A Web of Crimson

by Alexander G R Gideon

  “What in the bloody hell brings you here?”

  “I could ask you the same.” She waited for me to reply. When I stayed silent, she pressed her blade harder into my skin. A trickle of blood dripped down my neck “Talk.”

  “I came to investigate Mathers.”

  “Investigate him for what?”

  “The Golden Dawn. The organization boasts a membership of the highest class, as well as those wishing to ride their coattails. The influence Mathers possesses concerns my colleagues and me.”

  She remained silent a moment, then pulled her blade back.

  Rubbing my neck, I stood and turned toward her.

  “Do you work for the Shadow Council?” she asked, her face stern.

  “Who are the Shadow Council?”

  Quicker than lightning, she raised her blade inches from my nose. “No one you need concern yourself about. Now leave.”

  “Easy now, no need for hostility.” I pushed the blade away with a finger. “We may not work for the same organization, but we share a common goal, so why not work together?”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  “Nor I, yours. But I find that those who manage well on their own, manage even better together.”

  Elaine gave me a beautiful scowl. For all her anger, I didn’t feel a hint of the ice that had frozen her words earlier. It made sense now. I imagined this Shadow Council was an organization like the Knight Mages, and it seemed they’d sent her here to investigate Mathers as well. I’d interrupted her mission by distracting Jones. She regarded me for several moments, the inner workings of her mind hidden from her face.

  “Fine,” she said at last, tucking her long knife into the sheath strapped to her thigh. I raised an eyebrow at her trousers. Though not uncommon to see them on a woman, she dressed completely in a man’s style, from her trousers to her shirt and vest. “Cast us a light so we can see better.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her, but she just gave me a flat stare in return. With a push of will, I allowed the light of my soul flame to become fully visible. She seemed unperturbed as the pale blue light flooded over her. Curious.

  “Are you a magician as well?” I asked, intrigued.

  A shadow settled across her face, and she shook her head. “No,” she said, leaving no room for further questions. Which only interested me more. But I didn’t feel the need to push. She gestured to the desk. “I heard you rummaging around in here. Find anything?”

  I shrugged and said, “Standard papers and useless fare. I intended to search the drawers before you interrupted.”

  “Search away,” she said, waving toward the drawers in question.

  I knelt, kindling will and pushing it into the lock. With a tiny click, it opened. Inside sat a large, black, leather-bound journal. I opened it and skimmed the pages but saw nothing of import. Handing the journal to Elaine to inspect, I searched the papers at the bottom of the drawer.

  Nothing.

  Elaine handed the journal back to me with a shake of her head, and I replaced it in the drawer before shutting it.

  “Perhaps we should search the books for clues,” I suggested as I stood.

  “No need. I already looked. And the other rooms as well.”

  “What do you suggest, then?”

  “We keep looking.” She put a finger to her lips, thinking. “Something of import is here. He wouldn’t have hidden this library otherwise.”

  Perhaps he hid yet more within these walls, Vex suggested, setting wheels turning in my mind.

  “What better way to protect your greatest secrets than to allow your enemies to uncover a few,” I mused aloud.

  “Of course,” Elaine said, looking up. “Most intruders would cease to search once found they this hidden library.”

  “Precisely. Spread out.”

  She nodded and stalked off as I searched the shelves against the wall. I expected to find a room or passage, so I probed the stacks with my will for any sign of a secret opening.

  We moved as silently as we could, and I kept listening for any sign of our discovery.

  The sound of a lock releasing echoed through the room.

  I pressed myself against one of the stacks, not moving, not even breathing.

  “I found something,” Elaine said from her side of the library.

  I hurried toward her voice and found her standing before a section of shelving swung back into the wall, revealing a corridor behind it. My heart slid from my throat back into my chest as I blew out a breath.

  “How did you find this?” I peered into the dark passageway.

  She only smirked in reply and stepped into the shadows.

  7

  In the Office of Samuel Mathers

  With a curse, I followed, closing the bookcase behind us. The door sealed and left the passageway utterly silent, not unlike the caves I had explored in Austria. We followed the narrow corridor as it curved back and around, only wide enough for us to move single file. Elaine produced a candle and lit it. The flickering light combined with my soul flame and made my eyes hurt, so I quenched the former. After some time, we came to a small spiral staircase winding down. Wary of traps, we kept our progress slow as we descended.

  Do you know what this Shadow Council is? I asked Vex.

  A group of individuals with incredible talent and skill who endeavor to monitor the supernatural world.

  Why have I never heard of them before?

  Because secrecy is one of their greatest weapons. They are also the last line of defense against egregious mystical threats, and heretofore, we have not faced anything serious enough to have crossed paths.

  I burned with curiosity regarding this elite group of protectors. But no matter how much I needled him for information, Vex revealed nothing more. I resolved to get my answers from Elaine instead.

  We reached the bottom of the stair without incident. Before us stood another crimson door, and Elaine knelt and probed the lock with a set of picks, explaining the tell-tale scratches on the lock to Mathers’s front door.

  “I can open if faster, you know,” I said, beginning to gather will.

  “I’m sure, but better not to leave any magical traces,” she replied.

  A fair point. I let my gathered will dissolve.

  “Are you a member of this Shadow Council?” I asked while she worked. She didn’t reply. “You don’t have to tell me your life story, but I would like to know something about the woman I’m investigating with.”

  She gave a long-suffering sigh and said, “Fine. If you must know, I’m not a member.”

  “So, you work for them, then.”

  Her hands stilled for a moment. “Not…officially.”

  Well, that just raised all kinds of other questions. Before I could ask any, I heard a click, and Elaine swung the door open. “Mathers may have prepared something special for us inside,” she said, looking back at me. “Why don’t you go first?"

  “How kind of you to offer,” I scoffed. Once again, she avoided giving me answers, but I’d learned something at least. I gathered a bit of will as I swept past her into the chamber. Nothing happened and I turned back to her. “Happy?”

  “Quite,” she said, following me in.

  We stood in the temple space I expected within the library. Lanterns hung throughout the room, and I lit them with a sweep of will. A small, ornate altar stood in the center, covered in a cloth emblazoned with a crest unknown to me, a multi-colored cross, pentacles and other symbols from Hebrew characters to zodiac signs.

  Shelves of various artifacts lined the walls, including mirrors, rusty blades, and other such trinkets. They looked harmless enough, but I felt enchantments upon them when I probed with my will. Most were benign, but the enchantment upon one dilapidated music box rose up and snarled at me when my will brushed against it. I kindled a binding spell and wrapped it around the box, then tucked it into my pocket. Dangerous enchantments like this needed to be contained.

  “I don’t like the look of this book,” Elai
ne said behind me. She stood in front of a small desk set against the far wall. A large leather-bound tome sat upon it, surrounded by all manner of papers.

  “Step back” I hurried to join her.

  She did, and I leaned over the book, flipping through a few pages. They felt odd under my fingers. Then, I recognized the texture.

  Human skin.

  Never a good sign.

  I closed the book to examine the cover and my breath caught in my throat.

  “Where did he get the Grand Grimoire?” I asked, quite a bit louder than intended.

  “The what?”

  “The Grand Grimoire, also known as the Red Dragon. Written in blood on human flesh, many believe these spells grant the caster’s every wish, though at the steepest prices.”

  “What price?”

  “The caster’s soul.” I glanced back at Elaine who looked more than a little concerned. I chuckled and said, “Nothing to fear. It’s a gruesome thing, but harmless.”

  Unlike the book the Red Dragon sought to replicate, Vex said, his words deep and cold.

  With a shiver, the office disappeared. Instead, torchlight flickered across the stone of a burial chamber. I tasted dust on my tongue and smelled stale air. My father stood in front of me, his clothes torn and skin bloodied. Insanity blazed in his eyes as he dropped his torch and charged me, his arms wrapped around a giant golden book. His snarl echoed off the wall as I gathered will.

  “Crowley.”

  The killing spell crackled upon the tips of my fingers.

  “Aleister!”

  I blinked.

  The burial chamber disappeared.

  Elaine stood in front of me, her hands on my shoulders. She glanced down at my hands and I followed her gaze. A black aura of magic played about my hands. My heart skipped a beat, and I let the spell dissipate as I shook her hands from me.

  “What the hell was that all about?” she asked, stepping back.

  “Just got caught up in my thoughts,” I said, shaking my head. She looked like she wanted to say something, I plucked the book from the desk and tucked it under one arm. “As I said, nothing to fear from this book, but better I confiscate it. Last I heard, the Vatican had the Red Dragon locked away. So how did it get here?”

  “This letter says the Vatican loaned him the book for translation,” Miss Simpson said. I turned and found her, letter in hand. She held it out, and I took it from her, scanning the elegant script.

  “Mathers befriended a bishop.” I set the letter back on the desk with a smirk. “I wonder what His Excellency might think could he see all this.”

  “That it deserves a pyre with Mathers on it.” Elaine crouched on the other side of the desk, and I heard her working the lock on one of the drawers. She stood, her hands full of papers which she deposited on top of the desk. “Help me go through this.”

  “With pleasure.” I took the small journal from the top of the pile. It seemed to document rituals of the Golden Dawn as well as the organization’s hierarchy. The last few pages contained a roster of members, and the names I read sent my eyebrows soaring. More than a dozen members of Parliament, not to mention half of the city’s richest persons. No wonder this man had come to the attention of the Knight Mages. As casually as I could, I tucked the journal into an inner pocket of my coat.

  Elaine dropped her papers and stepped around the desk toward me. “Do not withhold evidence from me.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t. This journal makes this investigation a matter of national security, and I can’t afford for the information within to be released.”

  She stepped closer and our noses nearly met.

  I gathered will.

  She unsheathed her blade and growled, “Give me the book.”

  If this matter caught the attention of the Shadow Council, you should allow her to assist, Vex said as Elaine drew back her arm to strike.

  “Wait!” I exclaimed before she struck. I spun my gathered will into a persuasion spell to push her to trust me. “I work as an agent of the British Empire. I’ll grant you access to the contents of this book, but duty demands I keep it in my possession. Does that suit you?”

  She held my gaze and, just when I thought a hex in order, she stepped away. “I can live with that. But I’ll hold you to your word, and God help you if you hold out on me.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it, love.”

  We resumed inspecting Mathers’s papers, a wonderful amount of tension straining the silence that fell. I studied dozens of diagrams for rituals and so-called sacred tools. Nothing truly authentic, and with each one, I further doubted that magical blood flowed through Mathers’s veins.

  “How odd.” Elaine handed me a few pages, each one with a drawing.

  My blood ran cold.

  The first sketch showed the opening of a cave. One I knew far too well. Others had maps of underground passageways. I tossed each page aside after I reviewed it. My heart raced faster. I knew these corridors. I knew this city. I still remembered the way the torchlight cast shadows on the stone.

  I snatched the rest of the papers from Elaine’s hand and snarled at her when she protested. I tore through the drawings, following the paths to the very end. The last sketch showed an Egyptian sarcophagus, a relief of a man with the head of an Ibis carved upon the lid. A depiction of Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing, wisdom, and most importantly, magic.

  “No,” I whispered in horror.

  No one other than you could know the Nameless City this well, Vex said, real worry in his voice.

  I shook my head. Only the Knight Mages. I gathered the drawings and handed them back to her with trembling fingers. I made it a condition of my joining that they guard the Nameless City against any seeking entrance.

  Do you think they work with Mathers?

  But why send me to investigate if they back him? It doesn’t make sense.

  We require a word with the Archmage then.

  “You know this place,” Elaine flapped the drawings at me. “And it scares you. Tell me why.”

  “I can’t.” Elaine started to argue, but I held up a hand to silence her. “The fewer who know the truth about that place, the better. Suffice to say that what lies in this city threatens everything on Earth.”

  “God save me, you’re serious,” she said, staring down at the sketches. “I’ll make some inquiries and see if I can find who made these.”

  I nodded and took a scrap of paper from the desk, wrote out my address, and handed it to her. “This is where I live. If you discover anything before the ritual, please find me there.”

  “What do you intend to do?” she asked.

  “I have my own inquiries to make,” I said. Then I turned on my heel and left. Elaine called out to me, but I ignored her. Fear threatened to strangle me as I made my way out of Mathers’s house.

  In that sarcophagus deep within the buried Nameless City of Egypt rested the Book of Thoth. The most powerful and most dangerous magical grimoire in this world, or any other.

  And someone had found it.

  8

  The Knight Mages of the Crown

  Open the goddamn door,” I shouted as I pounded upon the black door.

  Across the street, a curtain moved in a window, and a face peered out into the night, illuminated by candlelight.

  The door jerked open, and hands dragged me inside.

  “Jesus Christ, Crowley. Do you want the entire neighborhood talking?” a gruff voice asked as the door slammed shut behind me.

  “Damn the neighborhood. Take me to the Archmage. Now.” I growled, wrestling out of Henrick’s grasp.

  “Stop, you bastard.” Henrick snatched my arm again.

  I gathered will and kindled it with a snap of my fingers.

  The sleeping spell struck him hard. He collapsed in a heap of limbs, asleep before he hit the floor. I left the rag doll of a man behind and stalked down the hall to Wells’ office in the back.

  “Come in, Aleister,” called an unexpected yet familiar voice from
inside.

  I clenched my teeth and wrapped my hand around the knob.

  Wait, Vex said. You must calm down, and approach this rationally.

  Shut up, I said as I stormed inside.

  Julian Baker sat behind a desk absolutely covered in papers and books. His elbow rested upon the surface, and his chin upon the back of his hand. He was clean-shaven today, and his shoulder-length hair yellow as wheat. Normally this incredible change in appearance might rattle me, but today I couldn’t care less.

  “Where’s the Archmage?” I snarled.

  “Meeting with the Synod in Edinburgh. He shan’t return for several days.”

  “Wells let you use his office?”

  “Several ongoing affairs remain underway in London. I lead them during his absence.”

  That gave me pause. I thought Julian nothing more than the Archmage’s lapdog. I wondered after these other endeavors he spoke of until my anger boiled forth again.

  “Then answer for him. How the bloody fucking hell did Mathers get drawings of the Nameless City, Julian?” Spittle flew from my lips in my rage.

  Julian’s face hardened, and he sat back in his chair. “Can you ensure the legitimacy of these drawings? Many representations of the Nameless City exist, perhaps he acquired one of these,” he said, his tone deadly serious. That he didn’t dismiss the issue cooled my anger a bit.

  “I know that place like the back of my own hand, and he possessed exact drawings, down to the goddamn cracks in the wall. The Archmage promised to protect the City.” I lowered my voice and leaned over the desk. “The Nameless City has been compromised. This mission now concerns the fate of the world. You are going to put every agent in London onto this case, under my command.”

  “I can’t do—”

  “Don’t lie to me!” I swept a stack of paper off the desk to scatter on the floor.

  Julian never moved.

  I pointed a finger at him and said, “You can, and you bloody well will, you pus-filled, sack of—”

  Julian stood, the movement painfully slow, and my words caught in my throat. The calm, playful facade Julian always kept crumbled away, and something rose up in him that absolutely terrified me. He fixed me with his gaze, and I felt my heart pause.