Dungeon Crawl (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress Book 8)

by Annie Bellet

  Alek hoped they would try. He didn’t know who had shot him, but given what a small place Wylde was, he felt it likely that those two outsider wolves had something to do with it. Their presence in town could be coincidence, but more than forty years of being a Justice had killed most of his belief in coincidences.

  Rachel came into the apartment and immediately crossed to where Alek sat, a huge grin splitting her face. For a second Alek thought she might pat his head and his lips slid back from his teeth. Stopping short of doing so, Rachel shoved a few strands of black hair off her sweaty forehead as she took off her cap. She smelled like coffee grounds and gun oil mixed with her musky wolf shifter scent.

  “Good to see you awake,” she said. “I’m working on some leads with the shooting. That guy Jade had me talk to has all the information as well, so we’ll see. Those bastards won’t get away with this.”

  That was Rachel, Alek thought. Right to business. He liked that about her. She wasn’t one for platitudes or coddling. They worked well together for that reason. She wasn’t awed by his past as a Justice but she didn’t underestimate what he was capable of, either.

  Her cell phone rang and she held up a hand for silence as she answered.

  “Sheriff,” she said.

  “Got a report of suspicious activity,” a man’s voice said in the phone, clear to Alek’s sensitive ears. “You said you wanted to hear all those personally?”

  “Go,” Rachel said, looking down at Alek and raising an eyebrow.

  “A Mr. Coleman called in. Says he lives out off Brightcreek. His neighbors are away on vacation but he swears he’s heard a car pulling into their driveway at night, and the sound of the garage door opening. Said he walked around and knocked, but everything was locked up and quiet. He’s heard about the gunshot false reports from his ex-wife’s sister who’s dating Teddy at dispatch, so he figured he should say something just in case kids are pranking the house cause they are away.” The voice on the phone ran out of breath and stopped their report with a little hiccup noise.

  “Any of those false reports recorded in that neighborhood?” Rachel asked.

  “Hang on,” said the voice. There was the sound of typing, the click of a mouse. Then, “Nope, sorry Sheriff. Nothing out that way. All reports been on the Juniper side mostly except that one downtown yesterday. Should I send someone around to check it out?”

  “Nah,” Rachel said. Her voice was casual but her expression was tight with speculation. “I’ll head out that way on my rounds. It’s probably nothing, just a lonely man hearing things in the night.”

  She hung up and slid her cell into its special pocket on her utility belt.

  “Think it’s nothing?” Vickie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Rachel said. “I’m going to swing by though. It’s the closest thing to a real lead I’ve seen, so it can’t hurt. That neighborhood is quiet and has houses far apart enough to make a decent hiding place.”

  Alek growled. The Sheriff was planning on going out there all alone. She was used to working alone, she’d told him as much with a wry grin when he’d started riding along with her. Rachel had made sure if he was working for her, he knew that former Justice or no, he was working for her and would obey, more or less.

  He couldn’t let her go alone, just in case this report wasn’t “nothing.” Whoever had shot him had known how dangerous he was. Alek would have taken himself out much the same way if he had to. Sniping, if the shooter was very good, was pretty effective against shifters. A high-caliber round to the head would put down most supernatural critters, and the finishing blow could always then be dealt close up if more was needed. Head shots weren’t simple to make at any distance, which Alek speculated was why he was still alive.

  The shooter had been good, but not quite good enough. Jade had seen something and moved into the shot, necessitating the first shot which had to drop her out of the way. That was a seriously risky move, something done spur of the moment. A truly patient sniper would have waited or slipped away and looked for a better moment. It was a small bit of information, but Alek filed away those thoughts. To fight his enemy, he had to know his enemy. Any information could be useful later.

  “Glad you are awake, friend,” Rachel said. “I’ll swing by after I go look around that house, bring some food for you all if Brie hasn’t beaten me to that yet.”

  “Thanks,” Junebug said. “We’ll call Jade and let her know Alek is up. Good luck.”

  No, Alek thought. Rachel was not going alone.

  They’d shot him. He was the target. Whatever this was, it was his problem.

  He heaved to his feet, stretching his back and barely resisting the urge to unsheathe his claws and dig into Jade’s carefully chosen carpet as he did so.

  “You aren’t coming,” Rachel said, glaring at him. They were nearly eye to eye now that he was standing. “You won’t fit in the car, for one. For two, you were just shot in the fucking neck yesterday. No.”

  Alek snorted. She had a point, but it didn’t matter. Either his human form was healed enough to put in work, or he wasn’t. There was only one way to tell. He reached into the mists at the back of his mind and called to his human self.

  His throat didn’t feel like it had fur growing it in, it felt like it had knives jammed down it instead. Alek stumbled forward but stayed upright, barely managing not to crash into Rachel as she stood, hands on hips, now glaring up at him.

  “I am fine,” he said, the words like gravel being vomited out of his throat. The scent of blood swamped his nostrils and he looked down at himself. His chest was covered in dried blood, his clothing caked with it. “A shower, I think.”

  “Sure,” Rachel said. “You go shower.” She gave him a tight smile.

  “Rachel,” he rasped as he moved slowly toward the bathroom.

  “Yeah?”

  “You leave without me, I will shift, run through the middle of town, and hunt you down. I will tear the tires from your car and turn them into tiger chew toys.”

  His threats were somewhat empty, since he wouldn’t compromise shifters like that, but from the look on Rachel’s face—a mix of amusement and doubt—his point had gotten across.

  “You’re explaining this to Jade,” Vickie said with a sigh.

  Alek nodded as he walked away. Jade had a favorite saying, something about better to ask forgiveness than permission. It was time to test that saying. He was confident she’d forgive him.

  This was his mess. The shooter was after him, had hurt his mate. Alek grinned at himself in the mirror, his teeth white in his bloody face. The shooter would learn that if you shoot a tiger, you’d best not miss.

  The stairs spiraled down into the darkness, the scent of decaying flesh growing until my eyes watered and the back of my throat stung. I could only imagine how much it must have sucked for my three shifter companions. They all had noses far more sensitive than mine. Nobody said a word as we descended. All of us were straining to see and hear whatever might be lurking in the dark ahead.

  The stairs ended after a final turn, opening up into a large chamber. I couldn’t see the walls on the far side. In the middle was a faintly glowing object. I moved toward it, one hand on the Alpha and Omega, the other holding my D20 talisman and aiming it like a flashlight.

  “There’s a switch here,” Harper said behind me.

  “Don’t…” Ezee started to say as I turned around but it was too late.

  Harper hit the switch. Lights flickered on around us, strings of cheap Christmas bulbs crisscrossing the room. The chamber was about thirty feet across, with an old-fashioned door in the far wall. The light glinted off its iron bands. The light also shone off the floor, illuminating a circle I’d nearly walked onto without noticing.

  The circle was far more complex than the simple salt one outside the house. This one had been inlaid into the stone with copper. The design was intricate and I had no idea what it was supposed to do. Inside the circle was the object I’d seen glowing. It was a smallish cry
stal jar, like you might keep cookies or candy in. Except it appeared to hold a fist-sized chunk of flesh suspended in phosphorescent liquid.

  “That doesn’t exactly look like an anatomy jar,” Levi said, coming up beside me.

  “Where do you think that door goes?” Harper asked.

  “That’s the epitaph of gamers everywhere,” Ezee muttered.

  “Don’t cross the circle,” I said. They all looked at me like I was an idiot for even thinking I had to tell them and I grinned, feeling sheepish.

  “There’s an altar thing over here,” Ezee said, walking around the circle. He pointed to where the stairwell made a natural cubby.

  I carefully walked around so I could see from his angle. There was a stone altar carved out of the wall. On it was a katana in a lacquered wooden sheath. No candles or other typical altar accoutrements.

  “Think it is safe to touch?” Ezee asked me.

  I pulled on my magic and focused. There was magic in the room, which I already knew, but it seemed to focus on the circle. The power there was steady and oddly warm. I thought for a second I could hear a heartbeat but it faded as I let my magic pull back. The smell of dead things did not fade, alas.

  “Magic is concentrated in the circle,” I said. “It looks good to me, guys.”

  Ezee gave me a sideways look. That was the line his rogue often uttered when he’d checked for traps and wasn’t sure his roll was high enough to matter.

  “Don’t open that,” Levi said behind me.

  I turned to see Harper feeling around the door for a latch. There was only a keyhole as far as I could see, no handle. She pulled out her multi-tool and then produced a bobby pin from her pocket.

  “Jade said it was safe,” she said. “I’m gonna open it.”

  “Whoa, I did not say it was safe. I said it wasn’t magic.”

  “This sword is old,” Ezee said. He’d moved to the altar and picked up the katana.

  I couldn’t keep my eye on everyone at once. I’d known bringing them here would mean trouble in the end. Damnit.

  “Hey, conference time,” I said, walking toward Levi and Harper.

  Ezee followed me, holding the sword by the sheath. “I have a weapon now,” he said to his twin.

  “Unless it’s rusty,” Levi said. “Or cursed.”

  “Time out,” I said. “That jar is probably what the vampire wants. So let’s figure out how to get it, and get out of here? That means not picking that lock, Harper.”

  Harper was crouched in front of the door. I heard an audible click as she wiggled her tools around.

  “Whoops, too late,” she said, straightening up. The door eased open a crack, cool air streaming into the chamber.

  “Close that,” I said.

  Harper leaned against it and the door closed. “Don’t think it’ll stay without me leaning on it unless I can somehow relock it.”

  “Where did you learn to do that?” Levi asked.

  “My uncle.”

  “Not rusty. Damn, look at that blade,” Ezee said. He’d pulled the sword part way out of the sheath.

  The blade was lovely, the metal folded and laminated into a water-like pattern. I couldn’t help myself as I bent and looked closely at it. The tsuba had a simple, solid design with a dragon picked out in bright metal on it, perhaps copper or bronze. There was a signature stamp but it was worn and difficult to read.

  “Ishimaru?” I guessed, though there was more to it. A name, most likely.

  “The samegawa is in good condition,” Ezee said as he slid the blade back into its sheath.

  “The what?” Levi said.

  “The ray skin on the grip, under the cord here. Cord feels like silk, too.”

  “That’s cool and all,” I said, looking for focus here. “But we need that jar and I think my nose is going to stage a rebellion if I have to stand in this stink much longer. How the hell you peeps aren’t dying from the smell, I don’t know.”

  “It’s a little musty and smells like maybe something died under the proverbial porch, but it isn’t so bad,” Levi said with a shrug. He clicked his tongue ring against one of his lip rings and looked at his twin, who also shrugged.

  I blinked at them. My nose was adjusting a bit to the smell, but not enough to stop me from needing serious mental effort not to gag.

  “It’s really not that bad,” Harper said behind me.

  The answer hit me as I looked past Ezee and Levi to the circle with its glowing jar. I wasn’t smelling the air, not exactly. I was smelling the magic.

  “I think it is the magic,” I said aloud. “It smells like rotting corpses. Freshly rotting corpses. Bad enough to make my throat hurt,” I added, trying to convey what I was experiencing.

  “That’s bad, right?” Levi asked.

  “I honestly have no idea,” I said. “But I don’t see how it can be good.” I had a bad feeling about this whole endeavor.

  “We could just leave,” Harper said. She sounded less enthusiastic for the idea than she had at the top of the stairs. “Or see what is through this door.”

  I studied the circle, hoping its patterns would make sense. It had three rings, with what looked like glyphs carved in between the rings. The glyphs couldn’t have been writing, however, since I couldn’t make head nor tails of them. This wasn’t any sorcery I’d ever encountered. A quick search of Tess’s memories didn’t help. I wasn’t willing to dig into anyone else’s memories among the victims in my head just yet. It was unlikely that either the Japanese assassin or the warlock would have a clue. They hadn’t been sorcerers.

  I wasn’t even sure I was dealing with sorcery. It could have been a ritual of some kind. The circle itself and its complexity pointed in that direction. I pulled on my magic again and this time sent it deep, feeling for ley lines like the kind that crisscrossed Wylde in abundance. I’d tapped into a ley line once and no desire to try it again, but I knew intimately what they felt like and could sense them more easily now.

  Bingo. Beneath the house and this chamber was the junction of two ley lines. Power thrummed deep in the earth. I wished I’d had time to ask my father about the lines. There was so much I didn’t know. I pulled my magic and my thoughts away from the lines. My thumb rubbed over the hard bump of Samir’s bloodstone. I imagined he knew answers to some of the questions I had in this moment.

  With a shiver, I shoved away that thought. I would not be tempted. Nope.

  “You okay?” Ezee asked me, concern in his dark brown eyes.

  “Yeah, just feeling around. We’re standing on a junction of ley lines. I think that’s why this location was chosen by the warlock or whatever he was.”

  “Was? We sure that he’s past tense?” Levi said, waving his non-machete wielding arm around to encompass the chamber.

  “Nobody has lived in this house in a while, and nobody stopped us,” Harper pointed out.

  “Something got dragged around up there,” Levi countered, gesturing at the ceiling with his machete.

  “But very little blood, and no blood down here,” Harper said.

  I took a deep breath and regretted it. After the coughing subsided, I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my teeshirt.

  “Let’s get that jar and get out of here,” I said.

  “How are we going to do that without breaking the circle?” Ezee asked, using the sheathed katana to point at the jar.

  “Mage hand,” I said. “Any chance I can convince you all to go upstairs and wait for me there?”

  “Nope.”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Nice try though.”

  The twins moved over to stand against the wall by Harper. She continued leaning on the door, her crowbar at the ready now.

  I’d known there was a slim chance they would take me up on the idea, but I’d had to try. I turned away from them and went back to studying the circle. I wanted to leave that damn jar right where it was. Damn my sense of obligation and honor. The lid of the jar was silver, with thin silver bands snaking down the jar and
appearing to secure the lid onto the jar by running underneath the bottom. I hoped that meant the jar wouldn’t spill easily. I had a feeling that Noah wanted what was in that jar, not just the vessel itself.

  My magic hummed in my blood, strong despite its use the day before trying to save Alek. Alek. Damnit. I wished I hadn’t even thought about him. Vickie had said he would be fine. I had to believe that. I’d be home in a few hours anyway, provided what I was about to do didn’t blow us all up or suck us into some kind of void or whatever might happen if I broke the circle.

  Pushing away those super joyous thoughts, I put up a shield in a half circle around us, anchoring from my left hand. Running two spells at once wasn’t simple, but these spells weren’t flashy, so I was hoping I could manage okay.

  If I’d wanted to be really honest with myself, I was a little out of practice compared to where I’d been in the run-up to fighting Samir. But honesty is overrated, right?

  The shield up and anchored, I used my right hand to direct a thick tendril of magic, picturing it like a big extension of my own hand. The magic was tinged purple so I could see it easily and know what I was doing. As I focused, the tendril took on the shape of an open hand, mirroring my own. I reached forward, sending the magic hand out over the circle. Nothing exploded. My hand dropped and the magic hand also dropped. I closed my hand, almost able to feel the crystalline jar in my fist as the magic hand closed around it. Keeping my hand closed, I raised my right arm up and pulled it back toward me.

  The jar, secure in the magic hand, sailed out of the circle and over to me. My lungs gasped out the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding and I heard similar gasps behind me as my friends started breathing again. I hadn’t been the only tense one at least. I set it down on the ground, dropped my shield, and walked the two steps forward to pick it up.

  “Nicely done,” Ezee said behind me.

  The jar was warm to the touch, almost like touching flesh, but definitely some kind of crystal. I picked it up.