Page 12 of Mystic Justice (The Other Detective #2)

It was hard to say how our fancy lunch might have ended if work hadn’t drawn it to an abrupt halt. My phone blared with a SPEL grade-one alert and my heart raced.

‘Shit,’ I swore, as I read it. A grade one was a call for immediate assistance, whereas a grade two was a request for someone to come within an hour. You only used grade ones when there was a real risk to life or limb, which meant an Inspector was in trouble and they needed back up. Now.

I recognised the call sign: Inspector Elvira Garcia.

I pushed away from the table and bolted for the lift. We were so high that it would be quicker than taking the stairs, though it didn’t feel like that as I jabbed the button impatiently. I was tapping my right foot as I waited for it to arrive and ping open.

Elvira used to be based in Scotland, but after Inspector Stone’s disappearance she’d been relocated to cover England, and Liverpool in particular.

The alert told me she was just a few streets away.

Liverpool was the hub – the capital city – of the Other, so it had the highest concentration of Inspectors but also the highest concentration of the Other’s nefarious arseholes.

I pressed the down button again impatiently. ‘I go ahead,’ Loki said and took off down the stairwell. If Elvira was hurt, perhaps he could help. Not much was known about them, but it was a fact that the caladrius could heal even the deadliest wound.

As he disappeared from sight, I pushed at the damned button again. Krieg must have settled the bill fast because he came to stand by me. The doors finally opened and I surged inside, jabbing repeatedly at the ground-floor button.

Krieg remained silent, for which I was thankful. I was gathering my magic inside me, raising the intention to kick some serious arse. I didn’t know what I would face so I needed to focus.

When the door opened at the ground floor, I ran out.

I knew these streets well – a product of my misspent youth – and I was only a minute or two from Elvira’s position.

When I rounded the corner and saw her, I swallowed back a swear word or six.

Like me, she had no weapon on her. Stupid!

I should have at least had a retractable baton.

She was using her magic, the IR, to blast columns of air at her attackers but there were five of them and only one of her. Ungentlemanly odds.

As they phased in and out of the shadows to reappear in different places, it was clear that they were vampyrs. ‘Black eyes!’ Loki yelled to me in a warning as he flew overhead, keeping well away from them. Smart bird.

Black eyes meant the vampyrs were under a necromancer’s control and not acting of their own free will, so there was no way to save them.

They were being controlled like puppets by an evil witch, and they’d attack until their objective – or true death – was achieved.

No injury would give them pause: it was their death or ours.

Even so, I was touched by regret at the thought of killing them.

I cast around for a weapon and was surprised when Krieg handed me a large dagger. ‘Thanks,’ I muttered, then plunged into the fray. I gathered my intention and drew up my need for a strong light.

‘Watch your eyes!’ I called to Elvira before releasing my magic with a circular motion. Light blasted out so that the dark alleyway was totally bathed in it, banishing the shadows that the vampyrs were moving in and out of.

They flinched and hissed with rage as one of their advantages was taken away from them. A vampyr could cope with daylight but using the shadows was one of their main ways of moving unseen and striking from different angles without warning.

Eradicating their darkness was a trick from Inspector 101 – but it had a sizeable drawback, which was why Elvira hadn’t done it when she was alone.

As I maintained the bright light, my magic was tied up in the casting; I might have got rid of one of their advantages but I’d also removed one of mine.

I had no magic with which to defend myself.

Still, Elvira would have my back, and I had Krieg’s dagger.

The light had made the vampyrs pause and Elvira didn’t waste time.

She stepped in with lethal grace, her long limbs whipping into motion as she summoned a column of compressed air and hurled it at the nearest one.

He flew backwards, crashing into a brick wall hard enough to make a hole in it.

Before he could slide down, she spun and blasted another vampyr with a low-pressure burst that folded him at the waist and sent him careening into his brother.

‘Two for one,’ she grinned, sweat gleaming on her brow, her dark curls wild around her tanned face.

It was my turn. I surged forward, Krieg’s dagger gripped tight in my hand.

‘Time!’ Loki squawked urgently at me.

Luckily I knew exactly what he meant, though I had no idea how he knew about it. The next vampyr came at me in a blur, too fast for a human eye, but I had another ace up my sleeve: I had time.

All Inspectors had access to the Third Realm, the realm that let you do fun things like go back in time or slow it down. And I didn’t need my magic to use it. I simply depressed the small button on Dad’s old enchanted pocket watch and the Third realm grabbed hold of me.

The vampyr’s fast movements became languidly slow, like they were swimming through molasses. I would only get a blast of the Third for a few moments, so it was essential to make the best use of it. I ducked low, rolled and came up behind my attacker, raised my dagger and sliced his throat.

Black blood sprayed, but it wasn’t a fatal wound – to kill a vampyr, you needed to cut off their head or stab them in the heart – but my action would hurt the necromancer that was controlling him and that was my aim.

I met the vampyr’s black eyes. ‘Fuck you,’ I said to his puppet master and thrust the dagger into his heart. His black eyes leached to brown for a moment and then he exploded into dust.

Time snapped back into place. Damn it! I’d hoped for longer.

‘Another one incoming,’ Krieg called helpfully. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded.

Dodging fangs and some truly criminal breath, I whirled around and kicked my attacker in the knee with enough force to shatter bone.

He dropped and I let go of my light casting long enough to use my magic to grow the dagger I was holding into a sword.

Lifting it up, I cut off the vampyr’s head. Another dust cloud exploded.

‘Bites dust!’ Loki crowed triumphantly.

‘Three down over here,’ Elvira shouted. ‘How many have you got?’

‘Two!’

‘I’m winning!’

‘It’s not over yet,’ I grunted as a sixth vampyr phased in now that I’d let the shadows reappear. That was just annoying. Sword in hand, I drew forth my intention and let the light blaze again. Six vampyrs were quite enough for one day.

Elvira vaulted over a discarded crate, wind magic coiling around her fists like invisible gloves.

As she slammed both palms into the ground, a shockwave rippled through the alley and the remaining vampyr was lifted off her feet.

She slammed against the wall with bone-crunching force then fell awkwardly, femur jutting through her thigh.

She was twitching but still moving; a broken limb wouldn’t stop her.

Raising the sword like I was King Arthur, I charged and sliced off her head and just like that, she was nothing more than ash. I whirled around; we were alone in the brightly lit alley, apart from Krieg.

‘That one was totally mine,’ Elvira muttered. ‘Four to me.’

I snorted. ‘No way. I cut off her head. It’s 3–3.’

‘I broke her leg,’ Elvira argued.

‘That’s not a kill shot and you know it.’

‘Fine,’ she huffed. ‘It’s a draw – but I was spectacular.’

‘I liked the shockwave thing,’ I admitted.

She grinned. ‘Thanks! It’s one of my favourites.’

I turned to Krieg. ‘Where the hell were you?’

He grinned. ‘You ladies had it covered. You didn’t even break sweat.’

‘I did,’ Elvira muttered, wiping her brow. ‘It was squeaky-bum time until you rolled up.’ She turned to me and said seriously, ‘Thanks, Stace.’

‘No worries.’

As far as I was aware, Elvira woke up looking like pure Mediterranean perfection every single day.

Her tanned skin was always flawless, her dark eyes always lined and her lips always rouged.

Despite the impracticality of long hair, she often wore it down in luxurious waves that made the brass shout at her if they caught sight of it.

Even a little sweat just made her skin look dewy. It was so unfair.

Despite her perfection, I liked and admired her. She was fierce and strong. Out of nearly a hundred full Inspectors in the Connection, she was one of only ten women. The glass ceiling was alive and well, though I strived to crack it every day.

‘Any idea what this is about?’ I asked.

‘Looks like I pissed off a necromancer,’ she said airily. ‘I guess I’d better find out which one.’

‘Stay in the chapterhouse until you’ve rooted them out,’ I suggested.

She grimaced. ‘I know you’re right, but Esmeralda is such a pain in the ass.’

I grinned. Esmeralda – Esme to her conquests – was the siren who ran the chapterhouse; worse, she was a Scouse siren. She was beautiful and she hated that Elvira was just as beautiful without any augmentation. Esmeralda liked all eyes on her and Elvira was stiff competition.

‘El!’ A red-headed male in Connection uniform burst into the alley.

‘Slow-poke,’ Loki snarked.

‘You’re late,’ Elvira said drily. ‘Party’s over.’

Still panting, the man took in the various piles of ash. ‘So I see.’

‘Hey, Bland,’ I greeted him. Inspector Gordon Bland was Elvira’s partner when she needed one. Today one would have been handy.

‘Wise,’ he nodded back, chest still heaving as he desperately sucked in air.

‘You need to work on your cardio,’ I commented.

‘And being on time,’ Elvira shot back. ‘If it wasn’t for Wise, I’d be dead right about now.’

Bland winced. ‘Sorry. I got held up at an incident in town. Two centaurs were getting into it.’

‘All sorted?’ I asked.

‘Yeah. They were fighting over a lady.’

‘Who won?’

Bland grinned. ‘The lady. She told them neither of them stood a chance so they started complaining about her instead. They’re taking their matching black eyes to a pub to reminisce.’

‘Cute,’ I commented drily.

Krieg pushed off from the wall and Bland’s eyes widened. ‘Your Excellence!’ he said, bowing hastily. ‘Forgive me, I didn’t see you there.’

‘No,’ Krieg’s tone was amused. ‘You only had eyes for Inspector Garcia.’

Elvira’s cheeks warmed. Whoops. Bland’s crush on Elvira was obvious to everyone but her, but maybe she was finally getting clued in; when she looked at Bland her eyes were speculative.

‘My honour to meet you, Your Excellence.’ Bland bowed low to Krieg. ‘I’m Inspector Bland,’ he continued. ‘Bland by name but not by nature.’

Elvira was close enough to hit him lightly on the shoulder. ‘Ugh, you have to quit with that awful line.’

‘Never. It’s served me well.’

Krieg cut through their bickering with a miniscule bow of his own. ‘My honour to meet you, Inspector Bland,’ he rumbled.

‘What are you doing here?’ Elvira asked Krieg. ‘Your Excellence,’ she tacked on hastily.

‘Having lunch with Inspector Wise,’ he replied smoothly. ‘When she came running, I came too.’

‘A two for one,’ Bland muttered. ‘I love a good bargain.’

Elvira’s eyes were narrowed and she folded her arms. ‘What’s your business with Stace?’

‘That’s our business, isn’t it, Inspector Garcia?’ Krieg’s tone was mildly reproachful but Elvira didn’t falter. Man, she was one ballsy bitch – even I’d hesitated to square off to Krieg when I’d first met him.

‘If you mess with Stacy, you mess with the full might of the Connection.’

Krieg looked amused. ‘I have no intention of harming her.’

‘So what are your intentions?’ she pressed.

He ignored her and looked at me instead. ‘I take it back. You do have friends.’

‘With friends like Elvira, who needs enemies?’ I groused but I smiled a little at my fierce friend to take any sting out of the words.

She grinned back. ‘We both know you love me.’ Her smile faded. She gestured towards the High King of the Ogres and dropped her voice for me alone, ‘I really hope you know what you’re doing, Stacy.’

She wasn’t the only one.