Wizard in a Witchy World (2 page)

Finally, I turned into an older neighborhood where I watched Shaggy park. In real time, the motorcycle was gone, so this must have been a temporary stop. I parked just behind where he’d been and turned off the engine and headlights.

The ticking of my engine as the metal cooled seemed loud in the still night. I raised the seer's glass and watched Shaggy walk down the sidewalk, only to disappear behind a tree. I’d expected him to cross the street, but he didn’t, at least not immediately. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to get out of the truck. It wasn’t as if it was illegal to skulk around a neighborhood with a magic mirror at one in the morning, but I had to believe it would make some people nervous.

I found Shaggy's visage skulking behind a tree, focused on the run-down, white clapboard single story house directly across the street. Shaggy just stood there, leaning against the tree with his hands in his pockets. His funky smell was faint, but I couldn’t determine what it was he found so interesting.

I used the mirror to inspect the house, trying to angle it to where Shaggy’s head was pointed. He didn’t take his eyes off of the house, but wasn’t overly particular about what he was looking at, clearly waiting for someone to come outside.

Rolling the glass forward, I scanned the front of the house, and then I saw it. On the street, in front of the house, was a grey sedan that strongly resembled Red’s. It wasn't as if I needed confirmation of who Shaggy was targeting, but a bright flash of red at the front door caused my stomach to drop. She’d opened the door and was hugging an older woman goodbye.

Red left in her car and I expected Shaggy to follow, but instead he crossed the street to the house. Brazenly, he walked into the side yard and jumped the short, chain-link fence. I crossed the street after him. He disappeared through an overgrown hedge running along the side of a dilapidated garage.

It was a terrible idea to follow, but I believed, since his motorcycle was no longer parked on the street, I’d be safe. Pushing my way through the hedge, I got another strong whiff of werewolf. It made sense. The air wasn’t moving much back here and the guy had a real stink to him.

His earlier self peered into a window on the side of the house. Ugh, what a creep. With good foliage covering him from anyone on the street, he could stand there unobserved as long as he wanted. Finally, after twenty minutes, he turned and walked out of the yard toward the street.

So… about my thinking no one would have seen Shaggy… never underestimate the nosiness of neighbors. I followed Phantom-Shaggy out of the back yard and for a minute, didn’t notice I had company.

"Freeze! Police!" a voice commanded. Crap. I released the spell from the seer's glass and held my hands above my head, dropping the now ineffective willow switch.

Once I’d been loaded into the back of the police cruiser with cuffed hands in my lap, Officer Joseph Lozano leaned on the door.

"Would you care to explain what you were doing in Mrs. Barrios’ back yard?" he asked.

It wasn’t a good time to be evasive, but honesty wasn’t an option either. I decided to slice it down the middle.

"It’s going to sound nuts," I said.

"Try me. I have some experience with that type of thing," he answered.

Officer Lozano had a forthright aura. He was a man who took his job seriously. I hated lying to him, but there was no chance he’d believe me.

"I was driving on Harney Street, headed home. A large dog ran out in front of me. I thought I’d hit him, so I followed. It looked to me like he’d run into that back yard."

"Care to explain the stick you were holding?" he asked. He didn’t believe me.

"I found it on the ground," I said.

"Mr. Slade, have you been drinking tonight?"

"Nothing more than coffee."

"Sit tight. I need to look around and make sure you haven’t caused any property damage."

Part of being a wizard - for me - is receiving small glimpses of the future, called portents. It’s not like I can see future stock prices or anything. It’s more like I can sense likely outcomes of the near future. These perceptions are different than visions… but, I'm getting off track. In this case, I sensed something bad was about to happen to Officer Lozano.

Small flashlight in hand, he approached the house. I’d have felt better if he’d unclipped his pistol, but he clearly wasn’t expecting trouble. Methodically, he swept the flashlight's beam back and forth, inspecting the house and nearby grounds. The beam paused momentarily on my willow switch, but quickly continued on.

I had a good view of the officer’s path as he approached the back yard, but once he disappeared around the unkempt hedge, I was only able to see occasional sweeps of the flashlight beam.

His startled shout and the light from the flashlight spiraling away into the brush alerted me to something going down. I waved my finger across the lock of the hand-cuffs and repeated the same on the cruiser's door. The lock clunked down and I pushed the squad door open, jumped out, and sprinted into the back yard.

I heard struggling and the growls of an angry canine. "
Lucem
," I commanded. Light burst forward from the wide silver ring on my left hand. The light was blinding initially, but my eyes adjusted in time to see Lozano rolling in the grass, grappling with a large wolf. I didn’t know if it was Shaggy, but it was a reasonable guess.

When I’d discharged my thumb ring’s energy on Shaggy earlier, I hadn't been overly successful, but then I’d only been trying to get him off of me. Lozano looked to be in real trouble and I needed to act quickly.

The cop was my responsibility, as I’d stumbled into something and dragged him along with me. If I'd thought he could handle a full-sized lycan, I'd have let things play out. Without a gun loaded with silver bullets, Lozano was completely outclassed. Fortunately, I wasn’t. Shaggy had crossed a line and he had to deal with me now.

The pair was too entwined for me to do anything long-range, so I ran up on them. The wolf snapped menacingly at Lozano, trying to bury its teeth into his shoulder. Lozano had a good hold of the wolf’s neck and was keeping it off, if only for the moment.

I grabbed the back of the wolf with my hands and pulled hard. This was two hundred pounds of mean that had no intention of being dislodged. I was fine with that. I'm a wizard who'd worked most of his teenage years throwing bales of hay and mucking out stalls. Brute force was my first choice, but I had better options if he wanted to play it that way.

"
Adoleret
." The command activated the ruby on my right hand. A gout of fire burst forth and I directed it across the back of the wolf, brushing his fur and directing the flame toward its head. The blast only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough. The wolf jumped forward, yipping in pain, forgetting all about Lozano. Tail between its legs, the wolf made a mad dash out of the yard.

"Are you hurt?" I asked Lozano, who'd rolled to his feet, gun in hand.

"On your face, drop your weapon," he commanded, his gun leveled on me.

I sighed. I could only imagine what was floating through this poor man's head. I complied, sinking to my knees and lacing my fingers behind my head. He walked behind me, pulled my right wrist behind my back, paused for a moment, then pulled my other arm back, locking them both into nylon zip-cuffs.

"I'm going to stand you up," Lozano directed, grabbing the back of my arm. He counted me down and steadied me as I stood.

"Thanks," I said, turning around.

"How'd you get out of the cuffs and my cruiser?" he asked.

"You didn't get the door fully closed," I said. "And I think your cuffs are faulty."

He wasn’t buying it. "Where's your weapon?"

"Look," I said. "I know you won’t believe me, but I don't have a weapon. That dog left because I kicked him. And before you ask, I got out of the cruiser because it sounded like you needed help."

He raised an eyebrow and a calm, cold power of judgement passed over me. It wasn't a spell, at least not in the traditional sense, but he was directing a small amount of power to get a read on me. More than likely, it was involuntary on his part, but the capability to accurately assess people was probably why he'd chosen to be a police officer in the first place.

"You're right. I don't believe you," he said. "Tell me again. Why you were in Mrs. Barrios' backyard?" He'd led me to his cruiser and leaned me up against the front quarter panel.

"Looking for the dog that attacked you," I said. "I saw it out on Harney and thought it ran into her back yard. I don't know Mrs. Barrios." It was a truer version than I'd told earlier. For now, I'd avoid lying.

In the wan light my eyes picked up on a dark, growing stain on his shoulder. That was a problem. If he'd been bitten by the wolf, his life was about to change dramatically, and not for the better.

"Something's off about your story, Mr. Slade," he said. "But, I don't have time to dig into it tonight. I'm going to run you for outstanding warrants. If you turn up clean, you'll be on your way."

With the door open, Lozano sat in his cruiser and typed on the computer’s keyboard. A second cruiser pulled up and another officer got out and approached. They talked for a few minutes before Lozano came back over to me.

"Turn around, Mr. Slade," he said.

I pushed off from his vehicle and turned so my back was to him. He snipped the zip-cuffs and I rubbed my wrists to return the circulation.

"You're free to go," he said as I turned around to look at him. The wound on his shoulder bothered me. I wasn't an expert on Lycanthrope, but I was afraid he'd been infected.

"Lozano," the other officer said, with urgency in his voice.

We both turned to see the other officer’s gun raised and flashlight pointed at the front door of Mrs. Barrios' home. Lozano instantly responded by pulling his own gun.

"Slade, get in the back of the cruiser," Lozano said, without looking at me.

Through the full glass panel of Mrs. Barrio’s front door, the mangled form of what was likely the old woman was eerily illuminated by the officer’s light. She lay resting against the glass, a thick smear of blood marking her slide down to the floor.

I considered running, but something supernatural was at work here and I needed more information. Not to mention, running would put me at the top of the suspect list - if I wasn't there already. So I obeyed and climbed into the back seat.

The cruiser's radio popped to life as dispatch acknowledged Lozano’s new report and informed them that additional units and emergency vehicles were enroute. The two officers approached the front of the house cautiously, clearly not willing to wait for the cavalry.

With the body lying against the front door, they had a decision to make. They could force the door open, but it would move the body. Lozano didn't pause long and extended a telescoping baton. He smashed a large window on the porch, cleared the glass and stepped inside, with gun drawn. He'd produced a second flashlight and the beam bounced around the inside of the house as he carefully made his way to the front door and the body. Once he came into view, the other officer followed him inside through the broken window.

Lozano reached down and placed a hand on the body. A minute later, he looked up, shaking his head. It didn't take a cop to figure out that whoever lay there was dead. With a corpse behind them, they worked through the small house, clearing rooms as they went.

The quiet of the night was shattered by the arrival of the first in a series of police cruisers and emergency vehicles. I watched with some interest as they secured the scene and eventually packed the body of the victim into a black bag.

An hour later, a dark brown four-door sedan pulled up and a thickset, middle-aged woman climbed out from behind the wheel. Her curly hair was pulled back into a hastily formed pony tail. No doubt, she'd been pulled from bed. A badge hung from a chain around her neck. The first officer she approached pointed to Lozano, who acknowledged her presence with a nod and walked toward her.

The two of them talked, looking in my direction several times. I had the capability to eavesdrop on them, but decided to forgo it for the time being. Werewolf kills were sloppy and Shaggy, if that's who'd done it, would have left plenty of physical evidence, none of which would point to me.

When they finished talking, Lozano approached the cruiser and opened my door. As I exited the vehicle, I held out the handcuffs I'd retrieved from the backseat, which earned me a raised eyebrow.

"The detective would like a word with you," he said, accepting the handcuffs.

I nodded and followed him over to where she was talking with another uniformed officer. Lozano stood a respectful ten feet from her position and waited. She waved him over as soon as she was done.

"Mr. Slade, I'm Detective Dukats," she said, holding out her hand.

I tried to hide my sigh of relief. If I were on her suspect list, she certainly wouldn't be introducing herself. I shook her hand and appreciated that she returned a firm grip. Having spent my earliest years in the Midwest, I subscribed to the belief that a weak handshake was an indicator of weak character.

"Am I in trouble here?" I asked.

"Should you be?" she asked. It was just the type of leading question I'd come to expect from investigators.

"No. But I've been locked in the back of a squad car for the better part of two hours," I replied.

"I see," she said. "No, it looks like the same animal that attacked Detective Lozano also attacked the woman who lived here."

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked.

"Barely broke the skin," she said. "He'll be fine. Tell me, Mr. Slade, do you own any pets?"

I shook my head. "No, Detective. And that thing that attacked Officer Lozano wasn't anyone's pet."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm just guessing, but it seemed wild to me. I don't think we're talking about a dog. I'd say it was a wolf," I said.

"You think there's a wolf running around town?"

"First, I'm sure there are wolves running around." I nodded toward the north. "I grew up on a farm not sixty miles from here and we ran into wolves from time to time. It's a certainty they've been in the city."

"Tell me why you're here," she said.

"As I told Officer Lozano, I was driving along Harney and thought I hit a dog. I followed it back here and got out of my truck to see if I'd hurt it," I said.

"And, you think it killed Mrs. Barrios while you were talking with Officer Lozano?" she asked.

"I have no idea," I said. "I was sitting in the squad when he was attacked. I didn't know there was a problem inside the house until the other officer shone his light on the front door."

"We've got you on misdemeanor trespassing, but I'm inclined to believe your story for now," she said. "I'd like to send Officer Lozano to accompany you home. If he doesn't see any evidence of large dogs at your residence, we'll drop the issue entirely."

This had to stop before it gained momentum. "I'm not consenting to a search of my premises."

"We could take you down town for questioning," she said. "And I could probably get a warrant." Her aura shifted slightly. She wasn't sure about the warrant.

"What if I agreed to allow Lozano a walk-through - not touch anything and not take any pictures unless he finds evidence of a dog?" I said.

"Sure. Lozano, could I could I speak with you?" she called, moving off to instruct the officer.

I walked down to my truck and was glad that it fired right up. I was pointed the wrong direction and had to perform a three-point turn in front of Lozano. He’d already rolled his cruiser down to where I was and stayed close behind me as I headed home. It was four o'clock in the morning when I pulled into the gravel drive that led to Mrs. Willoughby's old garage. Lozano parked directly behind the truck, blocking me in.