Blood Brothers: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 22)

by R. L. King

  “One of them didn’t show up. The other one did, but ended up leaving because he had another thing he had to do. Only I don’t think he really did.”

  “I see.”

  She shook her head, spreading her hands. “This isn’t going anywhere, Doc. I wonder if anybody will even show up tomorrow night. You know how conventions can be—people are all ready to do something, but then something else better turns up and they all ditch you for that.”

  “I do know how that can be,” Stone said. Surprisingly, she didn’t sound bitter or resentful about what was happening—disappointed, sure, but that was to be expected. She’d put a lot of energy into this. “Don’t give up yet, though. You might be surprised at who shows up.”

  “Oh, I’m still planning on going. Even if we only get a few people, I still think this is something worth doing. I guess I was just hoping maybe it would move a little faster, you know?”

  “Mages, as a rule, don’t move fast on much of anything unless their arses are on fire. Metaphorically speaking, anyway,” he added quickly, then smiled. “Or sometimes literally.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I’m starting to see that. And I do still have Bron’s Nana to talk to back east after this, so even if it ends up being a dud, all is not lost.”

  “That’s the spirit.”

  She stared back into the fireplace. “You said before you had something you wanted to talk to me about—something you could help me with. Got time to tell me about it? I could use a little encouragement right about now.”

  Stone glanced at his phone. Another pair of texts had come through twenty minutes ago: Nothing yet, still circulating from Amber, and Nothing here from Jason. Apparently they were having the same luck he had, but they were either more persistent or more hopeful than he’d been. He put it back in his pocket. “As I mentioned before, this case has been giving me cause for some introspection.”

  “Everything gives you cause for introspection, Doc,” she said fondly. “It’s kind of your prime directive.”

  “Yes, true. But this time it went in a different direction. I still believe it’s pointless to try organizing mages to create a central organization to police each other. Whether or not it’s a good idea in theory, I highly doubt it will work in practice.”

  “Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear.” She still didn’t look at him.

  “But it occurred to me, as we hunt this kidnapper we’re fairly sure is tinkering with mundane children while trying to build his own mages, most magical crime doesn’t occur between mages.”

  Her gaze came up to meet his.

  “Think about what we’ve encountered recently: Ben Halstrom and his mini crime wave. This kidnapper. Mages who use their abilities against mundanes.”

  “So?” She frowned. “I don’t see that it makes much difference. That’s part of what I said before. But it doesn’t mean other mages will be any more likely to track them down.”

  “Not all of them will, that’s true. Probably most of them won’t. But the mundanes already have laws, they already have penalties for crimes, and they already have dedicated people who want to solve these crimes. As Jason has pointed out many times, mundanes are every bit as bright as we are, in the main. They have a lot of things going for them—hell, we’d never have got as far as we have in this case without Gina hunting up information for us on the internet. They have technology, they have drive, and they have information networks that would put mages to shame.”

  “I still don’t see—”

  “What they don’t have,” Stone said, holding up a finger, “is one vital bit of knowledge. At least most of them don’t.”

  Her brow furrowed. “You mean the knowledge that magic exists?”

  “Got it in one.”

  “But…wouldn’t it be dangerous to share that with them?”

  “Certainly it would to do it without careful consideration—and I’m not suggesting we take out a full-page advert in the New York Times and share it with all of them. But some of them already know—people like Leo Blum and Jason’s little gang of informants. And those are only the ones we personally know about.”

  “That’s because they have it in their families, though. They already know about magic.”

  “Exactly. And apparently there are quite a number of these mundanes from magical families out there, as well as others among law enforcement who could be counted on to keep things to themselves in exchange for receiving the final piece to a puzzle that’s likely been plaguing them throughout their careers.”

  Verity drew her legs up under her and pondered. “So you’re saying…instead of trying to create some kind of mage organization to police our own, we should…join forces with mundane law enforcement and help them deal with magical crime?”

  “Ultimately, yes, I think that could be a good idea. To some small extent, anyway. Magic isn’t going anywhere—in fact, indications are that it’s starting to pop up more in the world even in the last few years. If something isn’t done, we could see a lot more mages taking advantage of mundanes.”

  “Hmm.” She looked at her hands in her lap. “I remember a while back, Jason and I had kind of a similar discussion. He wondered if maybe some of the mundanes already know about magic—you know, high up in the government, or the FBI, or some special task force—and they’re keeping an eye on things without letting on to us that they know.”

  “It’s certainly possible. I’ve not had much experience working with mundane law enforcement people who actually know about our world—Leo Blum and Stan Lopez are the only ones I know of so far, though I suspect the FBI agent who came to my house to question me might be another one. But if there were a way to mobilize people like them, a cooperative relationship between us might prove productive. Especially if it involved small, specialized groups working outside the formal law-enforcement structure.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “It’s a good idea. I hadn’t really looked at it that way. I guess I kind of internalized the mage-style thinking of ‘us versus them’—mages and mundanes being on different sides because it’s too dangerous for them to find out about magic. But it’s true that when we work together, we can sometimes accomplish more than we can working separately.”

  “Believe me, I’ve been laboring under the same thinking. It’s the way I was raised since I knew what magic was. But these are new times, and it might be time for some new paradigms.”

  “It still can’t happen fast, though. And I don’t think we can take things into our own hands and do it on our own. We’ll still need support.”

  “Among the mundanes as well as the mages, yes.” Stone didn’t say it, but he was pleased Verity saw this. If her youthful tendency to want to make large changes over short time periods had taken a bit of a hit during the course of her trip, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “It’s something we can discuss, at least—you and me, Jason and Amber, Blum, and perhaps Stan to start with. When you return home we can—”

  He paused as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Amber’s number flashed on the display, and it was a call this time, not a text. “Hello, Amber. Are you back here? Any success?”

  “I’m back.” Her normally mellow tone carried a strong edge of tension. “Have you seen Jason?”

  “Er—no. Not since we split up earlier.” He glanced around the lobby as if expecting to see his friend striding toward them. “Isn’t he still at his party?”

  “I’m at that party,” she said. “He’s not here, and he hasn’t been for at least an hour.”

  26

  They convened in Jason and Amber’s room, to make sure no one overheard their conversation.

  “What do you mean, he hasn’t been at the party for at least an hour?” Stone demanded when he and Verity arrived. He pulled out his phone again and called up their group text. “I’ve had a text from him twenty minutes ago, saying nothing was going on. See? Around the same time I got one from you.”

  “Yeah. I got the same one.” She took the phone and stared at th
e messages, then handed it back. “It doesn’t make sense, though. I left my party and was going to surprise him at his, but when I got there I couldn’t find him. His scent was there, but it was old. When I called him and he didn’t answer, I started asking around. A couple people said they saw him leaving with somebody an hour ago.” She’d already changed out of her party gear before they arrived, and was now dressed in her more characteristic jeans, leather jacket, and boots.

  “Leaving?” Verity paced the tiny room. “Why would he leave? And who did he leave with?”

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t trace the scent. Damn these people and their perfume. All I could tell was that he left the ballroom where the party was being held, but once I got outside I lost it.” She slammed her fist on the table. “I asked around, but nobody recognized the person he left with. Hardly anybody noticed at all, actually. They said people were going in and out all evening. The bartender saw them together but couldn’t remember what the person looked like. Couldn’t even be sure it was a man or a woman.”

  “Bloody hell.” Stone was pacing too, even more furiously than Verity was. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves—you know Jason as well as I do. It’s possible he was on to something and decided to investigate it on his own.”

  “So why isn’t he answering his phone? And why did he send a text saying everything was fine twenty minutes ago without mentioning he’d left?”

  “Can you trace him with the phone?” Verity asked. “Do you guys do that thing where you can track each other’s location?”

  Amber shook her head. “No, neither of us likes to be tracked. We should have done it this time, though.”

  Stone tried calling Jason’s phone again, but it went immediately to voicemail. He sent another text: Where are you? but it likewise received no answer. Even the little Read indicator didn’t appear.

  “Do you think our guy grabbed him?” Amber’s body thrummed with tension as she obviously wanted to do something but wasn’t sure what to do.

  Stone sighed. “It’s possible. He might not know I’m alive—or even if he does, he’ll know I’d be on high alert. And if he knows anything about you, he’d avoid you because he can’t hide from you. That leaves Jason.”

  “But why take him?” Verity spun back around and flung herself into a chair. “What would it gain him?”

  “Maybe he’s going to contact us. You know, tell us to stay out of his business or he’ll hurt Jason.” Amber yanked her phone out again as if expecting the call to come through. “What I want to know is how the guy even got him to go with him. Jason’s not stupid, and he’d be expecting something. He wouldn’t just go off with some stranger without checking in.”

  Stone and Verity exchanged sober glances, and both of them spoke at the same time.

  “Alchemy.”

  “What?”

  “Alchemy,” Stone repeated. “He’s proven he’s adept with it, and he’s obviously got concoctions that can effectively wipe his victims’ memories. It’s not unreasonable to think he might have something to make someone more…pliable. If Jason left his drink unattended for even a few seconds, he could have dropped something into it.”

  “I’m going to kill him,” Amber growled, raising her fists.

  “You may get the chance. But first we’ve got to find him. Fortunately, we’ve got someone who’s got a very good chance of doing that.” He looked at Verity expectantly.

  She’d already reached the same conclusion. “On it,” she said. “I’ll need to get some materials, but the dealer’s room is open late so that shouldn’t be a problem. Back in a few.” She hurried out of the room.

  “It’s been more than an hour, though,” Amber said after she left. “What if the guy took him through a portal?”

  That was a good point. “Even if he did, Verity will be able to tell if he’s alive. And he probably won’t risk the portals when everyone’s on the lookout for him.” He took out his phone, hunted through his contacts list, and stabbed one of them.

  “Yeah, hello?” To Stone’s relief, Eamon McClellan picked up on the second ring.

  “Mr. McClellan. Alastair Stone.”

  “Ah, yeah, how you doin’ this evenin’?”

  “Been better. I’m at the Symposium, and we seem to be missing a friend. We’ve reason to believe he might have gone through the portal tonight with another person, somewhere around an hour ago. Did you happen to notice anything out of the ordinary?”

  “Afraid not,” he said ruefully. “Business has been hoppin’ all night, and I’ve been runnin’ like a crazy man.”

  “You did get the photo of the man who’s been kidnapping mundanes, right?”

  “Yeah, for sure. Haven’t seen ’im in here. Got all the employees on alert to let me know if they spot ’im, but nothin’ so far. Wish I could help ye.”

  Stone wished he could too. “Listen, Eamon—this is very important. Life or death important. I know it’s unusual, but I need you not to let anyone through that portal in the outgoing direction tonight. Especially more than one at a time, regardless of what they look like. Can you do that for me?”

  “That’s a pretty tall order. I—”

  “I know it is. But at least for the next few hours, I need you to do it. Tell people it’s…malfunctioning or something. Please. I’ll make it worth your while if I need to, but if he gets away with our friend, it’s likely we’ll never see either of them again.”

  McClellan sighed. “Okay. Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll tell ’em we had a little accident—somebody spilled beer on the portal or somethin’ and it’s been actin’ wonky. And you don’t have to pay me anythin’. I hope you find your friend.”

  “Yes, so do we. If anyone seems particularly upset about it—especially if it’s more than one person—make a note of it, all right?”

  “Will do. I need to go now, though—it’ll take me little while to set things up. Call me when you know something so I can open up again.”

  “I promise.” Stone ended the call and slipped the phone back in his pocket.

  Verity returned fifteen minutes later carrying a tote bag. “Good thing mages are night owls. I don’t think we should do it here, though. This room is too small. Is there somewhere else we can use?”

  “I’ll find somewhere,” Stone said. “Come on.” He forced himself to think straight. He couldn’t afford to worry about Jason now—if they were going to find him, they’d all have to stay calm.

  Several of the smaller conference rooms weren’t in use this time of night, so it didn’t take Stone long to find a space. He waved the others inside and put a magical lock on the door so nobody would walk in on them, then hurried over to help Verity cast the circle they’d need for the tracking spell.

  Amber paced like a bear in a cage. “I can’t believe I couldn’t track him,” she grumbled. “Even with all the perfume, I should have gotten something.”

  “Possibly not.” Stone sketched out a section of the circle, then leaned back to survey it. “This man has proven in the past to be very good at obfuscation magic. He’d need to be to keep off everyone’s radar. We know he’s got spells to remove any traces from his victims, and from the places he holds them. It wouldn’t be that hard to eliminate his scent. I could probably whip up a spell to do that in a couple of days, and he’s had twenty years to perfect his tools.”

  She let out a loud sigh and continued pacing. A quick glance at her aura revealed her growing tension.

  Twenty minutes later, Stone and Verity stood back. “There,” Verity said, swiping a hand across her forehead. “Ready to go.”

  Amber looked back and forth between them. “Shouldn’t you do it, Alastair? No offense to Verity, but you’re a lot more experienced. If we only get one shot—”

  Stone shook his head. “No. Verity and Jason are blood relations. That’s the most powerful bond around. If anybody can find him, she can.”

  She swallowed hard. “Okay. Let’s do this. I want to get to him and rip this guy’s throat out.”
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  Stone wasn’t sure whether she meant that literally, but it was quite possible she did. He withdrew to the edge of the room and took a seat near the wall. After a moment Amber joined him, her gaze locked on the circle.

  Verity settled into the middle, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths as she fell into the meditative state that made the spell easier to manage.

  Stone watched her aura, noting she was having a harder time than usual doing it. “She’ll find him,” he murmured to Amber. “She’s bloody good.”

  “Yeah.” Her tone held hope, but also apprehension.

  Verity, her eyes still closed, began the incantation. All around her, the candles she’d lit flared bright and tall. She didn’t have a brazier this time because there was no tether object—her own blood connection with Jason was the tether—but as Stone watched astrally, a tiny mist swirled around her hands and formed into a tendril.

  Come on, he urged the little thing silently. Go on out there and find him. He knew the odds were good that the kidnapper had already taken Jason through the portal—he’d had plenty of time to drive into Chicago and go through before Stone had warned Eamon McClellan to be on the lookout, and with people still coming through for the Symposium, he could easily have slipped away without notice. Events like this were one of the few times when it was common for two or more people to travel through the portals together, so it wouldn’t even look unusual.

  In the circle, Verity appeared to be struggling. Her brow was wrinkled, her fists clenched, and her jaw set into a tight line. Stone watched the little tendril as it rose higher, but then it swirled again, seeming not to know where to go. Then it meandered up through the ceiling and disappeared.

  “What is it?” Amber hissed.

  Stone didn’t answer.

  She gripped his wrist, so hard it hurt. “What is it? I can smell nervousness on you. Tell me!”

  “I think I’ve got him.” Verity spoke up. Her voice was tired, and not at all confident. It definitely didn’t hold the usual triumph indicating discovery.

  Amber leaped to her feet. “What do you mean, you think? Did you find him or not?”