A Mage's Stand: Empire State (Malachi English Book 3)

by Andy Hyland

  “Can’t she break the rules just this once?” Zack asked.

  “You don’t understand. She physically can’t communicate about it. Even if she wants to. The casts are binding in the strongest possible way. They have to be.”

  “Sounds like you know some stuff though,” said Julie. “You’ve been around the block.”

  “Not really. They’re actually incredibly rare. Bud and I have only ever known one at a time – and that’s through the Union. Outside of that – rumors, sure, but even deep in the Fades, far hellwards…don’t think you’d find that many.”

  “So what do we do?” I asked. “An internet search isn’t going to help, is it?”

  Benny absentmindedly picked up Arabella’s Bunsen Burner cocktail and took a sip. Grimaced. “There is one possibility,” he said. “It’ll be expensive, very expensive, but I think I can help with the cost – pull in a few favors.”

  “Spill,” I said.

  “Wait out on the street. I need to have a quiet discussion about it. I’ll see you out there in a little while.”

  We filed out, Mercy still not talking or making eye contact. “Don’t you want that?” Benny asked Arabella, pointing to the cocktail. “Alex singed half his eyebrows off putting that together.”

  “Sorry,” she called back as we left. “Too sour.”

  “And so Arabella’s quest for the perfect drink continues,” muttered Zack as we headed out through the bar. Stacey was gone but the two young guys were still there. I wondered if they knew how close they’d come to being her lunch and having their offal spread over the streets outside.

  “Stop pacing,” said Zack after we’d been outside a few minutes.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Still get nervous out here. I know nobody’s seen the ratten horde since the day we took Balam down, but still. Can’t help wondering if a couple of the little buggers are hiding out somewhere close. Biding their time, serving revenge up cold.”

  Zack looked around. “Well they’re hiding really well for nobody to spot them for this long. Anyway, I’m not even sure if their tiny little minds can handle something like revenge.”

  “Happy talk, people,” said Julie. “Let’s try happy talk for a bit.” She looked around herself. “Think this is all stable? That it’ll stay like this?”

  I’d wondered the same thing myself. The Fades – that nowhere place between Earth and hell, varied in appearance depending on where you were when you slid across the veil. Here, thanks to a strong magical shock-wave that I’d played my part in causing, the rebound from the veil had dragged back an echo of Manhattan. Deserted, ruined and derelict, sure, but the layout was the same. Central Park looked a hell of a lot less fun to be in, though.

  We never got to finish that discussion, because the door to Benny’s bar opened and a tall figure strode out. Leather trousers and vest, wide-brimmed hat, and knives strapped all over the place, ready for action at a moment’s notice.

  “Hey, Caleb,” I said, nodding to him. “You off somewhere?”

  He flicked his hat up a bit and smiled at me, his gray eyes glinting. “You tell me. I hear we’re hunting vampires.”

  I looked at Zack, who appeared as taken back as I was. We’d crossed paths with Caleb a few times. It turned out I owed him big-time for the role he played in my escape from Molech’s slave camps, years ago. But we’d never worked with him. He struck us as too imposing, a loner. “Sure. I mean, we’ll take any help going.”

  “There’s only one vampire,” said Arabella. “Sorry to be picky, but you said vampires. It’s not that bad.”

  “Sweetheart,” said Caleb, “If you’ve got a rogue vampire who’s been out there for more than an hour, I guarantee you there’s more than one of them by now. I hear it’s a complicated situation needing discretion, which is fine by me. It’s all been figured into the fee. No, don’t worry about that,” he said, waving my question away with his hand, “Benny’s taken care of it. I might ask you for a good turn or two in the future, but nothing big. To tell the truth, I haven’t been Earth-side for so long, I’m half-tempted to do it gratis just to look over the old place once again. But I won’t – do it for free, I mean. It’s the principle of the thing.”

  “Let’s head over then,” I said. “Everyone ready?”

  “Not quite yet.” Caleb shook his head. “We’ll walk a while first. Get our thoughts together. I’ve only got a basic outline. Why don’t you fellas tell me exactly what the hell you’ve gone and done.”

  We took a leisurely stroll north along the cracked streets. Every now and then a figure ran across our path ahead, or something cawed and crowed in the high reaches of the crumbling skyscrapers. I took the lead, starting with how we found Charlie half-dead in the dumpster and needed the information he could give us.

  “You did what you had to do,” Caleb nodded when we’d finished, “but as for me, I’d have let the slaves go hellwards rather than putting teeth into that boy’s neck. Still, no matter. It’s done, and a bit more shit to clear off the pathways of the world don’t make that big a difference in the grand scheme of things.”

  “Vampires,” I said. “Mercy can’t tell us very much. We don’t know what it is we’re going up against here.”

  He raised an eyebrow, then smiled. “Ah, of course she can’t. The covenant.”

  “Let’s start with that,” suggest Arabella.

  “Good place to begin,” agreed Caleb. “To understand the covenant you’ve got to understand the Union. The Host got sick of stepping up every time something went sideways on Earth. Humans were never meant to be that dependent on them. They figured it was time we grew up. They recruited, commissioned and trained a group to be their representatives – able to deal with arcane crap as it arose, without calling for the cavalry every five minutes.”

  “And so the Union was formed,” said Zack.

  “Exactly. By and large, it’s worked. I’m not saying it’s perfect – we’ve all seen the fun and games they’ve got up to recently. But history would have been so much worse without them. Trust me.”

  “And a vampire?” I asked.

  “Getting to that. Hold your horses. Trouble with the Union is, they’re all humans. They grow old, die quickly. Things are forgotten that shouldn’t be. The pain of earlier lessons isn’t remembered. So some bright spark came up with the idea of a link, a part of the Union that would cross and span generations. The Host didn’t want to commit, a demon was out of the question…”

  “But an undead human did the job,” I said.

  He nodded. “A vampire, and pardon me, Mercy, but -” He looked around for her, but she’d dropped back a hundred meters. Clearly this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to hear. “A vampire is more of an animal than anything else. Sure, you’ve got all these noble stories about their tortured existence, but the only torture going on is the kind they inflict. They don’t dress well, they don’t agonise over their existence, they don’t sparkle and they don’t make sensitive lovers. They’re primal.”

  “Er, don’t want to sound like I’m disagreeing here,” said Zack, “but I’m casting my mind back to Simeon and looking at Mercy, and I’m not seeing this. Not that I’ve ever tested the sensitive lover thing, obviously, but the rest isn’t adding up.”

  “So that’s where the covenant comes in, I’m guessing,” said Julie.

  Caleb looked over at her and smiled approvingly. “And you’d be right. Part binding. Part enhancement. Part secret sauce passed down from on high. The covenant does three things. Firstly, it prevents the decay of the mind. The Union-sanctioned vampire stays alert, competent, and actually functions mentally at a level well above what any of you are currently operating at.”

  “Not too tricky,” said Zack. “You’re not dealing with Ivy League material here.”

  “Speak for yourself,” said Julie.

  Zack looked at her. “Really? Do tell.”

  “If you don’t mind,” I cut in.

  “Thank you,” said Caleb. “Secondly, the cove
nant enhances the vampire magically. Your average street vamp can cast, sure, but anything it does quickly becomes tied to its instincts. Powerful mesmers, for example. Anything that can be used to take down prey and feed, or that ups its chances of preservation.”

  “Got it,” I said. “And thirdly?”

  “Thirdly is where it gets interesting. For our purposes, anyway. The vamp’s degenerative journey is one into complete blood-lust. A near-total loss of control.”

  “Doesn’t sound like Simeon or Mercy,” said Zack

  “Exactly. Because of the covenant. It drives back the desires. Makes the hunger manageable. Almost human in its intensity. But you also have to bear in mind that it’s not just the covenant doing this. Candidates for the lineage within the Union are selected partly because of their exceptional levels of self-control. Granted, Mercy, or Grace as she was, didn’t go through the usual thorough selection criteria. But we got very, very, lucky with that one.”

  “But this time round,” said Julie, “instead of a willing, disciplined adult…”

  “You created a vamp from a grief-stricken, near-dead child on the cusp of puberty. Nice one, people.”

  I nodded. “So when we’re talking about Mercy, or Simeon -”

  “You’re talking about a reigned in post-human killing machine,” Caleb cut in. “And with Charlie, you’ve lost the reigned-in part of that.”

  “Enough of the guilt trip,” said Zack. “What can we do about it? Daylight is dangerous, and we’ve seen a stake work.”

  “Sure,” said Caleb. “A stake through the heart will work. Not instantaneously, but it’ll do the job. Decapitation is surest and quickest. Everything else? Fairy-tale nonsense I’m afraid. Except for daylight, as you say. On this little trip my beloved set of cutters won’t do a damn thing except slow him down. Slightly.” He ran his hands wistfully across the handles of his knives. “I’m going to need something bigger. I recommend machetes.”

  “I can fix us up with those,” said Zack.

  “Here,” I said to Caleb, taking off my coat and throwing it across to him. “Put that on. We slide across and you’re seen Earth-side packing that much sharp steel, the hunt’s going to be over before it’s started.”

  “Speaking of the hunt,” said Julie, “where do we start? Where do baby vampires like to hang out?”

  “A few hours gone since his first wild feed?” Caleb ran his tongue along his teeth. “He’s got enough sense not to go back to his house. We’d still be looking for familiar places, landmarks. A day or so more and he’ll establish a lair, and our job’s going to get that much harder.”

  “Let’s finish this quickly then,” I said. “Everyone ready?”

  We moved to an alley across the street. I looked to Julie who closed her eyes in concentration, feeling through the veil. “It’s clear on the other side.” I nodded to the others, and we slid.

  Earth-side the skies were growing lighter. Caleb pulled the coat around him and stepped out from the alley onto the sidewalk, where he was jostled by the early-morning pedestrian traffic. He turned back to us, a wide grin across his face. “This is incredible. I knew it would have changed, but it’s still so…alive. Fresh. Damn it, I’d forgotten so much.”

  “This is our main man,” Arabella whispered, “and we could really use his mind on the job here.”

  “Agreed,” I nodded, “but give the guy a break. And daylight’s going to buy us some time.”

  My cell phone started buzzing. A second later, Julie’s did the same. She looked at hers and raised her eyebrow at me. “Yeah,” I said, “looks like last night is determined to catch up with me. I’ve missed five calls from Patrick. At a guess, he’s not happy.”

  “And I’ve got Max on the line and missed calls from five other big names on the circuit. Do we ignore them?”

  I thought about it. It was tempting. “Don’t think we can,” I said eventually. “If we don’t talk to them they’ll start drawing their own conclusions, and we can’t control that. We need to get them to back off, give us some room to work.”

  “You think we can do that? How?”

  “Oh, that’s relatively easy. We’re going to lie through our teeth.” I turned to Arabella. “You and Zack take our guest out for breakfast. Tell him what you can and don’t leave out the details. We’ll settle things down as best we can and try to get some intel.” I looked around. “Hey, anyone seen Mercy?”

  Everyone looked blank. “She was behind us,” said Arabella. “Maybe she didn’t want to slide through to daylight. That’d make sense.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, sure you’re right. Let me know the minute anyone gets in touch with her. We need to get our stories straight on this.”

  “In my experience,” said Caleb, “carefully constructing a web of lies never ends well. I’d advise coming clean. But that’s just me.”

  “We’ll consider it, but for now, let’s stick to plan A. Catch you later.”

  “He has a point,” said Julie as the two of us headed up to Central Park.

  “Of course he does. But it’s not just our necks on the line here. Sorry – poor choice of words. If we can get it all swept under the carpet quickly, maybe our little indiscretion doesn’t have to go public. Bugger, here he is again.” Reluctantly, I thumbed the icon on the angrily vibrating phone, and smiled. “Hey, Patrick. How’s you?”

  We agreed to meet Patrick and Max at Julie’s place – the sumptuous and stately 310 Central Park West, art deco centerpiece of Manhattan’s architectural landscape. Greg the doorman smiled at us as we walked in. “Good morning, Miss Fairchild. Big night out?” His gaze cooled somewhat as it moved over to me. He’d warm to me eventually, I was sure. Hey, who doesn’t? In the meantime, he was firmly looking out for Julie’s best interests, which made him a stand-up guy in my book. “Your guests arrived and have already gone up.”

  “That was quick,” I muttered as we stepped into the elevator.

  “Certainly was. My money’s on them being right outside when they were calling us.”

  The elevator chimed and we walked out onto the fifth floor. The two men stood a little way up, near Julie’s door. Max turned and smiled. Patrick also smiled, but he did it like a shark, and his eyes were telling a whole different story.

  “I thought we’d wait for you here,” said Max, leaning on his cane. “I do so hate lobbies. Not that yours isn’t perfectly charming.”

  “Surprised you didn’t just go in and make yourself at home,” I said, which earned me a discreet elbow in the ribs from Julie.

  “Out of the question,” said Patrick. “I’m sure you have several precautionary runes in place. Besides which, it would be the height of bad manners.”

  Julie got working on some coffee while the rest of us sat stiffly and made polite small-talk, studiously ignoring the hulking elephant in the room until she came back over with the drinks. She sat close to me, so that I could be better controlled by physical intimidation.

  “I think I should start off with an apology,” I said, provoking surprised looks from everyone else in the room. “You were very kind and efficient in assisting me last night with the cops. In turn, I repaid that kindness by rushing off without an explanation. Extremely rude of me.”

  “Apology accepted, of course,” said Max, leaving Patrick no room to disagree. There was only one person in charge here, and fortunately it wasn’t the lawyer. “I assume you’ve made progress? You were out of touch for quite some time.”

  “We’ve made enquiries, but had to go Fades-side for part of the work.”

  Max nodded. The Mage-born as a rule didn’t slide to the Fades unless there was absolutely no avoiding it. They found its entire existence distasteful. “And your findings were?”

  I took a deep breath. “Patrick’s original idea that we were dealing with Kappas wasn’t too wide of the mark. Not entirely correct, but not a million miles away from whatever hellkind is actually out there.”

  “But I -” protested Patrick, before Max reached across and
patted him on the knee.

  “I see,” said Max, giving me an even stare. “And what would you suggest we do, given the considerable resources that I am making fully available to you?” His eyes narrowed for a moment and he grimaced. He closed them, taking a deep breath. I couldn’t help but feel bad that we were putting him through this.

  “For now, thank you but no thank you. We’re working the streets, pulling in what info we can. With respect, it’s my kind of work, not yours. I’ll check in with you every few hours. My aim is to get this all dealt with by dawn tomorrow.”

  “Dawn tomorrow.” Max stared at the floor, running things through in his mind. The rest of us could only sit there and hold our breath. Finally he nodded. “Yes, I think that if we can get things tidily put away by then, that would be acceptable. Do you anticipate any further casualties?”

  He said it so matter-of-factly, as if we were dealing with statistics and not real people with families.

  “Mr Lamarchand asks this,” chimed in Patrick, “because we would like some advance notice of how many people we’re likely to need to involve in covering up the mess. Particularly if any trails are going to lead straight to your door. We’re good, but we appreciate some warning.”

  Max simply smiled and looked across at us.

  “I’d…be very surprised if nobody else died before we’re done,” I said. “As to how many, it depends where the hellkind have got themselves holed up. If we can spend the daylight hours finding out where that is, and move once night falls, we might be able to minimize losses.”

  “Minimize losses,” snorted Julie, before catching herself. “Sorry.”

  “I understand,” said Max. “We talk in clinical terms, but please don’t think that I don’t understand the human cost behind the words. Very well, Mr English, we are in your hands. I don’t feel altogether happy about you having to deal with this entirely by yourself, however.”

  “Oh don’t worry about me -” I started before Max silenced me with a raised hand.