“No, but I’m better.” Terra leaned on him as they walked back to his car to wait for backup to arrive. He quite liked the feeling. “Anything interesting?”
Lin handed her the paper.
When Terra had finished reading she said, “Lady Raven, huh? That explains the shape of the defensive ward. Though I can’t prove it, I’m certain it’s Mercia. Have you looked through the other papers yet?”
“No, I was going to wait until I got back to headquarters.” The first fire truck pulled in. “I’ll have to explain what happened then we can head out. That reminds me. How come the trap went off when I touched the box, but it ignored you?”
“I didn’t touch it.”
Lin stared. “You picked it up.”
“I conjured an energy barrier between my bare skin and the coffer. It’s standard procedure when handling an unknown magical device. You can understand why.”
“You might have warned me.”
Terra shrugged. “I tried, but I wasn’t quite fast enough. It never occurred to me that you might try and touch it. We’re trained in how to handle magical items. I guess I assumed you were too. See what comes from making assumptions? From now on we’re going to have to be much more careful.”
Lin couldn’t argue with that.
“I don’t believe the threat is over, Captain.” Lin sat in front of his boss’s cluttered desk and tried to remain calm. “Just because the bikers are dead doesn’t mean we’re finished. The letter clearly states that the wizard, Lady Raven, still intends us harm.”
Lin had dropped Terra off at the Department of Magic and continued on back to his station. The moment word got out that he was back his commander called him into his office and gave him hell for destroying the warehouse. It was mostly pro forma since the thing had been condemned anyway. What wasn’t, however, was his captain’s very real desire to have this case be closed. A pile of dead thugs made for an excellent ending, one he could show the mayor and get a pat on the back in return.
The captain liked a good pat on the back, but Lin couldn’t sign off on the case when he knew those boxes were still out there.
“Lin, I understand, really. But this is now a matter for the Department of Magic. Our part is finished. Turn over all your information to them and move on. We have a backlog of murders as long as my arm that need investigating.”
“Sir, I really don’t think we should leave this investigation unfinished. The risks are too great.”
“You’ve been working this case, what, a couple weeks nonstop? Take the rest of the day off, tomorrow too, then come back in ready to start on something new.”
“Sir—”
“This isn’t a debate, Detective. Go home.”
Lin got up, nodded, and reached for the door.
“Lin.”
He turned back. “Sir?”
“You did good work on this case. The Black Skulls were wanted in three other sectors for crimes ranging from murder, to arson, to kidnapping. Getting them off the streets is a huge deal. Don’t think I don’t appreciate it.”
“No, sir. It’s just I don’t think the job is finished and I hate leaving something half done.”
“The wizards will take care of their own. Regular folks like us will only be in their way.”
After the mess he’d made of things at the warehouse Lin didn’t have a good argument for that one. “Understood, sir. If they need us I’m sure they’ll let us know.”
Lin took his leave, pausing at his desk to collect the letter and packet. Terra was smart and hard working. He had no doubt she’d get to the bottom of whatever was going on. Probably better than he’d have done it himself.
His battered pickup was parked at the far end of the crowded lot. The long walk helped clear his head. He had a day and a half, maybe he could still help, at least for a little longer. The starter whined when he turned the key, but it finally caught.
The station was only ten blocks from the government complex so five minutes later Lin was parking again. He collected his evidence and marched through the main doors. Only one of the secretaries had a customer so Lin chose the farthest-in slot and walked up to the man behind the desk.
“Can I help you, sir?”
Lin flashed his badge. “Detective Lin Chang to see Terra Pane.”
“One moment, Officer.” The man picked up his phone and punched three digits. He murmured something, nodded, and hung up. “She’s with the chief. You can head on up. His office is on the top floor.”
“I don’t want to interrupt.”
“It’s okay, Chief Kane wants to speak to you as well. The elevators are in the back to your right.”
Lin took the elevator up. A short hall led to a closed door. Behind a desk to the left of the door sat an attractive woman in her mid-thirties. She brushed her brown hair out of her eyes and smiled. “You can go right on in, Detective.”
“Thank you.” Lin nodded to the woman in passing then tugged the door open.
Inside was a spacious office with a glass wall overlooking the city. The floating island was still visible far out over the ocean. Two walls were lined with bookcases. Directly ahead was a huge cherry desk behind which sat a broad-shouldered bald man that had to be Chief Kane. In one of the two chairs in front of the desk he recognized the back of Terra’s head.
The chief stood up and walked over to the staring Lin. “Come in, Detective. No need to be shy.”
Chief Kane shook his hand and guided him over to the empty chair. “Sit down, make yourself comfortable. We’re all friends here.”
“Thank you, sir.” Lin settled gently into the soft leather chair. It probably cost more than his truck.
“Orin, please. I know you and Terra are already aquatinted. She tells me you’ve been a tremendous help in trying to locate Mercia.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Lin placed the documents on Orin’s desk. “My captain says as far as we’re concerned the case is closed. Dealing with Mercia is a matter for wizards.”
Orin smile vanished. “Is that right? What do you think?”
“I don’t think we should close out the case, but it’s not my call. The plain truth is I’m a very small fish in a big ocean. If the captain says I’m done, I’m done.”
“We’ll see about that.” Orin picked up his phone and dialed a number. A moment later he said, “Tom? It’s Orin, I need a favor. Of course we’re on for golf this Sunday. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Who’s he talking to?” Lin whispered to Terra. He was relieved that her color had returned to normal.
“Probably the mayor. They’re old friends. I suspect very shortly you’re going to be back on the case. And thank god for that.”
“Why? I’m sure you could have handled it.”
“I’m a researcher, Lin. I don’t know the first thing about criminal investigations. I’ve consulted once or twice, but I never ran one on my own. If the chief dropped this in my lap I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Thanks, Tom.” Orin hung up the phone. “There, that’s all sorted out. You’ll be getting a call shortly, Detective. Until then how about you show us what you brought?”
Lin handed him the letter. “I haven’t had a chance to even open the packet yet. Have you examined the box at all?”
Terra shook her head. “Nothing more than a cursory look. It’ll take me weeks if not months to fully reconstruct the spell from the residual energy. At first glance it strongly resembles the energy from the carnival ritual. I assume at one time it held whatever catalyst Lady Raven used to activate the spell. If I use that as a starting point it might speed things up a great deal, unless I’m wrong, in which case it’ll set me back.”
Orin shook his head and dropped the letter on his desk. “Not terribly encouraging, Terra. And this letter is too vague to be of much use.”
Lin’s cell rang, interrupting Orin. He looked at the Department chief who nodded. “Detective Chang.”
“No,” his captain said. “Lieutenant Chang.”
“I
don’t understand, sir.”
“You’re being promoted and reassigned as liaison to the Department of Magic. You’ll also serve as their chief investigator. Congratulations.” The captain hung up.
“Good news?” Orin asked.
“I guess. I’ve been reassigned to your department as chief investigator.” Lin’s head spun. He’d worked out of the same station since he joined the force. He knew everyone there and they knew him; some of them were like family.
“We can always use good people at the Department.” Orin handed him the letter. “Terra, I believe there’s an office up the hall from yours. That should be a good place for the detective. Get him settled in, won’t you?”
“Yes, Chief.”
Terra groaned and stumbled to her feet. Lin followed her example. Orin shook his hand again and Terra led him out of the office.
Just like that his whole career had changed. Lin had wanted to finish what he started, but what would happen after? How much use did the Department of Magic actually have for a detective?
He followed Terra out and back to the elevators. They rode down to the fifth floor where she guided him to a closed door. Terra opened it and a musty smell mixed with bleach washed over him. Lin stared at the so-called office. It looked more like a storage closet. Someone had shoved a cheap particleboard table and plastic chair into it and rechristened it an office. There wasn’t even a computer or shelves. Hell, he didn’t even have paper and pencil. On the other hand it had four walls and a door, which put it head and shoulders above the cubical he’d worked out of at the station.
“I know it doesn’t look like much,” Terra said. “But I can get you a Department laptop and there’s a supply closet down the hall, just help yourself to whatever you need. I’m right next door if you have any questions.”
Terra ducked into her office down the hall and closed the door, leaving Lin to his own devices. First things first. He tossed the letter and packet onto the table and went to fetch a notepad and pencil. Getting to the desk was a squeeze, good thing he stayed in shape. If he was ten pounds heavier he doubted he’d fit.
The contents of the packet spilled out onto his desk. Page after page of handwritten notes in the same hand as the letter. Lin scanned the first five, trying to get a feel for what he had. It looked like Bone had simply written down everything the other members of the gang remembered about their missions. There was no rhyme or reason and most of it lacked context.
One said he remembered mostly birds and trees. That could describe any one of a hundred parks in the city. Another described rushing water, but was it the sewer or the Gallen River entering the ocean? How was he supposed to make sense of this?
9
Epilogue
Lady Raven stretched and got up off her couch. For the past ten days, since Terra and Detective Chang had discovered her box in the warehouse, Lady Raven had been going from one hiding place to the next, setting additional wards and preparing guardians. It seemed next to impossible that the hiding places would be discovered, but if they were whoever found them would regret it.
There was one more matter to attend to. While her apartment was comfortable and secure for the moment, she couldn’t discount the possibility of her enemies learning about it. If they did it simply wasn’t possible to protect it the way she’d like, at least not without drawing attention that she didn’t want. She needed a secure fortress she could retreat to when the time came to activate the ritual. Somewhere her enemies wouldn’t dream of trying to breach.
She had a location in mind and nearly a year to prepare. However, before she’d fully warded it the building remained vulnerable. Guardians would be necessary for the first month or two, then as a second line of defense. The multiple failures of her shadow beasts had demonstrated their limits in the starkest terms, especially when it came to sunlight.
If she eliminated that weakness, their power was beyond question. What they needed was a shell to protect them from the weakening rays of the sun, and Lady Raven knew exactly where to find such hosts.
She shrugged on her black robe and chanted, “Reveal the way through infinite darkness. Open the path. Hell Portal!” A black disk appeared in the air before her. Lady Raven stepped through it and into the borderland between the mortal realm and Hell. Time had no meaning in this in-between place and distance was simply a matter of will.
With her destination firmly in mind Lady Raven called the name of a demon she knew. A black-winged monster appeared out of the darkness and carried her to her destination. She spoke the spell again and emerged in a darkened corner outside the government building.
It was late and the sky moonless. No figures stirred in the night. Her former place of employment would be empty, but Lady Raven had a different destination. An invisibility spell hid her from anyone she might encounter as she made her way to the city offices. In the basement of that building was the morgue where unclaimed bodies awaited cremation.
There should be a handful of night watchmen patrolling the grounds, not that mere men would have any chance of stopping her, even if they could see her. Five minutes later brought her to her destination. While the guards weren’t an issue, the wards protecting the building were another matter. The moment she stepped through the doors her invisibility would be stripped away. Worse, she couldn’t open a portal inside either.
She smiled. If there weren’t challenges what was the point of doing something? She marched up the steps and stopped in front of the glass doors. Inside, a single guard sat with his chair leaning back against the wall, his feet up on a hard wooden bench.
Lady Raven knew the security routine as well as anyone who had ever worked there. Assuming they hadn’t changed anything, another three guards should be patrolling the other floors while this fool guarded the lobby. In reality they were probably all holed up somewhere napping. That’s what happened when you hired minimum wage workers to protect your property. As long as she made it past the first man without raising a ruckus the rest would be easy.
A hard rap on the glass got the guard to spring to his feet. He stared at the entrance, but of course couldn’t see her. He narrowed his eyes then rubbed them, as if that would make any difference.
Come on, you great buffoon, come investigate.
The guard shrugged and started to settle back in. Lazy, useless excuse for a guard. She thumped the glass again, harder this time. He whirled around and stared again. Finally he pulled his flashlight and started for the doors.
Lady Raven chanted, “Your life is mine.” Her hand crackled with necromantic energy as she stepped aside to avoid bumping into him.
The guard unlocked the doors and stepped outside. He waved his flashlight this way and that, trying in vain to figure out what had made the noise. He was a young man, barely older than Conryu.
When he turned back toward the doors she reached out and grasped the back of his neck. The dark energy flowed out of her hand and into his head. Flesh withered and rotted, leaving nothing but a skull sitting atop his broad shoulders.
The guard collapsed and she left him where he lay, stepping over his body and through the now-unlocked doors. Her skin tingled as her invisibility spell was negated. Lady Raven marched through the empty lobby, her hard heels clicking on the tile floor. She went straight to the elevator and rode it one floor down to the basement.
The elevator chimed and the doors slid open revealing a fully equipped surgical suite. The overwhelming scent of disinfectant mingled with a hint of blood. It appeared someone had just cleaned. She hoped her former servants were in good enough condition to house the shadow spirits.
Beyond the operating room was the morgue. Dozens of niches sealed by stainless steel doors covered the back and side walls. She brushed aside the hanging plastic barrier and went straight to the rear wall. A quick scan of the labels revealed the Skulls’ resting place.
Lady Raven gestured and spoke a word. Five doors opened and the slabs slid out revealing the pale, tattoo-covered bodies of her former
servants. Each of their torsos sported a stitched up Y incision. Two of them had nasty burns covering their arms and back and a different pair was riddled with bullet holes.
They made an especially unattractive group of potential servants, not that they’d been much more appealing while still alive. Still, the corpses were sufficiently intact to serve as hosts for her Faceless Ones and nothing else mattered.
Lady Raven began the summoning spell. “Spirits of death and darkness, faceless foes of the living, appear and serve me.”
The already chill air dropped another twenty degrees as she tapped the corrupt energy of the netherworld. Her spell reached a crescendo and five humanoid figures made of living darkness appeared above the corpses. The Faceless Ones oozed into the bodies, filling every pore and orifice until it appeared the bodies had been dipped in an oil slick.
Slowly the nether spirits worked their way into their new hosts. All around her the other niches began to rattle. One door popped open and a foot emerged. Like a sort of bizarre birth, a mindless zombie worked its way free of the narrow slot. In short order a second and third emerged, animated by the residual energy of her summoning spell.
These weak, stupid creatures were of no use to her beyond the annoyance they’d cause her enemies when they came to work in the morning. A simple command spoken in Infernal sent the newly made zombies out of the morgue and out of her way. They’d shamble around in the basement, maybe a few would find the stairs and work their way up, following the scent of the guards patrolling the upper floors.
Before the Faceless Ones finished integrating with their hosts twenty of the lesser zombies had shuffled out of the morgue. The clumsy things sent tools crashing to the floor in the surgical area as they made their way out.
When the last of the crashes sounded and the moans had faded to nothing, Lady Raven checked on the progress of her guardians. The black essence of the Faceless Ones had sunk fully into the bikers’ bodies. The wounds had sealed, leaving the flesh smooth and free of punctures. This wasn’t done for aesthetic reasons, but to keep any light from reaching the spirits and potentially weakening them.
The Impossible Wizard: The Aegis of Merlin Book 1 Page 19