Modern Sorcery: A Jonathan Shade Novel Read online

  “I’ve decided to release you,” Ravenwood said, only release sounded more like releash. The body was three sheets to the wind, and he clearly found it difficult to even keep Anselma’s eyes open, much less enunciate.

  “You decided what?” Al said and spun around.

  Ravenwood blinked as if he’d forgotten that Al was still in the room. I guess Anselma really couldn’t handle her liquor. “She’s free.”

  “I don’t understand,” Naomi said.

  “She really is a dumb Dora,” Esther said.

  Ravenwood laughed at that and waved his hands, which set him off balance, and he slid to the floor under the desk. “I fell out of the chair,” he said and laughed even harder. “Oh, that’s funny.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Al said.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. If I told him Anselma was Ravenwood, he might rush over and try to apprehend him, but then Ravenwood could simply transfer into Al. Of course, if Ravenwood were telling the truth, everything would be over and I could go home. I didn’t care who ran DGI, and Ravenwood was right about how wizardly concerns rarely overlapped with regular people’s.

  My biggest problem was that Ravenwood had killed too many people for me to just walk away. Kathy Miller deserved better. So did Kelly’s students. On the other hand, how many more people would die if I tried to stop Ravenwood?

  Ultimately, I decided it wasn’t for me to say. It was really Naomi’s decision.

  I decided to take Al’s question exclusively on the surface level. “She’s drunk,” I said.

  “How the hell did she get drunk?”

  “The usual way,” I said. “By drinking too much. Let’s give her some time to compose herself. What do you say?” And I ushered everyone out of the room, leaving Ravenwood alone in his laughing fit.

  Once we were in the hallway outside the office, Al stabbed me in the chest with a finger. “I don’t know what’s happening here, but you’re up to your eyeballs in it.”

  “Poke me in the chest again, and I’ll break your finger.”

  “You and your Sekutar always turn to violence to solve issues.”

  “It usually works.” And wouldn’t you know it, it worked this time too. He certainly kept his fingers away from me.

  “This matter has not been concluded.”

  “Later, Al,” I said. “Naomi, we need to talk.”

  Al shook his head. “You don’t have a barrier to protect you now, Mr. Shade.”

  I looked at him. “Al, if your hands start to glow, I’m going to break your nose. And believe me, I can throw a punch faster than you can pull up enough energy to blast me.”

  He clenched his teeth. “Damn you.”

  “Naomi and I are going to talk.”

  “I haven’t given you permission to leave.”

  “Let’s see how that works out for you.”

  “Can I come?” Esther asked.

  Unfortunately her typewriter was still in Anselma’s office, so I gave her a quick shake of the head. She looked back into the office and grumbled something that wasn’t very ladylike.

  Naomi and I moved down the hall a ways and found an empty office.

  “What the hell is going on?” Naomi asked.

  “Ravenwood followed us. He’s taken control of Anselma.”

  She gave me a confused look. “We need to find a way to trap him.”

  “He’s not going anywhere,” I said. “He’s stuck in a drunk body right now. Three glasses of wine, and your boss was lit up like a Christmas tree.”

  “We need a way to kill him.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “I’m not sure that’s our best course of action here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, first, how are we supposed to kill him?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll find a way.”

  “Leaving that on the side, let me point out that he’s right where he wants to be. He’ll switch bodies without killing Anselma after he has her retire. Then he’ll run DGI and work on his magic. He promised you a promotion.”

  “He’ll kill me the first chance he gets.”

  “He could have already killed you if that was his goal.”

  “But he killed Mom and Dad!”

  I worried that her voice would carry into the hall, so I motioned for her to keep it down. “You’re right. He did. I think he regrets that, but—”

  “Holy shit. You’re siding with him!”

  I gently took hold of her shoulders. “No, I’m not.”

  She pushed my hands away. “What did he offer you?”

  “Naomi—”

  “What the fuck did he offer you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Liar!”

  “Naomi, shut up.”

  “Don’t tell me to shut up, you son of a bitch!”

  I stabbed one hand into the other in the universal “time out” signal and kept stabbing my fingers into my palm until she calmed down. Once she settled down, I stared into her eyes a moment until I was sure I had her full attention.

  “Naomi,” I said. “It’s your decision.”

  “What?”

  “Whatever happens. It’s your decision. You’re the one who hired me.” I filled her in on what Ravenwood had told me, all of it.

  When I finished, Naomi said, “Do you believe him?”

  “Yes, I think I do. If you want me to throw Ravenwood into a cell, I will. But once he sobers up, he’ll just snap Anselma’s neck and go find another body. So you really don’t have much time to decide how to proceed.”

  “What would you do?”

  “I’m not going to tell you what to do, Naomi. Kelly is right. Technically I’ve already finished the job you hired me to do. I proved your father innocent. So what’s it going to be?”

  “In my mind, it comes down to one thing. He’s a murderer. He killed my mother, and he drove my father to suicide. Then he killed twelve women at Kelly’s dojo. So I want you to take him down to the Dragon Gate and throw him into it.”

  “I can’t do that,” I said.

  “You’re the only one who can do it,” Naomi said. She spoke fast and loudly. “He can’t transfer his spirit into you.”

  “One point you’re not factoring into the equation is that I’d have to throw Anselma in there too. I don’t like her, but I’m not going to murder her for you. I’m sorry. That’s not how I operate.”

  “But it’s the only way! If any of us touch the body, he can take us over. In order to destroy him, one person is going to have to die. One life to save many.”

  “I don’t believe he plans to kill anyone else.”

  “But he has to be destroyed!” Naomi screamed.

  Al and Frank pushed open the door.

  “We can hear you yelling clear down the hall,” Frank said. “What say you tell us what the hell’s goin’ on down here?”

  Naomi spun to face them. “Ravenwood has taken control of Anselma, and Jonathan won’t do anything about it!”

  “Holy shit,” Frank said. “That’s why she seemed crazier than a road runner on crack.”

  “We should lock her up while she’s still out of it,” Al said.

  They raced out of the office and ran down the hall.

  “Wait!” Naomi yelled as she ran after them. “You can’t let her touch you!”

  I sighed. I knew things were about to get a bit crazy. Maybe I could just sneak onto the elevator and go home. It sounded like a great plan at that moment, except that Esther would never forgive me if I left her here overnight. I knew it was wasted breath, but I ran down the hallway after them.

  “Guys, don’t do anything stupid!”

  They either didn’t hear me or didn’t think my advice was good because they burst right into Anselma’s office.

  I reached the door. Al and Frank practically leaped over the desk to tackle Anselma. They plowed into her like linebackers in a goal line defense.

  “Like touch him,” I said as I raced into the office.

  “Too late,” Esth
er said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Al and Frank yanked Anselma’s body to her feet. Frank stiffened for a moment. He looked at me, and when he spoke, his Texas accent was gone.

  “You had your chance for a peaceful settlement, Jonathan. I would have honored our deal.”

  “It wasn’t mine to make,” I said.

  “What the hell?” Al said.

  Ravenwood kept his eyes on me. “Nobody else needed to know.”

  “What are you talking about, Frank?” Al asked. “And why are you talking like that?”

  “It’s not Frank,” Naomi said as she entered the office. “It’s Ravenwood.”

  “But he was in Anselma,” Al said.

  “Was being the operative word,” Ravenwood said. “I would still like to settle this peacefully. Who here has the authority to do so?”

  Al’s hands started to glow.

  “Al, don’t do it,” I said.

  Ravenwood gave me a sad smile. “If he attacks me, I’ll kill him and his blood will be on your hands.”

  Al let loose his energy blast. Ravenwood waved a hand, caught the energy, then pushed it back at Al. Ravenwood either didn’t need as much time to pull up magic, or he had pulled it up as he spoke, which seemed more likely. Then again, perhaps he was always tapped in.

  Al screamed as he caught fire.

  The energy snapped Anselma to sobriety.

  I shoved Naomi out of the office. I had to keep her safe. Al kept screaming and clawed at his face and body. The flames intensified.

  Al’s screams died with him, and he crumbled to ash. The ashes drifted to the floor.

  Anselma stared at the cremains and shuddered.

  Ravenwood shook his head but kept his eyes on me. “His death is on you, Jonathan.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Esther said. “He’s the one bumping people off.”

  Anselma blinked several times, and her gaze went from the ashes that littered the floor to Frank. Some reactions are simply impossible to stop because her hands started to glow too.

  Ravenwood sighed. “I don’t think so,” he said. He grabbed her and tossed her through the office window. The glass shattered and Anselma fell thirteen floors to her death.

  “Her blood is on you as well,” Ravenwood said. “And just so you’ll know that because you betrayed me, you are now my enemy, I’m going to take someone else away from you. Say good-bye to your little ghost.” He started toward Esther.

  “No,” Esther said.

  I jumped between Ravenwood and Esther, but by the time I realized he wasn’t actually reaching for her, it was too late. He grabbed the backpack, pulled out the typewriter, and tossed it out the window. Esther’s eyes went wide as she was yanked out the window behind it.

  Then, as if he were shooting skeet, Ravenwood pointed a finger and blasted the typewriter into a million pieces. Esther shattered with it, and as the pieces fell, the shimmering bits of ectoplasm drifted out of sight.

  “No!” I yelled. I rushed forward, stomped on Ravenwood’s foot, and drove forward with my forearm into his throat. He went down hard.

  He knew magic wouldn’t affect me, so he tried to rely on physical power instead. But Cantrell wasn’t a fighter, so the muscle memory wasn’t there to rely on, and I doubt Ravenwood had done much hand-to-hand combat in his day either. After all, why use brute force when you have magic?

  I pounded away on him like a madman. He landed a couple of decent blows, but I didn’t care. After all, if you’re in a fistfight, you expect to get hit a few times. I jerked him to his feet then stepped back, spun around, and kicked him hard in the chest. He reeled backward against the wall beside the broken window. I knew better than to kick him out the window. That might kill Frank, but it wouldn’t harm Ravenwood.

  He smiled at me. “We’ll play later,” he said and made a gesture. Anselma’s desk flew at me. I easily dodged it, but before I could do anything else, Ravenwood took a swan dive out the window.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  By the time I reached street level, a small crowd had gathered around Anselma’s body. Phil and a few men I took to be engineers were trying to keep people back. Cantrell’s body wasn’t there, so I figured it was safe to say Ravenwood was still using it. I saw pieces of Esther’s typewriter scattered about on the concrete.

  Poor Esther, I thought. I knelt and picked up a few keys from the old Underwood. I found an S and an L, and stupid thoughts popped into my head with the two letters: Savings and Loan then Sore Loser.

  I should have been able to do something to save her.

  “I’m sorry, Esther,” I said, staring at the broken pieces of the machine.

  “You should be,” Esther said from behind me. “I feel totally ossified.”

  I jumped to my feet and spun around to see her standing before me. “Esther! You’re okay!” I wanted to hug her, but it’s hard to embrace a ghost.

  “Back off,” she said. “People are staring at you.”

  I looked around but only one man with glasses met my gaze. Everyone else kept staring at Anselma’s body or at the roof of the building. The man removed his glasses and approached me. “Jonathan Shade?” he asked.

  “Who’s asking?”

  “I’m Mike Ender, DGI security.” He held himself like an FBI agent and gave an occasional furtive glance this way or that as he spoke to see if anyone was listening.

  “Okay.”

  He slipped his glasses on again and looked at Esther. “You aren’t Anselma Kaiser,” he said and touched an earpiece that looked like a standard hands-free cell phone device.

  “You can see me?” Esther said. “Must be the cheaters.”

  “That’s right, ma’am. I came down to see if Ms. Kaiser’s spirit arose. Did you see her?”

  “I just played Humpty Dumpty,” Esther said. “I didn’t see anything.”

  “Victims of violent crime sometimes arise, though they usually manage to find their way to the Afterlife.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to me. “If you see her, call me. She’ll need to be debriefed.”

  “What about the body?” I asked. “The police should be here soon.”

  He removed the glasses. “There won’t be any police here, Mr. Shade.”

  “Anselma’s body is right there. She was thrown out the window. It’s kinda hard to hide that.”

  “No, actually it’s easy to hide that, but that’s not my department. I’m simply here in case her spirit arises.”

  I looked around and noticed two men in business suits walking through the crowd. They moved from person to person, placing a hand on a shoulder, which was soon followed by the person turning and walking back inside. I watched a line of men and women moving toward the entrance like zombies in a haze.

  One of the men approached me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and looked into my eyes. “There’s nothing to see here, sir. Please return to your office.”

  “No,” I said.

  He stared deep into my eyes. His piercing gaze held steady and strong. His irises were spinning, and I realized he was trying to hypnotize me. “Please return to your office. Nothing happened here. Everything is normal.”

  “Tell that to Anselma.”

  “You’re with DGI?”

  “No,” I said.

  He nodded. “You must be the detective. Phil warned us about you. We’d appreciate it if you let us handle this.”

  “No problem,” I said. “Restructure their memories with your Jedi mind tricks all you want, buddy.” I pointed up at the broken window. “You might want to fix the window, though.”

  He smiled. “Nobody can see the window. Someone else will handle that.”

  I looked up and I could see the broken window, but I realized that it must be hidden by magic so nobody else could see it.

  “All right. I’m going to gather up the pieces from the typewriter that are spread out around here. That cool with you?”

  “Not my department,” he said. “Knock yourself out.”

/>   While the DGI crew established order and wiped memories, I gathered up the pieces of Esther’s typewriter.