A Mage's Fall: Dark Manhattan (Malachi English Book 2)

by Andy Hyland

  “Caleb, right?” He nodded and smiled. Last time I’d seen him was in Sitri’s court, back before the change came over the Fades. He was a tracker, a bounty hunter – freelance now that Rarkshah had gone, I guessed. I’d traded a strange knife for some information with a demon collector called Eliajel. Turned out Eliajel was bad news and Caleb wanted him in the worst possible way. “What have you been up to?”

  He shrugged. “The usual. I was deep in the Fades when the change hit. Took a while to make my way back. Things are moving out there. Really moving.”

  “So Benny said.”

  “Heard your name mentioned more than once. Not in good way, either. You experience any…trouble, lately?”

  “Ran into three hellspawn last night, as it happens. To be honest, I’d thought it was a random hit. Didn’t occur that they were targeting me.”

  “From now on, I’d stop making assumptions about anything being random if I were you. And don’t travel alone – especially not here.”

  “Don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve that kind of attention. I’m small fry.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, I think we both know that’s not true. You probably weren’t before, and you’re certainly not now. Take me seriously on this. Rumors are going round that the ratten horde are prowling. Haven’t seen them yet – nobody has, nobody ever does and gets to tell about it. But still, I wouldn’t be surprised. Not now. You okay? Looking a bit pale there.”

  “Some things are harder to deal with than others, you know?”

  “Sure I know. You need to hang tight with those you can trust. If the horde are moving, then -”

  “Molech,” I whispered.

  “No, don’t you go thinking that. No way he’s going to surrender power by coming this close to Earth. But he’s got others he can send. Others that you know, and who know you.”

  That didn’t make my stomach rest any easier. “You have any luck with Eliajel?” I said, changing the subject.

  “No, he’s gone to ground. For now. But he’ll be back, soon I reckon. He’s too methodical to let things rest. It’s plans within plans, with that one. You see him, you pass me word, you hear?”

  “Sure. You’re sitting here without a drink. Let me get you one.”

  “No, I prefer to get my own. Anyway, looks like someone else wants your time.” He nodded over towards the bar. Benny was standing at a polite distance, looking straight at us. Caleb got up, nodded to both of us, and headed to the bar.

  “Sorry to disturb,” Benny said, sitting down.

  “No problem. You okay? You’re not yourself lately. Downright grumpy.”

  “Yeah, about that. Private meeting. Couldn’t be disturbed.”

  “It’s all good. Your life’s your own. Got some bad news for you.” I told him as gently as possible about Marvin, leaving out the technicolor descriptions and sticking to the facts. He nodded when I finished, and I gave him a few minutes to take it in. “Thing is, and I hate to press you on this, but whoever got to Marvin had him tied up for a good while. If he talked, then they’ve got a list of names they could work through. You know who he was close to?”

  “That kind of list would be…extensive. Like Zack and Becky, he traded widely. Did he leave any business records around?”

  I thought about it. “There was a laptop.”

  “They’d get as much out of that as they would out of him. But I’ll find time to put some names together for you. He was close to quite a few people. Scorpio used him. Poison for the blades.”

  “This is getting nasty. Okay, get me something as soon as you can. Now, since I’ve helped you out?” I raised my eyebrows.

  He nodded. “You want to know about Julie.” He looked over his shoulder. Tusky was gone.

  “I’m confused,” I said. “Admittedly, that’s pretty normal for me, but it doesn’t mean I like it. And she’s been through a lot. Someone needs to watch her back.”

  “I agree,” he said, leaning closer and lowering his voice. “And I’m doing what I can on that front. Look, if I give you something, you need to be very, very careful. Keep your distance. I mean physically, keep your distance. Got it?”

  “Not really.”

  He sighed. “Trueflame. That’s all I can tell you. Trueflame. Go and goggle it.”

  “Eh?”

  He mimed typing on a keyboard. “Goggle it. On a computer.”

  “Ah with you.” No idea how long Benny had been this side of the veil. He’d clearly tried his best to stay on top of things, but something was getting lost in translation. “Goggle something called Trueflame. That’s all your giving me? I’m meant to have Julie’s back with only that for guidance?”

  He threw his hands up. “Look, there’s a very real limit to what I can do, okay? I went all out for you last time round, and it nearly cost us everything. How about some gratitude?”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. Clearly, Trueflame is the way forward. No other tips?”

  “Like I said. Distance. For pity’s sake keep your distance. That’s all you’re getting. Any more than that and I’ll start getting some unwelcome visitors. Don’t need that again anytime soon.”

  I finished my drink, thanked him profusely, and headed out. With Caleb’s words ringing round my head, it seemed much darker in the Fades. Every corner could be providing cover for something that was gunning for me. And the ratten horde moving. A chill ran down my spine. Didn’t think the day would come when I’d be facing the horde again.

  Damn. I was too far gone to be jumping at shadows. I slid out of there. Time to fire up the laptop and start goggling.

  Chapter seven

  Back home I seriously thought about putting a rune in place above the door. If unseen forces were moving, if someone had put the demonic equivalent of a hit out on me, then I couldn’t keep pussy-footing around with security any more. And what if Scorpio had talked before she died? Had she known where I lived? Life was getting complicated, quickly. The apartment was looking less like a place of refuge and more like a trap I could be cornered in.

  I traced a warding rune on the door. It would strengthen the fabric of the place, stop someone getting in with a strong kick or a nasty hex. All I had to do now was pour in some power. Not much, just a little. Enough to activate it. My finger hovered an inch away. A spark, that’s all, I told myself. Come on, you’ve done this hundreds of times.

  I let my hand fall, disgusted with myself. Zack would have to help me out. The guy who supposedly looked up to me. That was going to change for sure after he saw how pathetic I’d become.

  Something was waiting inside on the mat that cheered me up. A postcard from Melanie who’d skipped town two weeks back after systematically pissing off everyone who knew her. Getting abducted, twice, had probably also instilled in her a deep need for a change of scene. The picture on the front was of a green and pleasant place with wide empty roads and redbrick buildings. LaFayette, Georgia. From the brief note on the back, Melanie seemed happy. A bit of friction with the locals, apparently, but she was sure that there was nothing that couldn’t be handled. I stuck it on the fridge.

  Inside, I fired up my laptop and googled anything to do with Trueflame and Manhattan. The first page was irrelevant – unless holistic healing and massages were on Benny’s mind when he passed on the info. Same with the second. Only when I clicked through to the third page did things get interesting. There was no website as such – only a few mentions in forums, the online equivalent to the word on the street.

  Turned out there was a group called Trueflame that met in various shelters and community centers, never the same place twice in a row. The details were sketchy, but all the enthusiasts were going on about restoring truth and joy to the city. No mention of God, so we weren’t dealing with a church of any kind. Maybe a cult then, or some way-out mix of the scientific and the mystical. That wouldn’t be unusual around here – you can only go so far down the route of materialism without people, at some point, throwing up their hands and asking about the po
int of it all.

  Tracking them down looked like it was going to be a problem, but my luck turned when a post from only half an hour ago mentioned a meeting tonight down on Eleventh Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. That gave me time to sleep, shave and look presentable.

  It was early evening when I rolled up outside the hall. The cab had dropped me two blocks away, as approaching on foot gave more time to scout things out and plan the final approach. It was low key and amateurish. One big black guy carried round a sandwich board with a hand painted logo of a burning torch. Hardly original. Two women, one Hispanic and the other white, stood either side of the door in the middle of the sidewalk, shoving leaflets into the hands of anyone who walked past, whether they wanted one or not.

  Benny had said to keep my distance. He was insistent about that, and given that he’d passed on the intel, I felt that his request – demand, really – should be respected. But there’s only so much you can learn from half a block away and on the other side of the street.

  Before I could make my mind up either way, a BMW slid up to the curb, stopping dead outside. Goatee tosser, whose name I was clearly going to have to learn at some point, jumped out, smiling and waving to the women, who lit up like their own personal savior had arrived. Julie exited the passenger’s side of the car more hesitantly, waiting while he dished out hugs and bumped fists with the sandwich board guy. Well, at least the connections were all starting to make sense now. How had Julie got involved with this bunch, though? I mean, she was going through a difficult phase, sure, but this was low-rent nonsense, right?

  Julie and the tosser disappeared inside, and before too long the women gave up the leafletting and followed them. Only sandwich board guy remained, holding a few leaflets that he’d grabbed off the white girl as she went past. I wasn’t prepared to wander off without finding something more out, so I jogged across the road between traffic and wandered up to him, flashing my best joyful smile.

  “Hey,” I called out.

  He looked up and nodded. “Hey. You’re just in time. They’ve started, but there’s always plenty of seats for newcomers. Even if it’s full, we’ll make sure you get a proper welcome. I’m Aric.” He held out a meaty paw, which engulfed mine as we shook. Good grief, this guy was monstrous – the closer you got, the bigger he seemed.

  “Fred,” I said, coming out with the first name I could think of. The devil in me wanted to add that my last name was Flintstone, but that would be pushing my luck off the edge of a cliff. “Actually, I can’t make it tonight – got an urgent call on my way here. Thought I’d grab one of those leaflets though – something to read on the metro.”

  “No problem, man. Look, you take one of these, and how about I get your cell number? We move round a lot, you could have trouble finding us.”

  That wasn’t ideal, but refusing would send all the wrong signals, so I gave him the number of a burner handset I kept in the kitchen drawer for emergencies. They could leave a message on that, I could stay in touch, and they’d be none the wiser about who I was. I thanked him, gave him the high five he demanded, and I headed off south.

  Two blocks down, I was joined by a couple who flanked me and took my arms. My first instinct was to elbow the first, drive my palm into the nose of the second, kick their legs out and run. But these weren’t thugs - they were intensely pleasant zealots. Ron, to my left, was a camp blonde hipster in skinny black dungarees, a look that he was completely unable to pull off successfully. Kim, to my right, was dark haired and rosy lipped. She’d be a stunner once the acne cleared up.

  “We are so sorry you couldn’t join us tonight,” said Ron. “But, hey, we know how hectic modern life can be, right?”

  “So we thought, let’s be friendly,” chipped in Kim. “If you can’t come to the whole meeting, surely you’ll let us buy you a coffee and spend five minutes with you, right?”

  If I was a normal guy encountering this situation, I’d run a mile, possibly doing the elbowing and kicking if need be. There was a missionary zeal burning in their eyes, and since I’d taken a leaflet I was clearly fair game. Kim had done her homework on the area, and steered me towards a coffee shop on the corner. She sat down with me at a corner table, not once letting go of my arm, while Ron skipped over and ordered the drinks.

  “Have you read the leaflet yet?” Kim asked, her eyes sparkling.

  “No, not yet to be honest,” I said. “I’ve only had it a matter of seconds. Tell you what.” I placed the leaflet face down on the table. “Since I’ve got you here, why don’t I skip it and you can fill me in? Heard about Trueflame, friend of a friend mentioned it, and I got the location online. I’m intrigued, but in the dark, for the most part.”

  “That sounds great,” said Ron, sitting down enthusiastically and sending coffee sloshing over the sides of the cups. Still, I wasn’t turning down a free drink, even if some of it was now spreading out over the table. “We’re pretty new ourselves. But then, everyone is. Trueflame’s only been going, what, two months now? But it’s such a powerful movement. David’s going to blow you away.”

  “Ron, Ron,” giggled Kim. “Slow down. You’ll scare Fred off.”

  If Fred was real, he’d have been running for the door long before now. But he wasn’t, and these two were clearly prepared to talk, so it was all good.

  “You’re going to have to start at the beginning. Who’s David?”

  Kim lent forward, eyes glancing round, clearly prepared to divulge a great secret. “Don’t you think,” she almost whispered, “that there’s a great darkness over this city?”

  Seconds passed before I figured out she expected an answer. “Sure,” I said. “I mean, bad things happen, right?”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s more than that. Dark forces are at work. People going missing. People getting hurt.”

  “It’s New York,” I countered.

  Now it was Ron’s turn. “This isn’t normal. This isn’t…human. Do you believe in the powers of evil? You should, you know. The world is full of things we don’t know about, things we can’t see. And there are those in league with the forces. We need to expose this. We need to bring light and clarity to Manhattan, and then to the world. That’s what Trueflame is. Light and truth.”

  Kim pulled a book out of her purse. The Trueflame logo was on the front – a more professional job than Aric had on his sandwich board. Authored by a David Lamarchand. Name didn’t ring a bell, but the photo inside the front cover was familiar. Finally, goatee tosser had a name.

  “So, David,” I asked. “What’s his story?”

  “David’s intense,” Ron said, nodding seriously. “He really gets it. You need to talk to him.”

  “We can arrange that,” said Kim. “The cause always needs more people. How about we arrange a study session? We can go through things in more detail.”

  “There’s a lot of evidence,” Ron assured me.

  “A lot,” Kim agreed. “And once you’ve got your head round the basics, you can sit down with David and he’ll go over any final questions.”

  “Final? Final before what?”

  “Before you commit,” said Ron. “Before you become one of us.”

  “It’s an adventure,” said Kim, patting my arm. “It is so good to meet you, Fred. We’ve got your number. Is it okay to call you tomorrow?”

  “That would be great,” I said, finishing the coffee and standing up. “Please do. I’m really looking forward to finding out more.”

  I called Zack right away, as soon as I’d seen Kim and Ron trot back up to the meeting hall. He was in the vicinity, and got there in about ten minutes. It was worth getting the word out about these guys. They were absolutely right about everything, of course, and that was a problem. People were better off not knowing about the world that lived alongside and beneath the one they saw every day. The demons for the most part didn’t want the publicity – their work was much easier if the masses were ignorant. And the Aware helped keep things that way, partly because we loved the little hum
an buggers and wanted them to be happy, but also because we were partial to working in the shadows ourselves.

  “And Julie’s hooked up with this David guy?” Zack asked as pointed the hall out. Aric had disappeared – gone inside with the rest of them, I assumed.

  “No, she clearly hasn’t,” I snapped. “Well, I don’t think so. Hell, I don’t know what she’s doing with this David guy or Trueflame.”

  “Is she feeding them info? She knows enough.”

  I shrugged. “Can’t think that she would. As soon as I get answers, I’ll tell you. Hey, look at that. You want to meet someone useful?”

  A figure was half-walking, half-jogging up the street, away from us. He was moving fast but I’d seen enough of a side profile to recognize Detective Larry Dialgo. Cops were useful contacts, along with doormen, cleaners and cab drivers, but tough to get in with at a level you could trust. If I could give Zack an introduction, it’d pay dividends in the future, and the benefits ran both ways.

  “He’s moving fast,” Zack said as we fell into a quick jog ourselves. “You think maybe this isn’t the best time to bother him?”

  “Not for him, maybe, but it’s fine for us. Anyway, looks like he might need the help.” I pointed across to the other side of the street. We weren’t the only ones following him. Two hellkind, full demons from the look of it. Fresh out of the Fades was my guess, because they wore their human guises badly. Anyone taking a good look would shy away in horror from the greasy skin that hung a bit too loose, and the eyes a fraction too far apart. Those and a hundred other small flaws would mark them out as strange, even to those who couldn’t begin to guess at their true nature.

  “This Detective,” said Zack, picking up the pace. “He’s Aware?”

  “No, but he’s convinced. Family issues brought him face to face with reality. He knows about us, and that we’re on the level.”

  “So what’s he done to upset them?”