by MJ Kraus
“I… uh…” I started trying to think of a response when a black SUV pulled up next to the sidewalk. Blue flashing lights were mounted in the front and back of the car and four black-suited figures stepped out and ran up to me.
“Chief Barnaby?” A tall, thin woman with jet black hair pulled into a ponytail took off her sunglasses and pulled out a badge from her jacket. “Agent Elizabeth Glendale. FBI. We need to ask your officer here a few questions.”
For the first time since I had met Chief Barnaby he was at a loss for words. He glanced between the woman, her badge and myself before sputtering out a response. “I-no, y-you, I mean he… I need him down at the station for a debriefing!”
“Sorry Chief.” The woman snapped her badge shut and put her arm around my shoulder to guide me back towards the SUV. “Federal jurisdiction now. We’ll be back soon to get a few details from you, too.”
Slightly dazed and confused, I went willingly with the woman and we stopped at the SUV. Behind us, near the edge of the park, Wilson and the Chief were holding a heated conversation as they both tried to figure out what was going on. I looked at the woman as she turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
“FBI, huh? You don’t smell like FBI.” It was true, too. While she was definitely a Normal, there was something about her that was tickling the back of my head. I reached out and probed for it, finding the traces of a ward and a few charms secreted on her person. When I realized what the ward was for, I grinned with realization. “You’re part of the Collective, aren’t you?”
The woman nodded and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you. Yes, I’m with the Collective.”
“So the Council’s here?”
Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably. “They’ve… agreed to let us take point on this particular incident, given where it happened.”
“Ha!” I chuckled. “That’s a new one for the Council, letting non-Touched deal with their affairs.”
“There’s been a lot going on behind the scenes over the last few years, William.” She gave me an odd look and I suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable.
“How do you know my name?”
Elizabeth smiled. “Our position with the Council gives us certain latitude to know things that even they do not.”
My uncomfortableness got a thousand times more intense and I glanced around, looking for an easy way out but seeing none. “Look, Liz, it’s great to meet someone from the Collective, but I should really be going. I need to get cleaned up before my shift tonight.”
“Mr. Silver.” Before I could turn away she held out a card. I accepted it hesitantly and read what was scrawled on the back.
“What’s this?” I pointed at the number she had written down.
“We’d like you to work for us. Not as a full-fledged employee, you understand, but more along the lines of a consultant. We’ve seen some of the work you’ve done in the last few months on the force and your performance today sealed the deal. We need people like you helping to keep the peace between the Touched and non-Touched. That’s what the Collective is all about, after all.”
The number on the back of the card had six digits, and though it was tempting, I still shook my head. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I can’t. It’s not really my style.”
“You’d rather go back to work for them?” Elizabeth motioned behind me. I glanced back and saw the Chief and Wilson staring at me, whispering to each other. “Are they more your style?”
I rolled my head back, closed my eyes and groaned. “How does this work, anyway? I have to come into the office or something?”
She smiled and pulled out a small object from her pocket. “Keep this phone on you at all times. I’ll be contacting you on this to let you know when we have assignments for you. I’ll also drop by your apartment in the next week with the paperwork you’ll need to sign.”
“Oh, so you know where I live, too. Great. Just… just great.” I shook my head as I looked at the phone, then dropped it into my pants pocket. “Anything else you want to share with me?”
Elizabeth put her sunglasses back on and opened the door to the SUV. The other people who had hopped out with her were already on their way back to the vehicle. They brushed past me and climbed in without saying a word, then Elizabeth answered.
“Just keep your ear to the ground, Silver. We’ll be in touch.”
As the SUV drove away, I turned the card over and looked at the number on it again. It was ten times what I was making as a NYPD cop and even though money meant little to me I had to admit that it was a nice feeling to be getting a raise. I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that still lingered in the back of my head, though, and as I headed down the street—ignoring the Chief’s shouts behind me—I wondered what exactly I had gotten myself into.
Epilogue
“Sully?” I rapped my knuckles on the doorframe to the room and Sully sat up in his chair and spun around.
“William! Come on in! Did you ring the bell?”
“Yeah, Sam let me in. And stuffed me full of food before she’d let me see you.”
Sully grinned and turned back to the table he was hunched over. I walked up next to him and sat down in a chair on the opposite side and leaned in to see what he was working on.
In the center of the table, beneath several bright white lights and contained in a magnifying chamber was a small sliver of grey stone, suspended in the air by levitation runes carved into the glass of the magnification chamber. “Is that the rock you took from the grotto?”
Sully nodded. “Aye, tis the one.”
“What are you looking for?”
Sully glanced up at me, his eyes dancing with electrified magic fire. “I’m not entirely certain, lad. But I’ll know it when I see it.”
“Oh.” I sat quietly, reaching out to feel the stone but sensing nothing. The sliver I had taken was resting safely in my safe back at my apartment, but even after hours of probing it I had felt nothing in it, either. After a few moments of silence as Sully manipulated the piece of stone, I spoke again. “Hey, thanks for getting me that job with the Collective.”
The edges of Sully’s mouth twitched as he unsuccessfully tried to suppress a slight smile. “What’re y’talkin’ about, lad? You got a new job?”
“Oh can it, Sullivan. You know perfectly well what I’m talking about. Listen, I don’t know how you know someone in the Collective, but I appreciate the gesture. So… thank you.”
Sully’s eyes flicked up to me again and he nodded. “You’re welcome, lad.” The smile disappeared from his face and I could sense a sadness enveloping him. “I just hope, for everyone’s sake, that th’ Collective and th’ Council can get their ducks all in’a row.”
“What are you talking about?” I felt a chill run down my spine and my arms and legs erupted in goosebumps.
Sully stood from his chair slowly, cracking his back, then hobbled over to an easy chair and sat down. I stayed at the table, eying the rock closely as he spoke. “Like I told you, lad. That stone’s got a lot of secrets wrapped up in it. T’was an ancient altar the elder dragged there to the grotto. Far more ancient than he is.” Sully snorted. “Was, I mean.”
“So Val’Lithrai’s definitely dead?”
“I assume so. His clan’s up in arms about it. Council’s got their hands full tryin’ t’keep them under control.”
“So what does an ancient altar have to do with anything?”
Sully took a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head. “He was a pawn, lad.”
“Who? Val’Lithrai?”
“Aye.”
I scoffed and got up from the table to go sit in a chair next to Sully. “A pawn? Really?”
“Aye, lad. I spent eighteen hours straight diggin’ around in that piece of stone. There’s more magic in there than you’d believe. All bound up tight and hidden. Purposefully, too. Someone doesn’t want anyone to know about it. But it’s there.” Sully shook his head and looked at me.
“There’s a storm comin’, lad.
Whoever was pullin’ Val’Lithrai’s strings won’t be happy that he failed.”
“How could anyone make an elder vampire into their pawn?” The idea was ludicrous on its face. “That would require more power than… well, anyone. Not even the full strength of the Council could manipulate an elder vampire much less bend one to their will.”
Sully nodded slowly. “Why d’you think I pulled those strings to get y’that job?”
I smiled and nodded. “Thanks again.”
Sully’s eyes were fixated on the stone but his mind was somewhere else entirely as he replied. “Keep your eyes open, Will. A storm’s comin’. Maybe not tomorrow or next week or next month but somethin’ is comin’, lad. Somethin’ more powerful and terrible than we could possibly imagine.”
Author’s Notes
May 18, 2017
If you’re reading this, then you’ve probably just read entirety of my first published foray into Urban Fantasy. I really REALLY appreciate you taking a chance on my writing, regardless of whether you’ve read some of my previous works or not.
I started my published writing career in 2012 with a post-apocalyptic scifi series called Final Dawn that sold over a quarter million copies. I finished the series in 2013 and took a few years off of writing and publishing before returning at the beginning of this year (2017). I’m currently writing two post-apocalyptic series (No Sanctuary and Surviving the Fall) as well as the Makeshift Wizard series, of which Death Magic is the first book.
I actually started writing UF years ago before I even knew what UF is! One day I hope to publish that series, but I’m saving it for far in the future, once I hopefully get established as a UF writer. :)
When I came up with the idea for the Makeshift Wizard, I wanted a UF that was similar to the Dresden Files (minimal/no romance, lots of action and a snarky self-confident lead character) but I didn’t want to follow the exact same action Urban Fantasy formula that other writers follow. Not that there’s anything wrong with that formula, but I just wanted to have something a little bit unique.
It took me a few days of brainstorming and throwing away a lot of horrible ideas to come up with the one that defines William Silver today. His genetic condition (that makes him just as human as we are) was a foil that I knew I could use throughout a series as something that would give him both weakness and strength among his fellow wizards. More than that, though, it seems to me that his condition is something that makes him more like us than most wizards you see in UF settings.
The tropes of an action UF hero being on the fringe of society, having a hidden/secret past, hiding a terrible secret and all of that good stuff are present in the Makeshift Wizard. But since Will isn’t actually a wizard without his VEC, I think a question naturally springs to mind: is he even a wizard at all? In the eyes of the Council he certainly wouldn’t be, but he has the family name and all of the abilities of a wizard and he appears to be one on the outside.
This is something I’m looking forward to exploring in depth as we learn more about Will, Sully, Liz and the many other characters that make up the world of the Makeshift Wizard. Oh and of course there’s going to be a lot of action, suspense, magical spells, evildoers, heroes and all of those awesome elements that make up a fun Urban Fantasy ride.
If you want to stay up to date with the Makeshift Wizard series, be sure to sign up for my VIP newsletter and visit my Facebook page (you can see my post-apocalyptic author profile page here). Death Magic is fairly short (around 26k words) because I wrote it as a way to get myself immersed in the world of UF writing. Future books will be longer, and I’ll be giving away copies of those books and other things that I write to folks who are on my fantasy mailing list.
Since (as of right now when I’m writing these notes) I’m sort of starting from scratch when it comes to finding potential readers, I’m also looking for potential Advance Review Copy (ARC) readers. They’re folks who get early copies of my books for free in exchange for leaving an honest review when the book is published. If you’re interested in that, sign up for my newsletter and look for an email a few days later from me offering you a spot in my ARC Army.
Thanks again—seriously Thank You So Much—for taking a chance on Death Magic. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please consider taking 60 seconds of your time and leaving a review for it on Amazon. Most people don’t realize that every single review that an indie book gets makes a HUGE impact, and those 60 seconds you take to leave a review mean the world to me.
I hope to see you again in the next book. :)
All the best,
Mike
Death Magic
The Makeshift Wizard Series
Book 0
By
MJ Kraus
© 2017 MJ Kraus
www.MikeKrausBooks.com
[email protected]
www.facebook.com/MikeKrausBooks
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without the permission in writing from the author.
I’d like to extend my very profound gratitude to Alexander, Anna & Konstantinos for their assistance with creating the initial Russian, Latin and Greek translations for the spells used in the Makeshift Wizard series.
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Books from Mike Kraus
Mike Kraus (MJ Kraus) originally started as a writer of post-apocalyptic fiction in 2012. After taking a few years off, he returned to post-apocalyptic writing in early 2017 and has started to expand to Urban Fantasy and—soon—space opera/military scifi books. If you enjoy books in the Urban Fantasy or Post-Apocalyptic genres, check out Mike’s other books below!
Final Dawn: The Complete Original Series Box Set
Clocking in at nearly 300,000 words with over 250,000 copies sold, this is the complete collection of the original bestselling post-apocalyptic Final Dawn series. If you enjoy gripping, thrilling post-apocalyptic action with compelling and well-written characters you’ll love Final Dawn.
Final Dawn: Arkhangelsk: The Complete Trilogy Box Set
The Arkhangelsk Trilogy is the first follow-up series set in the bestselling Final Dawn universe and delivers more thrills, fun and just a few scares. The crew of the Russian Typhoon submarine Arkhangelsk travel to a foreign shore in search of survivors, but what the find threatens their fragile rebuilding efforts in the post-apocalyptic world.
Surviving the Fall
Surviving the Fall is an episodic post-apocalyptic series that follows Rick and Dianne Waters as they struggle to survive after a devastating and mysterious worldwide attack. Trapped on the opposite side of the country from his family, Rick must fight to get home while his wife and children struggle to survive as danger lurks around every corner.
Prip’Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl
Two teens and two Spetsnaz officers travel to the town of Prip’Yat set just outside the remains of the Chernobyl power plant. The teens are there for a night of exploration. The special forces are there to pursue a creature that shouldn’t exist. This short thriller set around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will keep your heart racing right through to the very end.
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