"Get us down to the third floor. We will deal with them," Vince spoke up.
Vera turned to him with a raised eyebrow, and looked him up and down. "How? You're weak, even for a human."
Vince held up his ring hand and the ring on his finger glowed red. "We still have these at our disposal."
The witch frowned. "That's powerful magic for two humans to be wielding. It might destroy you," she warned us.
"Do we have a choice?" Vince countered.
"Yes. Stand back and let me do the work. I'm not going to let a couple of wanna-be wizards and werewolves storm in here and come out alive. They've made it my fight now, and I'm going to give them a hell of a one." She pressed her finger to the third floor button and her glowing purple magic slipped into the button.
The speed of the elevator jumped from a floor every five seconds to ten floors every second. The elevator rattled and rocked, and I stumbled backward. Vince caught me against him and I sheepishly looked up at him. "I never did like those carnival rides where I was dropped really quick," I told him.
He righted me and pulled me to his side. "When the doors open stay behind me," he commanded me.
I scowled at him. "We're partners, and partners don't hide behind partners," I argued.
"Stop bickering like an old married couple because you're both staying in here while I take care of my uninvited guests," Vera spoke up.
"This is also our fight," he reminded her.
On cue the elevator jerked to a stop and the doors swung open to reveal a hallway that stretched off to our right and left. Doors lined the opposite side of the hallway, and there was a single door on the left at the far end of the hall on the same wall as the elevator. Vera stepped out and turned to face the door. Vince grabbed my wrist and pulled me out, but made sure we kept behind Vera.
As we stood there I heard the near-rumblings of heavy, padded footsteps and lasers. The noises came from behind the door at the far end of the left-side of the hall. "You have lasers?" I asked Vera.
"The security system works on magic and creates what it deems to be the most effective weapons against the intruders. In this case, singed werewolf and wizard is the preferred method for dealing with our 'guests,'" she explained. There was a loud crash and she frowned. "But it seems it won't hold them for-"
At that moment the door at the end of the hall flew off its hinges and crashed halfway down the hall. It slid to a stop at Vera's feet and her lips curled into a snarl. In the doorway stood a man dressed in a black robe with a hood. He held one of the accursed books open in one hand, and had his free hand raised over the pages. Behind him was the fire escape stairwell, and the steps were crowded with a dozen fully-transformed slobbering werewolves. The stench of burned hair wafted to our noses, and there were burnt patches of fur all over their bodies.
The wizard at the front stepped out. Vera rolled up her sleeves and marched toward him. Her hands were held at her sides and a little in front of her, and the purple color changed to black and enveloped the entirety of her hands in the dark light. "You're not wanted here, so leave," she ordered the intruders.
"Don't interfere with us, woman," the robed man hissed.
Vera stopped twenty yards from them, placed on hand on her hip, and held her other hand palm-out in front of her. The purple glow on her hands brightened. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
A blast of dark energy shot from her hand. The punch was so powerful she slid back a few yards along the linoleum floor. The glowing energy lit up the hallway in dark and light shadows, and barreled toward our enemies. The hooded figure wiggled the fingers of his free hand and a greenish beam of light erupted from the pages. It swept from the book and slammed into Vera's energy. The two balls of brightness collided and mixed in a yin-yang fight to the death. It was mutual destruction as the energies dissipated and vanished.
The hooded figure chuckled. "Is that all the great Vera can produce?" he mocked her.
Vera smirked. "There's something very important you haven't learned about that book, wizard," she countered.
He lifted his cloaked face and I saw his skin was as pale as death and sweat from his forehead traveled down his cheeks. The abilities of the book sapped his strength. "What is that?" he asked her.
Vera held out both her hands palms-out toward him. "I can use both my hands, and you can't."
A large energy ball formed between Vera's close hands. The ball of dark magic illuminated the hallway so that I could hardly look at Vera without being blinded. The energy pushed off from her hands and sent her sailing backwards. Vince leapt forward and caught her before she fell.
Vera's magic zoomed across the hallway toward our enemies. The werewolves yipped and fled down the stairs while the wizard's eyes widened in horror. He conjured up another energy ball, larger than his first but minuscule compared to the raging circle that barreled toward him. His magic shot from the book and collided with Vera's energy. The smaller ball was swallowed by the larger one, and Vera's magic slammed into his body. He let out a terrible scream as he was swallowed whole by the energy. It plunged him into its depths and tore apart his body into small particles that disappeared into the light. His book clattered to the ground, all the remained of the wizard, and the ball swept past where he'd stood and down the stairwell. In a few seconds there came to our ears the sound of wolves howling in pain, and then silence.
Vera chuckled as Vince righted her. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress and put her hands on her hips as she stared at the empty hallway in front of us. "That's how you do real magic," she commented.
Vince strode past her and picked up the closed book. "Do you know how to destroy these?" he asked her.
Vera frowned at him. "Can't you ever give a girl a little credit?"
"Can you?" he persisted.
Vera sighed and moved to stand by his side. I joined them down the hall. She took the book from him and turned it over in her hands. "I could, but it would take a very hot purifying fire to destroy the cover."
"Then prepare one and send out your witches to the underground black markets. Ruthven has set thousands of these for sale on the market," Vince told her.
Vera snorted and held up her hand. "Now wait a second. Ruthven and his men breaking into Witches Inc. is one thing, but going up against his black market dealings is a completely different brew. He has more than just wizards and werewolves waiting in the wings if my girls were to go in there and get themselves killed trying to steal these books from his sellers and buyers."
Vince nodded at the book in her hands. "It's only a matter of time before people with minor magic skills master the simpler spells and edge your sisters out of the business of hexing people."
Vera tapped one of her long fingernails against her chin and furrowed her brow. After a moment's thought she sighed and crossed her arms over her ample chest. "I really hate it when you see things so clearly. Fine then, I'll send out my witches to fetch these books and burn them, but how many more are going to be produced? When can I tell them they've done enough?"
"When we inform you that the source has been dealt with," Vince told her.
Vera frowned at him. "You can't be serious. That would mean dealing with Ruthven, and nobody's dealt with him since he emerged from whatever cesspool he crawled out of."
"Then it's past time he was dealt with," Vince replied.
I raised my hands toward Vince with the palms facing toward him. "Wait a second, we're going to do what now?" I questioned him.
"If necessary, we will deal with Ruthven and his ilk," he rephrased.
Vera raised an eyebrow and her eyes flickered between Vince and me. "And you two humans are going to do it?"
"After the hex is raised," Vince added.
"There's a lot of room in this vague plan for failure," Vera noted.
"And death," I commented.
"We will see, but for now we must first deal with this hex." He pulled Selene's room key from his jacket and strolled past us to the first room on the left
from the elevator.
I turned to Vera and nodded at the retreating back of my partner. "You think he's really serious?"
Vera's lips were pressed tightly together and there was a pallor in her face that I didn't like. "More serious than I've ever seen him." Her eyes flickered to me. "I don't know how much influence you have over his decisions, but if I were you I would change his mind about going up against Ruthven. He isn't a man to take lightly, much less plunge head-first into seeking revenge for a dead partner."
"You think that's why he's doing it? Because of Tim?" I asked her.
She sighed and shrugged. "I wish I knew what he ever did, but seriously, try to talk him out of it. My witches and I can handle the books, but I don't think even Vincent can handle Ruthven."
"So it's a suicide mission?" I guessed.
Vera nodded. "Seems like it. If you want to extend your life with that ring you'd better talk him out of it."
I snorted. "Like that's going to happen."
Vera scrutinized me for a moment and the edges of her mouth twitched up. "I think if anyone could, you could."
I raised an eyebrow. "A lot of people keep telling me that, but I'm not seeing much proof."
She chuckled, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and guided me down the hall. "Then think of it as a pleasant surprise when you can believe it."
Chapter 11
By the time we reached the door to Simone's room Vince had opened the entrance and stepped inside. Vera followed him and I peeked through the doorway. The apartment room was much like my old one with one giant room and the bed and bath on the far left through their respective doors. The kitchen and dining room lay to the immediate left, and in front of us was the living room. The place was messy and the furniture was mismatched. There was an overpowering smell of cigarette smoke that permeated the furniture and walls.
"We offer the rooms to our sisters for a small fee, but they furnish the spaces," Vera informed us. Vince stood only a yard into the room, and Vera tried to pass him. He held out his arm and blocked her path. She frowned at him. "What are you-"
"Something isn't right," he told her.
Vera swept her eyes over the room and returned her attention to Vincent. "I see nothing magic-induced."
"Because it isn't." Vince swiped a plastic apple from a bowl near the entrance and knelt close to the floor.
He rolled the apple forward and it hit a rug that lay two feet in front of him. The apple bumped over the side of the rug and onto the fabric. The jaws from a hunting trap sprang up and snatched the fake apple. Its teeth sank deep into the plastic, and would have done the same to an ankle or a leg.
Vince stood and frowned. "As I feared. Simple human traps."
Vera's mouth was agape as she turned to Vince. "How did you know it was there?" she asked him.
"The rug is the only clean article in the room, so it must be new. New rugs are used for company, or traps. In this case I assumed a trap, and that weight would trigger it," he commented.
Vera slyly smiled. "You really are a good detective."
He held up one of his wrinkled hands and shook his head. "But this body limits me. If there are more traps they might not be found until one of us activates them."
"Leave that to me." Vera stepped in front of him and held her hands out on either side of her. "Now that I know what I'm looking for these traps shouldn't be a problem."
Her fingers glowed the beautiful dark violet and the magic swept from her hands like a thick mist. It flowed to the ground and across the floor. Everything, from furniture to the kitchen sink, was covered by her fog. The sounds of clacks, clanks, and springs erupted all over the apartment, and Vera frowned.
"It looks like she set a lot of traps. Renters aren't supposed to do that," she commented. The fog receded and Vera lowered her arms. "That's all the human traps, and I didn't detect any hexes," she assured us.
"What happens if you find out a renter's set a trap?" I asked her.
"Immediate expulsion," she replied.
I winced. "She must have been pretty desperate to protect herself."
"She may have suspected Ruthven was searching for her," Vera suggested. She crossed her arms and turned to Vince. "But what I'd like to know is what she has to do with Ruthven."
"We will know when we find her," Vince replied.
He strode past her and began to rummage through the drawers, cushions, cupboards and nooks of the apartment. "Any idea what we're looking for?" I asked him.
"No," was the depressing reply.
I turned to Vera. "Maybe you'd know?" I wondered.
She shook her head. "Simone wasn't intimate with me. She preferred Hilda's company, and Hilda preferred nature to the confines of Witches, Inc.," she told me.
I raised an eyebrow. "Is that a syndicate?"
"Witches, Inc. is what we call our coven in this city, and a nickname for this building. The coven is where witches register themselves so they can legally practice their hexes and offer services to humans and supernaturals alike," she explained.
"Great, more bureaucracy," I mumbled.
Our chatter was interrupted when Vince's food caught on a different rug. He tried to catch himself with the aid of the couch, but his hand slid off the slick fabric that covered the arm and he fell onto the floor.
"Vince!"
"Vincent!"
We hurried over and knelt on either side of him. He struggled to sit up, but waved away our worried, caring hands. "I am fine," he grunted. "It was merely a fall."
Vera frowned and grabbed his hand. I noticed there were more spots than earlier that afternoon. "You have less time than I thought. The aging process is growing faster. You may not make it more than a day."
"That will be enough time if we can find a clue to her whereabouts," Vince insisted. He stood on his shaky feet and pursed his cracked, wrinkled lips together. "There must be something to show us," he murmured.
I stood and rubbed my chin. "If I was a clumsy, panicked witch, where would I-aha! One sec!" I broke from our small group and rushed into the bedroom. A quick sweep of the room showed me a bed and a dresser. The dresser was what I wanted. I jumped at it and tore apart the sock and underwear drawers just as Vera and Vince strolled in after me. After a minute of frantic searching the drawer was all searched-out and I was left empty-handed. Well, except for the underwear and a bra. My shoulders slumped over and I frowned. "I was sure something would be here. It always is in the movies," I grumbled.
Vera laughed and moved over to me to pat me on the shoulder. "The movies are more glamorous than the reality."
I snorted and lifted up the old, cheap lingerie. "You're telling me." I glanced past her and at Vince. His hand was clasped around something, and I nodded at his clenched fist. "What's that?"
"The clue we needed," he told me.
"Vincent found it in a glass bowl on the kitchen counter. It's a match book with the address of a seedy bar and hotel in the Underground," Vera explained. "I don't encourage any of my sisters to go there, but Simone was always a hard one to control when she'd made up her mind to do something."
"So is this place near the Boo Bar?" I wondered.
Vince shook his head. "No, it lies outside the regulated district."
I cringed. "That sounds like sewer territory."
"It is. We need to go there now." He turned and exited the room.
Vera and I followed, and in a moment we were in the hall and she locked up the room. She turned to us with a bright smile. "Now you two don't get yourselves killed. I don't look good in black and I hate funerals."
"It isn't our plan," Vince told her.
Vera snorted. "I don't think you have a plan, but if you did I'd say it wouldn't work. Simone is chaos itself and she won't be easy to approach," she warned us.
Vince bowed his head to her. "We will be mindful of that. Thank you for the help." He strode over to the elevator doors and I turned to Vera with a wide grin.
"Thanks for the help. We probably would've
been wolf chow by now," I told her.
Vera's eyes flickered past me at my partner, and she lowered her voice. "You're not out of the woods yet until you find Simone and bring her back here, but whatever happens promise me you won't let Vince use that ring of his."
I raised an eyebrow. "You said earlier it might kill a couple of humans. I'm guessing that's true."
She shrugged, but nodded down at the ring on my finger. "I don't know if it's true, but those rings are nothing but trouble. Promise me you'll keep him from playing the hero and using that thing." A faint smile slipped onto her lips. "Stop him even if you have to knock him out. He'll thank you later."
"If there is a later, but I promise I'll try to keep him from playing the hero, but there's no telling what this human Vince is going to do," I pointed out.
Vera chuckled. "Yes, he's like the old boyfriend I remember, but get along now. He's tapping his foot and giving us his old glare."
I half-turned and waved to her. "Well, hopefully we'll see you later."
"See you soon," she returned.
I joined Vince at the elevator doors and in a moment they opened and we stepped inside. The doors closed and the elevator descended at its normal speed. We stood side-by-side and Vince's eyes flickered down at me.
"What did you speak of with Vera?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "Oh, just some girl things. You wouldn't understand."
Vince raised an eyebrow. "Try me."
I playfully scowled at him. "That's my line. No stealing my lines." A ghost of a grin slipped across his lips and I put my hands on my hips. "You're teasing me, aren't you?"
"You must be mistaken," he countered. The elevator reached the first floor, and Vince stepped out and strode across the lobby to the front doors.
"Get back here when I'm scolding you!" I shouted as I hurried after him.
"Shh!" Mona hissed from the front desk.
"Shh yourself," I shot back. Mona's eyes widened and her jaw dropped low enough to hit her desk.
I caught Vince outside as he paused just on the other side of the doors. One of his hands was pressed against a small bit of wall beside the doors and he clutched at his chest. His breathing came out in sharp, short rasps, and I noticed his wrinkled, wizened hand over his heart trembled.