The Ian Dex Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1 - 4 (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department Box Sets)

by John P. Logsdon

  No more time to waste.

  I had to get Warren off that table and…

  And what?

  I looked at Melvin.

  I looked at Warren.

  I looked at Charlotte.

  I looked at the energy-sucking metal ball.

  “Perfect!”

  Chapter 41

  My first fear was that walking through the electrical field was going to hurt like shit.

  It did.

  Fortunately, it was just like one of those jolts like you got from touching a rune-protected door. It wasn’t fun, and it could knock you on your ass if you weren’t ready for it, but you’d live. Another fortunate bit was that I’d had the foresight to set Turbo down before attempting to go through. He was still moving at the same speed as the electricity. That meant he’d not be able to step through sections like I could.

  I stepped back out and snapped up the little pixie.

  The only way he was getting through was if I found a blank area and slid him in. There couldn’t be any energy flowing or he’d get thumped. It was like playing a game of Operation, except that this game board could move. Thankfully, time was going so slowly that I got him through safely and then pushed my way back through the field.

  Honestly, it wasn’t at all pleasant.

  I saw a switch next to the old wizard and flicked it off. The energy field died.

  To the rest of the room this would look like nothing but a flicker. Their brains wouldn’t process the change for at least a half-second in real time, and that was a long way away in my world.

  It took me a minute to get the straps off Warren. His face was ashen and his body temperature was cold. I assumed he’d be burning up, but that just made me remember it was his energy they were draining.

  I got him to the other side of the room and gently set him down.

  Then I grabbed Charlotte, who was still slowly falling over from my punch, and shoved her onto the table.

  After attaching the straps to her, I took out Boomy and fired at the metal ball. It just ricocheted off of it like I’d expected it would.

  Turbo’s gun was far too tiny for me to use, though, and that meant I needed to get back to normal time.

  “I hope you’re ready for this, little dude,” I said to him as I picked him up and lined up his shot. “Good thing you kept your eyes shut.”

  Just like clockwork (pun intended) the effects of Time disappeared. It was as though it knew when I was done with it.

  “Fire!” I yelled.

  Turbo raised Kerpow and shot the silver ball. The kick was heavy enough that the little pixie slammed into my chest.

  But the shot did the trick.

  The ball shattered as Melvin’s face contorted and Charlotte screamed.

  “What’s happening?” yelled the old wizard. Then he pointed at me. “What have you done?”

  “Saved my wizard, dick nose,” I replied as I launched Turbo toward Harvey.

  I then landed a right cross on Melvin’s chin, and then flicked the energy switch back on. The rush of power threatened to rip through every fiber of my being as I was caught right in the middle of it.

  It hurt like fuck.

  “Ian!” Rachel hollered through the connector.

  Then she grabbed me and pulled me free of the pain.

  We both collapsed, but only Rachel lost consciousness.

  Jasmine and Griff rushed over to work on her as I drunkenly pulled myself up and looked back at Melvin and Charlotte.

  “Stop the ritual, you stupid son of a bitch,” Charlotte was hollering at the old wizard.

  “I can’t,” Melvin spat back while rubbing his jaw from where I’d struck him. “It’s too late.”

  She strained against the restraints, popping them from her arms.

  This bitch was strong.

  Charlotte crossed her arms and began morphing into her full dragon form.

  She didn’t make it.

  A whipping sound like that of a vortex dragged everything that was inside the magic field, including the field itself, down to a single point.

  Everything.

  There was nothing left but the sound of ragged breaths coming from my team and what looked like a marble-sized ball of light floating where the table had once stood.

  “What’s that?” I asked, pointing with a shaky finger.

  As if in answer to my question, the damn thing exploded, blowing all of us back to the sides of the room as a stream of light flew straight down and flooded everything.

  Worse, there were chunks of stuff flying all over the place.

  Those chunks included bits of Melvin and Charlotte.

  I knew this because a talon stuck in my thigh and that immediately caused the word Flashes to go through my head as pain raked my body.

  “Aw, fuck,” I said a nanosecond before everything froze.

  Chapter 42

  I’d been through Flashes once before, so I kind of knew what to expect. The first time it’d happened was back when my crew had been dealing with Shitfaced Fred and his zombie apocalypse.

  This one didn’t feel much different, but obviously Fred wasn’t the focus…Charlotte was.

  Now, I didn’t know how all of this worked, but when it happened with Fred, I’d seen everything from the eyes of an unknown soldier who had been tracking Fred’s master, looking to snipe him.

  This time, I didn’t know whose eyes I was looking through, but he or she seemed to be hazed and following Melvin and Charlotte around inside what appeared to be the tower I was currently seated in.

  “The orc is on our side?” asked Melvin in an old man’s voice.

  “Of course,” replied Charlotte. “He knows that the only way his race gains life is if I use the key and free them.”

  So Griff was right about the orcs just being shells.

  Warped.

  “He may attempt to wrestle the key away,” warned Melvin.

  Charlotte scoffed. “He’ll die trying.”

  I recognized the hallway they were walking down. To the right was the room where all the crazy electricity shit had just occurred…well, in my normal time, anyway.

  “We must choose the location of the portal.”

  “I already know where it’s going to be, Melvin,” Charlotte replied. “I kept it on the lowest level so the orcs will be able to get through it quickly.”

  “Wise,” Melvin replied, nodding. “Time will be of the essence, for certain.”

  She stopped and eyed the old wizard. “I thought you said that the fabric would be permanently ripped. Is that not true?”

  “It is tied to you and that key,” Melvin answered, pointing at the silver square that hung from Charlotte’s neck. So it wasn’t key-shaped. “If you specifically get through the portal, and if I safely get through, and the key as well, the rift will be permanent. If any of those three things don’t happen, it will be fleeting.”

  Smart.

  Obviously Melvin knew a thing or two about how dragons worked.

  “Are you saying you don’t trust me?” Charlotte asked with eyes aflutter.

  “Of course I don’t,” Melvin replied seriously. “Nor should you trust me.”

  “Never have.”

  Melvin nodded. “Since we have an understanding, Queen Charlotte, I shall need to know the precise location of where you placed the portal jewel.”

  In answer, she walked over to a door and opened it. On the other side was a railing that hung over the edge of a drop all the way down to the bottom of the castle.

  “It’s on a wire in the center of the expanse,” she said, pointing. “If you jump over the railing, you’ll fall through the portal. The orcs and I will climb that small set of stairs and leap through.”

  “Perfect,” said Melvin.

  Charlotte crossed her arms. “Of course it is.”

  Chapter 43

  When Flashes ended, I found Harvey had pulled the talon from my leg and everyone was staring down at me with a look of concern in their eyes.


  Well, everyone but Warren and Trezgel.

  Just like the last time I’d been through a Flashes event, I was disoriented and dizzy. But that didn’t matter right now. What did matter was getting to that portal with the key intact.

  “Where is it?” yelled Trezgel as he was throwing things all around the room.

  Rachel was the first to ask, “Where is what?”

  “The damned key, you stupid female!”

  I winced.

  “Pardon me?” she said.

  Trezgel’s eyes were aflame as he spun and approached Rachel. He glared down at her.

  She kicked him in the stones.

  Now, I specifically used the word “stones” here because apparently that’s what orcs had as balls. Either that or they were located in a different place than they were on humans.

  Rachel yelled, “Son of a bitch,” as she hopped around on one foot while holding her other as if it’d been crushed by a sledgehammer.

  Trezgel clearly found Rachel’s pain punishment enough because he went back to hunting for the key.

  “Guys,” I said through the connector, “we have to find the key before he does. If he gets it, he’ll be able to release those orcs and give them life.”

  “Ian is correct,” agreed Griff. “We cannot allow that to occur. The problem is that we do not know what the key looks like.”

  “I do,” I stated as I pushed myself up to wobbly feet. “It’s square, silver, and is likely attached to a chain since Charlotte was wearing it around her neck.”

  Everyone stayed put but began inconspicuously looking around the area as Trezgel continued throwing things all over the place. We didn’t want him to think we were searching for it, too.

  Or did we?

  “Trezgel,” I yelled, “why do you want this key?”

  “To free my people, of course!”

  “And what will you do with them?”

  His eyes blazed again. “We will take our rightful place as masters of the Netherworld.” The orc blinked. “Uh…” His eyes darted around. “I mean, uh, we’ll live in harmony and work to be contributing members of society.” He scratched innocently on the wall. “I’m sure we’ll do a lot of wonderful things, like…uh…gardening and maybe raising livestock.”

  “Oh, well, that sounds nice,” I said, putting on a better acting job than he just had. “Okay, gang, let’s help Trezgel find the key so he and his band of orcs can flourish and bring some greenery back to the Badlands.” I then winked at the orc. “Maybe they’ll even change the name of the place from Badlands to Green Acres when you’re done with it, eh?”

  “That’d be a dream, of course,” he said with the oddest smile I’d ever seen. Then, as if thinking quickly, he turned to Rachel. “I apologize for my behavior before. You must understand that the future of my race is at stake here.”

  Rachel’s face remained tight.

  “Play along, please,” I said through the connector.

  She closed her eyes and released a slow breath. “I totally understand.” The words were forced, but Trezgel didn’t seem to notice.

  “Right,” I said, clapping my hands. “Well, let’s dig on through and see what we find then, shall we?”

  Trezgel resumed his search, but he’d calmed down a fair bit on throwing things around.

  “Okay, gang,” I said as I looked for the key, “we all know this guy is going to try and do naughty things, so if he gets the key, shoot him, fireball him, and do whatever else you can to destroy his ass. If one of us gets the key, run out of the room, go to the third door on the right, and jump.”

  “Jump?” Harvey asked, stopping his search and giving me a scared look.

  “Yes.” Then I hesitated. “Actually, I don’t know if the portal even got created.”

  “What portal?” said Rachel.

  I continued picking through things in search of the key as I explained the situation to the others. As soon as I’d finished, Turbo flew from the room and went to check.

  “Door is open and there is definitely a portal down there,” he said through the connector. “Long drop, though.”

  Grunt.

  “Worry not, Harvey,” Griff noted as Warren started coming around, “the fall will be quick, but once we hit the portal it will slow us down and we will land on the other side as if coming to rest on a soft mattress.”

  Grunt.

  “What happened?” asked Warren while rubbing his head. “My eyes are burning like mad.”

  “Long story,” I answered. “We’ve got a crazed orc in here searching for a key to open the gate that will unleash an army of his kind. Chances are that he’ll take them through the portal and try to rule the Overworld. That’s my guess, anyway. Oh, and all of this was built by your girlfriend and some wizard named Merlin.”

  “Melvin,” corrected Griff.

  “Oh yeah, that’s right.”

  “That didn’t seem like a very long story,” Warren said. “And am I to assume she’s not my girlfriend?”

  “Well, let’s put it this way, she was using you to power the portal,” said Jasmine gently. “Sorry.”

  Warren glanced at her and then went to get up.

  “Ouch,” he hissed allowed and rubbed his elbow. “What the hell was that?”

  Sitting just beneath his arm was the key.

  “Don’t move,” I commanded.

  The problem was that everyone on my squad thought that command was meant for them, and so they all froze.

  This caught Trezgel’s attention.

  “Have you found it?” he asked darkly as his eyes bore into mine.

  “Uh…well…” I licked my lips and then whipped out Boomy and yelled, “Light his ass up!”

  Chapter 44

  Mayhem ensued as Harvey picked up Warren and began running for the door.

  The key dropped to the ground in the process and I swept it up and shoved it into my pocket. If the orc wanted it, he’d have to come and get it.

  That didn’t make me feel all that swell, actually.

  Trezgel was taking our barrage of magic and bullets in stride. It was pressing him back, but there was no way it was stopping him. Clearly, Charlotte and Melvin had done a lot to make certain that the orc would be impenetrable to attacks such as these. And there was an entire army of the damn things.

  “Go, go, go!” I yelled, pushing the mages into the hallway as Chuck, Felicia, Turbo, and I kept on firing.

  It was Turbo’s gun that was doing the best job of keeping the orc at bay. Unfortunately, he could only fire it every few seconds because the kickback kept flinging him at the wall.

  Noting that, I tucked in Boomy and picked up Turbo, pointing him in the direction of the orc.

  I squeezed.

  “Ow,” he yelled. “What the fuck?”

  “Oh, sorry…shoot him!”

  The pixie fired and fired and fired.

  I was able to absorb the kick without much fuss and since I was easing Turbo back with each shot, he was able to better manage it as well.

  “You two go,” I commanded Felicia and Chuck.

  They split and I was right behind them, pointing Turbo back at Trezgel for one final shot.

  It missed.

  The orc was on our asses as I launched over the rail, falling like a bungie jumper without a cord.

  “No!” Trezgel yelled as he grabbed my leg after diving after me.

  I had spun and was falling with my back to the ground. The orc was right above me, pulling me closer.

  We were a split second from the portal when Turbo unleashed a bullet at point-blank range.

  Chapter 45

  Trezgel let go as light flashed around me and Turbo, then we smashed into the floor of Charlotte’s art gallery.

  It felt like what you might imagine jumping from a high dive into an empty pool might feel like.

  The portal slammed shut immediately after I’d cleared.

  Trezgel also made it through.

  Well, his head did anyway.

/>   The rest of him was likely splattered on the castle floor. After all, it was a long drop from the top of that tower.

  “So much for it feeling like you’re landing on a soft mattress,” I said with a groan toward Griff. “That sucked.”

  “What happened to the orc?” asked Rachel, getting to her feet and looking like she was ready to fight.

  I pointed at Trezgel’s disembodied head.

  She grunted and slumped back to the ground. “Good.”

  It was all I could do to not yell, “I told you so!” at everyone.

  I knew from the start that there was something fishy going on with this Charlotte chick. Yes, I’ll admit I was jealous, but there was something more to all of this and I knew it.

  But what would be the point?

  They’d all just say I was being petty. It was always my fault, right?

  Fuckers.

  “So what happens to the orcs in the cage?” asked Harvey, who was returning to his normal self.

  “Without that key, they will never be given life,” answered Griff.

  I dug it out of my pocket and held it up.

  “You must hide that away, Ian. It can never be allowed to enter the Badlands.”

  “I know, Griff,” I replied as the key began to glow. “Uh…what’s it doing?”

  It was getting hot. Molten hot. I threw it on the ground near the orc’s head.

  “Don’t do that!” yelled Warren. “If that’s a gate key, he might be able to use it!”

  As one, the entire crew—even Harvey—turned to look at Warren as if he were a complete moron.

  “I’m pretty sure he’s more than just a bit dead, Warren,” I stated.

  In return, Warren squinted, looked over at Trezgel, and then looked down at his feet, muttering something under his breath.

  The room flashed.

  I covered my eyes just in time, but it was so bright that I saw spots for a couple of minutes following it. Plus, my head was ringing like we’d been hit with a concussion grenade.

  “What just happened?” I asked as my ears began to clear.

  Turbo pointed.

  The key had melted into the floor.