Chimes At Midnight (The Grimoire Chronicles Book 3)

by Phaedra Weldon

  Sam had decorated the place nice with antiquated furniture, and I was pretty sure it was all the genuine article and not antique knock-offs. Rugs covered the hardwood floors, and I followed her to the left to a door as Kyle went to the right and into the kitchen.

  She opened the door and stood back. I stepped into a good-sized bedroom, with a canopied bed to the right with two nightstands. A papasan sat in the opposite corner with a book nestled in the cushions. A single window, open to the night, allowed the soft glow of the streetlights into the room as a breeze moved the white sheers. Everything was white in this room, down to the rugs on the floor.

  Everything but the still man on the bed. I approached Mike, both worried and afraid. I'd always known worry around Mike. He was human, with a lot of human frailties and no odd power to protect himself. He'd relied on that smart brain of his and this ability to hit anything he fired at. And he was a good fighter. He'd protected me so many times in my life.

  Me, with the weird light in my hands. Me, with the powerful book in my chest.

  This man had cared for me.

  I stood by the bed and watched. He looked a little different in the soft light, so I turned on the lamp beside the bed and gasped at the condition of his face. Several cuts marred his left temple and chin, and a bruise ran from his left eye down his left cheek. His chest and arms were bare where they stuck out above the white sheet and comforter. There were more bruises and scrapes, some of them now yellow and black. "Why is he—?"

  "In this condition?" Sam stepped into the room. "Ripp'n Jack didn't take care of the body he stole. Mike was dehydrated, though not as starved as I thought he'd be. Apparently the Djinn liked to eat. And drink."

  I snapped my head around to look at Sam. "Mike doesn't drink."

  "Mike doesn't, but the Djinn did. Luckily, he vomited most of what that damn creature did to him, and I've been slowly healing him, a little at a time. I didn't want to shock his body."

  I knew all too well about Sam's ability to heal, having needed her soothing power several times. I looked back at Mike. "How did the Djinn kill those people?"

  Grey came into the room, her claws tapping on the hardwood. She jumped on the bed and no one protested. When she settled at his feet, I smiled at her. An ever protecting mother.

  "Darren, I don't think—"

  "Please, tell me," I said as I stroked Grey's neck. "If I'm going to help him and support him, I have to know what he went through."

  Kyle came into the room. "The bastard burned their skin off while they were alive."

  I wasn't prepared to hear that. "What?"

  "He literally burned just their skin. Didn't touch bone or muscles or tissue. Not even their hair in some cases. Crwys and Levi found bodies that were little more than raw, bleeding muscle."

  Sweet God Mother…

  Christ even. I put my hand to my face. What in the hell kind of thing was that Djinn? Yeah, it'd been pretty nasty when Erebus, the demon possessing my father, controlled it, but on its own, it had committed atrocities even I couldn't put straight in my head.

  Burned flesh from living people?

  I felt Sam's hand on my shoulder and turned what I thought was a pretty stricken face to her. I could see it reflected in her own. "You see my concerns."

  I nodded. "If…if he remembers the things the Djinn did, he'll think of them as things he did. The guilt, the horror…he'll blame himself. Mike won't be able to function, Sam. I know him too well. He'll internalize everything and it'll eat at him." I looked back at my best friend. "It'll kill him."

  "Yes. But there are things…factors Detectives Holliard and Tulose pointed out. His face is on surveillance footage, committing the crimes."

  Oh sonofabitch. I combed my fingers through my hair. "So the police know he set fire to those victims with magic?"

  "They didn't see the magic. It doesn't film, remember? Crwys said it looks like he threw something at them and they caught on fire. Cowens will never see anything they don't want to."

  "That's a good thing." I knew Cowen meant non-magical person to a Witch. Hell, I'd grown up around this stuff for so long, the terms were pretty much common vocabulary for me.

  But the actions, the shit I kept seeing happen to ordinary people… What kind of Guardian was I if I couldn't stop this kind of thing from happening? Who takes justice for those innocent victims?

  "Hey—" Sam squeezed my shoulder. "Don't internalize this, Darren. It's not your fault. You and Mike are so similar. You take on the weight of the world, but for this, there's nothing you could have done."

  "I could have killed that fucker." I continued staring at Mike, thinking back to that night in the townhouse, the night the Djinn took him. "I could have been more careful. I should have protected Mike the way he protected me."

  "Darren," Sam's voice grew just a bit hard. "Don't. What you're doing is exactly what I'm afraid Mike's going to do when he wakes up. Only it's going to be a thousand times worse. I can't even imagine what kind of horror he went through at the hands of Jack."

  Something occurred to me at that moment. I turned and looked at her. "Sam…how did you know its name was Ripp'n Jack?"

  She looked down and away, and every alarm in my body went off. Uh oh. There was something else here. Something she didn't want to tell me. "There is something I need to tell you, and I don't think you're going to like it. Just know it was the only way I knew I could save Mike's life."

  "What happened?"

  "I—"

  Grey's howl interrupted everything, including my train of thought. Being in a small room with a wolf when it jumps off a bed and lets one of those croons go is deafening. I put my hands to my ears and called her name, but that howl shifted into what I could only describe as a defensive growl.

  Sam's entire demeanor changed. I felt her power flare around her and could see the slight aura of it. "Someone's here. No time to tell you everything." She looked at me. "You prepared to fight?"

  The Grimoire stirred as pages began to turn. My palms glowed, and within seconds, I had the flaming Guardian Sword in my hand. Oh how I could have used this with those two thugs at the gas station. "Always."

  "Sam!" Kyle yelled out from the living room.

  "Grey," Sam whispered to her familiar. "Protect Mike."

  The wolf nodded and I winked at her. She winked at me.

  A few seconds later, things were a lot different.

  Six

  ANGEL iN THE LiViNG ROOM

  Levi

  Levi tried a third time to wake anyone at Bell, Book and Candle, and again, it flipped to voicemail. He disconnected and slipped the phone into the pocket of his suit jacket. "Still nothing."

  "I don't like it, Levi," Crwys said as he sped along narrow streets to Bourbon. It was well past midnight and they were lucky it was Wednesday. If it was Thursday, there would be too many partiers out. In New Orleans, the weekend starts on Thursday. "Sam always answers."

  Crwys was running the Mustang without a light, not wanting to call unwanted attention to the shop, just in case there would be a magical emergency. Like Levi, Crwys believed too many innocents had died. Now that they couldn't reach anyone at Sam's place…

  The tension level inside the car was palpable.

  Crwys stopped the Mustang in front of the shop and got out, gun drawn. He pointed to the strange SUV parked in front of him. Levi moved quietly to it and put his hand on it. He shook his head. No one was hiding inside.

  Levi looked up at the apartment windows. They were shuttered closed. But his preternatural senses, those given to him by Ashur, were alive with light and activity.

  "Ashur?"

  Levi answered, "They're not alone. I can hear six heartbeats. One of them is Grey's."

  "Five people? If Ivan and Kyle are here, that's still one too many. Probably whoever drives this monster.” Crwys gestured to the right, to the closed parking area. Levi nodded and the two of them slipped into the area using Crwys’s key. Once in the parking lot, they moved to the back
of the shop and the loading area. It wasn’t a big place, so the dock door itself wasn't large, but large enough that if they needed a mid-sized truck to deliver some of the larger items the store carried, there was enough room.

  Levi spotted Kyle's car and Sam's Rubicon. There weren't any other vehicles in the lot.

  Crwys made his way to a door to the left of the dock and unlocked it. No alarms sounded as he opened it and he checked the alarm pad to the left.

  "Nothing's been set…" Crwys blinked a few times and then looked at Levi. "The wards are all down. This building isn't protected at all."

  "Shit," Levi said as he moved into the darkened back area first. Boxes, shelves, stored merchandise dotted the area closest to the back door. The further in they went, Levi seeing clearly with his Revenant-gifted sight, the more evident the break room became. The kitchen on their left, Crwys covered the distance to the steps upstairs while Levi went to the office.

  He checked inside. No one there and whispered, "Clear," to Crwys. He knew the detective could hear him. Then he checked through the door into the main shop. A quick look and listen, and he knew there was no one there as well.

  Levi joined Crwys as they headed up the stairs, guns drawn and held at the ready.

  There wasn't a door into the apartment, just the steps. Crwys, in the lead, popped his head up first and stopped. Looking up, Levi could see a light reflecting off his partner's face and he could see Crwys's surprise as well as feel it. Whatever he was looking at, Crwys didn't know what to think of it, but that didn't make it any less dangerous.

  "Crwys?" Levi whispered.

  Crwys shook his head and he held his weapon in front of him, and then ascended the steps.

  Levi came up behind him and then stopped, eyes wide, just as Crwys had.

  He had seen a lot of things in his unnaturally long life, especially once he met Crwys, though he had access to Ashur's many hosts' adventures, but this was undefinable on the new list. He felt Ashur stir in curiosity. If the demon wasn't worried, should he be?

  Levi had been in Sam's living room several times. It was a nice place. Small. But nicely decorated and reflected her in every way, down to the antique furniture and beautifully framed images of Goddesses and nature scenes on her walls. There were few pictures of herself or her friends.

  But what he'd never seen in the middle of her living room before, was an angel.

  The only light in the room emanated from it. It looked to be a male, maybe in his mid-twenties, average height with dark hair. He held out his arms to his sides as if welcoming something with his head bowed. The angel had one white wing and one black wing, and both of them were out and bent inward as if protecting. Golden light swirled in a whirlpool on the floor, around the sofas and the coffee table, and formed a cone that went through the ceiling. As he stepped further into the room, he could see more.

  The angel stood between the sofa Sam had been sleeping on and the coffee table. Levi gasped when he saw Sam laying still on that sofa, inside of the circle of light. To the right, he saw Kyle on the floor, unmoving.

  "Sonofabitch," Crwys said as he stood just outside the circle, close to the sofa where Sam lay.

  Levi followed his partner's gaze and looked more closely at the angel. Shifting his position closer, he saw something floating in the air within the angel's outstretched arms. It looked like… "Is that…is that a book?" he said aloud to Crwys.

  It is. But not just any book, Ashur said to both of them.

  No, Crwys's inner voice answered. That's not possible. I destroyed that book.

  Look for yourself, old friend. You would know it better than anyone.

  Levi had no idea what the two of them were talking about, which happened a lot. Eventually Ashur would share with him, but he'd learned over the decades to just go with it.

  A movement to the right of Crwys caused both officers to raise their weapons as someone who was not Ivan stepped out of the shadows. No, not stepped. Levi was pretty sure this guy oozed out of the shadows. The room wasn't that dark and he had not seen him standing there before.

  This kid was blond, and from what Levi could see, handsome in a sort of boy band way. He had longish hair and pale skin, dressed in black. He put his hands on his hips and faced Crwys. "Well, well, well. Of all the family I ever thought I'd meet again, you were last one the list, Uncle. So, how is the Betrayer of an entire world doing this fine day?"

  Crwys's voice was thick as he said, "Scylla."

  Seven

  HELLO OH UNCLE OF MiNE

  Scylla

  "You remembered my name!" Scylla clapped and stepped a bit closer to the light, but not too close. He had no idea what it was this kid was doing, or what kind of magic it was, but it reeked of First Borns and held a miasmic odor to it he knew would be very deadly, if he stepped into it.

  His uncle hadn't changed much in the ensuing centuries. He wore pretty much the same body he'd created with the Fury spell. Tall. Lean. Well-muscled. Very much like his original form before Artemis's Arrow killed him.

  Yes…he would know Apollo Azazel anywhere.

  "What the hell did you do?" his uncle demanded.

  Scylla smiled at Azazel. His grandmother's favorite son. The black sheep who died and became one of the most powerful of her pets. A master in spell making and the instrument of his, his sister's and his mother's doom. "I didn't do anything, Azazel."

  "My name is Crwys."

  "Cruise? What kind of name is that?"

  "My name. I'll ask you again, before I lose my temper—what did you do and who"—he nodded to the boy angel—"is that?"

  Scylla held up two fingers, much like a peace sign. "That's two questions. The second of which I'll answer first. I have no idea who that is." He then pointed those two fingers at the boy angel. "Though he has a faint smell of Goblin about him, I've never known a halfling to possess this kind of power. Do you sense it, uncle of mine? The odor of First Borns? And not just one…but many."

  He watched Crwys's eyes cut over to the boy, and that's when Scylla noticed another smell. Stronger…and so delicious. "There's a First Born here…"

  "Back off, Incubus," the man with Crwys said as he moved around behind the still boy angel. He was handsome, with mocha skin and beautiful eyes. He also knew the proper way to dress.

  And he was a First Born in possession of a body.

  A Revenant.

  Or in laymen's terms, a Vampire.

  "Levi, keep clear of him. This particular Incubus likes the taste of Revenants."

  "Oh?" the Revenant named Levi said. "Do we taste good?"

  "Delicious," Scylla said, but refocused on Crwys. He was hungry, but then when he had a form, he was always hungry. It was a constant grinding in his center, a gnawing that was as relentless as a Vampire's first thirst. "I'm more interested in this bloke here." And he pointed to the boy angel.

  Crwys sighed. "Did you hurt Sam and Kyle, or did he?"

  "I didn't hurt anyone. I am here because I was invited."

  Crwys made a noise. "You're here because the Obsidian Queen hired you to bring her a Goblin."

  Scylla couldn't stop his jaw from dropping. "You know? And here I thought I was being incognito."

  "You want me to shoot him?" Levi asked.

  "No. I want him to give me some answers first. Then we shoot him."

  "You first," Scylla said, his jovial demeanor lessening. "I want to know why you did what you did. I want to know how you could turn on your family and all of those poor defenseless creatures that ran to Alfheim like that when you and yours started your little war?" He took a step forward, but remained out the direct light of the boy angel. "How could you have created such a spell?"

  "This is not the time to hash out family disagreements, Scylla."

  "What is he talking about?" Levi said. "Is he really your nephew?"

  Crwys straightened, but didn't waver in his aim at Scylla. "His mother is my sister. Echidna. I've told you this before, Ashur."

  Ashur. Ah… S
cylla knew this name. Indeed, one of the First Borns. He just didn't know which number in line. There were so many.

  "Forgive me for not remembering," the Revenant's voice deepened and became duel, like a chord being played in harmony. "But I didn't memorize your family's history."

  "It's not so far from your own, Ashur," Scylla said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He'd given up on getting answers from Crwys. Perhaps now wasn't the time. Too much of his attention settled on the book hovering in front of the boy angel. "You share the same lineage. Even with me. My mother is Echidna, sister to Apollo and Diana. Their mother is Gaia. Gaia killed herself and her daughter in order to fill the Well with Diana's magic and blood, as well as her own. Gaia's husband, Samael, fell into a despair to which Gaia's sister, Lilith, swooped in and cheered him up, thus creating a horde of what would later be called First Borns." He pointed at Levi. "That would be you. You would be my uncle…" And he made a face. "A thousand times removed?"

  "Thank you for the history lesson." Levi smiled. "But I am not kin to Echidna's children, the Destroyers."

  Scylla blushed and put his hands to his face. "Oh…such titles my sister, brother and I have. But those are long gone now, you see. And I have pressing business." He waved at the air in front of him. "I sense this boy angel isn't part of the Ethereal set, is he? Not a real angel, thank the Great Electron." He pursed his lips. "But he is a Goblin."

  Neither of the others spoke.

  "So I guess I'm right. But he's more than just a Goblin." He pointed to the book. "What is that?"

  "I don't know," Crwys said quickly. "Stop stalling. What did you do to Sam and Kyle?"

  "I told you…" He shrugged. "I came in because I'm supposed to be here due to a deal that Witch"—he pointed at Sam—"made with a Faerie. That's a contract, Crwys. Unless you forgot since you weren't sealed inside Alfheim for any length of time, were you?" He held up his hands when Crwys opened his mouth to protest. "Withdrawn."