Daniel Carter didn’t look like a cop, or a wizard. His manner was calm and casual, almost friendly. No superhero costume. He was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a loose white shirt. His black and blue badge dangled from a chain around his neck. He wore a bulletproof jacket dyed in Bluestar blue. He looked about forty, but his hair was going gray, and he had deep lines under his eyes.
I had seen him on TV, but I never expected to meet the man in person. Daniel was a member of Bluestar 7, a team of metahuman cops, organized by the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Each team was a kind of public-private partnership, each with a corporate sponsor who controlled merchandising and media rights.
There were seventeen Bluestar teams stationed in major cities across the U.S. Most of the agents were celebrities, but Carter kept a low profile.
Boston had a horrible record when it came to Bluestar teams. The city was a hotbed of magical activity, attracting criminals and crackpots from all over the country, with monsters crawling out of the river every few days like they were working shifts.
Twenty members of Bluestar 7 had been killed in the line of duty in the last ten years, but Daniel’s team was beating the odds. They’d gone a whole year without losing anybody.
I was in the lobby with Judy. She was angry and scared, and she didn’t know the whole story. We would talk later, away from prying eyes. She sat beside me in silence, keeping a death-grip on my hand.
Daniel walked in carrying two cups of coffee. He bowed slightly as he offered them to us. The motion looked Japanese. He had a weird grace to his movements, like a model or a dancer.
He sat down quietly and started taking notes. "I watched the security footage on the way over. You had a close call, Mister Kovak, but the doctor says you’re fine. Your wound is long, but it’s shallow, and very clean. Demons don’t carry bacteria. You’ve been answering questions all night, so I won’t put you through that again. But I’m about to examine the crime scene, and I could use your help. The bodies are gone, and the room has been cleaned. Are you up to it?"
I nodded.
I blushed when Daniel smiled at me. "I only need one of you. You can stay here, ma’am, if this makes you uncomfortable."
Judy shook her head. "I’ll stay with Timothy."
Daniel stood up and said, "Follow me."
* * *
The exhibit hall was spotless now, with no trace of blood on the walls or the floor. Even the puddles of melted glass were gone. The only evidence was the ruined pedestal, standing empty in the center of the room.
I pointed at it. “There was a book here. I think it was still there when I ran out.”
Daniel played back footage from the security camera. “The book disappeared at 21:27. That’s about… three minutes after you left the room. I don’t have footage from outside yet, but apparently, the book vanished when your demon did. It sounds like a Guardian, ordered to protect a specific thing. This one was bound to the book.”
Daniel rubbed his eyes and looked at me over his spectacles. “You were very brave, Mister Kovak, but very foolish. That demon was tethered to his book, so it wasn’t likely to follow a random target. I’m not sure what you were hoping to accomplish, when you provoked it.”
Judy hadn’t seen the camera footage. “Provoked it? What the hell did you do?”
I blushed. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Judy sniffed. “Damn right we will.”
Daniel was ignoring us. He was standing in front of the pedestal, looking up at the ceiling. When he looked back down, his eyes changed focus, like he was looking through the objects around him. “Oh yeah, there was a demon here. Big one. I see concealers, bindings, and three different wards. Ancient origin, but with a strong connection to Hell. The book has been gone for two hours, but this pedestal is still blazing with magic. I read the background, but I didn’t believe it. I’ve seen spellbooks before, but this is the mother of all spellbooks. No wonder we couldn’t crack it.”
Judy was furious, looking for someone to blame. “So, all this happened over a book? Somebody tried to steal Talt—”
Daniel cut her off. “Don’t say the name, please. Just a precaution.” Carter focused on me. His eyes still had that far-away look. He was frowning at me, squinting and tilting his head like I was a blurry picture he couldn’t quite see.
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“Okay, Tim, walk me through this. Show me exactly where you were on that wall.”
“It’s not hard to find, man. Just look for the dent.”
I spent twenty minutes leading Daniel around the room, explaining what I saw from the window.
Daniel addressed Judy. “And when you looked out the window, miss, did you see this demon moving around?”
Judy frowned. “I saw something, but it was like a shadow moving, like it couldn’t decide what shape it was.”
Daniel thanked her and came back to me. “Well, I can’t explain the Guardian’s behavior. I don’t know why it spared you. You might have a literal guardian angel, but I don’t see any evidence of that. The campus wards keep most of them out, and angels don’t hide their tracks. There’d be traces everywhere. Have you been tested for magical talent?”
“I was tested in school. Negative all three times.”
Daniel nodded. “That confirms what I saw. There’s no magic in your aura, but it’s not gray like a normal person. It’s just blank, like you don’t have an aura at all. Has anything strange happened to you lately? Waking dreams? Missing time? Voices out of nowhere?”
I shook my head. “No. Nothing like that.”
“Have you been to services at the Church of Olympus or the Asgard Brotherhood?”
“No.” Both churches had a horrible reputation. The Church of Olympus was a bunch of creepy guys who were into naked bodybuilding, and the Asgard Brotherhood was straight up racist.
Daniel didn’t look happy, but he seemed to blow it off. “Okay. I’m going to give you my card. If anything strange happens in the next few days, I want you to call me immediately. Pay attention to details. If you see something strange, don’t doubt yourself, and don’t wait. Call that number - day or night. Someone was watching over you today, but they covered their tracks very well. If they contact you directly, I want to know.”
Judy stepped up. “Officer Carter, is Timothy in danger? Should he be in protective custody or something?”
Daniel tried to reassure her. “I don’t think that’s necessary. The demon acted strangely, but I think it was just feeling playful. Guardians don’t need a lot of intelligence. I think you two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Timothy, do you live on campus?”
“No. I have an apartment just outside the Zone.”
“Okay, if anything strange happens - if you feel like you’re in some kind of danger, I want you to head for campus as fast as you can. Head for the tower. The whole campus is shielded, but the tower has extra defenses. It’s the safest place in the city.”
Judy started tapping her foot. “The campus didn’t feel very safe tonight.”
“The campus is warded against demons coming in from outside, but this demon was living inside the book. It didn’t just wander here.”
Judy nodded, but her foot was still going. She wouldn’t go off in front of the cop, but I was gonna catch hell next time we were alone.
Carter smiled at us. “You’ve both been very brave tonight. You’re free to go. Get some rest and call me if you remember anything.”
“We will. Thanks for everything.” I don’t really like cops, but I reached up and offered Daniel my hand. He didn’t take it, but he bowed until his head was level with my elbow. His badge slipped a little when he moved, revealing a tiny silver cross underneath. I was shocked, but I didn’t say anything.
I caught his eye before he left. “So, you do this kind of shit all day? Ride around the city fighting demons and dragging supervillains off to jail?”
Daniel shrugged. “It’s a living.”
* * *
Judy didn’t say a word until we reached my apartment. I had my keys in my hand when she cleared her throat. Wincing, I turned around.
Judy said, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Timothy Erin Kovak, don’t you play dumb with me! My best friend almost died tonight, and I had to learn the details in front of a stranger! What the hell happened in there?”
I sighed. “Look, it’s over now. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Too damn bad! Answer me! You were walking into the exhibit hall when I started running. The last thing I saw was your back. I sat in the lobby of that dorm for thirty minutes, crying my eyes out. Then some campus goon comes up and tells me you’ve been arrested! He said they found you in front of the museum, screaming at some invisible thing. They thought you were high on something, until they saw the blood.”
I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t want her to know I threw myself at a demon. I didn’t want her to know how much I still loved her.
Judy got in my face. “Talk to me! We’ve been friends for years! We tell each other everything! You know things about me that I’ve never told anyone, but now you’re treating me like someone you just met.” Her face turned tender. “What’s wrong?”
I lowered my head and shuffled my feet, a habit I’d kept since childhood. I had to tell her something. If I couldn’t tell her the whole truth, maybe a half-truth would do.
“I thought that thing was gonna kill me. I’ve never been that scared before. I’ve never been that close to death before. I felt so helpless up there. I haven’t felt like that since I was a kid, all the stuff with dad.
“I thought about my mom. I wondered what she would say if I met her in Heaven. I wondered what she would think of my life here - all the shit I’ve done wrong - all the shit I’ve screwed up.” I looked into her eyes. “All the things I’ve let slip away. I thought about all that, and I thought about how much you mean to me.”
Judy stepped forward and put her hand on my cheek. “You mean a lot to me, too. You’re the best friend I ever had. I mean that. Things didn’t work out with us, but at least we still have this.”
I just stared at her. Her speech left me with nothing to say.
Judy hugged me tightly and took a step back. “Are you gonna be okay tonight? I hate to leave you alone after this.”
I wanted her to stay. I wanted her to stay more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life, but I said, “I’ll be fine. What about you? You hide it better than I do, but I know you’re scared.”
Judy nodded. “Yeah, I’m scared, but I didn’t get as close as you did. My rental is on campus. It should be covered by those ward-things Daniel talked about.
She started to walk away and caught herself. “Good night. And happy birthday!” Judy stomped her foot. “Shit! I baked you a cake! The cops have probably eaten it by now. I’m really sorry. I’ll bake you another one. This birthday was so bad, I think we should call it a rehearsal. We’ll try again next week.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Judy waved one last time as she walked to the sidewalk. I wanted to say, “I love you,” but I couldn’t find the words. There’s never a demon around when you need one.