Magic And Mayhem

Chapter 1

Cassidy

Cassidy

THE PHONE RANG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.I reached over and picked it up.

"Yehmmm?"

"Rise and shine, C." The smooth cultured voice on the line suggested a slender, elegant, handsome man, all things that Kramer my partner in Mantle forces was not.

I clawed my eyes open long enough to glance at the wall clock across the room. "Two in the morning. Some of us sleep during the night."

"I've got a lead on our case," kramer said.

I sat up in the bed, wide-awake.

"You figure out where our pain in the ass fire mage is hiding."

"Yes, I did"

This fire mage is the main suspect in our latest case for the murder. So, far he had eluded both of us, we just could'nt pin him down.

"Where is he hiding , and how did you find him."

"You Know I have my means" Kramer sounded smug.

"Yeah, and also so humble." I said in my most sugary tone and hung up.

The bedroom lay quiet. My curtains were open and moonlight sifted into the room through the metal grate shielding the window. The moonlight acted as a catalyst and the metal bars glowed with a weak bluish tint where the silver in the alloy interacted with my magical ward.

My ward wouldn't stop a bullet, but it kept the magic out of my bedroom, and that was good enough.

Forty-five minutes later, I was winding my way through an underground garage and breathing in the fresh air of Eldoria, our realm where the air crackles with magic and shadows dance under the moonlight I feel invigorated. As I reach the location which was on the very outskirts of our magical faction. And got ready to search for Kramer.

A fireball blossomed in the pitch-black depth of the night and came tumbling toward me. It was huge, churning with violent red and yellow color as it roared toward me. I jumped behind the concrete support, my throwing knife already in my hands. Heat bathed me. For a moment I couldn't breathe, and then the fire hurtled past me to burst in an explosion of sparks against the wall.

A thin gleeful cackle emanated from right. I peeked out from behind the support in the direction of the sound. Nothing but darkness. Where was the light when you needed one? Across from me at the next row of supports Kramer raised his hand and touched his fingers to his thumb a few times, imitating an opening and closing beak. Negotiate. He wanted me to engage a lunatic who had already turned four people into smoking meat. Okay. I could do that.

"Alright, Jimmy!" I yelled into the night. "Give me the salamander sphere and I won't cut your head off!"

Kramer put his hand over his face and did some shaking. I thought he was laughing, but I couldn't be sure. Unlike him I didn't have the benefit of enhanced night vision. He was warlock with ability to shapechange. He could change his body into form, which is quite unusual ability for a warlock he must have some of shapeshifter blood in his ancesstory.

Jimmy's cackle reached a hysterical crescendo. "Stupid bitch!"

Kramer peeled himself from the support and melted into the darkness, tracking Jimmy's voice. His vision worked better than mine in low light, but even his sight failed in absolute darkness. He had to hunt by sound, which meant I had to keep stupid Jimmy talking. While my partner stalked our murderer he in turn, stalked me.

Nothing to worry about, just a homicidal firemage armed with a salamander sphere of enchanted glass and intent to set us on fire. The main thing was to keep the salamander's sphere safe. If that thing broke, we would be toast.

"Damn Jimmy, you need to work on your vocabulary. So many good names to call me and the best you could come up with is bitch? Give me the sphere before you hurt yourself."

"Shut up...witch!"

A tiny spark flared into existence to the left of me. It hung suspended in the darkness, illuminating both the outline of the Kramer's mouth and Jimmy's hands clutching the glass sphere with white-knuckled fist. Jimmy's hand suddenly shown like a flashlight and formed another fireball.

I ducked behind the support just as the fire smashed against concrete. Flames shot past on both sides of me. The acrid stench of sulfur stung my nostrils.

"That last fireball missed me by a mile. You shoot blanks, Idiot?"

"Eat shit and die!"

Kramer had to be close to him by now. I stepped into the open. "Come on, you sniveling shit for brains! Can't you do anything right ?"I saw flames, lunged to the side and hit the floor rolling. Above me the fire howled like an enraged animal. The handle of the knife burned my fingers. The air in my lungs turned to heat, and my eyes watered. I pressed my face into the dusty concrete, praying it didn't get any hotter, and then suddenly it was over.

Screw this. I jumped to my feet and charged in maniac direction. The light flared within the sphere. I caught a flash of Jimmy crooked smile above the glass. It wilted as kramer's dark hands closed around Jimmy's throat. The arsonist slumped, ragdoll limp, the sphere rolling from his weakened fingers...I dived for it, caught it three inches above the cement.

Kramer relaxed his hold on Jeremy and the arsonist sagged to the ground like a wet blanket. The whites of his eyes stared at the ceiling from his slack face, caught by death in a moment of utter surprise. No pulse check needed for this one. Shit. There goes my night sleep I will be lucky If I finish my paperwork till morning. Although suddenly my mood improve as I remember that I am on leave today and Kramer would have to deal with this mess alone.

"I thought , we decided to capture him alive."

"We did" Kramer grimaced.

"Then what is this,"I said pointing to the corpse.

"He was going to unleash the full power of sphere."

"You have to handle this, I am on leave." I said in a cherry voice expressing my delight with my whole personality that I will not have to deal with this.

Suddenly my phone rang ,with a groan I fumbled for the device, already dreading the voice on the other end. It was my boss from the Mantle Forces, no doubt ready to give me new orders. Just what I needed now.

"Mercer" The voice on the other end was deep and authoritative, belonging to Commander Arlin Pyros, the head of the Mantle Forces.

"Yes, sir," I replied, forcing myself to sound alert .

"What's going on?"

"Cassidy I want you to come to the office right now, we have some important things to discuss."

I protest "I am on leave sir, to celebrate my birthday with my uncle and I am leaving in the morning for my uncle's place."

" I cancel your leave and I want to see you in my office in about in one hour" and hung up all while my treacherous partner roars with laughter.