by Tom Keller
"The names Robert," I replied, clasping my hands and placing them on the table. "I thought we'd have a little chat "
"I don’t think so," he said, smirking. "You guys are so original. I don’t know what kind of game you think you're playing here, but I want my attorney!"
"Your attorney?" I repeated. "You should have been given a copy of the New York accords of 1859 when you were brought in. Do you recall that document?"
"Yeah. I used it to wipe my ass," he replied, smugly. "Do I look stupid? This is Nevada, man. The only thing you got on me is an alleged violation of N.R.S. 205.273. Possession of a stolen vehicle, and even then, my lawyer'll have me out of here before the ink is dry on the paperwork you clowns have to file. So, screw you and your New York bullshit. I want my attorney!"
There are times that I really feel guilty when I have to play the asshole. This was not turning out to be one of them.
"Ronny," I began. "May I call you Ronny? No, don’t answer. Let's just start over. Why don’t you tell me where you got the device that you stole the car with?"
"Dude?" he started to say. "Are you stupid…"
I reached over and slammed his face down onto the table. Now, don’t get me wrong. I would never have done that in the old days, not that there weren't plenty of times I wanted to. But I'm just saying.
"Motherf…." he yelled, wiping the blood from his nose and continuing his profanity laced tirade.
I let him go on for a moment, then I slammed his face down again.
"I am so going to sue you!" he finally declared, lifting his head back up. "I want my lawyer, and I want him now!"
"Ronny," I said, when he was done. "Let's try something different. Tell me, do you believe in Hell?"
"Yeah," he said, calmer now. "That’s where you're going to wish you are when my lawyer gets done with you."
He flinched when I reached over again. But I only grabbed his shirt. I willed my bident to appear and a moment later, we were in Hades. Unfortunately for him, we weren't in the Palace. This time we were in a cave like tunnel just inside the Fields of Punishment. I couldn’t take him to Hell, of course. But this was close enough for what I had in mind.
"What the f…!" Ronny yelled as we appeared in the torch lit corridor. He pulled away from me and started testing the strength of the walls with his hands. "Is this a joke man? What did you do? Drug me?"
"Have a little faith, Ronny," I replied, leaning back and crossing my arms. "But you're closer than you think. Now. I'm going to ask you again. Do you believe in Hell?"
"What are you trying to say? That I'm dead?" he asked, thumping his chest. "Then who are you supposed to be? The Devil?"
"Do you feel dead?" I asked in a sarcastic tone. "And no. I'm not the Devil." I held my arms up and looked up and down the dark corridor and smiled. "But I am the next best thing. Tell me what I want to know and you get to go home. If you don't… well, that's when it gets interesting."
"You're crazy, man," he proclaimed, then his eyes widened. "Oh, I got it. This is Vegas, man. Wow. You guys went to a lot of trouble to set this up. Which magician's act did you get this from?"
"Okay, Ronnie," I said, almost feeling sorry for him. "You like being a monster? Then let's see how you do facing real ones." I pointed a finger in his direction and with a small burst of magic forced him against the wall. The Fields of Punishment are like an extension of the worst of Tartarus, albeit one I could control, if only a little bit. But it was enough for most things. As his body touched the wall, it became alive. Tendrils of darkness reached out and grabbed him, dragging him into the wall itself. His eyes widened, and then his mouth opened in surprise as he disappeared into their dark reaches.
I might have met the Devil, but I've never been to Hell. While I did have the Phlegethon, the River of Fire, it wasn't part of the Fields of Punishment. So I was betting that all that sulphur and brimstone added some character to the place, although not the kind that's pleasant. Quite frankly, I don’t know how it could be any worse as a prison than an eternity down here. The Fields were also a place of punishment, and while as the ruler of Hades I did have some influence as to what that punishment was, in this case, I let them figure that out on their own. As best I can explain, they delved deep into the mind of their charge, determining his fate based on his own actions. Having seen them do their work in the past, I could only guess at what horrors Ronny was going through while I waited. I gave it a few more minutes, then reached into the wall where he had disappeared from and pulled him out.
He dropped to the floor and started vomiting. My treatment had its desired effect because he eventually crawled to the middle of the floor and blubbered how sorry he was. I let him go on like that for a minute, or two, before I knelt down next to him and asked him again what I wanted to know. This time, I couldn’t get him to shut up.
I'm not a heartless bastard, even if Ronny might be one. Instead of returning him immediately, I made a stop at the Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness, and had him take a long drink. He wouldn’t remember what he'd been through, just as he wouldn’t remember what an asshole he 'd become. It was probably better than he deserved. Even the Mage thought I was crazy. But screw it. Maybe this time he'd turn out differently. Whatever the case, I took legal custody of Ronny and had him turned over to a Fae facility where he could recover and get some help. When I was finished, I picked up my phone and called O'Malley and told him what I'd learned.
About an hour later, I pulled into an older Las Vegas neighborhood just outside of downtown and parked near Ballard and Eastern. The house was exactly as Ronny had described. Peach in color, it hid behind two large mulberry trees whose branches covered the entire front yard. O'Malley's guys had already arrived. Surrounded by a chain link fence, an officer waved me through the gate and met him at the front door.
"Anything interesting?" I asked, as he led me inside.
"Place is in foreclosure," he replied, sounding as if he was almost in a good mood. "Been vacant about six months. Powers out, but they left the water on. Looks empty from the front, but the bathroom and back bedroom have seen some use. We found a few odds and ends that verify his story. Nikki's already back there looking into it. I've got a team serving a warrant on his apartment and another looking into where you said he dumped the other stolen car he told you about. The phones used were burners. Team says the sim cards are missing and they found a receipt indicating they were paid for with cash. I'll send them and any computers we find to Mal for follow up. Maybe he can get something more out of them. Other than that, nothing to identify anyone else yet. You sure you squeezed everything out of him?"
"No question," I said. "He made arrangements with the seller in a bar and then met her here. Didn’t even know the seller's name. Got introduced to her as Mouse. All he could say about the seller was that he thinks she was a girl. They met out in the alley. She was wearing a hoodie, so he never saw her face. Came back after the first key fob worked. That one was a one-shot deal and cost him half a C-note. Met her here again a couple days later and paid her a grand for the next one. That one was supposed to be good for 50 cars, just not all at once."
"50 cars…," he said, shaking his head. "Idiot's been watching too many movies." He stuck the stub of an unlit cigar in his mouth, then took it out and pointed it at me. "Alright then. It's officially yours. Nikki will act as liaison for any evidence you need processed. Now… If I'm done being your bitch, I've got police work to do."
He started to walk toward the front and then paused and turned back to me. "Oh, I almost forgot." He tossed me a manila folder. "Got this from your attorney friend. It's the cover story data sheet. I told him I’d pass it on to you. I also threw in the reports we've put together so far."
"Thanks," I started to say, but he was already out the door. I went in search of Nikki, finding her a moment later in one of the back bedrooms kneeling over a makeshift workbench.
"Come up with anything good?" I asked as I walked through the doorway.
"See for y
ourself," she said, tossing me a sparkling bag containing loose crystals. These were whole, but there was no doubt they were of the same low quality as the broken one she had found in the device. "Like I said before, cheap stuff, but at least we know she was here."
"You said she. You're sure it was a girl then?" I asked, tossing her back the bag.
"Judging by her choice of body wash fragrance," she replied, catching it and placing it into an evidence bag. "Can't you smell it?"
"Now that you mention it," I said, taking in a deep breath. "I can smell something. I thought it was just air freshener."
"Exactly my point," she replied. "It's a cheap brand. Whoever she is, I don’t think she's shopping at high end places."
You'd think being a High Fae, I'd be the one to be spouting out information. But that's not the way it worked, at least not with Nikki. I had my limitations. Just like the old Gods that came before me. When it came to processing information at a scene like this, Nikki's Fae powers jumped into high gear. Although her magic was most powerful when she was in Fae, there were several areas where she excelled in this world. One was reading people, the other was crime scenes. I might be the more seasoned investigator, but what she could glean from a scene was at another level entirely. Just like being able to talk to animals. Something that was hit and miss with me. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be the way of it, especially since she'd gotten her kick start when I'd transferred part of my own magic to her. Whatever the case, it didn’t really matter. She was my daughter, and a forensic whiz, that was more than enough for me.
"What else can you tell me?" I asked.
"Don’t know where Mouse fits in, but she's young," Nikki replied. "Smart too. Looks like she was using this place to make her talismans as well as conduct business. There're a couple more key fobs here and some other plastic cases that originally held electronics. She wasn't living here though. There are no clothes or personal items. She has to have a crash pad somewhere. One thing doesn’t make sense though. I can only find trace amounts of residual magic. I would have expected to sense a lot more based on the power of the Fae magic used at the car lot."
"Maybe whatever she's carrying is being shielded," I said. "Some kind of box or bag that keeps the magic contained. Remember the pouch that held the Tears of Blood? That kept them hidden for eons."
"Like a magical faraday cage," she replied, slapping her forehead. "Yeah, that would do it. Especially if she's only taking it out when she weaves the spells."
"Any idea what she could be?"
"Specifically?" she asked, running her hands over the makeshift desk that had contained the recovered items. "No. At first, I thought she might be just a Witch that got her hands on an ancient Fae artifact. But the magic is… off somehow. Different. It's almost natural in the weaving, as if she has a connection to the object. Makes me think she's at least part Fae. But if she is, maybe she doesn't know." She raised her eyebrows. "It's happened before. Anyway, the residual magic is so faint it's hard to tell what the connection is." She reached down and pulled out a clear evidence bag. "But maybe this will tell us something."
"A can?" I asked, looking at the bag. "What was she using that for?"
"I hope she was drinking from it," she said, chuckling. "No magic, just plain science, Dad. I already pulled a few prints off the surface. Maybe we'll get lucky and get some DNA from it as well. Even if she's not in the system, we'll at least have it on file."
"Any leads would be helpful," I replied. "I'd like to find her before something else backfires. What's your next step?"
"I want to get all this back to my lab," she replied. "I haven't had a chance to look through everything yet. Hopefully there'll be something there that will help me narrow it down. What about you?"
"I need to make a quick trip to Hades and see how things are going there," I replied, opening the folder O'Malley had given me. "Shouldn’t take too long. Then, I guess I'll start back at the beginning. Walk the original scene. See if there was anything out there that could have triggered the spell to fail. Maybe there's something we missed. I'll check out the bar he supposedly met her at. Just like I would any other case. That's a start until I see what else you come up with."
Okay," she said, gathering up her evidence. "Let's touch base tomorrow. I should have a handle on most of it by then."
"Sounds like a plan," I replied. I gave her a hug and then went back out to my car.
The truck driver that had originally reported the event was on the road, so I interviewed him by phone. He couldn’t add anything other than what he already reported. Although he'd felt the burst of magic, he hadn't seen anything, nor had he recognized the magic in question. But knowing that it probably wasn't anything good, he'd called it in.
Even with a quick stopover in Hades, it'd only be a little after midnight when I returned. Plus, I could transport directly to the scene from there. I didn't need the daylight to see, and I wanted to take Charlie with me. You never know, just because O'Malley's guys didn't find any other witnesses, that didn’t mean there weren't any. A lot of beings would make themselves scarce when the cops showed up. It was like the truck driver said, bursts of magic were seldom a good thing. It's no surprise that many of the darker creatures wouldn’t want to stick around to see what was up. Just like the human world, those kinds of witnesses tended to disappear when strange things happened. But they'd be back. They always came back. Like moths drawn to a flame.
Chapter 11
What the Hell? I asked myself as I appeared in Hades near the Cyclopes camp, or at least that's what it was when I was last here. Now, a small town had cropped up beside it. Twenty plus buildings in the shape of a square with newly recovered Souls milling about and moving between them. What was Diantha up to? Looking toward the forges, I saw Jim sitting on one of the Howitzers next to a pair of Cyclopes who were fiddling with a large object on a table nearby. I headed their way.
"Jim!" I yelled as I approached. "What's going on here?"
"Robert," he said as he climbed down. "Glad you're back. We had a little trouble with some rogue Demons." He turned to the two Cyclopes at the table. "Polydies, come over here for a minute."
One of them put down the object he was carrying and walked over to us.
"My Lord," he said, bowing toward me. "How may I be of service?"
"Polydies and his buddy are designing some new rounds for the Howitzer," Jim explained, pointing to the table. "Seems our human weapons just aren’t effective on these Shades. These are stronger than the ones outside, more organized, and we want to do more than just move them out of the way. It's a helluva lot harder to keep them down than those on the other side of the gate. Out there, we're not trying to kill them, but in here it's a different story. Not to mention that I have to be careful not to damage anything on our side.
"We got to talking and he's gonna make us some Killer Junior rounds. He's gonna replace some of the Comp B with fairy dust. We'll time the fuses so they'll explode above the ground. He says it'll send those things packing. That, and a little extra illumination, and anything that hates bright lights is gonna haul ass in the other direction as well."
"Fairy dust?" I repeated, seeing now that the other Cyclops was twisting off the top of an artillery shell like it was a thermos.
"Yeah," Jim replied. "I asked him to think about some flechette rounds too. I'm not keen on bows and arrows up top. Just wouldn’t look right. Especially as a psychological factor when you send us into battle with the Dwarves."
"Got it. Okay. Let's deal with that later. Polydies, my apologies. I didn't mean to interrupt your work. I just need to speak with Jim. Please… carry on."
"Yes, my Lord," he replied, then returned to the table to finish whatever the two of them were doing.
I wasn't worried. I mean, come on, it was the Cyclopes that had designed weapons for the old Gods. I had to believe they knew what they were doing, or at least, I hoped so. But as usual, that wasn't my main concern at the moment. I turned back to Jim.
"Listen, about the Shades and Demons," I began. "I knew I had to deal with problems inside eventually, although I'll admit I didn’t expect them to be such an issue, especially in this area. I've got something in mind that'll help, or at least let us get on the offensive, but what's up with the town that's being built around the forges?"
"You'll have to ask Walter for the details," Jim replied. "But when they started showing up, he talked to your Lady Diantha and she started bringing people in. All I know is they were having trouble moving supplies. They've got some blacksmiths and wagon makers building things. There are also some rooming houses for workers. I haven’t had a chance to really check it out yet since I've been billeting with the guys we brought over to run the artillery. I only came to the forges to see Walter about the shells after they swarmed the place the last time. He's the one that directed me to Polydies."
"They swarmed the place?" I asked. I'd encountered Shades inside the gates before, but that was when I first ventured into Hades, and quite a distance from the forges. I hadn’t expected them to be wandering Hades in force.
"Yeah," he replied, nodding his head. "Bunch of them came at the place a while back. I tried the fifty, but it passed right through most of them. They work okay on the Harpies and others, though. Acemon finally drove them off with magic weapons. It was his idea to make us some new ammunition. Walter agreed, and well, here I am. Should help on those outside the gate too."
"Right," I said, looking back to the small town. "Where is Walter, by the way?"
"He'll be at the administrative building," he replied.
"We have an administrative building?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes sir," Jim replied, then pointed to the buildings. "It was the first thing they built. It's in the middle. They set it up like a town square. You can’t miss it."
"Got it," I said, nodding. "Okay then. Go ahead and get back to what you were doing. We'll talk later."