The Guild Chronicles Books 1-3

by J M Bannon

  Rose took in a deep breath and steeled herself for the scene, lowering her goggles before entering to disguise any reaction.

  It was horrific indeed, the girl’s head hung back off the table her eyes rolled back and black with blood.

  Rose set down the case down she carried upon a cupboard and opened it. She no longer used incense to fumigate a room. Her work with Dr. Lorelei Traube had perfected methods using alchemical vapors that she could put into the air with aerosol sprayers.

  She filled four of the fumigation canisters with tinctures and pressurized them with the attached hand pump. When all were charged she placed them around the room and then actuated the canisters. Two produced a purple gas the others an emerald - hued fume. As the gases mixed they disappeared, that was the signal for Rose to look into the vapors and see if the activities of the past left traces of arcane energy.

  She panned the room slowly, occasionally changing the lenses on her goggles, but perceived nothing. No apparitions or images. Some faint flickers that were likely the passing souls in other units or decades ago. Nothing like the vivid and visceral apparitions she had experienced at other crime scenes.

  She went back to her case and checked the recipe. All was in order.

  “Everything alright, Rose?” asked Burton.

  “I’m double checking my work,” Rose related as she opened one of the tincture bottles and gave it a sniff. She then held it up to the window to let the light shine through it. The liquor appeared to be fine. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her trusty incense burner and lit it, dripping in the tinctures; the smoke disappeared but the strong smell remained. If this didn’t work to illuminate the aether, it certainly helped with the ghastly smell of the decomposing body.

  Her goggles went back into place and she adjusted the lenses to different types of glass and mineral, again nothing. Moving in closer she scrutinized the body, swinging the censor, changing lenses but no visions.

  She tried her magnifying lens and still nothing of an ethereal nature. There was, however, something in the body cavity, near where the heart had been cut out. Rose reached into her corset and pulled out a tweezer to grab the object. It was a piece of black glass.

  Rose held it up to Harvey and Burton, “The scene shows no arcane energy, but this is odd,” pointing the object she said, “Some type of stone or glass.”

  Harvey ripped out a piece of paper from his notebook and held it out. Rose took the cue and dropped the small stone sliver onto the paper. All three looked back into the cavity, Rose then found two more tiny rock chips and dropped them on the sheet of paper. Harvey folded the sheet to contain the evidence then placed it back inside his notebook.

  “Good catch Caldwell, I’ll have to go to the morgue and see if there are similar chips in the other girls,” said Harvey.

  Rose didn’t feel like there was anything good about her find, rather it felt the opposite. That she couldn’t find a thing, as if the room had been cleansed of the arcane.

  The door opened as Billy brought in the Camera Obscura and the case of plates, “Oh my God!” exclaimed the constable seeing the crime scene and dropping the case. There was the faint sound of cracking glass when the case hit the floor.

  “Constable, the plates!” yelled Rose ignoring the horror on the young constable’s face. She rushed to the box and opened it. Each plate was in a lightproof box to protect it from exposure, so it was impossible to tell if the plates had broken. That was until Rose took one out and shook it and could hear the glass move inside. She threw a cross look at the constable, only to feel bad when she saw how disturbed the young man was by the scene. It wasn’t broken plates that perturbed her, but not being able to divine a cause to this scene.

  She checked all the plates and fortunately only a few were broken. Rose began shooting phantasmagraph plates of the scene. Usually, she did this to show those without her sight what she saw. This time she was hoping that the equipment would be objective and capture what she was missing.

  “Do we have something Detective Caldwell?” asked Burton.

  “I don’t see any evidence of a supernatural event. Nothing to go on. I’m hoping that the camera here can see what I may be missing,” informed Rose.

  “Tragedy to have to just use your eyes and intuition to solve a crime, eh Caldwell,” said Harvey. He was right, Rose didn’t like the lack of visions. But it was more than that, she had observed other scenes that were not caused by some metaphysical occurrence and they didn’t have this effect on her. Something was different - lacking.

  Rose dropped the slide box back into the case, “Pack this up Constable, I have another stop to make.”

  * * *

  1:20 P.M. Weng Lo’s Tien Gow Parlor, London, England

  Business was a little slow for a Friday, but it was still early. Jimmy looked across the gambling parlor watching the dealers and croupiers run the various games. In the scheme of things, this operation was just a small part of the criminal empire he had inherited with Weng’s death. Well, he was pretty sure he had inherited it. Ang Lo was sitting in his brother’s office in an act of mourning and had been closed lipped as to his intentions. Ang had shown up at his brother’s home with a few of his guards. It’s a long trip from Peking and Jimmy thought it a little strange as to the timing. Ang didn’t share anything, and upon learning of his brother’s death he went into mourning. He had been praying in Weng’s office all day.

  Jimmy looked over and saw one of Ang’s bodyguards standing outside of the office door. Could this be how he works? Not coming at me with daggers drawn and guns blazing, but he just sets up shop while I stand out here like the servant.

  One of Jimmy’s regular guys came over to him, “Boss we got that witch upstairs looking to come down here,”

  “Rose?” asked Jimmy.

  “The one who works with the cops and dresses like a man,” he replied.

  “Let her in,”

  “She has all this strange gear with her,”

  “Be a fucking gentleman and help her with it,”

  “But the customers, it might spook them,” the young man argued.

  Jimmy stared at him. He tried but couldn’t withhold his venom. He had to say it, “Them?” He gestured to the gaming table, “You are worried that the punters are going to leave because the witch lady comes down here? These degenerates, that you’ve had to throw out of here because they won’t even step away from the table to go piss?”

  The man just looked at him expressionless; a common response by his underlings, as they were concerned about either sounding dumb or stoking Jimmy’s rage.

  “You will assist her. She is here to help us solve the mystery of Master Lo’s death.”

  The man walked away to execute Jimmy’s orders. Jimmy paused to fix his suit, checking his cuffs to assure the right amount showed from his jacket sleeve. He gave the ring band on his pinky ring a nervous rub with his thumb. As much shit as he gave Rose Caldwell during their time together, he knew she had some otherworldly gift and was a powerful ally. Her position as a detective complicated matters, not that Jimmy didn’t consort with the police. He had already built up a stable of constables and a detective or two in his pocket because of their gambling or opium addictions.

  Rose wasn’t like that. She wasn’t going to be controlled and likely never would have crossed paths with Jimmy if it weren’t for his former boss spending time as a boy at the orphanage Rose had worked at. Weng never shared details only that the place was dear to his heart and he was there for a period of time after the Lo brothers were separated and sent from China by their mother.

  Jimmy made his way to the entrance to the gambling den. His man carrying the cases was navigating the doorway while Rose stood behind him with an impatient look.

  Jimmy decided to intervene signaling to some of the staff to come over.

  “Help him with those cases,” Jimmy said to the approaching staff then he turned to Rose.

  “Come to help find the culprit?”
<
br />   “I did Mr. Linn, I was in the neighborhood,” Rose leaned into Jimmy “at a crime scene so I thought I would get over here and see what I could scry.”

  Jimmy took the lead. As he walked toward Weng’s office where Ang now was ensconced. Ang’s guard at the door locked eyes with Jimmy. This could be it. It was usually a small unplanned moment that kicked off a power struggle. Jimmy couldn’t ask for permission to enter, this was his domain. If he stopped to ask he would be seen as weak. If he was barred from entry this could erupt into a physical fight with an agent of the crown in the midst. His eyes stayed locked with the guards he tried with every fiber of his being to make it clear he was going into his office.

  Less the five feet from the huge guard, the man broke the stare and reached for the doorknob opening the door. Relief washed over Jimmy, but it was just as important he didn’t show it. He acted as if the guard hadn’t opened the door, he would have just walked through it as if it weren’t there.

  They made their way through the short passage that ended in another door. This could make for another humiliating moment if Ang had locked the door and would not let them in. Jimmy also wanted to respect the man’s time of mourning, so he knocked, “Master Lo, I have the enchantress here to search the room.”

  Jimmy waited. He turned to Rose and gave her a smile. His unspoken message, everything was in control.

  There was some shuffling behind the door and the latch unlocked. Jimmy gave the doorknob a twist and entered. Ang was making his way to the sofa in the office. The room, from Jimmy’s recollections was untouched except for a small offering shrine that Ang had set on the low table before the sofa he now sat on. The air was thick with incense from the curled sticks arranged around a painted picture of Weng.

  Jimmy spoke in Mandarin to Master Lo, “you met Miss Caldwell at Weng’s home. She is a mystic and wants to help us find Weng’s killer.”

  “Tell her that I am grateful for all assistance offered,” the older man bowed towards Rose.

  “He says he appreciates your help. Now, what do you need us to do?” asked Jimmy.

  “You gents can set my kit down and I will do a metaphysical analysis of the room. I typically do a visual scan myself to get a feel for the evidence then I can use my camera to create phantasmagraphs. These are like derogotypes, but of the aether,” replied Rose as she opened a case.

  Jimmy translated for Ang then told the men to get out, “Do you need us all to leave?”

  “No, you can stay,” said Rose as she took a roll off her belt and spread it out on the floor. It had an array of tools all neatly tucked under fabric straps and in pockets. The White Witch took out what looked like a necklace but had an arrangement of lenses dangling from it along with the goggles he saw her wear from time to time. She placed them both around her neck.

  She then took out four metal cylinders from one of the cases. she opened the tops of each cylinder. Rose crouched before the case mixing up a fluid from the dozens of bottles in the case, pouring it into the canisters and closing the tops. She handed one to him and picked up another. “Be a dear and give that five strong pumps of the pressure piston, like this.”

  Jimmy mimicked Rose’s hand pumping of the container.

  When they had finished Rose set the containers around the room. Afterward, she toggled a lever on each can and they began to hiss, billowing a cloud into the air.

  “Is that alright to breathe?” asked Jimmy with a concerning grimace.

  “Quite fine,” assured Rose. Jimmy watched as the four clouds converged from their sources and changed color, or to be more exact, disappeared. Rose took the strange multi-lens goggles that hung around her neck and put them over her eyes. Jimmy noticed the necklace of intricate lace which Rose wore most of the time, it’s dark stone took on a blue shimmer as if it was interacting with the White Witch’s gas.

  Jimmy watched Rose as she appeared to be slowing her breathing, crossing into some type of meditative state. Her only movement adjusting the lenses on her strange goggles. She paced the room slowly stopping to adjust her goggles or hold up one of the lenses that hung from the fine silver chain around her neck.

  Rose stopped behind Weng’s desk. She homed in and looked closer at the wooden box that sat before the chair. Jimmy had made a point that nothing be disturbed. Rose opened the ornate wooden box and she gasped and jumped back. Her head jerked as if she were following movement looking at the chair. Jimmy tried to read the situation. Even with half her face covered with leather and glass, he could read the shock and fear on her face. Rose’s head twisted back and forth her body thrust as if she was dodging something.

  “Are you seeing Weng’s ghost?” asked Jimmy concerned by Rose’s gyrations.

  Rose began gasping and looking toward the ceiling. It was as if she was losing the ability to breathe. Her arms flailed, and legs kicked. Her body began to float. She floated up to the ceiling the side of her face pressed against the surface as she gasped and flailed. This couldn’t be right Jimmy had never seen her do her witchcraft, but she looked terrified and desperate to breathe.

  He bound up on the desk and grabbed to pull Rose down. It was the strangest sensation as if she were floating in some substance and was fighting to get up and out of it. He pulled on her trying to get her down, but she let out a scream and began to struggle more. Jimmy fought on and grabbed her around the waist trying to get her down.

  Jimmy yelled to Ang, “Help, she is having some type of fit.”

  Ang ran around the desk and grabbed Rose’s leg. Now the two men were trying to pull her down, but she fought and gasped more. Rose let out another gasp and was again thrusted up towards the ceiling. This last fit caused Jimmy to slip on the desk blotter pushing the wooden box off the desk where it fell top down and closed. As soon as the box hit the floor, Rose followed suit and dropped, the mystical force floating her was gone and with it, she went down pulling Jimmy to the floor with her atop Ang.

  * * *

  1:40 P.M. Weng Lo’s Tien Gow Parlor, London, England

  Rose hit the floor and through the yellow tint of her goggles saw Jimmy atop her and Ang underneath her legs. She ripped off her goggles and kicked the two away gasping for air.

  Her chest was heaving, and her ribs ached again with the pain from when she was attacked by Allard’s creature in Oklahoma. The ribs were not fully healed. She looked around the room with her naked eye and it looked normal, nothing like she had experienced moments ago.

  “Rose are you OK?” exclaimed Jimmy, clearly concerned.

  His voice snapped her back to the situation at hand and the presence of others, “I was drowning and fighting a large beast. A strange thing that looked part lizard, part fish and had horns like a deer,” she gushed, still catching her breath.

  “Fuck me dead, Rose you were flying. We both tried to pull you off of the god damned ceiling. That was the craziest thing I have ever seen, you really are a witch!” stated Jimmy, wild -eyed.

  Rose saw the box on the floor and jumped up. When she opened the lid of that box just moments ago, the patterns in the aether changed. She did not expect what came next. Rather than the translucent shimmering of apparitions and sensations of past events laced into the space unseen by most; this was a full-on hallucination. She was certain that the room was filling with water and there was a sea creature, a lizard fish that was trying to kill her.

  “Jimmy, you were right, this was metaphysical in nature,” Rose let out a laugh.

  “What’s so funny? You scared the shit out of me!” spurted Jimmy.

  “Just this day, this morning in fact, I was at a crime scene. Horrific, a young girl,” Rose stopped herself from recollecting the site, “Doesn’t matter, the point is I was very concerned because I saw nothing. I was sure that I got the mix of the tincture wrong, or was out of touch with my gift, but here it was the other side of the coin. That was so vivid.” Rose tried to calm herself. Her head was all over the place. “What I’m trying to tell you is that what just happened helpe
d me to see that the issue with the last scrying wasn’t what I saw but what I couldn’t see. It was as if all of the aetherial was scoured away.”

  “Congratulations, on your breakthrough, but could you get to why you were flailing about on the ceiling?” pressed Jimmy.

  Rose stood up and dusted herself off and made her way over to her cases. She looked up, “You're saying I was up that high, what would you say, that’s ten feet?”

  Jimmy stood up and gave Ang a hand to get up, “Rose, I was hanging off you, at one point. I was in the air dangling off of you,” said Jimmy.

  Rose reached into the case and pulled out gloves and what looked like a blanket. “What I saw was this room filled up with water. It became a tempest, like that great storm a few years back. I was fighting not to drown. Every time I tried to stay above the water I bashed up on the ceiling. Then I saw it, this long creature like a giant snake with legs and antlers. I looked down through the water my eyes stung from the salt and at the bottom of the room was Weng. When the creature saw me, it attacked. I had no presence to you or the room as it is,” Rose finished as she unfolded the cloth and laid it next to the wooden box on the floor. She donned the gloves and picked up the box, “Do you mind if I take this back to the studio arcana for further analysis?”

  Ang spoke to Jimmy and they went back and forth in Chinese. From the drop of an English word here and there along with her name she surmised Jimmy was translating what she had said.

  Ang replied, his voice sounded angry, but it could be her lack of understanding of the language.

  Jimmy turned to Rose. “Ang didn’t come here to mourn. He was on the run. The Lucky triad and the empire the Lo brothers have built is under attack by the forces of the Fox King. He said that his headquarters was attacked, and his top lieutenants killed in a fire. He is certain it was a fire dragon that was sent to end his life.” Jimmy’s eyebrows arched, “I would have said the old man is full of shit, but after seeing you dance on the ceiling. I have to pause before I jump to further conclusions about his sanity. Ang says the Fox King is in league with a group of demon assassins led by the Dowager and what you saw was one of them, a vengeful dragon set upon his brother.”