The Ballad Nocturne (The Midnight Defenders Book 3)

by Joey Ruff

  I sat there for a minute, not sure how long it was supposed to take before it went into effect. Part of me doubted it even would. I passed the time watching birds fly around the crag, watching out across the pond.

  “What a fucking rush, brother,” came London’s voice after a time.

  I turned and looked at him. He was sitting up. I noticed the scar along his neck, just below the jawline. “London? How do you feel?”

  He put his hand to his throat, right above the scar. “Terrible fucking heart burn.” He moved his head to the side, and his neck popped. “I was dead,” he said. “Wasn’t I?”

  I nodded.

  “What happened?”

  “Aegir hijacked another body. He grabbed you before we could stop him.” I couldn’t look him in the eye. “I’m sorry.”

  He laughed. “You didn’t fucking do it, brother.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “At least the good Lord saw fit to give me another shot.”

  I nodded at London, stood, and helped him to his feet. “Get your stuff together,” I said. “We can head back to the house now.”

  “Is it over?”

  “Yeah. It’s over.”

  “Hell of a party.”

  I nodded. Then I smiled. It felt like a while since I had really done that.

  As he started to walk toward his bag, he stopped and turned to me. “So how is it that I ain’t dead right now, brother?”

  I laughed. “How do you feel about a walk back to the house? It’ll give me a chance to tell you what you missed.”

  “Fucking A,” he said.

  44

  Swyftt

  I got on the plane, fell into my seat, and pulled out my phone, forgetting it had taken a bullet for me. With a heavy sigh and a much needed roll of my eyes, I sank back into my chair. Then I closed my eyes. I hadn’t seen Anna in almost two days, what was another few hours. Still, it was in the quiet times, like now, that I missed her the most. I imagined her face, but not the way she appeared to me in the mana pool, slumbering away in the leftover juices of Creation. It seemed so weird having a name for it now. It would always be my wishing well.

  No, I thought of her how she had been in life. Before the unnamed disease ravaged her. When life was simple and made a little bit more fucking sense.

  Shortly after take-off, I fell asleep and slept the entire flight home.

  Back at the house, I found Ape in his study. He didn’t look up as I entered. He was sitting at his desk, with a book in his hand, like he usually was. One difference, this time, was the way the furniture had been tossed around, the black char marks along the shelves, the door frame, the desk itself. The curtains were gone, replaced with just a few tattered pieces of cloth. Oh, and the entire place smelled like a bonfire. Somehow, the books appeared to all be intact.

  The other difference I couldn’t quite put my finger on. There was something about Ape that just felt…off. He even seemed to be smiling a little.

  “What the hell happened here?”

  “Long story.”

  “The hallway’s all burned up, too. London get happy with his flamethrowers? I know he was eager to show them off. They’re new.”

  “Something like that. How was your flight?”

  “The kitchen’s a mess.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Oh, and the, uh, tree out back is gone. Chopped down, it looks like.”

  “Turns out, it wasn’t my tree after all.”

  “So…Edomites, then?”

  He looked up at me suddenly, a confused, yet humorous expression in his eyes. “How…?”

  “Relax. London left me a voicemail. He told me to tell you, ‘It was a hell of a party.’ Sounded pretty damned excited, too.”

  Ape took a deep breath and let it all out. Then he laughed a little and just shook his head. “It was a hell of a day.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Can we do it later?” He looked back down at his book. “I’m tired.”

  “You and me both, mate. That’s why I’ll be passed out later.”

  I grabbed one of the armchairs and flipped it back up and slouched deep down into its cushion.

  Ape sighed. “Fine. Where do I start. How about…Crestmohr.”

  “Thunderbird.”

  “Angel,” he said. “One of the four angels of the wind.” Turns out the book he was reading was the Bible. “Revelation seven-one. After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.”

  “All this time…,” I said. “Our very own guardian angel. Explains why Aegir was jonesing for him.”

  “I had a chance to talk to Crestmohr again. Once everyone had left. Turns out, my great grandpa hadn’t as much bought the land as he was given it.”

  “Really? By whom?”

  “The Chinook Indians. The story’s kind of long and involved, but it boils down to him proving his strength of character around the Chinook chief during the time that the government was looking to buy up all the land and push the Indians out. The land was sacred to the Chinook and decided it would be in better hands with the only trustworthy white man they’d ever met.”

  “And thus a legacy was born.”

  “Just wish I’d known sooner.” He held up another little book. It was beaten and worn. “Turns out, this place came with a manual. The Ouroboros, the security system, it’s all in here. Just nobody thought to give it to me until I asked, but by the time Chess gave it to me, I was too busy to give it a second thought.”

  “You’ve got it now. Better late than never.”

  “Yeah.” He was quiet for a minute. I was still pretty tired myself. I may or may not have dozed off in the chair. When he spoke again, it roused me. “One thing, though, that I keep going back to…there at the end, as we were dealing with Aegir and his beast...a neak…”

  “No shit? Haven’t heard of a neak sighting in a long time.”

  “Well, there’s one in the grotto for the time being. It’s asleep. You know, the Naga used neaks to hunt and kill the last of the thunderbirds.”

  “Good story.”

  “Anyway, we were in the middle of this crazy battle with the neak. There was a point, we were completely outmatched.… Then the strangest thing happened. A, uh, Tikbalang showed up.”

  I chuckled to myself. “What do you know? Looks like the kid made the right decision after all.”

  “You did that?”

  “It was my idea, sure. But I didn’t do it. That honor goes to your new trainee.”

  He sighed. “Of course, you would be behind… Wait, what? Trainee?”

  “I’m giving you DeNobb.”

  “I don’t want DeNobb.”

  “Aren’t you the one that said we couldn’t just turn him away? We made a joint decision that if he was going to stick around, he should help out.”

  “We made a joint decision that if he was going to stick around, you would train him. Nothing against DeNobb, Jono, but I don’t want a trainee. I’ve got some stuff I’m working through.”

  “Well, I can’t train him anymore.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I’ve decided to train Nadia. I can’t have two pupils.”

  “She wore you down, huh?”

  “Recent events have convinced me that I can’t fucking keep her out of trouble, so the least I can do is prepare her for it.”

  “That is…surprisingly responsible of you.”

  “Responsible is my middle name.”

  “That’s not even close to your middle name.”

  I smiled at him.

  “Fine,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “It’s not like we don’t have help. I told you, Huxley’s back.”

  “How in the world…?”

  I told him about the doll. I told him about the trip. I told him about Silen. He just watched me.

  “The most disturbing thin
g about all of that is what we still don’t know,” Ape said. “He told you the Alfar were just a distraction for something else to cross through? What?”

  “I know. I keep fucking going back to that. Who or what would be worth all that effort? It’s like a…”

  “A jailbreak.”

  “It’s what your trainee said.” I gave him a cheeky grin, but he ignored me.

  “Well,” he said. Then he told me about Dusares and the fruit. He told me about the Edomites and the invasion. About Aegir and London.

  “Soggy bollocks,” was all I could say. “So, now London’s running around with sodding thunderbird blood coursing through him? What does that even mean?”

  “I don’t know. I asked Crestmohr. He mentioned there may be some side effects, but he wouldn’t talk specifics.”

  “What happened to Omri and the rest? Did you offer them a bunk?”

  “They wouldn’t take it. They took the tree and their dead. They left some of the wood behind. Turns out, it’s flame resistant. Thought it might come in handy for something.”

  “I’m sure we’ll use it for some bloody thing.” I reached down and pulled out a small case, about the size of a pencil box. I set it on the corner of his desk.

  He looked at it. “What’s this?”

  “Speaking of coming in handy…” He just looked at it. “Go on.”

  He pulled the box to him and opened it. “A bone…?”

  “It’s an ivory flute. One of Pan’s own.”

  “Replaces the fake Solomon’s Ring you had before.” He closed the box and left it sitting on the edge. “Well, we’ll put that in the trophy room along with the ceremonial obsidian dagger that Aegir left behind.”

  “We have a trophy room?”

  He laughed. “I guess we need one now, huh? We better get on that.”

  “Tomorrow,” I said. “We’ve done enough for one weekend.”

  “Tomorrow,” Ape agreed.

  There was silence for a while before I said, “So, Aegir and Moloch.”

  “Yeah,” Ape said. “Looks like we both have a little Fallen Angel on our shoulder.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “What are we going to do about that?”

  I didn’t have to think very long or hard about it. “We’re going to tear off their fucking heads and shit down their throats.”

  Ape smiled the biggest smile I’d seen from him in a long time. “Sounds good,” he said.

  Epilogue

  After a long few days, I felt lonely and exposed. I needed out of the house for a little bit and found myself driving north of the city. I felt myself needing to talk, wanting to feel the embrace of a woman, and it was times like this that I found myself at a gentleman’s club called the Siren’s Song.

  Its owner, Lorelei, was somewhat of a friend and one-time lover of mine. She was also a sometime confidant. After Lara’s ghost, I found myself longing for her.

  I knew she wouldn’t be there, but I pulled into the parking lot anyway and parked. I faced the building, leaving the engine running, and just watched the building. I saw the old crane sitting there, sleeping. Scaffolding leaned against the exterior, and tools were scattered around. The place had been wrecked by gargoyles, and the insurance company had been working on the repairs.

  After about twenty minutes, I put the car into gear and started out. That’s when I noticed the headlights approaching. I stopped, slipped back into park and waited to see what would happen.

  The headlights belonged to a 1957 Chevrolet convertible, candy-apple red. It bounced into the lot and came to a rest beside me. A man in a bomber jacket and backward baseball cap stepped out and leaned against the side of his car.

  I opened my door and leaned against mine, looking at him. “Cassiday,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was told I’d find you here,” he said. “How’ve you been?”

  I shrugged, didn’t say anything.

  “I’ll tell her you’re well.” He looked down at a white envelope that he held and then handed it to me. “This came for you. Guess she didn’t have your address.”

  I took it, opening it. It was a simple white card, with a few lines written in gold ink in a feminine hand. I read it aloud:

  Jono,

  I hope this letter finds you well. Please know that I am safe, and I think of you often. I worry you will get in trouble without me to look after you. Still, it is better that you are there than here with us. The Naga are formidable foes. I hope to see you soon.

  All my love,

  Lorelei

  I folded the letter up and stared off. She’d disappeared months ago. I didn’t know where. Maybe she sent the note to console me, but if she was fighting the Naga, it was no consolation. The Naga were a nasty brood of subterranean lizard people. They were ruthless, cold-blooded (literally) killers. I’d had several encounters with them, and none of them left me unscathed.

  Minutes passed. I don’t know how long. Eventually, I became aware of Cassiday beside me. He was touching my arm and saying my name. I only vaguely heard him. I closed my eyes, shook my head, and turned to look at him. He just smiled at me.

  He laughed a little. “You’re cute when you’re spacing out.”

  “Sod off,” I said. I pocketed the note and turned back to my car. “Good seeing you, mate. Cheers for the note.”

  “Good to see you, too. Maybe next time we grab dinner? My treat.”

  I opened my car door and half turned to him. “You asking me out?”

  His smile was cock-sure. “That a problem?”

  “You’re swinging at the wrong ball.”

  “I’ll wear you down,” he said, brazenly.

  He got into his car and started the engine. After flashing his headlights at me, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed south. I waited until his taillights faded out of sight and stared at the Song for a few, longing minutes. Suddenly, I missed Lori more than ever.

  With a deep breath, I climbed into the driver’s seat just as my phone buzzed in the cup holder. It was the middle of the night; nobody would be calling me. I picked up the phone, hit the button on the side and caught the notification. The motion sensor had been triggered at Anna’s pool.

  I booted up the app and waited as it came into focus. Lara stood in the corner of the room, unmoving, staring directly into the camera. I can’t begin to say how violating this felt.

  I don’t even remember the drive into town, just my pulse racing as I sped through the red lights. I felt the cold tingles all over my skin as I entered the small, brick room. Lara still stood there, in the exact same spot as I had seen. She stared directly at the flashing red light on the camera that was mounted high up on the wall opposing her.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked.

  She didn’t turn to look at me as she said, “I just wanted to say hi, John. I missed our talks.”

  “Come off it,” I said. “I know you’re not my fucking wife. You can drop the act.”

  In the half-second it took Lara to turn her head to look at me, she had completely changed her appearance. She had been a young, skinny girl from London in one breath, and in the next, it was a seven-foot tall Korrigan with the shoulders of a linebacker and the head of a sodding stallion.

  “Do Tikbalangs normally make a habit of haunting those what attempt to tame it?” I asked.

  “I am a trickster, John. Sue me if I like to have a little fun.”

  “Is that all it was? You just getting your rocks off posing as my dead wife?”

  “At first. I was bitter having been tamed. I wanted to torment you and was able to see into your subconscious, access your memories of Lara. I saw how much it pained you, those conversations.”

  “How could you possibly know all of that? Any of it? About the depression?”

  “You knew. Your subconscious. Lara was never here. Her spirit’s passed beyond the veil, John. Whatever you heard was pulled from your own memories, however repressed or ignored.”


  “You said, ‘At first.’ What changed?”

  “I was wondering if you would catch that.” He took a step towards the pool and stared down at Anna. She was just sitting there in her pretty dress, her hair back in a bow. I wanted to punch him as hard as I could in his stupid face. “I recognized you,” he said.

  “I seem to be getting that a lot lately. What the fuck does that even mean? What does a Korrigan know of divine will?”

  “Not like that,” he said. “I realized that you were married to Lara.”

  “No big secret there, mate. You’ve been wearing her skin for a few days.”

  “I knew her, too.”

  My heart sank into my gut. It was a violation, hearing those words from a bloody Korrigan. This thing existed to terrorize and devour human beings, and now it said that it had been mates with my wife? It didn’t make any sense.

  “How the fuck is that even possible?” I stared hard at the thing, but it didn’t say anything, just held my gaze. Then I caught on. “Wait, Trickster, right? You think I’m going to fall for something that bloody stupid? May have been born on a Tuesday, mate, but it wasn’t last Tuesday.”

  “I knew Lara. I knew her parents. She wasn’t the woman you thought she was.”

  The words were like daggers to my chest. My head was swimming, trying to make sense of everything, but failing. “Now, I know you’re lying. Lara and I had no secrets. Right, you said it yourself, all of our conversations these last days have been from my subconscious, not Lara’s. On some level, I knew she was in pain. She didn’t hide it from me, but we had to deal with one thing at a time. Anna’s condition was severe. She hadn’t even been in the ground for a week before Lara took her own life. I didn’t have time…”

  The Tikbalang looked, somehow, almost sad, as it said, “Lara didn’t kill herself.” There was a very heavy, long pause that followed those words, before my world imploded. “Your wife was murdered.”