by D. R. Rosier
My detect magic ability was picking up five very powerful magical signatures, about the same strength as Samantha’s. I assumed that was the three councilors and two investigators that Samantha had guessed would be here. There were also another twenty or so people in the restaurant, and I was confused because they all felt human to me. Surely, they wouldn’t attack us in a room full of humans, but I doubted my senses. Could they be using some kind of concealment spells? It seemed off, like they’d overplayed that hand, it didn’t make sense to have no security mages here when a third of the council was here, even with two investigators and wards for protection. If nothing else, they’d be here to make a statement.
The man sitting in the middle of the five waved to me, and we all moved forward, Julia still in the lead. I sat across from him, who I assumed was Carlos. Julia sat to my right, Lilith to my left, and Samantha on the other side of Julia.
Carlos said, “Welcome. I suppose introductions are in order. I’m Carlos, to my left is Councilor Edith Graves, and to my right is Councilor Sara Cariole. Past Sara is investigator Jake Crandall, and on the other side of Edith is investigator Samuel Pierson.”
I said, “Nice to meet you all,” and scanned down the line, memorizing their faces, “I’m Andrew, and to my right is Julia Rodriguez, to my left is Lilith, my patron. I believe you already know Samantha.”
Carlos looked slightly annoyed at that, “Of course, shall we order?”
He waved a hand and called over the waiter, and we all ordered food. I’d check for poisons, drugs, and magic when it got here, but I still wasn’t entirely sure it would be wise to eat it anyway. Carlos drew me into meaningless small talk almost effortlessly despite the tension in the room, he was definitely a politician. I also felt the urge to punch Jake in the face more than once while we waited for our food, he kept leering at Julia, Lilith, and Samantha, as if attractive women were things instead of people. He was one creepy bastard.
I also happened to notice that none of the twenty supposedly human patrons finished eating, paid, and left in the twenty minutes before our food came out. Nor did any more customers show up since we’d walked in the door. I was more than sure now that they’d concealed their magic from me somehow, some kind of concealment spell maybe. They must be two ten-man security mage teams under the two investigators. I wondered though, at the delay. Why go through a farce of a meal if they simply intended to attack, they must have some other idea in mind.
Maybe they did intend to try and compromise, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it. It wasn’t long before I’d find out, as we ate our food, and talked about everything from the weather, how the baseball season was starting up and what teams looked good this year, and all the things to do and see in Seattle, the moment when we’d move to business was fast approaching.
So far, Sara and Edith hadn’t said anything. But then, neither had Lilith, Samantha, or Julia.
Carlos finally asked, “So where do you see a compromise between us?”
I replied, “We simply leave each other alone. Our interests don’t align. Even the work I’ve done for the shifters is work you wouldn’t have accepted, but on the whole, I’ll be dealing with humans.”
Carlos frowned, “So do you think it’s reasonable that we allow you to prey upon the human population?”
I frowned, “I simply perform a service, make deals.”
Carlos grunted in disbelief, “And what does Samantha do for you?”
I shrugged, “Education mostly. There’s a hell of a learning curve for someone who was raised human until just over a week ago. Let me ask you something, what exactly have I taken from you? Your council is the one that has threatened me, and sold me out to the vampires against your own laws. I simply want an end to it. Most humans fight over resources, our niche’s in life are different, we don’t need to be at odds.”
Carlos said, “From us? You’re a destabilizing influence. Your actions in your first week caused the vampires to massacre a great number of shifters, and now you’ve gotten in the middle of their war by warding the homes of shifters to stop the vampires.”
I frowned, “First you complain I got shifters killed, and then you complain when I protect them. I’m also not responsible for the actions of Arthur Sayville, that wasn’t the first time something like that happened, it was happening long before I got here, and that sick demented bastard Joseph needed killing. Don’t try to take the moral high ground with me, under the mage leadership you’ve used the war between the vampires and shifters to stand clear for who knows how long, and profit from both selling your services to both races in relative safety. I believe the humans call it war profiteering. You also ignored the ten-year reign of a madman that raped and suppressed a whole pride of shifters, don’t act self-righteous, because you also betrayed your ideals when you tipped off the vampires. So… let’s just stick to business shall we, and stop flinging about ridiculous accusations?”
Carlos looked pissed. Whatever, asshole.
“I think we can co-exist,” I continued reasonably, “We haven’t hurt your bottom line.”
Carlos said, “Yet, you haven’t hurt it… yet. Your presence in the city is chaotic by nature, and chaos will destabilize what little order and safety exist.”
I frowned, “You’re assuming. Right now, there’s a cease fire between vampires and shifters that should last a generation, thanks to my most recent actions. Cut to the chase Carlos, I came here in good faith to work toward a solution we could all live with, a compromise. From your rhetoric, it sounds like you won’t tolerate my presence here at all, so… what do you want?”
Edith said, “He’s right Carlos, stop dicking around and tell him what we want, and let’s get this over with.”
Carlos clenched his jaw.
“Fine, you’re right. We don’t believe there is a possible compromise between us. We still wish to avoid fighting, and deaths on either side, so here is our proposal. You will vacate the city within a week. Go somewhere else, Portland, or sunny California, I don’t care, but you can’t stay in our city. Also, you will turn over Samantha to be tried for crimes of treason against mage society, immediately.”
I smirked, “So your idea of compromise is orders for unconditional surrender? Even if I were inclined to take such an offer, which I’m not, I can’t do that. I have treaties and pacts in place around the Seattle area I must honor, not to mention business deals. This course of action would also doom the packs to endless raids the next twenty years by the vampires, so it would hardly be bloodless, except of course in your cases. That isn’t going to happen. As far as Samantha, tell me what law she violated? I hired her for consulting and magical tutoring, at a salary. You didn’t want her anymore, she went out and found a job, isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? As far as I understand it, she hasn’t broken any mage or human laws.”
Carlos accused, “If it comes to blood, it will be your fault.”
I snorted, “Really? Did you think I’d fall for that tripe? Run out of town in guilt? The only one making demands here is you. All I want to do is go our separate ways, you’re the ones that already attacked me indirectly, and have now given me unreasonable demands that will lead to the deaths of my allies and other unallied shifters. No, the blood will be on your hands, never doubt that. I just want to go my own way, while you go yours, and we respect each other from a distance. That’s it, simple, undemanding, and neither of us is inconvenienced. It’s your paranoia about warlocks that is pushing us toward violence, I’m asking you to step back, and take a breath. You still haven’t answered me about Samantha either, she should be a mage in good standing, I would think.”
Edith said, “That should be obvious, she’s consorting with our enemy, and she knows far too much about our structure.”
I shook my head, “You’re all crazy. Last I checked we weren’t enemies, not yet at any rate. According to your laws, we should be neutral, should we not? I haven’t attacked you after all. She also hasn’t told me anything about y
our structure, outside of what is common knowledge, this is more paranoia. Capacity equals intent kind of stuff. I’m not leaving Seattle, and you can’t have her. Can we talk sense now? Or is this where you betray the promised truce of tonight, since we both know your word and laws mean shit to you.”
Carlos turned red in the face, maybe I pushed a little too hard. But… the truth hurts sometimes. I surely wasn’t going to ever be a great diplomat, but I also didn’t see the point. Nothing but power was respected in this supernatural world. Problem was, I was still the baby on the block, if I ever wanted peace, it was becoming clear I needed to do so through fear where reason failed. So far, only the cat shifters seemed to be reasonable. It had taken fear to make Arthur and his vampires back off, and it was probably going to take the same with the mage council. Problem was, I wasn’t entirely sure who would win this face off…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Samantha was touched by his loyalty to her, but in a way the council was right. She hadn’t betrayed mage society, but she was at odds with the council that had ejected her from her old job and old life. That she was happier where she was now, than she’d ever been before, just three days later, was quite beside the point, they had betrayed her and mage society first. It was a very confused and ruffled happy perhaps, her attraction to Andrew was… distracting, but still happier.
She firmly believed if anyone were traitors to mage society in this room, it was the council itself. They’re the ones who had turned their backs on the ideals of mage society, in their fear of losing control and their comfortable perches, so they could look down on the other races in disapproval, all while selling them services. Andrew was right, she could already see he would be more stabilizing than disruptive in the long run, if they all survived this confrontation that is.
She’d promised Andrew she’d protect them from the wards, to do so she’d released one of her special diaphanous spells against the wards, wrapping them up as soon as she’d walked in. It functioned a lot like the one she’d used to place a tracking spell within Andrew before they’d met, but this one was a little different. It worked its way through the magical connection the controlling mage had with the wards in the same way, but the end spell planted within the controlling mage was quite different. If the controlling mage attacked them with the wards, the spell would go off which would ground and drain the magic.
Hypothetically, it should just knock Carlos out and drain the wards’ magic, but she’d never actually tested this spell, it was just theoretical. No one had ever attempted to counter wards in this way before, it was a spell designed to sabotage the connection to the wards from the side of the mage who had control. It should work, but there was a chance it wouldn’t successfully fool the ward, and there was a small possibility if the controlling mage fought it, they’d either burn out their mind from feedback, or quite possibly be vaporized. Which was why part of the spell rendered the mage unconscious, to avoid that… eventuality. She was angry, but she didn’t really want to kill Carlos, even if the bastard probably deserved it, she just… wanted to knock some sense into them.
Carlos said hotly, “How dare you speak to us in such a manner!”
Andrew said, “This isn’t a negotiation for peace as you implied, we’re leaving. Call back if you want to seriously discuss our options, but we aren’t going anywhere.”
She stood up as the other three did and turned for the door. That’s when every mage in the restaurant threw off their concealment spells, and connected in one large circle. Her mage sight could see the rippling connections between them all. She suddenly had a very bad feeling about that fact. Her eyes widened, as she figured out what might happen if Carlos was the focus of a large circle while wielding the wards, and her spell went off. She turned to Carlos.
“Don’t!” she yelled in alarm.
All hell broke loose as she felt the wards move toward them, then shiver.
The last thing she saw and heard, as she was pulled away by Julia’s shadows, was Carlos fainting, and every other mage in the room screaming in pain.
Andrew asked, “What the hell was that?”
She said, “I set up the wards to fail, and drain through Carlos, releasing the magic back into the elements with a grounding. I hadn’t expected him to be circled when he pumped even more power into it as he tried to attack, all that extra power caused magical feedback in the circle. I’m not sure how much.”
Andrew narrowed his eyes at the restaurant from the alley across the street, “The wards are down, and I’m only detecting four strong mages in there. No one is moving.”
She frowned and turned, looking with her own mage sight. Did… she just kill Carlos? She… couldn’t have, she was angry about the betrayal but she’d never intended to cause death, that was the last option, not the opening move.
She was overwhelmed by emotions as her mind spun, she was hardly an innocent, but she’d never killed anyone before. Remorse, anger, grief, regret, vindication, and a sense of revenge, all warred inside her head. Her spell was supposed to knock him out, how did it kill him? The circle, he was the focus, and probably took most of the feedback from the mage power. It wasn’t the wards’ magic that killed him, that part probably worked perfectly, and unconscious he wouldn’t have been able to fight it, ground it to his element, or even feel it. She should have considered this scenario, she could have fixed…
She started to feel dizzy.
Andrew barked, “Samantha. Breathe!”
What? Breathe? Everything went dark…
Julia caught the shocked mage, who started to breathe as soon as she passed out.
Lilith said, “Samantha did too good a job, I can’t retaliate against an attack that didn’t happen. Rules and all that.”
She handed Samantha to Lilith.
“If there all in shock, let me go in there while we have a window, you stay out here with sleeping beauty and Lilith.”
Andrew looked torn, she knew he wanted to go in there with her, could read it in his expression, but his eyes filled with concern as they settled on Samantha who was passed out, and helpless. He nodded grimly.
Andrew said, “They fired the first shot, but don’t kill the security mages, just the ones responsible. I’ll keep you shielded, but if their all awake, abort.”
Julia took off at vampire speed across the street, through the door, and took in the room in a split-second glance. There were several mages on their knees groaning, she smelled piss and shit, but most of them were still unconscious.
She didn’t have any doubts, in shape to defend themselves or not from Samantha’s spell, a kind of magic she’d never even heard of, it didn’t matter. They’d tried to execute her and Andrew, that wouldn’t be allowed to stand, nor would it be forgiven. She dashed forward through the restaurant in the blink of an eye, and tossed both tables hard toward the back wall, taking the four live mages and Carlos’s dead body with them.
She heard both the crack of bones being crushed, and their soft flesh being squashed as they were slammed against the wall and pinned by the tables. Two of the heartbeats ceased, councilor Sara, and investigator Jake Crandall had apparently already lost their shields, and the center of their bodies had been crushed badly by the edges of the heavy wood tables.
The other two were embedded in the drywall, knocked silly, and unconscious.
She’d been in the restaurant for less than three seconds.
She picked up a heavy salt shaker, and beamed it at Edith’s head. Her shields were definitely down after that jarring impact of the tables, because the salt shaker almost took her head off, and was embedded in her face. Her eyes were open, and glassy. She could have used her hands, but she wanted to avoid getting blood on her new light blue skirt and blazer, not to mention the light red silk blouse.
She looked at the other investigator. Samuel Pierson would live, he also wasn’t one of the ones in charge, so she was content to leave him that way. She hadn’t expected her table toss to kill any of them, just jar th
em enough to take down their protections, but she couldn’t bring herself to regret Jake’s death, he’d looked at her tonight in a way she’d recognized and had seen many times over the last ten years. The world was a better place without him.
Her job was done here, the three councilors in command of this mockery of a peaceful meeting were taken care of. She let the shadows take her back across the street to the alley, and then teleported them all home, to the kitchen.
“All three councilors and one of the investigators are dead, the rest are… recovering. Was I hit with anything?”
He nodded, “A banishment, and one tried to put you to sleep. My protections ate them.”
She smiled, and kissed his cheek, “Thanks, I didn’t take all that long. We’re still not done, we should send a message to the rest of the council.”
He handed her his phone, “I recorded the meeting, just audio, can you download the audio clip and get it to the mages?”
She replied, “Of course.”
She wondered what he’d be doing, but that question answered itself, as he took Samantha from Lilith and carried her toward the bedroom hallway.
Katia asked, “What happened?”
She said, “They made unreasonable demands, attacked us, and then we killed the council members. Come with me to the study and you can hear the conversation.”
Katia nodded, and followed her down the hall to the study, Lilith followed as well.
She extended the video slightly ending it with a warning to back off, much like she had with the vampires, and then stopped the recording.
She connected the phone to the laptop on the desk, and downloaded the newest recording, and then copied it to a thumb drive. She didn’t have an e-mail address for them, so she’d have to drop it off in person. She pulled out the thumb drive, and then started the local hard drive copy on the laptop so Katia could listen to what happened. The audio came in just fine, the video was dark, no doubt the phone’s camera was inside his pocket.