Chapter 2

"Lead on if you know of one," I told her. Leila looked left and then right before turning right and heading up the street. We turned onto a second street and soon came to what appeared to be a reasonably decent hotel.

"It won't be cheap," she warned me, as we approached the door. There wasn't the usual slot for coins to enter the building. Once through the air lock arrangement, we were in a small lobby. A stern faced woman was behind the counter there.

"We would like a room for the night," I told her.

"It will be the same price if you use it for an hour or all night," she told us looking contemptuously at Leila.

"And I need IDs from both of you," she added in an angry voice. I presented her with my ID, but Leila had no ID. It had been in her stolen coat. A quick compliance spell convinced the woman that we had both shown her our IDs, but I made sure that she forgot my name as soon as we were out of sight. I also erased the recording from her video camera covering the lobby for the time that we were there.

I paid her in cash for the hotel room, and not with the usual bank credit card that most hotels require. Apparently a lot of her customers paid in cash, as there was no mention made of bank cards. She handed me the key after she received the money.

"Are there blankets in the room?" Leila asked before we took the stairs to the third floor.

"Yes, there are two blankets in each room," the woman assured us. We turned to the stairs directly off the lobby and climbed to the third floor to find our room.

We found the room all the way at the end of the hall at the back of the building, and used the key to open the door. Expensive key card locks were not used here. They also required electricity to work. Once inside I closed and locked the door after turning on the lights. Leila went to check the blankets to ensure that they would be adequate. The single LED light panel in the ceiling was low powered but sufficient for us to see the layout of the room and its small attached bath. I quickly sat on the floor and cast a general O'Connell ward in the walls, floor, and ceiling. I followed it with a spell to remove all of the bed bugs, lice, flees, and other insects from the room and sent them to the Charles River.

"What are you doing?" Leila asked on seeing me sitting on the floor.

"I was enclosing the room in my wards. No one will be able to bother us here. I also sent all of the bugs and critters to the river so we can have a comfortable night's sleep," I told her.

"Would it be all right to wash up a little? I haven't had a chance to clean up in quite some time," she wanted to know.

"Certainly," I told her. "I'll draw and heat the water for you to clean up with," I finished, rising from the floor and going into the small bathroom. There was a tub on one side of the room and a sink and toilet on the other side. All three were monitored electronically for the amount of water that was drawn through them. There was a two and a-half gallon bucket in the tub. I called water directly from the mains to fill the bucket and then heated it with another spell. I also plugged the drain in the tub with the provided rubber stopper.

"There you are!" I told her with a grin. "Don't allow the water to drain from the tub. We'll use it to flush the toilet. I don't imagine that its drain is monitored," I finished. Leila was staring at me in shock again.

"But how... ?" she asked in disbelief.

"I simply drew water directly from the mains and then heated it with another spell. Go ahead and wash up. I have something else to do while you're busy," I told her.

"All right," she agreed looking suspiciously at the two thin towels hanging there. There was no soap or shampoo either.

"I'll have soap for you in a minute," I told her and concentrated to bring my travel kit here from my room in the O'Connell Realm. It appeared in my hands a few seconds later. I opened it and sat it on the sink.

"Everything that you will need should be in there," I told her. She was staring at me again.

"It's my regular travel kit. I called it to me from the O'Connell Realm near Statesboro, Georgia," I told a very confused young girl. There was something else that I wanted to do also.

"If you are willing, I would like to heal your various injuries," I told her.

"Heal?" she asked confused.

"Yes, there are spells that the O'Connells have developed to heal minor injuries. There are also spells for healing major physical problems. Some of my Relatives and their Mage Wives developed spells to take care of things like scrapes and burns as well as bruises and black eyes without the need to use Major Medical Magic spells," I told her with a smile.

"You could fix my face?" she asked in amazement.

"Yes, certainly, and any other minor problems that you may have," I told her.

"Yes, go ahead. I don't like having to hide part of my face," she told me. I quickly cast the spells, and her appearance improved almost immediately.

"All of the marks will be gone by the time you get up in the morning," I told her before I closed the door to allow her to clean up in private. I had also included the spell to keep her from getting pregnant.

After looking at the two blankets provided, I called my own large, thick wool blanket and flannel pajamas to me from my room at my Parent's house. I placed all of this at the head of the bed on one side. When Leila went to sleep, there were things that I intended to do. I was not happy about her story of being robbed several days ago.

I looked at and then wound my old mechanical watch. It didn't possess the features of the latest electronic watches that did everything but eat for you, but then it wouldn't be destroyed every time that I used a significant amount of Magic either. It was just a plain lower end model with none of the gold, jewels, or other enhancement that expensive watches had, but it still cost over a thousand dollars. There were few companies still manufacturing mechanical watches except for the ultra-wealthy.

Leila emerged from the bathroom after about twenty-five minutes. She appeared to be very tired and had on only her outer clothing.

"I'm sooo tired. I must sleep. I don't know how I would have survived this night outside. Thank you for helping me," she said before collapsing onto the bed and rolling up in one of the hotel's blankets. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

I turned out the room light before going into the bathroom. She had washed her under things and hung them on the rod that had supported the shower curtain that used to hang there. She had also brushed her teeth with my tooth brush and had replaced the bar of soap in its plastic case. One of my towels also hung on the shower curtain rod. She had used the toilet. I used it also before calling part of the water from the tub to flush the toilet. There was a small night light in the bath, and I turned it on before donning my coat again, turning out the bathroom light, and preparing to leave to find those who had robbed her.

I transferred back out onto the street and cast a glamour around myself that gave me the appearance of one of the coaches from the athletic department at the University. He was six and a-half feet tall and must have weighed close to three hundred pounds. He had been a lineman in college and for a time in the NFL. He was very intimidating physically although a very nice person once you got to know him. I then headed for an alley that I had noticed on the way here. There were sure to be toughs or homeless people there at this time of night, and I needed information. There were also many still out on the street celebrating the holiday.

Arriving at the alley, I found a couple of young toughs shaking down several older homeless men. Walking quietly up behind them, I clamped a hand on each one's shoulder, using a spell to increase my gripping power. They both winced from the pressure that I was applying.

"Leave them alone!" I said in my best imitation of the coach's growl. They tried to turn to face me, but I had a firm grip on them and put additional weight into it forcing their shoulders down and then cast a short term freeze spell on them.

"Have they taken anything from you?" I asked the homeless men who were staring at me in shock.

"They took the little money that we managed to collect," they told me.

"Retrieve it from them along with any other money they may have. They won't be needing it," I told them. The men quickly searched the toughs' pockets and came up with their money and quite a bit more.

"Get something to eat with that and then go to a shelter for the night. It's not a good night to be outside," I told them.

"What about those two?" they asked in fear.

"You won't see them again for a long time, if ever," I told them before asking my own question. "I'm looking for a gang that robs women. They beat up a lady friend of mine and stole her stuff," I told them.

"Yes, we have heard of a gang that likes to do that," they told me. "They call themselves 'the coyotes' or rather 'the Coyotl'. They are made up of a number of ethnic groups; some are of Spanish or Mexican ancestry, and others are Indonesian or Malayan. They like to hurt people."

"Do you know where I might find them?" I asked.

"If you are really looking for trouble, you can usually find them at... ," and they gave me an address a number of streets from there.

"What about them?" they asked again, looking at the two frozen thugs warily.

"Oh them!" I answered, as if surprised and cast a transfer spell that sent them to one of the tougher New York neighborhoods that I had visited a couple of years ago. The men were shocked when the toughs just vanished.

"Thanks for your help!" I told them before turning to leave. I dropped the glamour before reaching the entrance of the alley. The walk to the address that I had been given wasn't too long and the exercise did me good, as I managed to limber up some on the way there.

My Great Grandfather and his Brother had been experts in the use of the Bo staff, and the art had been passed down over the years from Father to Son in our family. I had my introduction to the art at the age of six and had grown quite accomplished in its use. As I neared the address that I had been given, I called one of my favorite staffs to me. It was five feet long, an inch and a-quarter in diameter, and made of red oak. There were glyphs carved in it near the ends of the staff. While I had other staffs in both wood and graphite, this one was my favorite and just right for use in the limited spaces indoors. I twirled the staff in my hands as I approached the address. I also cast my strongest wards around me and pulled them in close to my body.

The address that I had been given turned out to be a rather small store front. The sign above it was faded and no longer readable, but the word 'Coyotl' from the Aztec language was spray painted across it. Since the door was ajar and the lights were on, I pushed the door further open and entered. The store was a disaster of trash and various types of containers strewn across the floor or kicked into piles. There was a long counter along a side wall in addition to a number of tables and chairs. Only some of the LED panels in the ceiling were still working.

"What the fuck do you want, asshole?" a young man demanded on seeing me. His friends were alerted by his question and also turned toward me.

"I'm here to retrieve the possessions that you stole from a young lady friend of mine," I told them.

"Just you, asshole?" a Spanish looking kid demanded.

"It shouldn't require more than one, after all you are all just a bunch of snot-nosed kids that need a good spanking and to be sent home to your Mothers," I told them.

Obviously this offended their sensibilities as several drew knives on hearing my remarks. Others drew guns – fancy shiny looking guns but they were of low quality, and one had a pair of nunchuks. There were a dozen of them present currently. They initially appeared to be a bit confused on observing that I didn't appear to be afraid of them, or upset by their display. I allowed them to start things, and it wasn't long in coming.

Several of those with knives charged toward me to cut or stab me. I brought the Bo staff up from my side where it had been resting since I entered and spoke the trigger word that activated the spell attached to the glyphs on the ends of the staff. The spell increased the impact effect of the staff when it struck something, like a body.

I quickly took out four of the five, who were attacking me with their knives, using the Bo staff and knocking them out with quick sharp blows. The fifth one reached me while I was dealing with the others. He charged in, almost running. The knife in his hand had no guard, and he thrust it forward while running increasing its speed even more.

The blade hit my wards, and the first inch at the tip fractured and broke off, as it was a poorly made instrument. The now blunt end of the knife then slammed into my wards with no effect on me, but the culprit's fingers slipped on the plain wooden handle from the impact, and slid forward several inches onto the sharp bottom edge of the knife. The kid screamed in shock at the pain from the the cut that the knife opened across his fingers and the blood. He quickly dropped the knife and retreated, but not fast enough, and I hit him in the head with a strike from the Bo staff, knocking him out.