Knights Magica: An Urban Fantasy (Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill Book 5)

by BR Kingsolver

  “I guess we do.”

  Chapter 7

  The only TV at Rosie’s was in the back room, and I couldn’t see it from behind the bar. Considering some of the crap that people watched on it, I didn’t miss not having one at home. But after my discussion with Michaela, I started paying more attention to the news, and especially to the political situation.

  Being that it was an election year and the Presidential primaries were in full swing, there was plenty to catch up on. It was depressing, but I found myself checking the news on my computer every day. Like watching a train wreck, I just couldn’t stop looking.

  National polls showed Wheeler as the front runner to win. On the other side, the current President was running neck-and-neck with his challenger. In an effort to save his ass, he released a plan for tightening registration and regulation of magic. It wasn’t quite as draconian as his opponent’s views, but it would make things a lot more uncomfortable for people like me.

  The evening after our meeting with the government officials, the group of Knights in civilian clothes showed up at Rosie’s again. All of them had U.S. accents, and all struck me as being fairly young. New recruits.

  After they finished their dinner, one of them came up to the bar and ordered a round of drinks for the table. I knew that Jenny was taking care of them and wondered why he hadn’t given their order to her, but I went ahead and poured their beers and shots.

  “Thanks,” he said when I set the glasses on a tray. He paid, then dug in his pocket and came up with a handful of change that he handed to me for a tip. “Please tell Sam to call Will tomorrow at fifteen hundred.” Then he carried the tray back to their table.

  Buried in the pile of change was one of the Knights’ rubies. When I took my break, I left the ruby and a note on Sam’s desk.

  I arrived at work early the following day and went back to Sam’s office.

  “You got the note I left you?”

  “Yes, thanks. Just about to call him.”

  I raised an eyebrow in question, and he chuckled. “One of our spies.”

  Something I had suspected, but it was nice to get confirmation. It might save the guy’s life if we ran into each other in the wrong circumstances. Sam didn’t tell me about their conversation, or anything else about Will, so I was curious, even if it wasn’t any of my business.

  Oriel and I drove out to Michaela’s on Monday evening, then she, four of her dhampir sisters, and a dozen shifter bodyguards took me to meet with Gabriel Laurent. Since our abduction, Michaela went nowhere without an escort, something Oriel felt the need to repeatedly point out to me. Considering that he was as much a target as I was, I thought he was being a little overprotective.

  Construction on Laurent’s new mansion had progressed only as far as tearing down the old Carleton mansion, so he was still hanging out in Harry Gallagher’s penthouse apartment downtown. Michaela still had the codes to the parking garage in the basement of the building, so we parked all the cars there, and then a few of us crowded into the private elevator that opened into the penthouse foyer.

  As usual, we were met by Constance Gardner, my least favorite dhampir. We left our entourage in a parlor off the foyer, and Constance guided Michaela and me to another sitting room where Laurent awaited us. One whole wall was glass with a view of the mountains to the north of the city. It was the same view as I had from my balcony, but ten stories higher and far more spectacular.

  “Monsieur,” I said with a slight dip of my head. I sat in an overstuffed chair on one side of a low coffee table, and Michaela took the seat next to me. Laurent offered us refreshment from the tea service and a crystal decanter of cognac. I accepted a cup of tea, while Michaela took a champagne glass of blood from the small carafe. Laurent poured his own drink. I wondered if the blood came from Constance or from one of the human blood slaves I had seen lounging around on our way to meet their master.

  “Something is killing my people,” Laurent began in French, “and the condition of the bodies would lead one to suspect they were mauled by wild animals.”

  I shrugged. “They really shouldn’t go hunting shifters.”

  He shook his head. “No shifter could have done what we’ve found, and the few survivors have reported they were attacked by monsters.”

  “You do know that mythical creatures are not so mythical, don’t you?” I said. “I have personally encountered a dragon and heard tales of demons from some of my previous associates.”

  He pursed his mouth as though he’d tasted something bitter. “Perhaps, although I doubt a dragon would be hunting the alleys of Westport. They tend to prefer cattle and sheep, as far as I know.”

  “True. I’ve heard that vampires aren’t particularly tasty. Perhaps your people made the mistake of attacking Fae.”

  “I thought the Fae had retreated into their mounds and sealed them off. But that information is several months old. That’s why I asked you here. Has that situation changed?”

  I took a deep breath. “The Knights’ rubies work to protect the Fae from the corruption of the ley lines, just as they protect mages. Some of the Fae are still in the world.”

  “Such as your boyfriend.”

  “Yes, but he assures me that he and his friends aren’t hunting vampires. But we have recently found that some Fae are working with the Knights.”

  Laurent stared at me for a couple of minutes, his face expressionless. I sipped my tea.

  “They think they can control the Knights,” he finally said.

  “That’s the way I see it.”

  “The Fae couldn’t withstand the Romans. They think they can defeat armies with modern weaponry?”

  “I think they’re taking a different tack. Sneakier. Let the Church control the masses while the Knights control the Church, and the Fae will control the Knights.”

  Laurent shook his head. “Theocracies haven’t done any better than the Fae at subjugating humanity. I lived through the religious wars four hundred years ago in Europe. I wouldn’t bet on the Universal Church winning this time, either.”

  He shifted his attention to Michaela. “I’ll discuss this development with Eileen. Let the Otherworld Council know that we will continue to support their efforts against the Knights, and keep me informed.”

  Sensing that our meeting was over, I poured myself a small snifter of the cognac and took a sip. As I suspected, it was of a quality I would never be able to afford.

  We gathered our bodyguards and took the elevator down to our cars. On the way, I said, “That was a lot of nothing for our time. I could have told him all that over the phone.”

  “Gabriel isn’t comfortable with technology,” she said. “He prefers to be able to see someone’s face, smell them, when he talks to them.”

  I could understand that. There weren’t too many telephones around when he was alive in the fourteenth century.

  The next ley line disruption happened early in the morning when it was still dark outside. Even though I never took off my pendant with the Knights’ ruby, the upheaval in the lines still woke me and Oriel up.

  The lines churned for three days. During that time, the Knights mounted several campaigns in Europe and major cities in North America. In Westport, they tried another attack on Necropolis and several shifter enclaves but once again were beaten back.

  When I went into work the day after the lines settled down, Sam called me into his office.

  “We had a meeting of the Overworld Council last night,” he said. “We’ve decided to send a delegation to Washington, D.C. A number of other organizations across the country will also have members there, and we’re going to try and lobby Congress and the government to rein in the Knights.”

  That was interesting, but I wasn’t sure what that had to do with me.

  “Frankie, Michaela, Karl Langermann, and Reverend White will be representing Westport, and we’d like you to go along. The council will pay all your expenses, of course, plus a per diem amount so you don’t have to worry about missin
g work.”

  “I’m not really the diplomatic type,” I said.

  Sam barked out a laugh. “No, you’re not. We want to send you, Josh, and a couple of other mages as bodyguards. From what you’ve told me, you’re familiar with D.C., aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, I’ve spent some time there. I know how to get around.”

  “Good. Frankie is booking all the arrangements, so touch base with her.”

  I tried to remember when I had agreed to go, but Sam ushered me out of his office before I had a chance to object.

  Oriel came in later for dinner, and I told him about being shanghaied.

  He shrugged. “Want me to meet you there?”

  “They didn’t ask me if I wanted to take anyone.”

  “No big deal. I’ll travel through the mounds and arrange for a car. I haven’t been there in a while, and the azaleas will be in bloom.”

  “I thought the mounds were closed off.”

  “They are, but Tiana can bring me through. The elders aren’t constrained like I am.”

  I called Frankie the following day and found out that the rest of our group would consist of Jolene, Trevor, Kevin Fuller from the Academy, and Ian McGregor. Frankie told me to pack for two weeks.

  I wondered how we were going to get our swords to Washington, since they were too long to put in normal luggage, but Oriel solved that problem.

  “I’ll take them through the mounds,” he said. “I’ll drop you off at the airport, and meet you in D.C. You can put your daggers in your carry-ons, and I’ll spell them so the airport security can’t detect them.”

  Chapter 8

  When I was with the Hunters’ Guild, I rarely flew commercial airlines due to the problem of getting my weapons through airport security. I normally either flew on a private plane, took trains, or rented a car.

  We drove to Portland and flew from there to Washington. Oriel didn’t go to Portland with us. Michaela and McGregor brought their swords to him at my place, and he took them along with mine out to Killarney Village. When we arrived in Washington, D.C., he was waiting for us at the airport. Fae magic was so incredible.

  Frankie had rented three cars for our group, but Oriel showed up with a souped-up European SUV, smaller than those used by the Knights but with a race car engine, leather seats, surround sound stereo, and GPS display built into the dash.

  “How much did this cost to rent?” I asked as I buckled myself in.

  “Belongs to a friend,” he said. “He’s retreated into the mounds, but I have use of his car and his mansion.”

  I laughed. “Not exactly what one thinks of with a Fae. I thought you folks were shy woodland creatures.”

  He shrugged. “We aren’t all a thousand years old. It will give us a safe house if we need one. No way the Knights or anyone else is going to breach the wards he has set.” He handed me a pendant on a chain. “This will allow you to enter the place.”

  Slipping it over my head, I said, “I’m here to guard Frankie, Michaela, and Reverend White. I need to stay at the hotel with them.”

  “I know, but if you need a place to go in an emergency, we have Gullveig’s place.”

  Frankie wasn’t shy about spending money and booked us into the Willard InterContinental, almost next to the White House and a brisk twenty-minute walk to the Capitol.

  Master Benedict hadn’t traveled often, but I usually accompanied him the last three years I served him. He always stayed at the Willard when he went to Washington, so I was familiar with it. My mouth watered thinking about the hotel’s fabulous French restaurant. Sam had told me to have a good time when he gave me a credit card, and Café du Parc’s cassoulet sounded like a good time to me.

  I had also traveled as a companion to at least a dozen Illuminati elders at one time or another, and the elders always traveled in style. I wasn’t considered a bodyguard, since the elders were all former Hunters and strong mages. They were also at least two hundred years old and perfectly capable of defending themselves against a battalion. But I was expected to cover their backs. I mostly served as arm candy and a bed warmer, and only participated in one mage battle in almost fifty trips.

  I was a world away from my small apartment and the Irish comfort foods served at Rosie’s, but I was a lot happier in Westport.

  Oriel didn’t pay any attention to traffic laws, using illusion and other magics to blow past cops, driving the wrong way at times, and occasionally freezing other cars so he could run red lights safely. We arrived at the hotel forty minutes before Frankie and the rest of our group. As usual when riding with Oriel, I had to breathe deeply and unclench my hand from the armrest before I could gather myself to get out of the car.

  “Do you have a corner room on the southwest side?” I asked the clerk when I checked in.

  “Yes, we do,” he answered. “That will be a thousand-dollar-a-night upgrade.”

  “Oh, well. It doesn’t hurt to ask, does it?”

  His sneer told me that he didn’t see the humor in the situation. He gave me a room on the south side, third floor, facing a building across the street. No view at all.

  “Excuse me, is that where the rest of the Francis Jones party will be located?”

  He looked down his nose at me, but checked. “No, they are on the west side, seventh floor.

  “Then I’m sure that is where my reservation is as well.” He simply stared at me, stony faced. “Well, then,” I said, “I guess I’ll wait for Ms. Jones to arrive and have her speak to the manager.” I couldn’t very well guard someone who was several floors away on another side of the building.

  The clerk consulted his computer, then pushed a key card across the desk toward me. “Seventh floor, west side.”

  “Thank you.” I gave him a smile. I would be at the mercy of him and his coworkers for the next two weeks. No sense in making enemies.

  When I got to my room, I found that it overlooked the courtyard, not the National Mall. I still didn’t have a view. I put away my clothes, unpacked my sword, and we went back downstairs to wait for the others.

  “The conference is scheduled for the day after tomorrow,” Frankie said during dinner that evening. “Tomorrow, we have three meetings scheduled with various groups, including one in the evening with seven senators and representatives who are all either witches or mages. Ian, your assignment is to shadow Reverend White. Josh, you’re assigned to Michaela. Karl and Kevin are a team. Trevor, you will be with me, and Jolene is here as my assistant.”

  I pasted a hopeful smile on my face. “And I just get to go sightseeing?”

  “Hardly,” Langermann said. “We’re going to use you as a floater, and for special assignments. For the most part, you’ll accompany the rest of us. But if we need something else done, we’ll use you.”

  “Such as burgling churches?”

  Frankie rolled her eyes.

  “Yes,” Langermann said. “Or following someone, or doing some kind of research.”

  McGregor winked at me.

  After dinner, Michaela pulled me aside. “Tell me about Josh. I’ve met him a few times, and he’s dated one of my sisters, but I don’t know much about him.”

  “Ah, Josh. Brash, crude, quick-tempered, and sometimes he drinks too much. He’s a pyromancer, and an absolute badass in a fight. Other than possibly Ian McGregor, there’s no one I would rather have covering my back. He has helped me take down two Hunters. I think Frankie assigned him to you because you can’t shield.”

  “Well, that makes me feel better.”

  “Just tell him that you expect him to be on his best behavior, except when you want him to play the asshole. He’s good at that, and his mother and sister have him trained to take orders from women.”

  “Frankie didn’t mention what role Oriel is playing,” Michaela said.

  “Officially, and unofficially, he’s not part of our party. He’s just here because of me, and he’s paying his own way.” I shrugged. “As far as I can tell, the Fae don’t worry about money, or hierarchies
, or specific roles.”

  I stopped by Trevor’s room on my way to my own room. As I suspected, he had three computers set up, and two of them were running programs.

  “Pulling background information on the people we’re supposed to meet with,” he said when I leaned close to look at a screen. “If you want me to run any searches, just let me know.”

  “Friedman.”

  “Did you bring your laptop?”

  “Yes.”

  He handed me a thumb drive. “Everything I could find. I think it’s all false bullshit. Nothing that would indicate he’s Fae, although some of his associates are people you told me are Illuminati. Officially, he’s a member of the Universal Church, and he’s been working with some of the Knights Magica’s congressional lobbyists. His Church affiliation seems to be recent. No mention of it prior to last year.”

  “But he’s been around longer than that?”

  “Private business until about three years ago, then a big political campaign contribution followed by a high-level congressional appointment.”

  I went back to my room and plugged in the thumb drive. Oriel looked over my shoulder while I read through Trevor’s report.

  “He looks like a completely normal human,” I said.

  “Probably a glamour.” Oriel had donned his own glamour, close enough to his real human appearance, but not as exotic. People would notice him because he was so handsome, but his features and hair were human norm.

  “How long can you hold a glamour?”

  “Forever, even when I’m asleep.”

  “Can other Fae see through a glamour?”

  “With the proper spell, but just like you can, I would know he was Fae if I was in his presence.”

  “And he would feel you.”

  “Yes. But if I can get close to him without him seeing me, I can tell you exactly what he is.”

  Our group met with a group of witches from Chicago at a mansion in a ritzy part of the city the morning after we arrived. Only the four official members of our delegation and Jolene went into the meeting while the bodyguards remained outside. Jolene recorded the meeting through a charm she had cast.