Shadow Hunted

by L. A. Johnson

  “The question is, why aren’t you worried?” he asked her.

  It was a good question. “Because nothing bad ever happens to these mages. No matter how often I wish it so,” Lydia answered. She pointed across the room and to the left where she heard a new disturbance and the two of them crept in that direction.

  “I’m going to need you to leave the premises at once,” the voice behind her said.

  The voice startled Lydia, and she jumped again. And just when she was trying to look brave in front of Zack. She turned to see that it was Kade.

  “What the hell, Kade? You scared me. Why does everybody keep sneaking up behind me? You didn’t answer your door. And now you sneak up on me like that? I mean, that was Drat-level annoying. What the hell is going on here?”

  “Who is that?” Kade asked, ignoring her and pointing at Zack. “Please tell me you didn’t bring a human in here.”

  “No,” Lydia said. “I totally brought a human in here.” She grinned at Kade for a second. The mages were obviously in the middle of a crisis, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun. “He’s not just any human, either, he’s a cop. In fact, he’s here to help. Really. Just point him in the direction of whatever you want shot. Look at him. He’s ready to go.”

  There was another round of zapping, which usually simulated the magical duels they use for training.

  Kade looked conflicted about where he should be for a moment, then he turned to face Lydia. “Do you know how many magical ordinances you violated bringing him in here?”

  “Too bad. Look, we just got back from talking to a vampire biker crime lord who said that the murder at the mayor’s office was committed by something called a soul sucker.”

  This threw Kade off of his game for a second. Lydia studied his face. She was trying to figure out if he already knew about it and didn’t tell her, but it looked like a total surprise to him. Whatever was going on at the moment must have been a big deal, because a few of his curly locks were actually out of place. It made him look slightly more attractive, since he normally looked too perfect.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Kade asked her.

  “Absolutely,” Lydia answered.

  “I’m kind of busy,” he said. “You two will have to come back later.” He turned to go, but Lydia caught him by the arm.

  “Oh no you don’t,” she said. “You see, the vampire crime lord, or at least his haunted book of monsters, said that this soul sucker can only show up if it’s magically summoned.”

  Kade stopped. “And you think somebody here would summon a creature like that?” he asked, obviously offended.

  “No,” Lydia deadpanned, “it was an accountant at city hall. Who else could figure out how to do it? Of course it had to be you guys.”

  “And you’d take the word of a vampire crime lord over mine?” Kade asked.

  “Any day of the week,” Lydia answered. “You have a bad habit of not telling me important details until they bite me in the ass. Or possibly the neck, in this case.”

  Kade shut his mouth.

  “I thought so,” Lydia said.

  “Wait,” Zack chimed in, “didn’t Luca say that the soul sucker thing could only be summoned by dark magic?”

  “Oh yeah,” Lydia said. “He’s right. Kade, you need to tell me what’s really going on here.”

  “It wasn’t us,” Kade said, “I can assure you of that. And if it’s true that an evil mage is behind it, then it represents a serious breach of the magical peace that I’m responsible for and that’s almost worse.”

  “So, what’s really going on here? Why are you in the middle of all these magical training duels?” She pointed toward the sound of the disturbance.

  Kade appeared to think about it for a moment. “None of your business. But I have something that will help you in my study. And then I’ll ask both of you to kindly show yourself out before you attract any more attention.”

  Lydia smirked at Zack. They followed Kade to his quiet study where he grabbed a rock off of his desk and handed it to Lydia.

  “Um, thanks?” Lydia said.

  “Oh yes. Hang on, this will only take a moment.” Kade took the rock back and sat at his desk, pulling things out of the drawers including a small, brown notebook and more figurines. He glanced at the notebook, flipping pages as the sound of zapping and yelling intensified outside of the study.

  “Do you need me or Zack to check on that?” Lydia asked, pointing outside the room.

  Zack glanced from the open door to Lydia, then Kade, and then back to the door. His gun was still drawn, and he looked jumpy.

  “No. And stop interrupting me,” he answered.

  Lydia watched as he held the rock in his hand, closed his eyes and performed some kind of incantation. Or at least that was her guess. His lips were moving, so he was either casting a spell or lying. After thirty seconds, he opened his eyes and stood up. He crossed the room and handed the rock back to Lydia. She couldn’t help but notice it was glowing a faint red color now.

  “This will have to do,” Kade said. “I don’t have time to put the spell into something more elaborate because of all of that,” he gestured outside of his office. “This rock is now a magical tracking device. It should lead you to the location of the person who summoned the soul squelcher or whatever you called it.”

  “Soul sucker,” Lydia corrected. “And I only just now told you about that thing. How did you make the spell so specific so fast?”

  “I didn’t, really. It’s simply calibrated to track recently used dark magic.”

  Lydia thought she saw a flicker of something in Kade’s face at the mention of dark magic.

  “Very powerful dark magic,” he continued. “I doubt there’s anything else going on in this city that’s anywhere near the level of darkness you’re describing, so that simple spell should work.”

  Lydia stared at the rock. Its magic was faint, nothing like the humming at the front door. “How does it work?”

  Kade stopped for a moment to listen to something going on outside the office. He was obviously distracted by whatever he wouldn’t tell them about. He turned back to Lydia. “Oh, it’s color coded, like traffic signals. It’ll glow red, yellow, or green depending on whether you’re getting closer or farther away from the person who cast the spell.”

  “That’s a bad idea, she’s kind of traffic signal challenged,” Zack interjected.

  Lydia ignored Zack. “Wait, Kade. You’re saying that we’re supposed to just drive around the city playing hot and cold with our magic rock until we find this guy? That’s the best magical solution you could come up with?”

  “At the moment, yes,” Kade said. “Now let yourselves out and call me if you find something.”

  “And what about the soul sucker?” Lydia asked. “It’s still out there, and according to the vampires, it will strike again.”

  “I’ll check into it. Bye.” Kade shooed them out the door and tried to close it, but Lydia blocked it with her leg.

  She fixed him with her best angry stare. The image in Luca’s book of monsters that featured the bad fae with the flaming sword was bothering her. She had a flaming sword and the whole situation was starting to feel out of control. “What aren’t you telling me, Kade? About dark magic.”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kade answered. This time he didn’t wait for Lydia and Zack to leave, he went around her out the door and then he was gone.

  Lydia shrugged and led Zack out of the building and shut it behind them. They made their way back to Lydia’s car.

  Zack spoke first. “Is it just me or was that weird? I mean, I don’t even know those people or Kade and I thought it was weird.”

  “Yeah,” Lydia answered, pulling out into traffic, “it was weird.”

  “Do you think it’ll work?” Zack asked. “Driving around the city trying to find a needle in a haystack sounds like a waste of time with everything else going on.”

  “Welcome to the
wonderful world of mages ordering you around,” Lydia said. “Believe me, it’s par for the course.”

  Zack stared at Lydia with a quizzical look on his face. “Weren’t you the least bit curious back there? About what was going on and what that guy was hiding? Because you didn’t act like it.”

  “They’re always hiding stuff. Kade hides stuff from me all the time. Even though I work for him. Important stuff like details about who I’m tracking, safety issues, etc. So, you can see why I’m less worried about them than I probably should be. If they ever told me the truth about anything, then maybe I’d be more invested in their well-being.”

  Zack looked as if he would keep pressing the matter, but he got a text message notification. He pulled out his phone and glanced down at it.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Another murder,” he said. “Multiple victims this time, but the same overall details as the mayor’s aide. The department is really spooked, they want us to get there fast.” He looked up at her. “This crime scene’s only a few minutes old, Lydia. This could be our chance to find something useful.”

  Lydia stepped on the gas. “Got it. Drive as fast as the vehicle will go.”

  “Hey!” Zack objected, looking nervous. “That’s not what I said.”

  Eleven

  “I’ll bet you’ll be glad for my bad driving now,” Lydia said, speeding through the city.

  “I will only admit that you’ll get us there faster than I would have.” He grinned. “You’re a menace.” Then his expression turned tense.

  “What is it?”

  His square jaw looked clenched. “This soul sucker thing. I mean, the guys who were first at the scene don’t even know what it is causing these murders. Do you think they’re in danger?”

  “Absolutely,” Lydia answered. “And they’re right to be spooked. I think we’re all in danger. I’ll tell you what, we’ve got our stupid magic rock now. We’ll check this new crime scene out and then we’ll track down the guy responsible for summoning it. With any luck at all, nobody else will get hurt, okay?”

  He nodded.

  “I assume we’re going downtown?” Lydia asked.

  “Yeah,” Zack said, “Chase Tower.”

  Lydia frowned. “Isn’t that near the first crime scene?”

  “Yes,” Zack said. “Less than half a mile, according to this map. Whatever this thing is, it seems to like high rises.”

  “Or it’s hiding out in the same general area, like Luca said.” Lydia screeched around a corner.

  “You seem awfully open to trusting Luca,” Zack said.

  “What?” Lydia asked. “You’re asking me why I believe a vampire crime lord over Kade? Of the two of them, Luca hasn’t lied to us, has he? Luca also opened up his big book of monsters for us, which makes him far more open to sharing information. And so far, nothing he said or showed us in the book has been disproven.”

  “He also said we could never go back in there,” Zack said.

  “Yeah, yeah. We take the good with the bad.”

  There was silence in the car for a few moments as Lydia concentrated on getting them to their destination as fast as possible while Zack went to his happy place and held onto the passenger seat handle and pumped his imaginary brake.

  Lydia pulled into a parking spot on the street a few blocks before they got to the building, which was good because there was already a growing police presence which was blocking off access to the area. The two of them jumped out of the car.

  They took off at a brisk pace toward the yellow crime scene tape and the stern-faced police officers guarding it.

  Zack flashed his badge and went through, but they stopped Lydia right behind him. “This is a murder scene, detective,” they said to him. “Your girlfriend can’t come in.”

  Zack turned around stone-faced and walked right at the beat cop who had said it. “You say one more word and you’ll be on crap duty for the rest of the year. Unless you want the Chief finding out you’re insulting his Special Case Consultant. Or, maybe you’d like to come upstairs with us and deal with what’s going on up there? How would you like that, tough guy?”

  The beat cop’s face went ghostly white.

  “Yeah,” said Zack, loud enough for the other officers to hear, “I thought so. Not so brave when you’re not talking down to women. Plus,” he said as he pulled Lydia through to the other side and then walked away, “believe me, she’d kick your ass anyway.”

  “Special Case Consultant,” Lydia said, as they made their way into the building. “I kind of like the sound of that.”

  “Sorry,” Zack said, “some of these guys are just jerks. There are plenty of good guys too, though. The Chief is a good one. I’ve known him for years. He’s the only reason I still have a job.”

  “It’s nice to know there’s a good guy in charge,” Lydia said. “It makes a big difference.”

  The two of them entered the Chase Tower building. It would have normally been very busy this time of the day. The lobby stores and coffee shops were abandoned. The garish mauve and blue couches scattered around the room were empty. Some of the couches and chairs still had jackets on them from people who must have left in a hurry. Food items sat abandoned on little tables. The only people now roaming its halls were cops and the occasional building manager.

  Lydia looked around warily. “Keep an eye out, Zack. This thing can’t walk through walls, so there’s a chance it could still be inside.” At the thought of it, her hand went reflexively to the sword case on her back. She stopped walking for a moment to listen for buzzing sounds, but she heard nothing. And the book had warned that it didn’t make a lot of noise. Still, it didn’t hurt to check.

  Zack looked worried. “True, but hopefully it went out the way it came in like it did at the last crime scene.” He headed toward the elevators where half a dozen more cops stood guard.

  As Zack approached, the cops standing guard held out their hands to stop them. “Nobody goes in or out,” one of them said. “Chief’s orders.”

  Zack pulled out his badge and showed it to them. “I’m pretty sure he told you I was coming.”

  The cop shook his head and checked Zack’s name off of a list on a clipboard he was holding. “Ok. You’re on the list. Better you than me. The crime scene is on the eighth floor. You can’t miss it.” He looked at Lydia. “What about her?”

  “Special Case Consultant. Chief called her in because she specializes in this sort of thing.”

  The cops looked at her with a new appreciation, maybe even a dread. They parted like the red sea to let the two of them through. Lydia moved forward to press the elevator button.

  Zack paused and turned back to talk to the cops guarding the elevator. Lydia could hear his voice carry all the way to the elevators. “Hey, whatever did this could still be lurking around. Keep your eyes open for anything unusual and if you see anything crazy.” He paused. “Well, I’m not the Chief and I can’t give you orders, but I will shoot to kill. I don’t want that shit happening to me.”

  They nodded.

  He left them and got on the elevator with Lydia.

  “It’s not easy, is it?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Trying to help. Trying to warn people of how much danger they’re in when they don’t even understand what’s going on. It was nice of you to try.”

  “They already think I’m crazy. I have nothing to lose. Honestly, it might not have been smart to freak them out even more than they already are. They looked pretty stressed as it is.”

  “You told them the truth. Well, enough of the truth to help them stay alive. That’s all any of us can really ask for,” Lydia said as the elevator chimed that they had arrived at the eighth floor.

  “I’m just trying to solve a murder and get my old job back,” he said as he got out of the elevator and went into the hallway. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “And I’d prefer it if nobody else got killed in the process,” he added.

 
Lydia nodded at him and the two of them made their way cautiously down the hallway. It only took a second to see that this crime scene was different. There were chairs and other objects strewn across the hallway. And also, bodies. Plural. The first crime scene was confined to a single office and a single victim. That wasn’t the case here.

  “What the hell?” Lydia asked. “This is a lot of carnage. If this thing is just a magically summoned assassin, then why does it appear to be escalating the violence?” Lydia asked.

  “I don’t know,” Zack answered. “But I think the smart thing to do is to start at the beginning. Let’s look through the offices on the end and see if that soul sucker thing broke through the glass like last time. We should also check to see if there’s more than one entry point. One thing I know for sure is that I don’t want that thing sneaking up on me.”

  They followed the debris trail to the end of the hall. Then Zack took the office on the left and Lydia went into the office on the right.

  “I’ve got a glass entry point in here,” Zack said.

  “Nothing over here,” Lydia shouted. She joined him in the office where the creature broke in so she could have a look around. Just like the first crime scene, there was glass everywhere on the floor. The hole was approximately the same size as the first crime scene as well.

  A quick look at the body revealed that it was in the same exact shape as the one at the first crime scene.

  “Okay,” Zack said. “It looks like that thing entered here. We should probably find out whose office this is.”

  Normally there would be a nice tidy nameplate in an office like this, but right now it looked the crime scene it was. The desk was overturned, and glass was everywhere. There were books, papers, knick-knacks and expensive heavy bookends scattered around.

  Lydia knelt to pick up one of the bookends. It was painted to look like half of a globe. “These are heavy. And the bookshelves in the back don’t look disturbed. Do you think the victim used this to defend himself?”

  “Makes sense,” Zack said. “That looks heavy. It’s what I would have done if I wasn’t packing.” He took a few steps back, surveying the scene. “Okay, so the soul sucker thing breaks into this window.” He pointed to the broken window. “Then whoever was in here got startled and threw things at it. Which probably wouldn’t work, right?” He looked at Lydia and raised an eyebrow.