At the Behest of the Dead

by Long, Timothy W.

  I choked back a sob and stared at the ground until it started.

  After the ritual, after Salazar gave himself up and was channeled into Glenda, Doc drew on her head with her own blood and chanted a spell that almost sounded familiar, but had odd inflections I couldn’t quite make out. Smoke gathered around the symbol, but just like that was gone again.

  Doc helped me open a link to the cusp, and with it I got us out. This time without the immense pain of the first crossing.

  We stood near the jeep for a long time, just looking at the shimmering curtain. On the other side, Doc had fashioned a trap with the dagger that had slain Glenda, dug a hole in the ground, and then tucked Balkir’s struggling form inside. He drew a glyph and uttered words that ripped at my eyes and stole the sounds from my ears. Doc drove the dagger into the ground so hard that it sank to the hilt, then he pushed until it smoked and went in as deep as the ball that adorned the tip. We both pushed dirt over the spot.

  “Remember this spot,” he said, and taught me the glyph he’d drawn. With any luck, I would be able to sniff if out if I ever had to. For now, if I understood the spell well enough, Balkir had been embedded in the rock of the cusp and would never see daylight again. He could never leave and he could never be a threat. But his essence would live on until retrieved and dealt with.

  I couldn’t wait for that day.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Where too?” I asked Doc.

  “The necropolis. Can you manage?”

  Behind us, the castle was crumbling as the water elemental continued pulling water from its realm.

  They gave me a few minutes to recover and then I sucked in as much of the cusp as I could manage and zapped us back to Salazar’s old room once again. This time I had a sense of how this new method of travel worked to deposit us on the floor, instead of on the other side where all of those stairs waited. The cusp became a smear of grey, and then we were in the void for a split second of absolute silence before being deposited around the summoning stone.

  I sat for a time just staring at my companions. Peaches had thankfully returned to her original form. Doc stood and ran his hands over his body. Reassured he was in one piece, he left the room and called for help.

  I stared at Glenda’s shape while she lay still and cold. I touched her forehead and felt for life and was gratified to get the barest whisper. It was her and she was scared, but I had no way to reassure her that everything would be okay. Even if it was a lie, she deserved at least that much from me.

  A pair of novices burst through the door, and behind them came Lukan. His eyes were furious when they fell on me, furious and confused.

  Was he the other? Since this whole mess had begun, I was convinced that at least one other individual in the school was helping Balkir.

  “Where’s Collin?” Lukan demanded.

  “My dog ate him in the first ward, and if you don’t stop shouting I’m going to have her eat you,” I said.

  Doc stifled a laugh.

  The room filled with novices, and as more people arrived and saw that Doc was in the room the necromancers quietly shuffled the other guilds out. Lukan was stubborn and I pondered asking Peaches to do one of her changing acts just to get him out of my sight.

  Lukan stormed toward me, ignoring the hands that tried to tug at his arms.

  Doc issued orders like a commanding general. He asked for a sarcophagus and six or seven left to retrieve it. He asked for tools and others went for those. Meanwhile Lukan stood over me and fumed.

  “What did you do to Balkir, you charlatan! I will not have this school and guild sullied by you. I’ll have you stripped of rank at the very least. Once I get to the bottom of whatever it is you have been up to, Phineas Cavanaugh, I’ll see you tossed to the wards.”

  This went on for a full several minutes while I watched over Glenda. The novices arrived and wheeled in the sarcophagus. It was ancient and covered in glyphs and archaic Egyptian symbols. It might have contained a mummy at one time. I helped ease Glena into it while Doc set up a table and prepared the rites.

  When she was resting comfortably, I brushed her hair off her forehead and leaned over to kiss her cold cheek.

  “We’re coming for you,” I whispered.

  Lukan droned on and threatened, more than once, to go and drag the ruling council in if I wouldn’t go peacefully. When I was sure that Glenda was comfortable I rounded on him.

  “Shut up, Lukan. Just shut the hells up,” I yelled. “I have had it with half-witted demon summoning assholes for the day. I’ve been to hell, been beat up, faced a giant demon, and seen two of my best friends die, and I don’t have proof but I suspect you are somehow mixed up in all it.”

  “See here …”

  I didn’t give him a chance. Even in my exhausted state, I still had full access to all of the cusp. I ripped at the veil between worlds and was flooded with power. My urge to pick up Lukan and throw him through a fresh pane of glass was overwhelming.

  I rose a foot off the ground and energy pulsed along my frame, until the air was filled with the smell of cracking ions. Sparks leapt from my fingers and fell to the earth to be grounded out. I called up a glyph of rending. Something I’d had to draw just a few days ago, but now came at my command. It grew several feet in diameter, and then for good measure I duplicated it so they hovered in the air before me.

  As I called up enough forces to fry Lukan to a crisp, get me kicked out for good, and probably start an inter-guild riot and war, I decided that he really wasn’t worth it. He may have been a traitor, something I would need to look into, but he may have also been a man defending his former master, just as I would have defended mine.

  Lukan stumbled backward uttering oaths. I tried to look fierce, but I had just used every single bit of energy I possessed on the little show.

  “Hear me now, Lukan. I am a guardian and a child of the cusp. I was so named by Salazar, and acknowledged by Balkir himself when he tried to use my body as a punching bag. He wanted the key that would allow him access to the things I have been tasked with protecting, and he is no more. If you think you are worthy of challenging me then do so now, in a duel, so I can get back to more important things. The necros in the room can fight over your smoking corpse.”

  I was pissed. I was also bluffing. Every bit of power that remained was being channeled into the illusion.

  Lukan fumed. He stared and stared until I thought his head was going to explode.

  “Lies, all lies. You have no dominance over my domain nor any other besides your pathetic calling.”

  There were three or four other necromancers in the room and none of them looked too happy with Lukan’s observation. I thought it was going to escalate when a funny thing happened.

  Peaches left her spot near the pedestal I used to access the cache of other worldly devices and trotted over to smell Lukan’s robe. She panted and looked up at the fuming demonologist with her cute teddy bear eyes.

  I nearly dropped my spells when Peaches lifted her leg and shot a stream of smoking piss all over Lukan’s feet. Thadeus, a novice that had been in the role for at least three years too many, was the first to crack. He raised his sleeved hand and covered his nose then left the room as the smell of brimstone filled it.

  “Is this your guardian?”

  Peaches changed into his real form.

  “Doth my image offend thee, oh mortal? Petty demonologist, I am in thrall to this warlock and would do his bidding. Shall we duel, and if thoust should be the victor I will watch from the wards while he finishes you off?”

  That was enough for Lukan. He left in a huff to the cheers of my fellow necromancers. Doc clapped me on the shoulder and told me to go rest while they worked.

  That was a fine idea, so I found a comfortable section of couch and plopped down on it. Peaches transformed then joined me and put her head on my leg. I scratched her between the ears and promptly dozed off.

  I slept for two days.

  **

  “Take th
is and don’t you even think about arguing with me.” I held out a flask of crap I’d mixed up that would probably turn Glenda’s skin a light shade of violet for a few days.

  “Phineas Cavanaugh, am I naked under these sheets?”

  “Last time I looked you were. Should I check again?”

  “You idiotic, charlatan of a necromancer. I’m going to give you a tail for starters, and then cloven hoofs.”

  “I’m so glad you’re back, Glenda.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead.

  She went back to berating me, and I went back to holding back my tears.

  **

  When I tracked Ashley to her apartment, I found a surprise. Ash had told me she was a student and worked to pay for her books. I thought that was a clever way of saying that she paid for a tiny studio apartment or lived with a couple of roommates.

  I drove up to her place and asked Peaches if she wanted to stay. My demonic pooch seemed content to sit in the truck and stick her head out the window.

  “If someone offers you a dog biscuit, please don’t eat them. To be clear. Don’t eat the person.”

  “As you wish.” She croaked and went back to trying to catch errant rain drops on her tongue.

  We were parked on a busy thoroughfare in Seattle. From the looks of the place, the apartments either had a view of the Cascade Mountain range, Mt. Rainier, or the ocean, and that meant it was not cheap.

  I’d guarded my delivery from Peaches since we left the store. There was a short set of stairs that were surrounded by lush, well taken care of plants. I took the few steps, only to find a door locked and an intercom as the greeter. I supposed I could’ve stood outside and pushed buttons until someone took pity and opened the door, but I suspected this only worked in poorly scripted movies.

  I took out the address and double-checked her apartment number then hit the button.

  “Yep.”

  “It’s me.”

  “Me?”

  “Phineas,” I said, and looked down at my rather plain clothes. Jeans and a faded Nirvana shirt were the only clean things I could find. To add style, I wore a slicker that was bright yellow and probably manufactured in the nineties.

  “My sofa is fine.”

  “You can’t be sure about these things. You should let me take a look.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “Here and there, but mostly down under. Would you please let me in?”

  There was a pause, and I wondered if I was going to walk back to the vehicle with my package in hand and feed it to Peaches the wonder demon.

  Bzzzt went the intercom.

  I took a very plush elevator to an equally plush floor covered in real wood, not laminate. I know because I stopped and tapped on it. There were only ten or so condos on this floor, because it was high enough up to be considered posh. If I ever tried to move into somewhere like this they’d run me out of the city.

  I found her door and didn’t get a chance to knock on it.

  “Hello, Phineas, we were just talking about you,” she said as she opened up.

  I pulled out the bouquet of flowers with a giant orchid in the center.

  “Tada. Wait, we?”

  Ashley was dressed to kill in a tight skirt that caressed her knees and a shirt that was a button shy of showing cleavage. I stared at her for a few seconds and had the urge to steal her away from whatever hell I was about to step into. Was it a family get together? Husband? French lovers newly arrived?

  It was worse.

  Detective Andrews sat at the dinner table with a folder under her hand. Her other gripped a cup of coffee.

  “Uh. Hi,” I said brightly.

  “You owe me my files, Phineas. I have your check, by the way. I’ve been carrying the thing around for almost a week. You know that if you were home I could actually pay you, right?”

  “Eh. Thanks …”

  “Which reminds me, I have Ashley’s final statement here and was wondering if you’d be so kind as to stop by later and sign yours. It’s been sitting on my desk long enough to collect dust, and I hate disorder on my desk, Mr. Cavanaugh.”

  Then I noticed that her hand shook around the coffee cup. Her skin was sallow and her eyes looked heavy with a shade of purple under them that was not normal. I brushed past Ashley and went to her.

  “You just remember to stop by today, okay?” she said.

  I lifted her chin and she stared back at me fiercely. Blood shot eyes meant she hadn’t slept much, but I also picked up something else. Her aura was brighter than I’d ever seen it.

  “Certainly, detective. I uh, I thought I saw something in your eye but you look fine now. You look better than fine.”

  She looked down and fought back a smile.

  “I should go.” The detective rose and organized her folders before turning to go.

  “Hey detective, do you have a first name?”

  “You just said it.”

  “Come on.”

  “Fine. It’s Rebecca.” She smiled and trudged toward the door, overcoat shuffling against the floor.

  “You don’t have to go,” Ashley said.

  “Yeah I do. Work work work. There’s a body down on … well you don’t want to know.”

  I coughed.

  “Not yet. Give us a chance to do some police work. By the way, I tracked down Thora Whitfield, but you can’t talk to her.”

  “Witness protection?”

  “No, she’s been dead for a couple of years.”

  “Detective, let me tell you about my line of work.”

  “Oh just can it, you lousy warlock. She’s dead, but I have her next of kin around here. Hold on.” She dug around in her pocket and found a slip of folded paper and handed it over.

  I opened the sheet and stared at the supposed next of kin, along with a last known address. When I looked closely at the picture it suddenly made sense.

  “Hmm. Well that’s not her.” I handed the paper back.

  Only it was Thora.

  The detective lingered and alternated between looking perplexed and confused, then said her goodbyes and left Ashley and I alone.

  “Nice flowers.”

  “You like them?”

  “I guess. Phineas, I don’t know if this is going to work. You’re strange, and I don’t mean like collect Star Trek action figures strange.”

  “True, but I do have an amazing collection of old voodoo dolls in a chest. You have to keep those things in dirt. Come to think of it, I probably need to do some maintenance.”

  “See, I don’t know if you’re serious or not.” She dug out a crystal vase and put the flowers in and added a little water.

  “Listen, Ashley. I’m serious about one thing right now and that’s you. You’re all I’ve thought about for the last few days. You and our night together. I thought we connected, and I agree that I haven’t been the best boyfriend, but things sort of spiraled out of control. Just give this a chance to work. You have to admit we’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks and I haven’t been at my best.”

  “I just don’t know,” she said.

  One thing about Ashley: she was attracted to me and I could sense it in her body language. She shifted from foot to foot and never really invited me to sit, but as we chatted I drew closer, until we were inches apart.

  “What do you know about this?” I said, and swung for the fences with a kiss.

  We stood together for a few moments, mouths hungry for each other. She was the first to pull away. She coughed softly, face bright red, and covered it by moving into her palatial living room.

  “What about the detective? You two were so cozy when you got here.”

  “That’s nothing. I knew from the moment I met her that she was addicted to something, probably pain pills, but I could tell right away, today, that she kicked them. I offered to help but she got mad at me.”

  “That was very nice of you,” she said, eyes losing some of their tightness.

  “And what about you? For a college student
, you live pretty well,” I said, looking around the room. I took her cool hand in mine and tugged her to a sofa that might have been made of silk. It was majestic, with bright silver fabric decorated in small flowers that somehow wasn’t gaudy.

  She had a couple of paintings on the wall, and as I stared I realized they were probably originals. Her place had a number of antique pieces as well, and if I didn’t miss my mark most were French.

  “I am a student, but my family has a little money. Dad has a tech company.”

  “A tech company?”

  “Yeah.” She didn’t elaborate.

  “Does he own Microsoft?”

  “No, silly.” She sat there looking cute.

  She reached over the side of the couch, allowing me a glimpse of her smooth legs as her skirt rode up. She deposited a purse between us and dug out the prismatic key I’d given her for safekeeping. I immediately felt guilty because I had left such a dangerous device with her and she’d been unprotected. I thought about assigning Peaches to watch over her, but Ashley and I were already on rocky ground.

  “Thank you for watching this for me. Sorry I had to leave in such a hurry.”

  “You look good, Phineas. Like you finally got some rest. Don’t tell me you disappeared to take a vacation.”

  “This was definitely not a vacation. I’d tell you everything, but I don’t think you would believe half of it.”

  “Give me the abbreviated version.”

  So I did, and I tried to sound heroic, but I got choked up when I talked about Collin’s unintentional betrayal, and my teacher sacrificing the last of his essence to save Glenda. She seemed to understand and moved close to me and put her arm around my shoulder.

  “But you know something? Even as the battle raged on and I fought to save us, all I saw was your face.”

  “Phineas Cavanaugh, that is now the sweetest thing you have ever said to me. I don’t know what to believe because all of this stuff about the wards, possession, and demons is crazy, but I do believe that last part.”

  It was enough. I’d show her some magic tricks later. For now all I wanted was to show her some stuff in her bed, and that’s just where I ended up for the night.