Fire Sorcerer (The Sentinels Book 1)

by David J Normoyle

  “Is that a problem?” Heff asked.

  “Not on my side.” I pressed the button on the laptop and the screen split in two, one half with Heff’s face, the other with the blank wall of Harriet Ashley’s hotel room. “Can you see both this meeting room and the white wall of a hotel room?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  I glanced at the clock on the computer. Five to three. Just in time. “Okay. Go get your boss. We’re all set.”

  At that moment, a door opened behind me and I turned. The man who entered was tanned, dressed in a sharp suit and his black shoes shone like a mirror. I didn’t recognize him as one of the Transkey executives, so I figured he had to be the third party that Harriet Ashley mentioned. Behind him came a man wearing a black overcoat and sunglasses.

  “It’ll be another few moments,” I mumbled. “If you can just wait outside.” I was sure that Findley would prefer for me to be gone before the meeting started.

  The man strode across the room and held out his hand toward me. “I’m Richard Sulle.” He gestured to his protector behind. “And that is Konstance.”

  I didn’t shake his hand. “I’m just the I.T. guy.”

  “I know who you are, Rune Russell.”

  A shiver ran up my spine. “How do you know my name?”

  Sulle lowered his hand and smiled. His teeth looked too bright in his tanned face. “I wasn’t involved in the incident on top of Jeffries Parking Lot if that’s what you think.”

  I didn't know what to think. “Shouldn’t Findley be here?” Normally, Findley had his nose up the ass of anyone who acted as important as Sulle did.

  “He thinks I’m in the bathroom.”

  “Yet you are here.”

  “Yet I am.”

  The conversation was getting frustrating. “Are you going to tell me anything?”

  “You don’t get to where I am by showing your hand.”

  “In that case, you should return to the bathroom.”

  Sulle pulled out a chair, sat down and crossed his legs. There was a flash of silver as he checked his watch. “The meeting will start in a few minutes. I might as well wait here for it to start.”

  The man in the black overcoat and sunglasses sat behind Sulle. He had to be awfully warm with a heavy coat on, leading me to wonder what he was hiding.

  “Are we ready?” I glanced back to the projector screen to see Harriet Ashley appearing. And opposite, a middle-aged man with short tidy black hair had replaced Heff. That had to be Hugo Yarley.

  “My job here is done,” I told Sulle without looking at him, and I walked past him and out. The skin on the back of my neck prickled as I felt him watching me.

  At the door, I almost charged straight into Findley. He hurriedly gestured me aside. “Richard Sulle himself is here. Do you know who he is?” He looked me up and down. “God, what if I have to call you in? I should have made you wear a suit.”

  “Don’t worry, Sulle-boy and I have already been introduced. We’re best buds.”

  “You’re...” He looked beyond me and saw Sulle already in the meeting room, and his jaw dropped. “How did he? What did you do?”

  I slapped Findley on the back. “Don’t worry. I didn’t insult him. Yet.” I left him.

  “What if something goes wrong?” Findley called after me.

  “Summon Neville Longbottom of House Griffindor.” I said the last too loud because several heads popped over their cubicles to see what was going on.

  I returned to my cubicle and leaned back in my chair.

  I hope you don’t think it’s going to be that easy.

  Where had that voice come from? It was my turn to poke my head above the cubicle wall.

  Was I hearing things?

  Chapter 17

  Wednesday 15:30

  My phone rang, the sound over-shrill.

  I stared at it, hesitant to answer. I had been trying to work, but couldn't help wondering what was happening in the meeting room. Harriet Ashley of the Whites, Hugo Yarley of the Reds and Richard Sulle, whoever he was. What were they discussing? More importantly, did any of them know how to cure Jo and, if so, how could I persuade them to help her?

  Something told me that the phone wasn’t bringing good news. On the third ring, I picked up the handset. “Yes.”

  “Get over here,” Findley said.

  “What’s going on?”

  “You are so dead.” He hung up.

  What could be happening? Findley threatened to fire me every week, but he’d never wanted to kill me before.

  I returned down the corridor. Several sets of eyes peeked out of their cubicles to watch me, making me feel like I was walking along death row. They shouldn’t be able to know something had gone wrong, but the meerkat hive mind was strong.

  Before I reached the meeting room, I heard a whooshing sound, followed by an explosion and I ran the last few paces, then halted just inside the door.

  The battle of Hogwarts from the last Harry Potter movie was on the projector. Death Eaters swirled through the sky on broomsticks.

  “Rune.” Findley’s voice sounded like a wood chipper with a stone stuck in it.

  “What’s the problem here?” I asked. “Sound and picture quality look good to me.”

  “Rune,” Findley repeated, unable to express more than a single word. Which wasn’t surprising considering he looked like he was about to have a stroke.

  “Oh, you want to go back to your meeting.” I strode over to the laptop. “Are you sure, this is a good bit coming up now. Deathly Hallows Part Two was arguably the best of the series.”

  This time Findley only managed a strangled sound.

  I brushed my fingers across the mousepad on the laptop until the screensaver disappeared, then clicked the video playing software, and clicked off the movie.

  Richard Sulle was leaning back with his legs crossed and an amused expression on his face.

  A voice in my head said, This is fun.

  “Shut up, you.”

  Sulle flashed his teeth. “I didn’t say anything.”

  Beelzebub. I had just told an important client to shut up. There was no way Findley wasn’t going to fire me.

  I clicked on the meeting software and Harriet Ashley and Hugo Yarley reappeared on screen.

  “What’s going on?” Harriet asked.

  “A technical issue,” Sulle told her. “I believe we were close to finished in any event.”

  Harriet nodded. “We were. I’m in agreement if Yarley is.”

  “Why do I feel I’m being manipulated?” Yarley had an uneasy grin on his face.

  “I believe it’s called paranoia. I have to go.” Harriet’s section of the screen went black.

  Richard Sulle and Konstance stood up. Sulle addressed Findley. “Very productive meeting. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Findley guided Sulle out the door, pausing to look at me over Sulle’s shoulder.

  I gave him a thumbs up and he returned an I’m-so-going-to-kill-you glare. In response, I couldn't help grinning. Of course, he was ninety-nine percent going to fire me after this, so I shouldn’t have been happy about the situation.

  Who are you? I asked in my head. Someone was messing with me, and unless I had been imagining the voice, then they could communicate with me.

  My name is Jerome.

  Rather normal sounding name for a disembodied voice, I thought at it. Why did you mess up the meeting?

  Some people just want to watch the world burn. At least this got you to notice me.

  Ah, I thought, you are inside the necklace.

  That’s a bingo.

  That phrase came from a Quentin Tarantino movie. And the part about burning came from a Batman movie. You are a film fan?

  Flavini had the movie channels, and not much happens in his shop most days. He allowed me to watch, providing I didn’t haunt anything.

  I had to get rid of the necklace. Having Jerome around my neck would be like having Pete making continual movie references inside my head
. I could only take so much of that before going insane.

  I moved across to turn off the laptop.

  “Stop right there.”

  I looked up at the screen, surprised that Hugo Yarley was still on screen. He hadn’t ended his connection to the meeting yet. “I’m just ending the meeting,” I told him.

  “No. Don’t move a muscle. Come here.”

  “Come where?”

  Then I realized he was gesturing at someone off screen, moving aside to let someone else share the screen with him. My mouth fell open as I saw who it was. The skinhead woman wearing pink robes. The eagle shifter.

  “Are you sure it’s him?” Yarley asked her.

  She nodded. “Certain.”

  “You fled from him?” Heff said from off-screen. “I thought more of you, Jace.”

  “He doesn’t look like much but he has a lot of power. He has to be a powerful fire sorcerer. I didn’t think that Hugo would want me to kill him.”

  It’s true. He doesn’t look much, does he?

  I tugged at the necklace. I had a feeling I was going to get sick of Jerome’s voice in my head very quickly.

  Yarley nodded. “You did right.” He turned toward me. “What’s your name and what are you doing as part of the meeting with Harriet Ashley? Are you with her?”

  “I’m Rune Russell and I’m nobody. I’m just the I.T. guy here in Transkey.”

  “A car will be sent for you.”

  That sounded ominous. “You expect me to just wait here for you?”

  “You have nothing to fear from me, sorcerer,” Yarley said. “If we got off on the wrong foot, it was because Jace didn't know who you are. We are both the same, you and I. Both shades. Both fire sorcerers.”

  “I’m not a shade.” When Duffy told me I was a fire sorcerer, I had accepted it without thinking it through. Was I actually from this Brimstone place I’d read about on the internet? It didn’t make sense.

  “If what Jace tells me is true, you are,” Yarley said. “We should be working together against them.”

  “Them?” Hugo Yarley was the leader of the Reds. “You mean the Whites?”

  “No.” He leaned closer to the camera, until I could only see his eyes, nose and mouth, not the sides of his face. The nose was longer than my torso. “I mean the humans.”

  Chapter 18

  Wednesday 15:45

  A cold black weight pushed down on me, and I staggered slightly, my knees weak. I was an other, not a human. I had already suspected I was a shade, but Yarley expecting me to ally with him against humans made me consider the full implications for the first time, and it felt like my whole world had been turned upside down.

  I began to disconnect the laptop from the projector, then stopped myself. I had to decide what to do and quickly. Yarley was sending a car for me. I had an incredible urge to run, but I didn't know in which direction or why.

  The meeting room door opened, and I jerked around so fast that I knocked over a chair. Richard Sulle stood there.

  “What do you want?” It came out ruder than I intended.

  “I forgot my briefcase.” He pointed to a black case by the chair where he’d been sitting.

  “On purpose?”

  “Of course, on purpose. I don’t do things on accident.”

  “You wanted to talk to me.” It wasn’t a question.

  He nodded.

  “Everyone wants to talk to the fire sorcerer today.”

  Sulle laughed. It was a laugh that made me feel small. “Is that what you think you are? A sorcerer?”

  “I’m not? That’s what Yarley said.”

  “He wants to talk to you?”

  I nodded. “He’s sending a car.”

  “I wonder how he’ll react when he finds out what you really are,” Sulle mused.

  “And what’s that?”

  “What’s it that movie goers say?” Sulle grinned. “That’s it: No spoilers.”

  “And what are you?”

  “You can’t just ask someone what they are. It’s terribly rude.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I’m human. It’s terribly boring.”

  “You are more than that.” There was no way he was just an ordinary human.

  “More than that? Perhaps. Let’s just say I know people.” Sulle extended a hand with a business card in it.

  I took it and read it. “Richard Sulle. Verge Tower. Verge Plaza.” Verge Tower was the biggest building in Lusteer, one of the biggest in the whole country. “The card doesn’t specify your job or your floor.” There had to be ten thousand people working in that tower.

  “They know me there.” Sulle picked up his briefcase and held out his hand. This time I shook it. “Until next time. Try not to get killed.”

  As he was walking out, the meeting room door shot open, almost hitting him. He stepped smoothly back just in time.

  “Oh my God.” Findley saw who he’d nearly hit with the door. “I’m so sorry, Mr Sulle, sir. Are you okay?” His hands reached forward to touch the businessman, then his arms dropped to his side when Sulle’s eyes narrowed.

  “No harm done,” Sulle said.

  “I just wanted to apologize for what happened during the meeting. I assure you things will go smoothly if you ever honor us with your presence again.”

  I snorted out half a laugh. Even for Findley, that was over the top. He shot a glare my direction. He was clearly planning to fire me. With the social worker on my back that was the last thing I needed, but at the same time, work was so far down on my list of priorities that it was barely worth worrying about.

  “The meeting went well,” Sulle said. “The comic relief worked perfectly.”

  “Co-co-com what?” Findley stuttered.

  “The movie popping up in the middle of the meeting. Very amusing. Compliments to your tech team.”

  Findley's lips stretched upward as he tried to smile. “Of course. We thought you might like that.”

  Over Sulle’s shoulder I shot Findley a grin that had him turning a pale color and made him look like he needed to vomit.

  That was me, Jerome thought. Don’t take the credit.

  It wasn’t a good thing, idiot, I thought back. Sulle is just pretending it was to help me. I wasn’t sure I wanted help from Richard Sulle, but I had to take everything I could get.

  Sulle left the meeting room, and Findley followed.

  I don’t like him, came Jerome’s thought.

  You and me both, brother. The tone of the thought told me he meant Sulle. Not liking Findley happened in an exasperated head-shaking way. Not liking Sulle happened because he was terrifying for no obvious reason. You and me both.

  What now? I wondered. Did I wait for Hugo Yarley’s car? He had said he intended me no harm. However, he thought I was a sorcerer, and Sulle indicated that I was something else. And Yarley had sent the eagle shifter, Jace, to attack Alex and Jo.

  If you run in the dark, expect collisions, Jerome thought.

  I hated to admit it, but the stupid necklace was right. I needed to know what in the name of Beelzebub was going on. And if that involved taking a few risks, then they had to be taken. Sulle had told me nothing; perhaps Yarley would be more forthcoming.

  I left the meeting room and headed for the exit, ignoring the meerkat heads that popped up as I passed. I didn’t see Findley, but I had no doubt he’d be able to tell me the exact time I left the building when I returned. Still, Sulle’s endorsement would give me some leeway.

  Chapter 19

  Wednesday 16:05

  I recognized the car instantly because I had been in it before. The dark maroon Mercedes came to a stop, and I opened the passenger door and got in, clicking my seat belt into place. Duffy’s bulk made the Merc seem like a small car. He didn’t glance across at me as he accelerated back into traffic.

  Coming up to a red light, Duffy slowed, looked both ways, then accelerated through the junction. No cars were close enough to make the maneuver dangerous, though several cars b
eeped.

  “I’m not in a hurry,” I said.

  Duffy shrugged. “I don’t like traffic lights.”

  “Yet you became a cop.”

  He smiled. “Who else gets to ignore them?”

  I supposed that was one way to look at things. Some people became cops to protect and serve. In Lusteer those cops were in the minority and their idealism didn’t last long.

  “So what exactly is a shade?” I asked Duffy.

  Duffy raised his eyebrows. “You are asking me?”

  The shade asking the human. “I’m not up to date on the lingo.”

  “I’d never heard the term myself up until relatively recently. Sure, after a year or two on the force, I found out that supernatural creatures existed, but they rarely crossed my path. They stayed firmly out of the limelight. Two years back, they started cropping up everywhere. Suddenly, they had official terms, you know, like shades, wizards, shifter, sorcerers.” He snorted. “It was like they had activists deciding which names they preferred.”

  I wondered what had happened two years back to cause this. “So what’s the difference between a shade and a shifter?”

  “All magical creatures are shades,” Duffy said. “Most are shifters. Those who can’t transform but can do magic are called wizards or sorcerers, depending on whether their element is smoke or fire.”

  That sounded like what I’d read on the internet. “So Brimstone is real?”

  “I thought you shades could remember Brimstone.” Duffy glanced across at me, then returned his attention to the traffic. “As I understand it, all magic comes from Brimstone. Smoke or fire elementals breach the veil between our world and theirs, and when they take over a human host, they become shades.”

  What had happened to Jo was starting to make sense. It sounded ever more horrible, but at least I could understand it. An elemental was inside her, and it intended to turn her into a shade. A smoke elemental, considering how much the thing inside her had hated beings of fire. “How do these elementals cross over from Brimstone?”

  “I wish I knew.”

  We lapsed into silence for a while, and I looked out the window, trying to process what I had learned. Lusteer traffic had us moving at a crawl. My phone beeped, and I took it out of my pocket. I clicked on the notification from Twitter.