There beside the trail, the roof of a house visible through the trees just behind it, was a circular labyrinth pathway created with rocks and well-trodden patches of bare earth. A sign near the two dimensional maze invited visitors to follow a single path to the centre and back again as a walking meditation to calm the mind. It then went on to inform us that this particular labyrinth had been inspired by the one at Chartres Cathedral, France, created 800 years ago.
“Neat,” said Chase when he saw it. “I had no idea this was here.”
He set out along the curving pattern, shuffling his feet down the narrow path as he doubled back and forth through the circuitous route on his journey to the six lobed pattern in the center of the labyrinth. The entire exercise took about four minutes, and when he was done, he walked straight back to me instead of following the path in reverse.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Satanic summoning circle?”
Tapping my mage sight once again, I saw nothing out of the ordinary in the stones or the pattern itself. The entire thing was as mundane as could be, yet I still felt a considerable amount of power prickling the hair on my arms.
“Nothing so sinister,” I said. “If I had to guess, I’d say that this is a natural power nexus of some sort. It’s not really something I know a lot about, but there’s an energy here so thick I can almost taste it.”
“So not a coincidence that this pagan-looking thing is sitting on a big power vortex just a few dozen feet away from where that body with the weird tattoo was found?”
“We need to learn more about this.” I tucked my phone back into my pocket. “I’m completely out of my element here.”
“Viktor?”
“He might know something, but you know how hard it is to get him to leave his house.” I looked at the labyrinth and then up at Chase. “No, unfortunately I’m going to have to ask a favor of someone I’d hoped I’d never have any reason to talk to again.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No,” I said with a resigned frown. “Owing favors to witches is never a good thing.”
Chapter Three
There’s a tendency in humans to want to categorize things into neat little boxes. You only have to look as far as popular fiction to see that all werewolves and vampires are obviously monsters that need to be exterminated before they can kill all the best virgins or whatever, and faeries and elves are helpful little creatures that represent all that is good in the world. The problem is that books and movies almost always get it wrong in one important way. Supernatural creatures are no different than humans. Some of us are shining paragons of selflessness and humility, while others are assholes who wouldn’t be missed if they were rounded up and dumped on Antarctica never to be seen again. Magical or not, human or non, everyone falls somewhere along the same gradient of complexity when it comes to their outward behavior. There are Light mages you’d never want to invite into your home, and Dark mages that would surprise you with the depth of their compassion.
Witches have typically caught a better deal in recent decades when it comes to their pop culture portrayal. They’re usually shown as bright and beautiful young things who fight against those rotten apples who would use their powers for evil purposes. You can tell just by looking at them that these witches are the embodiment of light, love, and boundless compassion.
On the outside, Karyn Willowshade was exactly that kind witch. Tall, slender, blonde, and blue-eyed; she didn’t need magic to enthrall nearly any man who looked at her. Hell, even I felt a few painful jabs of envy poke me in the ribs when we walked into the hot yoga studio where her class was just wrapping up. Wearing shorts so tight and tiny they were nearly obscene, it was hard not to wonder if her perfect body hadn’t been artificially enhanced with a few choice spells.
Of course, underneath it all she was a stone cold bitch.
“What do you want, Alex?”
Karyn wiped sweat off her arms, her breasts straining the bonds of her one size too small pink sports bra while she eyed Chase. The poor guy looked like he was going to trip while standing still. He moved to put his hands in his pocket, then awkwardly changed is mind and crossed his arms over his chest before finally letting them drop and standing there with hands on hips.
Karyn bent over to pick up a towel, treating us to an unnecessarily lengthy close-up of her ass before finally straightening up again. The girl didn’t do anything without purpose. I knew her to be quick to use her body to beguile or annoy, and in a matter of seconds she’d managed to accomplish both. I sent my elbow into Chase’s side when she used the towel to wipe droplets of sweat from her face. His eyes shot up to meet mine, his cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. He turned back to face Karyn, this time conscientiously restricting his attention to the area above her shoulders.
“We need your help,” I said.
Karyn drew the towel across her collar bone and over the skin around her cleavage, then crouched to roll up her yoga mat. Chase’s mouth hung open while he stared down at her with a look that prompted me to imagine I saw steam billowing from his ears.
“You still owe me,” she said, voice dripping with annoyance. “I was picking calf’s brain out of my carpet for a month after the last time I helped you. Not to mention what that goddam monkey did to my shoes.”
I bit back a reply explaining for the twentieth time how it hadn’t been my idea to use her apartment for that particular spell. It was an argument that wouldn’t lead anywhere. As bitter as the words tasted, I forced them out of my mouth.
“I’m sorry about that,” I murmured. “I know I still owe you a favor, but I’ll owe you double if you do this for us. If there was another witch I could ask, I’d do that. As you can plainly see, I’m here asking you.”
Karyn pushed past me and opened the door, leading us out onto the street. She hadn’t bothered putting anything on over her yoga outfit, and I suppressed squicky embarrassment at slouching along beside her in my shorts and worn out tee. Chase didn’t seem to mind, though. I had punch him again to get his attention back up to eye level. He flashed me a helpless and guilt-laden look, then made a point to stare anywhere but in Karyn’s direction while we walked beside and slightly behind her.
“It’s about the Renfrew Ravine labyrinth,” he said. “Alex thinks there’s a power nexus or something there, and we think it might be tied to a string of deaths.”
“So?”
“So, someone is killing old people,” said Chase. “And we’re trying to stop them.”
Karyn stopped walking and turned around to stare at Chase. “Who cares?”
“Obviously we do,” I told her.
Karyn snorted and turned away, continuing on down the street. “Of course you do. I still don’t see how this is any of my concern. If you think I’m going to go tramping around the woods with you freaks, you’ve wildly overestimated my ability to care about such dumb shit.”
Chase opened his mouth to reply, but I silenced him with a hard look. It was a toss up as to whether Karyn was baiting him or just being her usual bitchy self, but neither of those warranted letting him start a fight he couldn’t hope to win.
“I’m not asking you to care,” I clarified. “This is a straight business transaction. Help me, and you can name your price.”
We reached the entrance to a café and Karyn yanked the door open and stepped inside, forcing me to reach out quickly to catch it before it banged shut behind her. I held it open for Chase, followed them inside, then waited while Karyn ordered something that was more milk and artificially flavored syrup than coffee.
“What’s this chick’s problem?” Chase asked under his breath. “You steal her boyfriend or something?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” I said, turning away from Karyn to reduce the odds of being overheard. “Let’s just say I embarrassed her in front of someone important a few years ago. She didn’t much like me before that, and our relationship went downhill from there.”
The barista called out Ka
ryn’s name. She collected her drink and walked right past us. Once again, we had to scurry out the door after her, chasing her down the street like paparazzi trying to get a quote from an uncooperative celebrity.
“I want the bracelet,” Karyn said without turning or breaking stride. “And that’s just payment for the last favor I did you. Payment for this job is to be left to my future discretion.”
“That bracelet is worth far more than a single favor,” I said.
I didn’t even know what the bracelet did, but I knew Karyn wanted it. That gave it a power all its own.
“I’d be willing to give up the bracelet,” I offfered after a moment’s consideration, “but only if it makes us even after you help me tonight.”
Karyn stopped so quickly I almost bumped into her.
“It doesn’t take a telepath to see that if you’re here talking to me then you must not have any other options. I’m not a charity organization. If you want my help, you’ll accept my terms as they stand.”
“Fine,” I said. “The bracelet is yours, and I’ll owe you another favor.”
It was no use arguing. The bracelet in question had little financial value, and was of even lesser magical significance, but it had been awarded to me on a very early job that had made me seek out Karyn’s help in the first place. Although I’d never cared much for the silver bracelet itself, I’d kept it stashed away in a shoebox full of old junk out of spite more than anything else. Satisfying Karyn’s smug sense of entitlement seemed a small price to pay to get out of a witch’s debt.
“Maybe I’ll take your friend here in payment for this job.” Karyn ran her eyes over Chase, appraising him like a butcher trying to figure out how to best slice up a side of beef. “Does he do any tricks?”
“Hey—” began Chase.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, cutting him off. “You’d need to do a hell of a lot more than inspect a couple of crime scenes to warrant a trade like that, and you know it.”
“Really?” Karyn sipped her drink and narrowed her eyes while still assessing Chase’s value. “Because he doesn’t look like he’s worth much to me.”
A familiar urge to punch Karyn in the face rose reared its head, but I shoved it down immediately. I needed her help here, and she knew it. The only response I could allow myself was to ignore her verbal jabs.
“Bring the bracelet to my place at nine o’clock,” she said. “We’ll take your car. I just had mine detailed”
“Yeah, about that,” said Chase. He grinned a little, and became suddenly shy. “I’m not going to be able to go with you tonight. I’ve kind of got a date.”
“Can’t you just bring your Pokémon game with you?” snapped Karyn.
“Not that you’d understand,” Chase said with surprising moxie, “but I have plans to see a human being who actually wants to spend time with me.”
I stifled a laugh. “If you still don’t want to drive, we can always take the bus.”
Karyn looked at me like I’d suggested we ride greased hogs to a night of volunteering at a soup kitchen.
“Whatever,” she said. “Just show up on time. I’m not wasting my whole night on you and your moronic pet project.”
With that, she spun on a heel and strode off down the street, flip flops slapping against her heels as she put distance between us.
“Why the hell is she so angry?” asked Chase.
“I stopped trying to figure that out years ago,” I told him as we walked back to the car. “Sorry she was so nasty to you. If it helps, most of that was meant to hurt me.”
Chase shrugged. “If I let people like that get to me, I’d probably never leave the house.”
I waited until we were back in the car to look at him with an exaggerated raise of my eyebrows. “So what’s this about a date?”
“You remember a couple of weeks ago when I was raging because that guy that kept dropping C4 on me from the helicopter in GTA? Well it turns out that the guy was actually a girl. Somehow me inviting her to party chat to call her names turned into us uniting forces to murder other players.”
“And now you’re meeting in real life?”
“Yeah, she lives right here in town.”
“That’s awesome, buddy.” I let him have the moment before saying what I knew I couldn’t avoid. “You, uh, know you can’t tell her about any of this, right?”
“The magic stuff?” he said. “Yeah, I know.”
“I mean any of it,” I said. “I know being a detective or whatever it is that we are makes for a good story, but it’s just going to lead to too many questions that are going to get harder and harder to answer.”
Chase’s smile deflated a little, but he didn’t seem too upset when he pulled out into traffic and steered us towards home.
“I get it,” he said after a few minutes. “I really do. I’d been lying to pretty much everyone I knew about my work as a thief, and I know that Lailani is just some girl I met online. I’m not going to go spilling all my dark secrets just to get her into bed.”
“She’d probably just think you were crazy anyway. Can you imagine the look on her face if you told her you were a thief turned assistant to a consulting mage?”
Chase laughed a little, but the mood in the car took a decidedly downward turn during the rest of the drive home. I’d worried a little about how much Chase had become caught up in the excitement of discovering that a fantastical world existed just beyond a veil of secrecy that had kept him locked out his entire life. Now that it was time for him to start propping up those same barriers against others, I wasn’t sure how he’d handle it.
Not everyone could straddle such a dangerous line. I’d hoped to keep Chase away from those risks for as long as possible. As we got out of the car and went back into the house, I wanted to feel happy for Chase being at the threshold of possibilities that any new relationship brought with it, but all I felt was sadness that he’d have to start it out with a lie because of me and the choices I’d made.
While Chase went off to prepare for his date, I went up to my room and took care to lock the door behind me. I pressed play on the music player connected to a set of portable speakers, sat down on the edge of the bed, and picked up the tiny wooden box that I’d promised myself I wouldn’t open for a few more days.
“I’ll be stronger next time,” I muttered before speaking the command word and opening the box.
I plucked out one of the tiny green pills, popped it in my mouth, and set the box back on the table. My meeting with Karyn wasn’t for another few hours, but I still had to dig out the bracelet I’d promised her. Then I could lie down and rest for a while. All I needed was a little nap to put myself right again. Then I’d be able to face an evening of wandering around in the dark with a witch that hated me almost as much as I hated her.
“I don’t understand why we had to do this in total darkness,” I grumbled, trying to unlatch a blackberry vine that had snagged on my shirt. “Wouldn’t it be easier to look for clues if we had a bit of light?”
A snort of disgust filtered through the bramble thicket from somewhere up ahead. I extracted myself from the thorny vine and squeezed through a patch of dense leafy growth only to find Karyn glaring at me. Even in the cooler night air, my forehead was damp with sweat from fighting through the bushes. I could feel bits of spiderweb and vegetation in my hair and on my face, and I was pretty sure I had a few new rips and holes in my t-shirt.
Karyn, on the other hand, had dressed for our little outing in tan riding pants and a sleeveless white blouse. The only greater mystery than how she’d managed to stay as crisp and clean looking as if she’d just walked out of a boutique dressing room was how she kept from falling over while walking across the soft dirt path in boots with a three inch heel.
“How do you even have the nerve to call yourself a mage?” Karyn asked. “The kind of energy we’re looking for waxes and wanes with the coming and going of the sun and moon. If it is what I think it is, we’ll have a better chance of tracking
at night.”
“You know full well earth magic is useless to me.” I ducked just as the vine Karyn had been holding aside came snapping back at my head. “And what exactly do you think this is anyway?”
“I’m not ready to say yet.”
Investigating the first two sites had been simple enough. Relatively open and accessible, we’d simply wandered around while Karyn had mumbled and hummed to herself. She’d spent less than ten minutes exploring the area around where the bodies had been dumped, bushwhacking through the surrounding undergrowth while I stood by like an idiot. After glancing around at the last location on our list, she’d immediately set out through a thicket of tall blackberry and salal bushes. Where she somehow twisted and slipped between the branches and vines without issue, I was repeatedly scratched and ensnarled in the obnoxiously thick growth.
“Shush!” Karyn hissed. “You sound like a wild boar back there.”
“Come on. There must have been another way around instead of going straight through Satan’s garden or whatever this is.”
The sudden appearance of an arm blocking my path nearly knocked me on my ass. We stood at the edge of a clearing. Only the faint light of the distantly surrounding city lights illuminated a nearly perfect circular clearing in what appeared to be a ring of the stubborn vines. The grass had been trampled in a counterclockwise pattern. At the center of the clearing was what I guessed to be the blackened remains of a small fire pit. As with the other sites, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end. My mage sight was as useless as my ungifted eyes, yet I could sense the vibrations of a significant wellspring of power whirling around me.
“This was the site of the last death,” Karyn said. “They killed him here, then ditched him at the edge of that cul de sac where he was ultimately found.”
Black Market (Black Records Book 2) Page 3
