by Andy Hyland
He nodded and blubbered. We let him go at that point. It would have been cruel to do otherwise. It was getting late, so once Barry was completely out of sight I let Kelly head off a bit early, and flipped the sign on the door to closed. “Thanks for that,” I said to Arabella, who was flicking through the new Batman arrivals.
“No problem. I needed it more than you, to be honest. Anything else like that comes up, you let me know.”
“You’re the first on my list. How are you doing these days?”
She looked up at me. Physically she was fine, but there was something hollow about her eyes, something eating her up inside. I knew how she felt. Only two weeks ago we’d faced off against Carafax, a twisted occult group of bankers who’d got into bed with the Aleph, some major demonic entities. Their plan was to establish a direct portal to Manhattan and bring hell to New York. We’d stopped then, but at a cost. Becky, our long-time friend – hell, practically our sister – had become corrupted, her mind and will infiltrated, by the Aleph. She’d betrayed us and hexed Arabella into a short coma. Becky died in the final fight, deep in the Fades.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Thought so. The offer stands, you know. Stay over at my place. I’ve got a spare room. Might even be some food in the kitchen.”
She shook her head. “Easier to keep moving. The only thing that helps is hurting things – only things that deserve it, mind you. Well, mostly. Sort of. But thanks for the offer. What about you? Heard from Julie yet?”
Julie Fairchild, as well as being my girlfriend, was the daughter of one of Carafax’s senior partners, Frank Fairchild. He’d had a change of heart at the end, but this didn’t stop her being nominated as the final sacrifice to complete the grand plan and dragged into the Fades – that world of shadows between Earth and hell – where it all went down. When I came back she’d stayed with Benny, who ran a bar right on the borders. Said she needed time to think things over, get her head right, which wasn’t unreasonable. The Fades had been closed off since then, driven into flux and change by the fallout from our big fight. I was sure that Benny would keep her safe, but I’d hoped they’d have found a way to get in touch.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You’ve not heard of anyone sliding over yet?”
“I tried myself earlier today. It was like walking into a brick wall. Whatever’s going on in the Fades, it’s closed all the doors. Someone’s got to make it over there, or here, sooner or later, though. Right?”
“Sure. Has to happen,” I nodded. “Just wish we knew when. I don’t mind change, but everything going off at once – bit more than I can handle, to be honest. Anyway, the night is young. Want to grab a drink?”
“Sorry. Already got plans. Thought you had to stay and do the bookkeeping?”
“I should, but I won’t. It’s getting depressing. Trade’s good, but Julie’s Dad used to pitch in with the rent money. Without that, we’re going downhill fast. I can pay the staff and a few of the suppliers, but it’s only a matter of time till the doors shut for good. I need Julie to get back before that happens.”
“Well, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open. If the Fades opens for business again, or Benny gets word over, I’ll come running.”
“Cheers. You stay safe.” I let her out and locked the door. Ten minutes of cashing up later, I set the alarm and left through the back door, into the alley that ran behind the units. It was just gone midnight.
“Mr English? Malachi English?” The voice came from my left. The lighting wasn’t good, but I could make out two figures. My fingers twitched instinctively, calling together a ward, but I stopped myself before the spell was completed. Due to some freakish happening probably related to my fight against Carafax, I’d returned from my last trip to the Fades abnormally strong in the magical department. That might sound like a good thing, but the power I was now packing was so far out of my league I had virtually no control over it. Casting spells for me had become the equivalent of driving a Ferrari down a narrow crowded street at a hundred miles an hour while blind drunk. People would get hurt or killed, and I’d be one of them.
Obviously, if you live in a world where encountering demons and other nasties is an everyday occurrence, you don’t want it getting round that your magic usage is now off limits. That’s asking for someone with a grudge to come looking for you. So I was keeping my head down while I and a few concerned friends tried to work around the situation. Encountering people I’d never met before in alleys was also something I’d have preferred to avoid, but it was too late for that now. Running the other way was by far the best option.
“Please, Mr English. I’m sorry to bother you this late.” Pretty strong accent. Mexican. It fell into place.
“Anton? That you?”
“Yes, it’s me. Really sorry about this.” He stepped forward. Anton Rosas owned and managed Casa Rosas, a quite excellent restaurant five doors down from the Outworld Emporium. I’d taken the staff there for a meal one afternoon as a get-to-know-you thing. That was before I’d realized how tight the cash was going to get, and cut out the perks. His son, Yosef, mid-twenties and permanently nervous, was standing behind him.
“No problem, Anton. What’s up? You heading home as well?”
“I wish, Mr English, I wish. Look, this is a bit…sensitive. Would you mind coming inside for a moment? I’d rather not discuss it out here. In the open.”
I hesitated. He’d always seemed a straight-up guy, and I’d not got any bad vibes from any of his family, but this had all the marks of everything I was trying to stay out of at the moment.
“Please, Mr English,” Yosef stammered. “We need help.”
“We’ll pay,” Anton added. “I have it on good authority that you’re the man to come and see when…when this type of thing happens.”
I sighed and nodded. Anton was a good guy. And although I’d like to put my hand on my heart and say the cash had nothing to do with it, I’d be lying if I did. A few hundred dollars could delay the inevitable closure of the comic shop by a few days. Give Kelly and the other staff a fraction more financial security. “Lead the way,” I said. “My time is yours.”
We went in through a back door, and the stench hit me immediately. Sulphur. I turned to Anton. “What have you got in here?”
“Easier to show than than to explain. Please – this way.” He led the two of us through the kitchen and into the main restaurant. The staff were gathered round one of the large tables, holding drinks and talking in low voices. They stopped as we entered and their eyes followed me across the floor. Anton undid an ornate link chain that blocked off a wide staircase leading down. “Used to be a bare basement, used for storage. Last week we started work to create a lower dining floor – man, getting permission for that was tough. That’s when things started going wrong – breakages, everyone getting freaked out by noises. I took action, made a few calls, and we got this.”
He flicked a switch and a bare bulb lit up, dangling from the unfinished ceiling by a short wire. The already-inadequate light flickered and danced, swaying slightly. “Stay back,” he muttered. “It’s quick and if you get too close it’ll go for you.” He rolled up his sleeve and showed me two long gashes along his forearm.
Whatever was in the basement was huddling in the center, rocking and talking to itself in low, rasping tones. “Tell me what you see,” I told Anton.
He looked at me, confused, then shrugged. “Okay. It’s a guy. Middle aged, in a bad way – pretty beaten up.”
I nodded. So he was still seeing the human guise. That meant the thing wasn’t completely devoid of its power. I shifted my gaze, defocusing from this world and peeking into what swam below. It’s something the Aware can do. We weren’t born with the ability, for the most part – it’s usually an unwanted gift that comes when we’re dragged back out of death for some reason. Detached from this reality, we’re more open to seeing all the others.
It wasn’t a middle-aged guy, but it was in a bad way. Long bony limbs protruding from a fleshy and podgy tor
so, all covered in a thin, greenish skin. The head was elongated, with long patchy hair and ears set far back. There was no mistaking the hatred in the eyes as it looked up at me. The mouth opened, letting out a long hiss, and saliva dropped down from the long row of sharp hooked teeth.
“It’s a kappa,” I said. Anton looked at me blankly. “Think of a low-grade vampire and you’re mostly there.”
“A demon?”
“Not in the sense you’d normally think of them. It’s hellkind, though. One of the infernal creatures that scuttles around the worlds. There’s all sorts. This is a scavenger, low down on the pecking order. Probably took refuge over here when the Fades -”
It occurred to me that I might be saying too much, getting ahead of myself. “What’s the deal here? You know a bit, but I get the idea that this isn’t exactly normal life for you.”
“I…I am not one of you, you are right. My family comes from Catemaco, and my mother, her father – strong Bruja, witches – going back generations. Me, I guess it skipped me. But mama taught us all the same. Just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean it can’t come after you. That’s what she always said. And when I came up here to open this place, she sent me with…protection. Said this could be a bad place. I didn’t believe her. You should have heard her when I called to tell her about our little problem.”
“I can guess. What sort of protection are we talking about here?”
He knelt down, drawing my attention to the dusty floor. “See here? This line?”
I followed the line his finger traced. It was subtle, but definitely there – a thin line of purple powder. Hard to spot unless you were looking for it, which I guess was kind of the point. “What is it?”
He shrugged. “Hey, what do I know? It’s not like she hands out the recipe. I found it packed in my case when we got here. I called her two days ago and she barked instructions down the line. Create the circle but don’t finish it. When you’re sure the thing is inside, fill in the gap and seal it. It happened earlier today. We closed the place, I got it done. At first it went crazy – no way was it human. That was clear to us right away. Then, it’s like this for what, three, four hours now.”
“That easy, huh?”
“Not exactly.” He waved his clawed arm at me. “Damn, the thing is quick.”
I stood up and stretched. “So what are you after? And how did you hear about me?”
He didn’t meet my eye. “Friend of a friend. A few of us up here, we know the old ways. We hear names. Didn’t expect to find you so close, working a job like that.”
“It’s a short term thing,” I assured him. “I’m covering for someone. The real work goes on after hours.”
He nodded. “As for what we want, what we need. Well, I want it dead and gone.”
“Good choice. Thing like that won’t forget or learn a lesson. It’s a grand for the kill, another grand to clean things up for you.”
Anton whistled. “Man, that’s steep.”
“It’s the price. You can always try it yourself.”
The look on his face told me how he felt about that idea. “Fine. You finish it, we’ll clean. Do you need anything?”
“Only some privacy. I’ve got all I need with me.”
“As you wish. You yell, and we run.”
“Thanks.”
“No, I meant we run away. You want paying, you’re on your own, man.”
I let him go upstairs and stood there observing the kappa for a few minutes. Whatever the purple powder was, it hadn’t only imprisoned the thing, it had very nearly done my job for me. Anyone vaguely Aware could have sensed the waves it was giving off, the toxic nature, all magically directed inwards. No harm to a human, but to a hellkind…Anton’s mother must be quite the bruja.
I drew out a short silver knife and checked the runes. Still charged up, still packing a punch. Which was just as well, because I wasn’t going to start trying to cast anything in a confined space – not the way things had been going for me lately. I tentatively stepped into the circle. The kappa glared at me but didn’t move. It was either playing its cards close to its chest, or it was genuinely crippled. I could only hope it was option number two.
Three steps closer and I started to relax. It trembled from its ugly head to its clawed feet – no faking going on here. I reached over and hooked two fingers into its eye sockets, yanked the head back, and ran the knife quickly along the throat, holding that position while it bled out. It was over inside of three minutes. Swift and neat, which was all good and efficient, but not as lucrative as I’d have liked. I considered my options for a moment, gave a little thought to the morality of the thing, and then nodded to myself and got to work.
“Anton, you want to come here?” I called up the stairs when I was finished. He appeared quickly, trotting down the steps, and gasped as he saw the state of the room.
“Man, what the hell?” he asked. Parts of the kappa were everywhere – across the floor, up the walls, blood on the ceiling. “What did you do?”
“You wanted it to come back?”
He shook his head hard. “No, no way.”
“Then this is what it takes. You need to get this cleared up quick, or it’s going to reek. You got any inspections coming up? Builders coming in?”
“Yeah, all of that. I don’t know…how do we?”
I stood there waiting.
“You say it was another grand to clean up?” he asked. I nodded and put out my hand. We shook.
Chapter two
The cleaning took until dawn, including the cab trip back to my apartment to pick up the necessary gear. Once it was all done I was two grand richer, crisp notes burning a hole in my pocket, and also completely shattered. I headed home, washed off any stray bits of kappa in the shower, and collapsed on my bed.
Dusk had set in when my cell phone rang. I didn’t answer. It rang twice more. Either it was a really insistent sales call or it was someone that knew what it took to get me to wake up and move.
“Hey,” I said, reaching out with my eyes still closed and taking the call.
“Hey yourself.”
I sat up in bed. “Zack? Where have you been? I tried the hospitals, I tried the docks…”
“Calm down. I’m good. Been out of town for a bit. Blame the overcurious doctors.”
Last time I’d seen Zack we’d jumped out of the penthouse of a collapsing building down near Battery Park, all Carafax related, naturally. He’d passed me all the magic he had so I could throw up a ward strong enough to save both our lives when we hit the ground. The trouble with doing that sort of thing is that it throws you into a near-coma. I’d had to leave him to medics while I headed off to save Julie. A few days of rest and relaxation and leaving well enough alone, and he’d have been back on his feet. Just his luck that a doctor in the ER thought things looked a bit odd and had him shipped off for tests.
“Should have seen the look on their faces when nothing showed up,” Zack said, finishing off the tale. “There I am, sitting up and demanding to leave. I am a walking medical miracle, Malachi. Doctors said it, so it must be true. They’ve got all that schooling and whatnot.”
“Pretty sure that their schooling never covered soul-shock. Where are you?”
“I’ve been called down to Mercy’s place, and so have you. Meet you at St Paul’s?”
Walking downtown to City Hall, I felt like a massive cloud had lifted, one that I didn’t even know had been there. I’d been worried about Zack, but maybe I hadn’t admitted to myself how much. He’d gone all out on the power he transferred to me. Any type of casting is a drain on the soul, in the same way that exercise drains the body. Do too much, push yourself too hard, and you might not come back. I’d left Zack and walked off while he was completely helpless. Sure, a paramedic was there, but at the end of the day he was down and out, and I walked away. My mood hadn’t improved when he wasn’t at the hospital, or any of the places you’d normally find him. Zack would do anything for a friend if they asked. C
ouldn’t help but feel I’d let him down.
St Paul’s was down past City Hall. Night had fallen now, and there were no tourists hanging around when I moved down the side of the building and met Zack in the shadows. He looked good. Well, as good as any man in his late forties trying to pull off the hipster look. I gave him a hug, in the way that only an emotionally-repressed Brit can do, and he waved off my apologies. “We came through it, Malachi. Well, we nearly all did, and there was nothing you could have done about Becky. Come on, let’s get this over with.”
“You’ve met Mercy?”
“Yeah. Bit weird, right?”
I nodded. Even in the world we lived in, this took some getting your head round. “How did you find her? Personality-wise, I mean?”
“Stuck up. Opinionated. Tin-pot dictator. Any of that ringing true with you?”
“Good, it’s not just me. Arabella’s refused to see her. Says it’s too much to take. Wish I could do the same, to be honest, but I need all the help I can get. You up to date with my…magic issues?”
“Yeah, but I can’t wait to see it for myself. No respect, Malachi, but you and me, we’re not exactly big-time spell-slingers. Then you go masterminding the take-down of some bad-ass demons and wind up throwing hexes round that we could only have dreamed of before. Seriously, I’m out of it for a few days and look what happens.”
We went through the hidden door, down the ladder, and along the labyrinth of corridors, moving ever deeper under New York. We were expected and welcomed, otherwise we’d have never found ourselves standing in front of a red wooden door. I took a deep breath and knocked.
“Enter.”
The door swung open and we stepped inside what I still thought of as Simeon’s library, even though now it was neither of those things. Simeon, my friend, a vampire, an agent of the Union, a man I’d never truly understood, was someone I’d known for all ten years I’d been in Manhattan. He’d dragged me away from danger and saved me from myself more times than I cared to count. The Union betrayed him, and Carafax killed him – staked him – while I was only a few steps away. I couldn’t get there in time. I wasn’t there when he died. Only Grace was with him. And as for his library, this great underground cavern of a room which was once lined with books, it was mostly empty now. What remained of the books were loaded up in sturdy boxes. There were fewer around every time I came down here. Probably down to the last few loads now. And apparently things were patched up with the Union, who’d dealt with whatever internal problems led to them nearly calling time on humanity. Good to know.
