by C P Sennett
“What time was this?”
“It was about 9.30pm. Not late, I was due to stay at Melanie’s parents…but.” Tabitha got nervous here and it didn’t look good.
“Go on, it’s ok.” I tried to coax her through what was a difficult part.
“Well, I had lied to mummy as Melanie’s parents, Mr and Mrs Shelby, were both away for the week. They trusted Melanie to look after the place and to be good on the express condition that she had nobody over, no parties or anything of the like. We decided to hell with that and we could go out for a few drinks.” She then looked down. “I never made it to her front door though. There was a car with its engine running and I walked past it to Mel’s house. I’m not sure what car, sorry. It was a normal family type car I think, dark blue I guess.
“Was it a new car?” I asked thinking of the two dark Merc’s I saw earlier. One of them looked to be a dark blue, the other black.
“No, it was an old car. The car was running, I could smell the fumes as I walked past checking my phone. All I heard was a door open and the next thing I knew someone had grabbed me and put a hand over my mouth and nose. They held me tight and I blacked out quickly.”
She looked uncomfortable remembering all of this and who could blame her. At any age, it must have been harrowing.
“Then I woke up in a building. I think I had woken up before but I don’t remember much. There was a man, a big man who hurt me a few times. Also, a smaller man and a woman. I spoke to them a lot about why I had been taken and what was going to happen to me. I’ve seen the movie Taken and I figured this was what they wanted me for.”
It seemed to make sense but I didn’t think a group of possibly ‘connected’ vampires in Colchester would be getting into the overseas sex trafficking business. I could be wrong, but it didn’t make sense.
“Possibly.” I said, “Is there anything else you remember of note?” as I yawned heavily and rubbed my eyes.
“Yes, they were going to send me to see a David. Someone called David and I think he was something to do with the church possibly. I heard bits of this being said from outside my door.”
“St David’s I think, sound about right?”
“Yes, I think so.” she agreed before drinking the rest of the water. “Perhaps it was due to my family. Maybe they wanted money from my father but I talked a lot when they were in the room and I was awake but mostly they ignored me.”
“Are your parents wealthy?” I asked.
“Compared to a lot of people yes. Oddly though, the woman who seemed to be in charge of the group who took me.” She breathed in deep here to compose herself. “This woman she seemed to have money herself. Wealthy enough that she wouldn’t need to try anything as risky as taking another person from the streets.”
I yawned again. “Did she have a strange accent do you recall?”
“Yes, she said she was from Copenhagen as I asked her. She didn’t say much else to me other than this. Copenhagen, it’s Denmark I think?”
“Yep, smart kid.” I acknowledged. Well that solved the accent which I couldn’t place earlier. I was a long way off with my first guess. I’ve never been much use on accents beyond the usual UK ones, Americans and Australians.
“Eddie, will you let me go, go freely I mean?”
“I will but not just yet.” Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “You see, I need to be sure you are safe first and the people who are after you can’t get you again.”
“How, how are you going to do that?”
“It’s what I do.” was all I said in a soft but final tone, one which she seemed to pick up on. “There is a kitchen out back through the hall and then through the dining room. You’ll find it eventually. Just keep out of the old black door and don’t go upstairs. These are the only rules I have so make sure you’re listening kiddo. I know you’re a little overwhelmed and that you haven’t had it easy but don’t go wandering around here. There is a lot of old, expensive stuff lying about and some can be dangerous. Just let me help you, remember, this is what I do then we will have you out of here.”
She looked a little worried but nodded. “Thank you for helping me, can I call my parents.”
“Not yet” I lied. “The call could be traced back to here when you ring your home phone or their mobiles. I didn’t have the heart to tell her this was the bad news I had seen on her phone. A text message with pictures, her parents were dead and confirmation given by the bigger man to a phone number.
“I need to make a few calls, it won’t take too long, ok? Just get some food and a drink and try your best to relax. You’re not a prisoner here, I just need to make sure you are safe and we can put it behind you.”
She nodded again. Then, I left the room.
****
I went upstairs and into my Watching Room as I call it. It has a TV in it but it’s mainly named this because of the large bay tower design on the side of the room. Both upstairs and down.
As a result, with a bit of straining of the neck you can see the northern, southern and eastern approaches to the house pretty well. It gives me a good view of any oncoming trouble, hence the name the Watching Room.
As I entered I took out my phone and called the Broker. The phone rang for a bit and then went to answer phone which wasn’t uncommon.
Instead I decided to call in the big naga come snakeman that I had found. I should have done it earlier but with everything else going on the girl’s life seemed the immediate issue. Well, that and the money the Broker would pay me for getting her back.
The problem is if you call this in too high up the chain then someone may well come and take a look at it. Given the problems this could create I expected a high chance of it.
Let’s be honest nobody likes anyone checking over your work regardless of what you do. That’s made double for what is essentially a ‘graduate’ or student and that was likely what I would get.
Yep, a trainee. This is how new members to the Order get some practical field experience. You get placed in a region and when you are ready you then get assigned to a teacher. Or, if you are exceptional you get your own bit of ground to learn and cover on the job. Thankfully for me it was the latter which I preferred. I didn’t want to annoy some experienced wizard with my naivety and they didn’t want to babysit me. It was better to learn on the job, that’s my take on things.
I directly report in to Enid Rivers. A nicer older lady with a lot of experience in a lot of areas. She’s powerful too, capable of throwing around a lot of energy when she needs to. Thankfully though she is more of a researcher type these days. She does a lot of study and she could be ideal for me to flag this up with. However, I didn’t want to get her or a student of hers to come down Essex. Essex was still a powder keg since the passing of its last Sentinel, Wilfred Sonoman. The Order said Wilf has died in suspicious circumstances, that means he was murdered to you and me but as yet, we and by we, I mean I, don’t know who did it and why.
As Wilf never left any decent records of his activities, or, someone had destroyed them, I was then left with finding out what was going on.
Wilf was popular in some areas but not in others and I hadn’t really gotten around to meeting everyone of note. After all I’ve still got my own patch to deal with.
There were still some vampires in Chelmsford who I needed to meet. Also, two small groups, you couldn’t call them packs, of lycans and a ton of others I needed to speak with and they were all overdue and all thought it poor form that I hadn’t reached out to them.
In truth, I could do with an apprentice myself but I never wanted one. They would just piss me off or get themselves and/or me killed. Suffolk isn’t too bad but mess with the wrong spirits on the wrong night and you’re done.
Instead of Enid I called someone else for a second opinion. Someone I had worked with before, Amanda Hewton. She was knowledgeable, skilled and above all else she had no interest in the Order’s scheming and politics. She had the same hunger for magic and reason that we all had. That was it
, as simple and uncomplicated a wizard as you could meet. Also, a nice and decent woman as well.
I called Amanda and we spoke for a good fifty minutes. Although I didn’t go into too much detail as some of it was general chit chat and us catching up.
I listened to what was going on in her area as well and she convinced me what I was thinking all along. Yep, I needed to call it in. Given the size of this thing, its area being as much of a ticking time bomb as it was and that this creature had amassed a number of human followers which it was feeding from, then yeah, it was too much to ignore. After all, at some point it was likely to want to come out and see the world and that simply wouldn’t fly.
I like Amanda, she is fun, easy going and she had some great specialist knowledge on other less known supernatural things. That was her real area of expertise and she hand handled some pretty odd things.
She was also still hunting Aisha Tilik. An unusual name, not of a creature but a powerful female renegade who had been using possession magic to keep stealing bodies. This was Amanda’s priority in Norfolk as Aisha, originally a Turkish magic wielder, had been a problem in the region for the past few years now. She had killed Amanda’s apprentice and apparently, she was still running around in poor Daniel’s body. The fact she had maintained the corpse which was usable for so long showed how good Aisha was at her craft.
Possession magic is no joke. Especially when the body of the man she inhabited was fitter, faster and stronger than the last one she left. Frankly, I would be amazed if Amanda could harm the boy’s body as I suspected they were ‘close’ but as she said when I first spoke to her on this, she would handle it as it wasn’t Danny anymore.
She was right though, yep, I had better call it in. Eventually though I had to cut my call with Amanda shorter than I wanted to as I was getting a call back. The Broker, Monika was ringing me back at last. So, I made a hasty goodbye to Amanda and answered the incoming call.
“That you?” I said.
“Eddie, is the weather any better?”
“It’s like Wonderland here and you?” That was the code we used whenever we called one another. Wonderland weather means it’s all ok. It was simple but effective and something she insisted that she did with all her agents. The Broker liked to call us Agents, I know, very CIA isn’t it!
I could hear Monika moving around in her chair down the phone before she spoke again. “Find what you were looking for?”
“Yes, all good and found.”
I actually heard her sigh down the phone. A sigh of relief almost.
“You ok Broker?” as her sigh piqued my interest.
“Peachy, just glad the girl is ok.”
“It’s not like you to care so much, anything I need to know?”
“No Eddie, nothing, really.”
“It doesn’t sound like it’s nothing.”
She paused again. “Funny that..” she paused before saying something odd. “Well…it’s been good working with you.”
I heard what she said, but I didn’t fully take it. “Good working with me?” Why say that I wondered? “What’s…”
Monika interrupted me, her voice now frantic and hurried. “Run Eddie, get Tabitha and fucking run!” she screamed at me down the phone.
Then, I heard BANG, BANG, BANG loudly down the phone as I moved my head away from it and the noise. Then, the line went dead…it ended.
My heart raced.
“FUCK!” was all I said aloud as I sat there, stunned, I just sat there.
Chapter 10
Eventually I snapped out of it realising the bangs were gunshots, someone had got to the Broker. I ran down the landing and down the stairs. I then went into my front room shouting “Tabitha!” No reply.
I began to hope she hadn’t done something stupid like run off. “Tabitha!” I bellowed as loud as I could. Still nothing.
I checked the dining room and then the breakfast room which led into the kitchen. Nothing there, no sign of her at all. I noticed a mug was missing though, I have six hanging up on a mug tree so she had at least tried to make herself a drink.
I touched the kettle before calling her name again. It was faintly warm but still noticeable. Ok, she made it some time back. Where the fuck is she, I thought, growling in frustration as I went to move on but I noticed the door to my basement open…
Yeah…fucking open…
I paused before speaking aloud. “How could she have…No, she couldn’t have. No way…”
Firstly, the mechanical code lock had been bypassed. Then the illusionary glyph would have made it appear as an unused, dark, cobwebbed smelly stairwell, full of junk. Old wardrobes, an unused weight bench, an old fridge and the other things you would expect to find in the dumping ground of a bachelor pad. It was a powerful illusion by my standards and it should have fooled her on its own. Assuming she somehow got past this, then the barring ward should have stopped her in her tracks.
I walked down there quickly. As I did I could see the lights were on. The basement landing light was on and near the door was Tabitha.
She was lying on the floor at the opposite side of the room. She was clutching her stomach and she looked ill. How on earth had she made it here, I thought. Then, the events of the earlier call kicked in again. We had been found so I didn’t have time to worry about how she got down here. I needed to get her and me out of here.
Perhaps Martin Stone left in the night and called his vampire chum Abby Oaks telling her of my plan. I didn’t know, if he did he was dumber than I thought as chances are it was her who set up the hit on him. Still, like humans you get stupid creatures in the supernatural world.
“I told you to stay upstairs.” I said as I raced to her. “The sickness, it will pass Tabitha.” I told her as I scooped her up and helped her to her feet.
Tabitha groaned “I feel ill.” she said, sounding like a drunk student.
She had one arm around my shoulder and the other on her queasy stomach as I quickly escorted her upstairs.
As I got her back up into the breakfast room, I laid her on the floor. “Just relax, deep breaths and look up at the ceiling, it’ll pass.” I said but I couldn’t sit with her, as given the events earlier I needed to get us on the road and away from here.
It wasn’t likely that I could be traced from Monika’s call but I wasn’t about to wait around and find out. She was always resourceful though and I suspected there would be something there to tie me to her in her office, wherever that was. A USB drive or paper record of some kind. I had no actual proof but I suspected she did somewhere. Technically, nobody knew I lived here apart from a sick teenager but I needed a safe space to lie low and think this through. The pieces of the puzzle had moved and essentially my queen had just been taken out.
Yep, in a short space of time my anonymity had gone to the dogs.
I ran downstairs to the basement, gathering the things I needed. I had to get us away from here and fast. I gathered what I could and raced upstairs. There, I hurried Tabitha to her feet with little sympathy and with items I had now stuffed into a rucksack we made for the door.
I loaded Tabitha into the passenger seat, she looked exhausted and still ill. I closed the door, set the security and then I got into the Beast myself. I considered taking the Jaguar as it was less known given my recent activities but I needed the room and I’ve more tools in the Beast.
I clicked in my seatbelt and said “Tabitha, we’re off now.”
She groaned, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“You and me both, it’ll soon pass.”
“Your house is strange Eddie.” she said, sounding distant.
“Yep, for now though it’s not safe.”
With that, I removed the hand break and reversed quickly off the drive.
I drove for some time until we reached Beccles. As far up in Suffolk as I could think and in the opposite direction from Essex. I considered contacting Amanda Hewton on the journey, the nearest Sentinel to where I was headed and someone I trusted. I co
nsidered us both taking refuge in Norfolk, assuming of course she would have us but I decided against it for now.
In the end, I just parked up in a quiet, dark lane in Beccles. Not one I knew at all which is good, if you want to get lost, then get lost. I looked across at Tabitha, she had been asleep for a good thirty minutes now and I was beat. Drained in fact, so drained that even I couldn’t keep awake much more. So, I adjusted the electric seat and then lay there thinking and it wasn’t long before I drifted off to sleep.
****
I dreamed well, I dreamed that I was on a long walk. The walk seemed to go on for ages. It was in this dream I felt compelled to leave the dirt pathway. Compelled as you often do in dreams. I didn’t fight it. I was happy, enjoying a carefree wander in the open. I turned off road and into a tall, hazy, dreamlike, cornfield. The corn looked healthy, tall and golden. Just pure in the amazing day’s sunlight.
Then I reached the end of the cornfield but I kept walking and the land around me changed to a lush green woodland. Around my ankles were bluebells and a gentle breeze. A sea of blue flowers around my feet.
As the breeze kept blowing it was refreshing as I looked around me. Then, to my right I could hear water, clear blue water. It was nice, lots of small fish darted around in the water. Neons I think they are called. Bright blue little things and there were loads of them…it was nice and it was peaceful.
Then, I awoke with a start to a loud scream.
Bright blue light, not from the dashboard, filled my eyes. I could hear Tabitha screaming to my left.
I drew in my will ready to attack. My ring wasn’t going off so nothing mental was here. What had she seen?
Then, I looked at Tabitha, she was screaming and pointing behind me. She had been in the rucksack I brought with me. On Tabitha’s lap was an open cocktail shaker and in her hands was broken brown glass.
I quickly looked around towards the bright blue glow bathing the interior of the Beast and there she was…Fern. Glowing and fuming.
Oh fuck!
Authors Notes
I hope you’ve enjoyed this book and there is a lot more to come from Eddie Holt and the others. At the time of publishing this it’s just after Christmas 2018.