by J. P. Rice
As Riggins screamed primally, fighting against death, the giant enemy nodded as if he were giving a silent warning. He disappeared into his dragons as quickly as he had appeared out of nowhere. I hated this man for invading my city and silently vowed to kick his sorry ass out of the Burgh.
At least this gave me a tiny clue to go on, although the man had never said his name. He didn’t seem human, despite his appearance suggesting otherwise.
There wasn’t much I could do here. With a heavy heart, I turned to Gretchen and said, “You ready to get out of here now?”
“I need to stay until there’s nothing more we can do here. Even though that might not be much, I need to see this out. Do you have any idea who that man was?”
I shook my head, frustrated. “I don’t. That’s what I need to go figure out. Unfortunately, there’s not much more I can do down here.”
“Here,” Gretchen said as she tossed me her keys. “Just don’t wreck it, all right? Although you do look pretty in that outfit with your blond hair and blue eyes, get some new clothes for God’s sake.” She let out a little chuckle.
I nodded. Normally I’d argue with her, but I needed to figure this out. I had a feeling the Pittsburgh Police would be useless in this matter.
I said, “You got it.” She’d never let me drive the squad car before. Then again, dragons had never invaded our city before either.
I pushed my way through the crowd of authorities, turned sideways to squeeze between two ambulances parked ridiculously close together, and headed back to Gretchen’s police car.
I had a few clues to go on and needed to begin asking questions. The first person on the list was my mentor, Alayna. The one-thousand-and-one-year-old faerie seemed like the most logical person to ask about this.
I knew the Deep Burrow and the Celtic Gods didn’t even have dragons at their disposal. That meant this would be a serious uphill battle. As far as I understood, the Red Cavern of demons didn’t have dragons either. It had to be a powerful underworld or otherworld.
I had been learning about the various “worlds,” but there were so many of them, good and evil. It would be impossible to pinpoint a suspect so soon.
As I sat in the car on the way home, I adjusted the rearview mirror to see the city. The dragons stood perched atop the tallest buildings in the city. Smug bastards. They acted like they owned this city and it got my blood boiling. I needed to save Pittsburgh from the impending apocalypse. But first, I needed to get out of my shredded clothes and into some fresh gear.
Chapter 2
Sporting fresh gear, I backed into my office and went to flick on the lights. I noticed they were already on and I detected a presence behind me. Whirling around, a young woman holding my phone receiver in her hand startled me.
I had a simple one-room office. My desk was located on the right side near the door and I had a few other mismatched chairs around the room. No art on the drab gray walls. Just two windows on the wall near my desk. An impromptu brawl had recently destroyed the place, so I decorated minimally now.
My desk held my computer monitor and a corded phone. That was it. Nothing fancy.
She hung up the phone, and spoke calmly, “There you are. The door was unlocked so I wandered in and couldn’t find anyone in here. I was just about to call your cell phone.”
The door was most certainly locked. I eyeballed her suspiciously.
She stood about five-five, bronze skin with light freckling, rich mahogany eyes flecked with silver sparks and long, red hair, Titian-tinted to be precise. She smiled shyly and revealed a crooked set of teeth. Her long, thin nose sniffed the office air and her wide set eyes carried a sense of calm confidence. The homely woman should have been nervous, and her sense of ease made me uneasy.
As I studied her briefly, I detected dark magic coming from her.
I caught a whiff of sesame and orange. It led my eyes to a burning candle on my desk. “What the hell. Did you light my candle?”
She put her hands up in front of her chest. “That was lit when I walked in.”
I pinched out the flame. It was a special candle I’d made in the Deep Burrow to celebrate a new beginning with my girlfriend. I’d planned to light it before our special conversation.
I got back to the issue at hand. “What do you need help with?”
She fingered her ginger locks, casually throwing the tangled mess over her shoulder. The blue spandex pants and matching long-sleeved shirt showed off an attractive figure. “It’s something in my basement. I’m not sure what it is. I hoped that you could help me get rid of it.”
I kept playing her game as I brought all my magical repertoire to the surface. “Do you have any idea what it could be?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen it. Only heard it. I’m too afraid to go down there.”
More dark magic vines were slipping out of her purple tennis shoes and wiggling around on the floor. Only people versed in magic could see the vines. They were important when sizing up an opponent and could range in size from a drinking straw to a telephone pole.
I didn’t even want to know her name yet. There was a good chance I’d end up killing her. I didn’t need that weighing on my conscience right now. “Where do you live?”
“Excuse me?” The question seemed to take her by surprise as she scratched her left clavicle nervously. Her cheeks reddened, hiding her freckles.
“Where. Do. You. Live?”
It was a simple question, four simple words, yet she paused again, setting off alarms. She finally said, “Just down in the city.”
“Where?” I pressed, trying to gauge her reaction.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve been stalked before and I’m not comfortable just giving out my address.” The lobes of her ears started turning red.
“I understand that, but if you want my help, I need to know where to go.”
“So you will help me? I’d like to be sure.” Her eyes darted around the room.
Something shady was going on. Was the ‘thing’ in her basement infecting her with dark magical forces? Hell, was there even a basement to begin with?
I had to be careful. “I’d like to say yes, but I’m not sure what we are dealing with. I’ll definitely take a look at it.”
“I’m kind of in a rush, but I’m just glad you can help. Sorry, but I have to go now.” She walked by me, heading for the door.
“Just a minute. I need a way to get back in contact with you.”
“Right. Sometimes I’m just so forgetful.”
Time for the setup.
Keeping an eye on her, I went over to my desk and grabbed a small note pad and a pen. I placed the pad on the desk and handed her the pen.
It was time to see if she knew the Pittsburgh area code or if she was just bullshitting me. She leaned over and her right sleeve moved up her arm, revealing a tattoo on top of her wrist. Noticing the Dank Artistry symbol of the Red Cavern, I brought my magic to the surface.
I pounced and grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back. “Nice tattoo, demon. Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?” I was expecting a fake number, not a demon.
She struggled to get away, but her strength was no match for mine. I easily corralled the much smaller woman, and she stopped trying to break the hold. I said, “You might as well come with the truth. I know you’re in cahoots with the Red Cavern.”
“Fuck.” She took a deep breath. “Let me go and I will tell you.”
“Here’s the deal. I will let you go. However, if I suspect that you are going to try something stupid, like running again, I won’t hesitate to fuck you up. Don’t be foolish.”
I released my grip, and she turned around facing me. Her shape and features were all the same, but her skin had turned deep purple. “You are a demon.”
“Tremendous observation. Why don’t you just let me go?”
“Why don’t you just tell me what the hell you were doing first?” I moved my back closer to the door.
She sighed
and rolled her eyes. “I was sent here by the Jersey Devil to tap your phone.”
“Sons a bitches. Why would you demons want to tap my phone?”
She explained, “Because you always seem to know what’s going on in this city. At least that’s what the Jersey Devil said. They keep going back and forth on whether they want to kill you or not. The devils still believe you are corruptible. The Jersey Devil says you have a soft spot for women that will get you killed one day. He really doesn’t like you, by the way.”
“The feeling is more than mutual. Back to the subject at hand. Why did he send you? Why not just do it himself?”
She stared at the ground and looked up with her long lashes fluttering. “Because I begged him to do it.”
Shocked, I asked, “What? Why? What do you have against me?”
Her purple chin swung back and forth as she shook her head. “Nothing against you. I was going to tap the phone and then make a run for it.”
“Make a run for what? Where are you going to go?”
“To get away from my cruel life in the Red Cavern.” She looked out the window in wonder. “I don’t know where to go. I can look like a human as you saw earlier.”
Her words intrigued me. I asked, “Won’t they come after you?”
“Don’t care. I already feel dead inside.” She drew in a long breath and asked dramatically, “What do I have to lose?”
“Your life.” I had learned from many sources that demons didn’t have the same emotions as humans. They all supposedly took pleasure in the misery of others. A society of schadenfreude.
She huffed. “What life? Being used for my body by the will of the Chieftains, demi-devils and devils. What’s that? It’s not living, I can tell you that. You might as well kill me right now and get it over with.”
An idea struck me. “No. I hate to do this to you, but I have to send you back to the Cavern.” I hoped to trade the demoness for my knife, subsequently saving my own life.
She muttered, “I’m not going back.”
“Oh, I’m afraid you are.” As soon as the words escaped my mouth, a sudden unseen force blasted me in the chest, knocking me back into the front door of my office. I bounced off the door and crashed to the ground.
How the fuck had she done that?
The demon tried to hop over me and escape. Reaching up at the last moment, I grabbed the tight pants around her ankle. The young woman had strength, dragging me toward the entrance. She pulled the door open and squirmed to get loose. Reaching out with a stretched right arm, I clutched onto the spandex covering her backside, firmed my grip and dragged her back in.
I jumped up, still holding her leg, and she toppled to the ground. Reaching over, I slammed the door shut and went to lock it. Before I could accomplish that, the demoness bit my calf and I yelped in pain. Yanking my leg away was a bad idea, stretching the skin even further and causing more damage.
Using my other leg, I repeatedly stomped on her chest until she finally unclamped her jaw. I went to dive on her but another invisible force hit me, lifting me, holding my body parallel to the ground. The demon sprang up with a wicked uppercut and caught me flush on the chin.
My teeth smacked together in an uneven clack and bright streaks that looked like neon tadpoles raced through my peripheral vision. The force holding me up died, and I fell four feet to the ground.
All right. Enough screwing around.
She tried to run past me again. I kicked her foot into her other one, and she tumbled into the front door shoulder first. I called on a lock bubble, worrying that with her advanced understanding of magic she would detect it.
She grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and pulled. Freedom was so close.
I blew into my hand and a bubble formed. A prism of colors raced around inside the giant bubble. Just before the demoness ran out the front doorway, I flung the lock bubble toward her. One side rammed into her back, and the central force of the bubble pulled her inside.
I raced over to the door, delicately pulling the bubble toward the middle of the room as she pounded on the shell, attempting to break it. I locked the door and turned back to my visitor.
“Not bad.” I rubbed my jaw. “You’ve got some pretty sweet magic skills. I couldn’t even see your forces coming at me. You’re one of the first ones.” Her weak magical vines had acted as a decoy. I’d never seen that before on a being.
She spoke without emotion, “Lot of good it did me. Why do you want me to die?”
Aaah, she was throwing down the sympathy card. I explained, “It’s either you or me. If I don’t get this knife back from Aka Manah, I’m a dead man. Sorry about the bad life in the Red Cavern, but you’re a demon.”
“You’re going to trade me for a knife? A piece of property? I suppose that’s what I am.” Her head slumped down in disgust. That was a rather convincing performance. Maybe some demons had similar emotions to humans.
I tried to explain, “It’s not exactly like that. This knife has rune symbols on it that have been blessed by the Celtic Gods. It can be used to cause great harm if it falls into the wrong hands, as it had when Aka Manah claimed it for himself. I knew that if I lost it, the wage would be my life. So it’s not just a knife, it’s basically my life. My life or a demon’s.” I raised and lowered my two hands like invisible scales to weigh the decision. “Not a hard choice.”
“Doomed by birth, huh?” Her bottom lipped trembled. Damn, she was good.
“Excuse me?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’re saying that because I was born a demon, I should believe in all the disgusting things they do. Not every demon is evil, just like not every human is benevolent. Ever heard of a guy named Hitler?”
She wasn’t talking crazy. I concurred, “I see your point, but there’s really nothing I can do. It’s you or me.”
“I guess he was wrong.” She sniffled, tears building in her glossy eyes.
“Who was wrong?”
She paused and swallowed. “The Jersey Devil said you had a soft spot for women. Guess he was wrong.”
“Looks like it.” I tried not to let her get to me. Coming from a shitty past, I felt for her, but sometimes life presented difficult choices. I tried not to let my sympathy cloud my head.
She started crying. I didn’t know demons cried. It all seemed like an extravagant act until actual tears streamed down her cheeks. “What—what are you doing?”
“I’m crying, you obdurate jerk. Am I not allowed?” She wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands.
“But you’re a demon. Demons aren’t supposed to have feelings.” No. Nope. Not falling for it. Before a surge of sympathy ran through me, I went to the closet and picked up the bungee cords.
Before you ask. Yes, detaining bad guys was exactly why I kept bungee cords in my office. With great care, I popped the bubble, and grabbed her ankles. After I secured her legs so she couldn’t run, I forced her arms behind her back and bound her wrists.
I cast a protection spell on the bonds because her magic skills could easily allow her to break out of the bungee cords. I locked them into place, essentially turning them into steel, and stuffed her into the closet. Remembering that I would need to feed her in a little while, I shut the door.
Her screams caused further regret, but she was a demon, at least that was what I kept telling myself. I rushed out the front door before I changed my mind.
I needed her to get my knife back. I wasn’t cruel. Really, I wasn’t. Huh. I had always preached to never believe someone’s words, believe their actions. I realized this looked bad, but I wasn’t a monster. Plus, she was a demon. So why did I feel so rotten about it?
Confused about the situation? The Celtic Gods had given me an enchanted knife with explicit instructions not to lose it. Yes, I lost it. The condition was my life because of the destruction the object could cause.
Right now it was in the possession of Aka Manah and the demons of the Red Cavern. The demons hadn’t rushed to my front door to make
a deal. In fact, I hadn’t seen the aforementioned Chieftain since he had grabbed the knife during a huge brawl and run away from me.
The clock was ticking. Hopefully, I could pull the trade for the demoness to save my life. I felt okay as long as no other distractions popped up. I wanted to make a bunch of calls.
I opened my door and detected an intruder in my house. I prepared to kick some ass.
Chapter 3
I stepped inside my house and sensed a strong level of magic. Was another demon inside my house? Was the girl in my office a red herring? I shushed Colossus with a crazy look in my eyes and tiptoed up the steps.
A creaking of floorboards above me told me that someone was in my lab. Slowly and quietly, I ascended the steps and reached the top. I heightened my senses and peeked around the corner. Closed door.
I knew it wasn’t Alayna because we had a rule of tying a yellow Beatles necktie on the outside doorknob. We used the marker because my mentor/landlord came freely in and out of my apartment. Technically, her apartment. And she was a crazy Beatles fanatic. I kind of liked them myself.
Detecting one person, I put my hand on the doorknob and steeled myself. A peal of thunder nearly made me jump through the roof. Settling down and shaking out my nerves, I prepared to bust in and kick someone’s sorry ass until the smell of vanilla and roses snuck into my nostrils.
Alayna’s signature scent.
Not letting my guard down, I pushed the door open and performed a cursory scan of the room.
Only Alayna. The faerie stood about three-and-a-half-feet tall. Her thick braids alternated from black to platinum blond and hung to the small of her back. Fair skinned, the perfect homunculus always wore her signature, amethyst dress that could have come from a princess’ wardrobe.