“The murder of our Merlin,” Rasmussen said immediately.
I knew the Merlin was an honorary title given to the leader of the Council of Mages. It was like a ton of books I’d read over the years. Of course, it had to be a Merlin… If it was good enough for the Dark Tower books, it’d be good enough for real life. That was when I started wondering how much about the Council of Mages did I really know? Not much.
“Who was that?” I asked him, not following. “Anybody I’d know or heard of?”
“Your father.”
I had been lifting the duffel so I could leave, and his words shocked me so badly I dropped it. Suddenly I felt like my legs were Jell-O and I sunk into a chair again. Rasmussen sat on the edge of the table.
“This,” he said in a grave voice, “is why I wanted to talk to you alone. I’m a senior council member and worked for your father. We believe you and your family was targeted to shatter the Council of Mages and spread fear and discord. If they could take out the Merlin and his family, who would stop them? There’s been a secret war going on for nearly a hundred years.”
“You mentioned earlier that you wanted me for something, to work with you?”
I’d heard that, but I was kind of mind blown. He knew something about Rose who used to be known as Hermosa, he knew who I was, had worked with my father, knew why my father was targeted… It was too much, too fast. My head was spinning and somebody kept pushing things faster and faster.
“Yes. What you did freelance? The mercenary work?”
“I was a Hunter, I wasn’t a merc,” I told him softly.
“You were paid to hunt down magical creatures, warlocks and entities harming the human population. You worked on every continent as far as I’m aware. You went where the money was and, if I hadn’t hired you to do the job in Korea—”
“That was you?” I asked him, and he nodded before going on.
“Yes, I got in contact with your… contractor? Intermediary? Go between? I don’t know for sure, but I requested the same mage who’d put down the necromancer. See, your mom got in touch with me a month before she died. She told me your magic hadn’t manifested, but you were already making runes. That memory was what made me think it was you who’d done the job with the zombies. It’s such a rare gift, runes. For a time though, I also thought Vassago was a shared name, and you had taken up that mantle too. So, I sent Vivian your way to either put you down if you’d flipped sides to the House of Shadows, or recruit you and bring you back into the fold.”
“This is too much,” I told him, “and I’m not on any side but mine.”
“I know, it’ll take some time to get used to, all this info. I did some checking, by the way, because your name went through the data searches the FBI keeps. The Sheriff ran the check because of a case involving a shooting victim. A vagrant farm hand, killed by silver bullets?”
“Yeah, Sheriff Cindy, but I am clear of that—”
“Oh, I know, but I have some information I can’t share with the mundanes that, as an Alpha, you might be able to.”
“Why?” I asked him.
“Why make sure you’re cleared of the murder? Why not tell you sooner? Why all this obfuscation?”
“All of it,” I told him, going over the fact that he knew my mom well enough for her to contact him before she’d been murdered.
My mother had always taught me to stay away from the mainstream magical society, especially the Council of Mages. Now I knew why. As long as Vassago was out there, I was the last link to my parents’ murder. Vassago had lied to me, and if I was to believe Sigmund, I was already contracted to die. I also wondered if he’d lied about me not being a target before. I decided he had, and I’d made it personal by my own actions. Sigmund might have been right, I didn’t like the title ‘mercenary’ but I’d done the work off and on for decades. It was one way I’d been able to fund my prepping lifestyle. The other way was what had got me caught up in this mess.
One thing I should have done though, was figured out how to get documents. Fake IDs, social security numbers. I should have killed off Thomas Wright, but until very recently it’d never been a problem. I’d stayed off of everybody’s records and paid my taxes. I wasn’t going to worry about being found until sometime in the next few years. I didn’t go about doing this, because as far as the government knew, I hadn’t exceeded a normal lifespan. Dammit.
“Because I think the murder was Vassago’s way of forcing you out into the open, in public so to speak, so he could find you somewhere remote where he could get to you.”
“That’s… kind of brilliant. He does it in a way that’s going to make me a suspect… wait, how would he know that the Sheriff would suspect me?”
“Pretty easy if you think about it. The Sheriff talked to somebody about your silver bullets, or she unloaded her service weapon at work… Vassago has contacts all around. It’s possible he’s been searching and planning to take you out for years.”
“What about the obfuscation?” I asked him after a long pause.
“Because you were the bait being dangled at the end of the line. Vassago is the closest link we can find to Khrystiana, self proclaimed Empress of the House of Shadows.”
“A matriarch…” I said quietly.
“Yes, who’s hell bent on destroying the Council of Mages.”
“Yeah…” I said letting it draw out. “What’s up with that, anyways?”
“She used to be one of us, but she’s dedicated to exposing the supernatural world to the humans. Her ideas were more of a benevolent dictator, but argued that humans were a violent sort who needed a stronger hand to manage their affairs. Basically, non-magical slaves.”
“Some of the government knows about mages though,” I said, my brain still going a hundred miles an hour.
So much had changed, much too fast.
“Yes, that’s always been necessary, but it’s why one of the oldest laws of magic is to keep it from the normal populace.”
“Yeah, I remember the Salem Witch Trials, well, reading about them,” I admitted.
“Yes, all of that and worse. How Vampire fiction became a thing, I’ll never know.”
“It’s like Zombies, people always need a bad guy,” I said and as soon as I did, I realized I wanted in. He was offering, and I wanted vengeance.
I had a bad guy I wanted to drop a mountain on - if I could figure out how to kill somebody who was nearly unkillable. Hell, I wanted to chain him up and drop him in a deep trench in the ocean, after soaking his clothing in pig’s blood. I wondered if he could regenerate without oxygen, and in the digestive tract of a great white shark… then I shook my head, they wanted him alive, they wanted the link to Khrystiana.
“Yes. And now that I’ve been straight with you, I would like you to consider coming to work for the Council, and help us to correct the mistake we made when we failed to protect you and your parents sufficiently.”
“Is it like joining the military?” I asked him, because I’m a solitary guy, alone for so long, I was living out my own paranoid fantasies. I think.
“More like you become a contractor, but for us. Saves me on the paperwork, without the cutout.”
“Who will know? In the Council?”
“You’ll have sanction to move within our circles, but you’ll mostly be working with Vivian’s strike group when it’s time to capture Vassago. You’re the only mage we know who’s survived an encounter with him, and twice.”
“Yeah, those bleeding runes I carve on the bullets were probably painful to him.”
He looked at my duffel bag and then raised an eyebrow. I pulled it up on the desk, the cords in my arm standing out, showing how heavy it actually was. I unzipped it and pushed aside the bundle of clothing I’d brought with me as a just in case. He whistled when he saw the hardware. I pulled out a magazine and handed it over to him. He thumbed out a 9mm and held the cartridge up and then pulled it away from his face and looked at it from a distance.
“What is this rune?
” he asked, and then tapped the tip of the bullet.
“Conflagration,” I told him, “with some accelerant in the middle.”
“What does it do?” he asked. “The fire part is obvious.”
“Explodes on impact. Does damage like a Bofor round.”
“And you brought this here?” Sigmund asked and reloaded the cartridge.
“It’s about the nastiest rune I can fit on a bullet. The design was a pain.”
“Good. My apologies for before, with Vivian’s first recruitment attempt. I’m told she spent half a day sleeping off the healing charm. Clumsy.”
“Clumsy was me letting her get close while I played cards in Vegas.”
“That’s how you filled the gaps? For money?”
“More or less,” I told him, “and it’s the only socialization I’ve engaged in, for years now.”
“Good, so that is… water under the bridge? You’ll have no problem working for Vivian?”
“I’ll work with her, but on my terms. I owe Vassago, but I won’t ever work for her,” I said, my voice going cold.
“Good. I have something for you,” he said and then pulled out a necklace from a pocket on the robes.
I held my hand out and took it. There was a silver chain, with what looked like a silver pentacle about an inch in diameter. I could feel the magic radiating out of it, but nothing from the chain. I reached up and unclasped my own necklace and heard Rasmussen gasp as he saw how many charms I had on it already. My charms were usually hand ground or carved from native rock from the area where I set my gates, but not every stone was for gating. I took the charm off the necklace and put it on my own and then handed him the empty chain.
“What does it do?” I asked him.
“It’s the mark of an Enforcer. If you’re ever stopped or questioned by a council mage or functionary, show them that. It’s your sanction to operate. The magic inside… call it… an SOS? If the mundane authorities pick you up, activate it and we’ll work on the situation from our end.”
“What if I used it after I’d tricked Vassago into the open?” I asked him.
“You’re one of the few non-technomages in the world who can use a cell phone. I’d suggest you call it in. We have our own switchboard.”
“So, I guess that means I’m on the team,” I said and put the necklace back on.
“Welcome to the funny farm,” Rasmussen said, and then opened a portal behind him and walked through it.
Chapter Fifteen
I walked out of that meeting with my duffel bag and immediately was confronted by one of the typing pool employees.
“Mr. Wright,” she said, pushing glasses back into place, “Agent Sparks took your friends out that door,” she pointed it out, “so your pack could eat. She said something about a sandwich shop.”
“Once I go outside, where do I go?” I asked her.
“It’s probably the Jimmy John’s across the street.”
“Of course it is,” I said with a grin, “JJ is going to like that.”
“About JJ… do you think he’ll call—”
“You know he’s an animal, right?” I asked her, taking another look. She was young-ish, kind of JJ’s age. She definitely rocked the young shy librarian look and I debated my answer. Lately everyone but Cindy seemed to be acting off around him. “He’s a rogue, that one. I’ll ask him for you,” I said and watched her grin.
“Tell him Julie, I don’t care what Karen said, I’m not really—”
“Gotta run, I’ll talk to him for you,” I told her and headed upstairs, putting the strap of the heavy bag over my shoulders.
“Thank you!” she shouted from behind.
I headed out and after waiting for a break in traffic, I crossed the street to the sub shop. I could see something of a commotion going on and as soon as it was safe, I ran. The guns in the bag felt like they were going to beat my kidneys to a pulp. Still, I clanked as fast as I could to the store to see the two agents I’d met earlier with Vivian and a couple of onlookers. Stacked in front of JJ were several wadded-up wrappers. There were three sandwiches left.
I walked over and shifted the duffel and nudged Vivian as she watched him eat.
“If I hadn’t seen how much he ate earlier, I never would have believed it,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“He’s a growing boy and he’s hungry,” I said.
“I saved one for you,” she told me and passed me a sandwich.
A Gargantuan, one of my favorites, with all the fixings plus vinegar and oil. I found an empty table and set my bag down and opened the wrapper as JJ caught my eye. He gave me a wink and then nodded his head at two of the female onlookers. They giggled and I had to work hard not to snort. I guessed there was something about animal magnetism, I was just glad it didn’t work on me. He tore into one of the last of the three remaining sandwiches as Vivian sat down across from me.
“So…”
“Don’t make me glitter bomb you,” I heard Rose say near my left shoulder.
“I’m not doing anything,” Vivian said sharply as I was about to take a bite, and instead I put it down.
“What are you sore about, short stuff?” I asked her.
“She said one fruit cup was enough, and she’s tried to kidnap you once, put a gun to your back… let’s see, how about the time—”
“Let me eat this sandwich and I’ll get you whatever you want. We could hit a Tropical Smoothie for dessert and get you a strawberry—”
“I’m sorry,” Vivian said to the air over my left shoulder, “I’m sorry. I’m somewhat new in this job and I’m sorry I pissed you off. My boss said we needed him and gave me very little direction.” Vivian stood up abruptly, and I saw two ladies giggling something to JJ as the two male agents looked at each other in surprise.
“That was awkward,” I said, and started eating my sandwich.
“Well, she should be better educated about the supernatural world. She has no clue that JJ is putting off pheromones that work on almost all females, human and Weres. It’s his time to find a mate, and it makes him gorge himself.”
“Does it work on fairies?” I asked her between bites.
“No, but I can still smell it,” she whispered. “For some reason, Vivian is immune to it.”
“She’s an air mage; maybe it’s something to do with her magic? Keeping the air pure or something?”
“How should I know? I’m just your invisible parrot.”
“You’re a friend,” I said after swallowing. “But you’re here on your own dime, kiddo.”
“How do you know I’m younger than you? Fae age differently than humans and mages.”
“You told Vivian that I was the oldest one in the room. How old are you, short stuff?” I started eating again and watched as JJ almost started a fist fight over something he’d whispered back to one of the girls.
“I don’t know, but it was after the Korean War; that was already over with. Are we going to go after him, boss?”
She didn’t say the name, but I knew who she was talking about. Vassago.
“Yeah,” I said after a moment and saw Vivian walking back into the restaurant with something in each hand.
I saw in the futures that my phone was about to buzz with a text message, and I even saw what the text message was in advance, so I pulled out my phone and had it unlocked when it came through.
Tom, when you get a chance. We need… I need to talk.
I grinned. Sure, did you suddenly decide that handcuffing the mage was a good idea?
Dammit Tom, I’m serious.
Me too. Wait, I mean… never mind what I mean. I’m bad at this stuff. I promise, let’s have a serious talk when this is all over with.
I’ll hold you to that, otherwise I’m cutting off your apple pie habit.
Always know where to hit a man where it hurts. I’ll be in touch soon.
“You know you’re in trouble, right?” Rose asked me quietly.
“Yeah, but Cindy… I do
n’t know. Something about her…”
“She’s not a full mage, but she’s at least an adept… you could—”
“I’m not good with this stuff, Rose. Can we drop it for now?”
I felt Rose land on my shoulder and her put one tiny hand on my neck to steady herself. She didn’t say anything and we sat there in silence as Vivian came over. She had something in each hand and she shot a look at JJ before putting a fruit cup on the table, next to a coffee creamer. I looked and saw it was hazelnut. She had been listening from the other room when I’d given Rose her hangover remedy. A peace offering.
“You know what?” Rose said, “Apology accepted. Just don’t screw up again, or you’ll be shitting glitter for a month.”
I snorted and, after struggling to swallow my bite, I blurted, “Isn’t that basically what you do already?”
Vivian grinned at me and then the empty air near my shoulder, but I saw evidence that short stuff was already working at the food as a cut opened up along the plastic holding the top of the fruit cup, ignoring my jibe.
“Food vendor?” I asked her.
“Food cart next door,” she said. “Sooooo…. Boss sealed the room so nobody could listen in after he asked us all to leave.”
“Oh, I figured he’d do something like that,” I said, not taking the bait.
“Is there anything you’d like to share?” Vivian asked, and I heard Rose snicker.
“Nope,” I told her.
She opened and closed her mouth several times, starting to say something, until I pulled my necklace of my shirt and showed her the new charm. Her eyes looked at me and the connection I always avoided happened. I was suddenly looking at the world through her eyes, her memories mine. Her emotions, her pain, her loss…
Her life had been one of privilege growing up, and she’d hated it. She hated that her parents were part of the ruling class, the rich and famous among the mage world. She didn’t hate her part; her act of defiance was actually one of self sacrifice. She’d walked away from money and high society to become an agent in the Bureau of Investigations, a supernatural branch of the FBI. Her entire focus on life was becoming the best agent she could. She wasn’t a ladder climber, more she wanted to feel like she belonged and wanted to prove to herself and her parents that she didn’t waste her life. I saw flashes of an old romance that had fizzled out, and a lot of loneliness.
First Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Page 16
