Ar’s voice brought Vaughn back. He noticed that Ar faced just two Djin now, a head rolling across the dirt terrain where Ar had thrown it.

  Shan waved in a wide arc over his head. “Howdy. You’re doing great, really! Remember...jab jab duck...or is it jab duck lunge?

  Just do your best not to be killed!” He held two thumbs up as he shouted to Ar. Then he leaned towards Vaughn and whispered in his ear, “Yo. If you’re going to do something spectacular, now would be a good time cuz I’m pretty sure he’s getting sliced and diced tonight.”

  “Me? What the hell am I supposed to do?”

  “Um...you’re the one that got juiced up. Ar might be able to handle the brainless thugs, but when they,” Shan hitched his thumb over his shoulder, “Get over here we’re all toast. And I didn’t sign up for that.”

  Once again Vaughn looked behind him where Shan gestured.

  Their audience had decided to descend to the arena floor, and had their eyes right on him. He grabbed Shan’s arm and shook it some. “Do your Hulk thing and stop them!”

  Shan snorted. “Yeah, I don’t see that happening. Anyway, Hulk is green, not even a primary color, jeez. I’ll tell you what, you wait here and do a citizen’s arrest on their asses and I’ll,” he pried Vaughn’s hand off of his arm and took a couple steps away, “Mosey on over to the police station and get some backup. There should be one a couple blinks and a pop from here. Do you think they’ll have handcuffs big enough for those mo-fo’s?”

  Shan stepped a few more feet away from Vaughn but side— ways towards the Djin and raised his hands, addressing them.

  “Hey fellas, how’s it hanging? Towards the left obviously, your pants are kinda tight. Don’t mind me, just came for the free entertainment and popcorn.” He held a movie theatre bucket of popcorn out to them. “Want some? It’s got extra butter.”

  The two leaders stopped their movement and looked at Shan.

  “It is not you we seek. Be gone now while we still allow it.” The beach-intruding Djin motioned him away and they both walked toward Vaughn again.

  Vaughn glanced over at his lover while retreating from these two slowly. He started to feel like retreating was his forte. Ar had his hands full with his own two blue guys. If he took his attention off the ones pummeling him to help Vaughn, certain death would follow. He stumbled back over the loose ground and addressed his only hope.

  “Shan, please!”

  He watched as Shan munched on popcorn, his gaze swinging between the two powerful ones and Vaughn. He almost felt like screaming with glee when Shan took a deep breath and tossed the snack over his shoulder. Both the popcorn and Shan disappeared.

  Shan reappeared standing in the Djin’s way of reaching Vaughn.

  “Look, here’s the thing. I promised to kinda look out for the little guy. So, if you,” he pulled his thumb across his neck and made a choking sound, “While I’m on watch—well, my rep will be history. And we all know how much I love my rep! Anyway, what good would it do you? Look at Ar. Damn is he getting his ass kicked. Sit down a spell; enjoy the show. Ar is bound to be dead in a few. He never had the stamina of his hotter younger brother. When he’s gone I’ll take his toy and you won’t have to worry about a thing. No fuss no muss, I’ll clean up after you because, well I’m just a swell guy!” He spread his arms out as if to embrace them.

  “We haven’t killed you yet because our attention is needed for your brother. Do not misconstrue that for the idea that we won’t.

  Before we are through, the entirety of your sullied family will be slain and we will bathe in your blood. Leave now and enjoy the few decades of reprieve we bestow upon you until it is your turn.”

  Shan squared his shoulders. “Did you just insult me? Dude, I’m twice as tough as that wash-up over there! Why the hell aren’t you scared of me too! Come on—give me your best shot! And you’d be lucky if you could take down just one of us, but gunning for my whole damn family? You’re whacked!”

  “Shan! Quit talking to them and get Vaughn the hell out of here!” Vaughn looked the distance over to Ar and cringed as another head tore from a Djin’s body, tossed aside so easily. Two down, one more to go, then Ar could come help his idiot brother.

  “Who are you doing this for anyway? You aren’t Djin enough to want this for yourself.”

  Vaughn turned his attention back to the problem in front of him again, a loud-mouthed Shan and two pissed-off-looking Djin.

  His eyes grew huge when the beach Djin spread out his palm and a broadsword appeared, the moonlight reflecting off it, making it look even deadlier. Vaughn might have whimpered.

  Shan raised his hands in surrender. “Come on you sexy genie you, no need to be pulling out the big blades.”

  The Djin ran the sword through Shan’s midsection until Vaughn saw the bloody point penetrate his back and stick out.

  Vaughn stared at that point with Shan’s blood dripping off it. He couldn’t breathe or move...he stilled, open-mouthed and empty-minded.

  “Shan, damn it!” Ar screamed from across the valley.

  “Oh my God! Shan! Holy shit! Dead...they killed him!”

  Vaughn finally piped in.

  Shan chuckled as he called to Vaughn over his shoulder, “Don’t you worry, my cute little apple fritter. This wannabe acu-puncturist can’t kill me with his itty bitty needle.” He glanced over to wink at Vaughn.

  Vaughn wanted to warn him when the Djin’s clawed hands wrapped around his head and twisted while pulling up, but he couldn’t form his thoughts in time. Shan’s surprised look was fro-zen forever, etched on his face as he crumpled to the ground.

  Chapter Eight

  “Shan! No!”

  Ar’s scream of terror jostled Vaughn’s thoughts and his head whipped up to see the two Djin shallowly step over Shan’s body.

  “I thought we were saving him for later?”

  The murderer opened his palm to Shan and the blade flew back into it. “He was an annoyance. Easy enough one to take care of, the fool. How he survived all these centuries is beyond me.”

  “Ar!” Vaughn squeaked loudly as he kept retreating from the threat approaching him. He chanced a glimpse over to see that Ar struggled to make it to him, but once again the last one he fought stopped his progress.

  Feeling like a deer caught in the headlights, Vaughn strove to remember something, anything, of what the beast gave him for help. None of it seemed pertinent to this situation though. All he knew was their history, the beach one’s name, and their inten— tions.

  “If you had obeyed me earlier tonight you wouldn’t be facing death, human. I only needed to drain your mind of all that is Djin.

  I would’ve let you live. You are nothing to me. But your insubor-dinate behavior will be your undoing. Ar watching his lover die before he does will merely be a bonus for our time spent.” The beach Djin advanced.

  “Yeah, well fuck you too, asshole.” Vaughn shrugged. What did he have to lose at this point, might as well speak his mind before his imminent death. The right of free speech, it felt like the only thing this Djin hadn’t taken from him.

  “How dare you speak to me like that, as if we were equals!”

  The Djin crossed the few feet that separated them and pulled his arm back, preparing to wield the killing blow with the bloody sword.

  Vaughn looked at that blood. The blood of Shan, Ar’s brother.

  Ar, the man...the Djin whom Vaughn called boyfriend and lover.

  Who always made it a point to be honest with Vaughn, except for one small secret.

  Or was it two small secrets?

  “So we’ve had our coffee. I believe this date can be declared officially over. Thank you for a pleasant day.” Vaughn smiled at Ar. He knew this wouldn’t fly with Ar’s temerity, but he found out in their short time together that he liked yanking this guy’s chain. He seemed to take everything so literally, Vaughn couldn’t resist teasing.

  Ar’s surprised look didn’t disappoint, but then a gleam came to his eyes and Vaughn worried maybe he underestimated this man sitting across from him.

  “Actually, I don’t plan on the date ending until we finish breakfast together.”

  “Um...it’s two in the afternoon, a little late for breakfast.”

  “Breakfast tomorrow morning.” Ar lifted the corner of his mouth and Vaughn almost melted. How could he be so attracted to someone who he fought tooth and nail about having coffee with?

  “Oh really. But I can’t sleep with you, I don’t even know your real name. Um...unless Ar is your real name...” He leaned forward. “It isn’t, is it?”

  The loud whooping laughter caught him off-guard and caused a red-dish tint to highlight his cheeks.

  “No, my given name isn’t Ar. But it’s safe to call me that, everyone does.”

  “So...what is your full name?”

  His date smiled lazily as he tossed a couple of bills on their table. He stood up and held out his hand to Vaughn. “Why worry about that, when there are plenty of other things to worry about?”

  “For instance?” Vaughn’s curiosity didn’t go away, but Ar’s good mood seemed to be infectious. He put his hand in Ar’s and stood next to him.“How do you like your eggs?”

  Ar found out the next morning exactly how Vaughn liked his eggs, but after that conversation he never elaborated on his full name. It was the only question that Ar had pointedly never an— swered for Vaughn.

  As that blade swung down from its arc, as the Djin smiled in victory, as Ar finally tore the head off the third monster he fought and ran toward them at full speed...Vaughn made eye contact with his attacker and whispered the only word that came to his mind.

  “Pouya.”

  The Djin and the sword disappeared, just to reappear behind him. Vaughn jumped and ran to his left; the Djin floated behind him still. He turned and ran to his right, but the Djin would not move from diagonally behind him. The sword vanished from his hand and he looked even madder than before, but he would not budge from Vaughn’s side.

  Ar stopped in his tracks forty feet away, his mouth hanging open. The other Djin growled in outrage and charged Vaughn.

  “Pote!” Ar shouted to the nuisance at Vaughn’s back that he couldn’t escape. “Vaughn is your master now, he called your name. You are sworn to protect him from all who threaten him. If he dies, you die!”

  Pouya vaulted over Vaughn and summoned the sword again, just in time to clash blades with the other one. Vaughn took this opportunity to run to Ar, right into his open and waiting arms.

  “Are you okay, Vaughn? Did they hurt you?” Ar’s hands roamed over his body.

  Vaughn took those hands and wrapped them around him, burying his face in Ar’s blue chest. “Oh my God, I thought you were a goner over there. He killed Shan! And now...now I think he’s fighting for us? How?”

  “You called out his given name. The only way for a Djin to have a true master is for a human to call his name. When we pick a mark, they are never our masters for real, we grant their wishes the way we see fit to best drive them insane. But when you are a true master of a Djin, he must serve you as best he can for your well-being. How did you find out his name? It is the one thing the Djin covet. Our closest persons aren’t even privy to them.”

  “I think the beast told me.”

  “The beast?”

  “Yeah. Big guy, lots of metal and bone issues, eats people’s auras or something.”

  The clash of sword on sword made Vaughn wince. Pouya and the other Djin were both slashed up from their battle, but clearly Pouya had the upper hand. He twirled in a circle, bringing the sword across the other Djin’s broad chest and opening it. Then did the same move in the opposite direction and aimed higher to cut at the throat. He pulled his arm back one last time, giving Vaughn a horrible case of déjà vu, as he brought it back down again at the rest of the exposed throat. The Djin’s body remained upright for a good few moments before it crumbled to the ground, its head ten feet away and still rolling.

  Vaughn shuddered, thankful for Ar’s arms around him.

  “What is it with you guys and decapitation?”

  “It’s the only non-magickal way to kill Djin. Shan.” Ar whispered his brother’s name as he hurried to his side, falling to his knees when he reached the body.

  Vaughn stayed where he stood, his own personal Djin floating behind him again. He looked at Pouya and scowled, “Couldn’t you float somewhere else?”

  “You can wish me anywhere you want.”

  “Yeah? Forget it, I’m done with that word!”

  “Shan! You fucking stupid-ass insolent bastard! We agreed, you would keep Vaughn safe. If you had just done that...you wouldn’t be here!”

  “Ar, he knew I could save you. He didn’t want to lose you.

  Even if he didn’t state it that way, that was his goal.”

  “I don’t fucking care! I’m not important. You and Shan...” Ar covered his eyes for a moment, then uncovered them and looked down at Shan again. “He was an ass, you know? But he was my brother.”

  Vaughn walked around them and watched Ar slowly cradle Shan’s body, his head dangling from a couple of ligaments refus— ing to break completely.

  Vaughn turned away to face the Djin that killed his lover’s sibling. About to say a Shan-esque remark, Ar interrupted him when he laughed hysterically. He whipped around just in time to see Ar lay Shan back on the ground and place his head back in the rightful position.

  “Ar? You okay?”

  Ar looked up at him and smiled. “Never better, my love.”

  Then he looked over Vaughn’s shoulder. “Pouya, when you tear off a head make sure you throw it away from the body. Other— wise you are just wasting time.” With that, he waved his hand and Shan quickly jumped to his feet.

  “Son of a bitch that hurts! Took you long enough to heal me, asshole!” Shan stood and made a big show of moving his neck in all directions.

  “Don’t get your head ripped off your shoulders and I won’t have to heal you. Better yet, listen to your older, wiser brother and don’t bring yourself and my human into the middle of the red zone!”

  “Yeah...well...I’m still the hotter one you fucking Djin’d out monster.” He looked around at all the dead Djin in the area.

  “Damn, I missed it! And they didn’t even get a scratch on you?

  That sucks!”

  “Would someone please explain to me how the hell he is standing and talking? I saw Pouya tear his head off.”

  “Pouya?” Shan looked at Vaughn, then at Pouya behind him.

  “Oh my fucking...no way! You’ve been tagged mister!” He belly— laughed as he walked over to the pouting Djin. “You thought you were Mr. Big and Bad? You thought you could take me down?

  Well who’s the bey-atch now? Aww what’s wrong, are you sad?

  You can thank me for this one. Oh yeah, I took the cheese puff to see beastie. And you thought I was a chump!”

  “Shan. Don’t tease the genie.” Ar growled as he closed his arms around Vaughn again.

  “He ain’t got no free will anymore; he’s harmless, like a neu— tered little puppy dog.”

  Vaughn rolled his eyes and looked up at Ar. “What do we do with him now? I don’t want him following me everywhere I go.

  Maybe I could wi—request him free with certain stipulations, like never coming after us again?”

  “No!” The brothers shouted together.

  “Hey! That’s the first time we ever agreed on anything.” Shan chuckled right up to when Ar cuffed him on the back of the head.

  “Watch it! I’m still healing, you know.”

  “No matter how many stipulations you put on your request, there are always loopholes. And Pouya has already found me once, he could do it again.”

  “You know I don’t understand any of this, right?” Vaughn rubbed his cheek on Ar’s midsection, not even caring that Ar was still in his Djin form, just happy to be holding him.

  “I’ll explain everything to you later, I promise. But for now we have—”

  Vaughn screamed in pain, his legs giving under his weight. If Ar’s arms weren’t wrapped around him he would have fallen to the ground. As quickly as the pain came it left.

  “Vaughn? Are you okay?”

  Vaughn nodded, and still the pain didn’t return. “The beast wants his payment.”

  Ar growled at Shan. “I can’t believe you took him there!”

  Vaughn patted his chest. “Later. Right now the beast wants his payment and I don’t think he’ll wait patiently.”

  Shan stretched his arms over his head and smirked at Vaughn.

  “Oh all right, I’ll take one for the team and go give the beastie what he wants. Just know that when he’s grinding me I’m gonna be thinking about how sweet it would be if I was grinding you at the same time, muffin top.”

  Vaughn gave Shan a droll look. “Nice visual, but it’s not you he wants.”

  “Of course the meathead wants me, who doesn’t?”

  “I don’t.” Ar chimed in as Vaughn raised his hand.

  “I think you both damn doth protest too much. If not me, what does our little mind drainer want?”

  Vaughn turned in Ar’s arms and leaned his back against him, smiling when Ar unconsciously kissed his head. He pointedly fixed his gaze on Pouya.

  “Oh. Ewww, a Djin drain is going to make him feisty. I’m not all into that. Well, good luck with that you two. My work here is done.” Shan nodded to each of them and phased out.

  “Shan!” Vaughn called, hoping to stop him.

  Shan’s body shimmered a little bit, then he returned to them.

  “You rang? Aren’t my babysitting duties over for now?”

  “The beast wants you to bring Pouya to him.”

  “Oh hell no! Here,” he tried to hand Vaughn a potted African violet. “Bring this to him and tell him I send my regards, but there is no way that either of you can force me to bring that thing,” he pointed to Pouya, “To the other thing.” He pointed off into the distance.

  Vaughn smirked. “Oh really? Hey, Shan. Guess what.”

  “What?”

  “I know your name too.”

  Shan’s mouth dropped, then closed, then opened again and he growled. “That’s just not right.” He stomped over to Pouya, who begged them to reconsider, pushed the potted plant into his hands, and they both flashed.

 

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