by Sean Stone
‘That’s not even the most exciting thing going on right now.’
Jasmine smoothed her skirt out before sitting down on the grass next to me. ‘All these exciting things happening in your life and you’re here watching the river.’
‘Sometimes you just need to sit and chill.’
‘And sometimes you need to move on. She’s not coming back, no matter how much you come and sit by the river.’
‘There must be something I can do,’ I said, after a moment of silence. ‘She’s gone because she made a deal with your mother. I can make a new deal.’
‘My mother will never make a deal with you. She wouldn’t even grant you an audience.’ Jasmine looked out at the river and sighed. ‘Her time is nearly over.’
‘What do mean?’
‘My Mother’s time. She says it’s almost done.’
‘She’s sick?’
Jasmine shook her head. ‘No. She’s a god, she doesn’t get sick.’
‘Then how does she know her time is running out?’
‘She just says she can feel it. There’s change on the wind.’ Jasmine shook her head in irritation. ‘Straight answers are like gold dust in conversations with her.’
‘So she’ll die soon and then you’ll take over?’
Jasmine nodded. ‘When my mother passes into the great beyond, I will ascend and become the new river god.’ She raised her chin and her cheeks glowed with pride.
‘Then why is Leah the one who went home? Why is she dealing with all the politics if that’s going to be your job?’
‘It won’t be my job. Mother does not get involved in these things. She believes that everybody must make their own decisions and she won’t try to sway them. My sisters and I, however, do not have to be impartial. That’s why we try to keep the peace. Mother will not negotiate herself so we have to. When I become a god I will be impartial and Leah will take my share of the work. Mother is training her for that day.’
‘But why? Why can’t your mother get involved? Who made that rule?’
‘She did.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know, Jacob,’ she almost snapped. ‘She’s a god. Gods work in mysterious ways.’
‘That is not a good answer for anything.’
‘Whatever her reasons are for being impartial, she has never shared them with me.’
‘But, think about it. When you are the river god you can set your own rules. You can get involved if you want. You can let Leah come home.’
Jasmine looked me right in the eyes, her irises were as blue as ice. ‘Leah is home. And you should be too.’ Jasmine stood up and straightened out her skirt again. ‘Don’t come back here again, Jacob. You’re not just hurting yourself, you’re hurting her as well.’
Her words cut me like a knife. I looked out over the still waters and wondered. I wondered if Leah came to watch me every time I came to visit. Was she in there looking at me, longing to come back, but being unable to because of the deal she’d made to save my life?
‘Jacob, go home,’ Jasmine said, exhaustion showing through her voice. ‘But don’t worry, even when I’ve ascended I’ll still come back and visit you.’ She wiggled her eyebrows seductively and then flashed me a cheeky wink. For a brief second I was annoyed that she’d brought up our one-night stand right by Leah’s river. Then I laughed it off. It was classic Jasmine.
I didn’t go home to do the tracking spell. I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be disturbed so I went to one of my safe houses in the city instead. After several hours of trying, I achieved no results. I’d used every drop of the blood I’d taken and I had achieved nothing. As expected, Magraval was cloaking Neil’s location perfectly.
Then another thought occurred to me. If Sam was the man hiding behind the Magraval guise then maybe my blood could expose him. I grabbed a knife and drew some of my own blood to repeat the spell one more time. I held my breath for almost the entire time it took to perform the spell. Once it was done the only person I’d managed to locate was Drew. Either I was wrong about Magraval or he’d protected himself just like he’d protected Neil.
I collapsed into the arm chair and held my head in my hands. How the hell was I supposed to find him? Even if I did find him, Drew seemed pretty sure the only plan I had would likely kill me before it killed Magraval. I’d dealt with hidden targets before, I could do it again. The thing was, most people had connections that could be used against them. Magraval was smart. Too smart. The only person who could lead me to him was with him.
An idea struck me. Magraval was using Fae magic which gave him a superior edge. Fae magic was, generally speaking, more potent than wizard magic. If I could convince the Fae of my theory that Magraval was the one killing them then maybe they would help me. Of course, that meant entering the Fae Woodland which had almost cost me my life last time. Leah had managed to get me off the hook because of her diplomatic status. So, if I took a river nymph with me then my plan just might work.
I dialled Jasmine’s number and was annoyed when it went straight to voicemail. I left her quick message explaining that I had a plan to stop Magraval and get the new treaty signed, but I needed her help.
A part of me wanted to go to the Fae without her and get the plan in action as soon as possible. But that was the part of me that usually got me into trouble. I needed an actual diplomat if I wanted any chance of success. The nymphs were the only ones guaranteed to provide protection. Reluctantly, I left the safe house and returned to my car. I wasn’t going home though. I knew where Jasmine’s apartment was, assuming she was staying there and hadn’t returned to her river home. I had no idea which part of the river to visit to find her. I didn’t even know with Leah, I just sat at random parts of the river each time I went to visit.
It was dark and most of the streets were empty. Since the war had started between Dorian and Magraval, the city’s nightlife had taken a serious hit. My clubs were doing significantly worse for it. Another reason to get things wrapped up fast. Fortunately, I had other ways of bringing in the dosh.
I stopped at a red light and waited impatiently for it to turn green. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, considering running the light. Dorian would get me off the hook for pretty much any crime whilst I was working for him. Then I saw the mist gathering over the road, hiding the tarmac from view. The hairs on my arm began to rise.
I heard the hooves before I saw him. My eyes flicked up to the rear-view mirror and there he was in all his headless glory. He sat erect upon the back of his horse, his stump of a neck standing proudly in place of his head. I couldn’t see it from this distance, but I knew his head was cradled in one of his dead hands. The horse took two steps toward me and the spinal column uncoiled from wherever he kept it, and hung by the horse’s side. I remembered Jeremy’s warning not to let it touch me. Not that I would have done anyway.
I checked my jewellery. It was all still in place. The golden knife was sheathed at my back. I left it there for now. I’d only need it if I let that creature catch up with me. Since my only weapon relied on close combat, I had no intention of fighting the dullahan tonight. I glanced up at the still red light and then floored the accelerator. There was no way that his rotten old horse could keep up with my Maserati.
As I hurtled through the streets of Sangford I watched the dullahan fade further and further into the background. He was pretty easy to get away from when you weren’t on foot. The mist that covered the ground rose up and not in a gradual way. It flew skywards like a dragon rising, growing denser as it moved. Within a matter of seconds I could see nothing but thick fog in every direction. No lights from the surrounding buildings, nor any streetlights shone through. I slammed my foot on the break and skidded my car to a stop.
I sat in the driver’s seat, breathing deeply while I tried to formulate a plan. My best chance was trying to run through the fog. Even if I couldn’t see, at least I wouldn’t end up in a devastating car crash.
The slow clip-clop of hooves caught my atten
tion. I looked up and saw the horseman moving slowly my way. The fog parted obediently as he trotted through it. I pushed open the car door and as I pulled myself out I unsheathed the golden dagger. The dullahan didn’t seem to be in any hurry as it walked toward me. It seemed to emanate a dark glow that repelled the fog making only the dullahan visible in the sea of white.
I looked around me for an escape route but it was pointless, the fog was too thick. I chose a direction at random and ran into it. Running away wasn’t really the done thing when it came to being an assassin, but when you know you can’t kill a creature, you run away until you figure out how. I hoped that if I moved far enough from him then the fog would grow thinner. The problem was now I was on foot and he was on horseback. He had the speed advantage. And unlike me, he could probably see through the fog.
I glanced back over my shoulder to see how far away my pursuer was and was just in time to see the other car come soaring out of the fog. It was a vile thing, a Vauxhall Meriva in vomit-gold. If only it was made of real gold then it might have been some use. The driver obviously couldn’t see a damn thing through all the fog, and thanks to my dodgy parking job in the middle of the road, my exquisite Maserati stood right in the way. The Meriva slammed into the front of my car and I watched with horror as the bonnet caved in on itself and my car was forced along the road if only by a short way.
I felt a brief flash of anger toward the driver until common sense prevailed and reminded me that it was all my fault. The Vauxhall driver agreed. The car door swung open and a furious little man in a suit ambled out.
‘What the actual fuck?!’ He roared, looking at the significant damage to his own car. His car was pretty crappy so it could withstand a beating even less than mine could. One half of his bonnet was crushed. He started to turn my way and then his eyes fell on the thing that I had momentarily forgotten. The dullahan. If you ever want to distract a guy smash his car up.
‘What the…’ the man mumbled as his legs started to tremble. He backed up toward his car, obviously planning on trying to drive away but the horseman was already upon him. The spinal column slashed through the air and the man didn’t have the reflexes to duck. The pearly bone struck him right in the neck and coiled around his throat like a serpent. It didn’t choke him. It didn’t need to. The moment the bones touched the man his eyes emptied of life and his face fell slack.
My grip tightened on the knife in my hand. There was no chance of me getting any closer now. That spinal column didn’t just mean bad news, it meant tragic news, it meant instant death. Despite being dead, the dullahan was not done with his victim yet. He rested his own head in his lap and then with his newly freed hand, the dullahan began probing around at the back of the corpse’s neck. My confusion only lasted a second. I saw the evil fingers dig into the man’s flesh and knew what he was doing even before I saw him drag the first bloody bones free.
I raised the knife over my head whilst it was distracted and threw my weapon. The blade whistled as it cartwheeled through the air. The dullahan’s body tensed as it no doubt heard the knife approaching. It turned and the glowing eyes of its dismembered head widened with fury. With one final jerk of its arm, it pulled the last of the man’s spine free and swung it in front of itself in an effort to block my attack.
‘Too slow,’ I sneered. The spinal column missed the knife by a hair’s breadth. The blade found a home in the dullahan’s chest. The monster screamed as it was thrown off its horse. Head and spinal column fell to the ground with the body that held them.
That was surprisingly easy. I walked toward my prey slowly. It wasn’t dead. It had stopped screaming and was now struggling to prise the knife free from its chest. I stopped walking. One thing was clear, the knife couldn’t kill him, but I could see the pain it was causing him. Gold obviously did damage and that meant there must be a way to utilise it to kill the dullahan once and for all. But I didn’t have that knowledge yet.
The horse turned to face me, stamping its front hooves and snorting at me. It was like it was daring me to attack. I shook my head at it slowly. ‘Another time,’ I promised before I turned and ran away into the fog.
Chapter Fifteen
I kept running and only slowed when I emerged from the fog and could once again see my surroundings. My attack must have done some lasting damage. Either that or the dullahan was just taking his sweet time catching up to me. The few people who were on the street were staring curiously at the receding fog behind me. Strange happenings were commonplace in a city as magical as Sangford, but that didn’t mean people didn’t get freaked out from time to time.
I abandoned my plan to go and see Jasmine. It wasn’t like I wanted to wander into Fae territory at this time of night anyway. It could wait until morning. Besides, she hadn’t answered her phone, she was obviously busy.
The real reason I wanted to go home was because the walls of my apartment were protected by gold and I wasn’t convinced the dullahan would stay down for long.
In the morning I was woken by the shrill ringing of my intercom system. I groaned loudly as I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the bedside table. It was six in the morning. I know in films assassins always seem to get up early so they can start training. Well, I wasn’t like that. I enjoyed sleeping in. It’s one of the perks of being self-employed. The only times I got up early were the times I needed to. And those were few and far between.
‘Fucking Drew,’ I grumbled as I swung myself out of bed and pulled on my dressing gown. Actually, it couldn’t be him. He had a key.
‘Yep?’ I said, raising the handset to my face as I reached the front door.
‘Mr. Graves, I have two police officers here to see you,’ the concierge told me, his voice professional to the last.
‘What kind of police officers?’ My mind started humming with all the possibilities. They couldn’t be here to arrest me because Dorian had given instructions to leave me alone.
‘Uniformed ones, sir?’ said Branson.
‘Are there purple stars on their lapels?’ Purple stars meant specially trained in supernatural combat. If purple stars had come then I was in some kind of trouble. It was nothing I couldn’t get out of, but it would be a serious inconvenience. I had things to do this morning. Arrange a meeting with the Fae, pick up my fancy new weapons, stop Magraval from terrorising the city.
‘No, sir.’
I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Send them up.’ Maybe they had some useful information to pass on to me. Maybe Dorian had had them sent my way to help stop Magraval this morning. No, he would have sent purple stars. No, actually he would have sent Orchids.
The officers arrived at my door a few moments later. I was not overly popular with some of the city’s police department. They were annoyed that Dorian had forced them to drop any investigations in to me. Dorian had done so several times in the past. Most officers just weren’t bothered by me at all, they neither liked nor disliked me. I was just another guy in a big old city. Then there were the other coppers who just couldn’t stand me.
The two cops who stopped at my threshold clearly did not like me. One of them didn’t anyway. He was a thin man with neatly parted hair and a strange little moustache that made him look French. He was looking at me with a mixture of loathing and pleasure. The other guy didn’t even bother looking at me. He was more interested in his phone which was entirely unprofessional.
‘Jacob Graves?’ the one who didn’t like me said.
‘In the flesh,’ I said, throwing on a fake smile. ‘I’m pretty busy today so what can I do for you?’
‘Did you have a night on the town last night, Mr Graves?’
‘No, why?’
‘We found a car registered to your name. It was left in the middle of the road.’
‘Oh shit,’ I said at once. I had completely forgotten about getting my car picked up. I’d left it where I’d stopped in the middle of town. ‘Sorry, I completely forgot about that.’
The officer stretched his mouth in a grin tha
t was anything but friendly. ‘I bet you did. People like you don’t have to worry about trivial matters such as traffic laws, eh?’ I wasn’t sure if ‘people like me’, meant people who worked for Dorian, or rich people.
‘There’s no need to be a dick about it.’
‘Considering there was another driver who was involved in the accident who lost his life, and somehow his spine, I’d say there is every need to be a dick about it.’
Ah, of course. That was why they’d come here in person rather than phoning.
‘It was an accident. I-- We were attacked by a… thing. I had to get out of there.’
‘You were attacked?’ The other officer said, interested at last. ‘Why didn’t you report it?’
‘The people who can actually do something about it are well aware of the situation.’ That got their backs up. Phone cop went straight back to his screen. The other one rounded his shoulders menacingly as if I was supposed to be afraid of him. ‘Call Monroe and he’ll happily tell you to drop the investigation. So, did you bring my car back or what?’
The officer actually chuckled. The officer who, I now noticed, had not given me his name. ‘Brought it back? Your car was parked illegally, causing an obstruction and danger, as well as being involved in a collision. Your car is at the pound. If you want it back you will have to pay for it.’
‘You are so petty,’ I said, shaking my head. To be fair, he was just doing his job, but his attitude really irked me.
‘Petty. Maybe. Let me say this, for the record. If Dorian wasn’t protecting you, you would be in cuffs right now and accompanying us to the station.’
‘If you think you can get a pair of cuffs on me, be my guest. I need a laugh this morning.’ I held my wrists out temptingly.
Officer douchebag looked down at my wrists and then turned and began walking away. ‘Dorian won’t be in charge forever. Even he can’t last for eternity.’
‘Actually he can! That’s kind of how immortality works!’ I shouted after them. I slammed my door shut before they could reply. So, my favourite car was not only damaged, but also impounded. As much as I wanted to get it back I really didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. Once I factored in the repairs maybe it would be more cost-effective just to buy a whole new one. Probably not, but it would spare my pride. For now, I would just have to drive something else. Luckily, I had loads of cars. The perks of being rich.
