A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1) (40 page)

I
felt unease, some images of him with a whirlwind at his fingertips.  I got an
image of an oriental man with a classic Fu Manchu mustache and eerily long
fingernails.  That must be Jin.  It didn’t seem very original.  My attention
was grabbed when I felt another presence within my captives mind.  The intruder
was obviously psychic to a startling degree and backed by an eerie other
worldly, positively malevolent aura.  There was no real landscape within this
mind where we met, but metaphorically speaking we eyed each other.  This other
was no human, it was pure supernatural power to such a degree to raise my
hackles and trigger my instinctive territorial anger.

We
took each other’s measure and postured.  It was clear that this creature hated
my presence as much as I did his.  However, this was as neutral as ground could
be and there was nothing to be done except glare at each other and give our
host a few nightmares.  With a last growl, I broke contact.

I
gathered my wits as Conrad had the captives transferred to an armored ambulance
float. I finally noted everyone staring at me when Jeremy prodded me
impatiently.  “Well?”

“It
was confusing,” I admitted as I let my anger drain from me.  “All my theories
seem to be somewhat... late.”

“And
what does that mean?” asked Conrad warily.  It was understandable.  He was
after all depending largely on my knowledge to plan a defense and
investigation.

“I
encountered another entity within our friend’s head,” I started.

“I
thought your magic bowl cut him off,” Conrad interrupted.

“It
cuts off magic,” I continued absently.  “This was a psychic probe, similar to
what I was trying.  It was powerful and not even remotely human.”

“Jin
has been summoning demons for the last few weeks,” interjected Mei.

“This
was more.  It seems likely that Jin already has a greater demon or perhaps even
a demon lord in his employ.”  I turned to Mei, “It appears that Jin is to be
taken more seriously that I had originally thought.”

“What
does this change,” asked the petite Asian.

“Our
original idea was that he wanted to summon a demon lord.”  I paused for a
moment.  “Well, he already has.  Then we learned that he had a network of
portals around the world linked to do something all at once.”

“What? 
When did you learn that,” Conrad asked in morbid surprise.

“Just
tonight.  Keep up Conrad,” I counted these points on my fingers.  “We thought
this might be an invasion...”

“Invasion,”
shouted a startled bear shifter.  Jeremy also looked surprised.

“Yes,
an invasion.  How pedestrian is that?” I commiserated with the others.  “Fortunately,
I think it’s something else.  Once Mei gets me the images of the spell work I
should at least be able to tell if they open to hell or simply link to the plane
that the circle master and the Baron came from.  Hell dimensions are very
distinctive and I saw the coordinates of our opponent’s world in the circle
under the streets.”

“Now
the latest information is very odd.  News is that the circle master’s dimension
has a cabal...” I continued.

“I
thought it was a magician council,” interrupted Mei.

“Same
thing,” I brushed off the distinction.  “A cabal that is trying to use our
dimension as an energy sink to drain off the torrential magic of their world.”

“Would
that work?” Jeremy asked.

“No,
it’s utter nonsense as far as I can tell,” I dismissed.  “Of course they should
also know this, so I have a hard time imagining what I am missing.  Nevertheless,
they have resources to supply Jin with the knowledge to set up the portals and
probably a trigger.  And of course, set him up with a honking big demon.  Now
that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if the apprentices that are
distracting us belong to the cabal too.”

“Where
does this leave us?” a visibly disturbed Conrad asked.

“If
they go through with this plan it will get ugly.  It may not work but while
they try it this planet is going to get a lot more energy flooded into the ley
lines.”

“Wait
a minute,” Jeremy protested.  “You said it wouldn’t work.”

“He’s
right too,” Stella added.  “Flooding your world won’t reduce their energy flow
one bit.  It will just flow through your world and circulate back into theirs. 
He never said it wouldn’t have any effect on this planet.”

“So
what can we do,” Conrad asked.

“Ideally
we stop Jin so he can’t start his ritual.  Lacking that we shut the portals,” I
stated.

“How
do we do that?”

I
stayed silent at that.  It grew uncomfortable after a minute.

“Would
a bomb...,” Conrad hesitantly asked.

“Crap! 
This is why I didn’t want to bring it up,” I complained.  “Assuming the
Illuminati or whoever the magicians of this planet are, didn’t zap you with the
‘forget me’ spell you must remember what happened in that Moscow disaster.  In
fact, enough bombs are just the thing that causes permanent disasters like what’s
happened to Baron Samedi’s world.  We do not want that.”

“Fine,
but we need to do something,” Conrad spat out.

“I’ll
know more once Mei’s contacts get us the information on Jin’s preparations. If
they can’t find them then we are stuck tracking down Jin before he does his
last spell.”

“When
is that?” Conrad inquired.  I hate it when people asked me questions I didn’t
have answers to.

“I
am not sure,” I grudgingly admitted.  “The ideal time would be summer or winter
solstice or equinox.  However, if he had enough energy he could do it anytime. 
I am starting to think we are further behind him than we thought.  A greater
demon has a ton of energy.”

“The
equinox is in a week,” Jeremy helpfully informed us.

“Thanks,”
I ruefully nodded in his direction.  “In my opinion it could be any time
between now and then.”

“That
aligns remarkably well with our oracles predictions,” a subdued álfar chimed
in.

“What
predictions?” asked Conrad.  I raised my hand to stop Stella but finally just
shrugged.

“The
apocalypse,” Mei whispered, cutting off Stella. 

In
the silence that followed I realized that half the task force was gathered
around us mouths open in horror.  The other half were pale and wide eyed,
trying to complete their work despite the suppressed terror evident in their
eyes.

“I’m
sure it’ll just be a little apocalypse,” I turned towards them waving my hands
in reassurance.  “Barely civilization ending... probably.”

Maybe
next time we discuss this it should be inside.

We
really tried to get Stella in the police floater but when her left eye started
to twitch, I threw in the towel.  She asked for my tooth to navigate back to
the house and we went on ahead.  She didn’t really miss much, we were quiet for
the most part.  Jeremy had borrowed my wrist terminal and since it was in
privacy mode he was frantically waving at an interface only he could see.  What
was really suppressing the conversation was how every time we started talking
the officer driving would jerk his head around the car would sidle to the
right.  There wasn’t much traffic but the auto pilot alarm sounded three
times.  It was definitely a good thing Stella wasn’t there.

We
had barely left the vehicle when the floater shot into the air.  I could faintly
hear the navigation alarm fading as it left us in a jet stream.  “He seemed
nervous.  It must have been Mei and her ferocious demeanor.”

Mei
sighed and headed towards the house.  She stopped abruptly while a distracted
Jeremy continued moving forward, muttering energetically under his breath.  It
took me a moment to register exactly why Mei had stopped.  Strewn around my
yard were seven individuals in various states of dress and consciousness.  Five
were completely naked and sprawled, dead to the world on the lawn.  One wore
only slightly singed boxers and the last wore what appeared to be the burned
remains of what was once a very nice suit.

“Eric?”
I asked slightly dumbfounded.  “Why are you on my lawn half naked?”

“Derek?
What am I doing here?  The last thing I remember is coming to deliver a message
from Mr. Fiero,” he replied, with a slightly dazed drawl.

 Fascinating. 
Either they couldn’t reform from being vaporized by my wards or they had
reformed and been immediately vaporized again before they could leave the
protected area.  Perhaps several times.

“I
see.  In the future you should ring the bell before you come in,” I suggested
as I walked past him.  “You head on back to Tower Plaza.  Thanks for stopping
by.  I think I have all the data I need from you at the moment.”

“Data? 
What about my message?” he groggily replied.

“Got
it.  Vivian was nice enough to stop by and deliver it,” I said as I opened the
door and my companions trooped by me.  “You should pick up your friends and get
off the lawn, once I activate the security wards again it won’t be pleasant.” 
I certainly didn’t want any more vampires hanging around in limbo.  I would
have to charge them rental fees if they actually lived here.  Or whatever the
state they existed in between being vaporized was.  “You have about two
minutes.”

“What?”
he said in growing alarm and confusion.

I
closed the door and immediately headed downstairs.

“What
are you doing,” asked Mei.

“Activating
the wards.  I forgot to put them back up after Sabastian left,” I shook my head
in disgust.  “Can’t have the undead wandering the neighborhood.”

“But
who on earth were those people and why were they on your lawn naked?”

“Damned
vampire hippies,” I said with a smile.  “Fiero’s standards for who joins his
club are getting lower.”

A
minute later I heard muffled screams as I took my bowl off the symbols relating
to undead.  I felt the energies shift and rebalance, as the ward adjusted
itself.  Mai voice could be heard from the entryway, “He just went up in a jet
of flames!  What the hell?”

“Don’t
worry, vampires are like cockroaches, almost impossible to kill,” I said, as I
came up the stairs again.  Mei had a thoughtful look on her face before
shrugging and walking away.

“I’m
going to bed,” she said over her shoulder.  “I’ll leave Jeremy’s coat in the
connecting bath.  I’m still dizzy.”  Jeremy absently waved goodnight, his
attention was still on the terminal.

“I
have to go,” Jeremy hurriedly stated, as he walked by me and pressed my
terminal back in my hands.  “I have to find out what happened to my sister.  I
can’t contact her and my searches aren’t returning anything.”

“Probably
because she’s asleep in the back,” I volunteered, as he was about to head out
the door.

“What?”
he replied in bewilderment.

“Seems
that someone made me the emergency contact,” I said with a smug smile.  “She
took an aircab over and has been here since.  Except for the ride in the
rickshaw.”

“Rickshaw?”

“Stella
gets nervous about air vehicles since we crashed into my front lawn.  We had to
get a tourist rickshaw to get around.”

“Crashed?”

“We
took a cab but Stella didn’t know to control her aura so we crashed into the
house.  It was just as well, the demons looked like they wanted a tasty little
treat out Beth.”

“Demons!”

“Don’t
worry we killed them all and I now have some very nice alchemy supplies.  You
just can’t find demon parts on this plane.  Don’t worry, I took good care of
her.  I brought her with me to talk to Vincent and Sabastian.”

“Vincent? 
As in the master of all the vampires in the city Vincent?”

“Yep,
safe as houses,” I paused to think about how safe houses really were.  Not very,
with Faramond around.  “We chatted and I got the services of a vampire assassin
out of it.”

“Vampire
assassin?”          

“Yes,
you know Sabastian?” I asked worriedly.  Jeremy didn’t seem himself, he kept
repeating everything I said.  It was very unlike him.  “Are you okay?  You seem
confused.  You should take a break.  It should be all right to take a few days
off, assuming the end of the world doesn’t interfere,” I qualified.  “Beth has
been very helpful.  In your absence, she has been acting as my agent and has
done very well.”

“Your
agent?  She’s only eight years old.”

“True,
but she says she’s almost an adult and who am I to argue?”

“Derek,
she is only.  Eight.  Years. Old,” he said, clearly enunciating each word.  “Did
you even look up what the life cycle of the normal human is?”

“I. 
Know,” I replied.  “I did read it.  My terminal is useful like that, since it
stopped blowing up.  However, obviously the writer didn’t know a thing.  The
description of maturity levels and capabilities was so far from being accurate
that he should be up on academic probation at the very least.”

“You
can’t treat her like an adult, she’s only a little girl,” Jeremy protested
looking like he was being driven into apoplexy.

“You
can’t modify your world around an obviously inaccurate study,” I waved my
finger at him.  “If objective evidence shows that a hypothesis is incorrect,
you have to discard it and try one that does fit the facts.  I am surprised at
you.  I found out about the scientific method from you, the rest of your stuff
may be nonsense, however I like that one.”

“But...”

“Despite
the fact that your viewpoint on childhood is clearly out of touch with reality,
I have to concede that you and your parents are her legal guardians.  If you
wish to treat her like a dumb pet, it is completely within your rights.  Under
the law,” I reluctantly admitted.

Jeremy
stared flatly at me for a moment, gathering his thoughts.  “Thanks.  Is there
anything else you want to tell me about?”

“Well,
I activated Beth’s psionic potential, that’s why she’s sleeping,” I said
nonchalantly as I headed to the kitchen for a snack.  With all the people
living here, I needed to increase the deliveries.

“Damn
it Derek!  You can’t just rewire a minor’s brain on a whim,” Jeremy shouted at
my back.

“Give
me a break!  You had just been kidnaped, your sister almost devoured by demons
like poor Mat was,” I snapped impatiently.  He obsessed over the tiniest
details. “When we finally found you, you were beaten so bad your still growing
you’re teeth back.  Surely you want your sister to be able to defend herself?”

“But
rewiring her brain...” Jeremy lamely trailed off. 

“I
keep telling you, this is the standard procedure to unlock psionic ability. 
The areas involved have nothing to do with personality,” I paused for a
moment.  “Unless you’re an ogre.  Ogres actually get an intellect boost and a
healthy obsession with hygiene.  Both are generally considered positives by
almost anyone you ask.  Except other ogres...”

“Mat’s
dead?”

“Yeah,
the horde of demons that almost got your sister stopped to snack on him first. 
He was just around the block.  Conrad thinks he was stopping to see me when the
demons’ aura shorted out the car and he got swarmed.  There isn’t even a body
to bury.”  I sighed sadly at the sheer waste.  “If there was I might have attempted
a resurrection, using one of the new circles I have been working on.”

“That
stinks, he was a nice guy.  Always seemed a bit nervous though,” Jeremy
observed.

“It
seems to be a pretty common attribute with his department.  Hopefully, they’ll
man up in time for the end of the world.”

“Okay,
I guess if she’s the same little girl, then the ability to protect herself
would be good.  Thanks for saving her from the demons.  That means a lot to me.”

I
nodded magnanimously.  “It’s all right.  I always try to look out for my
friends.”

“So
end of the world, eh?” he said, switching tracks.

“That’s
a melodramatic way to put it, nevertheless it will be nasty.”

“Is
that what happened to your world?”

“Eh?”
I looked at him nonplussed.

“You’re
not really good at keeping secrets.  You like showing off too much,” he said
wryly.

“Fine,”
I acknowledged.  My kind have huge egos.  It’s really hard to suppress, it’s a
racial thing.  “Yeah, our world was just like the Baron’s except for a bit more
science.  Not as advanced as your world, but only maybe fifty years behind.”

“So
what happened?”

“Lots
of deaths, swelled ley lines and self-sustaining flow of supercharged
energies.  Just like that stupid attempt to divert their world’s energies are
going to cause here.”

“Will
it be permanent?”

“I’m
not sure. I think if we close the portals soon enough the change won’t be
permanent.”

“How
hard is it close them?”

“Once
they are self-sustaining almost impossible.  They won’t be dependent on any
spells and they have no physical structure to target.  Before that point there
some possibilities.  I would guess Jin or his demon has etched the spell as a
circle on a stone or permacrete surface near the node.  The spell will make it
very, very durable.  Once the ley lines flood it will further enhance the
durability of them and anything magical.  It will be almost indestructible.”

“So
why did you jump down Conrad’s throat when he suggested blowing it up?”

“Small
explosives won’t do much.  Anything big enough to destroy it would take out the
city too.  The death energy of an entire city has a really good chance to open
up the portal by itself and also cause a chain reaction in all the nodes along
the network.  The only difference between this and the magician’s council’s
plan is that their portals only go to their world.  At least as far as we
know.  A natural chain reaction could go anywhere and hell dimensions are like
magnets for random portals.”

“So
damned if you, damned if you don’t,” he sighed.

“We’ll
know more if... when Mei’s contacts can send us information.”

“Okay,
let’s make some plans. Maybe Conrad can minimize this disaster from the world
ending to simply disastrous.”

“We
can do that,” I nodded in agreement.  “If the military had a presence in each
city and barricades and their force fields it may help.  Their tech is
hardened,” I tapped the wrist terminal as an example. “It’s likely a side
effect of their EMI hardening and redundancy but they don’t blow up unless you
really try.  The big worry is that someone panics and sets off enough ordnance
that causes the aforementioned cascade effect.”

“What
about this interference effect magic causes, can we minimize it?”

“Without
military tech, they need to retire the newer quantum chips.  They go like
that.” I snapped my fingers.  “Even without that, most technology built in the
last seventy five years is going to be scattershot.  I did find out that the
safety restraint systems actually go off in such a crash of a floater.”

“That
bowl of ‘magic be gone’ worked for the minions.  Could it do something else?”

“Absolutely!”
I exclaimed, while slapping him lightly on the back.  “I actually already
protected our terminal.  And if I did nothing to but inscribe those runes on
all the task force’s equipment from this moment on, you would have a single
division with magically hardened gear ready for when the gates to hell open and
the terrors of the universe pour through.”

“Enough
with the sarcasm,” Jeremy replied with a grin.  “So it would be too little too
late.”

“If
we could actually find any significant numbers of the mages that did the Moscow
thing we could put them to work.  As it is, I haven’t seen anyone.  Even Mei,
who has seen them, says they are hard to find.”