Silver Tongue: A Novel in The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 4) Read online

  SILVER TONGUE

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  The family classic, Grimm's Fairy Tales, is not the collection of bedtime stories Nate Temple thought it was, but actually the keys to a veritable prison housing the most dangerous bloodthirsty hit men of the supernatural community. This reckless wizard must find a way to lock up the prison for good before his city becomes a buffet table for the Brothers Grimm…

  Discover Nate’s origin story, and get a sneak peek into the events that lead up to GRIMM, Book 3 in the Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series. To get your copy of FAIRY TALE as well as a free copy of OBSIDIAN SON (share it with someone who loves to read!), and lots more exclusive content, all for FREE, you just need to tell me where to send them. Click here to get your copies today!

  Nate Temple Series

  Obsidian Son

  Blood Debts

  Fairy Tale (Your FREE Book)

  Grimm

  Silver Tongue

  SILVER TONGUE

  Copyright © Argento Publishing, 2016

  Chapter 1

  “Do we really need to talk about this right now? This isn’t as easy as I’m making it look,” I hissed, crouching in the shadows of an old brick warehouse, focusing intently on the illusion spell I’d wrapped around the both of us. I clutched a book tightly, a slight tingle vibrating my arm as I caressed the embossed black leather cover. The sensation was no doubt caused by the residual traces of magic that were warding it for safekeeping, but I was masking that from detection now. Success, I thought to myself as I tucked it into my satchel.

  Alucard’s fangs glistened in the moonlight. I looked up between the buildings at the glowing sliver of moon, and spotted a dark tide of hungry clouds rolling in. A big storm. One of those old Missouri Summer storms that pounded the city clean with a vengeance of rain and ear-splitting thunder and lightning.

  As if a premonition of the storm to come, guttural howls of outrage, and an inhuman hunting cry pierced the air, and then the pounding of many thunderous feet filled the streets. I shivered. They were onto us.

  My accomplice didn’t catch my tone. Or prioritize our current predicament.

  “It’s just that… well, the job is hard.”

  I rolled my eyes, tracking the heavy footfalls that were racing about in a frantic search just around the corner. “It’s a fucking bookstore, Alucard.” I wanted to grab him by his canines and throttle him. Worthless vampires.

  “Yeah, but-”

  I held up a hand, silencing him instantly.

  A throaty basso voice rumbled, “Clear,” from just around the corner. It was a harsh sound, as if unused to speaking in anything other than consonants and growls. The thud of his calloused feet continued off into the distance. I took a deep breath and rounded on Alucard, careful to put as much venom into my tone as possible without breaking our masking spell. I was good, but not good enough to cover a shouting match.

  “Get your head in the game. Ogres don’t appreciate being robbed.”

  “Why don’t you just buy it from them, then? You know, like you told them you were-”

  A barbed arrow struck the brick wall right behind Alucard’s ear, hammering deep into the stone. A frustrated curse rang out at the near miss, and all of a sudden I sensed many bodies changing direction to come directly at us.

  “God damn it!” I hissed at Alucard, careful to not use his name now that they had found us. He tensed, as if about to launch himself at the archer on the roof that had nearly pierced his ear. Twenty vertical feet wasn’t difficult for a vampire. I immediately grasped his forearm, squeezing hard to stress the importance of my warning. “Remember to stay in character!” His lips tightened briefly, and then slowly morphed into a grin. He suddenly belted out a pious clarion call for all to hear.

  “Usurpers, fiends, abominations, all!” And then he ran up the side of the building against our backs, and laterally launched his body across the alley to tackle the goblin archer on the adjacent roof. The goblin simply stared at his impending demise in utter disbelief, the second arrow in his calloused hand hanging loosely, forgotten.

  Alucard slammed into him and the weapons went clattering down the fire escape loud enough to pinpoint our exact location. Damn it, Alucard. I didn’t have time to go after him. I tapped a few buttons on my watch, the screen depicting an aerial view of the city block around us. A swarm of glowing red forms were converging on my position in the dark alley at the bottom of the screen. I tapped a few options on the screen to send the drone home and covered my watch. I still had a warehouse of technological goodies I had, um, appropriated from my company, Temple Industries, before it had been sold to a German firm. The FBI frowned on insider trading, even though it had all really just been a setup: The Brothers Grimm complicating my life a few months back.

  Seeing no other option, I sighed and stepped out into the open. A dozen or so gargantuan ogres skidded to a halt upon seeing me. They were covered in tan hides over their grey, warty, scarred skin. Primordial weapons of bone and flint hung in their meaty fists as they seethed with hatred upon seeing me. Their heads were bald, but some sported beards. Even a few of the Ogresses had faint mustaches. Ick. Several looked amazed that a lone, weaponless human stood calmly against their gang.

  But if my illusion spell was working as intended – and the look on the archer’s face had kind of confirmed it was working flawlessly – they saw something else entirely standing before them. Something to be feared… or at least acknowledged with no small amount of respect. Then again, ogres weren’t too bright. So, I was ready for anything.

  The leader gripped a club as big as my torso in his meaty fist. He let the tip thump to the ground as he challenged me with an aggressive glint in his eyes.

  “Pretty birdboy going to die,” he growled.

  I smirked back in what I hope looked like pious disdain – in line with my character. I was still getting the hang of my powers, and wasn’t entirely sure how adaptable my disguise was. For all I knew, I was standing there with a mentally deficient look on my face. Or no emotion at all. I guessed either would work fine with this disguise. I didn’t speak, not wanting to risk giving my true nature away. Instead, I tapped my cane on the ground and it rang out like a bell. The lead ogre stared at the cane with trepidation, but of course, he didn’t see a cane at all.

  The ogres were all seeing a monstrous Crusades-era sword, and it was glowing with crackling blue-white light. Because standing before them was a Nephilim, a child of an Angel of Heaven and a mortal. And most avoided Nephilim like the plague, because they were rather… Old Testament, you could say. No forgive and forget with them.

  Illusions kind of rock.

  I wasn’t sure how much action the illusion could handle, so I was banking on the fact that simply seeing a Heavenly Warrior might be enough to keep them at bay. That had been my plan anyway, before Alucard had stumbled into an empty trashcan while we were creeping out of their vault, alerting every ogre on the block. I couldn’t risk my illusion failing if I threw down with them here and now, revealing my true identity. Especially if I used any obvert magic. Nephilim were dangerous, but wizards they ain’t. Magic would give me away faster than a cockroach skittering across the linoleum when the lights flicked on.

  I felt the strain of my spell tugging at me as Alucard drew further away. Tiny droplets of sweat began to pop up on my forehead. My vision began to grow blue with the strain, as sometimes happened. If the spell broke, these guys would know exactly who had rob
bed them blind. Which wouldn’t go over well. Not at all.

  So, I was bluffing. And I hoped they didn’t call me on it.

  No elemental whips. No fire, no Shadow Walking. Just my shiny new cane.

  “No God here…” The leader snarled, and then raced towards me like a charging rhinoceros. I waited until the last second, feinted left, then darted to the right, lashing out with my ‘sword’ at his strings. The cane traced a line of white fire across his flesh, and boy, did he howl!

  I sneered contemptuously. The remaining ogres watched him writhing in pain as he bled out, none offering so much as to help him stand. They exchanged glances with each other, and I watched as their features began to darken in outrage.

  “Oh, shit,” I whispered, under my breath. They slowly turned back to me, hungry grins on their cheeks, and then surged forward with a murderous roar that seemed to make the pavement quake.

  I thought about that outcome for all of a millisecond, and then turned and fled. I took two running steps up the wall and catapulted myself to the lower rungs of the fire escape. I used a tiny boost of power to give me the extra juice to reach, and latched on, quickly pulling myself to safety. One of the ogres pounded the wall below me with his hammer fist, the brick crumbling. Then his pals began to join in. The old building groaned. I raced up the metal stairs, gaining the roof to find Alucard ripping the throat out of his attacker. He leaned in as if to give the goblin a kiss.

  “Stop!” I hissed. “Nephilim, remember?” I enunciated the words in low tones as I ran towards him. He shuddered, eyes lidded closed for a moment before dropping the body to the roof. He turned to me, eyes swimming with the bloodlust of his inner vampire, irises flashing a crimson red. The illusion didn’t work on us. We saw our true forms. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him until his eyes cleared. I waggled a hand for us to hurry as the building quivered again, the pounding of fairy fist against mortal brick like a steady drumbeat. He nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. “We’re out of here. I’m sending an illusion of us flying away like good little Nephilim.”

  Alucard nodded as I squinted in strained focus, gathering my power and wrapping it around a single thought. The literal belief that what I was making was real. That two Nephilim were throwing themselves off a perfectly good roof before unfolding their wings and fleeing the ogres’ compound. Once confident of every minor detail, I let out my breath in a rush and flicked my hand. Power drained out of me and my knees shook as the illusion took form.

  Two rather scrawny Nephilim hurtled themselves off the roof, anxiously checking over their shoulders as they flew to safety. I nodded to myself, redoubled the illusion spell that was no longer disguising us, but hiding our presence entirely, and ripped a hole through reality. A verdant spherical gateway of fire flared into existence, revealing a quiet street several blocks away on the other side. The flames limning the door reached toward the calm street with hungry, dancing claws, stating the direction of the intended travel. As far as I knew, no one would be able to walk from the other side to my current location – they would be eaten alive by the flames.

  As long as those flames pointed the direction you wanted to go, you were safe.

  Sparks sailed off the flames, darting though the opening and into the street beyond.

  Alucard’s dark eyes glittered in the moonlight as he turned from the portal to me. He looked impressed, but also thoughtful. I rolled my eyes at him. He was still getting used to how I handled things, but now wasn’t the time. I shoved him through the opening, followed, and pulled it closed behind me as I heard the fire escape protesting under immense weight. A quick glance back revealed no pursuers, so I hoped no one had noticed our true getaway.

  Chapter 2

  The gateway winked out of existence, and I finally sighed, relaxing my shoulders as I sucked in a few more breaths. Then I began to laugh. Alucard was watching me with that same look. “Why didn’t you just buy it like you told them you would?”

  I shook my head and turned my back on him. “Because I don’t know if we can beat the other buyer, idiot. He’s been swiping up a bunch of books from under my nose. I didn’t want to risk it.” I began striding towards our car, eager to put as much distance as possible between us and the Fae. “You know,” I said, “Gunnar never gave me these kinds of problems. He was a much better sidekick.” I opened the door to the green Tahoe, climbing inside, ignoring his curses as I smiled to myself, waiting.

  Alucard made a big show as if to turn and leave. “Fine, go ahead and call him. I’ve got more important things to do anyway.”

  “Like checking the mail at Plato’s Cave?” I teased.

  He froze, and grumbled a few more unpleasant things under his breath. He was subconsciously rubbing his fingertips together as if he could still feel the burns. He finally opened the passenger door with a stubborn complaint, climbing inside as I started up the Plain-Jane Tahoe. I hadn’t wanted to risk driving one of my flashier cars tonight. Alucard leaned towards me as I pulled out onto the street. “If that crazy old git would stop plugging your mailbox full of religious pamphlets, it wouldn’t be a problem,” he said.

  I smiled. Alucard had been managing the grand reopening of my arcane bookstore, Plato’s Cave, for the past few weeks. Having earned the disfavor of his fellow vampires by helping me out of a pickle against the Brothers Grimm a few months back, he had found himself… out of work. He had offered to help me with a bit of demolition, and in a single night, he had managed to complete the entire job, ripping out walls and studs with his bare hands. Vampire strength was kind of cool sometimes.

  So, I had hired him to continue.

  Things had gone fine until the store was ready for our soft opening. Then we started running into… complications. Like the mail.

  Easy job, right?

  Not for a vampire.

  Well, not when an ex-employee of mine saw it as her God given duty to send me weekly religious pamphlets in the mail. Other employees would simply move on, tossing it in the trash as they searched for important bills and such, right? But Alucard wanted to show me how diligent he was, so he opened every single piece of mail. And vampires were a little… sensitive to religious items. Even advertisements that were related to the Almighty.

  You see, anything tied to a religious belief hurts vampires like a Taser to the groin. In a rainstorm. While holding an umbrella.

  And I had lost count of how many times Alucard had fallen for deceptive mail tactics. He was like Pavlov’s dog. Now, anytime he heard the mail truck he flinched. Big badass vampire scared of the mailman.

  I chuckled.

  “It’s not funny,” Alucard complained. I laughed even harder. It was just so ridiculous.

  “She’s trying to be helpful. In her own special way,” I added lightly. “It’s not like I can ask her to stop. And I can’t tell her my manager finds it painful to open such mail. Talk about an increase. It would be like that scene in Harry Potter when the mail overflows the house! The best course of action is to say nothing about it. Keep getting one of the other employees to do the mail. You can find… something else to do.”

  He grunted, so I let it go. We needed to get back to the store. We had a meeting in an hour. With the ogres. And we couldn’t afford to look out of sorts or they would discover we had decided to rob them blind rather than sticking to our deal.

  My cellphone rang as we came to a stoplight. I frowned, glancing down. It was Indie. I smiled. Hopefully her night had been successful, netting us an easy six-figures from the auction.

  “Hey, doll…” I began, but my breath tightened as I heard her.

  She was crying.

  “Everyone is dead,” she whispered between sobs.

  My hands were suddenly shaking, and Alucard was watching me with concern. “Where are you?” I all but shouted.

  “I’m… still at the auction. I don’t know what happened. I woke up and everyone was d… dead. I think…” she took a shaky breath. “I think I need to leave.” I was almost hyperventila
ting by now, my fight or flight system kicking into overdrive. “Stay put. We’re only a few minutes away.” I hung up the phone and peeled out, ignoring the red light in front of me as I veered right to head to the auction house. What the hell could have turned an auction into a slaughterhouse?

  And…

  Why was Indie the only survivor?

  Alucard voiced my fears. “Think she did it?” He asked softly.

  “Gunnar was a much better sidekick,” I spat.

  Alucard folded his arms stubbornly as we tore through the night. “We’re going to be late for your meeting with the ogres.” I groaned, mashing my foot harder into the pedal. We couldn’t afford to be late and look suspicious. Not after robbing them. They would be looking for suspects. Rain began to pelt the windshield as my mind raced with options.

  First things first. I needed to make sure my fiancé was safe. Even if that meant hiding her from the law. As if reading my mind, Alucard piped up. “Perhaps Gunnar wouldn’t have been a good sidekick for this one,” he said, alluding to my childhood friend’s background as an officer of the law.

  I grunted noncommittally and he laughed in triumph.

  Chapter 3

  W

  e parked in the back. Since I had heard no alarms yet, I didn’t want to risk breaking in and setting them off, so I threw up a hasty gateway to get us inside.

  See? I can use my head sometimes. We emerged into a dim storage room. Artifacts surrounded me. Books, paintings, documents, even a couple of jade dragon statues. Raego would have loved those.

  Scanning the room, it didn’t appear that anything had been stolen, the place ransacked, or anything taken. In fact, everything looked completely normal. Alucard scented the air and pointed a finger through the doorway leading from the lockup to the stage where bidders should have been. I held up a hand and cautiously crept through the doorway. It squeaked a bit and I heard a rustle of movement.