Page 16 of Monsters of Midlife

RYDER

“I got the ring,” I growled at Ratchet as I got into the back of the limo.

“That was fast,” Ratchet said. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to need back up.”

“Thanks, but I think I can still handle a human woman,” I said, never wanting to let him know the true depth of my feelings. At least not wanting him to know outright. I didn’t want to name it and have it become this thing. It was already hard enough the way it felt inside me. “We’re going to Hellions.”

Ratchet rolled his eyes upward and shook his head. “Of course, we are. What part of ‘this is not a good idea’ do you not get?” He rubbed his hand over his face and into his fiery hair. “It’s like you’re out for self-destruction, man. They hate you at Hellions. It’s like first you were crazy to rock up to your ex-wife’s house and now you want to go to Set’s Place? First rip your heart out and now you want to get your body mutilated?”

“I want to know who is after the almanite.” I grabbed a water out of the side of the limo door and twisted the top off.

“It can’t just be enough that we have it?” Ratchet asked, staring out the limo window at the Boston cityscape as it went by. The lights danced red and gold across his face.

“No,” I said. “Because if Set is doing this, I need to put a stop to it. Whoever is doing it needs to be stopped. They need to know this is a dead end with a brick wall and a hard stop right against me. I don’t want any messing around with this. No one’s getting the adamantine in these rings. Not any entity in any of the spectrums. This could forge the key to unlock all the rifts.” I rubbed my thumb along the rings nestled on my pinky and my ring finger. My wedding band and Caroline’s. Forged from the adamantine of my father’s orb they had the power to create a universal key to open all the locks simultaneously; that was why I’d had it melted down. Somehow, though, somebody knew the secret. They knew what was in the rings and I needed to find out who it was.

The limo pulled up outside of the speakeasy themed bar that was Set’s place. Set was a demigod of the Undirheim, with high connections in the DGC. It never paid to be on his bad side, especially because he had equally low connections in the local Undirheim.

Decades ago, we’d gotten in a fight over a human woman. Set was planning on coming out to her and letting her know about the magic world. I found out about it and turned him in. The DGC severed the relationship he had with the human. They weren’t always against it, just most of the time. And they won’t really force you to do something. They’ll just take all your contracts and make your life a living hell and cut off all your funds if they know about it. Set didn’t pay any attention to the fact that telling the human put her in danger to the supernaturals. It made her a target, because most supernaturals didn’t like humans who knew about them. The supernatural world I lived in was full of people who didn’t mind killing a human and wouldn’t even think twice about it.

I definitely needed to find out who was aware of Caroline. That was far more pressing to me than who was aware of the metal. They could open the universal gates of monsters and let them wreak havoc all over the face of the planet for all I cared, but they better not harm one hair on Caroline’s head. I needed to keep her safe, so the rift could never be allowed to be opened. It would destroy the world Caroline lived in.

I stepped out of the limo and walked past the line, ignoring all the humans who stood outside the speakeasy. I could feel the ripple of their eyes on me as I passed. It was hard not to stand out when you were a demigod among humans. I was used to their eyes raking over me. The men sizing me up to see who would win in a battle. Hint: it would be me. And the women sizing me up to see if they stood a chance. Newsflash: not a one. Not since I met Caroline. I didn’t really understand the hold that woman had on me, but I would pray at her altar for the rest of my life.

The demons disguised as bouncers at the door stood in front of it as if they were going to stop me. I decided I was going to play the game. I paused. “I need to see Set,” I told the first security guard. Ratchet was right behind me and the two of us could take the two of them.

Ratchet leaned forward behind me. “Steady. This isn’t meant to be a punch up.”

I opened my hands out wide and looked at him quizzically. “I just asked him if we could see Set,” I said innocently, but Ratchet knew me too well and knew I was thinking about smashing the guy’s head into the brick wall next to him and moving past him; my hand twitched in irritation.

Ratchet slipped past me, looking up at the two bodyguards. Ratchet wasn’t small, but he was wiry and a couple of inches shorter than the bouncers. “This is Ryder,” Ratchet said, pointing a finger at me. “You might’ve heard of him. He’s one of the demigods.”

The security guard looked down at Ratchet, his eyes blinking impassively. “You don’t think I can recognize a demigod when I see one?”

We did have some sort of a sheen about us that made us something different.

“I just need to talk to Set.” I leaned back to seem less imposing. “It’s not a big deal.”

“We’re just seeing what Set has to say about that.” The bouncer lifted his finger to his ear where a comm device rested. He looked up at me, giving a slow-motion nod of his head as he lowered his bulky hand and unhooked the red velvet rope. “My colleague will take you up,” he said, motioning to the younger, blond guy who was behind him.

The crowds parted as we made our way through the packed speakeasy and to the back recesses of the club. I didn’t like the way the crowds closed behind us as we were led farther down the tunnel of hallways to a back office. The doors opened and I stepped into the cave that was Set’s office. My nerves rattled and my senses stood on edge. I suddenly had the feeling I was stepping into some sort of a trap, but I still wasn’t sure exactly what it was.

Set stood by the massive fireplace that contained a roaring fire. The black stones lining the hearth glowed with an unearthly sheen.

“What can I do for you, Monster?” Set’s sharp features didn’t look away from the fire.

“Your demons stole something from me.” My words were a low growl. I ignored his attempted insult. I was a monster, and I didn’t care. The reality was, we were both demigods, the children of a god and a human. We were on equal footing here and Set knew it.

Set’s talons tapped on the stone. “They are Thrain’s demons.”

“You have a huge sway in Undirheim,” I pointed out. “They couldn’t have done it without your permission.”

“You got it back.” His gaze finally looked at me, his eyes glowing orange. Set’s human form was like any demigod, unworldly in its finesse, the fine lines of his face making it clear to almost anyone he was not your average person. While I could see the talons and the flames, a human wouldn’t. They would just see a handsome man with a dark gaze.

I saw a child of the devil.

“It was no thanks to you,” I pointed out.

“Last time I checked I don’t owe you any favors,” Set ground the words out.

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