Sorcerer's Creed Books 1-3

by N. P. Martin

  "But you help people already, do you not?"

  I nodded. "Sure, but I mean on a grander scale. A global scale. I want to help the people help themselves. That's what your organization is all about, is it not? Putting power back in the hands of the people so they can govern themselves from now on?"

  "That is correct. That is what we are working towards."

  I held out my hands. "Great. Then there's nothing more to talk about except what we are going to do to achieve that goal."

  A long silence ensued, during which I wondered if my performance had been up to scratch, and whether my interrogator believed me or not. Then just as I was starting to think that I had somehow failed their little test, the whole room suddenly changed like someone had hit a switch to reveal the real room concealed behind the black walls. In the space of a few seconds, the room was transformed into a lounge containing leather furniture and a small, fully stocked bar. It felt like I was now standing inside a room in some exclusive club. Slightly confused and fairly impressed, I stared around me as I tried to work out how that little trick had been done. It seemed like magick. Maybe a Concealment Spell that had been over the room to begin with. But it felt like there was more to it, like some kind of technology had been involved in the transformation, though I couldn't be sure.

  There was now a doorway in one of the walls, and after a moment, the door was opened and in walked a very beautiful but stern looking woman who was dressed in black trousers and tight-fitting turtleneck. Her bobbed auburn hair framed a face that I imagined was highly photogenic thanks to the woman's large clear blue eyes, perfectly sculpted nose and cheekbones, and wide, thick-lipped mouth. In some ways, she reminded me of Leona--her straight-backed seriousness mostly--though that could have just been me projecting my emotions onto her. She paused by the door for a brief moment while she stared intensely at me as if gauging my threat level, which is exactly the kind of thing that Leona would have done. I wondered if the woman was ex-military as well. She seemed in good shape, her body tall and slender, her muscles no doubt toned and hard under her dark, sexless clothing.

  I stared back at the woman, saying nothing as I took her in, and she did the same. Then without saying a word, the woman walked to the shining, dark wood bar. As she slipped behind it, I saw the semi-automatic pushed into the back of her trousers. It seemed she was taking no chances. "Drink?" she asked as she held up a bottle of whiskey.

  I nodded. "Yeah, sure."

  The woman poured two tumblers of whiskey and slid one down the bar to me. Then she downed her own drink in one and placed the empty glass on the bar before coming around the other side and sitting on one of the bar stools.

  "Where are we?" I asked after tasting the whiskey.

  The woman smiled, her lips painted in bright red lipstick. "You mightn't believe me if I told you."

  I raised my eyebrows. "Try me."

  She smiled again. "Why don't I introduce myself first?" she said. "Then we'll get to where we are, and why you are here."

  "I thought I already explained why I was here, but anyway. Go ahead. What's your name?"

  "My name is Jordan Grayson."

  Grayson, I thought. Where do I know that name from? I couldn't remember, but I was sure it would come to me. "Well, you know my name already."

  "August Creed."

  "You say that like my reputation precedes me."

  "It does. To be frank, I was shocked when you posted that video."

  "Why?"

  "You seem like the kind of man who is perfectly happy with the way things are in the world."

  "Not really."

  "Then why have you never tried to change anything? Your considerable skills are well-known."

  "What was I going to change on my own?" I said as I now sat two stools away from her. "I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time."

  She nodded and then stared at me a moment as if she could see right through me. A slight wave of panic arose in me as I began to fear my act wasn't coming off as well as I had hoped. "I'm still not convinced. You don't strike me as the sort of man who would join an organization like SciCane. You seem too...independent."

  "That's because I am," I said without missing a beat. "And I want to remain so, which is why I'm here. The ones in power are making it more and more difficult for people such as myself to operate independently. They are constantly trying to drag me into their control mechanisms where they can keep an eye on me. I don't like that, obviously."

  Jordan Grayson gave me a small smile. "Obviously."

  I relaxed a little now. She seemed to be warming to me, or at the very least, giving me the benefit of the doubt. Which was a start, I guess. Though I got the impression Jordan Grayson didn't fully trust anyone, not even herself. "So tell me," I said. "Who is Crowley666? You or the man whose voice was speaking to me from out of nowhere it seemed?"

  "Crowley666 is a convenient handle for our online activities," she said. "Nothing more."

  "An in-joke."

  The slight smile again. "Something like that."

  "So who's in charge of the operation here? Are you head of this organization?" I knew she wasn't before she even answered. Not that I thought her incapable of leading SciCane--she probably did for the most part--but because I knew there had to be some other megalomaniac behind everything. Probably the man whose voice I heard earlier.

  She grabbed the whiskey bottle from the bar before speaking again. "Firstly, Mr Creed--"

  I stopped her right there. "Just Creed will do. No need for formalities now that we're friends."

  She gave me a look as she refilled my glass, indicating that my slightly sarcastic tone wasn't lost on her. "First of all, Creed," she said. "There is no organization. SciCane is merely a collective, a gathering of individuals who share a desire for a common goal."

  "Okay. So how many are in the collective?"

  "Enough. More than you would think."

  I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that. Given the extreme nature of SciCane's philosophy and political views, everyone involved had the potential to cause a great deal of trouble and damage. "So the collective is growing." I nodded as if I approved. "That's good."

  "Yes," Jordan said, her deep blue eyes never leaving me. "We intend to make an impact, and we need the numbers to do that."

  Not necessarily, I thought. They had the Dark Codex. Really, they didn't need anyone. One page of the book could do more damage that any amount of blind followers and fanatics. Though I wasn't about to say that to Jordan. The second I mentioned the book, she would know something was up. "Of course. So who's in charge of everything? You?"

  "I'm in charge of all our operations," she said. "Planning and logistics. Tactics and strategies."

  I nodded as if impressed, which I was. You know me. Always a sucker for a strong woman who knows what she's doing. Not that I had an eye on Jordan Grayson or anything, even though she was highly attractive if a little closed off. I couldn't help wondering what sort of pain she was masking under the black clothes and her almost corporate manner. "And who do you report to then?"

  She looked towards the ceiling for a second as if someone was watching us through a camera from somewhere else. "All in good time," she said. "Before we can trust you with anything, you will have to prove your loyalty to us."

  I frowned. "Prove my loyalty? I thought I already did that."

  Jordan shook her head. "You will have to go farther than that."

  "How much farther?" I was beginning to get worried. Was she going to ask me to kill someone, or do something that was going to injure a lot of people? I hoped not, though the thought had crossed my mind before the meeting that I would most likely end up having to do things that went against my nature if I was to be convincing enough in my role as an undercover operative. I knew the only way I was going to get anywhere near the Dark Codex was if I first got close to whoever had the book in their possession. Which meant gaining that person or persons confidence and getting them to trust me.
And given the nature of the "collective" I was now a part of, gaining confidence would necessarily involve highly deviant and dangerous actions.

  "You'll find out soon enough," Jordan said, her eyes giving nothing away as she stood up, making me wish I still had my magick so I could read her mind, though something told me her mind would be a goddamn steel trap. "In the meantime, you should come with me. I will show you to your quarters."

  "My quarters?" I stood frowning at her.

  "Did you think you would be heading right back home after this meeting?" She shook her head as if my commitment was in doubt again. "As I said, you're all in, Creed, or else..."

  "Or else what?"

  The corners of her wide mouth turned up into a humorless smile for a moment. Then she turned and walked to the door, opened it and waited patiently for me to walk through it.

  Inwardly, I sighed as I walked towards the door with one dominant thought in my mind:

  What the hell have I gotten myself into here?

  10

  Messiah

  Still slightly miffed at the fact that I was now being forced to stay in whatever place I was in (what did I think, that I could come and go as I pleased? I was undercover now, which meant staying undercover), I walked beside Jordan Grayson as she led me through a maze of hallways that made me think I was in some massive manor house or stately institution. Not the sort of place I was expecting SciCane to be based in. I was expecting somewhere a bit grottier, a bit more industrial perhaps like an old warehouse. Certainly not the stately charm of this place. In almost every hallway, the dark wood walls were adorned with old paintings and often lined with bookshelves filled with aged looking books. For a group that supposedly shunned the decadent luxury of the ruling elite, SciCane was sure hanging out in style. "You mind telling me where the hell we are?" I asked Jordan as we turned down yet another hallway. Jesus, how big was this place?

  "This is our headquarters," Jordan said.

  "Yeah, I figured that. I mean where are we on the map? Are we still in Blackham?"

  "Not exactly." Jordan stopped halfway down a wide hallway and opened one of the doors, beckoning me to go inside. "This will be your quarters from now on."

  The room had the same dark wood floors as the rest of the place, and a large four poster bed of all things. I snorted. "Really?" I said smirking at Jordan.

  "What? Would you prefer something a bit more basic? We have a basement."

  I shook my head. "This will be fine. I have to admit, though, this isn't what I was expecting."

  She stared at me patiently. "And what were you expecting?"

  "Some place a bit more gritty."

  "Just because we are outsiders doesn't mean we have to live like dogs."

  Outsiders? I thought. Was that how they all viewed themselves? I guess it was an accurate enough description, and one I was comfortable enough applying to myself. "I guess not." I walked further into the room while Jordan stayed by the door as if going any further would somehow give me the wrong impression. "So what now?"

  "There's a meeting in an hour," she said.

  "A meeting?"

  "Yes. You will get to hear our leader speak then."

  I nodded, not bothering to ask who the so-called leader was since I knew she wouldn't tell me. She still hadn't told me where the fuck I was yet. "I'll just hang here until then, will I?"

  "I'll send someone to collect you in an hour."

  When she went to leave, I stopped her by saying, "What about my magick? You're still blocking it somehow. When will you unblock it?"

  Jordan smiled a smile that had no warmth behind it at all. "One step at a time. I'll see you at the meeting in an hour." She walked out and closed the door. A second later I heard a key being turned in the lock.

  What the fuck? Is she locking me in?

  I stood shaking my head as I couldn't escape the feeling that I was being held in some high-end prison. Taking out my phone, I went to check my location but wasn't surprised to find that the phone had no signal whatsoever. Convenient.

  I sat down on the edge of the four-poster bed, having nothing else to do but wait.

  Sometime later, the door to my new quarters was unlocked and opened to reveal a man standing there. The man was small in stature and baldheaded with a scrunched up face. I did a double take as I got up off the bed to walk to the door. "Wait," I said. "I know you. You're..."

  The little man was nodding his head as if to say, "I know, I know..."

  "Sam, isn't it?"

  "That's me," Sam said, rather excitedly.

  This was the same Sam who tried to use bitchcraft on me in the park in Little Tokyo not too long ago. He'd been running around in his dead daughter's plastic wizard cape like some nutcase. Now he was dressed a bit more respectably in dark trousers and a brown suede jacket. "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him. "I seem to remember giving you a pass to a very respected school of magick. What happened?"

  Sam looked down the corridor for a second then stepped inside the room a bit. "I went to the school as you said, but I didn't fit in there. Everyone looked down on me."

  "Looked down on you?"

  He nodded. "Yes, both literally and figuratively."

  "I see."

  "I tried, I really did, but that place just wasn't for me."

  "And this place is?"

  "Yes," he said, his eyes widening. "SciCane accepted me for who I am. They treat me like I have value, and that I'm worth something to the world."

  Inwardly, I sighed. Poor Sam. He was so desperate to belong somewhere that he couldn't even see when he was being used. Or perhaps he did see, but his self-worth was so low that any form of attention would do. I felt like telling Sam to leave immediately and save himself from any future pain, but I was supposed to be undercover, and therefore an avid supporter of all things SciCane. Besides, it was possible we were under surveillance at all times, so I had to be careful about what I said. "Well, you made the right choice, Sam."

  Sam beamed back at me. "You really think so?"

  I walked past him into the corridor. "I do. We're going to do great things here. We're going to change the world, Sam."

  "Yes, we are." Sam closed the door to my quarters. "Follow me. You will now have the honor of meeting our great leader. A man of pure vision he is."

  I smiled. "I'm sure. I can't wait. What's the meeting about?"

  Sam looked around as if to see if anyone was listening. The hallway was empty, so no one was. That we could see anyway. "We're going on a mission," he said in a low, excited voice.

  "What kind of mission?"

  "No one knows yet. But I think we're about to find out."

  "Awesome."

  "It sure is. This way."

  I followed beside Sam as he directed us down a series of hallways. "How long have you been a part of this, Sam?"

  "Well, that's the thing," Sam said. "In Earth time, not that long. But in here, time is different. I've been in here for a while now."

  I stopped. "Wait, Earth time? Where the fuck are we, Sam?"

  Sam stopped as well. "No one told you?"

  "Told me what?"

  He smiled as if he was about to reveal something awesome. "We're in a different dimension. A pocket dimension actually, created by our amazing leader."

  A pocket dimension, I thought, letting it sink in. Then I remembered Brentwood saying something about SciCane having their own dimension. Clever bastards. No one could touch them here. No doubt the Dark Codex helped with that. "Okay, cool," I said nodding as if I wasn't fazed. Looking at Sam, I could see he was brainwashed and in total awe of whoever was in charge. The fearless, charismatic leader that I was apparently about to lay eyes on for the first time.

  "It's more than cool," Sam said, now walking again. "We're going to change the world, Creed." He smiled up at me. "I'm glad you're here. Fate has brought us together again."

  I nodded as I wondered if everyone around here was as zealous as Sam, which I had no doubt they were.
>
  A few minutes later, we came to a set of ornate double doors that Sam could barely push open by himself. When the doors opened, they did so into a great hall that was filled with people. Maybe a hundred or so people all standing around in small groups. Almost all of them looked at me as I entered the hall with Sam, and I did my best not to seem affected by their stares. The crowd was a mix of men and women, both young and old, but mostly youngish looking. Staring back at them, I thought everyone in the room looked completely normal. No one was dressed funny. None had robes or cultish garments on them. They could have been there just to hear their favorite author do a reading. Except they obviously weren't. They were there to fuck shit up in the name of SciCane, in the name of change.

  I followed Sam through the crowd as I nodded my head at those who made eye contact with me, trying as I did so to get a read on them. For the most part, the others in the room seemed normal in an outcast sort of way. A few I got danger vibes from. Those could have been soldiers. Or gangsters. What united them all, though, was their interest in and knowledge of the arcane arts. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been standing there at all.

  Sam stopped by the front of a large stage. "He'll be on soon," he said excitedly. "I can't wait to hear what the next mission is."

  "The next?" I said. "How many missions have you done, Sam?"

  "Quite a few. Small stuff mostly. Disrupting some things, subverting other things. Apparently, though, the missions are being stepped up. Some of the things we've been doing lately though...it's crazy."

  "Like what?"

  Sam looked at me like an outsider for the first time. "I probably shouldn't say. You haven't been fully vetted yet."

  I shook my head at him. "I see."

  "But you will be," he hastily added. "With your skills, you'll be a real asset."

  "So I've been told."

  At that point, Jordan Grayson walked onto the stage, and everyone went silent. It was like someone had flipped a mute switch in the room. Clearly, Jordan commanded a lot of respect and authority from the group members. She spotted me as she came to the center of the stage, briefly held eye contact before shifting her gaze to the rest of the crowd, staring out at them with the calm assurance of someone who knew everyone there would follow her every order to the letter. Glancing briefly around, I could see the fervent adoration and respect in the eyes of the crowd. "Change-bringers," she announced in a voice that wasn't too loud, but which still carried to the back of the room. "It is time to kickstart the revolution and bring the prison of Earth crashing to its knees."