by Daniel Ruth
“Yes, I have some expertise on elemental enchantment and of course all my kind are skilled in illusion. You look like you are still in pain, would you like me to soothe it?”
I gave her a flat stare. Did she honestly think I would lower my innate spell defenses to anyone, let alone a stranger? A strange elf from Norway? Not happening.
“Eh, no thanks,” I muttered. A sharp pain was coming from one of my upper teeth. Yep, it was gone. A new one was already starting to form. Great, I was teething now. “Um, what kind of elemental magic?”
“I have trained to become one with the elements, to me they are like a part of me and I can...” the rest of her gushing faded away under my disappointed musings. Bah, sounded like she was some sort of mystic. Become one with nature; she just does it. Flipping useless to me. Though if I can ever find out enough to get past the basics I may be able to reverse engineer those kind of spells, given enough time.
As she continued on about the joys of nature, I fished through my torn coat and pulled out an extra card Jeremy had given me. Usually, there's a tiny holographic ad scrolling across it, but it must have gotten damaged in the flight through the last three buildings, or maybe my aura shorted it. Now it just shows Jeremy's basic contact information that’s written on the card. “I would love to hear about your spell stuff, but I am really late for an appointment.” I handed her the damaged card. “Give Jeremy a call when you want to talk some more.” I am sure elves can figure out the phone system on this planet. Unless the Nordic elves were the slow ones. I turned and started to briskly walk away. I think I hardly staggered at all.
“Goodbye Derek,” she called after me, causing me to wince slightly. She seemed a bit bubbly for having been a mugging victim, but then again perhaps not having been the one slammed through a few buildings was good for her attitude.
I waved over my shoulder and called out, “Night Helga.” I could tell when I left the range to manipulate the dumpster when I heard a loud thundering crash behind me. I know it probably didn't even scratch the moron's armor, but it did cheer me up a tiny bit.
Chapter 11
Ten minutes later I was out of the Blight and in front of the Tower Plaza entrance. Unlike the area that Kingston had laired in, this wasn't multiple skyscrapers raising around the street. There was just one massive building that extended like a mountain above the entrance and many blocks on either side. The walls were obsidian, reflective but not really mirrored. On either side of the entrance were two large men dressed in tuxedos. This was more than a bit odd since I was pretty sure that style had gone out the way of the dodos almost a hundred years ago. Despite the recent resurgence in all things 20th century, this looked a little too authentic. I concentrated slightly to examine their auras, and only got a swift glimpse of them before I was staggered by a tremendous lancing pain in my skull. My loose use of my talents had finally come back to roost. Groaning, I massaged my temples as I approached the guards.
“I am here to see the master of the city,” I told the nearest. “I had an appointment at midnight.” The fellow stared at me expressionless for a few seconds. The brief flash I had of his aura before my brain had self-destructed had shown him to be a middling powerful vampire. Perhaps he had nodded off. I turned to the other one. “Your friend seems to have fallen asleep. Could you let your boss know that Derek is here to see him?” Another flash of agony spearing through my head. I was guessing that one of them had sent a telepathic message to someone. How useful it was to know that overuse of one's talent could turn me into a mental detector. Maybe I could learn how to Morse code in screams. I was about to turn and totter over to a bench for a well-deserved sitdown when the first guard finally responded.
“Welcome Mister... Derek,” He paused at my name. I suppose most people have a last name, but I never really saw a need for one. “You are expected, although late.” This time I could feel his attention on me as he actually turned his head to look at me. “You seem injured, do you need assistance?”
I suppose I did look like I had crawled into and out the other side of a meat grinder, but my physical wounds were almost gone except my budding new tooth. It was just my brain that wanted to crawl into a deep hole and hibernate for a week. “Thanks, but no. I could use a moment in a restroom though.”
“Please enter. Follow the lights,” the man commanded, and went back to ignoring me. Perhaps the sight of my blood offended him... or maybe since he was a vampire he was concentrating on not jumping the tasty human. Great, maybe I should have cleaned up beforehand. Shrugging to myself, I walked through the now open doors to beard the lion in his lair.
I stopped just inside in surprise. The entrance was actually a huge atrium with an outdoor motif. Parts were made of meadows. Further in was an actual forest with some impressively sized trees. Above us was a starlit night sky with a full moon. That kicked my sleepy brain into gear; the sky at least was a hologram. The trees and grass looked real, but since I was too pooped to examine their auras, I suppose that the only way I would find out for sure would be to go over and touch them. To heck with that. I just wanted go to my meeting and then head to bed. I hadn't planned on sleeping deeply for a few more weeks, but tonight had really tuckered me out.
A flash of light caught my attention and I turned to look at a softly glowing orb of light gently bobbing in the nonexistent wind. Wait a second, there actually was a breeze and I think I really smelled grass. I would expect this kind of illusion from the shifters, if they had the money, not the vampires. If I saw puppies frolicking in the meadow, I wasn't sure if I could resist puking. I nodded in greeting to willow wisp. “Take me to the restroom.”
It bobbed sharply and headed off to the trees. Following it, I admired the scenery. Honestly, it looked nicer than the government maintained parks in the city and those were almost like camp grounds. A little way into the trees a bush sparkled and then reformed into a modest little door with a gentlemen's symbol on it. I walked in and noted a spacious but utilitarian bath room. On the far side was a door marked 'showers', but I simply went over to the sink and examined the damage. I had already known my clothes were trashed. My coat was lying in tatters on me with copious dribbles of dried blood on it.
Opening up the front, I noted that the shirt I had underneath was in a much better state. Only small spots of blood and a few tears. I think I may have gone through the building headfirst, because my pants were almost free of damage. Mostly dusty. I tossed the coat in the slot in the wall marked trash and patted my clothes mostly free of concrete. The cloud of waste I stirred into the air was efficiently whisked away by the building's ventilation system.
Then I examined my face. It was caked in blood, but my flattened nose had reconstructed itself and it now looked like someone had bled on me instead of the other way around. Appreciating the old fashioned water faucet instead of the more common sonic cleaners most modern businesses used, I went to work scrubbing my face and hair of the blood. I understand all the supernaturals in the city were encouraging the retro trend. Not only did the sonic cleaning drive them batty, but many of them were from simpler times and were actively encouraging the fad since they felt more comfortable in that environment, regardless of how ecologically unfriendly it was.
The water was briefly stained with red before running clear again. After a few minutes of soapy activity, I looked up again, and was able to see my face once more. A bit pale and tired, but definitely better. I sighed, back to the work at hand.
Exiting the room, I saw the wisp bobbing in the air, patiently waiting for me. As the door faded behind me, I followed it deeper into the woods, where another door appeared where a bush once was. This one appeared to be an elevator. The doors slid to the side as I approached and I stepped in. The inside was more traditionally set in chrome. Over the door, there were numbers, but there were no controls. I suppose you weren't coming up unless you were invited.
The numbers above the door rapidly changed; however, I felt no movement. I suppose they could be using
momentum compensation, but Jeremy said that it was notoriously expensive and remarkably buggy unless you used the proprietary systems in the air cars, which were for short sharp shocks. Most had a tendency to overcompensate if used for more than a moment, and after a brief spike of over a hundred gravity force there wasn't much left of a human except jelly glued to the wall. I made a mental note not to let Jeremy visit. A minute later the door opened into a wide, though not absurdly large hallway. Unlike the atrium below, there were people bustling to and fro, obviously having far more interesting things to do than look at me, though I think I did draw a glance of disdain from a few.
The glowing orb floated sedately down the corridor, and I followed behind while I looked at all the people I was passing, trying to guess which ones were vampires and which were humans. I was pretty sure the ones that slinked down the hall with superhuman grace were vampires, as were the ones wearing clothing from the wrong era. The others I really couldn't tell without making my brain explode again. Since the agony was just now dying down to a dull throb, it wasn't really that hard to restrain my curiosity.
After a few minutes of trudging down seemingly endless corridors, I arrived at a rather ornate double door. The designs on the borders were reminiscent of another era, something I suppose I would be getting used to if I dealt with bloodsucking immortals long enough.
I politely knocked once and walked in. I may have acted a bit too soon, since a middle aged gentleman, seated at a long dinner table more suited for a party of twenty rather than one, was just waiving a manservant towards the door. The gentleman had graying temples, an elegant aristocratic nose, and a well-groomed mustache. He had what appeared to be a fluted glass full of wine in one hand and a sheath of papers in the other. With a raised eyebrow, he nodded towards me. “Won't you come in, Derek.”
“Greetings,” I nodded and smiled. It was obvious that this was more of a casual dining room than an office. “Are you Mr. Fiero? Nice to meet you and...” My eyes swept the rest of the table and took in the other two people at the table. One was an apparently young woman sitting demurely to the man's left. She was a dark haired European beauty dressed in the classic sleek black dinner formal. To her left sat a familiar looking vampire. The smile left my face.
“I see you recognize me,” the man stated dryly.
“Well, you left a strong impression on me, despite our short acquaintance,” I replied uncomfortably. I did indeed know the man, since he had apparently tried to assassinate me barely a day before. He was dressed smartly in a black and scarlet suit, having apparently abandoned his work suit and tie for something more fashionable and less reduced to small rags.
He had come rather closer than I liked to success, and it occurred to me that I was in a room with at least two very old vampires. Perhaps three if the girl was more than she appeared to be. True, the vampire was more dangerous to me due to his formidable dagger rather than his personal power, but if one old vampire had a magical weapon there was no reason to think that other vampires may not have similar tools. The fact that he was here spun this encounter into bit more of a sinister twist. My eyes flickered from the assassin to the master of the city.
“Well, this puts a different bent on things,” I said mildly to Mr. Fiero. “Does this mean that you don't truly need my services?” This might not only put a crimp in my master plan but bode ill for my health. Still no point in standing around looking stupid. I could be in a comfortable seat and achieve that. I shrugged to myself and sat at the corner of the table, where I had a nice view of the three. The woman smiled slightly at this while Mr. Fiero's rather bland expression was interrupted by a facial tic.
“Actually, Sebastian is visiting at my request,” the master's nodded in the assassin's direction. “I belatedly heard that he had... engaged his services and was working at cross purposes to me. I asked him here to ensure that all parties knew that such behavior was ill advised, for the greater good of the city. I am sure there won't be any more troublesome incidents.” At the last statement, the pleasant look toward Sebastian turned sharp, before fading back to the original pleasant mask.
I nodded and smiled. If I was to take it at face value it was all a happy circumstance. It also made a certain amount of sense that they wouldn't try to kill me right after I had agreed to work for them. Of course, it could be a conspiracy. Oh well, I would take the easiest route for the moment. I was too tired to overanalyze it at the moment.
“If I had known that our master had plans in place, I would never have taken actions against our interests,” Sebastian declared earnestly, one hand on his chest and a devilish glint in his eyes. Normally I appreciate sarcasm, but since the bastard had come very close to seriously injuring me I was not an appreciative audience. “I will, of course, contact my employer and inform him that I will have to forgo our agreement.”
“Don't bother. I've already come to terms with him. No doubt you'll hear from him soon,” I stated shortly. Then my nose caught the scent of something delightful. For the first time, I registered that the table actually had some food on it. Actually, it had a lot of food on it, mostly French cuisine I was not familiar enough with except to know its nationality. I looked at it and back to my host in puzzlement. Vampires don't eat, though they may drink almost anything. Either the female was not a vampire or this was intended as a more sociable setting than I had thought. Obviously Mr. Fiero noted where my attention was.
“I apologize for the food not being as fresh as I would like. I was expecting you a little sooner. You look a little worse for wear. Did you run into any problems?” he asked me politely, giving a minute look at our local psychopathic killer.
“Yes, well, I took a shortcut through the Blight and got jumped by a freaking fairy-lover,” I grumped. Maybe I was still a little bitter. Sebastian's eyes narrowed, and I could see he was thinking what was directly across Blight and at what time I would have been at his employer's.
“Now, now Derek isn't that a little bit close-minded of you?” the woman spoke up for the first time. I'm afraid I didn't really understand her reference so I looked at her in puzzlement.
“Um, no, not really.” I put it out of my mind and started piling my plate with the food in front of me. Apparently it was all for me and it seemed a pity to let it go to waste. “So, your fellow... what's his face, tell you what I needed from you order to accomplish what you want?” I asked in between mouthfuls.
“I admit he was somewhat incoherent. He seemed to be recovering from some sort of debilitating illness,” he stated slowly as he watched me eat with a slight downward curl of his lip.
“I hope he's feeling better,” I muttered. I may have mentioned that my family line has some inherited skills that run towards cooking and alchemy. It's not usually very useful since I don't brew potions, though I occasionally cook something fancy for Jeremy. These mostly dormant skills were slowly prodded to life as I noted that the one of the spices seemed out of place. One of the dishes I had scooped onto my plate was laced with enough powdered silver to send a lycanthrope into convulsions. It was actually delicious; I never thought of putting precious metals into food before. Tasty, but definitely not normal. Like eating a treasure horde. I got a second and third helping of that one.
“He is. He was back to normal within an hour, though he still seemed somewhat incoherent.” I made a note of the recovery time and side effects. I tasted another dish and noted traces of arsenic and wolfsbane. Okay, that was definitely not normal. I was pretty much immune to poison but either they were trying to kill me or I was in the middle a fishing expedition. Sighing sadly to myself, I pushed aside the food. I promised myself another nice fresh turkey when I got home. I glanced at Sebastian and wondered if he was responsible for ruining my dinner, or if the other two were involved. He looked remarkably innocent for a cold blooded killer.
“Anyway, you asked me here because you're experiencing a rash of destructive creatures. Well, you're in luck. I happen to know why it's happening and how to fix it.” I pa
used as Mr. Fiero stiffened in his seat and the woman's eyes narrowed into slits. Sebastian's face took on a smiling expression. He seemed to be waiting for more.
Mr. Fiero leaned forward in his chair and I could feel his aura flare outward, blanketing the room like a thick invisible smog. I knew this trick. Most supernatural creatures could flare their auras, sort of push out their intrinsic magical nature. It was sort of magical pissing contest. The larger your magical reserves or higher on the magical pyramid you were the more you could make yourself felt. Mortals could often be frozen in fear by the unnatural sensation. It triggered the fight-or-flight run in lesser entities. Aside from that, it also made most technological-based sensing or recording devices incoherent, and the more modern technology based off of quantum logic computing were completely shut down by it unless it was shielded. Apparently, it did something to randomize the electron spin. At my house, it just seemed to blow my stuff up, so Jeremy had to replace it.
“Actually, I was hoping you could identify the creatures. I wouldn't have expected a professor to know more,” he stated menacingly, his eyes almost glowing with energy.
“Then you really lucked out, I can do that too most likely,” I smiled charmingly. At least I liked to think it was charming. Jeremy says I look like an ass when I do that expression, but I am positive it's charming. Sebastian's smile widened. Hmm, perhaps I did look like an ass.
“Mr. Derek, if you have come to blackmail us with your beasts you'll find this to be your last dinner,” Mr. Feiro stated slowly, each word having a weight. His aura deepened, becoming almost visible and the lighting started to flicker.
I raised my eyebrow in surprise. Apparently he had gotten the wrong idea about me. I chuckled and was shocked when my host sprang up, leaped across the table and grabbed my throat. If I had been human, I don't think I would have seen him move. He tightened his grip and I think a mortal would have been choking. I frowned; this was disgusting. An undead construct was touching me.