The Devil You Know (Jacob Graves Book 3)

by Sean Stone

  ‘We’ve got more than enough manpower to liberate you from police custody,’ said Monroe. ‘You wouldn’t actually be under arrest, it would be a sham.’

  ‘I said no!’ Dorian snapped. ‘I am not a pawn to be moved around in order to trap another piece. I am a king.’

  ‘Using the king as bait is a common tactic in chess,’ said Drew.

  ‘That’s not helping,’ I whispered to my uncle.

  ‘Listen to your nephew, he seems to be smarter than you on this rare occasion.’ Dorian drew in a deep breath and then exhaled noisily. ‘We need to come up with a plan that does not involve using me as bait. If the city see me handing myself over then they see me capitulating to the demands of a terrorist.’

  ‘What about a glamour?’ I said. My eye was on the whiskey that stood on the coffee table. If I was going to be here long then the immortal could at least offer me a drink. Where were his manners?

  ‘A glamour?’ Dorian asked.

  ‘We glamour somebody to look like you and then use them as bait to lure Magraval.’

  ‘Would he fall for it?’ Simon asked.

  ‘He’d have to get pretty close to see it was a fake and by that point…’ I left the sentence open-ended. They all knew what I meant.

  ‘This plan has potential,’ Simon said, nodding his ferrety little head.

  ‘Maybe, but it still promotes the wrong image. As far as the people will be concerned, I will be handing myself over. They will see me bowing down to the whims of a terrorist.’

  ‘I was just about to say that,’ Simon said quickly, but he went ignored.

  ‘I have not kept this city under my control by making people think I care about them. People do not obey me out of love, they do so out of fear. By playing along with Magraval’s game it shows weakness and submission. He will be viewed as more frightening if even I am forced to go along with his machinations. No, I must defeat him by overpowering him, not tricking him. I still control this city and it’s time to remind everybody of that.’

  ‘Are you saying you’re going to start blowing things up too? Because I don’t think that’s going to help,’ I said.

  ‘Of course not.’ Dorian looked at me with exasperation. ‘I’m going to lock down the city. Nobody is allowed outside no matter what. The only people on the streets will be Orchids and police officers. Anybody else will be killed on sight. Except for you two, obviously.’ He threw the last at Drew and me.

  ‘You do realise that people need to get to work,’ my uncle said as respectfully as he could manage. ‘If everybody is forced to remain at home then this whole city will come to a standstill. It will literally destroy the city.’

  ‘Oh, Drew,’ Dorian chuckled, pouring himself another drink. ‘That’s exactly what I want people to think. Magraval is trying to scare people into turning against me by threatening their lives. But what do people value even higher than the lives of the innocent? Money. By making them believe that the entire city will grind to a halt until Magraval has been caught, I will be scaring anybody who knows anything into giving him up.’

  ‘I really don’t think this will work,’ Drew said.

  ‘It will,’ Dorian said confidently. ‘The lockdown is not going to last more than a single day. The essence of the plan isn’t to scare people, that’s just a bonus. The point is to clear the streets so you can find Magraval easier. Tomorrow when he attacks he will be the only person on the streets. I’ll have the mayor announce it on the evening news. I want patrols on every single street. When Magraval steps out of his portal the alarm will be raised and everybody will flood to that location. So, Jacob, you have one day to kill Magraval. Do not let him escape again.’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  It didn’t seem like anybody was pleased with Dorian’s plan, but it was the one we’d had forced upon us and so it was the one we would use. Monroe and Simon were wise enough to stay quiet though their expressions betrayed their true feelings. We exchanged a few words about the plan before parting ways. It wasn’t until we were safely inside Drew’s car that we finally spoke.

  ‘Utterly ridiculous plan,’ Drew seethed. ‘Magraval will kill the patrols the moment he sees them. They’ll have no chance to raise any alarm.’

  ‘Unless he portals to one of us.’

  ‘Brilliant. So the entire plan relies on luck. Stupid, dumb, luck.’ Drew practically tore the steering wheel from the dashboard as he turned the car around and sped away from Gray Manor.

  ‘What if we can find a way to hijack his portals.’

  ‘It’s impossible. I’ve looked into it. Unless we can get hold of one of those little keys then we cannot interfere with, or access, the portal in any way.’

  ‘But the portal keys are made using Fae magic. So maybe if I could convince the Fae to help us out then they might know a way to hijack the portals.’

  ‘I would be impressed if the plan didn’t rely on you convincing the Fae to do something. They never do anything without there being something in it for them. The best you can hope for is to make some kind of deal, and believe me when I say that the deal will benefit them a damn lot more than it will ever benefit you. Oh, and they’d probably just kill you on sight.’

  ‘Well, I was going to ask Jasmine to accompany me. Diplomatic immunity and all that.’

  ‘Ha! Good luck with that.’ Drew fell quiet as we went through the guarded gate. The Orchid on duty glanced quickly inside the car before waving us through. Only once we were out of earshot did Drew continue. ‘I think if we can get some kind of powerful artefact that could stop portals from working for a limited amount of time, then we could trap him that way.’

  ‘Does something like that exist?’ I asked. It sounded way too good to be true. With an object like that we could just wait for Magraval to appear and then cut off his exit route. We could corner and him and reduce him to dust before he could decide on his next target.

  ‘I’ve heard of it being done. The spell or object would be rare. It would be the sort of thing you might find in Dorian’s vaults.’

  ‘Dorian’s vaults?’ I repeated, the words prompted something in my head but I couldn’t figure out what.

  ‘Yeah, you said they were full of weapons and enchanted objects. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had something like that in there. Although, he would have mentioned it. There’s no way he’d leave it in his vault if he knew it could help in this situation.’

  And just like that the pieces snapped in to place to reveal an absolutely stunning picture. ‘Drop me off at the Premier Inn on Brooks Avenue,’ I said.

  ‘Why the bloody hell do you need to go there?’ he demanded.

  ‘Thor is there.’ I filled Drew in on my encounter with Thor at Natalie’s. I told him about how the Norse gods did not favour my father’s family line, I told him why Thor was in town, and I told him the deal the god had offered me. ‘And I saw a hammer in Dorian’s vaults that looked an awful lot like Mjolnir,’ I concluded.

  ‘So, you’re going to break into Dorian’s vaults again?’ I could hear the disapproval in his voice. I’d barely made it out last time I’d broken in.

  ‘No. Thor said I only need to tell him where it is. He’ll do the rest.’ I realised that even revealing the secret location of Dorian’s most prized possessions was more than enough to get me into serious trouble with the big kahuna. I’d just have to hope he’d never find out I was involved.

  ‘Is this the best time to be doing this? We need to prepare for tomorrow and that means going to see the Fae to see if you can get their help.’ For a moment I was surprised that Drew was actually on board with one of my plans. Sadly, not the plan I was trying to execute.

  ‘Thor’s belt will double my power. Literally. I would feel far more confident stepping up to Magraval tomorrow if I was wearing that belt. I think we all would.’

  ‘Fair point.’

  Drew dropped me off at the Premier Inn. I immediately saw why Thor was so displeased with the place. The building, once a shining metal structure,
was now heavily rusted. The floor outside was littered with cigarette butts, and the pond that had once been a beautiful bit of scenery for the guests, was now dried up and full of litter. And that was just the outside of the building. There weren’t many cars in the car park which indicated just how popular the hotel really was. If you could even waste the word “hotel” on such an establishment. It barely passed for a motel.

  Of all the places in the city to stay, Thor had chosen this one. It spoke volumes about the place the once mighty god now held in the world. I imagined that back in his heyday castles and palaces were opened up to him. Now he got this.

  I walked through the revolving door, enjoying every step. There were some pleasures that you just never grew out of. I never pass up the opportunity to go around a revolving door. Unless I’m running away from somebody, in which case the revolving door is likely the worst choice available.

  The hotel lobby was clean. That was about the only compliment I could give the place. The plants around the room had seen far better days. I wondered how brown the leaves would have to become before the manager finally abandoned the idea of keeping plants, or at least replaced them. The glass on the vending machine was cracked, probably where some angry guest had tried to relieve a packet of crisps that had become stuck. As I walked across the linoleum tiles I felt my shoes stick to the floor and then heard the squelch as I tore them free. Maybe the floor wasn’t as clean as I’d thought.

  ‘I’m here to see somebody in room 108,’ I told the receptionist.

  ‘There’s a map in the elevator,’ he said, pointing toward a faded chrome elevator door. He didn’t even attempt to smile.

  ‘Premier service indeed,’ I muttered as I made my way to the elevator. The button was sticky and I had to wipe my finger on my coat. I glared back at the receptionist as if it was his fault.

  When the cart finally arrived the doors shuddered open, got stuck half way, and then finally clanked to the side as they opened fully. ‘Well, doesn’t that just inspire confidence,’ I said to myself.

  Room 108 was on the first floor, not far from the elevator. I was glad to see a carpet when the doors opened. No more sticky floor. At least I hoped no more, I didn’t relish the idea of encountering a sticky carpet. The carpet was not sticky, but it was incredibly thin. It might once have been a fluffy carpet, but it had had the life trodden out of it.

  I knocked on 108 and as my fist hit the door it moved ever so slightly. The door was already open. That was never a good sign.

  ‘Hello?’ I called out as I pushed the door all the way open. The room within was dim. I could see the curtains were all closed and the lights were off. I stepped into the small hallway that led to the main room. At the end of the hallway, just past the closed bathroom door, there was an open packet of biscuits on the floor. One biscuit had rolled free but only managed to get about three inches away from the packet, leaving a trail of light brown crumbs in its wake. The simple wooden chair that went with the dresser was tipped over. Clothing had fallen onto the floor at the foot of the bed.

  Something was wrong. It didn’t take a world-class assassin to know that. I opened the fingers on my right hand, preparing a spell, as I edged down the corridor. One of two things had occurred here; one, Thor had got drunk, and made a mess of his room, or two, Thor had got himself in a fight.

  I reached the edge of the hallway and the bed came fully into view. ‘Shit,’ I whispered as my heart sank. It was number two, only it was worse than I’d thought. The god was laying on his back across the bed, his arms thrown out to his sides, one leg hanging uselessly over the edge. His wild orange hair was strewn around his head. His eyes were staring vacantly at the hallway. He was naked apart from a white towel that had almost completely fallen off him, only the crown jewels were still hidden.

  Thor hadn’t just been in a fight, he’d been murdered.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I searched the room but, just as I suspected, the belt was gone. Thor was the first god I’d ever met. The first one I remembered anyway. From the way he’d been talking I’d thought he still had some power in him, power enough to not get killed. Apparently it was all talk. The first living god I’d ever encountered was also the first god I’d seen dead.

  But who could have killed him?

  This mystery was too bamboozling for my uneducated mind, but there was somebody who new far more about gods than I did, and as it happened she had been next on my list of people to visit anyway. I pulled out my phone and called Jasmine.

  ‘I cannot believe you summoned me to this drab little corner of depression,’ she said, half an hour later when she practically tip-toed into the room, clearly eager to touch as little of her surroundings as possible.

  ‘I don’t want to be here either,’ I said. I was sitting in the little box armchair in the corner.

  ‘The god of thunder. How the mighty have fallen,’ Jasmine said under her breath as she took in the image of Thor’s almost naked corpse.

  ‘Are you gloating over a dead body?’ I asked in surprise. Jasmine could be cold but this was beyond even her usual levels of frostiness.

  Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. ‘Gloating? About what? It’s just an expression, darling. Now, why did you ask me here?’

  ‘Well, I was hoping you could figure out what killed him.’ I rested my cheek in the palm of my hand and waited for her to respond. She looked over the body slowly before reverting her attention back to me.

  ‘Don’t you have enough to worry about without adding a little murder mystery to the pot?’

  I sighed and stood up, running my hands through my hair. ‘You’re right.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said with a small smile.

  ‘I’ve already got more on my plate than I can handle as it is. However, he had a magic belt that doubles the strength of whoever wears it. He was going to lend it to me, but I think somebody else wanted that belt and killed him for it.’

  ‘And so your big idea is to hunt them down and take the belt from them?’

  ‘I’m worried about who might have the belt. Imagine if Magraval has it. He’d double his power just like that.’ I snapped my fingers for emphasis and watched the smile slide from Jasmine’s face. She stepped up to the corpse and bent over as she began to examine Thor’s lifeless face.

  ‘There are no signs of ageing. So if Magraval killed him then he didn’t drain his life-force first.’

  ‘Are you sure? I think different species react differently to the draining process.’

  ‘Why do you think that?’

  ‘The two Fae found dead. They had all the symptoms of being drained but no other signs of harm. I think because they live so long the draining kills them rather just ageing them.’

  ‘And gods outlive Fae by quite a bit. I see your point, but you are wrong. There would still be signs of ageing and yet there are none. Also, when a god dies they leak power. If Magraval had sucked him dry then there would be no power left behind. Thor’s remaining god power is still here.’

  ‘So it wasn’t Magraval,’ I said thoughtfully, trying to think of other people who might have killed Thor. To be honest, anybody who found out he had that belt could have wanted it.

  ‘I didn’t say that. I simply said he killed Thor in a different manner.’ She moved down his body and placed her palm on the centre of his chest.

  ‘I hate to be the one to point this out, but you aren’t going to get a heartbeat from him.’

  ‘Idiot,’ she muttered with a small shake of her head. ‘A spell killed him. I can feel it. A very powerful spell.’

  ‘So whoever did this is incredibly powerful and now twice as much. That’s exactly the news I was hoping to hear.’

  ‘Sorry to ruin your day, sunshine. You did call me here so you’ve only yourself to blame. The real question on my mind is why Thor was even here.’

  ‘He was getting his gloves fixed.’ Jasmine raised one slender eyebrow at my statement. ‘They help with his hammer or something.’<
br />
  ‘I see.’

  ‘The power that’s lingering here from him. Could I use it?’

  Jasmine shrugged. ‘Sure, there’s not much of it though. Just siphon it the same way you would any other energy.’

  ‘Uh…’

  ‘Oh, of course. I almost forgot that you can’t siphon energy unless it’s already in a nice little battery or something. You’re one of those lazy wizards.’

  I smiled sardonically. ‘Can you help me or not?’

  ‘Since you asked so nicely. It would be better not to siphon into yourself anyway. You’d end up using it and it would never be replenished.’

  ‘Are you saying there’s a way to use the power and replenish it? So I would have an infinite supply of god magic?’ My excitement grew at the possibility. Surely with god magic I could blast Magraval into the middle of next week.

  ‘That is exactly what I’m saying, obviously. Gods don’t draw power from outside, their power is held within and it replenishes itself. But don’t get too excited, there isn’t much power here. Thor was weak. Practically mortal. That’s how whoever managed to snuff him out did so. But every little helps.’ As she spoke she walked toward me slowly, swaying her hips seductively. Her voice dropped to a sultry whisper as she invaded my personal space. She smelled like sugar and strawberries. She looked like a mistake I did not want to make again. She took hold of one of my hands and raised it up.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I asked, with a half-hearted attempt to pull my hand free. Her grip increased. She wasn’t super-strong, but she was far stronger than a woman of her size should have been.

  ‘I’m borrowing this.’ She slid my only remaining ring off my finger and closed it in the palm of her hand. That ring was the only thing my mother had left me. It was a family heirloom. She brushed her fingers over the ring and the gold glimmered with life. ‘It’s primed for the transfer. It would be better if you did the transfer yourself, it would give you greater mastery of the ring.’