by Martha Carr
“Rhazdon…” Lois said it with a shudder, slowly pushing her glasses back up her nose. “That dark bitch. She crawled off to lick her wounds after Lavender Rock.”
“Yeah, well she crawled back and sought refuge at Turner Underwood’s estate.”
Hagan sat down heavily behind his desk and slammed his hands on the top. “What the fuck? When did this happen?”
“It’s only been a couple of days. She says she’s here to make amends. To give us help with the shifter and the dark families.”
Hagan’s face turned red with anger. “No fucking way. She’s no different than every other felon we picked up for years. They lie to get something they want. If it occasionally helps us out, they don’t have a problem with that but there’s still something they want more.”
“I don’t disagree with you at all. But Turner Underwood is insisting we let her help. Lucius was his friend...”
Hagan cut off Leira, waving his arm. “His judgment is fucked.” He shook his head. “I saw how Rhazdon fought us on Lavender Rock. There was no shred of decency in her. She was doing battle with us to get her jollies. A magical psychopath. Where’s the justice?”
Lois let out a weary sigh. “Justice gets trickier when magic is involved. Not as clear cut.”
“It should be,” Leira said evenly between clenched teeth. “Hagan… I gave my word that we’d do this Turner’s way, for now. He’s convinced we need her help to prevent more chaos and more death.”
“Then you should share with the Fixer what Lucius has done lately.”
“Does the general know?”
“Against my better judgment, I didn’t share all the latest news with him. We still work for him and there would have been way too much to explain. Not sure I did the right thing. How the hell did that beast even know how to find the sanctuary?”
“If I had to guess, it’s the bionic animals that are being kept there. Lucius is tied to the dark mist, even now that he’s out of the world in between.”
“I saw that damnable mist. It was swallowing up Perrom. Couldn’t scrub the stink off me even after a few showers. Rose even asked me if I was battling demons in hell.” He moved his jaw around angrily. Leira had only seen him do that a few times and it was always when a prosecutor told them a case wasn’t strong enough to go to trial, even when everyone knew the killer would try again. “I told her I was battling something from hell here on earth. Regretted it the second the words left my mouth.”
“The dark mist has an agenda of its own, separate from Lucius. He’s after Rhazdon.”
“We do need the information Rhazdon can give us.” Lois stood back from Hagan and Leira, talking softly. “Lucius is the bigger menace right now and there are thousands of shifters in the world. If he could command them…”
Hagan opened and closed his mouth a few times, finally sputtering out, “Command them. Is that even a thing?”
“He’s the alpha over all other shifters. Yes, he can lead them, if he chooses to.”
Leira sat on the edge of her desk. “Then his focus on Rhazdon is useful for more than one reason.” She held up her hand. “I know, Lois, I know. We need her and I gave my word.”
“But if Lucius catches up with her… and from what I saw of him up close and personal I’d say that’s a real possibility… don’t expect me to shed a tear. Rhazdon has killed down through the ages.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” said Leira, “but Lucius is also a victim. One of Rhazdon’s victims who spent almost a millennium in the world in between saddled with a curse.”
“I remember when I thought a serial killer was the worst thing we’d have to face, Berens. Go to Turner Underwood. Update him on what his house guest has caused now, even indirectly. We’ll continue to hold down the fort here. But you better hurry. At some point this will all spill out into the open and the general will find out anyway. He’s not a stupid man and he has other resources. If he puts all the pieces together on his own, he’s bound to know we knew already and might see that as a betrayal. Can’t say I’d blame him.”
Leira stood up and gathered her keys. “At some point, we do have to stop making up the rules as we go. Only problem is the game keeps changing.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leira stood at Turner’s tall front door, counting to ten before she knocked. Wouldn’t do any good to go in already angry. Save that for five minutes into the visit. She finally knocked and waited as she listened to approaching footsteps. The hair along the back of her neck stood on end, and she pulled in a little energy, ready for whatever answered the door.
Turner swung the door wide, taking in the glow in her eyes and grimaced, waving her inside. “Has there been a development?”
“Let me use some of your tricks of the trade and just show you.”
Turner looked surprised but stopped in the large foyer and waited, patiently. He had one of his favorite canes with him. The hickory cane stained dark with a silver eagle’s head on top.
Leira created a transparent ball of light between her hands, rolling it around as she sung into it just as Correk had shown her.
Turner looked slightly annoyed. “I can see Correk is going to be a new kind of Fixer and share a little more than I ever did.”
“Correk is different from you in a lot of ways.” An image of Perrom appeared, crossing over the worlds. He was unconscious, lying on a pallet in the Gardener’s home deep in the forest on Oriceran. His shoulder and arm were heavily bandaged.
“I’m beginning to see that.”
“That’s a friend of mine, a good one and Correk’s best friend. I haven’t told him yet…” She felt a pinprick of regret. “But I’m going to the moment he gets back from wherever you sent him. His best friend almost died, torn literally limb from limb by Lucius. Your old friend… cursed by Rhazdon.” Leira tilted her head to the side, pressing her lips together. She was doing her best not to say anything she’d have to regret for the next nine hundred years. Too bad the look on her face said it all.
Turner raised his bushy gray eyebrows and leaned on his cane. “You think my old friendship with Lucius, who he was, is clouding my judgment. Fair enough. But you are going to live a long time and fight many battles, even lose some believe it or not. They will come to temper your wisdom. You are a servant of the greater good, Leira Berens. It’s in your DNA and comes forward no matter what happens to you.”
“Doesn’t change that your friend in many ways died a long time ago and has become a menace to that greater good. Or that your house guest put him there.”
“That is where you are going to have to loosen up your old definitions if you’re going to still do good in this new world order. We are on the edge of very dangerous times. Far more dangerous than optimistic. Magic is returning and it has stirred the bottom of the pot. All kinds of things that stayed comfortably hidden for thousands of years are bubbling to the surface. You know what’s on the surface?” He held up his hand. “Human beings and the lifestyle they’ve grown to accept as fact. But it was a kind of temporary myth all along. I’d like to put off awakening them for as long as possible. If I’m going to do that I’ll need your help and taking this curse off the shifters is the first step. The only being willing to help us with that mission is Rhazdon. The only other beings who possess that knowledge are the damned Wizards and Witches who created this cursed mess.” His voice was growing in volume, booming through the house. “You can see the dilemma. Serve the short term need for revenge, which you handily call justice or hold back, serve the greater good on this new playing field and see what apocalypse we might be able to stave off.”
“I gave you my word I’d play things out your way. Asking me to like it is going too far. It’s not justice, no matter what reasons you come up with. That’s the really strange thing about justice, after all. You do it because it’s the right thing to do and not because you can’t think of a thousand good arguments to look the other way. It’s the thing that really stops the chaos at the door. Everything e
lse is what we’re going to tell ourselves because we’re afraid of this new world order.”
“You think I should die.” Rhazdon hobbled into the foyer, pointing a twisted, mottled finger at Leira.
“I was wondering when you’d finally barge into our conversation. I’m not after your death, necessarily. I think you should answer for what you’ve done. Be made to stand up and tell the entire rabid story to all the victims’ families till they’re satisfied. Not just share a few spells. But that’s just me.”
“Rhazdon, leave us. I have business to discuss with Leira that doesn’t concern you.”
“Like she can’t eavesdrop if she wanted to.”
Rhazdon turned back at the door, eyeing Leira. “My powers are not what they once were. Neither is my resolve. I have no great conquests to fulfill.”
“Save it. You’re getting what you want. Selling me on it is a waste of everyone’s time.”
Turner waited for Rhazdon to go down the hall before he led Leira outside to the slate patio in the back. “I don’t entirely disagree with you, but I can’t let my emotions run the show.”
“Mine aren’t. Cold, hard reason,” said Leira, tapping the side of her head. She let out an angry sigh. “You wanted to talk to me about something.”
“I hope that some day you come to understand why I’ve taken this path with Rhazdon. Either way, it had to be done. The same reasons are going to pull you away from your job with the federal government. You need to be more independent, able to make the right choices without having to choose sides.”
“Like now.”
“I’m not asking you to choose a particular side. I’m asking you to use your common sense and utilize a valuable and rare resource against a darker foe.” Turner made his way over to his favorite green Adirondack chair overlooking the lake and settled into it. He took a soft plaid wool blanket off the foot stool and threw it over his legs. “Cool day for so late into spring. This is one of my favorite spots in all the world, and I have seen all the world has to offer. Maybe it’s because very little changes here.”
Leira sat down on the edge of the chair next to him. She zipped her leather jacket up part of the way against the chilly wind. She looked out over the lake and made herself take a deep breath and let it out. “The only reason I haven’t dragged her ass back to Oriceran and thrown her down in front of the queen is because of you. Remember that was my original assignment? I was hired by the king and queen to find the person who killed their son. That would be justice.”
Turner shifted in his chair. “On that, we agree. It’s unfortunate that events changed so much since then and justice will take a backseat to survival.” Turner crossed his hands over his chest. “Consider becoming independent. The world has changed and this will only increase and become harder to handle as the years go by and magic increases. Imagine what the world might be like in say, twenty years.”
“Hard to do from here.”
“There are written stories about what it was like the last time the gates were opening. It was chaos for a while, and that was before human beings became so advanced in technology. It was a lot easier then to make up some cockamamey story about magic and get the masses to believe. Not going to be so easy this time.”
“And everyone wants a little power of their own.”
“Yes,” Turner said, wearily. “Another complication. We need someone who can stand in the middle of all the competing forces and choose what’s best for the greatest number.”
“You mean me. Isn’t that vigilante justice?”
“It can be in the wrong hands. It would not be easy, but I believe it is doable and may keep us all from a venomous tipping point.”
“You’re usually more Zen about the world.”
“And I may be again but I’m also a realist. Can’t be the Fixer without a healthy dose of that. I can see that the balance is shifting constantly and threatens everyone. We need someone who can be more impartial and cares about…”
“Justice…”
“That’s one word for it.”
“The dark syndicate needs to be stopped. They’re the greatest threat.”
“Completely agree.”
“And Lucius is a problem… along with the shifters.”
“Different kind of problem. They have a right to exist. Think about it Leira. We all fear them because they seem to be more animal than human or Elf or Wizard. But they’re a thinking being. They are not something to hunt down and exterminate. Besides, they’ve been here a long time and many have learned to assimilate. Do you propose ferreting them out of their middle class lives?”
“What about the ones who carry the curse?”
“That’s where Rhazdon becomes useful. She is the originator of the curse. Darkly ingenious, really. Create a killing machine that can shift into something that can hide in plain sight… and make it connect to you magically. Your thoughts and desires become their motivation, your vengeance their focused mission.”
Leira looked up, narrowing her eyes as certain pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “That’s it. That’s how the dark mist got hold of Lucius. The darkness was drawn to the curse and found that hole inside of his will created by Rhazdon and filled it. The curse makes beings susceptible to the strongest magic around them.”
“Remove the curse.”
“Drive back the mist. It loses its physical embodiment… for now. Might even make it possible to crush it.”
“Especially if Lucius has a two-way street with the mist. If he can tell us more about it than we can know from the outside, looking in.”
“Did you see that all along?”
“Not all along. Consider my offer. I have a foundation I run that is well funded for when the day came that life on Earth began to change. I believe it’s here. I can give you a new base of operation in one of my safe houses. A rather nice house in Georgetown along the Potomac River. It will come with a very generous allowance. You would be able to buy whatever you needed to get the job done, travel the old fashioned way… in planes, and have visitors.” He gave a sidelong glance at Leira.
“Okay, I get it. You’re a crafty old dude who can see the obvious.”
“Correk is a good choice…”
“Don’t make it creepy by saying you approve. Look, I’ll think about it. Less than a year ago I was a homicide detective living a pretty normal existence even if I thought my mother was crazy and my grandmother was MIA. It had a certain order to it. Not much changed, and that was the way I liked it. Everything is different, including me. Now, I’m supposed to pick up and move away and do what? Hunt for problems to solve?”
“Trouble will find you. You’ll find the house is very well equipped with whatever enhanced technology you’ll need.”
“You mean like the virtual board at the warehouse.”
“That’s a child’s toy. There are far more efficient ways to monitor the world, and a team of contractors you can call on to help you when needed.”
“My own Justice League.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. They’re only there for support. They can’t ride out to take care of things for you. Do you accept?”
“I’ll think about it. That’s all I can offer right now. I’ll let you know. I’ll see myself out.” Leira walked around the outside of the house, grateful to avoid seeing Rhazdon again.
Rhazdon watched from an upstairs window as Leira climbed into the green Mustang and drove away down the long driveway. “All I wanted was to be respected and instead I became feared and reviled,” she muttered, lost in memories. “Perhaps it’s not too late, still.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“In memory of my beautiful wife.” Sirius Pickering raised his glass in a toast. The 2010 Spring Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon was a deep ruby color in the firelight in front of the oversized stone hearth. The other elders joined him and raised their glasses. “To Juliana…”
Sirius swirled the wine around in his mouth, doing his best to get the image of the
remains of his wife’s body out of his mind. That’s all there was by the time he got to her. Remains.
“Such a powerful Witch and she never got to use her wand. What kind of monster…” The Wizard caught the cold steady gaze of Sirius as his voice trailed off and he took another sip of the wine, choosing to stay silent.
“The beast was on her before she had a chance.” Agnes gripped the stem of her glass tightly. “You weren’t there. There was nothing any of us could do.”
“No one is blaming you, Agnes.” Sirius eyed her coolly, swirling the wine in his glass. “At least, not for that…” He tapped his finger against the glass as everyone else looked away, not willing to be involved in his wrath.
“I did exactly as you asked. The trap was set perfectly. That bitch, Leira Berens walked right into it with only a boy Wizard at her side. A thief who calls himself a scavenger. The shifters were set loose on them. If the plan failed, blame their handlers, not me.”
Sirius set his glass down on the mantle, warming his hands in front of the fire. “Merely a setback. The curse worked… to a degree. The shifters were unable to think for themselves as a pack. It’s unfortunate that one of them slipped the ties that bind and appointed himself the alpha. Interesting though, isn’t it? They chose to listen to one of their own.”
Agnes took another long gulp, staring down at the carpet.
“Something has to be done about the growing threat of humans and magic. The gates are opening whether we like it or not,” said a balding Wizard. “We need to secure our stature. The damn humans have turned out to be a little more clever than we realized.”
“The young amongst us show mixed promise at best. Most of them ran at the first sign of trouble. So much for testing them,” said a pinched-face Witch with long, straight dark hair. “I knew it would fail.”
“Perhaps it’s time to vote on leadership roles. We never had a proper council meeting since your brother was dragged into… well, into the world in between.” The tall, wiry Wizard with a thick head of dark hair, slicked back gazed down his nose at Sirius. “We need some reassurance that any of our plans will actually succeed.”
