by Tom Keller
Roberto lowered his hands and grabbed Mal, throwing them both to the ground as the Wyvern began its attack. I sailed over it as it dropped toward them, striking downward with my Fae sword and slicing through the Wyvern's body as it passed beneath me. I landed on the dirt and rolled, scrambling toward them as soon as I could.
"You okay, LT?" Roberto asked as he pulled me up.
"Yeah," I said, rubbing a kink out of my knee. "I keep forgetting that I'm getting too old for this shit. How's it looking?"
"Damping field is up and my guys have the back and sides covered," Roberto said as a loud yell came from the building. Suddenly a wall of fire reached out from the second floor toward us. Roberto thrust both arms toward it, creating a shield and causing the flames to spread out and pass around us. He nodded at Mal as he lowered the shield. Mal jumped up in front of the trunk, raising his pac-set to his lips and pointed toward the house.
"Go, go, go!" he yelled.
Mal had ordered a textbook entry and I could now see the six officer's in full battle gear lined up on the south side of the house. I knew there'd be a few more at the rear as well. At his direction, they moved quickly around the corner in single file. As the lead officer turned toward the front door, which was set back from the rest of the house, he went out of view and I followed Mal and Roberto across the desert to where they had just been. Mal held his arm up and we stopped, crouching against the wall out of view of the front window. The rear officer stood on the other corner, his weapon out as he covered the team that was making entry. I didn’t have to be there to know what was happening.
I heard the burst of magic as the door was taken down and the lead officer yelled "breach, breach, breach." Then there was another series of loud bangs which I knew was caused by the flashbang distract grenades they'd thrown inside. The rear officer waved his hand forward, motioning us to follow him around to where the front door was located. As we turned the corner, the rear officer and one of Roberto's guys veered off and did a quick check of the van, making sure it was secure before moving to the garage. I followed Mal toward the open doorway as Roberto peeled left, creating another magic shield above and behind us to prevent any more fire from the second floor. I could feel and hear the magic being used, then the additional sound of gunfire as officers confronted the suspects as they made their way through the house. This was their show unless they needed me so I held my place just inside the doorway. A minute later one of Roberto's guys came down the hallway and went back outside. Then Mal showed back up just as Roberto came in from the front yard.
"Suspects down," Mal said, holding up three fingers. "At least on this floor. We've got half the upstairs cleared, but we're stalled. Our main suspect barricaded himself in the master before we could get to him. He's the last one but he's shielded. He may have been a chickenshit before but he's playing hardball now. He's cranking out magic spells whenever we try to move toward the doorway. We can't get a clear shot."
"The outside is locked down tight," Roberto said, stopping beside me. "He has nowhere to go. Let me see what I can do." Then he took off toward the stairway with Mal as I followed. Roberto bounded up the steps and onto the second-floor hallway, relieving a tired Mage that was taking cover behind a doorway. As they traded places, another burst of magic filled the air. Roberto's shield came up just in time. A moment later, he returned fire with a magic spell of his own. Water drenched the flames, causing a burst of steam to fill the air with fog as the other Mage made his way past us down the stairway. Then there was a tremendous whooshing sound as more flame appeared and the water vapor dried up.
"He's going to burn the place down around us before we can get to him," Mal said as flames licked the ceiling above us.
"Not if I can help it," I said, moving up the last few stairs.
"Where do you think you’re going?" Mal asked, grabbing at me as I passed him on the stairs. "You'll never get close enough with all the magic they're tossing back and forth up there."
"No worries," I replied, grinning back at him as I reached into a pocket on my vest. "I've got a few tricks I haven't played yet." I scrambled up the steps and onto the floor, moving past Roberto as he took another shot at the Black Mage. When he dropped his hands I pulled him into the alcove he had been using for cover earlier.
"Sorry, boss," Roberto said as more magic flames filled the hallway. "Bastard is stronger than we thought. He's dug in too deep for me to get through his shields."
"Not your fault," I replied, holding up one of my grandmother's grenades. "Let's try something different."
"Where did you get that?" Roberto asked, his eyes wide as he recognized what I held in my hand.
"Don’t ask," I said, peeking around the corner. "Just tell me if it'll work."
"Yeah, but…," he started to say as I threw the grenade toward the master bedroom. Then he grabbed me and pushed me toward Mal, shielding us both as all hell broke loose around us.
It was like being in the heart of an electrical storm. Thunderclap like explosions tossed us up and down while lightning raged and the wind howled. There was a burst of light as the roof lifted from the house and then crashed back down, raining us with debris. As bad as it was, it only lasted a few seconds, and then Roberto released the shield and went back into the hallway, Mal and I scrambling to follow him. We needn't have bothered.
There was little left of the master bedroom and that side of the house. The Dark Mage was down, his burned and broken body pierced with wood and other debris from when the upper floor exploded. What remained of him was draped over what had once been a window.
"Holy shit!" an officer exclaimed as he came up what was left of the stairway. "What the hell happened up here? You guys all right?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Roberto answered, looking to me as I shook my head. "Spell must have backfired. Asshole blew himself to bits. Everyone okay downstairs?"
"Better him than me," the officer replied. "Yes. Everyone's accounted for. A little shaken up, but we'll live. That blast damn near loosened my teeth."
"Should have felt it from up here," Roberto replied, grinning. "Okay, let's clear the building. We'll meet you out front."
"What'd you do?" Mal asked in a whisper as the officer went back downstairs.
"The Lieutenant's gone batshit crazy," Roberto replied before I could answer. "Threw a damn Granada del Diablo at the perp." Then he turned to me. "I love you, LT, but next time, a little more warning would be nice."
"Where in the hell did you get a Devil's grenade?" Mal asked, shaking his head. "I thought those had been outlawed. They were supposed to have all been rounded up and destroyed years ago."
"Saving it for a rainy day," I replied. "But let's keep that to ourselves, shall we? We'll stick with Roberto's story in the reports."
"Don’t know what you're talking about, LT," Mal said, shaking his head. "But I'm with Roberto. Next time, give us a heads up first."
"I'll try to remember that," I said, pulling the pac-set out of its pocket on my vest and tuning it to the local area channel. "Control, 301M. Situation contained. Four suspects down. Code Four. Clear the Red. Roll CSI and the coroner's office and advise 200M of our situation. Have the patrol units hold until notified. I'll be en route to discuss further with the on-scene supervisor in a few."
"Control copies," the dispatcher replied. Then rebroadcast what I had said to the area units before dispatching others to calls that had been holding. "All units Code Four on Mountain View. The Code Red is lifted. Channel clear for radio traffic. All units already assigned on the perimeter hold until advised. 2John12, copy a call…"
Chapter 12
Fun time was over and soon the real work would begin. The house had to be locked down and the scene preserved until CSI could get here to document what we'd found. Before that could happen, Roberto's team would make a sweep of the house to make sure any live magical ordinance was made safe. That was necessary to protect the scene as well as the CSI's that would be going through the house shortly. Anything wit
h dark magic properties that wasn’t safe would be removed and a marker placed in its location. CSI would photograph the marker and Roberto's team would document their actions to preserve the integrity of the scene. While that was going on, Mal's team would act as security to prevent anyone not authorized from entering the scene until CSI was done. But first, we waited to see if the Keres would show up. As expected, we didn’t have to wait long.
Since the scene wasn't considered secure yet, we'd ordered all media and support personnel to come no closer than the secondary CP. As for my guys, they pulled back to the edge of the property as the first dark clouds appeared. Everyone but me, of course. I'd had a pretty good idea they'd be coming. These Mages had been warriors, at least after a fashion. While they hadn’t been equal to my guys, their adherence to the dark arts would make them especially appealing. As long as one of these Mage's Souls had called out to them when they died in battle, they had a duty to make the trip. I pulled my Fae sword and went into the house, carefully weaving the destruction we'd wrought as I made my way back to the second floor where the dead Mage had fallen.
"That one is spoken for," Kyras said as she appeared behind me. "By he who tried to claim you."
"Figured as much" I replied, realizing now that she wasn't wearing her armor. Instead, she was wearing a gown of black gossamer that moved around her like a dark mist. "A little underdressed for a battle, aren't we?"
"There was no need," she replied, moving closer as she spoke. "This one is over and there are none left here for you to vanquish. But I did not come for Souls. Others of my kind harvest those."
"Then why are you here?" I asked, her face now inches away from mine.
"To see for myself if it was true," she replied, placing her arms around my neck. "You were near death, yet here you are, whole again. Strange for a mere human to heal so fast. I believe there is more to you than you profess, Robert Hoskins."
"It is done," a voice from behind said. Kyras quickly moved away and I turned to see who had spoken. The Keres in full battle armor glided over and looked me up and down. "Bah! Just another mortal. He does not look like anything special to me."
"Well, well," I said, recognizing the Queen's shadow, Nosia. She was, at least in my world, the Keres Protector of the Realm, and guardian to Kyras. I was careful not to say her name. The last thing I needed was Nosia thinking I was hitting on her, but I couldn’t help getting in at least a little sarcasm. "You never did like me, did you?"
"Insolent, as are all humans," Nosia replied, turning her back to me as she took Kyras by the arm. "I do not know what you see in him. We must go." I got a last look at Kyras as they both turned to mist and rose into the air, then disappeared through what was left of the ceiling.
What she sees in me? That was certainly an interesting comment. I smiled to myself as I headed back out into the hallway.
"Hoskins!" I heard the Captain's voice yell as I reached the stairs. "Quit flirting with the Keres and get your ass down here!"
"On my way," I yelled, and then hurried down the stairs to meet him.
"I swear you're going to be the death of me yet," he said as I met him at the doorway. He tossed me the Thunder Hammer that I'd lent the Patrol Sergeant. "Hold on to your toys! As if I haven't had to deal with enough bullshit today as it is. But I will admit that the look on Ferrell's face when you left the room was priceless." Then he shrugged. "I hesitate to even ask, but did you learn anything?"
"There's a good chance our main perp was an acolyte of Beelzebub," I replied, tilting my head to the side. "Apparently his Soul wasn't on the Keres guest list."
"You learned this from them?" O'Malley asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Pretty much," I replied, trying to sound low key. "It was something they said in passing."
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t stop looking at me like I was crazy either.
"What?" I asked, throwing my arms wide. I couldn’t tell him everything, but it would have been a waste of time to deny that I spoke with them. "I can’t help it if no one else ever had the balls to confront them. Look, it's not like we had a complete conversation. I could just hear them talking as they passed him by."
"Let's just keep that out of any reports, shall we," he said, rolling his eyes. "Now, there's someone I want you to meet." He turned around and waved, a moment later, the Cardinal's aide walked up. An attractive and fit woman in her forties, she had exchanged her business suit for a set of black khakis. "Robert, this is Ms. Camillus from the Vatican. Colonel, I believe you've met Lieutenant Hoskins."
"Livia Camillus, Vatican Security Service," she said in a slight Italian accent. "I apologize for the deception earlier. I am not here in an official capacity, merely as an observer."
"Don’t let her fool you," O'Malley said. "She's the Cardinal's eyes and ears and my counterpart at the Vatican. But as far as that idiot from Washington is concerned, she's just what they said she was. I'll let her take it from there. Mal has already briefed me on what happened and I've got the press to attend to. Give her a quick walk through before CSI arrives. She may have a few questions about the black magic being used." He paused and winked at me. "Give her whatever she needs."
"Glad to meet you," I replied as O'Malley left. "Follow me. You'll need to watch your step. The house isn’t exactly safe anymore." I gave her an overview of the raid as we walked through the first level of the house. In a few minutes, we were making our way up the stairs.
"So you do not believe this Mage's actions are in any way connected to what the Cardinale is doing?" Camillus asked, using the Italian form of the word.
"I didn't say that," I replied, moving away from what was left of the Mage's body. "I said we have nothing to indicate that he was aware of what your people are up to. Hell, I didn’t even know about it until the Captain told me. But we're still trying to sort out everything this group is involved in. Although to be honest, if he really is an acolyte of Beelzebub, I wouldn’t put it past them to want to put a stop to it. Prince of Hell, or not, there's no love lost between Satan and Beelzebub."
"An interesting observation," she replied. "You seem well versed in the politics of Hell. Especially for someone who deals primarily with the Fae."
"I wish it were that simple," I said, gesturing out what was left of the window. "This is Vegas. We get everything here. Besides, you can't defeat your enemy unless you understand what motivates them. Magical creatures are no different than humans. Doesn’t matter if it's Souls, power, or money they covet, the politics of their leaders determines what methods they use to acquire it."
"A negative view of the universe, " she replied, digging into the wreckage in front of the body. "But an honest one." She picked up a small piece of what looked like it once might have been part of the room's door and ran her hand over it.
"Find something interesting?" I asked, trying to see what she was doing.
"Your Capitano told me that the Mage died when a spell he was casting was interrupted, causing it to backfire," she replied, raising her fingers to her nose.
"That's what the report will say," I answered, wondering what she thought she had learned. "What do you have there?"
"I believe it to be a trace amount of Witches jelly," she replied, rubbing some of it between her thumb and index finger. She looked over at me, her eyes sparkling. "It is very rare. Especially outside of Europe. It has been many years since I have run across it. It was used by the Demon hunters of old to contain the physical manifestation of a spell until such time for it to be released. Strange for a Dark Mage in the new world to possess such a thing, wouldn’t you agree?"
"I think I would," I said, trying not to laugh. Busted, and by a foreigner too! Now the only question was what she was going to do about it.
"Shall we?" she asked, grinning as she slapped the piece of the door against my chest and then motioned to the stairs. "I have seen what I needed here."
"After you," I replied, slipping the piece into my pocket as I followed her back down.
CSI and the Coroner were just arriving. I met with Mal to brief them as Camillus waited by the door. We did a repeat of the Coroner's performance with my badge and get out of jail free card, and then waited as CSI started processing the area around the Wyvern I'd slain. Once they were finished there, I told Mal the scene was his and offered to take her back to O'Malley.
After I stripped off my vest and extra weapons, I notified Dispatch that I was clear, then put the car in gear. We had to wait a minute for an officer to lift the crime scene tape so we could get back to the street. Then we drove to the CP where the Captain was standing and talking to the Patrol Sergeant. I lowered the driver side window as he walked up to the car.
"Mind giving Ms. Camillus a ride back to the office?" he asked before I could say anything. "I'm meeting the Sheriff for lunch to try to talk some sense into him about our cooperation with the Feds. Typical one sided bullshit is all I'm getting. It'll take me a week to get their stench out of the conference room." He looked over at my passenger. "No offense."
"None taken," she replied, suppressing a smile. "I can sympathize."
"Sure, I just cleared and Mal has the scene under control," I said as I turned to the Patrol Sergeant. "You can clear your guys too. The scene's taped off and everything is secure."
"What do you want me to tell the press," the Sergeant asked, glancing at the throng of reporters standing a few feet away from his patrol car. "The Captain told them it would be a while."
"Tell them they can stage across the street," I replied. "But let them know that if anyone crosses into the crime scene before we lift it, I'll have their ass."
"I can do that," he said, chuckling as he walked off.
"You're letting the press in so soon?" O'Malley asked, looking at me as if I'd said something in a foreign language. "You're not going soft on me, are you?"
"Nah," I replied, glancing back in the direction of the house. "There's no reason to tie up the patrol units to babysit them. They're already backed up on calls as it is. Let them see the Coroner moving some bodies. That's always a fun image for the evening news. "
