Bella Flores Urban Fantasy Collection

by R D Martin

  In the darkness beyond the firelight, animals stirred, and crickets began chirping again as the world around them returned to normal.

  She couldn’t help feeling a little jealous for that. She’d begged to do this, begged to get away from her normal life and find adventure. The old saying, be careful what you wished for, jumped to the front of her thoughts. She’d gotten the adventure she’d wished for all right. That, and so much more.

  Levering herself to her feet, she breathed in the cool night air, letting a breeze heavy with the smells of salt and swamp and the Old South play across her skin.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” she murmured, holding a hand to her side as a sharp pain shot from her ribs and into the center of her chest. Shuffling around the edge of the crypt, giving the artifact as much room as she could, she made her way to Ray, still trapped in the iron fence. Even as she did so, she realized she already had another wish at the front of her mind. It was a simple one too, uncomplicated even. She just wanted a vacation, some place away from crazy magic, the supernatural and anything trying to kill her. Just a nice, normal, plain vacation. Maybe somewhere with beaches.

  No, she thought as the image of white sands covered in seashells wafted through her mind. Definitely not beaches.

  24

  Crews worked with machine-like efficiency to scour streets, pulling down and disposing of banners, scooping up discarded cups, and erasing as much evidence of the parties and parades as possible. By the time they finished, Bella had no doubt the city would look as though nothing out of the ordinary ever happened here. But no matter what they did, she still felt an undercurrent of excitement, of anticipation for the next big event.

  Shaking her head, she stepped out of the Uber and, looking up at the B&B, started making her way up the front porch. The owners hadn’t had time to remove their Mardi Gras decorations yet, but they’d be coming down soon, too.

  Just as well, she thought, pushing open the front door and entering the foyer. As she did, the aroma of fresh coffee and home cooking assaulted her nose while early rising guests wandered back and forth with plates in their hands as they filled up on the small buffet. Her stomach grumbled at the sights and smells, reminding her how long it had been since she’d last eaten.

  After extricating Ray from the fence, she’d done what she could to heal his wounds, though he’d have the twin scars on the back and front of his hand for the rest of his life. After that, it was a matter of retrieving the artifact and heading back to the city. She felt a little conflicted about leaving a large part of the cemetery in ruins. However, there was nothing she could do about it.

  They’d been on the road for less than ten minutes when Ray’s phone rang. A cousin at the hospital let them know Karina was awake, though confused about how she got there. When she was asked, the last thing she remembered was leaving their room to get some coffee. Nurses, surprised at her recovery, played it off as though they expected it. What wasn’t expected was the thirty other patients waking up from long-term comas at the same time. The hospital was in panic mode, trying to deal with it. Doctors were already lining up to give press announcements, taking credit for the hospital’s latest miracles.

  As Bella heard the news, the tension in her shoulders flooded away, leaving her limp and loose. Staring out the window, she’d let her mind drift, thinking of very little other than getting Karina and herself home, snuggling against William, and forgetting about the world for a while.

  Grabbing a plate, she piled it with food and headed for her shared room upstairs. She still had to pack, both for herself and Karina, check out, and pick up her friend before leaving for the airport. So much to do and so little time to do it.

  Opening her door, she almost dropped her plate at the sight of Gar, nearly bent in half as he tried to keep his head from rubbing the low ceiling.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, closing the door behind her as fast as possible. She wasn’t concerned about people seeing him anymore, but it was still a bit of a shock.

  “Well, you weren’t using the room, so I thought I’d take a nap.”

  “You slept here?”

  “That is what nap means,” he said, a wry chuckle underpinning his voice.

  “Out.”

  “What?”

  “I said out. Get out. I’m exhausted and don’t want to deal with anything right now.”

  “Bella, is that any way…”

  “Out.” Her eyes flared bright white and wind swept through the room, circling the two of them as though someone had opened an invisible window.

  “Okay, okay. I’m going,” he said, raising his palms in a soothing gesture. “Is that bacon?”

  Stamping her foot, she growled at her tall friend and pointed at the door.

  Shuffling past her, he opened the door enough to duck under the lintel before turning.

  “Oh, by the way. The Finder wanted me to tell you he thinks you did an excellent job. After you give him the artifact, you should take a couple of weeks off. Relax and recuperate. But,” he said, wagging his finger in the air as the door swung closed, “he will not reimburse your travel expense. Business class? Really? You should have flown economy.”

  The door closed before she could hit him.

  Sitting on the patio, picking at his meal, Gar looked around while basking in the morning sunlight. How long had it been since he’d had this much freedom? Three hundred years? More? He’d been sent plenty of places by the master over the centuries, but to have such autonomy was refreshing. Now, if only he could escape the leash attached to his soul, he could truly be free.

  Before he could ponder more on thoughts of escape, the sound of shattering glass crashed through his mind, bouncing around inside his head like a crazy rubber ball.

  Sighing, he put down his fork and waited, knowing what was coming.

  “Well? How did she do?”

  “She’s alive.”

  “And?”

  “Master?”

  “No games, beast.”

  Gar clasped his hands to his ears as explosions rocked the inside of his skull. He strained against the pain and it was all he could do to keep from falling from his seat.

  “M-Master. I.” A warm damp trail of blood trickled down his nose, mingling with his long fur. “I’m sorry, Master.”

  The explosions eased, though most of the pain remained, a throbbing reminder of who was in charge.

  “So.”

  “She defeated him, though I haven’t gotten the full story from her yet. She has to have the talent to have done it.”

  “Her father did, so there is no doubt. But will she fail like he did?”

  “I,” he hesitated, unsure himself of the answer. “I don’t know, Master. But I don’t think so. She’s got something, a drive I guess, that will keep her going where he stopped.”

  “Good. Return home.”

  The connection between them cut off so fast it might as well not have existed, though his bloody nose evidenced otherwise.

  Growling under his breath, stomach twisted in fear and anger, he looked up at where Bella’s room should be.

  “I pray you can do it,” he whispered, plucking a slice of bacon from his plate. “Then we’ll both be free.” Popping the bacon in his mouth, he savored the salty crunch of the meat, only slightly disappointed it was already dead and cooked. Ah, well. Maybe soon. Maybe.

  1

  "Fake?" Bella's voice rose in pitch and a ball of ice formed in her stomach. There was no way the artifact could be fake, not after everything she'd done to get it. "What do you mean it's fake?"

  "What's not to understand?" Gar replied in his usual sardonic voice. "Fake. Not real. A replica." He held out his hand and the aged bronze disk caught the light, making the green patina seem even darker, though no trick of the light could make the disk look as dark as its history.

  The Spartan king Leonidas was the first person known to own the bronze object, carrying the disk until his last battle with the Persians. Aft
er his death, the item fell into the hands of the king of Macedonia, Alexander. Following him, the disk popped up with other world leaders and conquerors throughout history. Each man possessing it made an indelible mark on history, until his untimely death. When a rumor of the disk's location reached her employer, a three-inch caterpillar like creature known as the Finder, he'd sent Bella out to track down and retrieve it. Though it looked small in the palm of Gar's hand, it was still large enough that she had to carry it in both of hers.

  "I know what fake means. But it can't be fake. I did everything you told me to do. Cast every confirmation spell you taught me and even tested the damn artifact. It's not fake."

  "Every spell? You're sure?"

  "Yes, every…" She'd been a little distracted at the time, trying to avoid Imperium agents looking for the same artifact she'd been negotiating for, but she was sure she'd cast every spell. Well, almost sure.

  Gar's eyebrow, or at least the shaggy part of his face that would be an eyebrow on a human, rose as his lips pursed. Silence stretched between them while the tension grew thick enough to cut with a knife.

  "Well, I may have missed one," Bella conceded when his gaze became too much to stand. "But Imperium agents were everywhere in the building, and time was short. Besides, even if I missed one, I still did the rest."

  Gar clicked his teeth and tongue, making a sound somewhere between a tsk and a hiss, before his shoulders drooped. Shaking his head, he closed his fingers around the disk and squeezed.

  Bella couldn't see anything happening until Gar's hand began trembling. A moment later, there was a muffled pop and a squeal before the closed fingers bunched into a fist. Gar held his hand in that position for a few more moments before opening his palm and letting the crumpled bit of metal fall. The once round object hit the marble floor with a clang.

  Bella gasped and stared at the deformed bronze lump. It wasn't the strength of her giant friend that startled her, but the fact that he'd just destroyed an artifact they'd paid almost half a million dollars for.

  "What? Why…?" she started, but couldn't finish, tongue too tied for words.

  "It was fake. A good fake, but fake nonetheless."

  "But it was—"

  You did not complete the spell sequence. The thought lanced through her mind and almost made her fall to her knees. Though she was used to the way the Finder communicated with people, unless she was prepared, the invasion of thoughts always made her feel like someone had shoved an ice pick into her brain. She couldn't see him anywhere, but he didn't have to be nearby to communicate.

  "I, that is…" She held her hands to the side of her head as the Finder sifted through her memories, going through them one by one.

  The Finder was a Moab, one of the last members of a race of very magical creatures. In terms of size, stretched out he was only about three inches long and resembled a very hairy caterpillar. In terms of power, she'd only met one being his equal, and that person had been a fallen god. Stopping the Finder from going through her memories was about as possible as drinking an ocean.

  See? Here. The images stopped flashing through her mind, and with her eyes closed, she could see the dirty hotel room where she'd met the seller. The seller was a short, fat man who sported a bad combover that looked as though he'd tried to paint a few strands of his hair black before gluing them to his bald pate. He wheezed when he spoke and sweated enough to make Bella think he might have just stepped out of a shower.

  After satisfying him that she was who she claimed, she watched him waddle to the rumpled bed, drop to one knee, and retrieve a satchel from beneath it. He grunted as he pushed himself to his feet. By the time he'd made it up, his face had turned a blotched red.

  Placing the satchel on the only table in the room, he opened it and slid its contents out on the table before dropping into the seat opposite her. The chair creaked and groaned with protest but held up under the weight.

  Pulling back the leather coverings of the package revealed a round bronze disk, tarnished green with age. Even through the patina the figures on the disk's surface were easy to make out. One man standing tall with a short sword or dagger held aloft, looming over another on his knees. The image was the same as Gar described.

  Bella's skin tingled as she pulled on her gloves before picking up the object. If legends about it were true, touching the object with bare skin would bless a man with the ability to lead others, but it also cursed him with an early, and usually violent, death.

  The disk was heavy and almost as wide as both of her hands put together. Satisfied it looked the way she expected, Bella placed it on the table to begin the spells required to confirm its authenticity.

  The image in Bella's mind shifted forward, skipping in seconds most of the spell work it had taken hours to prepare. It was like watching a movie on fast forward. Everything became a blur, and a creepy sense of déjà vu lodged itself in the base of her skull. It was almost jarring when the memory returned to normal speed.

  She'd just finished the fourth of five spells to determine if the object was the real Leonidas disk. With the spells working the way she expected, the knot of tension in her shoulders relaxed a little more. The last spell was just a formality, at least as far as she understood it.

  Looking away from the disk as she prepared for the last spell, Bella frowned as she noticed the client becoming agitated. For the first time in hours, he'd risen from his seat and begun pacing the floor, mumbling just loud enough to be a distraction. She'd paused in her preparation of the last spell to ask him what bothered him.

  "Imperium agents. They've been following me for weeks. I think they know I'm here. I can feel them walking through my wards now. You, you need to hurry. They're almost here."

  Bella shuddered. The Imperium was technically the government of the supernatural world, responsible for keeping the mundane and magical separate from each other. But their heavy-handed tactics over the centuries had given them such a foul reputation that mothers used them as a threat to punish children. For Bella, they were an even larger monster. They'd taken her father from her, put him on trial, and executed him like a common criminal. Worse, they'd refused to tell her what they had executed him for.

  Raising her hands above her head, she summoned the magic to begin the spell, and jumped when a loud thud from the door reverberated throughout the room.

  "They're here. They've found me." The seller did nothing to hide the fear in his voice as he backed away from the pounding and shouts from the other side of the door. His eyes were wide and darting back and forth as though he was looking for an escape route. "I've got to get out of here. I've got to…" His gaze settled on the disk and he snatched it from the table.

  Holding the disk to his chest with one hand, he slapped the other against the wall and began mumbling beneath his breath. The grungy yellow wallpaper beneath his hand rippled like a pool of water. When it settled, the wall had changed, becoming a doorway that opened onto a market scene somewhere Bella didn't recognize. Voices drifted in through the new doorway, and a scorching breeze blew in, carrying desert smells with it.

  Bella's jaw threatened to drop to the floor. Creating a doorway with sympathetic magic was easy, but to create one in a solid surface took an incredible amount of power. She eyed the seller for a moment, wondering if she'd misjudged him. Banging on the door, however, kept her from spending more than a brief moment on the thought.

  Fear of the Imperium warred with her fear of losing the artifact. As she watched the seller move to step through his opening in the wall, the latter won out. Leaping from her seat, tingles racing up and down her spine, she grabbed for the seller's shirt. The material felt greasy in her hand, as though he'd worn it for weeks without washing it, but held fast as she jerked. The man made a choking sound and fell back, tripping over his own feet to fall to the floor.

  The look on his face shifted from fear to anger as he rocked back and forth like a turtle on its back. The Leonidas disk slipped from his clutches and rolled across th
e carpet until it came to a stop, bouncing off the edge of the bed and falling flat.

  Spying the seller's bag, she snatched up the satchel and slid the disk in, careful not to touch it herself.

  "That's mine, give it back," the seller yelled. Bella turned toward him to see he'd rolled over but hadn't been able to get up any farther than rising to his knees.

  "We had a deal, remember?" she said as she pulled the bag's strap over her head. The banging on the door had become louder, and though she could hear it cracking and splintering beneath the onslaught, she wasn't about to turn her back on the seller.

  "Then my money. Give me my money."

  Bella nodded and, whispering words that could only be heard and forgotten, reached into the empty air beside her. As she did, it looked as though someone had cut her arm off at the shoulder. When she pulled back, her arm reappeared as though she'd just hidden it behind a curtain. Clutched in her hand was the handle of a black briefcase.

  Dropping the case on the bed, she thumbed the combination in while trying to ignore the pounding on the other side of the door. How they hadn't broken in already was beyond her, but she wasn't wasting more time. Combination entered, she flipped the latches and opened the case. Roughly half a million dollars’ worth of gold gleamed under the room's fluorescent light. The case had been too heavy for her to carry long, but a simple dimension spell allowed her to warp space and store it close.

  The seller's eyes lit up as he stared at the gold, and taking that as her cue, Bella nodded before stepping through the exit he'd made in the wall. Turning to look if he was following, she stopped short. The brick and mortar wall was smooth and unmarked, showing no signs of a doorway ever having existed.

  You did not complete the spell sequence. The Finder's thought pierced the memory, popping it like a soap bubble. Bella opened her eyes and raised a hand to shade them from the light. "I didn't have time. You saw. The other spells had worked, and Imperium agents were breaking down the door. What else was I supposed to do?"