The problem there was that he didn’t know what to do really.
He kind of only had two tricks. One of them was calming the pattern of energy. It was sort of what he’d done to take out the killer kami. Doing that to the instruction set being used should work. As long as he wiped it out well enough.
So, he dropped into his deepest focus, found first Heidi, then her glowing silver spell. After that, he tried for the part that told it to kill everyone, reworking it even as she chanted silently to herself about what she wanted done. What he was doing was cleaner, he realized.
Smoother. Not as powerful. That didn't matter though, since over the course of minutes, then two hours, he was winning. She kept working the whole thing, fighting to kill everyone in the place except her pal and herself. He didn’t let that happen. Going into hour four, something changed.
At first, he didn’t get it, thinking that a bomb had gone off, or that a truck had slammed into a wall. It wasn’t either of those things. Instead, the building shook, as a literal earthquake started.
His eyes snapping open, he shook his head.
“No, freaking, way.” Then there was running.
The high-speed kind, that hurt enough he wanted to not do it. He had to. First, he tried for Heidi, but her cell was empty. It was an interrogation room, but no one had been inside with her.
Just down the hallway, he found her and her largish friend, moving through an outer wall.
“Stop!”
They didn’t. It was really rude of them. Moving faster than was safe for the doors of the place, he charged out. Having to stop at one point, since a group of uniformed officers were coming into the building. Standing still, but too tightly packed for him to barrel through without killing one or two of them. It was tempting, given they were in the way like they were.
Instead he tracked back through the building, pushing to go faster. Using more speed than ever. It meant going through half the building, coming out on the far side and dashing around. Nearly blind from the pain.
It was dark out still, so at least there was that.
When he got there, he noticed three things. The first was that Heidi and her pal were clambering into a car that was right next to the wall. That spoke of precision planning for the escape. The second thing was that, the instant the escapees were in, the door still open, the lady in the passenger’s seat turned halfway around, and stared at him. He could smell her as he closed. She was the one on her period.
Also, she could have used a shower. It was a tense day, but there were standards to keep up.
The third thing was that she looked a lot like Leslie, from the magic supply shop.
It wasn’t her, but if this woman wasn’t her sister at least, he’d have to rethink the whole police thing again.
Then, the whole thing vanished. Troy didn't stop running at them, ready to fight. His nice suit was going to get ruined by their blood, but that was his only plan. They seemed to have a different one, since try as he might, he couldn’t find them. They hadn’t teleported or used a rift. He really would have felt that. They didn't even try to bend space at all, or mess with time. Those areas were, after a fashion, his.
That meant they’d messed with his mind. Enough that, when he closed his eyes and tried to find them, he couldn’t at all. They were probably in the small gray getaway car, driving along the road. He just couldn’t find them at all. It was like they didn’t exist.
“Which is both impressive and annoying at the same time. Darn it.” They should have called in magical help. They just didn’t have that kind of resource yet.
Walking inside, since there was no need to run now, he stopped at the front desk. The man there, Miller, who was the desk sergeant, seemed a bit shaken up. There had been that earthquake, after all. At a bet, it was a thing that only affected the police there. At least the one building. Without real shaking at all. There was no need to waste the power on a physical bit of magic when a magical seeming would work just as well. It had distracted him long enough for the others to escape.
“Our mages just walked out of here. Through a wall. They had a car waiting and some kind of magic to make them invisible. I couldn’t catch them in time. I can’t find them now, either. They’re shielded somehow.”
The guy blinked a few times, nodded, and then picked up the phone.
“Go into lockdown. Escaped prisoners. Out of the building. Lockdown now.” The words got action, if not anything useful. Rather than go to his duty station, which was his office, he jogged to the interrogation rooms again. Tran was standing in the hallway, with two other detectives.
“If you two hadn’t let them escape like that… I can’t believe it. Why even bring them in, if you incompetent morons are going to let them go all the time?”
She was working her way up to being honestly red faced. She even made a fist, ready to start swinging on the villains of the piece, who were just an older white guy and a black fellow who looked about Troy’s age. So, thirty or so.
They weren’t exactly pleased about being dressed down for their failures. That was clear. They didn’t scream about it though, which was nice. Troy waved a bit, trying to get Denise to focus on him for a bit.
“They used magic. We weren’t ready for it. I managed to stop the spell that would have killed you all, but the other guy managed to let them walk through walls. That’s hard to beat. Their friends got them in the parking lot. I think the earthquake was them. Then they turned invisible. At least to me. I can’t find them now, at any rate. So that trick is out, for the time being. We do have a lead though, maybe?”
All three of the Detectives looked at him then, as if he might actually not be the dumbest person on Earth. He’d have to prove that out. At least if it wasn’t true.
Tran glared at him, then spread her hands.
“What? Don’t leave us hanging here…”
“The one that triggered the vanishing act? She looked exactly like Leslie Hampton. From here in town?”
The darker skinned detective seemed impressed.
“You have a name for one of them?”
Troy had to deny that part. It wasn’t true, after all.
“Nope. Not yet. She looked like Leslie. Except the one in the car was on her period and Leslie isn’t, last I checked. I figure we should ask about it. It wasn’t just a passing resemblance, now that I have a chance to think about it. Not the same person. Then, mages can look like other people, if they want. Any of us could probably pull off something like that if we wanted, just with makeup. Can we get the video from back there? If they didn’t block it somehow?”
That got some fast walking and by the time they were in the right place for it Chief Benson was there as well. Seeming more than a little bit pissed off. No one loved the bad guys casually walking from custody, after all.
What they saw was interesting. First, the shaking was on the camera, meaning it was real. When they looked at the heavy man in his interrogation room, he did something that made a ripple in the air, then stood up, the chains not holding him at all. He was in an orange jumpsuit already, so when he walked through the far wall, it really had the feel of a prison break.
There was no hesitation, however. He moved through three different spaces, directly to where Heidi was sitting, chained to her own cream colored, rather sturdy, table. She was in a charming orange outfit as well. It really looked nice on her. Almost like she was an actress, ready for her movie scene. Her pal had to mutter a few words, and take her arm but it let her slip out of the cuffs and leg restraints just as easily. Then, together, they left the building. They didn't have all of it, but with a bit of work, Boggs, the black guy, tracked them pretty well on the camera.
When they got outside, he appeared from nowhere. Then the Leslie clone turned. Even on the tape she looked like the magic shop woman. So, it hadn’t been just him thinking that.
Tran moved in and tapped the screen with her right index finger.
“That’s Leslie Hampton, all right. I saw
her yesterday. A couple of times. We were staking out her storefront.”
Troy nodded.
“Except that it wasn’t her. Like I mentioned. The scent is different. That’s as solid as visual I.D. for this. Still, that can’t be a coincidence. Maybe we could take a swing past her place and ask about it?”
That got a nod. From the Chief.
“Get on that. I want these people picked up. Get an B.O.L.O. out. Non-approach. We need to have the specialists on this. Not that we could have stopped this. Walking through walls and making earthquakes… Go on with the video.”
That part didn’t make Troy look so good. As suspected, he just stood there, running in small circles, searching for them. As they leisurely drove away. The car totally visible. Even the people inside the vehicle were clear, though the windows. Heidi and fat man the mage started to strip instantly. If they had new clothing it didn’t show up on the cam.
“To me it had vanished. Some kind of mental effect? On the good side, we can get the plate number there. Let me… He grabbed some paper and a pen from the desk and started writing. It would be stolen, most likely. They could still have the patrol officers check for it though, just in case mages didn’t think to hide that kind of thing fast enough.
Then he and Tran jogged to the car. Inside it, he turned, buckling up.
“I’d feel worse about letting them escape, except that I managed to stop one of the spells. That would have been bad. Insane as well. You don’t get away with killing thirty cops and a bunch of other people. Even the mages would kill their own people over that. These folks are good. Powerful. Not perfect, thank god. We need some pros in on this.” He was out of his league, magically speaking.
Strictly speaking, he wasn’t really in a league that way. It was a thing he really had to change, fast.
Tran bit down, her face enraged as she drove. It showed in the bunched up muscles of her jaw.
“That’s supposed to be our fucking job. I can’t believe you… That we, let them get away like this. I wasn’t any help either. Even telling people to be careful means jack shit in a case like this. Like you said, no one is ready for people to walk through walls like that. Can that even be stopped?”
The thing there was that he didn't know at all.
Well, not really.
“I know that single, specific things can be. I did one in there. I just can’t do two things at once. I… It’s that I’m a vampire. I need life energy to survive. I can use a little from my links, but if I do too much it will hurt them. Drain the cows that I’m connected to. Then I die, in case you’re wondering how that works. More to the point, then I’d be forced to grab anyone handy and form a link, like it or not. That or drain them of blood. That isn’t very efficient, but is kind of the natural go to set point for my people. So, if we panic, that’s the likely outcome. I don’t know what kind of control I’d have under those circumstances. No one does, until it happens.” It wasn’t a thing they were supposed to share with the public, but Tran had a need to know. If he went down, she needed to freaking run.
She also didn't freak out about hearing it.
“Right. Right. We get with mages on this. Non-locals. This confirms that part for us. That these people we took in are the right ones. At least they’re mages and not just some woman and her friends who happened to be in the wrong place, after standing up the wrong guy. We also have pictures of them now. That driver was our little frat boy buddy from the other day. Lars.”
That was true enough. At least he had the same face. It could be a trick. Some kind of magical shape changing, meant to confuse things, or the like. It would explain there being two Leslies.
It wasn’t as if the idea of shape or form changing was new to him. Several people he knew, first hand, could do it. Heck, Eve could. Not fast, but no one said that it couldn’t be part of a longer-term plan. Mages were often slower about things than fighting really needed, but that kind of thing was right there inside what they had the power to make happen.
The shop was closed again, when they got to it. This time the lights were out as well.
He pointed at the glass.
“There are two people inside. I can hear their breathing and heart beats. Two ladies. Let me go first?” He tapped on the glass, trying for polite, instead of slamming into things. Then he called out.
“Leslie? Nevi? It’s Officer Lopez and Detective Tran. We’re alone. It should be safe to open up.”
He projected that last bit. Interestingly, the woman, both of them, came to the door. Nevi had a broom with her. Clutched like a weapon.
Rather than hit him, she hissed.
“Get in! They were here earlier.”
As they got inside, Nevi, the very old healer, moved past them to lock the door. Then stood there, facing away from them. Like she was protecting them from the evil magicians.
It was pretty sweet of her. Leslie looked upset. As in about to cry, or possibly have a more than mild nervous attack of some fashion. Her upper lip was sweating. It was also clear that she’d been crying, at least off and on, for a while. There were halfway fresh tear tracks on her face.
“Who was here?” Denise acted friendly, if slightly concerned. She didn’t go for her side arm, which would have been over acting.
Troy appreciated the subtlety, even if the others didn’t get it yet.
Leslie grimaced, then shook her head.
“Rhoda. My sister. She and a man came in earlier. They said that they’d kill us if we didn’t help them. We refused and they left. I don’t know what they wanted, but they seemed to mean it, whatever it was. They wanted us to do a power raising for them. Not just us, but everyone in the area. They said it was important but wouldn’t tell us what they had planned. That’s part of the law. You have to share what the power is for and be willing to back it in court later. It was something illegal. Rhoda… She’s been gone for years. She seemed… Wrong, now. I know that she was doing something with some cult a few years back. I don’t know a lot. I think my dad might know more? I can get you his information.”
She stopped, then closed her eyes.
“Sorry. You came for a reason. Our mage drama isn’t your job. What can I do for you?” She seemed to mean it, which was nice.
Troy smiled then.
“Oddly enough, it’s related. A woman that wasn’t you, but looked exactly like you, just helped two people escape from questioning at the police department. They caused a localized earthquake, at least I think it was just there, then walked through several walls after slipping the cuffs. Then they used some kind of mental magic to make it seem like the car vanished, so I couldn’t run them down. I tried. We stopped the death spell one of them was working on, but not the rest.”
Tran nodded along then as well.
“Luckily your sister is on her time of the month. Otherwise we’d probably be taking you in for questioning right now. See how useful it is having the new Supernatural Division? Why, I imagine you’ll want to tell all your friends how wonderful we are now? We understand. It’s only natural.”
It seemed out of place and a bit playful, considering everything. Also, Troy understood, like they weren’t blaming the innocent mages for anything. It was a good way to get them on their side, if only for the time being.
Leslie managed a weak expression over it all.
“I… What do we do now? I can try a binding spell. People that can set up all of that though, what you mentioned, without a power raising first… I doubt it will work. I… We need to call in everyone. Not just here. Nationally, if we can. I… Can’t get that done. It would take a high government official to issue the warrant for it. If we have pictures though, we can try.”
He nodded then.
“I like the sound of that, actually. A binding? Let me see who I can get a hold of. I tried calling Eric Weise the other day. That didn't work at all, for some reason. Apparently, he doesn’t take my calls like that.” He pulled his phone and made a silly face. That was what he was trying for, at leas
t. No one laughed, so he probably looked dashing and debonair instead. He couldn’t help it if he was himself, after all.
All the ladies that didn't stand him up, or know him too well, loved him, after all.
Jokes aside, he looked at his hand, then tapped the arrows until he had the correct number. It was a police related matter, but that wasn’t going to get him in touch with the right people much faster than if he tried to do the calling himself.
“So, if the President of your people won’t take my calls, let’s go sideways on this bad boy.”
The number he dialed got a totally unfamiliar voice to answer.
“Representative Swerlin’s office. This is Jonas, how may I be of aid today, sir or ma’am?”
“This is Troy Lopez. Currently working as law enforcement, human side, in Lincoln, Arizona. I need a call forced through to the Mage President, Eric Weise. It’s an emergency. We have four blood mages, killers, on the loose. We need a national…” He looked at Leslie, since it was her idea.
“We need a national convocation, for a binding. We have pictures and names. We need the alert sent out, as soon as possible. Before they can do another rite and kill more people.” She sounded nervous, and was thin enough that she seemed awkward and geeky suddenly. Like she was a pair of horn rimmed glasses away from a good D&D match. Game. Troy wasn’t certain what it was called, since the little he’d played of that kind of thing had been Node Rulez. Like all the cool kids.
Instead of questioning him, like a sane person, Jonas just wrote for a moment. Then he spoke, sounding contrite.
“I can work on this. Is there… Anyone I can check your story with? I wasn’t aware that any of our people were in human law enforcement. Not openly. I don’t mean to insult you, but my behind on the line here, if I do it and it’s, you know…”
“A trick or a lie? I get that. You can check with the Council. Bey will vouch for me.” That was certain. The rest would too.
That got a small laugh.
“See, that’s what you’d say if you wanted to force me not to check, isn’t it?”
Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1) Page 18
