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

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  The Randy Rump was a warzone. Chairs and tables lay in different states of destruction. One of the windows near the front door had spider-web cracks running along its entire surface. Parts of the floor appeared to be scorched and a section of the floor near the display case was covered in claw marks several inches deep. At the end of the marks, inside a faintly glowing orange circle, sat Peaches surrounded by runes. The low rumble coming from his direction told me he wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t move.

  Three men closed in on the small bald woman standing in the center of the wreckage. She turned to face us as we stepped into the front room. An intricate tattoo of interwoven designs covered the top of her head and half her face. From the turquoise glow, I could tell the design possessed magical properties. A simple black robe tied at the waist with a white sash covered her slight frame. The sash was interlinked with metal sections which blended into the tail of a white phoenix. The design snaked itself around her waist, up one shoulder and across her chest.

  She flashed Monty a brief smile before growing serious. Her piercing black eyes looked past us. A moment later, she averted her gaze to the floor, her face impassive as the men tightened the circle around her.

  I could see Jimmy’s prone body lying in a corner, still breathing. I took a step toward the woman. Monty grabbed me by the arm and shook his head.

  “She hurt Jimmy,” I said, pulling against his iron grip. “We have to stop her.”

  “No,” he said, his face grim. “She made sure he was out of the way. Like your creature.”

  “Those are Dark Council vampires,” I whispered and shifted my weight. “She’s done.”

  “Not yet she isn’t.” He slowly let my arm go. “Don’t interfere.”

  I could feel the heat around him increase, and I noticed that his other hand was flexed. Both his hands were empty as he took a step forward. He bladed his body—turning sideways—making his body smaller and less of a target, and froze in place. Slif moved back, away from him, and I rapidly followed to avoid the instant sauna.

  The first vampire launched himself at the bald woman, claws extended. She sidestepped the attack. The claws raked the air next to her face. Simultaneously, as she placed a palm against the attacker’s chest, and with one hand she grabbed his other arm. A sudden twist of her waist removed the arm and propelled the vampire through a column.

  As she tossed the arm to one side, the second vampire attacked, closing with a blur. He came to a sudden stop as her hand thrust through his chest with her free arm moving horizontally across his lower abdomen. His torso slid away from his legs as the third vampire dashed in with a blade-thrust aimed at her throat.

  Tucking her chin she twisted her hand in front of her face, palm in, the edge of her hand both deflected and shattered the blade. The vampire let go of the hilt and raked upward with the opposite hand. She stepped back just enough to cause him to miss, grabbed the arm, and proceeded to flip him over her shoulder. He landed hard enough to crater the floor.

  Master Yat’s words came back to me: “The ground is the world’s largest fist. Avoid it when you can, use it when you must.”

  The vampire, groggy from the impact, didn’t have a chance to recover before she slammed a fist down into its head. I felt the impact of the blow from where I stood as the shockwave reverberated throughout the shop. The vampires shifted to dust seconds later. She looked up as she shook their dust from her hands. She had just dispatched three Council vampires in a matter of seconds and wasn’t even breathing hard.

  Monty hadn’t moved. I didn’t see any orbs of fire in his hands but I could still feel the heat coming off him.

  “Quan,” he said, his voice laced with steel, “to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

  “Tris. She gave him a short nod, which he returned. Her voice could only be described as Elizabeth-Hurley husky. It contained an accent I couldn’t place, but it sounded like Monty’s part of the world. It was a mix of breathy undertones, good breeding, and an ample dose of menace. “I’m here for the madman you used to call ‘friend.’”

  I kept Grim Whisper pointed at her. “You killed vampires in neutral territory established by the Dark Council.”

  “They attacked me, along with that bear,” she said, pointing at Jimmy. “I didn’t kill him.”

  “Did she just call you Tris?” I asked, glancing sideways at Monty. “Tris?”

  “Let it go, Simon,” he said with a clenched jaw.

  If she could destroy vampires, it meant she was fast, but I doubted she was faster than my trigger finger. But I was wrong. In the space of a blink, she disappeared.

  “You must be Simon,” she whispered from behind my ear. “You do know entropy rounds only work if you can actually hit your target?”

  “I make it a point not to miss my targets,” I said, doing my best to keep from jumping across the floor while having a heart attack in response to her teleporting. The warmth of her breath caressed my neck and then it was gone. She reappeared again several feet in front of Monty.

  “Davros is in this city,” she said, and cocked her head to one side with a crooked smile as she looked at his hands. “Do you really want to dance, Tristan? Did you forget last time?”

  “I never forget, Quan, you know that.”

  “Then you recall your searing hand can’t cope with my thunderfist and never could. You will lose. Besides” —she narrowed her eyes at him—“it looks like your energy is in flux. Are you prepared for your shift?”

  Monty didn’t answer and remained bladed with his hands flexed. “You don’t sense the shift, do you?” she asked, incredulous. “My dear Tris, you are in for a surprise.”

  “Why does the White Phoenix want Davros?” he asked slowly, as if processing her words.

  The smile on her face evaporated. “He stole from us. It’s in your best interests to turn him over to us—to me.”

  “It’s in your best interests to leave,” I said as I holstered Grim Whisper. “The Council will send enforcers.”

  “Does it look like I adhere to the precepts of your Council?” She turned to me. “What could they possibly enforce against me?”

  “Violating the sanctity of neutral territory would be at the top of the list. Followed by attacking and killing Council members, destruction of property, and just being an overall bitch, for starters.”

  The smile she responded with turned my blood to ice. I realized in that moment I was staring at a killer—a dangerous killer who wielded magic…Shit. I moved my hand closer to my mark.

  “What did he steal?” Monty asked quickly. “What did he take from the White Phoenix?”

  She kept her eyes on my hands as she answered.

  “After he escaped the Circle, he came to us. We accepted him without knowing the full extent of his madness.”

  “He was negated and incarcerated,” Monty whispered to himself. “Escape should have been impossible.”

  “He wants a purge, Tristan. He has the Phoenix Tail,” she said, looking at him. “I have clear orders—recover the Tail and eliminate the target.”

  “Eliminate?” Monty asked. “Not apprehend?”

  “He ingested drake blood. You know the consequences.”

  Monty shook out his hands and it grew cooler instantly.

  “How?” he asked, shooting a quick glance at Slif. “How did he get the Tail?”

  “I said he was mad, not unskilled. He’s still an Ordaurum. He overpowered several of the guards and took it before we could stop him.”

  “And drake blood,” Slif said from behind us. “Everything he needs to cast Alder’s Permutation.”

  “And you are?” Quan asked, looking at Slif. “Do I know you?”

  “No one of consequence,” Slif answered, moving back into the shadows. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  “Not quite everything he needs,” Monty said, rubbing his chin. “He needs something more, but it seems he has begun the process with the Werewolves.”

  “Tristan,” Qu
an said, as the tattoos on her face began to glow, “he’s not the person you knew any longer. His mind is gone. The blood will turn him. He’s going to start with the Werewolves, but he’s not stopping there. You can’t reason with him.”

  “I don’t intend to. You’d better leave,” he said to Quan. “The Council enforcers will arrive momentarily, and if they see you here, things will escalate.”

  “They can’t stop me,” she answered defiantly as she crossed her arms.

  “But I can,” he said with veiled menace. “Do you want to explain to Master Toh how you violated Dark Council neutral territory?”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” She narrowed her eyes at him, the glow increasing in intensity as she stared at Monty.

  “Try me.”

  “I’m going to retrieve the Phoenix Tail. If anyone tries to stop me, I will end him.”

  “If you kill him, you will answer for his death,” Monty said, moving the hair from his face. “He is still Ordaurum. The Circle will retaliate.”

  She gave him a brief smile. Something about it made all of the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It was a façade of sweetness covering barely contained madness. The little voice I rarely paid attention to was advising me to leave the premises immediately. The words ‘unhinged, bat-shit, and psycho’ may have been used.

  “I only told you because of our history, Tris.” She disappeared, only to reappear next to him a split-second later.

  “Don’t force me to kill you, Quan,” he said as the muscles in his jaw flexed.

  “I like it when you use force, sweet Tris,” she said into his ear and curled a strand of his hair around her finger. “You remember, don’t you?”

  He pushed her away. “No. Those days are gone. If you touch Davros, I will hunt you down and end you.”

  Her expression darkened. “Your threats are empty against me, Tris,” she whispered and kissed his cheek. “If you want your friend to remain breathing, you’d better find him before I do.”

  “If he gets the third component—” Monty started.

  “Then he can complete the Permutation—meaning instant Apocalypse,” she said with a wry laugh. She raised a hood, casting her face into darkness . “Either you kill him or I will. The White Phoenix demands his death as the price for stealing the Tail.”

  She disappeared, leaving echoes of her laughter.

  “Bloody hell,” he whispered as he pushed hair from his face again. “If they sent her to carry out this sanction, we’re in deep shite.”

  “You have no idea,” said a voice from behind us.

  It was Ken—the Dark Council’s definition of shock and awe.

  NINE

  “KON’NICHIWA, KEN-SAMA,” I said, using the honorific. I bowed while simultaneously sheathing Ebonsoul. There was no point in antagonizing him. The little vein throbbing by his temple let me know he was pretty pissed off.

  “Cut the shit, Simon,” Ken said as he looked around The Randy Rump. “What the hell happened here?”

  I slowly looked around the obliterated shop. Ken stood in the center of the destruction. His usual shades of black ensemble were leaning more to the formal side this time. Tonight it was a black shirt with matching tie. Black dress pants and lightly polished shoes—black, of course. All this rested under a black trench coat.

  “I’m pretty sure it was an accident,” I said, raising my hands in mock surrender. “You know how things can get. We just got here ourselves.”

  “Do I know how things can get around the two of you? Yes.” He knelt down to rub his fingers through the dust on the floor. “Five Council vampires isn’t an accident, Strong. Last chance—which mage did this?”

  In addition to being an assassin, he was also a master tracker. I didn’t know how he knew it was a mage, but he was giving Monty a look I didn’t like. He placed a hand on the hilt of the katana across his back. It was rumored to be the sword kokutan no ken, the pair to my Ebonsoul. If he drew his weapon, it was going to get bloody fast and people were going to die. I put my hand on Ebonsoul, when a noise grabbed my attention.

  “It wasn’t them,” said a voice from the corner. It was Jimmy, slowly getting to his feet. “We had a guest who set off all of the runes. She vaporized two of your people with a word.”

  I exhaled the breath I had been holding and slowly let go of Ebonsoul. Quan was more dangerous than I imagined. Vaporized two vampires with a word?

  Ken looked around, his hand still on the hilt. “Where is this guest?”

  “She’s gone,” Jimmy said, brushing off pieces of glass and wood. He stepped over the debris and wreckage and held out a hand. “That was some response time, thanks.”

  Ken ignored Jimmy’s hand and inspected the shop, looking past us to the door of the room of reckoning. I was sure he saw that the runes had been activated.

  “Neutral territory is considered sacrosanct,” Ken said, releasing the hilt of his sword and looking at me. “Any attack within these walls is punishable by execution. Five Council members are dead, and you’re telling me the person—the mage—responsible isn’t here. Does this walking corpse have a name?”

  “Her name is Quan,” Monty said, shaking out his hands slowly. “And I suggest you stay away from her.”

  “Is that a warning or a threat, mage?”

  “Whichever keeps you away from her. She’s too dangerous.”

  “Too dangerous? Really?” Ken said with a smile and looked at his watch. “Speaking of dangerous, shouldn’t you be turning yourself in to the Council?”

  “We think this is connected to the Werewolf infection. Monty can’t turn himself in. You said yourself it’s a mage. Another mage.”

  “Responsible for this?” He swept his arm around, indicating the shop. “Are you saying there’s more than one mage of his caliber loose in the city?”

  Monty nodded. “Yes, someone worse than Quan.”

  Ken slowly shook his head. “It’s your funeral. They’ll release Beck and he’s more the ‘lay waste to everything’ type. The man has a singular focus that’s impressive to see in action.”

  “I’ll deal with Beck,” Monty said. “I need you to stay away from Quan.”

  “She violated Dark Council neutral territory,” Ken said, and looking around the shop again before narrowing his eyes at me. “Staying away isn’t an option.”

  I put my hands up. “You’re looking at me like I had something to do with this. My destruction is more wholesale.”

  “True, if this were you, there wouldn’t be a shop to stand in.”

  I nodded and stepped back to regain my balance as Peaches decided that my leg needed immediate protection and proceeded to stand next to me with a low growl.

  “Exactly,” I said, rubbing him behind the ears. His growl lessened in intensity until it was a barely audible rumble. “Besides, I don’t usually do the destroying.”

  “Death and destruction follow you and your mage friend here around like a plague.”

  “I wouldn’t say a plague, more like an area of effect.”

  He turned for the door. “Now you have a hellhound and you’re associating with drakes, Strong. Michiko won’t be pleased about her,” he said, looking at Slif.

  Slif’s face darkened and she stiffened at his words.

  “How did you—?”

  Ken stopped at the door.

  “Did you forget the last date you were on? My sister can be somewhat possessive. Michiko doesn’t share well.”

  “Does everyone know about this?” I asked. “And this isn’t a date. She’s here to—”

  He raised his hand. “Irrelevant. Dragons are dangerous, Strong, even the young ones. Take care of the company you keep,” he said without turning around. He lifted his dust-covered fingers to his nose and took a deep breath. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a renegade mage to track down and erase. Good luck dealing with Beck, mage.”

  He opened the door and disappeared.

  TEN

  “MONTY, WHAT THE hell just happened? Who
is your psycho-friend Quan? How are we going to deal with Beck?”

  “Quan—is complicated. I thought she was dead. We need to focus on Beck. He won’t attack us here. If I were him, I would wait until we left.” Monty rubbed his chin and looked around the shop.

  “Complicated? Does Roxanne know about her?” I moved around the debris and righted some of the tables. The shop was looking at serious renovations.

  “No.” He gave me the look that said ‘Continue at your own risk.’ Never being one to listen to warnings, I did.

  “No, she doesn’t know? Or no you aren’t going to tell her that your deranged psycho lover is visiting?”

  “She isn’t my lover. We have history, some of it good—most of it violent. She’s always been unstable. It’s part of what made her a fearsome ally.” He brushed the dust off his sleeves and moved to inspect the runes etched into columns.

  “You know, I didn’t get the ally vibe. It was closer to an ‘I will remove parts of you’ vibe.”

  “She isn’t the priority. We have to figure out how she got around the runes in here,” he said, stepping away from the column he moved over to the faded containment circle she’d used to hold Peaches.

  I followed him. “Runes? Didn’t you hear Ken? This Beck sounds like a nightmare to deal with.”

  “He is. Beck is one of the only practicing Negomancers left in this hemisphere. His skill and abilities are formidable.”

  He crouched down and examined the claw marks that ended at the outer edge of the circle.

  “Well, that puts my mind at ease, thanks. We’re staying here because you want to do what—catch up for old times’ sake?”

  “We’re staying because we need information. Besides, this is still neutral territory. Even Beck would hesitate to attack here. He may be unstable, but he follows the rules.”

  “You never said anything about him being unstable,” I said. “What is it with you mages? Wait—did you say hesitate?”

  Monty gave me a short nod. “Quite unstable, actually. Now, let’s use the time we have. What do you see, Simon? Tell me. Recreate it.”