Sorcerer's Creed Books 1-3

by N. P. Martin

  But enough of my yakking. The point is, I did manage to teleport both Jennifer and me away from the tenement in Amsterdam Street, landing us both seemingly intact just a few blocks away, next to a dumpster in some alley. A drunken homeless guy at the end of the alley sat up and stared for a moment, then lay back down again as he probably thought he was seeing things.

  "Holy shit!" Jennifer said. "I thought moving fast was a rush. That was like…I don't know what that was like. I feel like I was blown up and then put back together again." She checked herself over as if to make sure everything was still intact.

  “This is as far as I could manage,” I said, looking around. “Any further and I think we would have come out of it like mutants.”

  “Mutants?”

  “Yeah, as if a child had reassembled their doll in the wrong way. Something like that. Not pretty anyway.”

  "So what now?" Jennifer asked, seemingly enjoying the experience of her getaway.

  “Now we grab a cab and get you to the airport. My uncle passed along a contact of his who owns a private jet, should I ever need to get somewhere in a hurry. I’ll make the necessary arrangements so you can fly to Ireland. My Uncle Ray will take care of you once you’re there. He’ll arrange your passage to Babylon.”

  Jennifer frowned. “You’re not coming with me?”

  I was mildly touched that she seemed somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t going to Ireland with her. “I’ve decided to stay here,” I told her.

  “But you can’t. My mother will kill you.”

  I shrugged. “That’s a chance I’ll have to take. I’m tired of running, and there’s something about this city that’s making me want to stay.”

  “This city is dangerous.”

  “I know. Maybe that’s why I’m staying.”

  She shook her head. “You must be mad. You’ll be committing suicide if you stay here, trust me.”

  Her words weren’t lost on me. “It doesn’t feel that way to me. And besides, you might have noticed I’m not completely powerless.”

  “My mother is a bloodthirsty demon, seriously.”

  "Let me worry about your mother," I said, directing her down the alley now towards the street. "Right now, we need to get you to the airport before the wrong eyes see us."

  After taking a cab to the airport, I left Jennifer in a dark corner inside one of the bars while I found a phone so I could begin making her travel arrangements. The one thing I was worried about was not being able to contact my uncle, who was often out of the country on Mage business. If he didn't answer his phone at home, I would have to try and establish a psychic link with him. And depending on where in the world he was, that could take some time. Plus I needed quiet and privacy to do it, which wouldn't have been easy to find in a noisy airport.

  My luck was in, however, as Uncle Ray answered the phone when I called his house in Ireland. "Ray, it's August," I said, my eyes flitting around the airport in search of vampires, thankfully seeing none.

  “August, my boy!” Ray said. “It’s good to hear from you. Where are you?”

  “You know full well I’m in Blackham City, Ray. You directed me here in your not so subtle way, remember?”

  Ray laughed like he laughed at everything. It was like he'd been around for so long that he had now dispensed with the need to take anything seriously as if everything was just one big cosmic joke to him now. "I do remember."

  "And before we go any further here, thanks for sending that The Crimson Crow to my door. I'm in fucking deep shit with that bitch now."

  “Who said I sent anyone to you?”

  "She did, so don't even try and deny it, Ray. Like you try to deny all of these little tests that you somehow arrange for me no matter where I am in the world." Ray laughed again, and I shook my head at him. "I'm glad you think it's funny."

  “Oh, August, everything is funny, lad. You’ll see that one day. But in the meantime, why don’t you explain to me the nature of the deep shit you’re in?

  I went on to explain everything to him, about Jennifer, about the plan to send her to Babylon and about the almighty bitch-fit her mother would take when she found out about it all. “She’ll make me suffer, of that I’ve no doubt,” I said, referring to The Crimson Crow.

  “Can you handle a vampire like that?” Ray asked casually as if asking if I could handle doing my own tax returns (if I actually paid tax, that was).

  “She’s over a thousand years old.”

  Ray went silent for a moment. “Tell me, August. Why aren’t you getting on that plane with the girl? Why are you choosing to stay?”

  I almost didn't want to tell him, so that I didn't have to hear his satisfied laughter. "I'm tired of traveling, and I want to help people. Your plan worked, Ray. It's the only purpose in life I can find."

  “And a damn good one, my boy,” he said seriously. “Your mother would be proud.”

  I closed my eyes for a second when he mentioned my mother, emotion welling up in me out of nowhere. "Yeah," I said quietly. "I'm sure she would be."

  “Get the girl on the plane. I’ll take care of the rest.” He paused. “As for that other problem.”

  “The one where I might die?”

  "That's the one. Just remember, a vampire like The Crimson Crow only cares about power, even above her own daughter or someone betraying her. Show her the way to more power, and she should leave you alone."

  “Should?”

  “One never knows with these situations.”

  “That’s reassuring.”

  Ray laughed. “I have faith in you, boy. I’ve always had faith in you.”

  I nodded. “I know you have, Ray.”

  “And August?” he said before he hung up.

  “What?”

  "I'm proud of you as well. Always have been."

  I couldn't help smiling. "Thanks, Ray."

  17

  Farewells

  As I was about to walk Jennifer Crow out onto the runway where the private jet awaited, the young vampire girl stopped and turned to me. Her normally confident demeanor was now riddled with anxiety it seemed, and I knew why before she even said anything. I had a very similar moment with my Uncle Ray before I left Ireland six years ago. Despite the fact that my family was dead and all I had was an empty house and an obscene amount of money that I didn't want or need, there still felt like there was something in me that didn't want to let go of everything I had ever known. Yes, my life up until that point had been filled with sacrifice and pain, and also tragedy at the end, but it was all still hard to walk away from. It felt like if I did walk, I would have been committing some huge act of betrayal that I would never be able to come back from. A betrayal against who or what, I wasn't really sure. But as Ray soon explained, what I felt was fear. Fear of the unknown, of what lay ahead of me. And the pain of separation also, from the roots that ran deep in the place of my birth.

  "It's all about you now, boy," Ray had said, placing his hands on my shoulders and smiling like a father whose son was about to leave and make his way in the world. There was pride in his smile, something I never saw in father's smile, even if the bastard had smiled at all. "Go out into the world and find your place in it. It's your right to do so. Never forget that."

  Now, with Jennifer looking at me with her lost puppy eyes, I placed my hands gently on her shoulders and told her what my uncle had told me. “You’re doing the right thing,” I said, smiling. “It’s your life. You can live it how you want.”

  Jennifer smiled back. “My mother would disagree with you. She gave birth to me, provided me with everything.”

  "Maybe, but that doesn't give her the right to mentally abuse you. Or treat you like a possession."

  “Is that what happened to you?”

  I nodded after a fashion. “You could say that.”

  “And you’re happy now that you left it all behind?”

  I laughed without much humor. “Happy? I’m not sure what that is. You just make choices and hope they work out, do
n’t you?”

  She stared at me a moment with searching eyes. "Yeah, I guess you do."

  “Anyway,” I said, letting go of her shoulders. “Your jet is waiting. You’ll fly to Belfast. My uncle will meet you there.”

  “How am I supposed to know who he is?”

  I couldn't help laughing. "Trust me. He'll find you right away. And if you happen to get peckish on the flight, I'm sure one of the crew will oblige you."

  Jennifer nodded, looking nervous again. “I’ll take your word for it.” She stepped forward then and planted a kiss on my mouth with her soft lips, which I had to admit, felt kinda nice. “Thank you, August. I won’t forget this.”

  “I know I won’t.”

  She laughed. "Seriously, though. Thank you. I don't why but I see things clearly when I'm around you. You should help more people. I think that might be your purpose, the reason for all your pain."

  “I’m starting to think so,” I said. “I guess I’ll see what happens. I still have to deal with your mother first.”

  Jennifer shook her head, still unable to believe I wasn't getting on the plane with her to escape her mother's inevitable wrath. "How are you going to stop her from killing you?"

  It was a pertinent question, and one I didn’t have an answer to yet. At least not a complete one. “Let me worry about that. You go now. Enjoy your new life in Babylon.”

  She opened the door to step out onto the runway, then stopped to look at me. “Will we ever meet again, do you think?”

  I gave her the warmest smile I could and nodded. “I’ll be pissed if we don’t.”

  She smiled back. “So will I.”

  18

  Nocturnus

  Rather than wait around for any of Angela Crow's goons to ambush and kill me, I thought it best if I went straight to the vampire's abode in The Highlands. Jennifer had already given me the address, so I took a cab to the building where the Crows had made residence, which happened to be a heavily guarded fortress a quarter mile outside of Green Street where the city's financial traders gathered every day. It didn't surprise me that Angela Crow lived so close to the action, so to speak. From what I could see on the cab ride over, The Highlands was where all the movers and shakers of the city had chosen to make their base. Grand government buildings were sandwiched in between massively tall skyscrapers of steel and glass, many of which were interconnected by walkways. It was a place of money and politics, a place from which to control the masses. I had no doubt that Angela Crow had made herself one of those controllers, albeit a more shadowy one than most.

  When I stepped out of the cab, I was greeted immediately by four guards all dressed in black, shiny suits, automatic weapons barely concealed under their expensive looking jackets. As the guards rushed forward to the road, recognizing me straight away, I raised my hands just as the cab drove off. "I'd like to talk to Angela," I said. "My name is—"

  That was as far as I got before one of the vampire guards slammed the butt of his gun into my forehead, knocking me unconscious.

  When I came to, I opened my eyes to a darkened room, unsure for a second of where I was. Then I sat straight up in a mild state of panic when I remembered what had happened and I quickly scanned the room I was in for any sign of threats. As it turned out, there was only one threat in the room, and she happened to be the most dangerous one.

  The Crimson Crow.

  "You must have a death wish coming here," she said as she stood by a large old-fashioned brick fireplace with nothing but ashes in the grate.

  I had been laid out on a red velvet chaise lounge which I now sat on the edge off, my heart beating faster than I would have liked. Although given the circumstances, I couldn't blame the old ticker for sweating bullets.

  There was also the girl hanging from a rope that was tied to a hook in the ceiling. A naked girl, hanging by her wrists, blood running out of various twin puncture marks in her body. The girl appeared motionless, and I couldn't tell if she was still alive or if Angela Crow had drained her dry. Regardless, there wasn't much to be done about her. It wasn't like Angela Crow was going to let me cut the poor girl down, was it?

  So I focused on Angela herself, who was dressed in a white pantsuit with wide shoulders. Her platinum blond hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail, and her rouged lips seemed to stand out like a warning sign against all that white. The way she was looking at me, I could tell I had about ten seconds before she made her move on me and I was dead. Sure, I could have tried a few spells on her, but why delay the inevitable?

  “I’m not mad,” I told her, keeping my voice level. “I simply have a proposition for you. One I know you will like.”

  She stared back at me, her eyes seething. "The only thing I want from you is the location of my daughter. Tell me that, and I will kill you quick. If you don't tell me, I will torture you until you do, and believe me, I can make your suffering last for an eternity." As if to demonstrate her intentions, she walked over to the girl hanging from the ceiling and ran her fingers over the girl's belly, glancing at me as she did so. Then, in a movement I barely seen, she slashed her long fingernails across the girl's stomach, and I watched in horror as the girl's intestines spilled out onto the dark wood floor with a wet slapping sound. If the girl wasn't dead before, she certainly was now.

  Swallowing, I thought to myself that I was mad for thinking this ploy of mine would work. That I was about to suffer greatly for betraying this psychopathic vampire. But I managed to keep those thoughts in check before they spilled over into full-blown panic. "I can help you walk in the daylight."

  I just threw it out there, seeing no point in holding back. Either she went for it, or she didn't.

  Again she stared at me as blood dripped from her already red fingernails. The cold look of murder had at least gone from her eyes now, replaced with what appeared to be a mixture of surprise, curiosity and an unmistakable desire. Which was understandable, because the ability to walk in pure sunlight was the equivalent of turning lead into gold for a vampire. Vampires had never managed to solve the problem of being fatally allergic to UV light. Scientists and spellcasters alike had worked on the problem, but for some reason, nothing they tried ever worked.

  But let me tell you a story. My mother was a witch, a distinguished one as it happened. She was also a lover of botany, knowing everything there was to know about plants and herbs, their individual properties and applications. But there was one particular plant that my mother could never figure out. A rare plant that was only to be found on the island of Madagascar. The plant was called Nocturnus, and as the name suggests, it only came out at night so it could bloom its single black rose-like flower before closing up again and shrinking back into the earth at dawn every morning. Somehow or other, my mother had gotten a hold of one of these specimens, which she kept in the huge greenhouse at the back of the main house in Fermanagh. She became fascinated with the little plant and spent months trying to unlock its secrets. Most of all, she tried to find out why the plant was unable to survive in sunlight, why it withered and died in a matter of minutes. It became something of an obsession for my mother, trying to figure this out. She kept many clones of the plant, just so she could experiment, trying to keep the plant alive in the daylight. Failing with science, she finally turned to magick, until one day, one of the spells she had designed actually worked and she managed to keep Nocturnus alive in the daylight without any ill effects. She was so ecstatic that she brought me to the greenhouse to show me what she had done, explaining every single step in detail because she knew I would appreciate the delicate intricacy of her work. And her work was amazing. The spell she crafted was one of the most ingenious I had ever come across, and also the most intuitive, because no one else would ever have thought to put the things together she did, combining various forms of magick and fusing them with science in a way that was inspiring, to say the least, to a young student of spellcraft like myself back then.

  I still remembered the entire procedure and everything needed for
the spell to work. What I didn't know was if the spell would work on a vampire. Making a little plant impervious to sunlight was one thing, but a much more complex organism such as a vampire? I wasn't sure at all. The only thing I was sure of was that the spell was my only shot at staving off The Crimson Crow.

  Luckily for me, Angela Crow was like every other vampire her age. Despite her obvious love of the dark, she still yearned to walk in the light. It was a possibility no vampire would ever turn down, for any vampire who could walk in both day and night was going to become more powerful than the rest. And if I’ve established anything about Angela Crow, it’s that she lives for power.

  "Only I can do this," I said, encouraged by her apparent interest, but still wary of her blatant mistrust. "I can make you more powerful than the rest." I spoke deliberately, making sure she knew the implications of what I was saying.

  When Angela Crow finally smiled, I knew I had her.

  19

  Dealing With The Devil

  “Why should I trust you?”

  It was an expected question from the vampire queen. How did she know I wouldn’t just try to kill her, or banish her to some far off dimension forever?

  Still inside her art deco room, the dead girl hanging from the ceiling, the stench of her spilled guts drifting unpleasantly into my nostrils, I stood up and walked towards Angela Crow, stopping just in front of her and looking into her hardened eyes. “Your daughter trusted me,” I said. “So should you.”

  It was a bold thing to say when I had just helped her daughter run away for good. Indeed, after I said the words to her, I immediately regretted them, knowing she wouldn't be able to see past my betrayal of her.