“Monty? I’m all for the teamwork and all that, but what am I doing here? It’s not like I can help you close the vortex,” I said as we got out of the Goat. “I don’t use magic. Peaches, stay.”
Monty narrowed his eyes. “I need your help. Over there. I need you to use your mark.”
“My mark? But I’m the only one affected during its use. How is that going to help?”
“Do you really want me to explain the mechanics behind what I’m going to do?”
“Can’t you do it in English I can understand?” I asked, walking over to where he indicated.
“Probably not.”
“Try me,” I said, looking for the tear but not seeing anything.
He slashed down with a hand and I saw the tear, a small vortex that seemed to be growing larger right before my eyes.
“I’m going to create another vortex around you,” he started. I put my hands up and shook my head.
“Already not liking this plan. Can’t you just close this one?” I stared at him and pointed at the vortex.
“I need an anchor who is immune to magic and can stop time. Do you know anyone else who can do what you do with the mark? If so, please refer them and Corbel will go pick them up.”
“Fine, I’m your huckleberry. You need an immune anchor, and then?”
“When I tell you, you activate your mark. I will set off a negation spell and hopefully the two vortices will cancel each other out and leave you intact,” he said, lowering his voice around the last part.
“Hopefully?” I stared at him, hard. “You’ve never done this before, have you? This is the first time you are attempting this and I get to be the guinea pig?” I said, my voice getting louder.
“The theory is sound. According to Ziller’s theorem of magical gravity, the two vortices will collapse on each other and try to merge. That’s when you’ll stop time, and I will negate the process.”
“I’m really disliking you right now,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Fine. We don’t have another choice. Let’s get this done. I’m going on the record as saying this is the opposite of shaynetas—”
“You finish that sentence and I’ll make sure there is an error somewhere in the casting process,” he said seriously as he began to gesture. “Your immunity should keep you intact.”
“I’d feel more confident if you had your staff. All this gesturing is beginning to look like spastic gang signs. The guy in Chicago doesn’t use gang signs,” I said quickly as the wind began to pick up. “He just points his staff and screams a word and blam—power. Even the other one in St. Louis doesn’t need to shake his fingers all over the place. He just thinks and it happens. I’m starting to think mages need to improve on their casting abilities, but I guess you’re a little old to catch a train at King’s Cross.”
“I understand your fear. It’s this or deal with a missing city. Besides, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” He gave me a look with a tight smile.
“Or the one,” I answered as he cast the vortex. “I have a really bad feeling about this. Corbel, you may want to move a little farther away in case Mage Montague gets this wrong.”
Corbel jumped into the Goat and floored it. Peaches looked out the back window as they drove away. Then he vanished.
“Um, Monty? Peaches just disappeared from the back seat.”
“That creature vanishes all the time. This isn’t a surprise. Now, when I tell you,” he said, raising his voice as the wind picked up, “activate your mark.”
He focused and as the vortex formed, I felt the tug of the wind. The magical forces within the vortex slid around me, but just couldn’t quite grab hold. As the second vortex formed, they crept towards each other, unable to resist, like the opposite poles of a magnet. I felt the magical pressure like a solid weight on my chest, but that was the extent of its effect.
I saw what it was doing to Monty, though. His face was red with the effort, deep frown lines furrowed his brow, and his breath came in short, rasping gasps. Sweat poured down his brow and into his eyes. In that moment, I realized he was too close. If this failed, he would be sucked into the vortex with me. When I saw the blood, I seriously thought we weren’t walking away from this one. Blood started trickling down his nose and out of the corner of his eyes. I saw him open his mouth but couldn’t hear what he said.
“Now!” his voice crashed into me a few seconds later. It reminded me of the old kung fu movies where the dubbing never matched the movement of the lips.
I pressed the mark and everything grew hazy and out of focus. I saw him release a large black orb into the vortex, but nothing happened—for at least three seconds. Then I saw the vortex fray and break apart. One of them disappeared immediately. The second one was taking its time and I could feel it dragging me in.
Then I remembered: I’m not immortal when I use the mark, which meant my immunity was gone too. It was one of those ‘oh shit’ moments. Like when the door is about to lock and you realize the keys are inside the car just as the door closes. I tried signaling to Monty but he was losing it too. His nose was now gushing blood. He was visibly paling before me and he was increasingly unstable on his feet. It looked like we would both have that conversation with Ezra sooner than expected. The vortex was closing and pulling me down, when I felt a pressure punch me in the chest and sent me flying out of it.
Peaches was covered in runes like and resembled a light show. He pulled me away from the vortex by my arm and rushed back in, reappearing moments later and dragging a battered Monty by the arm. I turned to look back at the vortex as it winked out of existence. I heard the Goat in the distance followed by sirens, and then I passed out.
FORTY
“STOP IT.” I shoved my hands in front of me. “Stop giving me a bath.”
“Your saliva is just gross, but thank you for the save, boy,” I said, giving him a hug. “Just cool it with the licking.”
“This is a touching scene, really,” Ramirez said as he stepped close to where I lay. “All that’s missing is Lassie and the boy who fell down the well. Speaking of missing—where is my lieutenant?”
“Angel…” I said, and he knew. “I’m sorry.”
“Fuck, Simon. What the fuck! So help me God, you are going to deliver the news to her father!” he yelled and stormed off. Everyone at the scene looked in my direction. The EMTe working on me remained silent.
I let him scream and walk away. He needed to process it, and we all did it in our own way. Ramirez did it with screaming and breaking things.
“You’d better go after him before he puts his hands through a windshield,” I said to the EMTe next to me. I saw Frank come on the scene and I motioned to him. He had the unlit cigar in his mouth and chewed it as he approached. “Where’s Monty?”
“He’s in the unit. I don’t know what you two were up to but he’s stable now. He’ll be on his way to Haven and Roxy in ten. You, on the other hand should be in a lab somewhere getting tested.”
“No thanks, OG,” I said and got to my feet. “It’s been a long night.”
“Suit yourself,” he said, looking at me. “Listen, I ride you guys hard, but I know sometimes you’re out here doing the things no one else can or wants to do. Thanks for that.”
I put a hand to my chest. “That almost sounded like you cared. I’m touched.”
“You’re touched all right,” he said and pointed to his head. “Right in the head.”
“That’s what I hear.” I walked with Peaches by my side to the ambulance that held Monty. “See you soon, Frank.”
“See me soon? The DC looks like a bomb went off and this” —he looked around at the damage from the vortices and shook his head—“will take weeks to fix. I don’t want to see you or your partner for a few months at least. I’m getting too old for this shit.”
I jumped into the EMTe unit. It looked like a standard ambulance excep
t for the runes covering the inside. They glowed faintly in the night as I looked at Monty. He was battered, bruised, and beaten. His face looked like he had gone a few rounds with a professional boxer. His eyes were swollen shut and his nose was about three times the normal size.
“Can I have a moment?” I said as the EMTe medic strapped Monty in. He stepped out with a sharp nod and held up one hand with the fingers splayed, letting me know I had five minutes. I nodded in return. “Hey, Monty. How’re you feeling?” I whispered, crouching next to him.
“How do I look?” he answered, turning his head in the direction of my voice.
“Like a truck hit you—twice. Pretty bad.”
“That’s how I feel. The vortex?”
“It’s closed. I saw it close. The city is safe.” I patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll meet you at Haven.”
“It’s not safe,” he said and grabbed my hand. “Slif said ‘we’ so they’re not done. Someone or something is behind this. We need to find them and stop them.”
“You get to Haven and Roxanne,” I said as I stood up. “Once you get back to one hundred percent, we can discuss hunting them down. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
I jumped out of the unit as the EMTe medic climbed in the back and closed the door. The Goat was parked down the block. I saw Corbel standing next to it, and I made my way over to him.
“This is one sweet cruisemobile,” he said with admiration in his voice. “Who did the rune work and how did they manage the large scale Ziller Effect?”
“Monty did. Said he wanted to make it safe,” I said as I noticed Hades in the back seat. “You’ll have to ask him about the zipper thing. He tried to explain it to me and nearly gave me an aneurysm.”
“He wants to talk to you,” Corbel said with a nod to Hades in the back. I opened the passenger side door and Peaches jumped in, rocking the Goat. I sat behind the wheel and closed the door. Corbel remained outside.
“I thought Chaos exploded you along with the building?” I said to break the ice. “How did you survive?”
He waved away my words. “Simon, many people died that day, but I wasn’t one of them. The curse Kali placed on you is quite strong. You drank an entire flask of Hel’s brew and still live to tell the tale.”
“It’s coffee. Really good coffee,” I said, remembering the experience. “And it was probably one of the reasons I survived that dragon explosion. You said they didn’t exist.”
“Would you have believed me if I said they did?”
I glanced at him. “Coming from you? Probably not.”
Hades looked at me for a few long seconds and then smiled. “Go tend to your friend. Tell him to prepare for a visit. The Golden Circle will call him to-task for opening not one, but two void vortices in a city,” he said, looking at me in the rearview mirror. “Tell him to bury his friend and go home. There is much unrest in the Sanctuary.”
“What about the dragons? Are they going to be pissed we exploded one of them?”
“Most certainly, but they will not act overtly. They prefer the long game, playing from the shadows. You can rest assured they will be watching the two of you. As for your fallen—the NYTF has the body of the lieutenant, and the Golden Circle will be retrieving the body of the mage.”
“And Quan?”
“I’m sure you will be getting a visit from the mage soon. You have something she needs to recover,” he said, leaning forward and placing two boxes on the front seat next to me. “One is for the grieving father, the other for the White Phoenix.”
“I didn’t get you anything. I didn’t know we were exchanging gifts.”
“Your humor never fails to amuse, Simon. Actually, you’ve given me more than you’ll understand.” He looked out the window. “You have a difficult conversation approaching. I will see you soon.”
He exited the car and walked across the street to a waiting limousine. I recognized it as a SuNaTran vehicle, which meant it was a mini-tank disguised as a limo. He and Corbel got in and it pulled away, silently fading into the night.
I turned to see George ‘Rottweiler’ Rott walking my way. His posture and gait said military. He still wore a screaming-eagle cut and I noticed the pressed suit under the coat. I reached for the boxes as he closed in on me, grabbing the heavier one as I opened the door and got out.
“Strong,” he said and held out his hand. I shook it and he went silent a moment, as if searching for the words. “How did she die? What killed her? What took my little girl down?”
“A dragon, sir.”
“A dragon?” he said with the hint of sad smile. “Well shit, Cassie. Well done.”
“We took care of the dragon,” I said quickly.
“All of them?” he said, staring hard into my eyes. “Did you get them all?”
“No, sir. Just the one.”
“I see,” he said after a moment’s pause.
“Sir, she went down swinging. She wanted me to give you this,” I said and handed him the box.
He opened the lid and I saw his eyes glisten. Inside was his daughter’s Magnum—the gift he had given her on her first day at the NYTF.
He cleared his throat. “Thank you. She wanted fieldwork. I told her of the danger, but she was a stubborn one. Took after her father,” he said and his voice caught in his throat.
“I’m sorry for your loss, sir,” I said and paused. “All she ever wanted was to make you proud.”
“I’ve been proud of her from the day she was born,” he said his voice filled with emotion. “We’ll be in touch,” he said and walked off into the night.
FORTY-ONE
I PULLED UP to Haven Medical and parked the Goat. I had the other box tucked under my arm as we left the parking lot. Peaches kept pace next to me and rumbled when I saw her.
“No, don’t bite her. Not even a friendly one,” I whispered as Quan approached us. “Hello, Quan.”
She bowed, placing one hand in front of her chest with the knife-edge facing me. I returned the bow. She crouched down and rubbed Peaches on the head as I held my breath, hoping she would keep her hand.
“Hello, Simon,” she said, looking at the box under my arm. “I must return to my sect before the Golden Circle arrives. There has been some tension. I don’t wish to escalate it. May I have it?”
I held out the box that held the Phoenix Tail and gave it to her. She took it with both hands and bowed again. “Please take care of him. You are a good friend. He is fortunate to have you all.”
“Are you coming up to see him? I’m sure he would want to know you’re okay.”
She shook her head with a sad smile. “No, it’s best this way. He knows I’m safe the same way I know he’s safe. We are connected. Sometimes words are inadequate.” She looked up to the windows. “Besides, another love fills his heart now.”
She traced a rune, and a circle appeared in the ground. I recognized it from the Hellfire. It was a teleportation circle.
“Goodbye, Simon. I hope the next time we meet it will be under happier circumstances.” She stepped into the circle and disappeared.
I rubbed his head. “I’ll get you a titanium chew toy. You can bite that all you want. Let’s go see Monty.”
THE END
BLOOD IS THICKER
Montague & Strong Book 3
“You did thirst for blood, and with blood I fill you.”
-Dante Alighieri, Inferno
ONE
A BITING WIND cut across the water as we landed on North Brother Island. We stepped off the ferry and onto the slick, deserted dock. The dawn rain pelted my face until Monty gestured and formed a shield around us, stopping the cold droplets from landing.
Peaches, fearing I might be too dry, shook the water off his body, drenching me, but somehow missing Monty.
“Really? Thank you,” I groaned, shaking off the water. “It’s not like I was soaked or a
nything.”
“You need to lay off the pastrami. Then you would have less surface area,” I said, looking down at him as we walked. He appeared to be a Cane Corso, but was really the offspring of Cerberus, minus the mythological two heads. He stepped close to me and kept pace, as we walked off the dock and onto a short boardwalk. The boards creaked under our weight as he padded by my side.
“There’s no getting about it. You sound like you’re going to break through the boardwalk. Maybe Ezra has a low-fat pastrami option.”
“I told you to stay home, but you wanted to come.” I ignored his nudge into my leg. “We’ll swing by Ezra’s on the way back—you can eat then.”
He responded with a low rumble as we kept walking.
“Are you talking to your creature again? You need to find a less overt method of communication.” Monty looked at me. “One that doesn’t make you appear as insane as you are.”
“Everyone talks to their dogs,” I said, patting Peaches on the head. “It’s even therapeutic and healing.”
“Everyone talks to their dogs not with, and that” —he glanced at Peaches—“barely qualifies as part of the dog species,” Monty said while peering farther inland. He narrowed his eyes, pointing with the small wooden box he was holding. “That way.”
“I didn’t even know these islands existed,” I said, pulling my coat tighter against the elements. Monty seemed unaffected by the cold. “Are you sure he’s here? She could have lied. Dragons aren’t known for their honesty.”
“We checked the South Island and his energy is in the vicinity. Check the device again.”
The Hack, after recovering from nearly losing Manhattan to a black hole, had finally answered my calls. I assured him the city wasn’t going to disappear in some cataclysm, and he’d grudgingly provided me with his latest ‘magical tech.’
Montague & Strong Detective Novels Box Set: Montague & Strong Detective Novels Books, 1 through 3 (Montague & Strong Case Files) Page 37