Magic Thief

by C C Sommerly

  “How may I help you, Miss?” she asked in a syrupy, sweet voice that lacked sincerity.

  “Oh, now you ask me how you can help? I would’ve liked assistance an hour ago,” I said. I gave her a toothy grin that made her flinch.

  I tapped my badge, drawing attention to it. She looked it over and gave me an unimpressed scowl.

  “This right here gives me permission to go straight to the Head Mage. I didn’t want to play hardball lady but seeing how you ignored me and everyone else without calling a single number, I have no choice. Take me to the Guild Master.”

  She sputtered in outrage, her face becoming an alarming shade of red. It would’ve been funny if I hadn’t been so annoyed. She picked up her phone and spoke quickly into it in a muffled tone.

  “Please wait here, someone will be with you shortly.”

  “I appreciate that. So glad to see that you aren’t completely lacking in manners and common courtesy.”

  She glared at me and went back to working on her computer. If I was with the Wolf Agency, I’d have gotten premium treatment. As part of a mom and pop investigative agency like Croft and Sterling, I was no one.

  I started tapping on her desk. She stopped working on the computer. “Is there anything else I can help you with Miss?”.

  “Oh no, I’m good. Just waiting like a dutiful investigator. Don’t mind me.”

  Before she could respond, two robbed mages came out of a side door and headed straight for me. None of them were mages I recognized, but I didn’t know many mages, so that wasn’t unusual. Based on their white-colored robes, they were junior mages. I made it a point to study and remember the rank structure for all supernatural races. Most of them used colors or symbols to distinguish their hierarchy.

  A young mage, who looked barely out of school greeted me.

  “We’ll take you to the Guild Master, Miss – ?

  “Martin. But, seeing how I just showed the receptionist my badge, you already knew that, didn’t you? Can we be on our way, now? Unless you’d prefer to frisk me? Maybe a truth search?”

  The mage answered with a huff and quickly turned away – making me smile.

  Pretentious ass.

  I followed them down the marble hallway. This was a new part of the headquarters for me. On my other visits here, I was escorted to a room off of the reception area to conduct my interviews. Then again, I hadn’t needed to see the Guild Master those other times.

  The walls were filled with portraits of the previous Guild Masters and Head Mages wearing ceremonial robes and fierce expressions. The hallway ended at an ornate spiral staircase outlined with gold flourishes and the mage crests. The mages sure had a thing for stairs no wonder I never saw an overweight Mage.

  At the top of the stairs was another hallway with evenly spaced doors. It was lined with display cases filled with artifacts. They brazenly displayed them knowing no thief is stupid enough to attempt to rob them.

  I followed the mages to a carved wooden door with glowing wards laid in a web-like pattern across it. One of the mages spoke a word in a language I didn’t recognize and the door opened on its own. Magic was so flashy, but those that had it thought nothing of its use. It was as common to them as breathing. The mage dropped me off at the open door. Stepping through, it slammed right behind me barely missing my backside. Jerk.

  “Ah Miss Martin or shall I call you Rayne, our prodigal child?”

  I kept my expression blank at his words, forcing myself to relax and show no reaction to what he said. I intentionally delayed my response to calm the fear his words created and give myself an opportunity to study him.

  The mage’s dark hair was liberally sprinkled with specks of gray. He had faint lines on his forehead and around his mouth. And, I could just make out the beginning of crow’s feet around his eyes. This was a dangerous man, by his words and the sheer power he emanated.

  Mages were said to be near immortal – like many other supernatural species. Even humans were living longer – scholars and scientists claimed that exposure to magic was changing human DNA. A longer lifespan was just one of those changes. The mage before me had to be hundreds of years old despite his middle-aged appearance.

  I rolled back my shoulders and stared at him.

  “I’m not your anything and I haven’t been a child for a long time.”

  “Of course. Semantics, dear, semantics.”

  He was old and I could sense his power, simmering just below the surface. Besides, I didn’t want to hear whatever he thought about me personally and I almost believed my own lie. I wasn’t here for anything other than this case.

  “I’m here about a mage.”

  “Interesting. And that has many implications.”

  “Not really. I’m a PI, and I take cases, follow leads. Seems pretty simple to me.”

  He barked out a rusty laugh that surprised us both.

  “How delightful and refreshing. The bowing and groveling gets so old after a time.”

  He paused, looking at me in consideration. “So, you are claiming no other reason for this visit besides talking about your case? Never take me as stupid or a fool. Although, I am a patient man. You can continue to deny your heritage, but there will come a day where you can’t ignore it.”

  If I had things my way, that day would never come. And, if he truly knew who I was and my heritage, then the smartest thing he could do is kill me.

  “I’m looking for a mage for an active investigation. He has mismatched eyes. One silver and the other is violet. He also has a scar that forms a permanent frown.”

  The Guild Master was frowning by the time I finished. He clapped his hands and a mage appeared before us. The Guild Master didn’t even use words or draw any signals to communicate with the other mage. I had never heard, let alone seen such an effortless display of power by any supernatural.

  He gestured to the mage, “Valence is the custodian for mage records. He will look into this.”

  “What information do you have, sir?” asked Valance.

  He relayed what I’d told him.

  “I will do as you ask, sir.”

  “I will expect this to be your top task, Valence, see that you get back to me promptly with the results.”

  “Yes, sir,” he said and then disappeared.

  “I’ll send you word about the findings. We track all mages in our master records. It goes back to the first mage, Asmov.”

  I gulped and concentrated on keeping a straight face. Every mage! I hoped that my father was somehow not included in their master records.

  “I appreciate your time. Thank you Mage –”

  “It’s Danes,” he said with a wink. “I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we speak. Enjoy your day, Marty.”

  I walked out feeling like I’d swallowed a lemon. Spending more time than I needed to with the mages was not anything that I wanted to do. If I hadn’t absolutely needed to, I wouldn’t have risked coming down here.

  I quickly made my way down the stairs. A man stood by one of the pillars near the bottom steps. I’m not sure why he caught my eye. He was handsome, but so were many men. Something about him drew me in and I found myself stopping and just staring at him. Neither of us said a word. We both stared. Neither of us wanting to tear our eyes away from the other. My heart sped up and my face flushed from the intensity of his gaze.

  “Hey, you’re holding the rest of us up,” complained someone behind me.

  The spell was broken and when I checked again, the man was gone. I shook my head, trying to clear away the image of him. Men were a complication I didn’t need in my life.

  Once I was back at my car, Zander let me have it.

  “Took you long enough. Good god, I could have been murdered or kidnapped in the time you were in there. Do us both a favor and don’t procreate?” snipped Zander.

  “Someone is grumpy. Do you need a nap?”

  “Bite me Marty. Hand over the smokes. It should be considered a criminal offense to deny a man his cigaret
tes.”

  “You’re a child as far as everyone knows, so I’m not denying a man anything.”

  “Smokes.”

  I handed him the cigarettes and he quickly lit one, drawing heavy on it. He leaned back, relaxing now that he had his addiction.

  “Blow the smoke out the window. You know how Betty gets about being defiled.”

  “Between you and the car, how could I forget?”

  Zander wasn’t the same man I met five years ago. Being transformed into a teenager wasn’t the extent of the changes. He also lost his powers.

  Gone was the confident, self-controlled man, who took me under his wing. After the last failed attempt to reverse his curse, he had given up and stopped looking for a cure. He no longer cared what happened with the Agency or his life. He’d resigned himself to being a teenager. Now, his days were spent hibernating in the basement playing video games.

  “What?! Why are you staring at me like that? Did I get ashes on your precious car? Does my presence unsettle her? I can do what I want, when I want. I’m not going to have my actions dictated to me by an inanimate object”

  “Don’t be a dick.”

  Zander blew smoke in my direction and tapped ashes on my arm. Before I could react, he gasped and started pulling at the seat belt that had tightened across his chest and throat, constricting his airway. He was becoming an alarming shade of red. If I wanted him to remain alive, I needed to settle the car down. She could be a vengeful hag when she wanted.

  “Beautiful Betty,” I said soothingly to the car as I stroked the dashboard. “He didn’t mean it. You know how cranky he gets being without his nicotine fix.”

  The car relented and loosened the seat belt. Zander’s face went back to its normal pasty white. He was just a shade darker than vampire white.

  “You know better than to trash talk this car,” I told him.

  “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few days.”

  I started the car and headed in the direction of the Agency, but out of courtesy I asked, “Anywhere you need to go before we head home?” I didn’t really expect him to answer or want to go anywhere.

  “Actually, I want to stop at the Sisterhood. Can we stop there?”

  I must have heard him wrong.

  “You’ve got to be joking. Even I avoid that place.”

  “Just take me there. If you can’t manage a simple request, I’ll get Callie or Sterling to take me. Or, I’ll take myself there.”

  I just barely managed to check myself from slapping some sense into the mouthy brat.

  I’d take him there, but it was probably the worst idea he’d ever had. The Sisterhood of the Seers housed the Seers Guild Headquarters. Creepier people couldn’t be found than the partially mad women there. They were a secretive bunch that kept to themselves.

  Zander ignored me as I drove through Uptown towards the Midline. The further we got from the Guild Headquarters, the buildings and residences changed – not dingy and beat down like Downtown, but nothing remarkable either. It was the closest thing to a middle class we had in Germanna. Everyone knew where the Sisterhood was located, but few had reason to visit it. Most people, myself included, felt visiting them was too much of a risk to outweigh any benefit. The women there were just as likely to kill you as they were to help you.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  When Zander didn’t respond, I looked at him, but he remained silent.

  I parked on the curb and didn’t bother locking the car as I got out. I’d given up worrying about leaving Betty since she took care of herself.

  I once came back to the car and saw two injured men groaning and rolling on the ground next to Betty. As I got closer, they begged me to just leave and claimed my car attacked them when they got too close. So, any wannabe thieves were taken care of by my mobile beauty. I’m sure she’d handle any other car thief in a similar manner.

  From the road, I couldn’t make out the temple since a riot of trees, flowering plants and ivy crowded the stone path that led to it. There was a raw beauty to its wildness and its unwillingness to be tamed. All the other buildings and houses in this area were manicured into a neat and tidy properness. Here the land was just minutes from taking over.

  “There’s still time to back out.”

  “Don’t come if you are scared, but I’m going.”

  The sooner we got this over, the faster I could go back to working my cases.

  We made our way down the path in silence. Zander took the lead and smacked grasping flora out of his way. The further we went, the darker it got. The plants blotted out most of the light, creating an eerie tunnel effect.

  It was quiet, too quiet. There were no bird calls, insects buzzing, or the sounds of anything living, beyond our footsteps on the path.

  I pulled out my dagger and kept it at the ready. Something is off.

  “Can you go any slower Marty?”

  Sterling would forgive me for throttling Zander. No sooner had that thought crossed my mind, then a shadow detached from the plant tunnel. It was accompanied by a tinkling laughter. Just as quickly as the shadow appeared, it was gone.

  “Marty, we really need to hurry,” said Zander. He started running and I kept pace with him.

  “Yeah, thanks for that brilliant observation.”

  Two more shadows detached and sprinted in front of us with the same unsettling laughter as before. I could just make out the temple ahead.

  Zander plowed down the path oblivious to the pending danger.

  “We are almost there Marty.”

  Age regression had made Zander stupid. He also had no ability to defend himself and he couldn’t fight off a toddler. Centuries of fighting and he couldn’t do anything anymore.

  Part of me pitied him, but the bigger part of me was disgusted. He was little more than useless and couldn’t even be trusted to respond adequately to a threat. Hell, he didn’t even notice the threat.

  “Jesus Zander. How do you not feel it?”

  “Feel what?”

  “My point exactly. Just get behind me.”

  He complied and some of the last vestiges of respect I had for him fell away. The old Zander would charge into danger and never hide behind a woman – even one capable of defending herself.

  More shadows filled the path in front of us, blocking out what little light there was. I palmed my dagger. There were several types of supernatural creatures that took the shape of shadows. None of them were ones I cared to meet up with.

  One of the shadows swooped onto Zander and he let out a screech, cradling his injured arm. He broke into a run, right into the waiting shadows. “Stupid idiot,” I muttered, taking off after him.

  As I caught up to him, the shadows had surrounded us. Their shadowy claws took swipes at us, letting blood dot a crimson trail. My dagger wouldn’t do anything against them. In this moment, I questioned my stubborn reluctance to use magic. I could have burnt through these shadow creatures easily.

  A swarm of shadows dropped down on Zander, sending him to his knees. The Sisterhood’s Temple was still a hundred feet away. I couldn’t see him through the writhing mass.

  “Zander!” I screamed.

  Silence greeted me as I dove toward the shadow covered-youth. I grabbed his shirt and hauled him towards me. Once he was out, I threw him across my shoulders and sprinted for the temple.

  There was no way that the Sisterhood hadn’t seen or heard our struggle. Why weren’t they coming to help ward off their guard shadows?

  The shadows continued divebombing us. Persistent little bastards. My arms were on fire from all the scratches and cuts. If we hadn’t been so close to the temple, I’d have turned around right then and there. We were too far in for us to go back.

  Zander was kicking and punching me. Brat.

  “Let me down. I don’t need to be carried like a baby.”

  I was off-balance carrying him and trying to fight off the shadows, so I let him slide off my shoulders.

  “Stay close.”<
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  The shadows swarmed me and I couldn’t see beyond them. While I was battling the shadows, Zander had gone ahead, heedless of the danger we faced.

  “Zander wait.”

  My words fell on deaf ears and the shadows suddenly stopped their attack. I pushed myself to my top running speed. I sprinted forward sounding like a broken bag pipe, all whiney and breathy. Just as I reached Zander, the path crumbled away and opened into a yawning crevice right where he stood.

  I lunged for Zander, grabbing his hand to pull him back. I yelled as Zander was dislodged from my grip. He tumbled down, screaming. I looked down in the hole. It was deep enough that I couldn’t see the bottom. As I took a step back, something hit me from behind, sending me flying down the hole.

  I’d always heard that life flashes before your eyes when you are dying, but all I saw was rage. Those bitches let us die. I was so coming back to haunt their worthless asses.

  The fall seemed endless. The next thing I knew, I’d hit the bottom of the hole with a soft tap, which fueled my anger into an inferno. The sisters were messing with us.

  Where was Zander and how badly was he hurt? If he didn’t survive this, I’d make those “sisters” suffer. I blinked a couple of times to clear out the dust from my eyes.

  We weren’t getting out the way we got in, so there had to be another way out. The sickly light from flickering torches weren’t much help in assessing my surroundings. I was in some sort of underground structure that almost resembled catacombs

  Zander groaned from somewhere. I crept to the pillars and found him collapsed behind it. I flipped him over.

  “How bad are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine, but feel stupid.”

  And that was the closest thing to an apology that I’d get from him. I helped him to his feet.

  An involuntary shiver danced over my skin, prickling my warning bells. Places that housed a lot of dead tended to be haunted by ghosts, wraiths, and other types of supernaturals that I’d rather not run into at the moment.

  Normally, I’d have supplies and pre-packaged spells with me to handle this kind of situation. However, since visitors weren’t allowed to enter the Mage Guild Headquarters with them, I’d left them at home. If it had been anyone else with me, I could have left the spells and weapons with them. Unfortunately, I had Zander and he couldn’t trusted alone with them. He made my impulsive tendencies look well-thought out. I didn’t like being unprepared. We were at a major disadvantage that may cost us our lives.