Eddie Lancaster Box Set 2, page 69
part #4 of Eddie Lancaster Series
‘But you can,’ I argued, my voice broke as I spoke.
He shook his head sadly. ‘I don’t want to hurt you. But I will.’ It was strange, that was exactly what I was thinking. He placed the hat down on the stand to his right.
Zeke lunged into the room, going for Clarke again but this time the ancient was ready. He flicked his hand and Zeke crashed into one of the podiums, items of jewellery flew in all directions as the wizard went down.
‘Persistent,’ Clarke said with admiration, looking over his shoulder at his fallen foe. ‘But without your hat, you're far less resilient.’
I acted whilst he was looking away. Like a coward. I jolted forward and forced the dagger into his chest, pushing it in right up to the hilt. The feel of his body resisting my attack sickened me.
‘Oh!’ he cried in surprise as he turned back to me. He looked down at the dagger in his heart in shock. ‘I didn’t expect…’ Blood was oozing out around the blade.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. I could feel tears rising inside me. ‘I’m so so sorry.’ He may have betrayed me first but that didn’t make this any easier.
He let out a sniff of laughter. ‘There’s no need to be,’ he said calmly. Too calmly. There was no pain in his voice. And he was still standing. Slowly, he reached up and grabbed the dagger. I took a fumbling step back as he eased it out of his chest. His skin knitted back together before my eyes.
‘This dagger was created by Ancients. It cannot be used against us,’ he told me.
‘No, but I’m pretty sure this can.’ Zeke rose to his feet and brandished his hand at Clarke. On his middle finger that was sticking up at the Ancient, he now wore a gigantic, garish ring. It had a dark copper band and held some kind of orange stone that was cut at an uneven angle. It was one of the ones from the collection I’d seen only moments ago.
‘Don’t,’ Clarke said uneasily. Scared perhaps for the first time in millennia. But it was already too late. Zeke closed his fist and the stone glowed hotly.
Smokey tendrils eased out of the ring. The orange wisps rose into the air and connected before Zeke. The smoke expanded like foam, growing up and out, larger and larger until it was large enough to take form. A lithe, curvaceous woman stood before us. Her skin was as orange as the stone she’d poured out of. She was naked apart from an aged cloth that hung around her waist protecting what modesty she had left. Her head was shaved at the sides, or maybe it was naturally bald, and black hair flowed from the top, pulled back in a tight ponytail behind. Her eyes curved upwards at the edges like the shoes of a Christmas elf. There was no iris, nor sclera to her eyes, just two black orbs. A necklace hung around her neck, the pendant which stopped just above the crack of her cleavage was a small diamond, clear and sparking.
‘I have no quarrel with you,’ Clarke said to her. He placed the Ambrotos Dagger on the pedestal to his left, realising that holding onto it looked like a threat.
‘Nor I with you, little man,’ she said. Her voice was like a den of snakes.
‘Let us go and this all ends here,’ Zeke said, stepping around the Jinn so he could face Clarke.
The Ancient considered it. He looked from the dagger to the Jinn and then to Zeke. ‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘This dagger and that creature have the potential to cause too much harm to the world. Look at the way the two of you have behaved just to obtain them. Imagine what others will do.’
‘Kill him,’ Zeke commanded the Jinn. Both the pendant around her neck and the ring on Zeke’s finger glowed vibrantly. The Jinn cocked her head to the side and grimaced.
‘As you command,’ she said.
Clarke acted first. He unleashed a torrent of power from both hands right at her. A cylinder of golden light went straight for her. She vanished in a cloud of orange smoke which Clarke’s magic passed straight through. It hit the far wall and scorched the surface. Glowing cracks ran up and down the wall.
The Jinn rematerialised behind Clarke. She was so close to me that I darted back like a startled rabbit. She paid me no heed and pressed both hands to either side of Clarke’s head. He screamed a truly agonising shriek as the Jinn brought him to his knees.
I didn’t want this to happen but there was no other way I was going to get what I needed. Clarke would never allow me to take the dagger so I had to stand back and let the Jinn do her work. Clarke pulled back his scream and turned it to a cry of bestial rage. He rose to one knee, turning at the same time and then he forced all of his energy into throwing his body into the Jinn. Once again, she disintegrated into smoke and Clarke smacked straight into the floor and slid across it uselessly. He clambered to his feet and thrust out his hand to project a shield just in time. A column of orange smoke tore across the room and collided with his shield sending a shockwave through the room that knocked Zeke and I back a step.
The Jinn materialised and stood staring at Clarke though the invisible barrier. Both prehistoric beings stood facing one another in a silent stalemate. I stepped forward and snatched the Ambrotos Dagger from the pedestal. I tucked it into my inside jacket pocket and then covered the pocket with a quick spell to stop the object from falling out, and also to relieve me of the burden of its weight. It was a bloody heavy knife.
‘Who are you?’ Clarke asked the Jinn as if she was somebody knocking on his door uninvited rather than somebody trying to kill him.
‘Call me what you wish, it matters not. To you I am naught but death,’ she hissed. She withdrew several steps and then unleashed a beam of magnificent orange power. Knowing his shield would not hold against it, Clarke dropped his defence and summoned a beam of his own. Orange met gold in a shower of radiant sparks that scattered around the room. I shimmied away from the action before an offshoot of magic could catch me and light me up like Guy Fawkes. Both parties were straining, using all the strength they had. Clarke’s teeth were gritted and his face was red and veiny. The Jinn had no veins, but her eyes were narrowed and her brow furrowed. Her hair was flapping around behind her head as the spells kicked up great gusts of wind.
‘Clarke let us go and we can end all this!’ I shouted above the roar of magic that filled the room.
‘No!’ He shouted back. ‘I will not allow—’
Zeke stepped forward, grabbed the blade of the broken spear and tossed it at Clarke. The Ancient saw it coming and reacted with lightning reflexes. He took one hand from his attack and conjured a shield to hold off the blade. The broken shield clattered to the floor noisily. But the distraction was enough. The potency of Clarke’s attack dropped and the orange beam swallowed his gold one in a matter of seconds. Clarke had just enough time to look back at the beams of magic. His face was creased in despair that honestly made my heart bleed. Then the attack smacked him in the chest and flung him across the room like a paper bag. He hit the wall with a crack and then fell down in a heap on the floor.
‘Command fulfilled,’ the Jinn said emptily. Then she vanished.
I walked towards Clarke warily, not sure what to expect. He was sitting against the wall, his skin was pale and clammy, his neat hair was flung about wildly. A small stream of blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth.
‘I’m so so sorry,’ I said. My throat was clogged with emotion. I squatted down to face him properly. I didn’t want to face the man who I considered a friend. The man whose death I was responsible for. But I knew I had to. It was the decent thing to do.
He shook his head weakly and stared up at me, his eyes fading with every moment. ‘I did what…’ he abandoned what he’d been trying to say and took a deep rattling breath. ‘Be careful,’ he said and then a final breath left his lips like a soft sigh and he was dead.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I felt a strange prickling spread up my arm like I was being stabbed with tiny icicles. I rubbed at the flesh with my fingers but it was already fading away. Zeke chuckled as he retrieved his hat and returned it to his head.
‘It’s the binding spell releasing you. We’ve completed our deal now. You have the dagger and I have the ring,’ he explained.
His words drove the truth home. The dagger was in my pocket. My mission was completed. All I had to do was take it to Malek and I could rest. But Gabe and Katelyn were still prisoners. Their lives were still in danger. I couldn’t rest until I’d rectified that.
The whole room turned dark red like we were in some whore’s bedroom.
‘What is that?’ I said to no-one in particular.
‘Nothing good. Let’s get out of here,’ Zeke said. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. I slipped my hand into my jacket and felt the dagger in my pocket. It was still there. We ran.
As we charged out of the room and into the circular hallway the whole place started to tremble as if it was going to start falling down around us.
‘Which door?’ Zeke shouted in urgency.
‘I don’t know,’ I replied. We both started throwing the doors open, frantically searching for the room we’d started in. Zeke found it and I followed him through. I tried not to look at the dried blood that was splattered all over one of the walls and the carpet. I didn’t want to think about what Clarke had just gone through. Regardless of what he’d done, he didn’t deserve to be murdered in his own home.
We went through the next room and found ourselves in the main library that Clarke usually received guests in. Iron grills had come down to cover the bookshelves now so nobody could take them. It made sense that in times of emergency the building was designed to protect the work of the clerk.
We barrelled through the final door and stumbled out into the upstairs of the opticians. The door slammed shut behind us, sending a vibration through the whole room that kicked even more white dust up into the air. I coughed it out of my lungs as I turned to see the door vanishing behind us. Nobody would be going to see the Heavenly clerk for a while. Nobody would be going to Clarke ever again.
We returned to the store where Lydia was sitting at one of the desks flicking through her Instagram news feed. She looked up casually as we approached, unconcerned by our disheveled appearance. ‘Did you get it?’ she asked.
‘We did,’ Zeke said with a small nod. ‘Ring and dagger both.’
‘Great. This shit show’s finally over. I’ll tell Malek you’ve got the dagger,’ she said, rising from the desk. I hadn’t even considered this outcome.
‘Wait!’ I burst out before she could teleport. She looked at me, one eyebrow raised. ‘I need one more day. Please. Just give me one more day to rescue my friends. As soon as they’re free from the Prevention Association I’ll hand the dagger over to Malek and we can all go our separate ways.’ I was practically begging her not to tell on me just yet. If I sauntered off back to my eternal rest now then Gabe and Katelyn would die. Plus there was Lawrence’s wife who I didn’t really care about but I said I’d do what I could.
Lydia thought about it. She chewed her lip and mulled things over. I knew that she didn’t like Malek and just wanted to get the job done so he’d leave her alone at least for a little while. I was hoping she liked me enough to give me an extension.
‘You promised not to go running off into any more pointless fights,’ she said.
‘This isn’t pointless.’
She stared at me, her gaze unreadable. ‘One day,’ she said at last.
‘Thank you,’ I said genuinely, pressing my palms together in a gesture of gratitude.
‘But if it looks like things are gonna fuck up I’m taking that thing to Malek myself before you can cause any trouble. Got it?’
I nodded and smiled at her. Like there was any risk of me losing the Ambrotos Dagger now. I’d been through hell to get the thing and my eternal fate rested upon it.
‘Well, I hate to break up the fellowship, but my part here is done,’ Zeke said. He took off his hat and rested it on one of the desks whilst he tidied up his wild hair. The ring was still on his finger. I doubted he would take it off now until he had to hand it over to whoever had hired him to find it. Much like I wasn’t going to let the dagger leave my possession until I had to.
‘You’re going?’ I said in disappointment. He was a formidable fighter and he’d be bloody useful when I faced the PA.
‘Our deal is done. I need to get the ring back to where it belongs before I end up losing it again. And if I were you I’d hand that dagger over to Malek now or you risk losing it again.’
‘I can’t abandon them,’ I said about Gabe and Katelyn.
‘They got themselves into this mess, you didn’t put them there. They need to do a better job of looking after themselves. If you want to risk internal damnation for them that’s up to you.’ He whipped up his hat and pulled it down over his head again. He looked like he was about to lead a funeral procession. He started to walk away and then stopped, looking back at me with a troubled expression.
‘Clarke had a point, Eddie. That dagger is dangerous in the wrong hands. Be careful trusting Lucifer. I don’t know if he is the Devil or if he’s just a misunderstood angel. I don’t know what he intends to do with it. But what I do know is my instinct. My instincts are rarely wrong. And this whole thing smells like some bad eggs. Lucifer sent you back to retrieve the dagger for him. Why? What’s so special about you? If the exiled angels have Nephilim working for them up here then why not send one of them to do the job? Why is she just helping you when she seems more than capable of handling this job on her own?’
‘Hey, don’t bring me into it. I just do as I’m told,’ Lydia said suddenly. She obviously didn’t like the implications he was making.
‘I’m sure you do,’ he said quietly, eyeballing her suspiciously.
‘I don’t know shit about Lucifer. But I know Malek. He’s shady as fuck. He probably does have some hidden agenda, but I’m not a part of it. Not knowingly anyway,’ she said hotly and I believed her.
‘I know you’re not,’ I told her. She gave me a small smile in thanks for my support. Zeke did have a point though. Something was incredibly fishy about this affair. I suppose I was going to find out what was going on soon enough anyway. I had the dagger. All I needed to do was hand it over and see what those exiled angels were up to.
‘Be careful, Eddie,’ said Zeke, and he truly meant it. He extended his hand which I took. His grip nearly crushed my palm which was minuscule when his was wrapped around it. He broke the shake and then gave Lydia a small, respectful nod. She replied with a furious glare. Understandable considering what he’d just said.
The three of us left the store and then restored the window so it looked like we’d never been there. Apart from the dusty footprints, we’d left all over the old grey carpet. The staff would see those in the morning and blame a ghost no doubt. I wondered if ghosts were common knowledge since the Exposure. I didn’t bother to ask, I just walked in silence.
I had the dagger right there in my pocket. The key to my salvation. Tonight I would rest, content in the satisfaction of a successful quest. Tomorrow I would kick arse and rescue my friends. At least, I hoped I would.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
We met Shirley in the morning and headed to the exchange place set up by Julia. She’d set the terms of our meeting when I’d called her this morning. She knew I was going to trick her, but what were the percentages of my success, I wondered.
Julia had chosen the car park at Lockmeadow. Lockmeadow was an entertainment complex with a cinema, bowling, and some other stuff. This early in the morning it was pretty empty. The car park was underneath the complex, which provided plenty of shelter from prying eyes. The dark place was pretty barren with only a few cars probably belonging to employees of the complex.
Shirley, Lydia and I were all sitting in the car that Lydia had got from… I didn’t actually know where she’d got it. It might have been hers for all I knew or she could have stolen it. I had bigger issues to worry about.
‘Don’t complicate things when we’re out there,’ Shirley warned me. ‘If you let your mouth run away like you usually do then this whole thing will go sideways and you do not want to see what happens if anything happens to Katelyn. Am I clear on that?’
‘Crystal,’ I replied. ‘All I’m going to do is hand over the dagger and then your people are going to get it back.’
‘That’s right. I have a group of sorcerers waiting at the exit of the car park. When Julia tries to go through they’ll stop her.’
‘Group of how many?’ asked Lydia.
‘Five.’
‘I would’ve preferred more,’ I said. She commanded all the sorcerers in Kent, she could have brought a small army if she’d wanted.
‘I’m sure you would, but it wasn’t feasible. If I brought too many, Julia would notice them. Also, there have been too many incidents since your return. There are more police on the streets looking out for any supernatural disturbances. I have a duty to keep the peace. I can’t risk harsher laws being passed on my people.’ She wrinkled her nose in annoyance and I knew why. It wasn’t just because she had to play nice to keep her people safe, it was because keeping her people safe was now her responsibility. She never wanted a life in politics and she certainly never wanted to take over from Clara. But as I’d learned, we end up with duties we never wanted. ‘Besides, I’ve chosen five of my best.’
A black van turned into the car park and stopped in one of the many vacant spaces not far from us. We heard the engine cut off and then waited. Nobody got out.
‘They’re probably waiting for us,’ Lydia said.
‘You need to wait in the car in case we have to make a hasty getaway,’ Shirley told Lydia. Lydia looked at the older woman in outrage at the mere suggestion of her staying behind.
‘My job is to look after him and make sure he doesn’t fuck up. I can’t do that from here.’
‘I can assure you he will be perfectly safe with me,’ said Shirley in a clipped tone. I didn’t doubt Shirley’s abilities, but I would feel a lot safer with Lydia at my side.
‘I’d feel a whole lot better if she was with me,’ I said a little meekly. Disagreeing with Shirley felt like arguing with your grandmother, you just didn’t do it. Shirley nodded abruptly and argued no further.
