by Jeff Hale
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, organizations, clubs, or locales is entirely coincidental.
THE PARAGON ELEMENT Copyright © 2012 Jeff Hale and Lezlee Cheek Hale. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
2nd Edition (Revised)
Cover art design by Lezlee Cheek Hale with credits to: bluefaqs(texture).
This book is dedicated to all of our family and friends, who encouraged us and supported us in this grand adventure. Thank you!
Novels in the
Aetheric Elements
Universe
The Demon’s Corruption Chronicles
The Paragon Element
The Wild Within
The Pure Soul*
The Shifting Storm*
The Dark Flame*
Stand Alone
Beyond The Reflection
*soon to be released
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
About the Authors
ONE
Acid hit the wall behind me, barely missing my head, and I heard it hiss and pop as it melted the concrete, the acrid stench making me wrinkle my nose. Another stream of it came hurtling my way and I rolled to my left to avoid it, coming back to my feet in a crouch as I stared at the large creature that was trying so very hard to shorten my lifespan.
It watched me from where it sat in the middle of the warehouse. Its lion like body was composed of shadowy mist, and its head looked like a rather vicious cobra. It made me think of a sphinx, like the one in Egypt, or the replica here in Las Vegas in front of the Luxor. Except sphinxes didn’t try to eat you the last I knew. Oh, yeah, and it breathed acid like a dragon breathes fire.
“Give up, boy! Give up and I will make sure my pet doesn’t devour you!” I heard a man’s voice call from across the warehouse, echoing off the walls. Yeah, right, because I really believed that. Why did these dark sorcerers all have to be so damned clichéd?
Instead, I gritted my teeth and charged the creature, channeling my own magical energies into the twin conduit daggers I carried. They ignited into magical flames that snapped and hissed a short distance past the blades. The sphinx-thing didn’t wait for me to get to it. It roared and launched a jet of acid, and I dodged to my right, never missing a single step. As I got close it swiped at me with a taloned paw and I rolled under it, coming up just under its head in one fluid motion. The bottom of its jaw hovered just above my head and I jabbed my daggers upwards into its chin.
It jerked back, letting out a hissing roar of pain, and sent me flying upwards, the daggers ripping free with a sizzle. As I flew up, it reared and swatted me twice with those large paws, sending me quickly and violently back to the floor. I landed, felt the air rush from my body, and I lay there stunned, looking up at the nightmarish creature as its maw came down at me in a quick snap.
Another form threw itself past me, its smoky black claws ripping into the first creature’s head. Talon, my familiar. The wolf’s body was black, formed of a swirling insubstantial smoke, his eyes bright glowing blue. He tore into the sphinx-thing, and then it unhinged its jaws and swallowed Talon whole.
I rolled to the side and came up at the ready, hoping that I hadn’t just lost my familiar. The sphinx-thing opened its mouth again, as though to breathe more acid in my direction, when a very curious expression crossed its features. Then, in a rush of foul smelling energy, the sphinx-thing lost form and exploded into thick, greenish black smoke.
“Wooowee! That thing smells like a decades old port-a-potty!” Talon announced, shaking the residual energy from his own like a real wolf would shake water from its fur.
I felt relief go through me that he was all right. “I don’t even want to know how you know what a decades old port-a-potty smells like. And here I was thinking I was gonna have to dig your sorry ass from that thing’s stomach!” I waved at the smoke and tried not to cough. Talon was obnoxious and a bit crude at times, but he was a good companion and I would have hated to lose him.
“Hey! He wasn’t eating me! I was… just… killing him… from the inside! Yeah!” he said defensively.
“Yeah, sure, and I’m…”
“Letting the bad guy get away?” Talon finished for me, eyes glancing past me.
I turned and saw the man, Hector Spence, who had summoned the sphinx-thing, running towards the open door of the warehouse. There was a summoning circle where he had been standing, the broken body of a little girl lying dead within it. The sorcerer had sacrificed her to bring that sphinx monstrosity into our world, and with a sorrowful look her way, I sighed and ran after him. They always ran. Why did they always have to run? I hated running.
I chased him out of the warehouse, hitting the pommel button on my right dagger. It sent out a magical signal to my employers, letting them know that a sweeper team was needed at the warehouse to come in and deal with the damages. The girl’s body needed to be retrieved, and the smoke from the creature was starting to spread and could be dangerous for all I knew. I was pretty sure that nothing had been witnessed by any normal humans, but if it had the team would take care of that too. My job was to hunt down and catch, or eliminate, problem supernaturals, and I had to make sure Hector didn’t mutilate and kill any more children for his sick summoning rituals.
Bringing Hector in wasn’t an option. I’d been sent to stop him, and kill him. I’d like to think I would have killed him anyway, job or not. He made my skin crawl, and in my book anyone who needed to use children to perform their magics needed to be erased from existence.
Hector rounded a corner and I continued after him. As I came around that corner myself I felt the air shimmer. I jumped up and to my left, planting a foot on the wall of the alley he had gone down. Good thing too, because a bolt of shadowy green energy shot down the alley at me. I bounced to my right, planted a foot on that wall, then pushed off towards Hector. I launched a gout of fire at him while I was in the air, hitting him square in the back, and as I came down, I stabbed both daggers into him just below the shoulder blades. He shrieked in agony, reaching involuntarily for the source of the pain, and I concentrated more energy into the daggers. The flames licked at his clothes, igniting the material, and I pulled the daggers out, stepping back away from him. He flailed about the dirty, litter strewn alley, screaming, as his body became engulfed in fire, panic or ignorance foregoing the stop-drop-and-roll maneuver. He finally crumpled to the ground, dead but still smoking and twitching.
I knew people had to have heard his screams, and I figured that some good Samaritan had probably made a nine-one-one call. I also knew that chances were, in this part of town, near the Strip, the police would be quick in arriving, and sure enough, I could hear sirens already. Flashes of red and blue reflected off the walls at the mouth of the alley and I could hear a
car door slam. I had two choices: flee the scene, or bluff my way through it. I chose the lesser of two evils and settled myself on a small set of stairs that led into one of the buildings that abutted the alley, draping my black trench on the railing.
All this because some guy wasn’t wired right, had access to magic, and wanted to summon creatures that made up your worst nightmares.
Evil bastard.
I looked at the scorched body and shook my head. Did I feel bad that I had killed him? Maybe. I didn’t enjoy killing anyone, but I honestly believed that the world was a better place without Hector Spence in it. Had there been another way? Could I have subdued him in order to bring him in? Probably not. Those energy blasts he had fired at me hadn’t looked healthy, and besides, my employer didn’t want him captured. Now I just had to be sure that I had a good story for the cops that were making their way cautiously up the alley. Time for another great Kerensky Cover Story.
Sure, I killed the guy, but the cops didn’t need to know that. They sure as hell didn’t need to know what really happened, and even if I did tell them, they’d just try and lock me up in a loony bin. I looked up from Hector’s corpse to the officer who was approaching me from around the corner. He was tall, close to my own height of six foot two, and built. I worked out on a regular basis to keep myself in peak physical shape for my job, but this guy probably matched me. He might even be able to take me in a footrace; good thing I wasn’t running away. He had sandy blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to see everything. I got the idea that he was no rookie, was very good at his job, so then why was he still patrolling a beat?
I had a suspicion based on the arrogant way he carried himself. His name badge read ‘L. Marcus’. Hmm, I knew a Valencia Marcus. Any relation, I wondered? Nah, Vegas was too big a city for that.
“Sir, get on the ground slowly, and put your hands behind your head. Now!” Officer Marcus was already reaching for his gun, despite the fact that I was just sitting there looking mostly harmless with my hands in plain sight.
Fucking wonderful, I was right. Attitude problem. And me without the agency badges my employer had me carry. The warehouse where Hector had been holed up was out of the way, just west of the Strip down on Palms Center Drive, and I had figured it would be a quick and easy job so I’d left the badges at home. Stupid mistake on my part. I slowly stood, put my hands behind my head and dropped to my knees. No way was I going to kiss the ground here.
“What’s the problem, Officer? I haven’t done anything. I was trying to help this poor guy,” I lied, trying to buy some time. Unless this guy had decided to come without backup, eventually another officer would be here and, hopefully, have less of an attitude. I hated the cops that got too big for their badge, and one was standing in front of me.
“I said get on the ground, now!” He pulled his gun free, and I still wasn’t kissing the ground here, he’d have to shoot me. “Do as I say or I will shoot!” He had the gun leveled at me now, and I could sense a slight quiver to his hands. Oh, he’d drawn his weapon in the line of duty before, I was sure of that, but he’d never once fired it, I was sure of that too.
“Look, if you’re going to arrest me, then arrest me. If you’re going to shoot me, then shoot me. I said I didn’t do anything. Would I really have stuck around if I had?” I asked, risking a slight belligerence to my tone. I kept myself still, no drastic movements to test his trigger finger. He was only being cautious. Couldn’t blame him really.
Officer Marcus seemed taken aback by my statement. He lowered his gun slightly and stepped back a bit just as the blue and red lights multiplied. Good, I could deal with someone more reasonable now. I hoped.
Several more officers ran in our direction. One officer was shorter and stockier, with a balding head and grey hair and eyes. He seemed to be the one in charge. He looked in my direction, then at Officer Marcus. His name badge read ‘I. Franks’.
“He the perp?” Officer Franks asked, frowning at the other man.
“Not sure, sir, he was here when I arrived,” Officer Marcus responded tightly.
“You didn’t see him do anything?” Officer Franks asked, sounding a bit annoyed now.
“No, sir.” Officer Marcus shook his head.
“Is he cooperating?”
“Yes, sir, other than not getting on the ground,” Officer Marcus admitted.
“Then Christ, Larry, put your gun away. This alley’s a filth hole, I can’t really blame him. Don’t make me write your ass up. Again.” Officer Franks sighed and put his hand on the muzzle of the gun, forcefully lowering it all the way. “Unless you saw this kid actually do something or he was trying to flee the scene. I’m sure he has a good reason to be here. Or at least he’d better.” His gaze went to me, looking for an answer. “Right, son?”
He approached me, eyes almost apologetic as he motioned for me to turn around. I did so. I had no problems cooperating when I wasn’t being threatened. He patted me down for good measure. He didn’t find my daggers because they were… elsewhere.
“Yeah, that’s right. I told him a couple of times that I didn’t do anything, but he insisted on pointing that thing at me. I understand he was just being cautious, but I really didn’t appreciate that when I was just trying to help out,” I said in an irritated tone.
“It’s okay, kid, you can talk to me. Now, what exactly happened here?” Officer Franks took a step back from me, pulled a notepad and pen from his pocket and gave me a shrewd look. This guy was good. He would be looking for any slip ups. I wasn’t stupid. I knew I was a suspect at this point.
“Well, I saw this guy being beaten, and then he was thrown into a barrel fire, then beaten some more. A gang of guys did it down the street from here. I wanted to help him, but he just ran from me. Guess he thought I was one of ‘em.” I looked at the corpse of Hector, trying to appear concerned, and hoped that I wasn’t sneering in disgust instead.
“Alright, kid, I’ll need to see your ID, and I’ll get you a report form to fill out, and then you can go home, okay? Just don’t leave town anytime soon. We may need to call you in for questioning, and as much as I hate to say it, you are a suspect,” he stated, confirming my earlier suspicion. “Anyway, no need for you to be out so late that your parents worry about you, right? I know if you were my kid, I’d be worried sick if you were out this late. If you want, I can even get an officer to give you a ride home.” He started towards his car, probably to get that report, rambling on the whole time. I stood and followed him, grabbing my trench from the railing as I did.
Officer Franks glanced at me over his shoulder and knew that he would be memorizing my description to the last detail: dark brown shoulder length hair, blue eyes, rough, chiseled features common to the northern parts of Europe. I was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves cut off, and loose black pants and comfortable shoes. He opened his trunk, pulled out a clipboard with report forms on it and handed it to me.
“Just fill out what you saw, include everything you can remember, okay, son?” He smiled at me, and I was surprised that I actually smiled back. “Look, I know you’ve just had a rough evening, but try to put it behind you, okay?”
I nodded as I handed him my ID. He went to the front of his car and ran a check on it while I filled out the report. All he would get from the check was a background so clean it squeaked, and sure enough he shrugged and walked back over to me a few moments later. I handed him the report, he copied my information from my ID, then handed the ID back to me and gave the report a once over.
“I won’t be needing that ride, but thanks. I can catch the bus down the street. I should be okay.” I turned to leave and Officer Franks tapped me on the shoulder.
“Oh, and Aerick… Kerensky is it?” he asked, still smiling. He said it wrong, pronouncing it ‘Arick’ instead of ‘Eric’. “I’ll be in contact.”
I nodded, then turned and started to head down the street towards the bus stop. It was only two blocks away, and once there, I could still see the police cars with the
ir lights flashing red and blue against the nearby buildings. A couple of minutes later, a vehicle that read ‘City Morgue’ drove by me and parked near the police cars.
Well, job complete. MAGE would be happy. The name was short for Mind and Aetheric Government Enforcers. The group was one of those ‘secret government agencies’. Of course, I was sure a lot of people thought, “Aren’t they all ‘secret’?”, but this one really was. Even from most of the other ‘secret government agencies’.
Why so secret? Because of people like me. MAGE ensured that the general public remained unaware of the fact that psychic powers, vampires, werewolves, wizards, witches, dragons, and unicorns, et cetera, so forth and so on, were all very real. Yeah, Bigfoot and Nessie too.
Keeping it all quiet could be difficult at times, simply because a lot of the supernatural creatures out there just didn’t care. So MAGE employed people like me: those with an innate talent for magic, or sorcerers. If another supernatural got out of line, or tried to out itself to the public, we made it go away, sometimes permanently. Hector Spence had used his magic with evil intent in order to make himself more powerful. That hadn’t gone over well with MAGE and I’d been assigned to track him down and take him out.
Well, he did sacrifice that little girl to summon that horrible sphinx monster. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, don’t it? He’d known better, and he had known what might happen if he continued down his bloody path. Hector hadn’t been my first job; I’d brought in, or killed, several other such lovely individuals, including a telepath who was using his powers to sell government secrets to the highest bidder.
So, basically, I try to save the world on a daily basis, which of course means that I have absolutely no life of my own, and haven’t been laid in so long I don’t think I’d remember what to do. Okay, maybe not the world, but sometimes it sure felt like it. Either way, I didn’t have a lot of free time, not between my job and school anyway.