“What do you mean?”
“I mean, no one at the Conclave wanted to talk about this matter, not even Veritas in her mighty quest for truth.” Raziel leaned forward and angrily pushed the files so that they went sliding off the other side of the desk.
Jack raised an eyebrow, sighed, and then the papers were miraculously back on the desk, stacked in a neat pile. He smirked when Raziel rolled their eyes.
“You’re welcome. Been a while since I’ve seen you care enough to have a temper tantrum,” Jack pointed out.
Raziel sighed and got to their feet. “Let's call it a day, shall we? At this point, I’m not sure there’s anything more we can do besides try and figure out if there’s any historical precedence for this kind of disappearance.” David and Katha stepped into the doorway behind Jack. Raziel nodded at them. “The internet won’t help this time. It means hitting the actual books.”
“Books?” David said, feigning ignorance and disappointment.
“Yes, very old books,” Raziel added. As the two younger members of the team turned to go, the angel looked back up and softly said, “Goodnight.”
David turned and nodded, and Katha gave him a smile. When it was just Jack and Raziel again, though, the angel’s old friend raised an eyebrow, and then smirked and shook his head as he left the office. Raziel watched him go, and then sat for a while, staring at the pile of reports. Eventually, an idea to came to them. The angel didn’t really feel like another night of the kind of rest that only makes you more tired, so they scooped up the papers, and headed back to the second floor. Raziel was surprised at just how quiet the halls were, even Jack’s room, but then again, they’d all stayed pretty late going through the reports.
The light was already on in Raziel’s room, courtesy of a small amount of miracling of their own. Using supernatural gifts wasn’t something the angel did a lot of, unless it was absolutely necessary, and there had been times throughout history when quite a bit of miracling had been done. Though his book collection wasn’t as extensive as the Guild’s library, he still had enough to line every wall with bookshelves full of books. It gave his quarters the smell of leather and old paper. Raziel moved to the bookshelves, looking for accounts that might match up to what had happened in Marygate carpark. Then they moved to the desk by the bay windows and sat down to read. The angel had forgotten their glasses down in the office but paid it no mind. They were just a prop, anyway, like everything on earth really, even the body everyone saw. None of these things were the real Raziel, but the angel had grown so accustomed to them that they weren’t sure they’d be able to do without them.
After staring out the window for what could have been half the night, or only a few moments, the angel opened the first book, and then the next and the next. Raziel’s books were all limited editions, sometimes the only copy of obscure historical accounts, some of them from other ethereal beings, and would never be seen by human eyes. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any accounts exactly like what they’d been researching. Most disappearances had been the work of supernatural beings acting out against humans or turned out to not have anything to do with the supernatural at all. It was very rare, and incredibly frowned upon to attack each other. So, why had it been done?
After a few hours, Raziel rubbed weary eyes, and closed one of the books. Then they closed the rest of them and cracked a vertebra in their neck. The angel stopped suddenly and stared out the window. For a moment, they could have sworn that someone was standing in the grass near the entrance to the estate. Not unusual in itself, except that they seemed to have been staring at Raziel’s window, and then were gone a moment later. The angel was curious but felt no fear. More than anything, they were annoyed because a thought about the case was just starting to form in their head.
By then it was past the wee hours of the morning, so Raziel decided to at least try and rest if not sleep. The angel leaned back against the headboard of the bed and closed their eyes, willing the dreams to stay away. To their surprise, the next thing the angel knew, it was morning, and time to get back to work.
Chapter Six
More to normal, Raziel was the first one downstairs in the library. The large room was even quieter than usual, and for once, Raziel didn’t like it. The angel had quickly become accustomed to the laughter and camaraderie between their newest team member, and everyone she talked to. In fact, the angel found a smile coming to their face as her voice could be heard in the entryway. Then she and David walked in together, and Raziel’s smile faltered a bit.
“If I didn’t know any better...” they heard a voice mutter from the office, and spun around to see Jack, already sitting in the chair behind the desk.
“You don’t know,” Raziel growled. “You don’t know anything. And why can’t you just take the stairs like normal people?”
This caused Jack to chuckle, which quickly turned into a howl of laughter. “Normal people?” he repeated, trying to catch his breath.
“Did we miss something?” Katha asked as she and David stepped into the office.
“No,” Raziel insisted. “We were just about to get back to work.”
“I would have assumed you were up all night, doing just that,” Jack teased.
“I was,” the angel said with a grimace. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything in my books to explain what might be going on. There are plenty accounts of strange disappearances throughout the millennia, but there’s almost nothing in the literature that corresponds to this, especially not to the disappearance of supernatural beings. It’s simply such an ingrained taboo not to attack each other that there are no accounts of it ever happening like this before.”
The four of them looked one another over, each hoping one of the others would have some kind of bright idea. After a moment or two of reverie though, their quiet was interrupted by the sound of Jack’s phone ringing. He slipped it out of a well-tailored suit pocket and answered. A moment later, his usual resting smug face fell into concern.
“It’s happening again,” he said as he ended the call and got to his feet.
“How do you know?” Katha asked.
“We’ve had censors put up around the city. They measure ethereal energy,” Raziel answered. “It was a long shot that something would happen again in York, but apparently it has.”
“Maybe we can catch them in the act,” David suggested. When the angel nodded, he grabbed the keys for the SUV, and they all hurried out to the garage.
“Where’s the censor?” Raziel asked as they walked.
“The Minster,” Jack answered in surprise.
“The Minster? In broad daylight?” Raziel climbed into the back of the SUV with Katha again and gritted their teeth. Whatever this was, it was escalating. The Minster was the biggest attraction in York and would be crawling with witnesses.
Luckily, the weather was still rainy, and between that and the early hour, it meant that there was less traffic than usual, and they were quickly able to get from the mansion to the city centre. With a little more luck, maybe the tourists weren’t out and about yet. It was impossible to park near the Minster, so they squeezed into the nearest car park and ran back toward the grand cathedral. Delivery trucks were pulling up for the businesses next door, and locals going to work gave them a passing glance and then went back to their business. The area around the Minster itself seemed relatively quiet, though they could now sense a shimmer in the air, and something in the air felt colder than the rain.
“Come on,” Raziel said, and waved for the others to follow.
They quickly traversed the sidewalk and small square leading up to the large building but couldn’t find anything suspicious beyond their own feelings. They ran down along one of the sides, where there were fewer people than had been admiring the cathedral’s entrance. Here, the energy seemed to grow stronger and even the ordinary humans could sense that something was off and walked quickly to get away. Standing, as if admiring the building and oblivious to the rest of the world, was a ta
ll figure with black hair and dark clothing. Raziel stopped in their tracks, sensing immediately that the power was coming from this person. The angel waited as he slowly turned and looked them over.
“You!” Katha cried, and the other three turned to look at her. “That’s Loki,” she breathed.
They all turned back to the man, who slipped a pair of sunglasses off to reveal icy blue eyes. Then he grinned and gave them a little wave. “Ooh, young Valkyrie,” he said, his voice smooth and playful, and gave her a wink.
“What have you done?” Raziel demanded.
“You’re too late,” Loki answered. “He’s gone.”
In an instant, Raziel had him by the collar, and gracefully slammed the Norse god up against the Minster wall. “What have you done?” the angel repeated, their voice low and sinister.
Loki’s smile never wavered, and he stared straight into the angel’s amber eyes with curiosity. Then he looked around to see passersby starting to stop and stare or whisper to each other as they passed. “Causing a bit of a scene, aren’t we?”
Raziel glanced around, and then let go of Loki’s collar, but didn’t back away.
“Ah, the Archangel Raziel, I presume? I’d heard of your temper, though I’d also heard you’d lost some of that fire the last few years. Good to see the rumours were wrong.” Then Loki popped his head around the angel and spotted Jack. A wave of recognition crossed his face, and his mouth dropped open.
“Jack Dynos,” the man introduced himself.
“Is that what you’re calling yourself these days?”
Raziel’s head snapped in Jack’s direction. “You two know each other.”
“Just a bit,” Jack admitted with a twinkle in his eye.
“A bit?” Loki scoffed, finally sliding his way out from between the building and Raziel. “I’d say we know each other better than that.”
“Well,” Jack said slowly, his smile growing. “There was that one night back in fifty-six BC...”
“For the love of...” Raziel muttered, squeezing the bridge of their nose. “What have you been up to, Loki?”
“You can’t trust him,” Katha hissed.
“Ooh,” Loki said again. “Feisty, isn’t she? And just who are the bright young things?”
“Don’t worry about them,” Raziel growled, moving closer to the Trickster again.
“Would it help if I told you this isn’t what it looks like?” Loki asked.
“Not in the least,” the angel replied and then grabbed him by the arm and led him back toward the car park.
“Do you want to handcuff me or something?” Loki murmured but the angel ignored him. “Pity, you look like you could use it.”
When they got back to the Guild mansion, they slipped their culprit in quietly, though the back door. The last thing they needed were people gaping at their door, trying to get in and see the Norse god, or worse yet, offering their opinion on what they thought was going on. The Investigations wing had a series of even more secretive rooms, accessed through a hidden stairwell at the back of the library. At basement level were two interview rooms and two cells. While they held no authority in the human world, the Investigations wing was the last line of defense in the supernatural one. The only higher authority was the Conclave, and very few people ever met with them, and those found guilty of crimes were never heard from again. It was best not even to want to see the Conclave. Many lesser beings, even those that hadn’t done anything wrong, came back profoundly changed, and sometimes less than sane.
The team took Loki downstairs to one of the interview rooms. No one had said anything on the ride back, even the Norse god had been quiet and contemplative. Raziel sat Loki down and then took the chair opposite him while Jack stood behind him. The angel nodded for the other two to wait outside, observing the interview, and learning from it. Not that David hadn’t done this a dozen times already, but Raziel had thought it best that someone keep an eye on the young Valkyrie who was still seething with anger. The angel knew of the tensions between much of Asgard and the Trickster god, but they couldn’t help but feel she was overreacting a bit. Loki’s actions had usually sorted themselves out, and much of the time, turned out to be beneficial to the other gods.
Raziel watched as they walked out of the room, and then turned their attention to Loki. “You don’t deny that you’ve had a hand in these disappearances?” the angel asked.
“No, I don’t deny it. In fact, it was me, I did it,” Loki answered, leaning back in his chair casually.
“Yet, you insist that it’s not what it looks like?” Raziel said sarcastically.
“Come on, Jack,” Loki said, looking up at the man. “Work with me here.”
Raziel slammed a hand down on the table, making the room shake more than it should have. Loki’s eyebrows shot up, but his face dissolved into a smile. Jack simply placed a hand on the angel’s shoulder.
“Ah, good cop, bad cop. It won’t work with me. See, I like this one,” Loki said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. He gave Raziel a flirty smile, his ice blue eyes taking the angel in, and after a moment, nodded. “Okay, fine. You’re assuming that because these people have disappeared that something bad has happened to them. I assure you, it hasn’t. You’re afraid of the wrong person.”
“He’s lying to you!” Katha insisted, as she burst through the door.
“Is she always like this?” Loki asked.
“Actually no,” Raziel said, wondering about the young Valkyrie’s behavior. “Katha...”
“I told you, you can’t trust him. He’s evil.”
“Oh please,” Loki scoffed. “You should know better. We don’t have a concept of pure good and evil. That’s for this one’s lot,” he added, nodding toward Raziel who raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter? Still mourning the death of Odin?”
“The Allfather’s not dead,” Katha countered.
“Exactly. Yet everyone keeps insisting I killed him.”
“Well, you will, at the end of everything,” Katha said, but her voice was growing less sure.
“Of course I won’t. You think I’m interested in the end of the universe? I won’t be anywhere near that fight.”
“You mean you’ll be holed up somewhere, cowering?”
“Of course I will,” Loki chuckled. “Anyone in their right mind would be.”
“Enough,” Raziel said, and nodded for David to take Katha back out. Despite the young woman’s warnings, the angel had started to feel an inkling of truth from the Norse god. Truth and secrets were their specialty, but it was a lot easier with humans, and supernatural beings who weren’t prone to a little deception. Loki was much harder to read but something about his story was starting to ring true.
“You said you weren’t the one we needed to worry about,” Raziel repeated. “What did you mean by that?”
Loki sighed, a look of seriousness crossing his face for the first time. “I’m not sure, exactly.” When Raziel only frowned and shook their head, Loki added, “Look, the people who’ve disappeared, they haven’t been hurt. I’ve simply put them in...stasis, taken them out of their own time and space, so to speak.”
“Why don’t you bring them back and we’ll know for sure?” Jack suggested.
“I can’t.”
“Can’t?” Raziel repeated.
“If I bring them back, they’re dead. That’s why I moved them to begin with.”
“How can you be sure?” Raziel asked.
“What’s going to kill them?” Jack asked at the same time.
Loki growled. “It’s not an exact science,” he said, throwing up his hands. “I just know that there’s something out there, and it’s hunting us. Do you understand what that means?”
Raziel gave him a hard look, but didn’t say anything, and then looked up at Jack, who shrugged. When the angel turned back, they took a deep breath, and then nodded. “Fine, let’s say I give you the benefit of the doubt, that means you’re going to have to stay here and help us figure t
his out. For some reason, you’re in tune with whatever is really happening here, when no one else was aware of it. Even the Conclave is ignoring our requests for information.”
“Now, that is strange,” Loki commented, narrowing his eyes.
“No stranger than you showing up,” Jack commented.
“Yeah, but you’re glad I did, aren’t you?” When Jack only harrumphed, Loki laughed and shook his head. “Look, I’m not sure I like the idea of hanging out in jail...”
“You’ll be given a room,” Raziel said, “and allowed to use the mansion...within limits.”
“Oh my. Aren’t you afraid I’ll escape? Shouldn’t you lock me in a cell?”
“Don’t tempt me,” the angel growled. “Besides, there are safeguards. Even if you magic yourself out of the building, the grounds will hold you. You’ll be unable to move, and we’ll simply come scoop you up again.”
Loki raised an eyebrow. “Alright, though I don’t know how much help I can really be. I only know when and where it’s going to happen.”
A few moments later, the entire group was heading up the stairs to the residential wings. There was no point in trying to hide Loki now; soon enough the entire Guild would know he was there. They knew there would be plenty of people unhappy about the idea, but Raziel would deal with them when the time came. For now, he wanted to get the Norse god situated, and have a long chat with Jack about what he knew, and what he thought.
As they reached the door of a small, unused room, on a wing that wasn’t used for much other than the occasional guest, Raziel stopped. “It might be best if you got settled in and stayed for a while.”
“Expecting an uproar?” Loki teased.
“More than likely.”
“I can’t believe we’re letting him stay here,” Katha mumbled.
Raziel turned, rubbing a weary brow. The angel had noticed David’s conspicuous silence since they’d brought Loki in, but now he looked concerned, though more about Katha than the god. In the time they took looking the young man over, Loki jumped in.
The Veritas Guild Page 5