Warlock Wanted: Arcane Inc. Book 2

by Sean Stone

  Before I had a chance to do anything the aria’s head snapped forward and hundreds of tiny little razor teeth buried themselves in my hand. I screamed louder than I knew I could and finally managed to snatch my hand back. Blood poured down my arm and to my horror I saw that the aria was still attached to me, its teeth still stuck in my hand. I reacted the same way anybody else would. I shook my hand aimlessly around trying to shake it off. All it did was make the creature dig its teeth in further. The pain really was excruciating. Seriously, I’d rather get run over by a triple decker bus. It reminded me of when I was a kid and I had a hamster. The same thing basically happened then but the hamster caused me much less pain. I saw the dinner table. I think you know what happened next. I swung my hand through the air and smashed the fairy onto the beech wood table. It screamed shrilly moments before its horrid little body splatted on the wood. It sort of exploded and what was left was a lumpy puddle of snot-like stuff with its ugly little head floating on top of it. Its mouth was still around my hand. I had to pry it off as gently as I could but as soon as my hand was free the blood flow tripled. Honestly, I’ve never seen so many teeth on anything, especially not something that small. I tried to heal myself with magic but as expected I could only do so much on account of the wound being caused by something supernatural. The blood flow eased off and some of the teeth marks closed up. The rest I dealt with using one of Margie’s tea towels. I’m sure she wouldn’t begrudge me that.

  “Burn it,” Margie said. She was in the doorway leaning on the frame. Clearly she’d recovered a little, though not enough yet. “Burn it to be sure.” She seemed to like burning things to be sure. I wondered if she’d had a nasty experience with something coming back because she hadn’t burned it. I wasn’t going to question her, though, it seemed like sound advice after all. I took the snot fairy into the garden, burned it to ashes and then as I had with the other monsters, I put some of the remains in my pocket and the rest was given to the wind.

  “How are you feeling now?” I asked Margie when I returned to the house. She was just coming down the stairs.

  “Oh I’ll be fine. So will he.” She pointed up at her husband. She’d healed a lot since I saw her a few minutes ago. Her plague had been reduced to little more than a common cold. “You saved us today, Eddie. Thank you. I’d say I owe you our lives but I think that somehow this happened because of you?”

  I looked away. “Yes. Someone went after you to get to me,” I told her.

  She nodded. “Don’t blame yourself, Eddie. It wasn’t your fault. The person who did this is the bad one. Not you. I don’t blame you at all.”

  “That’s kind of you to say but I think I should accept some of the responsibility.”

  “You’re a good boy, Eddie,” she told me. Then she grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me into a hug. This time it felt a bit less awkward. You saved me, my husband and my daughter. That proves you’re good. But now you need to go and save yourself don’t you?”

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  “Do you need help?” she offered. I wanted to say yes. I would have loved her help but I couldn’t endanger her or anybody else any more than I had just by knowing them. She wouldn’t be any match for Rachel anyhow.

  “No, thank you. I need to handle this on my own.” This was between me and Rachel.

  “Do you have a plan?” she asked.

  I nodded and she nodded back. I could see in her look that she knew I didn’t really have a plan but there was no use in arguing with me.

  “Good luck, Eddie,” she said and then I left.

  I did have a partial plan. I knew how to find Rachel now, just not what I was going to do once I had her. She still out-powered me and had Shay and Cameron to help her. I was on my own. I really hoped that my inoculant to the mind-controlling serum worked on her strain otherwise I might as well just throw in the towel now.

  How am I going to find Rachel I hear you say? Let me explain. Rachel left three beasties around town for me to kill. I rather cleverly—although I didn’t have this in mind at the time—gathered their remains. I don’t know how long Rachel had the creatures in her menagerie for but I do know that all of her creatures are given a little touch of magic so she can track them in case they escape. She told me that back in the day. That meant her magic was in their remains and I was betting—and also hoping—that unlike the symbols she’d left to trap them, she hadn’t protected the magic in the creatures. So, I would be able to use the magic in the creatures remains to lead me to the source of the magic, AKA her. Still confused? Tough, I’m not explaining it any better than that. Just keep reading those last few sentences until you get it.

  I took the monster remains back to my storage unit. The security guard eyed me suspiciously on my way in. He hadn’t been the same since I kidnapped him. Understandable really. He must think I was a right weirdo. I suppose I am. Not that it matters.

  I went to my unit to work on the locater spell. Before I started I prepared a healing salve and rubbed it over all the spider bites. It cleared them up in no time and I could get on with the locater spell in comfort. It took a lot longer than usual which told me she had tried to conceal herself but I managed it all the same. I’m just that good. The truth about her location was like a slap in the face. She was living in the Mote Park retirement village. That meant that the night me and Ashley went out on our vigil, my magic-detector (lightbulb on a stick) had not malfunctioned when it exploded. It had overloaded with all the power from Rachel because we were practically right next to her! I could not believe how stupidly unlucky that was. I could have found her ages ago. The important thing was that I had found her now.

  I looked around my unit for anything that I could use as a weapon against her. If she were anybody else then there were plenty of things that would’ve been useful. But she was Rachel and I knew that none of it would help me. Even if it could help she’d just have me disarmed somehow. It was best that I just relied on my natural powers. I did help myself to a massive glass of rum to try and steady my nerves. Yes, I keep alcohol in my unit as well. Its quite useful in some potions and you never know when you might need a courage boost. I don’t usually drink but this was a very special occasion.

  Full of rum and absolutely shitting myself I left my unit to head for the retirement village. Guess who I saw waiting for me outside? No, not Rachel or Shay. Try again. That’s right: Inspector Richards. Once again he was in his trademark pose, leaning on a car with his usual self-important expression on his face.

  “I’m getting really bored of these meetings,” I told him. I wasn’t going to stop for a chit-chat this time. I had places to be. A place anyway.

  “So am I, actually. That’s why I decided to spice this one up a bit.” No sooner had the words left this mouth than I saw four police officers approaching from either end of the street.

  “What is this?” I demanded. I really didn’t have the time for this.

  “Edward Lancaster, I am arresting you for multiple murders, abductions, impersonating a police officer, trespassing, theft…” as he listed off my various alleged crimes the uniformed officers forced me into a pair of handcuffs and then put me in the back of a police car. I could have use magic to get away but that would have only caused more problems than solve them. I was fairly sure I’d be able to get out of this somehow. After all, I am a warlock. Plus, this meant I didn’t have to face Rachel for a bit longer. Hey, if I got locked up forever for this then I’d never have to face her again. Swings and roundabouts, eh?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Inspector Richards watched with subtle satisfaction as I was processed. My details were taken, finger prints put on file and a swab of my DNA taken as well. I let them do it. Fighting would do me no favours and it wasn’t like I wouldn’t be able to erase myself from their database anyway. The whole time Richards never uttered a word. He watched his lackeys process me in silence. When they were finished they didn’t interrogate me. They confiscated my shoes, jacket
and belt and then shut me away in a cell.

  I sat on the bed, not that you could call it a bed. It was more like a stone bench with a weird mattress on it. It was like a miniature gym mat. The thick kind not the thin ones. I looked over at the toilet. There was no toilet paper and I noticed there was a camera which seemed to be pointing right at it. Perverts. Despite being summer it was somehow cold in the cell. A little magic soon heated me up. I suspected that they were making it cold to try and make me as uncomfortable as possible. Obviously that wasn’t going to work. They had no idea who they had locked up in their little station. I could walk out whenever I pleased. I was here at my pleasure not theirs.

  Eventually the time came when I needed to use the toilet and not for a piss. A wave of my hand made the camera malfunction and I went about my business. I was surprised by how long it took them to investigate the fault with the camera. When they arrived I was still on the toilet so I held the door firmly shut with my magic until I was finished. By the time the two officers came tumbling into the cell I was back on my bed looking as innocent as Mother Theresa. Assuming she was as innocent as people say. One of them had a quick look at the camera whilst the other looked at me. Then they left again checking that the door wasn’t damaged on their way out. Neither of them said a single word to me.

  I didn’t see them again for the rest of the night. I sat on my bed trying to figure out where Richards had finally managed to get enough evidence to arrest me. I’d been careful. I hadn’t left a trace anywhere. I’d eradicated everything with the purple fire. He couldn’t possibly have anything on me. And yet he wouldn’t have been issued an arrest warrant if he didn’t have something substantial. I fell asleep still thinking about it.

  I was woken up rather rudely by an officer standing over my bed. Daylight was shining in through the frosted window which told me I’d been locked up all night. Richards had left me to stew. Like that was going to work.

  “No breakfast?” I asked, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

  “Come on,” the officer said and motioned that I follow him.

  I was taken to an interview room where Inspector Richards was waiting. I’d expected him to look quite smug about having me locked up but his face remained neutral. He was going to play it professionally by the looks of things. I was sat down opposite him and then my escort left.

  “You finally got me here,” I said in a small congratulations to him.

  “As I said I would.”

  “So how did you do it?”

  “Witnesses have come forward,” he said plainly.

  “And what did they witness?” I asked. As far as I was aware I hadn’t left any witnesses anywhere.

  “Everything. Several people have come forward. You were seen murdering every single one of the victims, from Killian Myers through to the two officers who disappeared at Mote Park last night. We still haven’t recovered their bodies.” I tried to hide my guilt. Those were the only three of the murdered people who I had killed, though. I was innocent of the others. “You were seen stealing a police uniform. Kidnapping several civilians from town. Pretending to be an officer and stealing the DNA of one of your victims. The list goes on. I’ve got a witness for every single crime I suspected you of. We still need to do the identity parades but don’t worry, I’m positive I’ll get the results I want.”

  “You have been busy.” I couldn’t help but be impressed. All this time I thought he was just following me but he was searching for witnesses.

  “Not really. I don’t like to admit it but they all came to me. I didn’t approach a single one of them.”

  “Really?” Rachel. She was behind this. There was no doubt in my mind. She’d put the witnesses up to it. Probably used the serum to force them to give statements. They probably hadn’t witnessed anything. But why? That was the constant question with Rachel. Why the wendigo? Why have me arrested? Neither act served her purpose. Neither would result in me working for her.

  “Yes, really. I tried to search your room and the storage unit you rent under a false name. We couldn’t get in. How did you do that?”

  “Magic,” I said dryly knowing he wouldn’t believe me.

  He sighed. “Save us all some time and confess.” Even he didn’t expect me to do it. I could see it in his face. He knew I was going to fight him.

  “Would if I could. I’m innocent.” I raised my hands palm up in a gesture of innocence.

  He grimaced. “Let’s get started.” He put a new cassette in the tape player and pressed record. I was amazed that in this day and age they still used old fashioned cassettes. I used a little magic to conceal my voice so only his would be on the recording. He spouted off all the legal mumbo-jumbo and then I confirmed that I understood.

  “Where were you on the night of July twenty-seventh? It was a Wednesday,” he said.

  I thought back. “I believe I was at a party at my friend Matt Stoker’s house,” I replied. We’d been through this before.

  He nodded. “I checked with your friend Mr Stoker and he said you left fairly early. His house is only a short walk away from the house in which officers found the bodies or Mr and Mrs Porter. The same house you were seen running away from. I also have a witness who says they saw you breaking into the house moments before they heard screams from inside.”

  “Don’t you think this all a little too perfect? That you’ve got a witness for every crime that was committed?” I asked. If I left him to go on with his questions I’d be here all morning and I was already bored. It was best that I start asking the questions.

  “I don’t question the facts, Edward. Now, on the night of—”

  “I didn’t kill them. I didn’t kill any of them,” I said flatly.

  “Then who did?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Eddie, you’re up to your neck in this. Hell, you’re up to your eyeballs. You were a suspect before a single witness even came forward. You are involved in some way. So, either you killed them or you know who did. Whichever it is you need to tell me now because rest assured you will be charged and you will be sentenced. Cooperate and maybe you can avoid jail time. Unless you did murder them,” he said. He was no longer accusing me, no longer antagonising me, he was being friendly, sympathetic. He was doing his job. Trying to make me think he was on my side. He was good.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  He leaned in close. “I might. How will you know if you don’t try?”

  I nodded as I considered it. I knew how this would end but what did I have to lose? “Rachel Lecon. She is behind all of it and she’s trying to pin it on me.” I allowed the recorder to pick up that bit.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Why would she do that?” He didn’t sound like he didn’t believe me. At this point he was simply interested.

  “Because I won’t do what she wants. So she’s going to kill people until I do.”

  “How did she kill those people in Mote Park? How did she peel their skin off?”

  “She didn’t. Not personally. She…” I stopped just short of telling him the truth. Was it a good idea? If I told him he’d think I was mad. Which was worse; being mad or being a murderer? I could easily prove that the supernatural existed by showing him some magic but that only opened up more problems. The supernatural world should not be exposed via a mass-murder situation. We’d be hated by the world over. Our image permanently sullied. And the supernatural world would hate me for doing it.

  “She what?” he prompted.

  I sighed. “I want to call a solicitor,” I said.

  “Eddie, you were about to tell me the truth. Don’t stop now,” he implored me.

  “I want a solicitor,” I repeated.

  “Eddie.”

  “Solicitor.”

  Richards huffed and stormed out of the room. For a moment then I had almost told him the truth and risked bringing down a whole different pile of shit on my head. It was better off this way. To be honest he’d prob
ably have thought I was trying to wind him up and I think he and I are beyond those games now.

  Richards did not come back. My escort returned and took me to the phone to make my call. There is a particular solicitor who deals with matters like these. He’s human but knows all about the supernatural elements of the world. He specialises in getting people like me out of situations like this. Although, this one was probably a whole new level to what he was used to working with and I doubted he’d be able to help. But he was my only chance. I got through to his secretary who told me he’d be with me in a couple of hours. Until then I was taken back to my cell.

  An hour or so later I was informed that my solicitor had arrived and I was once again escorted to the interview room to meet him. I had never met this solicitor before. Never even seen him. I’d only ever heard his name. But I knew that the man in the interview room was not him because I had seen the man in the interview room before. He’d aged since I’d last seen him, as had I. He was dressed differently then I remembered in a sharp suit and even had a brief case with him. He looked the part he was playing. He liked to play roles. Back in the day he’d played the role of my best friend. Now he was playing my solicitor.

  “Cameron,” I said under my breath when the door closed and we were alone.