by Andy Hyland
“This is incredible,” I said.
Valen nodded. “It’s not like this back where I’m from. How do you think it happened?”
I thought about it. No way of knowing for sure, but there was no harm in guessing. “You’ve heard of the big demonic plot to build a portal between hell and Manhattan, right? The beam was nearly complete. We destroyed the final beacon at the centerpoint, and the blast went right back along the beam in both directions. If you ask me, the blast reached the edge of the Fades, bounced back off the veil, and dragged an…an echo, I suppose, of our world here. That make any sense?”
“As much as anything ever does in this place. So, any idea how we get to this great bar you were talking about?”
“That could be a problem. Let’s walk for a bit.”
We walked further in. The streets were empty. At one point Valen turned when we heard children’s voices, laughing from a few blocks away. “Trust me,” I told him, “you hear that over here, you don’t go anywhere near it.”
“Understood. Maybe this place isn’t so different from back home after all.”
A battered piece of paper tumbled down the street towards us. I trapped it with my foot and picked it up. “What do you know? Benny’s decided to advertise.” It was only a handwritten note, not much more. From the hole in the top it had been nailed to a surface somewhere at some point. Directions to Benny’s, and the promise of a warm welcome when you got there. We were less than a block away.
“So this is it? Nice. I like it,” said Valen when we strode through the door. It was much as it always had been – slightly bigger now, maybe. More tables. But still, to my eyes at least, a comfortable Olde Worlde English pub. Maybe Valen saw something else, something subtly different, but I didn’t want to know about that. All the chairs were taken, and the bodies at the bar were two deep, waving notes and jangling coins, trying to get served. A normal bar with this type of crowd would rapidly generate into a brawl, but Benny used some high-level anti-violence runes to keep everyone in line. “Busy place.”
“Normally quieter,” I told him as I looked around. “No sign of Benny. Why don’t you grab us some drinks while I track him down.”
“Sure. What do you want?”
“Anything that’s strong. And make sure you get a lot of it.”
“Man, you are my kind of drinking buddy.”
Benny wasn’t behind the bar serving, which was unusual but not unheard of. I pushed my way through the throng and out into the back area. It was quieter here – a few customers having discreet conversations, money changing hands, deals going down. None of my business. The door to the back room was closed, so I knocked and waited. After a few seconds it opened a crack and one of Benny’s eyes peered out at me. He hesitated for a moment, then opened the door all the way and beckoned me in.
“You by yourself in here?” The table was stacked with books, none of which I recognized. One large tome lay open. Strange charts and diagrams. The text looked like Latin. Benny saw me looking and closed the book, pushing it to the side.
“How are you doing, Malachi?” He gestured to the chairs and we both took a seat. “Honest answers, please.”
“I’m…hell, I’m doing about as well as you are, by the look of it.”
Benny looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. His skin was unhealthily pale. From the smell, I’d say he hadn’t washed for at least three or four days. “Well, I suppose I asked for that. Do you want to start?”
So I did. I started with the magic problems, moved on to the Union problems, and finished with the Julie problem, which was when my voice started cracking. Benny reached across and put his hand on mine. “I don’t pretend to know what’s going on there, but we spent a bit of time together, me and Julie. She’s not a bitch. Not like some girls you’ve got involved with.”
“Well, the evidence is pointing the other way on that one.”
“You saw a few seconds’ worth of something. A cousin? A friend? Who knows? I’d suggest giving her some space, and then giving her a call. She’s gone through a lot herself, remember.”
He had a point. Her Dad dying. Nearly being sacrificed. Having her eyes opened to a whole demonic world she’d never known about. I nodded. “Come on then, what’s up with you? It’s busy out there.”
“Yeah, it’s busy, but it’s who we’re getting through that’s worrying me. Back when Sitri was the only guy in town, you knew who and what you were dealing with. Brute force, mindless idiocy. Pain in the ass, but nothing too major. Now, though…you ever heard of the Hak’seth? Big, hooded guys. Look like how you’d always imaged the grim reaper.” I shook my head. “They’re big on, among other things, eating their prey. Piece by piece. And caring for it lovingly, all at the same time. You could die over several months while they tenderly sliced and roasted you. Group of five came through this morning. Slid over as soon as they could.”
“How’d they get here so quickly?”
“I reckon a few groups got wind of what the Aleph were doing, thought they’d join in the fun, and left the deep Fades before the storm struck. They were caught in the deep desert, took shelter there. And now they’ve come all the way.”
“But you’re neutral, right?”
He gave me a long look. Something was going on there that I didn’t know about. “I still like to know what I’m dealing with,” he said eventually. “Some of these things I’ve never come across before.”
“You need any help from me?”
He started to shake his head, and then thought about it some more. “I’ve been trying to get hold of a…friend of mine. Aware. Even before the Carafax problems, I couldn’t find him anywhere. I’ve talked to everyone that knows him. If you had time, maybe you could make some enquiries. His name’s Drall. Marvin Drall.”
Rang a bell. I pulled out the folded note that Liberty had passed me earlier. “Marvin Drall. Deals in powders and potions. Got a place up on Hamilton Heights.”
“That’s him. How do you…?”
I filled him in on my little errand. “I’m starting with Scorpio, mind you. We’ll check out Marvin straight after we’ve found her.”
“Understood.” He gave me a worried look. “Ever get that feeling in the pit of your stomach?”
“Tell you the truth, I’ve had that for so long now that I don’t know what normal feels like anymore. Look, thanks for the talk. We’ll catch up again soon, but I’m meant to be grabbing a drink with this new guy. Look after yourself. Get some sleep.”
“I’ll try. And Malachi? Get your magic sorted out. This isn’t a good time to go wandering round naked.”
The same advice, yet again making it sound so much easier than it actually was.
Out in the bar, Valen had somehow commandeered a table and persuaded a newly arrived Arabella to join him. I made the introductions and we embarked on a guided tour of Mexican wines from the last hundred years or so. That’s the thing about Benny’s – you can drink like a millionaire on a cabbie’s budget, and when it’s time to go, you decide to be sober. But, looking at my watch, there was no need for sober yet.
“Valen told you about the work he’s got lined up?” Arabella asked.
I shook my head and looked over at him. He winked. “New outfit in town. Fifty grand, cash, upfront today so I can get set up. Work should last a few weeks, longer if it all goes as planned, and I get another three hundred at least at the end of it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What’s the work?”
He shrugged. “They won’t say. Not so unusual, I think.”
“You’re not worried?” I asked.
“Pussy,” Arabella muttered, downing another glass in one gulp. “It’s not like we go round with wings on and playing harps, is it? So the work’s dodgy. We’re dodgy. No problem. Reckon you can get me in?”
“Hold off on that till we know more,” I told her before Valen could answer.
“Hey,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender. “I came here to make friends, not start arguments.
Come, let’s leave the subject.” He raised his glass. “To good times ahead.”
And so we drank, and, for a while, we forgot.
*
A little after dawn, I caught up with Zack up on Second Avenue. The address we had for Scorpio was a second floor unit on 116th Street. It turned out to be above an auto body shop that from the look of it had closed down a few months ago. “Entirely possible she owns that as well,” said Zack as we walked past a few times, checking it out. “Easy way to be inconspicuous and get some privacy.”
“She had the money for that?”
“Come on, you know the kind of money you can get around here. If you applied yourself, went all out, took all the work you could, you could get yourself set up somewhere nice – nicer than you place, I mean. Real quick.”
I nodded. He had a point. Maybe I should stop being so fussy. But then, I had an apartment, I had enough cash to do what I wanted to do. Why break a sweat? “Not sure there’s much point to this,” I said. “Surely someone’s already checked this out.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. Scorpio makes the rest of us look sociable, and that’s on a good day. Any contact details for her on that list the Union passed you? Didn’t think so. It’s a happy accident I managed to get this place out of the database. What do you want to try?”
“Let’s be traditional and go for the front door.”
The neighborhood was beginning to stir, but the people on the streets were too caught up in their own plans to pay any attention to two guys trying the door to an abandoned car workshop. It was a basic lock, so Zack covered me while I picked it. In a little under a minute we were inside, and I closed the door gently behind us. I let my senses roll out, looking for magic, danger, anything useful. “You get anything?” I asked.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
That could be good or bad. Recent history suggested that the odds weren’t in our favor. We checked out the downstairs first. Used car parts, one stripped carcass that used to be a Nissan, some tools. Nothing out of the ordinary.
“What did Scorpio do when she wasn’t with us?” I asked. She’d never spoken about it and I’d never asked. I’d never been as tight with her as I’d been with Zack, Becky and Arabella.
“You don’t know?” Zack asked, raising his eyebrows. “Wow. Okay. Well, Scorpio killed people. Lots of them.”
“Merc?”
“Assassin. Damn good one. We sparred once. Lasted seven seconds, and that was with her being generous. If you had money in Manhattan and you wanted someone gone, eventually you’d end up speaking to her.”
“I did not see that coming.”
“Sometimes, Malachi, you really don’t pay attention.”
“I look on it as respecting people’s privacy.”
“Comes down to the same thing. There’s nothing down here. Let’s head up.”
There was a locked door in the corner, that, once we got it open, revealed stairs going up. The smell hit us hard. “Oh, that’s not good,” Zack muttered. There was still no sign of anything in here, but we were careful nonetheless. Zack cast a ward around the two of us, and I pulled a knife. Benny was right. I needed to get my act together sharpish.
Upstairs was a surprise. A comfortable, almost luxurious apartment. The dining room consisted of a long oak table with one chair. A few bills were stacked up near the end, next to a half finished plate of spaghetti, some of it still twirled around a fork. Hadn’t been touched for a while. Sadly, that’s not where the smell was coming from.
The living room was large and well-appointed, with leather sofas and a huge wall-mounted television. Bose sound system in the corner, and a slim bookshelf. The bedroom held a single bed and a wardrobe, piles of clothes on the floor. Gold taps in the bathroom. Nothing special. Nothing that spoke of an assassin, let alone one who was Aware. And nothing that explained that smell.
“Got to be something we’re missing,” said Zack.
“Let’s try the obvious first.” We went back into the living room and I felt around the edge of the bookcase. A small indent in the wood to the side near the top on the right. A quick press, and there was an audible click. I pulled gently, and the whole case came away from the wall. I was about to comment on the appalling lack of imagination these days when the stench hit home, making me gag.
“Is that buzzing I can hear? What’s buzzing?”
Zack’s question was answered by a stream of flies that swept out of the door, so many it seemed they were filling the room behind us. Nothing to do now but press on. I wrenched the doorcase the rest of the way open and put my arm across my nose and mouth.
Scorpio had been truly beautiful. Strikingly so. Flawless ebony skin, and proud, high cheekbones you could cut yourself on. In another life she could have been a model. In the one we’d all fallen into she was a contract killer. Roll the dice and place your bets. I could only assume that the body spread out on the floor was her.
“Damn it, let’s cover her up. No need to see her like that.” Zack ducked back and returned a few seconds later with a sheet from the bedroom. We draped it over the lower half of the naked woman before us. A bit of dignity wasn’t going to help her now, but if it made Zack happier about what lay before us, then so be it.
“Oh man, what did they do to you?” Zack asked, kneeling down and stroking her head. I don’t know how he had the stomach for it. He was seeing her as she was. I could only see the here and now. I calmed my breathing and became analytical. Work the scene, put the pieces together. From the head down.
Someone had wrenched out her eyes. It wasn’t a clean job. Black pits stared at the ceiling. Not quite empty – there was movement in there. My money was on maggots.
“Zack, move away, mate. Let me see.” Reluctantly he stood and stepped back. I was right. Someone had practically hacked the eyes out. No damage to the nose, but the tongue was missing, only a wet, slick bloodied stump remaining. Again, it wasn’t gentle – I counted four smashed teeth.
Someone had done a number on her chest as well, sliced and cracked open, right through the bone. I gingerly pried the sternum and ribs apart. Damn it, they’d taken the heart. The damage didn’t go any further south than that. Small mercies.
“Where’d all these damn flies come from?” Zack muttered, swatting them away from his face.
“Sealed room, I’d say they were planted in the body. The eggs, anyway. From those you get the maggots, then the end result.”
“Hell, Malachi, what did she do to deserve this?”
“Apart from kill for money? Sorry – bad taste. This wasn’t revenge, anyway. And it wasn’t sexual. This was ritualistic. The eyes, the tongue, the heart. Crude, but symbolic nonetheless.” I looked up at him. “Where’d she keep her gear? Guns, anything like that?”
Zack shook his head. “Scorpio was a knife girl through and through. Wouldn’t touch guns. Thought they lacked artistry. I’m guessing they were in there.” He gestured to a slim metal cabinet fixed to the wall. The doors hung open, and the shelves and hooks inside were empty. “They cleaned her out. There would have been some high-level stuff in there. Maybe they took that as an afterthought. A bonus.”
“You could well be right.” I stood up. Nothing more to see here. “You knew her pretty well, didn’t you?”
“We went back. When she first came to town, years ago…she and I were close, yeah. She was always way out of my league. We calling the cops?”
I thought about it for a moment but shook my head. “Whoever did this took down a mage who was also a trained and effective killing machine. They got in her place, past all defenses – I’m assuming she had some - and did this to make a point. This isn’t the cops’ problem. This is ours.”
Zack nodded. “I concur. We’re not leaving her here, are we?”
“Of course not. She was a warrior. Let’s send her on her way like one.”
I laid my knife on her ruined chest, and pulled her arm across so that her hand lay on it. “Come on. Let’s light this place up.�
�
There was enough flammable material in the garage downstairs to blaze the building, quick and hard. The fire fighters would get to it before it could do too much damage to the buildings on either side, but nothing in here would be saved. They’d get the body – or at least enough of one to be puzzled about and keep them guessing for a few days before something better came along – but we’d have the memories. The picture. The drive to pay back the bastard who’d done this.
Chapter four
We were two blocks south before the first flashing blue lights flashed past on their way to the fire. It’s amazing what you can do with enough paint thinner and a delayed-action combustion rune. Not that I could help with the last part at the moment – I shudder to think what could have happened if I’d started pouring power into one of those. Zack had looked up at me with something approaching pity in his eyes as he worked.
Now he looked blankly ahead as we walked. “That wasn’t just a kill, or even a ritualistic kill,” he said, as much to himself as to me. “That was desecration. They desecrated her.”
“Bottle it up,” I told him. “Save the anger for when it’ll do us some good.”
“What now?”
“You’re talking like I’m in charge.”
He gave a grim smile. “You are. I was wondering when you’d figure it out. You’ve been in charge for a while now.”
“Think you’re confusing me with someone else. We’re a happy band of loosely-connected rebels, remember?”
“Still. You lead, we follow. You need to open your eyes. We’re in strange times. The Aware look to you. Even when you’re not there and questions come up, your name gets mentioned as some sort of authority.”
“Really? Shit.”
“Get used to it. And I don’t want to nag, or get on your back over this, but your magic -”
