by Sean Stone
‘You really should have called first,’ I told him angrily. ‘I nearly turned you into dog food.’
‘I doubt that,’ he replied. Then I saw what he had on the tables either side of him. On one table sat the severed head of Detective Decker. On the other side was the head of Detective Mitchell. Their faces were pale and withered where he’d obviously drained them of their blood before decapitating them.
‘Why?’ I said in barely more than a whisper. That one single why contained so many questions. Why had he killed them? What had they done to deserve such brutal deaths? Why had he brought their heads here? Why was he here? Why hadn’t he called first?
He answered only one of the questions. ‘They were still investigating you after I told them quite clearly to stop. Now they’ve stopped.’ He spread his hands out from his body to indicate that they had indeed stopped investigating me.
I sighed, shaking my head as I walked over to the sofa and dropped myself heavily onto it. ‘They were just doing their jobs.’ I was aware how exhausted I sounded. I felt exhausted. When I killed someone it usually meant I could rest and return to my carefree lifestyle until the next job came along. This time had been quite the opposite. The initial job had been the easy part in fact.
‘Their jobs involved following orders. They failed that requirement.’ He stood up and straightened out his jacket before heading for the front door. He pulled it open, allowing the faint remains of the day’s sunlight to fall inside the darkened bungalow. Monroe was an incredibly rare vampire in that he could walk in the sun without burning. He was the only daywalker I’d ever seen, or even heard of. I didn’t know how he came by the ability to walk in the sun. If I remembered correctly, it could be achieved either through incredibly complicated magic or by being a natural daywalker of which only two had ever been recorded in history. That was according to the history books in Sangford at least.
‘If you were planning on investigating Ruby Hassell’s murder any further then I hope this will serve as a detterent.’ Monroe said before he stepped out of the bungalow.
‘Who’s Magraval?’ I said quickly. I sat hoping I’d caught him before he vanished.
A few seconds later the vampire stepped slowly back into the bungalow and pushed the door closed behind him. His face was expressionless but I could see the wary curiosity behind his mask.
‘Where did you hear that name?’ he asked me in a commanding whisper.
‘Dorian mentioned it to me. Said he was making moves behind the scenes. Then I heard it from someone else. I think I know a couple of people involved with him.’
‘Who?’
‘Who is he?’ I repeated. It was nice to have some leverage over the mighty Monroe. I’d likely never be in this position again so I needed to take full advantage while I had the chance.
‘Jacob,’ he warned me. I’d be lying if I said his tone didn’t frighten me a little but that didn’t mean I was going to back down. He couldn’t kill me and risk losing the information I had.
‘Tit for tat. You want the information I have and I want what you have. Tell me about this guy.’ So far this Magraval didn’t really mean anything to me but if he was a powerful contender, somebody who really could rival Dorian, and he had the Elders on his side then it would start to affect me soon enough. I needed to be prepared.
A sound came out of Monroe’s mouth that was half sigh and half growl. ‘Come with me,’ he ordered and then once again strode out of the bungalow.
I jumped and hurried after him, momentarily forgetting all about my plans to stalk Ethan. This was, for the time being, more important. Monroe led me to his car where he commanded me to get in. I complied. I closed the door a little too hard and the vampire glared at me.
‘Sorry,’ I mumbled as I looked down at my lap. He was fiercely protective of his vintage car.
We drove in silence. He didn’t tell me where we were going or what for, but I highly doubted he was going to take me to see Magraval. We drove right into the posh part of town and parked outside a very fancy apartment complex. It looked even fancier than my place.
Monroe nodded in greeting to the concierge as we passed. We rode the elevator up to the fifteenth floor and then trod the fluffy carpet right over to apartment 153. Monroe didn’t knock. He pulled out a key and let himself in. Surely this wasn’t his apartment? I’d always imagined him living in some underground basement apartment on account of him being a vampire. A ridiculous idea, I know, and not least because he didn’t even need shelter from the sun.
It was not his apartment. We went inside and found an elderly man sitting in a very comfortable looking armchair. I could do with one of those for my apartment, although the purple fabric wouldn’t match the muted greys of my place.
The old man looked up from the book he was reading and there was a terrible sadness in his eyes. Not once in my entire life had I ever seen anyone look as despaired as that old man did when he looked up at us. I didn’t even know the guy and I already felt sorry for him even though I had no idea why.
‘Jacob, this is Billy Cooper,’ Monroe said. Billy was such a young man’s name. When Billy’s reached this guy’s age they were supposed to upgrade to William, having already switched to Bill when they hit forty. Then I noticed that he even dressed like a younger man. He had a pair of jeans on that looked far too heavy for his frail frame and he wore a designer t-shirt. Clearly somebody needed to get this guy the old person’s brochure. He should’ve been put in a cardigan a long time ago.
‘Pleasure,’ I said with a tiny smile as I offered him my hand. He glanced at my hand as if he was jealous that my flesh was so youthful. He accepted the shake and I could tell he was trying to give me a firm handshake but he just didn’t have the energy. I looked over at Monroe wondering why he’d brought me to meet such a pitiful old man. If he tried to tell me this man was Magraval I was going to slap him and I didn’t care if he was the baddest vampire in town.
Monroe sat down in one of the free chairs even though Billy hadn’t invited him to do so. It felt weird being the only one standing so I sat down too.
‘Billy was one of Dorian’s guys,’ Monroe explained.
‘A Gray Orchid?’ I asked and Monroe nodded. Dorian’s guys were named after the emblem they wore.
Billy puffed out his decrepit chest and I saw that he still wore the pin on his Hugo Boss t-shirt. It just looked weird on a guy so old.
‘Well, Dorian obviously pays well,’ I said, indicating the lavish apartment we were all sitting in.
‘He’s always looked after me,’ Billy said. His voice was frail like a string on its last thread.
‘Billy worked for Dorian for eight years,’ Monroe told me, and my eyebrows flew up.
‘And earned enough to afford this place?’ I said in surprise. Maybe I should consider a career change.
‘This is a reward for good service,’ Monroe said quietly. ‘Jacob, how old would you say Billy is?’
That was a weird question. I glanced at Billy, acutely aware of how rude it would be to guess an old man’s age right in front of him. He just looked away as if he’d been subjected to it so many times and was now resigned to it, if not entirely happy about it.
‘Uhh… Seventy,’ I said. I thought he looked more like eighty, but I didn’t want to be too mean.
‘How old are you, Billy?’
The old man looked back at me and I saw a tear glistening in one eye. ‘Twenty-six,’ he replied.
I just stared at him. He was clearly senile or demented. Or both. Had anybody shown him a mirror lately?
‘He’s not delusional. He really is twenty-six,’ Monroe said, seeing my thoughts on my face.
I looked back at Monroe and my face must have looked pretty comical. ‘How?’ I said incredulously. I wasn’t even bothering to mind Billy’s feelings anymore. I was in too much shock and confusion.
‘Billy?’ Monroe prompted.
With a weary sigh, Billy began his tale. ‘Monroe sent me to pick something up for Mr. Gray
. It was my main job each month. Only this time the meeting was interrupted. The person I was supposed to meet never showed up. Some other guy did though.’ He fell silent looking off into space as he recalled the incident. His arm trembled slightly and then he continued. ‘He was… It was dark. He was dressed all in black. His face… he had some kind of… I don’t know. His face was black but too black. Not like a black guy. He was completely black. Like coal. And there were silver marks. Like a pattern. It looked pretty cool to be honest. It was like a silver tattoo over his pitch black skin.’
I glanced at Monroe but he simply nodded for me to divert my attention back to Billy who had momentarily stopped again.
‘I could tell he was there to hurt me. I tried to fight but he was a wizard. I think. He had magic. He took me down. Then he sliced my chest.’ His aged fingers traced across his chest lightly. ‘He put his hand over the wound and started saying all these foreign words. Magic words I guess. All wizards talk in wizard language.’
‘The language of magic,’ I corrected him. Spells seemed to be made up of their own language. There were traces of other languages but no single language was present.
‘I felt him sucking something out of me. I wasn’t sure what it was at first but then I just got so tired. His eyes. They glowed when he did it. They were silver like his tattoo. Then I passed out. When I woke up I was like this.’ His voice cracked on the last past of his story and he looked away, eyes filled with tears.
‘Thank you, Billy,’ Monroe said and then we left the old-young man to the rest of his evening. It seemed a bit cruel to pop round, upset him and then take off again. I had so many more questions, but I knew that Billy wouldn’t have the answers. Only his attacker would. It was obvious a ritual had been used on Billy, but I’d never heard of a ritual that made people older. Maybe he was stealing the youth from people to stop himself from ageing.
We reached Monroe’s car and stopped. ‘We don’t know who Magraval is yet, but I’m pretty sure he is the one responsible for this attack. He’s been described by other people around the city. Everybody who has encountered him has been an Orchid. Every time this black and silver guy acts it seems to hinder Dorian in some way. He’s only been a nuisance so far but Dorian thinks he’s testing the waters. Seeing how far he has to go before we retaliate. Then he’ll want to test how strong we really are. This will escalate. Dorian believes Magraval has come to take either all or part of Dorian’s domain. Now, I’ve told you more than you have any right to know. Now you need tell me what you know.’
I nodded in agreement. Monroe had been surprisingly forthcoming. It was amazing how pliant he could be when he wanted something from you. ‘Harper and Artemis both said they were planning on supplanting Dorian. They told me they had a new backer who was going to change the tide of things. Artemis admitted he’s working with the mayor. I also heard that Artemis had a meeting with Magraval. So from that I deduced…’
‘That Magraval is their backer,’ Monroe finished. He took in a heavy breath and looked out into the darkening evening sky. ‘I need to tell Dorian about this immediately. You’ll have to find your own way home.’ He hopped into his car and started the engine. He rolled down his window and poked his head out. ‘Dorian will appreciate this. You can expect some kind of token of his appreciation soon.’
‘Just no more heads please,’ I said, remembering that I had two police officer’s heads to dispose of back in my bungalow.
Monroe waved a hand at me and then drove off leaving me stranded. At least he’d left me in the posh part of town.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I walked back to the bungalow, but I was no longer in the mood for going after Ethan. Billy’s story had chilled me. It was like being a kid and reading a scary story. It kept playing on my mind. There were few things more frightening to me than having my youth stolen. I was glad that Magraval was Dorian’s problem and not mine. Even if Dorian tried to rope me into this, I would say no. I wanted nothing to do with whoever and whatever Magraval was.
I disposed of the heads and then headed home. I was halfway home when my phone started ringing. I flicked my eyes down and saw that the number had been withheld. I hit answer and my phone connected to the speakers around my car.
‘Jacob Graves,’ I said distractedly.
‘Oh,’ came a familiar voice that made my blood temperature rise. ‘Silly me, I thought this was the HR department.’
‘Ethan,’ I growled back at him.
‘I don’t know what you’re up to, Graves. But let me tell you, you’re nearly done. I’m coming for you and you don’t even know how. You’ve already nailed your coffin shut. I’ll teach you to come near what’s mine.’
He hung up.
By this point my blood was absolutely boiling. I don’t know if it was the threats or the way he referred to Ruby as his property that got to me. It didn’t really matter. All that mattered was he got to me.
My car screeched as I spun it around in the middle of the road and raced towards Ethan’s place. Screw caution. I was coming for him tonight. I was going to inflict so much pain on him they’d need to create a new word just to describe it. By the time the night was over two things would be true. I’d have his confession. And he’d be dead.
My phone rang again and this time I was ready to trade insults with him. Except it wasn’t him. Drew’s name popped up on the caller id.
I swallowed as much of my anger as I could manage before answering the call.
‘Yes?’ I yelled. Clearly I hadn’t pushed down enough of my rage.
‘What have you done with the ashes, they’re not in your apartment?’ he demanded as if they were his own personal property.
‘I gave one of the boxes to the Elders to keep them off my back,’ I told him. That was hardly important right now. I was already in the middle of an argument with Ethan, I didn’t need to argue with Drew too.
‘Right. Where’s the other one?’
‘Right where we left it this morning.’
‘No. It isn’t. It’s gone. And unless I’m mistaken, the protection spells on your apartment have been broken.’
‘Fuck.’ I screeched my car to a halt causing the car behind me to brake and blow his horn aggressively at me. ‘Those fucking sneaky Elders…’ They must’ve used Jeremy to find out where I was keeping the ashes and then came back for the other box. ‘I’m coming home,’ I said and hung up.
My anger was now at its peak and somebody was going to be on the receiving end of it. There was no way I was going to be able to dispel it without tossing at least some of it in someone’s direction and that someone was now not going to be Ethan Spriggs. It looked like the Prime Wizard was the most likely candidate. As insane as that sounded.
I got back to my apartment and began searching the place for signs of who the thief might have been. They’d left no physical evidence anywhere. If they hadn’t stolen the remaining box of Kagen’s ashes then I would never have known they’d been there at all. I closed my eyes and began examining the protection spells that I’d left on my apartment. Placing protection spells on places was like weaving a big invisible tapestry around the perimeter. A skilled wizard who wanted to get through the spell would cast their own spells to unweave the tapestry. But that had not happened here. Whoever had stolen the ashes had entered my apartment with brute force. They’d slammed spell after spell into my protections until they’d managed to break through. It was inelegant but it got the job done.
‘Artemis would never have broken in like this,’ Drew said, shaking his head. ‘He’s more than skilled enough to unravel your spells.’ I tried not to get offended by his comment. It was true, after all. There was a reason he was the Prime Wizard.
‘He wouldn’t have come himself, would he? He would’ve sent somebody less skilled so we wouldn’t suspect him,’ I pointed out.
‘Good point,’ Drew said a rare moment of complementation.
‘Bloody hell, you actually paid me a compliment for once.’
; ‘For once you deserved it. We don’t have time to revel in the glory of one bit of intelligence in a sea of idiocy. Let’s go.’
We went straight to the Hall of Wizardry despite the late hour. I let Drew lead on this one. I had a talent for making things worse, not that I could see how it could get any worse.
‘We need to see Artemis,’ he told the boy at the front desk.
‘The Prime Wizard is—’
Drew slammed both hands down on the desk and snarled, ‘Now!’
The poor boy scarpered. Several minutes later we were guided to a small conference room where Artemis was waiting for us. His purple robes were scruffily worn where he’d obviously put them on haste. He was likely relaxing somewhere in his casual clothing, plotting the takedown of Dorian Gray. There was another young man standing in the corner of the room wearing the brown robes of an apprentice. This place had more young boys than the Catholic Church.
‘Drew, what is the meaning of this? Need I remind you how the balance of power here works?’ Artemis said a in quiet but deadly voice.
‘I’m well aware of the balance of power in this place. You pretend you’ve got loads of power when in reality you’ve got none. You’re more of a figurehead than the Queen,’ Drew snapped. He was usually more diplomatic in this place. Blunt rudeness with the Elders was more my thing.
‘How very dare you?’ Artemis whispered.
‘Somebody stole Kagen’s ashes from us,’ I interjected before the two of them descended into a full argument. That gave Artemis reason to pause. He turned his eyes on me and then back to Drew.
‘And you think I am responsible?’ he asked.
‘Your name was the first to spring to mind. After our earlier meeting and all,’ I replied.
‘I can assure you I had no part in this theft.’ He turned to the boy in the corner. ‘Go to Master Marcus and ensure that our ashes are still secure.’ With a single nod the boy was gone.
‘How was your meeting with Magraval?’ I asked, and then smirked when I saw the way Artemis’ face squirmed. He looked like he’d just put his bare foot in a pile of shit.