The training kicked in like instinct. They were fine. Ben and Terri could handle themselves. They didn’t need my help. I had a job to do, and Ben would want me to do it no matter what.
Simon sensed my hesitation. “Frank? You alright?”
I had a job to do. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go.”
Lily came bounding out of the kitchen, her stuffed bear swinging wildly, and headed straight for the door. “Finally! I thought this body would be a teenager before you two made a decision.”
I turned to leave, but something made me pause and glance back at the necklace. Something Ben had said to Terri.
A witch I once knew used that. You remind me of her.
The way he had said it had struck a chord deep inside me. My hand darted out, seemingly of its own accord, and scooped up the trinket. I stuffed it in my pocket and followed Simon to the car.
23
We drove east out of the flatlands that made up the Second City, and through the hills of the First City. The humans of the affluent suburbs were still sleeping soundly while the paras of the neighboring community were just passing the peak of their active hours. The traffic thinned to a bare trickle as we went, making our journey pass that much quicker.
“The suspense is killing me,” Lily sang out from the backseat. “Where are we going?”
I looked back over the seat and said, “There’s a place just to the east of Oakland that we use as a safe-house. It has some stuff there that we might be able to use.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Some stuff? Sounds like a colossal waste of time.”
“She might be right,” Simon begrudgingly admitted. “What are the chances that it will have something we need for a ritual that comes from a text that the Committee has banned? Besides, we must be crazy to even consider bringing her out there. There’s a reason they’re referred to as “safe-houses;” nobody is supposed to know about them but us.”
I landed on the page of the book I had been looking for. The diagram showed a circle within a second circle. In the space between the two circles were a number of runic markings scattered at measured intervals, and at the center of the whole thing was a spiral that started at the northernmost point and continued looping around, getting smaller and smaller until it finally terminated at the center of the diagram. It was entrancing to look at, like I was walking down a tunnel that had no end. My eyelids felt heavy and my head lolled forward.
“If you’re not even going to argue the point then I might as well just turn around,” Simon said, belligerence creeping into his tone.
I slammed the book closed, the noise like thunder in my ears. My head snapped back and my eyes flew open. “What?” I had heard everything he had said, but my mind didn’t seem to be following; it was still trapped in a tunnel that stretched off into infinity. That was indeed some strong magic if just a drawn recreation of it in a book could entrance me like that. No wonder the Committee had banned it.
With frayed nerves and limited patience Simon restated his position on bringing Lily along, giving me time to clear my head.
“We don’t have a choice,” I stated flatly. “She needs to stay with us and this is the only place in the state that might have what we’re looking for.”
“What you’re looking for you mean,” he shot back. “I still don’t know what it is that you’re planning. If I didn’t know better I’d say you didn’t trust me, little brother.”
I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. “Is that what you think?” Exhaling deeply, I rubbed the back of my neck. “Simon, you know I trust you. Why do you think I bargained with Selena to let you stay here?”
“You two are so cute when you’re arguing,” Lily said sweetly.
“Shut up,” we replied in unison.
“Are we there yet?” she whined in exaggerated little girl fashion.
“The fact remains,” I said, ignoring Lily, “that Christian knows things he shouldn’t. He says his birds whisper to him. That must be how his master communicates with him, so I figure the less said about what I’m planning the better.”
He nodded slowly, seemingly mollified for the moment that my decision not to share my plan with him was a tactical one and not some personal indictment of his loyalty. It was absurd that he should even consider that, but it seemed as if his unusual behavior recently now included bouts of paranoia.
We cruised along for a few minutes before Simon finally asked, “You’re not planning on bringing her inside are you?”
“God no! Having her close to keep an eye on her and handing her the keys to the castle are two entirely different things.”
Simon snorted a laugh and said, “Good.”
“Like I’d want your crummy castle,” Lily said sullenly. She leaned forward resting a hand on the back of my seat. “So how did you two meet? Was it love at first sight?”
“Oh-ho,” Simon slapped the wheel in mock amusement. “We should book you at Eternal Bliss,” he said, referring to the vamp bar in LA that sometimes featured standup comedians. I couldn’t imagine getting up in front of a room full of vampires and trying to make them laugh. They weren’t really known for their sense of humor and I could only imagine what happened if the audience was disappointed.
Lily shrugged. “For some reason I’m actually interested, and we have time to kill before we get to this secret hideaway of yours.”
“I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine,” I told her.
Simon gave me a sideways glance but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, Uncle Frank, are you bargaining with me?” she asked and clapped her little hands together wildly. “You should be careful; I hear that people can be executed for that sort of thing around here.”
“The Council arranged for you to come here, not me, so anything that happens as a result of you being here is their responsibility.”
“How diplomatic of you,” Lily commented dryly.
“So will you answer my question—and answer it truthfully—or not?”
Lily seemed to think it over for a moment, her small face screwing up in concentration before a smile crept across her features. “You have a deal. Ask your question.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Now that she had said the word ‘deal’ I was having second thoughts. These were the types of situations that people got into and could never get out of. It would start with something innocuous: some money, some power, or simply the answer to a question, some knowledge that you thought you couldn’t do without. And then, before you knew what had happened they had you. You would ask for more and more until all that was left was a slavering beast that wore your skin and looked out through your eyes.
But there was no turning back now. “I know that a being like you wouldn’t be here simply because this new organization of tribal demons was able to contact you. I’ve seen what you think of their kind, and I know you care nothing for peace, so I guess my question is: Do you have any real intention of doing what the Council asks?”
“This is what keeps you up at night, Inquisitor?” she asked, and giggled, the sound like wind chimes in a spring breeze. “Then let me ease your suffering. Yes, I will do what the Council has asked of me. Now it’s your turn. Tell me a story, Uncle Frank.”
Only slightly mollified by her answer, I tapped a finger rapidly on my knee. I suppose it was the inherent problem with asking a Demon a question. The answer either wouldn’t please you, or you wouldn’t believe it anyway.
“There’s not much to tell,” I said, remembering back to my first time at basic training for the Supernatural Enforcement Committee. Haltingly at first, I related to her what happened during our time at a base that was so secret that even we weren’t allowed to know where it was. A skein of mind magic and psychic intrusion had left both Simon and I with fractured images of landscapes and barracks and underground passageways. “There were a hundred new recruits, just like always. Everyone was broken up into squads during the second week of boot camp, and I was assigned
to Simon’s. They try to instill a group dynamic just like the army because anyone who doesn’t graduate to the level of apprentice or Inquisitor is usually snapped up by the police or the STS or the military. Like in our, case only Simon and I went straight to Inquisitor status, three more were taken on as apprentices and the rest failed the course for one reason or another.
“But anyway,” I continued, waving away thoughts of those that had washed out, “the first two months were basic training and team building exercises. Our group was closer than any of the others. Even when the night’s exercises were over we would still hang out together, talking about what we would do to help our communities when we got back as full-fledged Inquisitors.” A smile crept onto my face as hazy memories swam to the surface. “After basic we were all lumped back together for classes and general training, but our group—those that hadn’t washed out already—still stayed together when we could right through till graduation.”
“Except for the last month, that is,” Simon corrected.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you know, that was when the ones they expected to make it got their individual mentorship. We didn’t see each other until the final weeks of tests.” He laughed then, the memories freeing him of his recent pensive mood. “Remember Heinrich, my instructor? That uptight German vamp was something else. I remember thinking, how can a guy this miserable run a city? Hey, I don’t think you ever told me who your teacher was. Was it that little mousy woman with the glasses? You know, the one that looked like a librarian? I heard she was the resident psychic.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “You didn’t sleep with her did you? Is that why you didn’t tell me?”
Frowning in concentration, I tried to remember anything like what Simon was saying. A month of one-on one instruction? I vaguely recalled meeting Heinrich, and the woman with the blonde hair piled into a tight bun on her head was indeed a psychic, but I had never exchanged more than three words with her.
The training that had been ingrained into my mind allowed me to focus on problems on different levels, it helped suppress fear and doubt if it was interfering with my mission, and it helped me to kill quickly and efficiently. In a way all the mundane instruction and classes and exercises were secondary to this tool that had been planted in my head. But I didn’t know how it got there, and I didn’t know what had been taken in return.
“So,” Simon was saying, “what was your last month like?”
“I’d rather not talk about,” I said, and nodded meaningfully towards Lily in the backseat.
“Ah,” Simon said, a grin twisting his lips. “Sorry Lily, this story isn’t for young ears.” He looked at me. “You’ll tell me later, right?”
I nodded absently. There was nothing to tell.
I couldn’t remember.
* * *
A short time later, after following a dirt trail off into the woods, we arrived at a cabin. It was a lone bastion of humanity in the forest. Oak and sycamore trees towered around us, standing as a barrier to the outside world.
“You two stay here while I check the place out.” I turned, leaving them standing by the car as I walked to the front of the small cabin.
“Ay, ay captain,” Lily said, and saluted with her right hand while clutching her stuffed bear to her chest with her left. The toy was the only pretense of being a little girl that she wouldn’t give up. I found that I had grown to hate that little lump of brown fur.
Lily had remained conspicuously quiet through the rest of our trip while I pondered the cause of my selective amnesia. As much as I wanted to tell Simon about it, I couldn’t while Lily was around. Demons were creatures of opportunity with an appetite for forbidden knowledge. Knowing that I had a lapse in my memory wasn’t anything she could barter, but perhaps she would start digging for something she could use. Lily had entwined herself with my life too much already. The sooner she left the better.
The front door to the old wooden cabin was unlocked, and it swung open with a loud creak. Powerful wards peeled back like a curtain before me. Any locks on the doors or windows would have been superfluous here. The wards were of the lethal variety, and anyone who could get past them wouldn’t be stopped by a deadbolt. As the local Inquisitor, the magic was set to recognize me as a friend and allow me safe entrance. I was greatly relieved when it worked. Having never had cause to come here I was slightly worried that someone may have overlooked my addition to the list of friends.
Dawn was fast approaching, but the inside of the cabin was pitch-black. I felt along the wall until I found the light switch and flipped it on. A low-hanging chandelier came on beating back the heavy darkness that permeated this place. The inside had a strange mix of design schemes that seemed random and contradictory. There was a deer head hanging above a brick fireplace off to my right, but no place visible for storing rifles or gear normally associated with hunting. There was wood in the hearth but no instruments with which to rearrange them once alight. There wasn’t even a pack of matches or a lighter on the mantle. In front of the fireplace was a badly scratched and worn table with four rickety looking chairs around it. The set could have easily been over a hundred years old, and looked every day of it, yet in the center of the room was a brand new oriental rug the color of blood straight out of the vein. Off to the left of the room were four cots that had seen better days. The two windows that faced out on the front of the house were streaked and dusty from what looked like years of neglect. Above them were old style blackout blinds to protect any vampires that came here. I could tell they were old because they didn’t have the anchor and seal system that the new ones at Larry’s apartment had. The old ones had been out of use since it was found that there was a chance—however slight—that the roller system might malfunction causing the blind to snap up, allowing lethal sunlight to come spilling in. It had never happened, but the mere prospect had caused an uproar and the company had recalled them. Apparently whoever ran this place, if anyone did, didn’t get the message.
At the back of the main room, past the cots, was a hallway. Three closed doors greeted me, one to each side and one straight ahead. I went through each in turn, wanting to know the full layout of this place in case I ever needed a place to crash for a night. The door on the left was the pantry. There were shelves of canned foods, soups, and boxes of cereal lining the walls. On the floor in the back was a mini-refrigerator that looked like it may have still been in working condition. A bare bulb suspended from the ceiling swayed slightly, throwing shadows at crazed angles, giving the whole room a proper post-apocalyptic sense of despair. Nevertheless, someone could have survived for quite a while on this stuff, and the surrounding woods had no lack of fresh game that could be hunted. It was a real survivalist paradise.
The door across the hall had an overly large bathroom that hadn’t seen a cleaning chemical in a long time. When I saw something skitter across the floor I decided I had seen enough and closed the door quickly.
I opened the final door and stepped into the master bedroom. It was set parallel to the main room and was just about as large. A gigantic four-post bed was pushed against the far wall, swathed in dirty moth-eaten sheets. An armoire that was probably purchased at the same yard sale the table and chairs were was pushed up against the near wall.
Having seen enough of the house to be thoroughly disgusted, I went back to the main room. The deer’s eyes, like polished obsidian orbs, seemed to track me as I entered and went to the edge of the rug. I stood at a slight angle so that my back was to the head and laughed nervously at my own childishness. Still, I could feel something’s gaze on me and the dead deer was the only other thing in the room.
Bending down, I grabbed the corner of the rug and pulled. It slid away, along with the wards I had sensed around it, to reveal a trapdoor with an iron ring for a handle. I discarded the rug and pulled up the trapdoor. It creaked louder than the front door had and I felt my heartbeat pick up. The light from the chandelier failed to reach down into the shaft so that t
here was simply a square of absolute darkness in front of me, waiting for me to take my first step. I reached down to feel for a ladder, and secretly waiting for a clawed hand to grasp mine and drag me down into those Stygian depths. But no mystery beast awaited me; instead a dim flicker of light came on deeper in the chamber. Slowly it gained strength, and soon others joined it bathing the ladder below me in light that was harsh to my eyes. My mind rebelled at the thought that motion detectors could have been what turned on those lights in the basement. They simply had no place in this relic of frontier life.
I descended into a room with concrete floors and walls. It was as if the twenty-first century design of this place was at war with the cabin of rotting wood above me and its nineteenth century rustic charm. As I looked at the metal racks of weapons that lined the floor I knew which one I would side with. I might have drooled a little I’m ashamed to admit, as I stood admiring the array of weaponry. The first rack held hunting and assault rifles neatly stacked into individual slots. Piled against the far wall I could see boxes of ammunition and empty magazines. Among them were the now defunct Trazer Company’s silver-jacketed slugs and fragmenting magnesium rounds. Guaranteed to stop the paranormal in their tracks! the boxes proudly proclaimed. The outlawing of mercenary hunting groups had sounded the death knell of the Trazer Company, which was a shame because I had heard that they were as good as their boxes’ pronouncements. The two other racks held old style weapons: swords, axes, daggers, bows and arrows, and spears. They were more mundane, certainly, but still deadly in the right hands.
As cool as all this stuff was it wasn’t what I was looking for, so I went past the staircase that bisected the underground armory to the other side. Instead of racks, this side had tables, and at the end stood a man-sized statue. Whereas the racks were set parallel to the staircase, the tables were set perpendicular like aisles in a grocery store. I ran my eyes over the collection of gems, amulets, arm torques, and assorted weapons with a sense of awe. On the right-hand table sat a tattoo gun and various jars of ink, as well as a book that I recognized to be the list of designs and abilities available. It took an especially powerful enchanter to do the tattoos and this set looked as if it hadn’t been used in ages. It would, however, come in handy if any of the Inquisition’s bases were compromised. Having an arms cache stashed away was never a bad idea. My senses tingled as I ran a finger along the edge of one of the swords and I knew it was enchanted, as I supposed was everything else on this side of the room.
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