by TR Cameron
She shook her head. “Sorry. This place is so unbelievable.”
“It’s overwhelming at first. I’ve been here almost since the beginning, and I felt the same way.”
Kayleigh slid two plastic hard-shell cases onto the table and opened one. Inside was a pistol like the one Ruby had fired at the range and a pair of magazines for it. “SIG M17. Look good?”
Ruby ran a finger over the smooth metal. “I’d rather not need it, but you know how it is.”
The tech nodded seriously. “I do. A matching one for Morrigan is in the other case, and I’m giving you a box of anti-magic rounds to go with them. When you’re running low, let me know. We have a supply issue at the moment, so I can’t load you up with as many as I’d like to.”
“This is so generous already. Thank you so much.” After the physically and emotionally challenging experience of the venamisha, for things to be going so well was a most welcome change.
The tech laughed. “Oh, that’s just the start. Next, we have this.” She grabbed another case off the counter and opened it. Nestled in foam cutouts were a chain necklace with a socket pendant at the bottom and three crystals of the appropriate size to fit into it. “These are magic deflectors. They’ll absorb incoming magic, as the name suggests. You can’t depend on them for more than an attack or two, but that can give you an edge. I have a kit for each of you.”
Ruby said, “I sometimes use a force shield that covers my whole body. Will that be a problem?”
“Yeah, it’s going to have to be one or the other. Maybe use this first, or use it when you’re not expecting combat. It’s an excellent defense against a surprise attack.”
Cara pulled a matching necklace out from under her shirt. “We got ambushed once too often, so now we all wear one at all times.”
Ruby nodded. “That sounds like a good practice. Thank you again.”
Kayleigh laughed. “If you keep thanking me every time I give you something, this process is going to drag on forever. Please hold all applause until the end.” She waved them over toward a set of lockers on the far wall and opened them, then pulled out a trio of black unitards and set them on the table. “These can be worn under other clothes, all the time if you want, although they’re a little uncomfortable for everyday wear. They have some useful features, but without being fully outfitted in our gear you won’t have access to all of them. What the suit alone will do is dampen your heat signature so you’re not detectable by most thermal sensors, and there’s a gel layer inside that will stiffen upon impact. Again, it won’t protect you totally, but it might help soften a punch or strike with a blunt weapon. The heat concealment only works if you put on the detachable headpiece.”
Idryll said, “I won’t need one of those.”
Ruby countered, “You can’t tell what we might need. Does your magic extend to hiding your heat signature?” A grumble was her only answer. She turned to Kayleigh and said, “We’ll take all three.”
The tech laughed, then handed over the rest of the equipment. Armor pieces with straps to place at vulnerable spots, vests to carry plates and gear, and a trio of belts made of some unfamiliar fiber and metal with attachment points all over them. All the items were matte off-white as if they were waiting to be painted.
Morrigan observed, “That stuff looks heavy.”
Cara laughed. “It is. You’ll need to add some training sessions into your everyday routine for a while. We all do. Even Rath, although I think he participates mainly for fun.”
The troll cackled and replied, “No train, no gain.” Then he grinned wider. “Unless you’re a troll.” His size increased without any apparent effort, and a moment later he was at least half a foot taller.
Morrigan shook her head. “Can you teach me how to do that?”
“Nope. Trolls only.” He shrank back down.
“Dang it.”
Everyone laughed, and Kayleigh said, “Don’t be too upset Morrigan, because I have a surprise especially for you. I’ve been dabbling with this just for kicks, and you’re the first person I’ve met who might be able to appreciate it.” She moved to a different locker and opened it, then withdrew a baton, about as large as three fists stacked on top of one another. She handed it over.
Morrigan asked, “What is it?”
The tech grinned. “Press the button and try not to drop it.”
Morrigan complied, and the baton whirred as it extended from both ends, curving as it went. When it finished growing, a cable shot from top to bottom and locked into place with a loud click. It had become a bow, and Rath clapped in appreciation as it completed its assembly.
Her sister managed to get out, “Oh my gosh,” as she stared at the weapon in her hands.
Cara clapped the tech on the shoulder. “I remember you telling me about this, but you didn’t mention you’d finished it.”
Kayleigh shrugged. “It’s not perfect yet, but it is reliable enough to be in the field. I’d like to get more draw assist into it, but you know, the boss keeps me pretty busy.”
Cara rolled her eyes. “She keeps all of us busy.”
The tech pulled a thin case out of the same cabinet, black plastic, about as large as a coffee table book. She flipped it open to reveal a series of arrowheads. “You have five different kinds of technology here. I’ll send you a file that explains them all. Do your best to retrieve them after use, but if you can’t, they’re replaceable.” She closed the case and slid it over. “Any questions?”
Morrigan replied, “Do I owe you favors or something? This is amazing.”
Kayleigh laughed. “No. You’re doing me a favor by testing it in the field. You’ll need to bring it back now and again so I can download performance data. Anyway, I also have headgear for you all.”
Ruby shook her head. “We already have masks we need to stick with. Magic.” She made a mental note to get one for Morrigan as well, cringing inwardly at what Shentia would charge her for it.
Kayleigh shrugged. “If you bring them here, I can take some measurements to make tech that will fit into them.”
Ruby nodded. “Perfect. And again, thanks.”
Cara grinned. “Good deal. We’ll get you some duffel bags so you can transport your haul, and I’ll wait while you get the mask. Anything else you need?”
Ruby, who had thought asking for a gun was a lot, shook her head in stunned appreciation. “If we can’t make do with this, we really ought to get out of the justice business.”
Rath laughed. “Avengers, assemble.”
Kayleigh rolled her eyes. “Too soon, buddy. I’m still not over that movie.” The pair began to debate the relative strengths and weaknesses of superheroes.
Cara sighed and shook her head, then gestured toward the room’s exit. “Come on. Let’s get this done.”
Chapter Eight
Ruby fumbled the small canister she was working on but grabbed it before it fell. She suppressed the curse that came to her lips and set it back in place with a sigh. On the other end and the other side of the long table, the witch Daphne laughed. “You know, I’ve heard foul language before.”
She shook her head. “Not like what I get up to when I’m inspired. I’ve got to tell you that these stupid things are a serious inspiration.” Despite the clumsy moment, it was a pleasure to be working in their shared house’s basement lab finally. A long table of old wood running down the center was its dominant feature. The left side of the room from where she sat, near the entrance, was better organized than the right, as the witch had more time to put into getting her section together. Daphne’s long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail to keep it out of her way as she stirred a small cauldron positioned over a modest flame, presumably with her wand, keeping a careful eye on its contents. Her ripped jeans and flannel shirt didn’t quite match the rest of the scene. Ruby had already asked her to say, “Double, double, toil, and trouble,” receiving nothing more than a dirty look in return.
She sipped her tea, the kind Keshalla insisted would hel
p her maintain and build her magical pool, and turned the canister to a better angle. What I need is a proper holder for this. I should put together a wish list. Maybe Margrave would be willing to pick it up for me. Time, which she’d generally had plenty of in the past despite her university workload, was lately more a dream than actual reality.
Her project was to create a new weapon to use in the field, a grenade based on a design similar to the ones Margrave had provided. Instead of concealment, it would discharge magical lightning on impact. She’d practiced to get the spell just right, powerful enough to incapacitate but not kill, erring on the side of less effectiveness to reduce the risk. The current challenge was to align the technical components properly to trigger it. Afterward, she would store the magic inside it.
A small crystal chip would hold the spell, kind of the reverse of a magical deflector. They were expensive and rare, so she wasn’t willing to try that portion of the process until she had the rest of it down perfectly. She fumbled again, and this time the curse snuck out. Daphne laughed. “There you go.” The witch stood. “All right, it’s ready.” Donning heavy heatproof gloves, she lifted the basketball-sized metal container and tipped its contents into three vials that sat in a rack beside it, filling them with a brilliant blue liquid. She quickly capped them and sat again with a sigh. “Now we wait. If they turn black, I’ve screwed it up. If not, I have some merchandise to sell.” She absently rubbed a cleaning cloth along her wand.
Ruby lifted an eyebrow. “Love potions?”
Her roommate made a flicking motion with her fingers as if to shoo her away. “Everyone knows love potions don’t exist. If they did, they’d be incredibly unethical. Although whoever used them would probably have to keep up a regular dosing schedule, which would mean they’d need an almost infinite supply of potions.” She paused as if thinking, then shook her head with a smile. “No, still not worth it. I might be convinced to do a lust potion, but only for friends who were already couples, and only if both of them were willing. Even then, if anyone ever asked, I’m not sure I’d go through with it.”
Ruby smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind in case I need to spice up the deeply committed relationships I don’t have.”
“Good deal,” the witch replied, rising again to set her used cauldron on a shelf that ran along the back wall and grabbing a clean one to place atop the burner.
Ruby remembered Shiannor’s words from the venamisha and asked nonchalantly, “So, what do you all think about what’s going on in the city?”
“Me and the other witches, or me and our roommates?”
“The latter.”
Daphne shrugged. “Frankly, what we think about most is the fact that you’re involved somehow.”
Ruby nodded. “Is that a bad thing?”
The other woman didn’t answer for a moment while she added ingredients to the cauldron, whispering spells all the while. When she finished, she picked up her wand, sat, and twisted to face Ruby directly. “General consensus is that it’s only bad if it blows back on us, but some of them think you’re keeping secrets and aren’t big fans of that.”
Ruby couldn’t stop the defensive reply from spilling out. “Don’t you have secrets? Don’t they? Doesn’t everyone?”
Daphne stared at her, expression serious. “Of course, we all do. But ours are less likely to come knocking on the door with weapons in hand asking whether we’ve seen a human around.”
Ruby winced. Even down here in the lab, she had to keep her magical nature secret. When the inevitable questions arose, she claimed she was only building the tech part and would work with Margrave to add the spells. In reality, she’d do that herself in private. “Do you think I should move out?”
Something softened in the other woman’s face at the pleading note in her voice. She didn’t reply right away while pondering the question. Finally, she replied, “No, but you should probably consider doing something techno-magical to protect the house. Then doing something more to protect the people inside it.”
Ruby gave a confirming nod. “That I can definitely do. I’ll ask Margrave for some help. I’m sure he has some toys lying around to loan me.”
Daphne stirred the cauldron’s contents again. “So, what are you up to, then?” The question was simply put, without any particular rancor, but it was nonetheless a deliberate attack on her desire to keep secrets.
Ruby swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m trying to get to the bottom of who’s behind it all. Before you ask, I really can’t tell you more about that. I don’t know anything for sure, and it’s the sort of thing where the wrong word in the wrong place would potentially put a lot of innocent people in danger.”
“You should tell the rest of our roommates that. I think they’d understand.”
Ruby nodded. “I will. While I try to figure out the culprits, I’m also doing what I can to blunt the damage they’re causing.”
The other woman focused on the cauldron for a moment, stirring more vigorously, before responding. “Liam was telling everyone he was pretty sure you were involved with the thing at the Ebon Dragon. Is that true?”
In for a dime, in for a dollar. “Yeah. Margrave gave me some good stuff to even up the odds, and my hard-earned martial arts skills did the rest.”
“And the Kraken?”
That one was dicier to admit to. She’d used a lot of magic there and wasn’t sure how much had been made public by social media or a dozen other potential leaks. “Nope, that one wasn’t me. There’s a magical out there who’s doing something similar and doing it a lot better. Hopefully, eventually I’ll track them down, open a line of communication. In the meantime, I’m funneling information to Sheriff Alejo.”
The other woman cocked her head. “You know, Ruby, you’re not a very good liar. There’s something off about what you said, but I’m not going to worry about it. You’re right that everyone deserves to have their privacy respected. You make sure you do the things you need to do to protect us, and we’ll call it square. From time to time I do magic for some unsavory characters, which might expose me and you all to danger. I’m sure Demetrius probably has similar experiences. Just do your best to take care of us, and we won’t kick you out. Or, at least, I’ll vote against it if it comes up.”
Ruby laughed. “Thank you.”
Daphne brightened. “Oh, and if you decide you need any magical supplies, I’m totally here for you. Friend rates.”
She grinned as relief surged through her. “Perfect. Speaking of which, I have a friend I need to apologize to.” She rose and traded hand slaps with the witch as she left the room and took the stairs to the second floor where Demetrius’s bedroom and workplace lay. Ruby knocked softly on the door and got a muffled, “Come in,” in reply.
She complied and found the infomancer tapping away on his computers, each hand on a different keyboard and his gaze roving over the trio of curved monitors in front of him. Without looking away from them, he said, “Hey, Ruby, what’s up?” His voice wasn’t exactly warm, but it wasn’t accusatory either. More like distracted. Which, you know, isn’t particularly flattering when you think about it.
She moved to his bed, which he’d carefully made as always, and sat on the edge. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Okay, hold on a sec.” He hit a few more keys, then spun his chair to face her. “You have my full attention.”
“I have this feeling that maybe when I asked you to do some research for me and be my guy in the chair, I might have imposed on our friendship. I didn’t mean to, at least not consciously, but that doesn’t change the fact that you might’ve felt something other than business-level pressure from me.” Geez, Ruby, did you forget how to speak while walking upstairs? She pushed the words out. “I wanted to say that I completely understand if you never want to work with me again at all.” She swallowed another of the damn lumps that jumped into her throat. “Or, if not that extreme, I will always respect you telling me no. It won’t have any impact on our relationship.”
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He grinned and countered, “Oh, do we have a relationship?” The flirting emphasis on the last word made her feel instantly better, and she laughed.
“Well, friends have a relationship, right?”
Demetrius leaned forward, staring hard into her eyes, and his grin stretched wider. “Coward.” Straightening, he said in a normal tone, “I appreciate the thought. I truly do. You don’t have to worry. I didn’t feel unfairly pressured. I’ve been in this business long enough to know the risks I’m willing to take and those I’m not, and you didn’t ask me for anything in that second category. However, if you keep asking me to go up against dangerous folks, I might have to charge you something extra.”
The way his eyes locked on hers gave her the impression that maybe he wasn’t talking about money, and her stomach squirmed a little. Down, Ruby. You’re seeing what you want to see. She rose quickly and nodded. “Thanks, Demetrius. I appreciate it. I have to go do, uh, something.” She was pretty sure he softly laughed as she left the room. When she was outside, she turned and stared at his door, placing one hand flat against it. One part of her mind wondered, do I dare? Another offered, if not now, when? The teasing way he’d called her a coward rang in her ears. She pushed open the door again without asking and stopped a foot away from him. “Can I kiss you?”
He stopped typing and turned to look up at her. His expression was very serious, and she thought she saw some of the attraction she felt reflected in his eyes. He nodded, and she leaned forward, took his face in her hands, and pressed her lips to his in a hard, fast kiss that he reciprocated. She pulled away with a smile and fled the room.
Chapter Nine
Morrigan appeared in the room set aside for incoming portals in Spirits casino, looking as she always did, a business-suited professional Mist Elf. Although it was much later than her regular working hours, no one would find her presence the least bit suspicious. Privileges of being part of the owners’ family. She waved at the security cameras as she walked through the administrative offices. Fortunately, they wouldn’t pierce or detect her illusion. The magic detectors at the main entrances most likely would, but she had access to doors that didn’t use those systems.
