Warlock For Hire: Arcane Inc. Book 1

by Sean Stone

  “I never meant to steal any magic. I was a kid I had no control!” I shouted. How dare somebody like him stand there and judge me.

  “What happened next, Eddie?” he went on, ignoring my protests. “She made you an offer. Go with her and she’d let your parents live. All you had to do was say yes. One little word. One simple choice. What did you say, Eddie?”

  “I was thirteen years old. I was scared.” The tears were loose and running free. He was enjoying the state I was in.

  “You said no,” he said softly. “And she sliced them open in front of you. And you’ve been hiding from her ever since.”

  “I’m going to kill you,” I said with a trembling voice, and the words felt good. It was a shame they had no effect on him.

  “No, you’re not.” He nodded to Jeffrey.” “Kill him.”

  “Had any visions lately?” I asked quickly. I watched the smugness slip off his face as he realised that he had not. In all his excitement he hadn’t noticed the lack of even a single flash from the future.

  “What did you do?” he demanded.

  “I smashed your little stones. And now you haven’t had the foresight to take the necessary precautions.” I held my hand up in the direction of Jeffrey and the guards. “You haven’t blocked my magic.” I snapped my fingers and Jeffrey and the other two fell down unconscious. It took pretty much all the power I had in me to do that. I’d have to wait for a replenishment before I could do anything else.

  Killian snorted and stepped over to stand right in front of me. “Well done, Eddie. You’ve finally earned a point. It’s a shame you’ve exhausted yourself before managing to do the same to me.”

  Stupidly I punched him. On the bright side he didn’t see it coming, sadly it didn’t matter. It was like punching a slab of marble. My hand cracked and I screamed out, jumping back and shaking my injured hand. He didn’t even feel it.

  Killian laughed. “You do good work, Eddie.” He hit me with the back of his hand so hard that I smashed into the wall. I grabbed hold of it to steady myself. The force of that blow was not because I was feeling weak; there was more strength in that hit than was humanly possible.

  “Shit,” I muttered, realising my fatal error.

  “Shit indeed,” he said. “A happy side effect?” I should’ve known better. The sun, water, earth, diamonds and vampires aren’t just known for being impervious, they’re also incredibly strong. I’d given Killian invincibility and super-strength.

  He punched me in the chest and I literally soared through the air. I landed on the floor and rolled right over to the edge of the river, knocking the table and bowl into the water as I did. So much for saving the leftover formula. Killian walked over casually and kicked me in the ribs, breaking them and sending me into the cold water. The river was a lot deeper than it looked, especially now it was back at the normal level. I struggled to keep from sinking, not that I needed to bother. One big hand grabbed hold of my collar and hoisted me from the river. Killian slammed me down onto the floor, winding me, and then knelt down on my stomach. “You aren’t the first person I’ve killed, Eddie, and you can die with the knowledge that thanks to you, you won’t be the last.” He placed both hands around my throat and began squeezing. It felt like a mountain was bearing down at me. I tried to fight him off, but it was pointless. He was too strong. I looked into his eyes and saw a triumphant look glaring down on me. He’d got everything he wanted. I remembered the necklace. I looked over and saw that Ashley still hadn’t moved. The necklace was in sight, dangling over the concrete. If I could just summon a little power. Still trying to pull Killian off me I concentrated on getting my magic working. With one hand on Killian’s arm, trying to pull him off, I reached out with the other, trying to summon the necklace to me. Then something unexpected happened. Killian’s hands started to shake. Then his arms followed suit. Then his whole body. I looked back at him and saw the terror in his eyes. He was as confused as I was. But my confusion didn’t last long. I’d experienced this countless times before.

  “What are you doing to me?” he yelled. He tried to pull away, but I held him in place. He no longer had the strength to fight me. He was getting weaker and I was getting stronger. How could I have lived for twenty-six years and not realised that I could take more than magic from people? It seemed that any magic based power was available for me to claim. I could feel his new power flowing into me like the river that had granted it. He was right, it did feel amazing. I could feel my skin hardening, like a shell, like stone, just like he’d described. With one final burst, he fell off me.

  “This is truly euphoric,” I said as I climbed to my feet. Killian scrambled to get up, his eyes wide making him look like a bewildered animal. He tried to run, But I caught him before he could. My hand fell on the back of his neck and I held him in place. “Going somewhere?” I flung him at the wall and the top level of bricks crumbled away when he hit it. “I’m going to enjoy this,” I said.

  He pulled himself up and ran at me. I dodged out of his way and he ran right by. He turned faster than I thought him capable and tried another attack. I blocked his fist mid-flow. He punched with the other and I blocked that too. He kept striking out. I didn’t block every shot, but I didn’t feel any, not even a tickle. I slap him hard across the face and nearly knocked him off his feet. Before he could recover I kicked him in the gut and he shot once more into the wall where he crumpled down onto his arse, and this time he stayed down. I was enjoying myself a little too much, but I didn’t care. This guy had had the upper hand this whole time. Every time I’d tried to fight him, he’d always come out on top. He always had the advantage. Well, now I had literally robbed him of that advantage. I’d taken his foresight and I’d taken his strength and invincibility. And now I was having the satisfaction of using all my advantages against him. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. I wanted to drag it out for as long as possible, but I’m smart enough to know not to tempt fate. It happens countless times in films; whoever has the upper hand takes their time about things and the tables quickly get turned. No, it was time to end it.

  “This is such a liberating feeling. What a shame you didn’t see it coming. Oh, but wait, you did,” I said as I approached.

  “What are your talking about?” he asked groggily.

  “All that time you thought you were seeing two possible futures when actually you were seeing two events from the same future.” I knelt before him and lifted my arm. He flinched, but I wasn’t going to hit him. I grabbed my sleeve and yanked it down. His eyes fell on the hourglass tattoo and his face descended into despair.

  “No, no, no. I would’ve seen… How couldn’t I see…”

  “Even you, with all your stones, couldn’t see everything. And just because you see the future, doesn’t necessarily mean you can change it. Some prophecies are just self-fulfilling,” I said. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gloating. “Do you know what this tattoo means? It’s a reminder. I wasted time and now doth time waste me. That’s Shakespeare you know. I’m sure you did. The point is, don’t waste time. We all have a small amount of time. We shouldn’t waste it. Spend your time doing the things you love. Things that make you happy. Don’t waste time worrying about things that might or might not happen. Just get on with your life. Cheesy I know, but in your case, it serves as a valuable lesson. Not that you’re going to get the opportunity to learn from this, but here it is anyway. You wasted all your time trying to stop the future from happening and now it’s happening anyway.”

  “No. You won’t… you can’t…” he spluttered. Gone was the suave and sophisticated Killian Myers who ran the Myers Group Brokerage Firm. He was just a blubbering child now, begging for his life.

  “You should’ve killed me the moment you met me,” I said. “But now I’m going to kill you. And do you know the irony of it all? If you’d skipped all the threats and come straight to me, you could have hired me and I would have made you invincible for what would have been a tiny amount of money to yo
u. Now I’m just going to kill you. Now, I do want to get the details right, so can you tell me how you saw this happening?” He said nothing. I think he still hadn’t realised that he was going to die. Not fully. “Alright, I’ll have to improvise.” I pulled my fist back, gathering all my strength.

  “Wait!” he cried, putting his hands up. “I’ll pay you. Let me go, you’ll never see me again. I promise. I swear it. Any price. You name it. It’s yours.”

  I stopped and thought about it. Any price? “It’s tempting, Killi. Very tempting. But you shouldn’t beg. It just doesn’t suit a man like you.” I released my fist and smashed it into his face. I didn’t just use my super-strength, I used my magic as well – what little I had regenerated. All my strength and all my power combined. His head went through the concrete wall, exploding as it did. He didn’t even have time to scream before everything above the neck was obliterated. Flesh, brain, bone and blood scattered all over the place, including me. I very nearly vomited.

  Then I remembered Ashley again. I raced over to her and tore the necklace from her neck. In less than a second, my new found powers vanished. No gradual sinking away. Just gone. No more invincibility, no more super-strength. Just plain old Eddie again. Well, I was never plain old Eddie was I? I was always a warlock and that hadn’t changed. Ashley’s eyes flicked open and she mumbled something unintelligible under her breath. I helped her to sit up, making sure she moved slowly. Colour was quickly returning to her face now that nothing was leeching off her.

  “What happened?” she asked, groggily.

  “He’s dead. It’s over,” I said. I pointed over at Killian and instantly wished I hadn’t. Under no circumstances should I have shown Ashley what I had left of Killian Myers. She looked over at the body which now ended at the neck and gave way to a splattering of red pulp and she screamed.

  “Hey, hey, calm down!” I yelled, trying to settle her.

  “How did you do that?” she asked. Her face had returned to the pale complexion it had been before.

  “It’s not that important. Not right now. The important thing is that it’s over. He’s gone. We’re safe now.”

  Her eyes widened at something behind me and I turned round and saw Jeffrey standing behind us. I lifted my hand to attack him but he put his palms out submissively.

  “Easy. I’m not going to do anything. My employer is dead. I have no reason to hurt you,” Jeffrey said. He made no attempt to come towards us, but I still didn’t fully trust him.

  “Why don’t you get out of here then?” I said, nodding towards his car.

  “I will, but I thought you might like to know something first. Killian gave specific orders to the other teams, the ones watching your family and friends.”

  “What orders?” I asked. Dread had already seized me, I had a pretty good idea of the orders he’d given.

  “If he does not call them by one pm they are to kill your loved ones,” Jeffrey said without a shred of emotion.

  I looked at my watch. It was 12:50.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Call them off!” I screamed at Jeffrey. He didn’t even blink.

  “I can’t. They don’t work for me,” he said calmly.

  “My mum,” Ashley mumbled. She was in too much shock to do anything.

  “Well, who does work for you?” I asked.

  “Just them,” Jeffrey pointed at the two guards who were now getting up.

  “Right, you see what I did to him?” I pointed at Killian. What was left of him anyway. There was just a body with a bloody hole where its head should have been.

  “I do,” Jeffrey replied. I was astounded that even at the sight of his former employer’s remains he still kept a completely neutral expression on his face. What would it take to get this guy to show just an iota of emotion?

  “I am going to do the same to all of you unless you help me.” There was no way I could save both Margie and Matt. Me and Ashley couldn’t split up, she was too weak to go off on her own and I was pretty exhausted myself.

  “There’s no need for threats. What do you need me to do?” Jeffrey asked.

  “Go to Matt’s house. Make sure he’s safe. I put protections on the house, but I’m not sure if they’re still in place. I used so much power on all this I might have broken all my other spells.” When a warlock calls on all their power it can put any existing spells at risk, including protection spells. When I helped make Killian invincible it was possible that the protection I’d put on Matt’s house was broken.

  “I’ll do that for you. And once I have we’re done. You’ll never see me again and I don’t expect to see either of you,” Jeffrey said. He didn’t wait for my agreement. He led his men away. I sincerely hoped that I did never see him again.

  I grabbed Ashley and led her away as well. We ran from the river and took Killian’s car. I used a little magic to jump start the engine and then sped from the scene. The police didn’t know Killian was dead yet which meant they’d assume he was in the car and do nothing to stop us. We tore through the police caution tape and headed for Ashley’s house. My driving was not the best. I could barely remember how to keep the thing moving without stalling let alone keep it on the road. I tore through the town, ploughing down many bins on the way. Killian was going to get one hell of a fine for this. It was like playing Grand Theft Auto.

  “Did you really do that to Killian?” Ashley asked. She didn’t look at me. Her eyes were fixed dead ahead. Her face was pale and expressionless. I wasn’t sure if she was shocked about Killian’s death or my driving.

  “Yes,” I said. “He deserved it.” She didn’t reply. Just stared ahead.

  When we got to Old Tovil Road I skidded Killian’s now bashed up car to a stop, bumping into a parked car as I did and setting off the alarm. We both jumped out and I saw that the car that had been guarding the house for the last couple of weeks was empty. They were already inside.

  “No,” Ashley sobbed and legged it to the house.

  “Ashley, wait!” I called and ran after her.

  The door was open and we rushed straight in. The first thing I noticed was the blood splatters on the carpet and wall outside the dining room. We were too late. Ashley saw it too and froze.

  “If you want to wait here I’ll take a look first,” I offered, trying to spare any more horrific murder scenes, but she ignored me. She edged towards the dining room door with me right behind her. I could hear something coming from the room. It was a dragging sound. I was dreading what I was going to see. I’d only known Margie for a very short amount of time, but I’d actually come to like her. The last thing I wanted to see was the scene of her grizzly murder. Ashley stepped into the room and gasped. I rushed round to see what she’d seen and gasped as well. One man lay dead in the corner, propped up against the wall, the other was being dragged towards said corner by Margie. This was one of those rare occasions when I had no words.

  “Mum?” Ashley said in disbelief.

  “Well, they came in and tried to kill me! What did you expect me to do?” she asked.

  We helped her move the bodies out to the shed. She said she’d get rid of them properly tonight. I didn’t ask what she meant by that. She covered the blood stains up saying she’d get rid of those too and then she actually went into the kitchen and made a pot of tea. I called Matt to check that he and Emma were okay.

  “Yep, all fine here. There were a couple of guys watching the house, but some big fellow turned up and shot them both in the head. Then he and some other guys carted the bodies off,” Matt explained. He was a little shaken, but he’d seen worse. He’d been targeted by a vampire after all.

  “Jeffrey,” I said. I was relieved that he’d come through for me. At least one person in Killian’s organisation kept his word.

  “Who?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s all over now. You’re not in danger. Killian’s dead,” I said.

  “Not in danger,” he laughed. “For now. There’s always danger with you, Eddie.”

 
; I hung up and sat down for tea with Margie and Ashley. It was odd to be having tea less than an hour after brutally killing a man, but it was quite refreshing at the same time. Ashley stayed pretty quiet whilst I explained what happened. I saw her wince when I described how I killed Killian and I regretted going into it in such detail. Nobody needed to hear that, but sometimes my mouth runs away with me. Ashley was shocked that me and Margie had had a secret plan, but she didn’t say much about it. She didn’t say much at all. She was still in shock by the sounds of things.

  “You did what you said you’d do. You killed Killian and brought my girl home safely,” Margie said, with gratitude.

  “I’m a man of my word,” I said.

  “Yes you are,” Ashley said, looking up from her tea. “Well, thank you for everything, Eddie. I really couldn’t have done it without you. If I ever need your services again I know where to find you.” She stood up then and, though confused, I understood her meaning. It was time to go. I hadn’t expected such a cold reaction from Ashley. It was like our business was concluded and that was that. That was usually my line. Margie showed me to the door.

  “She’s just shocked, Eddie. Everything that’s happened. It’s a lot to take in for someone so young,” she explained as if I wasn’t young myself. I’m twenty-six!

  “It’s what I did,” I said. I knew what had caused such an odd reaction from Ashley. “She saw what I did to Killian. She thinks I’m a monster.”

  “Yes. You’re right,” Margie said. I’d expected her to deny it to console me, but she didn’t. I’m glad she didn’t, I’d rather have honesty than sugary lies. “She’s seen a different side to you now and she’s scared. But she’ll come round. Trust me, Eddie, there’s more between you two than a business transaction. I’m old and I’m wise. She’ll come round.”

  “I hope so,” I replied. And I did hope so because I liked Ashley. I mean really liked. More than in a friendly way, and more than a lustful way. Things had moved on. We’d done a sort of quest together and now I wanted to see more of her. But if she couldn’t get over what I’d done then that was it. I’d just have to move on.