A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1) (8 page)

My
breed is fairly scholarly as dragons go.  My ancestors had dealings with most
of the previously mentioned fields of magics and since we are immune to most toxins
many pursued alchemy either as a hobby or primary method of study.  Even
thinking about it I could feel vague concepts and principles ready to bubble up
through my subconscious mind.  A similarly distracting sensation arose as I
thought of painting spells onto a person's skin.  Pushing this sensation aside,
I concentrated once more on the issue at hand.  With a few years of study, I could
possibly do everything that the girl mentioned except for the pacts.  The very
idea of making contracts with the vermin of the firmament gave me the creeps.

“You
know something,” the little Asian girl said, staring intently at me.

“Well,”
I paused, not really sure how I wanted to say this. “I have a much better idea
of what his abilities are thanks to you.”

“And
would you like to share this?” she asked sharply.

Not
really, but my poker face really sucked.  If I wanted to work with this girl I
had to say something credible.  I would try the truth.  It's usually slippery
enough to do the trick.  “He could possibly be of a supernatural race some
call,” I spit out a name, half cough, half growl.  It actually was the term of the
overall dragon race given to us by some extra planar natives whose name wasn't
important enough to be included in the racial memories.

“So
he is not human or were,” she stated as if this actually explained something.  “What
is this race like?”

“Oh,
typical supernatural race of shapechangers, magically inclined.  The rogue
members are prone to have followers that behave like this fellow.”

“They
are not all evil?”

“Generally
not, most people believe they are extinct,” I added.  It must be the scholar in
me or I would have just shut up.  It really could have been almost any dragon
breed, but the description of his minions matched what our ancestral knowledge
gave us more of a leg up on.  If it wasn't one of our kind then it was likely a
very old dragon that had time to branch out or a demon.  I shivered as I felt
phantom pains from the lines etched in my body.  Did I really want to get
involved in fighting an older dragon?  I had lost everything that was dear to
me the last time I had blindly played hero.

“What
killed them?” she asked a bit too eagerly, obviously wanting a new weapon
against her enemy.  I could relate to that, however this was not my favorite
subject.

“Rumors
say it was a plague.” I was pretty skeptical of this.  We are almost immune to
toxins, possessed an insane regeneration and had the hardiness of our entire
race.  If it was a plague, it would not have been a natural one.  Still it is
true that our numbers aren't what they once were.  I have never seen another
one of my particular breed since I was born.  That’s not saying much
considering my modest age.

“Hmm,
useless,” she grunted.  Couldn't argue with that. “How does this change your
analysis?”

I
hadn't realized I was analyzing anything, but if she was happy with me talking
shop I was okay with that.  “Well, it's harder to pin him down.  As a major
supernatural creature he will have larger energy reservoir than a mortal...”

“Mortal?”
she asked sharply.  “He isn't mortal?”

“I
suppose it depends on how you define it.  His kind grows old, but they never
weaken by age, they only grow more powerful.  Most grow bored with life after six
to ten thousand years and just go to sleep and fade away.”

“That
sounds ominous.”

“He
can't be that old if he's playing ‘take over the world’ games,” I offered. 
Older dragons become more introverted.  Wanting to rule the world is pretty
immature.  At least I was going grasp that hope with both hands.  “However,
that means that he could probably make use of the lesser nexus point as opposed
to requiring the big one.”

“Do
you know where these are?”

“Not
really,” I thought back to my travels through the city.  I had passed over a
few, but I had no doubts there were more.  “I know where three are, but I
haven't been in the city that long.  Are you sure he won't change his mind on
doing this in Arc?  There are plenty of nodes outside the city.”

“My
informants were very sure.  For whatever reason he will enact his plans here.”

“Do
you intend to stake out every spot in the city?” I offered, somewhat dubious.

She
was silent a moment.  “No, I may be able to use the resources of the packs in
the city.”

I
was a bit surprised.  “The packs are that organized?  I had kind of thought the
vampires had organized the entire legal thing where supernaturals got civil
rights and they got dragged along for the ride.”

I
was rewarded by a somewhat sour look.  “Mostly true.  The packs are organized
on a smaller scale than vampires.  If I want help from the packs, I will have
to discuss it individually with each group.”

“And
they will help you out of the goodness of their heart, because of what an
upstanding citizen you are,” I offered, with as much sincerity as I could
muster.  I was rewarded for my efforts by another glower.

“No,”
she admitted reluctantly.  “Likely I will have to offer each pack a separate
deal.”

“Sounds
pricey.  Too bad the mayor's idea of a separate supernatural police department
isn't in place yet. I think you may have issues with the present police force
when they find out you rented the rooms where the bombs went off.”

She
gave a bitter chuckle.  “There won't be any police involvement.  Jin will
ensure that any traces that he or I were ever there are gone.  His connections
go deep everywhere I have gone.”

I
contemplated her statement.  In today's world of rather intrusive recordkeeping
and holo cameras, it seemed more than odd that a master wizard could be a
master hacker as well.  It wasn't hard to fuzz sensors.  I could do it with
just my psychic abilities and almost any supernatural creature's aura tends to
make modern technology unreliable.  This was the major reason my appliances
blew up on a daily basis and I didn't have a reliably functioning vid terminal. 
However, computer records were completely different.  This meant that he had
most likely enslaved some poor soul to do his dirty work for him.  Or maybe he
just paid well.  Considering I had seen firsthand his retirement plan I was
guessing on the first.

“Hmm. 
Well, I think support for the new department will get a boost tonight.  When
the dust settles I can ask Conrad to give us a hand.”

This
seemed to perk her interest a bit.  “Why, what's happening tonight?”

“The
police department is going to storm a magic user's lair.  I suggested they
gather a posse of shifters and vampires, but they seemed pretty skeptical.”  I
shrugged as I took another bite of pie.  “I figure when most of the human's die
in the raid it will either trigger an anti-paranormal riot or allow the mayor
to get the support he needs for the new department.”

I
enjoyed my desert in silence until I realized it had been going on a while. 
Looking up, I saw the girl staring at me in horror.  “What?  Do I have
something on my face?”

“How
can you just sit there knowing they are going to die?” she demanded imperiously.

“Um,
I don't know,” I muttered.  She seemed upset, I wondered if this was a human
thing or a woman thing.  “The police asked my advice.  I gave it to them.  If
they ignore it and die...”  I waived my spoon in tiny circles.

“But
you know they will ignore it,” she stated.

“I
know nothing of the sort.  It's just very likely.  It's not like I spoke in
riddles.  I gave them step by step advice in storming the home of a possible circle
master.  They are adults, if they choose to ignore my advice... well I've heard
a lot about Darwin.”

“And
you didn't offer any more help than advice,” she said, in a low voice.

“They
didn't ask.”  I considered her words for a moment.  “You seem to have a hero
complex.”

“You
seem to lack any moral backbone altogether,” she retorted scathingly.

I
blinked at her somewhat confused.  Did she really expect me to throw myself
uninvited in the front lines of someone else's fight for no reason?  I didn't
really know how to respond to her statement.  Was it an insult?

“You
can always contact Conrad and offer your services.  They may even accept.”

“I
think I will.”

“Conrad
seems a rather influential shifter.  If he becomes the head of the new
department he may be the most influential shifter in the city.  I don't know
how that translates into power in the packs, but it sounds like a good start.”

She
seemed to get even angrier at my advice.  “You are the most coldblooded person
I have ever met.”

“Does
this mean you don't want my help with the wizard?” I asked, to be sure I was
interpreting her correctly.  Maybe if the wizard killed her I could sneak into
the lair and steal his books while he was busy.  I didn't like the idea of
leaving what may be one of my kind marauding among mortals, but I certainly
wasn't going to challenge an older dragon to single combat.  Been there, done
that, had the runes on my chest to prove it.

She
took a deep breath and seemed calmer after a moment.  “No, I definitely want
your help.  I apologize for my anger.” 

I
think my eyebrows rose in surprise.  That was a bit more than a yes or no
answer.  “Um, no problem.  I just wanted to be sure we were on the same page. 
So do you want Conrad's number?”

“Yes.”

I
pulled out a card that Conrad had given me.  I had already memorized the
information on it so I gave it to the little shifter.  Pulling out a pen, I
wrote my address on the back.

“When
you get done tonight, come by my place.  You can stay there while we plan on
what to do with Mr. Wizard.”  After that, I finished my ice cream and went over
the details on how to storm a circle mage's stronghold and how to deal with
zombies.  Her participation in the police raid would certainly lower human
casualties, and would increase the likelihood of the new department getting
support, while lowering the likelihood interracial riots.  That had both
positive and negatives, but I thought that in general it was good.

Later,
at my house I found my attention wandering.   There were a lot of events
happening in the city, and even though I was only involved in the periphery at
the moment it made me think back.  The city I had hatched in had been an oasis
of peace and civilization amid a generally deadly wilderness full of wandering
demons and hostile other-dimensional creatures.  Only the fact that the city
was full of experts in the field of magic and had its own share of not-so-human
powerhouses kept it safe. 

For
years I had lived there, made a home complete with the obligatory objects to
guard and dwell with.  It was these little things that comfort my kind.  I even
had human and not-so-human friends.  I know I seemed detached from such things,
but it is through such friends that events that don't really directly impact us
gain importance.  A bomb may go off on the other side of the city, killing
thousands, and I would regret the loss but wouldn't shed a tear.  If one of my
friends was endangered my emotions would be very different and very personal.  In
this, I honestly don't think I am so different from the average human.

It
was these emotional entanglements that had urged me to join my friends on an ill-fated
patrol to track down the unknown source, the danger, that had resulted in
burned outlying farms and missing people.  I felt some sadness for the missing,
probably dead, farmers, but it was the fact that my companions had taken upon
themselves to track down the cause that moved me.  It was a dangerous world; however,
I had been confident that my presence was all they needed to overcome any
danger.

I
came to myself with a start.  One hand was absently tracing the runes that lay
on my chest through my shirt.  I fiercely regretted being trapped in human form,
but at times that wasn't what hurt me the most.  I have no idea how humans feel
friendship.  My empathic powers only give me weak glimpse into the kaleidoscope
of human emotions, but I felt more than mere possessiveness with them.  Knowing
I had lost them to death still filled me with anger and sorrow over a year
after the event.  I am not sure how long these things stay with you.

I
snorted.  I really hated being maudlin.  Bad things happen. You have to work
with what you have and move on.  It was time to concentrate on business.  It's
good to focus on events outside yourself since it helps distract from
unpleasant thoughts.  Brooding just makes you feel lousy and solves nothing.  I
had just started following my own advice and was focusing on understanding an
obscure ritual that an extinct tribe in Africa had once known to use when a
knock came from the door.

Since
I had many doubts about the entirety of the subject matter I was rather pleased
to be distracted.  Hopefully, Mei Ling was done playing the hero and we could
focus on the wizard fellow.  So when I opened the door and saw not a small Asian
woman but a tall well-muscled European man in a rather old style conservative suit,
I was a bit taken aback.  I was surprised enough that I opened up my senses.  A
moment later, I realized I had a vampire on my doorstep.

We
stared at each other for a few seconds.  Finally, I offered, “Is there
something that you want or are you looking for a donation?”

“You
are not what I expected, Professor,” the man drawled in a cultured voice.

I
frowned before I realized that I hadn't changed from earlier.  My clothes were
still torn from claws and bullet holes.  I guess my mind was more distracted
than I thought.  At least I had washed my hands for dinner.  “I have a thing
for the retro grunge look.”

“May
I come in?” he asked politely.

I
deepened my frown.  These undead weren't evil, but they shared many traits of
the vampires that had roamed my home dimension, and it was hard to separate the
whole savage bloodthirsty killer from my mindset.  Not that vampires were
incredibly strong as supernatural menaces go, but they were worse than roaches
when it came to killing them.  You could literally rip out their spine and if
you didn't take any further steps they would be fine the next day.  It was
creepy.

“Um,
sure.”  I backed up and held the door for him as he came in.  I admit I may
have taken a sniff as he walked by.  I had to see if he smelled of rotting
meat.  He didn't; he smelled of expensive cologne.

I
checked the time on the wall.  It was after midnight.  Mei Ling should have
been done with her police thing, assuming I had guessed right about the
reanimation process.  It occurred to me to wonder if there were any hostilities
between vampires and shifters.  She already seemed upset with me, there was no
need to make her angrier.

Gesturing
to the couch, I took my usual chair and propped my feet up.  “So what brings
you to my home?”

The
vampire rubbed his forehead.  “We need your help.”

This
surprised me.  It seems a lot of people needed my help lately.  Before today, I
would have sworn no one except the booksellers and antiquity dealers of the
city even knew my name.  “Can you be more specific?  Do you need a rare book?” 
Of course, he was using the dreaded 'we' term.  Either he was a nut who heard
voices, or he was sent by someone else.  He was a bit too well dressed for the
loon option.

“My
name is Eric and I am a vampire,” he started, and paused.  I am not sure if he
expected me to gape like a landed fish.  Meanwhile, I was starting to get
impatient. I was expecting a guest any time now and he didn't seem to be in a hurry
to get to any point.

I
started to drum my fingers as the pause continued.  It occurred to me he wasn't
going to continue without a prompt.  “Oh my god.  How startling.  Can you get
to the point?  I am expecting company.”

“You
seem unsurprised.”  The undead left the statement hanging, as if it were a
question.

“If
you expected me to be shocked perhaps you shouldn't have done that whole 'I am
a citizen, please don't stake me' campaign on the vid.”

The
man looked slightly ill at this.  “It wasn't quite that bad,” he muttered weakly.

“Well,
I suppose I am paraphrasing,” I said with a small smile.  “While it was
brilliant to reduce the image of the evil undead lurking in the night, I think
you may have lost a bit of your intimidation factor.”

“It
wasn't our decision,” he objected faintly.  “The elders decided that immediate
and drastic action was required to prevent riots.”

“Fine. 
You're not a fluffy vampire.  Who is 'we' and 'us' and what do they want from
me.”

“I
represent the master of the city.  He requires your occult expertise.”  He
seemed slightly off balance by my lack of fear.  Well, they really couldn't
expect more from the average citizen after those rather pathetic ads several
months ago.  I barely have a working holovid most days, and I had laughed until
I cried watching it.  He rubbed his forehead again and I noticed that his
rather pale complexion was developing a rash.

“Does
each city have a master?  Do they answer to these elders you mentioned?  Is
there a council or a single vampire acting as the leader of all the vampires?”
I asked.  As long as he was here I may as well find out more about this new
kind of vampires.

“Each
city has a master,” he paused after this, apparently not expecting the direction
the conversation was going. “I... can't really discuss the private workings of
our political system.”

Well,
darn.  Vampires didn't have inherent spell magic unless they were a wizard in their
previous existence, so they hadn't really been on my radar except for initial
surprise factor in finding this dimension was infested with them.  That's not
to say I didn't want to know more about them; they had just been low on my
research priorities.  Curiosity is one of my weaknesses, but I have only so
much time in a day.

“Fine,”
I grunted, slightly grumpy that my chance at easy research had been thwarted. 
What can I say; the occult has always been my hobby even if I only recently was
driven to learn its more practical aspects.  “Then what does the city master
want?”

“Lately,
there's been a rash of minor entities invading the city,” Eric stated. He
looked really uncomfortable and fine beads of pinkish sweat peppered his skin.

“Like
the zombies,” I prompted.  He jerked as if he had been stabbed with a cattle
prod.

“How
did you find out about them?” he growled out, leaning forward in his chair, his
attitude going from servile to dangerous in a moment.

“The
police asked for my expertise on a crime scene,” I offered mildly.  His teeth
were extended slightly more and the undead definitely did not look well.  “I
had gotten the impression that zombies had been around for a long time posing
as a gang in the Blight.”

This
appeared to calm him down a bit and he leaned back in the chair once more.  “The
dead operated more during the day than at night.  We only recently realized
they were there.” So not a rogue vampire gang.  That begged the question of why
bother with the Blight?

“Did
the police ask for your help for the raid tonight?  I suggested they ask the
locals to deal with the zombie master, but they never really said what their
plans were.”

His
eyes widened in startlement, exposing some very red and veiny eyes.  “No.  No
request came.  We would have been happy to cooperate.”

I
gave this statement some thought.  Apparently the police hadn't heeded my
advice.  Perhaps Conrad had decided to only use shifter volunteers.  That was
the best interpretation I could come up with.  If he had completely ignored my
advice, I would be reading about a lot of dead officers in tomorrow's paper. 
It was obvious that the vampires were aware that the animator had escaped their
wrath and were anxious to fix their error.

“Well,
we can hope for the best.  Maybe they will contact your city master later
regarding it. Is your master public knowledge or is he hidden?”

“He
has a very public identity.  Our operations are modeled after corporations. 
His number is in the yellow pages.”

Now
I was a bit surprised.  “Under what?  'Fangs 'R Us'?”

“No,”
his eyes narrowed.  Obviously lacking in humor. “His number is under Clan
Fiero.  Anyone can call him and arrange a business meeting through his
secretary.”

I
stared at him in bemusement.  “He has a secretary...”

“It's
a modern world.  You have to change with it.”  He seems more at ease after
having put me off my stride, though evidence of growing distress was clear.  “Never
the less, zombies were not the only reason we came to you.  There have been
traces of spiritual entities and even minor demons cropping up through the
city.  They are becoming more common.”

My
mind went into overdrive at this.  Assuming they weren't just paranoid, there
are two obvious reasons for random creatures to pop up and create disturbances. 
One was that major fluctuations in the ley lines could cause energy overloads
at the nodes, resulting in minute and temporary opening into other dimensions. 
Both innocent and malicious creatures could then waltz through. 

My
original home had veritable storms of energy along our bloated ley lines, and
ruptures in the space-time continuum spewed forth hazards constantly.  I am
sensitive to the ley line energies due to my nature and experience, and I could
almost definitely write this off.  Not only would I sense it, but many of the nodes
were in public places and newspapers would be full of strange creatures coming
out of huge gaping holes in the fabric of reality. 

It
is really not subtle, any more than a natural tsunami is.  The second option
was of course circle makers and wizards.  Minor entities can be summoned on nodes
for negligible energy.  If you can actually choose your node location then you
could find one with few or no witnesses.  Mei Ling's wizard apparently had
grander things planned and would need more time and energy to get a creature of
significant power.  After all, being what he was his idea of a creature of
power would be higher than a mortal’s.

“We
are willing to pay for your time as a consultant.” I looked at him blankly,
still partially lost in my thoughts.  Apparently he mistook this for reluctance
and continued hurriedly.   “We are willing to pay ten thousand credits a day
for your services.”  Hmm, was that a lot of money?  I shrugged; money never
really meant much to me unless it was counted in gems and precious metals.

“Sure.”

“We
can also provide... what?” He interrupted himself as if he didn't quite hear me
correctly.

“I
said sure.  I accept.  Chances are that some minor practitioners are stirring
up the waters and summoning nuisances in.” The timing was interesting.  I think
Mei Ling's wizard had probably sent his apprentices to the city to confuse
things.  I could take advantage of this.

“Are
you sure?” the vampire asked dubiously.  I couldn't really blame him.  As far
as he knew, I was just talking out of my ass.  It was unlikely he even knew
about the wizard who was behind this.  Of course, there was always the chance
that I was fooling myself and linking two difference problems to the same
source.  However, considering how rare and difficult it has been to find actual
magic in use in the city, I think it was fair to link the events in my head. 
Besides even if they were completely unrelated, the solution was the same.