Contractor (44 page)

"He is," Rachel said. "Mundane history only records his non-magical dealings.

Unlike the emperor, Vlad shared his

knowledge with his allies. He was

eventually betrayed—transported to Hell.

Following his demise, his power base

fractured, and the dark arts exploded all

throughout Eastern Europe and the Ottoman

Empire. At its height, about a hundred years

after he was gone, a woman named Lady

Bathory had created a secret empire strong

enough to threaten the civilized world."

"But we’re not living under the reign of

Emperor Bathory now."

"The magicians of the time established a

second part to the pact made with the

demons, allowing them to summon them to

our world to fight back. A special prison

was built in the Hell, around the core of the

demon king’s seal, in order to hold Vlad,

along with the rest of the mages sentenced to

that punishment."

"At least I don’t need trips to the blood

bank." Daniel sipped his juice. "So we won

the war."

She nodded. "The knowledge spread too

fast to destroy every single scrap, so from

then on, anyone found practicing the

forbidden magic has been sentenced to

eternal imprisonment on the plane in which

the Hell is located. The demons use the

prison for many of their own, too. For them

it’s like a sick form of entertainment. It’s not

really something the head families talk about,

but Eleanor told me it’s like a zoo, now. An

insane asylum, a maximum security prison,

and a freakish sort of carnival all rolled into

one. It’s
the
fate worse than death.

Something horrifying enough to keep people

from even thinking about trying dark magic

ever again." She leaned back into her chair.

"So, that’s why you can’t fight anymore. If

you’re caught…"

"Thanks for telling me all that." He

looked at her. "I’ll cut back on nightly trips.

But when those domes fall, I’m not letting

you go out there alone."

Rachel smoothed her fingers over his

hand. Her skin was soft. "…are you alright?"

she asked.

"…Jack…" Daniel tried to keep it

together. From the worry in Rachel’s eyes,

he wasn’t sure if he was doing a good job.

"He murdered three women. My roommate,

Jack. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know what to

think about him."

Rachel took his hand in both hers. "I’ve

been a part of this world all my life," she

said. "If you want to talk about anything, I’m

here."

"I don’t have the words to tell you how

much that means to me." Daniel looked at the

table, then back at her. "Now I understand

why your relationship with Eleanor is so

complex. You’ve had responsibilities

beyond what I could appreciate."

"You didn’t know."

"What’s the Ivory Dawn, exactly?"

"The organization of magicians that

rules the United States."

"Do we seriously have a secret magic

aristocracy?"

"Something like that," she said.

"America’s our territory, where our law and

tradition is respected, but that only applies to

magicians. We have hidden connections in

the highest levels of mundane government. A

few important people are aware of us. We

have a non-interference treaty."

"Mundane government…meaning normal

people government?"

"Yes."

"What’s your role?"

"All magicians can trace their magical

lineage," Rachel said. "The Astors, and many of the world’s most powerful families, have

blood links back to the mage that created the

Hell. You saw Eleanor’s magic yourself. It’s

a variant of the original magic that

specializes in seals and binding

enchantments."

"Shit. I guess I got lucky."

"Yeah," Rachel said. "You did. Do you

see why I’m worried?"

"…I guess I do."

Rachel cleared her throat. "My family,

the Ashworths, are their main branch family.

We’ve served them for generations. I’m

Eleanor’s attendant, something like a

chambermaid, and her bodyguard. We

support them, and they protect us. The

President of the Dawn, Eleanor’s father, is

extremely influential in world affairs."

Daniel exhaled out his nose. "Jeeze. I

was joking around with the guy and I didn’t

even know it."

"That’s how it is."

"Let’s go back to my room," Daniel

said. "I want to sit there, and I want to hold

you until my arms fall off. Is that ok?"

"What about class?"

"What about it?"

"Guess I can skip a day. Since it’s the

end of the world and all."

"Speaking of, what’s the prognosis on

the whole world situation?" Daniel asked.

"The last report I heard," she said,

"about 545 million people have disappeared

worldwide."

"Holy shit," Daniel hissed.

"I know."

"What are we doing about this?"

"What is there to do?" Rachel asked.

"Fight better. Try harder. It’s all we can do."

"…why hasn’t everything collapsed?"

Daniel asked. "That’s what…seven percent

of the earth’s population? Forgotten?"

"The losses are concentrated in areas

without much magical organization. Africa.

Some parts of Asia. Islands." She looked

away. "We’ve prioritized big cities,

government and economic centers. So,

mostly, things have held together."

"The important people," Daniel said.

"Of course."

"It wasn’t my decision."

"Sorry. That wasn’t directed at you."

"…I know. I just…" She wiped at her

eyes. "…it feels so inevitable. Every day,

every night is the same thing. We haven’t

attacked. There’s nothing to attack. We just

defend, take a hit, and move on."

"At this rate, there won’t be anything

left."

"I know," she whispered. "We even

opened up the pact with demons again. The

Ivory Dawn hasn’t used them yet, but we’re

taking heavy casualties. It’s only a matter of

time." She gripped his hands. "If you can

hold out a while, you might become

valuable. They’ll want to use you. It’s not

much, but it’s better than getting sent to Hell.

No one comes back from there. Ever."

"So I have to lay low until things get so

bad they have no choice but to accept me,"

he muttered. "Three cheers for Daniel."

"You don’t have to sit around," Rachel

said. "I’ll help you practice."

"Good morning," came Eleanor’s voice.

She strode in with a plate of food. Her dress

and hair were as impeccable as ever. Daniel

saw her noble aura in a new light. She might

have been a stuck-up rich bitch, but she was

as much royalty as anything he’d ever known.

It made it a little easier to excuse her

behavior. A little.

"We were just leaving," Rachel said.

"Oh, don’t mind me then. I’ll read the

news." Eleanor plunked her plate down and

extracted her tablet computer from her bag.

"We have calculus in twenty minutes. Are

you up to something?"

"I’m skipping," Rachel said.

Eleanor looked at her for a moment. "I

understand." She turned to Daniel. "I heard from Rachel that you and your roommate had

an argument."

"…we did. Haven’t seen him since last

night, but I guess he has early class too. It

wasn’t that big of a deal."

"I see. I hope things work out."

Eleanor’s honest concern would take

some getting used to. He shut his eyes and

nodded. "Thanks."

Daniel and Rachel went back to his

room. Daniel put water on and made them

hot chocolate. They snuggled into his bed

with thick mugs and stayed there.

****

Over the next several days, Jack

officially went missing. Daniel didn’t have

to try hard to act distraught about it. The

police didn’t turn up anything. There was

nothing to turn up.

He was able to learn a single physical

sigil from Rachel. It was tricky. Normally,

mages concentrated their power through a

sigil almost as if the spell was a set of

memorized instructions, but Daniel didn’t do

that. He pushed his power around intuitively.

Rachel was baffled by how he did that. Still,

though Daniel’s magic was more Klide than

human, Xik had been able make a sigil, so he

should as well.

With practice, Daniel was able to make

rudimentary progress. By focusing his power

not on a part of his body, but directly under

his feet, he could create a sort of thick

platform of air to stand on. By creating them

one after another, he could make a pseudo-

staircase, walking into the sky. It didn’t look

anything like the crisp symbols and lines of

her golem spell; his were more like

indistinct, glowing orbs, almost as if he had

little jets on his shoes.

With a wall available where he wanted

it, his mobility increased exponentially. He

could run one way, create a platform, stop,

and bounce off in a new direction. The same

part of his enchantment that protected him

from friction worked to reduce the impact on

his body. He could even move in midair,

pushing off the sigil as often as he wanted.

The life of a living pinball was hectic, but

had a lot of potential.

She found it disconcerting how his

magic was always hidden from her senses.

She asked him about it a hundred times, but

despite his best efforts at explaining, she

wasn’t able to replicate the way he could

hide his presence. It was unique to the

contract magic.

At the same time, Daniel was magically

incontinent when it came to anything beyond

simple physical-boosting magic. Rachel

could actually speed and strengthen herself

without trouble. That was handy in a pinch,

but she preferred her golems for the fact she

didn’t have to put herself directly in harm’s

way.

Despite his limitations, Daniel gained

valuable insight into how magic worked.

Sigils were like programs that could be

controlled or modified. The magician formed

the sigil, which itself could be a challenge

depending on the spell, then pressed their

power into it. Physical enchantments, like

his, just used the magician’s body as the

sigil.

It was hard to stop himself from

shadowing Rachel out in the city. She was

never alone, though—she always worked

with Eleanor and other magicians in the

Ivory Dawn. He spent his sleepless nights

outside the city limits, perfecting his new

talent.

More than a month had passed since the

last time-pausing dome. It wouldn’t be long

until the Vorid struck again. Daniel spent all

the time he could with Rachel, trying to suck

in her essence. After Jack’s attack, it all

seemed as delicate as a snowflake.

They had a quiet Halloween. Jack had

been excited about it—he’d even had his

costume ready. Daniel couldn’t stomach the

idea of going to a party without him. He took

Rachel on a date and spent the evening with

her.

Eleanor was quiet about their closeness,

almost to the point of avoiding them

intentionally. Considering she had the

sensitivity of a potato, Daniel started to

suspect that he really had made a difference.

He wondered what she would think if she

knew he was a contractor.

****

The siege came a week into November,

just after midnight.

They were in Daniel’s room, watching a

movie on his computer. The sharp tear in

reality vibrated in his bones. They both

stiffened, exchanged a glance. Daniel

crawled out and rooted for the box of armor

under the bed.

"Danny, I thought we talked about this."

"I want to be ready. Just in case of an

emergency."

"…liar."

Daniel’s hand paused on his helmet. He

exhaled. "The last time it was off-schedule,

it was bad. This one took even longer. Just in

case, ok?"

Rachel sighed. "I have to get to Eleanor.

Don’t move around too much. You’re

supposed to be frozen with everything else."

He hugged her and gave her a kiss on the

forehead. "Be careful." Rachel hugged him

back, then dashed out of the room. Daniel

finished strapping on his armor, then laid on

the bed.

A second later, the curtain of grey

nothing hit the ground. His room was

enveloped in colorless silence. The movie

was frozen on the screen.

His scrying range had increased with his

powers, just as Xik had said all that time

ago. He could see the entire dorm quite

clearly. He observed the bright flecks that

were Rachel and Eleanor meet, then leave.

Other members of the Dawn followed at

their heels, the black suits that always trailed

Eleanor.

It was tough to scry further, but he could

feel the flashes of power all around the city.