First Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Read online

  I got the vault open and ran for the front door. Rose popped into existence over my shoulder. “He hasn’t moved, boss.”

  I unlocked the front door and ran outside. I made it twenty feet and threw the bundle by the knife’s handle. I watched it fly and the red shop rag came undone. The edge of the blade gleamed and reflected a beam of light at me, then it was falling. I could see Vassago in the distance and he nodded in my direction. I ran back inside, closing everything behind me and ran for the terminal that Vivian was still standing back from.

  He had already retrieved the knife and was walking away from the cabin, down the driveway. He easily picked his way over the rock fall and turned to look back at the cabin. I zoomed in as much as I could. I barely made out the features of his face, but I could almost swear he was smiling in my direction. What I didn’t miss was him flipping me the bird. Pixelated as it was, the gesture was pretty universal. I gave him double back, or at least the vision on the monitor.

  I walked over to a carved stone switch set into the back wall and put my hand against the runes on it and pushed what little I had of my will into it. The siren stopped and reset. If he came back, I would know.

  “Boss, is it over?” JJ asked.

  “No. He said his contract was up, but he’s not done with me,” I told him softly.

  “Why?” Vivian asked.

  “He lied… because, for the decades I was running away from you and your people, it was actually him I was running from. I just didn’t know it. When he finally confronted me, I bested him with some epic help,” I said, looking at JJ and then laughed when he held up his fist for me to bump. “But while I was waiting, I shot him in the groin. It’s personal now.”

  “So, he’ll be back?” she asked.

  “I think so,” I told her.

  “One last question,” Vivian said, talking half a step towards me, but then backed off as my monitor flickered. “How did you know what kind of magic I have? You’re a technomage.”

  “I let you assume I am a technomage,” I said, turning off my computer system for the first time in nearly a year, before standing and walking to her, feeling and hearing the generator in the rough cavern turn off. “I’m a seer, a diviner. I looked at the futures where I attacked you with that knife. As soon as I gutted you, I gained your power through the runes of the blade.”

  “But… You’re almost 90. There aren’t any diviners your age!”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not a very strong diviner. I can only see a few seconds ahead into the future. My magic is stunted.”

  “But… my death magic, it’s the opposite of life magic. Yin and Yang? I can feel that you have a large well of magical energy. The potential of its… effects… I don’t… I can’t explain. You must be…”

  “My stunted magic is the reason why I can use electronics. I have no magical talents with them, nor tools… other than hard work, years of learning and practice.”

  She walked over towards my kitchen. I watched and Rose hovered nearby.

  “Are we safe for now?” JJ asked.

  “Yeah, we should be. I don’t think he’ll be back this quickly,” I said, confused.

  “Good, then call your cop lady back, make a date, and I’ll be right back with an elk flank.”

  “Elk?” Vivian asked.

  “Want to stay for a barbecue?” I asked her.

  Rose snickered and I shot her a questioning look.

  “Cindy is going to kick your ass,” she told me.

  “Cindy… I told her I’d get back to her in a couple of days,” I said. “I need to maintain a low profile. I’m also still supposed to be hurt.”

  “Oh yeah,” JJ said, “Be right back.”

  “We have to get you someplace safe. I need my team to fully debrief you. After action report—”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know all about those.”

  “I wasn’t in Korea when you were working for Uncle Sam, it was before my time,” Vivian said. “Though even back then you were a contractor.”

  “There a question in there?” I asked her, walking back towards the table.

  “No… Yes… But we have to go.”

  I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Vivian stomp her foot, and grinned at the mental picture. When I’d first met her, I had thought she was a pick pocket… or a working girl in Vegas. Gone was the confidence and swagger she’d showed when she’d come up to me at the blackjack tables. My plan to overwhelm her with my paranoia was working. I sat at the table and she just shot me a confused look as I picked up my spoon again.

  “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Rose said in a squeaky voice.

  “What?” Vivian asked, her eyebrows almost reaching her hairline.

  “Is good for bones.” I said around a mouthful of the cereal. “Vassago might try to break yours,” I said in my best imitation of a Russian accent.

  “You’re all flipping crazy,” Vivian said, flopping down in her chair, but she picked up her spoon.

  “Hakuna-ing matattas, all day long,” Rose agreed seriously.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The problem with every lie, is that little inconsistencies pile up. In this case, in the heat of action I made a big mistake. Huge.

  We were preparing to leave. I’d already stowed my MP5 in a duffel bag, along with magazines and my special ammo. I’d even managed to get another shower in and throw in an extra change of clothing in the duffel, each delay driving Vivian a little crazier as it went. I had to grin. JJ had brought back the elk flank and had used the larger kitchen in the bunker to process it for us to take now and put the rest in the freezer while I was working to get ready. He wore clothing for the first time ever. Every small victory counts.

  We were all standing by the front door and I was about to close the vault when my front door swung open.

  “What the ever loving... oh—,” Cindy said walking inside, then stopping abruptly.

  “Neighbors just be dropping in, all unannounced and stuff?” JJ asked. “Cuz if that’s a thing, I think y’all should warn me so I’m not running around naked.”

  “Shut up,” Vivian said, not amused.

  “Agent Sparks, Tom, JJ. I, uh…” she handed me a handful of items and then pushed her way past me and walked into my super-secret bunker that had its vault door wide the hell open.

  Cindy was dressed casual, probably her day off. Her jeans and button up shirt conformed to her tall frame. Black cowboy boots and a white Stetson similar to mine sat on top of her head, taming the red curls of her hair.

  “Make sure it’s safe, dumbass,” Rose said from my shoulder.

  I hadn’t seen her land there, so she was either hovering or invisible. I looked down and saw the holster, two magazines and my M&P Shield. I put the holster inside my pants’ waistline and then fumbled with the gun, making sure it was safe. It was, so I holstered it and pocketed the magazines and followed. Cindy was on the far side of the room, walking along my work bench, pausing to see everything. I winced when she pulled out a heavy box that had my reloading dies in it and rifled through it.

  She looked at me over her shoulder a moment and then put it back. Next, she walked to the back wall, where I had weaponry still hanging from pegs. I had every kind of boom stick that could be bought, but also several I had made right here in the bunker. Then she walked over to the section where other weapons were stored. Knives, a couple swords, a mace, a flail. She pulled open a drawer at random and inspected it before doing another. It was where I stored my ammo and, with a shock, I realized that I had each box labeled with the effect of the runes I’d painstakingly carved into them.

  “So, what does the unbinding do?” she asked, pulling out some JHPs.

  That drawer had been mostly emptied, with the ammo going into my overladen duffel bag for the MP5. Undeterred by my lack of response, she opened another drawer. I knew I hadn’t touched that one, though I had ammo just like it for my M&Ps. After dealing with Vassago once with my more mundane bullets, I’d decided to u
pgrade a bit.

  “How about these?” she said, pulling a box out. “Frangible Hollow Point, Implosion Effect? Going zombie hunting?”

  “The unbinding runes would take care of any of the undead or possessed. Really nasty against zombies,” I told her.

  Vivian made an angry sound behind me and I felt something hard and metallic pressed against my spine. I checked the futures where I spun and attacked her, and saw she had a nickel plated .380. Knowing that, I stayed still, because attacking her would get me killed. I didn’t want to die today. That was when I heard a low growl and a popping sound.

  “You might want to put that away,” an extremely low voice said, rumbling around the room like it was an echo chamber to a death metal band.

  “Your Alpha has broken one of the most basic laws of magic—”

  I heard her gasp in pain and felt the pistol removed. I had a moment to see Cindy turn white as a sheet as she looked at something behind me and she moved her hand to her belt, where her sidearm always was. She didn’t draw and, as far as I could look into the future, I didn’t see her doing that. Instead I looked and saw I wasn’t going to be shot either so…

  I turned and JJ was in his hybrid form and he let out a low growl, while palming Vivian’s head. Her eyes were half shut in pain and that was when I saw her shoes leave the ground as he lifted her to eye level to him, almost seven feet off the ground.

  “JJ, put her down man, you’re gonna kill her if you’re not careful!” I commanded.

  Something in my chest seemed to trigger, like a guitar that had just been strummed after a long spell of sitting. It was impossible to describe, though I knew it wasn’t from my magic. It had an almost immediate effect on JJ who let her go, shifting back, and backing up from me. He put his head down. Later on, I would reflect on the feeling and wonder if it had something to do with being an alpha.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt her, but she had a gun to your back. If she had tried to hurt you, I was going to rip her throat out and eat her face, but other than that…” he said.

  “Lose the gun, Vivian,” I said. “I think we’re all going to have to have a long talk.”

  “You broke the basic tenets of the laws of magic. You cannot reveal our world to the mundanes,” she sniffed and then wiped tears off her cheeks, “so the three of you will be brought up on charges, whether it’s by me or somebody else— “

  Cindy had been walking over, her hand still on her pistol on her hip. Her ire had been fully focused on Vivian until she’d started talking charges and then she’d stopped, a gob smacked look on her face.

  “Who said I was a mundane?” she demanded angrily, “and who’s the third? Or you counting yourself with the charges?”

  I stammered. She wasn’t a mundane? What did she know? She had her own magic? Why didn’t I know this? I’d jokingly wondered if she had something, and the talk with her mom had thrown me for a loop. Was this the big secret that had been lurking under the surface, like the tip of an iceberg? She walked over to me and started putting her hand out, probably to inspect my suddenly healed head.

  Poof.

  “No hakuna his matattas!” Rose shrieked in an explosion of rainbow glitter.

  It surprised Cindy so bad she fell over backwards. I was left choking and coughing. When fairies want to dust somebody, like what just happened, it wasn’t dangerous… but when you consider there’s only one quick way to expel glitter and it probably didn’t come outta her mouth… Ok, I kid, it’s a magical thing… fairies don’t fart. I don’t think.

  “What the…”

  “We need to talk,” I told her, waving a hand in front of my face to clear the cloud.

  “I knew you weren’t too concussed, especially if you were blasting stumps,” she said taking my hand and regaining her feet, “and when I decided to ride over to return your gun… I had to walk in… and Vivian, how did you get here? Tom’s Jeep is the only thing here and I know I didn’t give you a lift!” Her eyes narrowed.

  “First things first,” JJ said and pulled the chromed pistol out of Vivian’s hand.

  Vivian let out a pained noise and then let go of the gun after resisting for a few seconds, instead of having her hand crushed, her fingers ripped off, or something equally fun and enjoyable. JJ held the gun flat in his palm and then squeezed, the veins in his neck and arms standing out. He took her other hand and made her open it up and dropped a squashed down version of the baby gun she’d had into it. He’d turned it into a paperweight.

  “You pull a gun on my Alpha again, I remove the arm,” he said, though his voice still sounded like a growl, even in human form.

  “Thank you, JJ,” I said with a sigh.

  “Somebody better start talking,” Cindy said.

  “My dad was much better at it than I was,” Cindy said. “He could actually read people’s thoughts a bit.”

  “Was he trained?” Vivian asked.

  Cindy shook her head. “Apparently my great grandmother was. She was supposed to have been powerful, but my dad could only do a little bit. All I can do is get a feeling if somebody is being truthful when I concentrate. Dad said I was probably a sensitive, not a full mage, though I did get moments of inspiration. My mom used to suspect, but with her dementia…”

  “Mind magic,” I said absentmindedly to myself.

  Since we hadn’t left, I’d sent JJ outside to fire up the grill. Breakfast had turned into lunch and lunch was now turning into mid-afternoon. I could smell the steaks and my stomach rumbled. I knew Vivian was sorry, but her hand was still sore and swollen from JJ’s disarming. I almost went to get her a bag of ice, but decided she deserved it, and let the petty side of me win.

  “And you’re…?” Cindy asked Vivian.

  “Air magic, with some death magic,” Vivian said, flexing her hand.

  “You?” she turned to ask me.

  “I can see the future,” I told her simply, “a diviner or seer, depending on what video games and books you’ve read lately.”

  “So, if you’re both full blooded mages, you don’t age normally, like my dad?”

  “Nope,” I told her.

  “So… how old are you really? Because that day you last came over, I heard Mom through the window…”

  “I’m never sitting outside with you again,” I said, and she looked at me, her eyes twinkling as she tried not to smile.

  “You didn’t answer the question,” she said, almost wiggling in the chair, “and I never suspected this.”

  “He’s the oldest one in this room,” Rose said, then hiccuped and fell on her ass in the middle of the table.

  “What’s up with her?” Vivian asked, looking as Rose closed her eyes and started snoring softly.

  “All this action and no downtime. I gave her one of the honey packets from the other day.”

  “You’ve enslaved one of the little folk and made her into a junkie!” Cindy was horrified.

  “Naw, she pledged her service to me, so I keep her safe from getting snatched and give her honey once in a while.”

  “What do you get out of the deal?” Cindy asked.

  “Oh yes, this I must hear!” Vivian put her chin on her unhurt hand.

  “Um… snark, information, she’s an excellent early warning system - and she probably knows more about Vassago than I do,” I said and watched as their eyes got big.

  It was one of those types of days and it was amazing how many secrets you could smash wide open, when you find out the other person already knows some of the narrative. I’d caught her up on Vassago and she’d demanded to be notified from here on out. I reluctantly had agreed.

  “So… why do you call her a little terrorist?” Vivian asked.

  “Well, she used to work for a mage named Serek, a thief. She was his burden until he was killed by Vassago. She shadowed him for weeks until she lost him. Her capture was very recent and JJ was going to sell her to somebody in San Francisco—”

  “That’s illegal, the law of magic—”

>   “Doesn’t apply to Weres,” I interrupted.

  “Or Alphas,” Vivian said, and then smiled brightly.

  “What?” Cindy and I asked at once.

  “Pack law is set by the Alphas and is outside the normal realm of mage law…” Vivian said and then it hit me.

  Having been given status by a powerful Alpha, by winning my challenge and my own territory that was easily verifiable… I was almost outside mage law. I could, for the first time in my life, do whatever I wanted. Except… most of the laws of magic were for those people who could do cool shit. Send a tornado at somebody, use life magic to heal even the most serious of wounds, death magic to incapacitate or even kill with a touch… Fire magic to burn things… fun stuff like that. The only thing I could do wouldn’t get me in trouble with the Council of Mages, except if I ran my mouth to mundanes, and then I’d get it. Even if I had let the cat out of the bag, I was safe because of an old standing treaty.

  That also meant that, as a contact with the Council of Magic, I was safe as an Alpha, to travel without worrying about being hunted or challenged, though I wasn’t a Were; only a pack member could out my Alpha status and force a challenge… Hm… a double-edged sword.

  “Yeah, this isn’t as cut and dried as it seems,” I told her. “Though it’s a good get out of jail free card for you. Sorry your hand had to be mangled to make the point.”

  “Yeah, about that gun—”

  JJ strode in. He must have grilled twenty pounds of meat, far more than the few of us could eat. I gave him a questioning look and he rubbed his stomach.

  “I’m sure work will comp you a new one,” Cindy said. “JJ just about scared the piss right outta me though, when he transformed. I didn’t know we had any in the area. That’s why I was so cagey when I asked for your help.”

  “Werewolves?” I asked. “Yeah, a big pack right here in town, though I just met them recently. You did too, as a matter of fact.”

  Cindy’s face screwed up as she thought hard and went through every recent interaction with me and then her face changed as the puzzle piece snapped into place. “Your friend from the bar, Yolanda?”