by Pond, Simone
“I’ll give you until 3 p.m. today to text me the address. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume you’re not worried about me releasing the information.”
“You do whatever you need to do, Miss Farrow.”
ten
Walking down Fifth Avenue toward The Plaza, I felt a super dark presence looming over me. I had felt something similar that day in San Francisco when Julian and I were attacked by the swarm of demon-bats. The sky above—what I could see of it amidst the tall buildings—was darkened by an eclipse. My heart beat hard, and fear began to drape over me. My Armor took on a more vibrant glow. Then I heard it: the sound of a million crows cawing, and I could feel the flutter of their wings as though they were creating a wind with their approach. From above, a black mass swept down like a tsunami. It was the demon-bats again and they were rapidly approaching.
I manifested my shield to protect myself and began to recite the ancient invocation that Ezra had engrained in us during our training. The Logos, he had called it. I yelled in that strange and foreign language, “Your Darkness has no authority. We stand with the power of the Light. The Light binds the dark. The Light binds the dark.”
The hideous creatures swooped all around me, encasing me like a sheath, cutting off my words. Being that close, I got a better look at the things. They had locust wings, tails like scorpions and glowing red eyes. Their mouths snapped open and shut, open and shut. They had fangs like vampires. Hundreds of tiny vampires surrounding me. I opened my mouth to release a roar, but nothing came out. My shield suddenly weighed 1,000 pounds. I couldn’t raise it up another second. Falling to my knees, I had become completely exposed to the evil creatures. Utterly defenseless against the wretched torrent. Was this how I would die? On Fifth Avenue suffocated by a hail of evil bats? It seemed pretty lame.
The noise of their cawing buzzed louder and more aggressive; some of the creatures spun out from the uniform body. And then I heard the strange language I had recited just seconds ago: Your Darkness has no authority. We stand with the power of the Light. The Light binds the dark. The Light binds the dark. Julian and Detective Rocco stood on the outside of the spinning cyclone of black, yelling the Logos in my direction. Choking out a mouthful of air, I was able to find my voice. I began yelling along with the other two Protectors.
The bats began squealing and screeching, their flight pattern breaking apart into a chaotic mess. The louder we shouted, the weaker they became, until there was a massive explosion of black and red guts raining down from the sky. And then a deafening silence; not even a single horn or jackhammer from some nearby construction. Everything around us had stopped, except the three of us.
“Either of you wanna explain what the hell that was?” Rocco yelled.
“We encountered them in San Francisco,” I told him, standing up.
“Creepy as fuck,” Julian panted.
I looked around the avenue and every person, cab and bus was stationary. “Why has everything stopped?” I asked, hoping the New York native and more seasoned Protector would have some answers because I had never experienced time freezing.
“I ain’t never seen this before,” he replied, not giving me any reassurance.
“Should we—”
Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, Julian called out for Ezra. He was entirely too co-dependent on our Guide. Not giving us a chance to figure out things on our own.
Ezra showed up in a glimmer of violet light, looking around at the scene. He stood before us, his eyes gleaming. I couldn’t tell if he was pleased or disturbed. But usually when his eyes got that bright, it was something big.
“You’re more powerful together than I had thought,” he said.
I released a sigh, grateful he was pleased. I wasn’t in the mood for one of his lectures.
“You wanna explain this?” Rocco asked.
“You stopped time,” Ezra said.
“How?” I asked.
“Break down what happened,” Ezra said, walking between the motionless people and examining their eyes.
Julian trailed behind him, explaining how he and Rocco were in the lobby waiting for me to show up when they heard the buzzing sound.
“We ran out and there was Fiona kneeling down in the middle of that crazy-ass swarm of bats.”
Ezra came over to me. “Why were you kneeling? You’re wearing your Armor.”
“I couldn’t move. Those things sucked away my energy or something. I couldn’t even speak. That is, until these two showed up and started saying the invocation.”
Ezra rubbed his shaved head and paced around the three of us, ruminating on our story.
“Lucius Diamond definitely has the Scroll,” I told them.
That got Ezra to stop pacing around. “How do you know?”
“I just left his office and then this happens?”
Julian shoved me. “Dude! I knew you didn’t go for a morning run!”
“What were you doing at Diamond’s office?” Detective Rocco asked, squinting his eyes.
Ezra jumped in. “Fiona has a bit of an insubordination problem. You’ll get used to it.”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to follow up on a lead,” I defended myself, digging a deeper hole.
“What lead?” Rocco moved in closer.
I took out my phone and showed them the photo of the business card for Diamond Escorts. “It was on the woman’s body in Eagle’s Nest, New Mexico. It’s no secret vampires are doing these killings, but now we have proof that it’s Diamond. Why else would this card be with the body?”
Rocco dug around in his leather jacket, then pulled out a box of wooden matches. He shoved one into his mouth. “So you decided to visit the head of the AOV all by yourself?”
“The pentagram symbol on the card was an exact replica of one I had seen on Lilith. Same shimmer and everything. I wanted to get the location of Diamond Escorts and see if she was there.” I looked at Ezra, pleading for some compassion. “To see if Charlotte was with her.”
Ezra stared at me, frowning with major disappointment. I couldn’t blame him. Once again, I had gone off the playbook for my own selfish interest.
Rocco nudged my shoulder. “Look, I don’t know who you’re talking about, but it sounds like you got the confirmation we needed for the Scroll. Now we can officially go after Diamond. Right, boss?” Rocco looked at Ezra.
Julian waved his hands. “Hold up, dudes. Can we talk about this time continuum thing we got going on here? We have the power to stop time?”
“Only when other humans are present during a supernatural battle of this size. It’s to protect them from harm,” Ezra explained.
“Good to know,” Julian said, smiling.
“So, whaddya say, boss?” Rocco asked again.
“Yeah, go after him. And Fiona, your partners need you, so don’t run off doing your own thing. What did you learn about teamwork?”
I really loathed when Ezra used that patronizing tone with me, but I deserved it. “There is no ‘I’ in team,” I mumbled.
“See, you do listen.” Ezra smirked, then stepped away from us. “I’ll let headquarters know you’ve located the Scroll. Keep me posted.”
“What about them?” Rocco asked.
“Time will resume as soon as I leave.”
Ezra glimmered out and normal reality resumed. The three of us went to Pop’s Diner—Rocco’s favorite place—to get some lunch and discuss our plan to go after Lucius Diamond. Somehow I’d have to figure out how to get the address for the escort service before we wiped him out of existence.
eleven
The three of us gathered at Pop’s Diner. Rocco gobbled up a mustard-slathered pastrami on rye, while Julian inhaled a monster cheeseburger and I chugged down a cup of coffee between enormous bites of my turkey club. None of us said a word until our plates were clean.
Julian sat back in the booth, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “Dude, I was starving!”
“Who knew fighting vampire-bat-demons coul
d be so strenuous?” I half-laughed, polishing off the last quarter of my turkey club.
I pecked at my fries, wanting to devour every last one of them, but my stomach was already stuffed from the sandwich. Julian reached over and grabbed a handful, shoveling them into his mouth like he hadn’t just eaten a pile of his own. Rocco waved over the waitress and ordered an entire apple pie. A la mode. The waitress was a middle-aged beauty with highlighted hair pulled up into a high bun. She looked like she might’ve been a former actress. When she poured some more coffee, I caught her giving Rocco a wink.
“What was that?” I teased, after she went to get the pie.
“Aw, me and Maddy go way back. She’s been feedin’ me for the last decade. Sweet lady.”
“Have you ever asked her out?” I pried, which Rocco didn’t like. Most men don’t like to discuss matters of the heart, but I wanted to know more about this hard-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside New York detective. I also wanted to know if the rest of my life would be spent fighting supernatural crime without a love interest to warm up against at night.
“Eh. Never had the time.” Rocco poured four packets of sugar into his black coffee and stirred.
“Dude. She’s hot. Make time,” Julian chimed in.
Rocco stiffened a bit and stared out the window to the busy street. “She’s got a line out the door. Now, let’s drop it and get down to business. How are we gonna get to that Scroll?”
Maddy came back to the table and served each of us a heaping slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream that melted against the heat of the crust. I had to close my eyes when I took that first bite; food just tasted better after taking down evil.
I looked up from my slice. “I think the three of us should meet with Diamond first and try to convince him to hand over the Scroll.”
Rocco burst out laughing, pie crumbs falling from his lips. “You wanna reason things out with a vampire? The friggin’ head of the Ancient Order of the sonofabitches? Forgetaboutit!”
“That does sound pretty lame, Fiona,” Julian added, finishing off his pie.
“I know. Trust me. And he’s super cocky. But I have some dirt on him that I’m trying to use as leverage. Maybe if the three of us go in there together, he’ll be more responsive. Everyone has a breaking point.”
Rocco polished off his coffee and sat back. “What do you got on a vampire who basically runs the city and half of Wall Street?”
“One, he’s commissioning some of his vampires to murder people all over Cagliostro’s territory, and I’m sure the AOV won’t be too happy about that. They don’t want an all-out war with the Shadow Order. Two, he’s running some sort of prostitution ring under the guise of an escort service. And three, he’s using the escort service to launder money from state pension plans he’s been defrauding. I’d say that’s some leverage. And it’s three Protectors against one bloodsucker.”
My two partners sat quietly for a few moments, soaking in the information. I kept my mouth shut, knowing if I pressed too hard I’d sound desperate. Confidence was the only thing I wanted to convey. Especially since we were going up against an arrogant and not easily ruffled vampire.
“So, you just wanna stroll into the offices of IP Montgomery and threaten to expose Diamond?” Rocco asked, smirking.
I was determined to break Lucius Diamond. Not only to get the Scroll and find Charlotte, but to put the pompous vampire in his place.
“At the very least the three of us can rattle his composure. Once he’s rattled, we can squeeze harder. He might not give up the Scroll, but we can at least try to get some information out of him. You’re a detective, you know how this works. One slip usually leads to another door. We have to start somewhere. Why not try the civilized business approach first and if he doesn’t comply, we get supernatural on his ass.”
Rocco leaned forward, placing a matchstick in his mouth. It was one of the most cliché moments of my life, but I loved every second of it. The stalwart detective meant business and he was the type of guy you’d want on your side in a street fight. Imagine what he could do with his magical Armor.
“I know all about Diamond’s escort service. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. But your money laundering angle is nice. Didn’t know about that one. And vampires are incredibly vain. He’ll want to protect his reputation. You think we can really break him?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“This ain’t just about finding your friend?”
I took a deep breath and thought about that before answering. Part of me wanted to find Charlotte and run for the hills. But the Protector part of me—which was growing stronger and stronger—wanted to destroy Lucius Diamond for his evil acts against innocent humans. I wanted to annihilate him and not just in the physical world with a news story that would expose him and his fraudulent investment firm, but in the supernatural one as well. No evil supernatural being should have that much power.
Julian poked my shoulder, bringing me back to the diner. “Hello, Fiona?”
“Sorry. It’s not just about Charlotte. It’s about taking down that bastard for what he’s doing. Murder, prostitution and defrauding innocent people who work hard for their retirement. He’s a real asshole. I might hate him more than I hate Cagliostro.”
Rocco studied me carefully, rolling that stupid matchstick around between his pursed lips. “You’re forgettin’ something, Farrow.”
“What’s that?”
“The Scroll. While all of that horseshit Lucius is doing ain’t right, the Scroll has to be your priority. As long as he has that, he has the power to keep doing what he’s doing and more. You understand?”
“Well, yeah. Of course the Scroll. That goes without saying.”
He shook his head. “Nope. That never goes without sayin’. Got it?”
I nodded. How could I argue with that logic? After all, it’s what I was born to protect. The Light.
twelve
The three of us cloaked ourselves to get past the security guard in the lobby of IP Montgomery. But we’d de-cloak when we got to Diamond’s office. He’d be able to see us anyway. We weren’t afraid to soldier into his office because we were stronger together.
But when we got midway through the lobby, a shrill sound raked across our ears. The vibrations rattled our Armor, immediately malfunctioning our cloaking mechanisms and leaving us exposed to everyone. So when we headed for the elevators, the good old security guard halted us in our tracks.
“I know you’re not Miss Hoffman and I know you don’t have an appointment,” the guard said, glaring at me.
“She’s with me.” Rocco held up his badge. “We’re here to ask Lucius Diamond a few questions.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you go up without an appointment.”
“Why make this harder than it has to be? You know I’ll just go get a warrant. Don’t make me go out of my way.”
“Sorry, but looks like you’ll have to get that warrant. I have strict instructions. And I’m not about to lose my job.”
The guard called over his buddy and the two of them escorted us out of the building.
“We could use our speed to run past them,” Julian suggested, always looking for an opportunity to use his extraordinary speed. He was faster than either of us. Rocco and I shrugged.
“Sure, why not? But try not to lose us,” I said.
We stood back and waited. A group of sharply dressed bankers strutted up to the entrance and once the doors were open, we jetted past them and into the building. But the moment we touched the lobby floor, our boots stopped working. Lucius Diamond had some sort of intense protection spell over the entire lobby.
The guards came at us with their hands on their guns. I didn’t want to test out whether or not our Armor was completely shut down and wouldn’t be able to withstand a bullet, so I pulled the guys back outside.
“Got any suggestions?” I asked.
Rocco closed his eyes and concentrated, his brows wrinkling and eyelids twitching. He looked like he was
about to have a seizure.
“Um, you okay, Detective?” I asked.
“Oh, dude, he’s got some badass radar and homing skills. Like a whale or some shit,” Julian explained.
Rocco returned to the living. “We could go in through the roof.”
“How do we get up there?” I stared at Rocco. Though he was strong, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who could scale a building. For the first time in a while, I thought about my faerie friend, Laila, back in San Francisco. Her magical faerie dust would’ve come in handy getting us to the roof.
Julian pointed to a neighboring high-rise. “We go through that building right there, get to the roof and make a running leap across to Diamond’s building.”
“Let’s give it a go,” I said.
After two failed attempts at getting through the other building’s lobby, we stood on the sidewalk feeling defeated. Turned out Lucius Diamond had the entire block under his incredible influence. This only made me want to get to him more. His supernatural powers were way too ostentatious, and I could just see him in his fancy top-floor office laughing to himself with satisfaction. He had made it impossible for us to get to him.
“Dude, how about a helicopter?” Julian said, refusing to let the circumstances bum him out. Mr. Freaking Positivity.
“It ain’t that easy, kid. But I’ll try to pull some strings.”
And so we drove across town in Rocco’s beat-up sedan and rolled up to the precinct to make a request. He told us to wait in the lobby, so I’m not entirely clear on how the detective scored a helicopter, but whatever he did worked. We got in the car and drove to another location where there was a helipad.
“Someone’s coming down from the State Police Aviation in Albany,” Rocco explained. “His name’s Drake. Let’s just say he has a bone to pick with all things evil. And don’t ask him about his face.”
***
By the time the copter arrived, it was almost 5 o’clock and twilight had seeped over the city. New York City looked like an electric organism sparkling to life. Millions of lights filled the streets and buildings, creating a truly spectacular sight. We got into the large copter and buckled up. Rocco put on a headset, explaining to Drake what needed to happen. I noticed a shimmer glowing under his pilot’s helmet and jacket. He was definitely supernatural. I closed my eyes and inhaled his essence to discern which breed. Drake had a slight hint of lemon combined with something like pine. He was some sort of a mage.