A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1) (18 page)

“I
hope he's feeling better,” I muttered.  I may have mentioned that my family
line has some inherited skills that run towards cooking and alchemy.  It's not
usually very useful since I don't brew potions, though I occasionally cook
something fancy for Jeremy.  These mostly dormant skills were slowly prodded to
life as I noted that the one of the spices seemed out of place.  One of the
dishes I had scooped onto my plate was laced with enough powdered silver to send
a lycanthrope into convulsions.  It was actually delicious; I never thought of
putting precious metals into food before.  Tasty, but definitely not normal. 
Like eating a treasure horde.  I got a second and third helping of that one.

“He
is. He was back to normal within an hour, though he still seemed somewhat
incoherent.” I made a note of the recovery time and side effects. I tasted
another dish and noted traces of arsenic and wolfsbane.  Okay, that was
definitely not normal.  I was pretty much immune to poison but either they were
trying to kill me or I was in the middle a fishing expedition.  Sighing sadly
to myself, I pushed aside the food.  I promised myself another nice fresh
turkey when I got home.  I glanced at Sebastian and wondered if he was
responsible for ruining my dinner, or if the other two were involved.  He
looked remarkably innocent for a cold blooded killer.

“Anyway,
you asked me here because you're experiencing a rash of destructive creatures. 
Well, you're in luck.  I happen to know why it's happening and how to fix it.”
I paused as Mr. Fiero stiffened in his seat and the woman's eyes narrowed into
slits.  Sebastian's face took on a smiling expression.  He seemed to be waiting
for more.

Mr.
Fiero leaned forward in his chair and I could feel his aura flare outward,
blanketing the room like a thick invisible smog.  I knew this trick.  Most
supernatural creatures could flare their auras, sort of push out their
intrinsic magical nature.  It was sort of magical pissing contest.  The larger
your magical reserves or higher on the magical pyramid you were the more you
could make yourself felt.  Mortals could often be frozen in fear by the
unnatural sensation.  It triggered the fight-or-flight run in lesser entities. 
Aside from that, it also made most technological-based sensing or recording
devices incoherent, and the more modern technology based off of quantum logic
computing were completely shut down by it unless it was shielded.  Apparently,
it did something to randomize the electron spin.  At my house, it just seemed
to blow my stuff up, so Jeremy had to replace it.

“Actually,
I was hoping you could identify the creatures. I wouldn't have expected a
professor to know more,” he stated menacingly, his eyes almost glowing with
energy.

“Then
you really lucked out, I can do that too most likely,” I smiled charmingly.  At
least I liked to think it was charming.  Jeremy says I look like an ass when I
do that expression, but I am positive it's charming.  Sebastian's smile widened. 
Hmm, perhaps I did look like an ass.

“Mr.
Derek, if you have come to blackmail us with your beasts you'll find this to be
your last dinner,” Mr. Feiro stated slowly, each word having a weight.  His
aura deepened, becoming almost visible and the lighting started to flicker.

I
raised my eyebrow in surprise.  Apparently he had gotten the wrong idea about
me.  I chuckled and was shocked when my host sprang up, leaped across the table
and grabbed my throat.  If I had been human, I don't think I would have seen
him move.  He tightened his grip and I think a mortal would have been choking. 
I frowned; this was disgusting.  An undead construct was touching me.

“If
you don't remove your hand from my persons, I will remove your hand for you,” I
stated deliberately.  He blinked.  Perhaps it was my lack of pain or perhaps he
had noticed that my throat didn't have the slightest indentation from his hand.
There was a significant pause and I was about to make good on my promise when
another interfered.

“Enough!”
The woman had stood up and extended her aura, completely subsuming master
Fiero's.  Hers actually made my skin tingle a bit.

“But
Vivian,” the master began.  He was immediately interrupted.

“Let
the man go, Vincent,” her voice was cold and flat.  Obviously was she was a
more significant personage than I had originally thought.  “You have jumped to
the incorrect conclusion regarding Derek.”

Mr.
Fiero looked from her to me before releasing my neck and turning with flare and
drama and walking to the head of the table.  “Then perhaps he could clarify his
position.”

I
was still unhappy at his rudeness but decided not to pursue it.  Barehanded
vampires weren't really high on my danger meter, but I was in a building full
of them and Sebastian looked far too entertained at my expense.

“It
so happens that there is a wizard in the city.  Our best guess is that he is likely
making arrangements to open a large portal in order to summon a greater demon.” 
The three vampires had fixed me with their stares, each apparently in various
stages of disbelief.  Well, at least I had their attention.  “Naturally a lot
of time and energy goes into such a portal, and in order to get enough energy
for such an undertaking, this fellow needs to find a very large node of
energies.”

“And
I suppose he is summoning the monstrous riffraff because he is working his way
up to a demon?” Sebastian asked with a sneer.  Vincent had calmed down enough
that he was merely glaring at me.  I could see he was also considering my words
but remained skeptical.  The woman, Vivian, looked at me expressionlessly.

“No. 
I am guessing that his apprentices are examining the nodes in the city, trying
to map where the most ley lines cross and where his can most easily open his
gate to hell.”

“And
how did you come across this information?” Vivian asked blandly.

“The
wizard, Jin, has several enemies that have been tracking him for some time.  I
was fortunate enough to meet one of them and offered my assistance.”

“As
interesting as this is, I fail to see how we should get involved.” Vincent
interrupted.  I sat staring at him in wonder for some moments afterward.

“Are
you actually telling me that you really just called me here to categorize some extraplanar
animals for your zoo?  That you're okay with a cabal of wizards poking holes in
your cities dimensional wall and you don't see a problem with him summoning a
greater demon in the middle of your territory?”

“Could
be fun,” the assassin snarked.  His smile was back in place.

“I
would have thought you'd be more concerned about not being at the top of the
supernatural hierarchy anymore.  You were very proactive when you found out
about the zombies.  Not very effective mind you, but energetic.”  The master
vampire winced at this description, and Vivian gave him a sharp glance.

“There
were zombies raised in the city and you didn't notify the council,” she asked
sharply.

“They
were dealt with,” Vincent muttered, avoiding the woman's glare.

“Ahem,
they were torn apart actually.  The next night they pulled themselves together
and went on their way,” I offered.

“And
how would you know?” Vincent growled at me.

“The
police brought me in as a consultant.  Similar to what I thought you were doing
in regards to your dimensional infestation.”  A thought occurred to me.  “You
do know something about ley lines and node points, right?  Eric didn't, but I
assume he was just turned, he had such negligible psychic ability...”  I
trailed off.  Crud, what kind of lame ass vampires were these.

Vivian
gave Vincent a sharp look.  “The older ones are trained, but magic is sparse in
this age since the Moscow Event, and apparently the old stories on dealing with
it have been ignored.”

“Hmm,
well I suppose after all this goes down I can come back and identify your
beasties for you, but if you're not interested in keeping the city demon-free, I
am going to have to figure something else out.”  What the hell was the Moscow
Event?  Probably another obscure disaster Jeremy hasn’t gotten around to
telling me about.  I put it on my mental list of research questions.  This
wasn’t the time.

“Oh
for crying out loud, Vivian, surely you aren't going to pay attention to this
nonsense.”  Sebastian snorted with disbelief.

The
woman sat back down in her chair and composed herself.  “Perhaps I wouldn't,
except I met Jin several hundred years ago.”

“He
must be a fairly powerful vampire, then, but I hardly think he could be a
wizard.” Vincent offered hesitantly.  Obviously the subject matter was leaving
him off balance.

“Vincent,
he is not a vampire.  He may even be a demon, though if he wishes to summon one
then I suppose this would be unlikely.  He is a wizard of significant power.”

“So
there really is a wizard running around trying to open a doorway into hell,”
Sebastian interjected with a grin.  “Fantastic, this city was getting dull.”

Vincent
sent an evil look my way.  Apparently he was still unhappy about our previous
misunderstanding.  “I suppose this means that we need to hunt this creature
down.”  I smiled hopefully; now we were getting somewhere.

“No,”
Vivian spoke quietly.  “We will not be hunting Jin.”

“But
Vivian...”

“You
were not in a position to know at the time, but five hundred years ago the Council
clashed with Jin.  After he killed half the Grand Council, we were forced to
come to an agreement with him.  He stays out of council business and we stay
out of his.” Her hushed voiced communicated unpleasant memories.

“Okay,
say he is a wizard and he is planning on summoning a demon... doesn't this
break the agreement?” Sebastian offered, halfway seriously.

“The
Grand Council suffered huge losses and inflicted almost no injuries to Jin. 
You will not be able to convince anyone on the Council to break our agreement
until there is overwhelming evidence that he has already broken it.”

“That
may be a little too late,” I interjected, not liking how this was heading.

“But,”
Vivian continued, ignoring my comment, “since our interest in an infestation is
valid, perhaps we can engage Mr. Derek's services to find these weak spots in
the dimensions so we can gather up the vermin with less effort.”

I
chewed on this for a moment.  Apparently, they were not going to enter into direct
conflict with Jin under any conditions but would be willing to provide
information to Jin's enemies and hope he was destroyed.  There was a flaw in this
plan.

“I
appreciate the vote of confidence.  However, there is no way I will be able to
canvas half the city for the location of the nodes.  It would take me months. 
I actually came hoping to get your help finding the ones in your territory.”

Vivian
looked at the table before her, deep in thought.  Vincent had finally come out
of his fit of pique to offer his opinion.  “I think we can arrange to have
these locations mapped.”  Vivian gave him a warning glance.  “It's about time
for the voting on several minor issues.  I think we can arrange to just be
extra aware of our surroundings, while we put up the flyers and make other
preparations,” Vincent offered and Vivian slowly nodded after giving it some
thought.

“We
can do that.  Be aware that any aggression towards Jin by one of us will be
dealt harshly and with overwhelming force by the Grand Council.  But as long as
you are just going about business as usual I don't think they need to be
disturbed about these things,” the woman told Vincent, snapping out of her
reverie and finishing her statement firmly.

“Fantastic,”
I enthused.  I had really been worried for a moment.  “Um, any idea when you
could have the points mapped out?  We have reason to believe something
irrevocable is going to happen on the solstice or equinox.”

“We
will put up the flyers tomorrow.  It will likely take a week to ensure people
with sufficiently attuned senses place the notices in the correct locations,”
the master stated somberly.

That
must be code for combing their territory for nodes.  “Great!  Just send me the
information and I'll make sure it's used in the right way,” I gave an
exaggerated wink to convey my understanding.

Vincent
gave me an unamused look, while Vivian rubbed her brow with her fingers
tiredly.  I think Sebastian got the joke, but I still felt resentment towards
him for trying to kill me.  Or rather coming a bit too close.  He didn't count.
 “I will send Eric to you when we have the information.  Vivian and I have some
issues to discuss.  Sebastian can show you out.”  At that, he and the woman
excused themselves and left the two of us alone.

“So...”
I ventured, looking at the smiling vampire across from me.  “Slaughtered any
innocents lately?”

“I
only have bloodbaths on Mondays and Wednesdays,” he riposted with a casual
manner that brought a smile to my face in spite of myself.  He stood and
gestured towards the door.  “Shall we go?  This building is so damned huge,
it's going to take forever to reach the front door.”

It
didn't quite take forever, it just seemed that way.