by Steve McHugh
“I’m not entirely sure how to take that,” Melody said.
“You’re his wife,” I told her. “He is, in your own words, a thug and bully. And also, I assume, you were still sleeping with Varol, yes?”
“His pride and Varol’s did business,” Melody said. “There may have been a few occasions.”
“If Viktor knew, he’d want you to watch as your lover died.”
Melody considered it. “Yes, that’s true, he would.”
“So, if he was involved, it wasn’t about you,” I said, looking out of the window again at the balcony. “At least, it wouldn’t be totally about you. That’s saying it was Viktor at all. And it’s not like we can ask him.”
“Your friend is a necromancer,” she said.
“Viktor’s spirit is all messed up,” I said, and looked over to the balcony again as snow flurries began, first in small clumps, and then as a larger drift.
I took a step toward the window as the door to the suite opened and a tall and broad white man with a long, thick dark beard, and hair of the same color tied back from his face, stepped into the room. He wore a dark blue suit, the jacket open to reveal the white shirt beneath. He placed his hands in his pockets when he saw me.
“Sven,” Melody said as the big man walked over and hugged her.
I turned back to the balcony, but the snowfall was done. There had probably been a buildup on the roof, I’d seen it happen in my own room a few times.
“Are you done questioning Melody?” Sven said, regaining my attention.
“You and your brother didn’t get along,” I said, making sure Sven understood it wasn’t a question.
“He was an unpleasant man,” Sven said, clearly choosing his words carefully.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I replied.
“No, Mister Garrett,” Sven said, tersely. “We didn’t get along.”
“Why invite him then?” I asked.
“Because he was still my brother, still my son’s uncle,” Sven said with a slight sigh. “We managed to ban his pride, but to not invite Viktor would have been a large slight on my part. Beth and Logan didn’t need that when starting their new life together.”
I nodded as if thinking long and hard about the answer. “And the three killed in the forest?”
“I’ve already spoken to Tommy’s people about this,” Sven said.
“And now you’re talking to me,” I told him, keeping my voice light. There was no need to escalate tensions, especially with those tensions being high as they were.
“I didn’t know any of them well,” Sven said. “I’d met Mona a few times, and knew Varol by reputation, but that was it. Never met Kozma until he showed up with Victoria. She is a little high maintenance, but she’s nice enough.”
“What about her ex-husband?” I asked. “The one arguing with Viktor.”
“I don’t know him at all,” Sven said. “He was a blowhard as much as Viktor. I haven’t spent a second of time in his company. His name is Luke Kratz, you’re more than welcome to go find him and talk to him yourself, good luck getting him to say anything that isn’t swearing.”
“I’m good,” I said and walked toward the door before stopping and turning back to Sven and Melody. “Just one more thing.” I felt like I should be wearing a trench coat for full effect.
Both looked over at me.
“There have been four murders now,” I said. “And Gordon told me that Victoria had the same paralyzing agent in her body that Viktor had. Manticore Venom.”
“So, it’s the same killers,” Sven said confidently. “Go find them.”
“Yeah, here’s the thing,” I said. “None of the other three victims had the paralyzing agent, so why do you think the killers would use a bit on Viktor and Victoria, but not on the others?”
“I don’t know,” Sven said, his brow dropping into a frown as if pondering the question.
“Me neither,” I told him. “But I’m going to find out, and I’ll let you know what I discover.”
“Please do, Mister Garrett,” Sven said, just as the doors to the balcony exploded inward, raining shards of glass as I dove behind a large chair.
Chapter Eight
My ears rang. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was from the explosion or if there was another reason I hadn’t discovered, but the ringing made my head hurt, and screwed with my balance enough that I sat behind the large black armchair and blinked as I watched Sven and Melody sprint into the bedroom.
It didn’t take long for my ears to stop ringing, and I got to my feet to find two black-clad individuals, both wearing masks similar to that worn by the assassin in the morgue. One of the assassin’s was male, the other female. The male was at least a foot and a half taller than the woman, and much broader. The woman had the mouth portion of the mask completely removed, revealing bright purple lipstick.
“You here to kill me or them?” I asked, pointing toward the bedroom door.
The woman screamed at me, and I was thrown back into the wall behind me, my ears ringing again. Banshee.
I rolled aside, hoping that I could get to the banshee before she shattered my eardrums and made me vomit up my own organs. I do not like fighting banshees, they are not pleasant.
The scream cut through the chair I’d crouched behind, and I wrapped myself in a shield of air, before jumping out, just as she screamed again, the force of the concussive sound almost pushing me back. I threw my shield forward, turning it into a battering ram, which forced the banshee to throw herself aside rather than be smashed to the ground.
Her partner was tearing apart the door in an effort to get to the two werelions inside, which at least meant he was a problem for future Nate, and I could concentrate on my more immediate issue.
The banshee screamed again, but I was already moving around to the side of her. She followed me, her mouth open, the scream tearing into the floor and furniture as if it was a tornado of sound. She turned on the spot, never letting me out of her sight as I moved closer to the windows, the crunch of glass under my feet barely audible. The banshee took a deep breath, stopping the scream just long enough for me to throw a dagger of fire at her throat.
A banshee’s neck is reinforced muscle, which makes it almost impossible to kill them by cutting their throat, but I wasn’t trying to kill her, just shut her up.
The dagger lodged in her neck, thankfully stopping the sonic power. I snapped my fingers, and the dagger exploded, the tip of which was still in her neck. Blood poured down her front from the newly created hole.
She acted like the wound barely bothered her, and darted toward me, a dagger in each hand. I had time to notice that they were basilisk-tooth blades, and moved through the ruined glass to the balcony as the door to the suite burst open and Sky ran inside.
“I’m good,” I called out, and Sky raced toward the male assassin, who had finished tearing the door apart and was now inside the bedroom, the noises of fighting easy to hear.
Once outside in the fresh air, and with the female assassin still trying to stick a blade in somewhere I’d rather she didn’t, I walked backwards, along the balcony, dodging her swipes and lunges.
“Why aren’t you fighting?” she asked. Her neck had already healed, and she took a step back, rolling her shoulders.
“Tired?” I asked her. “Looks like you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“Not enough to stop me killing you,” she said with a snarl.
Thunder rumbled above. “Just so you know, this isn’t going to make me feel very happy.”
“You’ll be dead,” she said with a smirk. “You’ll get over it.”
I shrugged as I raised one hand to the clouds. Lightning streaked down from the skies, and slammed into my outstretched hand, turning it into a charred mess in an instant. The lightning travelled through my body, mixing with my magic, and left through the hand that was pointing directly at the banshee.
She noticed the danger she was in an instant before the lightning left my fingertips a
nd smashed into her like a freight train. It hit her in the upper chest and throat, removed a large part of her torso, leaving nothing but the smell of burned flesh and hair.
The banshee dropped to the ground in a heap. I wasn’t entirely sure whether or not she was dead, but the blade of fire I conjured to remove her head made sure of it. I looked back inside the suite as Sky rammed a silver dagger into the temple to the male assassin, while Sven leaned against the nearby wall, his werelion form matted with blood.
“Everyone okay?” I asked as I stepped back inside. My hand would take a little while to heal, but thankfully my magic made sure the pain was the first thing to go.
“Fine,” Sven said, getting back to his full height. “Blood is mostly his.”
“What is he?” I asked, prodding the assassin’s body with the tip of my boot.
“Sorcerer,” Sky said, sounding a little out of breath. “Could use matter magic. Made him strong and fast, but thankfully, not strong or fast enough.”
“Are they after me?” Melody asked from the bedroom door.
“Let’s go find out,” I said. I left the suite and stood over the dead banshee, letting out a big sigh.
“You don’t have to do this,” Sky said, standing where the windows had once been. “I can…”
“You’ve done enough,” I told her. “I’ll take this one.”
“What are you talking about?” A now human-looking Sven asked as he comforted Melody.
“I’m part necromancer,” I said. “I can absorb spirits, but I take all their memories too. It only works on those who have been killed in battle, but I think this counts.”
“I’ll wait for you,” Sky said, taking a seat on the nearby sofa, which had miraculously remained largely unscathed during the fighting.
I reached out with my necromancy, feeling for the spirit of the dead assassin. My fingers went cold, and there was a shiver up my arm, leaving pins and needles in its place as the spirit was grabbed by my power and dragged into me. Her memories flooded me, rich and dark and vile, dropping me to my knees. The spirit would make my own magic more powerful, but the downside was having to relive every single shitty thing the recently-deceased had ever done. Every good thing too, but it’s rare that someone dies fighting at my hands because they were just too goddamned good.
The banshee didn’t have a name, not one that I could pronounce anyway, it was a banshee name, a sound created with their power. She’d killed hundreds: men, women, even children. She’d killed for fun, then killed for whoever paid her the most money. She had no loyalty to anyone or anything, she didn’t much care about anyone or anything, although she considered the group of assassins she’d been working with for the last few decades to be as close to family as she was ever likely to have. The assassin who made clones was Leon. The head assassin was a man by the name of Farkas Tibor, a Hungarian national who had brought all these assassins together to make money and kill people.
Farkas and his team of five arrived in the realm several days ago, they’d walked through the realm gate easy as you please, and the banshee noticed Farkas handing something to someone inside the realm gate temple as the team went to the forest to prepare.
There was a lot of erroneous stuff about how much money they were being paid, but the banshee kept mostly to herself. She saw Farkas talking to Viktor more than once in the forest but had no interest in the matter one way or the other. The morning of the murders, Farkas knew Victoria would be having a rendezvous in the forest, knew that Kozma and Varol would be there too. There was no mention of Mona, but Farkas told them Victoria was not to die. He had made that very clear.
I came to, and found myself sitting on the ground, next to the body of the banshee.
“Ten minutes,” Sky said. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Victoria was to be kept alive,” I said, getting to my feet.
“She was in on it?” Sky asked.
“No,” I said, noticing the expression of concern on Sven’s face. “Anything you want to add, Sven?” I asked.
“Victoria would not have led Kozma to his death,” Sven told me.
“She didn’t,” I said. “Looks like the head of the assassins is someone called Farkas Tibor, he’s a sorcerer with some mind magic. He dressed up as a waiter and walked around the hotel, getting close enough to put the suggestion in the heads of Kozma, Mona, Victoria, and Varol. The four had been intimate before, so it didn’t take much. The assassins lie in wait, the happy foursome come to have some fun, and they get killed. The banshee was ordered to let Victoria live, in her boss’s words, ‘we’re not here for her, and we don’t need that level of trouble’.”
“They must have been worried when they hit her with an arrow,” Sky said.
“The dead guy on the floor here did that,” I said. “The clone guy came back to the village to make sure Victoria didn’t die on the way. It shook them all up.”
“Anything else?” Sky asked.
“Varol was definitely the intended target,” I said.
“Any idea why?” Sky asked, leaning forward in her seat.
“I think it has something to do with Vlad the Impaler, although the banshee didn’t know enough to make me sure.”
“Vlad is dead,” Sven said.
“But grudges go on a long time,” I replied.
“Did you see who hired them?” Sky asked.
I shook my head. “No, but they’re here. The banshee saw her boss talking to someone but couldn’t make out who it was.”
“His name is Peter,” Melody blurted out. “No, I will not be quiet,” she snapped at Sven who tried to shush her.
“Sven,” I said softly. “Let her talk.”
“The assassin there,” Melody said. “His name is Peter. I don’t know his last name. He worked for Viktor.”
“Were these Viktor’s personal assassins?” Sky asked.
“No idea,” Melody said. “Only ever seen Peter here.”
“And why is this information you want to stop her sharing?” Sky asked Sven.
“Because there’s an assassin still out there, and they tried to kill her,” Sven said. “She needs to be as far from this as possible.”
“They were sent to kill her,” I confirmed. “And you, Sven.”
“Me?” Sven asked, bemused by the idea. “Why kill me?”
“Because you’re Viktor’s brother,” I said. “The banshee had seen a list. Melody and you were both on it. This hit must have cost them a lot of money.”
“Any more names on that list?” Sky asked.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “Just you two and Varol. She didn’t ask why, although I assume it’s because, at least in part, Melody was cheating on Viktor with Varol, and Sven knew about it. I’m right, aren’t I?”
Sven nodded.
“You helped facilitate it,” Sky said. “You were their go-between.”
“Not just with Varol,” I said as little flickers of the banshee’s memories continued to work their way to the front of my mind. “Lex.”
Melody’s expression told me all I needed to know.
“You were arranging with Lex to run away,” I said. “Viktor found out.”
“So, why not kill Lex?” Sky asked.
“Same reason he can’t kill Victoria,” I said. “Melody is his pride, Sven has no pride, and Varol was something else, but Lex and Victoria both belong to a strong pride and pack respectively, if one of them is murdered, there would be outrage. There’d be a group of exceptionally powerful and angry weres looking for justice or vengeance. Can’t risk killing them. It’s why the banshee was so freaked out when Victoria took an arrow to the back.”
“Are you sure it was Viktor who hired them?” Sven asked.
I nodded. “The banshee saw Farkas talking to Viktor a few times. She didn’t know if Viktor was hiring him, but it definitely looked like it. There’s someone at the realm gate temple who’s in on it too. I’ll go find Tommy and let him know, we can take the person into custody and figure
out exactly what happened here.”
“Anything about Viktor being a target?” Sky asked.
“No,” I said. “He wasn’t on the list; he wasn’t killed when the banshee was there. She was too busy scaling the damn castle. If Viktor was one of their targets, he was a secret one. Sky, can you get every one of the main guests here into the dining hall. I think it would be safer. That includes you two.”
“Of course,” Melody said. “We’ll head right there.”
“Yes,” Sven said.
Sky looked over at Melody and Sven and back to me. “I’ll make sure they get there and go check on Tommy’s people. We should be able to gather up the majority of wedding guests.”
“Good, that way we can make sure they’re all safe,” I lied, and was pretty sure that Sky knew I was lying, but she went along with it, which was a testament to how long we’d known each other, and the trust we held.
“I don’t need anyone looking after me,” Sven said.
“It’s not open for discussion,” I told him. “I want to know where everyone is at all times. There’s still at least one assassin in the realm, and there’s nothing to say that Viktor was a target, which means possibly a second killer. You’re going to go to the hall or I’m going to drag you there, and I don’t think you’d like that.”
“Do not threaten me,” Sven said, his voice like iron.
“Not a threat,” I said. “That’s just what’s going to happen. I’d rather it not, but if you’re going to put the lives of others in jeopardy, I’m going to deal with you accordingly. Werelion or not, I doubt you want to get into a fight with a sorcerer who has had an exceptionally long day.”
“He’ll go,” Melody said, clearly the voice of reason. “No one needs anymore problems or fighting here. We just need to catch those responsible so Beth and Logan can have a nice wedding.”
“We will continue this conversation at another opportunity,” Sven said.
I shrugged. I didn’t much care what he did, and walked over to the door, opening it as Sky joined me. “You think they can still hear me?” she asked as we both stepped into the hallway.