“What was that?” I said, surprised.
“Cecil calls it the Ziller Effect. It takes magical attacks, breaks them down into their respective components, and redirects the recompostioned energy—and I’ve lost you, haven’t I?” He shook his head.
“You lost me at Ziller Effect. Looks like it works, though, since we’re still here to discuss it, even though you almost melted my brain trying to explain it.”
“I figured it would make sense to protect the car from supernatural attacks. It’s runed against practically everything—including dragons.” He stepped out of the car. In the distance, I could see a figure running at us.
I pulled out Grim Whisper and stepped out. The figure shimmered and for a second it disappeared. Moments later a large dragon raced at us. It was Slif.
“What does she want?” I said, checking Grim Whisper to make sure I had entropy rounds loaded. “I thought she was on our side?”
“I think the fireball made it clear what she wants, and dragons only have one side—theirs,” he said and stepped forward, flexing his fingers. Peaches materialized next to my leg a second later. “So much for the two of you staying in the car.”
“Is she bigger now, or am I imagining that?” I asked, admiring the large creature advancing on us. This time she had wings that spanned the entire width of the street. “She grew wings?”
Watching her, I understood why dragons were feared and revered all throughout history. Seeing one up close was a fearsome and beautiful thing. Heavy on the fearsome side.
“She was never small. She just assumed that size to deceive us. Isn’t that right, dragon?” he asked the looming creature. Slif took several steps to the side, cracking the pavement and street, doing her best Smaug impression.
“How did you deflect the Permutation?” Slif asked and whipped her tail around. I leaped out of the way, followed by Monty. Peaches pounced and bit down on it. Slif whipped her tail around again and launched Peaches across the street, through a storefront window, into a clothing store.
He stalked outside seconds later, his eyes glowing red. A lacy white G-string hung haphazardly from one ear. It sailed across the sidewalk as he gave his head a good shake. I made a mental note never to piss him off, aware of the fact that the likelihood of it occurring accidentally was inevitable.
“It’s not complete,” Monty said, getting to his feet and brushing off the dirt. “You’re here to make sure that happens, aren’t you? Did you lie about my brother? Is William really alive?”
“The dealings of dragons are beyond you, mage,” Slif hissed, moving around us. She resembled a snake—a large, red, fire-breathing snake. “I owe you no explanation and offer none except death.”
“Pretty weak as far as explanations go.” I fired Grim Whisper, emptying the magazine. She opened her mouth and exhaled. A blast of super-heated air intercepted and incinerated the entropy rounds before they reached her.
I jumped behind the Goat as she turned her head to face me, melting the sidewalk where I’d stood seconds earlier. The surface of the Goat flared bright orange, and then reverted to its normal purple after a few seconds. Aside from being warm to the touch, it was unscathed. I was really beginning to love this car, despite the fact that it resembled a giant grape.
“You will leave this city or I will destroy you,” Monty said with his head bowed and arms extended. “Do not force this, Slif.”
Slif roared and laughed. “You overestimate your ability, mage. You have neither the power nor the ability in your current state to stop me or issue threats.”
I saw her take a deep breath. The kind of breath children take right before they blow out birthday candles. It was the ‘cheeks puffed out and lungs filled to capacity’ kind of breath. Then I felt Monty huddle beside me behind the Goat.
This caused me a moment of confusion as I looked over the hood. There was Monty across the street, doing his best ‘You shall not pass’ Gandalf impersonation, and yet he was also next to me, getting into the Goat. I was seeing two Montys, and for a second my brain did a backflip.
“Get in the car,” he said and strapped the seatbelt around his body. “She’s right, and in ten seconds when she blasts that illusion she will turn her attention to the real me.”
“We’re running?” I scrambled over to the driver’s side and got in. “Not that I mind, if it means staying in one piece. What happened to ‘I will destroy you’ and that pose? Even I was tempted to surrender.”
“Indomitable in retreat, invincible in advance,” he said, making a few gestures and ducking back out of sight. “Right now we’re doing the retreat part. Once she blasts that illusion, you take off. Not before or we’ll be done.”
“Didn’t Churchill also say ‘We shall never surrender’?”
“This is a strategic retreat, not surrender,” he said. “Call your creature and be ready to leave in a hurry.” He put his hands together and closed his eyes in concentration.
“How am I supposed to call him?” I looked out the window as the fake Monty raised his arms and formed two orbs of orange flame in his hands.
“A little busy at the moment,” he said without opening his eyes. “You’re the one bonded to it. Figure it out and get ready to go.”
I tried the only thing I could think of. I could feel my brow crease as I tried hard to project my thought towards him.
Hey, boy, we need to go—now! Come back to the car before this dragon barbecues us all.
Seconds later, Peaches materialized in the back seat with a low rumble.
“Are you kidding me? She threw you through a window!” I said aloud, looking behind me. I turned to see Monty open one eye and close it again.
“Vinnie Jones again?”
“It’s Peaches, I swear,” I said, giving Peaches the stink-eye, which he ignored.
“Of course it is. I would appreciate a bit of quiet. Could you relay the message to Mr. Jones?”
The engine purred as I waited, my foot hovering over the gas pedal, and sweat forming on my brow. As fake-Monty brought his arms back to launch the fireballs, Slif exhaled a blast of blue flame and I stepped on the gas, screeching away.
My foot had the pedal to the floor and we were standing still. Around us, everything that wasn’t secure was being sucked in. Slif screamed as a black vortex formed around her and held her in place. She flapped her wings furiously but didn’t move.
“Monty is that…is that a black hole?” I asked, fear forcing me to press down on the pedal harder. A cloud of smoke formed around us as the rubber of the tires burned.
His hands were gesturing wildly. “It’s a void vortex, and we seem to be a bit too close. We may need an added push. Could you activate your shield?”
“Isn’t that what Beck told you not to do?” I asked as I accessed the mala. “The thing that the Golden Circle would be upset about?”
“No, this is worse. A void vortex is very much like a magical wormhole. It connects two points, shunting everything through it instantly. Including the dragon. This one connects to Siberia.”
“Siberia, Russia?” I asked, shocked.
“I didn’t know there was another. I would have sent her to Antarctica if I knew how. This will definitely get the Circle’s attention.”
I glanced back at the trapped dragon. “Won’t the cold kill her?”
“Your concern for the creature that tried to incinerate you a scant few minutes ago is touching. The cold will be the least of our worries if we don’t get away from here. The shield, please.”
I pressed the main bead. The shield formed but nothing happened. Monty placed his hand in the shield and muttered something under his breath. The shield disappeared and the Goat took off. The needle on the speedometer dropped to the right and stayed there, vibrating in place. I looked behind us and saw Slif still stuck in place, receding fast.
“We’re running out of road and we’re going too fast. The sudden stop is going to be lethal,” I gr
ipped the wheel until my knuckles turned white, not daring to turn for fear of flipping us over.
“Working…on it,” Monty said, his voice strained. “Just need a moment.”
He placed his hands on the dashboard and began speaking in a language I didn’t understand. I figured he was giving us our last rites, since the Goat wasn’t slowing down.
“When I tell you, apply the brakes,” he said as sweat poured off his face and he gritted his teeth.
I suddenly felt an intense pressure on my body and the Goat began slowing down.
“Now, Simon, brakes!” he yelled and then grunted as I pushed down on the brake. The Goat slowed down and rolled to a stop as we crossed 1st Avenue. I saw the East River several hundred feet ahead of us. I peeled my fingers from the wheel and looked outside. I let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding as my heart continued doing an Irish jig in my chest.
“Monty, that was shay—” I started with a smack on the wheel.
He held up a hand. “No. Don’t you dare use that adjective to describe what I just did. I swear I’ll feed you to the dragon.”
“We were going fast enough to cut the Kessel Run to less than ten parsecs. How did you stop the Goat?”
“I increased the mass of the vehicle until Newton’s third law kicked in and slowed us down. The same law applies to the vortex and the dragon.” He looked down the street. “The more she resists, the more it will act on her and pull her in.”
“Speaking of dragon...How long will your black hole hold it? Can’t imagine rush hour with a dragon trapped on 42nd Street and Lex. Dawn is only a few hours away.”
“The vortex will transport her shortly, but she will be back in a few days. We need to find Davros before then. When she gets back, she will be livid.” He got out of the car, and leaned against it. “I need a moment to catch my breath.”
“What I need is coffee. I wonder if Crutch has the Last Gasp open” I searched in my pocket and pulled out the crystal. It had become an onyx gem, and my breath caught in my chest. “Shit—Monty...”
I looked up in time to see Monty collapse on the street. A second later, the crystal shattered in my hand.
TWENTY-ONE
ROXANNE WAS NEARLY hysterical as Monty was wheeled into the emergency room. “I told you to bring him to me when it turned red, and you waited until it became black and shattered? I thought you were his friend?”
I let her vent up to this point because I knew she was worried, but no one questioned my loyalty, ever.
“I’m not his friend, I’m his family. You ever doubt that again, and you and I are going to have a serious problem,” I said with quiet menace. Peaches rumbled next to me in agreement. “Are we clear?”
I gave him a quick shake of my head in response.
“Simon, I’m sorry. It’s just that this is critical. I’m not a mage, and I’ve not dealt with this type of damage or an erasure spell. I’m out of my depth here.” The words had tumbled out as tears fell down her face. She wiped them away and composed herself. “I’m a bloody mess and I can’t help him. I need a mage a powerful one and we don’t have one of those on staff.”
I pulled out my phone. “I know where to find one.”
“That’s not funny, and it’s in poor taste, Simon,” she said, gesturing at my phone. “You have another mage’s phone number in there?”
“No, but I have the number of someone who knows where a powerful mage is. How soon do you need this mage?”
“Twenty-four hours, forty-eight on the outside. After that I don’t know. I just don’t— if we don’t get this reversed he may lose his ability to cast.”
“Got it. Two days max. Don’t know why I thought this would be easy. I’m dealing with Monty, after all. I’ll be back before then. Keep him stable.” I gave her a nod and then ran out of Haven.
I made the call outside the facility. It rang twice and connected.
“Strong, why are you calling me? Wait—how did you even get this number?”
“Ken, did you find her? The psycho-mage from The Randy Rump? Did you find Quan?”
“Do you realize it’s almost dawn?” he said, his voice thick from impending sleep. Vampires couldn’t resist the onset of dawn without their bodies shutting down. “I’m going to bed. Don’t call me again.”
“You’re right, I’ll just call Chi and explain how you let the mage responsible for the infected Werewolves get away so you can take a nap.”
It was a bluff. Quan wasn’t the mage responsible, but he didn’t know that.
“Are you threatening me,” he replied, his voice suddenly clear, “with my own sister?”
“Where is the mage? This is important.”
“It must be if we are having this suicidal conversation. You can’t go there, not even with your mage partner.” He paused and I could hear him yawning. “She’s bad news. I was going to send Beck in after her. She’s his kind of target.”
“Did you locate her? Where did she go?”
There was a slight delay before he answered. “I did. She’s at the Hellfire.”
“Shit.” The Hellfire was the worst place she could be.
“Told you I was sending in Beck. No one goes in there, but I’m guessing you aren’t going to listen to me.”
“Thanks, Ken. Can you call Beck off of Monty?”
“Once you bring in the mage you claim is responsible, the Council will call him off. Until then he’s your nightmare. Oh, and he didn’t appreciate the whole ‘mummy’ thing your mage did to him.”
“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I see him.”
“Your funeral,” he said and yawned again. “Don’t call me again—ever.”
The call disconnected. I walked to the Goat parked outside and unlocked it. Peaches stood next to me as I thought about the Hellfire. If The Den was the premier meeting place for Werewolves, the Hellfire was the place to be seen if you used magic in this city. It was also a deathtrap.
The old Hellfire was a BDSM club that had been shut down several times over the decades. The new Hellfire kept much of the décor and theme, but faced no threat of closure. Several wealthy backers made sure of that. Mages liked their kink, it seemed.
I made another call. “Ramirez, I need to get into the Hellfire and out again alive, without causing a war. Can you help me with this?”
“No, I can’t even be seen near that place without catching heat from the brass. That place is for wizards and magic-users. Last I checked the only thing magical about you was your ability to wreak destruction on my city.” He gave a heavy sigh. “Besides, I couldn’t go even if I wanted to. We’ve had three more Werewolf incidents spread out over the city. I don’t even want to think about what will happen when we get to the full moon.”
“The full moon,” I whispered, the realization hitting me. “How soon is the full moon?”
“Five days. We have five days to find out what’s making them go crazy before we have a rabid Werewolf epidemic in the city. What’s in the Hellfire?”
“I need to speak to a specific mage and she’s in there.” I said as I rubbed Peaches’ head. “I can probably bypass the door, but then it’ll get messy.”
“NYTF and Hellfire have an unspoken understanding. They keep the magic under wraps, away from the general population, and we don’t poke the hornet’s nest. Did this mage break any laws?”
“No. I need her help, but I don’t think she’ll be cooperative, or happy to see me.”
“And you’re going to try and convince her to help you? More importantly, can you do this without destroying the building? Considering it’s a landmark and in a sensitive area?”
“Monty is in Haven,” I said quietly. “I have two days to get help from this mage or he’s in trouble. I’m running out of options.”
“Shit, why didn’t you say so? I can’t go, but I can send you Lieutenant Cassandra. As long as this is just speaking to someone, she can flash the badge
and get you in the door at least.”
“I owe you one,” I said with a sigh of relief.
“You owe me more than one, but who’s keeping track?” He yelled Cassandra’s name before coming back on the line.. “When are you going?”
I opened the door for Peaches and we both got in. “Now.”
“Done.” Ramirez paused. “Is he okay? Was it because of what happened at The Den?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll keep you posted,” I said as I started the engine. “Tell her to meet me at City Hall.”
“Be careful down there,” he said and hung up.
The Hellfire was located in the abandoned City Hall station under the current one. I headed that way.
TWENTY-TWO
THE SUN CREPT over the city as I sped downtown on 1st Avenue.
I swerved but managed to regain control of the Goat, avoiding mounting the sidewalk and colliding with the few pedestrians who were already out at this early hour.
“A little warning would be good if you’re going to be talking into my brain.” I glanced into the back seat. Peaches stared at me through the rear-view mirror. “Is that really your voice?”
“Vinnie Jones or a less-refined Monty,” I said, aware of the fact that I was talking to my dog. “How are you doing this?”
“Not your sprawl. How are you speaking to me?” I made a turn to get on 2nd Avenue. “When did you start?”
I shot him another glance as we pulled up to the deli. “Yes, they work, but I don’t think that’s how we’re talking.” I got out of the Goat and opened the backdoor. “You coming?”
He bounded out of the car and kept pace with me as we headed to the entrance. We walked in, and the runes on the doorframe shimmered as we passed them. The old man sitting at the table in the corner looked up and motioned for us to join him. It was easy to confuse him with an elderly scholar. Who said Death didn’t have a sense of humor?
Montague & Strong Detective Novels Box Set: Montague & Strong Detective Novels Books, 1 through 3 (Montague & Strong Case Files) Page 29
