Thaumatology 101 Read online

  ‘I like it,’ Middleshaw said. ‘Your mother’s idea?’ Radcliffe’s partner was distinctly different; far shorter, but long in the leg, shoulder length, red hair, green eyes and a pale, freckled complexion. She also has a reasonable chest under that suit, topping off a slim body with wide hips. Her wide lips held a half-smile most of the time, unlike Radcliffe.

  Somehow Ceri did not like that fact that the cops had been digging into her background. ‘Yes, it was, but I used to have awesome Halloween parties when I was a kid.’ She took off her lab coat and hung it up on a coat rack standing just inside the double doors. When she turned, Radcliff’s eyes shifted quickly away from her body to her face. She had kept her jeans on from her trip to Baltzman’s, but had taken off the shirt she had put on over the teddy; it simply did not fit properly under the lab coat. Now she was standing there in black jeans and a white teddy. Nothing showed, except her figure; Radcliff still looked a little hungry. Ceri looked up the stairs. ‘Up the stairs and to the right,’ she said. ‘We can talk in the study.’

  With Middleshaw perched on the chaise longe and Radcliff standing beside her, Ceri rolled the desk chair out and sat down in front of them. ‘What can I help you with?’ she asked. ‘You had statements from everyone. I don’t really think there’s more to add.’

  ‘None of the statements indicated why Walters turned up on your doorstep and decided to kill you all,’ Radcliff said. Middleshaw sounded like a London girl, but Radcliff had a hint of a northern accent about him.

  ‘Because we don’t know,’ Ceri supplied.

  ‘That seems unlikely,’ the man replied. There was an accusation in his tone which Ceri did not like.

  ‘There are a couple of theories, but nothing which constitutes proof,’ Ceri said. Radcliff, she thought, did not like supernaturals, possibly magic in general. She wondered why he had joined the Greycoats. Both the detectives were looking expectantly at her. ‘He never liked me,’ she said. ‘I was the new hire, smarter than him, with a better grasp of the subject. When my work outshone his, he may have decided to remove the competition and revenge himself on Doctor Tennant. She didn’t exactly treat him that well.’

  ‘That seems unlikely too,’ Radcliff commented. ‘It was a rather public attack.’

  ‘That assumes he was all there,’ Ceri replied, ‘but I agree. The other possibility is that he had been sabotaging the experiments. When we cracked the problem, and got the results we wanted, he had to do something drastic.’

  ‘You’ve evidence that he was sabotaging Tennant’s work?’ Radcliff asked tightly.

  Ceri shrugged. ‘Purely circumstantial. Some of the mistakes he made were a little too stupid. I had an odd dream after the accident which suggested he was responsible, but dreams are hardly admissible in court.’

  Radcliff opened his mouth, but Middleshaw beat him to it. ‘Did anything seem odd about the attack?’ she asked.

  Ceri laughed. ‘I don’t get attacked often enough to consider any of them normal, detective.’

  ‘Not according to our records,’ Radcliff interjected. ‘You’ve been involved in several assaults by supernaturals, all of them ending in the demise of your attacker.’

  Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘Three,’ she said, ‘going back ten years. I have… I had a protective enchantment my parents put on me. Supernaturals who attacked me… caused the enchantment to push back.’ She raised her right arm, showing the inside of her wrist. ‘They were destroyed in the lab accident.’

  Radcliff pulled out a notebook and flipped through it. ‘So, instead you can now toss magical bolts around which “caused extensive dissolution of the body’s molecular structure.”’

  Ceri shrugged. ‘Raw magic will do that. That’s what should have happened to me.’

  ‘Poetic justice?’ Radcliff said.

  ‘Are you accusing me of murder, Detective Inspector Radcliff?’ Ceri asked, biting down on her temper.

  ‘If we were,’ Middleshaw said before her superior could reply, ‘we would be making a huge mistake. Several test cases have proven that destroying a zombie is, at worst, destruction of property.’

  ‘Sergeant!’ Radcliff snapped. ‘This investigation…’

  ‘Will go nowhere while you persist in treating everyone who has anything to do with magic as guilty, sir,’ Middleshaw interrupted calmly. ‘Miss Brent was categorised as fully normal by four separate specialists prior to the accident in her lab. The attack by Walters was the first manifestation of her new power, and she reacted on instinct. Further, her parents were two of the most respected enchanters in the country. They were responsible for the enchantments on the doors at Greycoat Street, and they designed the secure cells there.’ Now that was something Ceri did not know. ‘Seriously sir, we’re here to get information, not to make accusations which could get us both assigned to crossing guard duty!’

  Radcliff was fuming, but he was also sensible enough, or self-aware enough, to realise his subordinate had just stopped him from stepping over the line. Ceri watched the interplay, waiting for it to end before asking the question which she was burning to ask, ‘He was a zombie? He was dead when he got here?’

  ‘It’s difficult to tell with zombies,’ Middleshaw said, ‘the process halts the normal pathology, but the coroner estimates he had been dead for about two weeks.’

  ‘I’m fairly sure he was alive on the day of the accident,’ Ceri supplied. ‘That was on the second.’

  Radcliff was flipping through his notebook again. ‘The coroner said that the necromancy was “particularly sophisticated,”’ he said.

  ‘I’m going to hazard a guess that you don’t understand how sophisticated, Inspector,’ Ceri said. ‘He used wizardry. That’s just about impossible…’ She looked around suddenly and then said, ‘Come on, you two. I know you’re listening.’

  Radcliff looked blankly at her and then jumped as Twill materialised above the mantelpiece and buzzed out to hover over Ceri’s head. Lily did her best to look like she had not been standing outside the door as she sauntered nonchalantly into the study. She had put on one of her jersey dresses, a really tight one. Radcliff’s eyes attempted to pop out on stalks. He had transferred in from some northern police force, Ceri guessed. He had a wedding ring on; his wife had not moved south yet…

  ‘Twill, you ever heard of a zombie who could do wizardry?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘Impossible,’ she said. ‘Vampires have their own abilities, liches can do necromancy, but zombies aren’t capable. It’s like… like saying one of those computer things could do witchcraft.’ She pursed her tiny lips. ‘He didn’t feel like a zombie when he entered the grounds, but…’

  ‘He was giving off so much power it’d be hard to tell,’ Ceri supplied. She turned to Lily. ‘You hit him with your aura, right?’

  ‘You’re the succubus?’ Radcliff asked.

  ‘Half-succubus,’ Lily said, ‘my mother was a human. I hit him with everything I had, he didn’t even flinch.’

  ‘So he wasn’t interested,’ Radcliff said dismissively.

  ‘Inspector Radcliff has never experienced a succubus aura,’ Middleshaw explained. ‘Would you mind demonstrating, Miss Carpenter? On me, please, and not full strength if you would.’ She half turned to Radcliff. ‘I have no lesbian leanings what so…’ She broke off into a moan, sagging onto the lounger. Her eyes rolled back and she began to tremble, her thighs pressed together and rubbing against each other. She had, Ceri noted, pretty good legs. Her arms started down toward her groin.

  ‘That’s enough, Lily,’ Ceri said.

  Middleshaw relaxed and lay there panting. ‘Shane didn’t react at all,’ Lily said, ‘and I used ten times as much power on him. I figured it was just that he was shielded, but being a corpse would explain a lot.’

  ‘But a corpse can’t work magic,’ Twill said emphatically.

  ‘Have you talked to Doctor Tennant about this?’ Ceri asked.

  The Sergeant pulled herself upright, still looking very flushed, and straightened her
skirt. ‘The Inspector wanted to talk to you three first,’ she said.

  Raddcliff actually looked a little concerned as he looked down at her. ‘You okay, Kate?’ he asked. ‘That looked, uh…’

  ‘It was very “uh,”’ she replied, grinning slightly. ‘You want to try it? Good experience.’

  ‘Uh, no,’ Radcliff replied, blushing.

  ‘Any time you want to, Inspector,’ Lily said, smiling her best lascivious smile.

  ‘Lily.’ Ceri’s voice was quiet, but firm. Lily dipped her eyes and moved swiftly and smoothly to stand just behind Ceri’s chair. Ceri forced herself not to look around at her friend as she once again played demon house pet.

  ‘Forgive my slightly limited knowledge of magic,’ Radcliff said, ‘but if Watkins was a zombie, or something like a zombie since a zombie couldn’t work magic…’ He nodded toward Twill, which must have cost him because Ceri could tell he was not comfortable outnumbered by supernaturals. ‘Whatever the case, a zombie is controlled by someone, right?’ Ceri nodded. ‘So, have you any idea who sent him?’

  Ceri could feel Lily about to speak and got in quickly before she could. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Even if we happened to suspect that someone might be involved, we would not have enough evidence to even mention the name.’ And then she could almost feel Lily fuming.

  Radcliff held Ceri’s gaze for a few seconds, chewing his lip. ‘So you know who it probably was, but can’t or won’t say. So the person you suspect is someone very dangerous, or above reproach, or both.’

  ‘When you’ve got over your suspicion of magic, Inspector, you’ll probably make a very valuable member of the Greycoats,’ Twill said.

  ‘Don’t mind Twill,’ Ceri said, smirking slightly, ‘she does that to everyone.’ Twill glared at her. Ceri decided to check her knickers for enchantments for a while. The fairy was probably right though. ‘We can’t tell you who did that to Shane,’ she said. ‘Frankly, you’d laugh.’

  The look Radcliff gave her was odd. She got the distinct feeling that there was a very strong reason why he did not trust supernaturals. ‘You might be very surprised what I would not laugh at, Miss Brent,’ he said.

  ~~~

  ‘Oh,’ Lily said, ‘I spoke to Carter about your idea. He wants to talk to you. Tomorrow afternoon?’

  Ceri blinked, a forkful of food halfway to her mouth. ‘My idea?’

  ‘Yeah, y’know? The thing about detecting werewolves changing?’

  ‘Oh, yeah. He wants to talk to me about it?’ Lily nodded enthusiastically. ‘But he’s a wizard,’ Ceri said, and Lily nodded again, chewing. How did she manage to chew and still look sexy? ‘I mean he’s probably got more skill in his little finger than I’ve…’

  ‘You’re a theorist, dear,’ Twill said. She was actually eating with them for once. Well, drinking. Sat before her in a thimble was a quantity of thick, golden liquid; honey with a little alcohol to thin it. Considering she hunted insects and worms in the garden, she generally avoided eating in front of her housemates. ‘You likely have theoretical skills he does not.’

  ‘I guess… Yeah, I suppose there’s that.’ Ceri finished putting food in her mouth.

  ‘If Carter thinks he needs you to make this work,’ Lily said, ‘then that just shows how awesome you are!’ She beamed across the table; almost child-like glee mixed with a succubus’ pride in finding someone of real power. Ceri swallowed. Someone of real power to enslave herself to.

  Another day. Just another day or two at the most. Hot damn, tomorrow was going to be hard.

  September 27th

  The enchantment in the entrance had not been too bad. It was a relatively complex pattern which had worried Ceri until she realised that, using her Sight, she could see the invisible markings on the stone. Then it had just been a question of tracing the design in fine, white chalk mixed with salt, and energising it. As the powder had flared and twisted out of physical existence, and the enchantment sigil had burned brightly on the floor, Ceri had felt good.

  Now she was standing in front of the little pseudo-cupboard in the cellar, trying to understand the mechanism her parents had put in place for maintaining the house’s structural and security enchantments. She was not feeling so good, or clever for that matter.

  ‘I’m quite sure you’ll figure it out,’ Twill said, peering over her shoulder.

  Ceri could not remember ever having looked behind the door before, or having seen her parents do so. Inside it was a vaguely cubic array of silver runes just hanging there! They hovered in empty space, some a little dimmer than others, some simple, some incredibly complex. ‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘sure I will.’

  ‘I’ll bring you coffee,’ Twill said and vanished off toward the stairs.

  Great. Ceri stared at the runes, willing them to reveal to her how they were supposed to work. She reached out to touch one and… Something felt different. Turning her hand, she watched as the array turned as directed. Okay, so she could look at the whole thing by turning the model… A model! It was a model of the house and the runes built into the walls. Now that she saw it that way it was obvious; the arrangement was not “vaguely cubic,” it showed the positions of the runes in the building around it. Right. Now exactly where did that get her?

  ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ Ceri looked around to see Lily standing behind her, a mug of coffee in each hand. The half-succubus held out one of the mugs and Ceri took it with a nod of thanks before turning back to the model. ‘No,’ Lily said, ‘thank you.’

  Ceri was concentrating. ‘Why?’ she said absently, and took a drink. The coffee felt good. She hoped it would help her neurons fire.

  ‘Fishnet, thong back,’ Lily said, ‘so sexy.’

  Damn it! Why had she put this thing on this morning? Why had Twill not said anything? It was hardly practical for standing around in a cellar. Concentrate!

  The nearest glyph was the dimmest, she reached out and touched it, and it expanded out from the model standing in front of her. Lily let out a little, delighted gasp and Ceri echoed her. She took another slug of caffeinated goodness, put the mug down and raised her left hand, slightly cupped. She concentrated, emptying her mind of everything, especially Lily standing there, behind her, watching her work magic, all naked and gorgeous with her nipples stiffening like… Concentrate!

  The light in the hall grew as a ball of energy formed in Ceri’s left palm. It did not have the containment effects around it this time. It was her own power, it did what she wanted. Her right hand stretched out, index finger tracing the pattern of the rune, a fairly simple one. As it moved it left a trail of brighter silver behind it, until the rune was the brightest of the set. Her finger moved away and the image snapped back into position.

  Ceri giggled and glanced at Lily. She was grinning with that same mix of glee and pride and adoration. ‘Do another!’ Lily exclaimed.

  Working methodically, Ceri started tracing each sigil in turn, working from the dimmest to the brightest, holding her ball of thaumic energy like a reservoir of ink in her left hand. Lily was a background presence again as Ceri concentrated on her careful work. Once again she was just remaking what her parents had worked to create, but it felt good. It felt as though she were keeping up some family tradition which had never really existed.

  There was one rune left, on the underside of the model. She twisted the block around to get at it, expanded it out, and followed the lines. It shone brightly for a second, and then snapped back. Ceri returned the model back to its original orientation…

  The entire model flared brightly for an instant and Ceri heard Lily gasp. She felt it too, the power being transferred out from the model to the scattered runes in the building. Briefly she had an image of the house glowing in her mind, each and every part of the complex enchantment shining. There was a roaring sound in her ears… Then it was gone and the only sound was Lily panting. Ceri became aware that her own skin was tingling and her nipples were standing out.

  ‘Told you,’ Lily breathed, ‘you’re awesome.’


  Soho

  Expecting to go to the Jade Dragon, Ceri was a little surprised when Lily took her down a back alley far further down Dean Street. They stopped at a black painted door with a reinforced frame and Lily rapped on the wood, waiting patiently until the door was opened and the grinning form of Alec was standing there dressed in a towelling dressing gown. ‘Afternoon, ladies,’ the bartender said. ‘Come on in, everything’s ready. Head through to the main floor, Lil.’

  A little confused, Ceri followed Lily in through the door, finding herself in a scruffy looking service passage. The half-succubus seemed to know where she was going, however, and walked confidently down the corridor, into what looked like changing rooms. Things became clearer when they left those through a side door and came out onto the floor of a club behind a screen designed to keep the patrons from seeing “backroom” activities. This was one of Carter’s clubs, but not one she had been to.

  The main floor consisted of tables set around a central, catwalk-style stage with a chromed-steel pole mounted near the end. Set around the walls were more private booths, all equipped with low tables set a little further from the benches than Ceri thought practical, but then Ceri had never actually been the recipient of a lap dance.

  A few of the tables at the end of the stage had been pulled back to make space for a trolley with equipment on it. Ceri’s gaze flicked briefly over it; there was a computer and something which looked like it was probably a digital thaumometer, but not a design she recognised. Standing beside it was Carter, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, talking to a petite, attractive girl who looked to be not much older than Ceri. She had cropped, strawberry-blonde hair and was dressed in a short, silk wrap pulled tight across a chest which looked a little large on her slight frame. As they approached, the blonde nodded toward them and Carter turned around, smiling.

  ‘Ceri, Lily, glad you could come,’ he said. ‘You know Alec, of course, Ceri, and this delightful young lady is Jasmine Bell.’ Ceri stepped forward and took the offered hand to shake. ‘Jasmine is one of the dancers here at the Collar Club,’ Carter added.