Black Knight 02 - Back in Black

by Hartness, John G

  I raised my hand, and Mike looked over at me. "Are we talking about slip on a crack, break your mother's back kind of dangerous, or raising a demon to take over the world kind of dangerous."

  "They couldn't tell me." Mike said ruefully. "I think they were a little embarrassed that they didn't really understand the nature of the forces at play, but they seemed to think that it was not world-threatening."

  "Well that's certainly a relief. I mean, saving the world is the kind of thing I try to keep down on a once a year basis. Did they have anything else for you, or just that there was a big pile of magic being tossed around somewhere north of downtown?" I asked.

  "Uptown." Mike corrected automatically.

  "You realize that those are ridiculous arbitrary labels for the same piece of real estate, right?" The whole uptown/downtown thing always bugged me. People who grew up here, like me, called the center of town "downtown," because that's what you always call the center of town. But a few years ago, the rich folks in the middle of the city decided that it should be called "uptown." So now there's all this confusion about what to call an area of like eight square blocks. But this is the same town where you can stand at the intersection of Queens Road and Queens Road, so what do you expect?

  "No matter what you call the neighborhood, the disturbance seems to emanate from the industrial district between downtown and the arts district on North Davidson Street." Mike rattled his glass and looked at me meaningfully, and I motioned for Greg to fix him another Scotch.

  "Alrighty, then. There's a gallery crawl tomorrow night, so let's go out among the hippies and freaks and see if we can turn over a rock and find a troll underneath." I said. "If there's something going on up there that needs juice, there will be plenty of souls running around to siphon off of."

  "Good idea," said Sabrina. I looked at her, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "No really," she said, "that's a good idea. We should do that." Before I could get used to the idea of her actually liking one of my ideas for once, her phone rang.

  "Law," she answered curtly. As soon as I heard the voice on the other end, I was on my way to the closet to grab my guns and coat. I put the Glock in my shoulder rig and strapped my Ruger to an ankle holster. As I was pulling on my coat, I tried to listen to the conversation between Sabrina and her panicked cousin.

  "He...it's back!" I heard him through the phone. Greg bolted for his room to gear up as well, while poor Mike, unblessed with vampire hearing, had no idea what was going on, just that it must be bad. "It's beating the hell out of the cop in the hallway, and then it's coming in here for me! Sabrina, you've got to help me! Oh my God, get away from him! No, Alex!"

  As she bolted for the stairs, Sabrina yelled into the phone "We're on our way!"

  I looked back at Mike and said, "Grab her shoes, bro, and come on! We might need a little divine intervention." We dashed up the stairs and jumped in Sabrina's car. She flipped down the hidden LED flashers from behind the sun visor and tore out of the cemetery parking lot like a bat out of hell. I just hoped we weren't too late for Stephen. Or Alex.

  Chapter 26

  We weren't the first cops on the scene by a long shot, but Sabrina badged herself and Mike through with no trouble. Greg and I didn't bother, we just ran for the stairs. I was out of the car before it stopped, rolling awkwardly toward the building and springing up at a dead run. And when we run, we move. I didn't really stop for the door, just ripped it out of the frame and ran up the three flights of stairs to Stephen's floor. I was about to rip that door off the hinges, too, when Greg grabbed my arm.

  "What?" I snarled at him. My fangs were fully out, and I was in full-on attack mode. Greg pulled back a hair, but he held fast to my arm.

  "Chill for a second. We don't know what we're getting into out there." He said.

  "There's a troll out there, and it's come for Stephen. I don't want it to get him, so I'm going to stop it." I said, and tried to turn back to the door.

  Greg held me still without a problem. Truth be told, he's a lot stronger than me, and I'm really strong. We've never known why some of our powers are stronger in one of us than the other, but that's the way it is. "Dude." He said firmly. "You need to chill for a second. What if there are already cops out there? You go out there all vamped, and we've got way bigger problems than just a troll. And all you brought was guns? You know you can't take a troll out with bullets. I brought this for you." He handed me the sword I'd brought back from FairyLand, the one I'd "borrowed" from Milandra during the big battle.

  "Thanks. Alright, I'll go out..." Just then a huge crash from the hall shook the entire building, and we heard an enormous bellow of rage from the other side of the door. "Screw that, I'm going troll-hunting!" I flung the door open and found myself face to face with...Stephen.

  But this was Stephen as I'd never seen him, and I was pretty sure Sabrina hadn't either. He had dropped whatever illusion kept him looking human, and he was a big dude. Stephen in fairy-form stood at least 6' 8" and was cut like a professional wrestler. And I don't mean Dusty Rhodes. Homeboy was ripped, and he was covered in blood that didn't look like it was his. His back was to us, and I could see that he never learned that you could wear boxers under a hospital gown. But that wasn't what stopped me cold. That was the nine foot tall troll barreling down the hall at a dead run with murder in its eyes and green stuff dripping from its teeth.

  I shoved Stephen to the side, and launched myself at the troll, sword outstretched. I crashed into the monster and buried my blade into its gut to the hilt. I saw about a foot of steel come out of the thing's back, but that didn't stop the troll from wrapping one enormous hand around my throat and punching me in the head with the other fist. I felt knuckles the size of golf balls crunch into my head and my vision swam black. It pulled the fist back again, and I kicked out, catching the monster in the throat with one foot. It shook its head in sudden pain, and I took the opportunity to puke in its eyes. It dropped me to wipe the blood out of its vision, and Greg came in from the other side. He buried a silver dagger into the troll's back, and the beast caught him in the face with a backward-thrown elbow. Greg crashed into the opposite wall, and I saw him sink through the drywall.

  The troll caught sight of Stephen again, and started down the hall towards him. "Stephen! Get to the roof! We need room to maneuver!" We also needed a few seconds' breather, and I hoped he could outrun the massive creature long enough for Greg and I to recover our balance. "Come on, partner, we aren't dead yet." I said as I pulled him out of the wall.

  "Actually, we are." He said with a sickly grin. "You puked first." He pointed to the puddle on the floor.

  "Strategy. I blinded him with my stomach acid." I said as we staggered to the stairwell. I heard the door to the roof bang open four floors above me. "We gotta hurry. Stephen can't hold that thing for long."

  "We don't make stomach acid." He said, as we dashed up the stairs. Always gotta have the last word, that's my partner.

  We reached the roof a few seconds later, and froze at what we saw. Stephen was there, and he was putting on a demonstration of the uncanny agility of the Fair Folk. I suddenly understood why legend had given them wings - Stephen looked like he was flying as he jumped and somersaulted over the swinging fists of the troll. The monster kept throwing punches, and Stephen kept dodging with a grace that was, well, otherworldly. No wonder the dance company kept him around.

  "I bet he's amazing in Swan Lake." Greg murmured, just as awed as I was.

  "What do you know from Swan Lake?" I looked at him.

  "Long story - there are tights involved. But that's not the point - let's go kick some troll ass!" I nodded at him, and then yelled out to Stephen.

  "Hey, Baryshnikov! Get over here, and bring your ugly friend!" The fairy changed direction in midair and landed just in front of us, facing the troll. Greg and I spread out a few feet to either side of him, making a triangle facing the troll, who was readying for another charge. From thirty feet away, the monster bellowed a challenge, or a
t least what I thought was a really bad insult in Trollish. I bared my fangs and shrieked a scream that came from somewhere around my navel, and all of us rushed forward. Seconds before the inevitable collision, inspiration struck me and I knew how we could kill this thing and not get any more hammered than we already were.

  "Hammies!" I yelled at Greg, and we both dove under the troll's outstretched arms and rolled past the monster. I lashed out with Milandra's sword and cut the monster's right hamstring, while Greg spun around and shot out the troll's left kneecap. The troll flopped on its belly and slid halfway to Stephen, who looked around for anything to hit the thing with. I threw him my sword, and he cut the head off the troll, splattering even more green-black blood all over the roof. Stephen looked down at the headless monster lying in front of him, and promptly vomited all over its corpse.

  "Feel better?" Greg asked me. "Now you're not the only one that puked."

  "I told you, that was part of the plan!" I protested, and then headed back to where the fairy was standing holding the queen's borrowed sword. When I got to him, I took the blade out of his hand, noticing as I did that the flesh of his fingers was blistered from touching the steel.

  Just then, Sabrina burst onto the roof with a shotgun in hand, yelling, "Nobody move!" She saw us standing there, and then rushed over to wrap her arms around Stephen's waist. "Are you okay, Stevie? Did it hurt you? Where's Alex? Is he okay?"

  "Alex is fine. I got him to hide in the bathroom when the troll came in, then I led the thing out into the hall so he couldn't get hurt. You guys got here just in time; I don't know how much longer I could have held out against it.” The air around him shimmered for a second, and when it cleared he was in his human form again.

  "I'm just glad you're both alright." Sabrina hugged him again, and then looked over at me. "What about you?" She asked. "I don't appreciate being left behind, but thanks for saving him."

  "We're alright. A little battered, but nothing a little midnight snack won't cure. Right, Greg?" I turned to my partner, but he wasn't here. I looked around, and found him searching the troll's body. Or rather, searching the body of a hulking, hairy, stupid-looking human that was lying on the roof. "Dude? Who's that?"

  "This is our troll, bro. He changed into this a couple minutes after he died. I'm searching the body to see if it can tell us anything." Greg reached into the dead troll/man's coat pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "And I bet this is going to be very useful indeed."

  Sabrina walked over to him and held out her hand. "That's evidence, Knightwood. Hand it over."

  Greg slipped it into his pants pocket and looked up at Sabrina. "No way. This is evidence, all right, but you guys can't fight this. If your people go looking into whatever is on the other end of this phone, a lot of them are going to end up hurt or dead. So we'll hang on to the phone, and we'll make the body disappear. And you'll figure out how to write this up in a way that doesn't mention fairies, vampires or trolls. Because that's what we do. Right?"

  Sabrina glared at him for a minute, then said "Right. I hate it, but you're right." She looked over at me. "When did he get to be the smart one?"

  "As much as I hate to admit it, he's always been the smart one." With that, we went back downstairs to rescue Alex from the bathroom and sneak off into the night.

  Chapter 27

  The next night found all six of us crowded into our increasingly tiny living room. Stephen and Alex had taken our pullout sofa, because it wasn't safe for them to go home, what with the trolls knowing where to find them and all that. And Sabrina had slept in the armchair, because she wasn't going to let her cousin out of her sight. Greg and I slept in our respective beds, and Mike went back to the rectory, but now we were all sitting around the coffee table drinking the last of the coffee and watching Greg try to hack the encryption on the troll's smartphone. Who gives a troll a four hundred dollar phone, anyway?

  "You got anything?" I asked again.

  "No. Still. And the more times you ask, the less likely I am to be able to concentrate on this and actually do anything!" Greg snapped. He'd been trying every trick in his Macbook to break into the troll's phone, but couldn't come up with the password.

  "Sorry. Sounds like Mr. GrumpyPants got up on the wrong side of the coffin tonight." I muttered.

  "You don't really sleep in coffins, do you?" Stephen asked, a little confused.

  "Seriously? Dude, are you really six inches tall with wings and a tiara?" I shot back.

  "Well, I do have a tiara, but that's a long story." He joked.

  "I got it!" Greg suddenly shouted.

  "Got what?" I asked.

  "The password. I got it. Now all we have to do is look at his inbox and see who the last few text messages are from, and we should be able to go from there." Greg pressed a few more buttons, plugged in another cable that I didn't recognize, and a list of text messages popped up on the TV.

  "Who has he been texting?" Sabrina asked, all grogginess gone from her voice.

  "Well, there have been seven text messages since we killed him, all escalating in intensity. The last one reads 'Where r u? Got to go tonight! Must have package. Contact me immediately.' Hmmm....I have an idea."

  "You want to share with the rest of the class?" I asked.

  "Yeah. We pretend to be him and find out where he was supposed to take Stephen. Then we show up instead and bust the bad guys." Greg started typing on the phone's small keypad, sending a reply to the phantom boss.

  "Wait a sec." I said, handing him my new cell. "Use this one. Tell him the troll's old phone was wrecked in the fight and he just got a replacement."

  "Good idea," Greg said. He took my phone and started typing.

  "Sorry 4 delay," he wrote. "Trouble @ hospital. Phone busted, just got new 1. Got package, send delivery address."

  "What do you mean? Sent yesterday!" was the immediate reply.

  "Phone wrecked. Need address." Greg typed after a second.

  "1431 Toal. Be there by 11, show starts @ midnite."

  I looked at the clock - 7PM. "Okay," I said. "We've got four hours to get there, recon the place where the 'show' is supposed to take place, figure out what the 'show' is, and ruin everybody's entertainment for the evening."

  "Well, I can help with some of that before we leave." Greg said, typing more on his laptop. A new screen popped onto the TV with an aerial view of the address from the text message. "It's not exactly NSA-quality stuff, but Google Earth will at least give us an idea of cover and entrances and exits before we get there."

  "And get a nasty surprise." I finished his sentence.

  "Exactly. Now it looks like this street makes a loop, and the warehouse in question is set a little back from the main road. We have loading dock doors on the right-hand side, and office doors on the front of the building. I don't have a decent view of the back of the warehouse, but let's assume that the traffic is going to be coming in from the loading dock."

  "Why would you assume that?" Mike asked.

  "Because it's hard to carry an unconscious person through a single door. Don't ask me how I know that." I replied.

  "Right." Greg continued. "If we park here and here," he indicated a couple of buildings around the corner from our target, "then Mike and Alex can keep the exits to the office park covered in case there are runners. Jimmy and Stephen will go in from the loading dock, while Sabrina and I slip in from the front entrance."

  "Why am I going in with you?" Sabrina asked.

  "Because Jimmy and Stephen are better suited to a frontal assault. You're not as fast or as strong as either of them, so you should try for the sneak attack. I'm not the most stealthy, obviously, but I can keep my mouth shut, and Jimmy can't, so he has to go in guns blazing." I didn't dignify my partner's character assassination with a response. Besides, he was right.

  "Ok, everybody make sure you're armed enough." I stood up and lifted the lid off the coffee table. Under the tabletop was a cleverly disguised gun safe, with room for half a dozen shotguns and rifles
, plus a dozen or so handguns. I went to the coat closet and put my guns back on, double-checking my ammo situation. I hadn't fired a shot in last night's encounter, but it's always worth another peek before you leave the house under-armed. Greg had a Beretta in a shoulder holster and a Mossberg shotgun. Sabrina had her department-issued Smith & Wesson .40 in a shoulder rig, and I saw her pick up a Glock 19 from the case and clip that onto her belt as a backup.

  "I don't really know much about guns..." Stephen said tentatively, a little unnerved by the amount of ammo and gun oil floating around the room.

  I handed him a belt with a couple of long daggers in it and said, "Use these for anything close. Grab that shotgun and point it in the general direction of anything you want dead. The buckshot will take care of the rest." He still looked a little shaky, but better nervous than dead. Mike, as usual, declined the use of a gun, but Alex picked up a .38 revolver, checked the cylinder expertly, and tossed a couple of speed loaders in his jacket pocket.