Clash of Flames: An Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department)

by John P. Logsdon

  Their collective faces said, “Ian would be a dead power mage.”

  “Right,” was all I said.

  Chapter 19

  The first thing they had me do was practice opening my hands, turning them palm up, and creating small, controlled fireballs.

  They weren’t powerful enough to do much, but that wasn’t the point.

  “Good,” Griff said supportively. “Float them slowly around, controlling every moment.”

  “Keep your eyes straight ahead,” warned Jasmine. “If you look at them, they’ll mesmerize you. That can be deadly.”

  “Deadly?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, I guess I could be burned, sure, but deadly?”

  Rachel piped up in response. “When you stare at your own magic, it turns in on itself. It’ll build and build, feeding on your energy. The visual may not look much different to you, but inside the power is boiling.”

  “Exactly,” agreed Jasmine. “Worse, it grabs hold of your mind in the same way. Staring for too long will lock you in a loop.”

  “And that,” Griff finished, “is when everything will combust.”

  Okay, so if I stared at my magic, it grew, and then boom. Again, so what? Hadn’t I read somewhere that magic didn’t impact the one who casts it? Meaning that if I shot an energy beam at my own reflection and it bounced back at me, it wouldn’t do anything. This had something to do with the energy signature of the mage matching the energy signature of the magic. If they’re the same, they cancel out.

  “But it’s my magic,” I said with a tilt of my head. “How can it hurt me?”

  “Ah, yes,” said Griff with a satisfied nod. Apparently, I had impressed him with my knowledge in this area. At least that was something. “You are speaking of signatures, and you are correct. But this is a different type of explosive release.”

  I glanced over at the valkyries while fighting not to think about…

  “An explosive release,” finished The Admiral. “Count me in, brother.”

  I groaned at him.

  “The type of impact this causes is one of pure magic,” Griff continued. “The spell doesn’t strike you as much as it consumes you.”

  “You mean like a black hole, right?” I asked. They all looked at me. “PBS, guys. You know I watch a lot of shows about this stuff.”

  They didn’t respond.

  Anyway, I got what they were saying. Admiring your own work too much can backfire on you. In the context of magic, it could be super destructive.

  So I looked past the fire I was coaxing to life, controlling it and molding it until it was dripping liquid heat onto the ground around me.

  “Okay, stop,” commanded Griff.

  The flames disappeared.

  “Well done,” he said, looking taken aback. “Most people require a fair bit of effort to cease once they are so far entrenched.”

  “Really?” I asked, not expecting an answer. And as expected, I didn’t get one. “Okay, so now what?”

  “Now we begin casting.”

  “Sweet,” I said.

  Rachel smiled at me and walked out to stand in front of me. Her hands began to glow and she put up a small shield.

  “Uh…shouldn’t you put a little more meat into that forcefield, babe?”

  “Won’t need it.”

  I chuckled at her.

  “I think you probably will.”

  “No, she won’t,” Griff corrected me. “You will only be casting pellet-sized ice and fire spells at her.”

  “Oh,” I replied, deflated.

  “It’s important for accuracy and control,” Jasmine said, giggling. “We’ve all been through it.”

  “You may also find that it comes in useful one day,” added Griff. “Battling pixies who use other pixies as shields is a great example.”

  “You’ve done that?” I asked, my face full of awe.

  His response was a deadened look that told me he didn’t want to talk about it. That meant it had happened in the old war.

  There must have been a lot that went on back then.

  Sadly, I’d never learn about it because those who fought in that war were very tightlipped about what they’d experienced.

  I supposed in fifty years or so there’d be some upstart who’d want to hear all about the adventures of Ian Dex and Las Vegas PPD as we fought against a bunch of ubers over the last year. I’d probably be annoyed at being asked about it all the time, too.

  “Right,” I said with a sigh as I looked over at Rachel’s pathetic shield. “So, ice pellets?”

  “And fire, too,” replied Jasmine.

  Chapter 20

  The next twenty minutes consisted of me firing mini spells at mini shields. It was tedious, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it was also fun as hell.

  I could see this being an awesome way for mages to play a form of laser tag.

  Magic tag? Spell tag? MagiTag, maybe?

  Every now and then I’d purposely let one of the little spells go slightly off target, striking Rachel in her tender spot. Her initial reaction was an intense glare, but then I got a direct connect saying, “Do it again…please.”

  Weirdo.

  Griff appeared impressed with my abilities. He kept saying things like, “I’ve never seen such accuracy in a beginner,” and “You’re certain you’ve not done this before?” Obviously, I hadn’t, but he was having a tough time believing that.

  “Just a moment,” said finally Griff. “Rachel, move to that side a bit farther, and Jasmine, step over there.”

  They both split apart but kept their shields at the ready.

  Griff turned to me but then turned back. “Extend your shields, please.”

  They did, though Rachel left the center of her shield open. Griff rolled his eyes at her.

  “Ian,” my mage master said, “I want you to try and strike both shields in their centers as best you can. You will be firing at the same time with both hands, and I’d ask that you increase the number of spells cast as well. It should get to the point where you must be fully engaged.”

  Seemed easy enough to me.

  “You mean like this?”

  I unleashed a barrage of pellets at Jasmine and Rachel, striking the center of their shields with ease. To make it more of a challenge, I began swapping fire and ice realtime. I even took to crossing my arms, firing left with my right and right with my left.

  I didn’t miss even once.

  As far as being fully engaged went, I wasn’t. To be honest, I couldn’t imagine that I could ramp up enough to have this take over my mind.

  A quick glance over at Griff showed that he was beside himself.

  “Everything okay?” I asked, no longer looking at where I was firing. “You seem surprised by this?”

  In response, he furrowed his brow seriously and stared back at the two ladies I was firing upon. A few nods later, they both started moving around, making for non-stationary targets.

  It took a little more effort to keep up with them now that they were moving, but I managed just fine, missing only a couple of times.

  “Remarkable,” Griff marveled, waving at me to stop.

  I did.

  Based on his reaction, and the looks on the faces of Rachel and Jasmine, it was clear that I shouldn’t have been able to do what I had just done.

  It seemed pretty easy to me.

  “Power mage,” Jasmine stated, stepping back over as she lowered her shield. “Never seen a chaotic who could do that.”

  “Nor I,” agreed Griff. He gave me a stern eye. “You must endeavor to maintain your control or the power will consume you.”

  “Right,” I said, nodding. “I get it. Don’t look at my own spells. We’ve been over that already, Griff. I don’t need to be told twice.”

  “He’s talking about the magic in general, Ian,” Rachel said, appearing as serious as Griff. It wasn’t often that Rachel got that look, so I was immediately put on edge. “This isn’t a joke, babe,” she added. “There are only a few pow
er mages out there, because they’re usually…” She trailed off, glancing away from me.

  “Killed,” I finished for her. “Swell. So how do I stop the power from taking me over?”

  Griff looked into my eyes. “Only use it when absolutely necessary. Do everything you can to avoid it.” He gestured around. “Even the training we’ve just done may have been unwise.”

  “Oh, come on, Griff,” I said with a laugh. “Don’t you think you guys are being a little overly dramatic here?” I stepped back and put my hands out. “It’s me, Ian. I’m the guy who sleeps with…” I glanced at Rachel and swallowed hard. “…uh, I mean used to sleep with succubi. I’m a womanizer, I drink a lot, I giggle at dick jokes, I buy expensive toys…I’m basically a teenager stuck deep in a man’s body.” I squinted. “Okay, that sounded disturbingly wrong, but my recognizing that only further solidifies how immature I am. You can’t honestly see me as being some power mage who could ever be serious enough to rule the world?”

  They didn’t appear convinced.

  Fine, so their worry was genuine.

  That meant mine had to be as well.

  Truth be told, I preferred not using magic anyway, so if I could figure a way out of a situation without employing its use, that would be all the better.

  I took a deep breath and slowly released it.

  “Okay,” I assured them, “I’ll do my best to avoid using magic wherever possible.”

  “Good,” was Griff’s only response.

  “So what’s next?”

  “Nothing,” he said soberly. “You are frankly more advanced than the three of us put together at this point. The only additional information we could provide would do no more than make you wish to utilize your magic as much as possible. And, as I’ve already stated, that would be unwise.”

  Jasmine and Griff turned and walked back toward the others.

  Rachel stayed with me.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” I replied, feeling a little irked. “The fact is that I was expecting a bit more help from you guys. Shooting at shields is…well, more fun than I expected, but I don’t see how it’s going to help me stand up against mages like you guys.”

  She gave me a look that conveyed she thought me an idiot.

  “Are you being serious?” she chided. “Ian, if you hadn’t been firing pellets, you could have easily killed me and Jasmine. We wouldn’t have had a chance.”

  “You had your shields up.”

  “Granted,” she acquiesced, “but a power mage can strip…” She stopped as her face went pale.

  I tilted my head and squinted at her.

  “Something tells me that you didn’t mean ‘strip’ as in take off my clothes, Rachel.” I felt my eyes smoldering slightly. “What do you mean?”

  “I…”

  “Tell me,” I commanded in such a way that I felt magical energy coming through the words. She shuddered, signaling it was magic. “Whoa,” I said, shaking myself and then blinking a few times. “I just compelled you, didn’t I?”

  She nodded as if terrified.

  I didn’t like that look.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, taking her in my arms. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

  “That’s the point, Ian,” she said, shaking. “You have to be careful. Even the little amount of training you’ve been through has opened doors that should have remained closed. If you don’t control it—”

  “You guys will have to kill me,” I interrupted.

  “Or die trying,” she added.

  Chapter 21

  Next up was Warren and wizardry. I had the feeling this was going to be a struggle because I wasn’t exactly the patient type and Warren was notoriously slow at everything.

  But, I needed to learn and he needed to teach, so I set some ground rules right from the start.

  “Look, Warren,” I said, “I know being a wizard means you have to be meticulous and all that, but we don’t have a lot of time. That means we’re going to need to skip pointless descriptions and processes. We have to focus and get right into it. Cool?”

  “No.”

  “Good, because…” I frowned. “What?”

  “No,” he repeated, setting his feet. “I’m not going to just give you a couple of pointers and walk away. Wizardry is serious stuff, man.”

  “I…uh…” I blinked a few times in disbelief and repeated, “No?”

  He sighed.

  “Chief,” he said, “I know you think I’m basically a waste of space.”

  I went to reply but couldn’t find the words.

  “And that’s cool,” Warren continued, “but I’m on the PPD because I’m good at what I do. Any wizard who has ample skill realizes how important it is to take it slow. Rushing wizardry is like jumping off an edge without first checking to see how far you’re going to be falling.”

  “Why would you jump off an edge at all?” I pondered. “I suppose if you had on a parachute or something…”

  He was eyeing me now.

  The fact was I didn’t think Warren was a waste of space. Slower than a sloth trying to fuck a snail? Yes. But he was a solid wizard who had contributed to saving my team more than once over our time together. If I had the stats in front of me, they’d probably label Warren as the most utilized piece of the puzzle in the PPD.

  It wouldn’t matter if I told him that, though. There were too many instances of me being short about how long it took for him to do even what appeared to be simple tasks.

  He was methodical.

  He was exacting.

  He was slow.

  In a nutshell, Warren was a wizard.

  Did that mean he never screwed up? Not at all. But when he did make mistakes, they were often not as horrific as they could be. And, to his point, a wizard making mistakes could be catastrophic.

  “Fair enough,” I said, bowing my head slightly, “but that being the case, and knowing the kind of time constraints we’re faced with here, what can you teach me that will be useful and efficient?”

  “Runes,” he replied without hesitation. That was a rare thing. “Not creating them,” he amended while holding up a finger, “but rather reading and diffusing them.”

  I gave him a funny look.

  “Aren’t there, like, thousands of designs, though?”

  “Billions,” he corrected me. Then he looked away. “Probably more. They’re all individualized by the wizard to some extent, but they share commonalities that make them easily read, if you know how.”

  “Ah, cool.”

  “Diffusing them, however, is quite a bit more complex.”

  He dropped to the ground and pulled out a little stick that he used as a wand. It wasn’t a traditional wand, at least not like the kind you see in the movies. There was no store that wizards rushed off to in order to buy them. Warren had once stated that he’d found his while hiking through a forest in the northwest part of the United States. I never got into the specifics as to why he’d selected this particular stick, because I never really cared, but now that I was learning this stuff…

  “Question for you,” I said, interrupting his drawing. “How come you chose that stick instead of all the others?”

  “It’s a wand,” he said, appearing offended on its behalf.

  “Oh, right,” I replied. “My apologies to the stick…erm, wand.”

  He turned back to his work. “It called to me.”

  “Ah,” I muttered. “That makes sense.”

  “No, it doesn’t, man,” he mused. “It doesn’t make any sense at all, which is why I selected it to be my wand.”

  “Were you smoking something at the time?” I asked.

  “Probably.”

  “Does it still call to you?” I ventured, thinking someone needed to tell Warren he was supposed to take all prescribed medications, not just the pretty ones. “Do you have conversations with it?”

  He gave me a sidelong glance. “Of course.”

  “Hmmm.” I sniffed in and
asked, “Am I going to need a talking stick, too, or can I do whatever needs doing without one?”

  “Again, man,” he said, looking annoyed, which was something I wasn’t used to seeing with Warren, “it’s a wand, not a stick.”

  “Well, technically—”

  “And you should have a wand, yes.” He continued his drawing. “You can decipher without one, but diffusing may be more difficult unless you just use your mage abilities. That can backfire, though, depending on how clever the wizard was who built the runes.”

  That didn’t sound fun. I’d already suffered being shocked by fucking runes more often than I cared to recall. They hurt like hell. I didn’t even want to think about how bad it could be if I cast a spell at one and it backfired on me.

  “That could be a problem, then,” I breathed.

  “Why?”

  “Because I highly doubt there are any talking sticks around here, Warren,” I responded, and then caught myself. “Sorry, wands.”

  “You’ve always got me, pal,” The Admiral suggested.

  “Oh yeah, that’s going to look great,” I replied with a grunt. “We’re in the midst of trouble and I have to whip you out and diffuse a rune.”

  “That’d be badass, man!” The Admiral seemed rather enthusiastic regarding the prospect. “We’d be legendary. Think about it. Who else in all of the world of wizardry has a dick as a wand?”

  “You’ll just have to use your finger,” Warren stated after a short pause. “It’s not ideal, man, but it’ll work.”

  “Even though it doesn’t talk to me?”

  His look told me I was being an idiot.

  ‘Professor Warren’ was not nearly as laidback as ‘subordinate Warren.’

  Two minutes later, his rune was completed. It didn’t seem very complex. There were blue spokes running from a tiny green circle that sat at the center. The spokes attached to a larger red circle that encased everything. Some of the sections between the spokes were filled with a dark yellow color, the rest with blue. All in all, it looked like something you’d buy at a craft show.