Prince of Demons 1-3, Box Set Read online

  “Hey,” said the first. “I’m Dirk. What’s your name?”

  “Lana,” she said without adding any encouraging behavior. She turned and pushed the down button again.

  “This is Bram. Where are you headed?”

  “Um. Do you know where Monq’s office is?”

  “Sure. We can show you.”

  “Thank you. That would be nice.” She glanced at her watch. She had two minutes left and didn’t really want to find out about stage two. “I have to be there in two minutes.” She pushed the down button again.

  Dirk gave her a lopsided grin that she supposed was his Plan A charm attack. “Two minutes? What’s the hurry?”’

  She looked away. “Never mind.”

  “Oh. It’s private? S’kay. I’m still your guy. We’ll get you there in two minutes.” The elevator doors opened.

  They got on and the one called Dirk pushed S2, then held down a black lever. He looked over at her and winked. “This car just became the Sublevel 2 Express.” True to his word, the ride was fast and the door opened to the right level. “Right this way.”

  The two escorted her to Monq’s office. “Less than two minutes. Never let it be said that chivalry is dead.”

  She laughed before she remembered she was supposed to be sad. “Thank you.”

  Dirk was saying, “See you ‘round pretty lady,” and giving her a salute just as Monq opened his door.

  They sat in two large red leather club chairs facing each other, next to Monq’s video fireplace, drank tea, and chatted.

  That night she agreed to go to the Mess for dinner with Cal.

  The chats with Monq became a daily occurrence as Lana found herself on the fast track of psychological adjustment. Her emotions were leveling out and she’d accepted the fact that her situation was forever changed. She also knew that, in a sense, she’d landed on her feet. She could have ended up living in a box under a bridge by the River Charles trying to tell passersby that she didn’t belong in their world.

  In another week Monq released her to Headquarters. She’d taken vows of secrecy, understood the consequences for betrayal of The Order, and was ready to let Cal help her find “meaningful work”, whatever that might be. Packing to go wasn’t much of a problem since she’d never really unpacked.

  It wasn’t her first ride on a private luxury jet, but it was her first trip to Edinburgh and she was feeling a little bit excited. She looked over at Cal who sat next to her in one of the reclining chairs.

  “What happens next? Once we get there?”

  “They’ll give you a place to live, but fair warning, it won’t be as big as the apartments at Jefferson Unit.”

  “Okay. Then what?”

  “Tomorrow morning we’re going to start testing you to see where you fit into the organization.”

  She looked into the green of Cal’s eyes and noticed the brown and gold flecks for the first time. “Is that how you were placed in this job, which is, what exactly do you normally do? From what I understand you couldn’t stay very busy shepherding interdimensional strays.”

  He chuckled. “No. First time. How am I doing?”

  “You get an A plus.” Looking thoughtful, he took out a little notebook and wrote something down. “What was that?”

  “Making a note that you might be good at diplomacy.”

  She shook her head. “No. No. And no. But seriously, what do you normally do? What’s your meaningful work?” The sarcasm hung in the air.

  “You have an issue with meaningful work?”

  “Geez. Not you, too.”

  “No really. You don’t think work can be satisfying?” She shrugged. “Well, mine is. Extraordinarily. Ordinarily.”

  “Extraordinarily ordinarily? What does that mean?”

  He chuckled. “I mean my work is usually extraordinary, but I’ve been off work for a while. I have malaria.” She blinked as her eyes widened. “Don’t worry. It’s not contagious, but the treatment goes on and on. And on and on. I’m hoping to get this over with soon so I can get back to doing what I love.”

  “Which is?”

  “You have to try to guess.”

  She leaned back and looked him over slowly. “Okay. If I didn’t know who you work for I’d say you’re a movie production coordinator.”

  Cal looked perplexed. “I have to know how you came to that conclusion.”

  “Well, there’s your clothes. You wear these old fashioned linen shirts with pockets over your chest and pockets on the sleeve. Then, as if that’s not enough, you wear pants with pockets everywhere. Then there’s your body.” He lifted a brow. “Your hands are too rough to be a pencil pusher and your body is too solid to be a chair jockey. Plus you have a shirt tan, which means you do something outdoors.

  “As to your personality, you’re easy-going, affable, seem to get along with everybody and you’re even tempered. Last, you seem to know something about everything, which would be a great asset for a movie production coordinator.”

  “I’m kind of impressed and, I have to say that if I didn’t work for The Order, it would be a fair guess.”

  “But it’s wrong.”

  “Well. You knew that.” He leaned over and grinned in a playful and flirtatious sort of way. “I’m an adventurer.”

  “A tap dancing adventurer. Don’t forget that part.”

  “I can see you don’t believe me, but it’s true. And might I also add that I believed your unbelievable story.”

  “And I guess you’re going to hold that over my head forever more?”

  “Definitely. Starting now. I started out working for The Order as a temp magician alchemist. I used to like to call myself a mercenary.” He laughed.

  “A magician? You pull rabbits out of hats?”

  “Not a stage magician. I can get physics to cooperate with me when I really work at it. That’s all.”

  “Oh.”

  He made it sound so simple.

  “Anyway, one of the things The Order does is to gather and safely house magical artifacts that could pose a danger to your average unsuspecting person. If they happened to stumble over the wrong rock while holding a vial of hipernium and eating an orange - well, you see what I mean.”

  “No. I really have no idea what you mean.” She shook her head.

  “There are objects that have been imbued with magical qualities. When The Order gets a lead on such an item, they send me to authenticate it and transport it to one of the vaults designed to take care of such things. I might travel to Siberia or the jungle, which is where I picked up the malaria by the way.”

  She stared at him for a full minute. “So you really are an adventurer. No shit.”

  “No shit,” he agreed happily.

  “I really hate saying it, but if all that’s true it would kind of be meaningful work.”

  He held up his hands. “And my work here is done.”

  “No. Your work won’t be done until you find meaningful work for me.”

  Cal was clearly enjoying her renewed interest in living. “Affirmative.”

  “So how are you going to do that?”

  “Like I said, extremely sophisticated and thorough aptitude tests. By the time we’re done you’ll know exactly what sort of work will make you happiest. Want to play guessing game and try to figure it out right now?”

  “Um. I don’t know.”

  “What did you do before?”

  She laughed out loud. “Well, it wasn’t meaningful work. I can tell you that much.” He waited. “I managed people who were portfolio managers.”

  “Did you love it?” The look she gave conveyed without words that she definitely did not love it. “Why did you do it?”

  “Great pay.”

  “Ah. That’s not meaningful.”

  “No. It’s not.”

  “So I don’t think that gives many clues about a perfect fit for you.”

  “I think my tests will determine that I’m an adventurer, too.”

  “Too bad. That job’s
already taken.” He grinned.

  Four days later, Lana was sitting at a conference table across from Director Tvelgar making chit chat while they waited for Cal to arrive with the results of her tests. He didn’t tell her where to sit when he ushered her into the room, but he was such a commanding presence that, even if she hadn’t known he was the face of The Order’s executive level, she would have deferred the seat at the head of the table to him.

  “Sorry. There was a printer issue.” Cal more or less dropped a stack of papers on the table and sat down opposite Lana. He said good morning to Simon and said, “Hey,” to Lana.

  “Well, the results are surprising.” He looked directly at Lana. “The results indicate that you would be best suited for work as a shepherd. The following silence was thick enough to form a tropical depression. Simon cleared his throat as he glanced at Lana, who looked a little shell shocked. Cal’s face broke into a grin. “Just kidding.”

  She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding while she envisioned herself sitting alone on a hillside all day watching sheep graze. “I don’t care how long it takes. I will get you back for that.”

  He just laughed. “Okay, so seriously.” He looked at Simon. “She’s smart, but we already knew that. I won’t bore you with numbers. Adaptable, but that’s obvious, too. She has a keen eye for detail, extraordinary observation and recall, and would be well suited for nomad work. She likes changes in scenery. Oh, and she holds grudges.”

  That got Simon’s interest. “We have a test that tells whether or not a person holds grudges?”

  “No. Not really.” He gave Lana a smile that said he didn’t believe she would really ever get him back.

  Simon didn’t look amused. At all. “I’m glad you’re enjoying this task, but if you don’t mind, I need the distilled, joke-free version. Now.”

  “She’s smart, logical, has a tendency to be skeptical. She has a keen eye for detail, but would not enjoy doing highly detailed work, particularly not if it involved monotony. In fact she is not well-suited to repetitive work. She’ll probably thrive on challenges of all kinds. She has an innate talent for environmental observation and can recall details on demand, even those of a minute nature. She’s not averse to taking a risk when she’s weighed the odds logically and thinks the payoff is worth it.”

  Both Lana and Cal waited patiently for Simon’s reaction, which wasn’t given immediately. When he did speak, it seemed that he had changed subjects altogether. “Mr. Magnus, what’s the status of your treatment?”

  “I’m told that I have three more sessions over the next five days and then I’ll be cleared to return to field duty.”

  “And isn’t your assistant taking maternity leave?”

  Cal immediately saw the direction of Simon’s thinking. “Yes, sir. She is.”

  “Well, then. You and Ms. Ravin seem companionable enough.” He looked at Lana. “Would you like to try your hand at assisting a field operative?”

  “I… guess?”

  Simon looked at Cal. “We have a possible demon artifact in Finnish bear country. I’d like to have you check it out.”

  Lana blinked. “Did you say bear?”

  “Magnus, the decision is ultimately yours. If she’s not up for that kind of adventure…”

  “I’ll do it,” she said.

  “Very well,” said Simon. “You’re temporarily attached to the Department of Artifact Recovery and on standard probation with second grade clearance.”

  As soon as they’d left the Director’s office Lana looked at Cal and said, “Told you.”

  He looked confused. “Told me what?”

  “That I wanted to be an adventurer, too.”

  Cal laughed. “So you did.”

  CHAPTER 5

  They were three weeks ahead of the season which was good and bad. The good was that there would likely be no people other than themselves. The bad was that travel conditions were less than optimal.

  Lana had been outfitted in designer versions of cold and wet weather gear. She was amazed that, with enough money, one could be prepared for the rugged outdoors without sacrificing style.

  The trip to Oualanka River involved a six-hour flight from Edinburgh to Oulu Airport followed by a four and a half hour drive to the cabin on the Russian border that they would be using as their base of operation. Plans were to settle in and spend the night, but the location of the actual artifact was even more remote and could only be reached by canoe unless you didn’t mind overnighting in a Western Russian forest - full of large brown bears - without permanent shelter.

  On the one hand that made the canoe trip seem more appealing. On the other, Lana wasn’t sure she wouldn’t rather be mauled by a bear in her sleep than fall into a river with ice-cold water. She was a long way from regular hours in the financial analysts’ room, but reindeer were often in sight, as were red squirrels and pine martens.

  Cal assured her that wolverines flourished even though they wouldn’t be seen. Probably.

  Two others from the Department of Artifact Recovery accompanied them in the capacity of guides and guards. She supposed it was their job to make sure that bears or wolverines didn’t sneak up on them while she and Cal were distracted by authenticating an artifact. A demon artifact. Cal didn’t bother with last names. He simply introduced them as Bayer and Stone.

  That had raised a lot of questions in itself. At Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church she didn’t think they’d approve of tracking down demon magic for safekeeping. But Cal had assured her that the perspective on demons she described was narrow and provincial when held up to the light of what The Order knew to be true about their nature.

  She had to suppress a moment of panic when it was time to put on life jackets and another when it was time to maneuver into the canoe. Especially after Bayer smirked and said, “Be careful. The water is fifty-three degrees.” When she blanched, he laughed. At least she didn’t have to row. Cal was going in a canoe with Bayer while she was with Stone, who had a personality to match his name. She also didn’t spend much time thinking about the cold. Her near constant state of hysteria helped to keep her warm. And there was no denying that the pristine wilderness was beautiful beyond comparison.

  At one point she saw Bayer point to a large tree shaking back and forth violently and could hear him say, “Bear. Scratching his back,” to Cal. Cal looked in that direction and nodded.

  After an hour or so they put in to a shallow rise. The guide, wearing rubber hip boots stepped off and pulled the canoe halfway onto land with her still in it. She was so grateful that she could get out without worrying about falling that she contemplated giving him a nice tip and made a mental note to ask Cal if it was expected. There was still an hour’s hike through a snow-covered forest with no trail. She was thankful that the guides were the ones lugging equipment. Cal was continually checking his nav watch for coordinates.

  Without preamble he turned to Lana and grinned. “Here we are.”

  She looked around and saw nothing. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Ah but it’s here. I can feel it.”

  “You can?” He nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Videolog.”

  “Okay.” She turned to the guide who had the camera in his backpack. It was small enough and light enough that she could have easily carried it in a pocket and she determined that she would do exactly that from then on.

  Cal walked around in a small circle while she got the video going.

  She began her narration with the video turned on him. “The date is April 30th. We’re in the Finland forest on the Western Russian border on the Oualanka River. Field Operative Caliber Magnus is retrieving the item for artifact testing.”

  Cal stopped and went motionless. He closed his eyes briefly then looked at the ground, pointed at a spot in front of his feet and said, “Dig here.” Stone withdrew a shovel as if it had been prearranged that he was designated digger, while Bayer continued circular surveillance of the
surrounding area. He held his rifle with the strap looped loosely over his shoulder, but his posture indicated that he was prepared to point the gun at an aggressor in a fraction of a second.

  Lana kept the camera trained on the spot being assaulted by the shovel and left it on continual recording. She had checked the night before to be certain she had plenty of battery backups fully charged.

  Stone cleared the snow quickly enough, but the ground beneath was hard as his name and resisted everything but being chipped away in tiny increments. A pick ax might have gone faster, if they’d brought one, but could also potentially damage the object they had come for. As Lana patiently kept the camera on the slowly widening hole, she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Something moving between and behind the trees. She jerked her attention in that direction, trying not to move the camera, but saw nothing.

  “Did you see that?” she asked Bayer.

  “What?”

  “Thought I saw something over there.” She moved her head indicating that he should look to her right.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Just movement. Never mind. I don’t see anything now.”

  He turned around shaking his head like perhaps he thought she was unnecessarily on edge. With each passing hour she liked Stone and Bayer less and less.

  “There it is, boss.” Stone looked to Cal for instructions.

  “Get me the hand tools.”

  Lana thought Cal might have added a ‘please’ at the end of that sentence, but supposed men had a different standard for manners on great wilderness expeditions.

  Both men went to their knees and began extracting the hard earth around the object with the precision and concentration of dentists. Watching them, it was clear that Stone had done this before. Lana crept closer for a better camera angle.