“Wait a minute she fought this golem thing you talked about on the phone. So the Unseelie are like, hunting you?”
Laz stood up and shivered.
“I think so. I think it’s to do with this knife. I think it’s important to the Unseelie and whoever is fighting them.”
Buller looked over at the computer.
“The STG could help.”
Laz sighed and flapped his skinny arms.
“The STG probably want to kill me as well. I hacked into their computer in desperate attempt to find something out.”
The feverish Valkyrie tossed and turned on the bed. She was unconscious and in a state of delirium.
“Ariel…warn him…”
Laz knelt close and whispered softly.
“Warn who?”
The Valkyrie was lost in a reverie.
“Tell Usher…we tried…Ariel and me…we tried to find them…his family…”
Laz looked at Buller and shrugged.
“Ok, you’ve obviously been through a lot. I don’t know any of these people. I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m just a middle man. I sell things. I’m not a soldier.”
The Valkyrie had drifted off into a deeper region of fever dream and gave no response.
Laz stood up and looked at Buller.
“What do we do?”
Buller gestured over the work desk.
“We could see if the stuff you hacked can help us?”
Laz seemed to find a bit of confidence and nodded.
“Ok there’s bourbon and Dr Pepper on the table. Pour yourself a triple while I set up the computer and put the last touches on the Wards.”
“Wards?”
“I have no idea what else I’ve downloaded onto that memory stick. It was chaos in that office today. I didn’t expect to get in to be honest. I kinda panicked once the fire started. I mean, it was thaumaturgy Buller, the real thing.”
“Well that proves one thing at least.”
“What?”
Buller’s big ass slumped down on the lumpy sofa.
“The STG isn’t a hoax. They’re the real deal. I mean these guys are like Harry Potter bred with Rambo or something. It’s too awesome.”
“Well that conjures up a rather chilling possibility then doesn’t it?”
“What?”
“Well if that’s how they need to protect their own systems. How badass are the things they are fighting?”
“Bad asserer than them?”
Lazlo gulped down a slug of bourbon.
“Precisely. We need to follow the paranoid conspiracy theorist safety protocols.”
“Stay frosty?”
“Stay frosty. Drink bourbon. You want Dr Pepper in that?”
Buller plonked a chunk of ice in his bourbon.
“Nah man. I’m hardcore.”
They clinked glasses.
As the computer fired up, Lazlo darted about the room, finishing off various complex sigils on the walls with a sharpie. He had a Dreamcatcher over the window with a little person hanging from it by the neck.
Buller nodded admiringly. “You made your own dead man’s trap?”
Lazlo gave it a little ping with his finger and the macabre artefact slowly spun.
“Yeah, this little baby can suck in any ghost or wraith that tries to enter the room.”
Buller squinted over and the sofa squeaked under his bulk.
“Dude, is that a Frodo action figure you’ve hung from that?”
Lazlo rolled his eyes.
“Well I had to use what I had around the place. I improvised. In a kinda Jack Bauer way.”
Buller leaned forward and scooped a small mountain of corn chips into his meaty paw.
“What season was that again, where he made a gun out of Lego?”
“Screw you Buller, this shit could keep the Unseelie from the door.”
There as an awkward silence. Buller had stopped crunching the chips in his mouth. Lazlo glanced awkwardly around the room, as if expecting the walls to cave in at any moment.
Lazlo parted the blinds and peered out the window to the moonlit street below.
“You sure you weren’t followed?”
“They would have had to be ninjas to follow me Laz. Not figuratively. Actual ninjas.”
Lazlo nodded.
“Hmm. Ok. Let’s do it.”
He moved over and spun around in his swivel computer chair, stopping himself in front of the mouse. His hand hovered over and prepared to open the files on the memory stick.
“Ready?”
“Ready dude.”
“Which one first?”
They both stared at the screen.
Buller nudged Lazlso on the shoulder.
“Dude click one.”
“Which one?”
“First One. Marksley Willows”
“What is it?”
“I dunno. Sounds like a white rapper.”
Click.
23rd December.
1500hrs: Arrived back from Prague this morning. Usher and the rest of Empire One have gone off on their usual post traumatic bender. They’ve asked me to come along, and tell me it’s going to be one of the ‘classy’ lapdancing places. I have no idea how they have the energy to go out boozing after 48 straight hours without sleep in the middle of a forest, hunting those (as yet uncategorized) things.
Mission was a success though. Thin spot neutralized and threat contained.
Personally I fell asleep in the lab on the broken old sofa that has served so many of us labrats so well in the wee hours. Woke up in my clothes about an hour ago. I feel like hell.
Had a nightmare about Arrik again. The same one as always. Sometimes I feel like he’s in the room. I can smell the musk and fresh blood of his kill.
My kill.
Don’t even talk to Usher about this one, though I know he is plagued with bad dreams himself. I’ve heard him through the wall sometimes in various safehouses, waking up shouting in the middle of the night. Dreaming no doubt about his family. He looks exhausted recently, his obsession with recovering the Bones is taking its toll on him. I know he feels responsible, like it happened on his watch. He has that gaunt, feverish look of the religious zealot these days and it worries me. He’s so worried about stopping what happened to his family happening to anyone else that he forgets to live.
He’d deny that if I asked him though. It’s not in those fella’s nature to whine or reflect. They’ve all been horribly brutalized in one way or another by the Unseelie, and when they come back all they want to do is get drunk, get laid, steal a helicopter, the usual.
If I expressed my real fears to Usher it would make him worse. A threat has been growing in my heart for a while now and it’s darkening my every thought. The last few missions have roused my suspicions, the research I’ve conducted at the arcane library confirmed it.
The Unseelie are coming out of the shadows. They are planning something catastrophic that may reveal themselves to humanity but by then it won’t matter.
I don’t think we can win. Not without help.
I mean, Usher and the boys will fight to their last breath, but they’re strung out already. How much longer can they keep this up?
What we need now is a little faith.
1823hrs: Just received an email from one of our thaumaturgic watchstations in the North of England. Been a bit of spike that’s been flagged up. Looking at the readings in front of me, it’s not enough thaumaturgic energy to qualify as a thin spot and certainly not enough for a world tree. It’s like mini readings! Not seen anything quite like it.
Greystone is sending me to investigate the anomaly. It isn’t dramatic enough to sanction an Empire Team but he is assigning me a security detail just in case. All he wants me to do is gather information and report back. Need a shower first. And carrot cake.
1940hrs: Heading to a facility in Yorkshire called Marksley Willows. Some kind of institution for violent youths with psychological issues. Sounds like a recruiting ground for the Empire
Teams if you ask me. I have a suspicion about the mini spikes in the readings but I can’t think how it would be possible, Unless there is a powerful arborist like Arrik back on our side of the fence! Had an update that there has been a series of disappearences at the institution and I’m to liase with a local detective who is handling the case.
2320hrs: Got lost on these country backroads three times now. Not my fault I’m following the security team’s car. My Citroen is not cut out for the state of these roads! Poor Bertha. Something’s rattling under her bonnet.
0010hrs: Finally found the place. Just sitting outside the main gates now. Looks pretty run down old Victorian place from the outside. Certainly not somewhere you’d want to be locked up. Feeling that prickling skin thing I’ve been getting recently. The sensation Debruler has been training me to recognize. Means I’m in the presence of some pretty strong Thaumaturgy. About to head in so switching off my tablet. Will report my findings anon.
Buller and Laz stared transfixed at the flashing cursor on the screen. Laz swallowed.
It was slowly sinking in that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
Buller took a slow absent minded sip of his drink.
“So that’s like the diary of some STG investigator.”
“Seems that way Buller.”
Buller peered over at the artefact on the table.
The moment the doorbell rang both Laz and Buller jumped six inches out of their seats.
Laz stood up out the chair and grabbed the knife. Buller picked up the half full bottle of bourbon and they both advanced slowly towards the door. Buller whispered.
“We need to work as a team. If you distract them I’ll hit them over the head with this.”
Laz glanced nervously at his friend. If the last creature that the Unseelie sent to assassinate him was just a starter, he could not imagine what stood in the hallway waiting for them. Laz held the knife out in a shaking hand and tried to keep his voice level.
“What…whatever you are…you aren’t invited in…”
There was silence on the other side of the door for a few moments and then a cultured English voice coughed and spoke through the wood.
“That would only be rumoured to work for vampires, and if I’m honest it doesn’t even work for them.”
Laz and Buller glanced at one another.
Laz took a step closer.
“Are you…Unseelie?”
Another awkward pause.
“I’ve studied them for a very long time, and can assure you that I’ve never known one to ring a doorbell.”
Buller shrugged his big shoulders.
“Dude, the voice has a point.”
Laz very slowly reached out and unlocked the door. He flipped the handle and jerked it open, jumping back with the knife raised high as he did so.
In the doorway stood a young man dressed like an old man. His hair was a dishevelled mess and there was something of the Bertie Wooster about him. From the moment the door was opened he did not look at Laz at all. In fact he was staring intensely at the knife in his hands.
“My god. You actually found it.”
Laz was feeling self-conscious frozen in his ninja pose.
“Found what?”
The man pointed at the knife in Laz’s hand.
“That, my stylish friend, is the First Knife. Lilith’s Bane. It’s an anti-Unseelie weapon forged by the Valkyrie elders and thought lost for a thousand years. I must say you wield it with no small measure of panache.”
Laz flicked his eyes to the blade.
“Is it worth a lot?”
The tweedy young man let himself in and casually hung up his coat on the peg next to the door.
“It can stop an age of horror and blood descending upon the earth. So I’d say it’s priceless. It can save all our souls. Would you put the kettle on please?”
Buller found himself naturally complying and walking towards the kitchen. Laz snapped at him.
“Buller?”
“What? I’m parched.”
The young man walked past Laz, absent mindedly guiding his knife arm back down to his side as he passed.
“Earl Grey if you have it.”
Laz stood there for a moment and then followed him in.
“Hold on. I’ve had a really really weird day and I can’t have any more strange characters in my house. So who are you and what do you want.”
The young man turned around.
“My name is Edward Debruler. I’m here from the Special Threats Group.”
Laz suddenly sagged.
“Oh. How did you find me?”
Debruler nodded at the computer.
“Do you think the STG can be hacked into that easily? It was a honey trap. We thought if some scavenger had come across the knife and didn’t know what they had they may attempt to get the information from us. We got lucky.”
Buller came through holding a tray of tea and tutting.
“I asked you if they could trace you Laz and you were like oh no of course not I’m the great Laszlo Mozolowski.”
Laz gave Buller a shut up expression.
Debruler took the mug of tea and then spun on his heels to regard Laz.
“Hold on, did you say I’m not the first strange character in your home tonight?”
Laz gestured over to the alcove where Ursula and Max lay.
Debruler stood there frozen with his mug half way to his mouth.
“Oh my...”
Debruler walked over and crouched beside the unconscious Valkyrie. He petted the wolf creature’s ears and it gave a pained whimper in its sleep. He studied every inch of them both with a deep frown. Laz stood nervously behind him.
“Is she going to die?”
Debruler took a deep breath and his eyelids hooded. He warmed his palms together and placed one just above the Valkyrie’s brow.
“I don’t know. But if you give me a few moments’ silence perhaps I can find out.”
Debruler took a deep breath and placed his hand onto the Valkyrie’s skin. His own eyes immediately flickered over white. He remained there for a long moment, his hand shaking and a sweat breaking out on his forehead.
Buller glanced over at Laz and grinned in awe as he whispered.
“Vulcan mind meld…”
Debruler suddenly opened his eyes.
“Ariel.”
“What? Were you like using telepathy or something? What did you see?”
Debruler looked up.
“Moments. Feelings…just flashes really. A good friend of ours is still alive and trapped in the Unseelie realm. She has been in contact with him.”
For a moment Ursula’s orange eyes flickered open and she stared out unfocused. In a weak voice she whispered.
“We tried…to find…Usher’s family…but they are long gone…how do I tell him? How do I tell my friend that I failed?”
Debruler took her hand and stroked it.
“We have not met, Ursula Valkyrie, but I know who you are. We must get you to my home. I have some reagents there that can ease your suffering.”
Ursula was drifting back into the fever dream. In a low whisper she spoke.
“Ariel thinks he has found an ally…a friend….he thinks he has rescued a changeling child….but he has been…deceived…”
Debruler nodded to her, his face a mask of concern. He stood up and took out his phone. He moved to the corner of the room with a gracious nod.
“Will you excuse me gentlemen? I have to call my people and get her conveyed to my home. It would also be the safest place for both of you at this time.”
A ping from the computer.
Laz turned around and saw that he had an instant message.
He walked over and sat in his chair and then clicked the mouse and waited as the box popped up.
“It’s from Malik. He said that Lackland wants to meet us to exchange payment for the knife.”
Buller shook his head.
“I don’t trust that psycho as far as I c
ould throw him. And I’m not turning up at his dinghy warehouse to end up in a cauldron, or however he gets rid of people.”
Laz clicked another message.
“No, he wants to meet us somewhere public. That S&M nightclub he’s always on about.”
“Club Thorn? We are not gonna fit in there Laz.”
Laz stared at the screen. His overwhelming instinct of self-preservation was howling at him.
“It’s a trap Buller. It’s clearly a trap.”
Debruler looked over Laz’s shoulder at the screen and sipped his tea. He nodded.
“Almost certainly. The Unseelie want to get you somewhere isolated where they feel powerful. Somewhere they can get the upper hand.”
Laz swallowed.
“They’re going to kill me.”
Debruler nodded again.
“Eventually. I think you might have annoyed them.”
Buller shrugged.
“He does that. It’s a gift.”
Laz pushed his chair back from the desk. He was shaking his head and his eyes were wild.
“I’m not equipped for this. Any of it. Here, you take the knife. I don’t want it I don’t even want the money. Just take it, take your bird woman and go.”
Debruler dipped a biscuit into his tea.
“They’ll still kill you. They know who you are now.”
Laz slumped into his chair.
“So what the hell do I do?”
Debruler walked slowly around the desk and ran a finger along the First Knife.
“Well…you could run. See how far you could get. Or, you could accept that you are part of this now, for better or for worse. You could choose to get involved and help us stop the worst supernatural disaster to befall the earth in thousands of years.”
Laz sat in the chair, shaking and wishing he was anywhere else. He had spent his whole life drawn to the Unseelie but also desperately trying to avoid any direct eye contact with it.
“How?”
“Go to the meeting. Take the knife. The thaumaturgy from it is so strong that they will feel it like a beacon.”
Laz stared up at Debruler in disbelief.
“But that’s what they want. They want me to go there so they can take the knife and kill me.”
Debruler gave him a slight smile.
“Yes, but they’re expecting you. Confused and alone. They will be overconfident. They won’t be expecting their old enemies Empire One to be waiting for them.”
The Last Line Series One Page 75
