The woman tried to jerk away, but the man with the stringy hair had her pinned.
“She’s got some fight,” the bald man said, grinning back at his buddies. “We like that, don’t we?”
The two behind him were all smiles. Yeah, they definitely weren’t dealing in baked goods.
“What do you want?” the woman asked. There was a little shake in her voice this time.
“Well, my buddy holding you there, he’s a vampire,” the bald man said, nodding toward her captor. “He just wants a little sip of your blood.”
The stringy-haired man flicked his tongue at the woman and she jerked her face away, narrowly avoiding his lick. I can’t lie, the very thought made me shiver. I couldn’t imagine how she felt. I just knew she was about to summon the demon.
She didn’t, and the bald man hooked his thumb at the two idiots behind him and said, “These two are were-coyotes, and, well, I’m afraid they’re hungry.”
Either the woman was a really good actress, or she was really afraid. After a brief lull in the conversation, where the men just stared at her like she was covered in butter, she worked up the courage to ask, “And you?”
“Oh, me,” the bald man said, reaching toward his crotch. “I’m just horny, and I ain’t never had me a Smurf-haired bitch.”
He moved in close and she tried to knee him in the balls. Clearly, this wasn’t his first rodeo. He caught her knee with one hand and grabbed her face with the other, smooshing her cheeks together until her lips made a duck face.
“You got some fire,” he said, grinning like the devil. “I like that. You ain’t the first whore I’ve broken. Makes it more fun, you see?”
Still no demon.
“Where do you want it first?” he asked. There was the unmistakable sound of a zipper going down. “How about that pretty little mouth?”
“If you put anything near my mouth, I’ll bite it off,” she replied.
Hoots of laughter went up from the four of them.
The bald man said, “Bitch, by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be begging me for something so kind.”
And still the demon didn’t appear.
I’d heard enough, though. I drew my staff and Drynwyn from my back, but left the light show turned off for the moment.
Still holding the woman’s face, the bald man said, “I want to hear you scream, okay? I want to hear you beg. And I want you to call me daddy, got it?”
“Funny,” I said, moving into the light with my staff leaned over one shoulder. “I was just going to tell you the same thing… Except the ‘daddy’ part. That would be weird.”
The bald man took a step back and drew a cheap-ass Hi-Point semi-automatic pistol from the back of his waistband. “Who the hell are you?”
I summoned a ball of raw energy and fired into his chest, knocking him on his ass.
“Mage!” one of the were-coyote men said, and both of them took a step back. Their skin began twisting and contorting as they shifted into their animal forms.
The suck-face shoved the woman down and leapt at me.
I was ready, and so was Drynwyn. Knowing my intent, the sword transitioned from a curved katana into a European style longsword.
I jammed the blade straight through the center of his chest.
As the tip of the sword appeared through his back, I summoned its white flames. Revealing its true nature, it cast its brilliant white light through the dim room.
The vampire screamed as the sword burnt away his flesh from the inside.
The bald man’s eyes widened as he stared up at me from his place on the floor. The two coyotes yelped and took a few steps back.
“Correction,” I said, and kicked their dead friend off my sword. “Blade Mage.”
“We don’t want no trouble,” the bald man said as he butt-scooched away from me.
“No, of course not,” I replied with sarcastic sincerity. “You just want to rape women in the sewers, then feed them to your friends.”
The bald man raised his gun and fired twice. The rapport was deafening in the acoustics of the catacombs, but fortunately, I’d already summoned my magic shield. The slugs rippled in the air in front of me, then tumbled harmlessly to the stone floor.
The coyotes made their move then, and tried to flank me from either side. Clearly they’d fought this way before, and both moved in at the same moment. I spun and slashed Drynwyn through the face of the one on my right, killing him instantly. I smacked the other over the head with my staff. He went down with a yelp.
The bald man opened fire again, squeezing his trigger as fast as he could.
I summoned a minor levitation spell and raised the dazed coyote up in front of me, then hit him with a force spell that sent him flying toward his spokesperson like a canine missile. The bald man squeezed off two more rapid shots, killing the coyote just before it pelted him. Pun intended.
The bald man went down again, and his gun skidded across the pavement.
As I started toward him, he looked up at me, tears in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and began to weep. “Please… I’m so sorry. You can arrest me. I’ll face whatever punishment the Cabal sees fit. Please…”
I cut off his fucking head.
Okay, so in hindsight, maybe not my most shining moment, but I never pretended to be a saint. And that is the job of the Blade Mage. And I have zero pity for rapists. I have zero pity for any wretched soul who would rape, torture, or murder someone else to get their kicks. And I have no reservations about putting them in the dirt.
And then it hit me. A sudden realization through a moment of unplanned self-reflection.
I would execute whoever killed Kyle. Even if it was Axel. And that was why I had to know the truth.
I guess I sort of already knew that, but it wasn’t until I looked at the lifeless lumps of meat, which were the result of my righteous fury, that I realized my true convictions. If Axel was guilty, I would kill him. But I had to know first. It was that simple.
I turned back to the woman. She’d picked herself up and was staring at me, wide-eyed and afraid.
I glanced over my shoulder, just to make sure there wasn’t a demon baring down on me. When I was confident that wasn’t the case, I turned back to her. “We should talk.”
“Here?” she asked, motioning toward the bodies.
“Doesn’t bother me.”
“Fine,” she said, her eyes hardening. “It doesn’t bother me, either. Except the smell.”
“Yeah, as a rule, dead people don’t smell nice,” I said, my tone even. The stench was pretty horrific, but I wasn’t going to show a reaction. I still didn’t know what I was dealing with here. “It’s mostly due to the loosening of the bowels on death.”
“Thanks for explaining,” she said, scowling.
“So, why were you following me?”
She didn’t respond straight away. Instead, she bit her lip and stared at me, assessing me like I was a used car for sale. Finally, she said, “I wanted your help.”
“Then why not just ask?”
“I planned to,” she said, struggling to find the right words. “I was working up to it.”
“Working up to it? What does that mean?”
“I was scared, okay?” Her eyes drifted to the dead bodies at her feet. “I don’t know you, and I just wanted to get an idea of what kind of person you were first.”
“And now?”
“Now, I’m terrified.”
“Good,” I said, glaring at her. “I don’t like people following me. I might’ve just saved you, but that doesn’t make us pals, got it?”
She gave me a curt nod.
“Now, how did you follow me?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, how did you manage to find me?”
“Oh, I just got lucky,” she said. “You passed me in the Broken Guitar. I wasn’t sure, but I thought it might be you, so I just followed you. When I passed you at the barbecue place I knew it was you, so
I kept following.”
“Uh huh,” I said, not buying it. “And what about on the dirt road?”
“The dirt road?” she asked, a look of genuine confusion on her face.
“Don’t be coy. I saw you. We passed you twice.”
“You saw me?” she asked, surprised.
I put on my most distrustful expression and stamped my foot like Thumper.
“I didn’t see you, then,” she said. “Honest. When they arrested Axel, I followed them to that dirt road, but I lost them once they turned down it. I’ve been trying to find where they’re keeping him, but I knew if I drove up and down it someone would get suspicious of my car. So, I was just walking. I had no idea you were out there then, I swear.”
I was about to call bullshit but her expression changed, something between excitement and horror.
“Wait, you went and saw him,” she said, her eyes widening. “But that means…”
Her voice trailed off and I decided just to let this play out for a moment. Her face transitioned to a look of pure misery. Warm tears streaked down her cheeks and she held her hands up to her face. “Did you do it?”
“Did I do what?”
“Did you execute him?” she asked. “Did you kill Axel?”
The ball was back in my court. I maintained a blank expression and said, “I’m not sure how that’s your concern.”
“I’m not sure he’s guilty.”
“I’m not sure that’s for you to decide.”
There was a hint of fire in her eyes as her miserable expression switched to one of anger. If she was putting on an act for some darker purpose, she was doing a damned fine job of it.
“Did you kill him?” she asked. “Just tell me that, at least.”
I watched her for a moment. If she was tied to the demon beast, then she might just walk away if I lied and said I did. If I told her the truth, the creature might leap out and try to kill me. Then again, if she was not tied to the demon beast, and I told her the truth, she might be a little more open with the information I needed. Up until now, my plan had been to ask questions and wait for the creature to attack me again anyway. Fuck it. When in doubt, tell the truth.
“No,” I said in a flat voice. “Axel is still alive, for now.”
She sighed, her relief visible. She was experiencing a lot of emotions in short order.
“Let’s start over,” I said with a little more compassion in my voice. “Why don’t you tell me who you are, what you know about what’s going on, and why you want my help.”
“Okay,” she said, biting her lip again. “But I need to know one thing, first. Why haven’t you executed him yet?”
“Because I’m not convinced he’s guilty,” I said, bracing myself for demonic impact. If the creature was waiting to pounce, those were the words that would trigger it. When I wasn’t immediately murdered, I added. “Call me old fashioned, but I’d like to know what’s really going on before I chop someone’s head off.”
She took this in and nodded again, seeming more relieved. Finally, she looked up at me and said, “I want to help you.”
“I thought you wanted my help?”
“I do, but it’s one and the same.”
“Okay, enough with the cryptic shit,” I said, finally losing my patience with this whole game. “Just tell me what you know. Start with who you are and why you’re involved in this mess.”
“My name is Faith, and I’m looking for my little sister… She was taken.”
“Taken?” I asked. “Do you know who took her?”
“A witch,” she said, putting up her hands defensively. “I know it sounds crazy, but she was taken by a witch. A real witch.”
I nodded. “Okay, and you came to Branson to look for her?”
“Yes,” she said. “I had reason to believe she’d be here, so I followed.”
“And where does Axel come in?”
“When I first came to Branson, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know where to start looking, and the police were no real help. I couldn’t tell them my sister had been taken by a witch. So, I started asking around if anybody knew where strange sorts might hang out. If there was like… I don’t know, some kind of underground scene. Turns out there was. A few people mentioned I might find more information at a place called the Broken Guitar. It took me some time, and more asking, but finally an old barmaid took pity on me and told me how to find this place.”
“And then you really stepped into the realm of the supernatural.”
“That’s right. When I got down here, I started asking around and telling my story. Some people suggested the Cabal might help. Others said I should avoid the Cabal. I wasn’t sure what to do.”
“So, what did you do?”
“Someone pointed in the direction of the Cabal’s constables. I told them my story and they said they would look into it.”
“And they didn’t find anything,” I said. This wasn’t unusual. Most towns in the Cabal had a constabulary which acted as the local supernatural police force. It was thankless work. They received all kinds of crime reports, concerns, and complaints, but the vast majority were unfounded or led nowhere. In a city like Branson, the numbers were astronomical. Of course, the better constables took every report seriously, but that didn’t mean they had the resources to follow every cold trail.
“Right. So, I came back here. Asked around some more. I wanted to find a way to get a hold of someone higher up in the Cabal. Someone who would take me seriously. An old beggar told me he knew the son of someone really important. Said he volunteered at the local food kitchen and he’d talk to him for me. Two days later, I met Axel Gunner here in the Broken Guitar.”
“And Axel believed your story.”
“Yes,” she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “He believed me and he said he would help.”
“Help how?”
“I thought he would go to his father, but instead, he started investigating himself. He’s a bit…odd. But he was the only one who took me seriously.”
“And what did he find?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “He was at it for several days. He wouldn’t tell me much, but toward the end he said he was close. He said he would get his friend Kyle to help. And then…”
“And then his friend Kyle ended up dead and Axel’s taking the fall for it.”
She nodded and wiped away more tears. “This is all my fault.”
Ignoring the show of emotion, I asked, “And how did you find out about me?”
“Axel told me. He said his best friend was the Blade Mage and he’d get him on the case if need be. I didn’t even know what that meant, but he sort of explained it. He said if there really was a witch, he’d come find you and you’d take care of it. He also showed me a picture and said that if anything happened to him, I should track you down. Imagine my surprise when I saw you in the Broken Guitar earlier.”
In a weird, Axel sort of way, this was starting to make sense.
But clearly she wasn’t telling me everything. Still, it was more than I’d had to go on a few minutes earlier.
“Did he tell you what his leads were? Anything at all?”
“He wouldn’t tell me much,” she said, shaking her head. “He did mention some gang called the Marauders. He said they were nomads, I think. Whatever that means. He thought they might have some tie to the witch, but since then, I’ve asked a few people about them, but everyone seems afraid to say anything.”
“He didn’t say anything else?” I asked.
“No, he was worried I’d go get in the middle of it. He said this required the subtlety of a professional.”
From Axel, that was almost laughable. But it sounded exactly like something he’d say. Studying her face, I asked, “And would you have gotten in the middle of it?”
She took a moment to reply, then said, “I want to find my little sister. She’s only eight.”
“And your parents?”
“They died in a car acci
dent a few years back. I’m my sister’s legal guardian. I’m…” She looked away from me. “I’m all she has…and I let her get taken.”
More tears. I steeled myself against feeling sorry for her, still not convinced this wasn’t some kind of trap. Maybe Parker was right. Living in the woods alone had me paranoid, but there were still too many unanswered questions. Yet I’d been looking for a clue, and one had certainly found me.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s say I decide to look for your sister. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to come with you.”
“And if I say no?”
She shrugged. “Then I’ll start asking around myself.”
“I had a feeling that’s what you’d say,” I said with a sigh. “All right, let’s find a less creepy place to talk this through.”
Chapter 10
I left my bike hidden and caught a ride with Faith. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but a fifteen-year-old Honda wasn’t it. Okay, so she drove an old car. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a witch herself with a pet demon who was missing a few digits. I’m the frickin’ Blade Mage, and my truck was old enough to be her car’s father.
We pulled into an all-night café and chose a corner booth furthest away from any of the other patrons. Faith objected to stopping to eat, citing that she was low on funds. I offered to pay. I’m not a gentleman, I just wanted more information before I figured out what to do with her. Under normal circumstances, I could get someone in the Cabal to keep an eye on her, but since the Shamuses were looking to detain me, I thought better of it.
We sat in awkward silence until the waitress came around to get our drink orders. Faith ordered a sweet tea and I ordered coffee.
Seeing her up close in the light of the café, it was clear that Faith was running on little sleep and she was near famished. She was drained.
When the waitress stepped away, I said, “All right, tell me what happened to your sister. How was she taken?”
Faith looked down at the table and fidgeted with the silverware. After a moment, she said, “I took her to the park one day. She’s trying to learn to ride a bike. This weird old woman came up and just started talking to us. She was asking questions about our parents, and if we were alone. You know, that sort of weird shit.”
The Blade Mage Page 9
