Shadow's Messenger: An Aileen Travers Novel

by T. A. White

  Telling him that would only cause him to dig his heels in further. I’d dealt with enough male testosterone poisoning in the military. I needed to talk him away from the ledge. Lead him to the outcome I wanted. Be diplomatic, the voice of reason.

  “Just give me a couple nights to verify my theory. Knowing your enemy’s strengths and weaknesses gives you a better chance of surviving.”

  “Wolves are dying. My people won’t just sit idly by waiting to be picked off one by one. We move tonight.”

  “You’re being an idiot. I’m sure they don’t want to be slaughtered either. At least give me until tomorrow.”

  So much for diplomacy.

  Brax snarled. “We go tonight. You have a few hours and then me and mine are going hunting.”

  This time he was the one to hang up.

  “Brax?”

  I looked at the dead phone in my hand.

  Shit.

  I threw it in the cup holder.

  “Bad news?”

  I gripped the wheel tighter and shook my head in frustration.

  “The wolves are going after the draugr tonight.”

  Peter whistled. “They don’t stand a chance. With the creature’s ability to inspire madness and possess animals, they’re fucked. He could take control, or worse strip their control.”

  “How is that worse?”

  “It would leave them mindless beasts with the destructive power of a tank and the disposition of a rabid badger. You ever seen one of those? They’re vicious. A bunch of out of control wolves in the middle of Columbus? You’re talking a pretty high body count.”

  And because of me, they knew exactly what they were looking for and his most recent hunting grounds.

  “Is there some way to stop them?”

  The sorcerer shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t really care one way or the other if they go homicidal on the humans.”

  I gave him a nonplussed look. “Isn’t that why you’ve had me running all over the city after this thing? To find and stop it.”

  “That was just to get you on board with hunting it. I just want the two items. Taking care of the draugr was a side benefit. Not the main goal.” He gave me a side long glance. “Though maybe I could be convinced if this cuff was removed.”

  I was tempted. If my inaction caused a bunch of deaths, I was just as responsible as if I’d done the murdering myself. Two things stopped me. First, there was no guarantee the sorcerer would actually help once free. He’d already made it clear his goals didn’t really include protecting the wolves. Secondly, I was pretty sure he didn’t have the power to do what he was planning, which made his release a moot point and would probably only cause further harm.

  “I’ll think about it.” We drove in silence for a few more minutes. I needed to decide where we were going soon. We were almost out of campus. “Theoretically, how would you help?”

  He cocked his head and sent me a sly smile that said he thought he’d won. Not by a long shot, but he didn’t need to know that.

  “I’d probably cast a summoning spell for the items,” he said thoughtfully. “You control those and you’ll have some control over the draugr. You might even be able to force him back into his grave. It wouldn’t kill him, but it might contain him and lull him back to sleep.”

  I stared out the window. Earlier he’d been gung ho about getting the items for his own mysterious purposes. Now it sounded like he wanted to use them to contain the draugr. What had changed? Or was this another trick? One meant to lull me into thinking he was working with me when really he had his own agenda.

  “Sounds like a difficult spell. You sure you can cast something like that?”

  He scoffed. “Any sorcerer or witch who has passed their trial could cast something as simple as that.”

  I smirked. Just what I’d wanted to hear. I flicked on my turn signal and took a left. Looked like I knew my destination.

  He sat up. “Where are we going? All of my supplies are at my office, which is in the opposite direction.”

  “We’re not going to your office.”

  He lowered his eyebrows. “Then where are we going?”

  I gave him a toothy smile. “We’re going to see a witch about a spell.”

  “No. Why? I told you I could cast the spell.”

  “So can she and I trust her a hell of a lot more than I trust you.”

  He sputtered, the look on his face making it clear I was right to have my suspicions.

  “This is ridiculous. You’re making a mistake.”

  Yeah, yeah. It was my mistake to make. Hopefully, my last visit hadn’t totally pissed her off and she’d be willing to help me.

  Elements’ sign was turned to ‘closed’. I stood outside and wondered what I should do. I didn’t have Miriam’s home address or her phone number. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might not be in her shop. I just assumed since she was part of the otherworld that she kept the same hours as me, which was ludicrous. She had no reason to cling to the dark like I did. Her feet were planted much more firmly in the day world than mine.

  “What now, oh smart one?” Peter asked sarcastically. “Looks like your plan is a complete dud.”

  I didn’t answer. Time was against me. I only had a few hours left before sunrise, and I didn’t think Brax would wait much longer before making his move.

  I pounded on the door and stepped back, looking at the windows above the shop. Nothing. No lights turned on, and I could see no movement behind the curtains. I pounded again, my hand smarting from the force. Looked like she didn’t live above the shop as I’d hoped.

  What kind of witch was this? Shouldn’t she be able to sense when people need her?

  “She’s not here,” Peter complained. “Guess you’ll have to release me from this cuff.”

  “Not yet.”

  I hadn’t exhausted all options. There had to be some way to contact Miriam.

  “You’re the one who didn’t want the wolves dying or going ape shit on everyone,” he griped.

  Wait. I’d made a delivery here. Jerry would have her information on file. There was the slight question of whether he would share that information with me, especially since I’d been actively avoiding him over the past few days. Probably not and definitely not without the most extreme ass chewing of my life.

  I grabbed my phone and opened the app for the courier service. Maybe I’d get lucky and her information would still be in my queue. It sometimes took a few days for it to drop off my history. Her cell number should have been included in the contact portion in case I missed the deadline.

  Ah ha. It was there. I would be spared from having to go through Jerry after all.

  I dialed the number and waited as it rang. And rang. And rang. Then went to voicemail. I hung up and stared at the phone. Was she asleep? During the witching hour?

  Peter made a frustrated sound next to me. “Enough of this.”

  He raised one hand and touched the door. It was like a gong had sounded. I covered my ears, but it wasn’t enough to block out the sound. I could feel whatever he’d done in my chest, rattling through my bones. Then it was gone.

  “What the hell?” I yelled. “I thought you couldn’t do magic.”

  “That wasn’t me,” he said with a serious expression, watching his surroundings. “I touched the ward. Think of it like a really annoying doorbell.”

  A doorbell? I didn’t think so. More like a claxon calling up the troops to defend against an attack.

  “I touched the door too.” I gave the door in question a suspicious glare. “Why didn’t it do that when I knocked?”

  “I doubt you have enough power to register to the ward. Quite frankly, I’m surprised you were even able to feel the alarm.”

  I gave him a flat look. Yes. I get it. I’m practically an infant compared to all the heavy hitters around me. No need to keep reminding me. It’s shoved in my face every time something new happens, and I’m the only one surprised.

  “I had a feeling I’d be seeing yo
u again,” Miriam’s crisp voice said from behind me.

  I spun to see her watching us with cautiously amused eyes. She was dressed casually in lounge pants and a loose, long, white shirt. The kind that draped nicely and was super comfortable but looked effortlessly classy at the same time.

  “Really? Because I had no idea I’d end up here again,” I said.

  She smiled. “Let’s go in and you can tell me what spell you need cast.”

  That was creepy. No matter how many times I encountered it, the whole knowing something before I told them threw me every time.

  “I’m surprised you triggered my wards,” she said, moving past me.

  Peter tried to grab my arm as I followed her. I brushed him off and said, “I didn’t. The sorcerer did.”

  She paused in the act of swinging open the door. Power gathered around her, kind of like a knight readying his shield. It wasn’t visible, more like an intangible shimmering in the air around her.

  Her eyes were lit with a dark flame as she glared over my shoulder at Peter. He stepped behind me, using me as a shield.

  Once again I felt like I’d missed something obvious.

  “Sorcerer.”

  Her voice slithered and swam through the night. I got the sense of something pressing hard on my chest, drowning me even as I drew in air in small, little pants. What was it with everyone pulling power trips at the drop of the hat?

  “I wish you hadn’t told her that,” Peter said behind me.

  “If you told me that you two had a history, I wouldn’t have.”

  “We don’t have a history. Witches hate sorcerers. Don’t you know anything?”

  I rolled my eyes. Cowering like a child behind me and he still managed to act like a tool.

  “Nope. I don’t know anything. Nothing at all. I thought we’d established that by now,” I snapped.

  “You’re Barret’s forever young apprentice,” Miriam said, her power easing back.

  “Apprentice?” I asked raising my eyebrows and turning to face him. “I thought you were a sorcerer.”

  “I am a sorcerer,” he retorted. “I achieved the station right before.”

  He stopped abruptly, his eyes shifting left and right.

  “Where is Barret?” Miriam asked, picking up on his tension. “The city has felt different for quite some time now, but his businesses are still operating as they have in the past.”

  Peter lifted his chin. “He’s gone, and he left me in charge until he got back.”

  She arched one eyebrow. “Really?”

  I watched the two of them, trying to read the undercurrents. Sounded like this Barret guy had disappeared and the apprentice had been covering for him for a while now. Miriam’s words also confirmed Peter was older than he looked. I wondered how much older. Five years? Fifty? A hundred? How long did it take to become a sorcerer? So many questions and not a one to do with the reason we were here.

  “As interesting as this conversation is, it’s not why we’re here,” I interrupted before Peter could fire off the insult I could see brewing. “We need your help.”

  “You mean you need her help,” Peter said. “I told you I was more than capable of doing the spell.”

  “And I told you I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you.”

  Miriam watched our byplay with an assessing gaze. “He’s the sorcerer who owns your mark.”

  We both shut up, sharing a look before watching her warily. I knew why I was suspicious of her having that information, but why was he. I would have thought he would puff out his chest and claim credit immediately.

  “Don’t bother denying it,” she said, her lips parting in a knowing smile. “I knew that tattoo was familiar. It has a similar style and signature as his master.” To Peter, she said, “Do you understand the risk you took in marking her? These things have a way of backfiring. It’s why they’re so rarely used.”

  He raised his chin and said snootily, “I know what I’m doing.”

  She laughed and turned to go inside the store, leaving us staring at each other. Peter’s expression said it was all my idea to come to the crazy lady’s magic shop and now I had to suffer the consequences.

  It had been my idea, and I still stood by my reasoning. It didn’t make this situation any easier.

  Screw it. I didn’t care about the undercurrents right now. I had a task. Find the items and get the draugr back into his grave. Everything else could wait.

  I caught the door before it swung fully closed and followed Miriam into the shop, trusting Peter to follow or not as he wished.

  Miriam had left the front lights off but the ones in the back were on. In this lighting, her shop took on a sinister edge. Merchandise that had seemed kitschy and harmless earlier in the evening was now vaguely threatening. Or maybe that was because we were hunting an undead monster who could cause madness and rip me apart with its bare hands.

  Once again the break room had changed. This time reverting to the back room lunch area found in most stores throughout America.

  She shot me a warning look when I opened my mouth to ask why it had changed its appearance. I shut my mouth and glanced back as Peter tugged aside the beads hanging over the entrance.

  She didn’t want him to know about the other room. The one where she kept all the witchy stuff. She must be pouring some serious magic into it right now to keep him from peering behind the veil.

  Either way, it was her secret. If she wanted it kept, I wouldn’t go out of my way to expose it. Unless I needed to for some reason.

  I took the seat she’d indicated at the table, turning and giving Peter a significant look when he hesitated. He cast an arrogant glance around, comparing it to his own conference room and finding it inferior, before taking the seat next to me. His obvious conviction of his superiority was grating. It made me want to set him straight just to wipe the smug look off his face. Maybe it was the fact he looked like a teenager that meant I found his expressions supremely obnoxious.

  Miriam smiled to herself as she shuffled a deck of cards before laying them out in the familiar solitaire pattern.

  Time to get this conversation started. I had a feeling it might be difficult to convince her to help us. If I had known she and the sorcerer had such a bad relationship, I would have given serious thought to dropping him off somewhere. His presence would just make this more difficult.

  I already owed her a favor and that was for something relatively minor. What was something that used actual magic going to cost me?

  “Your help last time was invaluable,” I started, hoping flattery would soften her up a little.

  I ignored the snort of derision next to me as Peter leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.

  “We’ve found out that the creature is a draugr.”

  “That’s odd,” she said, seeming interested for the first time since I’d sat down. “The deaths have been spread all over the city. They don’t usually travel so far afield of their gravesite.”

  I relayed what else we discovered, including the draugr’s name and the items he was searching for.

  “Interesting. Do you have a photo of these items?” Miriam asked, flipping another card.

  I did. Peter had distracted Caroline while I made a copy. Copiers had gotten a lot more complicated in the few short years since I’d been out of school or maybe my skill with them had just gotten rustier.

  Whether I wanted to share that copy with her was another matter.

  I’d already told her most of it. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and flattened it on the table in front of her.

  “Here. We think it’s the necklace she’s wearing and the watch fob in his vest.”

  Miriam stared long enough at the locket the woman was wearing that I thought about asking if she recognized it. She studied the man briefly before handing the paper back to me.

  “What is it you want from me?”

  I shared a glance with Peter. His mouth tightened, and he looked away from me.

  �
��Peter here thinks it’s possible to perform a summoning spell that will call the items to us.”

  I didn’t mention how we thought the items would give us some control over the former Jackson Miller. I trusted her but only to a point.

  “What good will that do?”

  “From my encounters with the draugr, I know it’s looking for the things it valued in life. We’re hoping to use this attachment to bargain with or trick it.”

  It was as uncomfortably close to the truth as I wanted to go. Miriam struck me as being sharp so outright lying wouldn’t work.

  “Hm.”

  She played several more cards.

  “I can do the spell,” she said finally.

  That’s what I needed.

  “It’ll cost you though.”

  I was afraid of that.

  “How much?” I asked. I’d preferred cash as opposed to a favor this time.

  “Not you, him.”

  The sorcerer unfolded his arms and leaned forward. There was no way she was doing this spell. Not if he had to pay for it.

  “What do you want?” I asked, knowing it was pointless but wanting to know anyway.

  “I want to know how long Barret has been gone.”

  I blinked. That was it? I was thinking it would be something big, like the magical equivalent of a kidney.

  I gave the sorcerer a cautious look. The question seemed harmless enough, but it’d be in keeping with his character to refuse just to be a pain in the ass.

  He glared at both of us, looking like a pissed off cat.

  “It’s none of her business.”

  Looked like I was right. He was going to be difficult.

  “Is there anything else you’ll take in the place of the answer?” I asked Miriam.

  She shook her head before moving a king to an empty spot.

  “It’s an easy enough question,” I muttered to him.

  “You answer it then. Oh wait, you can’t.”

  I pinched my nose bridge. Dealing with petulant teenagers had never been my forte, and for all that he was older than he looked, he had the teenage act down pat.

  “Are you sure you want to go this route?” I asked.

  A stony glare was my only answer. I dropped my eyes meaningfully to the cuff around his wrist. His lack of power meant nothing to me besides the promise of my safety. I doubted he wanted that information spread to someone he saw as an enemy.