by Martha Carr
“Good… then you are ready for your first solo mission. I need you to head out to San Francisco to rescue a teenager. Correk, are you paying attention?”
“I’m real, not a spell. Tell me how you are doing. You must be well over a hundred years now. Have you taken a wife yet?”
Turner let out a cough, changing the subject. “We will table that discussion for another day. Correk you are needed elsewhere.” The old Fixer pulled the light between his hands, forming a ball and singing into it, stretching it out to make a portal. “San Francisco awaits you. Everything you need is on this paper,” he said, handing him a folded note. “We like to keep things simple. Get to the youngest son of the family at this address. He’s a clever young Wizard who’s been playing with dark magic and playing a local gang off against some rival Wizards. No one is happy with him, including the Silver Griffins. Take him to the second address. A school is starting there on an old piece of property I own outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. I made a deal with your General Anderson.” Turner shook his head. “Go… part of being the Fixer is thinking on your feet. You’ll figure out the rest.”
Correk nodded to the old king. “We will talk more when I return.”
“I look forward to it.” The king smiled at Correk, even as he gripped the sides of the chair.
Correk stepped through the portal, looking back as it closed behind him. The king looked at Turner. “Someone will need to tell my son that I have returned.”
“Not yet. Not till we find Lucius.”
“And figure out what to do with him.”
“Indeed…” Turner felt the weight of a thousand years and settled heavily into a chair, drawing himself up, his cane settled against a wall. He held up his hand. “Patience. Let me work in peace.” The old spell came easily to his lips as he ran through it quickly, pronouncing every syllable in rapid succession, He shut his eyes as the acrid smell of sulphur filled his nostrils, burning the inside of his nose. “Lucius still remembers some of his past. He’s cloaking himself well… but not perfectly.” Turner opened his eyes and got to his feet. “I’m off. You have the run of the house.”
“Not so fast. I’m coming with you. Lucius is my friend. He gave his life to protect me so I’m partially responsible for what he’s become. This isn’t a discussion.”
“Doesn’t take long to get back into the monarch groove, does it?” He gave the king a wry smile. “If you’re coming, get your ass up and move it, your majesty.” He gave a slight nod in deference.
The king easily rose to his feet. “Times really have changed.”
“Yes, you are still a strapping, powerful Light Elf and I’m a cantankerous powerful old Light Elf. That makes me the more dangerous of the two of us.”
“Time doesn’t move in the void. A curse for the most part. Let’s get on with it. Lucius was a powerful warrior in his day and he’s had hundreds of years to plot his revenge.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Leira opened the door to the guest house and found the troll sleeping in the potted fern near the couch, his belly full. “Hate to wake you, little dude but we have business to get to.” She nudged him, watching him uncurl, stretching out his tiny legs and letting out a wide yawn. He opened his eyes and looked up at Leira, letting out a cackle followed quickly by a gassy burp. Leira stood up straight, batting at the air in front of her. “Oh gawd, fuck, what is that? What did you eat while I was gone? Part of the sofa?”
The troll let out another cackle and stood up in the dirt, rubbing his back against the smooth green leaves. “What you want? We have a mission?”
“Don’t know if I’d say we’re going on a mission. Little dramatic Elwood. More like a look and see for shifters.”
The troll bounded out of the plant and hopped to the couch, his claws digging in as he pulled himself up to the top. “Ooooh, that’s some bad shit.” He tied his cape around his shoulders and pulled on the mask.
“Is that really necessary? Do you need to hide your identity?”
“Meh, it’s a look. Where we headed?”
“That’s the tricky part. Hop on while I see if I can use myself like a magical GPS and get a better idea of location.” Leira held out her hand as the troll climbed into her palm and she lifted him to her shoulder. She shut her eyes and pulled in energy through her feet, feeling it surge through her as she set out an intention. Find the shifter. Show me his location.
The stream of magic doubled over on itself, knocking Leira forward as she let out a soft grunt and Yumfuck held on to her jacket, his fur bristling from the energy passing under his feet.
Leira felt a burning sensation in the scar on her belly as the energy lifted her onto her toes. The stronger the intention, the more powerful the surge of magic. Turner Underwood’s words echoed in her head.
“Find the shifter,” she whispered. She felt the magic pull her out onto the light stream as images flashed on either side of her. She breathed in suddenly… a sweet aroma… grapes. No, wait, this is different.
She passed over acres of grapes growing on wooden trellises to a large white stucco house with a clay tile roof in the distance. The closer they got, the more Leira could feel the presence of dark energy moving around the house. The energy slipped in easily and she found herself rolling along a long, cool hallway lined with empty oak wooden barrels on either side. Don’t argue with the energy. It knows what it’s doing. More of Turner’s wisdom, keeping Leira from short-circuiting her request. This is not where he was being held.
The energy hesitated, feeling her distrust as she made herself take a deep breath and let it out.
“Relax!” shouted the troll into her ear. She heard it like a squeaky echo through the thick ribbons of magic surrounding her.
Leira felt the magic slowing as it curled up to a thick metal door, easily passing through like vapor. On the other side of the door was an old storage room, dank and dark with a high ceiling.
Leira could hear grunting and something scraping along the cement floor. She drew back in the living room of the guest house, a shudder passing through her. There must be close to a hundred, screamed inside her head in anger. They were packed in like cattle, some clawing each other in frustration or boredom, shifting in and out of human and beast. The energy rolled around the room, hugging the wall till it got to a back corner and stopped, hovering near the ceiling.
Standing with his back against the wall was the man Leira had seen before. She took in every detail of his description, memorizing his face. She felt a shift in the energy as he jerked his face up and looked directly at her. That’s fucking impossible!
Leira saw the anger in his eyes, an absence of fear, unlike the others who were an even mixture of both. Who are you?
“Find the location!” Yumfuck was yelling in her ear again. “Keep your eye on the ball,” he squeaked. “Tell the motherfucking energy what you want!”
Show me the location.
The energy pulled out of the room as Leira kept looking back at the man standing naked in the large room till she couldn’t see him anymore over the sea of bodies. Leira felt the energy pass through the wall and found herself back outside, moving around a large estate. Show me where I am. Her frustration grew as the magic went in circles, creating whirls of light.
“Focus!” chirped the troll as he pinched the skin along her neck.
Leira instinctively raised a hand to slap at the bite but Yumfuck jumped out of the way, cackling. “Son of a bitch! Like being bit by a greenheaded mosquito!”
Okay, focus. The energy knows what it’s doing. What are we circling? In and out and around the magic went, as Leira saw the name. Icardi. It was on everything. Stamped on barrels, hanging on a sign above the door of the building, on labels of bottles of wine. The Icardi vineyards, established 1989, Napa, California. It’s a staging ground. Got it.
Leira felt the rush of energy pull through her, running like a river. It was familiar but still uncomfortable as the magic drained quickly out of her, snapping her back
into her body. Her mouth popped open, sucking in air as she opened her eyes. The troll was leaning out from her shoulder staring at her, inches from her face. “Ready to go?”
“What the fuck? That’s disturbing. Personal space, Yumfuck. Yeah, ready to go. Need one more thing before we go. I don’t think this one is gonna be pretty and I’m keeping my word. No running into the burning buildings by myself anymore.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Leira stood on the edge of the vineyards near the road. Yumfuck stood on her shoulder wearing his cape and mask. “You know that cape and mask won’t work when you grow into battle size.”
“Works for now. I’ll keep it on a little longer. Trouble ahead.” The troll glanced backward. “Little trouble back there too.”
Behind them an open portal crackled and sparked.
Leira rolled her eyes and picked up a pebble from the ground throwing it into the portal. “Hurry your ass up before it closes. I thought you used these things all the time.”
“That’s how you tear a hole in the veil.” Louie poked his head out of the opening and stepped out, stamping his feet on the dirt path as the portal finally closed. The sword was strapped to his back. “Used portals all the time in my previous profession.” He brushed off his suede pants and looked around at the vines and up at the open sky.
“Stealing.” Leira recognized the way the vines were laid out and could see the tops of buildings in the distance.
“Acquiring. Not a bad place for a hunt.”
“Not sure if we’re here for a hunt or a rescue, or both.”
“Oh, this is a hunt, trust me. Only question of the day will be if we’re the ones being hunted, and that answer may vary hour to hour. The dark Wizarding families don’t play well with others and have only one rule. Beat the shit out of their opponents. That would be us today.”
Leira flexed her hands and circled her arms. “Wouldn’t mind doing a little shit kicking myself today. Been awhile.”
“You have a plan about how we go in there?” Louie pulled the sword out of its sheath on his back and held it up in front, limbering up for the fight. “Or do we wander through the grapevines and start the party early.”
“We go in under a glamour that won’t hold the closer we get. And then we take down as many as we can. Our goal is to let out the shifters.”
Louie stopped moving the sword back and forth and wrinkled his forehead. “What the fuck are you talking about, lady? Isn’t that the army we will have to fight?”
“I’m guessing that’s not the whole truth.”
“Fuckin’ A. And you’re guessing our limbs at best and our lives at worst if you’re wrong.”
“Something like that.” Leira was making herself take measured breaths, feeling the energy trails around her. Traces of dark energy were everywhere but all of them fading. “The families are out… or at least most of them are. We might just have the element of surprise. I don’t think they realized we could find them so easily.”
“Then let’s get to it. Find out if a shifter still has a conscience… or even thinks at all because we roll like that.”
Leira pulled in energy through her feet, letting it power up through her spine and out her hands, the symbols appearing, flashing over and over as her eyes glowed. The air shimmered around them as they became transparent to anyone looking out of a window, invisibly moving through the vineyard.
Louie glanced over at Leira’s arms trying to read some of the symbols, his eyes widening as he saw the rapid report. “For the love of… your magic is predicting outcomes. Fuck… we do not win in all of them.”
“What’s the fun in knowing you will win? Odds never been against you before?”
“That’s kind of an average day for me.” Louie let out a sigh and gripped the sword tighter. Stay aware. The sword was speaking to him again. He was taking small comfort from the lack of general panic from the weapon.
“You look a little freaked out, Louie. Jackson led me to believe you’d seen your fair share of shit going down.”
“That’s usually shit I’m actively running from with some sweet prize in my possession. I’m a virgin at seeking it out and walking right into it.” They were midway through the vineyards as Louie saw something pass an upstairs window of one of the buildings. He instinctively stopped and had to walk faster to catch up with Leira. She had made peace with what was to come and her jaw was set. “Damn, girl, I take it going at trouble is kind of your thing.”
“You might say that. More of a career for me. Okay, from here out we go silent. You watch me for signals. No one should be able to see us…”
“Should?”
“There’s very powerful old magic used here. The kind that’s supposed to be illegal on both planets. I can’t guarantee we won’t step over some line and find ourselves bare naked so to speak.”
“Great. And we’re an army of two… You never did answer me. Before we go in, how many shifters are we setting loose?”
“It’s an army of three. Don’t count out Yumfuck. He’ll rip off a few heads if necessary. I’d say about a hundred or so, give or take.”
“A hundred…”
“Okay, silence…”
Louie mouthed motherfuckers, as he gripped the sword even tighter. Leira didn’t even flinch as she approached the warehouse.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Leira and Louie got to the other side of the vineyards. A large gravel opening separated them from a main house to the left and a large warehouse directly in front that stretched to the right. Large aluminum roll doors were standing open just to the right.
“Security seems a little lax.” Louie peered into the darkness of the warehouse, noting a door at the far side and another opening at the back.
Yumfuck ran down Leira’s arm and dropped to the ground. His fur was standing on end. He took off at a run and smelled around the door deep inside the warehouse, instantly growing to his full height at eight feet, standing back, waiting for Leira’s command. “Smells like dogs. A lot of them.”
Leira could feel it too. “Or shifters. That’s not all. They left a few assholes to watch the place,” she whispered. “They know we’re here.” Leira could see the rolls of glittering dark magic billowing out from the building, signaling someone’s approach. Too late to get more help.
“Then we fight,” whispered Louie.
“If it’s the last good thing we do.”
“With honor and to the end.”
“Come on, motherfuckers,” growled the troll. Louie looked up at the troll in surprise just as Emerick appeared in the large opening of the warehouse, a sneer on his face.
“Hate it when the assholes like to make grand entrances.” Leira stuck to Hagan’s rules. Let the idiots go first. Several of his cousins appeared behind him, Toby off to the far left, sweating profusely, his eyes wide.
The troll opened his mouth wide, letting out a roar that rumbled along the ground hitting them in a sound wave that knocked over a smaller witch near the front. She scrambled back to her feet, her face beet red with embarrassment and anger.
Hold the sword out in front and point the tip toward them. Louie knew enough to just follow the sword’s lead. His muscles rippled along his arms as he waited, tense.
The symbols along Leira’s arms and neck glowed as the glamour peeled away from them, revealing where they stood. The symbols flashed, turning over like a fast-moving ticker. Toby trembled where he stood but he didn’t dare run. Emerick would have cut him down before he got very far.
“Leira Berens,” Emerick taunted. “Thanks for making this convenient.”
“I hate pissants. This would be annoying Hagan if he were here.”
“Funny you should mention him.” Lois emerged out of the vineyards to Leira’s right. “Don’t be mad. I had Hagan put a tracker on your skin. I knew you’d think bringing one Wizard and a swearing troll would count as asking for help. Besides, it was a slow day. Hagan’s acting as backup back at the ranch.” Lois held out her wand. �
�Hello Emerick. Haven’t seen you since your christening. Cried the entire time.”
Emerick frowned, looking around nervously. “Hello Aunt Lois. This isn’t your fight.”
Leira looked back and forth between the two. “Don’t know when you got here, Lois but I’m glad to see you. You sure you can fight family?”
“This is awkward,” said Louie.
“Not my first time, sadly. This is the dark branch of the family. We’re all overachievers, it’s just some of us had different ambitions.” Lois raised her wand and pointed it at Emerick, scowling. “Raise your hand to a friend of mine, Emerick and you make it my fight. Back up now and we’ll walk away.”
“No, we won’t. I came here for a reason. Not leaving till it’s done.” Leira took a step forward as she formed a fireball between her hands. Set an intention. She pitched it right at Emerick’s chest and watched as he raised his wand, frantically whispering a spell. Lois watched in horror, not sure what to do as the fireball split apart at the last moment hitting the front line of millennial witches and wizard, spraying fiery buckshot, setting small blazes on their clothes. A few dropped their wands, busy patting down their shirts or the crotch of their pants.
Emerick regained his composure first, countering with a spell to douse the flames. The thin smile returned to his lips as he glanced behind him. He retreated back, enticing Leira to follow him.
“About time,” she growled. She formed another fireball and aimed it at Emerick’s feet, knocking him down. The game was growing tiring.
“So far this is too fucking easy.” Louie followed close behind her as Lois took up the rear, easily countering the spells of the young wizards and witches. Toby hung back in the shadows, watching. He had always liked Aunt Lois. He never expected to have to fight her. Besides, the stories about her were legendary.
Leira crept forward entering the large building into the main area used for tastings and large parties. Small tables standing at chest height were dotted around the room and a long bar was across the back. To the right was the door Leira was looking for that led to the old storage partially underground.