Phoenix Born

by Sean Stone

  ‘I know protocol, Jacob. I’m not going to go running into a fight without any magic, am I?’ he grumbled.

  Drew was a wizard, he’d taught me everything I know. About ten years ago he was struck by clausatem, a wizard illness that stops you from being able to convert energy into magic. Only one in a thousand wizards ever caught it. It wasn’t caused by anything, it simply struck at random. Drew essentially became a Nocult over night. He could still command magic that had already been converted for him. He always wore a ring that I charged with magic but it wouldn’t be enough to kill Kagen. It was really only designed so he could cast a cloaking spell whilst investigating, or a quick defence spell if he needed to get away from a confrontation. It wasn’t designed for a full on fight.

  ‘Where are you going?’ he asked. ‘You better not be meddling in this Ruby business.’

  I shook my head. ‘No. I’m going to Alibi. I’m hungry and I want to check in on Leah.’ I hadn’t actually caught up with her since I was arrested. I’m sure she’d found out that I’d been released on her own. She was a resourceful gal. Still, manners dictated that I let her know myself.

  ‘Good.’

  I hadn’t lied. I was going to go to Alibi. I was going to get a bit of food and a drink whilst I decided what I was going to do about Ethan and how I was going to get the truth out of him.

  Chapter Seven

  I grabbed a burger from a local place because, like most nightclubs, Alibi didn’t have a dinner menu. Once I had satiated my incredible hunger I headed over to my club. Alibi was still about an hour away from opening so I headed to the main bar and sat myself down on one of the chrome and leather stools. One of the bar staff poured me a rum and coke and then went back to work preparing for opening time.

  I always found it quite tranquil sitting in the club when it was closed. It was so spacious and peaceful. There was more light too. As soon as we started letting the customers in the lights were turned out and replaced by whatever crappy lighting was needed for that night and the whole place was filled with shouting, screaming, and shit music. Don’t even get me started on the filthy, sticky floors and bar tops from spilled beverages. Alibi was one of the fancier clubs in town so it didn’t get as bad as some other establishments. The one near the Dregs was by far the worst and it often had people trying to deal drugs in the toilets. I was glad that Leah had to deal with it all and not me.

  As if the mere thought had summoned her, Leah came striding into the club. She went straight behind the bar, clipboard in hand, and sent the guy who was working there to do something else somewhere else.

  ‘Evening, Leah,’ I said, raising my glass to her in greeting.

  She put her clipboard down with more force than was necessary and looked right into my face, a false smile lighting her furious features. I could sense a telling off coming my way.

  ‘I was so glad when you called and told me that you’d been released without being charged last night. It really put my mind at rest to know that the guy who pays my checks and who I rely on to earn a living was not going to be charged with murder. Oh, wait… you didn’t actually call did you, Jacob Graves?’ She put her hands on her hips and raised both perfectly styled eyebrows.

  ‘Leah…’ I started but she cut me off.

  ‘Don’t Leah me, you inconsiderate…’ she trailed off, shaking her head as I cracked a cheeky smile and took a swig from my drink. ‘Just let me know next time.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I will keep you updated in future. The whole thing was a misunderstanding,’ I lied. She didn’t need to know the truth. Only tell people what they need to know, that was another rule I’d picked up along the way through life’s treacherous path.

  ‘A misunderstanding?’ She grabbed a glass and poured herself a very generous amount of gin. ‘Is that what you call being arrested under suspicion of murdering your friend-with-benefits?’ She gave me a little wink before sipping at her gin.

  I let out a small chuckle. ‘You know too much, Leah. That’s a dangerous thing in this city.’

  ‘It’s my job to notice what’s going on around here. Especially when it comes to you. Always sneaking around at night and coming back here with dubiously earned money.’ Her tone was light and jovial but it still made me uneasy. It reminded me how wily she was and that if she put enough effort in, she probably could figure out what I did when I was sneaking around at night. If I didn’t rely on her so much then I’d have no choice but to let her go before she figured things out.

  ‘The police being here didn’t affect things last night did they?’ I asked, trying to steer the subject toward more appropriate matters whilst reminding her of our employer-employee dynamic at the same time.

  She placed a hand on her clipboard as if she was going to suck the information from its pages. ‘Not at all. Nobody saw the police. I kept it all behind the scenes.’ Her tone changed to a matter-of-fact business style one.

  ‘Good job.’

  ‘It’s what you pay me for…’ her voice faltered and her eyes locked onto something across the room.

  I turned to see a blonde woman striding our way unevenly on heels she clearly was not used to. She was dressed far too lavishly to be in a nightclub, even one as fancy as Alibi. Her beauty was breath-taking. She wasn’t as pretty as Leah, but she wasn’t far off. She could certainly give most of the women in Sangford a run for their money. If Dorian Gray could get a look at her or Leah he’d put his best moves to work and if that didn’t work he’d probably have them taken to his house by force. Despite his pleasant demeanour he could be pretty sadistic from what I’d heard.

  ‘Who is this?’ I asked Leah. I assumed she knew the woman judging by the look of shocked recognition on her face.

  ‘This is er… Jasmine. My sister,’ she said as the woman reached us on my side of the bar.

  ‘Sister?’ I repeated in surprise. I hadn’t known Leah had any siblings. Thinking about it, I knew as much about her as she knew about me. I should make more of an effort to know more about my top-level members of staff.

  ‘We don’t see each other much, do we Jasmine?’ she said, emphasising her sister’s name weirdly.

  Jasmine glanced at her sister, her eery blue eyes narrowing slightly. ‘No. And I think that needs to change, little sister.’ She turned to me and her jaw dropped just a fraction. ‘Tristan?’ she said in a astonishment. ‘I thought…’

  ‘Who’s Tristan?’ I said, looking between them both.

  ‘Jasmine, this is Jacob. My boss,’ Leah said, a tone of warning in her words. There was definitely something not right about this whole exchange. Leah was hiding something. I wondered whether the blonde woman was actually her sister.

  ‘My apologies, you just look an awful lot like somebody I used to know. I was surprised because…’

  ‘You don’t need to waste Jacob’s time with your nonsense,’ Leah cut in harshly. ‘Let’s go and talk in my office.’

  ‘No, no,’ I said, standing up. I downed the rest of my drink and placed my glass down on the bar. ‘I have somewhere to be anyway. You guys feel free to talk right here. Nice to meet you, Jasmine,’ I said politely with a small nod. The nod was my version of the handshake. Handshakes were dangerous in Sangford unless you were heavily protected. Skin-to-skin contact made cursing someone a whole lot easier.

  I walked away thinking about what I was going to do now. An old fashioned confrontation was the best tactic to use on Ethan. All the threatening text messages showed me that he was too comfortable hiding behind the mask of technology. Seeing me in person ought to shock him into some sense. It might even force a confession out of him.

  ‘If you’re going to come here then at least make an effort to dress like everybody else. You look ridiculously over dressed,’ I heard Leah hiss at her older sister.

  Something wasn’t right there. All this time I’d thought Leah was just a very clever accountant, but now I saw that she was far more mysterious than I’d ever realised. She was no Nocult. But what she was was still unc
lear. I added it to my list of things to figure out and then left the club. It was hardly a priority right now.

  I skipped down the steps into the loading bay where my car was parked and stopped, my hand on the handle of my car door. Parked just a short way away from my car was a Victory Octane motorbike in red. Exactly like the one I’d seen outside Kagen’s house.

  ‘So this is where the Wraith lurks,’ said a familiar voice. I turned back to the club and there leaning on the grey bricks was Kagen Payne. Alive and well.

  Chapter Eight

  He was fully dressed this time in a pair of jeans and a dark t-shirt. He didn’t seem to have a motorcycle jacket or anything that would allow him a bit more protection whilst riding. Then again, this guy had a strange imperviousness to death so why would he need a jacket?

  ‘I thought I’d killed you,’ I said. I began drawing energy from the buildings around me, getting ready to blast him with magic. A streetlight nearby buzzed and flickered as I sucked the power from it.

  ‘You’re not the first wizard to make that mistake.’ He shrugged. ‘Won’t be the last either.’ He straightened up and took a few steps toward me, he was cautious enough not to get too close.

  I wasn’t sure what spell to use on him. Freezing didn’t work for long and neither did blowing up his heart apparently.

  ‘So, did your heart grow back or what? What defences are you using?’ I asked. I didn’t expect an answer but hopefully the question would allow me the time to think of a spell that might work. I remembered Drew’s advice. Destroying the heart had failed so I needed to cut off the head.

  ‘My defences are all natural,’ he said with a smug air about him. ‘I knew that if I waited at the hospital you’d show up eventually. Then I just had to wait all day for you to leave again. Tedious work but it led me here. Why does the famous Wraith hang out in this club?’ He turned back to look at the building, showing me that he was not afraid of turning his back on me. Arrogant prick. ‘You came through the back door which means you might be staff but that doesn’t make sense.’ He turned back my way and took another two steps toward me. ‘You get paid to kill so you don’t need to work here. That means you must own the place. Which means…’ He pulled out his phone and typed something. ‘Just doing a little Google search. Ah, there we go. The owner of Alibi is Jacob Graves. You, I assume?’ He looked back up at me with a devilish twinkle in his eyes and I felt a chill wash over my heart. This was why you had to make sure they were definitely dead. If they survived they’d come for you and once they figured out who you were you no longer had the advantage. Especially not when they were seemingly invincible.

  ‘Well done,’ I said in a whisper. He had to die now. I knew the spell to use.

  ‘Am I the first person learn the identity of the Wraith?’ he said, bubbling with excitement.

  ‘Hardly.’ I raised my hand and flicked my wrist at him. ‘Aser Falcut.’ A curved blade, glowing green with magic hurtled through the air and went straight for his neck.

  Kagen screamed in surprise and lunged to the side. My spell hit the brick wall behind him and chipped away a huge chunk of brick before disappearing.

  ‘Sneaky,’ Kagen said playfully as he pushed himself back to his feet. Then he launched a stream of fire as red as the sun. The flames came right for me threatening to incinerate me to dust in a matter of seconds.

  ‘Obideo!’ I yelled and a shield spell burst to life deflecting the fire just in time to stop me from being engulfed by flames. I kept my hand held out with the shield in place as he continued to shoot more fire into my defences. Even through the shield I could feel the heat washing over me. Sweat was literally pouring down my brow. My hair was turning into a sudden mess.

  ‘I can do this all day!’ I lied through gritted teeth. In truth, I could probably do it for about five more minutes. His fire was strong. I summoned more energy from the sources around me to replenish my depleting reserves. One thing was certain — he was no mere pyromancer.

  He ceased his attack and the fire vanished plunging the area back into the dim light from the lamppost. I didn’t give him the time to produce another attack. ‘Rigesilud!’ I cried, throwing my shield aside and sending several tiny frozen spearheads hurtling towards his chest.

  His eyes widened in alarm. He threw both arms out to his sides and screamed with bestial rage. His entire body burst into flames. A wave of red hot energy flew out of him that melted my attack to nothing before it could touch him. I staggered back as the force of his power hit me. I watched in amazement as Kagen, now a man covered in rich orange flames, began to rise up from the floor. Definitely not a pyromancer.

  ‘You are a lot more fun than the others,’ he said, laughing demonically. Then he flew toward me. It was like a meteor was heading right at me. I stumbled backward, my mind working overtime. Just as he reached me I weaved to the side and brought my arm up over my head.

  ‘Rigesglad!’ I yelled as he passed me. My arm frosted over and the ice formed a frozen blue sword around my flesh as I brought it down onto his neck. As my arm connected with the back of his neck it interrupted his flight and both of us went down. He landed face down on the ground. I came down on my knees, looming over his fallen figure, my arm embedded into his neck. The fire was a lot hotter than I’d expected. I screamed higher than I had ever heard anyone scream before as the flames burned through me, eating right through my spell and into the very core of my limb. The ice was melting rapidly before my eyes. But I continued the attack despite the pain. I could feel his neck giving as my arm slid through. He screamed louder than I did, but mine was a much higher pitch. Not that it was a competition. There was a crack followed by a crunch and then his scream ceased as his head tore away from his neck and rolled off towards my car.

  I fell to the ground heavily, rolling away from the burning corpse and clutching my smouldering arm to my chest. That was going to need some serious medical attention. Then I remembered that I needed evidence he was dead.

  I located the head and sent a freezing spell its way. I was relieved to see my magic vanquished the flames successfully, leaving the head more or less intact. I let his body burn. The head was sufficient proof.

  I placed my uninjured hand over my burned arm and attempted to soothe the pain with the same freezing spell but it made little difference. My sleeve had been completely incinerated and bright red, radiator hot flesh was exposed. I sat on the ground and squeezed my eyes shut as I fought against he agony that was torturing my limb. I’d never felt such pain and I had no idea how to deal with it. Healing had never been one of my best areas.

  I heard the click of the back door to Alibi open and I flicked my eyes open in a panic to see Jasmine, Leah’s sister come strutting out. Her heels clip-clopped on the concrete as she walked by like she owned the place. Stupidly, I actually thought that if I stayed very still she might not notice me. Or the burning corpse. Or the disembodied head. She made it half way through the loading bay before she noticed the havoc around her. First she saw me, huddled on the ground clutching my wounded arm like a little abused kitten. Then her gaze wandered over to the burning headless corpse in the middle of the bay. Her eyebrows rose about a mile off her forehead. Then her eyes moved again, this time landing on the singed head that was still steaming by my car. She took a moment to process it all before turning back to me, a look of intrigue on her features. I waited for the screaming but it never came.

  ‘Mmhmm,’ she said to herself and then she carried on walking right out of the loading bay as if she hadn’t seen anything unexpected at all.

  Chapter Nine

  By the time Drew arrived the body was nothing but ashes. He plucked the head off the ground and helped me inside the club. We went straight to my own rarely used office. Leah’s office was larger than mine but I didn’t mind, seeing as she worked here a hell of a lot more than I did.

  I fell onto the sofa still clutching my arm against myself. Drew dropped the head on my desk and then went to the cabinet at the back of the
room. I kept essential magical items inside, you never knew when you might need them in an emergency like this one. He grabbed several bottles and started tipping their contents into a small bowl.

  ‘This won’t heal your arm completely but it should take the pain away,’ he said. He glanced over at the decapitated head and snorted. ‘At least the job’s done this time.’

  ‘It was done last time,’ I argued. ‘He told me he was hard to kill. Said he had natural defences.’

  ‘Hollow boasting,’ Drew said dismissively. He waved his hand over the top of the bowl and muttered a spell. The sapphire in his ring glowed and the bowl began to bubble as he heated the ingredients. I’d need to top up his ring later.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be making that cold to treat a magical burn?’ I asked. The last thing I wanted was more heat on my smouldering arm. It felt like it was getting hotter as it was.

  ‘You never were much good at this side of things. A natural when it came to the spells, but potions, healing, and rituals always stumped you. If you could just get your head around it properly you’d be a great wizard.’ He pulled some green flecks out of the cabinet and sprinkled them into the bowl. It was terrible that I didn’t recognise the ingredient from sight. Like he’d said, this side of things was my weak spot. One of them.

  ‘I am a great wizard. I can convert plenty of magic and cast a mean spell,’ I said defensively. Nobody likes to be criticised.

  ‘Your spellcraft is good, but your magic conversion is far from great. You can only gather power from manmade things like batteries and power stations. A true wizard can call power directly from nature. If I dropped you in a forest you’d be helpless.’

  ‘Well, you’re my teacher,’ I said sullenly. I was in enough pain without being berated as well.

  ‘Don’t you even try to blame me,’ he growled. He walked over with the bowl and I held my arm out. He sat down beside me on the sofa and began applying the salve to my wound. Surprisingly, it did cool the burn immediately. I let out a long sigh of relief as the pain subsided. After a few minutes my whole forearm was coated in the weird green stuff and the heat was completely gone.