by Daniel Ruth
“A club for who? No one will dare set foot in the Blight.”
“The vamps and shifters will. A few hours out from under the thumb of the Council and control of the registered packs. I can see it getting a bit too popular,” Mei chimed in. “Assuming they don’t kill each other. It will likely be divided into new territories eventually once they rediscover they can’t live with each other.”
“How does this affect you? You are in no danger from a dozen packs of shifters and vampires,” I asked Faramond. He was suddenly very chatty. I admit it was different than what I had imagined a conversation with him would go. A lot less grunting.
“Agreed, but while milady sends me on an errand she may be vulnerable to trash like that. She can usually handle humans but supernaturals are an unacceptable danger.”
As they hurried off, I turned back into the house and took a notepad to the counter. I started to list the various things I needed Jeremy to do tomorrow including having a contracting company fix the house across the way, maybe a few barrels of holy water and stock up some generic food for our surprise guests. Or at least it was a surprise to me.
I looked up and Mei was still glaring at me. “I am sure I mentioned the issue with communicators and other electronics around here,” I stated defensively.
“Do I look like I care about some stupid terminals?” I didn't reply to this, because it looked like she was caring deeply about something and if it wasn't the wrist terminal then I didn't know what it was. “How come I am staying in this house if you own half the block?”
I did, in fact, own the entire block, but I didn't feel like this was the proper time to share this. “I just thought we could work better to deal with Jin if you were here. There's also the issue of him having already sent his minions after you. If your actually here then we should have an easier time dealing with additional issues.”
“So it's not because you want me?” she snarked. She sure had loosened up a lot. I paused to look her over. She was an extremely attractive Asian woman. Maybe in a few years I may be interested in a fling. Most of the multi species shapshifters were open to interspecies relationships. I wouldn't be ready to truly mate and have children for a few centuries yet, but maybe a little recreation would be acceptable. But not now. I was about to explain some of this when she continued.
“Gotcha!” I was beginning to think I was going to miss the stiff and unfriendly Mei Ling I had first met.
“Bah. Whatever. In the morning why don't you tell our guests about Jin and his connection the circle guy? Since they are enjoying my hospitality they may feel obligated to help out.”
“Wouldn't that be taking advantage of them?”
“It's up to them and there's actually a good chance that it’s all connected. Jin wants to open a portal to a demon dimension and the others were in communication with him. Sounds like a recipe for possible Armageddon to me.”
“Will they be any use? Estella seems a bit... too nice to be of any use in a fight.”
I thought back to how hard I had been hit in the Blight. “I don't know about the álfar, but Faramond is the strongest thing I have ever seen in pure physical terms. Not too swift, but strong. If he is willing to help out I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. As long as we don't ask him to walk and chew gum at the same time.”
She gave me a skeptical look. Maybe I was still bitter about our first meeting but he definitely wasn't a rocket scientist.
I heard a cooking alarm faintly chime in the kitchen. “Oh crud! The foods finally ready and our guests left. I better get a care package ready. Want to walk it over to our friends?” Wouldn't want to break that odd hospitality oath I had been suckered into the first night. I suppose I had better have Jeremy research what was expected in ancient Norway. “You girls can gossip about your favorite gowns.” Mei glared at me. I held up my arms defensively. “Or favorite methods to kill wizards...”
Chapter 14
Once I was alone I took my shirt off and examined my chest with my finger. No pain anymore, but what the heck caused the horrible burning? I looked at the rune that been branded into me a few minutes before I noted a change. There was a flaw in the design. The perfectly proportioned lines delineating the “human” rune now had a shadow down the middle. Somehow the engraved tooth had placed a wedge in the trap the ancient dragon had left me in.
I immediately tried to take on my own shape and found myself on the floor writhing in pain. Gasping, trying to get my breath back, I nodded to myself. The rune was still in place. Taking a more cautious approach, I increased my size slowly. I grew to my normal human maximum size of nine feet with only a slight pang in my chest and only came to the hard agonizing limit at twelve feet kneeling on the floor partly from the ceiling and partly from the burning of the rune. I barely even took note of the tearing of my pants. Not good but better than before. My swords would actually look proportional in that form as opposed to merely cartoonish.
I shrunk to my usual form and formed the long sharp fingernails I had been constrained to use, then gradually shifted them to true talons, edged and extending five inches long. I clicked them together and ignored the steady throbbing aching over my heart. Now those were weapon grade talons. A bit small due to my present size but overall I was happy.
Finally looking at the mirror I attempted to take on some of my native characteristics. I managed the slit pupils and vaguely scaly look, but I couldn't get my jaw to extend enough to accept significantly larger teeth without getting lightheaded from pain. Still, it was better than anything else in over a year. I finally stopped after an hour of testing my new limits, aching but satisfied.
Now that I had tired myself out again and the thrill of exploration had faded, I floated my rune inlaid tooth towards my eyes to get a better look. Sure enough, the runes for 'truth' and 'hunt' were chiseled in a very neat hand on the side of the surface. Runes were a very old form of magic. It predated all other forms I knew of and, like most things magical, the older it was the more powerful it was. Supposedly the oldest entities created them soon after the fires of creation had cooled and the runic language still was bound to these primal entities. A very dangerous magic indeed. The myths I read said that Odin sacrificed something to gain knowledge of this power. It varies from story to story. Maybe it was his eye or maybe it was being nailed to the World Tree. Regardless, he supposedly learned it, but he certainly wasn't the first.
Examining the tooth carefully, I could see that it had attempted to force me into my true form upon contact. I used my senses to carefully weigh the enchantment in my tooth with the rune on my chest. Mr. Evil was a powerful son of a bitch. The 'human' rune easily dwarfed the power of the tooth. Even if I stabbed the tooth into the heart of the rune, and lived through it, it would likely just shatter the tooth. If I ever got truly desperate I suppose I could try it but I wasn't that far gone yet. The release of conflicting energies could be horrific and very probably lethal. Maybe if I could figure out some way to fortify it first.
Checking the time, I was vaguely surprised Mei hadn’t come back. I hadn’t heard any screams so, hopefully, the women were getting along like a house on fire. I winced as I thought about another house destroyed and walked over to the counter where I kept Jeremy’s list of jobs and added ‘clean carpet’. He may not even invoice me for it considering it was his blood the cleaning service would be removing.
I slipped on a new pair of pants, shrugged my shirt back on, tucked it in as I went to the basement for a few supplies and then up back to the living room. I had been studying the new texts a lot in the last day and it was time to try them out, just so I could settle the thoughts and theories racing around my head. I moved over to the vintage holo system I had and looked at it. It was a small box that looked more like a VCR box than a communication and entertainment system. I shook my head as I recalled all the times blue smoke had wafted from the seams and the despairing looks Jeremy had given me as he realized once again that he needed to fix it.
Kneeling,
I laid out the assortment of small vials I had brought up with me as well as a tiny gas burning crucible. I quickly mixed a bit of powered silver, mercury with a dab of my blood and waited for them liquefy. My blood would be the binding material, even though it was the thinnest of the liquid compounds it would be the last to vaporize. It shared my own resistance to heat. I only needed a pinch of energy to enhance my immunity to heat and keep the mercury from evaporating off too soon. Once the materials had come to a boil, I dipped my finger into the vessel to ensure it was at the proper consistency. It was, so I brought it up to my lips and gulped it into my mouth. The silver tasted delicious. I can only imagine that it was how humans felt about chocolate. Ignoring the flavor, I swished with the pleasantly warm liquid twice and spat it out. It was still barely simmering, which was important. Being what I am I can take a few short cuts and bypass some very expensive and complicated alchemy equipment but it took a bit of practice. The first two attempts ended with me pouring the congealing liquids into a waste box. The third time I was lucky and the liquids cooled into a thick yet homogeneous gel. I considered this most fortuitous, because I certainly had not been practicing alchemy except the bare minimum required for my other endeavors. I was going by what I had read from the tomes, educated guesses and my instincts.
Forming my forefinger nail into a short but sharp talon, I dipped it into the simmering mixture and began to draw. A small circle with various symbols and interconnecting lines. It was distantly related to the ward I had inscribed on Jeremy's wall to keep aura effects out but with what I had learned in the books I was able to make it a bit more basic. Ideally this ward could completely cancel all magical effects in a small area and prevent any spells from working on the object or area it was affixed to. My skills weren't up to that challenge yet, but this crude attempt should... hopefully, allow this device to be resistant to the damaging effects of all the practice I was conducting in the basement, trying to get my magical skill up to par. I was really getting tired of not knowing if I could order groceries that day or would have to walk to the store.
Once I was done and the liquids had fully frozen into solidity, I examined the ward. Not bad for a first try. The circles were almost perfect, the lines just about spot on. My senses detected that I could have applied the energy a bit more evenly, but it may just do what I hoped. If not, Jeremy would have to scrounge the second-hand stores for a replacement. If this worked I may be able to put it on Jeremy's communicator so he could stop glaring at me whenever he had to replace it. I wasn't sure if it would work on the newer quantum circuits, but I had to start somewhere. It actually looked attractive, almost artsy. Out of place on my communicator terminal box, but pretty.
The next few days passed pretty calmly. I couldn't do much without more information that the shifters and vampires were already gathering. Jeremy and Mei traded information while I listened with half an ear. He would then fiddle around with the communicator in the holo mode to keep track of the information. Despite my active research into the workings of circles, it continued to function, which was a promising indication for my studies. The vampires hadn't sent anyone yet so I assumed they were still looking.
Meanwhile, I was keeping myself busy. I had long ago memorized the books I had raided, but I still picked them up and studied them. Going over the more esoteric parts and trying to tease out understanding. I even tried a bit of psychometry, but my poor skills in that particular school of extra sensory perception were sadly lacking and it didn't really help much. Still I studied the tomes, practiced incorporating the knowledge I was gaining into my existing circles, and even inscribed a few more on my workshop floor. I hadn't mastered the method of linking multiple circles together into a functioning matrix, but I judged my progress good.
I occasionally had dinner or lunch with the álfar, but they were quick affairs. Mei spent far more time with my new guests and I would often hear the murmur of their voices from upstairs as I puttered around in the basement workshop. I think she had gotten a promise of aid or alliance from them after hearing about Jin's plans and his likely involvement with the álfar oracles' apocalypse. My mind was on other things so I wasn't positive. One thing I did make time for was melting down a bar of gold and forming it into a chain. I affixed a thick band to the tooth and then attached the chain. Once I had that I spent an additional hour gently stroking the metal and carefully folding magic into it.
While not a true spell, it was a tried and true method to enhance physical objects to make them stronger. The chain may never achieve the indestructible characteristics that a high-quality magical weapon possessed but after a few sessions of this I wouldn't need to worry about accidentally snapping the chain if I misjudged my strength. I believe most of the older supernatural races did this to their armor and weapons to make them effective against other supernaturals and modern technology. It wasn't going to transform them into the engines of destruction that a rune weapon could be, but if you could control your energies enough it was the poor man’s answer to a magical arsenal. As to why I used gold? I really like gold, a lot.
On the third day, I paused in my work as I felt the earth tremble for a moment. I puzzled over it for a moment feeling the ether surrounding the city within my range before I came to the conclusion that it may just be circle master's trap finally going off. I waved the thought away and went back to work, a book in one hand and the crucible bubbling away next to me; I readied another attempt at perfecting my circles.
I was wrapping up my efforts for the day when I heard an impact at the front of the house. Not a knock, a ring or a hello. It was a definite physical quaking of the house’s structure. I feel strongly about damage to my house, so I hurried to the door. Mei and Jeremy were out, as were the elf and her shadow. I had sort of lost track of time and their schedule so I actually had no idea where they were.
A second impact made the house shudder before I finally got the door open. My danger sense went off faintly a fraction of a second before a large piece of the permacrete sidewalk impacted my head forcing me back a step and bounced off into the yard. Off balance, I staggered back a few steps before landing solidly on my butt in the hallway of my house.
Unhurt, but somewhat baffled, I peered into the yard to see a rather livid Vivian tearing up my sidewalk and throwing large pieces of debris at my house. I fed a little energy into my force field. I didn't really need it, but anything that helped confuse people over what was me and what were my abilities was always welcome.
“Aren't you a little old for vandalism,” I asked, halfway amused. The other half was completely confused and a little pissed at the dust and permacrete chips littering the floor of my home. Surely the visiting councilwoman had better thing to do than tear up my sidewalk. I glanced behind me and became decidedly less amused to see the scrapes in the finish of my walls. “Ah, crap! I didn't mess up your front door, what did mine do to piss you off?”
The woman seemed to pause a moment, then took a deep breath. I noted this for two reasons. It did impressive things to her bust line and it seemed a bit theatrical for an undead thing. “You are responsible for crippling half our messenger service.”
I glanced at her inquisitively, trying to fathom here words. I didn't remember even leaving the house for the last few days. “Could it have been my evil twin? I haven't moved in days.”
“So you have no idea why the couriers sent to you burst into flame when they approach your house,” she asked, in a low voice, glaring at me.
I blinked, then noted how she was keeping her distance from the house. A chuckle welled up from me. “Well, what do you know? The new wards worked! I wasn't sure the substitute for evil spirits would work on the undead. Or the new alchemical mix.” I stood up and approached her closer; noting that the haze I hadn't really paid attention to before was a thin streamer of smoke coming from her. “Awesome!”
I think I saw a vein in her forehead pulse slightly before she screamed in rage and took a swipe at me. Her claws skittered off my field an
d her hand started to smoke more heavily as it passed me. My field went down, it had only a token amount of energy in it. She seemed at the limit of tolerance. “I mean, I am so sorry, what a horrible thing. I regret this terrible accident with the wards. It’s tragic beyond words.” At this point, my rather wooden apology was interrupted by my snicker and I had to turn away to disguise my laugh as a cough. I have my doubts how true my acting was.
“Oh, come on, surely you aren't mad about your couriers Vivian.” I offered, changing my approach, seeing her still glaring. “You know Vincent chose young, expendable... and annoying people, to see what would happen. I am sure they'll reform in few days anyway.” If they didn't it would still be an excellent measure of the wards effectiveness.
“I realize Vincent doesn't take this situation seriously, but he was not involved the last time our paths intersected with Jin's! While it served the council's purpose to make this appear trivial, we do take it seriously. Seriously enough that having our messengers vanish at your home very much concerned us.” She seemed to be calming down, I could almost see the aloof mask closing around her again.
“Hmm, I suppose I should have considered the ramifications of vaporizing the local vampires, but I didn't think the new protections would be so effective. I also admit I was a tad bit annoyed when you tried to poison me during our meeting.” I had assumed they would contact Jeremy with the information. Did I neglect to leave his number with them? “Why didn't you call?”
She was finally calm, or effectively hiding her distress. It was fairly impressive considering she was still smoking. No rash though, unlike Vincent's underling, she was made of sterner stuff. “I was unaware of any such thing. How do you know? You seem in good health.”
“I am a bit of an amateur alchemist. I recognize things such as silver and arsenic, even when it is in my food.”