Excerpt: Façade

Amadeus opened his eyes to a bleary, spinning world. He blinked several times until the haze cleared away and his office formed slowly around him. He tried to think—hopefully to remember he was lying on the floor—but his head was still throbbing.

He pushed himself weakly to a sitting position, placing one hand against his clammy forehead. His memories of the night before were still fuzzy, but he vaguely thought he could recall Noel coming to visit him after the accidental Pseudo overdose—probably with another report of how great Jonah was doing, the dumb bastard. Amadeus wondered for a moment if his brother was still wandering around the warehouse.

He shifted a few inches and glanced through the closed blinds of a nearby window. It was already light out; Noel must have gone back to Jonah’s apartment ages ago, if he’d even shown up at all.

Amadeus shook his head, still trying to chase the thick fog from his mind. The hybrid Pseudo was to blame for this, he thought blearily. It obviously needed some more work before he could start selling it properly on the underground market. The people he had already sold it to were ill, much like he had been the night before. He’d even heard rumors that some of them were dead.

No wonder the police department was up in arms over his new version of the drug. Amadeus felt a smug dash of pride when he thought of all the grief he was currently putting the drug and homicide departments through.

But, most of all, he hoped that Jonah King was going through absolute hell trying to connect him to all the casualties.

Amadeus absentmindedly put a hand to his belt loop, where his trusty ring of keys was hanging. This called for a celebratory (and cleansing) blend of tea from his locked cabinet.

But the key ring wasn’t there anymore. Amadeus’s fingers closed around empty air.

Panic blossomed in his chest. He tried to remember if he’d accidentally left the keys somewhere in his half-comatose state the night before. On his desk, maybe? In his shoe? Or his fedora? He checked every nook and cranny in his office that he could possibly think of, but they weren’t there. Of course. He didn’t expect himself to be that stupid, even when his brain was almost completely shut down.

Crap. Crap. Crap!

Amadeus stumbled to his desk as fast as his shaky, drug-addled legs would allow. He yanked open the drawer with his personal stash of Pseudo, taking a vial of Enhance and a fresh syringe to go with it. He was sure he still had enough of the hybrid Pseudo in his system to use fire or lightning magic, but only if he absolutely needed it.

Amadeus filled the syringe with transparent liquid before he went to insert it carefully into his right arm. But it was no good, he realized; his usual injection site was bruised and sickly-looking, probably a side effect of the hybrid brew. He cursed violently under his breath and rolled the shirtsleeve up over his healthy left arm.

The syringe—thankfully—slid in the skin with no problem. Amadeus injected all of the Pseudo into his blood before he quickly withdrew the needle and tossed it in the nearby waste bin. It took a long half-minute before he felt the Enhance boost his energy; his leg and arm muscles tightened, his senses sharpened, and, most importantly, his mind began to clear. Amadeus shot out of his office and down the stairs without a second thought.

The main warehouse floor was still eerily silent and empty. None of his group members seemed to be back yet; and with all the commotion at the police station, he doubted they ever would be.

Amadeus slid to a halt in the middle of the floor, using his slightly improved vision to spot any noticeable differences in the room. Maybe someone had broken in and nabbed a few boxes of Pseudo, along with his keys. Any clue would help him track the damn culprit down.

He noticed right away what was missing.

The crate with his dangerous hybrid mix.

Damnit.

But Amadeus could see traces of packing peanuts lying across the ground, creating a haphazard trail to one of the side doors. He followed them until he found himself standing on the misty dock outside his warehouse.

He pursued the trail until it led him to Noel. His younger brother was standing at the farthest end of the waterfront, facing the choppy waves. Amadeus took a few silent steps forward and saw his crate at Noel’s side.

He tried to move closer, but he was too late. Amadeus watched with horror as Noel suddenly pushed the massive container of hybrid Pseudo into the ocean with a grunt. The swollen, gray waves swallowed it up in no time at all.

“What the hell did you just do?” Amadeus hissed, his voice low and hoarse. Noel spun around, terrified for a moment before he realized who it was.

“Getting rid of that awful stuff,” he explained “I’ve seen what it can do to the people who misuse it. They’re all dead or really sick.” Noel paused for a moment, taking a deep breath of salty air to regain his composure. “And you…you aren’t yourself anymore. It’s changing you…messing with you. I don’t like seeing you this way.”

“I’m not messed up.”

“I came to give you a report last night, but you were too screwed up to pay attention. You probably don’t even remember,” Noel said bitterly. “It will mess you up, even more than you already are right now. That, or it’ll…it’ll kill you.” His voice broke with his last sentence.

Amadeus felt guilty for a fraction of a second before something else took hold of his mind with a viselike grip, casting a red veil over his sight. The sensation built up to a boiling point before it bubbled over, blotting out whatever was left of his sanity. He clenched his fists together and snarled at his younger brother through gritted teeth.

It took Amadeus a moment to truly realize what he was experiencing.

Rage. Pure, unadulterated anger like he’d never felt before in his entire life.

Part of his mind—the tiny, rational part that had survived his overall transformation—told him to stop. Don’t attack your defenseless little brother because you’re the one who’s supposed to protect him, it pleaded. But the hybrid Pseudo blocked it out, stifled it, until all he could see was his new enemy and his precious drug supply sinking into the ocean.

Amadeus leapt forward with a feral growl, his muscles flooded with a burst of Enhance, and crashed wildly into Noel’s chest. His younger brother let out a strangled cry of surprise before Amadeus’s hands wrapped around his throat and squeezed.