The Wizard's Journal: Blood Moon - Book 1

by T. J. Hunter

  Chapter 14

  Sally finally showed some life and wagged her tail while looking at the door, so I knew Alura was back. The deadbolt unlocked and my wards disarmed.

  “Hey brother, ready to play whack the wolfy?”

  “Hello there, I was hoping you would be here sooner than later. Don’t really want to face the beasties all by myself.”

  Alura was dressed in dark fatigues without weapons, which meant her Porsche was chock-full of things that go boom.

  “Is this your casual war-day look?”

  “Just for a couple more hours,” she said, went to the kitchen for an apple, and then sat next to me on the couch.

  “So, what did you find out from Sarila?”

  “Nothing yet, only typical chatter on cell phones, and things have gotten much quieter in the past hour. I assume Kyiel has tutored you in the fine arts of spell casting?”

  “You know it. I have 12 magic coins tucked neatly away in my magic bag of tricks,” I said with an accomplished smile and tapped my wizard bag

  “Good boy, you’re such a good wizard.”

  “When do you think Lupzarro will make his move?” I asked.

  “It might take a few hours after the moon rises before we receive any actionable information. Time is clearly on Lupzarro’s side, and he’ll choose when, where, and his victims. There is nothing we could do but wait.”

  I reached over to the coffee table and picked up Moon’s business card facing it toward Alura.

  “Why wait? Want to go for a ride?”

  Alura smiled. “Heck yea, beats sitting around waiting for Lupzarro to make the first move. If nothing else, we can shake things up by letting him know we’re ready.”

  “Well alright then little sister, let’s roll.”

  Alura grinned all the way as she drove to Moon’s office building. I could see the wheels turning in her head making battle plans, or maybe fantasizing about kicking Moon’s fury butt. Twenty minutes later we arrived in swanky uptown Manhattan. Meh … not impressed. Alura parked her Porsche in a lot of a tall modern skyscraper. It was one of those typical sterile buildings, probably designed by a rising star architecture, but to me it looked like a tall shoebox with lots of windows.

  “We need to hide our amulets out of sight because of the silver,” Alura said. “Moon’s security will not let anything that is unusual or with metal properties get through.”

  Makes sense Having a deadly allergy to silver would make wolves jittery.

  Alura pulled her necklace amulet out from under her shirt and held it in her hand, palm up at me.

  “You need to cast a clamor spell Azul. My magic is not strong enough, not even on Keob.”

  “You mean invisibility?”

  “No, not an invisibility spell. We want them to see us coming, just not our amulets. A clamor spell will hide objects that you touch, including our amulets.”

  “I’m afraid Kyiel didn’t teach me that one.”

  “That’s because he doesn’t need to teach it. It’s like riding a bike. Once the spell is learned, you never forget it, except perhaps during very early stages of recognition, but you can recall how to cast the spell by concentrating.”

  “Magic without a magic coin … okay, if you say so, but don’t get mad if one of your fingers disappears, figuratively speaking of course since you I won’t be able to actually see your fingers.

  Alura smirked. “Spare me the dry wit brother.”

  I placed one hand over Alura’s amulet and another over mine, then closed my eyes to concentrate on the right magic words to use. Images and letters streamed across my mind and coalesced into two words that I spoke: “Cova nutra.”

  When I opened my eyes and loosened my hand, the amulets could not be seen, but I could feel them. Alura and I were completely visible, or non-clamored to be more precise.

  “Cool trick,” I said. “Sure will be handy for hiding my beer and toast from you know who.”

  “I still have a nose to smell toast and fingers to feel beer cans, but go ahead, knock yourself out Mr. Cheapo.”

  My staff was inside my pocket in coin form, so I guess we were ready to go. Alura stepped out of her car and walked toward the building, but I paused to look at the trunk.

  “Hey, aren’t you going to arm up with something? At least a wooden baseball bat, squirt gun filled with holy water, or anything pointy and sharp.”

  “Nope, it won’t help here. We’ll never get any of that past Moon’s security. Only your innate magic can help us if we get into trouble,” she said and added, “at least I hope it will.”

  Alura shook her head. “Holy water ... really Azul? There are no vampires here. News flash brother – holy water also doesn’t work on vampires either.”

  “What about wooden stakes? Do stakes kill vampires?

  “Can’t kill something already dead. If you stake a vampire, you’ll only leave a big hole in its chest and really piss it off.”

  I looked back again at Alura’s Porsche as we walked toward the building’s entrance.

  “Hey, remind me to get a nice car when all this is over.”

  Living in the area my apartment was located didn’t really justify owning a car because everything was only steps away. Having my own car, on the other hand, would grant me easy access outside the city, like getting away from all the monsters to breathe fresh air in the countryside. Besides, my sister has a Porsche and supposedly works for me at the ZWC Empire, which I haven’t even visited. It seems like my apartment and Magical Herbs has been the full extent of my exploring Manhattan these past couple of days, but hey, I might get a chance to use a car one day – who knows.

  As we got closer to the front entrance, I saw at least a dozen surveillance cameras mounted on lamp posts and at corners of the building. Cameras were not the only thing watching us. On a lamp post was my unwelcomed and annoying hell pet glaring at us. It spread its wings and cawed, and I responded by giving the bird a bird, making sure my middle finger was high above my head so everyone watching could see.

  “What are you looking at you annoying pest?” I said, resulting in a nudge from Alura.

  “Stay focused Azul. We’re about to enter a lycanthrope den. Most certainly it will be a trap.”

  “Yea, I figured it would be. Do we have health insurance at ZWC?”

  Alura smirked. “Get real. If we ever need health insurance, it will be too late.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because dear brother, we’ll be dead.”

  “Well that’s not a very good health plan. I’m guessing there is no dental either.”

  Alura gave me one of her looks that essentially said ‘duh’. We entered a revolving door leading to a metal detector where two armed security guards and an unfriendly dog were waiting. It was a real dog, German Sheppard, not a wolfy beast. I narrowed my eyes to see if either guard had a non-human aura around them and was pleased to see a thin veil of white light around them – good, they’re human. One of the guards placed a plastic tray on a table in front of us.

  “Please place all your metal objects into the try and walk one at a time through the detector,” a guard instructed.

  Alura and I placed our watches and phones into the tray and proceeded through the detectors while I held our clamored amulets. After passing through satisfactorily, Alura and I gathered our things from the tray and proceeded to a front desk where another armed guard was watching security monitors. He also was human.

  “Who are you here to see?” the guard asked.

  So far so good. The guards were polite and professional.

  I wondered if they knew their employer was a big bad wolf. Probably not, because if they did and still worked here, that would make them polite, professional, and completely nuts.

  “We’re here to see Mr. Moon,” I said.

  The guard looked back and forth at us and asked if we had an appointment.

  “No appointment, but Moon will want to see us. Tell him that Daniel Zane from Zane Worldwide Comm
unications is here.”

  The guard gave Alura a look up and down several times, undoubtedly curious about her military fatigues.

  I smiled. “She works at the office in shipping,” I said, causing the guard to raise his eyebrows as if he just heard the biggest lie ever, but he picked up the desk phone anyway to announce our presence.

  “Mr. Zane from Zane Worldwide Communications is here with a young lady to see Mr. Moon. Yes sir, I’ll tell them.”

  The guard gave us another once over look, but didn’t appear overly concerned.

  “Someone will be down shortly to greet you both,” he said, then told us to sit on a bench next to a wall.

  While we were waiting, I noticed there was no company directory hung on any of the lobby walls. There was, however, large chrome letters bolted to a wall spelling out Moon, Stillman, and Kragen as Attorneys at Law.

  I leaned in to Alura and said, “This entire building for a single law firm. Business must be very good.”

  Alura arched her eyebrow and said, “It would appear so,” then grinned and shook her head in contempt.

  Several minutes passed before a man dressed in expensive business attire walked out of an elevator. I could see a yellow aura around him and he smelt like a wet dog, so I knew it was one of Lupzarro’s shapeshifters.

  “Good evening Mr. Zane,” he said. “Mr. Moon has been expecting you. Please, follow me,” the fetch dog said, gesturing with his hand toward the elevator.

  Expecting us? That’s interesting … and scary.

  Alura gave a look letting me know she was thinking the same thing. Moon had set a 5:00 PM deadline for me to accept a truce with Lupzarro, and it was now 7:45 PM, way pass the deadline.

  Why was he expecting us? Maybe he thinks I was stuck in traffic … or maybe Alura and I are on his dinner menu.

  Moon’s fetch dog walked pass the elevator he had previously exited to a door on the other side of the hallway. It looked like a supply closet until he opened it revealing an electronic keypad and private elevator. The lycanthrope entered a code and the elevator door opened. We had to squeeze in because it was not big enough for the three of us, and instead of going up as I expected, the elevator went down.

  “Where is this fire trap taking us?” I asked.

  “Please be patient sir. Mr. Moon’s office is located a few floors below the lobby. He often conducts conferences there with clients and guests to provide the highest level of security.”

  Yea, and to silence all his victims screaming.

  I checked inside my pocket to be sure my staff was still there – it was – and I kept my hand on it ready to go as the hairs on the back of my neck stiffened. When the elevator door opened, Moon’s fetch dog gestured for Alura and I to exit into a narrow and tastefully decorated hallway.

  Two more beasties wearing thousand dollar suits joined the pet parade. These two were gorillas, not the kind in a zoo, but the kind you see at gyms and wonder how much steroids they took to look like gorillas. We now had three lycanthropes leading us down the hallway to a certain trap.

  Alura’s magic skills were only modest at best, but she could fight like no one I’ve ever seen, not even in movies. Hopefully she watched all those old Bruce Lee flicks and learned some hand-to-hand combat because all her weapons were left in the Porsche.

  What am I saying? These are werewolves … large, ugly, smelly beasts with razor sharp teeth and a never ending appetite. What chance do we have for surviving if they go all out on us?

  My feet kept walking, but my brain was telling me to run as we came to the end of the hallway. Moon’s fetch dog opened one of the two large doors with long brass handles and asked us to make ourselves comfortable.

  “Mr. Moon will be you shortly,” he said and closed the door.

  “I’d bet my last dollar, if I had one, those two gorillas are standing outside the door,” I said. “I suppose it doesn’t matter much. It’s not like we would get very far even if they weren’t.”

  Alura ignored my pessimism and began checking out the room. It was a typical corporate business room with a long rectangle table surrounded by expensive leather chairs. There was one chair at the head of the table where an insanely large photo of Moon with two other legal eagles hung on the wall. Alura sat down on one of the chairs, put her feet up crossed on top of the table, and folded her hands behind her head staring at the portrait.

  “Attorneys Stillman and Kragen I presume,” Alura said. “Moon we already know.”

  “Comfy Alura? Doesn’t it bother you knowing three or more lycanthropes are outside those doors getting ready to make us their dinner?”

  “Actually, I’m wondering which of them I’m going to kill first,” she said, looking at me with a serious face until we both burst out laughing.

  “Really … is that the plan?” I asked. “We wait in this room, with no possible way to escape, and you’re contemplating which fur ball to kill first.”

  Alura stood up and kissed me on my check.

  “Come on brother, we’ve been in tighter situations than this. At least I think we have. I mean we have survived for millenniums, so we must be pretty good at killing bad guys.”

  “Or, we got sliced, diced, and served as some wolf delicacy thousands of times,” I said.

  I heard a sound of metal clicking and knew the doors were being locked. I tried to turn the doorknob – yup, they’re locked. I banged on the door and told the gorillas outside it was against the law to detain people, not to mention very rude. A moment later, a large flat screen monitor lowered from the ceiling and turned on.

  “Very nice to see you again Mr. Zane, but I am curious as to what your intentions are since my client’s truce proposal expired several hours ago. Please tell me why you have come to my office uninvited. It would seem such a decision could be, well let us say, an unhealthy choice at this late hour.”

  “Well, you know what they say Moony boy: It’s never too late to tidy up loose ends.”

  “An interesting thought Mr. Zane, but please tell me what you believe will be the result of this predicament you have gotten yourself and your sister into.”

  Moon was grinning, the kind of grin that Tom the cat had when trapping Jerry the mouse. I’ll admit, the situation was grim and Moon knew it, so I responded in the most careful possible way.

  “I was thinking of asking you to speak with Lupzarro, you know, wolf to wolf, and stop any plans involving harming innocent people. If that doesn’t work, well, I guess I’d settle for blowing up your shinny new building and killing you fur balls.”

  Moon’s eyes lit up bright yellow and his voice became deep and course. Perhaps the fur ball was caught off guard hearing a threat from someone he considered a trapped rat. I grinned back at him and maintained eye contact hoping he might take me more seriously.

  “You are fifty feet below the surface. No one can hear you nor can anyone save you. This will be your last few moments on Earth Mr. Zane,” he said, his eyes turning back to grey, and his voice sounding more human. “Please excuse me Mr. Zane, I digress. It would be impolite for me to allow harm come to you and your lovely sister before my client has had a chance to bid you both farewell.”

  With those final words, the screen blinked showing the one and only, king of the Manhattan lycanthropes, Lupzarro.

  “Hello … hello there Mr. Zane. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see you again. We departed so quickly the last time we met, I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. Too bad you would not accept the truce I wished to have between us. It would have been the easy way to settle our differences, but since you have come to Mr. Moon’s office, you present me with a better choice. Better for me of course, not so good for you I’m afraid.”

  “Look Lupzarro, I’m here only as a professional courtesy, a last attempt to see if you’ll listen to reason. It’s quite simple. If you back-off your plans for tonight, I’ll pretend we never met. This assumes of course you remain a good wolf in the city. The alternative is not as pleasing, I a
ssure you.”

  “Yes, yes, I heard your threats issued to my attorney. Such nonsense is of no consequence, especially since you are … how do humans say … oh, yes … trapped like rats in a cage. But not all is lost Mr. Zane, not for a little while at least. I have some entertainment for you and your sister to enjoy before things get messy in Mr. Moon’s board room. Please enjoy the show. Goodbye Mr. Zane.”

  The screen went black.

  The ‘show’ … that doesn’t sound good.

  I took my coin from my pocket and said, “Unclass staff.” The coin lifted into the air and turned into a blue-white swirl of color, and then changed into my staff. The amulets on top of my staff, necklace, and ring all began to glow.

  Alura jumped off the chair and faced the door. About ten seconds passed, which seemed like hours when waiting for monsters to kill you, then the monitor flickered. We saw what looked like a train or underground subway terminal. The image quality was grainy and in monochrome showing people moving around with others sitting on benches. A subway car soon appeared from the tunnel and passed a platform. Alura looked at me and I saw fear in her eyes. She then looked back at the screen and made tight fists.

  “He’s going to attack people in that subway,” she said. “Lupzarro’s going to kill those people.”

  “Do you know where this place is Alura?”

  “No, but I know how to find out. We need to call Sarila.”

  “Call … as in call using a cell phone needing a signal? We’ll never get any reception this deep underground.”

  Alura took her phone out of her pocket and, sure enough, there was no signal. She moved the phone close to her lips and said, “Keob.” The phone’s screen glowed brighter and began to ring.

  “Not a normal phone brother, remember? Sarila made these from magical elements. They will work anywhere.”

  “Alura, fill me in my dear,” Sarila said.

  “Later Sarila. Right now I need you to lock in on the satellite feed coming from where I’m located. It’s probably a metropolitan subway camera somewhere in the city.”

  “Yes, certainly,” Sarila said, clearly hearing the urgency in Alura’s voice. “Give me a second … got it. It’s at terminal 57 at 32nd 50 West Broad Street.”

  “Azul and I are at Moon’s office 50 feet below ground and things are about to get ugly. We need boots on the ground at the terminal as soon as possible. No time to waste. People are about to be killed Sarila, so please hurry.”