Swift (Strangetown Magic Book 1) (7 page)

Watching her brought back old memories of when she was a few years younger and I was just as jaded as I am now, but friendship is more important than anything, and we have remained friends and grown closer since those few encounters. I still think of those times now and then—those are memories that will never be lost, no matter how old I get and what else has to make room so I can keep them.

Faith must have heard me lick my lips and started at the interruption, dropping a spool of twine she was using to train the tomatoes on their canes.

"You scared the life out of me." She bent to pick up the twine. I'm sure she turned her back to me on purpose, just so I'd get an eyeful.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, but do you have a minute?"

"For you, always." Faith set aside her things and came to gave me a kiss. It was warm, wet, and tasted of vine.

"You been eating the produce again?"

"Just to check they will be nice. It's too early for most of them but I'm trying out this new strain and they're... Sorry, I'll ramble for hours about tomatoes if you let me and I can see you're busy. Tough job?"

"The worst."

"You want a hug?"

"Keep your hands to yourself, missy."

"Haha, just thought I'd check. Okay, what can I do you for?"

"You know Pumi-Sopa Fialkowski, right?"

"Doesn't everyone? God, he's got a body on him. Like they made a man then stuffed him full of men then put a few extra muscles on him just in case he wasn't manly enough already."

"Whatever. I need to find him."

"For work?"

"Afraid so. Where does he hang out? He come around much?"

"Not as much as I'd like. We get on but a lot of folks won't accept him because of what he is."

"I know, and that sucks, but I still need to find him."

"He comes now and then, I give him some of the produce, and he does like his meat, but haven't seen him for a while. Hmm, probably weeks and weeks come to think about it."

"Any ideas where he hangs, or people he is pally with?"

"Not really. You could try the camps. He does a lot of work there lately."

"The camps? The Rift camps?" Now this was interesting. "What's he doing there?"

"Helping. He's a good guy, Swift. Genuine. He's been helping some of them come to terms with things. It's a major shock to a lot of them and they aren't coping very well."

"He doesn't seem the type."

"That's what most people think, but only because they don't get to know him. Beneath all that macho crap he's a real baby, soft as these." Faith wiggled and her boobs wobbled like they were going to pounce. Visions of her morphing into a sleek, striped cat, purring softly crowded my mind and I had to stop my hands from moving. They seemed to have made a decision I was unaware of.

"Okay, thanks. I'm outta here."

"What, no goodbye kiss?" Faith puckered up and I pecked her quickly then slapped her bum before making a quick exit.

Time to go to the camps, although I could think of better places to be, like, absolutely anywhere else.

Camp Stress

Why would Pumi go out of his way to help those in need? Was it a ploy to get access to the defenseless, or was what Faith had said true?

This guy was seriously full of contradictions. The problem was I trusted Faith implicitly, and her word has always been good. She is the genuine article. Kind, considerate, emotional. A maker, not a destroyer, and if she was friends with someone then you could bet they were decent. She also had a habit of befriending the waifs and strays, the damaged and the needy. All good, but it clouded her vision, making her caring and generous with her emotions, all things I struggle with.

So what was the truth? Only one way to find out.

I regretted it as soon as I got to the camps. This was a shanty town in full effect. Teeming with the confused, the dazed, the hopeful and the utterly lost. Many Strange that came through the Rift were at a loss as to what to do, so they built their own homes of a sort on the outskirts of the city based around some of the industrial areas that were abandoned soon after their arrival.

The warehouses and the massive hangars were perfect for those that couldn't find anywhere in the city to get a roof over their head because of their size, and they also allowed the various groups to meet and talk, lament their lost homes, and generally mope about waiting for things to miraculously get better.

It was like the camp at the middle of the city but with bells on. It was well away from the epicenter of the Rift as few could stand to be in such a place. The magic was too strong, too warped; it did funny things to your head. Humans felt it as an irritation at the back of their mind, our new visitors felt it as a terrible gnawing at their sanity—stay there too long and you would be toast. Not that it stopped them all, of course, some reveled in such mental chaos.

Although there were still plenty of abandoned houses the Strange could have occupied, for many the very idea of shutting themselves inside a brick box was utterly alien. They were used to their own particular worlds—vast, varied, and unknowable. But one overriding, uniting factor was the need to see the sky, feel the air and be a part of the world, not closeted away. Natural, like it always used to be, I guess.

It stank to high heaven.

Have you ever seen the size of a demigod's evacuation? Smelled it? No? Lucky you. Some of them were less than accustomed to toilet etiquette and the only saving grace was that after a lot of complaints, human and otherworldly, a few enterprising demons got busy with the claws and in no time, with a little help from the dwarves, they had a sewage system any city in the world would be proud of.

But the place was still a mess, full of hastily constructed shelters, makeshift cooking spots, with all manner of weird and wonderful sights to be seen.

I wandered, at a loss as to how to find Pumi, not even sure I wanted to. What then, blast him with magic and hope nobody got in the way? Less than ideal.

I spotted a group of vampires standing around staring at something but I couldn't see what as they had their backs to me, so I dodged the fires and the scratched magic runes on the ground and headed on over.

These were all relatively young ones, by vampire standards anyway. The older ones liked to stick to the nighttime, not because of any real aversion to daylight, just that they felt it only right, to uphold tradition and keep the mystery alive. Such outdated concepts were fading fast and the youngsters refused to tow the line. A few more years and the mystique would be gone, vampires would be nothing but humans infected with a warped magic virus and seen as nothing special.

You should have seen it in the old days, the stuff they got up to, the clothes they wore. You'd laugh if they didn't genuinely go out and suck the necks of virgins and do unspeakable things to them as they lay dying in pools of their own blood.

Recognizing one, I sidled up to him and got a look at what was so interesting. Sickness rose and anger along with it. Was there no peace for any of us? A tiny thing lay on the ground, a raven-haired vampire leaning over it, and as I watched he bit into his own wrist and dark blood dripped slowly into the distorted mouth of the dying creature. The flow stopped almost immediately and he had to bite again, the vampire magic sealing the wound as soon as it opened, preserving the life force of the vampire.

"What happened, Simon?" Look, not everyone has cool names, most people are just regular folk. Even if something supernatural changes you at the core, you still have a name.

"Eh? Oh, hey, Swift. Nasty stuff, isn't it? Damn dark elves made a sneak attack earlier, got a few humans that were here helping, but this poor fellow got caught in the crossfire. Another innocent bystander. We'll sort it, don't worry."

"Right, okay." We turned back to the morbid show, watching as the body of the beast convulsed and shook, foam bubbling from its mouth. It gasped, chest heaving, then sat bolt upright, clutching at its belly stained red where it had clearly been fatally wounded. Through the thick hide I could see the gash closing almost immediately. The vampire savior turned and smiled at the others.

He bit his wrist again and offered it to what I can only describe as a miniature cross between an elephant and a demon of some kind, a creature I had never seen or heard of before. The thing looked to the vampire with huge, questioning eyes, eyelashes impossibly large, searching for hope and probably its parents, if it had any. The vampire nodded then pressed its arm to the mouth under the strange stunted trunk and the creature drank, hesitantly at first, then greedily.

It would be fine, if you can call being a Strange vampire from another dimension fine.

"Simon, do you know Pumi?"

He turned my way for a moment, his smile at the saving of the creature replaced with a frown. "I know him, good guy."

"So I keep hearing. I thought he was a dangerous one, immersed in the darker side of shifter life, more animal than human?"

"That's what a lot of people think, but it's not true. He's kind, just misunderstood."

Man, this was not going how I expected at all. Who was this guy? "Know where I can find him?"

He seemed puzzled, confused. "Not now, no. There was some trouble, and he disappeared. Someone is after him and..." Realization dawned. "You? You're after him? A few weeks back I heard rumors something had happened and he was mixed up with something he shouldn't have been, and there was a girl. Terrible business, lots of rumors flying around."

"Yeah, well, I can't say anything about that. Know where I might find him?"

"He likes cars, I know that much. But go easy on him. He's one of the good ones and there aren't that many of us left now."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Simon, let's catch up soon."

"Any time. And my offer still stands."

"Thanks, and maybe one day you'll get lucky." I left them to it, making sure not to trip on the chaos all around as I knew he'd be watching my behind with great interest.

He asks me out every two months or so, but I've been there, done that, and vampires are often nice enough people, now they don't go in for the killing, but their world is not my world, and past experience has made me resolute. No dating Nosferatu. They get carried away when things heat up, if you know what I mean, and in a flash you've got dripping fangs at your neck and you are this close to becoming an infected quasi-immortal that craves blood.

Not for me. I like chocolate too much.

The Monster's Lair

Liking cars didn't narrow it down that much. But if Pumi was a grease monkey then maybe he'd hole up somewhere he would feel safe, in familiar territory, so my best bet was to check out the repair shops. They were spread all over the city, though, so it could take days.

What if he was smart? You could be caught easily in a small workshop with no place to hide other than behind some battered wreck, so maybe a breaker's yard would be a better choice. I knew that's where I'd go. They're odd places, towers of cars waiting to be crushed, full of those cubes of mangled metal that have been through the machines, stacks of tires and spare parts no one wanted any more. That would be a cool hiding place, and suitably manly even for Mr. Gladiator.

And there was only one. That clinched it.

My mood was as dark as I was hot and sweaty by the time I got to the damn place. The sun was high, heat getting too much, and I was becoming hungry again. No magic to spare to cool me down if I wanted to remain ready for anything. Would he be here, or was this an utter waste of time?

As I entered the yard I cooled a few degrees. The impossible stacks of cars, rusty and creaking eerily, swayed precariously—how they stayed up I don't know. But their shadows gave beautiful shade and I stopped for a moment, reveling in the cool as a gentle breeze dried the sweat and I got goosebumps all over.

Loving it, I twisted my hair up on the top of my head like a vacated beehive, keeping it in place with a band from a pocket. The air caressed my neck, gentle as Zeno's kiss, and then I was hot again and cursing the damn elf for not being a man, but an intrusion on my life that until the Rift had finally been finding equilibrium.

Ugh, one minute a nice quiet house, regular work just dealing with wayward witches and wizards, or the odd rogue vampire that refused to give up the old ways, and the next my house is exploding because my roomies are a bloody demon and a mesmerizing elf. There had to be a better way to earn a living, but I didn't know what. Nobody had ever shown me, nobody had ever asked. Since I can remember, I've been either a witch or told I would be one. Magic has always been in the family, and it was taken for granted I would follow along, no questions asked. More fool me, I guess. Too late now.

I felt rather than heard something stir. A change in the breeze, a slight disruption to the flow, or just the magic boosting that inner tingle we all get when we know we aren't alone. Either way, I turned in the direction of the disturbance, as silent as a vampire in sleep.

This was him. He was here. He was mine.

He was absolutely huge!

A blur of a figure ran past me, but not so fast that I couldn't replay the scene in slow motion in my mind, and his picture didn't do him justice. This was a large man, but there was something off about him. A bit too bulging, like he was broken. But that was the face all right. Handsome yet cold, jaw like a superhero, at odds with the long pinched nose and tight-lipped mouth.

He knew I was here, but that was okay. I'd dealt with worse and I felt no fear, just caution. What he'd done was fuel enough to ensure I put an end to such cruelty and savagery. He could play the nice guy to others, but they didn't know what I knew—he had to pay for his crime.

The fact that Pumi had lived so long was reason enough to fear him—normally shifters live regular human life-spans and no more—there was definitely something going on beneath the surface, but I was old too. Not like him, but I'd been around, and besides, I was a strong witch, the best, and this was what I did. My job hadn't got me killed so far and today didn't feel like the day I would die, so I ran after him, figuring I'd deal with him like I have many others.