by R. J. Wolf
“He gave it to me!” Gary shouted. “It’s from Noll!”
Zoey paused. Her face was twisted in anger and confusion. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on the small blue sphere then glared at Gary. With a deep breath, she lowered her hands then took a step forward.
“Hand it here,” she said and snapped her fingers.
Trembling, Gary dropped the ball into her hand then shuffled backwards. He bit his lip as he stared to the floor and gripped his hands behind his back.
“Noll sent this?”
“Ye…yes. Yes he did. With love,” he added.
CHAPTER 10
THE POTION MASTER
“He’s always been such a sweetheart,” Zoey said as she handed Gary a small teacup. “Sorry about…almost killing you. I, sometimes I overreact.”
Gary took a sip of the tea and quickly spit it back into the cup. The taste was bitter and thick, like muddy sludge with a hint of lemon. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” he croaked. “Better safe than sorry.”
“Something wrong with the tea?”
“No…no, it’s great.” He tipped the cup back and forced himself to swallow a mouthful.
“It’s an ancient recipe. I, um…I may have maybe placed a…walking death hex on you. But don’t worry! The tea will fix you right up.”
Gary beamed at her then gulped down the entire drink. He felt it simmer in his belly for a moment, then surge back up his throat. His eyes started to bulge, and he made a rattling grumble before slumping forward in a stupor.
“Better than I expected.” Zoey shrugged and took the cup back into the kitchen.
She dropped it into the sink then stared out of the window at the abandoned building across from her. A faded image of a woman and three small children smiled and waved their hands. Zoey frowned, then waved back and turned away just as they burst into flames.
It was her daily ritual. She knew they weren’t real, just phantoms sent there to torture her. The fragmented remains of collateral damage from a day she could never forget. The day that got her banished to the gray.
Disheveled, Zoey pulled her hair back and twisted it into a loose bun. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and her fingers brushed up against the cool, smooth surface of the stone. It warmed and pulsed in response to her presence.
“Noll,” she whispered as she pulled the gem out and examined it.
Blue hues sparkled from the glassy shell. A faded hum echoed through the air as it vibrated gently in her palm. She knew the orb and the orb knew her.
“Don’t kill the warlock my love,” Noll’s voice suddenly resonated from the stone. “The spell was my idea, I know how much you hate dealing with that filthy bloodline, but we need him. I’ll get you back from the gray as soon as he helps me get the…” His words faded as Gary grumbled from the other room.
Zoey glanced over her shoulder then tucked the orb back into her pocket. Leaning her head back, she stared at the ceiling and sucked in a lungful of air. With a quick shake, her hair fell from the bun and danced down her shoulders. She brushed a few of the stubborn strands from her face and tucked them behind her ears then left the kitchen.
When she returned to the living room, Gary was moaning as he slowly opened his eyes and glared at her. His face was unreadable, but the hex had been lifted.
“What the hell was that!” he roared.
“You’re alive, aren’t you? Stop whining.”
Gary took a deep breath and rubbed his throat, gasping uncomfortably. Every breath burned and felt like his vocal chords had melted into a fiery pudding. Fighting through the discomfort, he straightened up and refocused his efforts.
“So, can you help me?” he asked.
“Depends on what you’re asking?”
“I need a potion, a memory potion.”
“So why don’t you just brew one up?”
“I need a very powerful memory potion. I was thinking maybe you’d have something like that in mind.”
“Who’s this for?” Zoey replied as she took a seat across from him.
“Just, just a friend. Guy got his memory blasted away trying to be a hero. Pulled his brother out of a pop factory. Thing went up in flames and all that smoke…he barely knows who he is.”
Zoey shot him a sideways glance and raised her eyebrow. Gary shifted uncomfortably, emptying his mind as he felt her wiggling her way inside. Swirls of memories flashed by and he gritted his teeth and pushed them away.
Slamming his eyes shut, he focused all his might on nothing, on a completely empty abyss where every thought, every recollection faded into dust. He strained to hold off the flood of consciousness, his mind constructing a dam that could barely contain the tidal wave of his life. If Zoey stayed in his head much longer she’d know everything and then she really would kill him.
“Pop, huh?” Zoey asked in a casual tone.
Gary opened his eyes and found her moving about the room. He swallowed and shook his head like he was banging on the side of a TV with a fuzzy picture.
“Yeah…pop.”
“I’d thought that drug went the way of the warlocks.”
Gary laughed. “Some things die hard.”
“Apparently,” Zoey replied as she opened a cupboard and pulled out a notebook. Frowning, she glanced back at Gary then took out a folded page that didn’t belong in the book and brought it back to him.
“What’s this?” Gary asked as he took the wrinkled piece of paper.
“I would think you ought know,” she replied in a snarky tone. “You still have it don’t you?”
Gary gave her a blank look and she chuckled.
“Oh, come off it, Gary. I know you have the Galdrabok. It’s the only reason you’d be here, looking for the missing page. I still can’t believe you and that weakling that Anna fell for…” she paused and stared off in the distance. Her eyes watered for a moment and the anger in her face softened as she thought of her sister.
Gary looked away. He didn’t know how to respond, and he feared that his mind would betray him and let her know that Eric had come back, come back without her sister.
“Anyway,” she continued. “Here’s your stupid page. Most of the things on there should be easy enough to get. The blood lotus on the other hand, that might take some of those peddling skills your kind are so well known for.”
Gary bit his tongue then mumbled the list of five ingredients under his breath. She was right, the first four items were common household supplies for any magic user. The last, he’d never heard of.
“What’s a blood lotus?” he asked as he stuffed the paper into his coat pocket beside his silver flask.
Zoey laughed then dropped back onto the couch. She kicked her feet up then stretched out with her arms crossed behind her head.
“Blood lotus,” she huffed in a raspy voice, blowing the hair from her face. “It…it’s, it’s gonna be hard for you to get, but I’m sure you have your ways.”
“Vampires,” Gary said as he deflated his shoulders.
Zoey shrugged. While she disliked Gary, they were unified in their disgust of vampires. It was bad enough that Gary had to work with them, but needing something from one of them was a different story.
“Is there any other way?” he asked.
“Aw, the little blood suckers got you scared, Gary? I’d go with you, but…you know, I’m gonna be here for a while.”
Gary wrinkled his face then stood up. “I’ll be fine, good to know you’re worried about me. I could use some help getting back home though.”
“Say no more,” Zoey replied as she curled her fingers, pulling a faded, moon-shaped coin from thin air.
She flipped it off her thumb and Gary snatched it out of the air.
“Thanks,” he said in an empty voice.
“Don’t mention it,” Zoey whispered softly. “Just give Noll a message for me. Tell him, I’ll be waiting.”
CHAPTER 11
IV ALLEY
“That’s all she said?” Noll asked with an excited grin
on his face. “She loved it, didn’t she? She loved what I got her.”
Gary shrugged as he stepped onto the platform and eyed the colossal figure that lingered in the shadows. He’d had enough of bottom dwellers and mole-like creatures and was eager to feel the kiss of open air.
“I’ve gotta get back topside. Got a lot of stuff to do,” he said in an exhausted tone then turned his back and walked off.
Noll sulked for a moment then grabbed Gary’s wrist. “Hold on! Wait, wait right here.”
With a crazed look on his face, he sped off in the other direction. Turning a corner, he slipped into the darkness and vanished. Gary sighed then stared up to the troll and shrugged.
“That’s your boss,” he snapped. “Don’t look at me.”
“Where go?” the troll rumbled back.
Gary spared him a glance then rubbed his face and yawned. It’d been a long day and now it promised to be an even longer night. He wasn’t the fresh-faced, flighty warlock he used to be. Three hundred and fifty years was a few lifetimes and for most of that time sleep had been hard to come by.
“Take this, take this,” Noll shouted as he stormed forward holding a shabby, beige parchment.
“Why are you even down here?” Gary asked as he held his hand out and took the aging piece of paper.
“We’ve got a deal remember?”
“What?”
“I’m here to remind you about that. You know, our deal?”
Gary took a shallow breath, leaning his head back as he closed his eyes. With a growl, he ran his fingers through his thinning, blonde hair, fighting through his frustrations. Clenching his jaw, he collected himself and turned back to Noll.
“I just got back,” he said in exhaustion.
“I don’t care. What’s done is done, now play your part.”
Gary held the paper up to eye level and started to examine it. There had been writing on it, maybe centuries ago, but now only the ghost of words existed. The paper itself looked ancient, like it’d been taken from the bowels of a pyramid. It was tattered and decayed, but somehow the fibers still managed to cling together.
“What the hell is this?”
“It’s where we need to meet. Don’t worry, it’ll work for you when it needs to. Now go on and get to work. Clock is ticking…friend.”
Gary swallowed then folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket. He looked Noll in the eyes and shook his head, but Noll simply curled his cracked lips and winked.
“I’ll see you soon, Noll,” Gary croaked then headed off.
Back on the surface Gary looked around the empty streets as he considered his next move. He’d purposefully stayed out of vampire affairs for the last few years and wasn’t too eager to get involved again, especially after his disagreement with Cortez.
Grumbling, he started down the street, his mind working every angle, but his feet already knew where they needed to be. There was only one place that was sure to put him on the right track without setting off alarms, and that was IV alley.
It didn’t take long for Gary to clear his mind and apparate to the other side of the city. He reappeared next to an aging corner store that wreaked of piss and spoiled food. A man glared at him as he tossed a ripped trash bag into the dumpster then shouted something in a foreign language before heading back inside.
Gary looked ahead to the orange and red glow that emanated down the street. It swayed wildly as shadows flickered like a strobe light. It was the dance of hunger, the ballet of the hunt and past the alley there were no accords nor laws of men that would keep him safe.
With a swig from his flask, Gary made his way toward the light. On one side were rows of dilapidated houses and on the other a chain-link fence covered in swabs of ragged tarp.
“Nihil nidore,” Gary whispered, casting a spell to mask the scent of his blood.
IV alley was a place where the dregs of vampire society toiled in droves. The ones that couldn’t control their thirst, couldn’t blend in with the zeroes found their way there. A spell kept most folk away, but the ones that did venture down the alley were never seen again.
Keeping a low profile was a must. They were far too weak to pose a threat to Gary, but he didn’t need any unwanted attention. He needed answers and decimating the vagrant vampire population wouldn’t get him any closer to them.
A filthy man glared at him from beneath a hooded sweater as he sucked the last bit of life from a watermelon-sized rat. Gary looked him over and the man shrank into the shadows, knocking over an empty barrel as he retreated.
“Guess I still got it,” Gary mumbled to himself.
He moved further down the alley, passing piles of flaming trash and the emaciated carcasses of rodents and other small creatures. A thud sounded behind him and he paused and spun around. His heart quickened its pace and he squeezed his fingers into a ball until his knuckles crackled like thunder.
A small, frightened dog stood behind him. It crooked its head to the side, beaming at Gary with pleading eyes. With a muted bark, the dog shivered with horror as water dripped down its frazzled white coat.
Gary stared back for a moment. Blood and filth were knotted into the animal’s fur and a heart-shaped tag hung from its collar. Sighing, he reached his hand out, but before his fingers made contact something swept past him, tackling the dog and rolling into the shadows.
Gary took a step back and frowned. The frail vampire sank his fangs into the dog and let out an elated groan. His ribs threatened to break through the skin with every breath he took, and his long narrow fingers stretched around the poor animal like ropes.
“Vamps,” Gary said in disgust and spat on the floor.
Garbled voices caught his ear and he turned and started back down the alley. Slender figures huddled in the distance. Some slinked in and out of the shadows while others scurried off at the sound of his footfalls.
Not far from him was a group of men hunched over a barrel with a dim fire crackling inside. The flames illuminated their abhorrent features and Gary swallowed back his feelings of disgust. Their eyes fell into their skulls, their mouths were wide, tapering off to narrow elongated chins. Their skin was taut and coarse like old leather and their canines protruded from their gums like tusks. It didn’t take long for the worst of the darkkin to shed away their human façade and return to the monsters they were.
With a determined look, Gary neared the men and cleared his throat. One of them was puffing on a cigarette, blowing acrid smoke into the air. As Gary approached the man lifted his head and grinned.
“Dinner,” he said lowly and the other men cackled.
Gary smiled. “I’m in a hurry and I need a little help. You folks look like the helping type. I just hope for your sake, you don’t require any convincing.”
“You smell funny,” another man said as he inched closer to Gary.
“Yeah, wonder how he taste,” the smoker said and curled his lips as he flicked his cigarette into a puddle.
Gary winked. “Only one way to find out slim.”
The man smiled then reached out and grabbed his arm. Gary snatched away and yanked the man up by his collar, lifting him into the air.
“Warlock,” one of the other men hissed and tried to run.
With the snap of Gary’s fingers, the man froze. The other men looked on in shock, fear making it impossible for them to escape.
“I’m looking for something,” Gary said as he turned back to the smoker. “A new drug, they call it blood lotus. Where can I find it?”
The man started to laugh. “It ain’t real. It’s a fairy tale.”
Gary smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Casper.”
“Well Casper, you know what I am. You know what I can do. So, I’m gonna ask you one more time,”
“But…I already…” Casper cut him off.
“One more time Casper, and if you answer me wrong I’m not gonna kill you. I’m gonna turn you into a puddle of dog piss, a living, breathing puddle of dog piss.”
> Gary held his other hand up in a fist and a blue light started to emanate from it. It swirled and snaked around his wrist, glowing brighter and brighter.
“Just tell him, Casper. Damn it!” one of the other men snapped.
“Alright, alright. There’s a man named Vlad. He makes the stuff.”
“And where can I find Vlad?”
Casper bit his lip and looked away. Growing impatient, Gary flinched, and the fingers wrapped around Casper’s throat began to burn with a blue light. Casper let out an ear-splitting roar and latched onto Gary’s arm.
“Alright…alright I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“Where can I find him?” Gary shouted.
“He deals it out of the club,” Casper croaked in a strangled voice.
“What club?”
Casper’s eyes jittered back and forth as he struggled to breath. Gary released him, and he fell to the ground on all fours. Kneeling, Gary placed his finger under Casper’s chin and slowly lifted his head.
“What club?” he asked in a dark, menacing voice.
“Thirst, you can find him at Thirst.”
CHAPTER 12
IN THE LAND OF FAE
Gary was halfway across town when he felt the burning sensation on the side of his leg. It took him a second to realize what it was, and he dropped his bag and shoved his hand into his pocket.
“Noll,” he grumbled as he retrieved the folded paper.
He opened it up and straightened the folds against his chest. It glowed orange as a string of fiery letters appeared across the surface.
The fairy docks. You have thirty minutes.
Gary read the message then cursed Noll under his breath in every language he knew. He looked down the street toward the fluorescent lights dancing around the strip and sighed. Swallowing, he turned around and started toward the boat docks.
He sped down the street until he was clear of all the drunken zeroes and nosey club promoters. Ducking into an alley, he snapped his fingers then reappeared in a sand-covered lot near the water.
