A Dragon at the Gate (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  “Likely, some huge necromantic sacrifice within the last millennia,” Stella explained.

  “Ew,” Beth gave her opinion of the matter.

  “Anyway, we are the ones at the highest risk,” I explained. “But it can happen to any city on a node. There should be a minor trickle down effect as the ley lines connected to ours are stabilized.” Stella looked doubtful at this but didn’t say anything. The look was justified; it would be very minor.

  “Give me the plates. Faramond and I can place these through the city as well as activate them.” Stella offered again.

  I gestured to the leaning piles of wards in the corner to help herself. “Would it help to have an officer assigned to help you?” Conrad asked. That was actually very generous of him. Faramond was an unregistered supernatural. Before the portals opened and hell was unleashed, the mayor was contemplating cracking down on vigilantes pushing for his own supernatural task force. Conrad was now head of that very same task force but I think the enforcing of the vigilante ban had never been actually enforced. I suppose they had other priorities now.

  “I would love the company,” Stella began brightly.

  “I assume this assigned officer would be flying them around from one building top to another in either a shielded military vehicle or an older flyer more resistant to the ley lines?” I asked with a smile.

  “Why yes...” the burly shifter began before he was interrupted.

  “Actually, never mind! Faramond and I can easily do this by ourselves,” the álfar said with a plastered smile. A twitch began to develop in her right eye. Looks like she still wasn’t over that whole crash. I still say she was overreacting. It’s not as if she got eaten by demons like poor Matt did.

  “We’ll do that right now,” she said eagerly, somewhat obviously trying to avoid the officer. “You never know when a major imbalance could wipe out the city!” She must have been using some of that fabled elven nimbleness since she stacked the wards until they teetered over her head and practically sprinted up the stairs.

  “She seems a bit over-eager,” Conrad hesitantly said as we all looked up the stairs where she had disappeared.

  “Always eager to help,” except when she could have saved me weeks of time. I would get over that eventually. “Back to work then,” I said while clapping my hands. With Stella’s help maybe I could get some research done.

  “Actually, let’s go up to the living room for a bit. I need to get your report on what happened and you can help us make some contingency plans now the worst has happened.” Or maybe not.

  “Sure, why not,” I replied unenthusiastically.

  While I was sitting in my favorite comfy chair I couldn’t help thinking that there were literally more than a dozen things I should be doing and a half dozen I would rather be doing. I stopped by the kitchen to offer Conrad a piece of dinosaur. Mei had really scored with her influence with the packs and finagled an entire leg of an allosaurus. It was cut up and distributed to the local housing. This meant that I was storing it, but since my houses were full of squatters it didn’t really count as mine. It was a good thing I hadn’t told anyone that I didn’t need to eat or I wouldn’t even have this.

  “So how is the apocalypse treating you,” I started the conversation.

  “Better than we planned, worse than I had hoped,” the officer began. “We had discussed the possibility of failure including uncontrollable portals dumping demons and monsters in a flood through the world.” He sighed tiredly as he continued, “So far it’s been monstrous animals but no supernaturals. I assume you know why?”

  “Your welcome.”

  “Could you be more specific,” he prompted.

  “The plan of our theoretical wizard overlord was a bit different than what we thought. I assume Mei told you about the demon lord Vatapi having actually killed the original evil wizard and taken his place centuries ago?”

  “Mei mentioned that, as well as him wanting her in his harem.”

  “Yeah, that part wasn’t really a surprise. You don’t give immortality to people you hate.” Well, there are some weird revenge schemes you read about in books but generally, it’s a stupid revenge plan. “I don’t think he mentioned a harem specifically but that seemed to be the general idea. Seems like evil comes with a perv package.”

  “So why aren’t we covered in an ocean of demons?”

  “Your welcome.”

  “Fine. Thank you. Now please tell me why I am thanking you.”

  “Okay, so our friendly fiend had a plan then went back at least a hundred years. Apparently, he was unwelcome back home in hell and decided to make his own little interdimensional kingdom.” I paused, tearing a strip out of the dino haunch after sharpening my teeth slightly. Since my shape changing had been partially unlocked I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to use it. “Either he was pretty circle savvy or he had an unbelievable circle master working for him. Rakshasa have a reputation for being evil masterminds and magical prodigies, so I’ll go with the assumption that he did it himself.”

  “And what did he do?”

  “He selected ten dimensions. I am assuming they are all earth analogs, however, that wouldn’t really be required. Over the last several centuries he has been carefully placing circle arrays at the major nodes of the planet he has targeted.” I paused again to activate my telekinesis to drag a towel from the kitchen so I could wipe my hands. Nothing came. Damn, this is why I hate people moving my stuff around. Leaning forward to peer around the corner I spied the truant cloth’s new location and floated it to me. “We are lucky number ten. The last planet on his list. Which is actually very lucky.”

  “How is being last lucky?”

  “The last circle array was the linchpin. If I had gotten there ten minutes earlier I might have been able to break the master circle and diffuse the energy. Due to unfortunate delays we got there after he had started channeling the energy into it.”

  “I assume that was bad.”

  “If I had broken the circle at that point, the backlash would have destroyed the city and the energy may have created a cascade event leading to the same energy and portals we are seeing now but with a lot less control.”

  “So our worst case scenario, without a directed army of demons.”

  “Yeah, random supernaturals all over from everywhere in the multiverse. So I decided against that.” Mostly because I didn’t want to die, but the other reasons were valid too. “So while the demon lord was distracted I modified the circle to exclude all demons and maybe most supernaturals. Except for Vatapi, of course. His signature and blood were impossible to remove in the time I had.”

  “So until the circle fails or is broken the demons are trapped.” He paused in thought. “Exactly where are they trapped? Somewhere in this ten world network? Why can’t they travel through some other means?”

  “Ah, I don’t think I explained that part. Vatapi was an exile. He didn’t want anyone, especially non-aligned demons to come after him. So he did something that was frankly pretty amazing. He locked these ten planets he had prepared away from all the other dimensions.”

  “That does sound pretty impressive,” Conrad growled. “How does that impact us?”

  “Stella is trapped here, as is her elemental.” I pointed out. “The rest of the world is actually in a good position. Because he locked away the rest of the multiverse you will only have random portals popping up from ten worlds. Because of yours truly, most of the supernaturals are locked away without the active help of Vatapi or me.”

  “So Vatapi is dead and... wait. You?” The were stared at me in surprise.

  “Well, it seemed smart to have a key just in case we needed to actually go somewhere. It was pretty easy to modify that part. It’s meant to be flexible until it's activated.”

  “Okay, our position is stable until the circle is broken or degrades.” Conrad nodded to himself in satisfaction. I looked at him in sympathy.

  “That circle is activated on top of the largest node I
have ever seen. It not going to break or degrade... ever. The planet itself is more likely to be destroyed than that thing.”

  “Hmm. Not the best news but as I said, the situation is stable.”

  I shook my head, “Death means something else to gods and demons than it does to you or me.”

  “What? Do you mean...” A look of dread crossed his normally stoic face.

  “Yeah, demons come back from the dead unless you kill them on their own plane. Normally their essence goes to their home plane and in a decade to a hundred years they are back and ready to cause more trouble.”

  “And in a situation not so normal?”

  “It gets a lot trickier to say. Vatapi was a smart, if somewhat megalomaniacal, fellow,” I say thoughtfully, rubbing some stubble on my chin. I like that look so I generally keep some there. “There is no way he would chain himself inside a network of worlds if he didn’t have a way to restore himself. Chances are that there is a tenth world that he has set up with his little horde of demons and he is in the process of restoring himself. Once that happens, he is one of the keys that unlocked the portals and the demons can continue their invasion plan.”

  The conversation was muted after this revelation. Conrad was obviously mulling over the implications. Within minutes he had excused himself. I shrugged and headed back downstairs. So much to do and so little time.

  So, of course, the bell tolled.

  Chapter 3

  When I opened the front door, I was expecting a vampire. It only made sense. The house was warded and I had already accidentally vaporized several fine upstanding vampire members of the undead community. I hadn’t really cared, until the council member Vivian Delargo came to my door, practically frothing at the mouth and threw a rock at my head. I may be a little insensitive, however in my defense, back in the dimension where I am from the vampires are all evil psychopaths. Here in this new world, they seem to be pretty much just like humans. Of course, humans that eat other humans, don’t breathe and... who am I kidding? I can’t stand the things.

  I had turned off my wards long enough for the undead to reform and leave the perimeter and then placed a bell out on the lawn so the undead could ring it if they needed me to come out and talk to them. I almost felt bad about the temporarily deader undead, since they had burned up trying to deliver messages to me that the service I had arranged was complete. I still get a chuckle thinking about that crazy mixed up time. Vivian was far less amused.

  So when I opened the door I fully expected to see a vampire on my lawn. It still took me by surprise. Standing in the street, barely in arm’s length of the bell stood a tall, slender, impeccably dressed man in a black Victorian style suit. I wasn’t quite sure why his hand was missing and the apparently freshly cauterized wrist was smoking. It would explain why he was glaring angrily at me, but I wasn’t sure how it was my fault. Since it was late afternoon, he wore gloves... on his remaining hand... and he had a black parasol shading his head and face.

  Next to him stood his funhouse mirror image. A short, stout fellow whose waist crept over what most would have defined as overweight. He wore a gray pinstriped suit that wouldn’t have been out of place in an Al Capone movie. Undead love their anachronisms. Though he wasn’t wearing gloves or a parasol and wasn’t smoking. Hmmm, must be a minion. Usually, minions try to match fashions with their boss. What a bad minion.

  “What the hell? A disintegration field in a public place is so freaking illegal I’m surprised the army isn’t on your ass already,” shouted the distraught mortal.

  “Idiot. It is his wards. Mistress Vivian warned me about them but apparently he moved the bell inside the field. How droll,” spat the thin vampire in a tightly controlled voice brimming with anger.

  “I don’t care if the thing works by chanting ‘Hari Krishna’. That thing almost killed me!” Shouted the near hysterical man, getting another disgusted look from the undead. “If Mr. Prince didn’t need you I would pop a cap in you.”

  Good grief. That horrible outdated colloquialism had to be an affectation. Sure the people around here had a fetish with various old time periods but it was usually restrained to fashion, housing and the odd vehicle here and there.

  A tug on my sleeve made me look down to find Beth at my elbow. “Are they doing a Laurel and Hardy act?” she whispered. The vampire winced, apparently catching the reference with his unnaturally sharp senses. The human continued to curse me, though he seemed to be losing steam. From his reference to my erstwhile victim, the less than upstanding citizen Eddie Prince, it may be that these two were actually not together. Great, now I have two problems instead of one.

  “Yes. Yes, they are,” I told the little girl.

  “Why does he have an umbrella?”

  “I prefer to think of it as a parasol”

  “Isn’t that for girls?”

  “Yes,” I said with a hand on her shoulder. “But I won’t judge.” Ah, the skinny undead flinched. Obviously, created in a time where people did exactly that. “Better get back inside. The only thing worse that a herd of crazy people are mimes.” Once she had gone back inside I closed the door and walked over to the comedy act gathered in front of my house.

  “So, what do I owe the dubious pleasure of your company?” I asked as I examined the bell and swept my hand in the area around it. Well, what do you know? The increased ambient energy was absorbed by the wards and seemed to have been partially expressed by a larger radius. I guess I hadn’t defined the area of affect very tightly on the ward so the extra energy went there. Admittedly sloppy of me, but I didn’t expect the apocalypse to come so soon. Actually, I just didn’t expect the world to be standing afterward. Still sloppy, though.

  In the background, the comedy act had stopped talking. I guess I had missed the introduction, but I didn’t care very much. “Okay Laurel, why did Vivian send you here. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the undead sort since the world’s end. Actually, I didn’t even see your sort much before it. Why now?”

  “My name isn’t Laurel. It's...”

  “Something I’d forget in about five minutes anyway. Stick to the point.” Was I being too rude? “Please.”

  “Mistress Vivian required your presence at the Tower Plaza. She promises to make it worth your time.”

  “Well that is unfortunate for you since Mr. Prince requires the Professor’s presence immediately,” the shorter fellow said pompously, finally over his irate rambling.

  “I am not sure why I should go with either half of the Laurel and Hardy troupe,” I pointed out. I had a lot of things that needed to get done and the most important of them involved research in my basement, not gallivanting around the city.

  “Hardy? Why I ought to...” began the human.

  “Be quiet in front of your betters, little man. Before I shove this stump down your throat and...” the vampire trailed off, obviously getting a grip on his temper. I looked on in interest. The modern vampires of this world were almost universally polite. Since they had come out of the shadows they had run a concerted campaign to convince the mortals they were harmless. The loss of control was concerning. More so, since Vivian had reason to send one of her more polite minions to me if she wanted my help. I had helped them out with a problem and they had, in turn, helped me out with some information. I owed her nothing and the reverse was true.

  “Right. Perhaps you could discuss who has precedence while I go have a cup of hot chocolate.”

  “Mr. Prince is calling in his marker. By your oath you are bound to his service until the debt is paid,” the stout mortal rushed out, clearly quoting another’s words.

  “Vivian said to tell you that unless you are willing to lend your expertise to her problem, it may overflow and what’s left of the city will burn,” the simultaneous statement came from the one handed undead.

  I looked from one to the other for a moment in silence and then stomped my foot angrily. “Dammit! One more interruption and I’ll summon the damn demon army myself, just so I can get som
e peace!”

  Once I had calmed down slightly, I did the only sensible thing I could think of. I flipped a coin. Eddie Prince won. Neither one would let me out of their sight and likewise neither one would get into the other’s vehicle so we ended up in my rickshaw. I tried to ignore the odd couple in the back as the long silences were broken with bouts of bickering.

  The reason I owed Eddie Prince a favor was simple. When I had come into this world I was destitute. I was living out of the free housing given to the homeless. Jeremy had offered to help, but pride and an unwillingness to live out of his parent’s basement pushed me to take actions of some dubious morality.

  In short, I snuck into a local mob boss’s hideout using a combination of psionics and shape changing. I stole his identity, then his money and then his memory of what I did. In my defense, he was a very bad, if talented, man. He was also thoroughly mad. In order to steal his memories and skills, I actually had to cure him of his mental illness. I left his comatose body with the local hospital secure in the knowledge that he would wake up with no memory of me in a week, and even though he would undoubtedly sink back into madness, at least he would do so without any resources.

  I later found out he had woken up and beaten the odds, simply by finding psychiatric help to make my cure stick. A year later, he has dragged himself up by his bootstraps and now has an even larger criminal empire. He didn’t thank me for any of that, though. He actually hired a vampire assassin to kill me. When I tracked him down we had a heart to heart and he agreed to drop his vendetta in return for several favors. His timing could have been better.