Faithslinger Chronicles – Shadow Games Chapter 6
"Hey Officer, you awake?" chimed in from the dark as Earp slowly regained consciousness. His body was sore from the day he had and his movements were stiff and strained. He attempted to pick himself up, but found that his hands were bound behind his back. Earp rested for a moment to allow his eyes to refocus to his new surroundings, then rolled himself into a kneeling position and scanned the room. Before his eyes could focus on the other objects in the room, a wave of hot and moist vapor mixed with moldy sewage assaulted his senses and forced him to gag a bit right away. Once he regained his composure, his eyes locked onto the other two individuals in the room, Ricky and Daniel. Both men were bound in the same manner, unable to get free as well.
"Stay calm. We're prisoners just like you." said Daniel.
Earp coughed a couple of times as the stench began to coat his tongue. "Where are we?" asked Earp.
"I don't know, but I'm guessing a sewer", replied Ricky. "I figure we've been here for a few hours, not really sure for how long."
"Lucy?" asked the Detective.
Ricky was silent for a moment, and then said," She's here too, but she's not doing so well."
"Possible a side effect", chimed in Daniel.
"You think?" snarked Earp.
"Watch it! That's my girl you're talking about", snapped Ricky.
"You and your girl put a friend of mine in the hospital. Don't think I'm going to forget that any time soon", replied Earp.
Ricky was about to retaliate when Daniel stopped him. "Look cop, I know we have our differences but right now we're all up to our necks in trouble. We don't know who took us or why, but we need each other to get ourselves out of this mess."
Ricky and Earp looked at each other for a moment, then turned and nodded to Daniel. "What do you remember last?" asked Earp.
"After the big score, we dropped off the book with the buyer and collected our payment. We were offered a penthouse suite for a couple of nights, so we took it. Got cleaned up and had some dinner…"
"Anything after that?" asked Earp.
The two looked at each other for a moment, then back to Earp. "No…not a thing", replied Daniel.
"What about the buyer? What can you tell me about them?" asked Earp.
Ricky paused for a moment, but Daniel gave the nod and Ricky spilled the details," Don't know his name, but he used an obvious alias. Average height, slim builds brown hair in a business cut and goatee."
Earp recognized the description as El Jefe, another suspect to deal with.
"What about you? What do you remember before getting here?" asked Daniel.
Detective Earp thought about it and his anger started to rise, but with a deep breath he regained his composure. "My wizard friend shot me with his blasting rod."
Daniel and Ricky looked at him for a moment in amazement. Ricky snickered under his breath. "Wizards can't trust any of them."
Earp was about to snap a response when footsteps approached their room. The door opened and a ghoul walked in, cladded in a Misfits t-shirt, black jeans, and worn combat boots. "Time up boys." said the ghoul with a shark toothed grin.
"What's going on? Where are you taking us?" demanded Ricky as he was lifted to his feet and pushed out the doorway.
"Ain't my business to say, lover boy", responded the ghoul as he lifted Earp to his feet. Like Ricky, Earp and Daniel were pushed out the doorway into the waiting arms of five other ghouls dressed similarly in bad Hot Topic garb. One of the ghouls stepped into the room and together with the first one carried the limp form of Lucy out of the room.
The ghouls led the prisoners began leading the prisoners through a maze of sewers, all the while forcing a steady march through the stench and muck. "So, what's going to happen to us?" asked Daniel.
The lead ghoul simple replied without turning, "If it were my choice y'all would be filling our bellies already, but the boss has other plans for you."
"You know that I'm a cop, right?" asked Earp.
"Yup", replied the ghoul," we got special instructions bout handling you too."
After about 20 minutes of hiking through the maze of sewers, the group stopped at a ladder leading up to a manhole cover. Four of the ghouls started up the ladder and the scraping of metal against concrete signaled the opening.
"We can't climb up with our hands tied", said Daniel.
"Nope", said the ghoul with a grin and grabbed Daniel first. He lifted Daniel straight up the vertical tunnel where he was grabbed by another ghoul manning the ladder. This continued for one more ghoul before he disappeared at the ladder opening. The others followed suit until all of the prisoners were out of the sewers. The group once again proceeded to walk over the hills surrounding a small concrete lake and continued on to the underpass of a bridge. "Back to Kiwanis Park. I should have known. So where is Ashe?" said Earp.
"I'm right here. Thanks for joining us." replied Ashe as he stepped out of the shadows. Ashe was unusually dressed in a professional manner, dark blue suit with buttoned down shirt and dress shoes. "The rest of the party should be here momentarily. One moment please..." replied Ashe as he drew out his cell phone and placed texted a message. The other ghouls corralled the prisoners to a hill by the bridge and forced them down to their knees once again. "Please don't try to run, our people are all over the park and I can't guarantee your safety if you leave", Ashe said gleefully.
A few moments later, Ashe began to walk away from the group up a hill outlined by the streetlights from the parking lot. For a moment he was out of sight, but he returned escorting four men back to the group. The first man was six foot all and of average build, dressed professionally in a black suit as well carrying a briefcase with him. The next two men were of the same height, but their builds were more muscular, dressed in more casual attire. They were obviously bodyguards, armed with pistols in shoulder holsters. The final individual was Marc Tremere, dressed in his usual custom attire under a conspicuous grey cloak.
"There you go. The sorcerers as promised." said Ashe as he motioned his hand to the prisoners. "Except that one over there, that's my problem to deal with."
"I thought this was a secure meeting. We don't need any more attention on this matter", said the business man.
"This place is secure, all loose ends have been tied up, and there is no publicity coming out of this situation", replied Ashe.
"Cuz you have the only new crew in town that would pay attention to this meeting in your pocket already?" asked Earp.
"Exactly", replied Ashe with a smile. "So shall we commence with the business?"
"Where is Gregorov's body?" asked the business man.
"You will find him in the trunk of a black Lexus in the south parking lot, packed in dry ice for the trip. My man Al here will take you there. You did remember your part of the bargain for covering up your little snafu?" asked Ashe.
"Of course. You will receive yours when we collect ours." replied the business man.
Ashe motioned to the ghouls and three of them began to gag the sorcerers. Ricky and Daniel attempted to shrug off their assailants, but they were quickly overpowered and muzzled. They were then carried off to the parking lot followed by Al, the business man, and the body guards.
Earp stared daggers at Tremere, who looked away with a placid stare at Ashe. "What's your stake in this Marc? What has Ashe promised you that were worth backstabbing me?" demanded Earp.
"He offered me nothing. I'm doing this for your own good", replied Tremere with a hint of impatience in his voice. "Ever since you claimed to be the Mortal Knight, all eyes have been on you and your actions. Stopping a Grendelkin solo, the Black Court Vampire bust, the sorcerers at the Arizona Science Center. You're considered loose cannon, doing a sloppy job of protecting the public, and people are getting hurt in the process. Your department isn't doing a much better job either. Hell, they're getting compared to Chicago PD, who doesn't have a much better track record of their own. The White Council feels that leaving the Book of Shadows in your hands would be mistake and contacted me about retrieving the book before something else happened."
"And El Jefe was your middle man for all this", said Earp. "He had the information on the sect of sorcerers from Florida because you gave it to him to give to me. And Gregorov?"
"I don't know anything about Gregorov. But you rushed into the confrontation with Ricky and Lucy without a plan, and Carter nearly died because of it. Your superiors don't seem to leash you in no matter what you do, and we can't wait for Marcone to give you orders to see how you'll react. In short, no matter what you do, you're still an Earp." Marc Tremere walked over to Ashe and said," You promised no harm will come to him."
Ashe replied," By the laws of hospitality, I promise no harm will come to Detective James Earp. But I don't think you want to be around when I cut him loose."
With that, Tremere drew an envelope from his jacket and handed it to Ashe. Ashe looked over the envelope with a smile and motioned to one of the other ghouls to come over. The ghouls walked over to Marc Tremere with a satchel on his arm and handed it to him. Tremere opened the satchel and reviewed its contents, a thick book wrapped in black leather marked with various etchings across the surface. Marc thumbed through the book to verify its authenticity, then placed it back in the satchel and started to walk away. He briefly stopped by Earp one last time. "I never wanted any of this to happen James, but you left me no choice. I hope you understand that. "And with that, Marc Tremere walked to the parking lot and disappeared from sight.
Earp looked down at the ground while Marc Tremere walked away in anger until he was out of sight. He then looked up at Ashe. "So it's down to us now. What's the play?"
Ashe drew a blade from his inner jacket pocket and walked towards Earp. Earp began to react in defense, but Ashe just looked at him, "Do you mind?" Earp partially turned his back towards Ashe and his bonds were cut right away. Earp drew his hands in front of him and started rubbing his wrists to get some feeling back into them.
"So what do you get out of this? Money? Power?" asked Earp.
"Signatures, specifically three", replied Ashe. Earp looked at him perplexed before he continued. "I've been around longer than you have Earp, and I've watched a lot of people come and go…mostly without a trace. Ghouls are powerful, but we're at the bottom of the food chain. Unless we hook up with the right people, we're left to scavenge whatever we can and hide in the shadows for the most part. Your SAU squad is there to protect and serve, but your extent only reaches as far as the mortal world. That leaves us independents at the mercy of the big fish, members of the courts and councils. I aim to change that by giving the little guys a voice, a free city state made up of ghouls, changelings, minor talents, and anyone else who wants in. All they have to do is ask."
"So you engineered the entire situation from the shadows using El Jefe as a liaison?"
"Selling El Jefe on the idea was no easy matter, but he came around once he got a good look at the big picture. Contacting the White Council about the Book of Shadows was easy enough, the one called Gregori Cristos seemed very eager to get the book turned over to him. Also, keeping tabs for possible threats and a steady line of intel was just icing on the cake." Ashe continued, "Gregorov was an opportunity to cover up what would have been a big black mark on the reputation of the White Court, and a contract to continue to dispose of whatever they need is a bonus to them."
"I though you said that you needed three signatures" began Earp when it suddenly struck him. "Marcone. You're the reason Marcone found out about me in the first place. What did you promise him for his signature?"
"It was an opportunity that I could not pass up, advertising that the only mortal signatory of the Unseelie Accords had a knight that even he didn't know about. And once I got his interest in you, I could pitch my idea without problems. You may only see the local happenings, but there is whole world out there and something bad is coming. It may not have reached us yet, but it will and we'll need allies to deal with it. To get Marcone's signature, once I get conferred to the Unseelie Accords I'm promised to back his vote on Accord decisions. If the worst comes, raising a militia to back his Paranet will be easy."
"And everyone who wants to be part of your city state will have to agree to playing a role in your army to gain citizenship", said Earp quietly. "You don't think I'll just stand aside and let this happen, do you?"
"Of course not, but then again I don't need you anymore" replied Ashe. "You've already sworn your loyalty to the Crime Lord of Chicago, so I'm not going to try to sway you to my side. And the big picture, I'm doing what's best for Phoenix overall. Ethically I maybe the criminal, but morally I'm not the bad guy here."
Earp was left staring at Ashe and fathoming his plan. Ashe looked away from Earp and saw his ghoul walking back to him, envelope in hand. He then drew the keys to the suburban and handed them back to Earp. "And now I release you, safe and sound. You'll find your gun in the glove compartment of your vehicle. I'll send you my forwarding address, just in case you decide to change sides." And with that, the ghouls quietly slinked away back to the sewers, leaving Earp behind to think about what just happened.
Earp quietly walked back to his suburban and checked the glove compartment. His service gun was waiting for him with no bullets missing from the piece. He started the engine and checked the time, only to find that it was a day later and the time was nine pm. Earp drove away from Kiwanis Park, but after a while found himself in front of the Graffiti Bar. He walked in and as always was warmly greeted by Patty, who promptly placed his order to Dave, still working the grill as always. He collected his food and drink from Patty after a few minutes and took his usual table to eat and ponder the events that had transpired over the last couple of days. He began eating his sandwich, the savory flavors pouring into his mouth and perking up his taste buds, when footsteps approached his table and a shadow loomed over him. "Mortal Knight, I will be ignored no longer" bellowed Noland at Earp.
With this, Earp refocused his attention on the gruff standing over him and got out of his chair. He looked up at the muscular fae and stared him in the eyes. "I owe you an apology. At our last meeting, I was short and quick tempered with you, and you did not deserve the treatment I gave you. I'm sorry for my behavior. Please sit down and tell me the message you were charged with."
Noland looked down at Earp with a bit of confusion, not expecting such a response. But he sat down at the table and said, "I did not expect such a response and your apology is both appreciated and accepted. The Summer Queen has requested that you establish a parlay with the Equinox Court on behalf of the Summer Court."
"The what?"