by Sean Stone
31
“Ashley?” I said. I was still coming back to my senses. Everything I’d done was like a foggy memory. I knew I’d done it but it hadn’t been totally me. I remembered how I looked and scrambled into the living room and over to a bit of glass. I was myself again. “You saved me,” I said a whisper.
“I knew that he was right. If you killed him you’d have been stuck that way,” she replied. She was still too wary to come near me.
“Thank you,” I said. I could barely meet her eyes through shame. I should never have let it get so bad.
“You’ve saved me enough times,” she replied. “But we need to cure you.”
“I know. I—”
I heard footsteps and got ready for whoever was about to come in. The door opened and Clara burst in with Richards and two of her dark-clothed men. One of them I recognised as Kegan. One of the guys who’d abducted me.
“You’re back,” she said in relief.
“Clearly,” I muttered. “May I present one dead imp, three rescued children and my word that the gnome is dead too,” I said attempting to puff out my chest in pride, but I just didn’t have the energy. Clara looked around at the dead imp and the three children who were all starting to regain consciousness.
“Why is the gnome dead, he was on our side wasn’t he?” Richards asked. He was trying his best not to look at the dead imp on the floor. Even after all that had happened he still didn’t want to get too involved.
“Turned out he wasn’t,” I said. Ashley took my arm and pulled me up off the floor.
Clara whispered something to Kegan and he began lifting Barbichu off the floor.
“What are they doing?” Ashley asked.
“Taking him back to the research centre. That corpse will provide very valuable insights into the imp race,” Clara replied. “I think we all need to clean up and debrief.”
Clara wiped the two human children’s memories and then handed them over to Richards to take back to the police station. She knew a spell that was stronger than my memory-erasing potion. I needed to get her to teach me it one day. Richards was going to concoct a story about how he rescued them but his officers and the kidnapper were all killed in the operation. Clara and the surviving officers would all corroborate the story. Clara had decided to let the officers keep their memories; she thought it would be useful to have officers who could help out and cover things up when required. Leah was being kept out of it. Ashley didn’t want her any more involved than she already had been. Richards who had already told his superiors that he was using her as bait, had agreed to say that Leah was kept out of the way the whole time and witnessed nothing. Once that was taken care of and Richards and the kids were gone, Clara’s guys began cleaning up the house and the street, making sure there were no witnesses and restoring any damage whilst the three of us sat down in the dining room to discuss everything.
“I don’t like leaving Leah,” Ashley said, wringing her hands.
“She’ll be fine. Barbichu’s dead,” I said. Leah was upstairs sleeping. Despite us getting back mid-morning Leah fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. I suspected that Clara had done something but didn’t bother asking. It hardly mattered. The kid needed rest.
“I’ll admit that I didn’t actually expect you to solve the case let alone bring the culprits to justice and rescue the children. I’m impressed,” said Clara after we’d told her everything that had happened in the fairy realm.
“Glad to hear it. Now I think you owe me some answers.”
“Yes, you’re right.” She looked at Ashley expectantly.
“Oh, you want me to go,” Ashley said and began to rise. I grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
“No. She’s been through all this too. Without her we would never have saved those children. She’s a part of this now,” I said.
“Eddie, I approached you to help my organisation. Not Ashley.”
“We come as a package. You want me, you get her. And you know that I’m going to tell her everything you say anyway so you might as well let her stay,” I said.
Clara pursed her lips and shook her head. “Okay. Sit down, Ashley,” she said resignedly. Ashley returned to her seat.
“What exactly is your organisation?” I asked.
“It doesn’t have an official name,” she said. “We’re referred to mainly as the Winters Organisation. We’re not a government organisation and we have nothing to do with the police or the security services but we’ve been given certain privileges by the home secretary. When we want something from the police or MI5 they give it. Unless they deem it against the best interests of the country. They like to think that everything we do is to protect them from people like us.”
“But it’s not?” asked Ashley.
Clara shook her head. “When I worked for SIT in Cedarstone I saw how dangerous the humans can be even against powerful sorcerers. My aim is to protect us from them. My organisation works hard to make sure the supernatural stay hidden. The moment humans feel threatened by us they will attack us, I’ve seen it before.”
I nodded. I’d seen humans act out when they learned the truth about us. They could be vicious little fuckers. “How can you keep on top of it all though? There are sorcerers and stuff all over the world. You can’t keep everything hidden.”
“I only need to worry about this country. Other countries have their own systems in place. Some places even have their own supernatural governments,” she said.
“Is that what you’re trying to do?” asked Ashley. Clara turned to her and considered the question. Or rather, she considered whether or not she wanted to answer it.
“I’m trying to unite as many covens as possible. If everybody is working together to protect our own kind then it will be a lot easier than a group of us going around cleaning up after the ones that make too much noise.”
“It sounds an awful lot like you’re trying to control everyone to me,” I said. If there was one thing I hated it was being told what to do. A magical government sounded like a nightmare. Supernatural police telling me off every time I did something they deemed unacceptable, and let’s face it, that would be on a daily basis.
“Not at all. My aim is to protect not control.”
“What about the other races?” Ashley said. “Uniting the sorcerers is one thing but how can you unite everybody?”
“That is proving to be problematic but we’re working on it.”
“So what exactly was I being tested for? What big job is it you want me to do?” I asked remembering why she approached me in the first place. Or rather, why she’d had me kidnapped.
“There are vampires in Medway,” she said. That was surprising because Medway had always been a relatively human place. “The vampires have a similar idea to me. One very old vampire has been uniting clans into one big vampire syndicate with himself as their master and he is not being quiet about it at all. I suspect that when his syndicate is large enough he intends to assert the vampire race at the head of the food chain and expose his kind to the world. If that is true then I cannot allow it to happen.”
“That sounds pretty fucking scary but where do I come in?” I asked.
“Well, my organisation has a sort of truce with the syndicate. If I directly oppose them they’ll take it as an act of war not just from me but the entire sorcerer race. That war will definitely lead to our exposure. If you, an independent party, challenge them it will be a lot easier to conceal. I’ve seen the things you can do and I am confident that you could stop them. You’re resourceful.”
I laughed loudly. Loud enough to wake the neighbours if they’d been sleeping, or even home. “Thanks for the compliment but I cannot take on a vampire army.”
“He really can’t,” agreed Ashley, also chuckling.
“You wouldn’t need to. Some of the clans were forced to join the syndicate. I think if you take out the master vampire and the whole thing will start to fall apart.”
“And what if they don’t? What if they
just come after me in retaliation? I’m sorry, but I don’t think so. This isn’t something I want to get involved in. And I don’t think you’ll risk releasing Rachel from prison. A warlock with a vendetta has the potential to draw a lot of attention. Even one without any magic. So don’t bother threatening me with that again.”
“I’m not going to release Rachel, Eddie. The syndicate is constantly expanding. It’s already take Gravesend and Sittingbourne. Next on the list is Maidstone. Do you really want an army of vampires controlling your town?”
I most certainly did not want that. I said nothing but I could tell that she knew she’d got to me. She sat back and nodded. “That’s what I thought.” She stood up and pulled on her coat which had been draped over her chair. “It’s been a real pleasure working with you, Eddie, and you Ashley.” She gave us both a genuine smile. “Until next time.”
“Clara, wait!” I called before she left. She turned back her eyebrows raised expectantly. “When I was fighting Barbichu in the living room he kept trying to teleport and couldn’t. Was that you?”
She looked thoughtful for a second and then shook her head. “I didn’t even know you were back. I was outside with Kegan and Chief Inspector Richards”
“Okay, thanks,” I said trying to figure out who’d blocked Barbichu’s teleportation powers.
Clara nodded politely and then walked out of the room.
“Well that was interesting,” said Ashley.
“Yep. That’s one word for it,” I replied.
32
I didn’t hang about waiting for another incident from the darkness. I knew how much danger I was in and didn’t want anything to tip me over the edge. The smallest annoyance might transform me back into that pale, black-eyed thing. I shuddered at the thought of being so hideous. I had a shower and then asked Richards to take me straight to Bronzefield Prison. The prison where Rachel was being held. Richards didn’t want to take me, he wanted to stay and carry on with the clean up but Kegan assured him it was all under control. He also told him that getting me cured should be a top priority. I said earlier that Barbichu had helped me figure out how to cure the curse. He had the same problem I did. We both made the strongest curse curing potion we know but the potion failed. The missing ingredient: blood of the caster. I only hoped that Rachel’s curse didn’t require the blood to come from a child as well. If it did I was fucked because Rachel was childless. I’d never even seen her with a man.
Ashley wanted to come too but she didn’t want to leave Leah in the care of anyone else. Ashley had called her mum and told her everything and she was on the way back from wherever it was she’d been. Ashley gave me a good luck kiss and then saw me out. She told Richards not to let anything wind me up on the way. To save time we stopped off at my storage unit and grabbed the potion I’d already prepared. It just needed the blood.
Although I was nervous as I walked down the prison hallways, I was also looking forward to it. I’d only ever seen Rachel out in the world acting like she was the queen. I was excited at the idea of seeing her subdued and detained. It was going to be a very different person to the one I’d seen before her arrest. I just had to make sure she didn’t make me angry.
I walked into the interview room and saw her. She was not subdued in the least. She was sitting at the metal table, leaning back in her chair, checking her hair in a compact mirror. She had one leg crossed over the other casually. I’d hoped to see some bruises or some sign of abuse but she was in perfect condition. She even had make-up on.
“Eddie,” she said as if she’d been expecting me for a while. She clicked the mirror closed and placed it down softly on the table. “Have a seat.”
I wandered over to the table and sat down without realising that I was following her instructions. “You look well,” I said in shock. She took it as a compliment.
“Thank you, Eddie. What brings you here?” She smirked at me and I had to bite back my anger. I forced a smile instead and laughed quietly. “Something funny?”
“I don’t know why I expected anything different. Of course you’re doing fine. I suppose you manipulated your way to the top of the pecking order on day one?”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’ve always been a high-status person. You know I don’t do timid.”
“So you’re top dog. Queen of the inmates. Still, it’s not quite the same as what you had before,” I said in an attempt to rub some salt in. She was still a prisoner after all.
“Not just the inmates. The guards tend to do as I say too. Notice how this meeting is unattended.” She winked. The room was empty apart from the two of us and a camera on the wall. The camera had frozen the moment I walked in, though, I’d seen to that. I couldn’t have the guards watching this meeting.
“And yet, none of them have let you go yet,” I said, feigning confusion.
“I don’t need to be let go. I have a very good solicitor and he’s building a very good case. There’s not much evidence, you know.” I did know that but I also knew that Clara had the influence to keep Rachel locked up forever. I kept that information to myself for now though.
“How did you get a good solicitor?”
“You took my magic not my money,” she said and there was a flicker of disdain. I smiled to myself knowing that I’d caused her to recall an unpleasant memory.
“Well, I didn’t come here for a catch-up on your trial. Don’t worry, though, I’ll be sure to watch it from the front row.” I would be giving evidence too so I’d definitely see it.
“Why did you come here?”
I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out the unfinished potion that would cure my curse. I removed the lid and placed it down on the table between us. “The guards searched me but a little magic can conceal most things. You remember what magic’s like don’t you?”
“Let me guess, you want me to tell you the missing ingredient. Forget it. I cursed you for a reason. You’ve held off longer than I expected. You should be cold and soulless by now.”
“I already know the final ingredient. I’m just here to get it.”
She realised what I meant and darted for the potion. I raised my palm and froze her mid-lunge. Her hand stopped right over the phial. “You look yourself but you’re really not. Are you? You’re so weak without your powers. So vulnerable. So pathetic.” I laughed again. I was enjoying myself. If I enjoyed myself too much I knew what would happen. Rachel went to speak but I silenced her with another spell. “Nothing from you.” She wasn’t going to get the chance to make me angry, not when I was so close to being cured.
I placed my finger on the palm of her hand and traced a line. Her skin opened up and blood dripped down. Most of it went over the table but some went into the phial. The potion rippled and shone letting me know it was finished. “That’s what I thought,” I muttered to myself. Rachel’s face was twisted in fury. I picked up the potion and downed it.
“Yow!’ I yelled as it raced through me. It was like having ice work its way around my blood stream. When it hit my head it found the curse. It was like there was a fist wrapped around my brainstem and now the iciness was prising it off. The struggle went on giving me the most abominable headache. Rachel remained frozen throughout, watching me with fascination and loathing. Finally with an odd popping sensation the grip on my brain was gone and I felt the darkness being smothered by the cure. It felt a bit like getting out of a really hot bath. And then I felt the same. There was no before and after. I felt exactly the same. There was one small difference. When I looked at Rachel I wasn’t scared that if I did anything to her I’d turn into a monster. I knew now that if I killed her I’d be fine. I might feel a bit guilty but that was it. I didn’t want to kill her though. It was more painful for her to live without magic. I released her from my spell and she fell back in her chair.
“That’s fine, Eddie. Cure yourself all you like. I will get out of here and I will get my powers back and then I’m going to kill Ashley Sheridan. And Matt Stoker. And Emma Kessler. And then I’ll
kill you,” she said with a look of malice.
I smiled annoyingly at her. “Have you ever heard of the Winters Organisation?” Her face confirmed that she had. “Well Clara Winters told me that she’s going to make sure you never get out. Evidence or not.” My words did their job and she suddenly looked less certain.
“Fine. I’ll just have to escape. One way or another I’m coming for you.” She didn’t bother masking her anger anymore. I was pleased with myself for breaking her mask away.
“I thought you might say that,” I replied. I snatched her compact mirror off the table, flipped it open and then whisked some of her spilled blood onto the glass. Pressing my hands around the mirror I fused them together and performed a small spell. Small but very effective.
“What was that?” she asked. Without her magic she could no longer recognise what spells I was performing.
“Oh, nothing really. I just spelled the mirror so that now I can see whatever you see. So if you try to break out of here, I’ll know all bout it.” I smiled as broadly as I could and then stood up, tucking the mirror into my pocket. I looked down at her and snorted with derision. “Queen my arse. You are right, though, it does feel good to be in control.”
“You fucking little wanker!” she screamed. “I will kill you, Eddie! You and your friends!”
I knocked on the door and it swung open. Before leaving I turned back to her. “Oh, and by the way, I killed your brother.” The last thing I hear as I strutted away from the interview room was her scream of undisguised rage. Winning felt so good.
I haven’t had much time to stop and chat with you have I? You probably thought I’d forgotten you but don’t worry, I haven’t. I’ve just been busy hunting imps and the like. I did keep all the magic inside me. Not because I need it but because I want it. And not out of some great temptation but just because I like having it. For years I’ve been saying that power corrupts but it’s not quite that simple. It only corrupts people who have bad inside them. I was filled with darkness which was why I was so susceptible to corruption. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a whole new person since being cured of my curse, I still think bad things and I still do bad things but I no longer think so much about hurting and killing people who annoy me. I’m just the same as every other person on earth. Now if someone annoys me I want to give them a slap rather than force them to stab themself. I’ve got some good and I’ve got some bad but now I can control myself a hell of a lot better. There’s no danger of becoming an evil warlock. And you know what? Having all this magic is so much fucking fun!
