Blood & Magic (31 page)

The word screamed across the room as Henry felt a warm breeze sweep over him. It had become impossible to breath and, as the hand pressed against Henry’s chest, he was powerless to resist it. Resigned to die, Henry’s thoughts lay with Elle and all of the things he had wanted to tell her, but had never had the courage to. His only true chance of happiness had always been in reach, yet he had never been brave enough to fight for it.

Another muttered word and Henry felt scorching heat across his chest, his skin bubbling and blistering in an agony that rivalled the collapse of his lungs. He let out a cry of pain and breathed hard. He
breathed
. The sweetest breath he had ever taken. Tristan was standing over him, blood pouring down from a cut above his eye, his focus trained across the room. His hand lay still on Henry’s chest as his healing magus continued to take effect.

Tristan raised his knife at his side.

“Good luck kid,” he said.

Henry strained to sit up, turning to see Tristan sprint across the room. His target rose slowly from a stack of cinder blocks, smoke soaring up around him. Nick's jacket and shirt were burnt away, but as ever, his body remained unharmed. Tristan was on him before he had fully stood, plunging his knife repeatedly at his neck, but in one fluid and impossibly fast motion, Nick’s hand swiped out grabbing Tristan’s wrist. There was a snapping noise and a roar of pain, as the knife clattered to the floor. Nick pulled Tristan up off the ground, still holding his broken wrist, as he levelled punch after punch to Tristan’s chest. Henry tried to stand, to help in some way, but his body was not ready.

Nick slammed Tristan’s body onto a table, the bones of his arm breaking and jolting from his skin with the impact. Circling his prey like a surgeon overlooking a corpse, Nick raised his conjoined fists above his head. He turned to Henry, shaking his head as a disappointed teacher pities a stupid pupil. In a swift motion, Nick drove his fists down onto Tristan’s chest. Blood erupted from his mouth like a volcano as Tristan choked on his own blood for a second, before his magus could fight no longer.

“No!” Henry screamed.

A smile lifted the corner of Nick’s mouth.

Henry grabbed the knife from its sheath on his calf and held it out ahead of him. If he was going to die, then he would die fighting.

“I should have thought about the mirrors when we entered the shop,” Nick said, his voice calm.

“You are a murderer, all this time you have been covering up your crimes from
within
the police.”

“There are advantages to leading the investigation into the murders you commit, you can ensure things go the way they
need
to go. I have lived for hundreds of years and have made the world a better place. I am not, however, a murderer.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Those I kill deserve to die. I represent order.”

“You are a butcher. Why did Tristan deserve to die, or Jonny, or my father?”

“Your father? You have been fooled into believing I was behind that? You must not be as smart as they made out.”

“You killed my father, just like you did the others.”

“No, I kill those who escape justice-”

“Or those who cross you? What happened, did he find you out?”

“No, he searched for me, but we made sure there were no links back to myself.”

“
We
?”

“I didn’t choose this life, it was chosen for me. When I was created, they decided I was an abomination, that all of my kind were no more than a failed experiment that needed destroying, so we fled. Whereas my brothers and sisters became consumed with rage, I knew that this had happened for a reason. Those who cannot be punished through the justice system will be judged all the same. As I said Henry, I make the world a better place.”

“You are a liar.”

Henry gathered his magus and shouted as loud as he could. ‘
Iacto
’. The knife he held shot like an arrow towards Nick. Just as it collided with him, Henry noticed how he visibly tensed, a shimmer of energy flicking across his body. The knife wasn’t quick enough, the metal buckling as it made contact with him. His power had protected him, like the books had said. When he focused, Grendal was unstoppable.

“Now Henry, I need to talk to you.”

“You killed my father.”

“That is what I need to talk to you about.”

Henry walked closer to Nick. He needed to be near enough so he could attack before Nick raised his defences.

“You murdered my father,” Henry said.

“No, someone tried to make it look like I did.”

“What?”

“Yes, your father was killed and the perpetrator made to look like me. We are eager to know by who.”

“Who is we?”

“We are going to have to kill you, so I don’t suppose it matters you knowing. That said, why tell you? Soon, you will be in no state to ask questions.”

“Soon? Are you not going to kill me like you have so many?”

“No, I am going to give you to someone who will extract everything you know about the location of the fifth blood. When he is done, you will beg him to kill you and eventually, he will comply. What I want to know from you is who has been impersonating me, is it really this vampiris?”

“Impersonating you?”

“I was intending to link the vampiris to the murders, we already have some evidence suggesting he could be the serial killer we have been hunting, so the rest should be child’s play. I will just make sure the police find Silas after he has had an unfortunate… accident. But I don't think he is
that
good that he could have killed your father.”

“You are not sure?” Henry said, taking a step closer to Nick so that he was no more than a foot away.

Nick stared Henry straight in the eye, unblinking.

“No. I don’t like the idea of someone using me as a cover for an unspeakable act”

“One thing I don’t understand,” Henry said.

Slyly, Henry pulled out a vial of dysprosium from of his jacket, the last piece of equipment he had sourced before leaving the house. Slowly, using his magus, he let it drift to the floor. This was his
cheat
, his way to level the playing field. He searched for the knife and found it to the side of Nick, where it had bounced off of his defences. In Henry’s mind, a plan had started to take shape, now he just needed to pull it off.

“What do you not understand?” Nick said.

“How did you hide the fact these criminals escaped punishment? Surely that link would make the motive clear? I mean, I understand how you killed them: your abilities mean you are undetectable, which in this day and age mean short circuiting CCTV cameras or blowing out lights. You are impossibly fast, so they didn’t see you coming, but how did you hide it?”

“Why do you care about that?”

“The puzzle is incomplete.”

“I modified the police records, with a little help of course.”

“And you let your own daughter investigate an impossible case?”

“Far from it, she has found a suspect and I have started to put down the pieces that will link Silas to the victims. Follow the drugs. It’s a cliché, but it works. You see-”

“
Capto
,” Henry said, his arm raised towards Nick’s chest.

The knife from behind him catapulted from the ground towards Henry’s hand, flying towards Nick’s heart which stood between it and it’s target. Nick reacted, spinning round with impossible speed and catching the knife mid air.

“Such an obvious ploy,” Nick said.

He glanced back too late to react. Henry had summoned his magus and the dysprosium canister, that lay at his feet, shot through the air into Nick’s leg. It connected with it’s target, the black liquid disappearing into him as his powers instantly drained.

“
Cultro
,” Henry said, blue flames pulsing in his outstretched palm.

Nick froze, his expression more of shock than pain. He tried to flex his power, but it was gone.

“Who killed my father?” Henry said.

Sweat dripped from Henry’s brow as he fought to control the power, some version of his autopilot had taken over, but he couldn’t be sure how long he could maintain it.

“I did not murder Mark,” Nick said.

“If you didn’t kill him, who did?” Henry said.

“There is one possibility, but if I’m right, you have much bigger problems than Wade to worry about. You see-”

Hot blood splattered across Henry’s face. Nick crumpled to his knees, his face ripped open at the front from the exit wound of a bullet. Past him, at the entrance of the ballroom, stood Alice, her gun still smoking.

“Sorry Henry.”

She fired again.

“I had to protect her, Helena. I won't let you harm Alex,” Charlie said.

He pointed his gun toward her, slowing his breaths as he tried to gain some essence of control.

“Are you threatening
me
?” Helena said, disgust in her voice. "Drop the gun Charles, you don't have the balls to use it.”

“Try me,” Charlie said. “It was never meant to be like this. We are supposed to make things better, help people. I know what you have been doing, about the experiments, the underhand deals with Wade.”

“So what? You think I give a damn what you think? You don’t understand what is happening out there; we are at war. We are outgunned and outflanked by monsters with abilities we can only try to comprehend."

“They are not all like that.”

“Really? What about her father? He thinks himself beyond the law and we help him get away with it. He is a killer Charlie. Have you ever stopped and thought what you would do if she could turned out like him?”

“Shut up or so help me God, I will shoot you.”

He leant across to a computer and pressed a button, his focus still on Helena. The computer buzzed and ejected a small black box, the size of a mobile phone.

“What are you doing Charles?” Helena said.

“Making the right decision.”

Charlie pressed another button on the keyboard and in a flash, tens of monitors around the room blinked into life, lines of code flickering across the screens.

“You idiot!”

Helena raced to the terminal, laying her gun on the table as she frantically typed, trying to stop whatever action Charlie had just triggered. In her distraction, Charlie pocketed the small black box.

“This has to stop Helena,” Charlie said, his gun still trained on her.

“You have destroyed everything, I will see you burn in hell for this,” Helena yelled. Her gaze moved from the screen to Charlie, before shifting back to where the box had been. “Where is that drive?” Helena said, picking the gun up again and pointing it back at Charlie. “Give it to me. Now.”

“Enough Helena, we have failed here. We can't risk-”

But Alex didn't hear the end of his sentence. The machines stopped buzzing, their whines coming to a crescendo and then... peace. Alex dropped to her knees as a pulse of energy overtook her, her mind a daze of thoughts, of pain, suffering and death. Alex fell, as Charlie swooped in to catch her, his gun clattering to the ground beside him. A moment later, with the haze still filling her mind and controlling her soul, Alex opened her eyes. Her veins pumped with energy, her muscles burning as if she had run a marathon. She felt strange. Stronger, more powerful somehow, something had changed.

And then she saw the lights.

The small device Charlie had placed on the table, that he had used to show her she wasn't an alternate, had lit up. Three of the five blocks shone brightly.

Looking up, Alex noticed the rest of them. The benches around her must have been covered in the things, for a wash of green, red and blue light filled the room, the colours saturating Helena’s pale face.

Charlie stood blankly, staring at the lights with an expression she could only take to be fear.

“How? They said the five's genes would not be inherited, that it was impossible,” Helena said.

Alex looked at her leg as foam poured out form the wound Charlie had treated. With a chink as it hit the metal floor, the bullet pushed its way out of the closing wound, leaving only a stain of blood in its place.

“Charlie, what’s happening?”

There was a gun shot. Alex felt it first as it vibrated through the floor. Time slowed as a slight pulse of heat brushed against her cheek. Electricity flashed from the barrel of the gun as plasma, with its comet-like tail, contorted under the electric field. It flew across the room and connected with Helena’s stomach. Her skin, and the shirt covering it, rippled as the hot flash of blue tore through her.

Helena staggered backwards. Dropping the gun, her hand clenched at her stomach as blood soaked the front of her shirt.

“Get out of here, now. Take the back corridor,” Charlie said, turning to Alex.

“Charlie, what's happening?” Alex said.

“Go!” Charlie screamed, the word choking in his throat.

Alex headed towards the dimly lit door at the back of the room. Behind her, she could hear each laboured breath Helena took, the sound of blood choking her lungs and then, Charlie's footsteps approaching her, laboured and uncertain.

A second shot sounded out behind her and Helena stopped breathing. Alex didn’t look back.

Meyer awoke strapped to a chair, rope digging into his wrists. Moonlight broke through the stain glass window before him, drenching him in faded colour as he tried to work out where he was. Trying to use his power, Meyer found it lacking and looking down, he saw the cause of his weakness. Dysprosium crystals were evenly spaced around him, the onyx stones glowing white as they absorbed his magus.

“Good evening Meyer,” said a voice from behind him.

“What is the meaning of this?” Meyer said.

“The meaning of it,
old friend
? You broke into my office and stole from me. That is an act of treason and you know the punishment for betraying the Inquisition,” Wade said, walking around the chair to face him.

“Where is Ruth?” Meyer said.

“She will be dealt with separately, as will Rosalyn. You bring so many down with you when you fall Meyer, so many lives will be destroyed because of
you
. Now, what do you know?” Wade said.

“You have been hunting Inquisitors, looking for the one who knows the location of the fifth blood. You hired Grendal to capture Inks so you could interrogate them, and you made an alliance with Helena, because you are afraid of Adrianna. You think she can protect you, but she can’t forever. What I don't know is why you want the fifth blood? What use is it to you?” Meyer said.

“How smart of you to piece it all together, shame you aren’t as good at spying. You made quite the mess. I don’t believe you were ever meant to leave your armchair old chap and now you will face the consequences. As for hiring Grendal, what gave it away?” Wade said.

“An educated guess.”

“He has been working for us, in exchange for keeping his
discretions
hidden. A fair deal for the greater good. You see, the day of the Inquisitor is over. We need a new breed to take up the mantle, and that is what the fifth blood will give us. I can use the blood to make a new generation of guardians, take back what the Inquisitors stole from me.”

“And recording candidate Inquisitors who might have been protecting the location was such a smart idea,” Meyer said, his tone mocking.

Wade’s nostrils flared, “As we speak, Gabriel is in hospital fighting for his life, while Ruth and her daughter are my guests in the vaults, where they will most likely remain for the rest of their unnaturally long lives.”

“What about Henry?”

“Henry found Grendal, but let’s just say your assumption that he is Silas was far from the truth. I have sent Alice to collect him, if Nick doesn’t kill him first. I need to know where the fifth blood is and Henry, by whatever means necessary,
will
tell me. As for my deal with Helena, you are
so
far off, it's actually quite funny.”

The chair behind Wade’s desk turned to reveal a woman, her pale translucent skin showing dark veins that slithered around her bones. Gripping the arms of the seat with her spindle like fingers, partially visible through delicate lace clothing, she stared towards Meyer. Amethyst eyes shone out in contrast to her long dark red hair, evidently once luscious, but now brittle and thinning.

“Adrianna?” Meyer said.

“Meyer, I presume,” she said, her voice frail.

“You see,” Wade said, “I am not afraid of Adrianna, we are working
together
. My alliance with Helena was for two reasons. The first-”

“The machine she has,” Meyer said, the truth suddenly becoming obvious. “The one that reads thoughts. She gave you one to use on your captured Inquisitors, didn’t she? You mentally tortured them until their secrets spill from their mind, ready to be read and analysed by that infernal contraption.”

“Yes, that was part of it, but the second half is far more important. When we aligned with Helena I told the Prime Minister, who I happen to have given counsel to many times, that we would assist them as needed while they attempted to take full control over the alternate world. Helena was happy to comply as she thought it would mean getting rid of us, but she was over-confident as always. I placed an agent in her department who leaked information to Deliverance, and this failure was then reported to the Government. The Prime Minister called an emergency meeting and the Inquisition agreed to close the leak. Young Henry himself went to kill the only link who could have proven our involvement, while at the same time fixing Helena’s mess. A perfect plan that left the Government concerned that the Department was unable to fulfil its duties. So, to put the final nail in Helena’s coffin, Adrianna kindly organised an attack on the Department to emphasise their incompetence. A battle so big that, as we speak, they have had to engage a full media blackout.”

“How did you manage to breach the place?”

“Byron found a weak link in their defences,” Wade smirked.

“So, the Department falls. You are then there to pick up the pieces and the Inquisition rules the under-city once again, at the cost of hundreds of innocent lives. What do
you
get out of it?” Meyer said, turning to Adrianna.

“The facade of Deliverance will break down in a couple of months, further confirming the Inquisition’s ability to maintain a neutral society of alternates. Meanwhile, Wade will fulfil his promises and we will be granted the freedom we deserve.”

“We? How many of you are still alive? I thought-”

“You thought
nothing
,” Wade spat. “You are arrogant and foolish for thinking you could best me.”

“When the rest of the council find out, they will stop you,” Meyer said.

“The council will do what I say. Do you think me stupid enough to go into this without support?”

“Then I will stop you,” Meyer said.

Wade and Adrianna laughed, her high pitched cackle piercing.

But he would. Meyer would stop Wade. There was no other choice. Too much depended on him, not just the lives of Ruth, Gabriel, Rosalyn and the boy, but the future of their kind. Meyer had been thinking desperately of a plan since waking, using the minuscule amount of power he could still summon to quicken his thoughts. He had gone through hundreds of options, running each variation through to its inevitable failure. It had left Meyer with exactly one plan. Its effect on his remaining time on this earth was unfortunate but, as Meyer always told himself, what was life without a little excitement.