A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1) (31 page)

Once
I was in the basement, I approached the protective ward with some trepidation. 
I was taking a bit of a gamble here.  Double or nothing.  If my anti-magic ward
actually destroyed my protection ward I would be forced to go out and directly
confront and fight hundreds of little demons.  I had no doubt I would win but
the house might get trashed and it would take me time to heal.  With a sigh, I
firmed up my resolution and slammed the warded cover over the protection ward. 
A ripple went through the ether as I felt a lack of something that I had barely
even noticed was there.  Almost immediately after, I heard clicking scratching
and clawing as minute demonic claws scrabbled on the outside of the house,
desperate to get in.  I counted to thirty and then removed the cover.

The
energy of the warding flooded the area again, calming my mind and filling me
with a sense of security.  Likely a false sense of security, but these days I
would take what I could get.  Outside, a chorus of hissing screams sounded.  It
would be redundant to say it was the voices of the damned.  While I was in the
basement I could image that army of darkness that had packed itself against the
house now was in flames.  It was unlikely that any of the creatures would
survive, but dealing with a handful of the bugs would be simple.  After more
than a minute of hissing and screaming there was silence.

I
trudged back upstairs and into the living room, retracting the beams as I ascended. 
Estella was there, an obviously hastily donned robe over her and her hair still
full of suds.  Apparently the wail of hundreds of dying demons can almost rouse
the dead, because Beth was sitting up on the couch looking around franticly.

“Hello
Beth,” I nodded to the little girl as I snapped the vid cover on again.  I
shook my head sadly.  Smoke wafted from the exposed electronics.  I had
forgotten to turn the unit off before I had removed the lid.  Jeremy would have
to fix it again.  I had just gotten used to the idea that it would be working
reliably.  “We haven’t been able to get in touch with your brother.  I’ll have
to go to the store to use their terminal to call him again.”

“There’s
no point in that,” the little girl said tearfully.  “They took him.”

My
gut clenched as Beth told her story.  It was short and to the point.  Several
men in suits had broken into their house while Jeremy was home.  They were
incredibly strong, smashing through the front door with casual ease.  I had
made a point in ensuring Jeremy had upgraded his home to some higher quality defenses,
which implied a nonhuman smash and grab.

Beth
had been in her room, but it was obvious they had ignored her.  If these were
shifters, they doubtless had enhanced senses and wouldn’t have missed the tiny
girl peering down the hallway.  The apartment’s lights had flickered and the
tiny stunner Jeremy had concealed on him only shot once before sparking and
dying.  He may as well have been throwing spitballs for all the good it did
him.  They ignored the hit and apparently one of them electrocuted him from
across the room.  I winced at the complete overkill.  Jeremy is many things,
but a combat monster is not one of them.  He was rather a retreat and regroup
fellow.  I never could understand that approach, but I tend to be proactive on
situations that impact me.

I
frowned again as Beth finished her story.  She cowered away from me earning me
a stern look from Estella.  I forced a smile on my face, but I doubt it was
very comforting.  “I see that they pretty much ignored you when they picked up
Jeremy, but why did they send an army of demons after you?”

“I
don’t know where they came from,” she shivered in reaction, evoking a one armed
hug from the elf next to her on the couch.  “When the power came back on I took
a taxi to here and when you weren’t home I waited for you on the porch.”

“Oh,
I see,” I said softly.  I certainly did see.  Jeremy was taken, most likely by
Jin’s upgraded henchmen.  The next step was storm my home with demonic vermin. 
I wasn’t quite sure whether it was because of Mei or myself that triggered it,
but Beth was unfortunate enough to get in the crossfire twice.

“Why
didn’t you call your parents,” Estella asked.  Good questions, young humans had
guardians.

“They
have to see the doctors today.  They are going to be in isolation until
tomorrow.”  The timing was a bit too convenient, it sounded more intentional
than accidental.

“I’m
sorry are they sick,” Estella softly asked.

“No,
there’s this entire nanite plague prevention thing going on,” I interrupted,
receiving a blank look from the Álfar.  “There’s a whole backstory that
involves how Australia melted,” I offered.  The blank look didn’t change.  “It’s
not important.”

“Okay.”
 For a moment, Estella looked as lost as the girl.  “Well then, I guess we will
look after you until your brother is returned.”

“That
reminds me, how did you get the taxi to take you here?”

“You’re
on my emergency contact list,” Beth said quietly. “The city pays for transport
to anyone on that list.  They’ll bill mom and dad later.”

“Sounds
like talking to the vampires just got moved up in the priority list,” I stated
decisively.  “Conrad is talking to the shifters and I’ll talk to Vivian,” I
paused for a moment in thought.  “Maybe Vince would be a better bet.  Yeah, let’s
go talk to Clan Fiero.”

“Isn’t
Beth a little young to take to a meeting with an undead clan?” Estella asked
disapprovingly, her normal cheerful countenance hidden from view.

“Why?”
I looked between the elf and the young girl.  Estella still had a guest robe on
and it looked like Jeremy’s sister had run out of the house in pajamas.  “Oh,
right, you guys need to get dresses.  I should probably change my shirt too.”

“Our
clothes are beside the point,” the elf said sharply.  “You can’t take a child
to parley with the dead.”

“She
must be at least three years old, and Jeremy said she was advanced for her
age.  I was killing rabid vampires when I was that age,” I offered in
confusion.

“Don’t
be absurd,” Estella contradicted waving a finger at me.  “Humans mature far
slower than that.  She obviously can’t be more than thirty, she shouldn’t be
away from her parent’s side, regardless of this silly ‘nanite’ issue.”

“I
am eight years old,” an indignant voice called out.  Estella and I looked at
each other in confusion.

“So...
is that old enough to go out with us?” I asked, not nearly as sure of myself as
I was a moment ago.  It seemed pretty old, but I was walking around, talking
and hunting beasts for food hours after I hatched.

“That
seems so young,” the elf trailed off less sure than she was as well.

“Eight
is old enough to do things on my own, I got here didn’t I,” she huffed.  “I’m
practically an adult.”

“See,”
I stated in triumph.

“She’s
so tiny though,” Estella said frowning.

“Only
a little bit more than Mei, and you can’t say she isn’t an adult.”

“Fine,
we’re going to have to watch out for her though,” the elf sighed.

“I’d
give her a sword but I guess she is a little small,” I eyed the girl
critically.  “Not much point unless it’s a rune sword.”  I doubted Jeremy’s
little sister had super strength.  I am almost positive he would have mentioned
that.  “Okay, let’s go with defense.  I have a couple of experimental wards
that should pop up a real physical force bubble.”  I think they would.  I
hadn’t tried it yet and the practice wards would only elicit a tiny force field
but then again Beth was a tiny girl.

I
ran downstairs and rummaged through my supplies, getting a leather pouch with five
placards engraved with sigils, a vial of dragon blood and tiny sheathed dagger
I had been using to etch the symbols.  I paused a moment in front of the stack
of experimental energy expulsion wards sitting on the workbench before making a
face.  I left them there.  I don’t think I could face Jeremy if I accidentally
disintegrated his sister.

I
suppose I was down longer than I thought, because Estella had fixed her hair
and dressed.  I handed Beth the pouch and supplies and went through the
activation procedure for the ward.  Since they were already empowered all they
needed was triggering.  A drop of dragon blood and a drop of the activator’s
blood in the center would set it in motion.  In theory.

We
then trooped out of the house towards the market.  I took a few minutes to
shove the wreckage of the taxi further off to the side.  The crash foam had
long since broken down into a sticky slime and I almost slipped on the large
puddle around the vehicle before I caught myself on the side.  The gore from
the burned demons and ichor had evaporated.  Except for the bodies I had
preserved, the remains had completely discorporated as the essence of the
demons fled back to their plane. 

I
gave the taxi an extra kick, sliding it another meter into the street, as I
took in the damage to the road and my lawn and porch.  The permacrete road only
had a shallow furrow, but the short distance the car had made through the grass,
before impacting my shield was completely torn up in a disgusting mixture of
churned soil, grass and slime.  I had to stifle the urge to go back to the
house and add the repairs to Jeremy’s ‘to do’ list.  Without Jeremy, there
wasn’t much of a point and the sooner I made the arrangements with the vampires
to track down Jin’s followers the sooner he would be back.  As we left I went
over to the garden hose and took a minute to spray the crash gel residue off of
me and my clothes.  Sopping wet but not sticky I wrung out my shirt.

Walking
to the market area, I paused a second to look around.  Usually in the case of a
crash the police and medical services would be all over the area.  After a
moment, I saw a crashed traffic buoy laying on the street several hundred
meters away.  Faint wisps of smoke trailed up into the air from the carcass. 
Wow, Estella’s last panic attack must have taken out all the traffic monitoring
and control nodes in the area.  Likely all traffic had been routed away from
here until engineers were sent out to identify and fix the problem.  Actually,
thinking about it, my last aura surge where I took out the engines on the
floater may have been the cause.  I nodded to myself, if anyone asks it’s going
to be the elf’s fault.

It
was a somber trio that made it into the market to the public holo terminal.  I
was calling a cab and ordering a pickup when the álfar grabbed my arm.  “What
is it, Hel... er Stella.”

“Wh...
what are you doing?” she nervously asked.

“Ordering
a taxi,” I stated slowly.  What the heck else would I be doing?

“I
don’t like taxi rides,” she said gathering herself and ending in a firm
statement.  “Human technology isn’t safe.”

“Huh,
why not?” I asked, confused.  A second later I realized what the issue was.  “That
wasn’t a typical ride.”

“You
said they all flew that way,” she said indignantly.

“I
was trying to keep you calm,” I explained.  “The newer technology is very
vulnerable to magic and even the auras from the stronger mages and supernatural
creatures. When you got nervous your aura flared and poof.”

“Oh,”
she paused in thought.  “What makes you think it won’t happen again?”

“Now
that I am ordering the aircar I’ll make sure to get an older model.  I tip well
so it shouldn’t be a problem.”  I added thoughtfully, “Though if you see smoke
next time try to think happy thoughts.  Non-crashy things.”

“Can
we walk instead?” she asked with a hint of desperation.

“That
would be silly, it would take hours to get there and Beth would be exhausted.”

“I...
I can summon an air elemental to fly us there,” Estella offered triumphantly.

“Really? 
That would be cool,” I perked up.  I had never flown with an elemental.

“That
would be awesome,” chimed in the tiny human girl.  Right, the human girl.

“I
don’t think we should take Beth on that kind of ride.” I subtly leaned over to
the elf and whispered in her ear.  “Elementals get kind of careless with
mortals unless you’re an elemental mage.  They may squish the fragile
H-U-M-A-N,” I spelled out the last word.

“Hey! 
I can spell,” the girl squeaked indignantly, obviously grossly insulted.  Maybe
I wasn’t that subtle.

“Okay,
what about that other contraption, the one with two wheels,” the hint of panic
fully blossoming into something more.

“You
want us to bike to the vampire meeting,” I asked incredulously.  Only the
nostalgia freaks and hardcore tourists used those things.  “There’s no way that
Beth could walk or bike or hike or even roll there,” I explained with less
patience than before.

“What
about,” she started.

“She
can’t swim there either,” I interrupted.

Estella
broke out of her incipient panic to glare at me.  “That’s absurd, I was going
to suggest a ‘bicycle’ caravan.  I saw it once with Faramond.”

I
stared blankly at her. I didn’t understand the reference at all.  Beth tugged
on my sleeve.  “I think she means a rickshaw.”  She had taken my spot at the
terminal and was doing a search. “There’s a tour place about a mile away.  We
can go there.”