Uncle Harry
Chapter 5
When I arrived home I found Thomas's car parked against the curb across the street. I pulled the truck into the driveway and drove past the side of the house, parking in front of the garage which was doing double duty as my workshop and man cave. I stopped carefully so as not to disturb the softly snoozing Simone. I killed the engine while setting the emergency brake and then slid out of the truck and motioned for Thomas to join me.
Thomas stepped out of the low sleek vehicle, showing a grace that was worthy of the red carpet. The door quietly clicked closed a moment before the lights flashed and an electronic set of quick beeps came from the vehicle. He strode across the street and stopped short on the edge of the sidewalk. He gave me an expectant and irritated look as he neared my yard.
"Wards?" He said softly, As I was scooping Simone into my arms carefully. I turned my head and whispered a word with a push of intention and power opening the wards for him. Simone nuzzled against me, under the duster as I walked to the back door with Thomas quickly closing the distance. I noticed the remnants of the Pizza 'Spress boxes, neatly stacked next to the trash can as I carefully opened the door.
I had just stepped inside when Thomas came half jogging into the room. Seeing Simone in my arms he nodded and whispered to me. "What happened? After you left four detectives caught me as I was trying to leave and questioned me about you, Lash and Simone for about an hour." He said sounding irritated.
"Give me a second. Make yourself useful and make some coffee." I whispered back taking Simone into the guest room and laying her back onto the bed and pulling the comforter over her. I left her door slightly ajar as I left. I doubted anything would happen, but it'd been one of those days.
I went to the kitchen to find Thomas leaning against the counter with a scowl.
"So what happened?" I asked, grabbing the coffee pot off the stove.
"Just what I said, they grilled me for an hour or so, asking all kinds of questions about you three. I told them the truth as much as I could, the rest I either didn't answer or gave them half truths." He said grabbing an envelope from his pocket and handing it to me. "Harry, what did you do to piss them off so much?"
I stepped over to the sink and disassembled the old style perk coffee pot and emptied the basket into the kitchen trash can.
"So what exactly did you tell them?" I asked.
"Well, that you two are dating and living together, working together at your P.I. business. That Simone ran off from school for some reason and has offered to pay you with money from her trust fund after you found her. I told them that I didn't know what the job was or what had scared her. I told them that you'd tracked me down as her guardian and I approved." He said in one long breath. "Oh and she's staying with you to keep things under the radar of the press."
"okay, that works." I said putting a filter into the rinsed basket and reassembling it, then adding coffee to the basket before putting it back into the pot fill of water.
"When they stopped me they weren't in the best of moods. What did you do?" He asked more curious and less accusatory than before.
"When I found Simone, the detectives were intererogating her and she was nearly hysterical, scared and sobbing. I intervened..." I said putting the pot on the stove and snapping my fingers as I whispered 'Flickum Bickus" to the wood in the stove and watched the fire slowly slide down the kindling and larger pieces of wood before closing the door to the fire box.
"You used your words to stop them, not... You know?" He said moving his hands and weaving his fingers in the air, trying to look mystical.
"No, I didn't use magic. I simply told them that if they wanted to make me leave I was taking the girl with me, but I wasn't going to leave her with them." I said with a shrug. "I guess they didn't like my tone of voice. Then I had a nice chat with a Detective Grisham and it's all good for now." I said mostly honestly.
Thomas shook his head with a smirk. "You do have a way with people."
Just as the coffee started to perk a cuckoo clock started frantically going off. I gave Thomas a serious look as I pulled my blasting rod from my duster, "We have unexpected guests." I told him, stepping to the pantry and grabbing a pair of pearl handled 45's with extra clips attached to the belt holsters and tossed them to Thomas. He shoved the clips into his back pockets and let the holster drop to the floor as he pulled the slides back and released the safety.
"You watch the back I'm going to get Simone." I said racing past him, into the hall.
"I'll watch your back, we'll both go for the girl." He said sternly, watching the back door and following me into the hallway. Given the tone I wouldn't have argued with him normally, but given the situation I didn't have time to debate the issue anyway.
There were loud bangs on the front and back doors as if a battering ram had slammed into them. Given that Michael had special ordered those doors and hung them himself, it would take at least a few blows with a SWAT battering ram to open those doors. I shook out my shield bracelet and pushed some power into it as we rushed across the living room as screams started coming from the guest room.
I kicked the door open and leveled my rod into the mostly dark room. The windows were intact but there was a group of two men trying to force the window open. Simone looked from the men to me with a terrified look on her face and sprang from the bed, running as fast as her feet would carry her. I moved her between Thomas and I, making sure she was behind my duster.
The men were wearing all black, they had masks over their faces, leather gloves on their hands and bullet proof vests over their chests. Given the look of their body armor and the weapons they had at their sides, I assumed this was a well funded group and they meant business.
I pushed my anger and intentions into the wards round the window as they tried harder to breach their way into my house. "Repellium, Electrus" I said in a low tone. The window itself seemed to shimmer an electric blue color as small bright bluish white fingers of electricity leapt from the window and surrounding wall to the intruders. The first bolt surprised them and worked nearly as effectively as a Taser, the next bolt was much bigger and brighter. A loud POP could be heard, sounding like a large firecracker as each man was hit in the chest and thrown back away from the house and into the front hard. Small columns of smoke rising from their vests as they lay there twitching and convulsing.
I heard someone yell 'Clear' from the back of the house and turned in time to see my backdoor blasted into splinters. The smell of the chemical explosive filled the air and a small canister was tossed through the doorway. It was about the size of a can of cooking spray but twice as thick and painted black. It was about two feet inside the door as I was pulling my duster around Simone when Thomas's pistol barked loudly, hitting the canister. It spun back the way it had come spinning wildly as the pressurized smoke left a thin cloud of gray smoke in it's wake.
His pistols barked three more times, splintering the door frame and putting holes in the drywall around the doorway. Screams of anger and pain came with each shot as he moved toward the empty door frame, guns leveled and gleaming while a smoke trickled from the barrels.
I ushered Simone to the middle of the room and kicked back the area rug to reveal a silver circle that had been crafted into the floor. I moved her into the center of the circle and stepped out. "Don't move and Do Not cross this line." I told her as I reached down and touched the circle bringing a full half globe shield up and pushing a lot of power into the spell. "You'll be safe here, just stay put until I get you." I said tapping the shield sending faint silvery circles around the half globe, as if it were made of a thin layer of water. Simone looked scared and her eyes were glassy but she sat down in the center of the circle and nodded to me.
The banging on the front door seemed to have stopped and there were shocked and angry voices coming from my porch. As Thomas fired another three shots into the backyard I leveled my blasting rod and moved my open hand across my body making a fist as it got to my side. I raised my shield and pushed anger and rage into my blasting rod. The runes glowed a bright orange as the front door unlatched itself and swung open quickly.
To my surprise there were three four men just off the steps to my porch. Two were on the ground trying to crawl away from the house. Their shoe laces were tied together and their vest and shirts kept pulling forward to cover their heads as rocks and sticks pelted their legs and backsides. The other two were covering their faces and frantically trying to defend themselves from dozens flying rose bush stems and small to midsized sticks that were circling and diving into their heads and necks.
A small but familiar voice came from my right side, "The enemy is in full retreat, Sir. Shall we finish them off?" Toot asked from under his veil.
I smiled and shook my head, "No need General, I'll take it from here. Call your troops off, I don't want any collateral damage." I said grimly stepping onto the porch.
Toot sheathed his letter opener swords and put his fingers to his lips blowing a high pitched whistle and vanished. The branches dropped to the ground and the last of the rocks pelted the two on the ground and everything went quiet. The men lowered their arms, looking around confused. They stopped when they saw me, the light from the house shining around me. They reached for their missing sidearm's with a panicked look on their faces.
"This may sting a little." I said angrily as I sent a softball sized ball of force into each of them. The two standing simply crumpled to the ground. The two on the ground already, squirmed and shrieked as they were thrown forward and onto their faces. They rolled onto their sides grunting and gasping, their hands covering one of the few spots their body armor didn't cover.
"They'll be down for a while." Thomas said over my shoulder. "The other three ran off, but at least two of them have pretty bad wounds and big bruises on their chests and backs." He said glancing back at Simone. "How do you plan to explain this to her?" He asked softly.
"I'll just tell her the truth."
"That works, I guess." He said with a shrug. "Being a part of the White Court she'll find out sooner or later. I was hoping for later, but I suppose it can't be helped."
"You mean IF she becomes a member of the White Court, don't you?" I asked pointedly.
"It's possible for some people to resist their inner demon if they are prepared for it, when the time comes. However, explicit instructions have been given to every member of the White Court to not tell her anything about who she is. That's part of why she'd attending that school. It's private, secure and the girls only get visits from certain people on an 'approved list'." Thomas finished.
"So you're going to let her.." I asked shocked.
"It's out of my hands Harry. There's nothing I can do." He said shaking his head sadly.
"So why is she so damned important to the White Court?" I asked softly, sending another round of fast balls into the four intruders.
"Harry, trust me if I could tell you I would." Thomas said with a pained look on his face.
"Thomas, if it affects you and her, then it's my business. I'm not going to stop until you tell me something." I said in a hushed tone so as not to be overheard, taking a step onto the porch.
"Harry, I'm telling you..." Thomas said with a tired sigh, following me outside. "Her being the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter of the Silver Queen, is none of your business. I'm not saying another word about it!" Thomas said with a wink.
"Fine, don't tell me then." I said wondering what his clue meant.
"Why don't you go to your car and call Murphy. I'll move these guys to the garage." I said pulling some zip ties from my duster pocket. Thomas nodded and jogged towards his car.
I bound their wrists and gathered them together and moved them, albeit slowly to the garage. I sat them against the walls and bound their ankles. Questioning each of them as I went from one to the next.
"Who hired you?" I asked using my blasting rod as a taser on the first one.
"Look, we don't know who hired us. We just got orders today and did what we were told." The skinny, nervous looking mercenary sitting next in line offered quickly.
"Okay then, who do you work for?"
"A Security company out of New York. Most of us have been working overseas and rotated back to the states for some down time and easy money." Said the stocky olive skin one to my left. He was maybe 6' 1" tall, he had a Brooklyn accent and was maybe twenty-three. None of these guys were over 25.
"What were your orders then?" I asked tazing the bulky blond guy who was squirming too much for my liking.
"The girl, we were to grab the girl. That's all! We were told she was with some crazy PI guy. It was supposed to be a smash and grab, nobody was supposed to even get hurt." the nervous one said watching the muscular blond twitch, his eyes rolled back in his head.
"What were you going to do with the girl?" I asked strapping the nervous guy's ankles together.
"Take her to some school and hand her over to some administrator." He said being very helpful and holding his feet together for me.
"Naa.. It was a teacher. Mr. Aber-something..." The Brooklyn kid said correcting his buddy.
"Shaddup, you two!" Said the 25 year old making me think he was from the South. "You gonna give him your mamma's age and bra size too?" He drawled.
"Why would I do that?" asked the Brooklyn kid.
"Because you talk too much." Spat the older one.
"Hey, I've seen his Mom and he won't even tell me." Said the nervous guy with a forced smile, hoping to change the subject.
I finished binding the group and turned to see Thomas standing outside the side garage door. He was leaning against the wall just outside listening carefully.
"I'll watch these guys, why don't you go to Simone? I bet she's scared and tired of sitting in that circle." He said stepping inside.
"Just don't kill them, the last thing I need is the coroner out here tonight."
"But maiming is okay, right?" He asked giving the helpless men a vicious glare.
"I suppose, but only in self defense." I replied standing and appraising the people who were until recently shooting up my house. "Bruises and small cuts are fine though." I said turning and heading inside.
As I came into the living room I could see Simone, scared and curled up into a ball sobbing softly. Her long brown hair was disheveled and covering her face, her shoulders shaking and soft whimpers and sobs softly filling the room.
"It's okay now. They're all gone." I said lowering the shield and kneeling close to her.
She sat up and threw her arms around my neck, tears, snot and probably a little slobber greeted my cheek and neck as she fell into me, crying even harder now. I hugged her gently and patted her back. I tried to think of a time when something like this happening wasn't a normal part of life for me.
"You're fine now Simone, everyone's fine. The police are on their way to take the bad men to jail." I told her softly.
"Lash isn't." She sniffed, her tears now running down the side of my face and trickling down my neck.
"Lash is a strong woman. You don't think she'll let something silly like stray bullet keep her down do you?" I asked, wondering that myself and not wanting to let Simone see my concern.
"It's my fault..." She whimpered softly, trembling in my arms.
"None of this is your fault Simone." I said probably a little more firmly than I should have. "Listen to me sweetheart, bad thing happen sometimes." I said moving her back and looking into her face. "You've done nothing wrong. They, the people back at your school, the men who tried to break into my house, THEY are the bad ones and They caused this trouble. You just got caught up in something that shouldn't have been happening in the first place. In face, because of you we may be able to save your roommate and the other girls." I said wiping her cheek and fishing a handkerchief from my pocket. As I shook it open a bright golden light filled the room and the room had a feint scent of summer.
"Harry, what was that?" She asked amazed taking the cloth and wiping her eyes before blowing her nose. She still looked traumatized but the guilt seemed to be slowly leaving her face.
"It was sunshine. I can collect it in white linen handkerchiefs. Because, I'm a Wizard." I told her honestly. "You must have guessed something was up by now." I said pointing to the silver inlaid circle.
"I saw some strange things when Lash was fighting those men, but I wasn't sure what it was or what happened..." She said looking a little confused.
"You probably saw her shield spell, like this one..." I said tapping the circle. "How the bullets bounced off it and everything else?" I asked.
"Yes." She said remembering the fight from earlier.
"We're both Wizards Simone. We'll both help you I promise you." I said softly.
"Can't you just zap them all then?" She asked curiously. "Just get rid of all the bad guys?"
"Wizards don't use magic to kill unless we absolutely have to, especially not people." I said seriously. Granted vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures had a lower bar especially when they are attacking you, but overall I didn't like to kill when it could be avoided.
"Then, could I... be a wizard too? Can you teach me?" Simone asked softly but determinedly.
"I don't think you're a wizard Simone. Some people are just born able to use the power, others not. I could teach you a little but without any power to back it up it'd be very difficult for you." I told her. "You're special in your own way Simone. You're not a wizard but you're still important and very special." I told her.
"I am?" She asked her eyes getting big. "How am I special, Harry? What am I?" she asked intrigued.
"You're a beautiful, sweet, kind girl." I told her, brushing the hair from her eyes. "It's who you are that makes people special, not powers or money. That's why you're special, don't ever forget that." She smiled and sniffed away the last remaining tear as blue and red lights filled the room. Police cars pulling down to my garage and lining up along the curb.
"Thank you for protecting me Harry." She said giving me a peck on the cheek before standing up and straightening her clothes.
It was a few seconds later that Murphy and Rawlings came in through the front door, looking around the room and checking the exits as they entered.
"Harry, are you two okay?" Murphy asked as Rawlings went to check the bedrooms.
"We're fine. The guys who attacked are in the garage with Thomas." I told her, pushing myself up to my feet.
"Care to tell me what happened?" She asked taking out her notebook.
I explained what happened in detail to Murphy, stopping as she scratched notes into her notebook and asked questions. Rawlings went outside to supervise the transport of the prisoners as we talked. We moved into the kitchen where I finally got my cup of coffee and mixed up some homemade hot cocoa under the supervision of Murphy for Simone. As the police cars started to pull away loaded with mercenaries and illegal weapons, Thomas and Rawlings returned to the kitchen and pulled up a chair.
"I think we have just about all we need for now, Harry." Murphy said putting away her notebook. "I can have a couple of black and whites watch your house for the night if you like." she offered out of obligation.
"I don't think that's necessary. Mercenaries Union is pretty strict about one raid per night." I told her with a tired smile. We stood and I shook Rawlings hand, thanking him for his help and turned to Murphy, who gave a quick glance to Simone, who was laughing with Thomas.
"Harry, do you have a second?" She asked tilting her head towards the living room.
"Sure Murph." I said following her into the living room.
"First that thing with Lash, now this? What's going on? Why do they want her so badly?" Murphy asked looking concerned and confused.
"Whatever she stumbled across, it's got to be something big." I said softly, glancing over my shoulder as Thomas did Magic tricks for Simone.
"That's not all, the guys we picked up from the incident with Lash are dead." Murphy said with a raised eyebrow. "The doctors said it looks like they aged about a hundred years in about ten minutes. Almost like Magic... You don't think.. subconsciously maybe, Lash could have..?" Murphy said trying to be as diplomatic as possible.
"No, that's not possible. Magic takes control and intention, it's not something you could do in your sleep, I don't care who you are." I said shaking my head. "Besides, that kind of magic... It sounds like necromancy, but I haven't heard of any talented practitioners. If I had the Wardens would have had a chat with them about it by now. Then again, it could be the Black Court, but I seriously doubt one of them could walk into the hospital unnoticed." I told her running down the list of possibilities in my head.
"Also, Harry, about Simone. If she's a Raith then... Should I be concerned?" She asked glancing compassionately at Simone.
"No, she's just a little girl. The demon doesn't come out until later." I told her.
"Her first sexual encounter, right?" She asked quietly.
"Something like that. If she is in Love with someone then that kills the demon, if not then the demon tries to take over when she's week and in the throes of passion." I explained as I understood the process of becoming a White Court vampire.
"Hopefully that won't be for a few years." Murphy said with a relieved sigh.
"Hopefully..." I replied.