Thaumatology 10 - The Other Side of Hell Read online

  ‘Right. She had a sword, enchanted. Next to dragons, the only people I can think of who could have done that are demons.’

  ‘Not just any demon,’ Mei supplied. ‘A lord, and a powerful one. An old one.’

  ‘Molech,’ Ceri replied. ‘He’s been watching me for years. I met him in the park here the Samhain after my parents were killed. Then he turned up last year. He’s old, at least five thousand years, and possibly one of the most powerful lords.’

  ‘Okay,’ Michael said, ‘so where does that get us?’

  ‘She’s in their world,’ Ceri replied. ‘They took her, or the spell which blasted the dragons threw her there, or… Whatever, she’s in the demons’ world.’

  ‘That… Well, you can’t get her… Can you?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ Gwyn said. If Ceri could not hear the worry in her voice, Michael could. ‘It’s dangerous. A human, especially a part-dragon human, who goes there would be hunted down and…’

  ‘Killed,’ Michael finished for her.

  ‘Oh, I think death would be the best thing to hope for.’

  ‘I can’t leave her there,’ Ceri said. Her voice was soft, but there was determination behind it.

  ‘I know,’ Michael said, equally softly.

  Ceri reached out and stroked his hair, but she looked across at Gwyn. ‘Can you work out the shift I’d need to go there?’

  ‘Of course, but you could do that yourself.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘I could, but there are some other things I need to get done before I leave. Lily isn’t the only person missing. I’m convinced they didn’t kill Cheryl, and I think I know why.’

  Aberystwyth, Wales, November 23rd

  Ceri appeared in the basement area of Aberystwyth University’s thaumatology building and looked quickly around. There was no one there; she had expected no one, but there was always a chance. She was at the bottom of what amounted to a large stairwell and ahead of her was a door with a plastic plaque on it. Cut into the plastic was, “Professor E, Perry. Thaumatology.” Stepping forward, she opened the door without knocking and walked in.

  Ed looked old and tired. His human form had never exactly been set in the “youthful Adonis” mould. His chosen aim in life was education, whether it be teaching human students thaumatology, or teaching sorcerers their art, and he had selected a form which followed the “wise teacher” pattern. Tall and long-limbed, he tended to stoop. He was not ugly, but neither was he handsome. He appeared to be in his fifties, perhaps, and tended to dress in slightly worn clothes; his jackets usually had patches on the elbows. Nothing he wore was ever properly pressed. Today, however, he seemed even more of an old man, and one who had not slept well in weeks. Ceri hoped that was true.

  His face did brighten for a fraction of a second when he saw her walking into the room, but the light in his eyes died when he saw the look on her face. ‘Ceridwyn. I’m… glad to see you.’

  ‘Don’t be,’ Ceri replied, closing the door behind her. A small exertion of power sealed it behind her, ensuring they would not be disturbed. ‘You gave Cheryl that lovely little statuette, the quartz dragon.’

  ‘Oh.’ He looked even more uncomfortable. ‘Yes, I…’

  ‘Had no choice. I know. It was used to spy on her, just like the one in my house was used to spy on me, to get past the scrying wards. That’s how they knew she had figured out that something was wrong with the generator project. That’s how they got to her.’

  ‘I know, I…’

  ‘Shut up!’ Ceri snapped. ‘They killed Mayhew to stop her talking about… something. I always thought they kept Cheryl alive, but I didn’t understand why. You persuaded them to keep her alive, didn’t you? She was your friend…’

  ‘I t-told them that if they killed her I’d tell you what was going on. They would have killed me before I could, but they needed me… for the final stages.’

  Ceri bit back the burst of rage which threatened to overwhelm her; the final stage had been brainwashing her. ‘Where did they take her? How is it possible that no one found her?’

  ‘Blocking you was easy. They were already influencing you. They put her in a form of Amentes Chain. It reduces the mind to nothing. You can’t find her because she is not herself. This chain also masks her physical signature.’

  ‘Where did they hide her, Ed?’ Ceri said, her voice carrying more than a hint of menace.

  ‘Bangkok,’ he said, his voice soft and his eyes cast downward. ‘You can lose anyone there.’

  Ceri’s fists clenched. ‘A mindless white woman in that place? You know what they’ll have done to her? She’ll be… She’d be better off dead.’

  ‘She doesn’t know who she is. She won’t remember anything that happened while the chain was on her. If she can be found…’ He cut off as Ceri glared at him.

  ‘You kept her alive when they’d have murdered her, so I’m going to show you the same mercy. Brenin obviously thought you should be forgiven, since he helped you survive the collapse of the bridge. I’m not as old as him and I haven’t had thousands of years to become all tolerant. You could have told me where Cheryl was weeks ago. If I ever see you again, I’ll make sure your death is long and painful.’

  Ed opened his mouth to speak, but she was already turning away. There was a click as the door unlocked, and then she was gone.

  Chilcomb, Hampshire

  Ceri banged her fist on the big, oak door of Carter Fleming’s country house, half-expecting to have to use magic on it to get in. Carter had been a virtual recluse for almost a month. His last official act was three weeks ago when he had closed down the Jade Dragon, his premiere nightclub, for “renovations.” In practice, he had no plans to reopen it. After the events of Samhain “dragon” was not a popular word to have in the name of a business. She was a little surprised when the door opened after her second attempt, and horrified to see the man who had opened the door.

  Carter was a handsome man in his fifties, but he usually looked much younger. He wore immaculate, tailored suits and his ash-blond hair was always perfectly styled. Now he looked every bit his age. His hair was dishevelled, there were dark rings around his eyes, and he had puffy cheeks and red eyes. He was wearing several weeks’ growth of beard and a stained robe, roughly belted around his waist. He stank of alcohol.

  His reaction to seeing Ceri was predictable. ‘What do you want?’ His speech was slurred.

  ‘I know where Cheryl is.’

  He staggered slightly. It was ten in the morning and he was drunk. Great. Letting out a groan as his brain registered what she had said, and the state he was in, he stepped back from the door. ‘You’d better come in.’

  They went to the kitchen at the back of the house and she put coffee on after watching him try to fill the machine with water twice and failing. He dropped into a chair at the table and slumped, his head in his hands.

  ‘How did you find her?’ he asked after a minute or so of silence.

  ‘I… started using my brain again. If they didn’t kill her, there had to be a reason. Ed Perry. She was his friend. He couldn’t stop them taking her, but he risked his life to stop them killing her.’ She realised she was embroidering the truth a little to stop Carter going after Ed, and she was really not sure why.

  ‘I see.’

  ‘They masked her signature, and they already had their hooks into me, so when I tried they just… made sure I failed.’

  He did not reply, and she waited for the coffee to finish brewing, pouring two mugs and putting one in front of him before taking the seat opposite his. Carter took a heavy gulp of coffee, sat there for a moment or two, and then jumped up to wretch into the sink. After washing out his mouth, he returned to his seat and drank more coffee. This time it stayed down.

  ‘Where is she?’ he asked, his voice soft and very weary.

  Ceri took a deep breath. ‘Bangkok.’

  Carter’s face screwed up into a grimace. ‘That hellhole? She’d be better off…’

  ‘That’s what I said. The
y put some enchanted chain on her. She doesn’t know who she is and she won’t remember what’s happened to her while the chain was on. If you can get her out…’

  ‘Me? What about you?’

  ‘I need you to go get her, Carter. Magic is going to be no use in finding her, and you have contacts out there.’ She paused, and he nodded but she could tell he needed more of an explanation. ‘Lily’s alive.’

  ‘What?! How?’

  ‘The demons. Molech. They’ve taken her to their world somehow. I’m going to get her back.’

  He looked across the table at her. His eyes were still red and watery, but there was a hint of the old, intelligent, wise Carter in them now. ‘That’s suicide.’

  Ceri looked back at him. ‘I thought she was dead. I’ve let her sit there on the other side for weeks when I could have been looking for her. I let my grief stop me from thinking. I could have figured this thing with Cheryl out long ago if I’d… I have to find her, Carter, and you have to find Cheryl.’

  ‘All right. I can call some people and get a search started. I’ll fly out there as soon as I can…’ He dropped his head into his hand and groaned.

  ‘I’m going to Alec next,’ Ceri said. ‘Stay here and sober up. He’ll come out to collect you. I doubt you’re going to be fit to drive any time soon and you’re not going to stop him going with you to Bangkok.’

  Carter nodded, and then winced. ‘I’ll be ready for him.’

  ‘Good.’ When he looked back up she was gone.

  East Sheen, Richmond

  Ceri ported right into the hallway of Alec’s flat on the ground floor of a house in East Sheen. She waited a beat of ten to see whether he would sense her, and sure enough the lounge door burst open and he came out with his fists clenched, ready to slug whoever was there. He stopped as soon as he laid eyes on her, frowning.

  ‘It’s not polite to teleport into people’s houses, kid.’

  ‘I know, I’m sorry. I’m in a hurry and this was the safest way.’

  He grunted. ‘Better come through and tell me what this is about then.’ He was a big man, as befitted a black-fur werewolf who had survived the death of his entire pack, and very hairy. Since he was dressed only in a pair of boxer shorts, all that hair was quite visible, as were the scars which decorated his body; he had survived the death of his pack, but not easily.

  ‘I need you to go pick up Carter,’ she said as she followed him into the room. For a man who came over as more of a biker type, he had an anachronistic taste in furniture. Most of it was old, but then he was far older than he looked. He had been a pack Alpha during the Second World War.

  Dropping into an easy chair, Alec looked at her with an intent expression. ‘Why? He’s busy drinking himself to death.’ Alec and Carter were dealing with the disappearance of the woman they both loved in entirely different ways. Carter was simply not coping at all. Alec was sullen and angry, and had nowhere to direct his rage.

  ‘Not anymore. You’re going to Bangkok with him to find Cheryl.’ She held up her hand before he could respond. ‘Don’t ask questions. Get him, find her, get her out. If you can find her, there’s every chance she won’t remember… There may not be any permanent damage.’

  Alec was on his feet and moving toward the door almost before she was finished. ‘What are you going to be doing?’

  ‘Me? I’m going to Hell.’

  He stopped in his tracks, turning to look at her, but she was already gone.

  Herne Hill, London

  Ceri had never been to Kate Middleshaw’s home, but it was not that far outside the boundaries of the Battersea werewolf pack and the walk from Clapham North would do her good. A small, end-terrace house which backed onto Brockwell Park, Ceri vaguely remembered Kate saying that she had inherited it from her grandmother. It was a witch’s house; you could tell from the flowers growing at the side of the house. Ceri would have bet good money that the back garden was pretty well stocked, even though Kate did not get that much time to tend it.

  The redheaded detective sergeant looked a little bemused as she opened the door to find Ceri standing on it, but Ceri was getting that kind of reaction a lot today. She also seemed to be meeting people half-dressed a great deal; Kate looked half-awake and she was holding a fluffy, white dressing gown around herself. Her pink slippers had white rabbits appliqued over the toes.

  ‘Can I come in?’ Ceri asked. ‘It won’t take long. I hope I didn’t wake you.’

  ‘We were on late shift last night,’ Kate replied, stepping aside to allow Ceri to go past. ‘I wasn’t actually asleep, but I’m not actually awake either. What’s up? I’m surprised Michael isn’t with you.’

  ‘I’ve had a few places to go this morning and he would have slowed me down. I’m going back to him next.’ The place was more like a cottage than a terraced house. There was a fireplace with logs in, currently unlit, and a lot of comfortable looking furniture.

  ‘You want coffee? I want coffee. I’m getting coffee.’ Kate stumbled off toward the kitchen, forgetting about her robe as she went and allowing it to flap around her as she turned back from turning on the coffee machine. The witch was wearing a long T-shirt with a picture of Winnie-the-Pooh printed on the front under the dressing gown. Kate regarded Ceri for a second before saying, ‘What’re you smirking at?’

  ‘I never thought of you as a Winnie-the-Pooh sort of girl.’

  Kate grumbled something. ‘I wear sexier outfits to bed when I’m expecting to have people knock on my door first thing in the morning.’

  ‘It’s after midday, Kate.’

  ‘First thing in the morning to me. You seem to have got your sense of humour back.’

  ‘Lily’s alive and I’ve found out where Cheryl is. Carter and Alec are going to find Cheryl, I’ll be going after Lily.’

  Kate’s eyes narrowed. Turning around she found herself a mug and poured coffee into it, relishing the hot fluid for a second before she returned her gaze to Ceri. ‘Well I doubt I’m going to be much help, wherever she is, so why the visit?’

  ‘I came across some information I meant to pass on to you and then things got busy, and then crazy… Anyway, I think you should know, but it’s about John and Lorna.’

  ‘And you aren’t telling them because?’

  ‘The vampire who turned Lorna, he’s called Lo Chan. He’s old, turned during the Boxer Rebellion. Supposedly he started another drug ring down this way after John trashed the one he had in the north. He holds grudges, and if John knows who he is…’

  ‘I get the picture,’ Kate said, her tone sour. ‘So you’re telling me so I can sit on this until it’s needed.’ She drank more coffee, her gaze on Ceri. ‘You know, you’ve got the look of someone going somewhere they don’t expect to come back from?’ She turned, putting her empty mug down.

  ‘I’m not coming back without Lily,’ Ceri said, and when Kate turned back, she was gone.

  Kennington

  They made love slowly, sensuously, taking their time in an effort to make it last, prolonging the inevitable end and their parting. Michael was in human form, spooned behind Ceri, and they lay on their sides so that they could, whenever they wished, twist around for long, drawn out kisses.

  Neither of them thought about why they were doing this now. Ceri knew that she wanted to leave Michael with good memories in case there were no more memories after this. Michael knew that he was saying goodbye, even while hoping it was really “farewell.” Neither of them said anything; they lived in the moment, and forgot past and future. When their climax finally came it felt like the world was ending.

  Perhaps it was.

  ~~~

  It was close to midnight and the occupants of High Towers had gathered in the summoning room. Ceri had not been down there for weeks, but Gwyn had. The shattered remains of the dragon statuette they had once used to communicate had been swept away and dumped into the silver-iron carrying case it had arrived in. Now Gwyn, Mei, and Michael stood outside the summoning circle carved into a large,
black, granite block set into the floor. Within the circle, Ceri was preparing herself.

  Not knowing exactly what she would be facing, she was going for travelling light. She had a backpack with some food in it. Mei had gone out shopping and returned with foodstuffs which would last a long time. Gwyn had assured Ceri that she would be able to eat the food there and drink the water, but could not be certain that food would be readily available. She was wearing a ring which her father had used to converse with demons; hopefully it would do the same for Ceri since she knew little Devotik, the most common of the demonic tongues. Around her neck was a necklace of black velvet from which hung a bird skull. That had been a present from Twill and the fairy had said that it would lead Ceri home when she needed it. Well, she was going to need it. The biggest item of all was Ceri’s staff; as tall as she was, and made of thick, dark wood with a crystal ball set into the top and iridescent, blue inlay down a third of its length. It was a weapon and a magical tool.

  Slinging her pack into place on her back and gripping her staff tightly, Ceri nodded. Her heart was thumping in her chest, but she felt as ready as she would ever be. ‘Wish me luck,’ she said, smiling as best she could.

  ‘You don’t need it, dear,’ Gwyn said. Her voice was calm and supremely confident. Just hearing it almost made Ceri feel confident herself. Almost.

  ‘She’s right,’ Michael said. ‘You’re coming back, with Lily, and that’s that.’ Mei nodded firmly in agreement.

  ‘I guess I’d better get going then,’ Ceri said, her hand tightening around her staff. The ball on top of it began to glow as she drew power through it and, beneath her feet, the sigils of the circle flickered into life. She had worked out the necessary transportation equations with Gwyn and she allowed them to run through her mind as the light around her grew brighter. Clenching her muscles along with her will, Ceri looked out of the circle toward Michael, seeing his worried, but hopeful, face until the light around her was too bright to see through.

  Part Two: The Succubus in the High Castle

  Shilfaris City, Demon Realm, Day 10

  The inn looked like something you would see the heroes drinking in in some sword and sorcery epic. Or perhaps a western with pretentions. Wooden columns held up the ceiling. A wide staircase at the back led up to an open landing with a rail around it and two girls in skimpy dresses could be seen leaning over that to look down at the patrons beneath. The bar was long and behind it a man chewed on something which could have been tobacco while he wiped glasses with a grubby cloth, and a barmaid with a substantial chest and a low-cut bodice smiled brightly at the two men sitting at the bar while she drew beer into tankards. The large drinking hall had round tables, each surrounded by six or seven wooden chairs, and many of them were occupied.