"Is there a way out of here?" I asked. "And not going through there again?"
"I'll create a portal to take you wherever you need to go in the city. Or in the world if you want," Callie said. I didn't know that Fae could do that and here was my opportunity to get the hell out of Dodge. Leave all of this behind and start new and fresh in San Francisco. Hell, I could get out and go to London or Paris.
"Does your portal let us leave the country?" Leslie asked. She was apparently having the same thoughts that I was. Excellent.
"If you made your way through the Fairie Realm, you'd be able to come out anywhere else in this world. But I can't get through the barriers of President Dixon. He's using Fae magic and it's more powerful than mine is." That was news to me. Everyone was under the impression that he was a wizard.
"But he's a wizard. Not Fae," Leslie said.
"The magic is too powerful for just a wizard. He has so many under his control. We haven't been able to track down several creatures that were powerful enough to do that. Old, ancient beings that he thought were lost in other dimensions," Callie said. I didn't understand why she was sharing so much with us.
"Why are you telling us this?" I asked.
"Ask that question again but at another time. You don't know enough yet to fully comprehend the answer," Callie said. She cradled her hands into a small cup and out of the shimmery presence that was her skin formed a glowing ball.
"Where do you want to go?" She asked.
"Brentwood. Anywhere near sunset and the 405 freeway will be fine," she said. I figured she wouldn't give the real address of the safe house and it sounded that I had been right. It occurred to me that perhaps my old friend was now part of the resistance. I shook my head. For all of the work that I had done to try to keep myself out of all of this business, I'd ended up in the middle of it all. I had so failed at that. Why this night though, I thought. What had happened in the city proper to start this whole chain of events? Before I could ask another question that I didn't have an answer to Callie nodded.
"Please put both of your hands on this orb and you will be there. I look forward to seeing you again, Mabry," she said. Leslie and I looked at each other unsure of whether we should trust this woman or not. We hadn't thanked her. And we hadn't necessarily asked her for the gift. I thought it was fine. I nodded my head and Leslie smiled in relief. I could understand that she wanted to get to Marcus as quickly as she could.
"We shall definitely meet again," I said and placed my hand on the orb. I had no idea Leslie did the same because a flash of light exploded in my eyes and the next thing I knew I was standing next to the entrance of UCLA, Leslie right next to me.
"Wish we had magic to do that," she said and I nodded. Teleportation would make life so much easier.
"There's no way whoever was after us could find us here, could they?" she asked nervously eyeing the underbrush and dark trees directly across from us. Sunset was quiet at this time of night, and not many cars drove by. It was dark.
"Not unless Callie tells them where we went," I said.
"Do you think we can trust her?" Leslie asked.
"Hell no. She's Fae but we're not dead yet. I say we just go to the safe house and hope for the best," I said.
Leslie nodded. "Follow me," she said and crossed Sunset Boulevard. I followed her to a street to the right with a big sign saying Bel Air. This used to be one of the toniest neighborhoods where many of the film executives and stars lived before the unveiling. Now, to my knowledge, it was all filled with the Mage of Los Angeles's cabinet and the bigwigs of the new administration here in Los Angeles. I had heard that Hollywood had been taken over by the Fae as well. The Fae were already there but, as it turned out, there weren't that many humans to get rid of in that industry. We walked in silence for another ten minutes before we came to a nicely lit driveway. Leslie took a breath.
"Is this it?" I asked her and she nodded.
"I don't feel him in there," she whispered, her eyes as wide as saucers.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"No, but something’s wrong," she said.
"Let's check first, okay?" She nodded and started up the drive. I knew that her and Marcus had a connection but after what had happened to us, I wondered if she was merely freaked out and stressed. Add a little paranoia to boot and I would be feeling the same way she was. I hoped for all of our sakes that he was there.
5
The drive ended at a large colonial home, painted white with green shutters. I would never have thought that this would be a safe house. The grounds around it were groomed to perfection with succulents and flowerbeds blooming. Even the lighting outside was professional. It was inset far enough from the main street that I didn't think anyone could see the actual home through all of the landscaped trees that were peppered throughout the front yard. That made it a good safe house, I supposed. The house was nestled away into a hill behind it so that no predator could see what was happening in there from the street. On the other hand, there was no escape if whatever was coming for the occupant, found the house.
The lights inside were blazing. I glanced over at Leslie and could see the worry in her face. "This is out of the ordinary, isn't it?" I asked her.
"It's the lights," she said. "There would be a light on in the living room but all of these lights on at the same is...not good. It's the code. All the lights on means stay away. But, we've never used it before."
"Do you use this house often as a safe house?" I asked.
"We've only had to use it three other times," she said as she stepped onto the paved walkway leading to the house. The blood red front door loomed ahead of us as the menacing golden lion knocker, a ring clenched in its mouth, dared us to touch it. Not the most welcoming of touches, I thought.
"This could be a trap," I said. The dew had already fallen on the grass, creating a glistening layer that would easily show footprints if there were any. And there weren't any that I could make out. Sniffing the air, I smelled werewolf but nothing more. Marcus was a werewolf but it had been so long since I'd seen him I wouldn't be able to discern his smell from others. I also didn't smell anyone else in the house. That didn't mean they weren't there but I was fairly certain that the place was empty.
"You smell him?" Leslie asked.
"I smell werewolf. I don't smell anything else. I don't smell death, if that makes you feel any better. Nor blood. I hate to say this to you but I don't think anybody's in there." Leslie's shoulders released some tension. I didn't know if that was necessarily good news but, at least, she wouldn't walk into her house and see her husband on the floor.
"Let's see what happened then," she said and stalked towards the door with a renewed sense of vigor and purpose.
I wish I felt the same way but flashes of finding my former lieutenant's body froze me in my tracks. Peters and I had walked right into a trap. My sense of smell and how I could use it were not as advanced as they were now and we had walked in on a terrible sight. And then they pounced on us and I could do nothing to stop it. Peters died as I watched on, unable to help him. I had to help Marcus now. Leslie turned back to me.
"Are you coming?" she asked. This case was bigger than anything else I'd been involved in in the last year and every part of my being screamed no at her. We couldn't win this, I thought. They would crush us and there would be no justice for us or Marcus. I didn't know how, at that moment, I knew he was dead but I did.
Maybe this was the way my crusade needed to end. I owed it to Marcus and I owed it to her to see this through. Like an apparition coming out of my mind, Peters' face goaded me on, telling me that it would be too embarrassing for her to know that I was so broken. That I wasn't the person she thought I was anymore. I pushed him away and thought of Leslie needing my help and followed her up the stairs to the the landing. Turning myself into the LAPD would have to wait until I uncovered who had murdered Marcus. My old friend had gotten himself into deep, dangerous water and brought my crusade along with him. I stepped up to
the red door and jumped as a blast of water hit me on the back. Timed sprinklers doused me into the present moment. Leslie grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, closing the door behind her. It was done. I'd sealed my fate.
We stood in the small, but grand, foyer and gaped at the disaster in front of us. What once had been a posh, immaculately designed home was now trashed and in pieces. Leslie's gasped as she lost all the color in her face. She was so pale she looked like a statue.
"He didn't tell me what this was about. He promised me he would once you got here but he didn't tell me. I don't know where to look. I don't know what's happening. He was trying to protect me and now, now what am I supposed to do? He's gone. Gone and what if he's dead?" Her voice rose in hysteria and I was about to comfort her when I noticed the magic spurting out of her fingers. It was billowing green and blue and yellow and turning all around her. I saw her lips move and I was unsure of what spell she was casting. She turned to me and her eyes were blank, and filled with so much pain and sorrow. Broken furniture, books and papers were swirling in front of her in the maelstrom. It was a physical manifestation of her grief. A grief that I carried around with me at all times. I understood and stared in wonder at the shards of all the broken pieces in the room twisting and turning in the air in front of us, dancing a horrifying spiral of anger and sadness. Her fury was evident and I felt that she knew, like I did, that Marcus was dead. I hated that we had become kindred spirits in our connection with grief but I felt closer to her than anyone else in the last year. It was the only piece of comfort that I could find in the present situation.
I wasn't sure how long we stood there watching the broken bits come alive with her fury but it felt like both a moment and eternity. It was equally surprising that she turned to me with a frightened look on her face. Everything around us dropped to the ground.
"They're coming," she whispered and pointed her finger at me. The blast caught me off guard and slammed me into the wall as a film spread over my body. Before I could ask her what she had done to me, five LAPD officers, their fangs out, stormed into the living room. They surrounded her and I choked back my horror. It was happening again. Just like what had happened before with Peters. They had eaten him in front of me and now I would see Leslie fall under the same fate. And here I was, with some sort of spell keeping me bound to the floor and apparently invisible from them as I could only watch. That same helplessness that I had felt when the vampires held me back as they killed my partner sent shivers of grief and panic through my body. I wouldn't let this happen again. I couldn't let this happen again, I thought and felt the stirrings of that other magic, the black magic that I had no access to except for in times of deep stress. I was about to unleash my fury upon them when Leslie's voice entered my head.
"I am safe. Don't. I can feel what you're trying to do but don't do it. You need to find out who killed Marcus," she whispered in my head and I gulped back my panic. I breathed in and out until I could see. She was on the ground now, screaming as the vampire stood helplessly above her.
"Ma'am, you are going to need to come with us. We need a formal identification of your husband, Marcus. We can't fathom how difficult this must be for you," a younger looking officer offered up. Her body shuddered but she quieted down at those words. With the vast amount of effort, she got back to her feet.
"Where is he? He was supposed to be here. Where did you find him?"
None of the officers answered her. Instead, the younger officer nodded at what was obviously his superior before he offered up his arm. "We can explain everything when we get to the precinct. If you could please come with us, and identify his body, then we can proceed with the formal investigation."
"He was murdered then?" Leslie asked the younger officer point blank.
"We are treating it as a suspicious death ma'am," he said as he led her away.
"What about the mess in here? Will you work this as a crime scene? I didn't see any blood. How did he die? Do you know how he died? Did he die here? Why was his body elsewhere and not here?" Leslie's incessant questions floated to me as they led her out of the safe house. I knew he wouldn't get a proper investigation.
It didn't matter that the LAPD wouldn't bring Leslie justice. I would find the perpetrator myself. I knew that if Marcus had gotten himself involved with something that needed safe houses then true justice would not be his. It sounded too much like a mystery that went deeper than just a typical murder. It couldn't be a coincidence that Damian had come this day to get me to look into Regina's disappearance. The whole elaborate scheme with two vampires outside of the Pritzker hotel made a lot more sense now. There was something else going on, and I didn't know how I was involved yet. But it involved the people around me that I knew to be good, honest people.
The remaining three vampires began a systematic search of the debris that was littered all through the first floor of the house. I lay as still as possible not sure of the parameters of the spell that Leslie had cast upon me. I knew that they could not see me nor could they smell me but I wasn't as sure about sound. I could tell by their demeanor that they were not finding what they came here for. I was happy to see that.
They conducted themselves in silence as if they knew someone was there, ready to listen to any secrets that they might want to share. The leader, the one that the young officer had checked in with when he was talking with Leslie, looked in my direction several times. My heart had caught in my throat. He knew I was there, I thought, and then he'd move away. Only then did I breathe.
I didn't know how long the spell would last or if, once Leslie was no longer in the proximity, it would dissipate. Leslie's spellcasting was impressive. I didn't have much interaction with her after the unveiling but had heard through the grapevine that she was a formidable witch.
The oldest cop came past me as he rummaged through a sideboard directly to my right. I held my breath until he moved on. They knew someone was here. I could see it. I could take on the three of them, I thought, as I formulated a plan in case the spell did weaken. I had regained at least half of my energy back from the last time I used the dark magic. A short blast would knock them out of my way long enough for me to make a run for it.
A voice popped me out of my thoughts. "Serves the rat right," a voice hissed from the hallway.
"Quiet, someone could be listening to us." I recognized the voice of the oldest cop. So the LAPD knew that Marcus was working with other people. If they thought he was a rat than I had a pretty good idea he was working with the resistance. The kind of venom in that first voice was only reserved for people who were actively against the mage of Los Angeles and President Dixon. The hatred in the vampire's voice was apparent.
"Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps. We aren't going to find anything here. It's not where he died," the first voice said. The front door closed behind them and the safe house became still. I was finally alone.
I stayed in place for another fifteen minutes and I could see the magical spell fading around me. It was a powerful spell, I thought. I snuck to the nearest window and looked out to the manicured front lawn. It was empty.
The dew on the grass had been disturbed by the vampire's footsteps. I couldn't see if anyone was out there waiting for me to come out but, I didn't want to chance an ambush. I would have to go out the back way somehow, I thought.
I bit my lip as I crossed the threshold of the back door and looked up to the hill behind the house. I was not going to climb that. But maybe, I could go along the back way to the neighbor’s yard and come out on that side of the street. I would be another night creature out for a walk in the middle of the night, I thought. I needed to talk to Chance. He was my only contact with the resistance and I knew where to find him. Unfortunately, he worked out of the San Fernando Valley ghetto and the night's event had lost me access to it.
With the vampires after me for killing two of their own, I wouldn't be able to just go through the guard gates like I had in the past. I would need an escort. Or
someone who could hide me in the back of his car. I picked through all my available contacts as I clawed my way through the magnolia bushes. Simon. Simon would help me. He was a vampire that I had helped with a case a couple months ago and I'd done him a solid. His coven was located in West Hollywood which was not very far from here. I checked the time. I could still even catch a bus if I got to Sunset Boulevard on time, I thought, and hoofed it back to the main road.
6
The bus rolled up to the bus station at Santa Monica Blvd. and Doheny Drive and I hopped off. I had barely made the bus 20 minutes before, and I was only one of two people on it. The bus driver flashed me a smile and I wished that I was just a normal passenger. Instead, I had to convince a coven of vampires to help me get into the San Fernando ghetto. I shook my head and steeled myself for a battle of wills.
Vampires didn't like to do things that benefited others. In fact, at the beginning of the case that I did with Simon, he had given me quite a bit of trouble even though I was attempting to help him through a divorce from his lover, Jason. Jason had run off with another vampire and left the city and under some sort of archaic covenant laws, Simon was left with nothing. He wanted his home back, and the slaves that he used to feed off of, and through some arcane laws through his coven, he was about to lose all of his possessions to the coven's leader, a queen by the name of Lucretia. I had managed to track down Jason, and convince him to sign over half of the property to Simon, and Simon and I had finally become friends. I hoped friends enough that he would help me through this jam.
I walked down to Heaney Street until I hit Melrose and then took a right. Before the unveiling, this was a nexus of LGBTQ culture in California outside of San Francisco. When the creatures were revealed, it turned out that many of them who lived in West Hollywood were in fact LGBTQ. Even though most of the humans had disappeared from the city proper, West Hollywood still kept its flavor of wild parties, gay bars, and the lively night scene. Simon's coven was in a large home that was just south of the main drag. It took me only two more blocks to arrive and I saw two sentries at the door.
A Case of Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Wildes Chronicles Book 1) Page 4
