Montague & Strong Detective Novels Box Set: Montague & Strong Detective Novels Books, 1 through 3 (Montague & Strong Case Files)

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  The orbs raced across the floor and crashed into me faster than I could react. I felt the dome sway and I fell to my knees. I could sense Chaos walk over.

  “I had the essences, Strong, and now you have them,” he said, striking me across the face and turning my world black once again.

  THIRTY-THREE

  IT WAS STILL dark when I regained consciousness. My arms were shackled to the floor like Monty. The Ebonsoul and Grim Whisper lay in a corner next to the case holding the negation rune. I looked groggily around the room, but I didn’t see Chaos.

  My shirt and coat were gone and my chest burned. I looked down to see an angry red scar in the shape of the null rune traced on my chest.

  “Simon, wake up,” Monty said. “Focus—we don’t have much time.”

  I pulled against the shackles but they wouldn’t budge. My tongue was thick and my mouth felt full of cotton.

  “Much time for what—until we die? These things aren’t coming off and you’re wearing restraints. I would say it’s over.”

  “Not yet it isn’t,” he said, shaking his head. “You have to break the shackles.”

  “Let me check my pockets for a hacksaw. I’m pretty sure I brought one,” I said. “What do you want me to do—use magic?”

  “Yes, you have the essence of ten sorcerers inside you,” he said after a brief pause. “You need to activate the mala. Bring her here.”

  I looked down and saw the mala bracelet still around my wrist.

  “Why didn’t he remove it? It’s not working.”

  “He tried and it prevented him, forcibly,” he said. “Said he was going to come back and get that off. Its energy disrupts the ritual. You need to use it before he returns.”

  “How? It’s not like I can reach it,” I said, shaking my wrists. “Where did Chaos go?”

  “Don’t worry about that now. Focus, you don’t need to touch it to make it work,” he said. “Your chains aren’t runed and he didn’t put silver restraints on you.”

  “The mala doesn’t work. I tried using it a few times and nothing happened. And I’m not you, Monty, I can’t use magic.”

  “Simon, listen to me. Have you ever seen me hold a wand or staff?”

  “No, you just kind of do your thing and demolish everything. Actually, now that I think of it, every time you’ve used magic something gets destroyed.”

  “I’m going to ignore that because it’s clear you’ve suffered a blow to the head,” he said. “Have you ever heard me use incantations or special words of power?”

  “Are we counting all the times you curse?”

  He gave me his ‘don’t be an idiot look,’ and I knew it was the real Monty.

  “A mage doesn’t need a focus, like, say, a wizard or sorcerer,” he said. “A mage is both marble and chisel; magic flows in and through a mage.”

  “Sounds all warm and fuzzy, but that’s not me, that’s you.”

  “Everyone has the potential. Some more than others, but magic is available to anyone willing to tap into it,” he said. “Right now those essences you are holding give you a distinct advantage. Activate the mala.”

  “How? I don’t know how. It’s not like it came with an instruction manual.”

  “Focus, the same way you were able to summon Karma to you the last time. Try and summon her again.”

  “That’s not really motivating, you know,” I said. “She wasn’t exactly happy to be summoned.”

  “Chaos is going to return with etheric shears, which I believe is the only artifact that can cut through your mala without reducing this dome to dust,” he said. “When he cuts your mala, the null rune on your chest will absorb the essence of the sorcerers inside your body and transform you into a vessel for the null rune. How’s that for motivation?”

  “Where’s he getting these shears—Home Depot?”

  “He can only get them in one place, which means he will need to steal them from the Fates.”

  “The Fates, as in the three ugly old ladies?” I asked. “The ones with one eye between them?”

  “You’re confusing the Fates with the Gray Sisters,” he said. “Atropos holds the shears he needs, which means we have some time, but not much. They reside in Hades so he will have his hands full getting them.”

  “Could be that’s why he exploded Hades’ office,” I said. “Maybe he needs these shears for something else too?”

  “You can ask him when he gets back—right now you need to activate the mala. Summon Karma.”

  I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down. I didn’t know if this was going to work, but it wasn’t as if I had other options. I felt the energy inside me coalesce in my chest and get warmer.

  “That’s it, Simon, keep going,” Monty said. “You’re doing it.”

  “Not helping,” I whispered as I tried to concentrate.

  I focused on the warmth and it kept getting hotter until my chest burned. I opened my eyes and saw the null rune glowing. I swore I could smell burned flesh.

  “Monty, this isn’t working. All I’m doing is barbequing my chest. She isn’t—” Then the room became hazy and out of focus. The smell of lotus flowers filled my nose.

  “Hello, Simon,” Karma said from behind me, her voice thick and husky. She stepped around to face me and I noticed she wasn’t doing the college-student look this time. She was dressed in tight black leather that accentuated her curves. Her thigh-high boots glistened in the low light. All she needed was a whip to finish the dominatrix ensemble. I really hoped she was in a better mood this time.

  “Hello, Karma,” I said slowly. “I need help.”

  “You summoned me again?” she said and raised her hand. She stopped mid-swing and took in the scene. She narrowed her eyes and stared at me for a few seconds. The rune was no longer glowing, but I could still feel the burning radiating throughout my chest.

  She lowered her arm and knelt in front of me. She traced the rune on my chest with a finger.

  “Can you help us?” I asked. “Chaos is coming back any second with some shears and then it’s all over.”

  She smiled. “Why? Is he giving you a haircut?”

  “He’s going to cut the mala and then the rune will destroy me,” I said. “Can you at least release Monty?”

  “The shears aren’t for the mala, Simon, they’re for you. Haven’t you wondered how to kill an immortal?” she said. “He brings his own destruction.”

  “So you won’t help?” I pleaded. “At least take off these shackles.”

  “No, I won’t help you,” she said, her voice hard. “Because you don’t need it. Use the tools you have in hand.”

  She gently patted my cheek, which only felt like a five-pound hammer this time as my head rocked to the side.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I said in confusion as I raised my hand to rub my face. Her leather creaked as she stood in front of me. I looked down at my arms, which were no longer being held by shackles. “You?”

  She pointed at me and shook her head. “You,” she said. “He’s coming back. Free your friend and prepare. If you survive this, I would like to know how you summoned me this time.”

  She disappeared as the room snapped back into focus and I ran over to Monty. I touched the silver restraints and they fell off to the side. I shoved them away with my foot.

  “Step back,” he said. “I have to get these off.”

  The shackles grew white hot as they melted away from him. That was when I heard the soft clapping behind us.

  “You two have certainly made this interesting. I’m really going to miss you both.”

  Chaos stepped forward, holding a large sword.

  “Whatever you do, don’t let that sword cut you,” Monty whispered. “That’s Atropos’s shears. It can and will kill you.”

  “Shears means scissors in this country, Monty, not a sword,” I whispered back, my eyes focused on the weapon.

  Chaos hefted the sword in front of him as if testing its balance. “Much better than
a pair of scissors, don’t you think?”

  “I think you should return that to where you got it, that’s what I think,” I answered as I backed up.

  “Time to die,” he said and lunged forward.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  I JUMPED INTO the corner and grabbed my weapons as Chaos clenched his hand into a fist and the rune on my chest exploded with light.

  “Simon!” Monty yelled.

  I fell forward as Monty launched two black orbs from his hands at Chaos. Monty threw my coat over me and the pain in my chest subsided. Chaos sliced through the orbs, resulting in an explosion that sent him through the wall of the tower as it collapsed in a mound of debris.

  “What the—?” I said and gasped, trying to catch my breath.

  “The essences. You aren’t immune to magic while those things are inside of you. Close the coat. The runes should help.”

  “Negation rune,” I managed as I stood slowly and pointed. “In the case.”

  “If I unleash it in here it will undo us all,” he said as he grabbed the case and pulled out the rune.

  “If you don’t, he gets the null rune. No choice.”

  “I can’t throw it at him—it needs to touch him.”

  “I know,” I said. “Activate it and set it to go off in ten seconds. I’ll make sure it touches him.”

  “Simon—” he started.

  “No need to say it, Monty. Besides in the words of the great Freddy Mercury, who wants to live forever?”

  He activated the rune and I placed it around my neck and ran for the hole filled with debris. Chaos charged at me and I activated my mark. Everything went out of focus.

  “That won’t save you,” Chaos said as he closed on me.

  “I know,” I said with a grunt as he ran me through with the shears. “I’m not looking to be saved.”

  I drew Grim Whisper and fired several shots into his chest. He laughed in my face.

  “I told you runed rounds were ineffective,” he said. “You just don’t have the firepower, Strong. You should have joined me. Your entire existence is chaos and yet you refute me. Now you’re going to die here.”

  “You’re just like me,” I said. “In this space we are the same. You aren’t immortal.”

  “You think a few bullets can end me?” he said, stepping close.

  Nothing happened for a few seconds and then I saw the whirlwinds begin to form. It was my turn to smile.

  “Those weren’t runed rounds,” I whispered as he grabbed me by the throat. I grabbed the negation rune from around my neck and touched it to his arm, watching as it exploded in light.

  His scream filled my ears as he let me go. I fell to my knees as the entropy rounds began to work on him and the small whirlwinds joined to form one large one.

  “You can’t kill chaos,” he said. “I am infinite. I am entropy. I am everlasting.”

  “I may not be able to kill you, but I can sure as hell stop you from destroying everything and starting another war.”

  “Your naiveté will be your undoing. Another war is inevitable,” he said. “It is the only way. Eventually everything must fall to entropy.”

  “You know what? Take some entropy—to go,” I said.

  I fired one last time, putting a round in his forehead.

  “You can’t kill me. I’m Chaos!” The whirlwinds engulfed him and he disappeared.

  The sword fell next to me on the floor and reverted to a large pair of rune-covered shears. The world snapped back into focus and I felt the cool night breeze on my skin. Most of the dome lay in ruins. I looked up into the night sky as the stars winked back at me. I fell on my side, hearing footsteps approach. Monty’s concerned face came into my field of vision.

  “You did it, Simon,” he said as he removed the negation rune from my neck. “You stopped him.”

  “We stopped him. Entropy rounds for the win,” I said as I grabbed his arm.

  “Lay still, help is on the way,” he said. “Stop talking for once.”

  “You look like crap. I mean more than usual.”

  He said something, but the whirring of helicopter blades drowned out his response. I felt myself being lifted and then everything fell away.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THE DELICATE SOUND of china gently colliding filled my ears. I kept my eyes closed and the smell of Earl Grey filled my nose.

  “It’s certainly about time,” Monty said, placing the cup on the side table. “Do you intend to laze about indefinitely?”

  “This must be the part where the nightmare begins,” I mumbled as I tried to sit up. A pair of strong hands held me down and I looked up into Roxanne’s face.

  “Not quite time for you to be moving about,” she said with a smile. “You need rest.”

  “You look well,” I said, and she looked over her shoulder at Monty.

  “His doing,” she said. “He found me after you stopped Chaos.”

  I looked at Monty and I swear he blushed.

  “It wasn’t much,” Monty said with a cough. “I mean, Corbel did much of the work, much to my surprise.”

  “You saved my life,” Roxanne said. “Thank you.”

  “Corbel made it?” I asked. “Is Hades back?”

  “No sign of Hades or Corbel after that night,” Monty answered, picking up the cup and taking a sip. “But I’m sure they will turn up, eventually.”

  “How long have I been here?” I asked.

  “Five days in and out of consciousness.” She looked at me while picking up a clipboard. “You should be able to be discharged tomorrow.”

  “Just as well,” Monty said. “He has a creature to tend to.”

  “Try not to tax him, Tristan, he needs his rest,” she said as she put the clipboard back and headed to the door. “I’ll be back to check on you later, Simon.”

  Monty nodded and walked her to the door. He said something to her I couldn’t make out. She smiled and nodded. He came back to sit next to me after she left.

  “You dog, you finally asked her out?” I said, chuckling.

  “No, I merely pointed out that you haven’t been having regular bowel movements and that she should start enema treatments thrice daily,” he said with a straight face. “Wouldn’t want your system to get backed up.

  “Shit,” I said with a groan as I shifted my weight. “That’s not funny.”

  “Precisely,” he answered. “Poor bowel movements can be a serious issue.”

  “Hilarious. You should take your show on the road,” I said as he cracked a smile. “Any sign of Chaos?”

  He grew serious and shook his head. “Once Hades returns, we should have a conversation with him. It seems Charon is back on duty and he expresses thanks for his release.”

  “What happened to Ramirez?” I asked. “I left him in front of the detention center.”

  “Uncovering that black site got him fired as a lieutenant…” Monty said.

  “Damn, maybe there’s someone we can call.”

  “…And promoted to Director of the NYTF. Seems there was some corruption connected to the detention center and the NYTF. He’s been tasked with eliminating it.”

  “Good for him, he deserves it,” I said, relieved. “Now he can afford to buy me dinner. Did you check on Allen?”

  “Full recovery and use of his arm with a little help from Roxanne. He’ll be examining strange corpses for the foreseeable future.”

  I nodded and sighed. “Thanks, he’s good people.”

  He stood and brushed off his suit and looked at his watch.

  “Nice suit. Roselli’s?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Your vampire requested my presence in your absence. They will be designating a downtown location neutral territory and I’m told this is your doing,” he said.

  I nodded. “Jimmy the Cleaver. He’s the new butcher in the meat market and a Werebear from up north.”

  “Jimmy the Cleaver—I’m sure he’s charming,” he said and straightened the sleeves of his jacket.

  “Has Michi
ko—?”

  “She’s been here every night since you arrived and no doubt will be here again tonight at some point.”

  I smiled at that. I looked forward to seeing her, scowl and all.

  “However, I’m happy to report that the office has been vampire-free since the creature arrived.”

  “Peaches—his name is Peaches.”

  “I refuse to address him as a fruit,” he said. “Change the name.”

  He turned and headed to the door.

  “Hey, Monty…” I said, serious.

  “Yes,” he said and stopped without turning around.

  “Just wanted to say thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said. “You’re more than my friend, you’re my family.”

  His back stiffened a bit and he grabbed the handle, opening the door.

  “Being family means never having to say thanks, Simon,” he whispered, pulling the door open. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He walked out of the room and the door clicked shut.

  THIRTY-SIX

  “HELLO, SIMON,” THE voice whispered. “How is my splinter feeling?”

  Michiko had left about half an hour earlier. She came by to inform me that Yama and Georgianna would be staying with Monty and me indefinitely. It wasn’t a request. I knew it was an excuse, because she stayed for another hour afterward. This meant I was wide-awake for my new visitor.

  “Hello, Karma,” I said and noticed that everything was still in focus. She wasn’t warping time with this visit. “I’m sore pretty much everywhere.”

  She was dressed in a nurse’s uniform, picked up my clipboard, and sat in the chair next to the bed.

  “Looks like you’ll be leaving here soon,” she said. “I still need something from you, though.”

  “We didn’t kill him, did we?” I asked, knowing the answer but wanting her to confirm it.

  She gave me a quick smile and short shake of her head.

  “Entropy rounds—clever and ironic. Where did you get them?”

  I saw no point in lying. Besides, she probably knew the truth.

  “Monty,” I said. “He made them.”