by Al K. Line
Any Objections
"Wait just one minute," I protested, magic almost leaking I was so close to using it.
"Arthur, if you so much as touch your wand, haha, then my men will destroy you. Both of you," said Nathan, voice more devoid of emotion than I'd remembered.
"Well, if you put it like that."
"I do."
"Now, shall we get to work?"
"I'd rather know what's going on first." I turned to look at the house. There was little left of it now. Even from such a distance I could taste the ash on my tongue, feel the warmth from such an ungodly bonfire.
The blood moon was still strong, a portent of a night far from done. A night alive with the sounds of sirens. Nathan seemed utterly unconcerned.
He glanced at his watch. "The local emergency services will arrive in a little under two minutes. You have a choice to make, Arthur, and you need to make it fast."
I put my hat back on my head and adjusted it at an angle, reconsidered, and tipped it forward a little. I remained silent.
"Tick tock, Arthur." Nathan spoke to Vicky. "Sorry, my dear lady, I didn't catch the name."
"Vicky, the name's Vicky."
"Well, Vicky, I do apologize for the inconvenience, but I'm guessing you are aware of today's events and are familiar with the rather unfortunate set of circumstances that see us standing here at this moment, waiting for Arthur to make up his mind about his, and your, future?"
"Yes."
"Good, just as long as we're on the same page." Nathan nodded as a large goon came up to him and whispered in his ear. Moments later the bodies were gone, the two lead cars too.
He seemed different to earlier, colder and less enamored with me for obvious reasons, but there was something else, too.
You know what? I'm such a muppet at times.
"Your arm!" I blurted.
"Later, if you're a good boy. Time's up, Arthur. The police and fire service will be here momentarily. Your choice. Oh, and what about them?" Nathan nodded and a belligerent Brains and Merrick were shoved hard in the back and prodded with very cool looking guns toward us.
"These, ah, gentleman, seem rather uncouth company to be keeping, Arthur. Not exactly the kind of fellows I would have expected you to use."
"Beggars can't be choosers," I replied, holding Merrick's gaze as he snarled at me, and everyone else.
"You're dead, Arthur. Her, too. And these spooks."
"Shut up, Merrick, you dick. You don't know who these guys are. You're out of your depth. Like way out."
"I advise quiet," said Brains, in a rare show of independence.
Nathan thought nothing of it, but for Merrick and I it was quite a shock. Brains never spoke to him like that. It just didn't happen. It was bad enough me standing up to him, but Brains, his man, nope.
"Time is up, what's it to be?"
"So dead. I'm gonna enjoy showing Vicky here, the little girl playing gangster, what real gangsters do to their enemies." Merrick licked his malformed lips with a fat, pink tongue.
"Kill 'em," I said.
It was over before Merrick could even register shock. A bullet to the head and he was down and definitely dead. Two spooks dragged him off and then it was Brains' turn. The gun raised, Vicky grabbed my hand and squeezed, Nathan nodded, and then everything was a blur.
A spook cried out, the sound cut off as he clutched his throat, then his head exploded as Brains snatched the man's gun and blew out his brains in one fluid motion. Not even slowing, he cracked the other spook over the nose and as he was blinded with pain Brains shot him right through his open mouth. The spinal column shattered as the bullet exited and the head lolled to a weird angle as he too dropped to the road.
As if he had all the time in the world, Brains turned and picked off the remaining men as they moved to take cover. He had the advantage as we acted like a shield, the spooks loathe to fire and risk hitting their boss.
We stood, shocked and silent, as Brains turned and said, "I think we need to re-evaluate the agreement you had with Merrick."
"I'm more than happy to do so," said Nathan, even though Brains was talking to me. Nathan kept his composure remarkably well when he was now at such a disadvantage.
"Good." Brains did the strangest thing then. He bent and kissed Merrick on the forehead, then stood and booted him hard in the body over and over until he was exhausted. Twenty kicks or more, sweat beading on his brow, breathing fast and hard, face full of hatred.
Whatever had gone on with those guys there was definitely something about the relationship that hadn't sat well with Brains, and that was the understatement of the year.
"Time to go," said Nathan. "This is far from ideal, Brains, is it? Look at the mess, but ho-hum, time for us to be on our way. Arthur, would you care to drive? My driver appears to have been shot in the face."
"Sure," I said, just wanting to get the hell out of there.
"I'll drive," said Brains.
Nobody argued.
Keepers
"In we get," said Nathan, nodding at my car.
"Where's yours?" I asked.
"My men have departed. We were to travel in your vehicles."
"I expected a Rolls, Nathan."
"This is business, Arthur, and the point is to be discreet. Not that we need worry about that anymore with the mess Brains here has made."
"You were ready to shoot me," said Brains, back to being emotionless as ever.
"Let's not quibble over the details. Now, if you would?" Nathan nodded forward at the road, flashing lights reflecting off the trees where the road curved. Already, the blood moon was fading as the fire was past its peak, returning to the cold, gray, silent eye I was more familiar with.
"Where to?"
"Just drive for now, I need to think."
Brains pulled off with practiced ease and we drove silently past a fleet of emergency services vehicles converging on the destroyed vampire compound.
"Sorry about Merrick," said Vicky. I gave her a nudge. "What?"
"Don't be sorry," said Brains. "That man was an animal."
Vicky and I exchanged a look and she remained silent. What a turn up for the books. I wondered what hold Merrick had had over Brains. It must have been something pretty damn nasty, but I got the feeling it was something he'd never talk about.
"This is all your fault, Nathan, you and your idiot brother," I said, unable to contain my anger at the absolute mess Cerberus had embroiled me in.
"Let's just say we are all to blame and leave it at that, shall we?"
"No, let's not. I get that Nigel went off the rails, was gonna hand the ashes over for whatever prize he felt justified his betrayal. But you, why in Buster's name didn't you tell me what I was holding? I would have gladly destroyed it."
Nathan said nothing and a thought came to me.
"Ah, so that's it. You guys don't want it destroyed, do you? You didn't tell me as you couldn't risk either me giving it to the vamps, or me getting rid of it, scattering it to the wind."
Nathan turned and said, "It's complicated."
"I'll bet. You went out on your own trying to get me, get the ashes, to protect your brother. Familial bonds and all that. But now I guess you have the Hounds behind you, and what, they still want it?"
"I received a thorough reprimand from my boss, but don't kid yourself, Arthur, I'm as high up in Cerberus as you will ever encounter. Everyone apart from one answers to me. I run this game, I make the decisions. Yes, we want Mikalus' ashes. Good God, man, it's too interesting and important a relic to destroy. Who knows what power it contains, when it may be needed? We must have it and we must ensure the vampires never use it."
"So you owned up, told your fellow Hounds what happened, and then what?"
"Then I got fixed up. We sent our people out to find you, which was ridiculously easy. You really should be more careful. Then we waited for you to lead us to the vampires."
"I'd have thought you guys would already know where the vampires were based,
what with you being so damn smart."
"Arthur, you really have no idea, do you?"
"Enlighten me."
"You wizards, you're all the same. You never take the time to learn about what's actually going on."
"Wrong, Nathan. What I'm beginning to think is that Cerberus makes it its duty to ensure we don't know what's going on. You like to be the ones with the most information, so do whatever it takes to keep us in the dark."
"Haha, there are things best not known by the common wizard. Okay, history lesson time. There are many thousands of these sub-vampires. They have homes, families, some live communally like in the building we watched burn, others alone. Some in bedsits, others in mansions, and we track as many as we possibly can. But there are worse things than these pathetic creatures. Many of them are Twenties, Thirties, Forties, or even weaker. Their power is so negligible, their abilities so subtle, that you'd hardly even know what they were. You and your wizard brothers have been too complacent for too long, and whatever you may think of us, that isn't our fault. You don't look because the vampires don't cause much trouble, but it doesn't mean they won't. It's left to us to keep everyone safe. The magical community has no idea what goes on right under their noses."
"I know more than enough, thank you very much. I know about the weakness of the newer vamps. Sure, I didn't know how many there were, but as you say, there are plenty more pressing things to worry about."
"True. But now there isn't."
"Back at the park, that dude could have killed you, but he didn't. Why?"
"Because they are not the creatures most believe them to be. They are like us in many regards. Some are nice, some not so nice. But it changes nothing."
"Okay, I get it. Fair enough. But why not destroy the ashes? It makes no sense."
"Because it's so powerful. Cerberus protects humanity from its own idiocy, from abusing magic. But we still respect the supernatural and have made an oath to preserve, not destroy."
"You've got a funny way of showing it," I said.
"That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard," said Vicky who'd been listening intently and had somehow managed to so far remain silent.
Brains acted like we were talking about the weather. I caught a glimpse of him in the rearview. His face was utterly impassive, but he would be soaking up this information and planning how to use it to his advantage. Whatever had gone on between him and Merrick, one thing remained certain. He was bad news and we'd pay for what had happened, regardless.
"Cerberus has been powerful for thousands of years. We protect the world from dangerous artifacts. We keep them safe, we help."
"Spare me that bullshit," I spat, anger rising. "You're a bunch of do-gooders who take what isn't yours and keep it for yourselves. Cerberus doesn't care about magic users, you've got an agenda and you know it. What about people? You don't help them. You just want the relics, the books, the things. You're a bunch of religious zealots and sneaky as fuck. Protecting us from ourselves? Bollocks. I don't buy it and neither do other wizards. You guys don't even learn magic yourselves, you just take magical items and probably arrange them nicely in some lovely display room somewhere and beat off to them like the bunch of wackos you are."
Nathan turned again and I could see my words had made a real impact. He was beyond angry, he was affronted and insulted. "You don't know what you're talking about," he snapped. "You have absolutely no idea. Our order has meaning, is more important than you can imagine. I am a Hound, and same as all fellow Hounds, those tasked with important work, we know magic. You are mistaken about us. So very mistaken. You would do well to watch your tongue, Arthur."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll ensure you never see another sunrise. Do I make myself clear? Do I?"
"Whatever."
"Turn off here if you would be so kind, Brains," asked Nathan, back to being the upper-class, emotionless twat that he undoubtedly was.
Brains parked and Nathan pulled out a phone, tapped away, sent a text message and then the car was silent.
"What now?" I asked.
"Now? Now we wait. And then, when I'm ready, we go get Mikalus' ashes from wherever the vampires have taken them. Tell me Arthur, who was in the house? Who did you deal with? Was it a Fourth? Why did they let you leave alive?"
I smothered a smile. For all his big talk about knowing what was happening in the world, it was all a front. They didn't know everything. If they believed Fourths were the highest up still around then let them believe that. I wasn't about to share what I knew with him, with them.
"Guess so, he seemed pretty powerful. As to letting me live, they stick to their word, Nathan. There was a deal, the original deal that was made when I agreed to do the job. What I asked Nigel for. He obviously told them what I wanted and they agreed, and delivered. They stuck to their word, understand?"
"I do. They place great merit in being people, ex-people, of honor, hold it sacred. And what recompense did you receive?"
I resisted the urge to pat my pocket where the package was, knowing this was another thing best kept to myself. "Oh, you know, the usual."
"I see."
Nathan seemed satisfied with that. He'd assume it was money in a bank account somewhere. Let him believe that. The less he knew, the better.
His phone buzzed and he checked his message.
"Ah, our people have found the most likely location. Not confirmed, but it will be within minutes. Brains, are you sure you are happy to drive? And I know this must be confusing for you, I apologize. You're remarkably silent for someone who has heard so much outlandish conversation, are you not surprised?"
"Nothing surprises me. I've seen enough to convince me what you all say is true. And Merrick may not have believed Arthur is a real wizard, but I knew. Where to?"
"One moment, please." Nathan kept an eye on his phone, checked the new message when it came, and nodded in satisfaction. He gave directions and off we went.
I had no doubt that Nathan would try to kill us all at the first opportunity. If they had found the vampires with the ashes then we were now nothing but a liability.
The longer we drove back toward the city, and the more directions Nathan gave, the more uncomfortable I became. I couldn't sit still. The seatbelt felt too tight, the seat too lumpy. I was too hot, too cold, didn't have enough room. Vicky was breathing, which was annoying, and Nathan kept tapping his cane. And what was that all about? Dude had his arm fixed, no doubt by using his cane, maybe his own magic, or something Cerberus had, and yet he still had a limp.
"What's the matter with you? Keep still," moaned Vicky as I wriggled about.
"Sorry, but I've got a bad feeling about this."
"We'll be fine."
"No, we won't. But that's not it. I think I know where we're going."
"Figured it out, have you?" asked Nathan without turning.
"I hope not," I said, knowing I deserved a smack about the head for being complacent.
As if reading my thoughts, Nathan said, "Yes, they must have followed you, Arthur. Very careless of you."
I racked my brain, trying to think back on the day and how the hell the vampires could have worked it out. I came up with nothing. It could have been at any time. Somehow, they knew I was to be the one to get the ashes for them and had gone out of their way to follow me, maybe to snatch the ashes if I failed. Or, and thinking back on it this seemed more likely, so they could allow me to walk out of there after the handover, keeping to their sacred word, as they knew they could reach me if they needed to.
"Here we are," said Nathan just a few minutes later. "If you could pull up as close to number seven as possible please, Brains. Lucky for some, eh, Arthur?" said Nathan with a smile that didn't touch his eyes.
"Fuck off."
"Now, now, that's no way to talk to someone who has brought you home."
"Home?" asked Vicky. "I thought you lived on a farm, not in a small terraced house?"
"I do," I said with a sigh. "This is just the front doo
r."
A Violation
"I don't understand," said Vicky, chewing on the corner of her lip, both nervous and annoyed, thinking I'd lied to her.
"This is why Arthur's no easy man to track down. I have to hand it to you, Arthur, you had us fooled."
I just glared at Nathan, his fair hair a sickly yellow under the glow of the streetlight one house down from what really was just my front door.
"Arthur?" Vicky went from lip biting to lip trembling. I knew I had to talk and talk fast before the tears began. Hell, what use was a sidekick if she'd get all weepy if she thought I'd been keeping a few secrets? I was a bloody wildcat wizard, of course there were secrets.
"Well, tell her. Actually, before we go any further, I'd like an explanation, too."
I took a few deep breaths, tried not to think about what was happening outside my home, as there were sure to be numerous overexcited vampires running loose, and tried to put the pieces together before I spoke.
Nathan, and probably Nigel, must have known where I lived. There was no other explanation for the amateur that had threatened me on the road to my house earlier that day. He would have been fairly local to have made it there with little warning, and was the first person from the underground to have found me. That was how. Nathan had known where I was.
But the vampires, how did they know? Nigel. He must have betrayed me, told them so they'd trust him, offer him what he wanted.
Ugh, what a ridiculous mess. Life was never normally this complicated. Yes, I got into a few scrapes and sometimes things went rather wonky, but this day was worse than almost any I could remember. Even as I thought such thoughts, I recalled several terrible jobs and the aftermath, and I gotta say, it made me feel a little better. There were, rather surprisingly, a multitude of incidents much worse, but I guess I'm a glass half full kinda guy and had put them to the back of my mind.
"Arthur, stop daydreaming," said Vicky, nudging me.
"Sorry. Okay, very quick then we have to go. This is bad, right, Nathan?"
"Oh, you can bet on it. We have people going the long way around as I assume you have certain safeguards in place that cannot be disabled."
