by Al K. Line
I called Brewster over so I could pay but he shook his head—it was on the house.
Damn, that must mean things were really bad.
I nodded and left.
*
One last wander around my city. Drifting any which way, not even a vampire in sight stalking the homeless or the too drunk to care.
Famished, I went to a late night kebab house and stuffed my face full of cheap food while I stood looking out the dirty window. When finished, I wiped my mouth and hands with a napkin and put the empty container in the bin. I nodded at the Turk, an ancient warlock who wanted a quiet life for a few centuries before getting back into the thick of things, and wandered back to the car.
I stood with a hand on the door, assuming something would happen. Half expecting to be jumped, or to see Reade stalking down the road, but there was nothing. Just a few cats, regular cats, not imps trying to look inconspicuous. I was safe. I was alone.
The word concilium kept going around in my mind, every time the ink at my neck moved and reminded me I had mere hours left now.
How do you manipulate people like that? It takes strong magic and it would have to be somebody close to us all. Somebody who was in contact with Kate, could call a faery and warp her memories, and that took real power. Could it be Oskari, giving me false information about who murdered my parents to stop me going after him? No, Grandma knew him and knew of his reputation, same as I did. He was a cold-hearted bastard but he was a vampire of his word.
He wanted peace for his own kind and had told me the truth, and no way would he get to a faery. And besides, he wasn't around when I was sentenced so it couldn't have been him.
I was clutching at straws, unwilling to admit I had no answers, nowhere to go but home to bed.
Who else? I went though the many names I knew, those I had dealt with over the years, but none of them were a good fit. I got in the car and closed the door, waiting for the interior light to fade like my life.
Leaning back into soft leather, I closed my eyes and forced myself to think, to let go of preconceptions and open my mind to any and all possibilities. I had to look at this thing objectively, no false accusations, no jumping the gun. Consider it logically and go through the analytical motions that would lead to an answer.
Gentle magic, soft and caressing, came to me, drifting into my mind, massaging my shoulders and easing the ache in my taut muscles. I felt nerves relax, stress fade, and welcomed the lulling of the magic that had hurt me and nurtured me, always there when I needed it.
Soon, I managed to gain some clarity, to slow my overactive imagination and my manic mind and allow it to study and hopefully solve a problem that meant little to most, everything to me.
Had I been betrayed or was this a vindictive character from my past? With so many years to go over, and many memories lost, I had a lot of ground to cover and a horde of old memories to dig up if my metaphorical spade was up to the task.
The whiskey buzz left, the magic buzz increased, and my eyes turned inward.
It took the rest of the night, and when I opened my eyes again from hours of forced concentration—something I admit is not how I usually go about getting results—it felt as weird to see the world still turning as finding Intus sat next to a jar of Marmite with the lid still on.
I kind of expected it to have all vanished, as what I now knew to be true must surely have meant I was living in a dream and nothing in my life had ever been real.
I knew who was responsible, who wanted me dead. And I'd happily go to my grave without objection if I was proved wrong.
You
"Hey, Spark, how's my number one enforcer?" Rikka put down his sandwich when he saw my face. "Oh, right. Worked it out, did you?"
"Yeah, but I prayed to any god that would listen that I was wrong. Damn, I can't believe this. All the way here I've been telling myself I couldn't possibly be right, but now. Well, now I know it's true."
"Sorry." Rikka pushed papers aside and clasped his hands together. He didn't even have the decency to lower his gaze.
"Sorry? That's all you have to say?" I spoke calmly, utterly composed. I think it was the shock, and that part of me couldn't accept the truth, didn't want to. It was as if we were having a chat about the weather, but less animated. "Just answer me one question, Rikka, before I kill you. Why?"
"Because I had to get my position back, that's why."
"Okay, I guess."
Rikka heaved his massive frame out of the chair. "Everyone leave. Now!" The few people in the gym took one look at Rikka and left immediately. There were no grumbles, no finishing of sets. Weights were racked or abandoned and in ten seconds the place was empty.
It was just me and him. The lights buzzed, the air conditioning rumbled. My heart fractured.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream.
"A hundred years. A hundred fucking years, Rikka. We've known each other almost that long. You practically brought me up. You're like a father to me. I love you. And this, you do THIS!"
Rikka's folds of flab wobbled as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't you dare stand there and shrug your fucking shoulders at me like this doesn't matter. You taught me everything I know, took me to get my ink. You stopped me going off the rails when I was a kid and this is what you turn around and do? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I had to get back on the Council."
It was as if it was obvious and no big thing to him. He said it like it was just business, another damn scheme like always. One of our many capers to talk about, joke over after the fact. Well, it wasn't.
"So you did the only thing you could think of. The only way you knew for sure they'd grant Grandma permission to step down as Head. Get me killed. She'd either resign no matter what the Council said or they'd remove her because even they have some compassion. And then what, you'd step in, say sorry for the things you'd done and hope for the best?"
Rikka looked confused. "Faz, have I really taught you so little? Of course that wasn't the plan. Do you think I'd leave anything to chance?" Even his voice sounded different. Like he'd been hiding his true identity from me since the day I was born.
"I don't know. I don't bloody well know anything any more. This is me, and Grandma, how could you do it to us? We're your family. And Kate, she respects you, thinks you're great."
"I'm a nine-hundred-year-old mage, that's why. I didn't work all this time, all these years, build up what I have, keep Hidden on the right track, for it to all be taken away from me because I did what the Council have tasked me with doing.
"I gave you the go-ahead to deal with the vampires after what they did to the shifters and the witches and all of us and how do they repay me? They discard me, strip me of what is rightly mine. I knew it would happen, of course, knew the moment I heard from you about what you had planned, even without my blessing, I might add, so I called the faery and changed her memories, knowing you would be arrested. Then if things worked out I could have got you released, but I knew they wouldn't. I knew they would destroy me for going along with your plan."
"It was your job to protect us. It was my plan but you were there. You wanted revenge as much as everyone else."
"I know, and we did. But I also knew that you forcing the situation like that would mean the end for me. So what choice did I have? I set you up, Faz, I had to. But the fools let you out for three days, bunch of idiots. Their obsession with Laws that are outdated. So, I ordered a kill, my own, so Reade would come."
"A distraction? After everything you did to me and you still used me? You used my love and respect, my sense of honor, which you clearly have none of, to get me to protect you? That's pretty sick, by anyone's standards. I don't even know who you are." How could he be so cold? I knew he was ruthless, and loved power and money, but I still thought he was a man of morals in his own way.
"Like I said, what choice did I have? I knew you'd try to protect me. I just hoped it would take you long enough so you wouldn't find out what I'd done
before they carried out your sentence."
"You're out of your mind."
"Am I? Faz, living so long allows you to see the truth behind all this petty nonsense we deal with every day. I had to make a sacrifice, for the greater good."
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child. You did it for yourself, so you could get back into power. You can't stand the thought of anyone else being better than you. Just selfish, that's all you are." Something wasn't right with his explanation. How had he known they'd put Grandma in the top position? He had no way of knowing that, so why single me out and have me imprisoned? No, he was lying. He could have known he would be punished, me too, but that didn't mean it would have been Grandma that took over, or that they would disband the Dark Council.
Then I understood. The reason for his treason. It couldn't be that, could it? I looked at Rikka and saw the truth of it all. It was worse than I'd imagined up until that point.
"You did it because you were scared of me?"
Rikka nodded. "If you'd survived, and that won't happen now," Rikka pointed at my neck, "you would have become Head, maybe Worldwide Head, and I can't have that. It's my destiny, not yours."
"I don't want any of that bullshit. I don't want power or position, and I certainly don't want any damn responsibility."
Rikka laughed, mocking and scornful, condescending and so vindictive I wanted to shake him, or wake up and for it all to have been a terrible dream. "You are a child! Do you honestly believe that in another hundred, five, a thousand years you will be the same man you are today? You will change and you will crave power."
"Never. You've just convinced yourself, to have an excuse."
"Grow up! Look at you, you're an enforcer. You love it and you're an addict. You get high on what you steal from the Empty and you crave the sense of power. What, you think you won't want more of it as you age, as you watch those you love die and watch from the shadows as the world changes? You're a fool. What is enough now will no longer be in the future. You will move on to the real thing, to have control over others." Rikka paused and I swear he glanced at the sandwich.
"Seriously?" He wouldn't dare.
Rikka fiddled with his thumbs then continued, as though he was giving a lecture to a class of infants. "I had a hard decision to make and I took it. I love you but all things must come to an end. You don't understand what is possible, Faz. You never even considered for a moment that I could manipulate the minds of people, even fae, did you? It's like you run around blasting things but don't get that there's so much more to learn. Your training has only just begun. Sadly it will have to be cut short. Otherwise you will be my enemy at some point, and I cannot, will not, have that."
"You're utterly insane."
"I am perfectly sane. I am Mage Rikka and I get things done."
"No, you don't."
I was ready to kill him, no matter the cost, but there was something else. I felt true fear then, wasn't even sure I could ask. No, not even he would go that far, do something that despicable. No matter what I'd learned of him I knew he wouldn't have done that.
I asked, I had to.
"Kimiko Cocchi," was all I managed to say, the words sticking in my throat.
Rikka nodded.
"You know the name?"
"Of course, everyone does."
"Don't play around, Rikka. You know the question. Answer me! Did you get her to kill my parents? Did you kill my fucking family? Tell me you didn't. Anything but that." I don't know what I'd have done if he'd said no, probably the same thing, but I'll never know.
"Yes."
I stepped up to him and I slapped him. I slapped him so hard the imprint of my hand was livid on his swollen cheeks like I'd done a hand painting. His head snapped back and he stared at me in shock but made no move to defend himself.
"This can't be happening, it can't. Not you, not this. Not any of it. Why, Rikka? Why would you do that?"
Rikka spoke quietly, past the point of no return. "You know what your parents were like. They didn't want the Hidden life for you. They would have never allowed it. But you wanted it more than anything. You couldn't wait to use magic, become immersed in this life we lead."
"So you colluded with a goddamn vampire?"
"I saw it in you, Faz, I saw the enforcer crying to be released. That pain, that fury and that hate, it has fueled you all these years. The loss changed you, made you become what you are today. All these years their death has remained with you and you have trained and learned everything because you wanted revenge."
"You used me. You did it so I'd be good at my job? I didn't think you could get any lower, but that's inhuman."
"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made."
"And what did the vampire get out of this deal?"
"More than you will ever know."
"What does that mean? Don't try and be cryptic with me, Rikka, now is not the time."
"You can't have all the answers, life doesn't work like that. I gave you what you wanted, a way in. And I needed someone like you, someone strong. We've come so far, you and I, you should thank me."
That was it, all I could take. "Here's my thanks, Boss."
I don't know if Rikka saw the error of his ways or if he simply gave up. Either way he stood there, doing nothing, as I walked up to him, pulled my knife, and stabbed him in the throat.
He held my gaze the whole time, never flinching, eyes already dead they showed so little emotion.
I stepped aside as his huge bulk collapsed to the floor.
And then Reade smashed through the back wall.
Talk About Bad Timing
I must have done something very wrong in a previous life. That, or this was some god or other's idea of a bad joke.
"Aha, I have you both now," boomed Reade as he stormed through the rubble. He faltered as he took in the knife in my hand, the blood splattered across my shirt and face, and the body of Rikka on the floor, twitching then still as life left him.
I felt nothing, not then, that would come later. The pain, the hurt, the utter, overwhelming sadness at what a once great man had become, maybe had always been. At the sheer horror of thinking that maybe I could someday become someone that valued power so much I would go to any lengths to have it, to maintain it, to regain it. Kill friends and family, warp the minds of innocents like Kate just to break me, keep me occupied until my own death came. Destroy children and break apart families.
This man was worse than any vampire. At least they were honest about their nature.
What hurt the most was that after all he did I knew he loved me. I loved him too.
Miss you Rikka. I also hate your guts and may you eternally burn in hell for your cowardice. You had more than anyone could wish for in this life. You had love. You had respect. You had a family.
Now you have nothing.
"You killed your master?" asked Reade, looking stunned.
"He wasn't my master, he was my friend. But now he's dead so you may as well go home."
"It doesn't work like that," said Reade, brushing dust off his kilt and pulling half a brick from his hair.
"You came to kill Rikka but he's gone now, so your job is finished."
"No, Spark, I came to kill two men. You have been misinformed."
"Let me guess, one of those men is me, right?"
"How very insightful of you."
"Doesn't it mean anything that the man who hired you is now dead? And anyway, how could you take a job from someone that instructed you to kill them? Bit weird, isn't it?"
"I have lived through all the ages of man, this is not such a strange request. There have been many that were stranger than this. Mage Rikka was a clever man."
"Not clever enough."
Reade stared down at Rikka, the blood pooling around his body. "Clearly not. No matter, I have been paid and I will fulfill my contract. A Littlejohn never leaves a job incomplete."
"Oh, well, that's just great then, isn't it?"
Reade shrugged. There was way too much
shrugging going on lately. Didn't anyone actually care about anything any longer?
Yes, they did. They cared about love.
So I did the only thing I could think of, I summoned the Empty and felt it sweep over me like a welcome friend.
"One last time, Faz, call it one last time today and then you can rest." Yes, I talked to myself, it was that or burst into tears and go round the bend.
The air twisted and turned, reality faded away for a moment as the air sparkled with all the colors in existence, and as I willed magic deep inside of me, stretched it and made it malleable, focused it not on fighting but on a calling, on a summoning, I said, "Fabianne Fils-Fedder, I summon you." Yeah, that's right, I did a proper summoning.
It was just a shame nothing happened.
I thought maybe if I called her, forced her to appear somehow as I had her name, then she could save me, or at least buy me some time if she told the Council I was innocent before I ran away from the giant.
My neck throbbed hard, warning me I was cutting it close.
Either the countdown would get me or Reade would.
"Fabianne Fils-Fedder, I command you. I have your name, you will obey. Fabianne Fils-Fedder, you have been summoned."
Still nothing. It was worth a shot.
My neck spasmed. I knew there were mere minutes left.
Reade stepped forward, hand outstretched, ready to squash my head.
Guess at least I could say I went out in a dramatic style after all.
The giant's hand got close, the air tore, and a beautiful voice said, "Where the hell is Mage Rikka? I'm gonna rip him a new one for putting me in that damn box for fifty years."
My guess was this was Fabianne.
Reade paused, hand mid-air as the faery took one look at him and smiled. "Hello, big boy. What's your name?"
