Felt the ripple of energy as Merek shifted back into human form. “There’s no sign of them,Vixar.” Merek stood. “They must have left almost immediately after Col did, although they can’t even seem to pick up Col’s scent either.”
“A blanking spell.” Tybalt muttered.
“A what?” Miller asked.
“It means somemagickis afoot,” Merek said.
Magick.That might also account for his senses scrambling, Col thought. But that was one more strike against his readiness or worthiness to be part of the fight. None among the five that were awakened were Mages. They couldn’t combatmagick.
He looked at Merek. They were all still in a kind of shock, wakening in a world that was far stranger to them then they ever could have imagined when they agreed to make the ultimate sacrifice, a thousand years ago. Their families, their friends, were long dead and gone. In this world, they did not spend their days in glorious battle, serving the Sorceress of Plenty; they had to hide their true nature.
But the pain was double so for hisBrodher.Merek’s twin was a Mage, but he, along with one other, had been discovered missing when the five had awakened.
“Shift back and tell the two to return.” Tybalt ordered. A burst of energy and Merek’s wolf did as hisVixarasked. Tybalt addressed the rest. “Tomorrow at daybreak, we will go in human form with Miller and Col to the site.”
“Smart,” Miller said. Col nodded. There was no question that Simon would stay behind. His contribution to the team was his skills at technowizardy. Miller would ensure that photos would be taken, and he’d bring them back for Simon to enter into his huge database.
Simon kept a massive database, with an especially watchful eye on certain types of anomalies – the type that might lead him to the identity of the people who’d wiped out his entire family when he was a child. It also was meant to keep watch for signs that their enemy had re-awakened, which was prophesied to happen in the same year as theBredhren.
Col saw Simon tapping his sternum, as he was wont to do whenever he felt stress.
He did it a lot around theBredhren.
* * *
Cadmus looked around the furnished house he had rented on the outskirts of Gardendale. He would have preferred a five star hotel, but his comings and goings would have been more obvious. Besides, he was here to scout the area, and see if it would be a worthy site for relocating His Terrible Majesty and faithful followers, The Merciless.
He would have to endure being surrounded by cheap polyester draperies and furniture made of wood composite in the meantime.
His lip curled in a sneer as he saw Billy Bob, completely making himself at home on the recliner. It was an upgrade from whatever duct-taped, flea-ridden monstrosity that the dolt no doubt had in his trailer.
“By all means, make yourself comfortable,” Cadmus said, in his most cutting tone, knowing that his sarcasm would be wasted.
“Thanks, Boss!” Billy Bob beamed. The inbred moron had certainly hit the jackpot when he had offered to clean the windshield of Cadmus’s rental car with his one good dishtowel. Cadmus had briefly considered taking him as a sacrifice for His Terrible Majesty, but Billy Bob’s life force was barely worth the effort of draining. Instead, he hired him as an assistant for the duration of his stay.
Cadmus sighed, and trudged upstairs where his laptop was. And also a distance from Billy Bob, who was getting ripe enough to pierce through Cadmus’ Dior Pour L’Homme. He was tempted to do a blanking spell, but with the way hismagickswere interacting with the energies of the area, he might not be able to localize it enough to just Billy Bob. He didn’t even know if the one he had tried back at that mineshaft worked.
The thought of that magnificent creature he had captured made him smile with grim resolution. He would need to gather somemagickalingredients to power up the talisman that would lead him to it. But that would have to wait for the moment. First, he had to have a video-conference with that odious Micah, to update His Terrible Majesty on his progress.
He sat in front of the cheap particleboard desk, the smooth laminate surface an abomination against his skin. Along with the Kardashians, IKEA was a scourge on modern life. This was a world that Micah and other youth like him inhabited. Cadmus rued the day he had kidnapped him as a child, not realizing that the five year old boy he had abducted would grow to become a highly effective suckup to His Terrible Majesty. Sucking up was an express lane to the leadership of the Merciless.
The leadership that Cadmus had enjoyed until recently.
He stabbed the power button on his laptop, hating the feeling that he was checking in to someone who was rightfully his subordinate, hating the reliance on technology, which was a new form ofmagickas far as he was concerned. He’d mastered all the texts on darkmagickonly to be flummoxed in the last few years with cyber technology, in a new language that he just couldn’t seem to learn.
Maybe it was a price for his facility with the Olde Ways. Maybe he was fast becoming a relic, as Micah certainly seemed to believe.
Even this town, Gardendale, had changed so much since he was last here. His cover was that he was here scouting a new home for a tech company’s relocation, and it made sense, as Gardendale had recently become a bit of a tech mecca.
Ugh, technology. That was what had tripped him up before. A stupid watch. The crap of today, much like the desk he was using, the chair in which he sat. So unlike the Vacheron Constantin strapped onto his wrist, something he had taken off the previous leader of the Merciless.
The mechanical watch was a stunning work of art, well crafted out of ground up jewels, perfectly in sync with the energies here. Besides, the brand was good enough for Napoleon, so it was certainly fitting for Cadmus.
He flexed his fingers, cracked his neck, and was ready for the call.
Micah’s head and shoulders filled the screen. Cadmus smirked to himself to see the younger man wearing a dark suit, knowing full well that Micah preferred whatever passed for fashion in music videos. But Cadmus had one discernible effect on His Terrible Majesty. He too, appreciated quality, both in finer materials and craftsmanship. A shame that didn’t extend to people, as for some unfathomable reason Micah had become a clear favorite. But to be around His Terrible Majesty, one had to dress respectfully.
“Greetings, Micah.” Cadmus enunciated, through gritted teeth.
