by HDA Roberts
"Oh yes. There are two things that Immortals value above all others; their lives and their comforts. I can't kill them, but that doesn't mean I can't hurt their wallets. I start hitting them there, and they'll likely decide that a religious war is too expensive."
Demise chewed her lip thoughtfully, "Or I could just go hunt them down," she suggested.
"Maybe if my plan doesn't work."
"Oh go on, just let me take out a couple of nests; I'm getting out of practice."
"No, I'm trying not to escalate."
"I'll tell you Cassandra's evil plan. She has an evil plan regarding you."
"You'd turn on your best friend just so that you can go empty a Vampire nest? Shame, Dee."
She smirked, "God, I'm glad to be home, I was so bored on holiday."
"You should have taken that man of yours."
"I did, but I broke him on the second day and couldn't use him for the rest of it."
"Good grief, woman, what are you doing to that poor creature?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"No! I take it back, God no!"
She closed her eyes and settled in for a nap before... well, bed, I guess (and they say I'm lazy).
"Wise of you, Mathew. You aren't ready for that sort of knowledge."
Chapter 12
I have to admit that my various worries conspired to make me a little less tolerant of Ross and her nonsense than I might normally have been. It turned out that she did have a job, but it was just my luck that her working hours coincided with times when I was out of the house, so I couldn’t appreciate them.
As the days went by, and she continued to invade my personal space, I could feel my normally vast temper start to fray, heating to a slow boil as that... woman practically scent-marked everything in sight, including Tethys, which I confess was likely the lion’s share of the problem. That seemed to be the extent of their relationship, by the way. What little conversation I heard was either stilted or laced with unsubtle innuendo.
Thankfully, just when I thought things with Ross were coming to a nasty head, I got a break.
Kandi came home.
Kandi, A.K.A. Carol Thornsby, was running what used to be her father's company, Thornsby International Securities. Tethys had arranged a hostile takeover, funding it with a combination of her money and mine. That was actually a nice bit of work on Tethys' part. She'd managed to persuade the elder Thornsby to sell his company for an obscene amount of money... and then immediately stole it all back again, so it didn't actually cost us a penny. Well... more or less; we didn't want to completely destroy Kandi's bastard of a father (on Kandi's orders, I'd have been fine with making him squeal, but I was overruled, sadly).
When all was said and done, we agreed that Kandi would run it, as it was all her idea to begin with. We signed over thirty-three percent of the shares to her and retained the rest between Tethys and myself, though we gave her our voting proxies.
One might ask what made a twenty year old former-dancer qualified to run a multi-national corporation, and that is a good question. The simple answer was that Kandi was no ingénue. She’d learned about business from her father since she was old enough to speak and more from Tethys in her time as the Succubus’ ‘assistant’. There were few business tricks and practices that Kandi didn’t know, and for the rest, she was a very quick learner.
Of course there had been one or two stumbling blocks in the first couple of months, but Carol Thornsby, as she appeared to her employees, had overcome them with a combination of guile and grace. After nearly a year, she now ran that company better than her father ever had; it was actually turning into quite a nice little cash cow.
As the name might imply, their holdings were all over the place, with offices in the U.S.A., Germany, France, China and India. The name said ‘securities’, but that was just a polite term for ‘mercenaries’. The elder Thornsby hadn’t been too picky about who he hired, so Kandi had interviewed everyone with the help of a Telepathy-trained Warden (one of two we’d assigned her) and reshaped that company into something we could all be proud of.
She’d restructured around Supernatural and Magical security, which was a growing market that nobody had really carved a niche into yet. Kandi's company was changing that, and making piles of money into the bargain.
Kandi almost staggered back into Blackhold. I saw her from the inner garden at the centre of the house, where I'd been reading a book in a moment of rare quiet. The Pixies were with me, all three curled up in Burglar's fur, the big dog sleeping leant up against me.
I sighed with relief as I saw her come in and got up to greet her.
She smiled as she spotted me and came over to wrap me up in a warm hug.
"Oh, it's good to be home," she said with a sigh as her Wardens put down her luggage for the Valets to take to her rooms.
"It's good to have you back," I replied, smiling at her.
She may have been tired, but that didn't make her look any less lovely. She was a beautiful young woman, with dark-copper hair tied into a professional bun at the back of her head. She wore a business suit in dark green, modest and elegant.
"You look good," I said as she continued leaning against me.
"Well, I feel like crap!” she replied with a chuckle.
I reached into her with my Flesh Magic senses. She was tired, but not ill. A few hours sleep and she'd be fine.
"I prescribe food and bed-rest.”
Kandi grinned (she was Ms. Thornsby everywhere else, as was proper, but when she was home, she was Kandi).
"I'd love to, but Tethys has a new toy, and Kandi wants to play."
"Oh, not you, too!"
"Oh yes... Tethys sent me pictures... lots and lots and lots of pictures. I want to try out each and every one of those piercings."
"Ack!" I said, recoiling.
She laughed and pursued me, whispering depraved things in my ear that made her Wardens run for cover, until I finally surrendered and directed her towards Tethys' current, debauched location.
"That girl was our last hope," Cassandra said in a deep voice from off to one side.
"No... there is another," I said, carrying on the theme.
"Really? Oh, thank God! When's it getting here?" she asked, almost desperately.
"Hm? Oh, I've got nothing, I was just doing a thing. No, that was our last hope; we're screwed."
"We could just move," Cassandra offered.
"Don't think I haven't considered it."
Kandi came down for breakfast the next morning and ordered room service for the other two while she ate with us. She wore her more familiar jean-shorts and crop-top combination, her hair cascading down her back in a curly sheet, a look that was far better on her than her suits. She was always at her loveliest when she was comfortable and relaxed. She was amazing as Carol, don’t get me wrong, every inch the corporate titan, sexy and intense, but there was something special about Kandi when she was just being... her.
"Problem solved," she whispered into my ear as she passed me on the way to the sideboard. She smelled of flowers and... other things that need not divert us at the moment, but which were explained by what she said next. "Lexi won't be moving for a while... in fact I might have broken her a little bit."
"I love you," I said, and there was an actual tear in my eye as I went over and pulled the little redhead into a hug.
Cassandra quickly joined in, making Kandi laugh.
"Never leave again," my Warden said, meaning every word.
I smiled widely. Tethys, Cassandra, Kandi and Demise really were the core of my new family. It felt like something important was missing when one of them was away.
She ate with us, but she soon went back upstairs, and that was Ross more or less completely out of my hair!
Kandi still went to work, running her global operations from the Stonebridge branch of her company, but somehow, even while running that multi-billion pound company, my wonderful Kandi had effectively neutralised Ross. I didn’t ask for
specifics, I was just happy that it had worked!
It improved the atmosphere around the house immeasurably.
Ross even left for a while! Going by the hunched and bow-legged way she’d staggered from the building, a couple of days after Kandi’s return, I suspected that she’d gone to seek medical attention for what had to be about fifty pulled muscles.
Not long after that, Tethys and Kandi emerged from their den of depravity, arm in arm. They settled themselves down in my library with their usual post-fun snacks.
"No stamina, that one," Kandi said with a sigh. "Doesn't know how to pace herself."
"She'll learn," Tethys replied, tossing a caramel-fudge chocolate into her mouth.
"I know, but it's so hard to teach them when they get to that age; they're too set in their ways."
I looked up hopefully.
Tethys snorted at the look, "Easy you. I'm keeping her."
I subsided.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't, but couldn't you at least send her to a remedial school or something? Save me the early fumbling?" Kandi asked.
Another hopeful look from me. If she was out of the house for a while, then I could put things in motion so that she'd never come back. I'm sure that Price would be willing to lure Ross away with an appropriate piece of eye-candy, which would hopefully buy me enough time to get her banned from the country... or even the dimension, if I could swing that.
Tethys laughed and came over to kiss my cheek, "Not happening, love."
She pecked my lips.
"And all those people you're thinking of to get Lexi out of the picture work for me, too. Just something to keep in mind."
Damn, she knew me too well.
There was a knock on the door, and Cassandra came in without waiting, not that she needed to, it was strange enough that she'd knocked in the first place...
"Um, Matty..." she started, but didn't seem to know how to carry on.
"What?" I asked, feeling my fledgling good mood begin to evaporate.
"I don't know how to... it's Desmond, he's vanished."
That took a minute to process.
"What do you mean 'vanished'?! He's in a maximum security prison for the criminally insane! Even I couldn't just vanish from there!"
Well, I probably could, but that wasn't the issue.
"Someone turned up with all the right paperwork and took him out of there."
"When? Maybe I can still get to them."
"Yesterday," Cassandra admitted.
"Yesterday?! And we're only hearing about it now?"
"Our guy in the Farm was on holiday," Cassandra said by way of an explanation.
"We only had one guy watching the place that houses a solid percentage of the people who want to kill me?"
"No, we had three. There was a screw-up."
I cringed, grinding my teeth.
"Do we have a description of the guy who took him?" I said, grabbing a hold of my temper with both hands.
"Tall, male, deep voice, wore a cloak."
"They didn't take ID?"
"He had an official pass."
"Well, that's a place to start..."
"Which he took with him."
"Didn't he even have to sign anything?" I asked, now beginning to panic.
"The official pass covers a lot of sins," Cassandra explained, "They're generally signed by the Primus, but at the least they have to be approved by someone in the Primus’ Cabinet."
My eyes narrowed.
"Oh dear," Cassandra said as I turned to Tethys.
"Would you please find out where Mrs Bradley is at the moment?" I asked evenly.
"It would be my pleasure," Tethys said, her face set in the same angry expression as my own.
"Matty, do you maybe want to think about this?" Cassandra asked as Tethys left the room.
"We don't know anything yet, Cassie. I'm not going to do anything permanent until we do. Who else could have signed a pass to get someone out of the Farm?"
"The Archons, of course, and any number of Councillors. The only distinguishing feature would be the Magical signature of the pass, which only identifies it as an item of authority. It doesn't carry any sort of personal identification ."
"But they are official? They need to be issued by someone?"
She nodded.
"Then the Primus would be the place to start."
I thought I was being impressively calm about the whole thing. After all, I hadn't Portalled myself to the Conclave Building with my Shadows poised to break it open. I think that shows significant personal growth.
It was a close-run thing, though, just between you and me.
Tethys came back within a minute and handed me a slip of paper, "Her location and her private number."
“Thank you.”
I pulled out my mobile and dialled.
Bradley picked up after a couple of rings, "Who is this and how did you get this number?!" she snapped.
"This is Mathew Graves, and I have a number of questions for you, if you have a moment?"
Now, I think that, bearing in mind the circumstances, that this was very reasonable and polite of me.
"Make an appointment like everyone else," she barked, and hung up.
My eye twitched convulsively as I strained against what was shaping up to be a rather epic loss of my already ragged temper.
I cleared my throat and redialled the number.
She declined my call.
"Oh dear," Cassandra repeated, seeing the look on my face.
Chapter 13
Mrs Bradley lived just within the Stonebridge city limits, on a plot of land overlooking the river. Her house was tall and deep, but very skinny across the front, with a nice little garden at the back and a three car garage stuck onto the side. It was an architectural mash-up of various styles, created by periodic additions and extensions over the last three hundred years or so. The ground floor was red brick encrusted with ivy, the second floor and garage were of white stone and the top floor was fronted by some rather exotic-looking marble. It was a house with character; history.
And I was seriously considering knocking it down.
The front door was heavy and painted a glossy black. I broke with the habit of a lifetime and knocked for once. I was really trying to do this the easy way (if only because a cooperating person works far faster than a reanimated set of slightly-charred remains, and every second counted).
The door opened and a man I recognised as Bradley’s confidential secretary appeared, looking down his long nose at me. The ghost of a smirk crossed his lips.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a tone that spoke of deep contempt (and all but guaranteeing an immense crotch-related mischief in his near future).
"You can take me to the Primus, please."
"She's busy."
I held up my hand so that my signet was visible, "You do know what this is, right? You are aware of who I am? This isn't just a colossal case of mistaken identity coupled with general ignorance?"
"No, it is not," he said with a smile.
I began to lose patience.
"Either bring her out to me, or I will go in to see her, your choice," I said coldly.
He slammed the door in my face.
I could see why he thought that would do the trick. There were centuries’ worth of Wards and Enchantments on that place.
Oh, I was so, so tempted to just smash my way right through them, and I knew that I could; I could brute-force my way through just about anything not built by another Archon.
But I was in a hurry, so I opted for something else.
Using Portals to get around meant that I hadn't spent as much time in the Shadow Realm as I used to, but I still went in every now and then, just to keep my hand in and say hello to the Elementals. The Shadows embraced me like an old friend as I slipped through a dark patch and into that reflection of our world.
The Shadow Realm was a different dimension, existing as a living mirror of our own, only made of shadows, solid only t
o the mind and power of a Shadowborn. To anyone else, it would have appeared only as empty darkness, the kind of eternal night that had driven many of those who'd seen it thoroughly mad. To me, and those like me, it was quite beautiful, with every object in the real world (besides living beings) represented there, surrounded by their own shadows, which looked like fog in a thousand different shades of grey, flickering and darting in response to the world that birthed them.
I describe the two places as separate, but they aren't, not really. They were both parts of the same reality, and entering the Shadow Realm was more like seeing the world from a different perspective, than going to a different place.
Travelling through there meant that I could bypass those heavily-Warded walls, windows and doors in a way that a Portal could never manage. There were few defences you could place in the real world that would carry over into the Shadow Realm, and they required a vast amount of sustained power; that was part of the reason why the First Shadow was a figure of such dread.
It appeared as if Mrs Bradley had forgotten that.
I walked into the house's Shade, and let my senses seep into the Shadows (the fog), allowing myself to become aware of everything, listening through their substance like a spider at the centre of his web. I heard Bradley's assistant stomp up the front stairs and I followed, letting myself drift after him, letting my Realm flow around me like a slow river.
The house from the inside was, naturally, rather monochrome (black, in fact, being made of Shadows), but I could see the Shades of antiques and expensive fixtures. Nothing was new, even the light fittings were old and the TV was positively ancient; blocky and heavy enough to stone an ox to death without taking a scratch.
Bradley’s office was different, though; very modern with a glass-topped desk, complete with high-powered computer, smooth-edged furniture covered with ergonomic adjusters, heavy chrome-plated file cabinets and at least three safes built into the walls. I could hear the news coming from a more modern television, mounted on the wall opposite her desk.
The assistant knocked on the door and was told to enter.
"It was him, my Primus," he said, his tone sneering and amused.