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

by R. L. King

  Another pause. “Stone—you’re not sayin’ anything about Belmont. That means you found him, doesn’t it?”

  “Unfortunately…we did.”

  “And he’s dead.” It wasn’t a question. Grider sounded suddenly weary.

  “I’m afraid so. I’m sorry.”

  This time, the pause lasted much longer. “Shit…” he finally muttered. “What happened?”

  Stone gave him an abbreviated version of what had occurred. He included the attack, but left out the exact nature of the necromantic creatures. When Verity and Maisie both shot him questioning looks, he shook his head. “I’m afraid there wasn’t anything we could have done,” he told Grider softly. “He was…already gone when we arrived.”

  “Shit…” Grider said again. “And you still don’t know why this happened?”

  “Not yet. I have a couple of theories, but I’ll keep them to myself for the moment, at least until I’ve had a better chance to investigate them.”

  “Magic stuff, you think.”

  “Quite probably.”

  Grider’s sigh came through clearly. “So…okay. What are you gonna do now, if anything? I can’t expect you to keep up with this. I know you’ve got your own stuff to do.”

  “I do. But it’s also clear this goes a lot deeper than I initially thought—and a lot more into my side of the world, supernaturally speaking. I don’t know how well you remember my pathological need to solve puzzles like this, but I don’t see myself stopping now. Plus,” he added more soberly, “I might not have seen Mr. Belmont for a long time, but I still considered him a friend. So there’s that, too.”

  “Yeah…Damn it, I didn’t want it to go this way.” More rustling. “So what does that mean? What’s your next step?”

  “Not sure yet. I need to get Maisie home. She wants to call her friend in the Bay Area, and then I suppose we’ll head in your direction.”

  “Okay. I guess there’s not much I can do tonight. Call me when you get here, okay? I don’t care what time it is. You always got a place to stay here.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Grider. Talk to you soon.”

  “Oh, hey, Stone?” He spoke quickly before Stone could end the call.

  “Yes?”

  “Where…is Chris’s body? Were you able to get it out?”

  A flutter of regret ran through him. “I’m sorry. We had our hands a bit full. I can tell you where he is, but I’d strongly advise you not to go there. Not if you don’t want to cause more trouble for yourself.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that. Fuck. You’re right, but that doesn’t mean the whole thing doesn’t stink.”

  “Yes…it undoubtedly does.”

  “Maybe it’s better if I just don’t know.” His tone was full of angry self-loathing.

  “I think you might be right. I’ll talk to you soon, Mr. Grider.”

  He hung up slowly, dropping back to sit on the edge of the bed with a sigh. “Go ahead and call Tani,” he told Maisie. “You want us to clear out so you can have some privacy?”

  “Nah. It’s okay. Got nothin’ private to say.” She picked up the phone and began tapping in a number.

  Stone motioned Verity to the other side of the room. Suddenly, he felt as tired and discouraged as Grider had sounded. He could use a drink, but not enough to go in search of one. “Let’s step outside—get some air.”

  They didn’t see anyone out and around outside—either any other guests were asleep already, or most of the rooms were vacant. Nonetheless, Stone put up his “cone of silence” spell around him and Verity so no one would hear them.

  “So,” Verity said, “you promise you’re coming home after you drop Maisie off?”

  “I promise. As I said, there’s not much else I can do here.”

  “Anything I can do in the meantime?”

  “Not really, unfortunately. Catch Jason and Amber up, perhaps—they might have some ideas. I’ve learned to respect nonmagical means of tracking people down, so there’s always the chance they’ll come up with something we missed.”

  She nodded soberly. “Do you think the colony’s in any danger?”

  Stone hadn’t thought of that. “That’s a good question. If Lu and Belmont were being blackmailed not to say anything, now that the cat’s out of the bag I suppose it’s possible the people behind this might try something again. But I honestly doubt they’ll reveal the colony’s existence to the authorities.”

  “Why is that?”

  Stone leaned on the wooden railing and gazed out into the parking lot. Aside from his rental car, only three others filled it. Slow night, apparently. “It’s in the best interests of the supernatural community—even the bad apples—to keep our activities concealed. Bringing the mundane police down on a colony of cannibals could cause all sorts of unintended consequences.”

  “Like what?”

  “Think about it—if that story got out, it would be all over the internet by the next day, if it took that long. Even if the police kept it quiet, there are always leaks—especially for something as sensational as a town full of cannibalistic ghouls. That would require the authorities to pretend it’s not real, while still investigating it. The ghouls won’t go down without a fight. And enough people will believe the story that they’ll start poking around looking for other evidence of supernatural phenomena.” He chuckled. “It’s not a coincidence that our lot have managed to keep ourselves concealed under a load of mundane noses for hundreds of years. Unless these people are complete nutters, they won’t want to change that.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Starting to feel a bit of sympathy for the cannibals?”

  She didn’t look at him. “I dunno. Maybe? I mean…I see what you’re saying. Maisie, once she got cleaned up, just seems like a person. A weird person, sure, but Tani’s weird too and she’s never given me any reason not to trust her. I always just thought she was autistic or something. And you’re telling me these other people you know aren’t even distinguishable from normal mundanes.”

  “They aren’t. If I introduced you to them and didn’t tell you what they were, you’d never guess. There isn’t even any change in the aura. Not one I could see, anyway. You’re more sensitive, so you might spot something.”

  Verity gave a sober nod. “Yeah. I guess that’s one of those things I never really learned much when I was your apprentice, but I guess I didn’t need to. Long before I ever met you, I’ve always believed you shouldn’t look at what people are—the stuff they can’t help, I mean—but what they do. It’d be pretty hypocritical of me if I started judging Tani and Maisie.” She hesitated, then turned to meet his gaze. “And…I’m pretty impressed that Maisie managed to keep from attacking us, or even the body, when she was that hungry.”

  “As well you should be. I was a bit worried myself there for a while.”

  “Come on—let’s go back in.”

  They opened the door to find Maisie seated on the bed, staring into her lap. The phone was back in its cradle.

  “Everything all right?” Stone asked, frowning.

  “Yeah. It’s…good. She was really happy to hear from me.”

  “But…” Verity prompted. “Come on, Maisie—it’s obvious something’s wrong.”

  She looked up. “Not…wrong, exactly. She just said something, and I’m not sure how to deal with it.”

  “What did she say?” Stone paced in front of the window. Now that they’d made their calls where they wouldn’t be traced, he wanted to get out of here. It would take at least half an hour to get Verity back to the portal outside Atlanta, and then he still had the drive back to Weekesboro with Maisie. At this rate, it would be nearly dawn before he got there.

  “She wants me to come back.”

  “Back? You mean back to the Bay Area?”

  “Yeah. She’s worried about me. Says she doesn’t think it’s safe for me to stay at my cabin, now that those people know where I live.” She sighs. “She thinks they might try to come back for me. And…
I’m kinda scared of that too, to be honest. She says if I can get back to San Francisco, I can stay with her until I figure out what I want to do.”

  “Well…what’s the problem?” Verity asked. “You can go if you want to. Do you have money for plane fare? Maybe we can—”

  “She can’t go on a plane, Verity,” Stone said softly.

  “Why not?”

  “Look at her. She’ll attract all sorts of unwanted attention. I wonder if she’s even got the proper documents to travel by plane.”

  “I don’t,” Maisie said, looking back at her lap again. “I guess I could get on a bus, but I don’t have any money, and you’ve already done so much for me.”

  “Hang on.” Stone looked between Verity and Maisie. “Verity—why don’t you take her back?”

  She frowned. “You mean through the portal?”

  “Yes. Why not? You’ve taken Jason through before. You know how to do it.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “It makes sense,” he said firmly. “You’ll get home a lot faster that way.”

  “What about you, though?”

  “I’ll be fine. Your car’s there at the restaurant too, so won’t have to wait for me.”

  Verity glanced at Maisie, then back at Stone. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I’m still convinced you’re up to something you’re not telling me.”

  “I promise I won’t do anything dangerous. I don’t think I’ll even need to go to Weekesboro. I can always talk to Grider on the phone again if I don’t need to take Maisie back. I’ll drop off the rental car and be home shortly after you.”

  Her gaze lingered on him, and he could tell she was studying him with magical sight. “Okay,” she said grudgingly. “I guess it makes the most sense. Are you okay with it, Maisie?”

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but if it means I get back to San Francisco faster, I’m in.”

  “It’s settled, then,” Stone said before Verity could voice any further objections.

  After dropping Verity and Maisie near the Atlanta portal, Stone called Grider back.

  “I’m not coming after all,” he said. “Sorry to wake you again to tell you that.”

  “Wasn’t sleepin’. Why not? I thought you were bringin’ Maisie back.”

  “Turns out she doesn’t want to go. I can’t blame her for being worried. She’s gone back to California with Verity to stay with her friend.”

  “Okay…” He sighed. “I’ll be honest—I’m worried too. Somebody out there knows about us. Hell, somebody out there is killing us.”

  In the background, Stone heard a soft dog bark, and a fresh ripple of grief went through him. Chris Belmont and Pepper would never have their reunion. “I know. I’m concerned too, but I don’t think they’re going to reveal your existence to anyone. I’d warn the colony, though. Tell them to lie low and keep an eye out for anything that looks suspicious. Probably best to remain in closer communication than you’re used to, for now at least.”

  “You think they might go after more of us?”

  “No idea. I hope not. Can you do something for me?”

  “Uh…depends.”

  “If there’s any way you could check with Lu’s employer to find out if he said anything before he left, without drawing attention, please do it. Even after everything that’s happened, we’re still not much farther along in figuring out who’s behind this.”

  “I can try. Like I said before, though, it’ll be tough.” He sighed. “What about those things that attacked you? You didn’t say much about them. What were they? Something supernatural, it sounded like. More ghouls? Ferals, maybe?”

  “No, they weren’t ghouls. I’m…not certain exactly what they were.” Stone hoped Grider’s cop instincts didn’t pick up the lie. “I’ll be investigating on my own. If I were you, I’d stay away from that angle. I don’t want to put any more of you at risk.”

  “Yeah.” Another sigh, louder this time. “I hate this, Stone. We’ve lived here in peace for ten years. Seriously—no problems, nobody even getting a little bit suspicious. We’re model citizens. And now this might blow the top off our whole lives. We might even have to move again, and that won’t be as easy now. Especially with Orville missing.”

  “I know. I get it. Just…don’t do anything drastic for now. That’s more likely to draw attention to you than if you keep calm and act like nothing’s wrong.”

  “Easy for you to say. But yeah, you’re right. I better go now before Pepper wakes up Laura. I guess we’ve got ourselves a dog now.”

  Stone winced at the grief in the older man’s voice.

  16

  Stone allowed himself to sleep in the next day, at least until Raider began walking back and forth across him in the time-honored “There is a cat here—why aren’t you feeding him?” dance.

  He texted Verity while getting the cat’s breakfast ready. Did Maisie get settled in?

  She answered right away. Yeah, she’s staying at Tani’s place. Anything new?

  No, I did exactly what I said I’d do, and then went straight to bed.

  What’s the plan for today?

  Checking with Eddie again, and Kolinsky if he’s around. You?

  Got a few things to take care of. Might check with J and A.

  What about Hezzie? Are you going to ask her about alchemy?

  Not sure yet. She’s smart, and might make the connection. I don’t want to out Maisie. Or Tani.

  Good point. Well, let me know if you find anything.

  He shoved the phone in his pocket with a sigh. He’d occasionally thought, mostly jokingly, that he’d need to start maintaining a scorecard so he could keep track of which of his friends knew about which of his other friends, and which of them knew which secrets. It didn’t seem like such a joke lately. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before he let the wrong thing slip to the wrong person, and his whole precarious house of cards came crashing down around him.

  After sending a detailed email to Eddie, Stone headed to Kolinsky’s shop. He didn’t think the visit would be a breach of their updated relationship, since this was exactly the sort of thing he’d have gone to his friend about before learning he was a dragon. The worst Stefan could do was kick him out, right?

  Ever since he’d found out the truth about Kolinsky, he’d half-expected each time he stopped by the shop to find it gone as if it had never been there, replaced by an abandoned liquor store or a check-cashing joint.

  That hadn’t happened yet, though, and it didn’t happen this time. He found Kolinsky downstairs in his workroom, examining something that looked like an oversized, desiccated black onion under a strong light.

  “I still don’t know why you keep this place so…shabby,” Stone said, chuckling. “Especially now. You could live like a king, anywhere you like, and still you maintain this grotty little shop. Especially since I’m almost certain the whole thing’s nothing but an illusion anyway.”

  Kolinsky chuckled. “Perhaps I am sentimental about this appearance.”

  “Bollocks. You’re not sentimental about anything. To each his own, I suppose. But in any case, I’ve got a problem I’m hoping you can help me with.”

  The dragon—seemed a bit wrong to keep thinking of him as “the black mage” anymore—raised an eyebrow. “Indeed. I hope you have remained mindful of our…understandings.”

  “Oh, absolutely. This isn’t a dragon problem. It’s a ghoul problem. And a necromancer problem.”

  Kolinsky’s expression hardened. “Indeed,” he said again.

  “Ah, so that’s got your attention. Good.” He knew it would—one of the few things Kolinsky had ever expressed genuine anger about was necromancy. “Do you remember a few years back, just after we met, I was looking into that situation with the cannibal murders?”

  “Of course.” He didn’t look like he’d even had to think about it.

  Stone wondered how good dragon memories were. He supposed they had to be fairly good, if they lived as long as
they did. “Yes, well—I’ve reconnected with some of them. Not the bad ones. The colony of non-ferals that used to live in this area.”

  “I see.” Kolinsky leaned in closer to the onion-thing, pulling out a magnifying glass to examine part of it more closely.

  “What is that thing, anyway?”

  “That is what I am attempting to determine. It came to me as part of a lot of items I purchased recently at a black-market auction in Moscow. The collection was extensive, but I believe this might be the most valuable part of it by far.”

  Stone’s curious side wanted to move closer for a better look, but he resisted the pull. He had more important things to concern himself with now. “Anyway, the colony left the area shortly after the cannibals were dealt with, and I haven’t had contact with any of them until a couple days ago.”

  He paced around the work table, describing the situation to Kolinsky. This time, he told him the whole story, including the bit about the cobbled-together necromantic creations.

  The dragon continued examining the item as he listened, using magic to levitate it and turn it so different parts were in the light. He didn’t react until Stone got to the last part; at that point, he lowered the object back to the table, set down the glass, and turned around.

  “Stitched together, you said?”

  “Yes. And the parts weren’t only human. It looked like whoever did this had put together pieces not only from humans, but from animals. It was…unsettling. Like something out of a horror film.” He chuckled. “Well, more out of a horror film than usual, anyway.”

  Kolinsky inclined his head.

  “So…have you heard of anything like this?”

  “I have not. Not in many years, at any rate.”

  Stone narrowed his eyes. “How many years?” That was a more pertinent question than it had been before. He’d always known Kolinsky was far older than he looked, but now it was entirely possible—probable even—that his friend might have been around for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. That was a lot time to gather and store away information. It made sense: dragons were known for hoarding things. Kolinsky hoarded knowledge.