by Alan Baxter
‘Now what about you?’ Blonde said, smiling like a favourite aunt.
Brunette laughed, a lovely, tinkling sound. ‘The extra one, unexpected.’
‘She can’t be wasted,’ said Red.
Sparks shivered more violently than ever. For some reason, seeing them normal like this, hearing them talk in complete sentences, seemed more terrifying than anything she’d seen so far.
They advanced on the remaining child, crouched before her. She sat frozen, even her trembling stopped, the sound whistling from her throat faded to nothing. The Dark Sisters leaned forward, radiating blue light once more. Slowly, more slowly than the others, lasciviously drawn out, the young girl shrank in on herself, crumpling into a pile of bones, covered tight with thin blackened parchment that moments before had been freckled, strawberry skin.
The Sisters turned to Hood, still guarding the window. He swallowed hard, unable to prevent his eyes roaming up and down their naked perfection.
‘You like?’ Blonde asked.
‘I think he much prefers us this way, judging by the swell at his crotch,’ Red said.
‘I’m sorry,’ Hood stammered, trying to look away, failing. ‘I’m overwhelmed. Truly, you are more than I expected.’
‘Such a nice man,’ Brunette purred. ‘I think he’s found a new respect for us, the man who delivered ten.’
Hood’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Sparks’s mind swept with revulsion and pity. On one hand she couldn’t blame him for reacting as he did, these women so lovely and bare. But he knew as well as she did what they were, what they’d just done, what existed beneath the skin. Her nerves screamed with foreboding. This was wrong, everything about it utterly wrong.
‘I have every respect for you,’ Hood said, regaining some of his trademark confidence. ‘I trust our deal is sealed.’
‘Sealed?’ asked Blonde. ‘Oh yes, it’s definitely sealed.’
‘So what would you have us do?’ asked Red.
‘I need you to track down and kill a human and a Kin and deliver to me whatever magical items they’re carrying. Can you do that?’
‘Of course,’ said Brunette. ‘You’ve bound us and tasked us, so we must do as you ask. Are you sure you really want these things?’
‘Most definitely.’
‘Always get exactly what you want, don’t you?’ said Blonde, a smile pulling at her full lips. ‘Quite a powerful human, no?’
Hood drew a shuddering breath, trying to keep his eyes above the neck, failing again. ‘Certainly, at whatever cost.’
‘And where are these two you would have us hunt?’ Brunette asked.
Hood raised one finger. ‘Let me check how far they’ve got.’ He scrabbled in the pocket of his jacket, pulled out a phone.
The Sisters, bored, turned to Sparks. An invisible hand thumped deep in her gut as their gaze fell on her. She watched them nervously, eyes flicking from one to the next.
‘Love him, do you?’ said Blonde, nodding towards Hood.
Sparks, tongue dry in her throat, managed a strangled affirmative.
‘Follow him anywhere, would you?’ asked Red.
Sparks nodded, dragging that tongue over her teeth. ‘He’s been good to me,’ she managed.
The Sisters cast sidelong glances at each other, smiling enigmatically.
Hood’s voice interrupted. ‘Jackson? Update, please.’ He listened, making occasional grunts. Without another word he hung up, turned back to the Sisters. ‘They’re on a plane to Rome, apparently. I have a planesbird following. They’re due to arrive in about seven hours. Can you get there? Find them?’
Blonde laughed, tipping her head back. ‘Oh, Mr Hood, we can get anywhere.’
‘Do anything,’ Red said.
‘To anyone,’ Brunette said, staring hard at Sparks.
‘And a human and Kin travelling together should be easy to spot,’ Blonde added.
Hood slipped his phone away. ‘Can I arrange anything for you? Clothes, travel, anything?’
Blonde shook her head.
‘How will I stay in contact with you?’
She stepped close, gripped Hood’s head between her palms. He arched back, a moan of ecstasy or agony, hard to tell which, slipped past his lips. When she let go he dropped to his knees, quickly staggered back to his feet.
‘You feel me now?’ Blonde asked.
‘Yes, yes,’ he stammered.
‘Yes. Lucky you.’
‘So you’ll go to Rome? Let me know any news as soon as you have it?’
Blonde tipped her head to one side, looking at him almost lovingly. Almost predatory. She raised one hand, flicking a finger at him to move. As he sidled away from the window, a cold burst of air pushed through the room and the Dark Sisters were gone. A sensation of incredible drag pulled Sparks’s clothes briefly.
She slumped against the door, sliding down, dropping her face into her hands. Sobs racked her, chest heaving as shock pulsed through, finally released. Hood came over, slipped an arm around her trembling shoulders.
‘That was more intense than I anticipated,’ he said quietly.
Sparks just sobbed, not trying to control herself. She had never felt such dread or seen such atrocity, even during her many years with Hood. She couldn’t help feeling that things would never be the same again.
‘Curly and his boys can clean up,’ Hood said, presumably referring to the shrunken corpses.
‘Get me out of here, please,’ Sparks managed, voice muffled by tear-soaked palms.
Hood stood with her, keeping an arm across her shoulders. He banged on the door with his free hand. ‘Curly, open up. Let us out, please.’
The door clicked, swung open. Curly stood framed by soft orange light from the corridor. His gaze slipped past Hood and Sparks, his eyes widening as he scanned the room behind them. ‘Fuckin’ hell.’
Hood stepped by him, leading Sparks. ‘I need you to sort this out,’ he said as they passed Curly. ‘Somewhere they’ll never be found.’
‘Righto. I’ll see to it.’
Hood put a hand out, stopping Curly from entering the room. ‘I’m serious, Curly. Absolutely, under no circumstances, ever found.’
‘Yes, sir. Don’t worry. These will be dust by morning.’
‘Good man. Thanks. You’ve really earned your money this time.’
Curly barked a humourless laugh. ‘Fucking right I have.’
Alex and Sil stepped off a grimy train into the bustle of Rome’s Termini station. Vast atrium ceilings, pale brick and glossy tiles reflected light from high windows and higher fluorescents. They trudged with the crowd, emerging onto a sun-soaked street busy with impatient traffic. Alex stretched, basking in the warmth. ‘Man, autumn in the Mediterranean is a vast improvement on everywhere else I’ve been recently,’ he said to the sky.
Sil smiled. ‘You’re spoilt where you come from.’
‘Spoilt or burned to a crisp? It can get a bit extreme in Australia sometimes. Still, I’ll take it over a northern European autumn or winter any time.’ He stopped, staring hard into the pastel blue. Something moved up there, glowing with magesign, making loops and whorls against the clear sky. ‘What’s that?’
Silhouette followed his gaze. ‘What’s what?’
He put one arm around her shoulders, drawing her close, pointing with the other hand. ‘Up there, really high. It’s tiny, but definitely there, you can see the ’sign.’
Sil squinted, eyes straining along the line of Alex’s index finger. ‘Hmm. There’s something there, but I can’t focus on it. Can you see it clearly?’
‘Not really. I think it’s watching us.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Dunno. I can feel it. Let’s get somewhere quieter.’
‘In Rome?’
Alex headed away from the busy station. They walked a few blocks, always turning down the emptier-looking street or alleyway, slipping between tall pale buildings, hanging with ivy or blackened by city grime. Something about the thing in the sky fille
d Alex with trepidation. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt a strong connection to it now he’d spotted it and knew, intrinsically, that it meant him harm. It looped high above them. He stopped, scanning ochre buildings on either side of the thin street, wooden shutters open like wide eyes, drawing autumn sun into apartments. No one seemed to be looking out their windows, the street empty. ‘Keep an eye out,’ he said.
Silhouette watched him anxiously. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m going to bring this down.’
‘How?’
Alex ignored the question. He pictured the air around the thing high above without looking up. He could sense it, hovering over them. He gripped the stone through his shirt, drawing on it. He was learning all the time how to control and channel the incredible power. He ignored the anger and displeasure of Uthentia, concentrated on the Darak, the air, the flying presence. Magic surged from it.
Silhouette gasped. ‘I see it clearly now, some kind of creature. What are you doing?’
Alex locked his mind around the magic that encased the thing and took control of the air around it. He spun the air into a vortex, a tiny whirlwind spinning the surprised being like a top. ‘It’s trying to escape!’ he hissed.
‘No shit. It’s bending space, you can see reality tearing around it.’
Alex gritted his teeth. The thing above tore at his brain. It was like trying to hold back an accelerating car with a rope. He powered up the whirlpool of air, spinning the thing into a blur, desperate to disorient it, break its power. With all the mental might he could muster he hauled on it, drawing it down towards them.
‘It’s coming!’ Silhouette said.
‘When it’s close enough, you’ll have to grab it! I can’t hold on for long. As soon as you can, kill it, don’t waste a second.’
‘Are you sure?’
Alex grimaced, trying to hang on to the thing as it thrashed and spun high above them. ‘I’ve never been surer! It’s a danger to us.’
‘All right then.’ She bolted from his side and scaled the wall beside them, leaping from shutter to windowsill, heading for the roof with incredible agility and grace.
Good girl! He concentrated on nothing but countering the magic of the thing trying to leave this realm, dragging it down. Silhouette made the roofs and started running. He drew the creature down above the alley and Silhouette leapt from the edge, arcing out into the sky. She snatched the thing from the air and landed on the opposite side. Her shoulders flexed, her elbows flaring briefly as she struggled for a grip, then she twisted violently. The magic died, the presence of the creature, whatever it was, snuffed out.
Alex leaned against one wall, catching his breath. He was pleased to notice that his control had been clearer and his exhaustion less total. Already his mental stamina was returning to normal.
Silhouette landed lightly beside him. She held something out to him, her expression slightly disgusted. It hung slack and leathery.
Alex took it, held it up. It looked like a featherless bird with the wide, thin wings of a bat. Its black skin, wrinkled at its joints and neck, pulled taut across its body. It had a sharp beak that gleamed like obsidian. ‘What the fuck is it?’ Alex asked.
‘I think it’s a planesbird,’ Silhouette said. ‘I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve heard of them. Quite powerful. It was definitely following us.’
‘I guess this explains how that Subcontractor kept finding us.’
Sil grimaced. ‘You think this has been on us all this time?’
‘I don’t know. But let’s hope we finished it before it told anyone else where we are. That Subcontractor guy said something about Black Diamond and someone called Hood, remember? Maybe he sent this.’
‘That was a bit of a struggle just then,’ Silhouette said thoughtfully, ‘but it certainly wasn’t worse than the thing we fought in Canada.’
‘Which means,’ Alex said, ‘this is probably a lookout. A scout.’
‘So something else is coming.’
Alex looked up and down the alley, checking it was still empty. He threw the planesbird to the ground and agitated the air around it, visualised the consuming flames of a furnace. After a few seconds his magic surged and he immolated the weird bird, leaving nothing on the ground but a dark stain. ‘We’d better fuck off then,’ he said, turning to trot up the alley. ‘Let’s put some distance between us and that thing.’
Silhouette jogged alongside. ‘You’re getting good at this stuff, eh?’
Her voice was jovial, amused as well as impressed, and that annoyed Alex. ‘I wish the circumstances were different.’
‘Of course. You don’t want to be in this situation, but you love the power. Don’t try to pretend otherwise.’
He had to admit she was right. ‘I suppose so. Just a shame I had to find out this way.’
‘If it wasn’t for the book, you wouldn’t have discovered the stone. Be rid of the book and keep the Darak and you’re laughing.’
‘If that’s even possible.’
Silhouette put a hand on his shoulder, slowing them to a walk. ‘I truly believe it is, Alex. If anyone can do it, it’s you. You’re a prodigy. You have to figure out how.’
He looked into her eyes, looking for signs of patronising, consoling. He saw none. She seemed to really believe what she said. ‘I hope you’re right. But what if you’re wrong?’
‘Who knows.’
Alex stopped, turned to face her. ‘I’m serious, Sil. If I fuck this up or lose control or whatever, I could cause serious damage. What if I try to fix this and release Uthentia again instead?’
‘I don’t think you will. I think you can beat this. Besides, I’m always on the lookout for excitement and nothing has been this exciting for a long time.’
Alex sneered. ‘Is that why you’re with me? For the excitement?’
‘Yes. And no. I started out with you for the excitement. I’ve stayed because it’s still exciting and because I want to hang out with you.’ She looked coy. ‘You still intrigue me.’
He stared at her, wanting to ask questions he was afraid of hearing the answers to. He chose not to ask, shaking his head. ‘I hope you’re right,’ he said again, walking on, trying to block visions of loosing some nightmare on the world. The presence of Uthentia in his pocket trembled with mirth, mocking. He flooded himself with energy from the Darak, silencing the book.
They enjoyed the sunshine and warmth. Rome hummed and buzzed around them, the dirt and soot from the overcrowded roads pervading everything, yet exotic nonetheless. ‘So where is this Den?’ Alex asked eventually.
‘We’re nearly there. Look.’ Silhouette pointed as they rounded a corner. The massive bulk of the Colosseum rose before them, ancient stonework on a scale hard to conceive.
Alex grinned. ‘Fuck me. I’ve seen pictures, but I had no idea it was so huge.’
‘Pretty cool, huh?’
The original arena of combat, the first cage, where warriors and heroes were made and died. He felt an immediate connection, imagined himself a gladiator, striding across the sands to face soldiers, lions, anything the Romans threw at him. It was a romantic image, he knew, but one he couldn’t avoid. He’d read about the enacted battles, trapdoors to lift ferocious beasts directly into the arena, the flooding to recreate naval mêlée. Now it had scaffolds all around the lowest arches, hordes of tourists swarming over it. He could see thousands more inside, standing in the shadows of bloodthirsty Romans who had bayed for pain and slaughter. Crushed though it was under the weight of tourism, this thing still spoke to him. He blinked. ‘Wait a minute. You’re saying the Rome Den, one of the oldest Dens, is the Colosseum?’
Silhouette laughed. ‘Kinda. It was, but times change. The Den is still there, just a lot lower down.’
‘Underneath?’
‘We just have to convince them to let us in. And you may have to fight again. Just because you won your rights at my Den doesn’t mean you’ve got any rights here.’
Alex grinned. ‘Really?
Freaking sweet!’ The opportunity to fight on this hallowed ground? The thought moved his soul. The book rejoiced, wanting him to die here, bested by powerful, ancient Kin. He threw his mind into it, pushing his thoughts out to the piece of Uthentia trapped there. You watch me, fucker. I’ll win here as well and be one step closer to destroying you.
The book’s blistering rage burned his mind and he shut it out, following Silhouette towards Constantine’s arch, standing magnificent beside the Colosseum. Tourists wandered all around, dozens of cameras clicking and flashing. Silhouette stood by the fence that surrounded the arch and cupped her hands around her mouth. She howled a quick, incomprehensible sound that rang across the palazzo. People jumped, turning sharply then looking away again. Several minutes passed before a hard-faced man with black hair and dark tanned skin strolled towards them. His face bore an expression of serious dislike. When he reached them Silhouette smiled disarmingly. ‘Hi there. We’d like to see Lorenzo.’
Hood read reports, shuffled papers, checked online news, all the things he usually did, but his distraction was apparent. A tremor still ran through Sparks, the trauma of their trip to Scotland refusing to leave her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Hood had crossed some boundary. Not with her. The love she had for him encompassed everything and anything he did. Nothing he could do would sever her bond to him. But something had changed. Something had shifted behind the facade now and it scared her. His obsession with this situation, the lengths he was prepared to go, were terrifying. More often than not he bought his way into the things he desired and somehow managed to turn a profit. Often he’d killed, or had someone do the killing for him. Now he found himself with a desire that appeared to be beyond his grasp, and his obsession with it had become destructive. He didn’t even know what it was he chased. It might be something so pointless that even he couldn’t turn much of a profit on it. But he was driven to these lengths and Sparks couldn’t shake the feeling that it would cost him dearly. A rapid, insistent knocking surprised them both.
Annoyance flashed across Hood’s face. ‘Yes, what?’ he said. The door swung open and Jackson stood framed by dark wood, wringing his hands. ‘What is it?’ Hood barked.
