“Again. I am aware of what you’re doing. And as I said, you will call them all off. Including your familiars. If you don’t, I will go through your house floor by floor, slaughtering them.” The ice in his voice surprised me, coming from someone who had been so caring when he was working with his patients. It didn’t seem like the same man, but then I had heard him talk about vampires before, and I recognized how much he despised them.
“You wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Try me. Ask Barden about how many of his people were able to withstand my attack.”
Roland flicked his gaze to Barden, and Barden only shrugged. “Apparently my set-up has some weaknesses. We are working on it.”
“What do you want?”
“I want what we came here for. Dr. Stone wants to speak to Jean-Pierre. And seeing as how I was present for his rescue, I have to doubt you were acting on his authority. Which makes me question what, exactly, is taking place.”
Matt stood there for a moment, watching Roland, saying nothing. After a moment, Roland got to his feet, and he glared at Matt for a long moment. “I will see if the elder is willing to visit with you.”
“You do that. And if I detect anyone—including those three on the other side of the door near us—attempting to make a move, you know what I will do.” Roland started to turn, and Matt caught his arm. “And if I detect you attempting to run…”
The threat hung in the air, and Roland jerked his arm away, striding down the hall as if he hadn’t just been soundly defeated.
Matt came back into the room and took a seat. I remained frozen in place, not certain what to say.
Barden tapped me on the arm. “Dr. Stone, I think we need to get back into the room. If I am not mistaken, you will be visiting with your elder friend soon.”
I looked at the two vampires still pinned to the wall. Neither of them looked as if they could move. For a moment, I thought they might be dead, but they were breathing, however shallowly. Whatever Matt had used on them remained effective, and they were suspended slightly above the ground, their toes dragging on the floor, just enough there that they looked as if they might be able to touch.
“What just happened here?”
“It seems as if the vampires have underestimated the skill of your friend’s organization.”
I turned to Barden, shaking my head. “Have you ever seen anything like that?”
Barden shook his head. “No. So it seems I have also underestimated your friend’s organization.”
“How were they able to do that?”
“I don’t know, and that is something I would very much like to learn.”
12
While waiting for Roland to return, I turned my attention to Matt. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him, but I had to wonder if he would be willing to share anything with me about what he was able to do. After having seen him completely manhandle three vampires, I couldn’t help but feel impressed. I had the sense from Barden that he shared that emotion, though knowing Barden, he probably hated to admit it.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
Matt sat for a moment, and he looked down at his hands. There was nothing nervous about it, but it was more a matter of him seeming to gather himself, as if he were trying to decide just how much to share with me. When he looked up, a serious expression on his face, I suspected he wouldn’t share anything with me.
But surprisingly, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small coin. It was similar to the coin I had been given by Jean-Pierre, and similar enough that I wondered if Jean-Pierre had done so intentionally. “These are my spells,” he said.
I looked at one before looking back at him, smiling. “That’s a coin.”
“You can call it what you want, but I refer to them as spells. I’m not nearly as capable as your friend there. Though I have magic, as I told you, it’s not the same as what most mages have. Instead, what I do have is practice and experience and training, along with someone who is skilled at making these spells.”
Barden leaned over, looking down at the coin. I could tell he wanted to get closer, curious about just how Matt had managed to use his power, but at the same time, Barden seemed cautious, almost as if he didn’t want to reveal anything about his interest. “Who makes them for you?”
Matt shook his head. “That is a trade secret.”
“How many do you have?”
“Enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“Enough to do what I promised I would do to Roland.”
We sat in silence for a long moment. “Do you have anything like that?” I asked Barden.
Barden stared at it before turning his attention back to me. “There are various items that provide aspects of power, but I am not familiar with any that can store a spell within them.”
“Because you don’t have the need,” Matt said.
“The wand is like that,” I said.
Matt arched a brow, and Barden shot me a look, warning me to silence. I didn’t want to reveal too much about what Barden did and what he knew, but at the same time, it wasn’t as if we hadn’t seen anything like that. The symbol on the coin did have a certain familiarity to it, even if it wasn’t something Barden had ever made himself.
“You’ve used a wand?” Matt asked as we fell into silence.
“We found one with the vampires,” I said. That was true, and more than that, it would prevent the wrong questions—questions I knew Barden didn’t want to answer.
“Unfortunately, they have far too much experience with power they should not.”
“I think the same could be said for you,” Barden said.
“I made it clear the nature of my power,” Matt said.
“You haven’t made clear who is providing these for you.”
“Much like you haven’t made clear why you continue to accumulate information about things you should have nothing to do with.”
Barden smiled. “I’m not so sure I should have nothing to do with them,” he said.
“Is it like the symbols on the wand or not?” I asked.
Matt glanced over to me before turning his attention back to Barden. “The technique is similar, as I suspect Barden is aware. There is something of a storing of power within the spell. Unfortunately, I don’t have the talent to do it myself, so I am not able to make any of these for myself, but it doesn’t take as much talent to use them, thankfully.
“It looks like it took talent to use them to me.”
“To use them effectively, maybe. I would argue it’s more training than anything else. I don’t have strength with magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”
And here I had thought my being a hedge mage would limit me, but that didn’t seem to be the case at all. Matt was a hedge mage, and he appeared to be as powerful as any mage I’d ever encountered, though admittedly the number of mages I had any experience with was limited.
“How do you store power within these?”
Barden reached for the coin, but Matt slid it off to the side, preventing him from getting to it. “You ask because you can’t store power in the wand?”
“The wand draws from the mage.”
“Only because that’s how the vampires want it. Or wanted it,” Matt said with a knowing smile. “They wanted an endless supply of magic, but in the case of these, there’s no endless supply—but I’m not limited, either. If I have enough of them, and if I’m prepared enough, then the limitations aren’t there.”
It wasn’t difficult for me to see the advantages to spells like this. Using them in this manner meant a mage wouldn’t have to sacrifice as much of themselves, though I suspected there was some sacrifice in the creation. Then again, if it was like using magic in other ways, that sacrifice would be limited. And once the power had been used, the mage would be able to recover, heal, and then make more.
“Do you have a workshop where these are made?” I asked with a smile. I could imagine something like Santa’s workshop, a group of powe
rful mages pushing magic into these spells, one after another, until Matt had enough to protect himself. Not only Matt, though, was it? From what we knew, there were several others within the organization, and all of them would want to have access to spells the same way as Matt did. Maybe it was less like Santa’s workshop and more like an assembly line. That seemed like an awful way for a mage to work.
“The organization has been creating items like this for years.”
“How long do they take to create?” Barden asked.
“How long does it take you to create a spell?”
I knew the answer to that. There were some spells Barden used that were complicated and complex. I’d seen him do things that took him a while to prepare, but at the same time, there were other spells he did that were far more rapid. Those spells he could whip up within a moment’s notice. Most of those were defensive spells, though I had seen him use attacking type spells quickly as well.
“It’s more than just the power of the mage that goes into creating these, isn’t it?” Barden asked.
Matt nodded. “Very good. We add something of ourselves into the utilization. That’s what gives them their real strength. Without that, the spells wouldn’t be as effective. Still strong, but not nearly as much as they are otherwise.”
Barden stared at the coin on the table. “There’s something more to it than what you’re telling me.”
Matt smiled. “There always is.”
Glancing over to Barden, I could practically see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to figure out what—and how—the spells worked. Knowing Barden as I did, he would try to come up with something similar. I had a strong sense he would succeed, too.
“We still don’t have this figured out,” I said.
Matt glanced over to me. “What more do you need to figure out? The Vangalor family was trying to abuse their connection to the elders.”
“It’s more than that,” I said.
There was something about all of this that troubled me. Not only was there some connection here that felt off, but I couldn’t shake the sense that I was being used. I’d felt that way before, and I hated it. In this case, I didn’t know how I was being used, other than the fact that with Matt here, and how he had brought me into whatever this was, I’d been forced to be a part of something I didn’t want.
I took a seat at the table, glancing over at Barden. He remained standing, and I looked at his feet to see he still held a circle in place, prepared for whatever he might need. It wasn’t the first time I didn’t feel as if I’d grasped everything all at once, but as I usually did, I knew that with enough time, I would eventually be able to work through it. What I needed was the time.
So far, I knew only a few things. First, Matt had brought me to the organization where there was a body of John Adams, his supervisor, with an injury that looked as if it had been made by vampires, but Matt believed was not. He was on the run, hiding from the rest of the organization, and needed my help to keep him safe. Then we had brought him to the vampires to reach the vampire elder for safety. That was what I knew.
Or thought I knew.
What if none of that was right? It was strange to consider, but the possibility was there that none of this was quite as it appeared. In medicine, we were taught to question everything. We accumulated information, but that information didn’t always fit together in a way that made complete sense, and because of that, we had to continually question. So far, all of this wasn’t making sense.
What did I actually know? I hadn’t observed Matt finding John Adams. I had no proof he was pursued by members of his organization, other than what he had told us. I knew he had come to Barden, attacking his people, and that Matt had wanted us to reach the vampires. He wanted me to reach out to Jean-Pierre.
I got to my feet, starting to pace.
“Dr. Stone?”
“Hmm?” I said to Barden without looking up.
He frowned at me, but I ignored it. There was something else here that wasn’t quite right. I trusted Barden, and if I didn’t, I would be far more skeptical about why we were here and what we were after. The fact of the matter was that I believed Barden acted in my best interest, unlike Matt who I still wasn’t sure how much to trust. Although he might have helped me before, saving Jean-Pierre, I also was left trusting him telling me that he wasn’t the one who had coordinated all of it.
It came back to what I knew. Even when we got to the Vangalor home, there were additional pieces I could add to the puzzle. Roland had contacted the Council, at least from what he had said. He had not directly contacted Jean-Pierre, and if he had, I had to wonder if Jean-Pierre would have allowed Roland to react and behave in this way. Now that Roland had reacted in this way, it had forced me to call on Jean-Pierre, forcing me to use him to ensure our safety.
Why did I get the feeling that was exactly what Matt wanted?
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I said.
Matt looked up at me, and Barden shook his head. “I wouldn’t advise you using the bathroom here.”
“Roland isn’t going to attack me in the bathroom,” I said.
“Perhaps not,” Barden said, “but I don’t like the idea of you wandering off.”
“I’m not going to be wandering anywhere, Barden. Besides, I’m not worried that they are going to do anything to hurt me. Hasn’t Matt proven that they need to be careful with us?” I smiled at Matt, not certain if he would agree or not. I didn’t want him to be too suspicious, but considering the kind of person he was and the things he did, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was naturally suspicious.
I made my way around the table, Barden watching me the entire time. As I did, I ignored him, heading toward the door. This was a mistake, I was growing increasingly certain of it, but I wasn’t sure what other choice I had. I felt strongly that I needed to get a sense of what was taking place. With the protection I had from Jean-Pierre, I doubted the vampires would do anything to harm me, but maybe they would.
“I’m just going to be a moment.”
I stepped out into the hallway. I wasn’t surprised to find a pair of muscular vampires standing there, almost as if they were the match for the two who remained suspended inside the conference room.
“Can you point me to the bathroom?” I asked one of them. The men shared a look, and I shrugged. “Listen. It won’t take that long, and I’m sure Roland won’t be upset with you if you let a lady pee.”
A strange thought came to me. What if vampires didn’t have to go? That didn’t seem right. When I had worked on the vampire before, the anatomy wasn’t so different from normal human anatomy that I would expect them to have no need to eliminate waste. As far as I knew, vampires had all been humans once, which meant they would still have human needs. I knew they had the need to feed, along with other strange needs that I had discovered.
“I will take you,” one of the men said.
He started along the hallway, and I glanced back to see Barden and Matt within the conference room, both of them watching me. The look in Barden’s eyes told me he knew something wasn’t right, and while Matt remained seated where he had been, one leg crossed over the other, he flipped a coin between his fingers. His brow was slightly furrowed, and I had a sense of something from him. Whether that was power or something else, I still didn’t know.
This might be a mistake. As far as I knew, there was no reason for me to be concerned about anything going on other than what it appeared to be, but I also had the sense I needed to dig a little deeper, and I needed to get a better sense of what exactly was taking place. That involved finding Roland, and possibly intervening before anything worse happened here.
I couldn’t shake the sense that Matt wanted us to be here for more than just his safety. Not only that he wanted to be here, but that he had a plan. What I did know was that his organization had already targeted the vampire elders. Matt had claimed innocence, but what if he hadn’t been nearly as innocent as he had led me to believe? It was the reason I
was willing to take this gamble.
We stopped at the door and the vampire opened it. I was expecting a bathroom, but instead there was another hallway. “It will be the third door on your right,” the vampire said.
I glanced back at him, nodding. I made my way in, reaching the third door, checking it and going inside. The vampire’s bathroom matched the stylings of the rest of the house. A marble pedestal sink was near the door, and even the toilet was almost antique in styling, with the cistern hanging near the ceiling. I glanced in the mirror, looking at my dark hair and brown eyes, wondering what I was thinking. I took a few breaths, smoothing back my hair before stepping back into the hallway.
The muscular vampire was missing. Thankfully. Now I had to move quickly.
I reached into my pocket, squeezing the strange coin Jean-Pierre had given me, and as I went, I wished I had a way for Barden to be with me. I didn’t like the idea of abandoning him, but I also didn’t like the idea of exploring a vampire house alone. It was like going into the belly of the beast, and I knew that doing so put me in danger, and there was a risk here—a very real one—of the vampires ignoring the fact that I had the marker from Jean-Pierre.
I might be able to withstand Roland using whatever influence he might have on me, but would I be able to withstand more than just Roland? What if it came from multiple vampires? I doubted I would be able to do so. Which meant that this was stupid.
I knew what was down the two hallways, but I didn’t know what was at the end of this one.
Continuing along it, I paused at each door, resting my head up against it, wishing I had some sort of spell that would grant me a way of eavesdropping. Short of that, I wished I had some of Matt’s coins, and furthermore, I wished I had his ability with them. I didn’t hear anything at any of the doors as I made my way along the hallway.
A door at the end of the hall looked a little bit different from the others. Markings on it reminded me of the symbols on the wand, but they also reminded me of the markings on Matt’s coin. That couldn’t be a coincidence. I rested my hand on it, testing to see if it was locked, and found that of course it was.
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