bastian says.

“Marcus, you’re sure.” Finn says.

“FBI, CIA, INTERPOL and all the other alphabet names confirm. That weird thing is Zayden Maximus.” Marcus looks at us all with worry.

“Bastian?” Finn looks to the screen.

“I…I…He's dead.”

“We know.” Finn grits. “Why is he alive?”

Bastian just shakes his head.

“He’s got nothing.” Jax says. “But I have something.”

“What do you have?” Finn asks.

“Us morgue guys, we have, what we call, soft reports. Basically, reports involving the dead and buried. Thefts from the morgue itself warrants more of an investigation than grave robbing, so this database has every cold case in it involving the rest in peace guys, as we call them. In the archives of these reports, I found a grave robbery in Surrey, England. In a private cemetery belonging to the Maximus family. There was a report filed four days after the burial of that man right there. The actual culprits weren’t caught, but the guy they paid off was. He couldn’t describe any of them, but he confessed who paid him.”

“Who?”

“A group born out of Athens, Greece known as the Forsaken.” He brings up a picture of a skeletal wolf head in a black diamond. “They made several appearances around Europe, but what they are really into…you wouldn’t believe it.”

“Who are they?” Finn asks.

“According to these reports, Necromancers.” Jax says.

“The Forsaken are also lone wolves.” Adam pipes up. “I ran into a Witch on the east coast who had dealings with them. They’re immune to the rogue sickness and can manipulate time. Now, that Jax has confirmed what I suspected, they have dealings with the dead. That’s why they wanted my skull.”

“They wanted your skull?” Finn arches a brow.

“Yes. The one I needed to open the gates of hell with. What they wanted it for, I don’t know. She didn’t tell me. If they are necromancers, it can’t be good. If they’re here, they need to be dealt with.” Adam eyes Finn who nods in agreement.

“What is a Necromancer exactly?” Bastian asks.

“They be the worst bunch you run into, mate. Everything is tame as a kitten compared to them.” I interrupt as I lean back in my chair and stare at them all. My tone is dark with a touch of fear.

“Dealing with the dead is just the tip. They can ice yer soul, they can. Dice it, cut it up. Empty ya out like a pot ‘o stew in last night’s tea.”

“They read ya mind.” I lean forward and tap my temple a few times. “Make ya think thoughts that weren’t yours. Make a see things that wasn’t there. They travel in the shadows. Use them as roads. Be in your gaff, in the dark, and get ya while ya sleep.”

“They be cunning, they are. Trickier than a fairy be, aye now. They look normal, be trusting that be true. Ya may even call them friend, but they manipulate. Use ya for their own dealings and when done, they use ya for pieces in their curses. Ya can’t fight back because ya wouldn’t be telling it’s happening until yer offed. Yer bones ground. Yer blood spilt.”

I see several swallow as I relive my horror to them.

“When ya are on the ropes with one and ya be thinking ya have it done and won, the Necromancer…Aye…It lets ya believe that. Lets ya think you've won…It plays ya like a fecking fiddle. They'll spin a tale or two. Beg for their last breath even then tells yer own shadow to slice ya neck when yer unawares and the terrifying part? It will.” I say darkly.

I tilt my head slightly and nod to them in a show that I’m not lying. A few rub their necks. They get the picture.

“My lads…” My mouth shrinks and my head floats around the room. “It’s army lays under the dirt and the dark of the rolling hills, it does. The army sleeps in eternal slumber just waiting to be released. The Necromancer, it calls to them. It controls them. Doesn’t matter who or how long the dead have rested. When the bones are dust, the spirit lives to serve them and the spirit is just as deadly. Lads, ya lay eyes on a Necromancer, fucking run. Cuz it’ll be the last chance you'll get, mark my word here and now.”

“How do you know?” Bastian asks.

I lean on the table and scowl. “Because one darkened my stoop one eve and I barely escaped with my life.” I grit.

The entire room falls silent.

“Finn. He’s shifted back.” Marcus interrupts the eerie silence as Finn flinches in his skin.

We all turn to Zayden and watch his tiger roar from on top of Titus’ tower.

He looks out to the ocean and roars again.

We watch intently as Titus’ tower is surrounded by personal flyers and they open fire. He leaps from the tower onto the closest flyer to him and it starts to fall from the sky. He makes the largest jump I’ve ever seen an animal make and lands on the road next to the beach. As people run away, he bounds toward the ocean. The flyers shoot at him the whole way. Beach sand flies up in columns all around him.

He jumps and shifts into a dolphin and lands in the water. He disappears under the waves, then breaks the surface with a giant leap out of the water. He shifts into a shark and lands farther out.

The flyers circle around, waiting for him to surface again. When he doesn’t, they turn around and come back in.

“Why'd he jump into the water?” Marcus asks.

“Finley, get London on the ringer, right fecking now.” I say as a shiver runs through me.

Finns eyes meet mine. “Why?”

“Zayden Maximus is going home.”

I swallow and all their jaws drop.

“Great. I’m never sleeping again.” Eddie leans back in his chair and rubs his forehead as we all look at him with confusion.

“Bastian, you call Zander. I’ll call Titus. Adam, I need you on that call to tell Titus everything you know about the Forsaken.” Finn instructs.

“It’s not much.” He says.

“Better than what we had before. Bastian, we’ll keep a monitor on the coastline in case he comes back.” Finn turns to the monitor.

“Ok. Call me if anything changes.” Bastian says.

“I will.” Finn hangs up.

The guys all look at me.

“What?”

“You fought a necromancer and didn’t tell us?” Jax says.

“Aye. There’s lots I done ya don’t know.” I say.

“Like what?” Marcus asks.

I close my laptop and stand. “I’d tell ya, but then I’d have to kill ya.” I smirk and head for the door.

“Griff!”

“Top ‘O the morning, laddies!” I salute as I walk out.