Lai jammed his hands into his pockets.
“Okay. I give. What do you want?”
Haley’s expression brightened up. She had on an interesting smile. The type of unassuming happiness you’d see painted on the portrait of antiquated European royalty. Confident and yet reserved – knowing how much power she held and yet having enough of a generous spark to hold back.
“For one thing, I want you to be honest.” She clasped her hands together. “Anything I ask, I want you to give me a truthful answer.”
Lai couldn’t see much harm in that. He didn’t have much to hide at all. Not like he had tons of secret rituals backed up in his head or a super special family magic that he had to keep under wraps.
“Sure.”
“Great.” Haley unclasped her hands and showed an open palm to Lai. There was a red rune there that emanated a malevolent energy. “Good that I got your consent for this oath rune – just give me honest answers and you won’t get cursed. Don’t be worried any, by the way, because all I want is to have some of my curiosity satisfied.”
“Knowing you,” said Lai as he recalled her boundless thirst for knowledge. “That’s asking for a lot, but I don’t have a lot to give. I have shy of zero magical knowledge and I already said I’d set you up with Roshana.”
Haley put a hand on her hip and shook her head. “You should be more confident. You have plenty to give me. For one, I’ve always been interested in the more secretive sides of the magical scene. You Sentries are all shrouded in mystery, and I want to break that veil.”
Lai raised a brow. “It’s not so much what we do that’s a secret. That much is obvious: we deal with the rule-breakers. It’s who we are that’s under wraps, because if our abilities were public information, any old sorcerer could prepare against us.”
“I still want the full scoop. What you do when you’re on the hunt, how you go about it, and so on. There’s not a single sorcerer I know that’s seen a Sentry in action, and I’d be dumb not to jump at this chance to find out more of the unknown.” Haley pointed at Lai. “And that’s why I’ve decided that I’m going to stay with you through this whole investigation.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s stupid.” Lai wagged his finger, like he was reprimanding a child. “You have no clue how nasty these crazy sorcerers get. Black magic is powerful but chaotic – you’re going to get hurt if you come with me.” Lai glanced at the concealment rune on his arm. “I know you’re talented, but that’s not enough. These corrupted sorcerers are nasty, and they fight back like all hell. They’ve got the type of tenacity that only crazy can bring. You do not want this, and besides, I ordered you to stay at a safe-haven at all times.”
There was also the fact that if Haley got hurt or, worst of all, killed, Lai was also dead. Her family would send everything they had against him, and if the Court found out he’d let her follow him, he wouldn’t receive any protection. He thanked his past self for using the seal to bind Haley to a safe-haven, or else there wouldn’t be anything to chain her relentless curiosity down from following him.
“Blah, blah, blah,” said Haley. “What’s a little discovery without danger? But you’re right in that I’m forced to stay at a safe-haven.”
“That’s right.” Lai motioned to the left of the street, where the older buildings were and where the Center lied. “So why don’t we shuffle along to the Center and hole you up in the Castle?”
Haley would be safe inside the Castle, a hotel designed just as its namesake would imply. It looked like a downsized medieval fort, but somehow fit just right with all the aged buildings surrounding it. A competent sorcerer ran the place, and it had enough magical enchantments and wards on it that breaking into it through supernatural means was almost impossible.
“That old place?” Haley scoffed at the suggestion.
“There’s nowhere better.”
“Hm, I wonder.” she brought a finger to her lip with a mischievous smile. “Before that, let me ask you a few questions.”
Lai didn’t feel comfortable seeing that smile, but he still believed he’d won here and that he’d finally get to drop Haley off where she couldn’t be a liability, because as of right now, she was an incredible liability to his well-being.
“Shoot,” he said with some hesitation.
“You’re strong, right?”
Lai furrowed his brows. “Excuse me?”
“Just give me answers.” Haley waved Lai’s confusion away. “You’re confident you can beat most sorcerers, right?”
Lai nodded slowly.
“Honest, but these are boring answers. If you want to keep a roof over your head, you have to give me more substance. Tell me about yourself. What skills do you have that make you so confident?”
A pause. Lai understood that information about him was highly confidential, but there weren’t any real consequences if he spilled his abilities. It was mostly a common-sense thing, but the Court didn’t officially enforce this secrecy thing. In fact, some of the strongest Sentries had their abilities right out in the open, but because they were so damn strong, it didn’t matter.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
That was most definitely not the case for Lai, but Haley didn’t seem like the type to spread his secrets. She had a reputation as a Tribune family member to uphold, after all, and he did have an oath rune hovering over him, ready to curse him with whatever pain she’d thought up – so it wasn’t like he had too much of a choice.
“Okay, then, buckle up, because this is going to be long.” Lai closed his eyes for a second, reminiscing about all the choices he’d taken to lead up to where he was now. “The simple, non-magical things first, I guess. No bragging, but I’m fit. Very fit. Might not be very tall or big, but I sure as hell know how to use my fists. I know how to use almost any modern weapon. Give me a gun or explosive, and I can use it. Hell, I can make explosives out of stuff people would think is just junk. But most importantly, I’ve learned what sorcerers can do. I don’t know how to use most magic, but I know what sorcerers are thinking when they use theirs. I can always stay a step ahead and catch them off guard.”
“Impressive,” nodded Haley. “Where’d you learn this from?”
“The Sentry that took me in showed me the ropes from the ripe old age of eighteen. You should know him. Sentry for the L.A. area – Sinclair.”
“Wow. The premier vampire hunter of the Western world took you under his wing?”
“Yeah.” Lai grimaced. “Not sure if I’d call his training being ‘taken under the wing.’ He was always one to believe that the best progress got made when he threw me out in the most life-threatening situations. Let me tell you from firsthand experience that the underground vampire gangs in L.A. are not the friendliest bunch.”
“Sinclair’s students hunt beasts all across the world – he’s got a reputation for being a competent teacher, always picky about who he’d take on.” Haley inspected Lai and cocked her head. “But I’ve never heard of him taking in a Dud.”
“He wouldn’t have.” Lai flicked his hand and materialized a chocolate bar from his inner world. “I have this magical Talent – it’s what sets me apart from any old regular modern soldier. I can store and take things out from a world within myself. Probably also the reason why I have such a good connection with my body and why I can strengthen it so efficiently. Combine that with mastery of sleight-of-hand magic, and I’m always armed, always dangerous, always ready to take advantage of an opening.”
Haley’s eyes widened. “Now that’s incredible. I’d heard of Talents like being able to breathe fire or fly without using mana, but this is way beyond that.” She stroked her chin, inspecting Lai like she was a scientist scrutinizing an interesting sample. “If Sinclair hadn’t taken you in and made you a Sentry, I figure someone might have tried to kidnap you to figure your Talent out.”
“You cannot even imagine how many times he’s told me that.” Lai remembered the many days where he’d complained about how hard his training had been. “’Be grateful you’re not being dissected atop some ritual altar’ he’d growl. God, it’s annoying even just to remember it.”
Haley giggled into her hand. “Okay, that settles it.”
“Finally got bored and decided to go to the Castle?” asked Lai hopefully.
“Not at all.” She jabbed a playful finger into Lai’s chest. “You gave me three orders with your court seal. One – I can’t leave this city. Two – I have to stay at a safe haven at all times. Three, and most importantly for you – I have to stay silent. Well, I’ve decided that the safest haven in this whole wide city is you.”
Lai was dumbfounded. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve told me how strong and tough you are, and I believe you. Completely. I think you’re much more of a safe-haven than that rackety old castle.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“Oh, but I am. Magic is all about belief, and I believe with all my heart that you’re the safest place to be. In fact, because you used the court seal’s magic on me, I don’t think I can even physically will myself to go to the Castle, just because I don’t think it’s as safe as you.”
Lai swallowed down the tight knot forming in his throat.
“So,” she continued, putting down his death sentence. “Looks like I’m going to be with you. ‘At all times’, just like you wanted.”
Lai opened his mouth, but couldn’t muster up any words. He’d been thoroughly outsmarted. She’d wanted him to tell her all about his training just so she could strengthen her belief that he was safer than the castle.
He had to admire her willingness to go this far for her insane desire to know the unknown, but he was seriously in some deep mud. He couldn’t afford to get her even a little hurt, and that constant thought would slow him down. He had no idea how to solve this messy situation, but he figured he’d let her tag along for now and improvise a way to ditch her later, when it got more dangerous.
“Okay, okay,” Lai sighed. Tonight would just be safe, investigative work. Hopefully. “You can tail me. Just try not to get hurt, alright?”
“Thanks so much!” Haley rubbed the oath rune on her palm away. “So, where are you going to go? How are you going to get this case solved?”
“I need to I.D. the demon that attacked me,” said Lai. He broke off into a quick pace towards the Center. He knew exactly who to go to identify all things supernatural. “Then I should have a clearer idea of what kind of sorcerer targeted me and figure out where in the city he started up the summoning ritual.”
Haley followed close behind and said, “Smart. I remember in arcanology that every demon has their own unique magical signature tied to their names. You’re going to search for that, right?”
Lai nodded. “Should narrow things down real quick. Takes a lot of energy to call a demon, so there are only just so many places that this sorcerer can hide in. If I just search for that signature in these areas, I should get a match.”
“Aha. So I’m assuming someone in the Center can help you with identifying this demon?”
“Right again. If I’m lucky, I might be able to have this sorcerer dead or captured by tomorrow.”
“Hmm, so I might get to see your ‘mastery of sleight of hand magic’ in action soon?” joked Haley. Lai shrugged; it sounded silly, being good at sleight of hand, but when you could take out a weapon from anywhere in your body, the speed and unpredictability that sleight of hand gave was invaluable. “I’m curious about that, though,” she continued. “Why the fake magic shows? Why learn sleight of hand magic when you know real magic?”
“Money, mostly. Making cards disappear and reappear makes you a decent amount of cash, surprisingly,” said Lai. “And as for why I had to learn sleight of hand when I had legitimate magic - I did know about the Court. My dad had told me their general rules, about keeping the secrecy of magic intact. That’s why I learned sleight of hand: I needed to fake using magic. Got pretty damn good at it, too, considering it took the Court a whole year to get whiff of me.”
“Money? Considering the Talent you’ve got, I’m sure your family has some history with magic. That means they probably had the means to keep you afloat financially, right?”
“I don’t know any of my family outside my parents – they’re somewhere in China, I think, but that’s all I know.” Lai pursed his lips. “And my parents were dead by then. They didn’t come to the states with much and they didn’t leave me much. That’s why I was strapped for cash.”
“Oh. I'm sorry.”
Lai felt the shift in her tone, how she lost that happy skip in her step.
“It’s fine,” he consoled her. “It’s been a while since they’ve passed. I’ve made my peace and all.”
Haley nodded, but for the rest of the walk, she didn’t ask any more questions.