Blood & Magic Read online

  The pair stood on a typical street, derelict seventies skyscrapers towering up on either side of them, in what could easily have been mistaken for a make-shift dump. Rubbish lay strewn everywhere, plastic bags floating past them like tumbleweeds, stacks of black bin liners built up like rock faces against the buildings. Before them, set in from the street, stood a crumble of dark red tiles amounting to what looked like an old Victorian fire station, sitting in juxtaposition to its surroundings of beige and grey concrete. The windows were boarded over, as well as three of the four entrances and on the forth, a strip of white tiles above the doorway had the letters 'EXIT' painted onto them. This was where the man, Gabriel, led Henry towards, the distinct cold cylinder of the gun barrel pressed into the small of his back. Gabriel simply touched the door, which swung open without resistance, clattering against the inside wall of the building. He took a step back and gestured for Henry to enter.

  Henry stepped into blackness and was met by the smell of decay, notable even in comparison to the outside. The air was stale, heavy in his nostrils and thick with dust. With a flicker and buzz of electricity, overhead lights sprung to life, rippling out from the doorway. They illuminated a large room, clad with dirty green tiles. At the back was a small flight of steps and a corridor atop them, heading off in the distance. With the gun still pressed against his back, Henry climbed the steps and walked slowly down the corridor.

  “Stop here,” Gabriel said.

  Henry did as he was told. He felt the gun lose contact with his back as Gabriel stepped to the side of him and, taking hold of Henry’s arm, rotated him ninety degrees so he was looking at the wall.

  At least a wall was what Henry was expecting to see. Instead, he found a pair of double wooden doors, slightly inlayed from the wall, green paint peeling across their surface. He had somehow missed it as they had walked along the corridor, although it was a pretty obvious thing to have ignored, especially as Henry prided himself on being observant, if nothing else. Gabriel pressed a small brass button and with a click, the doors slid open to reveal a lift carriage. Pulling back the metal gates, the pair entered, Gabriel closing the doors and the gate behind them, which locked with a deep clunk. As soon as he finished, Gabriel spun around and took two steps towards Henry, leaning slowly forward until their noses almost touched. Gabriel’s face was expressionless, apparently free from any need to blink, and close enough that Henry could feel his breath on his face.

  “Who are you supposedly keeping me safe from?” Henry said, as much as to break the tension as for anything.

  Gabriel smiled and leant back, standing upright, the small flecks of green in his eyes flickering in the harsh light of the exposed bulb above their heads. The elevator sprung into life, moving with unsuspected speed that made Henry reach for the wall to steady himself.

  “I'm only guessing, but you saw something tonight you can't explain. Am I right? Something that made you think you are going mad,” Gabriel said.

  How much did this guy know? Could he explain what happened? No, what had happened before was impossible and the nature of impossible things is they can't be explained. This guy was trying to get something from him and Henry’s job right now was to work out what that was. Information was valuable and in situations like a kidnap, he imagined, potentially life saving.

  “Go on,” Henry said.

  “You saw something that didn't look right. Caught it in the reflection of a window, or a mirror or something.”

  “How could you know that? Have you been watching me?”

  “Watching you? No, I haven't been watching you, who the hell do you think you are?”

  “Obviously important enough for you to drug up and kidnap.”

  Gabriel laughed, something sinister in the way he did so, no real joy in his tone.

  “I thought you are supposed to be the quiet sort, that's what your file said. Maybe not a complete sociopath then, got a little backbone.” He paused. “Either I got you out of there, or the other guys would get you.”

  “Get me? Why would anyone want to get me? What did I see in the mirror?”

  The image of the creature reflected in the bathroom mirror flooded back to Henry, a monster from Doctor Who who had decided to pay him an unexpected visit.

  “Now isn't the time to explain it all properly, is it? Needless to say, the world is a little more complicated than you think. You're not going mad, what happened tonight is all real. As I said, it’s complicated.”

  “Complicated? Fantastic explanation Gabriel. How can it all be real? I saw something from Lord of the Rings enter the bathroom and pretend to be someone I've worked with for the past 3 years. Then, I'm chased out by deranged madmen with glowing red eyes who scare the hell out of me, and then I end up getting drugged and thrown in the back of your car. Now, you point a gun at me, lead me into this elevator which leads to God knows where and the best explanation you can give me is ‘it’s complicated?’”

  Gabriel laughed hard, this time with genuine emotion, but Henry wasn't laughing.

  “You have no idea, do you? Suppose that is fair enough. Okay, how was this pitched to me?” Gabriel paused, as if trying to recollect a long forgotten memory. “You ever seen Doctor Who? What if I told you the world isn't a million miles off that stuff?”

  “You're some sort of time traveller!?”

  “No, you plonker. What is it with you and questions? Listen. The world is not just populated by normal humans. We aren't talking bloomin' ET, so don't go off on one. You heard of mutation? Well, about eleven hundred years ago we discovered some humans had a mutation that meant they displayed certain characteristics. We aren't talking anything major like Spiderman or that rubbish. You'd never know if you bumped into one in the street. Well, you would.”

  “The guy in the bathroom wasn't particularly human.”

  “Ah, yeah. That's where it gets a bit more complicated. We don't have all the time in the world to go over this now, but these people only appear like that to a few who can see them. They are normal to the rest of us.”

  “Only a few people - like me? I mean, what I saw looked like an extra from Star Wars.”

  “You like your movies, don't you? Shouldn't be surprised, you're the type,” Gabriel said. “So what did you see, cos you'll need to be a little more specific. Scales? Fur? Fangs?”

  This was some sort of prank. A television crew was poised to jump out at any moment, an involuntary guest on whatever reality TV show they were flogging now. Dixie had to be behind this, he would love to watch Henry getting embarrassed like this. But he had seen something and he would have sworn it was real.

  “Green skin, hairy ears,” Henry said with a raise of his lip.

  “A Grol then, interesting folk the Grol. Don't worry, there aren't that many different ones to learn.”

  “A...”

  “Grol.”

  “Is that an alien or something, but it only looks like that to me?”

  “No, your supposed to be smart aren't you? Try to keep up. I said no aliens. They are human, like you and me.” He stopped for a second and smiled. “Well, not like you and me. Essentially human, with some added extras. These characteristics, well, they can take on different shapes - like the Grol.”

  “Bloody hell. So am I one of these too?”

  “Kind of, but it's not something to freak out about. You, Henry Fellows, are an Inquisitor.”

  “A what?” Henry said.

  “Do you really need to pointlessly interrupt? This is an info drop, I speak and you listen. As I was saying, you are an Inquisitor. Among your list of skills, you see people with these mutations, indirectly, in their reflections. That is part of the reason why a group, of real kill-you-while-you-sleep style terrorists, would like you dead. Simple, ain't it?”

  It was anything but simple. Christ this was too much to take in, he would have another panic attack at this rate.

  “Mutations?” Henry said.

  “Yes, although the easiest way to think about it is that there
is another power at work in the world, outside of laws of physics.”

  “What is it?”

  “Look, now what I'm about to tell you will sound mad, but you need to trust me, it's not. I am talking about something called magus, but for the purpose of saving you a lesson in Latin and alternate history, you can call it magic.”

  This had to be a joke.

  “Magic? You really expect me to believe that? Why not just say the bad guy is a yeti and Scooby Doo helps you solve mysteries?”

  “It’s the truth!”

  “Well, go on then, make yourself invisible or conjure a cat. Prove it.”

  “Oh sod off, this is why our kind avoid humans, you are so entangled in your own media-induced ideas of things.”

  “I thought you said I wasn’t human?”

  “You’re not. You’ve seen a Grol, care to explain that? Or what about your red-eyed friends? Any explanation? You are going to need to trust me on this one.”

  “But magic? Come off it and I’m a… what did you call it?”

  “An Inquisitor.”

  “Okay, why am I one? And how did I not know about this before? Surely I’d be turning people I don’t like into toads all the time by accident.”

  Gabriel didn’t look impressed by the last comment. He took a long pause before speaking and, as the silence continued to linger, the lift slowed to a stop. The doors peeled open to reveal a circular tunnel, lights coming to life around them as before.

  “No reason Henry. You get these abilities at random, and tonight your cards came up.”

  The involuntary eye movement and flash of sadness across Gabriel’s face told Henry that was a lie.

  - Chapter 7 -

  Distractions

  Tiles stuck to the walls in small clusters, revealing chipped concrete and the hints of rusting girders. It felt oddly familiar, walking through the maze of tunnels, amongst the smell of stale water and concrete. After a few minutes of walking, the tunnel opened to reveal a platform and, as the facts clicked into place, Henry cursed at himself for not realising where they were sooner. This was an underground station, or more accurately, one of the abandoned underground tunnels. The platform was empty, spot lights were all that pierced through the darkness, catching the faded white of an underground sign that read Aldwych.

  “Where are we going?” Henry said.

  “Does it matter?” Gabriel said.

  “I didn't think these tracks connected to anywhere.”

  “You knew about these tunnels?”

  “Yes, I read about it, but-”

  “Of course you did.”

  They walked the length of the platform, stopping at the end. Gabriel crouched on the floor, swung his legs over the edge and jumped down onto the tracks.

  “Come on, or do you want me to point the gun at you again?” Gabriel said.

  “We are walking on the tracks?”

  “Do you have a problem with that?”

  Henry did as he was told.

  Gabriel took a flashlight from his jacket and walked off into the darkness of the tunnel, as the lights of the platform shut off behind him, Henry running to catch up. They had walked for about twenty minutes in silence, when the tunnel opened up ahead.

  “We wouldn't normally go this way, but you would cause too much damage if we travelled via the normal routes,” Gabriel said.

  “How do you figure that?”

  “As part of this gift you have, you emanate a sort of energy. This is how they tracked you at the hospital. I injected you with something to neutralise it, but it doesn't last long. When you're new, you generate more energy than we can mask. Anyway, the devices we use to hide this place wouldn't cope with the amount of energy you're producing going through them, they'd blow out, which would cause us no end of trouble.”

  “Who tracked me down? What do you mean devices? And where the hell are we?” Henry said.

  “Questions, questions, questions! You'll get your answers soon enough.”

  “Sure as hell I will,” Henry said under his breath.

  Henry and Gabriel climbed up a long flight of stairs through the narrow passage at the side of the platform, the steps slimy from the water dripping overhead. At the top of the stairs was a small catwalk above a network of pipes leading to a metal door, rusted over entirely.

  Gabriel took a small key from his pocket and delicately, as if mending an antique clock, turned it in the lock. With a cry, the door swung open.

  Beyond the door was a street. It gave the impression of night-time, until Henry looked up. Metal scaffolding replaced the sky, smoke collecting around the rafters as cold drops, of what Henry hoped to be water, fell like raindrops. He followed Gabriel along the alleyway, the door creaking shut behind him. It led onto a cobbled street with two storey buildings either side, that melded with the roof and the clouds. The structures were a tour de force of architecture from modern to Victorian, and even Tudor designed buildings, all crammed next to one another. Walkways along the second floor wrapped around street corners, disappearing into the distance as catwalks stretched across the streets, like rope bridges across a ravine. At street level, fabric awnings, ragged and dulled with age, spilled out onto the street, only separated by the narrowest of margins from oil drums set alight, as groups of people gathered around them against the cold.

  “Welcome to the under-city market,” Gabriel said, a little too much like Willy Wonka introducing the Chocolate Factory than he probably intended to.

  “Where are we?” Henry said.

  “The under-city market,” Gabriel said, mockingly slow.

  Henry figured this was going to be a common theme with Gabriel, the teasing of information, but he played along anyway.

  “And where is the under-city market?”

  “This is a safe place for alternates. They can be open about their powers here and trade goods that you can’t get in human cities. The London under-city has grown quite large over the centuries, connecting to a fair few human markets and streets along the way. Look here.”

  Gabriel crossed the street toward a darkly lit alleyway that ended in a brick wall.

  “Human markets?” Henry said.

  “Yes. You have humans and you have alternates, who are magic-folk. You are the latter, as I explained before.”

  “I am human.”

  “If you say so,” Gabriel said with a smug smile.

  “Whatever. What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?” Henry said dismissively.

  “You see the crack in the pavement? Follow it down the alley.”

  “To where? What am I looking at?”

  “Concentrate.”

  “This is ridiculous, are you winding me up?”

  “Just do it,” Gabriel said, a slight redness adorning his pale cheeks.

  Henry looked at the pavement by his feet. The slabs were cracked in such a way as to produce a thin line that meandered down the alleyway. It probably ended in a wall. It had to really. Or it ended somewhere that wasn't important at all, not even worth thinking about it.

  “Shall we carry on?” Henry said.

  “Take another look,” Gabriel said, his voice firm.

  What was he getting so uptight about? Henry stared at the crack in the paving once again and followed it along the alleyway, but this time focussing on every slight deviation the crack made as it meandered towards the wall. As he got further towards the end of the alleyway, Henry noticed it. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but he was sure of the sensation. It was as if his attention was being purposefully diverted, his mind encouraged to wander from the task at hand, the feeling stronger for every inch he moved along the crack in the floor. Henry traced the line back towards himself and found his attention return, but going the other way was a different matter entirely.

  He had to concentrate.

  Henry focused again on the crack in the pavement with an intensity that felt stupid, following it with as much vehemence as he could muster. The line flowed from his feet, alon
g the floor, twisting and turning with the broken paving slabs, passing beyond where the wall should have been. It travelled via the surface of a pond, except not one that lay on the ground, but vertically against the wall. Ripples cascaded across the surface, like a pool of mercury, and, in its moments of serenity, Henry saw glimpses of the brick wall again. The crack itself wobbled straight through the translucent fish pond and Henry continued to follow it, with renewed focus, until it came to an end at the most peculiar of items.

  A shoe.

  The shoe was pretty ordinary, be it on the other side of a shimmering pool of vertical water that merrily morphed itself into a brick wall now and again. What was more interesting, was what the shoe was attached to. A leg. Then jeans followed up to a belt and a jumper. Someone was on the other side of the fish pond. In fact, there were several people walking up and down a street, parallel to the one where Henry stood, shopping bags stuffed under their arms.

  “What the-?” Henry said.

  “Cool, isn’t it,” Gabriel said.

  “Yes, but-”

  “Now are you impressed by magus?”

  “What? How? Where is that?”

  “Soho Market and those people are late night shoppers. They can't see in here and we don't see out.”

  “They can't see us?”

  “Well, they can't notice us, not easily at any rate. Again this is one of the 'it's complicated' things I'm afraid. Essentially, a 'field' surrounds the alleyway which makes the under-city hidden from humans. Air happily travels across the divide, as would any inanimate object, but humans’ interest in objects or the alleyway itself fades approaching the dividing line between our cities. These gateways exist all over London, connecting back to the under-city, which itself acts like a snake, weaving between them all.”