The Vigiles Urbani Chronicles- Year One

by Ken Lange

  Gingerly, I made my way into the bedroom and grabbed a clean shirt before moving into the bath to wash my face in the sink. Then I went downstairs for some much-needed nourishment.

  We were about done when Heather took a deep breath. “Do you think there are any other traps in the house?”

  I leaned back in my seat. “I don’t have a clue.”

  She grimaced. “I hate this.”

  “I’m not exactly a fan either.” Reaching over, I patted her arm. “Do you want to go stay with your mom, or Andrew?”

  She folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. “I’m not letting those assholes run me out of my home.” Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not leaving.”

  “Fair enough.” Squeezing her arm, I smiled. “We’ll get this settled and make the house safe again. After that, I think we’ll both sleep better.”

  She nodded. “Probably.” She glanced at her watch. “Crap. I’ve got to go.”

  “What’s the rush?”

  A small groan escaped her lips. “Mom and I are monitoring reports on the were integration. It’s gone surprisingly well, but she likes to do this weekly.”

  I beamed. “I’m glad it’s going smoothly.”

  “Me too.” Heather waved. “I’ve really got to go. Talk soon.”

  And out the door she went, leaving me to do the dishes. A half hour later, I was back in the office when my phone rang.

  Isidore’s name popped up on my screen.

  “Hello.”

  His tone was light. “Good morning, sunshine.”

  Unable to help myself, I chuckled. “Good morning, Isidore. How can I help you today?”

  He harrumphed. “Fine, down to business it is. I’m over at the church with Andrew. It appears he’s found his new favorite spot on earth.”

  Arching an eyebrow, I plopped into the office chair. “Come again?”

  He tittered. “The room helps to quiet his mind, or so he says. But that’s not why I’m calling.”

  “Then why?”

  Isidore sighed. “You’re no fun at all first thing in the morning. Andrew thinks he knows how some of the glyphs work…maybe. He started rambling to himself at that point, but he wants you to meet him at his place at nine.”

  Checking my watch, I nodded. “Oh? That’s great. See you guys in a bit.”

  A horn blared in the background. “See you then.”

  After ending the call, I scribbled a few more notes into my notebook before getting to my feet. Fortunately for me, I’d picked up the Tucker after dinner last night. Granted, I had at least an hour before I needed to leave, but I hated being late. It took me several minutes to put my things away and take a couple of photos of the bookshelf for Andrew. Then I grabbed my keys off the corner of the desk and headed out the door.

  Heather’s neighborhood was much like my uncle’s in that anything out of the ordinary stood out, such as the maintenance van parked down the block. While I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure it wasn’t the real deal, I went ahead and made a call.

  It only rang once before Alexander picked up. “Morning, Gavin. How are things today?”

  Craning my neck from side to side, I grumbled, “I’ve had better days, that’s for sure. But then again, I’ve had worse. How are things with you?”

  He chuckled. “Still got my hands full with the church. Is there something on your mind?”

  Glancing in my rearview mirror, I frowned. “Actually, there is. Is Dean around?”

  His tone turned serious. “Yeah, he’s downstairs helping dismantle the treasure room.”

  Well, shit.

  “Could you have him check on a situation over at Heather’s?”

  Alexander’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “What’s going on?”

  Maybe the discovery of the Gotteskinder and the Black Circle was making me paranoid…but then again, maybe not. “I’ve got a suspicious vehicle parked on the street here by Heather’s. If it’s not too much trouble, could you send someone over to check it out for me?”

  He grunted. “One of us will be there shortly.”

  With that, the call ended. Now that the situation was handled, I could visit Andrew’s knowing that our place was safe.

  Ten minutes later, I pulled into the drive at my uncle’s and parked. All was quiet as I made my way up the stairs to his apartment. When I opened the door, Andrew was just sitting at his desk. Isidore wore an expression somewhere between amusement and exhaustion.

  I waved. “Morning, gentlemen.”

  Isidore returned the gesture as he plopped into a chair in front of the desk. “Oh, now you’re all happy. Where was that attitude earlier?” He gestured at Andrew. “That one’s far too happy as well.”

  Andrew snorted. “You’re just jealous that I found my happy spot.”

  Isidore stifled a laugh. “Isn’t that Kim’s job?”

  My uncle turned stark white.

  Isidore squeezed his eyes closed and dropped his head as he shook it.

  “Huh?” Folding my arms, I gave my uncle a curious look. “Is there something I should know?”

  Andrew shook his head. “Nope.”

  I glanced over at Isidore. “Care to explain?”

  He mimed zipping his mouth shut and stayed mute.

  Arching an eyebrow at him, I turned to Andrew. “You sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?”

  He sighed. “I am, but you’re obviously not going to let it go… Kimberly and I have sort of started seeing each other again.”

  I placed my hand over my heart. “You don’t say.”

  Cutting his eyes at me, he said, “We’ve been taking it slow, and trying to keep it to ourselves. So, I’d appreciate it if you did the same.”

  I frowned. “Can’t promise anything. It isn’t as if I’m going to start lying to Heather for you, but it’d probably be best if Kim told her instead of me.”

  He hung his head and sighed. “Fine, I’ll talk to her, but the rest is on her.”

  I waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “Fine, but don’t think this is over.”

  If he thought I was done with him and Kim, he was mistaken. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t upset about it. Hell, if anything, I was happy for them. But I wasn’t above giving them a taste of their own medicine. They’d both gone out of their way to mess with me and Heather when we first met, so it seemed only fair that we got to do the same.

  Andrew grimaced. “It is for now.” He sighed. “And there goes my good mood.”

  I shrugged. “Sorry. Maybe you can tell me what’s got you so happy…other than Kim.”

  Andrew’s expression made it clear that he didn’t think I was all that funny. He pulled the blueprints I’d given him out of his desk and pointed. “This is the symbol I’ve been focusing on as it’s the closest to the Sumerian text.”

  Leaning over the desk, I shook my head. “Okay… What’s it mean?”

  He frowned. “I’m still not completely certain, but I’m almost sure this is the glyph that kept you from teleporting out of the room.” He jabbed another of the drawings. “And this is the one that’s supposed to mute or cancel our abilities…I think. I’m still trying to figure it out.” He lifted his gaze to mine. “If I’ve deciphered the glyphs correctly, it doesn’t work the way it was intended to.” A faint smile crosses his lips. “But it did make the world a much quieter place for me. Being inside that room is almost as good as being close to you. It dampens my abilities, but doesn’t turn them off. I just have to work harder to make them function properly.” Pointing at Isidore, he said, “It has no effects on weres, as far as I can tell.”

  Isidore nodded. “It’s true, whatever’s in there doesn’t mess with our abilities.”

  I sighed. “That’s weird.”

  Andrew leaned back in his seat. “Not really. None of us know how their abilities work, so making a glyph that would counteract that is virtually impossible.”

  Nodding, I said, “Good point. But why call me over for this?”

  H
is expression turned hard. “That was only the warmup.” He opened a drawer and produced a box with two folders on top. “This was in the Father’s residence.” He leaned over and handed it to me. “I thought you’d want it.”

  I opened the top folder then went stock still. Glancing over at my uncle, I asked, “Did you read this?”

  His gaze hit the desk. “Only a bit here and there. Once I realized what it was, I closed it and had Isidore call you.”

  Inside the plain-looking folder was a brief history of my service to the DOD. Below that were a couple of old disks, a portable drive, and even more paperwork. Someone somewhere had gone to a great deal of time and trouble to acquire these documents.

  I sighed. “This isn’t good.” Looking over at him, I asked, “Any chance we have connections within the US government that we could use to have my file permanently destroyed?”

  Andrew nodded. “There is, and the process has already started. That’s what I was doing earlier.”

  “Thanks.”

  He gave me a weak smile. “It’s the least I could do.”

  Having this much information about my past in hand made me uncomfortable. “Is there anything else?”

  He shook his head. “Not right now. What are you going to do with that?”

  I glanced down at the folder and shrugged. “No idea…but for now, I’d like to lock it away.”

  He nodded. “Understood. If we find anything else, we’ll be in touch.”

  I waved and made my way downstairs to the Tucker. I wasn’t sure where I was going but having my past show up on my doorstep so soon after leaving it behind wasn’t sitting well with me. There were too many people back at Elmwood for my liking, so I headed to Heather’s place instead.

  Chapter 9

  About a half block from Heather’s, I spotted Gabriel’s oversized black military Hummer sitting in front of her house, but the maintenance van was gone. Which told me they’d either finished the job or taken one look at Gabriel and decided to forgo whatever shenanigans they’d had in mind.

  Most of us couldn’t have pulled that off just by showing up, but for Gabriel it wasn’t even a challenge. On top of his humbling physique, when he wasn’t smiling, he had resting serial killer face. With those two things working in his favor, even the most macho of men had to rethink their position within the food chain.

  I turned into the drive and pulled around back, doing my best to give Heather enough room to use the garage. After putting the car in park, I made my way around front to greet my friend.

  Gabriel stepped out of his vehicle and waved. “Morning, Gavin.”

  I grasped his forearm and brought him in for a hug. “Good to see you. Hope you weren’t doing anything too important when you got the call.”

  He shook his head. “Not even a little. I was causing more trouble than I’m worth, I think.”

  Furrowing my brow, I asked, “How do you figure that?”

  Embarrassment was clear in his tone as he shifted his gaze to anywhere but me. “I kept getting stuck in the hallway. So, I was more of a hindrance than anything.” He shrugged. “I was thrilled you’d asked for help. It meant I’d actually be able to make myself useful while they work on the church.”

  “Glad I could be of assistance.” My gaze flickered down the street. “Did you have a word with the folks in the van?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, they left shortly after Dean and I arrived. He asked me to watch the place while he tracked them.”

  Clutching the small box under my arm, I gestured for him to follow me. “Let’s step inside where there’s more privacy.”

  He ducked to make it through the doorway, but luckily for both of us, the twelve-foot ceilings throughout the house gave us plenty of clearance. I guided him up the stairs to the office where I placed the box on the desk before taking a seat.

  I clenched my fists to pop my knuckles. “Anything happening out in Elmwood I should know about?”

  He shook his head. “For the most part, they’re still sifting through the papers and other objects we’ve been collecting. Sad thing is, there’s nothing of interest to report. Other than Father Alfred, I suppose.”

  “What about him?”

  He shrugged. “From what we can gather, he took his job as priest rather seriously. Whatever he was doing for the Gotteskinder was more like a side gig than anything else. I guess it could’ve been more involved, but he did spend a lot of time performing his duties.”

  I sighed. “Guess we’ll need to contact the church for a new vicar while we search for answers elsewhere.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Why not?”

  He leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his knees. “The second you do that, we lose control of the facility, and we’re not done yet.”

  Sighing, I asked, “How are we supposed to keep the parishioners happy until we can conclude our investigation? I mean, this could take a couple of weeks. Maybe more.”

  He shook a finger in my direction as he started to grin. “Talk to Dean when he calls in and see if he’ll fill in until they’re done.”

  I blinked. “Why? He certainly isn’t a priest.”

  He laughed. “Not anymore. Well, I guess technically not ever, but he did attend seminary school back in the day. He performs Mass for those within the community who don’t feel comfortable going to a mundane church.”

  I frowned. “There are folks in the Archive who still attend services?”

  Gabriel nodded. “Granted, we take the whole miracle thing in stride, but people need something to believe in that’s bigger than themselves.” He gestured at me. “To be honest, I’m not sure how you’re handling all this so well. I was born into this world knowing about…well, most everything, thanks to my mom. And for you to fall into it as late as you did, you’re holding up fairly decently.”

  I chuckled. “It helps that there hasn’t been a lot of time to think about it.”

  He grinned. “Fair enough. But it’s got to be tough seeing as you don’t really have a lot of folks to learn from.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve got some help, but other than being magically challenged, I’m not that much different from anyone else in the Archive.”

  He snorted. “Don’t kid yourself. Or me, for that matter. Any one of your abilities would be enough to terrify most, but the being immune to magic bit…that’s where things get tricky, especially if it becomes widely known.”

  I shifted in my seat. “It’s not like I go around advertising it. Granted, more people know about it than I’d like, but so far they’re not talking.”

  Gabriel ran his hand over his head. “I know, but it’s going to get out sooner or later, and when it does, there’ll be two camps.”

  “And those would be?”

  Extending his index finger, he grimaced. “Those who fall in line.” He flicked his next finger up. “And those who try to kill you…or openly revolt.” His expression continued to harden. “It’s good that you’ve recruited so many weres into the ranks, but you need to think about diversifying to help even things out.” He gestured at himself. “At the moment, between me and the weres, you’ve recruited the most unpopular folks you can find… I’m just asking that you give it some thought, is all.”

  I rapped my fingers against the desk. “I have. But given the state of things—me being new, freeing the weres worldwide, along with everything else—people haven’t exactly been knocking down my door to volunteer for anything, let alone the centurions.”

  He blew out a breath. “You mean to tell me no one else has applied?”

  Touching my finger to my nose, I frowned. “Bingo.” A dark chuckle escaped my lips. “Not only that, but I’m having difficulty finding competent people to fill the empty vigil positions. I’m counting myself lucky that the current vigiles aren’t trying to quit.”

  Gabriel winced. “Well, shit. I was hoping you’d be getting a better reception than that.”

 
I shook my head. “People hate change. Everyone says they want it, but very few actually do.”

  “True.” His gaze landed on the box. “What’s that?”

  I put my hand on the lid. “My past coming back to haunt me.”

  Gabriel bit his lip. “If you want some help with it, just ask.”

  I forced a smile onto my face. “Nah, I’ve got it. Thanks, though.”

  “If that changes, let me know.” After pausing for a moment, he asked, “Would you mind if I take over the guest room for a few days?”

  Before I actually gave it any thought, I said, “Not really, but may I ask why?”

  Laughing, he said, “It’s more comfortable than my car. Besides, it’s crowded as hell back home and I could use the break.”

  I’d obviously missed something. “Wait, why would you be sleeping in your car? I know you get paid enough to get a hotel room if you’re trying to get away… Hell, expense it and I’ll get it cleared.”

  He huffed out a laugh. “God, you’re slow.”

  “Huh?”

  He gestured at the front of the house. “It doesn’t matter if that van is full of bad guys or not, people want you dead, and the rest of us would rather that didn’t happen.”

  Oh, ah…guess that meant he was here to keep an eye on me. “You realize I can take care of myself, right?”

  He nodded. “Sure, but even you have your limits. With the Black Circle and this new group in play, it’s probably best to make sure you have a safe place to sleep until things blow over.”

  I sat on the corner of my desk and smiled. “Thank you, but—”

  Gabriel pulled back his sleeve to reveal the marking on his wrist. “No buts. There are a lot of people who depend on you staying put. Have you ever given any thought to what would happen to the weres if you were killed?” He gestured at himself. “And me…do you remember telling me that if you died, so would my protection?”

  Until that very moment, I hadn’t really thought about my life in that context. My chest constricted, making it hard to breathe properly as the full weight of my actions settled onto my shoulders. I didn’t regret them, not by any stretch of the imagination. Over the last year, I’d changed the lives of an entire species. I’d given them hope…and if I wasn’t careful, my pride could take that away from them.