Because this story is 42 pages long, for the purposes of not breaking browsers, I'm segmenting the story out.
| pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4 |
I pulled up in front of the Black Zodiac, right when scheduled the next night.
The building itself was pretty impressive, having once been a skating rink before it was closed down.
In the time that Collin owned it, he’d decided that painting the whole exterior jet black was the way to go.
The club’s name was written in silver, runic symbols above the door, and the whole structure exuded a distinct magical hum.
A duffle bag in one hand and a small cage in the other, I made my way across the lot.
The sudden screeching from inside the cage only made me jump a little, though the reaction was a testament to how tense I’d gotten on the drive over.
Collin was sitting at a table near the door, waiting for me, when I got inside.
“What’s that for?” he asked with a nod at the cage.
I pulled the latch from the door, and a beautiful, large black raven shot out into the air.
She circled around a few times before landing on my shoulder and rubbing against my cheek, the strange magic the bird had tingling against me.
“This little lady’s Nyx.”
“A familiar? I’d’ve expected a black cat, if I’m honest. Haven’t ever seen a normal bird that big,” he added after really taking her in.
“Cats don’t like me, much. This girl, though, is perfectly fine with bein’ around me. Saved me on a job a few years back, and since her owner wasn’t really alive anymore when it was over, she switched.”
“She’s kind of an incoming death detector, too. Figured we could use all the help we can get.”
“Oh? I haven’t heard of familiars doing that. Is it like a canary in a mine?”
“She makes a serious racket whenever something bad’s on the way. I don’t know if her previous owner did somethin’ to ‘er or if she’s some kinda’ weird offshoot from the Umbra playin’ with the natives, but she’s got hella’ psychic ability.”
As I spoke, she took to the air and nestled comfortably into a rafter, head swiveling as though to survey the whole club.
“I usually let ‘er stay at home, but we’ll be needin’ all the warnin’ and help we can get, if those guys come at us again.”
“Fair enough. So tell me what we’re going to be doing. Shielding the Zodiac, I think, won’t keep them out for too long.”
With a nod, he pushed to his feet and led me into the main part of the Zodiac.
The inside was really something to behold, even with the club closed down for maintenance.
Rows of big, spotlessly cleaned wooden tables lined the whole room, forming a large ring of empty space in the center.
While I imagined it was normally covered with inebriated dancers, right then, it was cleared to show an eight-pointed star with various magical symbols etched into an ornate circle.
A long, pure black bar made of marble sat taking up the whole left side of the room.
Unlike the practical circle in the dead center of the club, the bar was covered in runes and zodiac symbols that seemed purely for aesthetics.
What was most impressive in the room, though, was the monster of a man standing behind the bar.
He stood just over six feet, all of his height made of obviously trained muscles covered top to bottom in black silk.
His shaved head caught the low lighting from above, giving him a nearly corpse-like pallor that was only made more obvious by his long but well-maintained black beard.
The vaguely Russian features to him identified him as likely being the mysterious Mikhail, who looked like he could kick some serious ass just standing in place.
“Alright, here’s what’s gonna’ happen. Theoretically, anyway. I’m goin’ ta’ cast a spell ta’ protect the Zodiac. It’ll be strong. At least as strong as my office. Which they got through anyway, so I doubt it’ll hold fer long when they come. But it will slow them down, else we’d’ve been dead yesterday, and that’ll give me enough time to get them. Hopefully.”
“A more concrete plan’s never been laid out,” Mikhail mused. “You’re a lot smaller than I would’ve thought you’d be.”
Nodding, I headed to the bar and extended my hand.
The second we shook, I felt like my skin was literally on fire, though I managed to keep my poker face up until I could slip the hand into my pocket.
“Mikhail, right?”
“That’s me.”
“You’re the bouncer?”
“And the bartender.”
“You get what I asked for?”
“Ready and waitin’ for your special touch,” Collin cut in, bringing my gaze back to him.
He indicated the collection of supplies sitting in the center of a nearby table, the whole bundle releasing a slight glow into the air.
Bulbs of crushed onion and garlic sat with five candles lay unlit next to them, each one a different color to represent the elements.
“No clover?”
Not that the clover would be necessary, really, though it couldn’t hurt.
He pointed over his shoulder, and I found a bundle of the small things hanging over each window, the front door, and the hallway that we’d come in through.
The fact that I hadn’t felt anything was probably a bad sign.
“Good deal. Alright, ya’ boys aren’t squeamish ‘round magic, I assume?”
Both of them gave me a smirk in response, and with a shrug I headed over to my supplies.
My duffel bag released several clangs as I set it down, and I got to work pulling out the other things I wouldn’t trust someone to have on hand at a bar.
When everything was together on the table, I finally pulled out the small, fatally sharp dagger I’d brought along just in case.
I fought a shiver as the sheathed blade slipped into my jacket, keeping it on hand in case things got messy.
With that done, I put the crushed onion and garlic into a stone bowl and began grinding them into a fine powder.
Once it was totally mixed into one solid, white dust, I poured the mixture into a black, steel dish.
As soon as the powder landed in the second bowl, the air became tense.
I felt my heart speeding up as the heavy air settled onto my shoulders.
Something was watching.
By Collin and Mikhail’s fidgeting, it was something that wasn’t only interested in me.
Whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen.
My mind and body calmed down as I went to work setting the candles up around the dish.
The world faded from existence as my breathing slowed, until all that was visible to me were vague glowing shapes.
Throbbing pulses of light began to make their way through me, starting in my brain and working their way to my toes.
I fell into rhythm with the universe as the magic began to rise.
“Spirit of fire, I call on the strength of thee, Djinn. Let my magic this night be strong.”
With just my words, the red candle ignited in a burst of blue fire.
The room turned chokingly warm around me as the elemental moved into the room.
Ever since the fight with the Ifrit that Collin had mentioned, I’d picked up a bit of paranoia calling on its cousins, the djinn.
To date, though, telling the monster that it would die alone and un-avenged had proven true, as seen by my not being lit on fire.
Shaking the thoughts off, I let the calm talk over again and focused on the golden blur before my hazed sight.
“I call on the flexibility of the Sylph, master of air. Make my magic malleable and adaptive, able to take on whatever would seek to harm those in this domain.”
The next candle lit with a burst of air which whipped my hair up in a red curtain.
“Gnome, powerful spirit of the earth’s will, grant my magic your sturdy support in protecting this domain.”
A green candle flared up with a heavy scent of damp earth and lilacs in response.
“I summon the Undine, elemental of water, and ask thee to grant thy peaceful grace this night to stay all harmful intents.”
The whole room flooded with light as a fourth, blue candle lit.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed my hand forward, directly center of the four flickering candles.
Their heat lashed against my arm, but even as I was burned, the magic wrapped around me and reversed the damage.
I felt the elemental magic coiling around my entire body, my mind expanding as the summoned spirits fused part of their magic into my very soul, if for a very short time.
“Akasha, that which binds all things through the divide, I call thee here, to join the forces of this reality together for this spell. Take this power as sacrifice, and protect this domain in place of my tribute!”
My arm became coated in a brilliant skin of swirling color, and as I watched, the magic was sucked into the purple candle’s flame.
It grew into a pillar of multi-colored fire as the other four candles were snuffed out.
The magic was finally fully taken, leaving me feeling very shaky.
In return, the fire lit the entire room with a powerful glow that washed everything out.
Moving fast, I brought the knife from my jacket and slashed through the column of flames.
The steel turned purple as it passed through, and power thrummed through my entire being as the light intensified.
“With this fire, I cast out all darkness! As this section of reality burns, let all evil intent be charred and destroyed at the threshold!”
With that, I touched the glowing blade to the herbs in the dish.
They went up in a bright puff of silver fire and smoke, and then, it all vanished.
The glow around the room ceased, leaving only silver sparks around the windows and doors.
“Now that’s a helluva warding!” Mikhail said with a rough bark of laughter. “You definitely pull out all the stops when you want to impress, lady.”
“No shite. Yer damn aura nearly blinded me, there,” Collin complained with a wince.
“I aim to please. So, the shield’s up. Now, we just have to wait for the morons to show up,” I said with a quick glance at a nearby clock.
“Actually, I know I shoulda’ asked this before, but how do you know they’ll be coming tonight? They could come around in the morning. Actually, they could’ve come running straight here from your office,” Collin mused.
Just as I was about to respond, Nyx gave a shrill cry that sent all three of us on full alert.
I sensed the incoming power outside my ward, a second before I dove.
Mikhail and Collin both went with me as Nyx dropped to a low squat on the floor.
The world fell into blinding chaos.
A loud, brilliant explosion of light surged across the windows of the Zodiac.
They held up surprisingly well, against the force, at least for a while.
As my wards flared just as brightly around the borders, the glass began to wobble and crack.
Smoke began to seep inside, forming a solid wall of inky black against the molecule-thin walls of magic at every entrance it tried.
The attack pressed against my mind as it repeatedly bashed into the wards.
Whoever was throwing magic around really wanted us dead.
The assault was relentless, with green fire and black smoke constantly rushing at us anew.
It became a matter of which magician had more power to burn, and the flickering barriers suggested I hadn’t put enough energy into mine.
As I started throwing my own magic into the ward, I noticed a pair of flickering, coal-red eyes that moved from window to window, always staring at me.
I’ll admit, petty as it was, knowing that our attacker had summoned a fire demon made me feel slightly better about how quickly the protections were failing.
At the same time, I cursed the stupidity of not taking into consideration that our assailants might have a contracted spirit or two latched to their soul.
Still, humans were, I found, much less easy to deal with than creatures bound by magical rules written into their blood.
“I cast thee out from this domain, assailer from the shadows! Spirit of fire, leave with this covenant intact, before the hounds are set loose in recompense!”
The eyes flickered, and whatever spirit it was seemed to give a growl in response, if the rumbling floor was any indication.
“Shite, that was the wrong move.”
For one second, the fire and smoke pulled back, and I began to think I’d spoken too soon.
Then, it collected into a single fist of solid Hellfire, and the black form rammed solidly into the wall directly in front of me.
Had it just been a magical attack, my wards still might have held.
But it had put mass into its attack, and while the magic was kept out, the red-hot flames managed to get inside.
The fire flared like a living creature, and surged at us.
That the building was still standing after that assault, when it would normally be turned to a large pile of ashes, said something about my magic, if nothing else.
“Fek! Mick-”
I was already moving before Collin could give whatever command he had in mind, dagger clutched tightly in my hand.
“Under the domain of Mercury, I charge this blade with the power of North’s frost! Undines, spirits of the world’s blood, grant me more of your power this night!”
The steel flash froze in my grip, sending off waves of chilled air and cold, hard power into my hand.
The fear of frostbite quickly became legitimate, and I sent it hurtling, with a hiss, right into the flames.
Flames continued to spread for a few brief seconds, the magic seeming to do nothing.
Then, there was a blast of blue light, and the fire was snuffed out in an instant.
Ice crystals danced in the air as my dagger fell, sticking up to the hilt into the wooden floor.
More ice rushed out of the window, following the source of the offensive magic.
I followed that, moving outside in a single vault through the shattered glass.
By the time I was outside, three men were scrambling for the black van across the street, seeming to have just realized their pet had vanished with a bellow of rage.
I didn’t need to do any guesswork to figure out it was the same team that had tried killing me in my own office.
One of them was slower, due to a noticeable burn through his right leg.
He released a very high-pitched squeal of surprise when I slammed into him, grinding his face into the road as we both went down.
In a word, the magician was greasy, hair sticking to his entire face, save for half his mouth and an eye, in an oily black mess.
The blood and dirt added to the effect.
Clearly, the thugs weren’t friends, since the sound of screeching tires is what pulled me from my short analysis.
Headlights filled my vision as they hurtled towards me, and I felt the whole world dim.
My new friend and I were across the street with a dive just before it would’ve hit us.
While I turned after the van, perhaps to throw a ball of explosive essence if I could get it fast enough, it took a corner and disappeared.
The good news was that, apparently, whoever was hiring them wasn’t paying enough to make dying seem like it might be worth it.
The exertions of my magic and sudden burst of exercise hit me at the same time, driving my breath out in a nasally wheeze.
With a cough, I spat a clump of dirt to the ground, and my arm throbbed with pain in time with my heartbeat.
“That was a show,” Collin quipped from just by the window I’d left.
“Glad ya’ approve. Don’t worry, Maxwell, yer fee also covers any medical bills,” I hissed.
Spinning, I sent a swift but powerless kick into the downed thug’s side.
“Wake up, arsehole, yer not lucky enough ta’ be dead yet.”
With a groan, he rolled over and forced himself up.
A knife flashed as he drew it from his sleeve as he went, sending a swirl of red light with the motion.
My magic leaked out, and he paled as the air darkened and gained a wild, natural scent that the city would normally have long choked out of existence.
“Drop the toy. Gettin’ firebombed put me in a bad mood, an’ I’ll be happy ta’ take it out by turnin’ yer body into a piñata,” I growled.
My vocal chords rumbled with the magic flowing through me, signaling just how pissed I really was.
Reining it in took a lot more concentration than it should’ve, which is how he managed to move first.
The thug lunged, flash aimed straight for my throat.
Fortunately, I recovered quickly, and he hadn’t made a full three steps before I ducked under his arm and slammed my hand into his wrist.
Green light pulsed at the contact, and he squealed as smoke rushed up from a circle of completely withered skin.
His dagger clanged noisily to the cement, snapping on impact.
Before he could come out of his idiotic charge, I brought my knee up into his midsection and sent him down in a limp heap.
“Any other stupid moves ya’ wanna’ give a try, ya’ thick cretin?”
“Screw you!”
“Not even in yer best dreams. So yer the one that just tried ta’ torch us, yeah?”
He opened his mouth to retort, and I raised a hand testily.
“Let me make it clear that, if yer honest, I’m less likely ta’ break anythin’ important.”
Collin laughed at that, which seemed to terrify the magician even more.
“Shut it. Now, that guy, he hired me ta’ find yer number. Be helpful, save me the time, an’ I swear on Styx I won’t light yer ass on fire an’ send ya’ runnin’ fer tryin’ ta’ kill us.”
He finally managed to get back to his feet, eyes narrowed in hateful slits.
“You shouldn’t’ve hit me, bitch,” he snarled.
“You shouldn’ta’ tried to blow the livin’ hell outta’ my office,” I retorted.
His eyes turned bright red, and everything around me began to warm up.
When he started to glow, I moved forward to knock him out.
Steam was starting to bubble up from his arms, making me hesitate with my so-recently burned hand still in the back of my mind.
Bare fists would probably not be the way to handle him.
“I’d drop the fire, were I you, boy,” Mikhail’s voice grumbled from directly behind me.
I didn’t jump, but only barely.
As he spoke, the heat dropped out of the air, and the thug stared at the mountainous man in shock.
He snapped his fingers a few time, seeming to expect something that wasn’t coming.
“What!?”
“Yeah, you’re employer really picked the wrong club to fek with,” Collin laughed.
I didn’t resist as he oh-so-subtly grabbed my elbow and dragged me out of his bartender’s path.
“You aren’t the only one ‘round here that can play with fire. And I promise you, he’s much better at it.”
The magician was shaking at that point, and I didn’t have a hard time imagining his life flashing before his eyes just then.
“Now that ya’ realize just how badly yer outta’ yer league, let’s try this again.”
Shaking Collin’s grip off, I stepped up to be at Mikhail’s side.
It felt like I’d just stepped into an active furnace, but I did my best not to let the discomfort show.
“Yer goin’ ta’ tell us who you idiots are working for, and then, we’ll see if I have to let him at you or not.”
“He attacked my bar. You can’t stop me if you tried, little witch,” the Russian grumbled.
How confident I was that I’d win that fight was overshadowed by how much I really didn’t want to find out the answer, and his smirk told me he knew it.
The display got to the thug, though, as he started violently trembling.
“Talk, moron. Now.”
This time, I’d intentionally released magic with my statement, giving it a little more impact.
Amazing, how well that trick made tough guys look ready to break down in sobs, just as well as when I learned it as a kid.
“I don’t know her name. I’m just on loan to those two assholes that left me here. She’s some bitch from down the river.”
“Is that a euphemism, talkin’ about somewhere in the underworlds, or the Miskatonic?”
“That hellhole Dunwich,” he spat.
“What’s she want with the Zodiac?”
“Hell if I know. Best I can guess, the bitch wants to start something ugly, and doesn’t want a neutral zone in her way. That’s all I got, I swear. Those other two were the ones that actually work for her.”
Despite his fear, he managed to sneer at me, which was a little impressive.
“Sucks that you grabbed the wrong one, huh?”
“You’ll do fer a nice punchin’ bag for our trouble,” I assured, to his increased pallor. “Where in Dunwich does she call home?”
“You’ll know it when ya’ see it. Only decent-looking building in that damned pit stain people call a town, so you can’t miss it.”
Unfortunately, his description of the tiny village, stuck in the backwoods of the Miskatonic River Valley, wasn’t too far off.
Most of the buildings had been thoroughly beaten with time, and the idea of human life being supported in any of the ancient monstrosities had always struck me as a faerytale way less believable than anything the Grimms had come up with.
In my one experience passing through, I had to say the people there reflected it well, standing as shining examples of the “don’t stay too long after dark” this part of Massachusetts was famous for.
If the bankroll for this all had set up shop there, they probably weren’t just some random rich woman who got bored.
Towns like Dunwich and Innsmouth were perfect if you wanted to hide from people, or set up a criminal empire without notice.
I wasn’t the only one feeling uneasy, since I could hear Collin fidgeting to my side.
With a huff, I brought my hand into the thug’s chest, and he fell limp to the street.
“Sounds like my work should be done, Mr. Maxwell. I found your issue.”
“Should be?” he mused with an arched brow.
“Someone’s using Arkham as a chessboard. I hate bein’ toyed with.”
"Agreed. Shall we go meet my pain in the arse?”
Nodding, I headed for my car with him close behind.
“Mick, hold down the fort. Give the raven some crackers. I’ll grab somethin’ to clean all the soot up on the way back.”
“Better,” the bartender grunted. “I’ll keep a watch over the place. I got a nice human shield if they decide to come back while you’re out.”
I probably should’ve felt bad with the implication, but hey, the guy had tried to kill me three times in even less days.
We were barreling down the roads towards Dunwich without another word.
The closer we got, the more fidgety I felt myself becoming, and the truly annoying part was trying to rein it in only made it worse.
The fact that I’m not the most talkative person around, and that I was in the car with my client, who was one of the few that weren’t afraid to jump into the hellfire with me, made me squirm even more.
Him obviously noticing it didn’t help much, either.
“Is this a normal job for you?” he asked, finally breaking the drawn out silence.
I hid the huff of relief that bubbled up, and feigned deep thought on the question instead.
“Hmm… Some mysterious woman’s runnin’ a scheme to use hired thugs to get rid of a neutral zone, probably so she can start a war. Actually, yeah, I think that does sound like a Wednesday, thinkin’ on it,” I sighed.
Sadly, it was more normal for me than he’d likely think.
“You’ve got an interesting job, Lugus.”
“Sometimes. Mostly, it’s just a pain in the arse, and anywhere else the bastards can break bones. Makes my bank account, and Jess, pretty happy though, an’ I help keep people from turnin’ to puddles, so that does make up for it. A little, anyway.”
“Sounds about right, from everything I’ve heard. I am curious, though. About a few things, actually, but fer now, I noticed you came up with that trick with the athame pretty quick, when your wards started to fall. Almost like you expected it.”
“Trust me on this, Maxwell. If I’d been expectin’ it, I woulda’ taken that bastard before he sicced whatever that fire beast was on us… The windows will come from your payment, too,” I added as an afterthought.
“You deduct a lot from your expenses. How do you stay afloat?”
“When I fek up, I deal with it. I didn’t think the bastard’d have somethin’ of any caliber ta’ throw at us, an’ I ended up causin’ a fair bit a damage by pokin’ the damn thing thinkin’ it was just some demon. I set the wards as part a the job, an’ they failed, so I sure as hell wouldn’t charge fer it.”
“There’s no need for all that,” he retorted with a flippant wave. “It would’ve been a lot uglier if you hadn’t been quick about handling it. Way I see it, you earned your paycheck, since I’ve still got a bar.”
“Fair enough. Still, wish I’d kicked the cretin in his damn head a few times. Havin’ somethin’ break my magic that quick is just plain insultin’.”
“Twice,” he added with a smirk. “Got your office, too.”
“An’ thanks fer that, because that makes me feel so much better.”
A thought occurred to me, and I winced.
“Actually, Jess set up the wards at the office. I’m good at hittin’ things, but she’s a damn prodigy at defensive magic. Shoulda’ taken that inta’ account, I suppose.”
“If she’s that much better, why didn’t she come help out? She’s your assistant, right?”
“She’s smarter’n me, too,” I snorted. “Last time I had a nasty case, was down in this little shitehole in the Avalon, she came with me. Seemed simple enough. ‘Til the arsehole started throwin’ fire spells left an’ right. Bein’ a snow woman, she’s not a fan, an’ it nearly got ‘er killed. ‘er girlfriend was even less happy than me er Jess, an’ Jess doesn’t want a repeat.”
“Not to be rude, but can you cut the brogue a bit? It’s making me think of home, and I wasn’t much of a fan when I was there.”
“Normally, it’s under control. When I get… agitated… it tends ta’ flare up. Can’t really control it.”
“So you’re really nervous now, then, huh?”
“I don’t like walkin’ inta’ these kinds of things blind. Wish I’d gotten one of the actual employees to get a better idea what we’re lookin’ at,” I complained.
“Mikhail doesn’t regret it, if that counts for anythin’. He’s probably taking some of his frustration from the past few weeks out on the greasy little idiot right now. So, you’re from Ireland, I take it?”
“Born an’ raised, yeah. Well, technically, anyway. I was in the Courts, right outside Dublin. When I hit 19, I made it clear I wasn’t goin’ back willingly, an’ booked it fer Arkham.”
Somehow, I felt the compulsion to keep talking, and it was making me even more uncomfortable, though for a much more mundane reason.
“Why Arkham, of all places? Not exactly a nice place to visit, much less live, ‘specially for a woman, and even less for a woman who’s a cop. Or P.I., in your case.”
“I’ve asked myself that plenty a times, myself, actually,” I quipped.
Shrugging, I let my mind continue to wander down memory lane.
At least it was more interesting than twitching the rest of the drive.
“My brother used ta’ bring me all over the world, from the time I was twelve. First time out, he took me ta’ Salem, the real Salem, not the place that bought the name. I’d never experienced magic and psychic clutter like I did right then. When I moved stateside, I was lookin’ fer work at the time, usin’ what I’d picked up at uni.”
“Oh? And what did the P.I. faery witch want to be when she grew up?” he asked with a smirk.
“I was inta’ computers, believe it er not. It just happened that the APD was lookin’ fer techies, and I happened upon ta’ be there. I joined up, and about six months in is when shit hit the fan.”
“Thing’s’ve been screwed up here for decades.”
“Sure, but they didn’t have the Camarilla here before. When those bastards moved in, the supernatural side of things broke loose. If ya’ were here already, ya’ know what I mean, an’ if not, be happy ya’ weren’t. Havin’ my unique qualifications, I took on some cases on the side. Voila, six years of red tape, broken bones, and psychological traumas, an’ I’m a certified P.I.,” I mused.
“So you willingly took all this city’s got goin’ on? Do you have some screws loose?”
“It’s been said,” I agreed easily. “Since I was around this stuff since I was born, I’m better equipped ta’ handle the stuff than some poor slob.”
A thought occurred to me, and I bit my tongue to keep my mouth shut.
The idea that he’d put me under some mild hypnosis without me noticing was hard to buy, but it wasn’t wholly out of the realm of possibilities.
Without knowing what his Nephilim blood had granted him, I couldn’t be sure.
Something was making me talkative, though, which wasn’t something I did with anyone I hadn’t known for a long time.
It was something that was honestly starting to worry me.
Even as I considered it, I heard Jess’s snark as though she were right there with me.
“I get the feelin’ you’re not usually this talkative,” he said, as though he’d read my mind. “Do you just handle discomfort poorly, or is there something else to that?”
A quick glance from the road confirmed that, as I’d suspected from his voice, the bastard was grinning.
Apparently, he agreed with my fictional Jessica’s comment.
“No idea, honestly. I don’t get this bothered, usually. If it was you, I’d probably know.”
He chuckled at that, reclining a bit in his seat in the picture of comfort.
“If you mean, am I messin’ with your head, then no? If you’re wondering if I’m just that good, that I can get you to open up like this, well… Do keep in mind that I run a neutral zone, Lugus,” he quipped.
“Morgana. I’m not old enough fer that crap.”
“You keep callin’ me by my last name, so fair’s fair,” he retorted. “Anyways, do you have anything else with you? Your knife and magic, and skills at handling them, are impressive, thus far. But we might need a bit more, if we’re headin’ straight into some militia compound.”
“Glove compartment, under the map, inside the second book,” I said, hoping to stop talking while I was behind.
I was getting unnerved at the ease with which he was charming my life story out of me, whether intentionally or not.
He quickly set to work sifting through the compartment, and came up with the weapon even faster.
The gun was the color of night, and released a faint magical hiss.
Even across the car, I could feel the power humming inside the M1911’s silver bullets.
Unlike me, he seemed perfectly comfortable with such close contact.
“Homemade, I take it?”
Somehow, the question felt insulting.
“Yeah. Hasn’t failed me yet.”
“Feels like it’s been through its paces. It’s humming like crazy with your wild magic… You have some very interesting skills, Morgana,” he mused.
“Oh, ya’ don’t know the halfa’ it. Get me near a computer ‘n I’ll blow yer mind.”
“I thought you said your ADHD left things to the snow woman. Doesn’t seem to mix well with computer work.”
“Jess said the same thing when we were younger, actually. I just roll with it,” I shrugged.
“Not often that there’re people that seem capable and varied at the same time. I’m thinking I should give you a call if Mick’s ever feeling under the weather.”
I couldn’t help the chill that sentiment brought.
“Yeah, I’ll give that a pass. Ya’ve got enough problems without someone who’s pissed off at least a third a the big players in Arkham. Would be bad for business.”
Evidently, whoever had been selling him my tales hadn’t mentioned the early years.
I could feel his surprise permeating the air, as well as his stare.
The feeling brought another realization to me, and I focused on the psychic impressions around me.
With a deep breath, I brought my mind into a calmed state, and as soon as I did, the urge to talk disappeared.
Somehow, my guard had slipped in my skittishness, and that’d been all it had taken for Collin’s charismatic psychic presence to slip in.
No wonder the guy managed to hold his own in a neutral zone.
I was suddenly very glad the Nephilim wasn’t into cults or gangs, because it would be a real problem, now that I felt the full weight of his presence on my mind without being taken in by it.
His laugh snapped me out of my musings and brought my focus back on the road, though I made sure to keep the walls up, now.
“You’ve got me interested. Anyone I know?”
“I’m sure you would. Another time, though. For now, we’ve reached our barren slice of Hell.”
He went on high alert as we passed the sign marking Dunwich’s border.
For all we knew, this person, whoever she was, already had an idea we were coming and had set up an ambush.
I focused the previous nerves and used the energy to cast my senses out as far as they could reach.
“The fish are hiding in their shacks. Whoever she is, she either paid them off or has them scared.”
“You can tell that from here?”
“Vaguely. The car throws things off. And I don’ want ta’ just throw any magic inta’ the mix ta’ extend it, because our mystery woman might notice it. More importantly, that thing at the bottom of the Miskatonic might notice, and this close to its domain domain, I definitely wanna’ keep my magic up close an’ personal.”
He paled at that, and I felt a strange sense of suffocation as he pulled all his ambient energy into tight control.
“Yeah, I’ll pass on that, today. We’ve got enough problems. Still, damn good range. If this goes over without both of us gettin’ killed, this definitely won’t be our last time workin’ together.”
“I tend ta’ hope my clients only ever see me one time. With you, doin’ what ya’ do, that’s probably true.”
“So you always drive around with a weapon loaded with silver?” he asked, staring at the gun in consideration.
“Ya’d be surprised how much I have in common with the scouts. Unfortunately, that’s almost all we had, since I wasn’t expecting to need heavy firepower today.”
“Almost?”
“I had Jess write up some sutras yesterday. Knock ya’ on yer ass, but they’ll give anythin’ I activate them on a real bad headache.”
“Oh, I think that’ll be enough, in a pinch. With what I’ve seen so far, assumin’ you can keep up the pace, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle it just fine.”
“Yer confidence in my stamina is flatterin’. Let’s hope you’re right.”
“Oh, I imagine you have plenty of that. We’d better hope so, at least. Anyway, if you change your mind and get at all interested in my offer, please tell me. Mick needs to take a personal day once in a while, and won’t if there’s not someone competent helping me out.”
Any response I might have made was cut off when I noticed what was coming up.
Collin released an impressive string of curses when I swerved off the dirt road and pulled the car up behind a large, rocky outcropping.
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