Deadly measures, p.14
Deadly Measures, page 14
Trusting her guide, Kasey channeled her will outward. “Ffrwydriad!”
The mountain of earth exploded outward. The blast sent Tariyon and Marissa recoiling through the air, buffeted by earth and stone and sod.
“Traitor,” Marissa shouted. “We offered you everything and you left us.”
“I didn’t want everything,” Kasey muttered. “All I wanted was him.”
Marissa leaned forward, her eyes fixed on Kasey as she tried to make out her next move.
But Kasey saw what Marissa could not. She’d already bought all the time she needed.
Three Apache helicopter gunships swooped in from the north.
Sky Shards.
Flint’s reinforcements were here.
Without hesitation, they open fired, emptying the under slung rocket pods, all of them.
Three gunships, sixteen missiles each. Most of them found their mark as the forest dragon tried to right himself.
The weapons of Delta platoon were pea shooters by comparison. One salvo of missiles blew apart the dragon’s right wing. More of the missiles struck his hide, blowing great gaping wounds in its flank. Tariyon howled in agony as he plunged, spiraling through the air.
Marissa was thrown free of her saddle.
The attack helicopters swooped overhead, as Kasey punched the air in triumphant.
Finally, something that could put a dent in the ancient dragon. The helicopters circled, ready to strafe the targets once more. The pair would crash into the ground about thirty feet from her position, and she had no desire to be in the firing line. She sprinted in the opposite direction, glancing over her shoulder in time to see Marissa raise her hands, parting the veil beneath them.
Marissa, Tariyon, and the great glowing stone plunged straight through the rift and into Faerie.
“No!” Kasey shouted as the rift shut behind them.
The gunships wheeled but were too late.
In a breath, Marissa and her dragon were gone, along with the gemstone.
Kasey ran her hands through her hair in disbelief. They had been so close, but Marissa had fled back into Faerie.
Kasey considered opening a rift to go after them. After all, Tariyon was wounded, and the two of them had been weakened, but she had no idea where Marissa had even gone. The best Kasey could do was open a rift to Faerie’s geographic equivalent of Stonehenge and Kasey was almost certain Marissa wouldn’t be there.
A Sidhe of her talent could open a rift to anywhere in Faerie. She had seen Titania and Oberon do just that.
Marissa was gone and so too was the power that had been stored in Stonehenge.
Assuming the Summer Court were intent on attacking the Field of the World Tree, only a single site of power stood between them and their objective. It was sudden death, and the Summer Court were winning.
*****
It was almost midnight when Kasey and Strang emerged from the corridors back at the Arcane Council headquarters.
In the aftermath of the battle of Stonehenge, Flint had been tasked with using his position to ensure reinforcements were deployed to the other sites of power. Kasey and Strang were to tackle Methuselah.
“Any idea how we are going to find him?” Strang asked.
“He’s looking for something in the city,” Kasey replied, “so I’m sure he’s still here. I have a few options that might be able to help. One of them, you’re not going to like.”
“Hades,” Strang asked as they headed back through the ADI offices.
Kasey tried to hide her surprise.
“I did considerable research on your associates when you were brought to trial,” Strang answered matter-of-factly. “The association with one of the city’s pre-eminent criminals was a surprise then, but I must say has come in useful since.”
The Chancellor was referring to his presence at the Arcane Congress. Without him, Kasey would have never been able to close the rift through which the forces of chaos had been pouring in.
“Just what he aspires to be,” Kasey replied with a coy smile. “He has a network of informants across the city. More than once, he’s succeeded in tracking someone down for me. He might be the best chance we have of finding Methuselah before he can strike again.”
“Well, let’s get him a picture, and let him know to keep his eyes and ears open,” Strang replied.
“It’s not that easy,” Kasey said. “Things are complicated. I’m going to need to see him.”
“Why do I get the impression I don’t want to ask any more questions?” Strang turned right and rather than heading for the door of the ADI offices, she headed for the other hallway.
“Probably best that you don’t,” Kasey replied. “I wouldn’t know how to answer them anyway. Where are you going?”
Strang lifted the bedpan helmet. “I’m not carrying this monstrosity around all night, and I can’t expect to retrieve it from the Vault in a hurry. Probably best that we seal them in the Armory here until we need them.”
“I can leave you with this then.” Kasey pulled the Samsonite case around and handed its handle to Strang. “But I’ve still got no idea how to take these bands off.”
The thick silver bracelets had come in useful in the battle for Stonehenge, and Kasey was far too tired to try and work out how to get them off.
“Keep them,” Strang replied. “But I don’t want you roaming the city at this hour. Why don’t you rest up in the Administorum and visit Hades in the morning?”
Kasey stifled a yawn. “Best idea you’ve had all day. If you need me, you know where I am.”
“I’ll make my way down in an hour or so,” Strang replied. “Far more comfortable than sleeping in the chair in my office, but I still have a few things to do before I turn in for the night.”
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Kasey called over her shoulder as she headed for the door. She rode the elevator back to the Administorum and found the private ward she had been sleeping in the previous night.
Vincent Kane was nowhere to be seen and Bishop had also left. Alone with her own thoughts for the first time all day, Kasey took inventory of her wins and losses.
She wasn’t dead; that was a definite plus. Strang and Flint seemed to grasp the magnitude of the problem they faced and while she had some ideas for how they might handle Methuselah, Kasey knew only too well that battle plans seldom survived first contact with the enemy.
Methuselah wasn’t going to wander aimlessly into a bronze circle ready to be ensnared and banished, or trapped in the Codex. They were going to need to find him and force him into it, one way or another.
The idea of jamming the murderous old warlock back into a prison from which he could never be freed had a tremendous appeal for Kasey. She had genuinely hated few people in her life but the mind mage that was only too willing to undermine the free will of others and turn them against their friends as he had in the Terminus was unforgivable.
If she could find him and Eternity, and succeed in banishing or trapping them both, that just left the Titanic sized trouble that was the warring Courts of the Sidhe.
It was far too many ifs for her comfort, but it was all she had.
Kasey kicked off her shoes, not bothering with a shower, and threw herself on the gurney. Exhaustion overcame her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
When she finally awoke, she fumbled about for her phone. It was almost dead, but fortunately Bishop had left her charger by the bed.
Having put it off as long as she could, Kasey texted Hades.
She wasn’t even sure he would want to meet. He’d poured out his heart, and she’d given him very little in return.
She’d still been too raw at Sanders’ betrayal to even process Hades confession. Hades deserved more than she could give him right now, but she did need his help.
Rather than sit around, Kasey found the ward shower and cleaned up. She had nothing clean in the way of clothes, so she located a set of hospital scrubs and borrowed those.
On her best day, Kasey wouldn’t have considered herself stylish, but she wasn’t showing up to Hades in two-day old clothes covered in blood and grime from Stonehenge. He certainly wouldn’t let her hear the end of it.
Still, he would no doubt make light of her for the scrubs. He couldn’t help himself.
She hoped they might distract him from the conversation they hadn’t had.
Strang was still sleeping when she returned from her shower, so Kasey let her be. No doubt she’d been up half the night trying to organise the Council into action. Kasey jotted a note for her and left it on the bedside table.
Picking up her phone, Kasey read the reply from Hades. It comprised nothing but an address. She deleted the text and took her phone, now barely at forty percent battery, and tucked it in her scrub pocket.
At least they are practical.
Outside, she hailed a cab and gave them the address, an old warehouse in the meatpacking district.
As far as clandestine meets went, it was a little ominous, but Kasey was at least ninety percent sure Hades wasn’t planning to kill her and dispose of her body.
What would he ask for return for his help? Hades seldom did anything for free, and Kasey wasn’t sure she could pay the price she suspected he might ask.
Chapter 12
These days, the meatpacking district of New York City was where the city’s industrial past met a modern urban sophistication. A place one could find prestige boutiques, exclusive dining venues, and historic warehouses.
The address Hades had given her was one such brick warehouse, likely a century old, but it gave no outward signs of extraordinary activity.
Unless she counted the two men in black combat armor stationed at its doors. The Helldrakes stood silently by the entrance, their arms by their sides. Each wore a pistol on their hip, which for a Helldrake was considered lightly armed.
The presence of Hades’ personal security told Kasey she was in the right place. The fact that there were two rather than twenty told her that there were others she could not see.
Ever since the Feudal Court, Hades seldom went anywhere without a considerable detachment of them.
Knowing Hades, he likely had snipers stationed on nearby rooftops throughout the block.
A normal person might call Hades paranoid, but Kasey knew only too well that he had spent his life on the run, living large as one of New York City’s most wanted fugitives.
With his network of eyes and ears through the hospitality and service workers of the city, Hades always managed to stay one step ahead.
It was that very network Kasey was hoping to use to locate Methuselah. If the warlock was in the city, Hades would be the first to hear about it. Kasey was more than a little curious about what Methuselah was after. The fact he had come looking in her apartment was strange as she had nothing there that could possibly be of interest to a warlock, or a creature such as Eternity.
Kasey was almost certain that Methuselah had to have been trying to mine something specific from her mind and left when the Earth Spirit had made that impossible. Still, the sooner she knew what Methuselah and Eternity were up to, the sooner she could use it to lure them back into the open.
Kasey slowed her pace, but not because she was afraid to ask Hades for help. She was confident he would been willing. Rather, she had been too preoccupied to process their last conversation.
He’d told her how he felt.
The only problem was, Kasey had no idea how and what to do with that. Since the day they had met, there had been something between her and Hades. Was it simply his relentless flirting? The allure of a bad boy with a suave tongue and handsome physique? Or was it more?
Kasey had always put the thought aside. She’d had Sanders, and Hades had known that. Now Sanders had left her, and Hades wanted more.
Kasey wasn’t ready for any kind of commitment. She had given her heart once and look where that had gotten her—staring down an actual apocalypse. She wasn’t keen to make any more grandiose mistakes in the name of love.
It was even possible that in the coming days, she would be standing across the field of battle from Noah Sanders, compelled to fight him and those he served to protect the Earth Spirit from the ceaseless power mongering of the Sidhe. Sanders was the most talented wizard she had ever met. If she weren’t Earthborn, she wouldn’t stand a chance. But it wasn’t power she was worried about. She didn’t know if she had it in her heart to stop him.
She had never been good with men on account of the fact she always tried to avoid touching others. That was what came from the Earth Spirit’s gift of prescience. Every time she got close to someone, there was a chance she might see their end.
In her teenage years, that had been more than enough to convince her that dating was a bad idea. Then there had been John Ainslie. That mess had started with him harassing her at work and ended with him dying in her arms, having given his life to save hers.
Noah had been everything she ever wanted. Good and kind and true, fighting for justice with the same ambitions she had. Or so she’d hoped.
The trip to the Terminus had changed that. It was the first time she’d seen Sanders place the good of the Summer Court over the lives of others.
And that terrified her.
If Sanders could lie to her, couldn’t Hades? He was a criminal, after all. Deception was in his very nature.
If she could, she’d have put off this conversation until she had a much clearer head. But that wouldn’t have been fair to Hades. She couldn’t simply come asking for a favour when she needed it, while ignoring the declaration of his feelings. It would hurt him, and she certainly didn’t want to do that. He deserved more.
Stealing herself with a deep breath, Kasey approached the door.
The black clad Helldrakes turned as she approached.
“Hello, boys,” Kasey called with the best smile she could manage. “I’m here to see the boss. Is he inside?”
She hoped they knew enough to let her pass. It was hardly the first time she’d seen them. There had even been a detachment of Helldrakes stationed near her apartment after the King of the Feudal Court had put a bounty on her head.
Neither of the guards said a word, but one of them casually motioned over his shoulder with his thumb.
“Keep up the good work,” she called as she slipped through the partially open warehouse doors. The gap was only about two feet wide. Narrow enough to prevent a car or truck from entering without dealing with the security first.
The warehouse had rows of shelving as far as the eye could see, each shelf loaded with un-labeled boxes. Rather, they were numbered in a complex and inconsistent approach. No two boxes were consecutive in their assigned numbering system and there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to it.
Which made her all the more confident that there was. Hades was neither random nor capricious.
The sound of rubber squeaking against concrete drew her toward activity deeper in the warehouse.
As she strode down the long aisles, she passed several more Hell Drakes standing at attention throughout the facility. These were armed with submachine guns and assault rifles.
High above the shelves was a mezzanine floor. As Kasey drew nearer, she could make out an office. Perhaps Hades was in there?
Hades moved all manner of goods through the city, everything from valuable, legitimate commerce, to highly illegal contraband that had been smuggled through the city’s port.
If he was here in person, it stood to reason that a particularly significant shipment was in transit. One that merited his personal attention.
The aisle opened into a work area where a forklift was lowering crates off the shelf and setting them down in a neat row.
A dozen more Helldrakes stood guard nearby. None of them paid her any heed.
Hades must have told them that she was expected.
Kasey reached the stairs leading up to the mezzanine floor and grabbed the handrail to steady herself. She took the stairs two at a time. Despite its age and the presence of the highly armed Helldrakes moving silently through it, the warehouse might have been a shipping and distribution centre for any company in the country.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Kasey knocked.
“Come in,” Hades called, his Mediterranean accent carrying clearly through the door.
Kasey pulled on the door and found herself looking into an office. Four desks with laptops stood in the middle of the room. Along each wall were filing cabinets.
Again, everything was numbered rather than labeled.
Hades was sitting casually on the corner of a desk, one leg on the floor, the other swinging idly as he stared at a laptop open on his legs.
Even now, Kasey had to admit he looked good. His open collared black shirt had an extra button undone, his toned chest evident. His heavy pistols were worn in underarm holsters that lent him a dangerous edge.
Kasey had seen him in action many times, and if there is one thing of which she was absolutely certain, it was that he served his namesake well. He was not just proficient at sending souls to the underworld; he had a flair for it. Hades was pretty on the eyes and deadly with his hands.
Yet Kasey’s heart still skipped a beat as her gaze rested on his.
Don’t drool, the Earth Spirit said. It’s unseemly.
Shut up. Just let me have this.
“Just in time, Kasey,” Hades said with a smile. “Though I must say I wasn’t expecting all this effort. How did you know I have a thing for nurses?”
“In time for what?” Kasey asked, stepping into the office. “If you tell me, I might give you a sponge bath.”
“I very much doubt that.” Hades set the laptop down on the desk and pointed at his temple. “But that thought is going to live rent free up here for the rest of what might be a very short life.”
“What are you talking about?” Kasey asked. “What’s going on?”
“The world is a mess, Kasey. Everyone knows the First Minister is dead. The Arcane Council and Congress are paralyzed and the normal government has no idea how to deal with the supernatural. It’s time to pack our bags and get out of this forsaken city before the entire thing goes up in smoke.”
