Mortal Imperative: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 24)

by R. L. King

  “Hmm…” he murmured, standing and shaking the stiffness from his legs.

  The kitchen door cracked nearly silently open, and Laura Grider poked her head out. “Oh!” she said, startled, when she saw Stone pacing around. “Sorry—I was trying not to disturb you.”

  “No, it’s all right. What can I do for you?”

  “I just wanted to see if you’d like anything to drink.”

  He almost declined the offer, but rituals always made him thirsty and he needed a brief break before doing the second one. “Thank you, I’ll take you up on that.”

  “Iced tea okay?”

  “Fine.”

  She closed the door and returned a moment later with a sparkling glass of iced tea. She shot a nervous glance at the circle on the floor. “Have you…started yet?”

  “Yes, I’ve finished the first one. I’ll be starting the second shortly.”

  Her expression sobered. “Did you find anything? I don’t really understand how this sort of thing works. I’m not sure Frank does either.”

  “Maybe. Let me finish the second one, and I’ll give both of you a report then.”

  “Oh. Uh…okay. Sure. Be careful, Dr. Stone.” With a final look over her shoulder at him, she disappeared back in the house.

  Stone pondered, pacing the circle as he drank the tea. It was cold and sweet; he would have preferred something a bit more alcoholic, but it would do for now.

  Why was Orville Lu behind wards?

  He could be wrong, of course. Things got fuzzier when he got near the edge of his range—it was possible he’d misread the signs, or else Lu was underground or in some other natural spot that resisted tracking magic.

  He didn’t think so, though. He’d done enough of these that he knew all the standard results: target out of range, target dead, target behind wards.

  This wasn’t making any sense. Orville Lu knew at least a little bit about magic—he’d been present during the final fight in the Santa Cruz mountains where they’d killed the semi-ferals—but that had been ten years ago. Had he maintained contact with other mages?

  Why would he run away from his job and his colony and hide behind wards?

  Stone frowned.

  Maybe that was it.

  Maybe he was hiding.

  If he somehow knew wards would block tracking spells, maybe he thought he could prevent his friends from finding him.

  But why would he think his friends would seek out a mage? After ten years of no contact, it hardly seemed likely he’d immediately assume they’d call Stone.

  He drained the glass, knocked twice on the kitchen door, then pushed it open.

  Laura looked up from where she was cutting vegetables. “Something wrong?”

  “Is Frank around?”

  “I think he’s out in the living room watching a baseball game. Dr. Stone—”

  “I just need to ask him something. Thank you for the tea.” He set the glass on the counter and hurried through into the living room.

  Grider was indeed watching a game, slumped back in his recliner with a bowl of tortilla chips and his own glass of tea, with Pepper curled up next to the chair. He muted the TV when he saw Stone. “You done already?”

  “Not yet. I need to ask you something.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Grider’s brow furrowed with suspicion.

  Pepper raised his head, shot a sleepy look at Stone, then settled back.

  “Do you know if Dr. Lu knows any mages? Besides me, I mean.”

  The furrow grew more pronounced. “Mages? Why?”

  “Does he?”

  “Uh…not that I’m aware of. He’s never said anything about it. What’s going on, Stone? Did you find something out? Did you finish the ritual already?”

  “I finished Lu’s.”

  Grider sat up straighter, returning the recliner to its upright position. “And?”

  “And…the results were inconclusive. I got a reading, so he’s not dead. But he’s either close to the edge of my range, or else he’s hidden somehow. Possibly both, but I suspect the latter.”

  “Hidden? Like how?”

  Stone paced the living room. “Do you know what wards are?”

  “Uh…not sure, no. I’m guessin’ the way you’re talkin’, they’re some kind of magical protection thing.”

  “Right. Mages often construct them around their homes or other places they frequent. They protect against magical attacks, tracking, and similar things.”

  Grider frowned. “But you said you found him.”

  “I said I might have found him. I’ve grown a lot in power since we last met, which means my tracking spell can punch through some fairly tough wards.”

  “But it couldn’t punch through these?”

  “No. Which could mean either we’re dealing with a mage of a significant power level, or else Dr. Lu is close to the edge of my extended range. If I have to use energy to increase the range, it takes away from what I can do to penetrate the wards. Does that make sense?”

  “Sure. If you fire a bullet from long range, it’s gonna have less power to punch through a barrier than if you were closer.”

  “Exactly. That’s why it would help to know if Lu knows any other mages. If he and Belmont had some reason for leaving without telling anyone and didn’t want to be found, there are worse ways to do it than to hunker down behind some solid wards for a while.”

  “But you don’t know they’re together yet, right?”

  “No. I’m going to do Belmont’s ritual next.” Stone sighed. “This isn’t making much sense, I’ve got to admit.”

  “No, not to me either. I wish I could help you. But like I told you before, most of us—the group members—don’t really interact that often, beyond the dinners. We don’t have a lot in common, other than…”

  “Other than being ghouls. Yes, I get that.” He paced some more, thinking. “Let me do Belmont’s ritual and see what I discover. But I wonder…”

  “What?”

  “Would it be possible for you to get the group together? Perhaps move up the date of your…er…special dinner?”

  “Why?”

  “I know you said you lot don’t interact that much, but perhaps someone might have heard something to give us a clue. Or, barring that, can you get me information about Dr. Lu’s employment?”

  “What good would that do? You gonna go talk to them? I don’t think that’s a great idea—”

  “Not talk to them. But if he’s got an office, I could do a bit of poking around. It’s possible he left some clue behind there.”

  Grider frowned. “Sounds like you’re graspin’ at straws, Stone.”

  “I am. But if that’s all we’ve got, it’s better than nothing. Let me finish Belmont’s ritual and we’ll go from there, shall we?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Stone didn’t miss the dejected frustration in Grider’s voice. It was clear the retired detective thought this whole thing was growing far more complicated than either of them had expected. He wondered if Grider regretted calling him in at all.

  He returned to the garage and tweaked the circle for Belmont’s ritual. It didn’t take long, since the parameters were similar, so only a few minutes later he was back in the center, this time with Belmont’s hoodie instead of Lu’s T-shirt.

  This time, Stone adjusted his procedure. He put more Calanarian power into the spell, but also added a component to hide his presence. If Lu and Belmont were hiding with a mage and didn’t want to be located, the last thing he wanted was for the wards to trigger a second attempt to breach them. He couldn’t do anything about the first one, but it wasn’t uncommon for someone or something to probe a ward. With luck, the caster wouldn’t get suspicious if it didn’t happen again.

  The second ritual produced the same result as the first. He got a direction, sensed the presence of wards, and was now certain Lu and Belmont were outside his range.

  Not by far, though. He couldn’t be certain, but he suspected if he could go to where the ri
tual fizzled and do a second one, that would put him within the area he could reach.

  He stood, stretching, and picked up Belmont’s hoodie. This was definitely turning into more trouble than he’d hoped, and would take more time than he’d planned to spend. The question was, did he want to do it? A perfectly reasonable response would be to return to Grider and say “Sorry, but I can’t find them and I haven’t got a lot of extra time to spend searching further.”

  Pausing outside the kitchen door before opening it, he considered. Did he want to do that? Now, he was curious—and he wasn’t sure he was even capable of letting that go without doing the best he could to satisfy it. One more shot wouldn’t be that much effort. If he got to wherever they were and discovered they had a legitimate reason for not wanting to be found, he could call it a day and return home. It wasn’t his job to mediate disagreements between a bunch of ghouls.

  But if something was wrong and he didn’t do anything about it…

  He sighed and shoved the door open. “Grider?”

  “In here.”

  Now, both Grider and Laura were in the living room. Laura sat in a second recliner, with a bowl of carrot sticks on a tray between her and her husband. Pepper was in her lap, wagging his stubby tail and looking thrilled with all the attention he was getting.

  “Anything?” Grider asked, once again sitting up.

  This time, Stone forced himself to sit, perching on a nearby ottoman. “I’m certain they’re both still alive, and fairly sure they’re, if not together, close to each other.”

  Grider and Laura exchanged glances.

  “Did you find where they were?” Grider asked. “Did you run into any more wards?”

  “Yes, but this time I was careful not to get noticed, so I don’t think whoever cast them knows I tried again.”

  “So…what does that mean?” Laura sat up too, gently setting Pepper on the floor. “Can you find them?”

  “Possibly. I’d need to do another ritual, closer to where I think they are. I’ve got a direction, and I don’t think they’re far out of my range.”

  “Are you gonna do it?” Grider asked. “I mean, I get it—I asked you to do the ritual, and you did. I appreciate that. But this isn’t your problem. I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to call it a day. I know you’ve got your own stuff to do.”

  Stone didn’t answer right away. Grider was giving him an excuse, and part of him wanted to take it.

  Not enough of a part, though. He chuckled to himself, wondering if there would ever be a case where his good sense got the better of his pathological curiosity.

  “What?” Grider asked. “What’s funny?”

  “Oh, nothing. But…I think I want to take this a bit further. You’ve got me involved now, and I’d like to find out what’s going on with those two if possible.” He stood. “I’ve got to go home first, though, and take care of a couple of things since I wasn’t planning to be away this long. Can you do something for me in the meantime?”

  “Yeah, maybe. You still want me to get the group together?”

  “That might not be necessary. But you’ve got their contact information, right?”

  “Yeah, some, at least. And those probably have the others.”

  “I’ve got it,” Laura said. “They’re all in my little address book. Even some of the group who were here when we got here.”

  “Brilliant. What I’d like you to do, if you wouldn’t mind, is do a bit of discreet checking around, and see if anyone else is missing.”

  “Damn. I hadn’t even thought of that,” Grider said. “Must be slipping.”

  “Well, you have been retired for over ten years. Don’t worry about it. But if you could find out—if more of your group have disappeared, that’s something I’d like to know.”

  “On it.” Grider stood. “We’ll find out. When are you comin’ back?”

  “Tomorrow, most likely. Can I call you and have you pick me up at the same spot?”

  He frowned. “You’re gonna go back to the Bay Area and be back here by tomorrow? That’s a lot of time on a plane, assuming you can even find a flight.”

  Stone gave him a sly smile. “Don’t worry about me, Mr. Grider. We mages have our own ways of getting around.”

  “I am not gonna ask.”

  “Good choice. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Mind if I take the tether objects with me?”

  “The what? Oh, right, the shirts. Go for it. Not like I have any use for them. You need a ride anywhere?”

  “No, I’m fine. See you tomorrow.”

  Stone caught a rideshare out to the ley line, and a few minutes later he was standing in Desmond’s office at the London house. As usual, he had a grin on his face when he arrived. How had he ever gotten anything done before he learned ley-line travel? The portals seemed so slow and primitive now.

  He immediately called Eddie Monkton. “Eddie. How are you?”

  “’Ello, Stone. What’s up?”

  “Just popped by to look for a couple of things. You’re not at Caventhorne, are you?”

  “Nah, I’m back at the library in London. Are you at the house?”

  “I’m in London too. Want to have a pint at the Dragon? Is Ward around?”

  Eddie chuckled. “If you’re buyin’, I’m sure he will be.”

  “Meet you there at half eight, then.”

  He’d never thought much about it, but of course the Dancing Dragon Inn, favorite watering hole of mages in London for at least two centuries, was on a ley line. Stone smiled when he popped in behind some rubbish bins in the alley behind it: it amused him now that two places he frequented often—the Dancing Dragon and the Dragon Garden Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto—had such apropos names. He wondered if the universe was playing a little joke on him. Or maybe it had been trying to tell him something all this time.

  Eddie and Ward were already inside, seated at their favorite table in the back. Eddie raised his pint glass. “Good to see you, mate. This a social call, or you want something?”

  “Bit of both, actually.” Stone took a seat across from him and set his own glass on the scarred table. “Do you two know anything about ghouls?”

  Ward frowned. “Ghouls? That’s an odd thing to be asking about.”

  “Wait a sec,” Eddie said, holding up a finger. “I remember you asked about them before. Long time ago. Not long after you moved ’cross the pond.”

  Ah—right. Eddie never forgot anything. It was part of what made him so good at his job. “That’s right, I did. And you didn’t have much at the time. But given you’ve got a load of new reference material at Caventhorne, I thought I’d give it a try.”

  “Sorry—don’t think I can ’elp you. Not right away, at least. I don’t recall seeing anything new, and I’m up to my arse in a project for Walter Yarborough. Is it urgent?”

  “That’s…hard to say. I suppose it isn’t. But if you should happen to have a bit of spare time, or come across anything—”

  “Yeah, sure, I’ll let you know. Come to think of it, you never told us much about why you wanted the info before. Same reason?”

  “Sort of. Some of the same people are involved.”

  “You know ghouls?” Ward asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I do, actually. I can’t say much because I promised I wouldn’t, but there are two or three colonies of civilized ghouls living in the States.”

  “No kiddin’?” Eddie looked shocked, and a little intrigued. “What’ya mean ‘civilized’? They eat their ’uman flesh on silver platters with cloth napkins and their pinkies in the air?” He mimed holding his pint glass in a “posh” manner.

  The image made Stone chuckle, but not for long. “No. It means they don’t kill anyone. They get what they need by…other means.”

  “Grave robbing?” Ward asked.

  Stone waved him off. “Really can’t go into the details right now. Would rather not, actually. But believe me—this lot I know are good people dealing the best they can with a bad situation. I don’
t hold it against them.”

  “Just don’t ’old anythin’ else against them,” Eddie said, still looking a bit queasy. “Don’t want to see you comin’ round ’ere missin’ a few bits, y’know?”

  Stone sighed. “Just…tell me if you find anything, will you?”

  “You got it. But I can tell you right now, I probably won’t ’ave much. Most of the reference material I ’ave access to, even at Caventhorne, is focused on Europe. We don’t ’ave a lot on the States. I suppose I should try to remedy that at some point. But anyway, there ’asn’t been a documented case of any ghouls in Europe for prob’ly a ’undred years at least. Few bits about grave-robbing ’ere and there, but nothin’ definitive. And if there are any so-called ‘civilized’ ones ’round ’ere, nobody’s sayin’ much about it.”

  Stone was afraid of that. “Well, thanks for trying, anyway.”

  “Do you want to tell us what you’re involved in?” Ward asked.

  Stone didn’t see any harm in it, as long as he kept names and specific locations out of it. He gave them a quick account of what he’d discovered about Lu and Belmont.

  “Interestin’,” Eddie said, rubbing his chin. “So they just did a runner for no apparent reason, and now they’re somewhere outside your trackin’ range. Doesn’t sound like what somebody who needs a…shall we say…particular kind of dietary requirement would do.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Stone hadn’t thought specifically about that. Civilized ghouls were highly organized, setting up secret and careful distribution networks to make sure everyone in their colony had unfettered access to the small quantity of human flesh they needed to consume periodically. Ghouls whose needs weren’t met ran the risk of going feral—it was a specter that hung over all of them. If Lu and Belmont had left together, it either meant they’d taken their supply of meat with them or they already knew they’d be able to obtain more wherever they went. “This is definitely an interesting mystery…and technically, I haven’t got time for an interesting mystery right now.”

  Ward laughed. “When did that ever stop you?”

  Stone finished his pint and sighed. “I can’t stay long tonight. I’m going to stop by the Surrey house and see if I can find any reference material I missed last time, and then I’ve got to go back. I promised one of them I’d be back tomorrow.”