by HDA Roberts
Rose took a little longer stepping away, shivering as she did, "Thank you, Mathew," she said, "For saving my friend."
"You helped me save mine. It's the least I could do," I said, remembering that crucial piece of advice that had helped me get Bill and Demise out of that trap.
"You earned that, Mathew Graves. You were given a choice and made the hard one, the good one. That's enough wiggle room for someone like me to act," she said, brushing a little muck off my shoulder. Then she wasn't brushing so much as stroking...
Then it wasn't just one shoulder.
"Rose, Demonic musk," I pointed out as her slim fingers brushed my neck.
"Right, right. Sorry," she said, stepping back and taking a breath, "We'll be in touch."
She vanished.
"-kay," Demise finished.
Right. The other lab.
Still have that to deal with...
Chapter 21
We darted into the air and flew towards the lab. My heart was still pounding in my chest after the rescue, and it was jarring to just have to carry on with the next thing. I shoved all that down and concentrated, I wasn't going to screw up this time, I swore to God...
This location wasn't buried under an abandoned building, but was part of a fully functioning warehouse, which was how Price had found it; they'd been indiscreet with their purchasing orders.
Not that I knew about the other one. That didn't exist. And I hadn't been there and had my tonsils inspected by a purebred Succubus... again.
Oh boy... I'm never telling anyone about that. I'd never hear the end of it.
We landed in the alley I'd selected (I seemed to spend a lot of my time in Gomorrah lurking in alleys).
I cast Mage Sight and took a long look at the building. There were lots of regular workers there, in addition to the Source-makers. The operation seemed to be on the upper floors this time, which was a nice change. I'd had enough of the underground.
There weren't as many Demons there as there had been at the Factory, but there were still more than a hundred and fifty. There were about forty men and women working the actual warehouse, including some people loading a big truck out front. I had no idea how much they knew about what was going on above them, but I needed to get them out of the way before I tackled the lab. In the upper floors, there were four Magicians, none stronger than a Wizard, hardly worth bothering about, really, and a dozen technicians.
"This isn't good," Demise said as she stood next to me. Was it my imagination, or was she standing closer than usual?
"I have to agree," I said.
"How would you normally deal with something like this?"
"Hide in a corner and call my big sister to come beat up the bad guys for me."
Demise smiled and then shook her head like there was a fly.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Fine, just... something smelled funny is all," she said, looking at me.
"Yeah, sorry about that," I said, thinking up something on the spot, "I was playing with my body chemistry earlier, trying to increase my available energy. I may have accidentally over-triggered some pheromone production. I'll be keeping clear of anyone female for a while after this. I should be back to normal in a couple of days."
"You shouldn't play with your endocrine system. You can cause all sorts of problems."
She was looking at me very intently, biting her lip.
"I know that now, won't do it again," I said, "Just left me more tired, anyway."
"I could have told you that."
"You were napping."
She glared and I stretched, walking towards the building.
"What are you doing?" she asked, following behind me.
"I thought I'd go make a mess."
I walked up to the loading dock, calling a set of shields around myself as I went.
I approached a portly fellow with a broad moustache loading sacks of something into the truck.
"Excuse me?" I said politely.
"What?" he said, not as politely, I frowned.
"Where's your manager?" I asked.
"Who wants to know?" he replied, glaring.
"Someone with little time and less patience," I said coldly, staring him down.
He swallowed at my tone before he remembered that he was just dealing with a kid and got in my face.
"Run home, Kid," he growled, "and take your mother with you."
"Sir, do you imagine that someone like me walks through Gardenia late at night without knowing precisely how to prevent a messy end? I'll ask one more time. Manager?"
He spat on the ground.
"Now what?" he asked, grinning nastily.
Before I had a chance to do a damn thing, Demise had him six inches off the ground by his overalls, one delicate hand clenched in the cloth, her form crackling with power.
"You speak to him with respect, understand?" she whispered, her eyes boring into his.
"Y-y-yes, Ma'am, sorry, Sir!" he said, "She's through there! Office to the left."
Demise dropped him and stepped back behind me, resting her hand on my shoulder protectively, which was new.
"Thank you," I said, "You may wish to take the rest of the night off."
I walked past him, Demise close behind. The man scuttled off at speed, I smelt pee and wrinkled my nose.
"You're a little scary when you want to be, aren't you?" I asked Demise, who flushed like it was a compliment.
"I get by."
We drew a few looks as we crossed along the side of the factory floor. Demise drew some whistles, which stopped when she looked in their direction. I smelt pee again...
I knocked on a door which said 'Manager' on the front in black. A female voice told us to come in and I obeyed.
"Who are you?" she said. She was middle aged, with a matronly look, wearing overalls and a comfortable shirt. Her brown hair was greying at the top and she wore something of a scowl.
"Hi," I said cheerfully, "I'm here to destroy the drug lab upstairs. You and your people have about five minutes to clear the area."
She blinked hard.
"There isn't a-"
I raised my hand and it burst into flames. An Illusion, but a good one. She shoved her chair backwards until it smacked into the wall.
"Five minutes starting now. Warn them, don't, makes no difference to me, just be gone within the time limit. This place might not be entirely... here when I'm done."
She nodded and pulled the fire alarm on the wall next to her with shaking hands before sprinting out past me and onto the floor.
"You're a little scary yourself, Milord," Demise whispered in my ear.
The place cleared out pretty quickly. As the last of the workers left, two Magicians came down a set of concrete stairs, dressed casually; jeans, work boots and shirts, one carried a heavy rod. One was a Fire Wizard, the other a Flesh Adept.
They saw us and readied shields. I yanked the electricity out of the Fire Alarm system and it shorted out, plunging us back into silence.
"Gentlemen," I said, "I'd advise you to leave now."
The Wizard snorted and raised his hand.
He didn't even get to finish his first spell, as an image of Bill, strung out and desperate, filled my mind. I saw him screaming for Source, desperate to get more of it as he willingly lured me to my death.
My Shadows went for them. The Adept's shields were abysmal; they fell in a less than a second. The Wizard may have put up a fight, but I think the wall of darkness shocked him so horribly that he didn't do a thing. In fact, he lost control of his shields and my Shadows hit home a little harder than I meant them to. They were both flung into the wall with sickening force, bones breaking in their backs and shoulders; nothing fatal, but still painful and debilitating enough to drop them to the ground unconscious.
I walked over them and up into the first floor, where the last two Magicians were waiting. They didn't even bother fighting, they ran out the back the second they saw Shadows. The technicians were hot on their heels.
That just left us with Demons.
"Well," Demise said, "That was no fun at all. Now what?"
"I call Palmyra again," I said, pulling out my phone, "Demons aren't my thing."
"Sure," Demise said dryly, giving me the raised eyebrow.
"Oh, not again, Matty!" Palmyra said when she turned up, her usual clutch of nuns in tow.
"I was just out for an evening stroll, when I happened to hear the roars of Demons..." I said.
"Shut up," she said without heat, giving me a hug before approaching one of the circles, "Right. Once more, but without the screw-up."
"Only if that wouldn't be too much throub- Ow!" I said as she hit me, "Am I just the designated Archon punching bag?!"
"Well, certainly mine. You make delightful sounds, sort of like a mouse with its tail caught in a blender," she said.
"Couldn't you try to make that sound a little more butch?" I begged.
"Would you prefer rat?" she asked sweetly.
I grumbled while she sniggered. This time, she took things slowly. First she banished one, and when she was sure that it was gone (and not lurking in a corner, or something), she did another and another; then in pairs, by threes until she got the rest in a big final spell.
She stretched a little and I yawned, desperate for my bed after what had been a long, stressful night.
"That was fun, not as fun as last time," she said.
"Oh ha, ha!"
She sniggered and came over.
"You smell funny, is that..." she stopped, and her eyes went wide.
Shush! I sent, I told Demise I messed up playing with my pheromones. She doesn't know I got... groped.
When did this happen?! How did she not see that? Palmyra asked.
My Liaisons had a... problem.
Ohhh, she sent back, Time Sling, huh?
Yep.
Alright, say no more. And stay away from the women-folk for a while, you'll be a liability.
I know that!
Okay, no need to be so touchy.
I glared and she grinned.
We chatted a bit as we walked out, followed by our retinues. We emerged into the sightlines of an army.
There had to be two hundred policemen out there, every one armed with a rifle or a pistol, all pointed at us. Many had Spelleaters. Palmyra smiled.
"You want to take this one?" she asked.
"Sure, ears and eyes?" I suggested.
She smiled.
"This is the Gardenia Police!" said a voice over a loudspeaker, "Surrender n-"
I cast Sensory Overload.
And wow was that a lot of vomit! I may have... accidentally loosened the visual section.
"Oh, Matty, that's just mean," Palmyra said with a grin.
"Wait for it... and there we go, they all land in their own sick," I said as they passed out at last.
"You know, Mathew, it's Magicians like you that give the rest of us a bad name," Palmyra said.
"So, I shouldn't mention the additional stimulant I added to the visual component that you should be able to smell in few minutes?" I said.
"What are you-? Oh, damn, Matty, that's just plain wrong!" Palmyra said, holding her nose against the smell of two hundred voided bowels and bladders.
I chuckled evilly.
"What? They're at the beck and call of drug dealers. That makes them- oh I wish I had sunglasses so I could do this properly- crap cops."
Naturally Palmyra hit me again.
"Why?" I whined.
"Bad pun, you deserve it."
"I disagree!" I said, rubbing my shoulder.
Palmyra snorted and raised her hand; three dozen Spelleaters darted into her palm. She squished them and they fell to the ground in a single ball of metal.
"I'm beginning to get the impression that you and the others know far more about Spelleaters than I do," I said.
Palmyra smiled.
"Give us a sec, would you?" she said to Demise and her people.
Demise stepped back with the nuns, getting out of earshot.
"How much have you figured out?" Palmyra asked.
"I'm pretty sure that your signets, not mine incidentally, make you immune to them. And, unless I'm very much mistaken, just about everything else?"
"The Signets aren't actually... rings. They are symbols of what we are, that happen to look like rings. In a way, they're alive, siblings like we are. They keep us safe. Yours agreed to... limit herself to a symbol and certain general protections."
"Why?" I asked, "I think I know, but let's hear it."
"Well... First Shadows can go bad. The Spelleaters were made with... that in mind."
"That's what I figured," I said with a sigh.
"And, of course, our ancient, mystical, semi-living items of power trump Sorcerer made piffle. So does an Archon, but enough can slow you down."
"Ain't that the truth?" I said.
"You're not mad?"
"I'm actually relieved," I said, "I always had this worry at the back of my mind that someone would ambush one of you with enough Spelleaters to actually hurt you. Or kill one of you."
"Nope," she said, patting my shoulder, "Pretty much the only thing that can hurt an Archon is another Archon. Generally speaking, when one of us dies, it's because we don't want to live anymore."
"Or they're a First Shadow who played around with the Black," I said.
"Yeah, or that," she said, smirking, it shouldn't have been endearing, but it was, "you're not supposed to know a lot of this, you realise? We don't tell the First Shadow about the signet, or the Spelleaters."
"Then why tell me?"
"You know, that's a good question- Ah! That bloody Succubus-thing!" she said, stepping back.
"Oh. Still not my fault, just want that on the record!"
"Shut up, Mathew, I am so mad at you!"
"Me?! What did I do?"
"Well, you're standing there with those puppy-dog eyes and that little sort of smirky smile I like, and you're talking... and stuff," she said, biting her lip.
"What sort of puppies have eyes like this?" I asked, slightly off topic, but I wanted to know.
"Hellhounds," she said, waving it off, "Ah, you see? You see?! You're doing it again, distracting me, drawing information out of me with your clever double-talk."
"My clever what-what?" I asked, a little baffled.
"Well, it's not going to work, you'll get no more information out of me, not even if you tied me to an interrogation chair, maybe with those little furry cuffs..." she said, her eyes glazing a little.
"Alright, this conversation is scarring me for life, and I have an urgent appointment with a Vampire that I'd like to get out the way so I can sleep," I said.
"In the Companion House?" she said, her voice a little squeaky, "Can I come?"
"What?! No! Go when I'm a county and a body of water away, good grief!" I said while Palmyra sniggered.
"No goodnight kiss?" she said as I walked towards Demise.
"When you get home, you're going to remember this conversation with a clear head, and I think you're going to throw up."
"We'll see!" she said as she called a portal and her people piled through.
I went over to Demise, who was still staring.
"This pheromone crap is a menace!" I said.
"I hadn't really noticed," she said, deliberately looking away, blushing a little.
"Thank goodness for that, at least," I said, patting her shoulder, "let's get this conversation with my Information Broker over with. I don't want to be there more than ten minutes."
She hopped on my back again and I Shadow-Walked us to the edge of the 'Carpet's grounds. The guards were even more obvious than before.
"Mathew?" Demise asked.
"Yeah?" I said as we walked up the drive.
"Is this a brothel?"
"It's the location of my Information Broker's office, and that's all that concerns me."
"Then you've never...?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me questions lik
e that?" I asked, turning to glare.
"Well, you are a man, and eighteen. You live with a Succubus, and now I see that you get your information from a place oozing sexual temptation."
"Alright, for what I hope will be the last time, I have a girlfriend!" I said impatiently.
The door was pushed open by a security guy and we spoke to Bianca, who greeted me fondly.
"Crystal's been going on about you, Mister Graves, or is it Stone? Anyway, I think you helped give her a little peace over her sister," Bianca said as she led us towards the original office, which had apparently been rebuilt.
"I'm glad," I said, "nothing can get to us quite like family."
She nodded and handed us over to Francois.
Demise and I waited for about fifteen minutes, chatting idly. I yawned and leant my head on the wall. I closed my eyes for a second...
"You don't have much in the way of stamina, do you?" said Crystal before there was suddenly a new weight in my lap.
She wore tight jeans and a crop top with half-sleeves. Her hair framed her face and her eyes were dazzling.
"Keep that in mind," I said as I rubbed my eyes, "and adjust your desires accordingly."
She snorted and kissed my cheek, rubbing her nose against it.
"My, my, you smell amazing tonight," she said before nuzzling my neck.
"Oh!" I said, remembering, "You have to keep away from me tonight. I messed up some Magic, and now I'm throwing out enough chemical attractant to draw in a Succubus."
Literally, in fact...
"I like it," she purred, "makes me want to do naughty things."
"Crystal, it's not real. I'm a walking aphrodisiac."
"Doesn't feel any different to me," she said, sniffing a bit harder, "Oh, that's so nice."
"I can drop you in cold water."
"Go on then," she said, nibbling on my ear and making me shiver.
"Mistress Price will see you now," Francois said, a little impatiently (or was that jealously?).
"Crystal?" I said.
"Busy," she said, kissing her way down my neck.
"Crystal!" Price barked. The younger Vampire darted to her feet and backed away, which allowed me to get up.
"Thank you," I said to Price while Crystal giggled from her spot against the wall. Price led us into her office, and I stayed standing, not giving Crystal another chance to sit in my lap.