by Devon Monk
It didn’t used to be a problem to share the city with dead magic users. But something had gone wrong with the Veiled and with magic itself. Somehow magic had been poisoned, and the Veiled had been changed in some way. The Veiled were carriers of the poison now, biting, possessing, and killing people.
Sure, I got sick when I tried to use magic, but other people could use it just fine. However if a Veiled touched or bit them, they came down with a sickness. The Veiled were roaming this city, hurting people like my friend Davy Silvers, or, worse, killing people like Anthony Bell.
The news outlets had reported it as a fast-spreading virus. Nothing magical. But we knew differently. And the one person in a position to stop the sickness and death had been the head of the Authority, Bartholomew Wray.
He hadn’t wanted to stop it. He had wanted the disaster to reach massive proportions. Because he had a grudge against my father and wanted Dad’s technology that made magic accessible for the common magic user deemed not only unsafe but deadly. Once the technology was destroyed and outlawed, magic would once again be under the singular control of the Authority. His control.
Bartholomew Wray had planned to destroy more than just my dad’s technology. He wanted to ruin his business, his wife, and me.
And he didn’t care how many deaths it took for him to get his way. All of Portland could fall and he wouldn’t care.
So I’d shot him. Killed him. In cold blood.
My thoughts skittered away from that—away from his death. The back of my throat tasted sour. I’d stared him straight in the eyes and pulled the trigger.
I wasn’t a killer.
No, that was a lie now.
I’d changed. I had killed. More than once. I didn’t know what I was anymore.
Alive, Dad whispered from the back of my mind. Then, Strong.
Nothing like a dead man talking in my head while I was showering to remind me that I had plenty of current problems that needed taking care of. One thing was for sure: I didn’t want to talk morality with my father. I didn’t agree with Bartholomew, but Dad’s opinions of right and wrong weren’t mine. I didn’t like what I’d done. I wasn’t sure I ever could.
I got busy with the shampoo and soap and used a scrubby cloth over every inch of my skin.
Dad gave me the decency of privacy, or at least the sense of it, since he didn’t say anything more, and pulled far enough away in my mind that I couldn’t feel him.
Problems. I had them. It was time to make a list:
One, I didn’t know what was going to happen to the Authority now that Bartholomew was dead. Two, we had to find a way to cleanse magic of the poison or whatever it was, stop the Veiled from biting and spreading the poison, and find a cure to end the epidemic. Maybe that was really two through four. So, five, I needed to find a way to cure Davy before he got any worse. And six, we were running out of options and allies to do anything.
In short, we were screwed.
I reached over to turn off the shower. Before my hands touched the handles, a flash of light filled the room, bringing with it the stink of hot copper and concrete. I squinted against the glare and pressed my back against the wall, tracing Block before I remembered I couldn’t use magic without barfing.
My left palm stabbed with cold and pain.
Shit.
I shook the spell free, breaking it and waving off the cold and pain, then pushed away from the wall and opened the shower door.
The flash of light was now a concentrated bolt of magic frozen midstrike at a ragged angle from the ceiling to the floor. The air tasted of salt and concrete and hot copper.
In the three seconds it took for that to register, I knew what the spell was.
Gate.
Something, or someone, was about to join me in the bathroom.
And here I was all naked. Again.
Go, me.
The lightning bolt burned black, then split in half, opening a space, or doorway, wide enough I could see the arc of a distant blue sky where the ceiling lamps should be.
A man stepped through the gate.
Tall, rugged, world-worn Roman Grimshaw, the ex-con, ex–Guardian of the gates, strode into the room. With a flick of his hand, the gate slammed shut behind him, leaving gray ashes of the already dying spell to drift down and cling to his long leather jacket. I blinked and the bolt of lightning was a faded afterimage in the steamy room.
For a moment, there was no sound other than our breathing and water raining against tiles.
Roman held very still, his hands away from his body, not using magic. His frown slowly shifted to surprise as he focused on the slightly damp, exceedingly naked me standing in front of him with my hands on my hips.
“You going to hand me a towel or what?” I asked.
That seemed to snap him out of his shock. He quickly turned and picked up the towel folded on the edge of the sink.
The bathroom door burst open.
Hey, just what I needed. More people in the bathroom with me and my birthday suit.
Roman spun to face Zayvion, who had a fistful of Impact spell that snapped like a ball of red fire. His blood dagger in the other hand was already halfway through a Cleave spell.
“Peace,” Roman said, with the slightest hint of his Scottish accent. He threw his hands out to the sides, dropping my towel on the floor.
Neat. Who knew when that floor had last been swept?
Zay stopped drawing the Cleave and flicked a gaze at me. I gave him what I hoped to be a bored look and he went back to glaring at the ex–Guardian of the gates. He did not, I noted, drop the Impact spell.
While they were sizing up each other and the situation, all the warm copper-tasting steam was cooling on my bare skin. I shivered and turned off the water. Then I bent and got my own damn towel, shaking it once before wrapping it tightly around me.
No one said anything. No one moved.
Until Shame strode up to the door, a mug of coffee in his hand. “For Christsake, Grimshaw, use the frickin’ front door. Is it some kind of requirement that all Guardians of the gates have to do that creepy stalker thing?”
“What are you doing here?” Zayvion asked.
“I have been hunting Leander and Isabelle,” Roman said.
“And?” Zay asked.
“They are no longer in Portland.”
That was a problem. Leander and Isabelle were Soul Complements who had lived hundreds of years ago and found a way to cheat death. They were here among the living, and though they didn’t have physical bodies, they were capable of possessing people, and drawing on incredible amounts of magic together. Soul Complements can make magic break its own rules. If they figured out how to use the tainted magic to their advantage, it might not be just an epidemic we were fighting. It might be an apocalypse.
“Super interesting,” I interrupted. “Really, just. But I’d rather hear it clothed. Take it outside, gentlemen.”
“You’re naked?” Shame said, trying to get a better look around Zayvion and Roman.
Zayvion canceled the Impact spell, and motioned Grimshaw out into the hall with his blood blade.
“She’s naked?” Shame asked again as Zayvion shoved his shoulder to make him turn around. “Aw, give a man a break. What’s a little accidental nakedness between friends?”
“Not happening.” Zay gave Shame a harder shove and closed the door so that only he could see into the room. “Are you all right?” he asked me.
“Peachy. I don’t think Roman expected to show up in a bathroom. It’s hard to predict where Gates will open, right?”
Zay paused. “For normal people. Roman can open a Gate on the head of a pin. I’ll talk to him.” He gave me a not-entirely-tolerant look and then shut the door behind him.
Fantastic. So Roman had intended to show up in the bathroom, alone, with me. Or maybe he just wanted to show up in the bathroom. I wondered how he even knew there would be a room here. He’d been in jail for years before Shame had wheedled his way into home ownership.
More questions that needed answers. And how Roman knew we’d be here, now, was just the beginning. We needed to know everything he had found out about Leander and Isabelle too.
I dressed, then rubbed the towel through my hair so my shoulders wouldn’t get wet. Took me all of a few seconds. Then I walked out into the living room.
Roman had been given the guest interloper seat of honor—a chair in the middle of the room with everyone else standing in a circle around him. No one was casting magic, but everyone had a weapon in one hand and a spell in the other. Well, everyone except Roman.
“Sounds like good news to me,” Hayden said, his shotgun resting casually across his shoulder. “The farther away Leander and Isabelle run, the better. Now tell me how you knew we’d be here, and who sent you to find us.”
Roman looked up at the big man. “I came here of my own accord. My days of serving anyone’s agenda are long gone.”
“You do know you’re a criminal?” Hayden asked. “And I have every right to take you down and take you in.”
Okay, so these two were not friends.
“We’re all criminals,” Zayvion said. “We’ve broken our vows with the Authority. We’ve gone against their direct orders.”
“I haven’t.” Hayden gave Zayvion a hard look. “And neither has Terric.”
Terric had taken his place beside Shame behind Roman’s back.
“Is there some reason we need to go over this again?” Terric asked. “If you want out of this, Hayden,” he said calmly, “then you should leave now. I’m in this to the end.”
Hayden scowled. “I didn’t mean—”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, flat, hard, in the voice that always stops the Hounds from bickering. Everyone looked over at me. Good.
“Roman,” I said, “we’ve broken with the Authority and no longer follow their rule or orders. You should know that before you say anything else.”
“And who’s running the Authority now?” he asked.
“We’re not sure,” I said. “Maybe Jingo Jingo. I killed Bartholomew Wray.”
Roman’s eyebrows shot up, and then he looked me up from foot to face. His expression when his gaze finally met my eyes was one of deep respect and maybe just a little fear.
Good. Respect and fear went a long way when doing business.
“Why?” he asked.
“The Veiled are on the streets possessing people and killing them. Hundreds are falling ill from the tainted magic they’re carrying. Hundreds are dying. He knew it. He wouldn’t stop it. So I stopped him.”
My voice was even, but I broke out in a sweat saying those words. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the reality of what I’d done.
“I see.” He looked at each of the magic users in turn. Then nodded. “I have only one goal—to see that Leander and Isabelle die. I have no grudge with any of you, and do not care who controls the Authority. I broke with it long ago.”
“See, we’d just love to take you on your word, mate,” Shame said, “but I say we should Truth on it.” He pulled a switchblade out of his belt and grinned as he strolled around in front of Roman. “Worth a little blood to you?”
“It is.” Roman held out his left hand, palm up.
“Shame,” Maeve said.
“Not to worry, Mum.” Shame flicked the blade free. “Sweet and easy.”
He sliced the side of Roman’s hand, then pricked his own finger. With the blood caught and mingled on the blade, he drew the glyph for Truth in the air between them. The room filled with the overpowering smell of sweet, sweet cherries. Blood magic.
“Who are you working for?” Shame asked.
“No one but myself.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To tell you that Leander and Isabelle have left Portland and I don’t know why. To see if you have information I can use to track them.”
“How did you know we’d be here?” Shame asked.
“Allison has a piece of death in her palm. Given to her in death by Mikhail. It’s easy enough to find if you’re looking for it.”
I glanced down at my left hand. The dark circle in the center of my palm was still there, and still cold, though it wasn’t hurting anymore like it had in the shower the moment before the Gate had opened. It hadn’t been much trouble lately, so I’d taken to ignoring it. Pike had said it was something the dead could see like a beacon. Maybe it was something ex–Guardians of the gates could see like a beacon too.
I’d traded away the small flicker of magic that I’d always carried inside me for that black blessing from Mikhail. It was the only way I could get myself and Zayvion back from death. Dad had helped me use the mark to cast magic against the Veiled, but that was about all the good it’d done me.
I lifted my hand in case anyone in the room didn’t have the complete scorecard on all the weird things that had happened to me in the last year.
“Are you here to betray us?” Shame asked.
“No.”
“Is that accent of yours fake?” Shame asked.
“No. Is yours?”
“I don’t have an accent,” Shame said.
“Shamus,” Maeve sighed. “Blood magic isn’t a toy.”
Shame grinned. “Everything’s a toy,” he said, “if you mess with it enough. Anyone else have any questions for our man Roman here?”
“I think it’s enough,” I said.
But Zayvion spoke up. “What are you going to do to Leander and Isabelle if you find them?”
“Kill them. Send them through a gate to death. Remove them from this living world. Anything I have to do to stop them.”
Zayvion nodded.
Shame broke the Truth spell and the scent of sweet cherries was so thick it made my eyes sting.
I pinched at the bridge of my nose, trying to ease the headache hovering behind my skull. Magic and me were not a good mix lately.
Maeve broke whatever spell she’d kept poised on the tips of her fingers. I think it was Hold. “Well, then,” she said. “Roman, we were just going to have something to eat. Would you care to join us?”
The other magic users dropped their spells. It was like watching stained-glass windows shatter into liquid drops of color that turned to mist and were gone.
Magic, sometimes, can be a very beautiful thing.
Roman gazed at Maeve and gave her a smile. I’d never seen him smile and suddenly wished I’d known him in better times. Man was handsome, but that smile carved a decade off his looks and brought to him a humanity that imprisonment and a hard life running hard magic had not afforded.
I noted his smile was not lost on Maeve.
Or Hayden.
Ah, suddenly the tension between Hayden and Roman made some sense.
“Thank you, Maeve,” Roman said as he stood. “I would.”
Chapter Two
That settled, we all got busy divvying up the food Hayden had cooked: potato hash, scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast.
None of us sat. We stood around the kitchen island so we could reload our plates more easily. Well, that, and from the feeling of restlessness in the air, we were all a little twitchy, wanting to get moving before we were found out, tracked down, or forced to run.
“How do you know Leander and Isabelle aren’t in Portland?” Zayvion asked after he demolished half a plate of potatoes.
“I saw them open a Gate and step through,” Roman said.
“Were they solid?” I asked. Last time I’d seen Leander and Isabelle, they were ghostly, no more solid than the Veiled. They’d been looking for a body to possess, but needed one that was caught between life and death in some manner. There’s just not enough room in a body for more than one soul for very long, so Leander and Isabelle needed a person who was only part of a soul, or partly dead, if they wanted to be physical.
And yes, it made me wonder how Dad and I both managed to survive in my body. He’d asked me about it briefly when we were in Death, but I hadn’t had much time to contemplate the logisti
cs of it. Zay once said it had something to do with us being blood related. I didn’t know if that was true or not.
“They were not solid,” Roman said. “They possessed two young people for a few hours.” He frowned at his plate, pushing at the eggs with his fork. “Neither of them survived. They were discarded like candy wrappers after Leander and Isabelle opened the Gate. I didn’t see where the gate opened onto.”
“Horizon?” Zayvion asked.
“Trees. Out of doors,” Roman said. “But that was all. No building, no landmark, no body of water.”
“Time zone?”
“It was night when they opened the Gate. Before midnight.” He frowned, sifting through his memories. He nodded slowly. “I saw daylight. I’m sure it was daylight on the other side. Early morning.”
“So the other side of the world,” Zayvion said. “Maybe England? Russia?”
“Nowhere in the Western hemisphere.” He straightened, and ran his finger and thumb down from the corners of his mouth. “Half a world to hunt.”
“What kind of Gate were they using?” Victor asked.
Roman shook his head. “Ezekiel’s Hands.”
Terric whistled in appreciation. “I’ve read about it,” he said. “Never seen it. Zay?”
“No. I attempted it. Once.”
Shame laughed. “I remember that. You couldn’t pronounce your name for a week.”
“Why is that Gate so difficult?” I asked.
“It’s old,” Victor said. “Ancient. And it’s based on both light and dark magic being used together in large quantities. The price to pay for it is… extreme.”
Which meant those young people they had been possessing and discarded like candy wrappers had paid the price to open that Gate.
“Why did they choose that Gate?” I asked.
“Distance,” Roman said. “And precision. The man who can open Ezekiel’s Hands has the world at his beck and call.”
“Can you cast it?” I asked.
Everyone else in the kitchen got a little quieter, pausing with their forks, waiting.
“I’ve done it,” he said. “Years ago. When I was younger. And stronger.” He took a drink of his coffee. “But today? Today it would be my death.”
