A Brush With Death, Page 6

  It was her.

  Someone had taken the picture while she had been fighting Akihiro. It'd been in every newspaper and on every news station in the city. The only difference was this time, it had an angry red X slashed through it.

  The next protester carried a sign that said 'New York Says No to Witchcraft.'

  Kasey clenched her hands into fists. After everything she had done for these ungrateful people, they had turned on her. She hadn't asked for fame or fortune for saving the city. She hadn't done it for any of those reasons. She had been given a gift that was meant to save lives and she had done it because it was the right thing to do.

  Now they were marching against her? What had she ever done to earn this?

  “I don't like the look of this,” Bishop replied. “We're getting out here.”

  Kasey opened the fingers of her right hand. “I can clear the road if you'd like.”

  “Kasey.” Bishop's tone grew sober.

  “This is a problem, Bishop,” Kasey said slapping the dashboard and pointing at the mob. “This is how it starts. Soon there will be angry mobs looking to lynch suspected witches. We have to do something.”

  “It will only make things worse, and you know it.” Bishop turned the wheel, cutting through a laneway onto East Fourth Street, and peeled away.

  A few of the protesters stared after them.

  “The precinct’s out. I'm gonna drop you off at council headquarters,” Bishop said. “You need to keep your head down.”

  “This changes nothing. You saw that scene this morning. Whatever our John Doe took is dangerous. We need to find out what it is and what the Libro Sanguis is for before they cause any more mayhem for the city.”

  “I'll get with Vida and work on this new drug. You tackle the book. Surely there is someone at the Council who knows something about it.”

  It made sense. Bishop and Vida weren't going to be able to dig up much on a musty old tome. The NYPD database was unsurprisingly lacking when it came to supernatural artefacts and research into the Forbidden.

  Heading to Council headquarters would also have the benefit of keeping her off the street and out of harm's way. There couldn't be a safer place in the city than the Council's underground metropolis. It was staffed by a veritable army of wizards and home to some of the most powerful practitioners Kasey had ever met. It would be a bold or foolish assassin who was willing to brave its corridors.

  “All right,” Kasey said, “but if you find anything, I want to hear about it. None of this keeping me out of the loop in an effort to keep me safe.”

  “Says the woman who failed to mention the price on her head and almost got us both shot?”

  “I thought the car was a judgment free zone?” Kasey countered.

  “Merely stating a fact.” Bishop flicked on her blinker and pulled to the side of Chambers Street.

  Kasey pushed open the door and got out of the car.

  “I mean it, Kasey. You be careful.”

  “I always am,” she replied. “Thanks for the lift.”

  Before Bishop could say another word, Kasey gave her a wave and made her way down the street to the corner. There was no angry mob and no sign of the gnome assassins, but it wouldn't pay to tempt fate. Even if she could avoid the bounty hunters, the Feudal Court's actions had already effectively hampered her ability to move freely. She had to find a way to get out from under the pressure so that she could work out what was going on. The Night Crew had been silent for weeks and now this contract had surfaced. The timing couldn't be a coincidence.

  Hades’ warning had made it sound like revenge but if that was the case, it would have been immediate. No, the Feudal King had waited almost three weeks to make his move. That had to mean something.

  Kasey slipped into the bank that hid one of the many entrances to the Arcane Council's underground Metroplex. Walking through the busy lobby, Kasey rounded a corner that led to a number of private offices. One door was guarded by a pair of men in gunmetal grey suits. Beside the door was a keypad.

  The casual observer might mistake the men for private security but both of them were battle mages working for the ADI. Once tasked with keeping the world of magic hidden from normal society, they now served as the Council's frontline law enforcement. Kasey had tangled with them a number of times. Even with her prescience lending a hand, she had barely escaped with her life.

  “Morning, agents,” Kasey called as she reached into her jacket pocket for her key card.

  “Miss Chase,” the agents replied.

  The one on the left reached for the door, swiping his own card. “Let me get that for you.”

  Kasey nodded her thanks and slipped through the door. She couldn't help but reflect on how their attitudes toward her had shifted. On at least two of her visits, she had been a prisoner or dragged before the council. Now the ADI were throwing open the door and welcoming her.

  My, how the times had changed.

  As Kasey got into the elevator, she consulted the noticeboard that listed the various floors in the Metroplex. It only took a moment to find what she was looking for.

  The Archives.

  If anyone had information on the Libro Sanguis, it would be found in the Archives.

  The council archives were large enough that they could give the New York Public library a case of shelf envy and were a veritable repository of knowledge on the arcane. Unfortunately, they were the domain of one Stacey Lender, who liked Kasey about as much as the angry mob outside the Ninth Precinct.

  Unlike the mob, she'd given Helen a pretty good cause to be upset. The last time she'd visited the Archives, she'd been fleeing for her life and had set fire to a number of priceless manuscripts.

  Whoever said time heals all wounds had never met an angry librarian.

  “And I need her help.” Kasey sighed as she pressed the button for the Archives.

  This was going to be a very long day.

  Chapter Six

  The scale and grandeur of the archives took Kasey’s breath away. Timber bookshelves stretched from floor-to-ceiling, lined with tomes, scrolls, and texts by the tens of thousands.

  The last time Kasey had been here, she hadn't really had the opportunity to admire the architectural grandeur of the archives. No, the ADI had been trying frantically to apprehend her and Sanders, and they had been fighting for their lives.

  Now, Kasey took a moment to study the layout of the chamber, or as much of it as she could see from where she stood. She could walk for minutes in any direction without finding a wall. The layout of the shelves themselves did a lot to stymie visitors and make the facility a harder place to find what you were searching for.

  The archives weren’t a library in the traditional sense. They were a resource for the Arcane Council and as such, effort had been taken to make them more difficult to navigate and understand to the casual visitor. The Arcane Council guarded its knowledge jealously and Kasey knew why. Any Forbidden manuscript they encountered that had not been destroyed was stored here. Hidden somewhere among these shelves was the Repository and it contained information she could only dream of. Though given the subject matter contained in them, those dreams were mostly nightmares.

  The Forbidden covered disciplines such as necromancy and other black magic that manipulated the force of life and creation to foul purposes.

  Also included in the Forbidden were disciplines the Council had outlawed, such as mind magic, time travel, and a range of other dangerous practices that defied mortal comprehension. Kasey couldn't even conceive how such a thing as time travel might be achieved, but Sanders had assured her that it had been done.

  As they did not want such documents readily available to the world, the Council hid them away here. While blood magic wasn't exactly Forbidden, it was frowned on in the civilized community. Blood oaths had been common practice in years past but were growing increasingly rare as modern wizards refused to dabble in such dangerous arts. Blood magic powered by sacrificial rituals did fall under the purview o
f the Forbidden and Kasey suspected that any information the Council might have on the Libro Sanguis, would be contained here, likely in the Repository.

  While she might have the necessary security clearance to access the records, finding them was going to be another matter entirely. It was impossible to know where to begin. The shelves weren’t all parallel, forming neat lines. No, they were arranged like a Greek maze. You could be walking down one aisle when all of a sudden, a perpendicular set of shelves would jut out, forcing you in another direction. On top of that, knowledge seemed to be grouped by topic and then clustered together in a small area but not necessarily on the same shelf.

  As she stood looking at the shelves, Kasey had the distinct feeling she was looking for a small needle in an enormous haystack. Fortunately, the Archives were well-staffed and the Keepers of Knowledge would hopefully know where to find what she was looking for.

  Unfortunately, the Head Keeper, Stacey Lender, wouldn't have put Kasey out if she was on fire.

  Much to Kasey’s inconvenience, Stacey Lender had no trouble at all holding a grudge. Stacey's position entitled her to a seat on the Arcane Council and she had used that seat to great effect in calling Kasey to account during recent council meetings.

  While Sanders had given Kasey his support, Stacey had used her place on the council to sow doubt and undermine Kasey's appointment at every turn. Stacey, it seemed, was hellbent on keeping Kasey as far from the Arcane Council as she could manage.

  Now she needed Stacey's help, which seemed about as likely as hell freezing over, but as the day could hardly get any worse, Kasey set her jaw and trudged over to the information desk.

  The information desk, like the rest of the Archive, seemed to be made almost entirely of treated hardwood timber. On its face, it had gold leaf lettering that read simply 'The Archives'.

  The counter was tall enough that Kasey could lean comfortably on it by folding her arms. It was staffed by a man who couldn't have been much older than Kasey.

  The archivist was dressed in a suit with a bow tie; his black hair sloped at an unusual angle and held in place by a considerable amount of hair product. He held a number of books and was in the process of sorting them.

  The man looked up from his work, his brown eyes resting on Kasey. “Welcome to the Archive. I am Sharon. How can I assist you?”

  He stretched out the syllables in his name Sha-ro-nnn with the deliberate intention of someone whose name was mispronounced on a regular basis.

  Kasey returned the smile.

  “Sharon,” she said, matching his enunciation, “I was hoping to speak with Miss Lender.”

  “The Keeper currently has her hands full with other matters,” Sharon replied with a condescending tone that seemed to indicate that she should have expected as much. “But I would be happy to assist you with any enquiries. What are you after?”

  She ignored the presumption in his tone and leaned heavily on the counter, the top half of her body tilted toward him. “I'm sure that would be just wonderful under normal circumstances, but it's a personal matter for the Keeper of Knowledge and I really must insist on seeing her directly.

  Sharon's face set in an expression that could only be described as resting witch face as he replied, “Very well. I'll make the call.”

  He picked up a phone off the desk. He slowly and meticulously pressed a handful of buttons and waited.

  “Miss Lender, this is Sharon on information. I have a guest here who is insisting on speaking with you.”

  There was a brief pause and he continued, “Yes, of course I have offered her my assistance, but she has rebuffed my attempts to assist her.”

  He nodded. “Yes, very well. I will let her know.”

  He hung up the phone. “The Keeper will be with you shortly,” he told Kasey, a tone of mild indignation in his voice.

  “Thank you,” Kasey said, straightening up and taking a few steps away from the counter. She got the distinct impression the clerk wouldn't be able to return to his duties while she hovered in front of him.

  While she waited, Kasey wondered if Cal had turned up anything. She needed to check in with him anyway and warn him about the presence of the bounty hunters.

  In the current climate, they would both probably be far safer together than travelling the streets alone. Kasey made a note to call him after she left council headquarters.

  As she stared at the row upon row of shelves lined with texts, she wondered what the Archives might contain about the gift of prescience. It was an uncommon talent for a witch, but she certainly wasn't the first.

  Perhaps there was something in this chamber that might shed some light on why she hadn't had any visions lately. She had a number of potential theories but no way of knowing which, if any of them, were right.

  The first vision that she'd ever seen had been of the attack on New York City. Perhaps with the threat past, her gifts had gone dormant. It was a theory, but not one Kasey put much stock in. She had seen plenty of other visions in the years since, always giving her insights that would help save lives and take dangerous threats off the streets. She couldn't believe that her gift would cease when there was so much work still to be done.

  No, something else had to be going on. Had Akihiro managed to do something to her during their fight? There was a lot about that exchange that was still a blur. She had almost died channeling the power that had destroyed his amulet, but in that moment, she had been linked to him, bound by the arcana that had coursed through them both. What if it had done something to her power?

  A set of footsteps approached, drawing Kasey from her thoughts. She turned and found the Keeper of Knowledge, Stacey, strolling purposefully across the atrium towards her.

  Stacey Lender was in her late forties, stood about five-foot-eight and wore a white business skirt suit with a black blouse beneath it. Her reddish blonde hair fell to her shoulders with the slightest of curls at the end. Her appearance was immaculate and professional, but on seeing Kasey, she narrowed her eyes with about as much love as one would greet a rampaging raccoon on trash day.

  “Sharon, a guest you say? Miss Chase is no more a guest here than she is the harbinger of the Apocalypse.”

  The clerk shrank back from Stacey's tirade. He went to speak but she cut him off.

  “If you are to search The Archives for references to the end times, it would simply say see Chase, Kasey under a giant picture of her. What are you doing letting this vandal loiter about in here?”

  “It's good to see you too, Stacey,” Kasey began, intentionally avoiding the use of the woman's title. “I've missed your pleasant company.”

  Stacey turned to her, a sour expression on her face. “And here I was counting my blessings that you had decided to skip the Council meeting this morning. I guess I should have known I couldn't be that lucky.”

  “Definitely not,” Kasey replied. “I couldn't go a whole week without your cheery disposition to light my day.”

  If looks could kill, Stacey would have been charged with homicide. “I thought I made it abundantly clear that you are no longer welcome in the Archives, Miss Chase. Remove yourself at once.”

  “Look, Stacey, I'm not trying to sneak into your domain. I came here because I need your assistance on a case.”

  “Which case?”

  “A new one. It surfaced this morning. That's why I wasn’t at the meeting. Look, if I could find the answers anywhere else, I would have tried that first, but it's not the kind of thing you can Google. I need someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Archives.”

  Kasey hoped that stroking Stacey’s ego a little might go a long way to winning the Keeper’s help to her cause.

  Stacey paused to consider the request.

  “Look,” Kasey began, “I know you're still mad about the damage that I did here. If there is any way I could take that back, I would. The honest truth is that I was fighting for my life, no one believed me, and I was desperate. You and I both know how that ended. If I hadn't taken a sta
nd, we would all be dead. So I'm sorry the Archives were damaged, but I can't change what happened. You can be mad at me all you like but it won't change anything. We're still going to have to work together. I came here to try and mend fences. Can you please work with me on this? It's important.”

  Stacey's expression softened. “What's the case about?”

  “Have you got somewhere private we can speak?” Kasey replied, casting a sideways glance at Sharon.

  Stacey looked at Sharon who had paused what he was doing and was eavesdropping on the conversation. The clerk made a show of picking up the next book and leafing through it.

  “Sure, follow me. There is a research station we can use in the Beastiary.”

  Stacey moved swiftly from aisle to aisle as if she were following signs but there were none. She turned a corner and the shelves on the right-hand side of the aisle ceased and in their place was a wall with a wooden door set in it.

  She produced a key from her suit pocket and unlocked the door. Stepping into the room, she turned on the light and motioned for Kasey to sit. A pair of chairs sat beside a long table that ran down the wall of the narrow room. At the end of the table stood a computer station. The whole space couldn't have been much more than fifteen square feet.

  “Researchers often come here to study our records. There are a handful of these scattered throughout the Archives. It gives them a quiet refuge to work in.”

  “Why do you call this the Bestiary?” Kasey asked, pulling a chair out for Stacey before grabbing one for herself.

  The gesture brought a small smile from the Keeper of Knowledge. “This portion of the archive contains everything we know about creatures that frequent this world, including those that pass to and from the spirit realm.”

  “The Spirit Realm, fascinating,” Kasey replied, genuinely impressed. Her education at the Academy had ended prematurely.