Silver Clouds Dirty Sky A Montague and Strong Detective Novel (Montague & Strong Case Files Book 4)

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “What the hell.” I fired Grim Whisper and we took off running down the street, heading to St. James’s Park and a legion of demons.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  “DID HE SAY what signal he would send?”

  “No, but he said I wouldn’t be able to miss it,” I answered as Dex stepped around the small stone restroom on the corner. The Fomor closed in on us.

  “He’d better do something fast.” Dex pointed at the large creature. “You bury your blade in its chest right here”—he pointed to a spot above his sternum—“and then you get clear.”

  “How am I supposed to get that close without getting blasted, crushed, or pounded?”

  “You leave that to me,” he said with a smile I didn’t trust at all. Then he grew serious. “Did you pay the cost? For the dark angel?”

  “No, Dahvina said it would come to me.”

  “It will.” He inched around the building some more. “I hope you choose wisely. You need to stay here and make sure that beast doesn’t go after my nephew.”

  He ran around the building and into the park with a yell. The effect was immediate as I followed him. The demons turned as one at the sound and rushed at him. He was surrounded in seconds.

  “Herk!” he yelled and raised an arm.

  I fired Grim Whisper, but there were too many of them. Peaches stayed by my side and mangled the few who dared to get too close. Dex had all their attention for the moment as they closed in on him. I could feel the tremor of the Fomor’s steps getting closer.

  “Monty, whatever you’re going to do, this would be a good time to do it,” I whispered as I felt the air charge around me.

  An orb of green energy formed high above us in the sky. It crackled with power as Dex laughed. “To hell with all of you!” he yelled and raised the other arm as they rushed him.

  “Dex!” I yelled and ran at him. A bolt of green energy slammed into the earth where he stood, evaporating the demons. The shockwave knocked me down and rolled me back into the street. I looked up in time to see the Fomor about to step on me.

  I rolled out of the way, ran into the park, and stood next to Dex, pressing the main bead on my mala. Tracking me, the Fomor looked down and entered the park. There were still hundreds of demons around us. A beam of yellow energy trailed along the ground and blasted into my mala shield, shattering it. Dex gestured, formed a green sphere around us, and deflected the beam.

  “This won’t stop them forever,” Dex said with a grunt as sweat poured down his face. “I may have overestimated my ability to deal with this menace.”

  He placed a hand on the ground and turned it counter-clockwise. Trails of green runes shot out from the orb, dispatching another large group of demons. More ran in to take their place.

  “This looks bad, Dex.”

  He looked at me and laughed. It was a loud, deep, throaty sound that filled the park. “We may be buggered, but we’re not dead yet,” he said, pushing Herk out of the sphere and into the air. Green feathers shot down all around us from the large raven, destroying another group of demons. “Hold your blade and take as many as you can with you when this ball breaks.”

  The Fomor pounded its fists into the sphere as the demons jumped and roared, clawing at it in an effort to destroy our protection. Behind the demons, I saw the Cavaliers still sitting motionless, surrounded by Trackers. I looked around and realized we were fucked.

  I holstered Grim Whisper, crouched, and gave Peaches a tight hug. Gripping Ebonsoul, I pressed the mark on my hand and stepped out of the sphere.

  White light shot out from the top of my left hand. Everything around me was slightly out of focus and frozen. I looked around at the contorted faces of demons who only wanted to shred us.

  I wasn’t sure she would show and a part of me wished she didn’t, but if I was going down, I was taking the angry goathead with me or die in the process, again.

  “Hello, Splinter,” I heard her say next to me.

  The heady smell of lotus blossoms filled my lungs as I took a deep breath. The complex scent was laden with citrus and mixed with an enticing hint of cinnamon. This was followed by the sweet smell of wet earth after a hard rain.

  “Hello, Karma,” I said, turning to face her slowly. After our last conversation, I knew how she felt about being summoned. This would probably be the last time. If she erased me, it was just speeding up the timetable on the inevitable.

  She was dressed in a white skintight ski suit. The word BITCH was etched in red into the sides of her white leather stiletto boots. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and she wore a pair of thin glasses with black rims. The whole look reminded me of a Bond girl librarian. I stopped for a moment to admire her. Karma was beautiful and frightening all at once, reminding me of a certain vampire.

  “Demons in London?” She peered at me over her glasses and took in the scene. “I see you and your mage are taking your destruction international. Oh, and a Fomor?”

  “The legion of uglies and Fomor are courtesy of Thomas, the demon whisperer.” I motioned to the demons around the sphere. “We’re just here to exterminate them, find Thomas and turn him into little mage particles before London turns into Demon Central.”

  She stepped close to me and I resisted flinching. It was the first time I felt the power coursing through her. Waves of energy washed over me as she caressed my cheek. I imagined this was what getting too close to the sun felt like.

  “You’ve died.” She narrowed her eyes and looked at me. “And transformed your blade into a dark angel? I’m impressed, Simon—I do hope you choose wisely.”

  “Dying sucked, by the way.”

  She nodded. “It usually does,” she said. “By the looks of things, you’re about to revisit the state for a prolonged stay.”

  “Figured you may have some advice on how to eliminate a legion of demons in one easy step?”

  “I can’t help you with this, Simon.” She shook her head slowly. “Too many causal threads would be impacted if I intervened on your behalf.”

  “Figured I’d risk it,” I said, expecting a jaw-cracking slap. “Can’t expect you to save my ass every time I’m surrounded by a legion of demons being led by some ancient mega-demon, all of which want to shred me and my friends, right?”

  “Exactly,” she said with a smile. “Besides, the demons aren’t your problem. You just need to deal with the Fomor.”

  “Deal with the Fomor?” I asked with a grim laugh. “Even Dex with his psycho bird couldn’t deal with it and he’s a super mage. What am I supposed to do?”

  She looked down at Ebonsoul. “You hold the solution in your hands,” she said and walked away. “Goodbye, Simon.”

  She faded from view and I felt the flow of time reestablishing itself. I ran over to the Fomor, jumped up on the sphere, using it to parkour myself higher, and buried Ebonsoul in its chest.

  TWENTY-SIX

  THE PLAN WAS to bury the blade in the Fomor and jump away. It had a different plan. I must have miscalculated how much time I had left. The Fomor reached out with a massive hand, wrapping it around my torso, and squeezed.

  “I’m not into you that way,” I said with a grunt, kicking at Ebonsoul and missing the chance to shove it deeper into its chest. It howled with rage and pain as it clawed at the half-buried blade with the other hand.

  Darkness started creeping into the edges of my vision as it kept squeezing. Dex’s voice registered as distant noise as my breath escaped my lungs. I saw yellow energy begin to coalesce around the Fomor’s eyes. The growling barely reached me as I sensed Peaches mauling one of the creature’s legs.

  Get away from here, boy. This thing is bad. It will hurt you.

  If he answered, I didn’t get the message. I managed to look around one more time. The legion had been reduced by half. Hundreds of demons were still rushing at us. I saw the Cavaliers charging now, their demon steeds leaving flame trails behind them. That was when the bell rang. The Fomor turned its head at the sound and roared, firing his eye beams o
f death into the sky.

  The bell rang again and the demons began howling now, joining the Fomor. I saw a wave of blue energy radiate from Big Ben. All of the clock faces shattered at once. The Fomor threw me to the ground and covered its ears in agony with another howl.

  I bounced a few times, felt an arm shatter with spectacular pain, and rolled onto the grass. Around me, the demons were tearing at their faces and each other in a frenzied attempt to get away from the sound of the bells.

  The tone filled the night again. It sounded louder this time. I was sure it was the trauma of being bounced like a handball, breaking my arm in a few places, and being squeezed like a grape that made it seem this way. Peaches limped to my side. Wounds across his side and face were raw and bleeding. He stood over my body and shredded a few demons that came too close.

  Another blue wave of energy from Big Ben rolled into the park, razing the demons and sweeping them away like chaff. The Fomor fell to its knees as I got to mine, and, using Peaches as support, I crawled closer. The Fomor still had Ebonsoul buried in its chest. It stared at me as I closed the distance.

 

  I laughed despite the pain, grabbed the hilt of Ebonsoul, and pushed. The Fomor roared again and my world went supernova.

  I opened my eyes and felt the cool grass. The sun shone through the leaves of the trees, which made me doubt I was still in London. The smell of fresh cut grass was quickly replaced with the pungent scent of eggs and ammonia.

  “What the—?” I said, exhaling the foul stench with a cough. “Where am I?”

  “Hello, Simon—the unchosen.” I turned to face the Morrigan as green light suffused the park with a subtle glow. A raven twice the size of Herk sat off to the side, staring at me with glowing green eyes.

  “Hello,” I answered, taking a shallow breath. “I’m honored. Did I die again?”

  “The cost must be paid.”

  “The unchosen? I sound like the kid no one wants on their team.”

  She swept her arm to the side and I saw the park in a frozen tableau. The demons were gone. Smoking scorched earth replaced the grass where the demons had stood, making it look like a battleground. Dex, Herk, and Peaches closed in on the Fomor, which had erupted into yellow flame. In the center of the inferno, I saw myself plunging Ebonsoul into its chest.

  “The cost,” I said, mesmerized by the scene. “It’s the power, isn’t it?”

  “Your blade is now trying to siphon the energy of the Fomor into you. If your current body tries to contain this much power without a transformation, you will die a final death.”

  “Transformation?” I asked. “What do I need to transform into?”

  “There is a way.” She gestured and runes floated in the air before me. “If you shift, you can obtain the ancient power of the Fomor. You would possess more power than any mage.”

  “You can help me shift?” I asked. “But I’m not a mage.”

  “This is not about titles or positions,” she replied. “This is about power. The power to defeat all of your foes lies before you. Choose.”

  I examined the scene. With that much power I could stop the Fomor, Thomas, and whoever helped him with the demons. If I wanted to, I was sure I could teleport us out of London and let them deal with their demons. I could be in New York and eating at Roselli’s before the night was done.

  I nodded my head and looked at the Morrigan.

  “I have my answer.”

  “What will it be?” she asked.

  “Just to be clear, this is an all-or-nothing deal, right?” I asked. “I can’t have a percentage of power?”

  “Choose, Simon.” She narrowed her eyes. “Anyone else would have been reduced to ash by now. Only your curse has kept you alive this long.”

  “I choose no.”

  The Morrigan cocked her head to one side and smiled. It turned my blood to ice and made me long for one of Karma’s backhanded caresses of tolerance.

  “You refuse this power?” she asked. “It would have made you a god.”

  “Yeah, pass,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve met enough of you to know I don’t want to join the club.”

  “Very well, Simon.” She gestured and green energy surrounded me. “You have chosen.”

  Green energy blinded me. When I could see again, I was looking into the angry face of the Fomor. I was still holding Ebonsoul, which was still buried in its chest.

  “Let go of it, boy!” yelled Dex as he gestured. “It’s too much power.”

  Sage advice. I released Ebonsoul as a backlash of yellow energy catapulted me off the Fomor and into the park.

  “Herk, get him!” I heard Dex say as I sailed away. Behind me, the Fomor exploded with a thwump, followed by the percussive wave of energy nudging me ever faster at the solid and immobile trees waiting to halt my flight with force. A beam of yellow energy shot skyward, setting the night aglow. It went straight for a few miles and then angled over the city. I had an idea where it ended up.

  I wanted to pretend I flew through the air gracefully, the same way a skydiver angles his body and becomes an aerodynamic foil cutting through the atmosphere. In reality, I looked like a flailing ragdoll about to become pulped by a tree.

  A sharp pain bloomed in my shoulders as Herk grabbed me and changed course, preventing my collision. He circled around and dumped me near Dex before taking to the sky again. I saw Ebonsoul on the ground and reached for it after I caught my breath. It turned into a wisp of silver energy and vanished into my hand. A cold sensation crept up my arm and dissipated.

  Dex tended to Peaches and Herk, his hands covered in a golden light. My body had dealt with the damage from the broken arm and I moved my fingers slowly to make sure I had full range of motion.

  “You paid the cost.” Dex gave me a hard clap on the shoulder. “Well done, boy!”

  I saw Monty enter the park.

  “Glad you could join us,” I said. “While you were up there playing jingle bells, some of us were down here preventing Demongeddon.”

  “This was just the opening salvo,” Monty said, looking around the devastated grounds. “Thomas was testing our strengths and defenses.”

  “I’d say we were pretty strong.”

  “I can’t very well carry an enormous bell with me everywhere we go.” He looked at the tower holding Big Ben. “It’s not a viable strategy to employ.”

  “Speaking of,” I said, pointing at the four shattered glass faces of the clock tower, “someone is going to be pissed about that. Does the clock still work?”

  “Of course,” Monty snapped, waving my words away. “The actual mechanism for the clock is located below the faces and is in perfect working order. The spell I cast was a runic disruption transported on a sonic carrier wave. The clock and tower are structurally uncompromised.”

  “Except for all of the glass that’s missing,” I said. “Maybe you can blame it on the Fomor?”

  Dex chuckled behind me. “I’m famished,” he said, standing. “Fighting these creatures has worked up an appetite. I could fancy a toad in the hole about now.”

  “A what?” I asked. “I’m really not in the mood for frogs, thanks. Maybe Peaches?”

  Peaches perked at the mention of his name.

 

  “Thomas will summon more demons,” Monty said, his voice grim. “We need to remove him from the board and locate his source.”

  “You’re right, nephew,” Dex said. “No sense in taking on some insane mage without a proper meal. Besides, we need to get scarce before the BPD arrives.”

  “He’s right, the British Paranormal Division isn’t as forgiving as the NYTF,” Monty said, looking at the park again. “Inspector Mathers can be quite uncompromising.”

  “Where to?” I asked.

  “We need help and food,” Dex said. “We’re off to see a wizard.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  “NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT,” Monty said as we walked the streets of Londo
n. “I’d rather deal with a Magistrate than visit her.”

  “Don’t mind him,” Dex said, glancing at Monty. “He’s her favorite, which is saying a lot considering the source.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked as Dex looked behind us several times. “Who is this person?”

  Dex pulled out the black book Dahvina had given Monty. “You may have noticed I refrained from casting a quantum vortex in the city.”

  I nodded. “City’s still standing, thank you.”

  “Not because I couldn’t cast it, mind you.” He gave Monty a furtive glance. “But because it’s a highly complex spell that requires a large amount of runic interpretation.”

  “Bloody hell,” Monty said, stopping in the street and glaring at Dex. “You don’t know how to stop it after it’s cast, do you?”

  “The last time I cast one of those, this entire city was on one side of the Thames, and it was a goat farm,” Dex shot back. “I’m rusty, is all.”

  “That’s why you want to go see her.” Monty threw his hands up, walking ahead. “What happened to ‘you can’t cast it, but I can cast it just fine’? It’s not just in the cast, is it?”

  “Sometimes he’s a right pain in the arse,” Dex said under his breath.

  “Sometimes?”

  “I heard that,” Monty said from ahead.

  “Good,” Dex answered. “And you’re going the wrong way.”

  Monty grunted in response and kept walking.

  “Who is this woman we’re going to go see?” I asked.

  “She’s the most powerful sorceress in London, probably all of England.” Dex walked under the Wellington Arch. We walked along South Carriage Drive and parallel to Hyde Park until we came to the Prince Albert Memorial. We entered the park and passed the memorial until we came to a large pool.

  “She’s in there.” Dex pointed at the pool. I looked around to see if he meant a structure near the pool.

  “Inside the pool?” I asked, stepping close to the edge. I tried looking in but couldn’t make out anything in the darkness. “Is she a fish?”