Silver and Shadows: A Halfmoon Investigations Urban Fantasy

by Tracy Sharp

  “Well, it can try. But I’m not easy to drag anywhere.” She trained her .38 at the thing that used to be her partner. He snarled and smiled, then drew its head back and blasted it through the picture window.

  “I’ll pay for that,” Candace said, shooting the thing in the head. The bullet wouldn’t kill it, but maybe it would at least slow it down.

  No dice.

  It blinked, looking confused, and then began crawling through the broken glass, shredding itself in several spots, but not caring.

  Iona shook her head, and then ran to a back room deep in the recesses of the shop.

  Candace didn’t blame her. But then Iona was back, with a long, nasty looking dagger. “Get out of the way.”

  Candace didn’t argue. She stepped back and watched in awe as Iona swung the dagger down. It arced in the air, and as the tip of the blade touched Brodie’s skull, smoke rose from his head, and then the blade sank in. His head split in half and thudded to the floor.

  Candace felt her mouth drop open. “How much for the dagger?”

  Iona walked behind her counter and grabbed a rag and bottle of Windex from behind it. After spraying the blade and the wiping it clean of Brodie’s gore, she walked over and handed it to Candace. “You can have this one.”

  Candace held the dagger up and nodded her approval. “I can see my own reflection. Windex, huh?”

  “For that Streak free shine.”

  “What do I owe you?” Candace turned it over, admiring the gleam of the metal, and the razor sharp edge. The handle was adorned with star like symbols. The weapon was definitely an antique. She wondered how Iona had come across it.

  Iona said, “The handle is etched with the ancient Egyptian Seba symbol, which is associated with gates and doorways, and life after death. The symbol used on this dagger is meant to kill the undead, and demons.”

  “I’d say it did its job. Where did you get it?”

  “These special things find their way to me. Each weapon I receive waits for the person who needs it at the exact right time.”

  Candace tried to calm the adrenaline shakes that moved through her body. “Score. What do I owe you?”

  “Just a promise,” she said, looking solemn.

  Candace narrowed her eyes. “What do I need to promise?”

  “That you will carry the dagger wherever you go.”

  Candace wasn’t about to go anywhere without it. “I won’t argue with you on that.”

  “Then you will always be safe. I’ll fit you with the belt and sheath for it.”

  Iona, I can’t thank you enough. You saved my life.” Feeling shame color her cheeks, she said, “I wasn’t trained to fight demons at the academy.”

  Iona looked at Candace with a mixture of warmth and pity. “You’d better learn. There

  11

  Ezra

  "I don't mean to belabor the point here," Astrid said. "But that wand looks pretty unimpressive. What would make her want that wand over say... a bigger, fancier wand?"

  "This wand has special qualities." Strummer held the want between his index finger and thumb.

  "Oh, yeah? What's so special about it?" Astrid stood with her hands on her narrow hips, and her head tilted slightly to the side.

  "This wand was made for a great, dark wizard in the 1700s, by a magical weapons maker. It was passed down from generation to generation. Now it's mine."

  So, that was how Strummer ended up with all that occult power. But he didn't seem like a bad guy, for having come from a family of dark wizards. Maybe there was only one dark wizard and the rest were only semi-dark. Or something.

  Astrid nodded. "Huh. Cool."

  "Very," Strummer said. "It packs a punch."

  "Okay, then. Careful with that thing," I told him. I didn’t need him conjuring up any new and delightful nasties with that thing. We had enough problems.

  "I always am." He gave me a smile that made my balls shrivel.

  Raven began soundlessly walking away, back toward the street. “I suggest you all get clear of Strummer and his cute little wand.”

  Strummer grinned, but said nothing. I thought there was a knowing quality in it, but it was hard to tell with him.

  "Let's get this show on the road," Fiona said. "What do we do?"

  "Stand back," Strummer walked toward the lake and raised the wand.

  Raven called from several yards away. "He’s not kidding."

  Everyone began walking backwards. Raven was already standing on the sidewalk in front of the road, a good fifty feet away.

  Astrid couldn’t help herself. "I guess Raven's seen Strummer use his magic wand before."

  I chuckled, in spite of the rising dread I felt.

  Raven said, “I’ll never tell.”

  Strummer glanced back and said, "Farther."

  We took several more steps back.

  Strummer turned back toward the lake and I could hear him chanting quietly. He gave a small wave of the wand, and the water began to swirl, like a small-scale hurricane building momentum.

  "Oh, damn," Astrid breathed.

  "Ditto, that." Fiona’s ghosts had wrapped themselves around her and only her face and red hair were visible behind the spirit fog. Apparently those ghosts knew some bad stuff was about to go down.

  Silvery clouds began gathering over the swirling water, and everything darkened. A blanket of blackness draped over us, and I was blinded to everything.

  The smell of rotten eggs and spoiled meat permeated the air and I almost gagged. My body began to reject the evil that was rising in our midst. My stomach roiled and my heart hammered. My muscles stiffened, making a nerve beside my left should blade sing with agony.

  Thunder cracked and a blinding flash struck the water. If November wasn’t already dead before Strummer’s lightning bolt, there was a good chance she was now, along with any fish in the area.

  The sky lightened as if it were day time, lightning hitting the water in jagged bolts, overlapping each other, and creating a spectacular light show. The water swirled and began rising into the air, creating a liquid funnel. In the center of that funnel was November, spinning faster and faster, her arms spread wide. Her scream was one of triumph and elation, and every hair on my body stood out on skin completely covered in goose flesh.

  The funnel seemed to toss November from it. She flew onto the beach toward Strummer like some kind of evil creature from a nightmare, and then the funnel fell back into the waves as if it had never been there at all, leaving only small ripples calmly dancing on the surface.

  Strummer stood his ground, did not step back, but lifted his hand in a halt position.

  I doubted it would work. November was definitely one of hell's damned now.

  But amazingly, it did. November hit the wall and bounced back on her ass in the sand. Getting up, she growled and snarled at him, clawing at the invisible wall he had magically erected around him.

  Strummer held the wand between his thumb and index finger. "You want this, don't you, Baal. I can see you pulling the girl's strings. You can't hide from me."

  Baal looked at me through November's eyes, making them glow a sickly alien golden green, and his smile was obscene. Again, my skin crept along my bones, as if it wanted to slip off me and take off running, leaving the rest of me rooted to the spot.

  Baal cackled. "You have this cheap, street magician fighting your battles for you, Silver? I thought you had balls of steel. Now you're cowering behind this two-bit conjurer. I must say, I am disappointed."

  My fear turned to anger. That was good. Anger is far easier to deal with. He was calling me a sissy. No kid in the school yard had walked away from that without a black eye. And this scumbag demon wouldn’t get away with it either.

  I’d fought too many bullies in my time to take that shit sitting down. Nobody calls me a sissy. Least of all, this asshole demon. I took several steps toward him, and a gleeful smile lifted the corners of November's mouth.

  Strummer moved his hand and stopped me in my t
racks. He’d read me correctly. "Stop. You're no longer a child on the playground, Ezra."

  I looked at Strummer. "Drop the wall."

  "You are foolishly going to get yourself killed. Look at the bigger picture. The girl needs you."

  I turned my glare to Baal. "Yeah, it takes real courage to possess a little girl."

  November threw her head back and laughed, the sound about as pleasant as nails in a blender. "This is no ordinary little girl. You have no idea of her power. Neither has she."

  "Let her go. She's just a kid," I said. A twisted, vengeful, angry kid who wielded occult talent as a weapon, but still a kid.

  Baal chuckled. "You forget, the child wants me here. She called for me. I came. I will stay as long as I like. I have so many things to teach her, and she is an extremely eager student."

  This wasn't going well. Not at all.

  "The child won't need you if she has this wand. With this, she calls the shots. Not you." Strummer held the wand out for November to see. "November, I know you're watching. This wand will give you unimaginable power. You will be a Goddess among mortals."

  November blinked, seemed to come back to herself for a moment, her eyes turning back to their natural brown. It was working.

  I added, "That's a nice little weapon to have, November. You don't need a lowly demon to take you over and tell you what to do. Power is what you want. You don't want to be a puppet for Baal. Haven't enough people bullied you?"

  Baal emerged again, his eyes now glowing red.

  Candace

  Brodie was dead. This was bad, on so many levels. Candace stared down at his broken head and crumpled body where it lay strewn halfway in and halfway out of the window. “Ugh.”

  “I agree,” Iona said.

  “I have to call this in,” Candace pulled her cell out of her back pocket.

  “No, you don’t.” Iona said.

  Candace stared at him for a little longer, getting the heebee jeebies. “He’s my partner. And he’s clearly very dead. I need some kind of explanation for this shit show.”

  “I have a friend who will take care of this,” Iona said. “Your partner will simply vanish. A lot of people disappear without explanation. You’re a cop. You know that, Candace.”

  She did. “They do, but not cops. Who is this friend of yours and what will he do with Brodie?”

  Iona gave her an apologetic look. “It’s best that you don’t know.”

  “Why, because I’m a cop and your friend’s activities are less than legal?”

  Her face looked calm for having a dead cop in her shop. But the sweat beading her hairline told a different story. “That, and because my friend does this community a great service, getting rid of the earthly trappings of monsters.”

  Candace didn’t really have time to argue with her. She needed to figure out what she was going to do next. Ezra needed to know what had happened. This was his realm of expertise. “Okay, Iona. For now. But at some point I’m going to want to know who this friend is and exactly what they do with the earthly trappings, as you call them.”

  Iona nodded. “Fine.”

  “I have to go.” She turned to leave.

  “Wait.” Iona went into her back room for a moment, and Candace heard a drawer opening and then closing. When Iona emerged from the gloom of that back area, she had something colorful in her hand.

  She approached and offered Candace the small item lying on her open palm. It looked like a key ring with a tiny mirror the size of a quarter set into a braided tassel. From the mirror, tiny baubles were weaved into place with brightly colored thread, tethering small beads and tiny silver balls to hang from it.

  Candace studied it. “This is beautiful, but what is it?”

  Iona opened the key ring and fasted it to a loop in Candace’s trousers. “This is a Kalbeliya Gypsy Charm. The Kalbeliya Gypsies of old used to weave small mirrors into charms made to use on horse harnesses to protect their horses from evil. They were designed to hang near the horses cheeks. It’s on a key ring because it’s easier to attach to modern day clothes and such.”

  “Okay. But I’m not a horse.”

  “It will work for you, too. The mirror is enchanted with protective spells, and when turned toward something evil, it will mirror that evil back to the entity. Demons don’t like mirrors.”

  “Thanks, Iona. I owe you.” I grinned at my lame attempt at a joke.

  She smiled, and said dryly, “Yes. Funny. I’ve never heard that one before. At least you didn’t say, ‘Iona car, or Iona boat. Endless fun.”

  “Sorry. Not my best work. It’s been a shitty day.”

  “You know where I am now, Candace. Don’t be a stranger. I have items that can help you, when you have more time.”

  “I won’t be. I kind of need your expertise. Thanks again, Iona.”

  She bowed her head slightly. “You’re welcome. Be safe.”

  Candace thought that for a young woman of maybe thirty, Iona had many mannerisms of a much older woman. Must come with the magical territory. You quickly become older than your years.

  As Candace left through the front door, she noticed the lines of salt and brick powder in front of it. It had worked, because Brodie hadn’t come through it.

  Good to know.

  She began the walk back to the car, and reminded herself to call around for a window replacement for Iona’s magical shop.

  Ezra

  I walked a slow circle, hands on my head. I stopped in front of Strummer. “What now, you spooky S.O.B?”

  Strummer grinned. “I could say the same of you. Now, we set a trap.”

  “Great. Good. How do we do that? Cuz it seems like that little stunt backfired. Baal and that little sociopath know who is putting out all their little fires. What’s to stop them from lighting the entire city on fire now, just to mess with us?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing. Awesome.”

  Strummer shrugged. “There are no guarantees in life, Ezra. We’ll just have to hope for the best.”

  “Fabulous.”

  “Fabulous,” Astrid laughed. “Look at you, sounding all metro and cool.”

  “Have you all lost your minds? Has the seriousness of this situation escaped you all?” I looked at each of them.

  “What do you expect us to do, Ezra? Sit around and cry?” Rae gave me a mocking pout.

  It wasn’t a bad idea, considering. And I might have done just that if I were alone. I heaved a sigh. “I don’t know. Something. Isn’t there some kind of spell that can bind November from setting more fires?”

  “She’s currently hanging out in hell,” Fiona said. “I doubt any spell, binding or otherwise, would work on her there.”

  “Fiona is right,” Raven said. “The best we can do is re-group and wait.”

  I opened my mouth to respond but my cell rang. I pulled it out of my jeans pocket. It was Candace. Relief made me feel a little weak. I’d been more worried about her than I’d realized. “Candy?”

  “Ezra. I’m in some trouble.”

  Those words made me forget the current state of affairs. It was weird how love did that.

  I chose to disregard that last thought. The one with the “L” word in it.

  “Ezra?” Candy’s voice sounded higher pitched and strained. Panicked.

  I’d never heard her sound this way before. “Tell me where you are.”

  Candace

  Candace saw them hanging around the cruiser. Dark shapes that were blacker than the night itself. They were waiting for her.

  As soon as she hung up with Ezra her cell rang. It was her captain. She tried to steady herself and keep her voice even. “Captain Healy.”

  His voice was a growl in her ear. “Beck, where the hell are you?”

  Candace paused, gathering her thoughts. She hadn’t had time to prepare. She settled on the truth. At least partial truth. “I’m outside of Mystic’s shop on...” She looked at the street sign. “Charm Street. There’s been a break in.”


  “How did you know about that? We’ve been trying to raise you on your radio forever.”

  “I was driving through and saw the broken window. Purely coincidence. Lucky accident.” She closed her eyes, tightening them, hoping he’d buy her story, but she quickly opened them. Those dark, creepy shapes were still hanging around her cruiser. The one she’d shared with the now deceased Brodie. How to explain that to Healy. It was a dilemma. Her stomach did an unhappy flip-flop.

  “Well, I need you to come in. There were a few calls about some kind of problem with you and Brodie. Someone took down your car number.”

  “Ah. Thank God for eagle-eyed civilians.” Damned do-gooder civvies. They should mind their own business.

  “Where is Brodie?”

  Candace looked toward Mystics. A nondescript white van had pulled up and a tall, thin man dressed in navy blue glanced her way, nodded a greeting as if he knew all about the situation, which he clearly did, and walked into the shop.

  Iona’s clean-up man.

  Jesus. How had she dropped so far down the rabbit hole?

  “I can explain all of that.” She winced. Already she sounded guilty. But it wasn’t her fault Brodie was dead. He’d turned into something very bad and very unnatural.

  “It better be one hell of a good explanation.”

  “It is. I’m on my way in.” She glanced at the dark shapes hanging around her car.

  “With Brodie.”

  She winced. “Not with Brodie, Sir. I don’t know where he is. He took off running. He’s been under a lot of stress lately, with his divorce and all.” Good. Now the facts were helping her lie to her captain. This was how it started. Her new life of lies. A little lie here. A little lie there. Here a lie, there a lie, everywhere a lie, lie. Oh, God. She was so going to get canned.

  If she was lucky that would be all they’d do. She imagined the chill of cuffs closing tightly around her wrists. Things just kept getting better and better.

  She watched the eerie dark things circling her cruiser. Their bodies, such as they were, kind of waved in the air like a flag in the wind. No, that wasn’t quite right. It was more like the way heat looks coming off the asphalt on a brutally hot day. They appeared almost squiggly, and undulated more than waved. The strange thing, among many strange things this day, was that they weren’t approaching her. How the hell was she going to get to the precinct with those things hanging around? Maybe she could scare them away.