“He’s not that scary,” Dev said with airy carelessness he didn’t really feel.
Yes, Aurum was that scary and one just didn’t call him at any time of the day to complain. Dev hadn’t been able to wait, though. Aurum had saddled him with this ignorant half-ass. He hadn’t been arguing over Aurum’s treatment of Hawkins, but rather his belief Hawkins was the right man for the job. Needless to say, the Gold Primal hadn’t been impressed with Dev’s conclusions and just encouraged him to keep with the Australian for a bit a longer.
Hawkins muttered something about balls, size and composition and steered the truck through the thickening traffic as they neared a bridge.
If he was going to stick with Hawkins for a while, Dev decided he better learn some more about him.
“So, Erin’s your partner?” He’d liked her. Beautiful, good natured, no nonsense.
Hawkins snorted. “No. We just work together sometimes. She’s a PI.”
“And you’re workin’ a murder case with her?”
“It started as a stolen goods case and she contracted me for a sting last night, which turned into a murder case. If I’m lucky, she’ll keep me on for the rest of the investigation. Sol Investigations pays very well for its consultants.”
Dev started. “Sol Investigations?” He whistled. “I’ve heard a bit about them. Very good agency, from all reports.”
Hawkins glanced at him. “Yeah. Erin’s one of the best.”
“And, you’re… friends?”
“Yes.” There was a hint of curiosity in Hawkins’ tone.
Dev just nodded and looked back out at the city. That might explain a bit of Aurum’s choice in Hawkins. Sol Investigations was often utilised by the Council and some of the more influential powers around the world.
“And your partner? Will I get to meet him, or her?”
“Eventually, I guess. She’s pretty much nocturnal, though.” After a moment, he continued. “She can also be a bit temperamental. We’ll have to test the waters before deciding if you’re staying at my place or not.”
“No worries.” Cab fares and accommodation wouldn’t break the bank account. “Is there much work for you here? Not a lot of news comes from Brisbane. Sydney and Melbourne are rather busy for trouble. And the Northern Territory. When Aurum told me about the potential war between the Red and Violet vampire castes, that was the first I’d heard of it.”
Hawkins shrugged. “Maybe he kept it quiet, I don’t know. Until Aurum showed up back then, none of us here were really aware of any sort of organisation out there. Even after he left, we had no real contact from anyone.”
“Odd.”
“You’re telling me. There’s been enough work to keep me and Mercy going for a couple of years. Mostly vampire slaying, some werewolves, a rogue ghoul. And the Asmodeus thing.”
Dev sucked in a sharp breath. “You say his name aloud?”
“Why not? The bastard’s dead. He can’t be summoned anymore.”
“Dead?” Dev eyed Hawkins sceptically. “You killed him?”
“Well, not exactly. I softened him up so one of his succubi could finish him off.”
Maybe there was something to Aurum’s bragging after all. “And this succubus. Is she your partner?”
Hawkins’ laugh was tinged with mock terror. “Dear God, no. Amaya’s off sailing the Southern Indian Ocean with a shark researcher. I’d rather deal with a cranky vampire than Amaya’s daddy issues any day.”
Dev had to laugh as well. Daddy issues? It was one way of looking at the demonical hierarchy.
The mood lightened with the shared humour and Hawkins told him how he ended up swapping cars with his friend. Then about an elderly lady, her prize winning Burmese cat and the family of imps that had come between them. Dev told him about his first contract for the Council, hunting a wizard through the Paraguayan forests and the difficulties created by the language barrier and witnesses to Dev’s sorcery.
“It was like that scene in ‘Return of the Jedi’,” Dev said while Hawkins tried not to laugh. “Except I wasn’t C3P0. I would have preferred to be praised like a god, but instead they decided to sacrifice me.”
When Hawkins stopped laughing enough to speak, he said, “At least the last thing to threaten to kill me was a Demon Lord. How did you get out of there?”
“Thankfully, it was the wet season and I called in a huge storm. Scared them more than I did, so they let me go.”
Hawkins sobered. “You can create storms?”
“Given enough time, sure. But it’s much easier to just lasso one that’s already there and give it a twist so it does whatever you need.”
“Could you have stopped Hurricane Katrina?”
Dev sighed. “No. We tried, but nothin’ short of an act of God was gonna to stop that monster. We did what we could, though.”
The rest of the drive passed in a mellow silence. They were out of the city proper, now, cruising through the suburbs, heading toward a mountain that jutted up in the midst of the houses as if it had been misplaced. It’s vibrantly green peak was haloed in grey clouds. Instinctively, Dev knew they would pass over the northern reaches of the city, bringing rain but no storm activity. His senses were starting to attune to the local patterns.
Hawkins pulled off the road into the drive of the botanic gardens at the base of the mount. The car-park was mostly empty but there were three buses lined up nose to tail near a planetarium.
“Tourists?” Dev asked as they exited the truck.
“Probably school excursion.” Hawkins squinted in the bright sunlight.
Dev pulled a pair of Ray Bans from his sport coat pocket and slipped them on. He was starting to feel the warmth of the day under his coat but not so much he was ready to take it off. Looking at the page of the paper, he quickly scanned the small article he’d found again.
“I need to find the Australian rainforest section.”
“All right. There should be an information centre in here somewhere.”
A quick search found a large sign that pointed them in the right direction. A path led around the planetarium and beside a road heading into the gardens. Where the road split into a Y junction, they found the information centre. A cluster of uniformed youngsters crowded about the small structure, shouting and laughing, excited to be out of the classroom and in the fresh air. Three teachers rode herd, trying to organise the large group into several smaller ones while a couple of khaki-clothed guides waited.
Hawkins wove around the group and found a map of the gardens. They retreated far enough from the kids so they could talk without having to shout.
“Australian rainforest,” Hawkins said, pointing to the map. It wasn’t too far from where they currently were.
Dev took the map and orientated it to the lay of the land, his perception of magnetic north coming through stronger now he wasn’t moving. Fixing the general location of the rainforest section in his memory, he handed the map back.
“I shouldn’t be long.” He started off.
“You’re going alone?” Hawkins came after him.
“It’s my investigation, Hawkins. Aurum clearly didn’t get your full agreement to help me so I don’t expect it of you.” He lengthened his stride. “I’ll meet you at the car.”
Hawkins kept up with him for a bit longer, then threw up his hands and spun on his heel, going back toward the information centre.
It was better this way. Dev had always worked alone. The few times he’d partnered up with someone, it had been Lana and only because they knew each other well enough they didn’t get in the other’s way. Hawkins’ warrior claim might very well be true, but Dev would rather not have him underfoot. Besides, he wasn’t expecting to need a warrior’s skills here. It might be nothing.
The path to the rainforest took him past the library, where another group of school kids had gathered. These ones were more subdued as they filed out of the building, but a girl did notice Dev’s shirt and pointed it out to her friends. They turned to watch him approa
ch. They couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen.
“Ladies,” he said as he passed, pouring on the Texan twang and tipping an invisible hat in their direction.
They giggled. The one who’d seen him first took a few steps after him, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she checked the whereabouts of the teachers. Seeing she was free for the moment, she asked, “Are you a real sorcerer? Like Harry Potter?”
“Not like Harry Potter,” he said with a wink. “But real.”
She eyed him doubtfully. “Prove it.”
“Tahlia!”
The girl spun at the strident call of the teacher.
“Stop bothering the man and catch up,” the teacher snapped, motioning her back into line.
She waved to Dev and went back to her friends.
Dev crossed a narrow road and entered the rainforest. Tall trees dripping with rich green leaves closed in around him. The heat of the day lessened but the humidity increased, the air taking on a density beneath the canopy that made it harder to pull into his lungs. The light that made it through to the ground was stained yellow-green. Insects buzzed and birds whistled. The area designated for the rainforest wasn’t large, on a slight downward slope and had a small stream running through it, according to the map and the sounds of trundling water.
The path split in three. Stopping for a moment, Dev considered his options. It wouldn’t take long to cover the whole area so direction didn’t mean much. He went right. Just off the path were short posts with signs on them, naming particular trees and plants and describing their life cycles. Dev scanned them as he went. The article hadn’t shown a picture of the tree he was looking for, but it had named it. He found it toward the end of the main trail, almost back to where he’d started.
The information post said the strangler fig had started life as an epiphyte on the branch of a Yellow Carabeen tree. As the fig grew, it sent aerial roots down to the ground, wrapping them around the trunk of the host as they went. Eventually, as its name suggested, the fig would kill the host. According to the sign, both parasite and host were doing well. According to the news article, things weren’t looking too good for the host lately.
Dev stepped off the path and closer to the massive tangle of trees. Park officials believed someone had poisoned the host tree and he could see why. Within its nearly all-encompassing embrace of fig-roots, the Yellow Carabeen didn’t look so hot. Its bark was grey and spongy to the touch. The ground was carpeted in a thick layer of brown leaves, the branches above bare. Around it, the strangler fig looked startlingly healthy, roots thick and numerous. As one park employee had said to the reporter, it looked as if the fig had done in a couple of days what it usually took years to do—suck the life out of the host.
It was that comment which had caught Dev’s attention. If there was one thing earth sorcerers did, it was mess with the natural order of the world. Especially one capable of the horrors he’d found in Friedrich’s mansion.
There was an outside chance an earth sorcerer hadn’t shifted the natural balance between fig and host. Just as there was an outside chance this earth sorcerer wasn’t the same one who’d ripped through Friedrich’s entourage with extreme prejudice. Neither option warranted much consideration, though. Even without tuning in his senses, Dev could feel the remains of a working in the soil and air. It was a faint humming in his ears and a resonance in his guts that didn’t mesh with his all’s-well vibe of the world. The hum and the resonance matched that he’d experienced at Friedrich’s.
“Hey.”
Dev turned.
The girl from the library stood on the path, hands on hips, mock scowl on her young, smooth face. “You’re not supposed to leave the path, you know. You could step on all sorts of baby plants and damage the ecosystem.”
“It’s okay, I’m a tree surgeon.” Dev looked both ways, wondering where the rest of her class was. “Shouldn’t you catch up with your group?”
She waved dismissively back the way they’d come. “They won’t miss me. Linda is going to cover for me.” Then, arms crossing, she frowned again. “You said before you were a sorcerer, not a tree surgeon.”
He really needed to ditch this shirt. “Tahlia, was it? You need to go back to your group, or I’ll take you and tell your teacher what you were doing.”
“Tell me what you really are and I’ll go.”
“I’m a tree surgeon. This tree is sick, I’m here to make it better.” Taking a step toward the path, Dev repeated, “Now, I really think you should—”
Something nudged his back.
Tahlia frowned at him, then her gaze switched to something over his shoulder.
The blunt, hard object pushed at Dev again and he staggered forward. Before he could move away, it whipped around him, locking his right arm to his side, and pulled him backwards.
Twisting, he heard the girl scream, but all he could see was strangler-fig roots reaching for him.
Chapter 12
Tahlia screamed again, stumbling back across the path. Dev ignored her, too busy fighting against the suddenly writhing mass of vegetation. Long, thick roots reached for him, sliding around his arms and legs, hauling him in toward the central bulk.
Goddarnit! He hated being right sometimes.
Giving up trying to pull the roots off him with brute strength, he put both hands onto the one around his chest. It was hard to get his right hand there, pinned to his side as it was, but the bastard was starting to squeeze tight.
“Nitrogen kuvuta katika,” he snarled.
His hands glowed green and the wood between them frosted. Before the cold could reach his chest, he twisted the root and the frozen matter shattered. The dismembered end of root spasmed and let him go. Dev pulled in a deep breath. Around him, dozens of roots thrashed as if they felt the pain of their severed fellow.
A moment’s respite was all it got him, though. About to repeat the feat on the next root, Dev was rocked by a barrage of hits. They slammed against him, punched and pushed. Those around his limbs tightened, twisted, grinding bones and stretching flesh. Sharp pain flared in his forearms particularly, forcing him to his knees. More roots wrapped around his body, ends digging into the still tender scars on his back.
Desperate, Dev tried to reach his sorcery again, but the pain was too much, too consuming. But there, right on the edge of his awareness. A spark of power flared and he grabbed onto it.
“Dondoo maji.” It came out rough, barely decipherable, but it set off the cascade.
The air around him and the parasitic tree was suddenly wet, drenched with the water drawn out of the roots. Growling, Dev twisted violently in the hold of now-brittle wood. A few of the thinner roots cracked and dropped away.
Whoever this earth sorcerer was, though, they were powerful, and tricky. The water Dev had stolen and now lay on the ground was absorbed back through the roots still planted in the soil. Thickening with vitality again, the tendrils around him closed in.
Dev’s ears were filled with the ferocious rattling of the plant, his head ringing with the overwhelming saturation of earth sorcery and the pound of his own blood and gasps for air. He was absently aware of the girl still yelling, her screams changed to shouts for help. Even as he battled, Dev hoped no one heard her. How to explain a strangler-fig actually strangling someone?
Getting his hands on a large root, Dev repeated the freezing trick, busting it apart. It was replaced almost immediately.
This wasn’t working. There were too many roots and they were too strong. Those around his chest were winding in, trying to crush his ribs. He had to get to the heart of the problem before it got too out of hand. The problem was, he had no idea where the heart of the problem was. The plant was a writhing mass of tentacles, hanging from the skeletal remains of its host tree. There was no central mass he could freeze.
Having had some luck with it, Dev said, “Dondoo m—”
A thick root whipped around his throat.
Dev gurgled on the last of the trigger. N
o synapses fired, no glow rose from his hands. No result at all.
Shoot.
He got one hand around the root, hauling on it, even while his other hand was wrenched away by another circling tendril. The root around his neck tightened and his lungs burned as they struggled for air.
Vaguely, he realised Tahlia had stopped her caterwauling.
Then a larger shape lunged past him. Something bright flashed and the root around Dev’s throat loosened for a moment, letting him drag in some precious air. A second later, it tightened again.
“Fuck!”
Out of the chaos of thrashing roots and blurring vision, Dev focused on Hawkins. He spun unbelievably fast, knocking aside roots before they could get a hold. He had a long-bladed knife and he sliced it across green tentacles, doing enough damage to make them pull back momentarily. He slashed at the root around Dev’s neck again and again, in between keeping himself free of the terrifying tangle. It loosened and Hawkins wrenched it free.
“Now!” he shouted. “Now now now!”
Something sailed in over Dev’s shoulder and shattered against the heaving mass of vegetation. The sharp tang of alcohol joined the thick scent of sap. Another explosion as a second bottle broke against the strangler-fig.
Between one sweep and the next, Hawkins had a lighter in hand. Flicking it open, he ignited the flame and tossed it.
Fire whooshed up the trunk of the sickening host and across the ensorcelled fig. Roots flailing wildly, the strangler-fig thrashed, flames licking out along the thick tendrils and climbing up the dead wood of the host.
Suddenly freed, Dev scrambled backwards. The heat of the flames chased him, burning hands reaching after him. His vision flashed and he was back in Friedrich’s bedroom, trying to get away from the flames of the fire sorcerer’s final trap. Heart slamming, he shouted wordlessly, pushing at phantom hands of fire on his arms. He beat at the flames encircling his wrists.
“Dev! It’s okay, you’re free. Dev, calm down.”
With a jerk, Dev pushed the solid hands off him. Throwing himself to his feet, he lurched away, feeling the heat of the fire and the weight of Hawkins’ gaze on his prickling back. He held his arms close to his body, but carefully.
Rock Paper Sorcery Page 9
