by C P Sennett
The problem here was perhaps this guy could afford to be more brazen than normal. After all, he had home turf advantage and if he knew who I was he would know I was not likely to light him or the place up, it was too public. Also, he was marked, which confirmed he already knew about the supernatural AND typically these are the worst type of goons. It’s because he was most likely under the impression he was important. After all, this guy was someone’s property, marked for all to see and that kind of power can give people delusions. Delusions that your boss thinks you matter.
You see, when I have home town advantage I know a lot of the supernatural beings and ‘things’ in Suffolk. Well the nicer ones anyway, heck, I even know a few into London and Norfolk but I didn’t know many in Essex and I was beginning to get a sinking feeling as I backed up another step.
The man kept pace and spoke to me again. “Sir, neither of us wish to make a scene. However, you must follow me.”
I took a quick glance over my shoulder at the doors which I was rapidly approaching. “I’m happy to leave but I’d sooner do it under my own steam. Just let me slink off out of here, that’s all I ask.”
The man didn’t show any emotion, granted I had little to work with, his eyes, his mouth and body language were all visible but still reduced by his white phantom mask. Facial impressions play a lot in reading people. True, I was offering the guy a chance to let me slink away but it seems he wasn’t going to play ball.
“Stop.” He ordered in a VERY final tone.
I didn’t want to move too fast because if he was going to go for me I would sooner be the counter puncher in this instance. If he hit me with a fist, I would then try to slug him back with some magic. Not fair, I know but who cares. Being honest, I didn’t want to blast him at all if I didn’t need too. I could chance something subtler but again I didn’t want to be the one to break the Veil unless I absolutely had to.
“Look I don’t want to offend anyone, clearly this is your boss’s turf and I am genuinely here for the auction.” I politely said, reinforcing my point with my trademark stupid smile. I also jabbed my index finger at my invitation before adding. “As I’ve said, I’ve got an invitation.”
He kept coming. “I know you don’t want trouble Sir and neither do I. So, please, let me do my job and kindly leave the room through the door behind you. Then, please follow me.”
“Follow you where?” I asked, cocking my head.
“To the owner of this establishment. He wishes to meet you.”
I took a step backwards and was now flush with the wall, just to the side of the glass door I came in through and he wanted me to leave through. I only took my eyes off the man for a second to get my bearings in relation to the door handle. Then, I quickly looked back at him.
This man looked like he could handle himself and being honest I expected I would need to use magic to get the better of him which I REALLY didn’t want to do. Breaking the Veil in public places with a room full of normal people would cause a real problem. I can be pretty subtle with magic when I’ve got sufficient time but here, this was down and dirty stuff and even shielding myself could be a problem. If the guy hit me with a fist and broke his hands, then he may well cry out and then we would all be screwed.
“The door Sir, if you please?” said the man in the Phantom mask.
I didn’t have many options. The Broker, Monika, sent me here saying I had to find out if a girl called Tabitha Saffron had been brought or was being held here and told me specifically NOT to do anything else. Just simply to do some reconnaissance and to call it in if she was here. I had no reason to doubt my Broker as she always paid up even if the job was a waste of time. Ordinarily she was great but the last few jobs had been a bit of a waste despite getting paid in full.
“So, are we going to duke it out in the rain?”
The man shook his head. “No Sir, I am merely here to escort you to the owner of the establishment. The owner would dearly like to meet you as I have said.”
“So, I’m not in any danger then?”
“No Sir provided you are fair with us, we will be fair to you.” replied the balding man.
“Come on, as if you are going to be straight with me.” I quipped.
“I have no reason to lie. I could go for you now and force you to use a sizeable portion of your magic in public. Possibly alerting other agents and forces in this area. Assuming you get away from me that is. Then, that leaves you in a race to get out of town alive and judging by your accent you’re not a local. But, thankfully for us both this isn’t the task entrusted to me tonight, it’s simply to see you directly to my senior.”
“You said the owner wanted to see me, now it’s your senior, which is it?”
“My senior will take you directly to the owner of the establishment. I will then return to this room and the party.”
“You know this sucks right. I’ve got an invitation and I wanted to bid on something in the auction.” I pleaded one last time.
“Now is not the time to joke Sir. Please, the door if you will?” he motioned politely for me to take the door handle. He had the unquestioning tone usually reserved for the police, security guards or decent bouncers.
Oddly, nobody had come through the curtain and the bar staff to my left would have surely have come out too if they had seen something happening they didn’t recognise but there was nobody coming. I sighed, “sure.” Realising my options were about as thin as he said. Then, I opened the door keeping my eyes on the suited enforcer.
The masked man followed me, stepping through behind me and letting the door close on its own.
We both stood on the other side of the door and I put my hands up again to show I didn’t want any trouble. Then, I left him to get things moving.
“If you would be so kind as to follow me please?” he said rhetorically, as he walked towards a doorway and punched in a code on a mechanical lock. A lock like the ones I have at home and once he did this he then put in an earpiece like some TV show FBI agent.
“Sure.” I shrugged, as I fell in behind him. What else really could I do?
The man led me off through three hotel corridors all looking alike, carpeted floors hiding the sounds of our shoes as we went. The two staff we passed, one male and one female all seemed to know him but none met his gaze or mine as we passed them. “So, what do I call you then?” I asked wanting to know who I was walking with or who I was going to see.
He didn’t reply.
After a few steps and as my cover was blown I figured it best to be open with the guy. “Do you know who I am then?”
Nothing.
“Look it’s easier if we are at least civil. You were pretty chatty at the ball earlier and now you’ve gone all silent on me, surely you can do better than that?”
Silence was his reply.
“Come on, first name terms at least?” I wasn’t trying to stall him as I was freely, or sort of freely following him. I wanted to at least get something out of him. Anything to give me an indication of what was to come.
He said nothing although I could hear things in his earpiece. Nothing that I could decipher but I suspected he was being given instructions as he gave the faintest of nods a few times after patches of speaking in his earpiece.
As we weaved our way through a few more hallways and then a couple of rooms in the hotel, I did my best to keep an idea of where I was heading in relation to the carpark where I had parked the Beast. It was pretty hard, and I wasn’t sure if I had gotten it perfectly but I thought I had it just about right in my mind. I was now on the other side of the hotel as these corridors were pretty long.
Still, nothing back from my masked guide.
We stopped at a large wooden door which struck me as important as soon I saw it. The door was locked but it also had a glyph on it. A glyph which I could feel even though I couldn’t see it. Glyphs were something I knew about but I’d never really studied this specific school of magic particularly hard. Runecasters were the strongest types of glyp
hic magicians and people with this knowledge were rare indeed as it was a highly prized arcane area of study not readily taught.
Thankfully though, this was a lesser glyph. Gylphs can be created quickly and can pack a real magical punch, they differ from wards though, which are placed on an area. A glyph can be placed on something such as a shield, door etc. They are quicker to do but over time a ward will become stronger.
What was interesting though was that like the brand on the man escorting me, this was a glyph; not a powerful one but it was unknown to me, one I made a note to look into. It was actually quite complex on greater inspection. Shit I thought, things were getting worse by the minute!
Anyone gifted in the magical arts should be able to sense something like this. Unless it was of a banned variety, a variety so rare that I had never seen an active one. The idea is that glyphs can be traced in a friendly manner so people who can sense them know there is something there. It’s like a beware the dog sticker on a gate in your home except it can also be used as the dog sometimes and they can do some nasty things. I wasn’t sure what this did, but I had to take a chance on it as it didn’t look malicious.
The man stopped at the door and turned to me. I guessed with there being some magic on the door that this was as far as he would go. Also, I didn’t fancy walking blindly into things, so I had to get any intel on what was on the other side of that door.
“Look, if you don’t have a name I’m gonna call you Steve, you look like a Steve.” I said, speaking quickly and trying to lighten the mood a little. Hopefully he would bite and give me something.
I looked around the plain room. It was nothing more than magnolia painted thick walls, cold feeling and obviously one of the older parts of the complex. The large wooden door set into the wall had big oddly shaped brass hinges running across it. The door and the hinges looked old, really old and certainly far older than the hotel complex I suspected. Other than that, and the glyphic aura from the door, there was just one other thing. In the centre of the room, behind ‘Steve’ was an old high school style water fountain of all things.
“Steve, can I get you a drink?” I asked, as I motioned to the fountain with a smile. Annoyingly my new mate Steve still wasn’t saying much. In fact, nothing, nothing on the glyph which I hoped was a warding one of some kind, but it wasn’t active, or at least it hadn’t activated in my presence so far.
You see, specific things usually trigger glyphs and wards. They have something which causes them to go off with a variety of effects depending on how good the shaper of the magic was. I didn’t like them much and didn’t trust other people’s at all.
“Any tips for me Steve?” I asked. “You can have a real name, all you need to do is tell me it?” I said with both hands outstretched to implore him.
Still nothing from the masked man for a second or two. Then, following some inaudible voice in his earpiece Steve spoke “Sir, go in and down the stairs.” he said with a deadpan voice.
“Really Steven, and you know you’re in trouble when I get back. You’re not going to leave me hanging like this, are you? I know, I refused your friend requests and all and we don’t talk as much as we used to but seriously, come on share your secrets with me?” Then, I realised to my disappointment that no amount of mockery was going to work on this guy.
“Down you go Sir.” he said before taking off his mask and stepping past me to open the door. To my surprise no ominous creek sounded when it opened, it just opened. From under the mask I could see Steven had simple features. The chiselled looks of a military man always standing tall and straight with a solid posture. He wasn’t a good-looking man but if you liked that hard bitten tough guy face I guess he had some charm to him. His shaved head and dark eyes matched his voice and build. He looked and sounded like he meant business. He had the remnants of a long time overseas in the sun. It was faded but more visible now in the better light and without his mask. At some point he was deeply tanned. Perhaps a mercenary or ex-military that had been deployed overseas for an extended period as we hadn’t had weather in England sufficient to do this for some years. Also, it was mid-October.
I was getting annoyed now. Normally people rise to my baiting as I was darn good and bloody persistent with it. Yes, it’s gotten me the odd black eye and all, which right now would match my sore balls but this ‘branded goon’ was simply going to do exactly what he was told. Darn committed goons…
“You know Steve, I could incinerate you here and now. You would die being known only as Steve, the man with one name.”
“Sir, please.” he said dryly, motioning for me to go through the now open door.
I reached out my hand to see if there was anything residual I could feel emanating from within the dark stairwell ahead. Anything beyond what my normal eyes could see. There wasn’t, as far as I could tell, which was good. All things considered tonight had been shitty so far and this had to be good, I hoped.
The fact I still couldn’t identify the glyphs bothered me. “Thanks Steven, I’ve decided you’re not cool enough to be a Steve really…I’m demoting you to Steven, and it could be with a ‘ph’ which we know everyone hates.” I snapped, as I stepped into the dark concrete stairwell and took in a deep breath of its damp smelling air.
Well, one foot after the other now.
CHAPTER 3
As I entered, the door slowly closed behind me with Steven shutting it. As he did I mouthed ‘thanks’ and gave him a super-sarcastic thumbs up before he sealed me in.
This blows, I thought, as I listened down the dimly lit stairwell. I stood there for a moment with nothing to go on. Just a few drops of water coming from above due to condensation on the concrete ceiling. It was a bit like being in an old war time bunker I thought. Still, with nothing else to go on I guessed, I had better follow the suited goon’s instructions. So, down I went.
I went down three separate sets of stairs, each with a flat level between the staircases and a door on each level which was always locked. I decided against using my initiative to open them magically as after all if I was meant to go through them they would be open for me. Can you imagine a Bond movie where the villain kept the doors locked and had to get up and open them personally to let people in? It would be funny the first time, but it would soon cheapen the villain a bit. All the top baddies always have a flunky or two to open their doors.
I didn’t have a key and there was no visible lock, so I decided that they wanted me to keep moving.
Every level had a crude black metal oil lamp flickering and burning next to the lockless doors. These lamps looked like something out of World War One or Two but again nothing special, just old. Otherwise, there was nothing unusual about the doors. They were somehow barred from the inside, as there was no obvious lock or glyph in place that I could tell.
At the bottom of the third stairwell was a security camera which I thankfully noticed before I reached it. I had been expecting something like this, so I turned away from it. Confident, they would get next to nothing of my face on film.
At the foot of the stairwell was a door left unsubtly ajar. It was a big metal door and looked like something from a ship or an old submarine. This thing was thick, it looked like it weighed literally about a ton. There were pipes running alongside just above my head against the walls. I slowly approached the door I gently used my foot to push it open a bit more. It shrieked like a banshee, making me cringe and sending a chill down my spine. Well, they knew I was here anyhow but still I kept my hand up to negate the camera as much as possible. “Bollocks” I said, as I entered shaking my head.
The door opened into a long corridor. It was stone, natural stone, which I didn’t expect as I was now well under the hotel. There was some wet clay type substance on the walls, it didn’t move but it looked pretty unnatural as I took a moment to calm my mind.
I took in a few deep breaths and forced them out again before walking onward, with more purpose and a touch more confidence. The corridor was pretty much unlit apart from som
e light emanating from the end of it.
The light ahead flickered as someone walked past it, a figure too far away to see clearly and I resisted the urge to call out. Instead, I approached quickly, clearing my mind in case I needed to use an abjuration to protect myself or some other magic to try to banish something foul. This really was seat of the pants stuff as I didn’t even have a trusty beer bottle with me, let alone anything useful like my staff. No, nothing to use as a focus for my magic which meant expending more energy every time and that wasn’t good.
I moved nearer to the person who was clearly a man, or at least as far as I could tell, as they were hidden behind a shabby set of brown hooded robes.
“Hello Sir.” said a male voice from within the dirty brown robes. His robes were holed and hung so low around the ground that the edges were frayed and worn. The figure turned to face me, lowering his hood, revealing a dirty-faced man with patches of heavy stubble. What was clear though was he had an east Asian look to him, Malaysian at a guess. His long thick hair was pulled tightly back behind him, but his eyes looked alert, perhaps too alert and excited as they were wider than they naturally looked, staring intently at me.
Normally I’d be more polite to someone first time around but all the trying to spook me was starting to wear thin. The guy did have a far eastern look to him, but he didn’t sound it, he spoke clear English as though he was from the local area. “Don’t Sir me.” I snapped “Just take me to whoever runs this place, they are expecting me apparently.”
“Sir, I am...” he said, with a gentle nod of his head as though he felt the need to introduce himself.
I cut him off “Save it, as I guess you’ll be about as much use to me as good old Steve was upstairs. Just take me to whoever wants to see me. I’m unarmed but my patience is razor fucking thin my friend.” Hell, even I was surprised how unfriendly I’d made the term ‘friend’ sound.
The man didn’t seem offended, he simply bowed, backed away and turned leaving me to follow him. Which I did.
