Chapter 18
“This place is cool.” Barry, the current leader of the ‘gang’ said as they entered the mining building. “Is there any beer?”
“We have to ride back down the mountain, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, but it’s still pretty fucking nice.” Barry said with a smile. He was tall, and had sun-bleached hair. All ten of their group was here, including their newest member, Jamie, who had finally managed to pass his driving test, and even managed to get his own motorcycle license. No one had mentioned that his bike was almost an exact duplicate of
“Nice.” Was all Billie said as he sat down on the couch and punched the leather next to him. All of them were dusty from the ride up the mountain. Spring was right around the corner, and the gentle weather of winter was stirring into something more, a reminder of the heat promised during the summer. “We can come up here in the summer and beat the heat.”
“You sure we won’t get in trouble up here?” Barry asked
“Trouble?”
“Man it’s nice having rich friends.” Barry laughed.
“Except rich friends have enemies.” Jamie murmured as his eyes met
“You were supposed to catch anyone standing.”
“I didn’t expect you to do it right then.” Tom shot back while he bent over to pick up Ben, who was a little heavier than him. Red-haired Josh easily picked up Barry and carried him to the middle of the room while Tom staggered with Ben.
This time they cast the joining spell before the circle, and so they were able to make the circle around the group once everyone was in place without taking up too much time.
“Damn.” Josh said softly as he looked at them in the weird non-light. The affect was almost like a blacklight being put in a room, the electrical kind, except it was both dimmer and brighter than the mundane equivalent.
“What?” Worthington/Jamie asked.
“You two really look like twins in this light.” Josh answered. “I mean, we’ve all noticed differences in the last couple of months. You’re both taller, I mean both of you had to order new riding gear because the old stuff was too short, right? Your faces are different too, more similar, and your hair is almost the exact same color now.”
“Their shoulders are different too.” Tom added. “Mike’s are stockier, while Jamie’s are narrower. Mike’s got more muscles though, from all the wrestling workout I think.”
“Let’s get to work.” Jamie/Worthington said, and they woke up Barry first.
“What’s going on here?” Barry shouted as he leaped to his feet, ready to fight. “What the fuck?”
“This is for your own protection.” Worthington/Jamie said as they put Barry under a gentle control spell. He calmed down, stopped fighting, and took the blood when they put a finger in his mouth. Then he went back to sleep, forgetting all about the experience. It was easier this way, although they felt they were sure their friends would have agreed to this if they had asked. It was just easier.
The circle was opened, and the joining broken less than twenty minutes after it had begun. They remained at the ‘clubhouse’ for several hours, exploring, laughing, and drinking non-alcoholic beverages before they headed back down the hill. Everyone agreed that they’d enjoy coming up here during the summer, but none of them realized they’d only remember or think about the place in very controlled circumstances.
While everyone else kept on riding,
“So, you really want me to come with you?” He asked. “I mean I’m just a mundane, right?”
“You’re part of this, love.”
“Hey, you spotted him.” Jamie added. “C’mon, Jer, we need your support if nothing else.”
“Fine.” Jeremy said with a shake of his head. “It’s over this way.”
Jeremy led them across the trailer park to another doublewide trailer that was about the same size as the one his family owned. He’d spotted the family moving in there two weeks ago, and had remarked on the family’s kid, a blond-haired angelic looking thirteen year old who now went to the same school as his brothers. He’d told
It was
“Oh, it’s you.” Carl said as he opened the door. He had a towel wrapped around his body, and his blond hair was dripping wet. “Who are these… wait, Jeremy?”
“We need to talk.”
“Let me get some clothes on.” Carl said before disappearing into his room. He came out moments later with a pair of shorts on, and a tank top while he used the towel to dry his hair. “So you guys found me. I didn’t even have to go looking for you. I could feel the residue of magic on Jeremy, but didn’t know it was you. Who are these other guys?”
“This is Jamie, Richie’s brother.”
“Yeah, your pet.” Carl scoffed and shuddered. “God, how can you stand there and look so calm. I’d die if I had to–”
“I’m not you.”
“What are you doing here, Carl?”
“I don’t suppose telling you how my father finally got a job and we just moved here is going to work?” Carl asked. Last month, Carl’s father had finally gotten a job offer with a company in
“What do you think?”
“I can’t tell you.” Carl replied, lifting his chin and challenging
“Can not, or will not?” Jamie asked.
“Are you sure you’re Richie’s brother and not his?” Carl asked. “I mean, you two look a lot alike.”
“Carl.”
“Get out.” Carl whispered, but there was something in his mind that begged for something different. No, his wanting Worthington out of his mind was because of that ward; a nasty piece of business which must have cost a lot of pain on Carl’s part as it was put in there. Well, it was far easier to unravel, and hurt Carl a lot less. The others he dealt with as well, drawing on
“That’s it.”
The power was Byron’s signature, in a way. There should have been no difference between it and what he knew as Byron’s signature, except there was a difference. He linked with Jamie, who was mystified as well, and then he brought
I know what it is.
I hope you never intend to do that. Jamie’s mental voice was rock-firm.
I don’t.
Who knows?
Jones does. Jamie offered the obvious answer. I doubt he’ll tell us if we ask, though.
He might.
That narrows it down to a few dozen.
But most of those can be eliminated because it requires a strong gift.
“You’re free, Carl.”
“Well, if Mr. Jones didn’t want an eye kept on you, I wouldn’t have to worry, would I?” Carl asked acerbically.
He wants us to believe it was Jones. Jamie said.
Or he believes it was Jones.
“What?” Carl cried out with surprise.
“What’s going on, Michael?” Jeremy asked. “Is he the one or not?”
“He’s not the one committing the murders.”
“What murders?” Carl demanded suspiciously.
“Someone’s been murdering mundanes with Dark magic.”
“And you thought it was me?” Carl exclaimed with a horrified look on his face.
“We had to make sure.” Jamie said with a shrug.
“No, I just had those bastards come back into my life and set me on you like a fucking watchdog.” Carl said angrily. “I swear I wish I’d never met you Worthington Sinclair.”
“The feeling might be mutual, now undress.”
“No.” Carl said as he stood up and looked
“Get undressed.” Jamie said. “He’s not going to touch you.”
“Why?” Carl asked in a whine. He was shaking with fear.
“Just do it.”
“What are you doing?” Carl demanded weakly.
“I’m not going to touch you.”
Carl complied, and
“Get your clothes on.”
“There’s a car pulling up.” Jeremy warned.
“Damn.”
“It’s my mother, probably.” Carl said with tears still in his eyes. “Please don’t hurt her.”
“Carl, who are…” The woman started to exclaim in surprise, but Jamie reached out and took her mind under control for a moment, and started swearing. Someone had put wards in her too.
“I got her, and the shield stopped the warning.” Jamie murmured. “If they get her again, though, they’re going to know I’ve been in here.”
“Don’t hurt her.” Carl repeated.
“We won’t.”
“No.” Jamie murmured. “Just tattletales, really. She’s had a few memories erased and they didn’t bother to cover their tracks.”
“Well, clear her mind out of us being here, she just came in and Carl was in his room.”
“Yes?” The boy whispered. “What do you want?”
“I’m really sorry this happened to you.”
“Lucky me.” Carl did not sound happy about that.
“In a way, it does make you lucky, because I do care enough about you that I don’t want you used as a pawn.”
“How nice.” Carl murmured angrily. “I don’t get a choice, do I?”
“You have some choice.”
“Yeah, and how do you know him anyway?” Carl asked.
“He’s my boyfriend.”
“One of them?” Carl laughed. “Typical. I suppose Jeremy knows there’s another?”
“They’re both in this room.”
“Only you could get away with something like that.” Carl said. “I remember how everyone at school treated you like you were a prince or something.”
“Or something.”
“Look, all I’m interested in doing is making sure you’re protected.”
“You promise?” Carl asked suspiciously.
“I promise.”
“Fine, what do you want me to do?” The boy asked with a resigned tone.
“Do you think you can get permission to visit?”
“All of you are little too old to be my friends.” Carl chortled.
“That’s true.” Jamie concurred.
“How about a sleepover?” Jeremy offered.
“We can’t put the protections in over just an hour or two, and your trailer is a little too cramped.”
“No, at your place.” Jeremy said. “Invite my brothers, and tell them they can bring a friend. You know how they love your pool. It’ll give my parents two days and a night without any kids in the house. They’ll love that.”
“That might work.” Carl said.
“Fine, that’s what we’ll do.”
“I will.” Carl promised.
“You’ll put extra protections on my brothers, right?” Jeremy asked later that night when he was in bed with
“Yes.”
“So what is it about Carl that you do not want to talk about?” Jeremy asked. They’d already had their fun, and Jeremy was one of those that liked to talk afterwards, not before sex.
“He’s been conditioned.”
“What does that mean?” Jeremy asked. “Remember, I’m not the mage here.”
“It’s something that supposedly only a Sinclair is capable of doing.”
“So it had to be you, your Uncle, or Jamie.” Jeremy said. “That leaves you and Jamie out, right? I mean, Jamie didn’t even know he was a Sinclair so he wouldn’t know how to do it.”
“Right.”
“But it can’t be undone, right?” Jeremy continued. “So, that means whatever your Uncle tells him to do, he has to do.”
“It can’t be undone, no.”
“So what do we do?” Jeremy asked.
“I have an idea, but I have to talk to Jamie first.”
“You’re not going to tell me what it is yet, are you?” Jeremy sounded unhappy about that.
“It’s for Jamie to decide, and if he says no, well it won’t matter anyway.”
“We’re still no closer to finding the murderer.” Jeremy said. “Not that I’m not glad it wasn’t Carl, mind you. I mean, it wasn’t, was it?”
“No, it wasn’t him.”
“So that fuckwad has to stay here for who knows how long.” Jeremy was definitely not happy. Rob McKenzie was staying here, and well no one but Rob was happy about that at all.
“Yes.”
“I hate this.” Jeremy shuddered, and
“I like it no more than you.”
“You better not have gotten her pregnant.”
“I used a rubber.” Jamie laughed softly so as to not wake Jeremy.
“Well, good night.”
“
“What’s up?”
“Detective Kendrick called.” She whispered, not looking at Jamie and Jeremy who were both sound asleep. Jeremy’s finger was in Jamie’s mouth, and Jamie was sucking on it like a pacifier. “There’s been another murder and she wants you to come take a look at it. I’m supposed to drive you over there.”
“Okay.”
As she drove through
Unlike wards, though, the murders had been committed with combat spells. Wards sustained themselves off the normal energy every living thing produced, and thus kept the magical signature of their creator. Combat-style spells began fading as soon as they were cast, and if too much time had gone by, it was impossible to tell which mage had cast the spells. More than twelve hours later, it was usually impossible to tell exactly what spell was used, unless you knew their specific effects.
“How far is it?”
“We should be there in a minute.” She murmured around a yawn. It was another fifteen minutes before they pulled into the parking lot of Planned Parenthood. That struck him as oddly funny and he chuckled a bit. Stacy gave him an odd look as they got out and headed towards where the police cars were sitting with their flashing lights and yellow tape. “What’s so funny?”
“The murder was committed across the street from an abortion clinic?”
“Only you would find that funny.” She said. “There’s a gay bar over here, and this here is a rehab center.”
“Who puts a rehab center behind a gay bar and across the street from Planned Parenthood?”
“Spare me your humor,
“Sorry.” He murmured.
“Sure you are.” She shot back, but there was a hint of a smile on her face as she walked up to a uniformed officer. “Stacy Atkins and Worthington Sinclair to see Detective Kendrick. She’s expecting us.”
“Oh great, the psychic is here.” The officer murmured. So that was the explanation for their presence at a crime scene. Well, whatever worked. Still, the cop spoke into a microphone and it wasn’t five minutes before Detective Kendrick appeared.
“Let’s get you inside before the press sees you.” Kendrick murmured. She was a short woman, with medium-length brown hair and a pleasant face. Jamie would have said she was pretty, for a woman in her thirties. The Detective was a Light mage of medium strength, and a tremendous amount of skill, the last according to Stacy. Kendrick was also married, and had four children that she said always complained because they never got to see their mother.
“Psychics?” Stacy asked and Kendrick chuckled.
“What other reason?” Kendrick muttered. “Anyone asks, the boy is your protégé.”
“Got it.” Stacy murmured. “Then again, we can just wipe the memory of anyone who saw us, if needed.”
“True.” Kendrick stated. “I don’t like to do that though. I have to work with these people.”
“What happened here?”
“One of the residents here apparently has a contact outside that has been sneaking her in some smack.” Kendrick explained. There was a forensics photographer taking pictures still, but the scene looked pretty much picked over already by the cops. “Her contact drops the junk over the wall, and she picks it up later. Well, she snuck out here after lights out, and found the body.”
“So it was dumped here?”
“He’s a friend.” She said. “He’ll keep taking pictures while you work. I’ve already done my bit, but I want to see what results you get.”
“Okay.”
“Well?” Stacy asked as he stood up and grimaced at her.
“Your victim is Hispanic, twenty-two years old, and had a wonderful night partying.”
“That was more than I got.” Kendrick admitted. “So he wasn’t at the bar or in the parking lot when he was killed?”
“Oh no, he was in the parking lot and his body was dumped over the fence.”
“Do you know who did it?” Kendrick asked with excitement in her voice. “Can you track him?”
“No, there’s no way to track it by its magic.”
“It?” Stacy exclaimed and then fell silent as she saw his illusion take hold.
“Detective, the apartment is nearby.”
“Impressive illusion.” She commented. He wanted to hurry, holding the illusion like this took a lot of power. He’d only seen the officer whose face and uniform he now appeared as briefly, and it took a lot of concentration to hold it. She’d said there were media out there though, and he didn’t want his picture taken.
“Hold on.” Stacy murmured and she shifted in appearance. The face was still hers, but she now appeared to be wearing a cop uniform. “I can’t hold it long.”
“Let’s go.”
It had been a massacre inside.
There was more than one victim tonight. The small apartment was littered with body parts, many of them mangled from being chewed on for a good while. All that had happened while the drugged out victim had been in the bedroom, having sex with one of the other party-goers. He’d been surprised when the guy fucking him had been yanked off of him, and even more surprised at the thing with red skin and horns on his head. It had looked like a costume at first, until the thing bit into the other guy’s throat and blood had gushed all over the place. The body was still there in the bedroom, but it was the kitchen that drew
Some silly fool had summoned a demon, and this time instead of just one victim, the demon had feasted on five people before letting one escape and chasing him down. There hadn’t been time to do anything with the body but throw it over the wall.
“You can’t be serious.” Kendrick scoffed. “No one is stupid enough to summon a demon these days.”
“Someone is doing it detective.”
“May the light preserve us.” Stacy whispered, and
This story brought to you by a lot of hard editing from Emoe, and
beta-reading by Trebs.
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