by Jeff Hale
She laughed lightly. “Okay. See? Now I know that you don’t like being referred to as cute. What other buttons can I press tonight?”
“Don’t push me,” I warned softly.
“Oh, I will, and I’ll enjoy it.” She grinned wickedly at me.
“You won’t enjoy it half as much as you think you will.”
“Oh a challenge. I like challenges.”
“Stop it.” But part of me didn’t want her to stop, or I would have just gotten up and walked away.
“Stop what?” she asked, feigning innocence.
“Stop whatever it is you’re doing to try and annoy me.”
“Stop being obnoxious? Me? Yeah that’ll be the day.” She snorted. “My friend Kris taught me way too well for that. So let me guess. Your favorite color is… black.”
“If it is?” I lifted one brow. It wasn’t. My favorite color was green actually.
“That’s fine. And let me guess. You’re a breast man, aren’t you?”
“Wha…?” Her comment was spot on, and caught me way off guard.
“I can tell,” she said assuredly.
“Maybe I’m not. How are you so sure?” I teased.
“Because you’ve been staring at mine every chance you get.” She glanced down at her cleavage then gave me a sly smile.
“Just because…” I started to say before my phone began making noise. I just gave her an annoyed look and pulled the phone out of my jeans pocket and flipped it open. It was a text message telling me that I was needed for work. Now. Something was going on and they needed me to look into it and deal with the situation as needed. “Look, I’m sorry I have to do this, but I have to go. They need me in at work, and it can’t wait. Tell Dave and Nina I’m sorry I had to bail.”
With that, I headed out as quickly as possible. I checked the message and found further instructions and information had been uploaded to the phone. Apparently someone had conjured up something they couldn’t control, and they needed me to contain the situation and eliminate whatever it was, and if possible bring the summoner in alive.
Just another day at the office.
____________________
Since I was close to the site that the summoning had taken place at, I decided to walk to my destination. The place in question ended up being a hotel room inside the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino across the street. Odd that. Most renegades did their summonings in remote locations away from lots of people if they could help it. I quickly made my way across the casino floor, flashing one of my government ID badges a couple of times to over-curious security guards who tried to stop me.
I made my way up to the third floor and found the hallway blessedly empty of people. As I came to room three-oh-six, the location of the summoning, I pulled my daggers and checked the door. I found it unlocked and I slowly turned the knob and pushed it open. The heat that greeted me was intense, but I was a fire sorcerer and had dealt with far worse.
I quickly walked in and closed the door behind me. The heat grew exponentially, to let’s take a stroll through the interior of a live volcano temperatures, and I wondered why the fire alarms weren’t going off. One glance at the alarm in the room showed that it had been melted to plastic slag, probably before it could even register anything. There was only one type of summoned creature that could create that kind of heat; a being of pure elemental force.
I ran into the front room and my eyes went wide with shock. Jessie, of all people, sat nearly naked in the middle of a crude protective circle. A small creature that looked like a gremlin made of magma was slamming itself into the shield that her circle had created. I had no idea what that thing was, but it wasn’t of this side of the Barrier, that was for sure. My heart thumping and my thoughts racing, I knew I had to act quickly. Jessie’s circle didn’t look like it could withstand much more.
“Rick? Ohmygod! Rick, what are you doing here?! Get out of here now! It’ll kill you!” Her eyes were wide in terror and she was motioning frantically for me to leave. I just smiled and walked cautiously towards the creature.
“It’s okay, Jess. I got this. I know what this thing is and I know how to handle it,” I lied to assure her, making my way towards the creature.
It reacted to my presence and lunged violently at me. I danced to one side, igniting my daggers. It started hurling small balls of magma at me and I quickly conjured a heat shield, allowing the magma to strengthen it. I might not know what the creature was, but it was still of my element, and the best way to put out a fire was to cool it down. I concentrated on it, slowly but surely lowering its core temperature as it battered uselessly at my shield and, in turn, Jessie’s circle. It began to move slower and stiffer, finally making a high pitched hissing squeal before crumbling into a pile of smoldering ash.
I dropped my shield and let out a breath of relief, hitting the pommel button on my dagger for a sweeper team. They would take care of the creature’s remains and, friend or not, Jessie would get a memory wipe courtesy of a water sorcerer. It was for her own protection. I looked her way. She was sitting on the bed, smoke rising from the charred bedding around her, staring at me in complete shock. Her protective circle had dropped and I had to wonder how she had even managed the feat of conjuring it. She wasn’t a sorcerer, and the circle had been rudimentary at best, but it was an accomplishment I hadn’t expected of her. Then I noticed the book she clutched in her hands and I groaned inwardly.
Of course. I should have guessed that she might stumble across something, should have watched her better, warned her. Jessie had a bad habit of scouring New Age and ‘Witchcraft’ stores in hopes of finding some shred of real magic. Looked like she had succeeded and that, in and of itself, was an achievement. Magical tomes, scrolls, wands, staves, and crystal balls were a rarity from the days when wizards and witches still inhabited the world. Both types of magic users, or Magisters, were extinct to my knowledge, the last one, Merlin, having been killed centuries ago by the church during the Inquisition. Or so the story went. The items they created had their own Aetheric energy within them so could be used even by an uninitiated human if the proper incantations were spoken.
Sorcerers were all that was left in terms of Magisters, and we inherited our abilities, and even some of our teachings, from wizard and witches. Sure, we were nowhere near as powerful as those legendary people, but we still had power in our own right. MAGE taught us that the Barrier was created as a natural order, and that the world had no more use for wizards and their ilk so no more were born. Instead, there were sorcerers; a more subtle Magister for a world with the Barrier in place.
“Rick? Rick?” Jessie was calling my name and it snapped me from my contemplation. “What did you do? How did you know what to do to that thing to make it go away? How did you know what it was?”
“It’s okay, Jessie. Just calm down. There’s more to the world than you will ever know. Or remember. Just stay put. I’ll stay right here with you until my people get here. They’ll make everything okay again.” I sat on the bed next to her, painfully aware that she was wearing next to nothing, most of her clothing having been burnt away by the creature before she had created her shield. The room hadn’t fared much better, everything charred or melted. She, luckily, managed to come away without a scratch or scorch on her. Even so, I reached over and pulled the singed comforter of the bed over her to cover her up better.
“Who are your people? Why haven’t you answered any of my questions?” She put her hand on my shoulder and pulled on me, trying to get me to look at her.
“I don’t know what that creature was. But it was magical in nature. My people are called sorcerers. I’m a fire sorcerer, therefore my ability to deal with the creature.” I shrugged like it was no big thing. To me it wasn’t, but I knew to her it was a revelation. I only told her because I knew she wouldn’t remember anything later on.
“This has got to be some fucked up dream. So you’re telling me I was right all along? That magic really does exist?” she asked, collapsing back
wards onto the bed and sighing.
“Yeah. It does,” I confirmed, grabbing the book from where she dropped it.
“Fucking shit. I can’t believe I was right. Somehow I always knew…” Jessie said, more to herself than to me.
I started to flip through the book. In brief it described many different ways to summon entities from what the book referred to as ‘The Great Beyond’. It also explained how to protect oneself from such entities and eventually learn to command them. I found the spells she used because she had them book-marked. As I suspected, the spells were ingrained into the book, which meant that anyone who could decipher the script could activate the magics within.
A few minutes later the sweeper team arrived and took over. I knew that my next task was to deliver the book to MAGE HQ and, you guessed it, do yet more paperwork. The sweeper team would deal with Jessie and then send her on her way. Most likely I would see her at school Monday morning and she wouldn’t remember a damned thing.
Once I got to MAGE HQ I went to Coleen’s office and handed her the book. She, in turn, handed me a stack of forms I’d have to fill out, and I made sure there were a couple of badge reports in the stack. The next couple of hours were spent doing paperwork. I didn’t get it all done, and I knew that I would be working on this stack for at least the rest of the week. While at the time I hated the paperwork and the drudgery, I should have enjoyed the peace and quiet while it lasted.
Had I known what was to come, I would have.
SEVEN
The weekend passed smoothly. Jessie didn’t recall the incident at the Treasure Island thanks to MAGE’s sweeper team, and everything settled down. I was still waiting for MAGE to give me the go ahead for that assignment, but for me it was just a bit too calm. Over the last couple of weeks incidents of renegades and creatures occasionally popping over to this side of the Barrier had fallen to a new low and it had me and a few others on high alert. There were those of us in MAGE who believed this was simply the calm before the storm. Something big was going to happen, I could feel it.
I was in my office at MAGE HQ, going through another case file to learn more about shifters, when the door opened and a woman let herself in. She moved with a grace that was undeniable, and power fairly radiated from her. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with a face that screamed girl-next-door innocent, light-blonde hair cut to her shoulders, and ice blue eyes that regarded me from behind her glasses. The skirt of her business suit was slit up the sides to about mid-thigh and the jacket hugged a slender figure that had curves where they counted, especially in the chest department; the buttons on her blouse were threatening to give up the attempt at holding the two sides together.
“I apologize for not coming down sooner to meet you in person, Agent Kerensky. I’m Bianca Haid, overseer and Councilor of Fire,” she greeted warmly.
“Hello?” I was unsure of what else to say.
“Relax, there’s no need for any formalities. Just be yourself, that’s all I ask of my agents. Our element can be difficult to control so I like to keep things informal.”
“Okay then. So what do you want?” I asked, daring to test her definition of ‘informal’.
She sauntered over to my desk and leaned down to place a folder on it, giving me a very open view down her top. It was a very nice view, and I had the distinct impression she wanted me to look down her shirt.
“That case we’ve been asking you to wait on? We’re giving you the green light. The Investigations department finally connected the dots between the vics. All the information you will need is in that folder,” Bianca said, standing straight again and pulling her shirt back into place.
MAGE was divided into departments much like any other agency. The Investigations department handled all the investigating, questioning of witnesses and surveillance. I was in the Enforcement department, which dealt with bringing in or putting down trouble makers.
“So what warranted a personal briefing?” I asked, suspicious of her intentions. MAGE could be very political, and I wasn’t stupid enough to think that I wouldn’t get caught up in the web around here.
“Just wanted to meet my rising star agent in person.” She gave me a coy look, then turned and walked out of my office. At the door she turned back and gave me a brief smile. “And, Aerick? Good luck,” she said, winking at me before she continued on her way. Or at least I thought she winked.
I sighed and reached for the folder. Seemed routine enough. The only information we’d had before were the dead bodies and that the wounds were shifter inflicted. The new information in the file placed all the women at the Velvet Flame at some point, and all of them leaving the Flame with the same woman, which made the shifter a ‘she’ instead of a ‘he’. The woman was actually in MAGE’s databanks, listed as a werewolf. She must be a very clever werewolf, because it was also noted that MAGE had tried to bring her in before, although the reasons weren’t given, and she had evaded the Investigation agents several times using various aliases and other trickery. The fact that she had been seen at the Velvet Flame multiple times didn’t really surprise me since the place obviously catered to supernatural creatures.
There was a picture in the file, a still from security footage. The werewolf was a tall female with pale skin, dark-blonde hair, and hazel eyes. She looked possibly German or Danish. The file didn’t mention any abilities outside of those normally associated with a shifter: increased strength, agility, endurance, and the ability to shift into a wolf or a form that was somewhere between wolf and man, the typical werewolf everyone is familiar with. A camouflage ability was also noted.
Why, then, was I given this assignment? If I was, as Bianca put it, a rising star agent, why wasn’t I being put on an assignment to bring down another renegade sorcerer? Something was definitely not right about this.
I checked for the name of the werewolf. There wasn’t one, even though the file mentioned the use of aliases. I checked for a known address or a former record. Nothing. Odd. Usually Investigations gave me way more than this. So all I had was that the victims were seen leaving a club with the shifter before being found mangled by an animal, obviously the shifter in question. There was a very specific stamp on the bottom right corner of the file though. It was bright blue and read ‘ARREST’. Great, now I had to stop her from eating me while I tried to arrest her.
I shook my head, grabbed my trench and headed out to the Velvet Flame. As I walked there, I thought over the implications of such shoddy investigation work. Was I being set up somehow? I had no idea what was going on and that, to a degree, scared me to no end. The bouncers let me into the club as soon as I got there. That was odd too. As I walked in I was immediately greeted by Lucien.
“Aerick. I’m glad that you found my fine establishment to your liking well enough to return,” he said by way of greeting.
“I’m here on business this time,” I stated flatly.
“Ah, yes. What can I, and my humble establishment, do for you this fine evening?” he asked cordially.
I held up the picture of the werewolf. “I need to know if you’ve seen this…” I almost said ‘werewolf’ but then looked around at the crowd that was in the club.
“You can say it. Werewolf. Or shifter, if you prefer. Everyone currently here is aware of such things,” he stated, making a sweeping gesture with his arm.
“Okay. Werewolf. You’ve obviously seen her if you know what she is.” I put the picture away.
“Very astute, Mr. Kerensky. I see now why MAGE trusts you so much. Yes, I have seen Ms. Dietrich, and in fact I can give you the location of her residence.” Lucien turned to the nearby bar, pulled a napkin over, produced a translucent fiery pen out of thin air, and wrote something on the napkin. “It’s just outside of town. A small ranch near the Santa Fe,” he said, referring to the hotel and casino on the north-western edge of town. He handed me the napkin and gave me a smile.
“Thank you for your cooperation.” I turned and left. I didn’t waste any time asking him why he w
as being so accommodating, much as I wanted to; it was going to be a long trip to get there. I took the bus system like I normally did, and got off at the closest stop to the address Lucien had given me.
As I started to walk the rest of the way, I began to doubt the whole damned thing again. I shook my head. MAGE knew next to nothing about this woman, and I knew less. Obviously she had come to their attention before, but it was strange that she had managed to elude them. Sure, a few Aetherically attuned slipped by here and there, but that situation was often fixed before it became an issue.
From what I understood, MAGE was part of a larger world-wide organization started back when the Barrier was created. The Catholic Church was also part of it, but beyond that I knew very little about the history of the Aether and why things were the way they were. MAGE wasn’t high on handing out information to just anyone. They had taught me that the Aether and all it contained were a danger to humans, the Barrier kept humans protected, and it was my job to control renegades and any other nasty escaped creatures before they went out of control and went fully public, possibly sending a whole city into mass hysteria. For most humans, their weak psyches just couldn’t handle any knowledge of the Aether or its incarnations for very long without going completely and irrevocably insane. Or so I was taught.
One of the perks of MAGE’s inclusion into this larger organization was that it allowed them to register, track, and get information on any Aetherically attuned person, or Aetheric creature. When I had lost control and come into my powers that day on the streets, it had shown up on MAGE’s magical radar like a beacon, and they had alerted their agent in the police department to be on the lookout. Directly afterwards, when the agent had taken me away and explained to me what I was, convinced me that I hadn’t gone crazy, I’d been given a choice that I later found out was given to all newly discovered psychically gifted or Aetherically attuned individuals; swear an Oath of compliance to MAGE to do no harm unless in self-defense and to keep what I was a secret, or be executed. It was an easy enough decision.