ROTU: Chapter Thirty-Seven

Lyons entered his house and threw his keys on the table by the door. "I'm here," he announced as he passed through the living room.

He entered the kitchen where Amber was chopping vegetables and gave her a quick kiss before going to a cabinet and grabbing plates to set the table.

"You've been back two weeks, and you're still restless," Amber said without looking up. "Is work that stressful?"

"It's slowed. I'm just preoccupied with things, is all. Where are the boys?"

"Kyle is over at a friend's, but is due back any minute now, and Troy is playing some video game in his room."

"What's up, dude?" Troy said as he entered the kitchen. He bumped fists with Lyons.

"Dad, not dude," Amber corrected.

"Did that guy find you, dad?" he stressed as he pointedly rolled his eyes at his mother.

"What guy?" Lyons said just as Kyle entered the kitchen through the garage door.

"You're late," Amber said to Kyle.

"By two minutes!"

"Some dude with dark hair and light eyes."

"Did he leave a name?"

Troy shook his head. "He said he was a friend from high school—looks like a character from a horror show—you know how they always cast a pale dark-haired kid with light eyes as the evil child—deprived of love when he is little and is named Damien that ends up killing everybody. He looked like that. I wouldn't trust him, dad. Never trust a guy named Damien or people with light eyes and black hair. They creep me out."

"Shut the fuck up, dude," Kyle said as he shoved Troy in the shoulder.

"What? It's true."

"Stop saying fuck," said Amber. "You haven't had hard enough of a life to say anything that harsh. You have to earn the right to swear."

"Being seventeen is hard in today's chaotic and angry society," Kyle responded.

Troy pushed him in the back of the head.

"Out of the kitchen," Amber demanded as the two started wrestling.

"Do you know who Troy is talking about?" she asked Lyons after the boys left the room.

Lyons shook his head. "It could be anyone that I've worked with before. I'll think about it more after dinner—too tired right now."

Later that night, Lyons tossed and turned until he gave up on sleep. He went to retrieve his phone from his car but paused when he noticed another black smartphone resting on his seat. He opened his car door and grabbed it but froze in his movements when he turned on the phone. His face paled as he saw snapshots of his wife and children at different locations.

He jumped as the phone rang. Rather than answering it, he pressed the button to open his garage door, took three long strides, and threw the phone as far as he could down the alley. He immediately pressed the side of the band on his wrist. "Kana."

"I wouldn't if I were you," said a voice from the shadow of the alley. "It isn't quite time to meet my old enemies yet." A dark figure stepped into view.

"Who are you, and why are you following my family?"

"We've never met, Mark Lyons, but you work with some of my old friends. I just want to catch up on what they've been doing over the years and learn where they are now."

"Damien," Lyons guessed.

Drasúl smirked. "It's Drasúl, actually." He shook his head. "Damien." He chuckled. "Funny kid."

Lyons took a step forward.

"Easy now, human," Drasúl whispered. He disappeared and reappeared behind Lyons, twisting Lyons's arm behind him. He swept his leg around Lyons's foot, causing him to fall face forward on the outside gravel, then pressed a knee into his back. "I won't hurt them as long as you come with me."

"Fuck you, Damien," Lyons spat.

Drasúl chuckled. "It matters not if you're willing. I know how to get you to talk, with or without your permission. It's the thrills of being higher up on the chain—survival of the fittest, you know?"

Light flashed through Drasúl's hand as he placed it on Lyons's head.

Lyons's body stilled as he passed out.

Drasúl removed the flashing band around Lyons's wrist and handed it to Ralian, who approached with two Avehkal from the other side of the alley. "Trace the connecting signal."

"Do we leave the family alone?" one Avehkal asked as Ralian and the other helped lift Lyons.

"Yes," Drasúl said. "Unnecessary waste is not my style. Besides, any killing that their government hasn't already secretly initiated just causes more interference in our game."

The men carried Lyons to the end of the alley and rolled him into the back of a van.

***