Dark Siren (30 page)

Alice nodded, and Dustin began moving again. In a moment, they were both gone, slipping out the side door and down the staff corridor. There were three ways out of that corridor, and the world at large only knew of two of them. Once outside, Dustin would be able to take Alice to a safe house and wait for his return.

He walked slowly out of the main double doors leading away from the Greek exhibit, rolling his sleeves up as he went, and preparing his mind for the inevitable scrutiny it was about to undergo. In the lobby there were a couple of confused security staff members who, up until the moment when Isaac walked past them, had been talking. Now they hushed, and Isaac’s walk became more confident a man on his way to a six figure job in some high-rise overlooking the city.

When he stepped out into the cold night air, the murmur of the muttering crowd hit him at once, as did the smell of rain and wet earth. The museum’s guests were all standing at the foot of the museum, in the grass, talking amongst each other and expecting to be let back in at any moment. The Museum Director, Linda, was pacing nervously from side to side at the top of the stairs. She had a cigarette burning between her lips, and wide, anxious eyes.

She spotted Isaac and rushed up to him as he came out of the main doors, but he dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have done this. He would have stopped, would have spoken to her and assured her that everything was—and would be—fine. But the entire crowd was about to have the evening’s events recanted to them by a highly skilled mage, and they would believe every word of it like a congregation of drunken cultists listening to their leader. Linda wouldn’t remember Isaac’s dismissal in an hour or so, but for now, she watched, mouth agape, as he sailed past her.

He saw the six mages climbing up the stone steps of the Museum as he began to descend them, and he stopped halfway down. These people stood out from the rest of the well-dressed, upper class crowd like goths at a pep-rally. The mages were all clad in black, most of them wore long, black, leather dusters, many of them wore earrings and nose rings and lip rings. One of them—a tall, broad woman—was sporting a spiked violet Mohawk.

For all intents and purposes, they looked like a villain’s entourage, or a group of anti-heroes. In truth, some of these people were both heroes and villains, depending on who you asked.
‘The Legionnaire
s’ was the name given to the collective group of these six mages, a cold, hard, bunch of magic officials entrusted with carrying out the Emperor’s will—
magic cops
. The idea was a good one, a noble one; mages policing mages, sure, it made sense. But such things rarely worked out.

When the leader of the goon squad stopped walking, so did the others. He had short, brown hair, a broad frame, and eyes the color of brilliant rubies.

“Doctor Moreau,” he said.

“Legio Logan,” Isaac said. Attempting to keep a casual face he went on to say “It looks like we’ve run into a spot of trouble here. If you would allow me a moment to clean it up, I’ll give you a tour of the new exhibit if you like.”

“From what I hear, there’s none of it left,” Logan said in a gravelly voice.

“Heard about that, did you? News travels fast.”

“That’s why we’re here. The Emperor would like us to investigate the disturbance.”

“Sent all of you, did he? That’s very kind of him.”

“I wouldn’t call it
kind
.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Isaac said, “In that case, I would like to lead the damage control team tonight if I could; the museum contains very delicate items and I—”

“You won’t be leading anything. I need you to come with me. The others will be performing the investigation and the clean-up.”

“Come with you? Exactly where?”

“To tell me what has happened tonight.”

“And why can’t I do that from here?”

“Because this institution has been marked for quarantine pending the results of our investigation.” Logan gestured with his right hand, two fingers pointed toward the crowd, and two of his Legionnaires broke formation. “As soon as we get all the
Simples
out of the way, the museum is getting shut down.”

“Surely that’s unnecessary,” Isaac said, “I can explain in great detail what happened here. I lived through it, and luckily, too. But the museum doesn’t need to be shut down.”

“I’m sure you can explain things, but the decision has been made. You are to come with me and submit yourself for questioning. We’ll be careful with your artifacts.”

Isaac’s charming smile fizzled. He squared up to Logan. The woman with the purple Mohawk made as if to intercept, but Logan made her stand down with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t taller than Isaac, but he was bigger and broader, and something about the strange color of his eyes—like crystalized blood seen in the sunlight—made Isaac uncomfortable.

“You know,” Isaac said, “The museum will only accept your intrusion if I allow it. So unless you intend on getting your people hurt, or killed, I suggest you acquiesce to at least some of my terms.”

“Are you threatening a Legionnaire?” Logan asked.

“I would not presume to threaten the Magistrate; however, I
have
issued a warning. The wards I have put in place to protect this building are quite lethal to mages. I should think the Magistrate would approve of such defensive measures, of course. After all, they have been put in place to protect the Magistrate’s interests—meaning this institution and the artifacts within. But if you or any of your colleagues gets close, the building will defend itself and its master.”

Logan seemed to consider this for the briefest of instants, his ruby eyes reflecting the hesitation within him like—
mirrors.
“Alright, Doctor,” Logan said. “I’ll give you five minutes to take down your wards and let us through. We can then talk in your office, and we’ll remain there until we’ve finished our damage control.”

“That’s better,” Isaac said, his pearly white smile reappearing on cue with his relief.

“But make no mistake,” Logan said, his eyes boring holes into Isaac’s resolve. “As soon as we’re done here, you’re coming with me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re under Magistrate’s arrest.”

“Arrest? For what?”

Logan’s mouth spread apart to reveal a lion’s grin. “For the endangerment and destruction of the
Magistrate’s
interests.”

Logan was the lion, Isaac was the antelope, and he had been caught. He turned on the spot, marched up the stairs, and as soon as he was out of sight of the rest of the mages he sent three text messages. One text message went to Dustin, telling him he was going to be held up and to keep Alice safe until his return. The other text message went to a friend of his, a friend well versed in the mage’s system of law. The third and final message went to Alice.

The message simply read: “
Whatever you do, don’t try to help me
.”

Nyx was right. This had only just begun.

Author's Note

Author’s Note: Lee Dignam & Katerina Martinez

Hi there! Kat and Lee, here. Thanks for reading our book! Dark Siren is your first look into the world of Ashwood, a city we will be writing about for a 
very
 long time. We hope to bring to you a fresh new take on the invisible world of vampires, mages, werewolves and all of those other unknown things that live in the shadows (like Alice, and worse than Alice). Book 2, 
the Void Weaver
, picks up after the events of Dark Siren, and explores the consequences of Isaac’s actions as well as Alice’s sudden lack of powers. How does a bounty hunter hunt when she has no weapons, and what happens when the lion comes for her in the night? 

Anyway, I don’t want to keep you. I just thought I would remind you to hop onto our 
exclusive
 Ashwood newsletter by clicking on this link: 
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. Once you’re confirmed you will be able to keep up to date with what we’re doing, take part in giveaways, and receive short stories and little pieces of content that is available nowhere else (not even on Amazon). For example, if you 
sign up today 
I’ll email you the prologue for Book 2. I’ll also be showing you the gorgeous cover art for the book! How does that sound? The Void Weaver isn’t slated to come out until some point in August of 2016, so you can consider this your first exclusive piece of content not available anywhere else!

Here’s that link again: 
http://ashwoodchronicles.com/signup

Before I go, I would love to ask you to 
please leave a review of this book wherever you found it
! Whether you have something good to say or not, I and other readers want to hear it. Without reviews no one would trust a new author to entertain them, so if you have a couple of moments to spare, I would really appreciate it if you could help me out.

Finally, if you’re on Facebook and you want to hang out, you can find us here. And if you want to get in touch with us directly, drop us an email at: 
[email protected]
 and we’ll get right back to you!

Thanks again!

Kat and Lee

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