The Warlock Pt. 08

"I am not seeing the upside for you here Martin. You never do anything altruistically. What's the catch?" he asked.

"Seriously Xath, no catch. This whole thing caught me by surprise. I plan on trying to find a way use those boys to help me out when they come of age but right now I have to much shit going on to get into a pissing match with a bunch of whiny Wizards. Although I wouldn't mind taking out the Osirians. I still owe them." I looked at the Osirion standing nearby as I said this.

We have a history.

"Let's see what these guys have to say for themselves before the two of you drop your pants to see whose is bigger." I did a double take. Xath never makes jokes.

I could tell that the Osirion wanted to join us but not having been invited he stayed put. I knew he would be augmenting his hearing so I cast a spell that sent a supersonic whistle. It should only affect those with hypersensitive hearing and dogs. I laughed as almost all of the crowd winced and jumped in pain.

Surprisingly enough Xath wove a spell that shut out sound for everyone but him and the two boys. They appeared to have a decent conversation, even getting Xath to laugh at one point. After about 15 minutes Xath dropped the spell and walked over to me with the boys.

"They want to talk to you before they agree to anything." he said.

Jack spoke up.

"This guy explained the terms of the deal. It seems acceptable to us but what happens if we refuse?" he said.

I thought about the answer and all the probable outcomes.

"First I would be forced to deal with the asshat that first showed up. I would kill him."

The boy blanched a bit.

"Then I would go and kill all remaining Wizards that were contesting the node. There is enough power concentrated in this node that the various organizations would probably declare war on me. I see seven of the 9 houses here so I would be fighting a war on 7 fronts. This is unacceptable so I would go and jump one house, probably Osirion, and kill all their members. I have enough contracts with lower planar beings I have a good chance of succeeding. Wiping out one house would still leave me with six more so instead of fighting them I would track down every last man woman and child that were related to an Osirion and kill them also. All deaths would be painful and grisly because I want the other houses to back off. Hopefully after the initial bloodbath the houses would seek a truce and things would go back to normal. If not I would have to choose another house and completely eradicate them and any family they have. After three at most, which would put the body count at about 400 I estimate, I am sure that the other houses would capitulate."

The boys looked like they were going to be sick. Chloe looked horrified and Xath almost looked sad.

Jack gathered himself and gave a look to Chloe.

"Who did you hook yourself up with sis?" he asked.

I answered for her.

"Someone who takes care of their friends and allies."

I don't get it. I never claimed to be a good guy.

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The crowd dispersed when Xath established what was happening. With the node being under the purview of the Council, all the various factions would be able to share the node until the Martinez boys came of age. If the two boys could figure out how to explain what they did with the blockage of the node they could sit back and never have to do another thing to cement their legacy. I doubt they would rest on their laurels however. It was time to put them out of my mind and focus on the next item.

I had to get Chloe some help. I looked over at her and felt that same emotion of protectiveness wash over me. I could tell she was disturbed and wanted to help her. The problem was that I was the cause of her disturbance. I knew my plan of action regarding the defense of her brothers threw her for a loop and part of me wanted to explain that I was looking at a worse case scenario. On the other hand, it was probably good for her to know that I could be a ruthless son of a bitch. The two boys were talking a mile a minute. Xath was answering questions while trying to do some probing of his own to see if he could figure out how they had renewed this ley node. I noticed Chloe looking at me and nodded my head over to the edge of the park. We were able to slip away unnoticed except for gwydion. He had gone into sentinel mode and would stay motionless until he was needed. I knew that he was still tracking every movement Chloe made though.

I summoned a small bench and sat down with her.

"It looks like you got over being afraid of Gwydion's touch." I teased gently.

She blushed and stammered something then went back to looking at me strangely.

"You want to talk Chloe. Let it out." I said.

"Pops, would you really have killed 400 plus people over that node?" she asked in a small voice.

I reached over and gave her a hug.

"If circumstances warranted it yes I would have. I told you when I met you that I was a good partner to have. Part of what makes me so valuable is the ability to be ruthless. I will admit that I was sending a message to all the Wizards that were eavesdropping on our conversation with my explanation but if I felt I had to I would do exactly what I said and not feel any guilt about it." I replied gently.

"You know I have seen Droga, the head shrinker." I continued.

She nodded.

"He once asked me if I felt I was a bad person who did good things or a good person who did bad things. I told him it didn't matter as long as things got done. I don't know what he made of that but it sums up how I feel. I can tell you that I never want you or Xandra or Gwydion or Sophia to be disappointed in me. But if I need to take ruthless actions to provide for any of your guys security I will. If I had failed in addressing the threat to the node your brothers would have died. I wasn't going to let that happen. So I prepared myself for the worst possible outcome and got ready to implement it. I am sorry if that bothers you Chloe but it is the only way I know how to operate."

"But are two people's lives, even if they are my brothers, worth the lives of 400?" she asked

"That is a conversation to have with Gwydion. In my world two lives of people I care about are worth more than 4000 of people I don't. That outlook is probably unhealthy but It is how I am wired."

She looked at me intently then her whole expression changed. She softened and gave me a hug with a kiss on the cheek.

"I love ya, old man, and I will help rewire you a little bit." she said smiling.

She hopped up and started skipping to Gwydion. She stopped and turned back to me.

"For what it is worth I think you are a good person who does good things when he can and bad things when he has to." she said.

Huh, that would be nice.

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At the end of the day I explained to the Rodriguez's that the boys had been accepted into a private boarding school that would be taking them year round. They seemed disappointed as they had found the boys to be nice and polite for the week that they were there. Fortunately it only reaffirmed their desire to be foster parents and I used a couple back channels to make sure that they got the type of kids they could help. As Chloe's "employer" I also arranged for them to receive a new minivan for carting kids around.They really seemed like decent people and those types should be nurtured. The world has enough assholes in it. Like me.

I took Chloe with me to see Droga. We entered the Stern Building and went up to a very nicely furnished office suite. I could tell this was not what Chloe was expecting.

"I thought it would be more ... arcane-y" she whispered to me.

I laughed.

"You don't have to whisper once we get onto this floor. And Droga would love to be more "arcane-y" but that would creep out his normal clientele." I responded.

"He is not just a supernatural head shrinker?"She asked with some surprise.

"Nope, he has just as many normal patients as supernatural ones. He is considered a maverick by his peers in psychiatric medicine amongst the normal crowd but that is because he sees everything through the eyes of a telepath and empath."

Droga could read your thoughts and feel your emotions. He was able to get to the bottom of a problem quickly and suggest various different ways to deal with problems. I knew he would be able to help Chloe quickly especially since I had seen her allow Gwydion to touch her. They even had a brief kiss last night before they went to bed. It was so cute and so disgusting. Gwydion was staying at the tower nominally to recuperate and help with the investigation. I was worried that someone would get the idea that we were as close as we were.

Trust me friend, everyone knows about your bromance. I felt in my head.

"Damn it Droga get out of my head!" I yelled.

The door to his office opened and there stood a small man in a suit with horn rim glasses and a bright red pocket handkerchief. He often said his small stature helped people feel at ease. Personally he always creeped me out. He was the strongest empath I knew and if he were to decide to use his powers for personal gain I was not sure how to stop him. Right now he was grinning to beat the band.

"It is nice to know that even you can be caught unawares sometimes Mr. Melshimbar." He said

"And who might this lovely lady be?" he asked as he reached for Chloe's hand.

He stopped reaching even before Chloe tensed up and instead gave her a warm smile and a slight bow.

"Chloe Martinez" she responded and offered her hand hesitantly.

Droga's eyes lit up as he gently shook her hand and motioned for us to enter his office.

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I know I always promise to put more story in each chapter but I am leaving this here because I don't have the dialogue quite worked out for the Droga part and these next two weeks are going to be extremely hectic in real life. If I don't post this now it might be another three to four weeks before I could put something up. I hope everyone enjoys what I got and I will start working on the next part as soon as I can. Feel free to toss feedback my way as I am constantly trying to get better.

Thanks for reading,

-Ahaz