Black Magic Shadows (Discord Jones Book 5)

by Drummond, Gayla

  We moved down the counter when David appeared with a customer in tow. He wasn't wearing his customary cardigan, and the sleeves of his pale blue Oxford shirt were rolled up. No glasses perched at the tip of his nose, or sat askew on top of his head. He was in pure business mode, something I'd rarely seen. Giving the customer her receipt, bag, and a broad, plastic-looking smile, David said, "Thank you, and please do come again."

  Once the customer left, the bell over the door tinkling, he looked at Dane and me. "I didn't hear you come in."

  "Teleported. Came to see if you're in the mood for a field trip."

  David's face brightened. "Where?"

  "Demon realm."

  "I'm in," he said before I'd finished speaking. "Let me grab a few things."

  He hurried off to the back room, and Jo giggled. "Told you. Try and keep him in one piece, okay?"

  I saluted her. "Aye, Captain, we'll do our best."

  David returned, slinging a dark brown, leather messenger bag onto the counter. "Almost ready."

  We watched him trot upstairs. I looked at Jo. "He didn't even ask what we needed him to do."

  She laughed. "I don't think he cares. Tell him when you get there."

  "What if he needs something he doesn't have in here?" I poked at the messenger bag.

  "Me." The voice was a croak, and I raised my head to find Copernicus, David's raven familiar, perched on top of the shelves to our left. He stretched his wings before gliding down and landing on the bag.

  "Ask a dumb question." I ran my hand over the bird's back. "Hello."

  "Cordi." Copernicus inclined his head. He'd never spoken to me before I'd been turned into a dog. Percy, Kate's parrot, talked all the time. I wondered if Trixie, Illy, or Saki, the other familiars, could talk. They all understood people just fine, based on past experience.

  Once upon a time, I'd wished for a familiar of my own, thinking such a companion would help keep me from freaking out when scared. Now, I had someone comparable. "I'd better call my hound. Leglin."

  The huge, black and tan hound silently appeared. Elf hounds looked like a cross between an Irish wolfhound and a Rottweiler, just larger. I turned to pat him, and he hit Dane with his wagging tail. "Hey, buddy. We need your help."

  “I am always pleased to be of assistance.”

  Dane limped a few feet, rubbing his thigh. "Remind me to step back when you call him, because ow."

  "Sorry." I fought a grin.

  "Ready!" David sang, thumping down the stairs. He'd changed into brown cargo pants, a white camp shirt, hiking boots, and to top it all off, a brown leather bomber's jacket.

  Tonya took off for another part of the store, trailing muffled giggles in her wake as David plopped the brown fedora he carried onto his head. Jo gave me a long-suffering, "See what I have to put up with?" look. "You forgot the whip."

  "Don't tease him. He's David, Man of Action."

  "Hah," said the newly dubbed Man of Action. "Cordi doesn't think I'm weird."

  "Oh, I do, but it's a weirdness I can totally get behind." I tried to mimic a movie voice-over tone. "Mild-mannered shopkeeper by day, daring adventurer by night."

  David beamed. "I'm cool."

  "You're awesome."

  Jo groaned. "Stop encouraging him. He's been drooling over a Thor costume."

  "For next Halloween." David offered his arm to his raven. Copernicus side-walked up to his shoulder and squatted, avoiding the fedora's brim. Next, he pulled the bag's strap over the bird and his head, settling it on the opposite shoulder. "Let's go."

  "Okay. Leglin, we need you to take us to the demon realm."

  My hound immediately dropped his big rear end to the floor, his ears flattening. “It's a dangerous place.”

  "I know, but the thing we need to close a case is there. I can show you exactly where it is."

  Leglin cocked his head, but didn't relax his ears. “Will we have to stay there long?”

  "That depends on David. But Copernicus is going." I hooked my forefingers behind his ears to unflatten them. "None of us wants to be there any longer than necessary."

  Leglin heaved a sigh and stood. “Very well.”

  While the men took places on either side of him, I summoned my memory of the room the mirror was in, and carefully transferred that image to the hound via telepathy. "Can you see it?"

  Leglin flicked one ear. "Is this how humans see?"

  Crap, would it not work? I didn't remember anything looking super different as a dog. Except red had appeared yellow. "Yeah. Can you take us there?"

  "How did it smell?"

  Argh. "Sorry, I don't have a dog nose anymore."

  "He wants the scent?"

  "Yeah."

  Dane nodded. "Can you do whatever you're doing with my memory of it? It might be closer to what's normal for him."

  "Okay, but you have to concentrate on just that memory. Like, really hard. I don't want to trip into any personal stuff."

  “Right. Okay.” Dane closed his eyes. “I’ve got it. Now what?”

  “I’m going to look into your mind. You shouldn’t feel anything.” I focused carefully, and linked to him telepathically. “Here we go.”

  “Much better,” Leglin said. “I know where to take you now.”

  “Awesome.” I broke the links to both of their minds. “Then we’re ready to go. Everyone touch Leglin.”

  They obeyed, and a second later, we were in the tunnel from my vision.

  David scowled, an unusual expression for him. “Who touched the door?”

  “I did.”

  “Advice for the future: Don’t touch doors in the demon realm unless you want them to know you’re here.”

  Dane ducked his head, his ears reddening. “It’s warded?”

  “Yes. How can you assume the mirror’s warded, but not think the door it’s behind is?”

  I broke in. David could lecture at Mom level when the mood struck him. “It was a vision. We didn’t know we could set off wards in a vision.”

  “Now you do.” David looked into the cell. “Hm. We need to get inside without opening the door. The ward on it has been reset.”

  “Okay.” I patted Leglin. “Take a look, then take us in.”

  My hound rose on his hind legs, planting one paw on Dane’s shoulder. After a second or two, he dropped back to all fours. “Ready.”

  We all made contact with him, and were instantly inside the cell. The mirror’s surface stayed dark.

  “Listen for trouble,” David said, crossing to the mirror. “We’ll need a few minutes.”

  “Sure.” Dane, Leglin, and I stayed near the door. I strained my ears watching what was viewable of the tunnel outside, and heard a whole lot of nothing.

  The soft rustle of Copernicus’ wings turned my head. The raven was on the floor, his head cocked. He began to walk around the mirror. A glance at David showed me his slack face and unfocused eyes.

  I looked at the raven again, considering whether this picture was alright.

  Copernicus disappeared behind the mirror, reappearing on its other side two breaths later.

  David moved, startling me. “Right, then. It is warded. We can remove the ward, but it’ll take about fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay. Do what you gotta do.”

  “We will, but you’ll need to be quiet so we can concentrate. Nothing louder than breathing, please.”

  “We’ll be quiet unless we have to sound the alarm,” Dane said.

  A greenish glow filled the room, and the mirror spoke. “You’re back, and you brought a warlock. Delightful.”

  “Great. Look, we’re going to get you out, but you need to be quiet so the warlock can take care of the ward on you.”

  “I’ll be quiet if you take your clothes off.”

  Gah. “I’m not doing that. Don’t you want to go home?”

  “Would everyone please shut up so we can start? Unwinding a ward like this requires careful precision.” David glared first at the mirror, then at me. The mirror made
a rude suggestion that heated my face, even though it wasn’t directed at me.

  David was unfazed. “Charming. Now shut up before my familiar steps in.”

  The elongated, pale face tilted down to study the raven. “Steve, is that you?”

  “Quiet.” Copernicus’ croak of an order accomplished what neither David nor I had been able to. The mirror sniffed and its surface went dark.

  David echoed the sniff, checking the set of his fedora. “Finally.”

  I traded a smile with Dane before returning to watching the tunnel. Light flashed behind us in multi-colored hues.

  Unable to stop myself, I looked and discovered David had picked up Thorandryll’s trick of inscribing symbols in the air. His right hand stabbed and swooped while his familiar’s head bobbed to some internal tune.

  It was pretty cool to watch. David created layer after layer of glowing symbols, moving counter-clockwise around the mirror.

  Several minutes later, he halted in front of the mirror and snapped his fingers. The covering of symbols blazed and shattered.

  “Someone’s coming,” Dane said. “And fast.”

  I blinked. David and Copernicus were gone. “Crap. Did he do it?”

  “Don’t know. We gotta go.” My partner grabbed my arm and Leglin’s collar. “The shop, please.”

  “But,” I closed my mouth, the shop around us instead of the cell. “Damn it.”

  “Where’s the mirror?” David asked, unslinging his bag.

  “How did you get back here?”

  “Me.” Copernicus launched from David’s shoulder.

  “We didn’t know if you were done.” Dane released my arm.

  “Yes.”

  “Great.” I huffed and crossed my arms. “We have to go back, and they’ll probably reset the ward.”

  “No, they won’t.” David twirled his fedora on his finger. “They won’t realize it’s gone. I wove an illusion clone.”

  “A what?”

  Jo smirked, patting David’s leather-clad shoulder. “He made it look as though it’s still warded, but it isn’t.”

  “Oh. Awesome. Okay, let’s go back.”

  Dane shook his head. “How about we wait for a little while, and let whoever was coming clear off?”

  “Because they might move it.”

  “Maybe. If they do, we’ll search for it.”

  “Argh.” I glared at him.

  “Better safe than sorry.”

  “Oh, alright. Let’s go to the office and update the boss.” I let my arms drop to my sides. “Thanks, David. You’re the bomb.”

  He took a bow. “You’re welcome.”

  NINETEEN

  “We found the mirror.”

  Mr. Whitehaven smiled. “Excellent. Where is it?”

  “Demon realm. Don’t worry. We took David and Copernicus with us. The mirror was warded, but David took care of that.” I dropped into a chair. “We had a tiny miscommunication issue, because Copernicus whisked David out before we were certain he’d finished.”

  “Someone was coming. We left,” Dane clarified. “Giving it a few minutes before going back to grab the mirror.”

  “I see.”

  “I think just Leglin and I should go. We’ll blink right back if someone’s there, or the mirror’s been moved.” I frowned. “Where’s the dust cloth? I want to cover him. The mirror.”

  “I’ll get it.” Dane left the boss’s office.

  “Any new cases in line?” I kept talking to keep Mr. Whitehaven from protesting the plan we’d made.

  “Nothing yet.”

  “Cool.”

  Dane returned, tossing the sheet to me. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks. Think it’s been long enough?”

  “Probably.”

  “Good.” I stood, sheet in one hand. “Come on, Leglin. Let’s steal ourselves a mirror.”

  My hound shoved his head under my other hand, and my fingers slid down to his collar. “We’ll be back in a minute, in the reception area.”

  “Be careful.”

  “We will. Okay, Leglin.” No more office. We were in the cell and alone. The mirror stood in its spot. “Great. Just a sec.”

  I shook out the dust cloth and covered the mirror, with Leglin staying close. Done, I grabbed hold of the mirror and the hound. “Take us out, bub.”

  My hound took us back to the office, and I let go of both, smiling at those waiting for us. "Easy, peasy."

  "I'll inform the client," Mr. Whitehaven said. "Excellent work."

  He left for his office. Dane walked over. "Let's take off the cloth."

  "So Creepy McCreeperson can talk crap to Tabitha and me? No, thanks." I'd had my fill of Mr. Mouthbreather Spirit Jerk. "But if Kate comes in, I bet twenty she'll shut him down in less than a minute."

  "I'm not taking that bet." He grinned. "And I think you're overestimating. I give her ten seconds."

  "I was adding in time for her to make Percy be quiet. He would think Creepy is a hoot." I hadn't forgotten the parrot's X-rated suggestions the one time he'd visited the New Age center where my mom worked.

  Recalling that event, I wondered what elves would think of humans' attempts to infuse crystals with positive vibes. Which reminded me that I had a large, embarrassingly shaped crystal hidden in a shoebox in my closet.

  That had been loads of fun, retrieving the crystal after Logan had found it under the seat of my car. He'd barely begun working on the car, and hello! How about a big honking, pink phallic crystal in your face, Mr. Sayer?

  As though conjured by the memory, Logan's dark green, classic Challenger slowed to pull into the parking lot. Heat warmed my face, which was silly, because no one knew what I'd just been thinking. "Hey, Logan's here."

  "And your face is pink," Dane said. "Coincidence? I think not."

  "Shut up."

  He laughed. "Blushing is usually the result of embarrassment. Why would Logan showing up embarrass you? Unless you two have done more than snuggle lately."

  "Nope, we haven't, Nosey Man. Hush." Logan was on his way to the door. "I was thinking about something else, not him."

  "Sure you were."

  "Grrr."

  Logan opened the door and came inside. He glanced at the covered mirror while saying hello. "You retrieved it."

  "Yep. The boss is calling the client to come get it."

  "Any problems?"

  I laughed. "Leglin and I make an awesome cat-burgling team. We were in and out in less than three seconds, no demons the wiser."

  "We're all grateful you use your powers for good."

  "And hope you don't have an evil twin," Dane added.

  "I'm a one-of-a-kind model. My mom says so." I looked at Logan. "Are you here to talk to the boss? He's in his office."

  "I am. Talk to you after?"

  I nodded and he left the reception area. Dane stopped poking at the dust cloth. "I guess I'll go finish the report. Case closed."

  "Okay." I plopped down onto the couch and smiled at Tabitha. "So, has Damian asked you out yet?"

  She folded her arms on the desk's edge. "He has."

  "And you said?"

  "Yes."

  "Awesome. He's a good guy."

  Tabitha smiled. "I think so, too."

  I patted Leglin, who'd sat close enough to lay his head across my knees. "What are you going to do? Dinner and a movie, or something else?"

  "Dinner and bowling."

  "Bowling," I repeated. "My parents used to take me when I was a kid. We always had fun."

  "I've never done it, so he'll have to teach me."

  “I’m sure he won’t mind.”

  Tabitha glanced down the hallway before asking, “Is it difficult to learn?”

  “Not really. Takes some practice to learn how to keep score and play, but the main point of it is to use a ball to knock down pins.” Maybe Logan and I could go bowling this weekend. I made a mental note to ask him.

  We chit-chatted a bit longer, before Logan returned. “Sorry to interrupt.”r />
  “No problem. Well?”

  He grinned. “I start tomorrow.”

  “Yay.” I jumped to my feet to hug him. “This calls for a celebration. Dinner, my treat?”

  “Sounds good.”

  We bade Tabitha goodbye, and walked out to Logan’s car, Leglin trailing behind us. “I’d better send him home.”

  “I don’t mind, if he doesn’t. He’ll fit in the back seat.”

  “Up to you, Leglin.”

  “I will go home. Please thank him for the offer.”

  “Sure. He said thanks, but he’s going home.” I waved my hand right after Leglin disappeared. “And ta-dah!”

  Chuckling, Logan opened the passenger door. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Your choice.”

  He chose Chinese, buffet style. We filled our plates with fried rice, black pepper chicken for me, and General Tsao’s for him.

  Once we were seated at our table, Logan asked, “Any headway on your curse problem?”

  “Haven’t had time to concentrate on it, but I plan to work on it tonight.” I crunched a fried wonton. “Have you ever bowled?”

  “Bo... oh. No, can’t say I have. Why?”

  “Thought we could do that this weekend. I haven’t been to a bowling alley in ages.”

  Logan smiled. “I’m game.”

  “Cool.”

  TWENTY

  One of the best things about working for Arcane Solutions was not having to punch a clock on a daily basis.

  Mr. Whitehaven wanted to retain his employees, so he paid us a comfortable base salary, which meant we didn't have to look for second jobs to make ends meet when business was slow.

  It also meant we were always on call, and we seldom had any lengthy slow periods. The past six months had been busy enough that I was glad he'd hired Dane, and now Logan.

  More cases equaled more money for everyone. Since we all got along well, and had no cooperation issues, no one ever got stuck working a case alone, if they needed help.

  All of which meant, with no new cases currently in the pipeline, I was free to concentrate on my personal case.

  Once home, I sat and made a list of suspects who had grudges against me. Apep, Eater of Souls, made the top of the chart. Hesitation struck as I began to write "vampires," because while I knew there were a few who probably wanted some revenge, the vampire Council currently liked me. At least enough to not want me permanently dead for now. "Better add them anyway. Dark elves, if Dalsarin wasn't really the last one?"