Chapter 26

The rest of the trip to the Dive was quiet. I didn’t have anything to say for the time, my thoughts filled with what I would do about my House and its members. Chloe seemed content with the silence.

We pulled into the parking lot for the Dive. She pulled up beside the entrance and killed the engine. She looked over at me. “Well, it’s good to know violence doesn’t get your engines going,” she said.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She reached over and rubbed my thigh. “We have to get you presentable for this meeting.”

I realized what she was talking about. I was completely limp. Not even the built in pocket could keep me sustained during the crisis on the road. I shook my head. “I’m not in the mood. Not after what happened.”

She nodded. “I’m glad of that, but House Tucanae doesn’t know what just happened. They’ll only see that you’re dressed appropriately but not putting in all the effort.”

I looked at her. She was leaning toward me. The black of her dress muted her curves quite effectively, but she was trying to show me her cleavage, something she knew would get me back into the mood. I treasured the effort, but after the violence, I just wasn’t up to it. “Life isn’t only about sex,” I said softly.

“No, it’s not,” she said. “But do you really want them to get the wrong impression?”

“That I don’t care what they think?” I asked.

She smirked. “That you’re here only half-heartedly.”

I sighed and then shook my head. “Thank you for the effort to help, the points of relevance, and the advice, but this time I’m going to do things my way.”

“You would probably be mad at me if I tried to use a little magic to help, wouldn’t you?” she asked softly and rubbed my thigh enticingly.

I smiled. “You’re free to use all the magic you want on me, especially in the bedroom, but it’s going to be a while before I’m out of this mood and I would rather not have those signals mixed.”

She nodded and then moved over the console to give me a kiss, which I accepted. “Good luck,” she said.

I nodded, got out of the car, and went to the front door of the bar. It wasn’t locked. I looked over at Chloe one more time, then cast my shield in front of me, opened the door, and stepped into the entryway.

No one shot at me. No one yanked me inside. No one even said, “Welcome.”

I stepped through the entryway, pushing my shield along. The main room was large and only partially lit. The bar seemed to be a rough horseshoe shape with bar stools lining both sides and the front. Tables and chairs were arranged to either side of the entrance. The whole place had a smoky feel to it, like there should be smoke in the air but since it wasn’t open yet, no one had lit up. Of course, most city ordinances forbade smoking in any public structure. Either could explain the lack.

A large man stood behind the bar, wiping glasses. Another man sat on one of the stools. Two women sat at a table to my left. Another woman sat alone to my right, and one man sat at a table alone as well. All of them looked up as I let the door close behind me.

“We’re closed,” said the man behind the bar. He had a deep, resonating voice. The kind that could bark orders and expect those orders to be followed to the T.

I nodded. “I know. I was told to meet someone here.”

The tension in the room skyrocketed. Everyone either went still or turned to face me. The man behind the bar stared at me from where he stood. “Who?”

“Whom,” I said by way of correction. “I’m here to meet Lucie Hanberg.”

The tension rose more. The big man threw down his towel, stomped off to the left, coming out from behind the bar, and walked right up to tower over me.

I wasn’t there to make trouble, so I stood where I was and looked up at the big man’s face.

He glared down at me with dark eyes. His skin was leathery and he had at least two day’s growth to his beard. A small scar cut through his left eyebrow but didn’t go any further. His hair was short and badly cut, which left his ears standing out like the open doors of a car. He wore a plain t-shirt which bulged over his belly and was tucked into his jeans. His arms were thick and hairy. I was pretty sure he was stronger than he looked. He certainly outweighed me by forty pounds, probably more. He had the look of a man who would be happy either throwing me back out the door or removing my left arm and beating me to death with it. I didn’t see a Magus Mark on him anywhere. Was he mundane?

“What do you want?” he asked, crossing his arms.

I looked around at the others. Any of the women could be Lucie. No one seemed willing to pull the big guy away from me, so I took it that Lucie was here and everyone else was her backup. Or, in the case of the mountain of fat and muscle in front of me, her point man. I looked up at him. He had asked a good question, one deserving an honest answer. “I came to warn you that Lady Pendergraft may be in danger.”

His eye squinted. “What kind of danger?”

“Magical influence,” I said.

“You must be smoking some good shit,” he said with a smirk, “because no one in this area can use Magic.”

I held out my hand to shake. “I’m not sure the others told you about the rumors. My name is Seth Connors and I am free of the Lockdown.”

He grunted a laugh. “Bullshit!”

I dropped my hand. “Are you willing to stake the life of your Lady on that?” I asked. I was being honest, but I also realized that I sounded like I was threatening her myself.

He uncrossed his arms and leaned down at me. “I don’t gamble.”

“Good,” I said, nodding. “Because you would have lost.”

The big man shook his head and turned to the others. “This piece of shit is just blowing smoke.”

I spotted his Magus Mark. It was on the back of his neck. I hadn’t heard much about House Guardians, but his demeanor and sheer size suggested that he might be one. I took a gamble of my own. “I take it you’re a House Guardian?”

He turned to look at me again. “Yeah. Whatuvit?”

“I understood that someone with more brains than muscle would be here.”

He grinned then. It wasn’t a pretty grin. Some of his teeth were missing and the ones he had were all crooked. “You’re gonna pay for that, runt.” Then he drew back a large fist.

My shield was still in place, so I moved it so he would hit it instead of my face.

He threw his weight into the punch. I watched as his fist collided with the shield and crumbled. I heard several cracks, and the shock of pain contorted his face. It didn’t slow him down much. He shook his head and glared at me. This wouldn’t end unless one of us ended up in the hospital.

I had my response ready: a telekinetic punch at his nose. With a thrust of my chin, I threw it.

The big man never saw it coming. His head flew back. Spittle and a couple of drops of blood arched over him in the air. His large body followed and he crashed to the floor. A small moan escaped him, but he didn’t stir or attempt to get back up.

I looked around the room. “If anyone else doubts it, I am one of two people free of the Lockdown. Unlike the other one, however, I came to talk and offer a solution to the Lockdown. I did not come here to be bullied.” And I looked down at the big man again.

Everyone else were on their feet. The woman to my right stepped closer and knelt by the big man. He was still breathing, but not trying to get up. She straightened to her full height and looked at me. Her eyes drifted over me as she took in my outfit.

She wore a form-fitting dress that, at first, made me think she wore a bustier. However, it didn’t have the rigid aspects of a bustier. It was simply tight, form fitting, and put together with a bustier in mind. The part around her torso and breasts was white with black lace. The cups were separated with lace. The rest of the dress was black, as was everything else she wore.

She looked over at the man by the bar. “Thomas, take Earl to the Hospital.”

Thomas was another large man. He had similar features to Earl, but he wore a suit jacket, nice shirt, and slacks. He gave me a once over before bending to help Earl to his feet.

I stepped out of the way. A small part of me wanted to offer to help get Earl to the car at least, but I didn’t. Earl had earned what he got.

Once they were gone, I turned to the others.

“I apologize for Earl,” the woman who had checked on him said.

I shook my head. “No need. I baited him. It’s his own fault for not having better self-control.”

She gave me a slight nod. “I am Lucie Hanberg. We spoke on the phone.” Then she turned and held out a hand to the only other man in the room. “This is Kurtis,” she said as a thin man with long straight hair nodded. He wore a beige turtleneck sweater, black slacks, and highly polished black leather shoes. I had heard that you can often judge a person by the shoes they wear. Kurtis looked as if he didn’t do much on his feet, but beyond that I couldn’t judge anything else about him. It was a shame not everyone felt the same way because the expression on Kurtis’ face suggested he had already judged me.

Lucie held her hand out to one of the woman who had been seated to my left. “This is Patricia,” she said as Patricia pulled off a pair of sunglasses and let me see that she was looking me over. She had what I would call elfish features, slanted eyes that would never be mistaken for Asian, and bow-shaped lips that smiled as she took in my attire. Her hair was the closest I had ever seen to strawberry blond and she had it pulled up into a loose bun, leaving her long neck bare. She was wearing a white and black striped shirt that accentuated her curves. A black leather jacket kept her warm in the cool bar, and skin-tight bleached jeans followed the tapering of her legs all the way to her ankles. She didn’t wear heels; only a pair of white flats.

Lucie turned to the last woman. “And this is Ella.” Ella looked from Lucie to me and nodded as well. Her shimmering brown eyes bore into my own. She had a rich, flawless tan, flowing dark brown hair, and a sensuous little smile that would have given a dead man reason to sit up and take notice. She wore a black blouse that appeared to only be held together in front of her impressive breasts by a single button. It left her midriff bare and offered up a wonderful view of her cleavage. The sleeves were semi-transparent and had short ruffles at the cuffs. More ruffles followed the bottom edge of the blouse. She wore a black full-length skirt that hugged her closely from the navel down to her knees and the fell in long pleats from there to her toes.

I wasn’t in the appropriate mood to wear my pants ‘properly’ back in the car, and I would have to apologize to Chloe about that later, but seeing these three lovely ladies helped that some. I looked from one to the next, and said, “I am Seth Connors. Lord of House Ursae.”

Everyone looked at one another, but made no comment on my proclamation. Lucie said, “You say Lady Pendergraft may suffer from Magical influence. How do you know?”

“I don’t,” I said. “It’s possible she’s only been threatened.”

“Threatened by whom?” Kurtis asked stepping closer to stand near Lucie. He had a bit of an accent, possibly British, but I wasn’t sure.

“The caster of the Lockdown, Valory Rosenbaum,” I said. “I don’t know what she’s done, but I’m sure Lady Pendergraft has been instructed or magically commanded to kill either me, anyone I find to help end the Lockdown, or both. Should she fail in that endeavor, she may attempt to kill herself.”

All four shared looks again.

“You say this Valory Rosenbaum is the caster of the Lockdown,” Kurtis said. “What proof do you have?”

“Her very own memories,” I said.

He looked at Lucie. Lucie asked, “What do you mean, ‘her memories’?”

“Exactly that,” I said. “One of my innate abilities is to share memories.”

Kurtis frowned as he studied me. “And you just happen to share memories with just the right person so as to gain such insight?”

Hearing it stated like that, it did sound preposterous. However, it was the truth and I nodded. “It was an accident. We were talking when my power went off. I experienced her memories of her casting the spells for the Lockdown.”

“You’re power just went off?” Patricia asked. “Don’t you have any control over it?”

“I do now,” I said, and even to me I sounded defensive. “I’ve been training to control it and have gotten a very good handle.”

“Have you reported your findings to the Sheriff?” Kurtis asked.

I nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, the Sheriff was shot the other night. She was wearing a vest, which saved her life, but left her with broken ribs. She deputized me and brought in additional deputies to help me both end the Lockdown and arrest Valory.”

“And where are those other deputies now?” Kurtis asked.

“Looking for Valory throughout the city,” I said. “Currently, we don’t know where she is.”

“Without Magic, the other deputies will be greatly hindered,” Ella said.

I looked at her and nodded. “Which is why they’re under standing orders to locate but not approach Valory until I let them know that the Lockdown is over.”

“You don’t trust them to know when they can access their own powers?” Ella asked.

I met her gaze. I couldn’t understand what she was thinking. “Do you constantly check to see if you have access?”

“I do a little something once in a while to see if anything has changed,” she said.

“But that still isn’t constant,” I said. “I want them to know the instant the Lockdown has ended. It will give them the element of surprise because though Valory has access to her power, she may not realize until it is too late that the deputies do too.”

“Sound tactical advice,” Lucie said, “But we digress. You said you weren’t sure what influence Valory may or may not have over Lady Pendergraft. Who says she has even been here to visit?”

“I do,” I said and I hadn’t known how I would answer that question. “You told me over the phone that you’ve been awaiting my call. I can only deduce that you got my name from Lady Pendergraft. I’ve never met her before and I daresay she has no idea who I am.”