Dirty Magic
by N. R. Hairston
Chapter 1
“Could you try not to kill anyone this time, Rekia?”
I stood with my sister, Chanel, between two brick buildings, the light from the fading sun shining down on us. “You know,” I said, leveling her with a stare. “I think you’re aiming to be the only girl in the family.”
She scrunched up her nose, reminding me of myself sometimes when I looked in the mirror. My sister and I favored a lot and we were easily mistaken for each other sometimes, although I was twenty-five, and she twenty-eight. We both stood about five feet six, though she was slightly taller than me.
Today, like always, her black hair hung loosely around her shoulders, unlike mine, which was also black but trimmed with just a little covering my eyes. We were both slim of frame, and that, coupled with everything else, is why people often mistook us for each other or thought we were twins.
Right now, she leaned up against the brick wall of the building opposite mine, hitting me with that ‘you’re so full of shit’ look she sometimes leveled my way. “And why do you think that?” she asked, going back to my earlier statement.
“Because,” I said, looking up and down the alley, making sure no one was in hearing distance. “You actually want me to stand still and do nothing as telekinetics try to rip my eyes out, empaths try to influence my emotions, telepaths try-”
“Okay. You have to defend yourself but seeing as how you normally use your telekinesis to rip out eyes, I don’t think you have much room to talk.”
I did not do that. I protected myself, but I never started the fight. The problem was that my sister and the rest of my family hated what I did for a living. We all had the ability to open portals to other universes, me, my sister, and my two brothers. It was something we’d inherited from our father, that and a few other things.
Still, I was the only one who made a profit from it. Say you were on the run from the mob or the street gang around the corner, I could hide you where you’d never be found, in an alternate universe. Though I only ever took my clients to places where the people looked the same as us, and the language was the same or similar enough that they wouldn’t have a problem understanding it.
It was good money, and I loved doing it, enjoyed the rush it gave me, though I’d figured out a long time ago, that my family would never understand, much less approve.
I ran a hand over the bricks behind me, because I really did need to go. “I’m just going to Ricken to do a check on my client. Once I make sure that she’s alright, I’m out of there. No harm, no foul.”
Chanel shook her head. “You give mom about a million gray hairs a day, you know that? Dad may think it’s okay, but that’s because he has powers himself. Mom is different.”
I started to open a portal but stopped when she said that, feeling my shoulders tense a little. I didn’t want my mom stressed about this and I wished there was a way I could alleviate her fears. “Stop telling her stuff to make her worry.”
See, my mother was from the world we were on now, what me and my siblings considered our home world. My father was from the world Juelm, one of the few places with natural-born portal openers. There, everyone had powers, but here, where my mom was from, no one even knew that alternate realities existed or that telekinesis was something besides what they saw on the TV.
Chanel let out a defeated sigh. “Just try to stay out of trouble and call me if you need help.” She would be the first person I’d call if things went awry. Unlike myself, she had the power of blood remedy, which meant she could control blood, even use it to heal others. It was very powerful magic, and my sister was excellent at it.
I gave her a hug, just because, then opened a portal to Ricken and stepped inside, hoping I wasn’t about to enter into a firestorm.
Chapter 2
At first, everything seemed fine. Though it had been closing in on dusk back home, it appeared to be midday here on Ricken. I stepped out of the portal, and the street molded itself around my feet, securing me in place before the little motor under the road began to move me forward.
All worlds had different modes of transportation. Here, sidewalk and street basically meant the same thing and were called trailens. They were small strips of asphalt, rectangular in shape, just big enough to hold two people, and were laid out everywhere.
Depending on where you wanted to go, you stepped on the one with the correct address written on it or the one that would get you close to where you were going, because you could always switch over, kinda like changing buses.
Today the air was cool; the wind blowing just enough to ruffle my hair and tickle my ears. As I rode on my trailen I noticed I was in the financial district. Large buildings surrounded me, some made out of red or blue brick, others out of mecen, a building material a bit stronger than brick, and able to withstand fire and strong winds. It was a very expensive material to build with, which is why some simply couldn’t afford it.
Since we were in the business district, the area was kind of quiet, the only sound coming from people chattering as they rode by on their trailens together. Some people ate while traveling, and I could smell coffee and Danishes wafting through the air.
I myself chomped on a vegetable flavored protein bar. Opening portals and hopping worlds burned up a shit ton of calories, and if I didn’t load up on food, my body would literally start to break down, to the point that I would pass out or even worse.
Celina lived in a large three-bedroom house made of mecen in an upscale neighborhood. I’d paid up the first eight months’ rent for her when I’d brought her here. Celina was a case different from the thieves and crooks I usually dealt with.
I mean, even with them, I still made sure they found a place to stay, and since I had contacts in every world I took people to, I made sure they had someone watching over them and helping them transition, and I checked on them every six months. But they usually had money of their own, enough to pay me my asking price of ten million and still have more than enough left over to live on.
With a case like Celina, where the person was escaping some type of abuse, it was pro bono, no questions asked. Them, I would hand over to a contact familiar with abuse, and I‘d check on them every two to three weeks until I was sure they were okay.
My contacts would help them find a job, and if they had kids, they’d assist with getting them into a local school. I would find them a house and pay up the rent for eight months. I’d also get them a car, or whatever was used for transportation on the world they were on, and make sure they had enough money for food and necessities until their first paycheck kicked in.
And I’d do all of that using the money from whatever criminal had recently paid me to relocate them.
I arrived at Celina’s house, exited off my trailen, and went up her front steps, a feeling of unease going down my spine. I didn’t know what it was, but something in my gut told me I wouldn’t like what I was about to find.
Celina was also different in that I didn’t usually transport people with powers, but I’d found her hurt and bleeding out in the streets of Mellen. Mellen was a violent, lawless place and most people stayed clear of there because walking over dead bodies and rotting corpses was just another day on that world.
Celina happened to live there. She’d been near death when I’d found her, but since I didn’t know who she was or any of her relatives, I couldn’t call on my sister to use her blood remedy. Instead, I’d taken her to a hospital on a world that I knew had natural healers.
The letter D had been carved into her face, right on her jawline, but she’d always been tight-lipped on what it meant, and I respected her privacy because it was important to me that she felt comfortable and not overwhelmed. My client’s well-being was of utmost important to me. Starting your whole life over was hard enough and I never wanted to add to that.
After she’d gotten better she’d begged me to hide her, so I had. She’d never told me who’d hurt her, and I had
n’t pushed the issue. Now, though, now guilt-laced fire ripped through me, because six months ago when I’d brought her here I’d promised her she’d be safe.
If she was gone... if she was hurt... I took a steadying breath, my mind going to dangerous places the way it always did when I thought one of my clients was in trouble.
This time instead of ringing the doorbell, I decided to knock. The door opened on its own, turning my mouth dry and making something sour deep inside of me.
Taking careful steps inside, I called out for her, letting her know I was there. She never answered, and as I got to the living room, I realized why. The place had been ransacked: her white couch had been knocked over, her glass table lay in pieces on the floor, her walls had holes in them, the TV had been smashed, and there were bits of torn up paper everywhere.
Fire burned in my gut now, because if she wasn’t okay, if someone had hurt her... my hands trembled with my anger, and I told myself to calm down until I knew more.
Going through her house I didn’t find anything that stood out, so I decided to talk to the neighbors and the contact I had here who was supposed to be watching her.
My contact had checked in with her earlier in the week and everything had been fine. None of the neighbors had seen anything suspicious, but I couldn’t find any who’d caught sight of her in the last three days.
Trepidation danced circles around my spine, but I knew without a doubt I was going to Mellen. It was a dangerous world and I was likely to get knifed as soon as I stepped out of the portal. I didn’t particularly want to go there alone, but I’d do whatever it took to get my client back. I thought about calling Chanel but didn’t want her involved in this, so instead, I held out my hand and opened a portal to the one person I knew would help.
Chapter 3
Trent sat behind his desk going over a few papers but looked up when I walked in. His black hair was curled around his ears, and he had tattoos covering his whole body. They ranged from names and faces to tribal symbols and sigils from the different worlds he’d visited.
Heck, he even had one of my face, but we’d both been drunk off potomac bomb when he’d gotten that. Potomac bomb was five times more powerful than what we called moonshine back home, so the less said about that the better.
He stood about six feet tall, was pale in the winter, tan in the summer, and had a scar running down the side of his face that I still didn’t know the story behind. Trent was very muscular, but unless he took his shirt off, you couldn’t really tell.
He lived on a world called Shinow. No one here had powers, but they used portal openers to travel to alternate universes, and many from other worlds visited here for business or other matters.
Trent actually did have a little something extra, given to him by a man from the world Saluton who Trent had helped relocate. See, that’s one of the things Trent’s company did, helped people get on their feet, finding them employment, housing, and that sort of thing. He also had business dealings with a few other worlds, and last I looked, his company had been thriving.
He was one of my top contacts to hand my clients off to, but our relationship was a lot more than that. He smiled when he saw me, but it quickly faded when he took in the set of my jaw and the storm brewing in my eyes.
Reaching out for my hand, he pulled me to his lap, letting out a long-exaggerated sigh. “Who do I have to kill now, Rekia? I was just going over this land deal for a piece of property on Sogen. Can’t it wait until after that?”
“You’re an asshole,” I said, socking him in the arm, a small smile appearing on my lips, as he knew it would.
“I have a missing client. Her house’s been tossed, and no one has seen or heard from her in three days. I want to go to Mellen to see what I can sniff out.”
Trent shut down his computer and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist. “Celina?”
My eyes rolled upwards, because of course, he knew my clients as well as I did. Pushing that thought aside, I bit my bottom lip, this next part a lot harder for me than it should be.
“I’ll help,” Trent said, saving me the trouble of asking, because man, it was so damn difficult to push those words past my lips sometimes.
My shoulders sagged in relief, and I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, loving the taste of coffee and garlic that I got from him.
A look of faux irritation crossed his face. “A little less slob, next time, please,” he said as he let me go and came to his feet.
“You know what,” I said, my brows furrowing. “Think I’ll keep my kisses to myself from now on. Honestly, who doesn’t love-”
“I have employees here, Rekia.”
“They’re in another room.”
“Oh.” He pointed to the ceilings and walls. “Probably should have told you this a couple of years ago, I have cameras and mics set to activate whenever you walk in. They can see and hear everything we do.”
I tilted my head to the side as I looked at him. “Trent, come on now.”
“Sorry, Re. Just wanted to see you smile one time.” He held out his hand and a long, thick, black, lasso flew into it, wrapping around his arm as if it had been made for just that purpose.
The darn thing only answered to Trent, and if anyone else tried to touch it, it would first burn, then electrocute them, myself included.
“Okay,” Trent said, his eyes going serious and hard. “Let’s go get your client back.”
Chapter 4
Celina had been in hiding from this place, so I wouldn’t ask questions about her, and I would not be showing her photo around. I had something a little different in mind. Passing a protein bar to Trent, and munching on one myself, we begin to walk.
Most of Mellen’s buildings were made out of hemp and stucco. A great many were at least four stories high, the majority having a star, oval, or round shape.
Holographic, moving pictures were on the side of most structures. Unlike back home where things like photos and business licenses hung on walls or sat on shelves, here they were fifty inches wide and proudly displayed on the side of businesses and houses for all to see.
It wasn’t unusual to hear screams, shouts, and loud bangs while on Mellen. It was a place without rules or punishments, and I’d learned a long time ago to tune out the noise, while still staying on high alert.
As we walked, two guys were on the side of the street to our right, throwing punches and fighting over who knew what. In front of them, a woman used her telekinesis power to steal a guy’s wallet out of his back pocket, but when she tried to run he used his super speed to catch her.
On the left side of the street two women were arguing loudly, then one smacked the other, and a fist came out. As we walked, we passed by scene after scene like this. There was no police force on Mellen. No government of any kind. People did what they wanted, when they wanted, and maybe that’s why some loved living here so much. None of their actions had consequences.
Maybe some wanted to leave, but if you were born here and this was all you knew, it wasn’t that easy. Plus, in order to get to an alternate universe, you would need a portal opener, and there were only a few worlds like my father’s that had natural portal openers on them.
For one or two portal openers it was way too much, and they’d be drained dry before they could get half the people out. I’d offered to take people before, no charge of course, but Celina was the first to ever take me up on it.
Still, the streets ran rampant with crime and to the people here, it was just commonplace. Mellen was a busy, crowded world, whether you came here at three in the evening or four in the morning. “So where do you want to start?” Trent asked, yelling over top of the commotion around us.
There was no privacy out here on the street, so I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over to where a row of random buildings stood. I put two coins in the door of the building I wanted to go into, and after three seconds we entered our own private restroom, making sure to click the lock behind us.
; It was a large enough space, about the size of a master bathroom, with, a sink, toilet, shower, and large bed. The walls were a black shag material, as was the floor, and I briefly wondered how it would feel against my feet.
The building to the left of us, if I’d read the sign correctly, was for those looking for a place to sit down and eat. Inside was supposed to be a table, chairs, refrigerator, stove, and microwave. Just like the restroom we stood in, the building was big enough to hold that and nothing more.
The building to the right of us supposedly held a treadmill and weights just in case you wanted to get some exercise in while walking down the street.
Even though the building was supposed to be soundproof, I still didn’t trust that there weren’t cameras in here, recording our every action.
I moved as close as I could to Trent, breathing in the scent of spice, mint, and earth that was always him. My knees went a little weak, and my voice was husky and low when I spoke. “I want to go back around the area I first found her. See if anything kicks up.”
He put his hands under my shirt and used my waist to pull me closer. I inhaled shakily, as always when his fingers touched my skin, and I’d stopped trying to rationalize it a long time ago. Honestly a part of me just wanted to curl up in his arms and stay there forever. “It’s a good idea,” he whispered, his voice warm against my ear, making my heart beat faster. “If something’s going down in that area, we might get a hint.”
We exited the restroom, and from the clock on the door, we still had a few more hours we could have spent in there. It didn’t matter though, I was sure someone else would come along and use the extra time if they needed to.
The place where I’d first found Celina was between a drink company and a grocery. She’d been in the alleyway that separated them, bloodied and bruised.
Street Spells: Seven Urban Fantasy Shorts Page 14