The Vigiles Urbani Chronicles- Year One

by Ken Lange

Chapter 23

  It was after ten when I got back to the trailer. Once we had a bite to eat, I helped Cole step outside to get some sun while we discussed what was next on the agenda. Turned out Alexander needed to return to Santa Fe this evening to pick up his people. Given how little he’d slept over the last few days, he was beat. I offered him my room to get some rest, which he happily accepted, so that essentially took him out of the equation for the rest of the day.

  Cole was on the mend, but it was clear he wouldn’t be in the field for a few days yet. As for Hayden, she was an unknown factor since she was splitting her time between New Orleans and here.

  Which meant I was on my own for reconnaissance this evening. I wasn’t keen on popping out there in the middle of the day; it’d be too easy to spot me moving in the distance. My main objective was to figure out why they wanted their own personal railway, even if it was only nine miles of track. I was hoping they didn’t have enough undead to require a freight train to move them around.

  Over the course of the afternoon, I picked Cole’s brain for some background information. From what he said, my destination was several times larger than the Sohoi mine. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why they were using abandoned uranium mines to store their meat puppets. Was it the wide-open space they needed, or the low-grade radiation, or the privacy, or what?

  It wasn’t as if Grants was heavily populated, or some sort of tourist hotspot, and with Lewis’s death grip on the area, I doubted they had to worry about scaring people away. Something about the way they stored their—what did they call them?—Dust Walkers had to make sense to someone, just not to me. Not yet, anyway.

  I’d hoped Kur would help, but he’d been unusually quiet. Even as I tried to contact him, it was obvious he either didn’t have answers or simply wasn’t going to share them. I was leaning toward the not having them, since he seemed just as confused about the subject as I was. Eventually, after a lot of prodding, he took a wild guess that the necromancers were using the radiation to mask something else.

  On a totally different front, Kur was worried about an unusual transmission that had originated in New Orleans and terminated somewhere outside Mexico City. According to him, the information contained within the signal was encoded on a frequency that shouldn’t have existed in this world.

  When I pressed him on the issue, all he managed to do was give me a headache by playing the screeching white noise inside my brainpan. It goes without saying that I didn’t understand what had him so worked up. The harder he tried to make me understand, the more frustrated he became. That, and the exorbitant amount of energy he’d used to try to decrypt the information, had worn him out, so he bedded down to take another nap.

  That was just great. A bunch of mumbo-jumbo from my imaginary friend. If he was right about the low-grade radiation being a cover for something, there was nowhere better suited in the world than where we were standing. Which meant that not only was the Black Circle a massive organization with its own elite forces, those who were running it were exceptionally clever. That made them so much more dangerous than I’d originally anticipated…and that was saying something.

  To be honest, I couldn’t fathom how they’d been able to go untold millennia without being discovered. Hell, until a few days ago, their organization wasn’t even a blip on the radar. With the resources Hayden, Viktor, and Lazarus had at their disposal, that should’ve been an impossibility.

  Another mystery was how the memories of Samuel Estes and Naevius Sutorius Marco’s deaths had been erased. What power or magic did the Black Circle have at their disposal that could remove their final moments from the coin, or Kur, for that matter?

  I’d searched his memories of Naevius’s last few weeks. While he’d been in Hastings in October of 1066, Kur had no clear recollection of his actual death. It was becoming clear, though, that he hadn’t died in the battle as everyone had been told.

  No, he’d been killed by Chandra Raghnailt, and she’d torn out his soul to be used for some darker purpose. I wasn’t sure if she’d intended to cripple the Archive for the next thousand years or not, but it’d certainly worked out that way.

  The more I found out about these guys, the more they concerned me. My biggest worry was that they’d somehow infiltrated us. If Walter was any indication, they were close, even if they weren’t actual officers within the Archive itself. I’d have to put an end to letting prefects induct their own vigils until I could be sure. The thought had no more than crossed my mind when four denarius coins formed in my palm.

  Well, shit.

  Then again, I had an idea for one of the coins. Pocketing them, I stepped into the trailer to find Cole seated at the table and a freshly showered Alexander cooking. I slid into the seat across from Cole. “How are you feeling?”

  He grumbled, “Like I got shot.”

  “Fair enough.” Pausing, I took a deep breath. “Remember the first night we met?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Yeah…what about it?”

  I placed my palm on the table with the denarius underneath it. “You and your lovely wife Danielle commented that it was nice to have a vigil who understood your point of view.”

  Cole nodded. “Uh-huh. What’s your point?”

  I slid the silver coin toward him. “We need someone who can serve locally. My better half pointed out recently that I couldn’t keep doing this job on my own forever. And I thought you might be interested.” Shrugging, I said, “It’s obvious you already go out of your way to look after the area. If you accept the offer, you’d have the authority to back it up. Besides, it’d be nice to have another vigil who’d have my back.”

  Alexander placed a plate in front of each of us. “This should be interesting.”

  Cole didn’t move for a long moment. Eventually, his gaze traveled from the coin to me. “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He glanced back at the coin. “Why me?”

  I folded my arms. “Because it’s becoming apparent that there’s a major threat to our survival out there, and I’m not entirely sure the Archive hasn’t been infiltrated.”

  He hesitated. “And if I refuse?”

  “Then you do, but I sure as hell could use the help.” Thumbing over at Alexander, I said, “He can’t do all the heavy lifting for me, and I think you’re the man for the job.”

  Cole’s expression hardened. “Are you sure?”

  Sitting back in my seat, I nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

  He bit his lip. “Okay, I’m in. What do I need to do?”

  I pointed at the coin. “Pick it up. It’ll do the rest.”

  Cole’s hands shook as he reached for the small piece of silver, and he tentatively picked it up. In that moment, a sharp pain shot through my temple, my eyes slammed closed, and my body went rigid as agony tore through me.

  After what felt like an eternity, the world around me gradually brightened, and when my vision cleared, I wasn’t in the trailer any longer. Instead, I stood atop a massive disk of onyx that was floating in the vastness of space. A large crack ran the breadth of the thing, but other than that, it was unmarred.

  Dozens of galaxies swirled in the distance, and a small moon hung over the far edge. A few seconds later, Cole slowly materialized beside me.

  I reached out and caught him when his body crumpled. “Easy. Are you okay?”

  He gasped for breath and pulled himself upright as he glanced around in awe. “Where are we?”

  I shook my head. “Not a clue.”

  A thunderous roar shook the platform, and when I glanced up, there was Kur. He was massive, his black, armored scales were backlit with blue light, and his eyes glowed violet.

  He circled us once before softly touching down in front of us. In his true form, he towered hundreds of feet overhead. He tilted his head, and his gaze landed on me as he smiled, revealing gleaming silver teeth. “It is good to see you again.” He turned his attention to Cole. “I am Kur, and it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintan
ce.”

  Cole bowed. “Likewise. Any idea where we are?”

  Kur chuckled. “This is a junction between your reality and my own. It doesn’t have a name, as far as I know.”

  Clearing my throat, I frowned. “Why are we here?”

  Kur ducked his head to keep me from breaking my neck as I looked up at him. “Because this is the only place we can truly speak to one another. In my current state, it’s so very difficult to form words, but here…it’s as if I’m whole once more.” He cut his eyes at Cole. “When you added his power to the collective, I was able to pull you both here to have this conversation in person.”

  Cole glanced between the two of us. “So, you two know one another?”

  I scrunched up my shoulders. “Sort of, but this is our first face-to-face meeting.”

  Kur winced.

  Stepping forward, I reached out for him. “Are you all right?”

  A low growl escaped his lips. “No, my injuries are making it difficult to maintain this reality, which means we can’t stay here long…but know this: there are more from my realm here. If what the other Reaper said was true, it would appear the Svartálfar and Álfheimr gifted the Children of the First abilities from my realm, which makes them more dangerous than you realize.”

  Shrugging, I asked, “What can I do to help?”

  He staggered to the side and stifled another moan of pain. “Fill the remaining positions within the collective. Once it’s complete, I can assist you in my true form and help drive these polluted avatars of the Svartálfar and Álfheimr from this realm. And if we’re able to find the Idunn, they’d likely lend their strength to the cause and hopefully ensure our victory. That’s why it is so important that you find out what Hayden knows. Our very existence could hinge on what she’s hiding from us.”

  “Okay then…so no pressure.” I held out my hand to stop him from pounding the point home. “She did say she’d talk to the Star Born, and maybe with his help, we can find the Idunn.” Curious, I asked, “Why are the Svartálfar and Álfheimr coming to this world? I thought this would be more of a punishment for them than a prize.”

  The realms controlled by the machine gods of light and darkness filled my mind. A massive wave of shadowy energy emanated from this world and traveled through a portal that had been created by the Dvergr—the machine gods version of blacksmiths crossed with engineers and scientists—back into their realm. At first it was ignored, but in time, Kur determined that this one act had caused the corruption of the machine gods. The resulting war had depleted their resources and lives, not to mention driven them mad. With their realm in tatters, the only thing left was to find a new one to inhabit…and that was the world of organics—the very source of the original corruption.

  The vision vanished, and I was on my knees with Cole doing his best to keep me off the ground.

  He leaned over. “Are you all right?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure.”

  Kur groaned, and his form wavered. “I cannot keep us here any longer. Be well, and stay safe.”

  The world rushed back to me, and I screamed.

  It took a moment to realize we were still seated at the table. Blood ran from Cole’s nose and eyes, but otherwise he appeared to be okay.

  He grimaced. “That was unpleasant.”

  I was weak and wanted nothing more than to vomit, but otherwise fine. “No shit.”

  He glanced down at his hand to see the vigil symbol carved into his flesh. “Looks like it’s official.”

  “Apparently.” Hesitating for a moment, I said, “I’m sorry about that. If I’d known…”

  His laughter was dark. “You would’ve still done it.”

  I couldn’t disagree. “Probably.”

  He patted my arm. “I think it was the right decision, and a small price to pay if you’re right about the necromancers possibly infiltrating the Archive.”

  Alexander handed me a towel. “You two look like hell. Maybe you should clean up before you eat.”

  Getting to my feet, I passed the cloth to Cole. “Here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I headed for the back, and stopped in the bathroom. Not only was my face covered in blood, so was my shirt. I stripped, washed up, and grabbed some clean clothes before returning to the others. Needless to say, breakfast was eaten in silence.

  Chapter 24

  It was a little after three in the afternoon when Alexander excused himself and headed off to Santa Fe to pick up his team. After our excursion to the far reaches of God knows where, Cole was exhausted. I had to help him back to his room, where he fell asleep almost instantly.

  As for me, I was still itching to visit Jackpile Mine, but as I’d already decided that getting shot was a bad idea, I opted for something a bit safer. I popped back to the shop in Grants, hoping to find something I’d missed earlier. That, and I needed to make a call. If I was lucky, Viktor’s guy had broken the encryption, and Hayden would have an update for me.

  I made another pass of the place in an attempt to keep myself busy, and not appear so impatient. That lasted all of five minutes before I pulled out my phone and dialed Hayden.

  She picked up on the first ring, but the voice that came over the line was Ignatius’s. “Hello. I was just sitting here talking to Viktor about your predicament.”

  My hopes were lifted for a moment. “That’s great. Is he able to help?”

  Ignatius sighed. “Yeah, but it’ll take a few days to get his people mobilized. It would seem you’re not the only one with problems. Over the last few months, rival syndicates have been taking shots at one another.”

  I shrugged. “Why does he care if a bunch of criminals try to tear each other apart?”

  He snickered. “Do you recall the shakeup in the MCC a few months ago?”

  Shakeup was putting things mildly. From what I gathered, Viktor had tossed the former leader of the MCC out on his ass. “Yeah, some guy named Leonard found himself unemployed.”

  Ignatius chuckled. “Essentially. Thing is, when he vacated the premises, a lot of people went with him. Ever since then, he’s been causing a ton of problems for a man named Nigel, who’s grown tired of the inconvenience and is currently in the process of dismantling Leonard’s crew. To be totally honest, it’s making a mess here in town. Add to that the general spike in craziness with Lamia having been on the loose since January, and there’s a lot of cleanup going on. If this situation were contained to the city, I’d be more inclined to let Viktor’s people handle it, but as it stands, a lot of my forces are tied up as well. Which means all hands on deck at the moment. Sorry.”

  I sighed. “In short, I’m on my own for a bit.”

  He lowered his voice, sounding slightly embarrassed. “I’m afraid so. If we could do more right now, I promise we would.”

  Plopping into a nearby chair, I grumbled, “I get it. This is just one more fire in the middle of an inferno.”

  He laughed. “That’s as good a way of putting it as any. Look, I’ve got a couple of things to do here, but with luck, I’ll be back in a day or so. Hopefully by then, Mir will have accessed the laptops.” He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “Apparently, the encryption is unbelievably complex.”

  I clasped my hand over my forehead. “Of course it is.”

  “Anything new to report on your end?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing solid yet, but there’s a lead I want to track down.”

  He paused. “You got help?”

  Shrugging, I said, “Probably, but they won’t be available till later this evening. But honestly, once things start going bad, I’d like to have you around for backup.”

  His voice dropped to a near whisper. “I know, but this is just as important right now. You’ll have to trust me on this. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  I thunked my head against the wall. “Fine, but I can’t promise that the zombie apocalypse won’t start without you.”

  Ignatius groaned. “I know, but you’re not the o
nly one dealing with apocalyptic shit.”

  Sitting upright, I sighed. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  His voice turned serious. “If something comes up, try to get a message to me.”

  The situation didn’t make me happy, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. “I’ll do my best. Talk soon.”

  I ended the call and stuffed the phone in my pocket. Then the chime of the front door opening sounded through the back of the house.

  Well, that couldn’t be good news for me.

  A soft female voice called out, “Don’t get twitchy. I’ve come in peace.”

  Not recognizing the woman, I unholstered my pistol and made my way to the stairs. “Not that I don’t believe you…but I don’t. Would you mind moving very slowly to where I can see you?”

  She stepped into view with her hands held out in surrender. “Good enough?”

  It took me a second to place her, and then I remembered the young woman who’d been at the Grants when I first arrived. “Jessica?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  I waved for her to put her hands down. “Okay…what are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you.” She pointed at the bar. “Do you mind?”

  Stepping back, I shrugged. “Be my guest.”

  Jessica knelt and pulled one of the panels away then there was a sharp click as she flipped a switch. “Good. Now we can talk in peace.”

  I facepalmed myself. “Christ, how many others know I’m here?”

  She shook her head. “No one. I hijacked the feed shortly after things went south between you and the others.” Pointing at the pistol, she said, “Mind putting that away?”

  If what she said was true, she’d done me a favor, and if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t take a second to put a bullet between her eyes. I holstered the weapon and gestured at the chair next to her. “The obvious question is why you would do that, and why you even have access to this equipment in the first place.”

  Jessica grinned. “Short answer, I’m not a fan of Diana and her crew…what’s left of them anyway. I’m guessing you’re responsible for that.”