Mortal Imperative: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 24)

by R. L. King

  The zombie grunted.

  Lane grinned back at Stone. “See? Simple and elegant. As long as the zombie stays on the sigil, the boss doesn’t get a message that somebody’s loose. If he does get that message, then bad things happen to your friends. Got it?”

  Stone fought to keep his anger under control, and said nothing.

  “Okay, honey,” Lane told Tani, as one of the mages swung her door shut and used magic to lock it. “Just be good and stay put.”

  The door had a window in it, far too small for even the skinny Tani to crawl through. Her face appeared at it instantly after it closed, wreathed in rage.

  Stone gave her a brief nod. His plan was coming together now—all he needed was for Ian and Tani not to do something rash.

  “Okay,” Lane said, moving down the hall to another room on the other side. He pointed at Ian. “You in there, pretty boy.” He offered another leer. “Might have a little fun with you too, after I’m finished with Stone. Not now, though. Work calls. Inside.”

  “It’s all right,” Stone murmured to Ian. “We’ve got to make sure they won’t hurt the others.” He hoped the glance he sent his son’s way conveyed that he had a plan, even if it did nothing to reveal its nature. This would all come down to how much Ian and Tani trusted him.

  Ian stepped into the room with a loud sigh. The mage closed and locked the door, Lane positioned another of the zombies, and then the mage activated the sigil. The zombie fixed its gaze on Ian’s door.

  “Good,” Lane said, satisfied. “Now for you, Stone.” He moved down the hall to another door. This one was metal and thicker than the others; a faded sign reading SECURITY hung next to it. “We’ve got a special place for you.”

  Stone glanced into the room. This one had the remains of a security console in the center, with no other furniture.

  “Same deal,” Lane said, waving him inside. “Just stay put and nothing will happen…at least not for a while. But if you use your magic to open that door, I promise, the boss will make you pick up all the pieces of your friends before the real fun starts. Got it?”

  Stone nodded grimly.

  Moving cat-fast, Lane surged forward and buried his fist in Stone’s gut, driving him back into the room. He slammed into the security console and dropped to the floor.

  Lane laughed. “That felt good. Consider it a taste of what’s coming up. Be good!”

  The door slammed shut.

  Stone leaped to his feet, but the door was already closed and locked. He watched in silence as Lane repeated his process again. Soon, the security-guard zombie was stationed on yet another sigil, watching Stone with dead, disinterested eyes. Its mustache drooped more on one side than the other.

  “Okay, that’s done!” Lane sounded downright cheerful. “We’ll be leaving now—need to get back to your girlfriends and refresh my power on them. Maybe I’ll have a little fun with them, too, after we finish. You want to watch? Maybe you’ll learn something.”

  Stone didn’t answer—he wouldn’t give Lane the satisfaction. He glared through the tiny window until Lane, the two mages, and the remaining zombie disappeared down the hall.

  He gave them a few more moments to get away before calling out, “Can you hear me?”

  “Yeah,” came Ian’s faint voice.

  He heard another voice, probably Tani’s, but she was too far down the hallway for him to make out what she was saying.

  Stone looked around his prison. He didn’t spot any cameras—Jason had taught him how to identify obvious ones, and he didn’t think Richter and his bunch of mages would employ hidden tech. Best not to take chances that they might be watching or listening, though.

  “What do we do?” Ian called. “We can’t stay here.”

  “That’s exactly what we’ve got to do for now.” He glanced at the zombie, which was still staring at him with the same numb expression. He changed his tone, hoping Ian would pick up on that instead of his words. “Listen, Ian—if we leave here, they’ll hurt Jason, Verity, and Amber. So that means we can’t leave. We’ve got to be good and do exactly what they say. I don’t dare try anything, even if I have any ideas. Do you understand?”

  Ian was his son, and nothing if not sharp. “Okay. Yeah,” he said in the same tone. “I’ll be good.”

  “Just wait where you are,” Stone said. “Until something happens. I’m sure something will happen soon.”

  “I’m sure it will too.”

  “Make sure Tani understands, if she can hear you.”

  “Yeah. Okay. Got it.”

  Stone settled back against the console. Lane’s punch had hurt, but his time in the gym meant it hadn’t hurt as much as it might have back when he first faced the man. He fought to calm his pounding heart and keep his thoughts under control. He couldn’t afford any mistakes, or his friends and Ian were all dead.

  He looked at the zombie again. It hadn’t moved. It wasn’t even shuffling back and forth. He had no doubt the thing could remain in that same spot for hours, or even days, without moving an inch. It was an ingenious system, he had to admit, and a great way to keep mages from causing trouble. There was no other way out of the room except the door, and the zombie had been instructed to trip the sigil if the door opened.

  Stone turned away, hiding his sly smile.

  There was no other way out of the room for anyone else.

  But this mall was situated on a ley line. That was certainly why Richter had chosen it, to add power to whatever ritual he was planning.

  “Too bad for you,” Stone murmured, still smiling.

  He’d have to do this carefully, though. He had no idea how much volition this particular zombie guardian had. He doubted it was as aware as Sharra had been, but Cheltham’s other bodyguards back at Berrycliff had been bright enough to chase them and fight. If he simply disappeared from the cell, the thing might notice and raise the alarm.

  So he’d have to make sure he didn’t disappear.

  Still facing away from the door, he leaned against the edge of the console and concentrated. This would be a tricky bit of magic, but nothing he couldn’t manage. As long as Brathwaite’s echo, Richter, Padgett, or one of the other mages didn’t choose this moment to check in on him, he should be fine. And he was convinced at least Richter, Brathwaite, and Padgett were up to their necks in whatever ritual they were performing.

  Fortunately for him, illusions were one of his easiest techniques. He formed one in his mind, holding it there while he double-checked to ensure he wasn’t forgetting anything. Then he summoned it on top of his own body, settled it, and began the more careful concentration he’d need for the second half of his plan.

  “Okay…” he murmured. He visualized the hallway outside the elevator, around the corner from where they were now. Making sure the illusion was still in place, he formed the pattern in his mind and released the energy.

  Less than a second later, he stood in the hallway outside the elevator, down the hall from the first set of double doors they’d passed on their way to their prisons. No one else was in the hall.

  He shifted to magical sight and looked around.

  Instantly, bright, flickering green energy appeared beneath the double doors. Another line danced along the crack between the two doors.

  Stone grinned.

  Bingo.

  Whatever was going on down here, that was where it was happening.

  There were no windows in these doors, though. Stone crept forward and tried to peer through the crack, but there wasn’t enough space to do that. Now that he was closer, however, he could hear muttering voices, along with buzzing and bubbling.

  Had they already begun the ritual, or were they still in the preparation stage?

  He wanted to bust through, but he resisted the temptation. Whatever was going on in there, it was big. He’d need to be prepared.

  He crept to the end of the hallway and peered around. The three zombies stood exactly where they’d been all along, parked on top of the three glowing sigils.


  How was he going to get Ian and Tani out of their prisons without alerting Richter and the others? It would have to happen fast. If Lane had been telling the truth, he’d have to be prepared to hit them hard if he didn’t want to risk them getting the jump on him and hurting Jason, Verity, and Amber.

  He thought back to the instructions Lane had given the zombies. “If that door opens or anybody comes out of that room, you take three steps forward.”

  He didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with the undead, but he was sure they were nothing if not literal. Except for Sharra, who’d been a special case, they followed instructions to the letter. They didn’t improvise, and they didn’t deal well with change.

  Did he dare risk his friends’ lives on that belief?

  It was either that or do this on his own. Ian was a powerful mage—probably more powerful than Stone knew at this point after his time training with Gabriel—and Tani’s ghoul abilities would come in handy as well, especially since it appeared she was immune to Lane’s power.

  He had to take the chance.

  Heart pounding harder, he moved around the corner, putting himself in full view of all three zombies. If anything was going to happen, it would be now. He prepared magic, but it likely wouldn’t help much, since these things were all but immune to it and there was nothing in the hallway to throw.

  He took another step forward.

  Two.

  Three.

  The zombies remained where they were. The one opposite Tani’s cell turned its head to look at him, but its eyes remained as dead as ever.

  Stone let his breath out.

  Good. They were following directions. As long as the doors didn’t open and nobody came out of the cells, they wouldn’t react.

  He wondered if he even needed the illusion he’d left behind in his own cell.

  Just in case, he wished he could do the same thing for Ian and Tani as he’d done for himself, but that was too many simultaneous spells even for him. He’d have to open their doors to get them out, hiding each one behind illusions, and then create illusions in each of their cells—

  Or would he?

  He smiled again, but this time more nervously. This would be the toughest part of the plan. Even if the zombies weren’t paying attention, someone else might be. He’d have to hurry.

  Keeping his attention locked on the zombies as he passed, he moved down the corridor until he was standing in front of Ian’s room and waved in front of the window until his son hurried over.

  Ian looked shocked. “Dad? How did you get out? The zombies—”

  “Keep an eye on yours.” Stone leaned in, so close his face was only an inch from the reinforced glass. “Let me know if it moves.”

  “But—”

  “Listen—I haven’t got time to explain everything. Once I explain the plan to you and Tani, I want you to give me two minutes—no more, no less. Did they take your watch?”

  “No, but—”

  “Two minutes,” Stone repeated firmly. “At that point, I want you to use magic to break out of your cell, and break Tani out. Got it?”

  “What about the zombies?”

  “You’ll have to deal with them. They’re slow, and they’re highly resistant to magic, so be careful. If you can manage it, use illusions to hide opening the doors.” He pointed down the hall. “Get away from them, and go through the double doors around the corner. They might already be open. Be ready for anything—I don’t know what they’re up to in there, but it’s likely to be nasty. Got it?”

  Ian had apparently decided he wasn’t going to get his questions answered. “Yeah. I got it. Two minutes. Be careful, Dad.”

  “I will. Give me a moment, and I’ll be back to start the timer.”

  The zombies still hadn’t moved as Stone sidled down the hall to Tani’s cell. It was good to be right on occasion, even though he suspected it would be the last time in a while.

  Tani was already at the window. “I heard,” she rasped. “What have you got planned?”

  “Just—play things by ear. I’m making it up as I go along.”

  She gave him a fierce grin. “Don’t worry—we got this. You go, and we’ll be right behind you.”

  “Brilliant. You focus on Lane, since his power doesn’t affect you. Try to take him down fast if you can.”

  “Damn straight. But they’re all gonna pay for what they did to Maisie and Chris. Go.”

  Stone returned to Ian’s cell. It felt strange that the statue-like gray zombies weren’t even reacting to his presence. These didn’t even seem as intelligent as the ones at Berrycliff—but he thought he might know why. If Padgett, or Brathwaite, or whoever was creating them was making this many, it was possible they needed to cut a few corners. These didn’t need to do anything more than be guard dogs anyway.

  He hoped he was right.

  “Okay,” he told Ian, tapping his own watch. “Two minutes. No more, no less.”

  “Good luck, Dad.”

  Stone slipped back down the corridor, resisting the temptation to make a rude gesture at the nearest zombie, and around the corner. He’d need to hurry. Obviously Richter and his people hadn’t been expecting them, which meant they might have basic security measures in effect but nothing designed to deal with multiple mages long-term. The only way they’d make this work would be to hit hard and fast and catch them off guard.

  He stopped in front of the double doors, shifting back to magical sight. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the glowing green light from underneath and through the crack might be brighter than before. He pressed his ear against one of the doors. The buzzing and bubbling sounds were still there, but now he thought he heard faint chanting. The door was too thick to make out words, but he didn’t need to.

  This wasn’t good.

  If they were already chanting, that meant the ritual had begun.

  Stone took a deep breath and glanced at his watch. There was less than a minute left on the timer he’d given Ian and Tani. He gathered power, continuing to stare at it until thirty seconds were left. Then he stood back, pointed his hands at the door, and let loose with a blast of pure Calanarian energy.

  The doors blew open with a satisfying slam. Stone pulled up his shield and ran into the room.

  He couldn’t stop, so he didn’t get a detailed look at what was going on in there. His first impression was that the room was huge—at least fifty feet on a side—and had no windows. Shadowy forms of furniture, boxes, and towering shelving units were pushed against the walls. The only light came from a massive, glowing circle in the center, surrounded by stands with candles on top. With a jolt of shock, Stone recognized the same kind of tubing with liquid bubbling through it that he’d seen during the ritual where Richter had attempted to drain his student Tabitha Wells’s youth.

  But this time, no sacrificial victim lay on the dais in the center of the circle. Instead, Elias Richter himself, dressed in a belted black robe, hung suspended in the middle, floating six feet above the raised platform. His slim, patrician form looked the same as Stone remembered, with silver-white hair and tanned skin, but he had a pale, sunken look that hadn’t been present before. Several of the bubbling tubes seemed to be attached to him. The two mages Stone recognized from earlier were now stationed on either side of the circle.

  “Damn you, stop him!” shrieked a female voice.

  Stone jerked his head around to see another figure on the far side of the circle, raising its hands and gesticulating wildly. From around the sides, more lumbering forms hurried in his direction. Several more huddled near the back wall.

  It was hard to recognize Miriam Padgett from the photos he’d seen. No longer was she chubby like in the dress-shop images, and no longer did she wear the frumpy, loose-fitting clothes she’d worn at Berrycliff. Now she was trim, sharp-featured, her eyes burning with mad intellect. Her fine, masculine-styled clothes fit her like they’d been tailored.

  And she was glaring at Stone as if she wanted to kill him with the s
heer force of her gaze. “Kill them all!” she yelled.

  Several things happened next, all at once.

  “Kill them!” yelled another voice—male this time. Lane.

  Two of the huddled figures in the back broke free of the third and moved toward Stone.

  “Like hell you will!” The third figure, bigger and bulkier than the first two, didn’t run toward Stone. Instead, it flung itself sideways toward Lane.

  Stone grinned, shifting to magical sight. Jason’s dark-blue aura was alight with rage. Lane might have more to deal with than he expected.

  To his surprise, the whole circle lit up too, with a domelike, glowing structure around it. Richter must have been smarter than before, putting a shield around the ritual so it couldn’t so easily be disrupted.

  What was he trying to do? A quick look at his floating figure revealed his eyes were closed, and he didn’t appear to be paying attention to what was going on. Did that mean he wouldn’t be a factor in the fight? That would make things easier—but not by much.

  Even without Richter, there was still a lot going on. Four hulking figures were shambling in his direction, and the two others—no doubt Verity and Amber, under Lane’s thrall—were coming his way too.

  “Dad!” Ian skidded to a stop behind Stone, accompanied by the Tani.

  Stone risked a quick glance over his shoulder. The three zombie guards from the hallway, moving slowly but steadily, were coming their way.

  “Inside!” he yelled. Once they were in, he used magic to yank the double doors closed. There was nothing to lock them with, however, so that would be only a temporary solution.

  Tani flew past him, running low to the ground almost like an animal. Her burning gaze was fixed on Lane, who was now dealing with Jason. The two looked equally matched now that Jason’s adrenaline-based speed and strength had kicked in. Tani, moving fast, roared and leaped onto Lane’s back, clawing at him with long fingernails.