Spell, Crook and Handle Pt. 03

"For now," the Grand Inquisitor said as he approached. "I wonder how quickly he will come running to save you."

I yawned, sat down and placed my back against the mirror. Rinaldo was joined by Thaddeus Black. They were both men in their late fifties early sixties. Thaddeus had a full head of white hair and dark brown eyes. He was unremarkable and I imagined that aided him in passing unseen and unnoticed. People probably underestimated him at their peril from his looks alone. The Grand Inquisitor had lost most of his hair and only a crescent of gray remained. His eyes were pale blue and intense as he glared at me. I was evil and something to be destroyed I suppose. I closed my eyes and ignored them for now. Gabrielle would hold off until I gave the signal to fire.

"So how old were you when you realized what this thing was?" I asked.

"Ten," the Grand Inquisitor replied curtly.

"Did you enjoy the show?" I asked and he let out a venomous hiss.

"What is she talking about," Thaddeus asked.

"I am talking about her masturbating in front of the mirror. I imagine she diddled herself every damn day eventually."

"Shut the FUCK up," Rinaldo snarled. "My mother was a good woman!"

"I am sure she was," I said. "Good at head... probably gave a world class hand job too..."

"I will kill you," he roared.

"Don't you fool," Thaddeus warned him. "If you step into the circle..."

"Clever girl," the Grand Inquisitor growled. "You wanted me to get within striking range."

"No, I just wanted to piss you off. I wanted to see just how much fucking your own mother must have damaged you. You did fuck her didn't you? How did that wet pussy feel wrapped around your cock huh?"

"Grand Inquisitor no," Thaddeus cried out and I opened my eyes to see the two men struggling now.

"Did you fuck her up the ass or just shoot your load down her greedy little throat?"

The Grand Inquisitor picked up Thaddeus and tossed him away. He took out a dagger I recognized all too well and entered the mystical circle. I raised my hands and gestured. He stopped and laughed.

"I am armored against your satanic magic demon," he snarled. "I have God on my side!"

"I never planned on casting a spell at you," I said as I stood up. "I just wanted to get your attention."

He looked around gripping the dagger tighter. When he looked back I had drawn my pistol and had it aimed squarely at his center mass. The look of surprise was priceless. He didn't let go of the dagger and we faced each other that way for a long time.

"It was the demon in the mirror," I said. "The demon seduced you and coerced you to sleep with your mother. That is why you and all the male heirs of your thin bloodline have taken up the mantle of Inquisitor."

"I was just a child," he said. "I was a boy of eighteen. I had heard the strange noises coming from her bedroom for a long time. It was the dreams. The dreams that showed me terrible things and it was those images that corrupted me. I began to watch her from the door. I saw the things she did to herself when my father was gone. I have confessed my sins and have been forgiven."

"There is only one problem there Grand Inquisitor," I said looking him dead in the eye.

"And what is that?"

"You never forgave her and you never forgave yourself," I told him and my pity for this man was clear on my features. "I am sorry."

I could see it in his eyes. SNAP! Rinaldo Giovanni charged me and I fired. The round caught him in the knee and he fell forward and the dagger went spinning away from his grasp. He howled in pain and I glanced over at Thaddeus Black. He was confused and looked from me to the Inquisitor and back again.

"You could've killed him," he said. "Why didn't you fucking kill him?"

"He isn't my enemy," I said. "I came after the mirror. I intend on sending the demon back to hell."

"You're mad," Thaddeus snarled. "Now kill him or I will have you killed."

"Thaddeus, you bastard, how dare you betray me!"

"Shut up you old fool," Thaddeus shot back his eyes narrowing. "This trap was fool proof and I caught you so damn easily."

I began laughing and looked at the two old serpents. All they cared about were power and ideology. I decided it was time to finish what I had started. I gave Gabrielle the signal to cover me and then I began chanting my incantation. The demon howled from its dimensional prison. It hammered at the glass before it switched tactics and began making promises. The group of security appeared out of the darkness armed with assault rifles and took aim at me and the Inquisitor. Gabrielle's first shots took out the three guards clustered together. The multiple sonic booms fractured the air as the men fell.

I turned my back to the guards praying the body armor lived up to my expectations. I continued with my spell and the first rounds struck my back, legs and head. The force dropped me to my knees but I managed to keep my wits and intoned the words without fail. The mirror began to shake and vibrate as Gabrielle picked off the security force with extreme prejudice. I was approaching the end of the spell and I heard the cry of pain directly behind me. I wanted to look but I couldn't until I finished.

The last syllable of the banishment spell passed my lips and another sound filled the air of the gallery. The walls shook and plaster dust filled the air as the dimensions were hewn and the mirror was cast into the rift. With a shriek of a billion souls the gate snapped shut and a profound silence took hold of the world. I looked over my shoulder and there directly behind me was the body of Rinaldo Giovanni. He was breathing but for how much longer was anyone's guess. His torso had been pierced at least a dozen times by bullets from the assault rifles of the security force. I looked down at him and shook my head.

"What the hell," I said and he smiled.

"I... I was wrong," he managed as red foamed oozed from between his lips.

"Let it go," I said as I looked over at Thaddeus Black. "Forgive your younger self... you were just a kid."

"I will," he said in gasps. "I forgive her and myself, thanks to you."

"Eh... I was doing my job. You need to tell me you forgive Gabrielle."

"I do," he said weakly. "She is fully reinstated as an Inquisitor in good standing..."

I watched the life go out of his eyes. I heard Gabrielle cry out as Thaddeus Black got to his feet. He had fallen flat to keep from being shot by his own men. He dusted himself off and smiled. He turned to leave when Gabrielle's round hit him at the base of his spine. The older man dropped like a felled tree. I got to my feet and the two of us stood over the paralyzed man. Gabrielle rolled him onto his back.

"Hello Thaddeus," I said and smiled down at him. "I am going to make a phone call. A friend of mine is going to be here shortly to confiscate your precious little treasures. The public is going to love your collection."

"NO... I spent decades..." he said and then winced in pain.

"Feng are you done," I asked.

"Yes Louis," Feng replied. "While you were busy with your endeavor I managed to funnel Mr. Black's funds into a thousand different accounts worldwide."

"Excellent," I said. "I have drained your accounts and to honor your kindly donation to the museum I have created a non for profit organization to take care of post conflict veterans. Your money will take care of the men and women that have fought in all these fruitless wars. You are going to be a freaking hero!"

I reached down and took the signet ring from his left hand. I removed it and examined it carefully. I placed it in my pocket and the sound of helicopter rotors could be heard now. That would be my little Moriarty. It was time to leave.

"You robbed me?" Thaddeus asked. "You got rid of the mirror. You are giving my treasures to a fucking museum. Kill me now!"

"Nope," Gabrielle said as she spat on him. "You are going to live mother fucker!"

"Oh and I have your ring," I said and his eyes widened. "I wonder what your friends will do when they realized it's gone."

He cried out as I stood up straight, reverted to my normal form and holstered my gun. Gabrielle clung to me as we headed for the nearest exit. We retrieved her duffle bag just as Surisa and her team entered the gallery.

"Louis," Surisa said in greeting.

"Moriarty," I replied and she giggled. "This is my dear friend Gabrielle."

"You always were a fine choice of woman flesh," Surisa said and shook Gabrielle's hand. "...A pleasure."

"Charmed," Gabrielle replied.

"Damn Louis, you sure know how to find this shit. What do I do with the bodies?"

"I leave it up to your gentle considerations," I told her and she nodded.

"Worry not, I am on the job," she said.

As Surisa barked orders we headed out and passed the Chinook cargo helicopter on our way to the half-buried jeep. Gabrielle drove back to Vancouver and I wondered what we had missed. Rinaldo Giovanni, the Grand Inquisitor, had gone to great lengths to secretly ship his family heirloom here. Why? What was the connection between Thaddeus Black and the Grand Inquisitor? Were they going to sell the mirror, some sort of private auction? I felt like the other shoe hadn't fallen and when it did I was not going to like it. We reached our hotel and checked in. I had called in favors and managed to get the penthouse for two full weeks. Gabrielle clung to me as we rode the elevator up.

"Why are you laughing," she asked looking up at me.

"The song... its City of Angels," I said smiling. "Appropriate no?"

"Very," she said shaking her head. "We are likely to be snowed in for at least a week."

"I hope so," I told her.

"Louis...?"

"What is it Gabrielle," I asked as I unlocked the penthouse.

"You did make me a promise, right?" She said as she closed the doors.

"Wait, I know that look... stay back... NOOOO..."

"Oh shut up and fuck me..."

Epilogue:

Surisa's men had searched the entire compound. They had boxed up and crated all the valuables from the gallery and elsewhere in the manor house. It was the last minute sweep that discovered the hidden door. The armed mercenaries swept forward and cleared the way for her. That is where they found them, the soulless ones. There were in cages and being housed like animals. Three dozen men, women and children drained of their very life essence. Further in was the kennel where Thaddeus Black housed the pack of barghests. The stench had driven them back until they returned with gas masks and other breathing apparatus. The binding circles around each cage were still intact. It had been Thaddeus that had sent his hell hounds into the various cities to feed and return with their precious energy.

"What in god's name is this," Surisa gasped when she saw the shimmering artifact.

"Is it alive," one of her men asked.

"I don't know," she said shaking her head. "Get the explosives... I... I want this place leveled, buried so that no one and nothing escapes. Shoot those poor bastards back there and leave these demons to their fate."

They stood out in the cold crisp air. The snow fell in large flakes and continued to blanket the area. Thaddeus Black had been treated for his wound and was lying flat on a stretcher. The Chinook's twin rotors began to turn as the helicopter prepped for the flight back to the ship. Surisa looked at the vile thing that passed as a human being.

"Louis made me promise not to kill you," Surisa said to the dark mage.

"He was a fool, they were all fools," Thaddeus said smiling.

"I keep my promises," she said and handed her pistol off to one of her men.

"You are not going to shoot me are you," Thaddeus asked his eyes wide with fear.

"No," Surisa said and smiled. "Return this bastard to his cave and feed him to his dogs. When it is done we set off the explosives and finish this."

"No... wait... I can make you a very wealthy woman," Thaddeus cried out.

"I already am," she said and walked towards the helicopter.