Arthur’s face flushed red. “If Sanders thinks he can kill me in my own home, he’s lost his damn mind. The boy may be talented but here, surrounded by our agents, his unfettered arrogance will be his undoing.”

  “We’ve called for reinforcements,” the agent said. “Even now, additional agents are en route but we need to move you now. This room is too exposed.”

  “Which agents aren’t responding?” Arthur demanded.

  “The manor grounds, sir. They formed part of our perimeter detail.”

  Ainsley removed his suit coat and loosened his tie.

  “Sir, this is no time for that. We need to secure you and your family at once.”

  “It’s already too late,” Ainsley said. “If he’s been in the yard more than ten minutes, he’ll have had plenty of time to enter the house. He is just as likely to ambush us as we relocate. I’ll not cower before a whelp. Ready your men, Agent Lahrs. I suspect he’ll play his hand soon enough.”

  A creaking noise came from the kitchen. Kasey whirled around. The agents reached for their weapons.

  Alphonse entered, wheeling the serving cart out of the kitchen toward the table.

  “Dessert is served!” he said with a smile.

  “Never mind him,” Arthur said with a wave of his hand. “It’s Sanders we want, Lahrs. Have your men scour the grounds.”

  “At once, sir.”

  Lahrs stepped away and began barking orders into his ear piece.

  Kasey scanned the room Searching for any sign of an attack. As she did so her eyes settled on the far end of the chamber. Her heart sank.

  The window.

  One entire wall of the Dining Hall was dominated by a floor to ceiling glass wall that provided a breathtaking view of the manor grounds. It wasn’t a door. The agents might have overlooked it. Even as she made the realization Kasey spotted something hurtling toward it. It was plummeting toward the glass like a rock, but its silhouette was much larger, casting a shadow across the chamber as it blocked out the sun.

  Kasey pointed at the window, “What the hell is that?”

  Chapter 7

  The silhouette rushed toward the glass, showing no sign of slowing. The silvery-gray blur struck the plate glass wall like a freight train. The glass caved under the impact, and thousands of shards rained down in a deafening symphony of destruction.

  Without warning, the shape slowed as a set of wings snapped outward. With a powerful beat of its wings, it soared into the hall before landing heavily on the banquet table. The impact rattled Kasey’s plate and cutlery in spite of the distance. The quadrupedal beast flexed its well-muscled legs as if stretching. Its blazing red eyes scanned the hall.

  Gargoyle!

  The gargoyle threw back its head and let out a bestial roar.

  “Back!” Arthur shouted. “It’s Sanders! He’s animated the bloody gargoyles. Careful, now, if it gets its claws into you it will tear you apart.”

  As if on cue, a second creature soared into the open room. It landed on the tiled floor and began to advance, its claws scratching against the porcelain with each step.

  John leaped to his feet. “Sanders must be close; keep your eyes open.”

  The gargoyles barreled towards Arthur, John and Kasey. The first careened across the tabletop, his claws tearing the wooden surface apart. The second loped across the floor, making straight for Arthur.

  Kasey leapt to her feet and summoned her power. Racking her brains, she searched for a spell to use on the beasts.

  “Mellt,” Kasey shouted as an arcane bolt of lightning launched from her outstretched palm.

  The lightning bolt struck the creature center mass, but it fizzled out. A single scorch mark on its stone exterior, the only indicator that the creature had even been hit.

  “They are stone gargoyles, Miss Chase,” Arthur said. “Your electrical assault won't do anything to them. Think it through, please. Our lives depend on it.”

  The ADI agents drew their weapons. Both agents emptied a magazine into the advancing creature, each shot blasting away stone from its aging surface.

  The gargoyles seemed to barely notice

  “Dalsallar,” Arthur shouted, holding both arms outstretched.

  An azure lance of energy materialized before him. The beam struck the creature in the head. The stone head of the gargoyle shattered on impact. Stone shrapnel showered the chamber; the gargoyle’s jowl rolled across the tiles, stopping at Kasey’s feet. The creature collapsed to the ground, lifeless once more.

  Following his father’s example, John launched his own assault against the gargoyle lumbering across the table. “Ensal Dalsallar.”

  In spite of its great mass, the creature charged off the table. The azure energy sailed harmlessly past its left flank.

  Alphonse glanced at the beasts and then whirled to face Arthur and the agents. “Fynfyrdor.”

  The two agents were yanked off their feet, colliding with a deafening crack. The two agents collapsed unconscious in a heap on the floor.

  “Alphonse? What the—?” Kasey said, staring at the chef in slack-jawed amazement.

  Arthur wheeled around. “That’s not Alphonse. It’s Sanders! Take him down.”

  Without a second thought, Kasey charged toward Sanders. If he was controlling the gargoyles, then dealing with him would hopefully stop them as well. Still smarting from her last encounter with Sanders, she opted for a different approach.

  She was on him before he could turn, tackling him to the floor. Perched on top of him, she delivered a series of punishing blows to his chest. Sanders let out a grunt of pain.

  John hurled another bolt of energy at the gargoyle before him. The bolt struck the gargoyle in its left flank, blasting a section of stonework free from the creature. The gargoyle let out an angry roar and reared up to its full height.

  As John summoned his strength once more, the beast pounced. Its razor sharp talons raked John across the stomach. John’s suit parted like paper and blood stained the ragged remnants of his shirt.

  “John!” Kasey shouted as the beast loomed over him, ready to deliver the killing blow.

  Arthur stepped forward and barked his command, this time making a tearing motion with his hands as the Old English incantation echoed through the room.

  The arcane energy split the stone creature in half. The two shattered halves of the gargoyle crashed on either side of John as a cloud of concrete dust filled the air.

  Kasey eased her assault to catch her breath.

  “Fynfyrdor.” A wave of energy rippled out from Sanders, throwing Kasey like a rag doll across the dining hall. She hit the tiles hard, forcing the breath from her lungs.

  Sanders scrambled to his feet and squared off against Ainsley. “I just want to talk, Arthur.”

  “All evidence to the contrary,” Arthur said. “You killed Theodore, and now you’ve come for me. What was it, Sanders? Not happy with leading the ADI, you wanted to run the entire council? You want to be chancellor, do you?”

  “I didn’t kill Theo, Arthur. I’m being set up!” Sanders pointed at Kasey. “I was working in my office when she burst in with some of my agents. They tried to arrest me. I simply defended myself. I’m innocent.”

  “Innocent? The ADI tell me they have footage of you hauling Theo into the building where he was killed. You expect me to believe you didn’t do it? That it was someone else?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I expect! I wasn’t even there!” His voice shook with indignation. “Until a moment ago, you believed I was Alphonse. Just because it is illegal to assume another's form, doesn’t mean a killer wouldn’t stoop to it to frame me.”

  “If you aren’t guilty, why attack us?” Arthur countered.

  Sanders shook his head. “I didn’t intend to attack you. The beasts were a distraction to occupy your detail. I just needed to speak with you directly. The ADI won’t listen to reason.”

  Ainslie lowered his hands but from the energy surging around him, Kasey knew it was a hollow gesture.

  “Kasey, see to John,” Arthur said, glancing at her. “I’ll not have him bleeding out while you sit there catching your breath.”

  Kasey bit back her retort, her concern for John overwhelming her disdain for his father. She struggled to her feet and snatched a cloth napkin from the table. John sucked in a sharp breath as he applied pressure to his stomach to stem the bleeding.

  She tottered over to him and crouched. “Use this.”

  She slid the napkin between his hand and the wound.

  Arthur’s interrogation continued. “Let’s say I believe you Sanders, where were you last night?”

  “I was out,” Sanders said.

  “Can anyone verify your whereabouts?” Arthur asked.

  A pained look crossed Sanders’ face. “No, I was alone. I didn’t expect to be needing an alibi.”

  “So, you were not home, and no one can corroborate where you were at the time Theo was murdered. With that in mind, you expect me to what? Just take it on blind faith that you didn’t kill my assistant of twenty years?” Arthur’s voice grew louder and louder.

  “Yes!” Sanders shook his fists. “I have a perfect track record, I’ve never been involved in a criminal act let alone murder, and I have no motive. A presumption of innocence is exactly what I expect. I would have thought some degree of trust would exist between two members of the Arcane Council. I’m not a delinquent. Until a few hours ago, I was the head of the ADI. I have earned that much.”

  “Earned you say? In that few hours, you’ve injured at least a half a dozen agents and my son. If you want to convince me you’re innocent, turn yourself in and allow us to finish our investigation.”

  Sanders shook his head. “I can’t do that. I’ve seen the evidence. Even the ballistics comes back positive for my weapon. I don’t stand a chance unless I find who did this. The ADI will throw me in a hole and close the case before dinner. I came to you for help, not to turn myself in. You’re the chancellor. You can stop this manhunt and give me the time I need to find the real culprit.”

  Arthur exhaled slowly. “I want to believe you, but the evidence is simply too great. I’m going to need you to give yourself up now, before anyone else gets hurt. You’re a gifted wizard, Noah, one of the best the agency has ever seen, but you are still young. You can’t hope to best me and the army of agents that are closing in on us even now. Give yourself up and we can investigate your claims. If you continue to resist, I cannot protect you.”

  “I had hoped you would see reason, Arthur. I had hoped everything I had feared was a mistake, a simple misunderstanding.”

  A rush of footsteps surged behind Kasey. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted three agents approaching the broken glass wall of the dining hall, weapons raised, ready to fire. Reinforcements had arrived.

  “Stand down, Director Sanders,” one of the agents called. “If you continue to resist arrest, we’ll need to subdue you by force.”

  Kasey felt the buildup of arcane energy in the hall. It was unmistakable, a veritable cyclone of ethereal potential ready to be unleashed.

  Arthur must have felt it too. He raised both his hands and began chanting. A shimmering blue shield materialized around him, before growing to include the unconscious agents lying behind him.

  Kasey looked at John.

  He gave her a weak smile as he clutched the napkin to his chest. “We need a shield, Kasey. Do it now.”

  Kasey fought to clear her mind. Drawing on the power coursing through the room, she summoned the strongest wards she could remember. A hazy scarlet orb formed around her and John before solidifying into a solid shell that encased them both.

  Sanders, on the other hand, made no effort to defend himself. Instead, he charged straight at Arthur Ainsley.

  Kasey watched transfixed as Sanders began to glow. The luminescence grew to a blinding intensity.

  The agents opened fire, pouring shots into Sanders. The shots ricocheted away from him without effect.

  A burst of light flooded the room. Kasey had to avert her eyes for fear it would blind her.

  A wave of concussive force blossomed outward. Kasey felt more than saw it as it tore through the room. There was no escaping the blast. She simply closed her eyes, hunched over John, and prayed her shield would hold. The force washed over her. She could hear the furniture shattering and tiles cracking as it rolled through the hall. Amid the mayhem she could hear John chanting feverishly, adding his waning strength to her shield. His chanting was drowned out as the chandeliers were torn free of their fittings. Both crashed to the floor in an avalanche of crystal and steel.

  Kasey could feel the energy draining from her as she struggled to maintain the shield. John's eyes were closed, and his lips were barely moving. If the shield failed, Kasey doubted his injured frame would survive the blast.

  Then as suddenly as it had started, the furor subsided.

  Kasey opened her eyes. Dust and smoke clouded her vision. Her protective spell had held, but barely. She hesitated to think what might have happened without John's help.

  She stood up, allowing her spell to dissipate, and searched the room. The dining table had been obliterated, shards of timber cast like driftwood across the room. Broken crystal from the chandeliers was everywhere.

  Kasey crept toward where Sanders had been. As the dust settled, her eyes widened in surprise. The blast had destroyed the wall that had previously led to the entry hall. Arthur Ainslie was struggling to his feet. Clearly his wards had done their job, but the force of the explosion had still blown him into the next room. His white shirt was now ashen, and blood was running from his nose.

  Kasey searched for Sanders but there was no sign of him.

  Had he perished in his own explosion? She thought it unlikely. Sanders didn't seem like a martyr. More likely he had used the chaos as a distraction and seen the opportunity to escape.

  Arthur strode over to Kasey. “Where did he go?”

  “I have no idea.” She lifted her hands. “By the time I recovered, he was gone.”

  Arthur simmered in silent agitation. In spite of his furious façade, he was clearly exhausted. His eyes were heavy, and he was teetering on his feet.

  “Arthur, your nose is bleeding,” Kasey said, resting a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

  As she did, a familiar mist clouded her vision.

  When the fog cleared, Kasey found herself walking toward a particularly impressive edifice. Its ancient stone towers flanked a central steeple. She mounted the stairs two at a time before passing through the large bronze doors.

  She knew the building, though she had never been inside. It was St. Patrick's Cathedral in downtown Manhattan. It was one of the most iconic churches in the United States. She had passed it many times but given she'd never been inclined to worship, she had never entered, though she regretted not taking the time to do a tour.

  The interior was beautifully furnished and illuminated. She had heard that the massive cathedral was being renovated and as she walked down its central aisle, she could see the fruits of their labors. Contrary to her expectations, the Cathedral was breathtaking. Statues of saints lined the alcoves along each wall. As Kasey moved down the nave toward the high altar, a clergyman appeared.

  “Sir, I'm afraid we’re closed for the duration of the parade,” he said. “You'll have to come back after it's finished.”

  Kasey could feel her mouth moving, but the words were not hers. They were far deeper. “I understand you’re closed. That's exactly why I'm here. I'd prefer not to have to clamber through a crowd to get my confession out. It has become something of a tradition. Please, fetch the Archbishop and see if he'll indulge me?”

  The clergyman stammered feebly. “I... uh... The Archbishop...”

  Arthur waved his hand as if shooing the clergyman, “Don't worry, son. Simply fetch the Archbishop for me and he'll take care of the rest.”

  “Arthur,” a sonorous voice boomed. “I wondered if I would see you today. Relax, Deacon Chalmers, Arthur is an old friend of mine. Why don't you go and get yourself something to eat during the parade? I'm sure we will be thronged when it's concluded.”

  The Deacon nodded and beat a hasty retreat.

  Arthur goes to church? It was a side of the chancellor she had never seen. It was hard to believe Arthur Ainslie would give deference to a power greater than himself.

  “Arthur, why don’t you wait for me in the confessional? I'll just finish my preparations and I'll be right with you. You remember the way, don't you?” The Archbishop shot Arthur a cheeky smile as he turned to leave.

  “I may not come often but I'm not senile, old friend. Take your time. I'll see you in the confessional.”

  As the Archbishop disappeared into his sacristy, Arthur turned about, studying the magnificent cathedral. In every direction, the stone archways stretched elegantly toward the heavens. Beautiful stained-glass windows depicted scenes from the New Testament.

  After studying the cathedral for a minute, Arthur made his way toward the wall where elegant and intricately worked wood panels formed the confessional. The door was ajar. The interior of the confessional was lined with royal blue drapery, a simple wooden chair sat waiting for him.

  Kasey felt Arthur reach out and pull the door closed behind him. He sat in the chair and then slid it toward the wall. On studying it closer, Kasey deduced it wasn't a wall at all but a screen.

  After several moments, a door opened and closed behind the screen, followed by the sound of fabric brushing against a chair. She couldn't see the source of the noise, but she supposed that the Archbishop had entered the confessional.

  There was a slide of wood against wood and the panel between the confessional chambers slid to the side. The screen still obscured much of her view, but the Archbishop's voice was unmistakable.

  “What can I do to help you, my child?”

  “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been a year since my last confession,” Arthur began before his tone shifted to a more somber tone. “Moreover, I must confess that I don't come here seeking forgiveness but instead, counsel from an old friend.”

 

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