West Coast Witch (28 page)

“Yea, that was a bit weird. Will I always be able to do that?”

“It is possible.” She nodded. “But right now, both of us need you to focus on our
problem. Getting home.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “What do I imagine?”

“Look into your mind, and imagine creating a door. Create a door, and think of it
as a gateway to home.”

“To home?” I thought of my apartment. I thought of the futon that I slept on, the
makeshift shelves and piles of books. My mind grasped at the magic around me, bringing
it to me and taking it in. The heat poured into me again, but it was nowhere as bad
as previously. Now it was like a subtle warmth.

I imagined my hands in my mind, pulling at a window, pulling it open so I could head
through. It wasn’t a very complex idea, but it took root in my mind. I pulled at that
idea, pouring more energy.

I said a word, a simple one, because I felt it was what best described what I was
doing. “Open.” I opened my eyes to see, opening up for me, a small white hole. It
was about the size of my fist. Definitely not big enough to step through. “Crap.”
I murmured. I was so tired. Even that spell, so quickly after that fireball, had just
wasted me.

“Eric…” Amy said. “I do not want to rush you, but they are getting closer.”

I looked back to the buildings. A number of shadows were slowly crawling forward towards
us from them. “Amy, what are they?” I asked.

“We are not going to find out today, okay?” She placed her hands on my shoulders.
“Pull the portal open further. They cannot follow us once we are back on Earth.”

Whispers started to reach my ears. I couldn’t tell what they were. So many of them
were speaking, they all started to blend into white noise. “Amy, they’re trying to
talk to me, I think.”

She shook her head. “Ignore them. Now. Nothing they say is true.”

I nodded, and turned back to the portal. I gathered my will, forcing myself to push
the portal open. I pulled it open, bit by bit, like trying to push something wet and
sticky, that simply didn’t want to move.

I could hear the whispers growing louder. Each moment was another step up in their
volume, and I could only wonder what these things would do whenever they met their
prey.

“Eric, come on, just a little more.” Amy urged.

I pushed harder and harder. Soon, the voices were roaring in my head, drowning out
any of my thoughts. I wasn’t going to die, not now. Not after all this shit.

“It’s open!” I heard Amy shout.

I felt something grab my jacket, bringing me out of my focus. I saw, behind me, something
that had once been human. I hoped.

It was a skeleton, with a gray mist surrounding it like muscles and flesh, in one
of those classroom cutaways they use to teach anatomy. Where its eyes should have
been were two black pits, staring lifelessly at me.

Amy flicked out the knife and sliced at the thing, severing its hand at the wrist.
“We are LEAVING.” She hissed as she shoved me through the portal.

I don’t remember much after that. I remember the cold that I had felt earlier in the
portal, and then the familiar feel of my carpet against my skin. The last thing I
remembered before losing consciousness was a shadowy figure, talking into a radio.

“Yea, we found him. Call an ambulance, the guy looks bad.”

I opened my eyes.

It took me several moments to figure out where I was. My vision was blurry, like someone
had stuck a bad pair of glasses over my eyes. It took a bit to clear up.

I was sore. That was the first thing that told me I was good. If I had been dead,
I probably would have felt just perfect. But, here I was, all bent out of shape and
sore. It felt good, in its own way. I was alive.

I was in a private room in a hospital. My arm was hooked up to an IV, presumably giving
me what passed for lunch for people who had been unconscious.

The first thing I did was check for other people. My room was empty, but I could hear
the noise of business outside, people working to their own rhythms.

I found the call button on my bed, and jabbed it a few times with an aching finger.
A few minutes, a man in a nurse’s outfit, around my age, appeared.

“Hello, Mister Carpenter.” He said with a bright smile. “You just won me twenty bucks.”

“Huh?” I probably sounded even dumber than I remember.

“We had a bet on when you’d wake up. Good to know I won. I’m Nurse Ferris.”

“Uh, hi, Ferris. I sure hope that’s your last name.” I could reference movies from
the eighties. That was a good sign. I reached a hand up and rubbed at my forehead.
“You guys were betting on when I’d wake up?”

“Yea, a little morbid, but we wanted to know who’d gotten rushed to the private suite
and was getting gifts every day.”

“Private suite? Gifts?” I shook my head. It was only at a more detailed glance around
the room that I saw that two of the chairs in the room were filled with boxes and
bags, with cards attached to them. The guys at work wouldn’t have done all that. And
what was with the suite? “Uh, how long was I out?”

“It’s Tuesday. So, you were out for nearly three days. You got pulled in Sunday night.”

“Great.” I rubbed at my head. “Listen, there was probably a blond woman who was admitted
about the same time I was. Uh, about five-eight, wearing jeans and a sports bra?”

“Oh, yea. She was released yesterday. She had a pretty kickass healing rate. But,
I think she was somewhere around-“

Amy burst through the door. “You clever, clever man.” She smiled when she saw me.
“Nurse, could you give us a minute? In private?”

Ferris looked to me.

“Uh, yes, please.” I added, and watched as the nurse left. “Okay, so, what happened?”

“You got us home.” She grinned. “It was very good work. The portal came out onto your
living room. There were still officers who were looking into your place, after the
call to nine-one-one you made.”

“So, they got the were I had in the apartment? That’s good. I won’t press charges,
but it’s good to know they didn’t think I was cuckoo.”

She nodded, and paused for a moment. ‘So, how are you doing?”

“I hurt like a bitch, but I guess that’s expected.
 
What’s the damage report?”

“A few cracked ribs, but apart from that, you are very bruised. You came out lucky
from that one.” She walked to my bedside. “And by the way, I am very impressed with
the fire spell. That was…well, amazing. You did it like you had done it before.”

I shrugged. “Well, I guess I just did what came to mind. You told me fire worked well
on Arcanes, so…hell, it was worth a shot.”

“True, but you exhibit a rather unique talent for visualizing spells. It is something
we will have to look into.”

“Sure, but maybe like, in a few weeks? When I don’t feel like shit?”

“Ah, yes.” She nodded. “Of course. But for now, let us see you are rested.”

“Yea, I shouldn’t have any problem at all in this suite. Speaking of which, who the
hell is paying for all of this?”

“Well, stay as long as you want. It looks like Ishmael put you up for this. Teresa,
the people from your work, Matt, and I all sent gifts, though there are a few from
people who think that getting in good with the new Knight of the Bay might be a beneficial
thing.”

“So, did they confirm it or something while I was out?”

Amy laughed. “Oh, no. See, once you can get on your feet, you are going to have to
meet the other leaders, and they get to vote on whether you will be accepted. Your
killing of Lucien was lawful, but they will have to confirm you for actual Knight
status.”

“Fantastic.” I rolled my eyes. “That just sounds great.”

“Oh, it is. But you’re the one who got your ass into this mess. It’s your own damn
fault.”

I shrugged, though that worked some muscles I probably shouldn’t have used. “Yea,
uh, I guess it is. Freaking ay. Well, I guess we’ll just wait until that happens,
right?”

“I told them you would be ready in a week.”

“A week?” I shrugged again, which made me wish for morphine or something. “Well, nothing
I could do but wait.”

Later that day, I got another visitor. This time, it was Detective-Inspector Hernandez,
who this time had brought his partner with him. Detective-Inspector Li was a short
Asian woman who carried herself like she was a foot taller than Hernandez. The two
made an odd pair, but it was San Francisco. Oddity was just one of the hallmarks.

They came in during the afternoon, as I was watching the news on the TV in the room.
“Mister Carpenter,” Hernandez said. “May we speak with you?”

“Uh, yea.” I shifted myself as best I could without straining any of my injuries,
and grabbed the remote to turn the television off. “How can I help you?”

He pulled out a notebook. “This is my partner, DI Li. We had a few questions regarding
the past few days.”

I felt myself slump back into the hospital bed. “Of course, sir.” I started to wonder
what part of the last few days they wanted to ask about. “I'd be a better host, but
right now I'm sort of the worse for wear.

Li offered a little smile. “Mister Carpenter, were you at the apartment of the vampire
Rico Inez at any point last week?”

I shuddered a little as I thought back to that night. The memories of the Bliss were
still fresh in my mind, and it was an experience I didn't want to relive. But, I certainly
wasn't going to hide that from the cops. “Yes, I was, Inspector.”

Hernandez then picked it up from there. “In fact, you were there with Jackson Taylor,
a local mob officer and two of his enforcers, plus a woman we haven't identified yet.”

“Yea, I was. The initial idea was that we were there to do an intervention for the
sister of one of his 'enforcers,' as you so colorfully called them.” I replied, not
really feeling any need for keeping a lid on the sarcasm. I was in a hospital bed.
I wasn't really feeling diplomatic at this point.

“So, this sister, why did she need you to intervene?”

“Because she was staying with two Bliss dealers who had her hooked.” Jackson hadn't
told me how much I could talk about, so I decided to just be upfront with the cops,
and not bother with keeping Jackson's dealings secret. If he didn't like that, he
could be more specific next time.

“And these two vampires were Bliss dealers?” Inspector Li asked. She scratched something
on a notepad.

“Yea, I saw the drug there myself.” I skimmed over the fact I had taken a full hit
of the stuff myself. “Listen, is there a point to all of this, Inspectors?”

“Yes, there is.” Li nodded. “We'd like to know if you thought this was part of a gang
conflict.”

“Gang conflict?” I paused a moment. “Listen, things went to hell when we were trying
to get Becca out. I don't know what happened, but yea, they did fight. I was just
there for the girl. What happened after the fight broke out is a bit of a blur.”

Hernandez and Li exchanged a look, and then Hernandez continued. “Mister Carpenter,
two nights ago you made a 911 call, disappeared for several hours, and then a man
matching your description was seen entering Kingston Fisheries. Six hours later, you
appeared in your apartment, which was having a crime scene unit go over it, along
with a blond woman.”

“Yea, if that's how you say it happened.” I said. Had I been in the Other Side that
long? “What do you want to know?”

Hernandez looked intently on me. His brow pinched. “Listen, I want to figure out what
the hell is going on here. We've got a missing girl returned to her home, werewolves
going crazy, and people somehow appearing in the middle of thin air. You were at the
crime scene of Raymond Francis last week. Since then, you've popped up in several
reports to cross the Arcane desk.”

“Yea, I have.” I nodded. “Inspector Hernandez, if I told you, you either wouldn't
believe me, or you'd think I was crazy and you'd be crazy for believing me if you
did.”

Li crossed her arms across chest. “Try us, Mister Carpenter.”

“The Arcanes have a position in their societies, for someone who mediates and assists
the various races in a city. A Knight. Recently, I was put into that position, and
I'm working to help the vampires and weres in what way I can.”

Hernandez arched a bushy eyebrow. “You, Mister Carpenter? Why you?”

“Because I'm a neutral party.” I said. “I'm just trying to help.”

Hernandez didn't look satisfied with that answer, but he seemed as if he couldn't
think of anything else. “Very well. Since, well, the stabbing of Roy Fisher was in
self-defense, we won't charge you for that. Would you like to press charges against
him?” At my nod, he asked. “You don't mind if we call you up at some later date to
follow up, right?”

“Not at all, Inspector.” I said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.

“Well, thank you for your time.” Hernandez pocketed his notebook, and he started for
the door. Li, however, stayed behind for just a moment, after Hernandez left.