by C. B. Miller
A number of bubbles with various names filled a massive page two feet by three feet, along with dozens of lines of different colors connecting some bubbles while avoiding others. Some of the names I recognized as missing vampires. Several different styles of handwriting popped out as I scanned the page.
“What’s this?”
Alex forced her hands to her side and let out a low growl, and her lip curled upward. “We were looking into the disappearances after the first werewolf disappeared. By that time, a few solitaries had already gone missing, and with the current Hunter presence in the city, we were trying to tie them to it. Maxmillian wasn’t convinced that the Hunters were behind it. Things were too clean, and that’s probably why we were targeted. That made me realize it’s probably someone we all know.”
My skin prickled as I read the bubble in the center of the bubble. The big question mark was crossed out, and underneath was written ‘The Grey?’
“You can’t be serious?”
Admittedly I didn’t know much about The Grey, other than he was powerful enough that when he refused to sign the Accords but agreed to remain a neutral party, the combined leadership of Chicago decided leaving him alone was better than trying to run him out of the city. Whispered throughout the community, it’s rumored that he’s actually a Fae, or Fae bound, and is beholden to a greater power that prevents him from joining the Accords.
“It’s so blazingly obvious if you think about it,” Alex said.
“That’s the problem. It’s too obvious. And why? Why now?” “It’s Occam’s Razor. I don’t know why either, but we’re going to pay him a visit and find out. I want to see how he reacts to Rebecca.”
I gestured to the mind map, “What made you suspect him now? Is there anything here that ties him to these disappearances?”
Alex waivered for a moment before she shook her head. “But, it’s how he freaked out on you about the book. What was it he said to you about it? That it was an abomination?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Is he wrong? I’m not sure how I feel about some guy that’s over four thousand years old running around with the power of life and death.”
Alex scoffed. “And this from the guy working for vampires.”
“It’s a debt to be paid,” I whispered.
Alex’s expression softened and pointed at the mind map. “There’s another possibility that you might know more about.”
Her finger rested on a name written above the red lines wherever they connected with another bubble. Bracketed by fangs was ‘Elizabeth.’
I wracked my brain, searching for all the Elizabeth’s I knew, none of which were vampires. Frowning, I shook my head. “Doesn’t ring a bell, but then again, I don’t exactly know every vampire in the city, let alone by name.”
“I figured as much, but it was worth a shot. It looks like she’s a solitary too.”
“If The Grey doesn’t pan out, we check that angle. It seems unlikely a solo would be powerful enough to do all this.”
We looked up at each other and started to talk over the other. I halted and waved for her to go on and speak.
“Have you ever heard of a Hunter negotiating before?”
I had, but that was a story for another time. “It’s pretty rare from what I understand.”
Alex cocked her head and blinked slowly. “Oh, alright. You think they are on the up and up.”
“Hell no. I hate the fact they’re being allowed to remain in Chicago so openly. We should pay them a visit first and foremost. Like you said, Occam's Razor. The Order exists to destroy all of us, so whatever they are up to can’t be good in the long run.”
Her eyes burned, and teeth gleamed in the light as a grin slowly spread across her face. “Good, I’d hate to give those ass-holes a free pass.”
“Good, I’ll go get Rebecca while you get ready then?”
I began to turn and halted as she raised a hand.
“One more thing before we go.” She leaned forward, and her eyes flicked to my side, “we need to talk about your sword.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Bring forth your blade.” She said.
I reached for the hilt, and Alex hissed in disapproval.
“No. I said, bring forth your blade, not draw your sword.”
I cocked my head and let my hand fall back to my side. “I’m not following you.”
“Show me your hand again.” I lifted my right hand up, and she poked my palm, tracing the three triangles burned into my skin. Gently she rotated my hand so I could see the marks.
“When we were in the tunnels, I thought you were lucky, or maybe you had some super wight mojo I’d never heard of before. It was impressive and good thinking to bring the ceiling down to slow that thing. Once I saw these, though, it made more sense.”
“Why?”
Ignoring my question, she let go of my hand and backed away. “Focus your will and summon the sword to your hand.” Her calm expression made it seem like she was asking me to walk. Not make some magical weapon to teleport to my hand on command.
“Ok. SHAZAM!” I yelled, thrusting my clenched hand forward like the sword was in my grip.
I snorted when nothing happened, and she fixed with a long, cold glare.
“Shazam?” She said dryly and folded her arms.
“Abracadabra?”
Nothing happened, and I lunged in a mock thrust.
She stepped to the side and groaned.
“Should I say please? I think that exhausts all the magic words I know, though.”
Alex rolled her eyes.
“Usually, there is a verbal trigger. Those types of weapons are the weakest and most common.” Alex admonished. She wrinkled her face, starting and stopping while she searched for the right words.”Look, magic is an art. There are rules, but only some of them are immutable. The rest function more like guidelines. As long as you play within the guidelines, it behaves predictably.”
“Isn’t that what I was doing? Magic word and such?”
“Kind of. Think of it like visualizing an apple; I didn’t tell you what kind of apple to think of, right? So any apple works.”
I nodded, trying not to let my uncertainty and confusion show as she continued.
“Now, if I tell you to imagine a bright red delicious apple with a single brown spot on it with a long stem, suddenly you’ll see that apple I described. Right?”
I bobbed my head in agreement again, not wanting to break her flow with the questions bubbling up in the back of my head. I understood the visualization thing, but I wasn’t sure what it had to do with magic.
“I’m sure the apple you thought of the first time wasn’t the same as the apple I describe the first time. What about if I have you think about the apple with a worm in it? Ask a dozen people, and more often than not, they are going to think of a bright red apple with a worm in it.”
“Ok, but what does that have to do with magic?”
“Verbal triggers like shazam and abracadabra work in the same type of way. They only work in very specific ways, and that’s it. Magic can and often responds to the user’s desires – as long as they are focused on the outcome. Inside.” She stepped forward and poked me, first in the chest and then in my head.
“Let’s try this again. Will that sword into your hand. Concentrate on how it feels in your hand. Feel its weight in your hand. Call to the power it possesses and dominate it.”
Feeling it best to keep my mouth shut, I held out my hand to my side. I let myself feel the weight of Ekurzakir’s Judgmentin my hands. The coolness of its hilt, the guard cold across my hand. To my amazement, the blade phased into existence like smoke solidifying into my palm, fitting perfectly into my grasp in the span of a heartbeat.
I almost dropped the blade as I looked down. “Holy shit!”
Alex clapped politely. “Good. Repeat the process until I get back.”
Stunned, I watched her leave the room before I resheathed the blade. Over the next few minutes, I replicated the
process, gradually growing comfortable with summoning the sword to my hand. With a little more effort, I was able to make the blade appear in my left hand.
Alex smiled as she entered the room, a small rucksack over her shoulders.
“Now, for the hard part.”
“What is that?”
“I want you to send it away by letting it go and focusing on making it go elsewhere. When I say ‘away,’ I mean I want you to think of nowhere in particular. Don’t think of your bedroom, or the house where you grew up, or anywhere else. I want you to just will the sword away.”
My shoulders tensed, “That sounds a little bit like I’d be destroying it.” Alex and I needed each other, but it’s not like we were friends. The last thing I needed was to lose Ekurzakir’s Judgment because I placed my trust entirely on a woman I just met.
“It’ll be fine. Willing it away is the best way to ensure someone else doesn’t stumble across the blade and take possession. Like you did.”
I brought my right hand up and examined the mark burned into my palm. “That’s what this means?”
“Ding ding ding, get this man a burger!”
My stomach growled in response, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in quite some time. Eden’s power would keep me going for a long time without something to eat or drink. If I didn’t eat, however, it would limit how much I could tap from my internal well of power.
I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, pushing aside all the distracting thoughts that tried to intrude. While I wasn’t a stranger to mediation, focusing on nothingness itself was different. It was hard to push away the busy thoughts that seemed to realize that right now I wasn’t fighting for my life, and it was important to reanalyze why things went wrong with an old flame.
I grew up in a household that always had the TV on, and if there wasn’t a kung fu flick on, there was a science fiction or fantasy show playing. We didn’t have cable growing up, and that meant I watched a lot of older and C-rate movies on the lesser known broadcast channels. Unbidden, a line near the climax of an older film came to mind, and I couldn’t help myself.
I burst into laughter.
Ekurzakir’s Judgment clattered to the floor, and Alex jumped at the sound, glowering at me while I tried to stop laughing. I held up a hand, and I clutched my side with my other hand to stave off the tongue lashing she looked like she was going to give me.
“What the hell?” Alex’s voice went up half an octave, and her eyes were wide as she waited for me to regain control. She took a step closer when I finally regained my breath. “What the hell is so funny? Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Really. Sorry, just. I couldn’t help myself. I tried to think of nothing, and it just popped in there.”
“What popped in there – Wait. You didn’t.”
Another giggle fit washed over me, and after it passed, I picked up the sword. I gave her my best attempt at a rakish smile, “Yes. I know. I tried to think of the one thing, the one place, where I would feel safe.”
Alex rolled her eyes, “You know that isn’t even the line, right?”
I shrugged, “Sure, but it’s been years since I’ve seen Ghostbusters. It’s a classic, though and c’mon, it’s impossible that wouldn’t come up. Not when you’re like ‘think of nothing’ and stuff.” I toned down my impression of her as I spoke.
The last twenty-four hours were rough on her, and I just wanted her to liven up some. I’ve spent my entire working life around people who were too serious all the time. It was ok when it was an office environment, and things weren’t life and death. Now, I was too close to death on a daily basis.
She scrunched up her face, “Cute. Now, focus.” Her voice was iron-hard, and the air was suddenly still and oppressive.
Maybe this is why Eden sent me out on my own. I might not work that well with others in this position. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes again. This time I let the noise of random thoughts flow past and opened my eyes.
I let go of the sword and it liquified as it fell to the ground. The copper and silver liquid splattered on the carpet and immediately began to evaporate. Tendrils of ephemeral golden-red smoke trailed into the air, disappearing into nothing in the span of a few seconds. My palm itched as the scars on grew searing hot. I felt the flow of power rush through me, rushing to block the burning sensation, and I blocked it. A feeling deep within begged me to let the agony run its course. I gave into the fiery torment, and when it finally receded, I realized I was curled up on the floor.
I stretched out slowly. Every inch of my body ached like I just ran an ultramarathon. Next to me was Alex on her knees, her face unreadable as she watched me recover.
“Oww,” I groaned softly.
“Are you ok? I’m sorry, that was unexpected.”
“That makes two of us. I’ll be fine. I’m just drained.”
Alex helped me up and into a chair, which I gratefully collapsed into. A bolt of fear locked up my chest. I couldn’t fight on today as tired as I am. Losing today was precious time we couldn’t afford to lose if we were going to find whoever was behind all this. The wizard that got away, Megan, had to have reached him by now.
“How do you feel?”
“I told you, I’m drained. Completely sapped.” I reply weakly.
“That’s not what I mean. Can you feel – what did you call the sword again?”
I closed my eyes and sank into the chair’s stuffing, “Erukzakir’s Judgment.”
“Yes, can you feel it?”
I started to reply and stopped as there was something different. Focusing my attention, I realized that I could feel the sword’s presence nearby. It wasn’t a precise location. I simply knew it was close. And there was something reassuring about its presence.
“Yes. I can feel it.”
Alex let out a heavy breath. “Whew! Good, that worked.”
I opened one eye and found her leaning against the drafting table, both hands supporting her weight as she relaxed. “What do you mean, ‘whew’?”
She took in another deep breath and sat in the chair across from me. “Its name is Erukzakir’s Judgment, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Not everyone is able to bind to a Nihilist weapon.”
A surge of adrenaline rushed through me, banishing the fatigue, as I leaned forward, “A what?”
Alex gritted her teeth for a moment and straightened in her seat. I had to give her credit as her gaze never waivered from me while she spoke, “a Nihilist weapon. Ancient artifacts of great power. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that’s what it was until it was too late.”
“And you are sure it’s one of these, Nihilist weapons?”
Alex nodded once before looking away.
“What if I wanted to throw it, though? Is that going to happen?” A flood of questions engulfed me What are the other weapons like this? How can I give this back to my patron? Are there other things it can do? Does it shoot lightning? Fire? Cold? A small grin on Alex’s face squelched any further inquiries.
“No, now that you are tied to it completely. I’m sure you have more questions. Every Nihilist blade is different, and I honestly haven’t heard of this one. I only recognize it as one because of what happened.” She held up her hand to keep me silent. “No, I don’t know a lot about them.”
“If this is some sort of mega-weapon, why didn’t its owner summon it while I was fighting with them and use it on me?”
“Pretty simple, most people don’t know how to fight with a blade. A mage is much more likely to fight using their magic, doubly so for a wizard given a taste of real power. That’s exactly what they were doing. From what you described, they didn’t realize what they had, at least not fully. Or maybe they did. Either way, no one successfully bonded with it. Speaking of which, how did you bond with it?
I leaned back in the chair and pondered her question. I wasn’t sure when I replayed last night’s events in my head. It wasn’t until …
I bolted upright. “Things got weird w
hen I cut through the glyph on the floor. The one that you were in the center of.”
Alex went rigid and unfocused. She looked around the room.
I waited for her to say something, and after a few tense moments, I leaned forward, “Alex? Does that mean something to you?”
She stared off in the distance and replied. “No. I need to do some research.”
I noticed her hands were clasped together in her lap, and her forefinger made a small circle over the top of her other hand.
I wanted to ask more, but between her nervous tick and the way she was staring off into the distance, I felt she didn’t have the answers I was looking for. Maybe she was hiding something, but her concern seemed genuine, as well as her willingness to help.
Standing, I called forth Erukzaki’s Judgment into my hand, my grip on the blade reversed this time. I twirled the blade in front of me, settling into a guard stance with the blade pointed in front of me. Smiling, I bobbed my head slightly at her, “Well, m’lady, I believe it’s time to go kick some ass.”
Alex stood and returned my grin. “Almost. Follow me. Let’s get Rebecca and some food first. You are going to need it if we’re going to confront The Grey.” Her voice was cold as she said the last few words
I pushed aside my grumbling stomach and the wave of weariness as I followed her out of the study. I sheathed my weapon, afraid that dismissing the weapon would drain me further, and froze. A small picture frame nustled into a bookshelf caught my eye, and my blood ran cold.
“Alex….” I called out and picked up the picture. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at a group photo. Eight people crowded together over a platter of sushi, each holding their drink in a salute, beaming for the camera. Alex stood next to another woman I recognized.
“What?” Alex poked her head through the doorway, her brows knitted together as I held up the picture. I pointed to the figure I recognized next to her in the picture, and she shook her head as she returned to examine the picture.
