by Peter Dawes
As if he had just been posing as a panhandler.
Berwick stared down Julian, bringing my attention back to him as he spoke. “Mr. Reichlin,” he said, “I see you helped apprehend our suspect. Your assistance in bringing him in will be commended.”
Julian tilted his chin. I chanced looking at him and saw the apprehensive look in his eyes. He had been issued an ultimatum. “I don’t think this is a wise idea,” he said. “Mr. Dawes believes he can lead us to our other suspect in this case and has been provided a valuable lead. We should pursue it before we bring him into custody.”
“Your counsel seems to be skewed, Mr. Reichlin. Stand down.”
“We’ve lost too many people, sir. I cannot stand down.”
“Patrick Flynn will find a way of getting to me,” I said, interjecting. Both Julian and Berwick focused on me and while I understood their need to speak in code, I lost all patience for it. Glancing around at the civilian populace, I saw them staring at us and decided they would simply have to think me insane. “The artifact he stole from you is intended to drain me of power, for some purpose. You know he has been using my brother, against his will, to reconstruct the same, destructive spell which started this mess. I do not know if he has the intent to resurrect his army. But I assure you he has already determined a way to free me from the most secure cell you have.”
“And now, which of us is spinning a story, Mr. Dawes?” Berwick asked, the question rhetorical. “Are you making an argument for your death?”
“For you to listen to Master Reichlin, nothing more.”
Risking letting down my guard, I looked at Julian. “I promise you, he will. This is our last chance to try outthinking Patrick Flynn,” I said. “At the point when he comes for me, it will be too late to do anything.”
Julian flicked a glance from me to Berwick and back. “Who do you have helping you?” he asked.
Berwick sighed, nodding at us. “Arrest them both,” he said, spurring the false police officer into action. The others motioned forward, too, one muttering what looked to be a spell while the office produced a pair of handcuffs. I had no doubt in my mind they were enchanted.
“It is only me,” I said, hurriedly answering Julian’s question. “Me and a young sorceress.”
“Scheisse.” Julian threw open his coat. Reaching for his crossbow, he released it from its sling, one hand lowering to the quiver for a bolt. “You’re the more powerful of us. Get us out of here.”
“Mr. Reichlin, I would advise you against –” Berwick began, but I lifted a hand, marveling when he abruptly stopped speaking, paralyzed in part by fear. The bar patrons nearest to us stood swiftly and as they provided a brief distraction, I gathered all the energy I could muster with such little time in which to work. Throwing caution to the wind once more, I allowed sparks to form on my fingertips, light spreading upward until it engulfed my hand.
‘Tell me why we shouldn’t kill them,’ Flynn chimed in my head.
“Because we might need them later,” I muttered, seconds before rearing back and sending the blast of energy racing forward.
The officer dove out of the way, and Berwick himself cowered, but the aftershock knocked both men askew. Their compatriots stopped chanting and in the brief lull which followed, I reached for Julian, taking hold of his coat and using it to push him in the direction of the rear exit. He led us forward while I charged another burst of energy, aware that these were the welcoming party and not necessarily the invading force. “We are going to need ten minutes after we leave,” I muttered toward Julian.
He did not have a chance to respond. Berwick came to a stand, disabusing himself of any further pretenses while chanting the words of a spell. I threw a burst of force in his direction to interrupt him, then turned and ran the moment I heard Julian surge ahead, racing with him to the back door and pausing once only to throw up a temporary shield. It took an impact – of what, I did not stop to consider – but by that point, we had made it to the door and pushed ahead to the back alleyway. “Ten minutes?” Julian asked.
“Yes, ten minutes,” I said, reaching for my phone and typing out a quick SOS to Evie. I ran with Julian toward the nearest intersecting street while pressing the button to send my message. “We have a rendezvous at the western side of Nevern Square, but he needs some time to meet us there. The Underground is our last resort.”
“No. They’ll have people there,” he said. Julian paused when we reached the narrow road at the end of the alley. Pausing to look around, he pointed ahead. “It’ll probably take us ten minutes to get to Nevern Square anyway. Follow me.”
Nodding emphatically, I ran with him as he launched into a sprint. Unbuttoning my coat, I reached for my sword and slowed my pace only to draw it, resuming speed and catching up with Julian once I had it freed. Without hesitation, I flipped it so its dull end faced forward, frowning at the urge racing through me to draw blood. For the first time in a while, I cursed my vampire instincts, feeling a sense of revulsion at the mess they had already wrought. ‘Never again,’ I thought before focusing on our exodus once more.
“You did not have to do that,” I said, raising my voice to be heard as we ran past a chain of houses, the lots all protected by wrought iron fences. Had I a moment to appreciate it, I reckoned, I would have found it beautiful. As it stood, I barely had the chance to focus on evading capture.
“Halt die Klappe,” Julian said, lifting his crossbow. “They’ll be in groups. We need to be careful. I think one of them is approaching us now.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but did not have the chance. As I did, Julian shot the bolt from his crossbow, the action in perfect synchronization with the emergence of a cluster of people, numbering five or six from my initial assessment. One of them called out to us, but as the bolt entered their shoulder, he cried out in pain and the others – four others, I thought, correcting my first count – reacted to us in a myriad of ways. One man and one woman paused, beginning to chant an incantation. Another led their wounded compatriot off while the remaining woman drew a sword and headed for us. Without needing to telepath instructions, I focused on the two sorcerers. Julian took control of the armed woman.
As I raced past her, I threw an invisible blast in her direction, keeping her from pursuing me. The two sorcerers increased the tempo of their chanting and as I lifted my sword, I used it as a centering point, forming a barrier between me and the force of the spell which impacted. One disengaged from casting, instead drawing their own sword while his partner pointed a hand and shifted to a different incantation. I felt the tendrils of magic lacing around me, attempting to secure me in place.
“I promise you more gifted magicians have failed in that effort,” I said, shaking loose of the enchantment and setting my sights on the armed one. He swung for me, but I deflected his attempt, countering with one of my own and exchanging blows with him until I placed him in a defensive posture. One forceful swing stripped him of his weapon and as the magic being cast against me turned more emphatic, I extended a hand. A telekinetic force lifted him from his feet. To end the onslaught, I shoved him forward and watched as he impacted with the sorceress, both hitting the ground.
“Up here!” Julian called out to me, bringing my attention from the encounter back to him. I peered in his direction, seeing him holstering his crossbow so he could free both hands to scale one of the fences. Racing for him, I sheathed my sword and vaulted the wrought iron in time to watch Julian pull himself onto a window ledge and jump for the molding atop the frame. Together, we climbed up the side of the house, using whatever leverage we could get until we pulled ourselves over the final eave.
Julian paused to catch his breath. “I figured,” he began, gulping for air while pointing across the row of flat rooftops extending in front of us. Wildly, he gestured toward the end. “They’ll have a difficult time getting us here.”
I only nodded, even though I had yet to be winded. Once Julian was ready, we both began to run, hearing shouting and commotion
coming from the street below and not bothering to pause. Vaulting the small gap from one set of houses to the next, I continued, with the blind hope that Julian’s attempt would be as successful. Relief followed when he managed across. “They are barking orders,” I yelled toward him. “And we need more time.”
He nodded, not sparing the breath to respond. Instead, he pointed onward, jumping across another break in the buildings with me. We raced ahead, until we had reached a larger, and much more daunting gap. “We’ll lead them around the gardens,” he said. “Maybe we can lose them before we reach the square.”
“As you wish.”
Julian crouched and held onto the edge of the house while commencing a downward climb. Once he had made it safely to the first window ledge beneath him, I followed suit, jumping from the eave when I had settled onto it and landing with only a slight knee buckle. Above me, I heard grunting, and while he yelled, “Bloody vampires,” I smirked and drew my sword, searching for the next wave of people.
As I feared, they emerged from the direction it seemed Julian wanted to run.
He continued climbing down the house while I summoned my photokinetic gifts, both hands illuminating and the light creeping up my sword again. This grouping, numbering six people, halted when they saw me. Two of them armed seers, they were accompanied by another cadre of sorcerers. They pulled their weapons upon seeing mine and I raced into the thick of things, knowing better than to give them a chance to prepare. While one attempted a telekinetic blast against me, the other seer raced to intercept me. I sped toward him, clearing my mind, and acting purely on impulse.
Our swords clanged together, the sharp sound of metal impacting metal resonating down the quaint, side street. Porch lights flicked on when I spun to engage the second seer, narrowly dodging another blow from the first one intended to wound, but not incapacitate. ‘So, we are both encumbered, then,’ Flynn noted in my mind. ‘Nobody is trying to kill anyone.’
‘You must feel so disappointed,’ I quipped, but ignored anything further he had to say. Crouching down on one knee, I used the dull side of my sword to knock one seer’s footing out from beneath him. When I sprang to my feet, I shot a blast of photokinetic energy at his compatriot, throwing him down the street and onto his back, where he laid, groaning. As two of the sorcerers raced to intercept me, I saw Julian jump down the remainder of the distance between him and the ground below. Racing toward me, he joined me on the side street at the same moment the seer I had downed struggled to a stand.
Lifting a hand, Julian locked him in place. I dislodged the footing of a sorcerer in the same manner as I had his compatriot and freed a hand to swing at the next nearest adversary. One of the front doors of the homes dotting the street opened and as my intended target glanced in its direction, I ensured the blow I landed hit as hard as my vampire strength would allow. Knocked unconscious, the sorcerer fell, and the two others – who had started an incantation – flew backward as I shot another blast of light in their direction.
Julian used the stock of his crossbow to down the seer he had engaged. Running toward me, he grabbed my arm as he raced past and together, we sprinted for the other end of the curved road. When we encountered a vacant lot, we ran through the yard adjacent to it, emerging back onto the street where we had started. My friend did not pause. Even though I knew his legs and lungs had to be burning, he poured every ounce of effort he could muster into keeping up, dashing in tandem with me down another adjoining road marked clearly as leading to our destination.
“Do we think it has been ten minutes?” I asked.
He nodded. ‘I think it has been close enough,’ he thought toward me. ‘If we need to round the square once, we will.’
Exchanging the nod, I ran with him along another row of homes, dodging minor obstructions such as trees and parked cars and pedestrians with the misfortune of being out this late. The sight of larger trees came into view, with lush greenery and high fences surrounding them. “You said the western side?” Julian asked, this time between gulps for breath.
“Yes, that is what he told me.”
Julian veered hard to the left with little warning. As we turned down the adjoining street, we ran along the edge of the square and I began a frantic search for Richard’s car. The closer we came to the end of the road, the more I began to fear we had not given him enough time, but at the last moment, I spotted salvation. The vehicle had been parked at the corner, its taillights on and flashing when it seemed he spotted us in his rearview mirror. “Right there,” I called toward Julian. “With the lights on.”
One of the doors opened. Before I could see who emerged from it, however, an invisible entity grabbed me by my coat, stopping me abruptly and yanking me backward. I felt onto my back, the sudden impact of the ground knocking my sword from my grip. As it clattered onto the sidewalk, I rolled onto my stomach, reaching for it while looking for the source of such a violent jostle. I made eye contact with the tall, stocky man who paced closer to me lifted his hand. My hand clutched onto the hilt at the same moment he threw me upward and into one of the parked cars.
Groaning, I heard the crunch of broken glass under my feet as I righted myself. Fresh cuts oozed rivulets of crimson on my face, but before I could assess the extent of my injuries, I felt another telekinetic jerk attempt to throw me forward, back onto the pavement. This time, I stuck out a foot to brace myself. A crossbow bolt sailed through the air, intending to injure, but the seer flicked it away before it could impact. It hit the fence and bounced from it, settling somewhere in the grass.
Quickly, I sheathed my sword to free both hands. Another small grouping – only three additional people, one of which lingered in the background as if she was the seer’s watcher – emerged from behind him like they had been cloaked in shadow until that moment. While I did not doubt the hand of witchcraft at work, I found myself more concerned about the seer, resisting when he tried to lock me into place, the fingers of his hand squeezing into a fist. Pressure built along my arms, trying to force them to my sides. “I might have a slight problem,” I yelled toward Julian.
“Herr Reichlin,” the seer said before Julian could respond, his attention perfectly divided between speaking and continuing whatever anaconda grip he had me in. “Berwick says this is your last chance to cooperate before you face severe punishment.”
“Verpiss dich, Lukas,” Julian said. I heard him loading another crossbow bolt and saw the determined way the seer – this Lukas – shifted his focus to my friend. Without hesitation, I gathered as much energy as I could, directing it at Lukas and breaking his hold on me first. Once it toppled, I worked the force he had exerted at me back to him, gritting my teeth when he resisted. While I had purchased Julian a distraction, it came at a cost as I had to dig deeper, pulling in as much as I expended. When the cord between us finally snapped, it afflicted us both.
Lukas gave in first. Another bolt fired at him and this time, it sank into his knee, forcing his leg to buckle. The telekinetic force he had expended ceased immediately and though it caused him to take the brunt of the impact from me, I also flew forward, toppling onto the concrete and cutting my hands on shards of glass when I landed. A sharp pain shot up my side and I winced, but Lukas had been taken out of the battle, at least for now.
This left the sorcerers.
His watcher especially looked angry. She narrowed her eyes at me from behind the others, as the words of a spell intensified, her speech turning angry. I felt knives stabbing at my torso, racking me with pain. Taking a deep breath inward, I determined to ignore it, coaching myself to my feet and steadying my thoughts so I could stop her. Slowly, I lifted my hand, focusing on her with as much determination as she directed toward me. Before I could do anything, however, another force entered the fray.
It was neither a crossbow bolt, nor any of Julian’s supernatural gifts. A blur sped past me and barely coalesced into the figure of a person before striking the sorceress and knocking her unconscious. While the action looked flippant
– delivered with little effort – it managed to debilitate her and as she fell, the blur disappeared and appeared again beside one of the other two. They both met similar fates, each falling to the ground. Just as they toppled, the figure resolved itself before me, peering up when I finished standing.
Evie dusted off the pleats of her skirt, folding her arms across her chest. I fumbled for words, wondering how one described what I had witnessed, let alone ask how it was possible. The older bloodline, I remembered, had been first explained as far superior, though I had dismissed it as mere posturing. What I saw before me made it no idle boast. A slow smirk spread across her lips. While her expression conveyed bemusement, it also contained a great deal of severity.
“Get in the car, before anyone else joins the fracas,” Evie commanded. “I have a jet waiting for us and we need to get you the bloody hell out of London.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You were taking too long,” Evie explained, leading us back to Richard’s car. “It was like watching paint dry. I only waited to determine whether we were killing them or leaving them for their friends to collect.” Her heels clacked on the pavement, her arms swinging at her sides with her pace deliberate and swift. It became difficult even for me to keep up with her.
“Incapacitating them seemed to make more sense,” I said, reaching to remove my sword from my hip. As the strap slackened, I collected both it and the weapon. “They already believe I murdered one of their elders. Adding another felt like insult to the original injury.”
“I can’t disagree.” Evie nodded at the car and as she did, the trunk opened. Snapping her fingers, she held out a hand for my sword. I passed it to her without pausing to question. “I take it you’re Julian?” she asked, though before the German seer could respond, I saw her gesture her free hand at him. “Disarm yourself if you’re coming along. Peter might trust you, but you have yet to earn that privilege with me.”