CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

DANE SELLS GUNS

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Theo

We pulled into Dowell's at around ten thirty in the morning. Outwardly, nothing had changed with Boyerton, but it almost felt like entering a different world now.

I’d talked with Dane a few times since we escaped the cave, but I’d been as cagey as possible about anything happening on the mountain. Of course, he knew the FBI cars had been headed my way as well as anyone in town and I wasn’t very good at keeping secrets.

He knew something was up, but it seemed like Boyerton itself hadn’t made the connection between their tiny little hamlet and the world-shattering news that little red imps existed and were literally dragging people to hell.

It didn’t seem too far from the truth from the way Rio described it. Bethany's experience hadn't been any more pleasant.

We walked in and were greeted with the cheerful chirp of a cashier, who doubled as a door greeter since the registers both flanked the entrance.

“Hi! Welcome to Dowell’s! Need help finding anything?” she asked in a peppy voice that felt at odds with the serious conversation we’d just had.

“Yeah, actually. Do you know where Dane is?” I asked.

“He’s in the back. There’s an office back there,” she said while pointing toward the back left side of the store.

“Thanks!” I called before we went on.

Dane sat in the office with the door open, leaning back in his chair while bouncing a ball against the wall.

“Cooler king much?” I asked as I walked in. Rio followed me a tad hesitantly. I’d worked here, but she hadn’t, so she felt a bit out of place just walking right into the back office.

“I still haven’t seen that movie,” he said, throwing the ball again.

“Missing out,” I told him with a laugh.

“So… you want to buy guns. Some of my guns,” he said, jumping right to the point with an eager grin. “My price isn’t all that steep. You tell me what happened on the mountain, why you ditched three days ago, and why you are eager to arm up. Do that Dane’s armory is open for business. Otherwise, go buy your guns from a Bass Pro like a normal person.”

I shook my head firmly.

“No. Need them now. And ammo. Lots of it,” I said, my voice losing any sense of levity.

He blinked, somehow still surprised that I wasn’t joking. “Whoa. Okay, sheesh. I mean… I get that you’re serious and all, but my price still ain’t changing. Oh! Price number four. Why the fuck do you keep asking me about Todd?”

I winced, having hoped he hadn’t caught on to that. I was about to answer when Rio suddenly knocked a flyswatter off of a rack of them just outside the office door, distracting us both.

He turned and eyed Rio, who was looking around nervously. If I didn’t know her and saw her rubbernecking down the halls like she was, I’d have immediately thought she was up to something suspicious.

A great organizer, planner, and all-around good person? Sure. An under-the-hood arms buyer, Rio was not. It worried me a little, considering her class was Rogue. I remember thinking I’d never choose that, but that was before I knew there was a whole damn invasion coming and targets galore. Now, I was beginning to regret not asking her to stay in the car.

“Rio… there is nothing illegal about this. Just so you know,” I told her. “People buy guns from friends all the time. We can even turn in all the paperwork and everything.”

“For you, maybe! If anyone at work gets a whiff of this, I’ll be hunting for a new job in a heartbeat! Do you know how hard it is to find part-time work in a local town?”

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“Weren’t you wanting to work in the city anyway?” I asked, not at all bitterly.

“Is this really the time? We need the weapons… even if I do lose my job. I guess I can always go hunting for money now, like you did.” she said with a small smile.

“You’ve found more than I did down there!” I bit back with an amused laugh.

She chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. All the better to buy guns with. Speaking of which… We’re on the clock!”

I hadn’t forgotten, but unlike her, I hadn’t seen all these people she wanted to save so badly. She had this whole “band of brothers” thing going on, and she’d sworn to save these people like it was a crusade. Meanwhile, I didn’t know any of them and would’ve preferred to just stay up here and let the police handle it.

She wasn’t going to stop, though, and if I tried to convince her to, I was about ninety percent certain she’d phase her way down there with nothing but the clothes on her back and damn the consequences.

At least this way, we’d be together to watch out for one another.

“Not to butt in on your family drama bud, but the fuck you both on about? Is it the imps? Tell me it's the imps. Everybody’s been thinking it, but no one’s spotted any of them here,” he said excitedly.

“Yeah… yeah, it’s the imps. I got up and personal with a few of them. Went down into their cave. A lot of shit went down. They’re… evil. They’re kidnapping people and killing them down there. Rio…” I said before turning to her and grabbing her hand. “Rio managed to escape.”

She squeezed it warmly.

“I fucking knew it. Shit, though… am I gonna have to start goin’ to church? My ma was on the phone the other day. “I Told You So, Dane, I told you! The Lord is comin'!” Could hardly get a word in…”

We both blinked, letting that sink in for a minute.

“Uh… that’s up to you, man,” I said. “All we’re trying to do is go down into that cave and get out as many of the people Rio met down there as we can.”

Rio nodded sharply. “A kid was down there. His name was Todd. He was fit and looked like a football player. Jet black hair, blue eyes, kind of a flat face. That the kid you told Theo about?”

Dane’s eyes widened. “Well… fuck… That sure sounds like him.”

He grew suddenly grim, looking at Rio, finally taking this seriously. “You’re going to try and get him out?”

Rio nodded. “I don't know if he's still okay. He... was brave. Weirdly, prideful about the football thing – he brought it up more than once – but he probably saved my life with some advice about my first skill. If I hadn’t picked it, I’d never have been able to kill that first jailer.”

“Kill!?” He jerked suddenly. “Wait… you need guns. You've been killing them? Like, straight up!?”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t think of them as people, Dane. Trust me. I gave them a chance once, and it almost got me murdered in the woods. They’re not people. You see them, you either beat the shit out of them, shoot them, or you run. If you don’t, they will kill you. Either in literal cookpots after they drag you down to their dungeons or right there when they stab you.”

He twitched, suddenly looking nervous. “You gotta admit this all seems a bit farfetched. Sure, they’ve been kidnapping people, but the news said cops are already getting that under control.”

“They’re certainly trying,” Rio said bitterly. “Not that that’s going to keep Todd from getting eaten.”

“Eaten. They’re… cannibals? Wait, you said cookpots? For real?” he asked, disbelieving.

“Cookpots,” I said soberly.

“I… I’m sorry, man," he said, shaking his head. "I’m not really convinced you haven’t both gone off your rockers. You got any proof for all this?”

I grinned, having been waiting for this. “Sure, I’ve got proof. Want to see a superpower?”

I held out my hand and pushed with my mana. The drain wasn’t as sharp as before now that I’d made a dedicated push for more intelligence. I’d also recovered most of my mana since I’d dismissed most of my totems. They were a bit cheaper to summon now, draining my mana pool a bit less.

Just like before, the strange ankh appeared in my hands as if by magic, while a good third of my mana siphoned away. A windblade totem.

“Uh… Pretty sure a magician did that at my nephew's birthday party last month,” he said, his eyes wide but not shocked. “It’s just mirrors and shit. Got anything more impressive?”

My eye twitched. I’d just picked the Large Creature shapeshift, and I was tempted to use it just to scare the shit out of him. For once, though, better judgment won out.

“Can we go out to your place? I can show you more there,” I told him. “We do have more proof… but not that wouldn’t probably damage the store.”

For a moment, I wondered what might happen if I cast Gripping Vines in the store. Would roots burst right out of the ground, or would it just take the closest vine-like thing and use that?

I chuckled idly at the thought of a bunch of animated bungee cords springing to life to bind my buddy in a friendly prank. I bet he’d believe me then.

“Yeah. I’ll need to let Cory know I’m heading out, but it’s pretty dead right now. Luckily,” he replied.

“Perks of management?” I asked.

“Please,” he said with a sigh. “Management sucks. I’ll end up working double whatever time I take for this…”

“It’ll be worth it,” Rio said with a smirk of her own before she suddenly turned partially transparent.

“H-Holy shit!” Dane cried, jumping clear out of his seat and banging his head against the window sill.

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