by Martha Carr
“Not as much as I thought, apparently. More will be revealed but hopefully, we’ll see whatever it is coming.”
CHAPTER TWO
Leira sat down at her desk across from Hagan. “Explain it to me again. Slowly this time.” Leira took a bite of the Mexican Hot Chocolate doughnut as Hagan glanced down at the familiar pink box. “Doughnut after…” She pulled the box closer to her.
“You say that like I have no self-control.” Hagan sat down and slapped his hands on his desk. “I have plenty… there’s always more doughnuts where these came from.” Hagan laced his fingers together and pursed his lips.
“You’re ruining a very good doughnut experience for me. Tell me already.” Leira put down the doughnut and brushed her hands, giving Hagan the dead fish look.
“Okay, good… Fine... Now I’m ready.” He winced, trying to find the right words. “Look, I think it’s time I hang back from the big operations.” He waved his hands around at the large open space. “Back you up from here and work on more local cases that involve fewer dark forces that can reach out and throw us around like rag dolls.” Hagan took out the white cotton handkerchief he always had at the ready in his back pocket and wiped his forehead.
Leira didn’t say anything even as her eyebrows went up. She picked up her coffee and slowly took a sip, not taking her eyes off Hagan.
“You’re dickin’ me around right now, aren’t you? Nice, Berens. Look, I’ll say it. That last battle took a little something out of me. Hell, I think I was dead for a few second there. And I have this whole thing going with Rose that I like to call a good life. Oh, for pity’s sake, Berens, say something!”
“What kind of asshat do you think I am? Like I’d say no, we started this together, we end it together? Geez, Hagan.” Leira gave him a crooked smile as she took another sip of coffee. “Of course, this means I’ll have to heckle you over an ear piece. Best part of the job.”
Hagan let out the breath he was holding and mopped his face again. “Well… that goes without saying. Hell, maybe I’ll turn out to be more use as tactical behind the scenes. You know, I was a little worried you might be…”
“That’s a long way around the barn to say I’m selfish, you know.” Leira got up from her desk and walked around to Hagan. “You put in your time, Hagan, and you’ve stood beside me at more than one battle. You get to call it when it’s enough. Good for you.”
“What’s this? Are you about to hug me? Don’t do that, Berens. Oh geez. Partners don’t hug. It’s in every manual.”
Leira stopped short and patted him on the back. “Best partner I could ever have. Thank you, Hagan. I mean it… for everything.”
“Okay, well, then… eat your doughnut.” Hagan swallowed hard and changed the subject. “Hey, you think Yumfuck would hang out here at the office occasionally.”
“If you put in cable and more snacks you have a shot.”
“Where is he, anyway?”
“I don’t ask myself those kinds of questions anymore. Something about Batfuck…”
Hagan let out a snort of laughter. “Seems he’s joined the family business. Hey, I heard about the good news. A wedding… you’ll have to figure out how to throw a bridal shower. What a year you’ve had, Berens.”
“Yeah, a little bit of everything. Reconstituted an entire family, even a dad and found out my relatives didn’t come from Ireland after all. All wrapped up with a few run ins with some dark mist no one can really explain.” Leira felt the edge of something. “Mom is over the moon. I’m happy for her,” she said, distracted.
Hagan let out a small belch, patting his belly as he reached into the Voodoo doughnuts pink box. “You’re gonna have to work on the whole being happy thing. Your demeanor lacks a certain something.”
“Have the feeling I’m missing a pretty important clue. Can’t quite put my magic finger on it.”
“You will… you always do.”
Leira shook her head to clear it. “Hey, remember your motto. There’s always more. Might want to slow down just a little. You’re not retiring just yet. I’ll still need you just as much backing me up here while I’m out there chasing bogeymen.”
“Berens that’s the nicest thing you could have said to me,” said Hagan, chomping down on a Maple Old Fashioned.
CHAPTER THREE
The young Wizard, Toby Wheeler, stood in the field in a silver reflective vest, directing the cars in the late afternoon sun with a flashlight to make sure no one headed for the deeper part of the pasture and tore up the good Kentucky grasslands.
Toby kicked a piece of sod with the toe of his sneaker, still frustrated that he was so far away from the action. “Nothing more than a glorified orange cone.” A white Volvo station wagon parked at the end of a line and a well-dressed middle-aged couple got out, ignoring Toby and heading toward the gravel road that led to the manor in the distance.
Toby held up both hands, giving them a double dose of the middle finger, dancing his hands back and forth. He eyed his wand in his pocket and slid it out, holding it lightly in his hand. “So tempting…”
Using a wand would have been easier but the possibility of prying eyes was too big, and it was impressed upon him not to break the laws. Toby was well aware of the consequences of crossing his new employers.
After all, he was the nephew of one of the oldest ruling families, making him a kind of nobility. But his mother had run away from them all as a teenager and turned her back on the lineage, choosing instead to ignore the dark magic and marry a Wizard serving the Silver Griffins. The worst kind of betrayal.
The moment Toby turned eighteen he decided to rectify that mistake and ran right back to the old families, expecting a warm embrace. Instead, he was met with wary looks and given menial assignments. Still, it was better than the future he had back home with his parents. College and then off to the cubicle life. No magic in there at all.
“Hey, kid!” An overly-muscled Wizard with a buzz cut to hide the lack of hair and wearing an ill-fitting navy-blue sport coat stood impatiently at the edge of the road gesturing to Toby with his meaty hand to follow him. He was one of the regular muscle that hung around the family at the ready when muscle was more appropriate than magic.
Toby startled and dropped his wand into the grass, scrambling to pick it up. “Damn! What an amateur. Drop my own wand.” He picked it up and wiped it off across his pants leaving a damp splotch.
He was still muttering as he slid the wand into his pocket and eagerly followed the Wizard down the path, jogging to keep up with the man. “I wasn’t… I mean… I would never use my wand. I mean, not without orders…” The words sputtered out of Toby and he could feel the sweat under his thin cotton shirt. The chill in the air of an early spring Kentucky cold front was making it worse and the vest was no protection against much of anything.
“Forget about it, kid. Not my department. Although, word to the wise. Don’t move a muscle unless someone tells you which muscle and how to use it. If you fuck up badly enough it won’t matter who you’re related to.” The Wizard tapped a thin, jagged purple scar along his chin. “I speak from experience.” He gave a smile that was angry more than anything else. “A certain kind of loyalty is expected around these parts.”
“What kind of loyalty is that?” Toby was still walking fast just to keep up with the Wizard’s long strides.
“Absolute. Keep your head down when you get in there and just listen. Think of all of this as a kind of schooling and you just might survive.”
Toby swallowed hard. Survive. That is hard core.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, as Toby did his best to regain his composure and match the stony demeanor of the bulky Wizard.
The Wizard looked over at Toby just as they got to the stone steps leading up to the tall wooden doors and he let out a snort. “You’re too skinny and young to pull off that mug. Save menacing for another day. How about you go for invisible and do your best to fade into the background and just watch. Remember what I told yo
u. Observe everything. Participate in nothing, no matter what you hear. Not a gasp, not a chuckle and under no circumstances if you like that geeky look you’ve got going and want to keep it, do you say anything. Got it?”
Toby nodded hard and snapped his mouth shut, taking a deep breath and headed up the steps.
“Lose the vest, kid. You’re not parking cars now.”
Toby quickly slid out of the vest and dropped it by the door as the Wizard pushed open the heavy wooden doors that were brought over from an old castle in Romania. Toby’s uncle thought they added a certain ambience to the whole effect.
They passed quickly through the front hall and down a short hallway that curved to the right to a far wing of the house. They entered the great ballroom just as the doors were being closed and the Wizard turned and gave Toby a sturdy shove toward a far wall where other lackeys and servants were standing quietly. Their eyes were all focused on the long, wide wooden table set up in the center where the heads of all the old families were already seated. At the end of the long table sat an older Wizard with wavy silver hair and a long, straight nose that looked like it could touch the top of his full lips. He was wearing a jet-black suit and black tie against a white shirt. At the cuffs were silver wolves and on his hand was a large signet ring bearing two wolves making the infinity sign.
Hanging overhead were different woven banners with the different family crests representing the old wizarding families of dark magic since they first came together thousands of years ago and formed an alliance.
“Hey…” Toby gave a nod to the young Witch standing closest to him. She looked at him long enough to give him a withering look and flick her long, brown braid off her shoulder. “Okay…” Toby put his hands behind his back and stood up straighter as he looked around the room.
The Wizard who escorted him into the room was standing against the far wall with other Witches and Wizards and Toby quickly caught on to a certain hierarchy in the room that started with the most powerful sitting at the table and gradually went around the room till it stopped squarely at the crowd where Toby was standing. Toby let out a defeated sigh, garnering a few looks from the young Witches and Wizards right around him. He looked across the room and noticed the beefy Wizard staring at him and straightened back up, determined to get this right. You can do this, Toby. Hell, you belong at that table! Be the observer… be the observer…
Sirius Pickering lifted his hand and a silence fell over the room. He raised his wand high over his head. “Extemporius.” The sound of water pouring down could be heard from outside the walls.
Every head turned toward him as he lowered his hand and let out a deep breath, waiting. “The time has come to push back against the Silver Griffins,” he finally said. A spell had been cast so that his deep baritone easily filled the room as he rested his hands on the table. “The time has come to make our presence known to the human population.”
A small murmur of voices went around the room but harsh looks from others quickly silenced them. Toby watched eagerly, pressing his lips together, determined to make a good impression or at best, no impression at all.
“It’s time we used our newest talent to persuade others that we are not passive players anymore and it would be in their best interests to bring us to the bargaining table.”
“We should not have to bargain with anyone!” Agnes, an older witch with long, blonde hair that was caught up in a neat low bun slammed her fist onto the table. Toby shook and wanted to let out a gasp but was too afraid. He dug his nails into his palms and watched, eyes wide to see what would happen next.
Sirius was breathing harder, his chest rising and falling but he did nothing to silence the Witch. “We have everything we need to gain the advantage. The beasts are ready! Time will not always be on our side. If we wait till magic begins its return to Earth…” she shook her head, “it may not be as easy as it is right now.”
“Have you forgotten who sat in this seat not too long ago? Your own brother served this council for over twenty years before he was swallowed by that dark menace.” Sirius’ voice was gradually getting louder till it was booming and echoing off the walls. “To this day we still do not know what that was that ate his essence and absorbed his magic from the inside out.” Sirius raised his fist in the air, shaking it with fury. “His body still walks among us but none of us can say he still exists in any realm or what the hell took him from us!” The crystals in the chandelier over their heads shook gently making a tinkling noise as the banners swayed.
An older witch with long, jet black hair hanging straight down her back took a sip of tea from a pale pink bone china cup, gently setting it down. Juliana Pickering looked unruffled by any of the drama. “Sirius, my darling, Agnes makes a valid request.” She arched a carefully manicured black eyebrow. The only sign of impatience the gently tapping of her red nail against the fragile china cup. “We have managed to get the mortality rate down to a respectable fifty percent and have created enough shifters under our power to at least make a statement.”
“Not enough of them to stop an army.”
“We don’t need that, my dear. We just need enough of a demonstration to let them know what we’re capable of doing. Let their own fears come up with the rest.”
A young Wizard with dark hair, slicked back against his scalp spoke up. Toby recognized his older cousin, Emerick. “Are we certain that these new shifters will obey us once they’re out in the field. They may just run off, back to their families or worse, not survive even a skirmish.”
“Don’t doubt your mother, dear. It’s not a good look for you.”
“None of them will return to their families,” said Sirius. “They’re too afraid of their new powers and ripping their own flesh and blood to pieces.” Sirius let out a deep throated laugh. “I expect we would lose some in a fight, but we’d learn from the experiment. Perhaps you are right, Juliana, as ever.”
Agnes frowned at being overlooked but held her silence. No one at the table ever pressed a point but so far for fear of the consequences.
“These are strange times we’re in. Even the suggestion of power returning is upsetting the balance of power that we have quietly enjoyed all these years.” Sirius sat forward in his high-backed upholstered chair. His face grew sour as he spoke. “We are being challenged from every side and it’s not in our nature to sit back and quietly take it. The Silver Griffins would tie our hands and at one point, we might have listened…”
Toby saw his uncle glance over at him, but he stared back blankly. The Wizard across the way gave him a nod of respect.
“But some dark mist is hunting our kind.” Sirius looked over everyone’s heads at the table, off into the distance. “My oldest friend is a bag of flesh for some unknown host and two other Wizards and a Witch have disappeared without a trace. Even some of our younger ones, teenagers have gone missing.”
“You still haven’t mentioned our greatest enemy.”
Sirius snapped his head around, anger returning to him. He raised his wand and shoved Juliana’s chair backward away from the table, surprising everyone.
“Do not test me. Not even you. I’m well aware of the bitch that is out there, growing stronger all the time.”
Juliana stayed where she was, saying in a low growl, “Say her name.”
“I’m not afraid of her. This mongrel who’s part Elf, part human and even has some trace of Witch in her. She surrounds herself with amateurs. We have defeated worse!”
“Say… her… name…”
“Leira Berens! Leira fucking Berens!” He shook his fist as the banners swayed overhead.
Juliana looked up at the Witches and Wizards ringing the large room standing near the tall windows. “Learn this name and get to know your enemy.” Her voice was low and icy.
“She holds the fucking light inside of her and is learning to bend the very essence of magic to her will,” said Agnes.
Juliana shrugged, not bothering to look at Agnes. “Leira Berens is one very you
ng being against thousands of years of a strong alliance and a new army of shifters. This may not be easy, but we are used to struggle. We will get what is ours, in the end. The bitch is only another obstacle in a long line of them and like all that have come before her, she will not survive what’s coming.”
“You sound sure of yourself.”
“Well, of course Sirius. That dark mist that hunts us, hunts her as well. It even seems drawn to her and to that same light. We will meet her in battle but perhaps we can draw the darkness there too and just get out of the way.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Leira stood outside the Arab Coffee on 24th Street waiting for Correk to catch up with her. “What was that about?” She called to him as she watched the morning sky lighten against a slate grey sky. Love a good Texas morning.
Correk ran the short distance across the street, crowded on all sides by clusters of students from University of Texas, streaming back and forth across the nearby campus. “A Witch had her phone snatched. I managed to retrieve it for her.” A young woman smiled up at Correk and gave him a long look from head to toe as she passed by.
Leira gave Correk a crooked smile. “Sometimes I forget about that Elven charm and then that happens.”
“Not always Elven charm. That was a young Light Elf. Sometimes, they just like me.”
Leira elbowed Correk as she started to walk faster down the street. “Sure, big guy. It’s all you.”
“Hey, I thought we were going in that shop back there?”
“That hookah shop, not hardly. That’s not where the magical mystery tours start in these parts. Way too on the nose. The general population would notice if too many average looking middle-aged people kept going in and out. Probably think it was a drug stop. I would have in my old job.”
