There are places in our lives that we gravitate toward, both for good and for bad reasons. We all have a favorite restaurant, a favorite city. We all have a restaurant where we never wish to go again, be it for poor service, unappealing food, or perhaps bad memories. We all have cities that we avoid as best as possible as well, even if it is just because the Atlanta traffic is terrible at rush hour.
Sometimes it’s a place that draws us forth as moths to a flame; we know going there will be bad for us in one way or another, yet we still find ourselves there time and time again.
Cemeteries, mausoleums, shopping malls, warehouses.
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The warehouse stank. It was clear that someone had been in to try to clean up and make it somewhat presentable, but let me tell you, when that much blood has an opportunity to bake in the heat of an uncontrolled climate… If the thought makes you queasy, just reflect on how I feel, standing here in the warehouse and knowing that it was my blood. I was glad I’d not eaten much, all things considered.
I had an hour to get settled, to find the ideal spot to hide from security, and wait for the arrival of the man I’d been sent to kill. If you’d expected a delicate euphemism such as ‘remove’ or ‘neutralize’ then I apologize, but I don’t sugar-coat my job. I’m an assassin, a corporate thug… worse yet, I’m an accountant on top of everything else. To give it flowery language would probably threaten my sanity.
I found a niche between two crates atop some others and tucked myself into it, shifting into the role of patient observer. There was a lot of waiting in the life of a hitman, and in most cases, you can’t pass the time reading a book or playing a game on your handheld. Your mark could walk right past your nose while you’re trying to plant raspberries or something. Mine walked in about fifteen minutes late.
He was alone, body language confident, as if he felt secure here, even with the knowledge of what had happened before. I knew he wasn’t human, though he wore the illusion as naturally as any mundane Tom, Dick, or… nevermind. I shifted out of the shadowy alcove, swung my feet over the edge of the crate and slid off to the floor where I landed without a sound and promptly collapsed in an ungainly heap on the concrete floor.
“Don’t bother. You’ll find that’s a blood spell.”
Blood what…? I struggled against a heavy pressure that wanted to press me to the floor and turned to find my mark regarding me with a quietly amused expression. A dread creeping certainty threaded through me, and I watched his smile twist across his lips. Oh. No. No, no, no, no. I’d just been caught by one of the oldest tricks in the book of magic. He’d bound me to the floor by virtue of the fact that it was my blood seeped into the concrete.
“I must say that I was expecting someone a little more impressive. To have left that much blood and still be able to function is quite a feat, but you look like a good wind would blow you in the opposite direction.” He was outright chuckling now, walking up to me with his hands in his pockets.
I struggled against the spell, but the binding held me fast, and all I could do was look at him. I could have freed myself by other means, but it suited my purpose for him to think that I was incapacitated and therefore relatively safe. I didn’t advertise my power, and that gave me more than a slight advantage. All I needed was for him to get close enough.
And he did, coming to a stop just out of physical reach, smiling indulgently down at me like a father might to a wayward child. He squatted, further intensifying the impression, and tilted his head as he looked at me. “You might be worth keeping, though. It might take some work to fatten you up, but I’m sure you’d make quite an addition to my collection.”
Excuse me, but did he say collection?
He reached out to touch my face, and I let my magic free, falling into the pool of power I kept ready within myself. The disadvantage of my blood spilled switched to become an advantage as I set it aflame. Fire formed around wherever my blood had pooled, a heated rush of near-plasma ripping through his disguise and reducing him to his natural state before the magefire caught and began to burn his dark leathery skin as he began screaming in ranges that a human throat couldn’t reach.
I’d been right in thinking he wasn’t human, but I’d not expected him to be another demon. It took work to destroy one of them, and perhaps if I had known in advance, I could have planned better. But that too was one of Ravenswing’s joys; keeping knowledge such as this from me until it was too late to account for it.
Power poured out of me, pushing the magical fire harder and harder, the heat washing back towards me. I could feel my face starting to tingle and knew it wouldn’t be long before I had my own burns to contend with. Fortunately, I could heal myself, but I still couldn’t move until his power was severed from the spell. That probably wouldn’t happen unless he was dead, so I released my rogue magic and let the air dance against the fire.
Note to the world: Air magic plus Fire magic often equals very large explosion.
It was getting to be a habit to open my eyes and not know where I was at first. But I knew all too well who had shoved his foot in my ribs to bring me round. I sat up, cursing at Kelly, and then I realized that I was soaking wet, and that the fire was still burning in the immediate area. Of course the police and fire had been called. “The guy’s dead, but he had a collection.” I wheezed, mostly in reaction to having gotten kicked in the ribs. “Of people, probably. Slaves. We need to find them.” I had an ugly suspicion I knew what they were for, but I didn’t give it voice.
Kelly had been poised to say something snide, but at my words, his training took over. “You think they’re on the grounds?” I was more than a little surprised when he offered me a hand up, though I will admit I appreciated it. “There’s a number of buildings in the back by the water.”
“I’d prefer having a layout of the property with blueprints, but we’ll just have to start with a general search. Let’s check climate-controlled buildings first, and then branch out from there.” I’d have killed to be a thoughtmage and to be able to sense people, but the only thoughtmage I knew of had no business being close to a flaming building. Suzu had had a run-in with my fire once and had never been the same for it. I shuddered at the thought of a second encounter.
He didn’t look too thrilled with the idea of a generalized search himself, but I squelched on ahead, using some of my magic to raise my body temperature and aid the drying of my clothing. It didn’t take long, and I could have dried off faster if I’d been nude. As it was, there was a slight odor of scorched silk in the air immediately around me, though I wasn’t certain if that was from blacking out while on fire or trying to dry myself off.
The fourth building in the back had no windows and a steel door. Kelly declared it to be the building and called for a crew to open it. I wasn’t quite so convinced, and I kept poking about the property until I noticed a small decrepit shack leaning against the wall at the back of the main office. It looked like it was built from wood that had seen far better days, but the curious thing of it was the location. No-one guarded an office back door from a two-by-three building that looked more like an outhouse, so what the hell was it?
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I walked up to it and tapped on the door. It sounded suitably like wood, so I opened it and looked in the little shack. There was an electrical box inside, one of those grayish-green units taller than a man, and I almost closed the door of the shack before I noticed the lack of electrical hum. Suspicion growing, I stepped into the ramshackle building and put my hand on the metal casing. Nothing. Zilch for electricity that I could feel.
Now I knew I was on to something. I ducked back out of the shack and headed back to the building where Kelly’s men were working on the steel door. “Kelly, I need you this way. I’ve found something that just doesn’t add out, and I’d like your take on it.” Really what I wanted was for him to be there when I popped things open and then I could use him as a hostile witness if needed.
Grudgingly he followed, but when I showed him the inert electrical box, he grew as suspicious as I. Together we slid the side panel off of it and opened it up to find a doorway back into the building. We glanced at each other, and then Kelly kicked the door in. There was a shriek of metal, a strange wail, and then silence.
He may have kicked the door in, but Kelly was perfectly willing to hang back and let me head into the unknown and face whatever had wailed. To be fair, he was significantly out of his league; mundane police didn’t do well against fire mages and demonkind. I had multiple advantages: I was a fire mage, I was as good as immortal, and I’d seen what had wailed before trying to shrink itself into the far corner of the darkened room.
I slipped past Kelly, moving into the darkened doorway with open motions, speaking softly. “Well now, how long have you been in here, sweetheart?” I was certain that Kelly hadn’t spotted the girl, though I myself wasn’t certain how old she was. “My name is Jedah, and that’s Officer Kelly back there. I’ll bet your parents are worried frantic; won’t you let us take you home then?”
Very little in this world can compare to the impact of a child running headlong pell-mell into you. Nothing in this world can compare to saving one from the darkness and a monster that she wasn’t old enough to understand. I’d just experienced both within moments of each other and I hit an emotional high. I scooped her up into my arms, turning to grin at John Kelly, and watched the look of amazement cross his face as I walked out of the hidden room and into Charleston’s evening air.
She was a tiny thing, black hair and light green eyes, a smattering of shaded freckles across her nose. Suzu would have proclaimed her adorable, and while I did think she looked more than a little waifish, I wasn’t sure she’d pass as adorable. She clung to me, small hands fastened around my neck, and not even a lollipop from one of Kelly’s men could get her to talk.
While the rest of the police officers were checking the other buildings, I moved off to sit on a concrete barrier and settled the girl in my lap while Kelly called in to the station to notify them of the girl. Once he was out of sight, she seemed to relax, leaning into me with her head tucked in against my shoulder. She hadn’t let go of my neck, however, and I wondered how terrifying it had been, and how long she’d been there.
It was instinct to pat her on the back, to tell her it was going to be all right, that we’d find her mother and father, but it would help if she told me her name. It was all too natural, too, to rock her gently and soothe her hair when she hiccupped and whispered against my neck. Whispered a name that made my heart skip a beat and sent my brain tripping into realizations and understandings.
Vanessa Ravenswing.
Black hair, pale green eyes… I was cradling a demon child that I’d just rescued from a demon, and yet, I couldn’t let her go. She was a girlchild, and she needed to be protected. Needed to be returned to her… father. I maneuvered a bit and pulled my phone from my pocket. He picked up almost at once.
“I’ve got her; she’s safe.” I didn’t give him the chance to ask, knowing full well that he hadn’t told me. Hell with being left to put the puzzle together, I’d had to figure out the pieces first. “You should get here soon, before someone from Social Services comes to pick her up. I won’t be able to keep her with me for too much longer.”
His reply was almost too quiet for the phone to transmit, though I understood it clearly enough. Should Social Services take his child, there would be no amount of Hell that I could ever pay enough to get out of it. In a way, I understood. In another way, it scared the Hell out of me to consider that not only had he procreated, but she was also curled in my lap with her head resting against my chest like a normal human child.
“I miss my dog. Father gave him to me for my birthday. He’s a Hellhound. I named him Abaddon.”
She was, however, anything but normal, and with comments like that, I didn’t need to remind myself. “Well now, that’s an interesting name. I don’t think I’ve known of any other dog named anything remotely like that.” Now I really wanted to know how old she was. I was guessing she was six, maybe seven, but to look at me, you’d figure late teens. Age was a function of triviality when dealing with demonkind and magic users.
Before Vanessa could answer, Kelly walked up and looked at the pair of us. “Cute kid. You got a name yet for Social?” He thumbed his radio quieter as she turned her head slightly and regarded him in much the same dismissive manner I’d seen Ravenswing use with me. Now that she was somewhere safe and knew her father was on his way, little flashes of remembrances were shown in her movements.
“She’s Vanessa Ravenswing, the seven year old-”
“Eight.”
“Sorry, eight-year-old daughter of the head of Ravenswing Corporation. He’s on his way now to come take her home. Given what I know of the man, I’d say it was wiser to let her go with him when he gets here. He can be-”
“Scary. He scares the moms at my school.”
This kid was definitely going to be the end of me. “Scary is a good word.” I watched half a dozen emotions flash across Kelly’s face. “I take it you don’t have children, Kelly. Welcome to Non Sequitur 101: Kids say the damnedest things and generally mean them.”
Kelly was saved from any further commentary by a black car pulling through the open gate and swinging around to cruise towards us. I knew that car and the creature driving it. So did Vanessa, and she sat up, turning to look as Valen Ravenswing parked and exited the vehicle without turning it off. But she didn’t run towards him.
She didn’t leap out of my lap like an excited third grader happy to see her parent. Instead, she slipped free from me and walked sedately across to him and looked up at him for a moment before turning around and waving to me. “Goodbye Mister Jedah. Thank you for rescuing me.” And then she let herself into the back seat of the car.
Kelly looked gobsmacked. He watched her, turned back to me, as if to ask why I’d let her go, and then looked back to watch Valen Ravenswing get back in his car and pull away from us. “That’s it; you’re just letting him take her?” He was incredulous, and I knew he was done being my partner and we would be back to our pissing contests momentarily.
“That’s it. He’s her father. He also happens to be my boss, so trying to keep her from him would be tantamount to suicide.” In so many ways it wouldn’t bear considering. I rose and brushed my hands together, looking across to the other buildings. “So, shall we see what else may be hidden in plain sight? I’m not leaving until this place is turned upside down and I’m certain there is nothing else that one could call a collection.” I was sure that the reference to a collection was of things stolen from Valen Ravenswing, and as much as the thought of not being owned by him appealed, I felt better about passing on joining the ranks.
The men had finally forced open the door of the back building, and they radioed Kelly, which was why I found myself standing in that open doorway, peering into the darkness. I hadn’t even had to bully my way to the front. Kelly pointed to the doorway and commented that anything that attacked me probably wouldn’t hurt me as much as himself. I may or may not have muttered something about him being a chronic asshole as I walked by him.
After the exhilaration of finding the little girl and the shock of learning that she was Ravenswing’s daughter, it was almost a relief to do a full sweep of the place and find only an empty building. It had probably been used at one point, but it was clear why it was locked up: the place was near on derelict. We pulled back, leaving the building to whatever memory enshrouded it, and took stock of the evening.
One child, female, rescued. Returned to parental supervision. One fire, extinguished. Either Kelly had forgotten my first words, or he was buying me an out, for he didn’t mention the death of the facility owner. Unsurprisingly, I did not find any issue with that. The man would be sought, and not found. After that, the facility would follow whatever path had been set by mundane paperwork and planning. Ravenswing got his daughter back and I’d managed to rid the world of a demon. All in all, I could consider it a job well done. I should have known that John Kelly wouldn’t.