Law of Shadows Page 3

  “I thank you for the offer. But if you remember our time together, then you might understand that my kind can get a little rough. And I am not into little children.” I bet that the granddaughter she is complaining about is sixteen or seventeen. Then I get to my feet. “And congratulations, you successfully managed to cause me to crave for blood.”

  She actually manages to look disappointed. “Too bad. I just wanted to help. You just seem so lonely since that incident happened. I think she would survive a little rough. Just remember our night.” She makes a clawing motion and slits out her canines.

  I reach for my neck which got pretty chewed up at that encounter. Not to think about the scratches.

  “It’s for the best. Take care of any runaways.” I turn away and jump from the building, softly landing on the street below. We’ve watched the warehouse for long enough to be sure that something is going on in there. Despite the fact that it is a construction site, people in gaudy clothes are walking in and out as if it isn’t strange at all.

  When I reach the guards, I drop the glamour. Sadly, neither of the two trolls recognizes me, so one of them steps forward to stop me. He is wearing a nice Armani in his human disguise, so I take care not to damage the outfit as I reach for the larger man’s head and turn it around, which is accompanied with a nice ‘crack’.

  The other guard’s eyes widen and he reaches into his jacket. I step in, aiming a fist at his chin. He parries once and screams, looking at his arm in denial. It’s now bent in an unhealthy angle. There aren’t many supernaturals who can rival a troll in strength, so this must be a shock for him. Not giving him time to recover, I grab his arm and whirl him around like a child. When his head kisses the asphalt, I am yet again rewarded with the sound of breaking bones.

  I don’t look back as I walk onto the property, even though I sense four members of Eva’s nest closing in on the two trolls. Doubtlessly to make sure that none of the blood goes to waste.

  The entire area is empty except for the warehouse itself. As I approach the main-entrance, I reach under my coat and retrieve the two parts of the StG77. Sliding the barrel into the machine gun, I snap it in and add one of the extra large magazines with fifty bullets. At the same time I reach the entrance and kick open one of the door-wings.

  What awaits me inside was expected, yet it is also totally unexpected. There is the ash-fae-tree inside the warehous’s huge hall. But there are also fae and other supernaturals dancing and partying, mixed in with some humans who look very much enthralled. There are a lot of them, maybe forty people. Most are dancing around the tree, taken in by the music and the green light. Others are sitting at tables and eating.

  When the door falls shut behind me with an audible slam. It’s like the spell is broken. The room falls silent and all of them turn to me, eyes wide.

  I raise my gun and unload aimlessly into the crowd. As they scream, I howl in delight because their fear touches some instinct deep inside me. The room dissolves into chaos as everyone tries to get away in another direction.

  Shooting with one hand, I reach for the leather belt which is attached to my Kevlar-vest. Loosely attached to it are about eighty D20 cubes. All of them are enchanted with spell disruption, much like the one I used on the female fae. By whipping the belt towards the crowd I spread the cubes all over the room. A perfect crowd control for supernaturals.

  Of course my actions don’t stay unanswered. Several people counter-attack with spells of their own. But my shields are in place and even though the magical drain is strong I endure it. So far I didn’t waste any magic on the offensive. And that’s good this way. Actually this is the reason why I prefer human tools to attack enemies. It’s much safer to concentrate wholly on defence while attacking through non-magical means.

  Many inexperienced magic users make the mistake of dropping their shields, so that they don’t interfere with a spell. More often than not it’s their last mistake. Using magic to kill someone who isn’t protected takes not much more than a thought. A little burst of telekinesis, projected right at the brain or the organs is enough. Even if it wouldn’t kill most of the sturdier supernaturals, being knocked out is as good as dead.

  A powerful spell impacts right next to me and the shockwave sends me flying. My shields are no help against displaced air, as most of them are aimed against magical attacks. I was going to confront fae after all. But one of the fae got smart and realised that my shields are dismantling their spells. So they aimed to avoid hitting my shields, hoping to take me out with collateral damage.

  I impact and roll, ejecting the second magazine as I block a sword with the barrel. Bringing the weapon around, I hit the sword-wielder with the stock of my rifle. Instead of reloading, I draw my pistol and place a bullet in the fae’s chest. This time I don’t have to expend a whole magazine. All my ammunition is coated with special anti-fae poison. A scratch is enough and they are as good as dead.

  When I get back up, the room is mostly empty, except for seven fae who are preparing another spell for me while they hide behind the bar. I reach for my belt and take off one of the grenades, throwing it and launching myself sideways as their spell is fired. My world is rocked by another explosion and a tight sting in my leg, which is immediately followed by the explosion of my grenade.

  Hissing, I get up and aim the pistol at the bar. Which is gone. The plywood didn’t hold so well against a military grenade. Feeling for the sting in my leg, I reach behind me and feel a huge splinter. I pull it out and get to my feet with awkward movements. I heal fast, but not in an instant. Hopefully I can walk normally within two or three minutes.

  Since standing still is more comfortable than walking around, I spend the time by shooting everyone who is still twitching. I count twenty-eight bodies, so the others either fled through the tree, or out the back exit. In that case the vampires should be sucking on them right now. Deciding to get things done, I hobble to the tree. If this one works like the others, then people can enter fairy by touching the tree while walking around it.

  Or at least I thought so. Before I can get any closer, I hobble face first into some kind of invisible shield. It lights up in a green flare around the tree and dims back to nothingness. Seems like the fae have a new way of protecting their doorways? I hit the shield with my wards, but am unable to break it. All I get is an even stronger flare.

  That’s when I notice the silent sobs of a child. Turning around, I find a small girl hidden behind a body. She is hugging the corpse of a fae woman. The child has a cut on her leg, probably from the splinters which flew everywhere. But she is more concerned for the dead body.

  I hobble to her side and smile down at her. “Sorry, honey. This wasn’t directed against you. Do you have a name?” Reaching into my pocket, I retrieve a package of chewing gums and offer her one.

  “Rhie.” She wipes the tears out of her face and eyes the gum with suspicion. She doesn’t look to be more than eight years old.

  “Good, Rhie. Why don’t you take the gum and swallow it. It will speed up your healing since you obviously haven’t inherited that from your Mama. Then you can go back to Fairy and find someone to take care of you.”

  She accepts the gum, touching my hand, and puts it into her mouth. She chews slowly, but when she realizes that her wound is closing up she swallows. After a last look at the woman, she runs to the tree, not looking at me a second time. She touches the bark and runs around the tree and is… gone.

  Hm. I stand there and watch the tree. Surely there are people on the other side by now, preparing to take back the warehouse. Children are almost holy to the fae, so they will surely examine her with magic as soon as she reach-

  The tree explodes in a burst of splinters and I bring up my hand. But the splinters are sucked back into a green rift which is gaping open in the world. Then the whole tree is gone as if it had never been there. “Yeah, works every time.” The gum got triggered by magic and took out the fairy-version of the tree in this warehouse. Hopefully there were a lot of fae nearby.

  I flick my wrist to cast off the dark energy with which the little devil of a fae tried to curse me. Eight years, pah, more like a hundred. Some fae age extremely slow during their entire life and some simply always look like children. I doubt that they would bring a real fae child into a hostile area.

  Having that dealt with, I look around to find some clue on their reason for being here. It takes a few minutes and searching several bodies, but I come up with a single sheet of paper. A wanted poster.

  “Wanted: Heirs to the Hammon clan, Annia Hammon and her sister, Sely Hammon. Whoever brings them back alive, is paid one milliard…”

  I see why so many mercs suddenly think that risking their lives is a worthwhile gamble. I try hard to commit the picture of the girl and the young woman to memory. With that much money-

  A knock at the entrance draws my attention. Over at the door is someone waving a white flag on a stick into the hall. Or to be more accurate, it’s a ripped up, white shirt with a few sprays of blood. “Is it safe to come in?”

  I sigh. “Come in, Eva.”

  Her head peeks in. “Holy shit! So many bloodbags. Guys, it’s a feast!” She opens the door and waves in the rest of her nest. Which results in a quickly filling hall as twenty-three vampires enter. Apparently they already took care of diverting the different cleaning duties among them. Some start patching up the corpses with duct tape, so that no more blood is lost on the floor. Others cut open the hopeless cases to catch the valuable liquid with white buckets.

  Eva skips over to me, obviously overjoyed. “Do you know the joke? An Old One walks into a bar...”

  I sigh and cram the wanted-poster into my pocket. There is no need for Eva to know that the mercs are searching for two female Old Ones in my city. Though I have no idea how they could have gotten through the veil without me noticing it.

  “… Ey! You aren’t listening!” Eva huffs.

  “I need a smoke.”

  She tilts her cute head. “Seriously!? Didn’t you just blow off enough steam?”

  I look around and shrug. “If it had been fifty of them, maybe? Most didn’t even try to fight. Did you catch some alive for questioning?”

  Eva’s expression turns guilty. “Oh, eh… we have their blood? Maybe if we pump it back in...”

  “Don’t worry. I was just asking.” I grumble and search for my cigarettes. Vamps! They had one task. Just one. Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly specify that I want some prisoners… aw, stick it. And apparently I’ve lost my cigarettes. “I’ll go home. You guys can clean this up.”

  Eva nods which somehow results in her assets bobbing too. It’s a mystery to me how she does that. “Sure!”

  I hurry to get away before I decide to have her bend over the next table to spank her. No matter that her whole nest is watching. Dealing with the trolls has to wait until tomorrow!

  4. ~Problem~

  “Don’t get between an Old One and his...”

  A memory of the Old Ones.

  Carinthia

  All my plans were for nothing. I angrily walk down the street, fuming. Originally I had the intention to have a good night’s sleep and wipe out the trolls today. But at exactly three o’clock, several Old Ones broke through the veil. I felt it right away and woke up. They weren’t too powerful, except for one of them. So instead of sleeping, I drove to the place where the Veil was breached. From there I tried to track the eight intruders by magical means.

  Unfortunately they headed directly for the capital city, which belongs to me. They took a roundabout route, clearly trying to avoid anyone who would come from the city to check on the breach. It doesn’t change the fact that they challenged me by entering my territory without permission.

  And now they are hiding somewhere in my city, clearly searching for those two women.

  I walk along the lake’s canal towards the city centre, hell bent on getting some answers from the troll chieftain. At least that’s what I wanted to do, when I notice a red dot flickering across the walkway. My irises narrow to slits, turning inhuman to change their visual spectrum. So it’s no big deal to follow the laser-sight to the window in the second floor on the other side of the street. And the man, who is aiming at me.

  My eyes widen. “You are kidding me!”

  He pulls the trigger and I scream, throwing myself over the balustrade and into the canal. The world explodes and I fell my eardrums pop. Dust and debris rain everywhere as I roll down the steep slope towards the frozen canal. At least I am now out of sight of the rocket launcher! Where the heck did they get a rocket launcher? I am not a fucking tank. Though I admit that they didn’t underestimate me, which is a point for them. The other question is how they learned who to look for? Which brings me back to the damned trolls.

  Lying on the ice, I pull out my pistol and aim up the slope, ignoring the screaming people and hooting cars. If humans are good at one thing, then it’s falling into panic. When I try to get up I realize that my left foot is a shredded mess. And gods it hurts!

  Making a split-second decision, I release my magic and punch the ice once, twice and a third time, creating a hole large enough to pull myself into the water. The current grips my body and pulls me away. The cold stuns me, but it has the added effect of numbing the pain. A few seconds later I feel the shock-wave of another explosion. The blue surface of the ice above the canal shivers and long cracks appear in it.

  But the current pulled me farther than the attackers anticipated.

  I close my eyes and silently count to twenty, allowing the water-current to do the work for me. Once I reach the magical number, I pull my fist back and punch upwards, locking my fingers into the ice. This time it’s harder to create a hole. Under water I’ve to deal with more friction and the ice is thick. After several punches the ice yields to my mindless brutality and I pull myself back to the surface, drawing a deep breath.

  In the distance I can hear sirens and realise that the current carried me about fifty metres downstream, back towards the lake. I pull myself out of the water and hobble up the slope. Yesterday it was also my leg. Am I cursed?

  Back on the street I ignore the lady who gasps at my sight. She’ll surely call for help, but by that time I’ll be long gone. Walking down the parking slots, I choose the first old car I can find. The new ones are too much of a hassle with their anti-theft electronics. At some point I’ll have to take the time and learn to steal the newer models.

  The Peugeot 206 is an old model. All it takes to open the door, is to flip the bracket of the door-mechanism with a little telekinesis. A human mechanic wouldn’t have taken much longer with the right tools. Sometimes I have a feeling that these cars are meant to be stolen.

  I take the driver’s seat as if it is my own car and rip the plastic cover off the ignition. After cursing the one who made a rat’s nest out of the wires, I finally find the right ones and start the car. Blinking, I leave the parking slot and follow the traffic jam towards the place where I was attacked. Sad, I notice that the car is ready for the junkyard. The coupling is overrunning, so I suppose that the car’s owner must be a woman.

  My eyes flick to the pink plush-toy which is grinning at me. I flick it with a finger and it squeaks. And I notice the heavy scent of perfume. Definitely a woman. Maybe I should have hobbled a few metres further. At least the air-conditioning works perfectly. That’s the one thing that always works in a woman’s car. I crank the heat up to maximum and sigh.

  I return to the site of the attack to get a whiff of my attacker’s magic. The gawking humans are of no interest to me as I take the time to drive past the bulk of cops and fire-fighters who were called in. The cops are already shooing the people farther away and putting up plastic tape to keep everyone away from the discarded rocket launcher. Nothing hints at the fact that something supernatural happened here, so I let them be and conserve my strength.

  Instead, I concentrate on the residue of magic which was left behind by the man who fired a rocket at me. He must have crossed the street to fire the second rocket. So by simply following the traffic, I pass right through his trail. I recognize the signature as belonging to one of the eight intruders.

  Slowly circling around the block, I narrow down the direction of his escape. Everyone who uses magic leaves behind something like residue radiation. I try my best to keep my magic down to a minimum, so that I can’t get tracked that easily. My intruders don’t follow that policy. I can tell that they use magic often and freely, even for small things. So it’s even more mysterious that they found me. The troll chieftain must have given them a very detailed description of me, together with the heads-up that I’ll most likely seek him out.

  The ministry of traffic lies just a few houses further down the street, so it was reasonable to lie in ambush here. With their numbers, they easily blocked all the possible routes I could have taken.

  Strange that I can’t sense any of the others. Did they call off the attack and run off in different directions? Or did the others simply stay in their hideouts?

  I take the turn which leads me into a less frequented residential area. The people here are mostly at work during the day and there are no stores, so all I get are a few random stragglers.

  When I run through the trail again, I know that I am close. I hit the breaks and make a u-turn to take the street to which the trail went. It leads out of the city and over a field towards another residential area. I stick to the speed limit and bide my time until I recognize the clothes of one of the random pedestrians. I caught up to him in a small wood plantation between the two residential areas.

  He is walking on the walkway as if there is no problem at all. The fact that I drove in concentric circles to narrow down his route allowed him to get quite far.

  I put the pedal to the metal and steer the wheel towards him as I pick up speed. The slightly elevated sidewalk is a problem, but I don’t care as the car bumps and blows a tire.