Category: Novel

Anne

Anne and Veronica enjoyed the evening air as they walked back to the apartments. Veronica dragged a small wire basket filled with supplies from the small grocery a few blocks from the apartments. It had been a couple weeks since the battle in the park, and the two were planning a special dinner for the group.

“Jason is going to be there tonight?” Veronica asked for the third time. Anne sighed. To say her relationship with her erstwhile partner was strained was an understatement worthy of the Brits. Worse, the task force was still in town. They had swooped down on Hope Park even before Lady Maritza’s agents had a chance to clean up. From the few words Anne and Jason had spoken, the task force knew the Avalonians were involved in the attack on them and were out for blood.

“He said he was going to try and show up,” Anne answered. “At least as long as Lady Maritza was going to be there.”

“Good, it’s going to be odd enough without Samantha there,” Veronica said. The group’s telepath had been at the hospital almost constantly since the battle. Something had happened between Samantha and Joseph when the three women fought to save his life. They managed to stabilize him, but the mixing of Samantha’s psychic powers and the magic binding Veronica and Anne used awakened and focused the latent attraction between Samantha and Joseph.

“We’ll have enough to take over to her later,” Anne said. “I want to make sure that Joseph’s still expected to come back to the apartments in a couple of weeks.” Anne stopped as her instincts flared. Her hand dropped to the butt of her Glock as she searched the streets around her. At first, Anne thought she was just overreacting, but then she felt as Veronica drew in wild magic. Another side effect of the battle was the two of them had a permanent magical link.

“What was that?” Veronica asked, suspiciously. Anne couldn’t see anything suspicious, but her body felt the echo of something. It was as if someone had splashed cold water right on her brain.

“I don’t know, but let’s get back to the apartments. Fast,” Anne answered. The two women strode down the sidewalk. Anne pulled out her phone. She was pretty sure that Veronica and her could handle anything for the next couple of blocks, but it never hurt to have backup.

The phone blinked once and died. A cold electricity filled the air around Anne and Veronica. The two traded worried looks. Then mist suddenly appeared, obscuring anything beyond a block away. Veronica parked the wire basket so they could run. Nothing wrong with running. Heavy steps filled the street. Lots of heavy steps, and they were coming from all around them. Anne forcibly slowed her breathing as she drew her pistol.

Figures emerged out of the mist. Most of them looked like the kids from the park. They all had that same punk/emo dress with the blank, expectant looks on their faces. First a few, then a dozen, then two dozen staggered out around them. Anne gripped her pistol tighter. She felt the heat of magic being gathered in Veronica’s hands.

“Can you put a blast over there that will knock them down?” Anne asked Veronica.

“I can immolate them from here just fine,” the smaller woman snarled. “Didn’t the park teach you not to be gentle with these people?” Before Anne could respond, a psychic blast lanced through the street and drove the two women to the sidewalk in pain.

BRING ME THE AVALONIAN WITCH! a voice boomed in their minds. Anne looked up. Solid black eyes stared back at her from the crowd. Anne shot a quick look back at Veronica. The woman was lying on the sidewalk moaning in pain. Anne tried to get Veronica to her feet, but she just curled up into a ball, holding her head. The black eyes closed on the two women.

Anne stood up and fell into her firing stance. She placed the front sight on the closest black-eye and tried very hard not to notice it was a girl who looked no more than fifteen years old. Outnumbered twenty to two, this might be ruled a good shoot.

“EVERYONE BACK AWAY! IF YOU CONTINUE, I WILL BE FORCED TO USE LETHAL FORCE!” Anne shouted at the crowd, more to assuage her own guilt for what she was about to do than because she expected them to stop. The girl was less than fifteen feet away.

“We’re not here for you policewoman. Stand aside, or we will be forced to deal with you.” The words came from the girl, but the voice was male, cold, and evil. Anne lowered her aim and fired. The girl screamed in pain as the .40 caliber bullet tore through her pelvis.

Anne switched targets and fired twice into the man’s chest. He fell forward to the asphalt. A third black-eye soaked up five rounds before he fell. Anne took a step back as the group continued to bear down on Veronica and her. Anne aimed at the biggest of the black-eyes. The man had the build of an MMA fighter. Anne fired the remaining rounds in her mag, but the man just kept on coming.

Anne mechanically dropped the spent magazine and grabbed a fresh one from her belt. There was a bare twinkle out of the corner of her eye before something hard and heavy crashed into the side of her head. Stars obscured her vision before Anne realized she was on the ground. Warm wetness was trickling down the side of her face. Her Glock wasn’t in her hands. As the stars cleared, she saw two black-eyes standing over her as another picked up the moaning Veronica.

Without any conscious thought, Anne reached out to the streams of wild magic. She could feel them, but the streams wouldn’t bend to her touch. It was like there was a pane of glass between Anne and the streams. She pushed harder, but her block slammed down.

“So, you have some power of your own,” one of the black-eyes above her said in that same evil voice. “That’s a surprise. Is that why the Avalonians are with you?” Anne didn’t answer. A quick scan told her the group with Veronica were almost a block down the street. Her Glock was ten feet away.

“Still some fight in you, I see,” said the black-eye puppet. Agony lanced through Anne’s mind. She curled up on the sidewalk. The other black-eye kicked Anne in her side. Gritting her teeth, Anne yanked the little Ruger LCP out of its ankle holster and leveled it at the puppet. The tiny pistol barked three times. The puppet stumbled back into the street. Anne rolled to shoot the other black-eye just in time to be sprayed with blood. Standing over the now-decapitated body, Arem wiped down his sword with a silver cloth. Except for the scabbard at his side, the elf looked like he was on his way to a casual business meeting. Satisfied, the elf sheathed his sword and surveyed the street.

“Four dead. Not a bad night’s work, Anne,” Arem said, with an appreciative smile on his face.

“They took Veronica,” Anne managed as she tried to stand while still keeping the pistol pointed at Arem.

“What?” Arem asked, his head whipping back to her. His large brown eyes were shocked. “They have your sorceress?” Anne managed a small nod. Pain still made her head swim. Much to Anne’s surprise, Arem pulled out a cell phone. She didn’t think Arem even knew how to use a cell phone.

“Erik, they have your sorceress,” Arem said, “If we don’t cooperate, those fools will kill this world and ours.”

Anne

Anne looked up at Arem as the elf pointed at one of the robed cultists. In the shining armor, Arem truly looked like something out of Lord of the Rings. Except the whole being aligned with the forces of evil. The biggest of the ten orcs nodded at Arem’s unspoken command and grunted. The eight-foot tall creature pulled drew a spear and hurtled it at the cultist. The man stumbled out of the way as the heavy spear thunked into the earth next to him. Anne cursed, but then she noticed that the pressure on her mind was gone. She could feel the streams of wild magic dancing around her. Anne looked over to the black-eyes and saw that they were all looking around dumbfounded. Even better, Sam and Jason were standing back up.

Anne felt her resevoir of power and tugged at it hard to force the streams of earth, air, heat, and dark into the binding she’d seen Veronica draw once during their lessons. It wasn’t delicate, but Anne drew even more power to brute force the binding. Satisfied, she slung the spell at the black-eyes. The dust particles in the air around the black-eyes were suddenly bound together into small pea-sized pellets that glowed with intense heat before raining down on the black-eyes. They screamed in pain as the super-heated pellets punched through them. Whatever had been holding them together broke. Maybe half of them ran into the woods screaming in pain. The rest were laying on the grass, dead or badly injured. Anne fell to her knees gasping for breath. She felt Veronica’s hand on her arm.

“Should have warned you that the link between us was two-way,” Veronica said weakly. The small woman looked like she had just ran a full marathon. Anne started to apologize, but Veronica just shook her head. “Give me a minute, and I’ll be functional. Especially without those bastards in my head.”

“That was a very interesting binding,” Arem said, standing over them. “I didn’t think anyone could do that on this side of the gate.” Arem looked like he wanted to say more, but Jason appeared out of nowhere and fired a burst into the elf. Arem grunted as the bullets tore through his armor, but he didn’t go down. Instead, he moved with an unbearably fluid grace and slapped Jason’s head with the flat of his blade. The agent went down in a heap.

“You’d best see to your menfolk,” Arem said, through gritted teeth. “One of them is badly injured, and I’m not talking about this one.” He pointed his sword at Jason’s unconscious form. Arem whipped his hand up and a gate appeared. The orcs quickly bundled through the gate before Arem strode through. Anne blinked away as the gate shut.

“Help me,” Samantha said to Anne, lifting up Veronica. The sorceress looked annoyed she needed the assistance. “I can’t hear Joseph’s thoughts. We need to go find him.” As the three women started hobbling over, the darkness was broken by the shining light from Erik’s sword. Samantha swore and pushed the trio faster.

Erik

The sudden appearance of the orcs gave Erik and Kurt a chance to pull their injured comrade away from the monstrosity trying to kill Joseph. Erik had seen enough combat to know Joseph’s injuries were far beyond his meager skills. Maybe if Veronica were here, she could sling a spell that might save the young man’s life.

Erik rocked another magazine into his ACE. If Arem’s orcs could keep those monsters busy, then Erik could finish the cultists. Those people were why Erik was in this park. He motioned for Kurt to stay with Joseph before creeping forward. Ten to one odds weren’t that great, especially considering whatever the cultists were throwing around was still screwing up his telekinetic abilities. It helped that most of them were looking at one of their number that now sprouted an orc spear out of his chest. Erik chose one of the cultists that still gripped a small machine-pistol in her hand. He brought up his rifle and placed the floating reticle on the woman’s head.

Something snapped. That was the best word Erik had to describe the feeling as psychic energies whipsawed through the air. He could hear screams from where Sam and the others had been. They must have done something. All Erik knew was that he could suddenly feel again. His empathic and telepathic senses roared back into him. Erik stood up and let his assault rifle fall on its sling. His hand fell on the hilt of Far’ling. The darkness retreated as the elven sword glowed with ferocious blue-white light. The cultists all spun at the sudden light. Most of them recoiled in horror as they saw Erik walking towards them with the sword. A few stared back defiantly and started to cast their own spells. He gave them a predatory smile. It had been quite a while since he’d truly let loose.

With a boost of power, Erik was five meters in the air. Far’ling whistled through the air before scything down two casters. The blade was already arching back to meet Erik as the Avalonian slammed down boot-first on his original target. The woman’s bones crunched satisfactorily under Erik’s mass. Erik sent his sword at a fourth cultist who was trying to gather Outsider magic. Two small mundane knives lanced out at two more trying to bring up their machine pistols with the force of crossbow bolts. Erik rolled and threw up a slanted telekinetic shield as the seventh cultist fired his machine pistol. Erik was probably one of the strongest telekinetics in the Emprire, but his shields couldn’t stop bullets. They could redirect them. The woman he’d landed on stopped groaning as a half-dozen bullets laced her back. Far’ling was barely in his hand again before Erik launched the elven blade at the shooter. Two more cultists were sprinting towards the trees. Two more knives shot out and felled both of them.

Erik caught Far’ling as the sword sailed back into his hands. He reached out with his empathic senses. Where was the tenth one? Nothing. There was no living emotions anywhere around him. Just the ghosts of the dead. Erik looked down at the design the cultists were carving into the ground and barely kept himself from vomiting. He drew up all of his remaining power and blasted the ground around him. Bodies flew and dirt and blood covered Erik as he found himself in the middle of a three meter hole. Satisfied, Erik fished the burner cell phone from one of his pouches and hit the speed dial.

“Good evening Lady Maritza,” Erik said, “I’m afraid we’re going to need a clean-up at Hope Park.”

Anne

Anne picked herself up off the ground as echoes of psychic pain throbbed through her mind. Anne didn’t know what or who had just ordered her death, but it had more psychic juice than anything she’d encountered since the Avalonians popped into her life. Her hand tightened on the grip of her carbine. She looked up as the group of forty teenagers walked robotically towards her group. Their eyes were completely – disturbingly – black.

Anne reached out to the streams of wild magic. She could feel their presence, but her mind couldn’t focus enough to touch them. There was some – distortion? – in her mind that prevented her from touching the streams. With a great deal of effort, she pushed through the distortion and ran headlong into her mental block.

PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN. echoed in Anne’s mind. This voice was different. It wasn’t painful like the earlier one, but it struck something primal in her mind. The voice was alien and human all at the same time. Fear spiked through Anne. Every teenager in front of her smiled identically.

DO NOT FIGHT. DO NOT RUN. the voice said in her mind. Her analytical mind told her that there was something wrong with the voice. Anne’s eyes went wide as she realized it wasn’t one voice. It was many voices forced into one. Fear turned to rage. The teenagers stopped and all cocked their heads quizzically. She raised her carbine. She should have listened to Erik. Well, she could rectify that error. Anne lined the holographic dot on the boy that stood at the center of the line. He looked at her with a confused expression. He was still wearing it when Anne put the bullet through his right eye.

Erik

Erik rose to a shaky crouch. He was still dealing with the double hammers of Outsider summoning magic and whatever psychic blast the cultists had managed. The psychic energy must have been focused on the other group, but just getting glanced with it was enough to make it impossible for Erik to use his own telekinesis. Even his empathic senses were screwed up.

“You didn’t happen to bring a Javelin tonight?” Joseph asked Kurt, looking as the two abominations lumbered towards them. One was a headless, eight foot tall muscle-bound humanoid, except its pectoral muscles were plate-sized eyes. It roared from a mouth that opened where the abs should have been. The other monster was only seven feet tall, and had its arms coming out of its waist and tentacles coming off of its shoulders. Where the face should have been was only smooth, pale white skin.

“Nein,” Kurt answered, crisply. Kurt must be truly disturbed to slip back into his native tongue. Kurt brought his shotgun up and fired at the headless monster. It bellowed as the slug slammed between it’s huge eyes. Viscous silver fluid oozed out of the hole. The monster barely missed a step as it bore down on the three men.

Joseph crab-stepped a few paces to the side and opened fire on the cultists behind the abominations. One screamed as Joseph’s burst tore through his torso.

“I assume there was a reason for that,” Erik said. He took a breath and pushed back down the pain before squeezing the trigger on his ACE. Brilliant orange fluid splurted from half-a-dozen holes in the shorter monster’s head.

“I was hoping that killing the robes sent those things back,” Joseph answered. He took down a second cultist. “I don’t know what’s more terrifying. The roar from the big one or the ultimate silence from the small one.”

“Schweigen,” Kurt answered, emptying his shotgun at the headless monster. Slugs and buckshot laced the monster’s torso. Dozens of holes, including several in the large eyes, leaked the silver fluid, but the monster kept coming. Erik turned his ACE on the large monster.

“Concentrate on the big one and try to take it down!” Erik ordered. He stitched the creature with the remainder of his magazine. As Kurt and Erik reloaded, Joseph fired a long burst into the monster. It’s roar sent shivers of fear down Erik’s spine. There was something fundamentally wrong with the sound emanating from that abomination.

Erik yanked the charging handle on his ACE and put three long bursts into the monster. He squeezed the trigger again, but the magazine was empty. Erik let the ACE drop on its sling and he drew the custom revolver from its shoulder holster. The first shot rocked Erik back. He was too used to using his telekinetic powers helping to dampen the recoil of the mammoth revolver. He braced and emptied the cylinder into the monster as both Kurt and Joseph emptied their own weapons into the monster. With a roar, the monster went down to one knee.

The second monster appeared out of thin air behind Joseph. Erik tried to shout, but the monster moved with blinding speed. One tentacle ripped the M4 out of Joseph’s hands while the second tentacle slammed Joseph across the back. Joseph fell to the ground. Erik and Kurt watched with horror as the monster leapt into the air and landed on Joseph’s back with a sickening crack.

Anne

The two groups stared at each other for a second as the smoke wafted from the barrel of Anne’s carbine. The roar of the abomination from across the grassy field galvanized both sides. The black-eyes – Anne couldn’t think of them as teenagers anymore if she wanted to survive – stared at the group and Anne felt terror rise under their psychic lashing.

Jason and Samantha writhed on the ground, both unable to overcome the black-eyes assault. Veronica, on the other hand, smiled and held out her hand. A ball of blue flame danced above her hand. With a whispered word, the ball streaked to one of the black-eyes. The girl didn’t even have time to scream. She just vanished. Veronica collapsed to one knee. Anne fired two bursts from her carbine and knelt next to Veronica.

“That took a lot more out of me than it should have,” Veronica said. The black-eyes stopped and fell into what looked like a fighting stance. The next thing Anne knew, she was on the cool grass as waves of vertigo and nausea swept through her. She looked over at Veronica. The sorceress was on the ground as well with her eyes closed. She was swearing in what sounded like Hindi.

“Oh that was a nasty one, wasn’t it?” a familiar voice said from above. Anne looked up and saw Arem’s smiling visage standing over her.

“I told Erik he was going to need my help tonight,” Arem said. Anne rolled over and saw a gate between them and the black-eyes. Ten orcs wearing heavy metal plates and gripping long spears walked out of the gate. Half of them turned to face the black-eyes as the rest surrounded Arem.

“As the humans say, let’s finish this,” Arem said, and all ten orcs screamed.

*Anne*

Anne cradled her suppressed carbine as her team charged from the woods onto the grassy clearing. Jason was to her right and slightly behind with his M4. Behind them came Veronica and Samantha. Although both were armed with submachine guns, Veronica let hers dangle on its sling. She wanted both hands free for slinging spells. The sorceress was already linked to Anne so that she could draw on the wild magic Anne had gathered up.

“*Metro Police! Hands on top of your heads and down on your knees!*” Anne yelled as her quartet approached the group of thirty to forty teens milling around the edge of the ritual site. Anne avoided looking over at the robed figures. Something about what they were etching into the grass made her queasy. Not a feeling she wanted to deal with at the moment. All of the Avalonians had it much worse. Part of the reason that Anne and Jason were in front of the other two was that both of the Avalonians were fighting nauseous from whatever was going on at that side of the clearing.

The teens all looked over at the four, but instead of bolting into the woods, they started forming lines of about eight wide and five deep. It reminded Anne of a blind date that ended up at one of the country and western bars.

*Something’s very wrong, here,* Anne thought over the telepathic link that Samantha was maintaining among the team.

*You just noticed?* Veronica replied, *Those kids are touched by the Outsiders. Can’t you feel it from them?*

*No,* Anne answered.

*I’m starting to think Erik was right. We should just shoot them,* Samantha commented, *Their surface thoughts are twisted.*

*We can’t do that,* Jason observed, *I’m damn sure not about to wade into that many of them just to cuff them. Let’s just hold here and make sure that they stay out of the others’ way.* Almost as if summoned, gunfire erupted behind them.

——

*Erik*

Erik, Kurt, and Joseph were halfway across the clearing when Anne’s yell broke their silence. The robed cultists all turned as one. Erik shouldered the Galil ACE suppressed assault rifle and fired a burst at the nearest cultist. Oh yes, he liked this Israeli gun much better than those Russian ones he’d been using before. Not as good as an Imperial Armory Mark VII, but fairly decent. His target let out a short scream of pain before crumpling to the ground. Kurt took a second cultist with his Benelli while Joseph killed a third with his suppressed AR. Americans certainly loved their little pop-guns. To be fair, their 5.56mm cartridge seemed to do just fine against most humans, even if they wouldn’t take down creatures like orcs or trolls.

A half-sphere of darkness sprang up between the robed cultists and Erik’s trio of shooters. All three instinctually hit the ground as some of the cultists sprayed automatic fire indiscriminately. Kurt and Erik traded sidelong glances. The German shrugged as if to say *I didn’t see any of those when we were scouting.* Erik nodded in reply. These were obviously some of those small machine pistols. The cultists also didn’t seem to understand how to use them properly. Erik hated dealing with ill-trained amateurs. He reached out with his psy-senses into the darkness. He bit back a wave of nausea as his powers intersected the twisted magic of the Outsiders. Finding a target, he pointed his ACE and fired a short burst. Erik was rewarded by a gurgling scream.

“We should have brought the grenades,” Kurt said, firing a pair of harassment blasts into the darkness.

“Grenades? Hell, we should have brought a flamethrower,” Joseph replied. Erik was starting to like the Army Ranger-turned-hacker. The man was not only skilled, but incredibly calm during very stressful situations. That wasn’t something you found everyday.

“Flamethrowers are messy and finicky,” Erik said, getting up to a crouch and closing with the cultists. “I was thinking more of a Metal Storm.”

“Wait, you have one of those?” Joseph asked as he and Kurt followed Erik’s movement. Erik could feel his excitement pulse at the thought.

“Not on this side of the gate, but we use them quite a bit back home,” Erik said. “Very good against mass walls of orcs.” The three hit the ground again as the cultists finally got their weapons reloaded and proceeded to empty their magazines again.

“You’d think they’d learn how to properly aim,” Kurt said before swearing in German. “Erik, we could probably build a Metal Storm. After all, if the Australians could, we should be able to.”

“That would be cool,” Joseph said, firing at a cultist that took a step just outside the darkness sphere. The cultist spun and collapsed face first into the grass.

Erik was about to agree when a wave of intense Outsiders magic swept over him. His ACE slipped from his hands as Erik doubled over and vomited everything he’d eaten for the last two days. His head spun violently as he tried to stand back up. Instinctively, he reached out with his telekinesis to brace himself, but found it wouldn’t respond to his thoughts. He couldn’t summon the proper concentration.

“Time to go,” Joseph said, grabbing the drag handle on Erik’s armor and yanking Erik back towards the other group. Erik managed to pick his head up long enough to see that the bubble of darkness was gone. In the middle of the cultists stood two *things*. Both stood well over eight feet tall and were roughly humanoid. That was all Erik could discern. Even looking at the creatures caused intense pain from their wrongness.

——

*Anne*

Anne’s head throbbed with psychic backlash as their telepathic link was violently ripped apart. Samantha screamed in agony behind her, but Anne forced herself to keep watching the now square of teens in front of them. Whatever just happened made Anne sick to her stomach and she felt the lines of wild magic – quaver? Was this what Veronica had been feeling from the Browne suicide? It certainly felt *wrong.*

Two monstrous roars drew Anne’s attention to where the cultists had been. In the midst of the robes were two huge creatures. One was looked like a headless, eight foot tall wrestler, until she realized that its pectoral muscles were actually eyes and the roar was coming from a mouth that opened where the abs should have been. The other had its arms coming out of its waist and tentacles coming off of its shoulders. And no face. Where the face should have been was only smooth, pale white skin.

“Oh hell,” Jason swore. Anne turned back to the teens. All of them were staring at her with solid black eyes and emotionless faces. Fear flooded Anne.

*KILL THEM MY CHILDREN!* screamed a voice through Anne’s head. It was more painful than even when the vampires forced themselves into her head. It took her a moment to realize that she was on her knees and screaming.

Erik

Erik looked at the chained gates of Hope Park. Lady Maritza was not going to be happy when she found out about their activities tonight, which was why Erik hadn’t “borrowed” Nigel and John from her. That was annoying, because Erik could’ve used a couple more good shooters if they ran into the cultists. Erik shook his head at that thought. Of all the things that Joseph managed to dig out of the data he’d stolen from the Americans, the fact there was a cult dedicated to the Outsiders was probably the biggest shock. Didn’t those fools understand the true horror of the creatures they were trying to summon?

“Kurt, go,” Erik radioed. Kurt and Joseph stepped out of the sedan behind Erik’s van. As the two men snuck into the park, Erik felt Jason move closer. The American’s emotions were stormy, to say the least. Erik wanted to exclude the agent from coming on this mission, but he’d walked into the clubhouse as they were gearing up. Erik tried to discourage Jason from coming, but the agent just donned his own set of armor and picked up his suppressed M4.

“This is Hope Park,” Jason said flatly.

“Yes,” Erik said.

“Why are we here?” Jason asked, the anger in his emotions leaking into his normally controlled voice.

“I told you. We received new intelligence on some people that may be helping the Outsiders. It pointed us here,” Erik answered, “Kurt and Joseph are going in to confirm what we were told.”

“And then we’ll call the task force?” Jason asked.

“No,” Erik answered, and Jason’s anger spiked. “If they’re in the park, we don’t have time to wait for your people to show up. According to the intelligence, these helpers are doing something critical for the Outsiders. So, we’ll go in and take them out.”

“First of all, you were told to stay the hell out of this,” Jason said, “Personally, I figured that would be impossible based on what you told me on how Avalonians view the Outsiders, so I didn’t say anything back at the clubhouse. Now, if Kurt and this Joseph person finds something in the park, I’m going to call my people and order that you stand down.” Erik turned and gave Jason a level look.

“No, you won’t,” Erik said, “You and your task force think this is just another cult that just happened to figure out how to use some kind of wild magic. That is not the case. If your agents go in thinking that, they will be wiped out.”

“And you think your team, even with this Joseph person and me, would be able to do so?” Jason retorted.

“If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be here,” Erik answered. Jason wasn’t happy with the answer, but he sat back and didn’t say anything more. Erik could feel Veronica’s and Anne’s anxiety from the argument, and he was fairly certain that Samantha was giving him that familiar concerned look. Well, dammit, Jason should have stayed away from this. At least his coming along gave Erik another gun. Time stretched as the group waited for Kurt and Joseph to report. Finally, Erik’s phone buzzed in it’s pouch.

Party’s here. About fifty or so. Nobody seems to have brought any toys. Kurt texted. Erik put the phone away and ordered everyone out. He made sure to grab the bag with Kurt and Joseph’s weapons and gear. It wouldn’t have been good for their scouts to be caught with fully automatic weapons by the police. These Americans had odd ideas about proper weapons.

Veronica cast a quick glamour over them as Samantha unlocked the gate with the key Erik “borrowed” from Lady Maritza. Well, it was her husband’s park, after all. The five of them quickly moved through the gate. They moved through the wooded grounds of the park, invisible to most eyes. Kurt and Joseph emerged from the woods as they neared where the cultists were supposed to be preparing.

“They are right where they were supposed to be,” Joseph said. The Ranger-turned-hacker had accepted Erik’s offer of more steady employment with the Avalonians. Erik wasn’t sure if it was the generous compensation, or because of the way his emotions flared around Samantha. The two had worked very closely together on the data Joseph had stolen from the Americans. Joseph stuffed a few pouches with spare magazines before continuing. “There are about ten to fifteen of them in dark robes. They look like something out of a B-horror flick. They’re busy digging lines into the grass. The rest of them look like kids that just came back from a metal or punk concert.”

“No weapons?” Jason asked.

“Beyond what looked like a few ceremonial knives and the spades they were using to dig the lines, we didn’t see any,” Kurt answered.

“Well, that will make this easy,” Erik said. “I almost wish I’d let you bring the gimpy, Kurt. We could have just taken them down with machine gun fire.” Anne, Jason, and Joseph all gave Erik horrified looks. “What?”

“You can’t just mow down unarmed people because they have odd religious beliefs,” Anne said.

“Those people have dedicated themselves to the Outsiders!” Veronica protested, “That is not an ‘odd religious belief.’ That is like playing with a nuclear bomb.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Jason said. “We still don’t know who among them truly understand what they are truly dangerous and how many of them are there because they happen to have kooky ideas. Taking out the guys in the robes, fine. We can’t wholesale slaughter unarmed kids just because they got sucked into this cult.”

“Erik, you’re not going to change their minds on this,” Samantha said, “It is fundamental to them as part of their American identity.”

“Fine,” Erik said through clenched teeth. Of all the stupid things to get squeamish over. “Veronica, I want you, Samantha, Anne, and Jason to corral those kids away from the robed cultists. Try not to hurt them too badly, but make damned sure that they stay out of our way. Kurt, Joseph, and I will take down the robes. Will that work, or do you have some more objections?” Anne and Jason shook their heads. Erik muttered a string of curses as the group made their way to the grassy clearing.

Anne

“Wow, you look like you had a rough night,” Anne said as Jason flopped down at his desk. The normally meticulous agent’s suit was rumpled. In fact, Anne was pretty sure it was the same suit he’d worn the previous day. Jason looked up at her with dulled eyes and heavy five o’clock shadow.

“Someone attacked the task force’s offices last night,” Jason replied, with a hint of hostility. “We think it was Arem and a couple of unknown actors. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it?”

“Why would I?” Anne asked, her own anger rising.

“Well, the team decides to work with Arem, and suddenly he’s attacking us,” Jason answered, “Plus, I know that Lady Maritza asked to see the task force’s intelligence and was told it was an internal matter. So, I’m wondering if our two unknowns were Erik and Kurt.”

“Well, I can tell you that Kurt wasn’t involved last night,” Anne shot back. Jason gave her a knowing look, and she felt her cheeks heat. “Well, he wasn’t.”

“Fine, but what about Erik?” Jason asked.

“Honestly couldn’t tell you,” Anne said, “He’s in and out at all hours anyway.”

“Was he out last night?” Jason pressed.

“Like I said, I honestly couldn’t tell you,” Anne answered, “I was kind of occupied all night.”

“Listen Anne, there are good reasons for the task force to do things the way that they do, so if you know anything, I need you to let me know,” Jason said, and then held up his hand, “Sorry, I’m not saying you’re holding anything back from me right now, but if you find something out, you need to let me know. The Avalonians are generally nice people, but they aren’t Americans. Their allegiance is to a foreign power whose interests don’t always mesh with ours.”

“Fine, Jason, I’ll let you know,” Anne said, letting her anger cover the conflict brewing inside her. She intellectually understood what Jason was trying to tell her, but it was hard to believe that any of the Avalonians – even Erik – would do anything to harm her or her country.

“So why did Arem attack the task force?” Anne asked, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Leading theories are to get us out of the way, or to steal something from us,” Jason answered.

“Was something stolen?” Anne asked.

“I can’t tell you that,” Jason answered, “Sorry, but that’s classified.” He did look contrite, so Anne didn’t push it. “So what do we have on the docket for today?”

“Besides getting you some coffee?” Anne asked, “I figured we’d swing by the Korean market again and ask around. I’m still not satisfied that the uniforms did a sufficient canvass. Then, maybe go talk to Mrs. Reynolds about those odd transactions.”

“Let’s get moving before the captain sees me,” Jason said. “You said there was coffee involved, right?”

“That wonderful smell had better be dinner, because I’m famished,” Anne announced to the group as she stepped through the door. Anne and the Avalonians lived in a converted hotel that was owned by Lady Maritza. Although everyone’s rooms had a small kitchenette, the group tried to eat at least one meal together. It helped that Lady Maritza sent some of her staff out to the apartments to “look after” the group.

“Let me guess, you missed lunch again,” Kurt twitted her as he held out her chair. She was getting used to all those small gestures, and wondered why they didn’t bother her when Kurt did them.

“We were busy,” Anne said, “Just before we went to lunch, we caught another case. We were there for less than an hour before some damned rookie came up with our suspect in cuffs. Seems the kid saw our suspect dump the gun and still had the victim’s wallet on him. Then it was just type everything up and send it over to the DA’s.”

“It’s a shame all of your cases don’t go that well,” Samantha said, handing Anne a plate of roast chicken. “I bet Jason was happy.”

“Yeah, about Jason,” Anne said, “Did you know that the task force was attacked last night?” She watched Erik as she asked the question. Anne wasn’t sure what she was hoping to see on Erik’s face, but the man’s blank expression never wavered.

“By the outsiders?” Erik asked.

“No, they think it was Arem and two others,” Anne answered.

“Why would Arem attack the task force?” Veronica asked.

“Maybe to steal something,” Anne said, still watching Erik. God, sometimes the man was worse than Kristen Stewart when it came to facial expression. They locked eyes for the briefest moment before Anne looked down at her plate.

“You think I was with Arem during this attack,” Erik said flatly, almost as if he could read her mind. No, he was just probably guessing based on her emotions. He was scary good at that.

“Let’s say the possibility has been broached,” Anne said. She was expecting an uproar of outrage from the Avalonians, but they all acted as if she’d accused him of buying the wrong kind of pop instead of committing an act of espionage against a government agency.

“Lady Maritza would never countenance such action,” Erik answered, “Such an act could have the American government telling us all to leave.”

“So, where were you?” Anne asked.

“I was meeting with an asset to see if I could find out more about the outsiders,” Erik said. “Hopefully, we’ll have something in a day or so.”

“Jason told us that we’re supposed to stay out of it,” Anne said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop our investigation,” Erik answered, “It just means we’re going to have to use more subtle means. The Americans may be satisfied that this has nothing to do with you, but my responsibilities are to make sure.”

“We know this puts you in a bad spot,” Samantha said, shooting a harsh look at Erik, “I promise, if we find anything that can help the task force, we’ll turn it over to them.”

“What about Arem? Are you going to turn him over?” Anne asked.

“We have a truce for moment, so no,” Erik said, “Of course, if they catch him on their own, we’re not obligated to help him.”

They ate the rest of the meal discussing minor things. Anne barely paid attention. She knew Erik wasn’t telling her everything, but to be fair, he never told her everything. Still, there was something nagging her instincts about the way he answered her questions. Part of her wanted to press him, but she was scared of the answers he’d give. What would she have done if Erik admitted to being with Arem on the attack? Could she turn any of these people at the table over to Jason and the task force?

Erik

Erik watched Anne during dinner. He could feel the tumultuous mix of emotions roiling around inside her. Erik knew this time would come when Anne would be put between his team and her birth nation. He’d hoped it wouldn’t happen for a bit longer, but he was professional enough to know that fecal matter sometimes impacted the turbine.

Erik worked very hard never to lie to Anne. If he and his team were going to protect her, they needed her to trust them. He was going to have to walk the tightrope until the outsiders were dealt with. He was hoping that then the Americans would go find some other shiny toy to occupy them, and he could go back to dealing with the immediate threats to Anne. Maybe Lady Maritza could talk with her. Anne trusted the woman and Lady Maritza was a gifted politician.

His phone buzzed at his side. The package is ready for your inspection. Joseph. There had better be something useful from the Americans’ files. Erik hated to think he’d risked so much for nothing.

Erik

Erik paced around the warehouse impatiently and swore under his breath. Why couldn’t any elf ever be punctual? It wasn’t like he could afford to wait around all night waiting for Arem to show up. He looked down at the luminous dial of his watch. Eleven o’clock. He swore some more. It was at that point that the circle opened up in the middle of the warehouse.

“You’re late,” Erik snarled as Arem stepped out of the gate. Another man stepped out of the gate. Like both Erik and Arem, the new arrival was dressed in dark business casual clothing. Slung across the new arrival’s torso was a leather messenger bag. For most people, this man would look just like another professional, but Erik had his psi-scent. This man was a professional, but there was a streak of violence hiding just below the surface. Erik recognized it from years of being around Imperial Security agents and freelancers.

“Jaegar, this is Joseph,” Arem said, “He’ll handle the extraction.”

“What do you need from us?” Erik asked Joseph.

“From what Arem described, I’ll need at least ten minutes inside, with access to a computer hooked to their network,” Joseph said, “After that, it could take anywhere from four hours to four weeks before I can get you any data. Best estimate is twenty to forty hours.”

“Then let’s not waste any time,” Erik said, motioning for the two to follow him. Outside the trio got into the car Erik had procured for the night’s activities. They discussed the plan as Erik navigated the city’s streets. The American task force had set up shop in the federal building. Erik’s contact in the building told them that the new agents were using some “swing space” on the fourth floor and managed to procure a master keycard. Arem produced some identities for an IRS field team and even some official-looking paperwork for an audit of some business in the city. Damn, it was good working with professionals on a thrown together operation.

As they got off on the fourth floor, Erik walked to the suite’s doors and waved the keycard. As they stepped through, the trio was met by two stern men in business suits and cradling MP7’s.

“Who are you?” the shorter one asked. Erik held out the ID’s that Arem had passed him on the ride over. The man scrutinized the documents against Erik’s face.

“Kevin Yeagar, from the Cleveland office,” Erik said in his best Midwestern accent, “What’s with the guns guys?”

“Nothing you need to know about,” the tall one said with a menacing look on his face. Erik did his best to look cowed.

“Sure, no problem,” Erik said, “Look, we just want to set up in our office, finish the last of our documentation tonight so that our boss won’t bitch, and then go get checked in with the hotel.” Shorty examined the paper Arem handed him that stated the trio were supposed to have one of the conference rooms assigned to them.

“The problem is that we don’t have anything about an IRS team coming in,” Shorty said, “Wait here while I call this in.”

“Whatever you want, officer,” Erik said. As soon as he felt the two men’s emotions spike, Erik knew that he’d made a mistake. He didn’t wait for them to act. Two blasts of power knocked the men off their feet. Arem placed hands on the two men, and they went still. Erik could still feel their emotions, so Arem had just knocked them out.

“Alternate plan,” Erik said, “Arem, fake an attack. Don’t kill anyone. Give us at least fifteen minutes, then extract back to the car. We’ll meet you there.” Arem nodded and picked up the submachine guns. As the elf walked back into the suite, Erik motioned for Joseph to follow him. “As soon as Arem starts causing havoc, we’ll get you into one of the offices.” It didn’t take long before shouts and gunfire to fill the suite. Erik felt around for an office without any emotions. He kicked the locked door open and ushered Joseph inside. Joseph was busily pulling out wires from his satchel as he made a beeline for the office’s computer. Erik braced the closed door with just a bit of power.

“For future reference, you might want to refrain from calling a federal agent an ‘officer,'” Joseph said as he tapped away at the keyboard. Erik let out a stream of profanity. It was always something small. Joseph chuckled. “Have you ever worked in the Latin America countries?”

“No, why?” Erik asked.

“There’s so many ways to screw up down there,” Joseph said, “Tiniest mistake with the local dialect, which of course sounds like every other dialect, and suddenly you’re in front of some narco death squad.” Erik chuckled. Then, he let Joseph get to work as he plotted their escape. The office window looked out onto Bridge Avenue. There was too high of a chance of being spotted by a passerby going out that way. Erik reached out with his empathic sense. Arem was keeping the agents busy at the far end of the suite. Why not walk right back out the way they’d come? They could go down a couple of floors, and then use the masterkey on that suite, which would allow them to go out the window-.

“Time to go!” Arem said, appearing in the office through a gate.

“I don’t have everything,” Joseph said.

“No time,” Arem replied. “They’ve got a pair of sorceresses that are far better than any human has a right to be. Especially on this planet.” Joseph yanked out a pair of portable hard drives and then typed in a command.

“That should give their IT people some fits,” Joseph said, before jumping through the gate. Erik followed Joseph. The gate opened back into the parking garage. The trio piled into the car and Erik casually drove them out. Four blocks from the federal building, they switched to another car. Arem magically scoured the vehicle. A half-hour later the trio split up to go their own ways.

Anne

Anne admitted to herself that the meditation room was pretty cool. The soundproofed walls were a warm pink. Anne could detect the faint scents of flowers. She sat cross-legged in one of the circles drawn into the thick beige carpet. Veronica was in another circle across from her. Between them on a small table were a quartet of lit candles arranged in a diamond. Those helped amplify the weak streams of wild stream that managed to make it into the meditation room.

“Do you think you can try to sling the spell?” Veronica asked.

“I think so,” Anne answered, focusing on the simulcrum that Veronica had summoned for the exercise. Anne looked at the streams of wild magic. There was barely enough earth and dark streams in the room for the complicated binding. Anne reached out with her mind and started to pull the streams together. Her head throbbed as she made one binding and then another. She could feel the block in her mind pressing against her. It was the same anytime she did complicated magic. A spike of pain lanced through her head just as she was trying to finish the last binding. She lost concentration and the spell fell apart. The simulcrum danced at the colorful sparkles as the streams of wild magic went back to their natural positions.

“What happened?” Veronica asked patiently.

“The damned block is what happened,” Anne answered. She stood up and started pacing back and forth. “I should have been able to do that. I should have been able to unravel it when Arem cast it on me.”

“Cast, probably,” Veronica said, “Unravel, I’m not so sure. Especially when you’d never seen it before.”

“You did,” Anne said.

“I also knew of that kind of spell as well as having a significantly better understanding of the basic elements of magic,” Veronica said, primly, “Would you expect an officer just out of the academy, even a gifted one, to know how to properly run a murder investigation?” Anne stopped pacing and grimaced.

“No,” Anne answered, sitting back down in her circle, “It’s just I know that there’s more power and ability behind that block. I just can’t figure out how to unravel it. I wish Samantha could just rip it apart.”

“The mind’s a dangerous place to do that kind of thing,” Veronica reminded her.

“I know. I do. It’s just frustrating,” Anne said, “Samantha can’t even figure out what’s causing it.” A soft knock at the door interrupted them. Almost as if she’d been summoned, Samantha stuck her head into the room. Veronica and Anne traded an amused glance.

“Jason’s finally here, and Erik wants to talk with all of us,” Samantha said.

“Well, we shouldn’t keep him waiting,” Anne said, standing up. Veronica nodded, but looked slightly put out. Well, she never thought Anne had enough practice. Anne followed Samantha down the hall to what had been dubbed the “Crisis Lounge,” much to Erik’s annoyance.

Anne picked up one of the tablets scattered about the room. It read her fingerprints and immediately configured to her preferences. Six big plasma monitors hung around the room were showing feeds from around the city. Anne sat down next to Kurt on one of the two couches. Kurt handed her a mug of coffee, which she rewarded him with a quick peck on the cheek. Jason was ensconced on one of the overstuffed chairs with a bottle of beer in one hand as he looked at the tablet in the other. Samantha poured herself a tumbler of scotch from the bar while Veronica availed herself to a soda. They sat down on the other couch before picking up tablets. Erik was standing next to one of the plasmas.

Erik pushed something from his tablet onto the screen. The picture looked like some of the medieval manuscripts Anne had seen at the art museum. If you discounted the fact that everyone in the picture had pointed ears and that they were fighting a creature unlike any she’d seen before. Just looking at it made her head throb a bit. From the looks on everyone’s faces, they were feeling the same discomfort.

“Erik, why are we looking at the Tableau of Seran?” Veronica asked.

“Because it’s the one surviving account of the last time the elves had to battle the Outsiders. From all accounts, it took the combined efforts of every sentient species on Avalon to stop the Outsiders, and even then the losses were horrendous,” Erik answered. He focused on Anne, Jason, and Kurt. “That headache you feel is extreme cognitive dissonance as you look at something that shouldn’t exist. At least, not in our universe. The story is that the artist went insane after finishing the painting.” He wiped the screen and threw up Reginald Browne’s obituary from the paper.

“Thank you for taking down that picture, but what does these Outsiders have to do with Reginald Browne’s death?” Jason asked.

“Arem and his mistress are convinced that Browne’s death was caused by the Outsiders, or their minions,” Erik answered.

“That’s nice, but one, how can we trust anything Arem says, and two, what does that have to with us?” Jason asked.

“Arem, at the very least, believes he’s telling the truth,” Erik answered, “He’s not immune to my empathic senses.”

“Moreover, no elf, not even a dark elf, would ever joke or mislead using the Outsiders. It just isn’t done. The event was just too terrible,” Veronica said.

“Okay, fine. Give me everything you have on these Outsiders, and I’ll turn it over to the task force,” Jason said. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate the help.”

“Jason, these Outsiders aren’t something that the American government can handle on its own,” Erik said, “You are going to need our help.”

“That will have to be decided on by higher level decision makers,” Jason said, “For the time being, they are the concern of the task force. Your efforts should be focused on making sure that Arem doesn’t use this as an opportunity to snatch Anne.” Erik started to fire back a reply, but he caught the look on Sam’s face.

“Everything we have on the Outsiders is on the network,” Erik said. “It’s not much. You should be able to download it to your flash drive.” Jason nodded and started the download from his tablet. “With Arem back, we’re going to need to tighten your security circle, Anne.” As expected, she grimaced. Erik let Kurt and Sam take over that part of the conversation.

Erik

As the others talked about Anne’s security arrangements, Erik tapped a quick message to Lady Maritza.

“Jason refuses to push for our involvement in the Outsiders,” Erik sent to Lady Maritza.

“I told you that would happen,” Lady Maritza replied, “The Americans do not understand the gravity of the situation. What are your plans now?“

“The less you know, the more you can deny,” Erik tapped out.

“Be very careful of how you handle this,” Lady Maritza answered, “Not even the Saint can protect you if the American government decides to expel you. Or just kill you.“

Anne

Anne’s hand darted to the butt of her Glock as she stared up into the smiling face of Arem. Anne couldn’t understand how the dark elf was here. She was sure that when she unraveled the spell Arem cast to drag her back to Avalon had killed him. Of course, Erik thought he had killed Arem before, and he showed back up.

“Please relax, Detective,” Arem said, with a soothing tone in his melodious voice, “I am not here to try and take you back across the gate. Unless, of course, you want to return with me?”

“Not a chance in hell,” Anne growled.

“I thought not, but it never hurts to ask,” Arem said, shrugging his shoulders, “By the way, it’s your turn to order.” Anne studied his face for a long moment before turning around to place her order with the annoyed counterperson. Of course, she didn’t see Arem as a twisted dark elf bent on abducting Anne back to the Dark Towers. Anne hit the panic button on her phone as she paid for her food. She grabbed the bag and walked outside. If something was going down, it would be better for Anne to have a bit more room to work.

“Well, since you’ve summoned Jaegar and his team, we’ll have to make this quick. Meliandre sent me here to warn you about the outsiders working in your city. I think you’ve already come across their handiwork. Be careful dealing with them.” Arem actually looked put out. Anne focused on the wild magic around her. Maybe she could put Arem down on her own.

“I see you’ve become much stronger since the last time we talked,” Arem said, approvingly. “Unfortunately, you’re going to have to be faster if you’re going to try and take me down. Especially with magic.” In an instant, there were bands of magic surrounding Anne. The bindings were more intricate than anything she could do, but Anne could see their deadly purpose. If she even grazed one of the bands, the magic would dump into her and burn her from the inside out.

“I thought your boss wanted me alive,” Anne observed.

“She does, but honestly, if you can’t figure your way out of that little trap, you would be of no use to her,” Arem said. “Besides, you need to learn this little trick if you’re going to deal with the outsiders. They don’t interact with this world properly.”

“Who are these outsiders?” Anne asked.

“Entities that live beyond our universe,” Arem explained. He seemed pleased that Anne wasn’t trying to fight him. “They come from a universe that works very different from ours.”

“So why are they here?” Anne asked. Arem shrugged.

“We don’t know,” Arem answered, “There’s something in our universe that they want. More to the point, something on this world that they want. The outsiders invaded our world ten thousand years ago. They nearly destroyed every sentient being on the planet before they were pushed back out. That’s about all we know.”

“How is that all you know?” Anne asked, “There’s got to be more than that.”

“All of the writings from that are impossible to make sense from. It was like the entire planet when insane. Even the most coherent of the writings read like they were the ramblings of a madman,” Arem said. He looked up and frowned. “We will have to discuss this later.” He walked back into the cafe. Anne found out the reason for his abrupt departure a moment later. Anne felt Samantha connect her to their telepathic link. Anne could feel Samantha, Veronica, and Kurt, and assumed that Erik was with them as well.

Was that Arem? Samantha asked over the telepathic link.

Yeah, and he put in some kind of magic trap. Veronica, can you give me a hand? Anne asked as she focused on the bands of magic.

Damn, but that elf can do good work, Veronica said, examining the bands of magic, I can’t see anything from the outside. Samantha, can you help me see what she’s seeing from her side? Anne felt the odd sensation of Samantha probing further into her mind. It was like having cold water poured into her mind and out through her eyes.

“Kurt, stay with them,” Erik said as he joined them. “I’m going after Arem.”

“Erik,” Samantha said, the caution clear in her tone.

“No, if he’s back, I’m going to deal with him sooner than later,” Erik said. He pushed his way into the cafe.

Erik

Erik ignored the angry glares from the other cafe patrons as he shouldered his way in. He suspected Arem had survived being sucked back to the Dark Towers. Part of him was glad, because Erik wanted to be the one to finally put paid to that elf’s life. Erik scanned the cafe, but couldn’t find the elf among the crowd. Well, Erik had more tools in his toolbox.

Erik reached out with his senses and found Arem’s psi-scent. Erik pushed through the crowd to a side entrance. He followed Arem’s psi-trail down the street and around a corner. It seemed to stop cold in front of a three-story brick office building. Erik looked around the crowded street. No, Arem wouldn’t have gated in the middle of the street, in the middle of the day. Erik looked up. Arem stood on the roof of the building, that infuriating smile on his face. Erik walked back to the alley behind the office building.

A quick thrust of power shot him up to the roof. Erik rolled as his feet his the concrete. He came up with his suppressed pistol in his hands. Arem hadn’t moved. Erik fired two quick shots. As expected, the bullets were knocked aside by a shimmering shield. Erik stood and holstered his pistol. There were ways of dealing with a shield.

“As much as I would love to continue our running fight, Jaegar, Meliandre specifically told me not to on this trip,” Arem said. Erik read Arem’s emotions. The elf was telling the truth.

“Why?” Erik asked.

“The things Anne and you are dealing with are dangerous to everyone, including Meliandre and her kin,” Arem answered. “Far better for you to defeat them here, then let them come across the gate.” Erik felt the well-hidden streak of fear in Arem.

“What are we dealing with, Arem?” Erik asked.

“The outsiders,” Arem answered. Erik so wanted to call Arem a liar to his face, but Arem wasn’t lying.

“How does Meliandre know the outsiders are here?” Erik asked. “Maybe she’s mistaken.”

“She wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t come to this city,” Arem said, “Their activities here gave her enough to figure out their presence on this world. So, she sent me back here to protect Anne.”

“Why does Meliandre think the outsiders are after Anne?” Erik asked, “They could be after something else entirely.”

“Honestly, Jaegar, does that thought make you feel any better?” Arem shot back.

“No,” Erik answered flatly. “Do your cousins know?”

“Honestly, I don’t know and I don’t give a damn,” Arem said, “You can tell them if you want. It’s not like they are going to do anything without spending a month trying to read the stars. We don’t have that kind of time.” Erik chuckled at the dig.

“So, we put aside our fight to deal with the outsiders?” Erik asked, “Is that why you let me catch up with you?”

“A very limited truce,” Arem said, “We will share information on the outsiders’ activities here and make sure that they do not get their hands on Anne.”

“You stop trying to steal her across the gate until the outsiders’ activities are stopped in the city,” Erik said. Arem frowned.

“I won’t stop asking her if she wants to come with me, but I won’t resort to manipulating her,” Arem said.

“Hell, no, Arem,” Erik replied. “I’m willing to work with the Dark Towers, but I’m not about to violate my primary mission. You even think about asking her, and one of my team will end you.” Arem looked like he was pondering Erik’s words. It might have worked better if Erik couldn’t read his emotions.

“Fine. Bring all of your information and we’ll meet in Conrad Park at midnight,” Arem said. Then, he gated away. Erik waited a minute to make sure it wasn’t a trick of glamour so Arem could ambush him. Satisfied that the elf was gone, Erik spent the next ten minutes stomping around the roof cursing.

Anne

“MacMurtry, Hearst, bring your case files and notes on the Browne suicide to my office,” Captain Smith asked from his office doorway. Anne gave Jason a questioning look, but he pretended not to notice. He’d been cagey since they’d walked into the squad room. Anne’s instincts were telling her something was wrong. She grabbed the folder with all of her material on the case and followed Jason into the captain’s office. The captain wasn’t alone.

The man and the woman waiting in the captain’s office were both dressed in dark suits that screamed fibbie. The man was older, his brown hair sprinkled liberally with gray and lines etched into his face. His brown eyes were flat and complemented his stern lantern-jawed visage. The woman reminded Anne of Veronica. She had that same dark olive skin and long, straight black hair. She was Anne’s own height with a lean, runner’s build. She tried to match her partner’s stern, no-nonsense look, but it just didn’t work as well.

“Thank you, Captain Smith,” the man said as the two detectives walked into the now-crowded office. There was a trace of a northeastern accent. Boston, maybe? “We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. I hate to impose, but do you mind if we talked with the two detectives privately for a moment.” The captain’s face went neutral, which Anne knew meant he was well and truly pissed. Getting thrown out of your own office would do that to most people.

“I’m going to talk with Welks and Rodriguez about their case,” the captain said to Anne and Jason, pointedly ignoring the two feds. “Let me know when you’re done, and then get back to your open cases.” The stocky man bulled out into the squad room, barely missing the two feds. The woman closed the door and made sure the blinds were closed.

“Was all that drama necessary, sir?” Jason asked, “We could have delivered the files by mail and met you at a restaurant downtown. Now, the interest in this case is going to skyrocket.” The woman agent looked shocked, but her partner smiled. It looked somehow wrong on his face.

“You’re probably right, MacMurtry, but this one is time critical. We think we may actually be ahead of them this time,” the man said. He then seemed to finally notice Anne. “Apologies, Detective Hearst. I’m Special Agent Belushi, and this is Agent Privas. We’re from the task force.” Anne shook their proffered hands.

“So, how do we go about this?” Anne asked, “What do you want us to do?” The two agents gave her peculiar looks.

“You don’t do anything, Detective,” Agent Privas answered, “It’s in the task force’s hands. You walk away.” Her soprano voice was cold and firm. Anne guessed she’d tried for commanding, but failed miserably.

“So you want Jason, me, and the Avalonians to stay out of this?” Anne asked, incredulously.

“Your Avalonians are here for the sole purpose of making sure that you do not fall into the hands of the Dark Towers,” Agent Privas snapped. Her partner laid a restraining hand on her shoulder.

“The task force doesn’t think that the Avalonian team would be able to contribute much to this investigation,” Special Agent Belushi said. “We appreciate your wanting to help stop these nocturnes, but it would be best for all involved if you focused on your mundane cases.” His face hardened. “And your magic.”

Anne grit her teeth. The lines of wild magic glowed to her eyes as she felt her anger rise. It would be so easy to wipe that look off of his face. A little cold, a little air – the binding would be so easy. She forced herself to take a step back. Wild magic was seductive. It wanted to be used. It was one of those traps Anne had discovered over the past few months working with Veronica. The lines faded into the background.

“Fine, we’ll play it your way,” Anne said.

“As if you had a choice in the matter,” Agent Privas snapped. Anne tossed the woman a cold stare before turning back to Special Agent Belushi.

“I think you’re making a mistake,” Anne said, “The Avalonians could be damned helpful.”

“Thank you for your concern, Detective, but we have plenty of our own resources,” Special Agent Belushi replied. “We will let you know if the nocturnes have been captured, but until then, I must remind you to stay out of the task force’s way.” The two agents walked out of the captain’s office.

“Thanks for all the back-up there, Jason,” Anne said, whirling on her partner.

“Don’t get mad at me,” Jason answered, evenly, “In case you forgot, I work for Belushi. And FYI, Belushi is not just another agent of the task force. He’s the special agent in charge of the task force. So, if he says the task force doesn’t want Erik and the gang’s help, that is the final word. Also for your information, Privas is his chief spell slinger. If you’d lost control of your magic in there with them, she’d have turned you into a cinder. So, let’s do what we’re supposed to be doing and forget that case ever came across our desks.” His face had that muley expression, so Anne knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere. The pair let the captain know they were done with his office and walked back to their desks.

Anne sipped her coffee as Jason studied some paper on his desk. She was still angry. Partners should back each other, even if one of them did work for a secret government unit responsible for protecting the nation from supernatural forces. They’d been working together for eight months. That should have bought her a little support. She replayed the conversation with Belushi and Privas in her head.

“Jason, what kind of creature is a nocturne?” Anne asked, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before.” Jason looked up from his desk with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, figuring out what Anne was talking about, “No, nocturnes aren’t creatures. They’re kind of slang for the various things that the task force deals with. Kind of like the special forces teams call terrorists ‘tangoes.'” He looked down at his watch and grimaced. “I’ve got a conference call with Denver in a half-hour on the Allero extradition. Are you going to be good with getting lunch on your own?” Anne just nodded. Jason threw a bunch of files into his messenger bag and dashed out the door.

Anne worked on a couple of her cases for an hour, then decided she’d do better with something other than lukewarm coffee in her. She was still angry and frustrated with Jason and his fibbie friends. She looked down at the flyer at her elbow. The cafe across from the station was serving spice cake today. She deserved some spice cake. Anne grabbed her jacket and purse before walking out of the squad room.

The line at the cafe was long, and Anne wondered if there’d be any cake left by the time she got to place her order. The man behind stepped a little too close to her. A soft, woodsy cologne wafted around them. It was nice, but not enough to lessen her annoyance at someone who didn’t understand the concept of personal space.

“Excuse me detective, but could I buy you some lunch?” the man behind her said. Anne whirled and looked up into Arem’s smiling face.