AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Please, Eric,” Natalie pleaded. “Just let me have it.”
“Nope,” he replied, turning to walk away from her.
Natalie wasn’t going to allow it. If the bracelet remained here, and the monsters found out, they could come for the building and people would get hurt. She felt a chill run down her spine, trying to imagine what would happen if creatures like the ones that had attacked her came to the building. It would be a bloodbath. She couldn’t let Eric get in her way.
She sat at her desk, watching him as he went downstairs. It was obvious that he was going to get it from storage. A part of her felt stupid for not checking there first. But now that he was going to get it, taking it from him would be another chess move altogether.
Unless she got there before him. Natalie jumped to her feet and ran across the corridor, going for the stairs. Eric had taken the elevator, and would take his sweet time. But once she got her hands on it, she would be out of the building, in the next possible cab, and on her way back to the safety of Axle.
As she ran down the stairs, Natalie bumped into someone and almost fell. She was instantly caught by the man, who held her firmly in place. For a moment, he had caught her at an impossible angle, and she guessed the man was either a weightlifter or just really strong.
But as she looked up she saw a scrawny man who was wearing a long coat over a suit. His hair was tattered, and he had a bald spot, with a rushed combover situation happening. He looked like he had rushed to work as well, and didn’t smell very good. He had a pleasant smile on his face, and through the smile Natalie could see teeth she could only guess were a day away from rotting.
She quickly pulled away from him, not wanting to be that close to the man. “Sorry, thanks.”
“Oh, it’s fine. Where are you in a hurry to? I was hoping we could talk,” the man began. He had a deep voice that was overly cheerful, and didn’t seem to come from the man himself.
Natalie took another look at him, trying to make sense of who he was. She had never seen him around the building. And while a lot of people came in for studies, research, and other things, the man did not look like he belonged. She scratched her head, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you, and I’m in a bit of a hurry myself, if you don’t mind. How about we meet in my office?”
“I want to talk about an artifact you recently discovered. The Bracelets of the Old Religion. Very powerful items, and I would very much like to acquire them. Can you point me to where I can find these?”
Natalie did a double take. They hadn’t told anyone that they had found them yet. In fact, she was the only one who knew that there was more than one. Whoever this strange man in the stairwell was, he was a lot more knowledgeable than he looked, and that made her apprehensive.
She let out a breath, knowing that Eric would have gotten to the bracelet already, and she had failed because this man had slowed her down. Instinctively, she began hiding her other hand, which had the bracelet on it. If she could keep it away from him, and figure out who he was, then maybe things would make a bit more sense.
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about, Mister…”
“Names.” The man laughed, a chuckle really. He ran a hand through his hair. “I am called Kanai.”
Natalie froze, recognizing the name. Bingwen and Axle had said the name, and it never had good connotations. He was the one they were trying to defeat, the one pulling the strings behind everything, and he was right here in front of her. She took another look at the frail man, wondering if she could take him. A well-placed blow from her could knock him to the ground, and she could end all of this just like that.
“Oh, you know who I am,” the man said. “Good. So you know I’m only taking this hideous form as a precaution. Now, no more games. Let me have it.”
Natalie began taking a step back, as they were alone on the stairs. Before she could move, the man was face to face with her, a hand grabbing her arm and stopping her from moving. He smiled, and Natalie recoiled from his sour breath, looking to get away from his viselike grip. But as she pulled, she realized it was pointless.
He reached for the bracelet, and as his hands got closer Nat saw the purple glow emanating from it. The man raised an eyebrow, and touched it anyway. As he made contact, the energy from the bracelet drew itself inward before exploding outward in a violent wave. Kanai was thrown down the stairs and Natalie was left standing right where she was.
She turned and began running back up to her office. There was no telling what was going to happen, but she had made a grave mistake. Kanai could come out during the day, and she was away from Axle to protect her, which put her in danger. She was also the reason the demon was here, as it had tracked the energy of the bracelet she wore.
Now Kanai was in the same building as two sources of unlimited power, and the only thing that stood in his way was Natalie. She hit the fire alarm on her way up, hoping to get people out of the building as soon as she could.
Just as she turned the corner, she saw Eric walking out of the elevator, looking confused at the fire alarm. She quickly grabbed the box from him, running off until she made her way to the end of the room, past her own cubicle.
A scream behind her drew her attention, and Natalie turned to see a demon in the middle of the aisle, staring right at her.
Chapter 13 - Axle
If there were demons in the building, Axle knew it would be trouble. But he had to find the other bracelet. He got to the basement, and saw a guard sitting idly by the door of the storage. The man scrolled on his phone, chuckling occasionally as he watched someone do stand-up. Axle looked past the man and saw the gate he had to get through. It was where they stored the objects they retrieved that weren’t ready to be put on shelves or wherever they went.
Axle grabbed a picture off the wall, and heaved it to the top of the stairs. It slammed against the wall and shattered, drawing the man’s attention. He got to his feet, and turned in the direction of the noise. As he began walking toward it, Axle moved behind him, grabbing the steel grate and bending it. He pulled it until it was open enough for him to fit through, and he went right through it. Once on the other side, he quickly got to work.
Not sure how they would be labeling things, he used his phone as a source of light since he didn’t have the innate ability to see in the dark like other dragons. He moved quickly, opening big and small boxes, finding bits of statues, steel art, weird sculptures, and a porcelain doll he could have sworn he had seen somewhere.
He searched as quickly as he could, moving at his top speed while doing his best to stay silent. Once he got to the end of the room, he looked around, trying to make sense of it.Had Nat gotten to it already?
Or maybe they hadn’t even moved it to storage. There was a chance it was still new, and they were still doing their research on it, so it could still be in the main part of the building. Axle concluded that it wasn’t in storage at least, and Nat would be the one person who would be able to tell him where it was. He felt a little betrayed, wondering why she wouldn’t have just told him in the first place instead of sneaking off.
