by Logan Byrne
There were a couple more stories to the building, a myriad of rooms offering dead ends. The number of vampires running around or trying to attack us dwindled. Officers were everywhere, I was even sure there were more than when we started the raid. After five minutes of searching, we finally found a door with a glass insert in the window that said “Office” on it.
“This has to be it,” I said, busting the door open. Nobody was inside, the office bare, though a half-smoked cigar was still burning in an ashtray.
“Somebody left in a hurry,” Britta said as we walked inside.
“They really keep their files pretty disorganized, don’t they?” Charlie asked.
“No, I don’t think they do,” I said, walking around the giant oak desk in the center of the room.
“They’re all over the place,” Charlie said.
“But look at them, I think he was trying to take something before they left. Maybe there was some damning evidence that they didn’t want the police to find out about. Evidence that gave away names, or even just about the operation itself,” I said.
“I think Lexa is right on this one. I think the boss had to get rid of evidence when he saw us coming up,” she said, pointing to a few monitors off to the side showing security camera footage. We could see all our men outside and around the building, cuffing their henchmen and taking them back to the precinct through portals.
“There has to be something, though, right? Something must give us a clue as to who this person is, this boss, and what he was doing in this club and trying to hide,” I said, sorting through some papers on the desk.
It was mostly boring stuff, some employee files, random documents, and even some bills, but nothing that gave us any real evidence. There weren’t any documents about the babies, the women, other locations where they might be hiding them, or backup locations to take them. It was like they just disappeared.
“What’s this?” Charlie asked, handing me a thick postcard-like rectangle.
“It looks like an invitation of some kind. It’s for a week from now,” I said, looking over the glossy black invitation. “It’s in New York, the mortal realm, and it looks like some kind of important event.”
“What if the boss is going?” Charlie asked.
“Why would he leave that around, though? Or leave it behind?” Britta asked.
“It’s probably not a high priority for him to keep that in a safe place. After all, it’s just some invitation he got in the mail. He probably cared much more about getting his documents out of the building before he cared about some fancy invitation to some gala he probably didn’t want to go to in the first place,” Charlie said.
“Maybe Kiren will be there,” I said, poring over the invitation.
“Maybe, but maybe this boss will be there,” Britta said.
“How would we know which guy is him, though? There aren’t exactly any family photographs sitting on his desk, are there?” Charlie asked.
“The cigar,” she said, pointing at the gently smoking stub in the ashtray. “It doesn’t seem that common in this day and age, so maybe he would have one on him. If not, Charlie could definitely track the smell to somebody, couldn’t you?”
“Yeah, it smells like a dirty old man. That kind of scent isn’t exactly easy to get rid of, you know,” he said.
“I think we should get it to Mirian,” Britta said. “We should probably get out of here.”
I had somewhat different plans with this gala. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to take down the man doing this to these poor women, but there was a bigger picture at stake here that I wanted to explore. Kiren was behind this, behind the kidnappings, this club, and I knew he would be at this gala. This sort of fundraiser was right up his alley. He was always demanding money from his constituents, and this event would be no different. All I needed to do was research this building, and then I could figure out my next steps. I didn’t know what I’d do if he were there, but I knew I’d do something. I couldn’t let him run free any longer.
12
“Lexa, they’re going to be taking some of the women off their sedation,” Charlie said, gasping for air like he’d just ran a marathon.
I perked straight up, putting my things down on my desk and running with him to the infirmary where they were holding some of the newly minted vampire females from the club raid last night. We’d rescued them, at least the ones who had already had babies, as the vampires in the club left them behind like yesterday’s trash.
We’d managed to arrest about eighteen vampires, with probably just as many escaping, though none of the ones we arrested were talking, which was to be expected. Vampires were as thick as thieves, especially when they were part of a brotherhood or organization like this, and they’d likely never rat on one another, but we could at least put pressure on them. They weren’t going to have any contact with the outside world, and if they knew we had the women and they were talking, one of them, just one of them, might give us a shred of information we could act on.
“Where am I?” one of the women asked, opening her eyes. “What, what are you?”
She looked shocked. The nurse leaning over her, a troll, was probably causing her extreme shock and disbelief. “You should take this one,” the nurse said to me before walking out.
“Hi, my name is Lexa, and I’m a police officer. Can you tell me your name?” I asked.
“Where am I? I don’t understand why I’m here,” the girl said.
“Can you please tell me the last thing you do remember?” I asked.
“It was last night, my friend Stephanie asked me to go with her to this new club in the Meatpacking District. We went, and I think I passed out or something. Now I’m here,” she said.
“Do you remember the date of this occurrence?” I asked.
“It was yesterday—Tuesday,” she said.
“No, I mean the actual date,” I asked.
“The third, I think,” she said.
“Of?” I asked.
“September?” she replied, as if I should know.
“That was over a month ago. A month and a half, to be more precise,” I said. The look of shock and horror on her face was enough to freeze a Gorgon. You would’ve thought I told her a flesh-eating tentacle was eating her brain and the only solution was to sing polka music until her tongue fell out of her mouth.
“I’ve been unconscious that long? Why does my stomach hurt? I feel cold,” she said. “And why did that lady look so weird? The nurse.”
“That’s a lot of questions, and you need to calm down. What I’m about to tell you isn’t going to make a lot of sense to you just yet. You’re under a lot of stress, your body and your mind, and you need to just promise me you’ll keep calm,” I said.
“Just tell me where I am,” she said.
“You’re in the infirmary ward in the M.A.G.I.C. building. You’re in the magical realm, not the mortal realm where you were born,” I said.
“Lexa,” Charlie said.
“No, she deserves to know. Wouldn’t you want to know in her situation?” I asked.
“What situation? What’s wrong with me? Why is my skin gray?” she asked, looking at her arm.
“That night in the club, you didn’t just pass out. You were bitten,” I said.
“By what? One of those jungle bugs from the cargo ships?” she asked, shaking.
“No, a vampire,” I said.
“Okay, really funny, aren’t you supposed to be a cop? Are you allowed to pull stunts like this?” she asked, annoyed.
“This is Charlie,” I said, pointing at him. “Watch him.”
He sighed, obviously not up for my games, but he shifted anyway. The girl’s eyes almost rolled back into her head as if she’d just seen a ghost, which ironically she might if she went a few rooms over.
“See, I knew it was too much,” he said, shifting back. The nurse came back into the room, giving the woman some black liquid into her IV.
“This will calm her down,” she said.
>
“What is it?” I asked.
“Wolfsbane. It can be lethal for werewolves, but a nice, calming sedative for vampires. Works wonders if you have the right dosage. I think it’s best we just let her rest for now. She and the rest of these girls aren’t going to like what’s coming their way when they wake up. Can’t imagine having your entire existence changed like that. Shame,” the nurse said, shaking her head, before walking out of the room.
“She’s right, I can’t imagine it. I was born like this, always knowing about the magical realm and all the beings and creatures in it. Imagine waking up one day and being something, someone, totally different than you always thought you were,” Charlie said, walking out of the room too.
I looked at the girl again. We weren’t really all that different, she and I. Maybe a vampire didn’t bite me, but I did wake up one day and started living an entirely new life, being given abilities that I never would’ve dreamt of before. Maybe we weren’t so different after all.
“Good job on your raid last night. You all did a wonderful job and I couldn’t be any prouder of your work in finding this club and getting the evidence needed to secure the warrant,” Mirian said, congratulating Charlie and me in his office.
“We also found this,” I said, handing over the invitation. I’d spent the night memorizing it. I didn’t know if Mirian would want to keep it or not, or if Charlie would’ve stolen it from me, but I had to make sure I knew what was written on it before I handed it over, just in case I didn’t get a chance to see it again.
“I’ve heard about this gala, it’s an annual event hosted by the current administration. They do fundraisers for various charities in the magical realm,” Mirian said.
“How come it’s in the mortal realm? I looked up the address,” I said.
“I’m not sure, but this company at the top, the building, rings a bell. I think they might be magically owned, but it isn’t much of our concern, is it?” he asked.
“What do you mean? The boss at the club had this in his office. Shouldn’t we investigate it further because of that? What if he’s there?” I asked.
“I’m not sure about that, Lexa. Are we going to burst in with a unit and find a single man and arrest him in front of everybody in attendance? I’m not sure that’s the smartest move to take,” Mirian said.
“We can’t just leave it, Mirian. I feel very strongly about this,” I said, challenging him and his authority for what felt like the first time.
“I will think about it. I can’t promise you two anything, though. I’ll have to assess the value of this target in comparison with where we would be infiltrating,” Mirian said.
“Come on, Lexa, let’s let Mirian think. Besides, we have sparring with Blake and Britta and I know Britta will fire off stronger spells at us if we’re late,” Charlie said, nudging me.
“Promise me you’ll think about it?” I asked, as we walked towards the door.
“I give you my word,” Mirian replied.
“Where have you two been? You’re ten minutes late!” Blake shouted when we walked into the sparring room. We’d reserved it once a week since we started at the precinct, using it as a chance to hone our skills and improve in combat. We figured that we all trusted one another to not actually try to harm one another, and besides, we needed the combat experience if we were to ever get promoted higher up the chain.
“What do you guys want to go for this time?” Britta asked, standing at the control panel on the side of the room.
“How about basic barriers?” Charlie asked, stretching.
“You got it,” Britta said, before tapping some buttons. Parts of the floor opened up in the center and around us, with barriers both large and small rising from the floor. This was a pretty basic attempt at sparring, with the barriers substituting for real world shields that we could hide behind between attacks. They could represent hallways, dumpsters, walls, or anything else you could physically fit your body behind or under.
“Ready?” I asked, stepping up next to Charlie, as Britta and Blake stood on the far side of the room.
“Ready,” Blake shouted back.
Britta started the simulation, the countdown computer turning on above us. “Three…two…one…commence simulation.”
Charlie shifted immediately, running to a medium-sized barrier before I slid into another near him. A bolt of energy from Britta flew past my left shoulder, narrowly missing me, as I felt the air from its power brush my hair back. “Not holding back?” I yelled.
“You were late,” she replied, and I looked over to see Charlie nodding at me. He was always right. “Come out and fight me, I’m not hiding.”
I gripped my wand tighter before looking slyly out the side. A bolt came almost instantly, hitting the side of the barrier and causing me to shoot myself back. “This is going to be fun,” I whispered, as Charlie slunk down on all fours with his ears back.
“Arma Maximus,” I shouted, springing up and swiping my wand from side to side. Britta’s bolts hit my shield, bubbling off and making the shield ripple like a rock dropped in a pond.
“Charlie, go,” I said, firing back through my shield. Britta ducked behind her barrier, my bolts having the upper hand now, as I looked around for Blake, who I couldn’t get eyes on.
“I don’t know where he is,” Charlie said, moving in closer and sniffing the air.
All of the sudden, without any warning, I saw Blake’s red werewolf eyes coming at me as he flew through the air. Charlie roared, jumping up to meet him in mid-air as he took him down so I could focus on Britta. I heard Blake’s roars and Charlie’s hisses as they swiped at one another, no claws used obviously, though a serious case of testosterone flowing between them.
Neither of them wanted to lose this spar, acting like brothers who couldn’t bear to let the other have the moment of winning, as they jostled around and flipped over one another left and right. While my attention was too focused on them, Britta stood up. I turned to her in slow motion as I saw her mouthing a spell. A bright purple bolt came my way, hitting my shield and shattering it in a stunning explosion that left sparkling shards of glitter shooting in every direction.
“Pacificate!” she yelled, a bolt flying past me as I fell to the ground from the earlier explosion of my shield. I shook my head, shaking the cobwebs out, before slinking down and moving closer to the next row of barriers.
“I know you’re out there, Lexa! Come on, this isn’t hide-and-seek, this is a spar. Fight me!” she yelled, becoming more and more aggressive as the minutes passed.
I had every intention of fighting her back, but not like this. I was a tactician, using my skills as a thief in moments and scenarios like this. When I had to steal something, or get out of a place, or even away from people, I had to play it like a game. Not a fun game, but a game of survival where if I didn’t think intelligently I would lose my life. There was no difference here, and I knew closing the gap on Britta would be her weakness.
The truth was that I was good at hand-to-hand combat, especially against a witch who relied too heavily on her wand instead of her fists. I never used to have a wand, and that was my advantage. I knew it would work, it just had to.
“She’s over here!” Blake yelled, trying to scrape for her before Charlie grabbed his waistband with his mouth and pulled him back, leaving claw marks in the floor.
“Procurus rock,” I said to a pebble on the ground not far from me. I grabbed it, tossing it on the other side of the room, my head poking to the side and seeing Britta’s attention drawn that way. I had her where I wanted her.
I inched closer as Britta slowly moved away, her wand pointed at the barrier where I’d tossed the rock. She thought I’d slipped up, giving away my location, but it was all the opposite, my love. I was coming for her, and she didn’t even know what her fate was about to entail.
“Come out, Lexa! I mean it!” she yelled. I could sense the apprehension in her voice, my disappearance almost too much for her psyche. Britta was a witch of a
ction, who did better with range between her and her target. Don’t get me wrong, she was an amazing witch, probably better than me by a long shot, but she wasn’t comfortable with anything I was about to throw her way.
I could hear Charlie and Blake still rolling around on the other side of the room before I moved into the open, behind Britta, and stood up straight. I walked slowly, making sure my shoes didn’t squeak or slide on the floor, as she started to back up. I smiled, and she turned around, her eyes widening as wide as a witch’s eyes could, before she started to raise her wand.
I knocked it out of her hands with mine, the sound of the wooden wand hitting the hard floor and rolling a sweet serenade to my senses. I got close, grabbing her, before pushing my leg behind her knees, taking her down to the ground. I didn’t let her slam too hard, before pointing my wand right against her throat while she gulped, looking like she’d just witnessed and escaped certain death.
“I win,” I said, smiling.
“How…how did you?” she stuttered, trying to make sense of what I’d done.
“Patience,” I said, before pulling away my wand, extending my hand, and helping her up. “I scouted the area, knowing your weaknesses, and attempted an attack on your mind.”
“I’m still so shocked, and confused, and I don’t even know what else,” she said, the cracks in her voice showing her discontent with my strategy.
“You’re a great witch, Britta, the best I know, but you lack any real hand-to-hand combat skills, or even close-range wand skills. You could’ve easily shot me back when you pointed your wand straight at me, but you panicked, instead letting the shock and fear of me being right there strangle your words before I took you down. You need to keep your head on a swivel, and keep yourself aware of your surroundings at all times. I only snuck up on you because you never looked back, you only looked where you thought I would be,” I said, picking up her wand and handing it to her.
“I see your point. If I’d paid more attention to what was behind me, instead of having tunnel vision to where I heard a noise, I might not have been taken by such surprise,” she said, nodding. I was getting through to her, and I only gave her these lessons out of love and respect for the friend, roommate, and witch she was.
