End Stage

by S A Magnusson

  “It’s dangerous,” Barden said, guessing where my thoughts had gone.

  “So is them freeing the Great Ones,” Ariel said.

  “I understand you believe they will free the Great Ones, but I remain unconvinced,” Barden said.

  “I don’t need you to be convinced,” Ariel said, glaring at him.

  “You do if you want my help.”

  “It seems I don’t need your help.” Ariel nodded to me. “I need hers.”

  “And she needs mine if she wants to create the necessary spell she can trigger.” Barden shot me an apologetic look, and I smiled at him. I wasn’t going to do anything without Barden. Especially not anything which might involve me running after the organization. And I wasn’t going to do anything to draw me into that world without having his help. I knew better.

  “What would it take for you to agree to help?” Ariel asked.

  “It would take you sharing more with us.”

  “I have shared with you plenty.”

  “I would disagree. The Iron Range pack has been secluded, and though we have tried to understand more about your people, you have been isolated.”

  “You know the pack remains to itself.”

  “It does, but you’ve let others in before.”

  She glared at him, and a low growl emanated from her throat. “The others are different.”

  “Why? Because you were mating with one of them? Or is it because of –“

  Ariel leaped forward, but Barden swung his hand in a quick arc, a burst of blue power exploding. Ariel was thrown back, dropped onto the couch again.

  “I think that’s about enough,” Barden said.

  Ariel glared at him before her gaze softened. “I’m sorry. It’s just that all of this has been more than I was expecting to deal with.”

  “You need to control yourself, Ariel. Isn’t that one of the lessons of the shifters? You need to ensure you have control over your form before you can use your power?”

  She eyed him for a long moment. “How would you know?”

  “I know many things. I make it my business to know.”

  Ariel growled again.

  I got to my feet, looking over to Barden. “What do you intend to find?” I whispered.

  “I don’t know what I’d find, but –“

  “You don’t need to use every opportunity as a chance to dig into more information.”

  He smiled slightly. “You understand that’s not how I operate.”

  “I understand how you operate, but this isn’t a situation where we need to work for leverage.”

  Barden shook his head slightly. “This is exactly the situation where we need to position ourselves for leverage. She’s coming to us needing something from us. This is a time when we can use what she needs in order to gain something we might need. I don’t know when we’ll need it, and I don’t know whether there would be anything we would be able to uncover from it, but the more we learn about the shifters,” he nodded to Jean-Pierre, “or the vampires, the stronger we’ll be. And given everything we’ve been through, strength is critical. We need to be able to handle ourselves, be prepared for the possibility that we might have to fight, and if it comes down to it, we need the necessary knowledge to handle those things.

  I looked over to Ariel. I didn’t want to battle with the shifters, but there was sense to what Barden was saying, and I trusted him. “I’ll do what you think.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Stone.”

  “I do think we need to be careful. I’m not convinced John Adams is what we thought him to be, at least not anymore. The one I’m more concerned about is Matt Gillespie.” And even though Matt had trained under John Adams, and had been the one who had presumably worked with us in the past, I thought he was chasing power for the sake of power. In the case of John Adams, his was a different pursuit. He was after a way to help his lost daughter.

  “You might not be convinced, but I remain concerned about John Adams.”

  “And you should be,” I said. “You’re the one who makes those decisions.”

  “Are the two of you done?” Jean-Pierre asked, looking up from the sofa at us. It was almost as if he were lounging, and yet there was a slight tension to him. I wasn’t sure if it was the tension I was able to feel through the connection between us, that of familiar to vampire, or whether it was simply because I could see the tension within him, and the way he was sitting there, watching us.

  “You don’t have to remain for this,” Barden said.

  “On the contrary. Considering the shifters have put in a request for a meeting, I feel as if I do.”

  “Even if it’s dangerous to you?”

  “There is no danger to me.” He watched Ariel, who sat wordlessly. “The nature of the meeting is such that she has promised safe passage.”

  “It didn’t look like safe passage when we were back in the Northwoods,” I said.

  “The safe passage was granted to me and me alone. I suspect if I were to have pushed, I could have ensured that anyone with me was granted safe passage.” He looked over to Ariel. “I think I should be requesting that now.”

  “All of you will be granted safe passage,” Ariel said.

  “All of us?” Barden said.

  “All in this room.”

  He smiled, tipping his head. “Ah. Well, that is not as promising as I was hoping.”

  “There are limits to my patience.”

  “So we’ve seen,” he said, smiling again.

  “Are we ready to go?”

  Barden glanced at the others here. “When would you like us to go?”

  “We should not linger for too long. The timing is critical.”

  “Why?” Barden asked.

  “Because if they are going to do anything, the upcoming moon cycle would be the optimal time for them.”

  I frowned, wishing I knew more about the lunar cycle. It wasn’t something I ever paid any mind to. As I looked over to Barden, I could see he recognized something. “What is it?”

  “It’s called a super wolf moon,” he said. “The Moon will be closer to the Earth than it has been in centuries.”

  “I didn’t realize the shifters were tied to the Moon cycles,” I said.

  “Normally, we are not, but many of our celebrations are tied to them, and it does seem that with the changing of the cycles, our power fluctuates. In this case, the upcoming moon will be particularly important to the shifter people.”

  “And you believe this is a time when the Great Ones might be freed?”

  “I’m certain that is what they think,” Ariel replied.

  “How long do we have?” Jean-Pierre asked.

  “Two days,” Barden said.

  8

  “Come with me,” Barden said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “There’s something I need to show you.”

  He guided me along the hall, away from his office, and we went to one of the doors partway along the hallway. He paused in front of it, pressing out power and sending it surging into the door. When it did, the door came open. It was dimly lit, and it was a small room, little more than a closet.

  He stopped in front of a cabinet, and I detected something from it. It was a sense of magic, but far more magic than I would have expected for such a simple cabinet. Barden pushed out with a burst of power. The door opened, and row upon row of stacked coins greeted us.

  My eyes widened. All of these were spell coins. I could tell even without examining them. “How many more do you have?” I asked him.

  We stood in front of a cabinet. The spells of the cabinet were significant, even more than the spells over the doors. There was something about those spells which felt familiar to me. As I tried to trigger it, I realized it responded to me. It was almost as if Barden had made it so only I would be able to open it. And him.

  “There will always be access to these coins for you,” Barden said.

  I stared at the rows of coins, unable to take my eyes off them. They were o
rganized neatly, and on each shelf there was a marker, indicating which spell they signified. Most of them had attack aspects to them, though the entire bottom shelf was more defensive. Some half a shelf was dedicated to barriers. I took most of those.

  “How many people do you have working on this?”

  “As many as I need.”

  “Why?”

  “They are easy enough to make, Dr. Stone, and I have asked my people to spend time each day creating a few different spell coins. If nothing else, they might be beneficial to all of us. Now that the others of my people understand what it takes in order to trigger spells,” he said, smiling to himself, “we can use that more effectively. It’s something the organization has gifted us. It wasn’t anything we considered before. Now we know about it and understand the nature of how these coins can be utilized and how those spells can be beneficial, we have been using everything we can in order to stockpile them.”

  “You probably have hundreds of dollars’ worth of quarters in here.”

  “Do you think that concerns me?”

  “Well, not anymore. Now you’ve pressed your spells in them, they’re something else.”

  “Is that really what we should focus on?”

  I continued staring at the rows of coins. “I don’t know how effective any of these are going to be on the organization. Once they’ve experienced a spell…”

  Barden nodded. “That’s part of the issue. What I’ve done is ask everyone to vary the nature of their spells a little bit. Mostly so we grant more power into the spell, but also so we can mix things up. My people have taken it as quite the challenge, and you would be pleased to know many of the spells are different to what they once were.”

  He scooped up a stack of coins from the top shelf. It was an attack called the Stinger. I knew it was a painful spell. Barden unrolled the coins, and he spread them out in his hand. “Take a look at these. All of these are for a similar spell, but everybody has taken a slightly different approach to it. What you’ll find is that the spell itself, the base of the power, is the same, but everything after that is a little bit different. I’m hopeful it will be enough that if we came across someone of the organization, they will struggle trying to counter it.”

  “Spells like this don’t work against the shifters.”

  “The shifters are different,” Barden said, nodding. “I’d never expected you would need to know that yourself, and thought the alliance we had with the shifters would keep them from posing a challenge to us, but unfortunately, it seems as if that hasn’t been the case.”

  “How do they heal themselves?”

  “The process of shifting changes things for them. It allows them to absorb significant magical attacks. It makes them dangerous in a way even mages aren’t. It’s part of the reason the vampires fear them as much as they do. They recognize any attack can be restored. The key with shifters is preventing them from shifting and restoring themselves.”

  “Do we have any spell which would do that?”

  “Unfortunately not. It wasn’t something I’d tasked my people with. If we’re working with Ariel, I’m optimistic it won’t be necessary, but…”

  His optimism didn’t mean it might not still come into play. Given what we’d gone through, and the way Jean-Pierre and I had nearly not made it out of the Northwoods alive, I thought that having something would be beneficial. “The paralytic didn’t work on them.”

  “You used a paralytic on the shifters?”

  “I didn’t have many choices. I was able to hold them within one of the barriers, but not much more.”

  Barden regarded me for a long moment. In the dim light of the closet, I could barely make out the expression on his face. “You really are surprising, Dr. Stone.”

  “Why?”

  “There aren’t too many mages who would attempt to hold a shifter. There are even fewer who would be successful at it.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s the nature of the shifter magic. Why do you think Ariel was able to get into the warehouse so easily? She was able to travel beyond protections I’d placed, and there was nothing we were able to do to prevent her from getting in here.”

  “I thought you were working on changing the protections here so they would keep anyone out.”

  “I keep working and fine-tuning it, and then you keep coming along and showing just how little I’ve done.” He flashed a smile. “Shifters are able to circumvent many spells. Not the least of them is the barrier you describe. The fact you are able to erect a barrier able to hold Ariel is impressive. Even if it was triggered.”

  “I don’t know what that has to do with the connection I now have to Jean-Pierre.”

  “About that.” Barden turned to the door, closing it. He worked magic, and I suspected he was sealing us within it. Cold worked along my arms and through my body. “I’m troubled by the connection you share with the vampire.”

  “You weren’t as troubled when he offered me his coin.”

  “I was always troubled by that,” Dr. Stone.

  “I don’t know what it means for me. All I know is we’re somehow connected. Because of that, I have some of his strength.” He had promised me speed as well, but I hadn’t yet seen any of that as a side effect of being his familiar. Maybe there was something more to still come, and given the fact that it only been a few weeks since he had essentially formalized the relationship, I didn’t know if it would take time for me to discover additional aspects, but I had to hope something would change.

  “It’s dangerous for you to be a vampire familiar. I have no idea how to break that bond, so I can’t guide you if something goes wrong, but I will offer you whatever protection I can.”

  “I appreciate that, Barden. I don’t think Jean-Pierre intends to hurt me.”

  “He is a vampire, Dr. Stone.”

  “He is a vampire, but he’s different.”

  “Different because he has lived longer than most?” Barden stared out toward the door, and I wondered if he was somehow feeling for Jean-Pierre.

  “I can protect myself.”

  “I know you can, Dr. Stone. You have grown in the time we’ve known each other, and you continue to learn. You have proven yourself time again. I just… I just want to ensure you are safe.”

  I patted my pouch. “You’ve ensured I’m safe.”

  “I imagine you have discovered you are able to open this cabinet. There are only a few who are given free access to it, but there are no limitations to how many coins you can take from here.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “I do it so you will not be harmed.”

  “The shifters have shown that even with access to the coins, I can still be harmed,” I said.

  And though I might try to avoid an attack, there might not be anything that would even matter. With magical power, and with the right combination, even my spell coins could be overwhelmed. I didn’t have the training and experience Matt Gillespie had, but what I had was someone like Barden who was helping, freely offering me his knowledge and skill. All that mattered was we had to stop Matt Gillespie, the Shara working with him, and the entire organization.

  “You really think you can bring me to the organization?” Barden asked.

  My gaze drifted back to the cabinet. “I don’t know. I’ve only used a transport spell once. When I did, it seemed to work the way I remembered, though I was in a panic,” I said, smiling.

  “About that.”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a smaller roll of coins. He handed them to me. “These are my personal collection of transport coins.”

  I looked down at it. There had to be nearly ten of them, and that meant ten transports – enough I should be able to get myself to safety if it came down to it.

  “I can’t take your entire collection.”

  Barden shook his head. “These aren’t my entire collection. When we do this, I thought we would need to use more, but seeing as how I don’t need a coin in order to transport
myself, it would be best for you to hold onto them.”

  “I don’t even know if it’s going to work.”

  “But you think it might,” he said.

  I closed my eyes, and when I did, I could practically see the inside of the organization where Matt had brought me. “I think it might.”

  “Very good. If it does, then we can stop them.”

  “What do you hope to gain from the shifters?”

  “Knowledge, Dr. Stone.”

  “Knowledge about what?”

  “Knowledge about the shifters. Whereas we understand a lot about their abilities, we don’t understand all. I think we need to know more. I had not known they had power that waxed and waned with the cycles of the moon. Even in that, there is much we can consider.”

  “Why do you want to have that knowledge? Do you think you’ll need to attack the shifters?”

  “I hope not, but I want to be prepared. The shifters have been an ally of the mage council for centuries. They are part of the power which holds the Veil. I don’t think we need to fear them, but at the same time, I also don’t know.”

  It was more that Barden was making his preparations. And it was similar to him stockpiling the spell coins. In doing so, he was ready for whatever might happen. We didn’t know what it was going to be, but it was better he be prepared.

  “Why does it seem like there is so much taking place all of a sudden?”

  “I’m not so sure it’s all of a sudden.”

  “Has there always been trouble like this?”

  “There’s always been some sort of magical difficulty. Regardless of who is involved. The longer you’re a part of the magical world, the more you’ll realize there is always something taking place. Unfortunately, sometimes there are things you can’t withstand. For the longest time, the conflict between the Dark Council and the mage council has been the key, but now that seems to be slowing down, there is something else.”

  “You think the organization has something to do with that?”

  “I don’t know what the organization would have gained by keeping the two councils at war.” The way he frowned and pressed his lips together left me wondering if he was worried about more than he was letting on. When it came to Barden, he had a plan he had to work through, and yet I didn’t know what it was.