by Andy Hyland
“Well, if they’re playing nice, they’ll tell us. Otherwise it’s the usual game of kill or be killed. You packing ink?”
Zack grinned and rolled up his sleeve. A masterfully created cobweb danced up his arm. Not many people used Zack’s kind of magic because, quite frankly, it hurt like hell. But my friend was one of those rare breed that were prepared to suffer for the sake of art. Good to see he’d toned it down from the flaming skull, though – that one had really taken it out of him.
Ahead, Larry turned right into an industrial yard. There was a large doublewide mesh gate across the entrance, but whoever chained it had done a shoddy job. There was enough leeway to drag it open and squeeze through. A matter of seconds after he’d ducked in, the demons caught up. They were broader, and had to wriggle to fit through, but they made it. By this point, we were sprinting to get there. Larry might be a great shot, or he might not, but either way it wasn’t going to help him. If all he had was a gun, he was finished.
I dived through the gap first, skidding to my knees and getting up, taking in the yard like a quarterback takes in a defensive formation. There were three trucks to the side on the left– some cover there, but the gaps between them were thin and left no room for maneuver. The center and right of the yard was open apart from some sacking and chains. A high wall ran round, with buildings straight ahead. All in all, it wasn’t great. This would be all about who had the most firepower.
Larry had his back to the building, gun raised and sighted. The demons had split up, one moving to the left, one to the right, denying him a constant aim at both. Three or four good shots could slow one of them down, but by the time he’d fired them off, the other one would be on his throat. It wasn’t a complicated strategy on their part, but it would get the job done, and get Larry dead.
“Hey lads,” I called out. “Mind if we join in?”
The demons looked at me, then at each other. The one on the right nodded and padded towards us, leaving his friend to concentrate on Larry. “Are you who I think you are?” it growled at me.
“You’re not giving me many clues, are you?”
“You’ve changed, but I remember you, Sem’ki. Do you remember me? I’ll make you remember, before we’re through. I’ll make you call out my name.”
I froze, the breath catching in my throat.
“Malachi,” Zack warned. “Stay with me here. Don’t listen to him.”
The demon leered, and then leapt at us. Zack responded first and saved my life, not for the first time. With a loud cry, he flung his arm forward, and the web span from it, dragging off skin, expanding as it moved through the air. The demon crashed into it, and lost momentum as the web snagged arms and legs. Off balance, he toppled, slamming his face onto the asphalt.
Red mist flooded my vision, and I sprinted at him, pulling my knife from its sheath. There was no finesse, no skill in me. I drove it hard into his face and neck again and again and again. When I finished, there wasn’t much to look at. Zack and Larry were staring at me, open-mouthed. Somehow they’d taken out the other demon. Who knows how long I’d been slashing for. I looked at the knife. It was bent and chipped, ruined.
“We need to talk,” Zack said quietly as I struggled to my feet.
“What were they?” Larry asked.
“You know what they were,” I said quietly. “The question is, why were they after you? What have you done to deserve such personal attention?”
Larry holstered his gun. Had he used it? I didn’t remember him firing any shots, but there were casings on the ground. “I was meant to meet someone here. Either they didn’t show, they were dealt with before we arrived, or…”
“Or you were set up,” Zack said, completing the sentence. “It’s possible, but they were tailing you from back in the street. If they knew that much about what you were doing, then they’d have been here waiting. Maybe your contact lost their nerve. Probably a good job they did, for their sake.”
Larry nodded, then looked at the demon corpses. “What are we going to do about this? Can’t leave them here.”
“I’ll deal with it,” I said. Larry and Zack looked at each other. It wasn’t difficult to read what was going through their minds. “I said I’ll deal with it. Not a problem.”
“If you say so. Now wha-”
His gaze jumped to the gate and wall behind me. I span in time to see four more demons dropping to the ground. These were smaller, more agile, much faster than the other two. “Someone’s sent backup,” I muttered. “Zack, what have you got?”
“No more ink. I’ve got enough in me for a few hexes or a really good ward. Take your pick, but we’re outnumbered and outgunned here. That is, unless you get involved.”
“Zack -”
“Malachi, you step up now, or we die. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.”
I moved forward, putting myself at the center of a semicircle, the demons stepping forward towards me, spaced apart. I needed something simple, something I could get a grip on, but also something highly destructive. A firewall. That would be do-able, or it should be. I’ve cast a few in my time – curved walls of witchfire that expand outwards. Ideal for this kind of faceoff. Mind you, up until this point they’d been short-range affairs, five meters at the most. This would call for a wall thirty meters wide, crossing twenty meters of ground. If the recent past was anything to go by, that wouldn’t exactly be a problem. Containing it was going to be the issue.
I took in a deep breath and let it out, drawing my arms up and together, mouthing the words of the spell, flexing my fingers, directing the magic. Then, after a few seconds, when all was ready, I flexed, called out the final word, and threw my hands wide. The witchfire sprang from the ground, green and red in a wall seven feet high or more, dancing in the darkness.
“Malachi,” Zack called. “Too far. You’ve gone too far. Reign it in.”
I glanced behind me. The witchfire wasn’t a wall, it was in a complete circle around me, and now it was straining at the leash and I couldn’t hold it. The animal I’d created and called up was too strong. “I can’t,” I screamed out, as my grip failed and the flames flew outwards. Zack dove for Larry, taking him to the ground. The only thing I could do to help was to send a spark of magic flying Zack’s way, a boost to whatever he was trying. Too much, and I could kill him. But there was a good chance I’d done that anyway.
It was over in seconds. The demons were gone, incinerated. The witchfire had also taken care of the bodies of the first two. I sank to my knees, breathless, hopeless. But somehow Zack and Larry were getting up, their clothes charred and smoking.
“Guess it was a good job I saved it all for a ward, right? Thanks for the boost. Nice of you to return the favor, eventually.” Zack grinned at me, but his eyes showed something else entirely. “What do you say we get out of here?”
“That sounds good,” I muttered.
We staggered out of the yard the way we’d come in, ducking back through the gap by the gate. Life outside was going on as normal. Traffic buzzing both ways, people heading home, living their normal, everyday lives. I caught sight of someone on the other side of the street, right before they turned and ran off.
“Who was that?” Zack asked, following my eyes.
“Not sure, but I think it was Valen,” I said. “Met him a few days ago. Fresh in town, up from Mexico.”
“He’s one of us? I mean, on our side?”
“I thought so. But that doesn’t explain what he was doing here. Or why he ran.”
“What now?”
“I’ve got to check on something. Do me a favor, though. Get hold of Arabella. She was getting friendly with Valen last time I saw her. That’s starting to seem worrying.”
“I’m on it. Stay safe. And Malachi, we need to talk. About what happened just now.”
“Later,” I snapped. Then, “Sorry. Yeah, we’ll talk.”
Zack looked at me, nodded, and left.
“Before you head off,” I said to Larry, “what were you
meeting the contact about?”
“I’m not sure I should say. Grateful for the save and all that, but…kind of personal.”
“People going missing?” I suggested. “And not the usual suspects. Not the kind that fall through the gaps. And they’re young. Healthy. Pretty.”
He looked at me hard, then nodded. “Like I said, personal. But thanks for the save. Mind if I say something? Since we’re delving into secrets here?”
“Be my guest.”
“There was a guy I trained with. He was home-schooled, sheltered. No business going up for this kind of job, but some people won’t listen to sense. He’d never held a gun before – raised to see them as the root of all evil. You should have seen him that first time on the shooting range, the piece of metal in his hands, staring down at it.”
“Your point?”
“The look on his face back then, that was what I saw on yours back then, before you set that fire going. Fear.”
“You saw what it can do. What it nearly did.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. It wasn’t fear of the consequences. It was fear of the thing itself. You’re a – what do you call yourself – mages? Magic is your thing. But you’re scared of it. I’m thinking that’s something you need to sort out. Sorry if I’m speaking out of turn, but seeing as you nearly fried me, I’m thinking I’m entitled to express an opinion here. Anyway, you be careful. And think about what I said.”
“What happened to your friend?”
“He bought it, second day on the job. Got two other guys killed as well. Stay safe.”
“Cheers, Larry,” I said to his back as he walked away.
Chapter eight
Mercy wasn’t in the cavern when I arrived, but the door was open and I could feel the runes pulsing with power, so she was around somewhere. I walked round by the now-empty shelving, wondering what she was going to do with the space if she wasn’t into books. A small desk had been moved to the center of the room, lit up by a tall candle at either end. An elegant fountain pen rested on a stand, and a leather book lay open at the first page. It was blank but for the first few lines, written in a neat, cursive hand. I leaned over, trying to make out the words.
“The books are private,” said Mercy’s voice from behind me. “Did Simeon never mention that to you?”
“I’ll be honest, it never came up.”
“Well now you know.” She closed the book gently, and patted it. I noticed the skin on her hand. When I’d first met her, back when she was human, it was loose and covered in liver spots. Now it was smooth, taut.
“Are you getting younger? If that’s not an impertinent question.”
She smiled thinly. “I was beginning to notice the same thing. A surprise, but a pleasant one. Apparently nobody of my age has joined the line, accepted the change, before. Everyone is paying attention to my progress.”
“So Simeon didn’t warn you?”
“He never had the chance, poor man.” With the resentment I’d been feeling towards Mercy lately, it was easy to forget that Simeon had been her friend and colleague every bit as much as mine.
“Look, I’m sorry I might have been…tetchy over the past few days. We haven’t exactly got off to the best of starts, but my mind’s been on other things.”
“Suddenly trying to understand new powers, new abilities? Wondering where you fit into a world that’s changing around you. Not sure who to trust anymore, or who trusts you? Believe it or not, I understand.”
And it hit me that she did. Probably more than anyone else. I’d been avoiding her, partly out of my own grief over Simeon, and missed out on the closest thing to a kindred spirit available.
It turned out that Mercy had inherited Simeon’s gift for mind-reading. Well, maybe it wasn’t mind-reading exactly, more an uncannily perceptive analysis of the person standing in front of you. She smiled. “Are we having a moment here?”
I couldn’t help but smile back. “I think so. Seriously, though, mind if I ask you something?”
“Fire away,” she said, as she started tidying the desk.
“When you got these new…abilities of yours, these gifts. It was sudden, the same as me. Were you scared?”
She stopped and stood straight, tapping her fingers against the book she held. Finally she shook her head. “No, I don’t believe I was. And not even in the slightest apprehensive. If anything, I’d describe it as exhilarating. After the pain had passed, anyway. Even now, if I let myself, I can lose hours pondering and exploring. Intoxicating. It is intoxicating. I expect it will pass, that I’m in the honeymoon period of my becoming. But for now, it is wonderful.” She paused. “Ah, I see. You were hoping that I would confess to being miserable, like you.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. But miserable – that’s accurate. And scared. Don’t tell anyone that. Hell, you can if you want, actually – a guy I’d not known five minutes saw it in my eyes, so I’m sure everyone else is treating me carefully by not mentioning it. Why aren’t you scared? Your change, your transition – bloody hell Mercy, you’re not even human anymore – that trumps anything I’ve done. What’s so different?”
Again, she considered her answer before speaking. “I think I am not scared because I know the lineage of what I have acquired. My power, my essence, my being, comes from Simeon and those before him. It is new to me, but they are not. I’ve worked with Simeon, studied under him, read about those that came before. They were not monsters, and so – oh, I see.”
She walked over, reached up gently and rubbed away the tear that was running down my cheek. “My poor boy, that’s it. It’s the lineage of power. What are you scared of? What haunts you?”
“The Aleph,” I whispered. The demon Lords that had so nearly made Manhattan their domain. Deep in the hell-plains, on the borders of hell itself. It was their power that ran in Edwin Monk, the head of the Carafax cult. Their power that was released, blowing out the beam, changing the essence of the Fades. Benny shielded me with what must have been an unbelievably powerful ward, but what if it wasn’t enough? It was soon after that that I’d first cast a powerful and unintended hex.
“Say it, my boy,” said Mercy. “There is power in words.”
“I’m scared that the power I have comes from the Aleph. What if it changes me? What if it draws them? Or draws me back there to them?”
“Well, that’s your question then,” said someone behind me. Liberty had softly padded in, overhearing our conversation. He gave me a nod and gripped my arm. “Get to the bottom of it. Make it a priority.”
“I’m kind of drowning in priorities at the moment. Reminds me – Marvin Drall had a laptop. Check it for his business records – Benny said he supplied Scorpio. If he talked, they’ve got a network of names that we need to warn.”
“I’m on it,” said Liberty. “This is why a detailed and comprehensive list of the Aware would be beneficial.”
“Or,” I said, “why in the wrong hands it could lead to wholesale slaughter.”
He ignored me. “Anything else?”
“Side project. Might be something, might not. There’s a fringe group knocking round town, Trueflame. Headed up by a guy called David Lamarchand.” I gave them the rundown of the group’s claims and aims. “Got this leaflet, and a book as well. It all repeats what they told me. Vague claims, no real evidence. But it’s worrying. They’ve more or less knocked the nail on the head here.”
Mercy nodded, thoughtfully and reached out for the leaflet, but Liberty got there first, snatching it away.
“We’re aware of it,” he said. “Not your concern. Get on with your other business. You’ve helped us out enough. Time to focus on your own particular concerns. Magic. Sort out your magic.”
“There’s a complication,” I began, but he cut me off with a wave of his hand.
“I said it’s not your concern. You’re to keep your distance. I don’t do orders, but that’s as close to one as you’re going to get from me. Keep. Your. Distance. Now excuse me. Mercy, we
’ll talk later.”
Our eyes followed him as he headed out the door. “Never seen him like that,” I said.
“He’s certainly distracted,” Mercy admitted. “This David – what did you say his last name was?”
“Lamarchand.”
“It was before your time, but there was an Ellen Lamarchand. Aware. Actually that’s not true. She was mage-born. Similar to you, but quite different in their own way. They usually come with massive chips on their shoulders. Big name in these parts. There might be a family tie, there might not.”
“Thanks for the tip. Where would I go to find out about her?”
“There’s nowhere you would get access to. Me, on the other hand. Perhaps. Leave it with me, and come back this time tomorrow. We don’t need this kind of information being broadcast, even if most people do write Trueflame off as a bunch of cranks. Was there anything else troubling you?”
“Nothing,” I said, looking away.
“You’re a bad liar. Unusual for your line of work, but endearing nonetheless. Still, I can’t force you to speak. Should you wish to, I will always listen.”
“Thanks. Maybe later. I think it’s time to get some precautions in place.”
*
“So, I’m thinking incineration,” said Zack. “Not that I’m the world’s greatest fan of witchfire these days – had to chuck out that shirt. Broke my heart, but it was charred and I couldn’t get that smell to shift. But for defense I’d go for it every time. Your thoughts?”
We were standing in the hallway of my apartment, inside the front door. Despite our problems from earlier, Zack had arrived shortly after my call with no arguments or excuses – no more or less than I’d expect from a man of his quality. The confrontation we’d had with those demons in the yard made it clear that my card was indeed marked, and in the worst possible way.
The runes on the outside doorframe were already finished, etched in the woodwork. and Zack’s power gently poured in until they glowed and throbbed. They were standard warning casts, permanently active, designed to trigger psychic and audible alarms if anything, magical or otherwise, turned up outside. Think of it as a really effective and advanced doorbell.
