by Sean Stone
Neil took a deep breath and then calmly returned to his stool. ‘But change does not come easily. I understand that you need some prompting. Some motivation. I know for a fact that the police have covered up evidence against Dorian and his lieutenants, Henry Monroe, and Simon Delacrue. Chief Constable Barry Walsh, I call on you to act now. Do the duty that your office demands. If charges have not been brought against Dorian Gray, Henry Monroe, or Simon Delacrue in twenty-four hours then the people of this city will pay. Dorian Gray is a cancer. You treat cancer by pumping more poison into the body. I will poison this city until you, the people, have eradicated the cancer that is Dorian Gray.’
The screen turned to black and a moment later a pale-faced news anchor appeared sitting at her desk. I closed the app and looked at my ashen-faced uncle.
‘It looks like Magraval’s tired of waiting for Dorian to attack,’ Drew said.
‘What the hell do we do?’
‘This is not our fight. Our job is to kill Magraval. This is Dorian’s problem.’
‘No, it’s everyone’s problem. Walsh won’t move against Dorian because the Orchids have his daughter. So Neil will be forced to carry out his threat.’
‘It won’t be Neil carrying out the threat. He’s a kid, he doesn’t have the power. Magraval will do it. So we need to figure out what he’s going to do and where. If we figure that out we’ll find him.’
‘Do you think we can take him?’ I asked. I didn’t think we could. I wasn’t ready yet. I needed more practice.
‘We won’t be the only ones looking this time. If Simon and Monroe are with us then we will be able to kill him. But that’s the easy part compared with figuring out where in one of the country’s largest cities, Magraval is going to strike.’
‘And what he’s going to do.’ A chill snaked its way down my spine as I considered the endless possibilities.
Chapter Ten
I called Simon back straight away. ‘Dorian would like to impress upon you the importance of completing your task before Magraval should carry out any such attack.’
‘Obviously,’ I replied, I’d expected him to say something to that effect. ‘Drew and I have a plan, but we might need you and Monroe to help us take Magraval down.’
‘Remind me what we’re paying you such an extraordinary amount of money for?’
‘You aren’t paying me for anything. Dorian is paying me to eliminate one of his enemies. He promised me his resources and you are one of his resources. Will you help, or I do I need to go to him directly?’
‘Don’t threaten me, Graves,’ he said darkly. ‘I have a job assigned to me already. Dorian would like me to show Neil the error of his ways.’
‘Going after Neil is a waste of time. If you take Neil out of the picture then Magraval will find a new puppet. Remember, Neil isn’t going to be carrying out these attacks himself.’
‘Dorian wants Neil to be reminded that he has much to lose. Nothing will remind him better than murdering his parents.’
‘No it…’ An idea suddenly occurred to me. ‘We can use his parents to get him to give us Magraval’s location.’
The other end of the line was silent for a moment. ‘That might work, but Dorian has already given me instructions.’
‘Suggest this to Dorian. It’s a better plan. You can even take the credit if you like.’
‘As if I need any credit from you.’
‘Won’t the kid’s parents be in the Hall?’ Drew growled at me. Way to piss on the bonfire. I closed my eyes and groaned, the entire plan was sinking.
‘Simon, his parents must be members of the Hall, right?’
‘Correct. However, I see what you are thinking and you are incorrect. His parents are not even in the city. As soon as their son chose to remain at the Hall and stand against Dorian, they left town in order to preserve their own lives. And that of their other child. Neil’s sister.’
‘We need to go and pick them up right now. Before Magraval thinks to protect them.’ He’d always been a step ahead of us before, we couldn’t let him beat us this time. Unless he already had Neil’s family protected.
‘Already only my way.’
‘Simon, don’t kill them. We can use them,’ I implored. This was our best chance of finding Magraval, and killing Neil’s parents would be squandering a golden opportunity.
There was a long silence from Simon’s end. Then finally he said, ‘I’ll text you the address. If you make me wait more than twenty minutes I’ll do this without you. Understand?’
‘I understand,’ I said and hung up.
I parted ways with Drew there. He agreed that he wouldn’t contribute much to this little mission. If we ran into trouble, he had no magic, so unless it descended into a fist fight he’d be next to useless. Drew’s forte was research and right now we needed somebody to look into those weird raisin portals. There may be some trick to finding Magraval that way.
Without Drew, I was free to use my own car again. As soon as I had the address from Simon, I jumped into the Maserati and sped my way toward Kent.
The journey took just over an hour and I was relieved to see that Simon was waiting just down the road right where he said he’d be. The Garland family had chosen to relocate to a little village called Hoo. A peculiar name for a place and no doubt the butt of many jokes. I met Simon on the corner of Knight’s Road. He was leaning against one of two black Range Rovers. Standard villain cars.
‘Nearly out of time,’ he said smugly. ‘Did you run into a gyspy on the way here?’
‘What?’
‘All the gold,’ he pointed out my new jewellery.
‘Oh, long story,’ I waved it away as if it was of little interest.
‘Come on.’
He led me around the back of a small parade of shops. We climbed a set of old stone stairs and entered the apartment above the newsagent’s shop. Several Orchids were standing around the small apartment. My eyes found the man who I guessed owned the apartment. He was lying dead on the floor, his eyes wide open and blood trickling out of his ears.
‘Was that really necessary?’ I asked, pointing at the corpse. The poor bloke hadn’t asked for this.
‘He tried to stop us from coming in,’ Simon said with a casual shrug.
There were plenty of alternatives to killing the unfortunate man. This revelation served as a reminder that this alliance was temporary and once Magraval was taken care of, I wanted nothing to do with anybody wearing that bloody badge.
A woman with her hair in a bun was standing by the window watching the Garland house across the road. Simon and I stood either side of her so we could get a good look at the target too. As expected, Magraval was a step ahead of us. Several people were standing guard around the semi-detached house.
‘Five guards in total. Three on the outside of the house. One at the front, one at the rear, and one walks between. One guard inside guarding the back door that leads into the kitchen and another standing behind the front door,’ the woman said. I didn’t ask how she’d acquired this information.
‘Are these people from the Hall?’ I asked.
‘Yes. One of them had the striped badge on his shirt,’ Simon replied.
‘If we go in there too heavily it will draw a lot of attention.’ I said. The street was quiet, but that didn’t mean there weren’t plenty of people in the houses, and too much noise would draw attention.
‘I agree. You are known for your stealth, aren’t you, Jacob?’ Simon sneered at me. I got the impression he was threatening to out me as the Wraith in front of all his people. If he did that then I’d be forced to kill them all. Too many people knew the truth already. Drew and I were the only ones who were supposed to know. Leah had figured out I was up to something when she’d looked at my accounting books and saw the money laundering. She’d learned the full truth when I put her on the payroll. Her sisters knew the truth too, I assumed because she’d told them. Dorian had figured out because he was Dorian and had magical ways of learning secrets. He’
d told Monroe and recently he’d told Simon as well. Maybe Drew was right and I should kill them all once Magraval was gone. Not including Leah and her sisters of course.
‘I can be stealthy when I need to be, yes,’ I replied, my tone clipped.
‘Well, then. Since you want us to take a lighter approach, how about you clear the way for us? If you fail, we’ll storm the place and take our prize that way.’
‘Fine,’ I growled, invoking my uncle.
‘No witnesses, Jacob.’
‘Since when did you care about witnesses? I thought you lot liked making an example.’
‘We are not in Sangford anymore. If we were seen to be overstepping like this then it would cause diplomatic complications for Dorian. Those guards need to die. If you don’t do it then I will and it will hurt more if I do it.’
The only response I gave him was a cold stare. I didn’t much like being ordered to commit murder. Not unless there was an attachment of money and proof that my targets weren’t innocent. These people had chosen to side with Magraval, so they’d gotten themselves into this mess. Anybody still on Magraval’s side after Neil’s appearance on the news was inviting bad karma into their lives.
‘Wait fifteen minutes and then follow me in,’ I said on my way out.
The majority of the jobs I’d completed had been done at night. It was much easier to hide in the dark. People tend not to see you coming so much. The only benefit of doing a job in the day was that people were less suspicious about noises. There was already plenty going on in the day so any noises I made could blend in or be attributed to something innocent. Of course, this was a quiet village so the noise advantage was gone.
I approached the house slowly, pretending to be another villager going about my day. There was one man standing at the end of the driveway, leaning on the hedge that served as a wall along the front of the property. I looked over at the front door. It was old and made of brown wood. There was a small rectangular glass window built into its centre but the glass was warped. Even if the guard was watching, he or she wouldn’t be able to see much more than shapes.
‘Afternoon,’ I said in my friendliest voice as I neared the guard.
He offered a small smile and a nod of his head. Mistaking me for a villager he let his guard down. I made it look like I was going to walk past him but at the last moment I turned. ‘Morivar,’ I whispered and his heart exploded before he had a chance to react. His body fell into my arms and I quickly and quietly dumped him behind the hedge. I glanced around quickly to make sure that nobody had seen it. The street was empty. Nobody was looking out from the windows of any of the shops. No neighbours were out in their front gardens.
I glanced back at the front window of the house. Nobody appeared to be in the room beyond it, but still, it paid to be cautious. I conjured a quick illusion that would stop anybody inside from seeing what was actually going on outside. All they would see was a quiet village.
One down, four to go. I walked quickly to the front of the house and pinned myself against the wall on the corner of the building. The inside guard would not be able to see me unless they opened the door, and the wandering patrolman would see nothing until it was too late. I only had to wait a few seconds before I heard the approaching footsteps. He was moving slowly, no urgency. He didn’t know anything was wrong just yet. He reached the corner and I sprung into action. I grabbed him with one hand, and covered his mouth with the other. A quick blast of magic sent him to his grave. I dropped his body behind the hedge too.
I caught the rear guard relieving himself on the garage wall. He died before he heard me coming. I remember reading about a type of ghost that sometimes haunts locations. The ghost was stuck doing the thing it was doing when it died. If this guy turned into that type of ghost then the future residents were in for a real treat. Imagine being haunted by a ghost who kept pissing up your garage wall.
The next bit would be tricky. Killing the guy inside the kitchen would probably make noise. Then the front guard would come running. I could take him out too, but it would alert the family. If they had some kind of safe room then the noise would send them running for it. If I could draw the kitchen guard out then I might be able to pull it off.
I looked around me for something I could use to make some noise. My eyes fell on a football. I grabbed the ball and threw it at the garage wall. There was a small thud as the leather hit the brick. No response came from inside the house. I threw it twice more, each time getting slightly louder.
‘What you doing out there?’ A sharp voice said through the back door. I threw the ball again. ‘Fuck’s sake.’
The door swung open and I ducked around the side of the house fast.
‘Where the fuck…’ the guard stepped into the garden and I destroyed his heart just as his eyes fell on me. He made a kind of hiccupping noise as his body hit the ground. I stood silently, waiting to see if the tiny noise he’d made had alerted the final guard. There was no sound. No voices. No footsteps. Nothing.
I stepped quietly around to the back door and saw the final guard standing in the kitchen doorway looking around in bewilderment. He saw me and his eyes expanded, filling his face like saucers.
‘Morivar,’ I hissed, trying to keep quiet so as not to alert the family. He blocked the attack, but the force of it still sent him staggering back. I threw the same spell again whilst he was stumbling and this time I hit my mark. He let out a rather loud groan as he clutched his chest and then promptly died. His body made a massive thud as it hit the wooden floor. I winced knowing that somebody had definitely heard that.
I jogged into the house and swung the door closed behind me. I uttered a quick spell to stop any but me from being able to open it again. I ran toward the front door, intending to do the same there. As I passed the stairs a meaty fist struck out. I ducked just in time and skidded toward the living room door, away from the attacker. As I slid along the wooden floor, I turned my body to face the newcomer. He wasn’t wearing the emblem of the Hall, and he looked more terrified than aggressive. I assumed he was Neil’s father rather than a guard. He remained on the stairs, staring down at me.
‘I’m not here to hurt you,’ I said, showing him my palms.
‘Rabole!’ He shouted. My shield absorbed the attack easily.
‘Mr Garland, is it?’
His eyes darted about, searching for help. ‘I don’t want any part of this,’ he told me, his voice shaking. ‘Just leave me and my family out of it.’
‘I’m here to help you and your son.’ It was only a half lie. If I could use them to coax Neil out then I could get him away from Magraval, and maybe, in the long run I could save him from getting killed by Dorian. At the back of my mind, however, I knew it was too late for Neil. As soon as he’d appeared on the news he’d dug his own grave.
Mr Garland looked down at the body of the guard on the hallway floor. ‘I find it very hard to trust a murderer,’ he said. He took a backward step up the stairs.
‘Those people worked for Magraval.’
‘Those people were protecting me.’ Another step.
‘Only as long as Magraval needs to use your son as a puppet. What happens then? Magraval is worse than Dorian, you know?’
‘I don’t care about Magraval or Dorian. We came here to get away from it all. Then these bouncers turn up. And now you. Who’s next? Who are you? You’re not wearing that bloody orchid badge.’ His mind was bouncing around wildly.
‘Like I said, I’m here to help. Where are your wife and daughter?’
I heard the person behind me in the living room before they could rattle off a spell. I ducked and turned at the same time, her spell shot over my head and smashed through the hallway window. As I moved I threw a quick spell at Mr Garland. He wasn’t expecting it and was knocked right off his feet. I heard him come tumbling down the stairs.
Behind me stood his wife, I presumed. She was behind the sofa which led me to believe she’d been hiding behind it. Her hair was a shabby mess and her
face frantic. She threw another spell, this one I blocked.
‘Get out of my house now!’ she screamed viciously. Three more spells hit my shield in quick succession.
‘Christine stop!’ Mr Garland yelled. ‘Just please leave,’ he begged me.
‘I will leave. And you’re all coming with me. Too many lives depend on it,’ I told them both. I didn’t want to endanger an innocent family, but when I weighed three against however many would die tomorrow when the police failed to arrest any Orchids, the family didn’t come off so well.
The front door exploded into splinters of wood and the Orchid’s marched in, Simon bringing up the rear. ‘Jacob is quite right,’ he told them, chin raised supremely. ‘You can either walk out of the house willingly or we can drag you out kicking and screaming, absent any dignity. Oh hell, let’s skip the chitchat and go straight to option b.’
Chapter Eleven
The Orchids went about their business callously. The Garland family were dragged, bound and gagged, from their home and then thrown in the Range Rovers the Orchids had brought with them. I stood by and let it happen, knowing there was nothing I could do to intercede. I forced myself to watch as each member of the family was roughly forced into the boots of the vehicles. The terror on the face of the fourteen-year-old girl would stay with me for some time. I tried to justify their behaviour by saying if the Garlands had simply cooperated then they would have been treated more gently. I knew it wasn’t true, though.
‘Listen,’ I said to Simon, stopping before he got in his vehicle. ‘I know Dorian wants you to use them in a show of aggression, but we would achieve more by using them as bait. Neil is the only one who can lead us to Magraval. If we take his family to the Hall, stand outside, and threaten to kill them, then we can draw him out. I’ll be hiding by the doors and I’ll snatch him before anyone can stop us.’
‘And then we use the boy to find the Prime and kill him.’