by Daniel Ruth
I stopped at the threshold. New enchantments filled the room. The power source for it was broken, yet so powerful it didn't matter. I knew that if I entered the room, my ward would shatter and the counter sigil I kludged together from Ciarra's blood would flash into ash. I would almost certainly die.
However, I did finally see what was causing this mounting energy. Beyond the door was a large room. It was filled with sumptuous silks that hung from the wall, gold and silver chairs lined the sides and a richly colored carpet that was so full of magic it burned my eyes. In the center of the far wall sat a throne. It was covered in ornate with sigils etched along the sides. Like the carpet, it glowed balefully with magic.
All of this was overshadowed by the pale, fiery-haired woman that sat on it. Power radiated from her. The ambient magic swirled like it was caught in a mystical hurricane. It orbited her, wrapped around her then finally entered her and vanished.
The woman's eyes stared blankly into the air before her. Her face held an arrogant expression, perhaps frozen in the last instant before the connection to the Unseelie's goddess was severed.
"Your grandmother I presume," I said in a slightly strained voice.
"Queen Madb," She said simply while looking at me, daring me to cross the threshold. I ignored her. Indeed, I didn't dare.
I could feel the instinctive rage well up inside me at another greater supernatural creature in the territory. It didn't really matter that it wasn't truly my home and it didn't matter that this creature was an avatar of a god. I really wanted to attack it.
Still, despite my instincts, I knew it was idiotic, pointless and frankly suicidal. Forget the avatar, the defenses alone would vaporize me. I would guess I wouldn't last more than a minute. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. Inhaling and exhaling a few times allowed me to regain my calm.
I nodded to myself and started to pull out the various bit and bobs I had previously enchanted to be batteries of magical energies.
"What are you doing," Ciarra asked in confusion.
I continued to pull each one out. Since they were already enchanted with the Imbue spell it was far simpler to refill than the first time. I also had gotten noticeably better at the spell.
"Your grandmother makes an excellent battery," I said with a grimace, skin blistering and burning.
The queen's avatar withstood the indignity of me vacuuming up the excess mana swirling around the room with good grace. Her blank steely expression didn't change one iota. Not that I expected it to. There wasn't anyone home behind those eyes.
Her granddaughter less so. Before now she had been an excellent actor. I could barely even detect her hatred or rage at the indignities I was forcing upon her. That façade cracked as I filled cheap children's toys and plastic jewelry with energy, one after another. I would have sent her back just to save her from having to watch but I was borrowing her aura to prop up my jury rigged protections. Her proximity made this possible. Naturally, I didn't tell her that. I wouldn't want it to go to her head.
When almost all the pieces were filled, I saved the last few for attempting to store the Slow spell. The first five attempts failed. Fortunately, I had a plentiful energy source so trying the spell repeatedly only caused a bit of mental exhaustion. It was a fine piece of spellcraft but it definitely stretched my capabilities.
Casting this spell in combat from scratch would have been a joke. I probably wouldn't be able to dream about that for a few years. Still, I had a bit of pride in my progress. My magical expertise was mostly in alchemy and wards. However, my other skills were coming along at an acceptable pace.
I felt itching on my chest and looked down. The blood I had written the sigil in had slowly been evaporating and it was almost gone. I gestured to Ciarra and we started back up the hallway. Well, I walked, she stomped in a delicate elfy way that made known her anger to the world. It was adorable.
"While your people supervise our public relations," I said as we descended the stairs. "I will be here, probably every night."
"I cannot stop your sacrilege but I will accompany you and watch your every move," she spat out. She still hadn't managed to calm her rage.
"Of course," I said graciously. "You and I can spent some quality time with your family and you can be assured that I don't do anything too naughty."
"You tempt fate, dragon," she grumbled as the overt signs of her anger subsided. "Eventually, we will break down this barrier and you will reap what you sow."
"We all bear the consequences of our actions," I agreed. "Which reminds me. Guard your constructs and gather the remains of the mortals you killed, including the ashes in the circle room."
"We cannot enter those rooms any more than the mortals," she protested.
"Use your imagination," I said with a snort. "Your people shouldn't even need to be a real spell caster to summon a breeze to move the dust out of the room. Just don't scatter it."
"As you command," she grudgingly acknowledged.
"Oh, by the way," I turned at the door. "Why haven't the ley line surges been devastating the land around the nodes?"
"Do you think we are incapable of dealing with normal housekeeping," she looked at me in contempt. "We smooth out the storms that sweep through our territory. We make use of the excess as well; our people are far older than yours..." she trailed off before she even started her racial superiority rant.
I ignored her. It was common knowledge that the dragon race was one of the oldest. We appeared soon after the Primals and gods crawled up from the cracks in the Firmament. She silently walked with me to the exit, avoiding my gaze.
"What about the rest of the world," I asked as we approached the exit. "I haven't heard about it being ravaged by storms either. Surely you don't have enclaves all over the world."
"I assume the wizards take care of it," she said dismissively. "They seem to like hiding among the mortals like rats in the walls," I gave her a sidelong glance at this. The irony didn't escape me. "But I assume they don't want to live among ruins. Naturally, they aren't competent as we are. The mortals whisper of record-breaking storms this year. Elsewhere."
Ciarra really knew more about the world than I expected. I had thought that since the Unseelie had hidden away in their pocket dimension they would be completely out of touch. I suppose they could be forgiven about not knowing about the demon invasion, it's not like anyone else seemed to be aware of it.
"So, what about the vampires in the city?" I asked. Since they seemed to know so much I might as well get what I could out of them. She became completely still. We were standing in front of the exit portal so this started to quickly get awkward.
"There is only one," she reluctantly admitted. I immediately became alarmed.
"Vanth?"
"The tiny Primal?" she asked in confusion. "I suppose that would make sense, but no. Antonios Lampros."
"That's his name?" I asked as I pondered another issue. Vanth was a Primal? I would have bet even odds he was god. It was a subtle difference but distinct. I mean, sure Diego had called him a Primal but I simply had thought that he didn't know the difference. Ciarra's grandmother was a god, she should definitely be aware.
"Yes."
"What happened to all the others?" I asked in confusion. "Europe has had an outbreak of rabid vampires since the barriers went up. What happened to all the others? Wouldn't Vanth do what he could to ensure he had minions?"
"He tried but Antonius is a very old undead," she said, lip curling in disdain. "He wanders the Americas. He ensures that he is the only existing vampire on the continent. The old-world Council knows not to extend their reach over here."
"The only one," I said in consternation. Would I have to travel through the ley lines to Europe in order to find a priest for Lamia? "Does he kill them all?"
"From what I hear, if they are victims, he offers them the chance to leave. If they came from elsewhere, he simply kills them. Vanth crawled out of the woodwork a few months ago," she paused in thought. "It was soon after
you say the demons created the barriers. He attempted to create an army, as vampire Primals generally do, and came into conflict with Antonius."
"Did he drive him off?"
"Not really. Their battle drew the attention of the heroes and it turned into a running guerilla fight. The hero group had a series of fights over several weeks until it ended with Vanth fleeing through a portal."
"Was Antonios involved?"
"No. He seemed happy to let the heroes deal with him."
"Okay, I assume he's not the creepy old guy in the park," I asked for clarity. It seemed unlikely that the sole vampire in North and South America was puttering around like a hobo.
"Yes, that’s him. The withered old thing has been hanging around the city. It appears he is waiting for something. Perhaps he thinks Vanth will show up again."
I was a bit surprised. One vampire on this side of the world and Joe finds him. I would have to give him a raise. Once I started paying him.
Chapter 29
When I went back to the apartment building it was just as loud as it was when I left. Remembering that I was temporarily homeless I moodily moved through the third shift of the construction crew and up into my apartment.
No one was inside but there was a note taped prominently on the door with an address and set of keys. In the body of the note it was mentioned that this was the address and keys were for the house she had rented.
Since I was alone, I crawled out to the fire escape, intending to get to the roof. I hadn't expected to have an audience but at least five construction crew members looked up and waved to me as I climbed up. They easily saw me due the spotlights pointed to the scaffolding assembled around the floors below me.
It was painfully obvious that it was past time to head to the new house. Privacy here was dead.
Reaching the top, I found it was the quietest part of the building. It was the darkest too, despite the beams of light shining upwards from below.
"It's too noisy," a tiny voice piped up next to me. It was Eli. I nodded to her.
"Yeah, Karen found us a new place. Hopefully it's quieter," I said with a nod. "By the way. I seem to be stalked by the fae."
"You noticed?" Eli asked incredulously.
"Of course," I said with a scowl. It was like being stalked by paparazzi. "I am thinking of making an anti-fae ward but it would take a lot of effort. Is there a way to make them go away?"
"I think everyone concerned would prefer that didn't happen," Eli offered nervously.
"And how can we do that," I pressed grimly as I brought up my terminal and tapped in the address of my new home away from home. Since I had the terminal open, I also checked on my buoys. Another five lost. I would have to check on my stock, I hadn't thought I would run out of scouts before I could contact my base world's network.
"I... I suppose I could contact the Redcap and see if he can reign in the more boisterous hooligans," she said doubtfully.
"Let's try that first," I replied skeptically as I formed a pair of wings. Even she didn't sound like that would work. "Let him know that I will be visiting him personally if I'm not given a little space."
Mortals and lesser creatures didn't set off my instincts as the greater supernaturals did but I was getting a crowded feeling. Like being poked in the back by a bratty kid every few minutes.
Bringing out my wings I leaped into the air and followed my terminal's directions to the rental. Eli followed behind me like a kite. After checking that the coast was clear with a little aura sight, I landed in the back yard of a three-story brick house. The neighborhood was one of the residential houses. They actually had lawns. Having flown over the city a few times now I was realizing that having a lawn was not something to be taken for granted in the city.
Entering, I noted that it was fully furnished. Ignoring the rest of the house, I found the door to the basement and went down. Nodding in approval I saw that it was fully finished. The old apartment had a basement as well but the ceiling had pipes winding along the ceiling, water, gas, electricity. Bare pipes, insulated pipes they were all hanging out. So, in short, I liked a real ceiling. I sighed sadly to myself that I had been reduced to appreciating minimal construction benchmarks.
It also had carpeting and its own bathroom. I liked it. Unless the attic was irresistible, I would make this my lair... um, lab. I started setting up my basic alchemy equipment. I pulled out a small electric stove, dilution and filtration tubing and various tubes and chemicals from my storage bag.
Going upstairs I looked at the rest of the house. It was adequate. More importantly, the fridge was mostly stocked. I grabbed a couch from the living room and carried it down to the basement. Pulling out my second temporal spell, I lounged on the couch and studied the Acceleration spell as if my life depended on it. There was an excellent chance it did.
After a few hours, I put the book down and went to sleep. I woke up sometime later to the sound of footsteps in the house above me. I didn't feel anything so it likely simply Karen.
It was indeed Karen. She had put several bags of groceries on the kitchen table but was looking at the living room in puzzlement.
"Where'd the couch go?" she asked in confusion.
"I needed it downstairs for the lab," I said as I groped through food. I generally ordered out but I did know how to cook. One of those oddball hereditary skills. I grabbed a few eggs and milk before I thought to check if we had plates and a skillet. Fortunately for my plans, we did. I can clean with a spell but I couldn't create plates from thin air. Yet.
Karen looked a bit confused but finally shook her head. "I'll get more furniture. Do you like the house?"
"I like the basement," I acknowledged. "It reminds me of home." Not my original post-nuclear holocaust world, the house I had in Arc. The broken-down apartment was more like the typical housing of my original home. The landscape definitely wasn't one of the things I missed.
"I call dibs on the attic," Eli called out. Both Karen and I stared at her. I wasn't even sure where she came from, I hadn't seen her since we landed. The stealth skills of the fae were startling.
"I... are you..." Karen stuttered a few times before glancing at me for help.
"You can squat wherever you want," I said with a wave. "If for some reason we need it, you have to move." I mean she had simply followed me home, unlike Karen I hadn't even asked. I suppose she was slowly growing on me, but frankly, whether it came to fae or sidhe, I simply didn't trust them. They lacked the solidity and honor vibe I got from the álfar.
"Where is this PR Agency," a voice spoke disdainfully from the living room. I looked in consternation to see Linus leaning casually in the doorway, just behind Karen. Naturally, she leaped away, obviously straining to not cower. "I have to make sure the fools don't fail at their tasks."
"Right," I said with a frown. "Knock before you come in. Joe and Jim are dealing with that. I am not sure where they are at the moment."
"You keep moving around," the sidhe said with disapproval. "I actually had to ask the fae rats to track you. Strangely enough, they knew exactly where you were."
I glanced sidelong at Eli and she looked away guiltily. "Go find the shifters. Offer support but don't interfere with their plans unless you have something positive to suggest. If in doubt... ask me."
"If I am going to be responsible for failure..." Linus objected.
"Then you better have some awesome suggestions," I said over his complaints.
Then the doorbell rang. I checked my terminal for the time. It was only eleven in the morning. Walking past the Unseelie I went to the door, squeezing past the floating buoy. I gave it an odd glance. I could have sworn I had assigned it to keep watch on Purgatory. Once again Linus was abusing the system. Since I had told him to keep it safe, naturally he would bring it with him to guard it. I thought about pushing the point, but there were so many more important things happening.
Reaching the front door, I opened it. It was a shifter wearing gang colors. A massive growling dire wolf o
n his leather jacket.
"Oh my god," exclaimed Karen, finally getting over her fear of the sidhe. "Get in here. You can't wear that in this neighborhood! The neighbors will call the police and the rental owners may find a way to cancel our lease!"
"Whatever," the teen said lackadaisically. He handed me a thick envelope. "Joe said to drop this off. Someone will come around this afternoon and tonight with updates."
I opened the package and saw a thick sheaf of papers. Most of it was documentation of the cleaning service of Patriot's group. It was fairly thorough. It had the names, photos, and bio of the people doing the cleaning, their schedule and even the equipment they used.
"I need audio clips of the workers," I said absentmindedly. "Also get me these chemicals." I grabbed a pad from the kitchen and started writing.
"What?" the shifter asked uncomfortably. "That’s not my job!"
"It is now," I told him casually.
"I can get the chemicals," Karen offered. I shrugged.
"Okay, just tell Joe about the voice clips," I informed him while still browsing the papers. "Linus will be going back with you to support the PR project.
The smaller package of papers was research on Dash herself. It simply had her schedule and a minute by minute breakdown of her location. I grimaced. She and the Patriot's team were all over the city.
I had no doubt that the demon could easily teleport around the city enough to simulate super speed. Then I looked at her schedule. This was more promising. There were specific times that she was at conventions or at diplomatic meetings in another country.
Great, a psionic powerhouse of a demon meeting world leaders just before an expected demon invasion. That didn't bode well. On the bright side it also meant that there were specific times that she wouldn't be present at the hero's clubhouse.
I cross-referenced the times the housekeeping services came by and grinned. There were two times this week and another two next week. I should be able to learn the temporal spell easily within a week.