Blood Bane Tower Read online

  Why should I be irritated about the fact that some chick preferred Warren’s company over mine?

  But that wasn’t the point, was it? No! The fact was that he flashed a stupid light and then just stood around while I got shot at twice before taking down both of the men who were bent on doing nefarious things to Ms. Davenport. Didn’t that warrant me at least a “Thank you”?

  I grumbled again and looked down at my plate.

  Just as I was shoveling in another forkful of yumminess, Charlotte tapped her wine glass with the smooth side of a spoon.

  I glanced up to see that Turbo, our little pixie who wore a full officer’s uniform, badge and all, was standing on her shoulder.

  “Excuse me, everyone,” she said, lowering our table’s chatter. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to share something with you that…” She paused and looked over at Warren. “Actually, did you want to tell them?”

  “No, it’s okay. Go ahead.”

  “You sure?”

  He nodded, his face lighting up like a beacon.

  “Well, I was so impressed with the artwork that Warren does that I’ve set up something special.” She put her hand on his arm. “Technically, we set it up, but you know what I mean.”

  “You guys literally just met last night,” I said with a laugh. “How did you have time to set anything up?”

  “I already had a bunch of runes drawn up, Chief,” explained Warren. “They’ve been piling up in my guest room for years.”

  “Exactly,” said Charlotte. “Well, he brought me over this afternoon and showed me his work.” She brought her hand to her chest dramatically. “I was so taken aback with the beauty of Warren’s art that I felt it just needed to be shown to the world.”

  The entire crew seemed very supportive of this, based on their smiles and nods, but I saw a problem that they were obviously missing. These were runes we were talking about here. They weren’t just some random pieces of art.

  I knew I was going to take some instant flack, but it was my duty to say something.

  “Sorry,” I said, leaning forward, “but couldn’t it be a bad thing to show your runes to the public?”

  I hadn’t considered it before, and clearly neither had anyone else. My guess was that they were all enthralled with Warren’s newfound love, and I was immersed in a vat of ignorance.

  As if commonsense had returned, all their shoulders slumped. Everyone but Charlotte Davenport’s, anyway.

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

  “Runes aren’t just pieces of art,” Warren replied, looking instantly bummed out. “They can be used for supernatural purposes.”

  “Even better,” Charlotte exclaimed. “People will flock to see that. They love magic!”

  I cleared my throat and motioned for Warren to explain why this was a bad thing. It was bad enough that I was the one bringing it to everybody’s attention, I wasn’t going to push myself further into the bad-guy corner.

  “We can’t risk normals getting their hands on these designs. They’re intricate and more complex than people may think, and they take a lot of concentration to draw properly, but in the wrong hands they could be really bad.”

  “Oh?” Charlotte looked confused. “I had no idea.”

  So much for that plan.

  I felt like a heel, but it just wasn’t worth the risk.

  “I have a solution,” said Rachel. “Draw up some others that are just as nice but that have zero magical capability at all.”

  Charlotte’s eyes lit up again.

  “Can you do that?” she asked Warren.

  “Sure, I guess.” He looked unsure. “I’ve honestly never tried, but I can’t see why I couldn’t.”

  “That would be perfect.”

  Charlotte was nearly giddy. It was rather unnerving. I got it, that being pulled out of a dangerous situation by someone—even if it wasn’t the someone who actually saved you—could cause a solid emotional response, but this was over the top.

  Still, Warren was happy and that meant I was happy. According to Rachel and Lydia, anyway.

  “Well,” Charlotte said a moment later, “could we still show them what we did this afternoon?” She was smiling at Warren like a kid in a candy store. “We’ll replace the pieces before showing the general public, of course.”

  He licked his lips. “I guess that’d be okay. Right, Chief?”

  “I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about,” I answered, “but as long as only those of us at this table are the ones seeing your work, it should be fine. Unless any of the mages here disagree?”

  Griff, Jasmine, and Rachel looked back and forth at each other.

  “Should be okay,” said Jasmine.

  “I see no issues with it,” agreed Griff.

  Rachel nodded and held up her glass. “It’s fine.”

  Perfect. Now none of them could blame me if things did go horribly wrong. Not that they would. Probably. But if they did, it wouldn’t be my fault.

  Well, technically, it would be my fault seeing that any failings of any officer ultimately fell on the shoulders of the chief, which in turn got dumped onto the shoulders of the Directors. The Netherworld Council was involved above that, but I rarely let my mind drift that far into the realm of the political world. I found the life of chasing naughty monsters far safer than inserting myself into the folly of debating politics.

  “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” chimed in Turbo. “Just wonderful!”

  “Excellent,” exclaimed Charlotte, clapping her hands. “Let’s go, then.”

  “Where are we going again?” I asked, lowering my fork.

  “Back to my art gallery,” she answered while grabbing Warren by the arm and pulling him along.

  Turbo said, “Weeeeee” as they sped out of the restaurant.

  Chapter 10

  The art gallery was slightly different as we walked in. There were still paintings hanging on the walls, but they weren’t the same ones as before. There were now a smattering of intricate drawings that clearly came from the hand of Warren.

  Again, I’m no art collector, but these were some pretty stunning runes. I’d seen the basic ones he’d drawn many times over the years, and I’d even seen a few that were rather detailed, but these were incredible. The lines and shapes were masterfully crafted, but it was the interwoven patterns, colors, and shading that nearly made my eyes pop out.

  “Wow,” I said while putting a hand on Warren’s shoulder. “These are amazing, Warren.”

  “You really think so?”

  “I know so.”

  I honestly had to spend more time getting to know each of my officers. It was easy to take their skills for granted, but seeing this level of talent only made me wonder what the rest of my crew were capable of…beyond unleashing hell in the face of adversity, of course.

  “Honestly, I’m floored.”

  “Thanks, Chief. That means a lot.”

  We all milled about for a few minutes as we studied each painting. It was deathly silent, which meant I wasn’t the only one who was dumbfounded by Warren’s mad skills.

  “Excuse me, everyone,” Charlotte said, jolting me from nearly falling in love with a rune painting entitled “Reverie.” I had no idea what it actually did—it was a rune, after all, but I was damn sure going to have to buy it. “If you’ll all come over here and stand in this section, there is a special surprise that we have for you.”

  We walked over and Charlotte moved us all so that we were kind of squished together.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I know it’s kind of tight, but we’ll work that out before the main show.” She then turned to Warren. “Of course, if we won’t be able to use real runes, then this part of the show wouldn’t work anyway, right?”

  “That’s true.”

  “Hmmm.” Her look of concern morphed back into a grin. “No matter. I think everyone will love it anyway.”

  “Hard to argue that,” I agreed. “Your ar
t is…” I looked around again. “It’s fantastic.”

  Everyone murmured their agreement, including Turbo, which made Charlotte jump.

  “Oh! I nearly forgot you were there, little friend.” She put her hand out and he hopped on. That was saying something considering that Turbo was usually pretty stern about jumping into people’s hands. “If you could join your friends, I think you’re really going to love this.”

  “Okay!”

  Turbo buzzed over, passed by my ear, and landed on Harvey’s shoulder, who was standing right behind me. He and Harvey had hit it off pretty soon after the werebear joined the force. They were both excitable types. It was kind of cool to see Turbo fly about with his little officer’s outfit on. Obviously he’d designed it in such a way that his wings were able to sprout out the back. He was an ingenious little guy.

  “Are you all ready?” Charlotte asked as though she were about to sing “Happy Birthday” to a five-year-old. She was clearly enthralled with whatever was about to happen.

  “I am,” Harvey said with a level of enthusiasm that mimicked Charlotte’s. “This is the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

  My first thought was to find Harvey’s comment difficult to believe. Then I recalled that he’d been subjected to a lot of mental berating from his wife over the years. To him, hanging out with this crew in any context was probably like finding paradise.

  Rachel and I shared a smile, seeing that we were both present when Harvey finally grew a set of balls and had stood up to Matilda, his now-imprisoned overbearing wife.

  “Great, Harvey,” Charlotte said. “Okay, Warren, show them your magic.”

  Our flower child of a wizard walked over and pulled out another canvas from behind a small covering. It was a rune that had multiple lines connected to a series of smaller runes. I did another inventory of the gallery and realized that it was a miniature depiction of the room we were in.

  “This one was Charlotte’s idea,” Warren said. “It’s meant to bring everything together. I think it looks pretty cool, but it’s also functional.”

  “How so?” asked Chuck.

  “It’s part of the show,” Charlotte said, waving at Chuck in a “hush” kind of way while giving him a wink. “You’ll see soon enough.”

  Charlotte motioned Warren to go ahead. Then she stepped back and gave him the stage.

  “Okay,” he said in a shaky voice. “I’m a little nervous here, so I’m sorry if I screw up.”

  We all laughed.

  “Right.”

  He cleared his throat and stood up tall. There was a sudden showmanship in his presence.

  “Around you is a set of my most magical runes. They have powers beyond what the eye can see.”

  I was impressed. He was really going all-in with this. Sad that he’d not be able to use actual runes for obvious reasons, though. It would make for one heck of a show.

  “And this rune,” he continued, waving his hand dramatically over the one he was holding, “is the key to them all. It opens the doorway to a shared imagination.”

  He began tracing his fingers along the lines, causing each of the smaller runes around the edge to light up as they connected to the center. I glanced around and noticed that the runes on the walls were lighting up as well.

  “Cool as shit,” I whispered.

  “Really is,” Rachel said as she grabbed my hand.

  My eyes went wide, as did hers.

  She let go.

  “Your minds will wander. Your souls will seek the far reaches of the universe. Your hearts will soar!”

  All runes were glowing now, pulsing in unison. A tingling sensation ran up my body. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but I could have done without it. I assumed it was just one of the kinks they still had left to work out.

  “When I say the magic word,” Warren spoke like a magician running a show on the Strip, “your worlds will change.”

  I had no idea what was coming, but this show could rake in millions if they figured out a way to do it without people really knowing what the runes represented. I had an idea for that, too. Simply put the real runes behind the fake ones. Nobody would be able to see the real ones, but the show could still go on. I’d have to share this with Warren and Charlotte when everything was said and done. Hell, I’d have to invest in this, too. The return would be insane!

  “Transfera impactus!”

  Everything went dark and the tingling turned into full-on shock.

  It was not pleasant. In fact it burned like hell. On top of that, my stomach flipped upside down. I felt like I was going to decorate the floor.

  Then I heard the sound of retching behind me, and it was followed by a splash on my back.

  “What the hell?” I said, groaning angrily at the recognition that another of my suits had been destroyed.

  “Sorry, boss,” was all Harvey could say.

  “Me, too,” agreed Turbo.

  “Well, thanks a lot,” I stated, noting that my nausea had somewhat subsided. “Next time could you maybe turn your heads?”

  “Sorry,” they both said again, this time in unison.

  I couldn’t see anything then, which was odd since my eyesight was known to be quite decent in the dark. That meant that this wasn’t just a trick of the light. Something was actually going on besides just trickery.

  “What’s happening anyway?” I asked. “It was fun at the start, but this whole section of the show kinda sucks.”

  In response to my question, the world faded back into view.

  We were no longer in the gallery.

  Unless my mind was fooling me, which certainly could have been the case since this was all part of a magic show, of sorts, we were standing in the middle of the Badlands in the Netherworld.

  Then I got the sudden impression that this wasn’t a show, after all.

  I came to this conclusion because Charlotte was no longer the happy-go-lucky-looking chick she’d been before. She was now wearing a tight-fitting black leather outfit, dark liner around her eyes, and a heavy scowl on her face.

  Next to her stood an elderly wizard who did look like Gandalf, except that this guy had glowing blue eyes.

  I gulped as I stared down at Warren’s limp body. He was facedown in the dirt.

  My mind raced as I pulled my gaze back up until I was staring into the eyes of Charlotte Davenport.

  “What the fuck’s going on?”

  Chapter 11

  Charlotte was pacing back and forth in front of us like some kind of prison warden.

  We couldn’t break free of the space that we were in. This obviously had something to do with the spell that our very own Warren had placed on us.

  I stared down at him again.

  Who could blame him, though? The fact was that I was acting jealous of the guy. It could have been me lying in the dirt…

  Actually, no, it couldn’t have.

  Son of a bitch.

  Charlotte had selected Warren specifically for this…well, whatever the hell it was. She didn’t bypass me because she thought Warren had saved her or because she found him more attractive than me. She did it because Warren was a goddamned wizard!

  “So this was all a setup?” I laughed in a not-so-funny way.

  “Obviously, genius,” said Rachel in one of her attitude-laced tones. “What I want to know is why?”

  “Because I needed him,” Charlotte said, pointing at Warren. “And I knew that if he disappeared, you’d all come hunting for him.”

  “So you brought us down here to make it easier for us to hunt you down?” I asked while tilting my head to the side. “That’s just dumb.”

  She grinned evilly and stepped up to me.

  Chuck and Felicia began going for their weapons.

  “Don’t,” I said through the connector with a warning glance at them. “We don’t know if she’s aware that we have the guns or not. She probably thinks we were all out on the town, so why bother to bring our weapons?”

  They lowered their hands.
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  “I’m aware that you have your guns, Officer Dex,” she said, making me blanch.

  “You can hear my thoughts?”

  “What?” she asked, frowning. “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Uh…because…well…never mind.”

  “Your movements give you away, I’m afraid,” explained Charlotte. “It’s in my nature to notice even the smallest things.”

  “Idiot,” Rachel said through the connector.

  “Give me a break,” I spat back. “It was pretty damn coincidental, wouldn’t you say?”

  There was no reply, which was as solid as a full-on apology when it came to Rachel.

  What did Charlotte mean about noticing minute things?

  I studied her more closely, watching the way she moved. She was lithe. Her stride was so smooth it was almost as if she were doing ballet as she walked. Not that there was dancing going on or anything, but the grace was the same. She kept her arms crossed and a sneer on her face, which didn’t tell me much other than she could be Rachel’s fraternal twin.

  The makeup she wore might have signaled her as being a succubus, except for the fact that the black lines that left the corners of her eyes morphed into a crimson color that came to a swirled end. Succubi didn’t do that. At least none that I knew, and I knew a lot of them.

  Vampire and werewolf were out, too. While vampires were pretty graceful in their own right, this chick went way beyond them. Werewolves were not graceful. They clomped like big-footed St. Bernards.

  She could have been a fae. They were notoriously good-looking. Still, though, her movements…

  “Who were the two men we killed at your house?” asked Felicia. “They obviously weren’t there to take you down or do anything naughty to you.”

  “You’re right about the first part,” Charlotte answered. “They were originally there to do something naughty with me, but it was consensual. Then I…coerced them into the second part of my plan.”

  I blanched. “So I put a bunch of holes in a couple of innocents?”