Eden's Pawn: Shadow Games Book 1

by C. B. Miller

  I ran the last few feet to them and halted at the door. “What are we waiting for?”

  Alex’s lip twisted up, “She wouldn’t open it until you got here.”

  I turned back to Rebecca, and her face lit up.

  “The exit as promised!” With a flourish, she grabbed the doorknob and twisted.

  “Thanks,” I bowed my head briefly.

  I motioned for Rebecca to hurry, and she popped through the door. Alex followed close behind, and I gave one last look at the passage way. The earthen tunnel was gone, and the hallway ended in another door.

  “I’m not sure I like magic,” I whispered under my breath.

  We were in a cellar, cluttered by the forgotten and discarded remains of fifty or sixty years worth of decaying junk. Rebecca led us through to the short staircase, and as we ascended its steps, she paused at the door leading out. Muffle shouts combined the sounds of rushing water came from the other side.

  Rebecca turned and laid a hand on our shoulders, “This leads out onto the street. Act cool and calm. No one will notice that way.” A shockwave shot out from us as the color of everything suddenly dulled.

  I could feel Alex’s body clench, and I glanced down to see her ball both of her fists as she smiled through clenched teeth. Rebecca either didn’t notice or ignored Alex’s reaction as she turned around and opened the door.

  We stepped out of the building onto the sidewalk and into chaos. Four firetrucks and a host of firefighters were fighting the raging fire consuming the other side of the building. A small crowd gathered around, kept back by a small police presence as streams of water flowed from hoses into the structure. The fire was mostly under control at this point, and we didn’t stick around long to watch. I led them away through the crowd, surprised and pleased when they unconsciously parted to let us by. It made me wonder just how many wizards wandered through the streets of Chicago hidden like this. We took a meandering path back to my car and collectively let out a massive sigh of relief as we got inside. Alex made Rebecca take the passenger seat and sat directly behind me.

  I twisted in my seat, so both of them were in my view. “Well, ladies. Now what?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The air grew stifling as the three of us stared at each other. Alex sat, spine ramrod straight in the backseat while her stony, impassive gaze swept between the two of us. Rebecca’s eyes never waivered from me as she lounged in the passenger seat. I shifted my hand away from my sword, heat filling my cheeks at the realization my hand had been resting on it.

  I tried to keep my face neutral, trying to hide my annoyance and internal conflict. I wanted to talk to them both individually first, but there was no way to do that without endangering the fragile peace between us. Rebecca was part of the faction trying to kill Alex. Maybe something even worse than death gauging by the weirdness I just witnessed. I wasn’t sure I should care about either of their fates. My fingers touched the hilt of the sword, and the clenched muscles in my back partially relaxed.

  I have what I need. I can just let these two duke it out.

  Flashes of the Wretched and Rebecca’s wound popped into my mind.

  Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I was kidnapped. How about the rest of you?” Her eyes flicked open, and Rebecca shrank in her seat under the weight of Alex’s glare.

  I rested a hand on Alex’s shoulder, and some of the tension left her as she reluctantly turned to look at me. I shook my head slightly before looking over at Rebecca.

  “Rebecca, no one is going to hurt you here. We – Alex, and I, just need to know why Bertha’s circle did these things. I know they stole this sword from my patron,” I swallowed the knot in my throat, “and killed several of my comrades in the process. I’m not so sure you were a part of that, not willingly, at least.”

  Rebecca peeped through her hair at me and quivered. “He came to us. Told us that we had been robbed of our Awakening, but he could fix it.”

  Alex snorted, “Ha!”

  “Am I missing something?”

  “Yes. Do you know what an Awakening is?”

  “I assume it’s something magic-ky.” I wiggled my finger in front of me. Alex’s glare hardened. “And judging by the look on your face, it’s….”

  “It’s the vast difference between a mage like myself and a wizard.” She wrinkled her face as she spat out the last words.

  “So, is it like hell week in a frat, and that boosts your powers?”

  “That’s actually closer to the truth than you would think,” Alex muttered, her eyes focused on nothing for a moment, and some of the tension disappeared from her shoulders. She shook away whatever she was thinking and turned her attention back to me. “Without getting into the esoteric secrets of the universe, wizards have all failed their Awakening.”

  Rebecca began to object, and Alex cut her off with a look. “Or, haven’t gone through the process. The point being, you get one shot. There are no do-overs.”

  I hadn’t realized that there was an actual kinship between wizards and mages, but none of what Alex said gave me any hint as to where the bad blood between the two groups comes from.

  “He proved it. Bertha became a mage. With his help. Half our circle Awakened. Rachel, Megan, and Charlie.”

  Alex scoffed, “You expect me to believe that?”

  “Actually, that makes some sense. Here, watch this,” I interjected. I reached for my cellphone and swore. “Fuck. I hate paying for a replacement phone.”

  I gave Alex a quick rundown of the assault on Robert. Both listened quietly, and I noticed Alex started to rub the top of her hand before I finished. She looked off to the side with a small frown.

  “How? That shouldn’t be possible.” She said softly.

  “Is anything really impossible in a world where people shapeshift and toss fireballs around like they’re nothing and still somehow go unnoticed?”

  Alex’s voice turned steely, but it still waivered slightly. Her iron-hard posture returned, and her face tightened. “There are some things that cannot be changed, no matter how mighty a being might be. Rebecca, do you know how this mage did this? Who is ‘he’? How’d he find you? Where did -”

  I gripped her shoulder gently, and she ceased her barrage of questions. Rebecca’s quivering intensified, and she shrank deeper into the seat, covering her face.

  “One at a time. Rebecca, do you know what the others were doing to Alex?”

  Her head bobbed once, and she started to shake.

  I turned to face Alex, silently telling her to remain calm as I addressed the wizard. “Rebecca, we’re not mad at you, and no one is going to hurt you. We need to know what was going on.”

  “She was Awakening the others. Taking back that which the mages stole from us.”

  Rebecca began crying and her whole body convulsed with each wracking sob.

  I gestured helplessly at Rebecca. “I don’t think she knows much, Alex. If you couldn’t tell – she’s….” I sucked in my lip, not sure of how to address Rebecca’s condition. “Have you ever seen blood like that? Or run into anything that smelled similar?”

  Alex’s finger traced a circle repeated on the top of her hand. “No. I’ve heard stories, more like oral histories about something similar.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Not here.” Her eyes shifted to Rebecca.

  Not with her, you mean.

  “Right, where to first then?”

  “Take me home. Someone there will know more about what’s going on.”

  ***

  Alex’s place was in the suburbs. The drive there took almost a half-hour, in which we listened to Rebecca sob herself to sleep and rode in silence for the last half. We pulled into a private drive and up to a three-story manor house.

  Alex rested a hand on my shoulder and whispered, “Let her sleep. I don’t want her inside for obvious reasons.”

  “Kid did run with a bad crowd,” I said softly. “What if she wakes?”

  “She’s goi
ng to be sleeping for hours.” Alex wiggled her fingers, and the edge of her mouth curled up.

  “That’s a lot of house for one person.” I whistled low as we got out of the car.

  “It would be if it was just me. Welcome to the home of my circle, the Black Oryx.” Alex’s teeth showed as she smiled. Cracking her knuckles, she motioned for me to follow her as she bounded up the short set of stairs to the front door. Alex stopped on the landing and began to chant as I reached her.

  The manor house vaguely reminded me of my former boss’s place. His was larger, which wasn’t surprising, seeing as how he was a billionaire, and it was located in the Pacific Northwest of the US on his own land. The fact that her circle was able to carve out this much space in suburbia was nearly as impressive to me.

  Being a mage must pay better.

  Alex finished her spell, and her face fell. “Something’s wrong.”

  I drew my sword and spun slowly, looking across the manicured lawn and parking for movement or anything else that might be threatening. “Do you see something?”

  “That’s the problem. It’s what I’m not seeing.”

  I turned to see Alex point at the front door. The set of double doors were painted a steel gray and emblazoned with the emblem of a black stag. I stared at it for a moment before returning to my vigil. “I’m going to need a little more of an explanation.”

  Alex’s words were breathy as she walked closer to the doors. “Something broke all of our wards. All of them.”

  I followed close behind her as she opened the door. Black marble floor extended into awide hall with twin staircases winding up the sides to connected to a balcony on the second floor before continuing their ascent to the top floor. The walls and floor sparkled, and carpeted stairs were fresh like someone had just deep cleaned everything. The only sound breaking the silence was the two of us breathing.

  We crept through the entrance, our footsteps echoing softly on the marble floor as I followed her down a set of hallways. The hair stood up on my arms as we passed numerous unoccupied rooms and slowed to approach a large oak door.

  “What’s in here?”

  “It’s our groupwork space.”

  Alex turned to face me. “The space you are about to enter is sacred. This is like getting a full-on viewing session of not just me but my entire circle naked all at once. While we are binge watching our favorite show and devouring our favorite foods when no one is watching. You will see things that are part of our secrets that can never be spoken about to another being. Not even Eden. Do you understand?”

  The crash course Eden gave me about mages was pretty thin, amounting to they are super weird, extremely powerful, and whenever possible, avoid them. I wasn’t sure what could be so special about this room, but my silence was a small thing to promise in return.

  “Sure, but quick question. If this space is so sacred, why are we here, and why bring me with you?”

  “It’s dangerous to go alone. Also, this is the first room we’ve come to that the door is closed.”

  I stared at her blankly for a moment as I mentally retraced our steps. She was right. This was the first door we’d come upon that was closed. The skin on the back of my neck prickled as she gripped the door handle and twisted.

  As the door it opened wide, a wall of rotting air slammed into us, forcing both of us to cover our face and step back. The smell of unwashed bodies, urine, feces, and the unforgettable smell of decomposition clung to everything in the room.

  Inside, the remains of four women and three men were bound to short wooden stakes on the edge of a circular glyph painted in white. They faced in towards the center; their bodies were broken and mutilated. Every joint was pulled apart, distending their limbs, fingers, and toes. Long thin gashes covered their bodies, tracing specific symbols in their flesh. Each eye had been popped out of their sockets, left to dangle out of their heads. Jaws broken, their mouths hung open unnaturally wide, and I could see that every tooth had been extracted. Their tongues hung out of their mouths, dark and discolored.

  The dried blood marred the perfectly white symbols drawn inside the circle. The symbols formed a complex geometrical shape that bent and twisted back in on itself in maddening ways. As I took in the glyph in its entirely, it seemed to move subtly like there was something under the surface of the floor. Its shapes slowly twisted, and I felt a presence pull gently on my shirt toward the glyph. There was a sadness about it, like the energy of a concert draining away after the last note of music and the house lights come on. The symbol on the ground was starting to take shape as I took a step toward it.

  And then my feet were in the air, something knocked my legs out from under me, and I slammed into the marble floor, the breath exploding from my lungs. My head bounced against the floor, and I wasn’t sure if the associated crack was my skull or the marble. My vision blurred as Alex loomed over me.

  “Hey, you ok? You didn’t say anything and started walking towards the ritual like you were in some sort of trance.”

  I sat up slowly, averting my eyes from the ritual area, and my vision cleared. The back of my skull was warm and tacky, but I wasn’t sure if that was from the earlier head wound or not. ”I’m all good, I think. Just shaken. Good thing my head is so hard.”

  A thin smile graced Alex’s face. “Not sure about that. I think you cracked the marble, and I’m not sure if Eden is going to want to pay that bill.”

  We both chuckled grimly as she helped me back to my feet.

  “What is that? It’s different from the one you were trapped in” I pointed at the ritual area without looking.

  Her reply was soft and unintelligible.

  “What did you say?”

  Alex looked up at me, confusion in her eyes. “I didn’t say anything, but I -”

  I cut off the rest of her reply with a gesture and strained to listen. There was another voice in the room. A woman’s and she was whispering something I couldn’t quite make out.

  “Do you hear that?”

  Alex shook her head and grabbed me, leading me out of the room by my hand. The whispering words continued until the room was out of sight.

  Alex shuttered, and her eyes were wild as she turned around to face me. “I’ve never seen anything that vile before. Not in person, but I’ve heard stories – warnings more like, of mages that have delved into darker paths of magic. Contact with other beings that have never been alive. Alien intelligences and the like.”

  “Like demons?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. There are beings that claim to be angels, demons, jinn, or any other number of creatures. Divine and profane both. There are other things out there that exist outside our reality that aren’t interested in the affairs of the mortal world. Angels, demons, and the like are.” She gripped me by the shoulders and pulled me closer. “Mages and wizards alike are taught to avoid those beings at all costs.”

  “And you think that ritual involved one of those beings?”

  Alex nodded once. “I’m sure this is how Bertha and her circle ‘Awakened.’” Her voice was hard, and her eyes filled with fire.

  I brought my sword up, “Let’s go kick some ass then.”

  The fire in her eyes dimmed briefly. “Whoever did this took out seven mages in their haven. Imagine someone walking into Eden’s home and casually taking her out without leaving any signs of a struggle. What happened here wasn’t a fight. It was a slaughter.”

  I gasped as things clicked together. Alex peered at me, and I see the concern in her eyes as she glanced at my head wound. “I’m not stroking out, don’t worry. Do you guys have a game room or maybe a formal dining area? Somewhere you’d entertain a bunch of people?”

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “Show me the way. I believe you’re right. There wasn’t a fight.”

  I silenced her with a look. Reluctantly, she released her grip on me and led me to a set of double doors on the first floor. Like the rest of the house, everything was spotles
s, absent of dust, dirt, or any type of disturbance as everything was neatly their specific spots.

  Alex slowly approached the doors, resting her hands on the massive stag-shaped handles. “Here. This is the formal dining room. We don’t use it often, only when entertaining important members of our world.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that, but I pushed that thought aside and grabbed the door handles. The doors swung open easily, revealing a dining hall. The marble floors gave way to polished wood floors and beige walls. A mahogany table, thirty feet long and seven feet wide, stood in its center. Fourteen matching, leather padded chairs were arranged comfortably around the table. A lavished spread of food ran the length of the table, along with eight place settings. All of it, spoiled. Rotten meat, moldy cheese, and bread, along with fur-covered fruit, and decaying vegetables, rested on serving platters and dinner plates alike as vermin ate their fill. Half a dozen open wine bottles were spread across the table and partially filled wine goblets at each place.

  We stood in the doorway silently for a few minutes, taking the scene in.

  “You were right. There wasn’t a fight.” I walked over to the closest setting and picked up the wine goblet. “Going with Bertha’s benefactor in the dining hall with poison.”

  “Why are you so sure it’s poison?”

  “Alcohol is technically poison.” I winked before continuing on, raising the glass a little higher and adding a fake British accent. “The bugs aren’t coming anywhere near this stuff. Even flies will accidentally fly into a wine glass.”

  Alex groaned at me and stiffly entered the room. “It’s hard to believe that one man could come in and undetected, poison the rest of my circle. What kind of mage with that power would do such a thing?”

  I thought back to her earlier statements about otherworldly beings and shivered. “What if it’s not another mage. Besides, I don’t think whoever it was worked alone.” A knot formed in my stomach at my next question. “Alex, are you sure those people were your circle? I mean, is it possible that one or two of them just looked like your friends?”