A Web of Crimson

by Alexander G R Gideon

  I couldn’t disagree. Too much rode on this. If Jones didn’t act alone, we must discover the others involved. I gathered my will and blasted into Jones’s psyche, sweeping aside mental shields, stripping his defenses, and baring his essence. Memories of childhood, of his training, loves won, and loves lost unfolded before me. I sifted through them, looking for how he acquired the Nail.

  The Nameless City and the sarcophagus housing the Book appeared before me, but not the recollections of the drawings. He’d been there. He’d infiltrated the City and seen it for himself.

  Unexpected sadness filled me as I realized that the Knight Mages failed to protect the Book.

  Then, I found what I sought.

  Jones sat on a bed in a rundown inn. A man sat in a chair in front of him, hooded and cloaked, the Nail in his outstretched hand. I waited for the stranger to look up, to say or do something to reveal his identity.

  A new power crashed through Jones. Violently, the memories closed to me, and something shoved me from his mind. My normal sight returned.

  Jones gasped for air. His eyes bulged from their sockets, his skin turning an angry purple.

  “No!” I reached for him with my power. He couldn’t die, not now, not when I’d come so close to finding the puppeteer behind the marionette. Yet, even with Vex’s tremendous power coursing through me, Jones’s mind remained closed. I fought this new power, but before I could break through, Jones gasped one last time, and the light fled from his eyes.

  “Damn it!” I pounded Jones’s chest. “Goddamn it!”

  I collapsed against the wall. What kind of magic could close his mind to me like that?

  Vex offered no answers.

  I stared at Jones, dead on the floor. The Book of Thoth would not leave Egypt now, and Baker and I would see that it remained hidden there, never to see the light of day, much less British shores. Many lay injured, but no other dead. Work remained, but for now, we had won.

  Why did it feel like a loss?

  18

  For Better or Worse

  Elaine stirred and groaned. I shook myself out of my thought and hurried to her side.

  Vex’s power had waned, but more than enough remained for the work ahead. I reached out with a tendril of will, inspecting Elaine’s condition. Nothing broken, but pressure built in her skull.

  Drawing on my medical training from Winterbourne Academy, I kindled will. “Dissipa,” I muttered. Instantly, the pressure in her head decreased. After I cast a basic healing and vitality spell, Elaine’s eyes fluttered open.

  “What happened?” she asked, jerking out of my grasp to scramble to her feet. “Where’s Jones?”

  “Dead.” I gestured at the body behind me.

  Her eyes snapped to him, then back to me. “You don’t seem happy,” Elaine said, her eyes narrowed in confusion.

  I sighed. “A long story, but I promise to fill you in when I can. For now, we broke his spell, and we need to see to his victims.”

  Elaine nodded, though obviously unsatisfied. She held out her hand and helped me to my feet. We left Jones’s body and returned to the temple where we found members of the Order lying exactly where my spell threw them. Mathers seemed to be the only one conscious, and he sat on the altar, staunching a nosebleed with his robes. He hopped off when we entered and crossed the room to meet us.

  “What happened?” he asked, his words garbled. “I heard the explosions.”

  “We finished it.” That won a smile and a clap on the back from the big man.

  “And Jones?”

  “Dead,” I said without inflection.

  “Good.” He pulled us both in for a celebratory hug. “That madman deserved death. Look what he did here. Imagine what he could have done with the Book.”

  Victory aside, my own mood remained stoic. Elaine studied me but I shook my head. Not here, not now. Mathers didn’t need to know more. Not yet.

  “The others need our attention.” Elaine extracted herself from Mathers’s embrace.

  “Of course,” he said. “And what should we tell them?”

  “It’s best they don’t know what happened. When they wake, they won’t remember a thing. We’ll tell them Jones poisoned the wine, that he made a mistake and drank it himself,” I reached up and placed a finger on his nose, whispering a quick spell to stop his nose bleed.

  “Thank you,” Mathers said when I finished. “What should I do?”

  “We need water and bandages,” I said, starting toward the closest of the Order still lying prone upon the floor. “Magic can only do so much, after all.”

  Mathers hurried to look for what I requested. In truth, I just wanted him out of the way while I erased the memories of this many unblooded.

  I walked Elaine through the simple healing spells and set her to work. Even with her inexperience, she could cast them with ease. I kept Mathers running for unnecessary supplies or superfluous tasks, and a couple of hours later, we had everyone on their feet. Mathers supported the story that Jones poisoned the wine, and when we left, the membership could discuss nothing but the obviousness of Jones’s guilt. After all, everyone thought him odd, even for the Order.

  With the temple cleared, Elaine and I thanked Mathers for his help and left. I planned to dispose of Jones’s body myself, but Mathers insisted he’d take care of it. “I possess the connections to make the job easy,” he said, shooing us out of the temple. “You’ve already saved the country tonight. Go. Sleep. You’ve earned it.”

  We made our way back to my flat. At the turn, Elaine left to continue home with the promise to return bright and early so I could share everything I held back. She hugged me, which I didn’t expect, kissed my cheek, and whispered her thanks.

  “For what?” I asked when she stepped away.

  “For protecting me. You warded me when he attacked, and you kept him from killing me. You saved me,” she said with the most beautiful smile. Without another word, she turned and walked down Fleet Street.

  I stood there a moment, watching her go, my hand on the spot where she kissed my cheek.

  “I think I’m in trouble,” I murmured into the blowing wind.

  Deep inside my psyche, Vex chuckled as we watched her leave. Train her, Aleister. She will make an amazing magician, and a staunch ally.

  “I know.”

  I trudged through the snow until I reached my flat. Inside, I shrugged out of my coat and left it in a heap on the floor. Vex’s power had long since faded leaving me more drained than ever before in my life. Bone weary, I dragged myself into my sitting room.

  Julian Baker sat in my favorite chair, immaculately dressed as always, smoking a pipe and drinking my brandy in front of a fire roaring in the hearth. His hair was cut short and red as a merlot. How he got away with such unnatural colors, I’d never know. A single strip of beard graced his chin, waxed to a shine and reaching down his chest. Of course he showed up after all was done. I always seemed to do the heavy lifting.

  I shambled past him, refusing to acknowledge his presence, and collapsed onto the couch.

  “You look like hell,” Julian said, his teeth clenched around his pipe.

  “I feel like it, too.” I said, covering my eyes with the back of my arm. “Why the hell didn’t you come when I sent for you?”

  “My apologies, Aleister. The Archmage made an unexpected return and ordered me to ignore your call,” he said, anger in his voice.

  I lifted my hand from my eyes and sat up. “Why would he do that?”

  “What reasoning has he for any of the decisions made recently?” Julian replied with a scowl. “I discovered something else as well. The Archmage learned of Jones’s intentions months ago.”

  A cold chill raced through me. “And he informed no one. Launched no investigation. Do you think Wells wanted the Book brought to London? Did he intend to use its power for himself?”

  “I can think of no other reason to ignore such a thing. Nor to send our agents from the city. We need to look into this, and we must be cauti
ous.”

  Concern flickered in Julian’s eyes, and I smiled despite myself. We, he’d said. He annoyed the hell out of me, but I couldn’t bring myself to dislike him. And having him on my side gave me more comfort than I expected.

  He smiled back but sobered quickly. “Tell me what happened tonight.”

  I told him everything. Tracking Jones. The first fight during the initiation. Elaine. Everything. Everything except Vex and his gift of power. I needed to ponder the pact I’d made before telling anyone.

  Julian sat in silence while I talked, his expression increasingly serious as my tale unfolded. “Can I see the Nail?” Julian asked when I finished.

  I pulled it from my pocket and tossed it to him before it could whisper to me again.

  Julian nearly leapt from the chair to avoid touching it. It sailed by him to clatter across the floor.

  “Everything alright?” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Christ. I wanted to see it, not touch it,” Julian said, getting to his feet. He bent over the Nail on the floor, his hand hovering just above it. “It feels exactly as the texts describe.”

  “You can’t imagine the power he wielded,” I said, eyeing it.

  “It seems even I underestimated you,” Julian said with admiration. “To think you could stand alone against a blooded magician wielding a Nail of Christ. And survive.”

  I stayed silent. Best he believed what he will. “What should we do with it?”

  “Why not use it?” Julian said.

  I shivered. “None can wield something so evil in the name of good.”

  “Then hold on to it for now. I know how you feel about artifacts such as this, but it might prove necessary.” Julian stood and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He draped it over the Nail and picked it up. He offered it to me, and I tucked it back into a pocket.

  “We cannot trust the Knight Mages to guard the Book of Thoth,” I said, venom dripping into my voice. “Your connections span the globe. Can you ensure its safety?”

  “I can.” He drained his glass and placed it on the table next to him. “I intend to travel to Egypt to handle the matter myself. There remain a few I can trust.” He sounded defeated, and I felt for him. He’d dedicated his life to the Knight Mages only to have his trust betrayed. A tear welled in his eye. “It feels like I’ve lost everything these last few weeks.”

  “Not everything,” I said. “If we can’t rely on the Knight Mages and the Synod, we can rely on each other. And perhaps Elaine. It may not seem like much perhaps, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Yes, better than nothing,” he said with a smile. He held out his hand, and I stood and shook it.

  “Leaving already?” I asked.

  He nodded. “There’s much to do, sooner rather than later.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “We won this battle, and I intend to win the next as well.”

  With that, he vanished as if he’d never stood in my house at all.

  I swept Julian’s glass from the table and took it to the small bar at the window. I filled it, emptying the bottle, and drank the entire thing. Through the window, sunrise tinted the horizon red and I pondered Julian’s last words.

  We had won a battle.

  But we also started a war.

  THE END

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  About the Author

  Alexander G. R. Gideon enjoys exorcising, taking long walks on extraterrestrial beaches, relaxing demon hunting trips, and fishing for Old Ones. His writing style can best be summed up by the phrase "and many people died".

  He writes books and stories in a myriad of genres, from Dark Fantasy to Sci-Horror, and everything in between. Find him on Twitter @AlexanderGideon, and read his questionably helpful advice at ReadasThouWill.com

  Copyright © 2020 by Alexander G.R. Gideon

  Cover Design by Natania Barron

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