A body smashed out through one of the front windows in an explosion of splintered wood and broken glass. There was the sound of a door opening and Lily was out and vaulting over the car’s bonnet before Ceri or the detectives even knew what was happening. The half-succubus was wearing an incongruous outfit; a wide skirt and a bodice, low heeled boots, and steel bracers on her forearms. She had explained to Ceri that a skirt was easier to move in than trousers, and seeing her now it was easy to believe. Ceri moved as quickly as she could to follow.
Behind her she heard John speaking rapidly into the radio. ‘Watchtower four entering area. Check fire! Watchtower three following.’
Ceri could see the two daggers in Lily’s hands now. Dakag demons were big and powerful, the kind of demons you summoned as guards and attack dogs. They had thick hides and the low calibre bullets in the police guns were probably having trouble penetrating, but Lily’s daggers were enchanted. She had had them made to kill her father if she had to, but they would work just as well on any demon.
There were cops lying against all four walls of the front room of the house. The demon stood in front of the one door leading further in. As Ceri entered, the lizard-like monstrosity was swinging huge, clawed hands at Lily. The half-demon seemed to be almost ignoring it. She danced; sliding under the swinging limbs, her blades sweeping around her and slicing the demon’s tough skin like butter.
Xavier was in a corner near the broken window. Ceri could hear him speaking; his throat microphone picking up his orders and relaying them outside. ‘Squad B, prepare to move up. Squad D, we need heavy weapons, move in.’
No matter how effective Lily was being at keeping the demon locked down, it was big and it could take a lot of damage. It would take her too long to wear it down. Ceri lifted her hands, blue-white energy boiling in her palms and twining up her arms. ‘Lily! Down!’ she yelled and her demon pet flipped backward, a clawed hand passing inches from her face as she went. Ceri thrust her hands forward and a bright comet of energy flew across the room, striking the demon in the face.
There was an inhuman howl of pain and the smell of burning flesh. The demon fell to its knees and then crashed forward onto the carpet, its head slowly dissolving as the raw magic Ceri had thrown ate at it.
‘Squad B, move in!’ Xavier said and Ceri stepped quickly aside as more police rushed into the room, heading for the inner door. The cops around the room were starting to stir and Ceri went to the nearest of them to check him. Lily, she noticed, was doing the same with another. The man’s body armour had deep gouges torn into the fabric coating, but it looked like the ceramic plate beneath had shielded him from the brunt of the impact. He looked up at her as she checked him, nodded, and gave her a thumbs-up. The others were regaining their feet too, battered, bruised, but basically unharmed it seemed.
‘Ceri,’ Lily called from a corner, ‘could you take a look at this one?’
The man was bleeding badly from a wound in his thigh. The demon had kicked him, from the looks of it, and the claws on its feet were, if anything, worse than the ones on its hands. Lily was pressing on the wound, but there was blood seeping out between her fingers. Ceri put her hand over Lily’s and concentrated, the familiar healing light flickering as Ceri’s magic rewove the policeman’s flesh and closed the wound.
Ceri blinked and looked at Lily. ‘Did you feel that?’ she asked quietly.
‘It felt like you kind of… drew the power through me,’ Lily replied.
Ceri nodded. ‘Like with the staff…’ She stopped as John and Kate entered the room. ‘We’ll look into that later.’ Her voice rose as she turned to the detectives. ‘We need a medic in here John. I’ve patched the wound, but he lost a lot of blood.’
‘On their way,’ Kate said. ‘Xavier cleared us. He says the place is empty.’ She was frowning, perplexed. ‘I don’t get it,’ she added, ‘no one left.’
Straightening up, Ceri walked through into the rear of the house. It was not a particularly large building; behind the front room was a kitchen, a flight of stairs leading up from directly in front of the back door. A cop knelt in the rear doorway now, braced against the frame with his gun set snuggly against his shoulder. The only other way out of the room was the door under the stairs which was still closed.
Xavier looked down from the stairs, addressing himself to the two detectives. ‘No one went out the back door,’ he said, ‘Squad C would have seen them. We can’t find anyone on the upper floors, though there’s some evidence that people have been sleeping up here. Where did they go?’
‘What about that door?’ Ceri asked, pointing at the wooden door Kate was actually standing beside, set into the wall under the staircase.
Kate turned and looked behind her. ‘There’s nothing…’ she frowned and reached out, her fingers moving over the surface.
‘What door?’ John said, looking at the surface.
Xavier had clearly had more experience in the field than either of them. ‘Middleshaw, back off,’ he snapped. ‘Briggs, Evans, flanking positions on Miss Brent. Think you can take it down?’
Kate was backing away from the door, pushing John behind her into the front room. ‘It’s just a visual illusion,’ she called up. ‘Not even a tactile component.’
Xavier nodded. ‘All the same, could you blow the door in, Miss Brent?’
Lily slipped around behind Ceri as he spoke, apparently forming a backstop for her friend, but also positioning herself so that her leg was in contact with Ceri’s. Ceri nodded up at Xavier and lifted her right hand, cupping her palm. This time she drew power through Lily on purpose, just to see if she could do it; Lily managed to strangle the sigh of pleasure, but the feeling of arousal Ceri felt from her was unsuppressed. Pushing down the urge to giggle despite the tension in the room, Ceri stretched her hand out and tossed another, smaller, ball of energy toward the hidden door. The magic struck the wood, dissolving the illusion in a rush of light, and spreading rapidly as it reduced the door to dust.
A torch shone into the darkness beyond, held by John from just inside the front room. ‘Stairs,’ he said. ‘Going down to a cellar, I think.’
‘Evans, Briggs,’ Xavier said, starting down the stairs, ‘you’re on point. Kelly and Partridge behind them.’ Evans and Briggs moved forward, flicking on the torches mounted on their weapons. Soon the four men were moving down the steep stairs in a zigzag formation since it was too narrow to walk down shoulder-to-shoulder. There was a nervous period of waiting before one of the four emerged again.
‘It’s empty down there, Chief,’ the man said. ‘There’s a manhole cover in the floor and I think you should see this.’
The cellar had been laid out with a summoning circle in the middle of the floor. In one corner was an unconscious woman, chained to the wall by a thick metal collar. Even the stench which came up from the half-open manhole did not wake her, but she seemed to be breathing.
‘Kept on to feed Dad,’ Lily commented, nodding at the girl.
Ceri was looking down the hole in the floor. ‘Well, they probably went through there, but there’s no way I can track them through that.’
Xavier looked at her. ‘Track them? You’re a werewolf now?’
‘I can be,’ Ceri replied. She moved over to where Lily was standing, taking her hand and closing her eyes.
‘We need to get forensics in,’ John said, ‘and some medics down here for the girl. Maybe she can tell us something. Maybe we can still get something out of this.’ He looked around at Kate. ‘We’ll get those photographs out to Uniform.’
Ceri looked around at them. ‘Do you need us?’
‘Can you see anything around here that can help us?’ John asked.
‘If I could, I’d have said.’
‘You two need an escort home?’ Xavier asked.
‘We’ll be fine,’ Ceri said, smiling.
Xavier chuckled, despite the situation. ‘Yes, I’d imagine you will be.’
Mayfair
‘You’re sure Dad’s
in there?’ Lily whispered. They were across the road from the Dubh Linn, watching the steps leading up to it and trying to look as though they were hookers. Lily, at least, could almost manage it in the dress she was wearing.
‘I’m sure,’ Ceri replied.
‘And we’re not telling the police because?’
Ceri grimaced. ‘They knew about the hit on the Islington place. They had time to duck out. And someone told the press people about us visiting Greycoat Street. I think there’s a leak in the Greycoats.’
‘And we’re not going in after him because?’
‘There’s something in there, Lil. Something I don’t want to meet.’
There was silence for a few seconds. Then Lily said, ‘People used to say the place was haunted.’ Ceri glanced at her. ‘They called her the Black Lady. I never saw her, but some people said she was this dark shape that would appear sometimes, or a voice that spoke to you out of nowhere.’
‘I heard a voice. It was ordering Sean around. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it.’
‘No one bosses Sean around, and I was kind of out of it, but I didn’t hear anything.’
‘This woman did,’ Ceri replied. ‘Out of thin air.’
Lily was silent. Then she looked up. ‘There.’
Someone was walking up the steps; a stooped figure in an old trench coat. He was not easy to see properly, but he looked like he had a long nose. ‘Tanner,’ Ceri said. ‘Probably anyway.’
‘Do we follow him?’
Tanner was heading toward New Bond Street and Ceri took her time to consider before nodding and starting off after him. There were people about, but they ignored the two women walking together through Mayfair, aside from the wolf whistle which came from the opposite side of the street at one point. Tanner remained oblivious, continuing on his way until he reached Berkeley Square, and then walking around the small park to a building on the opposite side.
Ceri and Lily walked past when he went in. It was a tall structure in white stone with a lot of windows, all of them with thick, red curtains blocking the view through them. Ceri could see the wards around all the windows and the door, and the small, brass plaque which was the only indication that the place was not a private home.
‘The Archmage Club,’ Ceri said as they walked past. ‘Figures.’
‘We go in?’
Ceri shook her head. ‘Carter said we should stay away. We’ll loop back to the Dubh Linn and wait. Maybe we can spot your father coming out.’
Battersea, May 4th
There was no keeping her feelings from her mate. Ceri wanted to enjoy herself, her pack time, but she was worried and Michael knew it. She did not realise where he was taking her as they ran through the park until suddenly she caught a scent as they ran into some trees, and there was Anita. Michael rubbed cheeks with her as she growled a greeting, and then stepped aside so that Ceri could do the same.
She worried, Anita growled. Ceri slumped. Was she really that transparent?
Need see mate’s demon, Michael responded. In danger. Mate in danger.
Ceri was about to say there was no need to do anything of the kind, but Anita’s hand reached out and clamped over the end of Ceri’s muzzle. Protect pack friends, Anita rumbled. Alpha would want. And that was the end of the discussion.
At least she got to run with Michael some more. They picked up Ceri’s satchel with her clothes and ran through the city streets to High Tower to change shape and clothes. Michael settled into his teenage form with his usual slight discomfort, though Ceri noticed that it seemed to pass more quickly than usual. She was not sure whether it was because he was more at home now in bare skin, or because he had a job to do.
She watched as he selected clothes from the drawer in her room which had been set aside for his outfits; there were a growing number of them. He turned, pulling his mesh T-shirt over his head, and paused with one arm in the thing. ‘What?’ he asked.
‘Dressing to impress?’
He finished pulling the shirt on with a slightly sheepish grin. ‘Well… Lily likes this.’
Ceri giggled. ‘Careful, that’s how I started. Now I’m a brazen hussy.’
‘I’d noticed.’
Ceri’s eyebrows raised. ‘Oh had you?’
‘Well, I’m dressed and you’re just sitting there, naked.’
‘Maybe I was hoping for a quickie before we left.’
‘Maybe you were, but we’ve got work to do.’ He smirked at her. ‘And you know we’ll be up until dawn once we get Lily home.’
Ceri reached for the teddy she had picked out. ‘You’re right, let’s get moving.’
Soho
Lily looked a little surprised to see them, but the big smile suggested it was a nice surprise at least. She made a play of licking her lips at Michael and sat them down at the bar. Then she had to rush off to one of her tables.
‘If you’re going to keep coming in here on your off-nights,’ Alec commented, ‘Carter’s going to start employing you full time.’
‘I got ordered to come and protect a friend of the pack,’ Ceri replied. ‘And if I worked every night, when would I get time with Michael?’
‘I could always use a good bouncer,’ Carter said from behind her. She almost jumped; he had a remarkable ability to sneak up on her. ‘Could I have a word, my dear? Privately.’
Ceri twitched an eyebrow at him, but slipped off her stool. ‘I’ll keep an eye on things here,’ Michael said as she followed Carter to his office.
‘The werewolf guard squad,’ Alec added, chuckling, and Michael joined in.
Carter waited for Ceri to be sat on one of the large, soft couches before speaking. ‘I said I would make some enquiries.’
‘You found something?’
‘I have a message,’ Carter replied, ‘and an offer. I’m passing this on to you without comment. This is your choice.'
Ceri blinked at him. ‘You’re scaring me, Carter.’
His face was quite serious. She looked into his eyes and they were stony, expressionless; an act of will to avoid giving her any hint. ‘They are called the Order of Merlin,’ he said. ‘A self-conferred title, there’s no real link to the ancient sorcerer. They were founded during the years immediately after the Shattering in an attempt to bring together the greatest minds in magic to stabilise the world. Another conceit. In the nineteen-sixties a young wizard named Markus Devall joined the Order. He brought with him ancient texts revealing the source of Merlin’s power and the means of gaining it. The Order wishes to offer you that power. They want you to join them. They’ve given you one week to decide.’
Ceri’s mouth worked for a second or two as her brain tried to get around what Carter was telling her. Finally she said, ‘And if I don’t join them?’
‘They will continue to drive Lily mad. Alexandra will be assassinated and her pack destroyed. Either Lily will kill you, or you will be forced to kill her, and then they will come after you themselves.’
Ceri nodded. ‘A week?’ Carter nodded back calmly, but she saw his fist clench. ‘And they’re going to give me the “power of Merlin” and safety if I join them?’
‘That’s the offer.’ There was a lot of tension in the man’s jaw.
‘I was right then.’
Carter’s frown was bemused. ‘About what?’
‘My mother entrusted you with that letter.’ It had been an apology letter, to be delivered to Ceri after the death of her parents. Carter had delivered it, as requested, when the time was right, but had not known what was in it. ‘And in it she said I had to decide for myself whether to trust you. I did, and I wasn’t wrong.’
He could not quite keep his lips from twitching into a smile. ‘Why the sudden revelation?’
‘I already know how Merlin got his power and it wasn’t how they get theirs. You didn’t tell them.’
This time he could not stop himself smiling. ‘No, no I didn’t.’ He straightened his face again. ‘They are a significant threat, however. What are you going to do?’
Ceri looked down, considering. Lily was taken care of, though she was not going to tell Carter how; he would not have approved. Direct threats like the ones they had made against Alexandra and herself were actually almost certainly empty. There was too much attention focussed on Ceri and Lily right now, and that attention would immediately refocus if Ceri were attacked. However, this Order could still cause problems through more discreet means. ‘It seems like I need some leverage,’ Ceri said.
‘Leverage?’
‘I think it’s best if you don’t know anything about it. That way they can’t accuse you of breaking your oath.’
Carter nodded. ‘Thank you for thinking of me. They’re going to contact me in a few days to arrange a location for the meeting. I’ll let you know what they say.’
‘Great,’ Ceri said. She stood up, her fists clenching at her sides. ‘I think I need a drink.’
‘I think,’ Carter said, ‘I’ll join you.’
Battersea, May 5th
Ceri was not used to walking through Battersea Park as a human and in daylight. She smirked slightly at the thought and glanced to her right where Lily was walking alongside her. Having Lily there was unusual too; Lily was the non-wolven side of her life.
‘What are you grinning at?’ Lily asked.
‘This is the first time you’ve been to Alexandra’s island, isn’t it?’
‘Um, yeah.’
‘I don’t usually get this deep into the park without turning furry.’
Lily grinned. ‘Well. if you want to strip and change, I won’t complain.’
‘I’ll skip.’
Lily gave her a mock pout. ‘So how are we getting across the lake? Hire a boat.’
Ceri paused at the water’s edge, reached out to put a hand on Lily’s shoulder, and closed her eyes, concentrating for a second. ‘I think we’ll walk,’ she said, and then set off across the still water.
Lily blinked at her and then hurried to follow. ‘Show off.’
Alexandra had the kettle on. It was slightly irritating in a way that it was almost impossible to surprise her, but Ceri had learned to live with it. ‘Lily, my dear,’ the old woman said as they walked into the clearing, ‘it’s nice to see you here. Tea?’
Thaumatology 03 - Legacy Page 16