Game of Stone

by R. L. King

  He shrugged. “Fine. Do what you will—just don’t kill him. I’ll wait for the police, and I won’t tell them you were here.”

  “Oh, you can tell ’em all you want,” Greta said, her voice full of contempt. “Tell ’em it was the Harpies. They’ll never catch us and they know it.”

  Only then did Stone notice that all the women—at least the ones with their backs to him—sported the same emblem on their jackets: a stylized drawing of a thin-faced, burning-eyed woman with a pointed nose and wild green hair. “The Harpies?”

  “We’re outta here,” Kyla said. She aimed a savage kick at the cowering rapist’s ass, and grinned fiercely when he moaned. “Ladies?”

  The other women trooped out behind her, each one taking a shot at the man before she left. By the time they were all gone, he lay in a moaning heap on the floor.

  Stone watched them go, then stationed himself between the woman and her children and the man on the floor. Keeping a close eye on him in case he got any ideas of trying to attack or escape, he turned his phone back on and hit Blum’s number.

  37

  The detective answered on the first ring. “Blum.”

  “Detective—it’s Stone.”

  “Where the hell have you been? The phone cut off, and—”

  “Sorry about the interruption. Couldn’t be helped. But I’ve found another crime related to the figurines. It’s at—” He turned briefly to the woman. “Where are we? What’s the address here?”

  The woman was still sobbing too hard to answer, but the little girl did. In a shaky voice she gave him the name of the street. “I don’t know the number, though,” she whispered.

  Stone relayed the information. “We’re on the second floor of an abandoned tenement about halfway up the block. Look for a light in the window.”

  “You are gonna have some explaining to do. How did you find—”

  “Just get here. I’ll tell you later.”

  Stone put the phone away and looked over at the huddled victim and her children. “Are you going to be all right?” he asked, switching to a more gentle tone. “The police are coming. Where do you live?”

  Once again it wasn’t the woman who answered, but the little girl. “Here...right now, anyway.”

  Bloody hell. They’re homeless. It was bad enough to be on the street with two small children without this human piece of garbage preying on them. “Well, you sit tight. The police will help you find a place to stay.” He hoped he was right.

  The man on the floor moaned in pain and shifted position.

  Stone stalked over and crouched next to his head. “I’d stay put if I were you,” he said coldly. “If you make a move to try to escape before the police arrive, I won’t be responsible for what might happen. But pull up your damned trousers. This lady and her children don’t want to look at your pasty arse, and neither do I.”

  The man glared at him for a moment, but seemed to reconsider whatever plan might be growing in his mind. With effort, he hitched up his pants most of the way, then slumped back down and lay still, puffing from the effort.

  Stone shifted to magical sight. The rapist’s aura was a muddy red, flashing brighter with pain and frustration. He would have bruises and maybe a cracked bone or two, but he wasn’t in any danger of dying before Blum and his men arrived.

  He was about to stand back up to keep an eye on the room when a thought—one of the kind the second little voice in his mind was fond of proposing—rose.

  You know, it said, you used quite a bit of energy dealing with this guy.

  Yes, and?

  Well… it pointed out, quite reasonably, the man is a human piece of excrement. If you can believe the Harpies, he raped four women even before the figurine got hold of him.

  And? Stone saw full well where the traitorous little voice was going, but he’d get it out in the open nonetheless.

  Well, it said again, you could get that power back. You’re not going to kill him—you know that. And who cares if you tire him out? It’s not like it matters. It’s not like with Phoebe.

  Disgusted with himself, he made a sweeping gesture as if physically trying to clear the thought away. Even the notion of doing something like that was unconscionable. He’d sworn he’d never steal power from anyone without permission.

  But this guy doesn’t count, the little voice said. You’re just getting back what you’re due. He’s the reason you’re down power anyway. Go on—just take a little. Enough to cover what you used. He owes you that much.

  And, in fact, he did. Stone regarded the back of the man’s bald head, then glanced at the woman and her children. The woman had stopped sobbing now, sitting huddled into the back corner of the mattress with the children pulled close to her. They weren’t watching Stone, but seemed to be caught up in each other.

  His jaw tightened. He gripped the rapist’s shoulder, reaching out with his magical senses to take hold of that red, swirling aura.

  The guy tensed when Stone touched him. “Hey—what are you—?” He tried to twist away, but Stone held him fast.

  It didn’t take long. Perversely, it was easier this time. Stone controlled the exchange perfectly—despite the satisfying rush of pleasure that flooded him from pulling in the power, he remembered Phoebe and this time he cut it off before it got that far. He pulled back, releasing the man’s shoulder and settling back on his haunches, satisfied and energized, as the rapist slumped into an exhausted heap.

  A moment later, footsteps pounded on the steps outside. “Stone?” called a loud voice.

  Stone leaped to his feet. “In here, Detective!”

  More footsteps, and then Leo Blum and two armed, uniformed policemen appeared in the open doorway. The detective swept his gaze around the room, and stiffened when he saw the guy on the floor. “What the—?”

  “This man is a rapist, Detective.” Stone stepped away from him and closer to the doorway. “I caught him attempting to attack this woman—fortunately he wasn’t successful. But I’m told he’s responsible for four other sexual assaults in the area in the last two weeks.”

  One of the officers, a woman, hurried over to the victim and her children, while her beefy male partner put handcuffs on the prone rapist.

  “What happened to him?” Blum demanded. He eyed Stone with suspicion. “Did you do that? It looks like somebody beat the shit out of him.”

  “No. That wasn’t me. I had…associates. They were searching for him too, so we joined forces.”

  “Wait a second.” Blum’s gaze traveled between the woman and her children, the rapist, and Stone. “Associates? And what do you mean, he’s been doing this for two weeks? I thought you said this was a one of those—”

  Stone motioned Blum outside the room as the two cops did their jobs. In the hall, he pulled the black figurine from his pocket and held it out, though he kept the white one to himself. “He had this on him.”

  “Shit. How did you find him?”

  “Magically. I can’t tell you exactly how.”

  Blum narrowed his eyes. “Stone, I thought we were workin’ together. Are you keepin’ secrets from me?”

  “No, Detective. I’ll tell you if you want to know—but that’s all I can do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “As I told you before, I’ve located a way to track the piece, using the other set. The white set. The two are linked. When a white piece activates, it sets up a conduit between the two. I can track that conduit—but it’s got a very limited timeframe. My source thinks it’s no longer than a day.”

  “And this white set is how you tracked this guy down?”

  “Yes. But I won’t tell you where I got it, and I won’t give it to you, so don’t ask. You wouldn’t have been able to do anything with it anyway. I called you as soon as I had a reasonable idea of where the crime would occur.”

  Blum glared at him, clearly trying to decide whether to push it further. Finally he let out a loud sigh. “Fine. Fuckin’ mages…but yeah, I’m glad you could find
this piece of shit before he hurt anybody else.” He paused, remembering something. “How come your phone cut off? It sounded like you were talkin’ to somebody else.”

  “Yes. My…associates aren’t fans of the police. They didn’t want me calling you until they’d had a chance to—” He nodded back toward the room where the rapist lay.

  “So a woman dished out that beat-down?” Blum asked, astonished.

  “Several of them, in fact. They didn’t seem concerned if their group’s identity was known—they call themselves the Harpies.”

  To Stone’s surprise, Blum expression changed to one of frustrated dismay. “Fuck. They’re involved?”

  “You’re familiar with them, then?”

  “Oh, yeah. We see their handiwork around occasionally. All-female gang, kind of a vigilante group. They mostly go after perverts, sex criminals—anybody who preys on women and kids. They don’t kill, but they’ve beaten the shit out of perps on more than one occasion.”

  “Are they wanted?”

  Blum tilted his head. “Yeah…technically. But there’s so much bad shit goin’ down in this town that they’re not exactly high on the priorities, y’know? As long as they don’t kill anybody or go after the wrong people—and as long as they stay out of our crosshairs—they’re pretty far down on our to-do list. It’s kind of uncanny how they can find people we haven’t been able to get close to.”

  “Is it?” Stone asked, with a significant glance at Blum.

  It only took him a moment to get it. “Oh, shit. You’re tellin’ me they’re—”

  “Some of them are, yes. I’m not sure about the rest. As it happens, I was on the receiving end of one of their so-called ‘beat-downs’ before I got the better of them and they realized I wasn’t their target. One of them even healed me up.”

  Blum digested that for a moment. “Well, anyway,” he said at last, “I’m gonna need some kinda statement from you. We’ll have to figure out a way to spin this, which ain’t gonna be easy.” He nodded toward the room again. “Did any o’ them see you makin’ with the mojo?”

  “Yes, but I’m not worried. Mundanes are masters at rationalization. And it’s not as if anyone will believe them anyway.”

  “Yeah, true.”

  “Do you want the black piece? Are you lot even trying to use the figurines to solve this thing anymore?”

  “Yeah, I should probably take it. I’ve got no fucking idea how to connect them together without bringing up magic, but we’ve got the one from the arson guy too. Might as well keep the set together, I guess. But, Stone—if another one of the white ones activates, call me, okay? Before you come up here and start playin’ magical Sherlock Holmes?”

  “I will, though I don’t see what good it will do. As I said, I can’t give you any idea of where to look until after I track the piece.”

  “Even so—call, okay?”

  The beefy uniformed cop came out then, shoving the handcuffed rapist in front of him. The guy stumbled along, looking dazed. When he passed Stone and Blum, he flinched back in fear. “Keep that guy away from me, man!” he mumbled. “He did somethin’ to me. He grabbed my arm and…did somethin’!”

  “Get moving,” the cop ordered, shoving him past.

  Blum looked at Stone. “What’s he mean by that?”

  “No idea.”

  38

  Fortunately for Stone, it was finals week. He did have to show up to work, but only to hand out exams and sit at the front of the lecture hall reading the paper while the students sweated over their essays. Aside from exams and a few scattered office hours and meetings, his week was reasonably light.

  Verity called him the day after he got back from San Francisco. “Sorry I missed your call before,” she told him. “I was out with some friends. Didn’t get in until late and I figured I shouldn’t call you early in the morning. Everything okay?”

  “All fine,” he assured her. He still had an assortment of mild bumps and bruises from the Harpies’ attack, but nothing that wouldn’t clear up in a few days. “Taken care of.”

  “Okay…” She sounded hesitant. “Doc…about Jason—”

  “I don’t want to discuss it, Verity.”

  “Are you pissed at me for telling him? I didn’t mean to, I promise. That’s not why I went down there. It just sort of…”

  “…slipped out. I know. And to be honest, I was a bit annoyed about it, but it’s done and I can’t change it, so let’s not speak of it anymore.”

  “But…it worked. His power did. He told me about it when he got back.”

  “Yes. It worked.” He gripped the phone, keeping his voice even and scrambling for a change of subject. “Listen—how do you feel about getting a mobile so I can reach you more easily?”

  “A cell phone?” She sounded taken aback. “Uh…sure, if you think it’ll help.”

  “I’ll pay for it—just go pick something up and I’ll reimburse you. And come over tonight if you can for a lesson. I’ve got some things I want to talk to you about.”

  “Uh…okay. Yeah, I can do that. I’ll even fix dinner as a peace offering.”

  “So what did you want to talk to me about?” Verity asked, a little nervously.

  She’d shown up around six bearing shopping bags, and immediately set about whipping up a linguine with basil pesto. She put it on to cook, keeping watch on it as she assembled an arugula salad and turned her attention to Stone, who was seated at the breakfast bar trying to read the paper while avoiding Raider’s eager advances. The cat paced back and forth in front of him, making reading difficult and page-turning nearly impossible.

  Finally, he gave it up and focused on stroking the tabby’s head. “You. Specifically, your future.”

  “My future? In what context?”

  “Magically. I’ve been looking over your progress over the last few months.”

  “And?” She appeared deceptively casual as she stirred the contents of a pot, but her aura gave her away.

  “And…I think we’re getting close to the end of your apprenticeship.”

  She blinked. “Really? But we’ve still got a few months left, right?”

  “That’s up to you. You’re learning very quickly. Your skills are exemplary, and you’ve made excellent progress not only with what I’ve taught you, but also in discovering your own path by taking what Edna taught you and combining it with my lessons. You could do with some more growth in theory—you’re a bit rubbish at it, let’s be honest with each other—but I’ve accepted that it’s not something you prioritize.”

  “So…you think I’m ready to be on my own?”

  “I think you’re close. Once again, it’s up to you—I enjoy teaching you, and I certainly wouldn’t mind if you wanted to extend your apprenticeship period to last the entire four years. But if you want to move a bit faster, I can start preparing some of your final projects and activities.”

  She turned back to stir the pot again. “Wow. I…guess that wasn’t what I was expecting tonight.”

  “What were you expecting?”

  “For you to give me more grief for telling Jason about what happened to you.”

  “I told you—there’s nothing I can do about that now. And Jason is right—I can be a bit…pigheaded about certain things.”

  “A bit?” Even though she was turned away from him, her smile came through in her voice.

  “Well…more than a bit, then. And he’s also right that it makes sense for me to get power from him, if he’s willing.”

  “Oh, he is. Believe me. When I told him about what happened—well, a slightly altered version, but I’m still not convinced they didn’t plan to kill both of us if we didn’t go along with their plan—you should have seen him. He went white as a ghost.” She turned back to him. “Doc…I know you don’t like it. I get that. You don’t want to be dependent on anybody, even Jason. But believe me—he wants this. I think he’s feeling guilty because he’s been so busy lately he thinks he hasn’t been there for me as much as he should. What
can I say—he’s like that.”

  “I’m aware,” Stone said wryly. “And I take by the fact that I’m still alive and whole that you didn’t tell him the…other bit.”

  She shrugged. “That part’s none of his business. He doesn’t tell me who he’s sleeping with. But…even though I shouldn’t have told him the rest, I’m happy knowing you’ll have a steady source of power.”

  He thought about what had happened last night with the rapist. He was sure he’d been able to do it so easily because he hadn’t given a damn whether he laid the man up for a week with exhaustion. Would he be able to do the same thing with someone he did care about, like Phoebe or one of Kolinsky’s other “contractors”? He didn’t know, but thought perhaps he might be willing to give it another try with a different person and full disclosure. If that worked…then he could have the rush he craved, and all it would cost him was money. That, he had more than enough of.

  39

  Despite double-checking the wards on his vault and looking in on the white figurines several times a day over the next week, Stone saw no evidence of activity on the remaining two. Nonetheless, when he decided to spend the weekend following finals doing a more thorough search of his Surrey house for evidence of his family’s nefarious past, he took them with him. It was probably overkill in the caution department, but if Kolinsky was correct and the types of crimes they incited increased in severity with each successive item, he didn’t want to miss something because the warning magic didn’t reach far enough to alert him.

  He checked in with Eddie, Ward, and Kerrick at Caventhorne before settling in for his task. Neither Eddie nor Ward was working there that day, but suggested a trip to the pub later in the evening. He found Kerrick supervising a crew of workers doing a thorough cleaning on some of the little-used rooms in the house’s south wing and left him to it.

  After taking the portal back to Surrey, he paused as he climbed free of the sarcophagus inside the mausoleum. Instead of hurrying out as he always did, he paused to examine the crypts, using a light spell around his hand to inspect each individual carved plaque on the numerous niches.