“Fairly high, considering how urgent it is,” he said. “I can stay here and watch the place while you ask him.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I am.” He held out the cage. “But please take this with you before the noise draws the Order’s attention.”
“Watch out for more sneaky vampires,” I warned him, taking the cage from his hands. Its feathery occupant squawked at me. “And shut it, you. You weren’t even useful.”
I heard Miles chuckling behind me as I headed for the node down the street from the Order’s building. After checking nobody was following me, I travelled back to the swampland and headed for the gates to the castle, bracing myself for His Deathly Highness to not be thrilled with me for failing to get the Akrith. Though the odds had been against us from the start and we’d been lucky not to wind up getting caught, I’d blown any chance of getting into an auction again when I’d torched that vampire. Serve him right for getting handsy.
After dropping off the vampire chicken’s cage at the foot of the staircase, I entered the castle’s entrance hall and found the Death King waiting for me. “Well?”
“They were prepared for us,” I said. “The vampire who bought the Akrith expected to be followed and cut a deal with one of the auctioneers. Both of them fled to Earth, then his friend distracted us while he hopped in and out of the nodes until he reached the Order’s headquarters and took refuge in there.”
“The Order?” he echoed.
“Apparently,” I said. “I don’t know what they’re doing with the Akrith. If not handing it to the Family, I mean.”
The Order was run by rogue spirit mages who’d worked with the Family before, though, and the Family were no longer hiding in the shadows as they once had. Yet they sure as hell hadn’t got involved in anything on Earth before. I hadn’t thought they’d ever had an interest in the people who had zero clue of the magical world that existed under their feet.
“Is the vampire still in the Order’s base?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s why I came here,” I said. “Miles is watching to see if the vampire leaves the building, but I figured I’d ask if you wanted me to go after him. I’m not going to be able to go to another auction after I torched one of the auctioneers.”
“How inconvenient.” The Death King studied me, his expression disconcertingly lifelike for a lich wearing an illusion. “If you decide to break into the Order and get this artefact back, they’re unlikely to see you coming. Less so than the Family, at any rate.”
He was right on that one, but that didn’t make it any less of a bad idea. The Order or the Family’s house. What a choice to make.
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “Got any advice before I go back?”
“Talk to Olivia,” was his response. “She’ll help you break into the Order.”
7
I left the castle and spotted the fire sprite hovering above the vampire chicken’s cage, from which a series of loud screeching noises issued.
“Someone’s unhappy,” Dex remarked. “What did you bring that thing here for?”
“Nowhere else to put it.” What the hell. I opened the cage door and let the vampire chicken hop out, its glowing eyes looking positively demonic in the darkness. “Is Liv around? Or Devon?”
“Not in the castle, no,” he said. “Why?”
“I need to talk to them about finding a magical object,” I said. “I’m told Liv knows all about them, since she used to be a retriever for the Order.”
“Yes, she did,” he said. “What kind of object are we talking about?”
“A rare elven artefact,” I said. “A vampire stole it and took it into the Order’s headquarters. I need her help to get it back.”
“You want to break into the Order’s headquarters?” He burst into laughter, flitting around my head like a hummingbird.
“What the hell is so funny?” I asked the fire sprite. “Didn’t Liv used to work for them?”
“She also broke in a fair few times herself,” he said. “Both when she worked for the Order and otherwise. She’ll be thrilled to hear that you’re doing the same, I’m sure.”
“Whether she is or not, this is urgent,” I said. “Life and death, potentially. Where is she?”
“She’s at home,” he said. “If it’s life and death, then I’m sure she’ll be willing to listen. I’ll come to see her reaction. It’s bound to be priceless.”
“Thanks, Dex.”
The fire sprite floated alongside me towards the node outside the castle’s fence, past the spot where a sleepy-looking Felicity and Cal stood on security duty.
“Where’re you going this time?” Cal yawned.
“Nowhere fun,” I said evasively. “I’ll be back within the hour.”
Without adding any more details. I hurried after Dex and followed him into the path of the node. The light swallowed us up, and a second later, I found myself standing in Liv and Devon’s living room, while both occupants gawped at me from the sofa.
I looked up at the sprite. “Dex, you should have mentioned you were taking us into Liv’s house.”
“I thought it was implied.”
“Dammit, Dex.” Devon half rose to her feet, scowling at the fire sprite.
Liv sat next to her, a gaming controller in her hands, while the setup from our D&D game covered the table on the left-hand side of the room.
“I forgot the node comes out directly into your house,” I admitted. “Sorry. Dex said you’d be willing to help us.”
“What do you want, then?” asked Devon.
“There’s a magical object I need,” I said. “An elven artefact which was sold at an auction in Arcadia. A vampire ran off with it and escaped to Earth.”
“You went to one of those auctions?” said Liv.
“Didn’t you set an auction hall on fire once?” said Devon.
I turned to Liv. “Seriously?”
“It wasn’t me, it was Dex,” Liv answered. “I was trying to stop a rogue earth mage from making a quick getaway, and Dex got a bit overexcited.”
“Bet the vampires loved that,” I said. “Anyway, as I was about to say, the vampire took the object, came to Earth, and then ran into the Order’s headquarters of all places.”
“The Order?” she said. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope,” I said. “I couldn’t follow him inside, and he never came back out. I don’t know if he was going to give it to them to look after, or if he was just waiting for the coast to be clear before running.”
“Either way, he must have allies in there,” said Devon. “Otherwise the Order would have kicked him out.”
“Yeah,” said Liv. “They don’t take kindly to being fucked around with. They won’t be happy with any break-in attempts, either. If you get caught, you won’t get any mercy.”
“If I do, the best I can hope is that they hand me back to the Houses,” I said. “If I wind up back in the Family’s home, then I’d be better off being caught by the Order instead.”
“Does the Family’s home contain a dungeon equipped with anti-magical shielding and hundreds of guards, not to mention cantrips which can destroy even a lich?” asked Liv.
“Not that I recall, but the Family have a vendetta,” I said. “The Order… whatever dickheads are running the show in there, they don’t know me. There’s no personal stake in this for them. The worst they can do is lock me up.”
“If you get caught, they’ll strip the magic out of you the way they do to other mages who break the law,” Liv said seriously. “Trust me, it’s worse than death for most people.”
“I doubt they can strip out my magic,” I said. “I’m designed to be more resilient than most humans. The Family saw to that.”
Both of them stared at me.
“What in hell did they do to you?” Devon wanted to know.
“Tested experimental cantrips on me, mostly,” I replied. “Hard to remember most of it. I was too young.”
“They did that to you when
you were a kid?” Liv said. “Damn.”
“Nobody ever said they were model parents,” I said. “To top it off, I’m half-elf, so that alone might grant me immunity to half the spells they might use on me.”
“Hell of a risk regardless,” said Devon. “The vampire… if he’s trading with them, the retrieval unit is down the stairway at the back of the lobby.”
“That’s where they keep most of the crap they get people like me to retrieve,” Liv added. “As for actual deliveries, they keep those in the yard around the back, but I don’t think they’d leave a rare artefact out there unattended. Things like that are delivered by private courier, usually.”
“Makes sense, but I don’t know who the vamp’ll be trading it to.” Except for someone who could give him more than a million gold coins or the local equivalent, that is. “I wouldn’t say the Family was friends with any vampires, but then again, I didn’t think they knew any spirit mages either and now I find out they’re supporting another war.”
“Some rogue vampires originally started the illegal cantrip trade in Arcadia,” said Devon.
“Well, that would explain a lot.” I shook my head. “Anyway, I have to get back out there. I left Miles watching the Order, but they might catch him if he stays out there too long. We have to get in there before they realise we’re spying on them.”
“If that’s the case, take Dex with you,” said Liv. “Dex? You still here?”
The fire sprite floated into view. “What is it?”
“You know the way around the Order,” said Liv. “Bria and Miles are planning on breaking in, so I’m sure you can show them around.”
“Another stealth mission?” he said. “Fine, but I expect compensation.”
“You’ll get some new dice later if you’re good.” Devon got to her feet. “I have some cantrips which will help you stay unseen, but even they won’t be enough if you end up getting caught. They have weapons in their headquarters which can even kill liches. They were developing them for Hawker.”
“Great.” I watched her leave via the door which led into the shop where she sold cantrips and other magical items to practitioners on Earth. Including Order employees. What the hell am I doing?
“You probably won’t have to go into the basement, but you should know that’s where their prison is,” added Liv. “The very top floor is for the upper room, the people who run the show, but I doubt the vampire will go up there. Unless he’s really important, he won’t be allowed in.”
“He’s very rich, I’ll say that much,” I said. “He bought that thing for a million coins like it was nothing.”
“Damn,” said Liv. “Well, if you’re a master of stealth, then you shouldn’t have a problem getting around the lower levels of the Order. Just avoid taking the elevator down to the basement. Especially if you have any spirit mages with you.”
Spirit mages who broke the laws often paid the price by having the magic stripped from their very bones. That was the fate which might await Miles if we failed. I didn’t want him to be the one who suffered for my mistake, but I was in way over my head when it came to the Order. They weren’t like the Houses, even if they were working from the same rulebook, and I hadn’t had nearly enough time to prepare.
If we let the artefact slip through our fingers, though, we’d lose our shot at getting to the elves before the Family did. Besides, I’d done far more dangerous things than breaking into the Order’s headquarters. Regardless of Liv’s warnings, there was nothing they could do to me that was worse than what I’d already gone through.
We needed that artefact. And if we had to go through the Order to get it, so be it.
After Dex joined me, we hopped through the node once again and found Miles standing in the same spot where I’d left him, watching the doors to the Order’s headquarters.
“There you are,” he said. “I assumed the Death King was chewing you out, but I was on the brink of coming to find you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I topped up our stealth cantrips, if we need them, but it depends if you want to come inside the building with me or not. They’re not known for being nice to spirit mages.”
“Damn right,” Dex said. “I’m here as your lookout. Not my first time breaking into the Order’s place, so I know the way around.”
“Good, because we don’t,” said Miles. “I’m coming in, though, Bria.”
Two of us going in meant twice the chance of being caught, but if he astral projected, he wouldn’t be able to use an invisibility cantrip to hide himself, and the anti-magical defences on the lower levels might well interfere with his magic even if he wasn’t there in person. We’d better hope the dungeon wasn’t where we ended up having to go to retrieve the Akrith.
Liv had said the retrieval unit lay down a staircase on the ground floor, so that was our first target. I handed Miles one of the invisibility cantrips Devon had given me and turned on my own before approaching the building. Two burly shifter guards stood in front of the doors, dressed in dark clothing. Even invisible, we’d need to cause a distraction to get in.
“Say the word and I’ll draw their attention,” Dex muttered in my ear. “The best time to sneak in is when someone else is on the way out.”
We didn’t have to wait long, since people came and went all the time. When two people walked through the automatic doors, I whispered to the fire sprite, “Go on.”
Dex flew straight at the guards, and as they parted to look at the sparks showering above their heads, I darted between them, hoping Miles had stuck close behind me.
A wide, clean lobby greeted us, containing few people aside from a receptionist and some Order members wearing durable gear who I guessed had come from the Parallel. People who travelled between realms on a daily basis were less likely to work normal daytime hours than those who lived permanently on Earth and worked in the Order’s offices. I didn’t see any signs of the spirit mages who’d secretly infiltrated the place, but I doubted they’d be visible on the surface.
A flicker of light drew my eyes to a pillar, behind which Dex hovered, gesturing to the left. That way. I followed his directions and found my way to a corridor lined with office doors, which ended in a staircase which I assumed must lead to the retrieval unit in the basement.
I trod downstairs and found myself in a musty room filled with boxes. A sleepy-looking kid sat behind the desk, and he didn’t even look up when I tiptoed into the room. I guessed Liv was right when she said the Order viewed the retrieval unit as their lowest priority, and that ‘retriever’ translated as ‘thief of worthless junk’.
Unfortunately, the vampire wasn’t around either, evidenced by the fact that the room contained no hiding places to speak of. He wouldn’t have dumped the priceless artefact inside one of the boxes along with the rest of the junk, so he must still have it with him.
Dex flitted past, and the flap of one of the boxes lifted a fraction. A moment later, the fire sprite surfaced and landed on my invisible shoulder. “Nope. This isn’t the right place.”
I backtracked, cursing inwardly, and climbed the stairs again. The kid behind the desk hadn’t even noticed the intrusion, but of course the vampire wouldn’t have put the artefact in the most obvious place. No, he’d have been sneakier than that.
The fire sprite reached the top of the stairs first, leading the way down a row of wooden doors labelled with names etched into bronze plates.
Where the hell is that vampire? He wouldn’t be sitting around in an office holding onto the artefact, surely. He’d either have given it to someone else to look after or locked it in a secure safe. Which depended whether he was going to keep it, hand it to the Family, or to someone else inside the Order itself. Small windows topped each door, and I peered through each of them as I walked along the row of offices.
I halted in front of a door without a bronze plate identifying its owner, seeing the smooth back of the vampire’s head through the glass in the window. There he is.
“That�
�s old Cobb’s office.” Dex flew onto my shoulder. “Holland took over the place before he got promoted to the upper room.”
Holland. That name sounded familiar. Wasn’t he the guy who’d put himself in charge of this Order branch after the spirit mages’ secret coup? I edged closer in the hopes of overhearing who the vampire was speaking to, but with no luck.
“I’m going in,” Dex said. “Wait out here. Don’t draw attention.”
“No shit,” I breathed.
The fire sprite inched the door open a fraction and flitted into the room. In the split second the door was open, I heard the vampire say, “He’s late.”
“What did you expect?” responded another male voice. “He’s an elf. They run on their own time schedule.”
The door closed, while I stared at the back of the vampire’s head. They’re meeting with an elf?
I couldn’t see Miles, but I could only assume he’d invisibly hidden himself nearby. I bloody well hoped Dex knew what he was doing. A long minute passed before the door inched open and the small shape of the fire sprite returned.
“They’re waiting for an elf,” he muttered in my ear. “Some trader.”
“Why would an elf come here?” A scheme began to take shape in my mind. “Dex, can you ask Miles to meet me outside the back exit?”
“On it.” He flew to a spot opposite the door and poked at thin air. “She wants to talk to you.”
A moment later, Miles’s hand found my arm and he leaned in and whispered. “You want to intercept the trader?”
“You’ve got it,” I breathed. “I’m not chasing anyone down this time, though. We’re going to stage a diversion and swipe the Akrith when the vampire’s back is turned.”
This time, I wouldn’t fail.
8
Tower of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 3) Page 7
