Once I was alone, I took my shirt off and examined my chest with my finger. No pain anymore, but what the heck caused the horrible burning? I looked at the rune that had been branded into me a few minutes before I noted a change. There was a flaw in the design. The perfectly proportioned lines delineating the “human” rune now had a shadow down the middle. Somehow the engraved tooth had placed a wedge in the trap the ancient dragon had left me in.

I immediately tried to take on my own shape and found myself on the floor writhing in pain. Gasping, trying to get my breath back, I nodded to myself. The rune was still in place. Taking a more cautious approach, I increased my size slowly. I grew to my standard human maximum height of nine feet with only a slight pang in my chest and only came to the hard agonizing limit at twelve feet, kneeling on the floor partly from the ceiling and partly from the burning of the rune. I barely even took note of the tearing of my pants. Not good, but better than before. My swords would look proportional in that form as opposed to merely cartoonish.

I shrunk to my usual form and formed the long sharp fingernails I had been constrained to use, then gradually shifted them to true talons, edged and extending five inches long. I clicked them together and ignored the steady throbbing aching over my heart. Now those were weapon-grade talons. A bit small due to my present size, but overall I was happy.

Finally, looking at the mirror, I attempted to take on some of my native characteristics. I managed the slit pupils and vaguely scaly look, but I couldn't get my jaw to extend enough to accept significantly larger teeth without getting lightheaded from pain. Still, it was better than anything else in over a year. After an hour of testing my new limits, I finally stopped, aching but satisfied.

Now that I had tired myself out again and the thrill of exploration had faded, I floated my rune inlaid tooth towards my eyes to get a better look. Sure enough, the runes for 'truth' and 'hunt' were chiseled in an elegant hand on the side of the surface. Runes were an ancient form of magic. It predated all other forms I knew of and, like most things magical, the older it was, the more powerful it was. Supposedly, the oldest entities created them soon after the fires of creation had cooled, and the runic language still was bound to these primal entities. Perilous magic indeed. The myths I read said that Odin sacrificed something to gain knowledge of this power. It varies from story to story. Maybe it was his eye, or perhaps it was being nailed to the World Tree. Regardless, he supposedly learned it, but he certainly wasn't the first.

Scrutinizing the tooth, I could see that it had attempted to force me into my proper form upon contact. I used my senses to carefully weigh the enchantment in my tooth with the rune on my chest. Mr. Evil was a powerful son of a bitch. The 'human' rune easily dwarfed the power of the tooth. Even if I stabbed the tooth into the heart of the rune and lived through it, it would likely just shatter the tooth. If I ever got genuinely desperate, I suppose I could try it, but I wasn't that far gone yet. The release of conflicting energies could be horrific and probably lethal if I could figure out some way to fortify it first.

Checking the time, I was vaguely surprised Mei hadn’t come back. I hadn’t heard any screams, so, hopefully, the women were getting along like a house on fire. I winced as I thought about another house destroyed and walked over to the counter where I kept Jeremy’s list of jobs and added ‘clean carpet.’ He may not even invoice me for it, considering it was his blood the cleaning service would be removing.

I slipped on a new pair of pants, shrugged my shirt back on, tucked it in as I went to the basement for a few supplies, and then up back to the living room. I had been studying the new texts a lot in the last day, and it was time to try them out, just so I could settle the thoughts and theories racing around my head. I moved over to the vintage holo system I had and looked at it. It was a small box that looked more like a VCR box than a communication and entertainment system. I shook my head as I recalled all the times blue smoke had wafted from the seams and the despairing looks Jeremy had given me as he realized once again that he needed to fix it.

Kneeling, I laid out the assortment of small vials I had brought up with me as well as a tiny gas-burning crucible. I quickly mixed a bit of powdered silver, and mercury with a dab of my blood and waited for them to liquefy. My blood would be the binding material; even though it was the thinnest of the liquid compounds, it would be the last to vaporize. It shared my own resistance to heat. I only needed a pinch of energy to enhance my immunity to heat and keep the mercury from evaporating off too soon. Once the materials had come to a boil, I dipped my finger into the vessel to ensure it was of the proper consistency. It was, so I brought it up to my lips and gulped it into my mouth. The silver tasted delicious. I can only imagine that it was how humans felt about chocolate. Ignoring the flavor, I swished twice with the pleasantly warm liquid and spat it out. It was still barely simmering, which was important. Being what I am, I can take a few shortcuts and bypass some costly and complicated alchemy equipment, but it took a bit of practice. The first two attempts ended with me pouring the congealing liquids into a waste box. The third time I was lucky, and the fluids cooled into a thick yet homogeneous gel. I considered this most fortuitous because I certainly had not practiced alchemy except the bare minimum required for my other endeavors. I was going by what I had read from the tomes, educated guesses, and my instincts.

Forming my forefinger nail into a short but sharp talon, I dipped it into the simmering mixture and began to draw. A small circle with various symbols and interconnecting lines. It was distantly related to the ward I had inscribed on Jeremy's wall to keep aura effects out, but with what I had learned in the books, I made it a bit more basic. Ideally, this ward could altogether cancel all magical effects in a small area and prevent any spells from working on the object or site it was affixed to. My skills weren't up to that challenge yet. Still, this crude attempt should hopefully allow this device to resist the damaging effects of all the practice I was conducting in the basement, trying to get my magical skill up to par. I was getting tired of not knowing if I could order groceries that day or would have to walk to the store.

Once I was done, and the liquids had fully frozen into solidity, I examined the ward. Not bad for a first try. The circles were almost perfect, the lines just about spot on. My senses detected that I could have applied the energy a bit more evenly, but it may just do what I hoped. If not, Jeremy would have to scrounge the second-hand stores for a replacement. If this worked, I may be able to put it on Jeremy's communicator so he could stop glaring at me whenever he had to replace it. I wasn't sure if it would work on the newer quantum circuits, but I had to start somewhere. It looked attractive, almost artsy. Out of place on my communicator terminal box, but pretty.

The next few days passed pretty calmly. I couldn't do much without more information that the shifters and vampires were already gathering. Jeremy and Mei traded information while I listened with half an ear. He would then fiddle around with the communicator in ‘holo mode’ to keep track of the data. Despite my active research into the workings of circles, it continued to function, which was a promising indication for my studies. The vampires hadn't sent anyone yet, so I assumed they were still looking.

Meanwhile, I was keeping myself busy. I had long ago memorized the books I had raided, but I still picked them up and studied them. I was going over the more esoteric parts and trying to tease out understanding. I even tried a bit of psychometry, but my poor skills in that particular school of extrasensory perception were sadly lacking, and it didn't help much. Still, I studied the tomes, practiced incorporating the knowledge I was gaining into my existing circles, and even inscribed a few more on my workshop floor. I hadn't mastered the method of linking multiple circles together into a functioning matrix, but I judged my progress good.

I occasionally had dinner or lunch with the álfar, but they were quick affairs. Mei spent far more time with my new guests, and I would often hear the murmur of their voices from upstairs as I puttered around in the basement workshop. I think she had gotten a promise of aid or alliance from them after hearing about Jin's plans and his likely involvement with the álfar oracles' apocalypse. My mind was on other things, so I wasn't positive. I made time for melting down a bar of gold and forming it into a chain. I affixed a thick band to the tooth and then attached the chain. Once I had that, I spent an additional hour gently stroking the metal and carefully folding magic into it.

While not a proper spell, it was a tried and true method to enhance physical objects to make them stronger. The chain may never achieve the indestructible characteristics of a high-quality magical weapon. Still, after a few sessions of this, I wouldn't need to worry about accidentally snapping the chain if I misjudged my strength. I believe most of the older supernatural races did this to their armor and weapons to make them effective against other supernaturals and modern technology. It wasn't going to transform them into the engines of destruction that a rune weapon could be, but if you could control your energies enough, it was the poor man’s answer to a magical arsenal. As to why I used gold? I really like gold—a lot.

On the third day, I paused in my work as I felt the earth tremble for a moment. I puzzled over it for a moment, feeling the ether surrounding the city within my range, before I concluded that it might just be circle master's trap finally going off. I waved the thought away and went back to work, a book in one hand and the crucible bubbling away next to me; I readied another attempt at perfecting my circles.

I was wrapping up my efforts for the day when I heard an impact at the front of the house. Not a knock, a ring, or a hello. It was a definite physical quaking of the house’s structure. I felt strongly about damage to my home, so I hurried to the door. Mei and Jeremy were out, as were the elf and her shadow. I had sort of lost track of time and their schedule, so I had no idea where they were.

A second impact made the house shudder before I finally got the door open. My danger sense went off faintly a fraction of a second before a large piece of the permacrete sidewalk impacted my head, forcing me back a step, and bounced off into the yard. Off-balance, I staggered back a few steps before landing solidly on my butt in the hallway of my house.

Unhurt but somewhat baffled, I peered into the yard to see a rather livid Vivian tearing up my sidewalk and throwing large pieces of debris at my house. I fed a little energy into my force field. I didn't need it, but anything that helped confuse people over what was me and my abilities was always welcome.

“Aren't you a little old for vandalism?” I asked, halfway amused. The other half was completely confused and a little pissed at the dust and permacrete chips littering the floor of my home. Surely the visiting councilwoman had better things to do than tear up my sidewalk. I glanced behind me and became decidedly less amused to see the scrapes in the finish of my walls. “Ah, crap! I didn't mess up your front door; what did I do to piss you off?”

The woman seemed to pause a moment, then took a deep breath. I noted this for two reasons. It did impressive things to her bust line, and it seemed a bit theatrical for an undead creature. “You are responsible for crippling half our messenger service.”

I glanced at her inquisitively, trying to fathom her words. I didn't remember even leaving the house for the last few days. “Could it have been my evil twin? I haven't moved in days.”

“So you have no idea why the couriers sent to you burst into flame when they approach your house,” she asked, in a low voice, glaring at me.

I blinked, then noted how she kept her distance from the house. A chuckle welled up from me. “Well, what do you know? The new wards worked! I wasn't sure the substitute for evil spirits would work on the undead. Or the new alchemical mix.” I stood up and approached her closer, noting that the haze I hadn’t paid attention to before was a thin streamer of smoke coming from her. “Awesome!”

I think I saw a vein in her forehead pulse slightly before she screamed in rage and took a swipe at me. Her claws skittered off my field, and her hand started to smoke more heavily as it passed me. My field went down; it had only a token amount of energy in it. She seemed at the limit of tolerance.

“I mean, I am so sorry, what a horrible thing. I regret this terrible accident with the wards. It’s tragic beyond words.” At this point, my rather wooden apology was interrupted by my snicker, and I had to turn away to disguise my laugh as a cough. I had my doubts about how convincing my acting was.

“Oh, come on, surely you aren't mad about your couriers Vivian.” I offered, changing my approach, seeing her still glaring. “You know Vincent chose young, expendable... and annoying people to see what would happen. I am sure they'll reform in a few days anyway.” If they didn't, it would still be an excellent measure of the ward’s effectiveness.

“I realize Vincent doesn't take this situation seriously, but he was not involved the last time our paths intersected with Jin's! While it served the council's purpose to make this appear trivial, we take it seriously. Seriously enough that having our messengers vanish at your home very much concerned us.” She seemed to be calming down; I could almost see the aloof mask closing around her again.

“Hmm, I suppose I should have considered the ramifications of vaporizing the local vampires, but I didn't think the new protections would be so effective. I also admit I was a tad bit annoyed when you tried to poison me during our meeting.” I had assumed they would contact Jeremy with the information. Did I neglect to leave his number with them? “Why didn't you call?”

She was finally calm or effectively hiding her distress. It was pretty impressive, considering she was still smoking. No rash, though, unlike Vincent's underling, she was made of sterner stuff. “I was unaware of any such thing. How do you know you were poisoned? You seem in good health.”

“I am a bit of an amateur alchemist. I recognize things such as silver and arsenic, even when it is in my food.”

Her face was expressionless as she digested this information, and I could see that the anger was finally leaving her. “I was not involved in that. I think it was unlikely that Vincent was either. As the master of the city, he would avoid such potential scandals like the plague. I can only assume it was Sebastian, but I can't imagine why.”

“Sebastian and I have previously met. I will have to invite him over for tea sometime to show my appreciation.” This garnered a hint of a smile from my undead guest. “Let us put such things behind us. So why didn't you call?”

“Your number is unlisted,” she stated. “And not working when we finally dug up the number”. Did I forget to turn the vid function back on after inscribing the holo terminal’s ward? I frowned. That must also mean I forgot to leave them Jeremy's backup number. It may be just as well; I didn't like the idea of the undead hanging around my friends.

“Well then, I apologize for the inconvenience. Does this mean that you have some of the locations?”

“Yes. The summoners are still bringing creatures through. We have been keeping the little monsters under control in our areas, but you may have read about them from other parts of the city.” I grunted noncommittally; I hadn’t looked at the news in days. If I had, I might have remembered to check the vid function. “They are never there when we send people to the disturbance, and once we put people on watch, they do not go to that node’s location again. We are starting to gather an interesting menagerie but no magicians.” She activated a tiny holo display on her wrist. I was impressed by her control; I could barely detect flickers in the image.

“If you are ready, I will beam the information on the nexus locations to your implant,” she looked at me expectantly.

“I don't have an implant. It’s against my religion,” I offered her piously. It came across as a bit stilted, but it was the best reason Jeremy and I had come up with. I had wanted to use an allergy as an excuse, but I was assured that no one suffered from them anymore. As Vivian stared blankly at me for a moment, I could see that she wasn't buying it either. Doubtless, she knew as well as I did that any supernatural or magical race with even a slight amount of regeneration couldn't use implants due to the technology being expelled from the body. I could almost see the gears inside her pretty head turning as she tried to figure out what I was.

“Of course, what religion is that?”

“New Amish, very devout,” I said solemnly. I think her mouth twitched, but she hid any further reaction exceedingly well.

“I see. Well, we have similar problems, these are a bit antiquated, but I am sure your home system can read it.” Vivian took out a tiny cube from her pocket and tapped it to her wrist holo emitter before handing it to me.

“So, these critters your gathering, anything interesting?” I asked, curious what Jin's apprentices had brought through to test the dimensional weak points.

“Random garbage. Gremlins, minor demons, shadows, and even a few mortals from other worlds.” She recited the list with a faint hint of disdain. “The humans we give a choice to go to the authorities or enter our service.”

“Demons? I could use demon blood if you could spare any...” I asked hopefully. There were a lot of ingredients I was missing, most of them I was planning to find substitutes for, but as I was finding out, the specified materials had the most potent effects.

“Good luck with that; they evaporate after you kill them.” Vivian gave a ladylike snort. I hadn't known you could do that.

“Yes, that's because you’re not actually killing them, just sending them back to their own plane. There's a trick to harvesting their parts,” I helpfully informed her. I was rewarded by the look of disdain again. Well, I had to ask. Why waste good extra planar materials like that?

I was about to go back inside when her words clicked. Vampires are not known for their kindness. Okay, the ones I had the most experience with are not much more than bloodthirsty beasts, but even this strange offshoot hadn't come across as brimming with goodwill. Why were they offering strange mortals a place in their society? As I thought this over, I was reminded of Jeremy's comment regarding this world's healthcare the other day. An entire generation was almost as unkillable as a shifter and effectively immortal. Even today's younger humans who no longer had access to nanotechnology had methods to keep them young and vigorous indefinitely. Fatal accidents weren't nearly as fatal when you could be resuscitated about a day after your death, as long as your brain was intact.

“You know, I never noticed the lack of quality among the younger vampires until just now. It must be difficult to entice humans to come over to the undead side when they can get all the benefits and still see the sun.”

Vivian looked off to the side, a scowl on her face. It was undoubtedly a sore point when the new generation was likely the insane, social misfits and rebels. Like the Blight’s residents, which was just now getting a makeover if I could believe our friendly neighborhood elf.

“I'm glad you’re there to give our world's newest guests a place to stay.” Doubtless, the good ones would be groomed to become the next generation of vampires. That would be assuming that the guests didn't find out about their alternatives. Not quite evil, but not so nice. It was what I was beginning to get used to from this brand of the undead.

I heard footsteps off to the side and saw Mei, Conrad, and Estella coming around the corner. Glancing back at Vivian, I was just in time to see her body billow into mist before being carried off in the wind. What a drama queen.

“Hey guys,” I nodded to the small company. They each responded with their own acknowledgment. “Come on in. Remind me to have the ground keepers fix my door in the morning.” I muttered the last grumpily as I passed my damaged entrance. I shrugged internally and made a quick detour to add ‘Fix door’ to Jeremy’s list. After another pause, I wrote, ‘Replace house. Use 3rd account.’

“Are they the ones that repaired the house you destroyed?” asked Estella merrily.

“That damage was totally repairable until your Faramond brought the entire thing down. Is it back up already? Jeremy must have called it in.” I admit I had been preoccupied the last few days. I hadn't noticed the house across the street had been put back, even when it was in plain sight while I was talking to Vivian. I need to pay more attention. I crossed the last item off on the list. The construction company I kept on retainer was pretty good. Or maybe they dropped an entire prefab house on the lot. I didn't honestly care; I didn’t keep anything cool in that house.

“Faramond the vigilante?” Conrad asked, looking somewhat disturbed. I recalled the city was about to vote on whether to outlaw vigilantism. Then again, maybe they already had; I never really paid attention to politics. I could only assume Estella hadn’t had much to say about herself to him.

“So, Conrad, what brings you here?” I asked, slapping his back. Shifters hate people invading their space, though the most civilized ones hide it well. I figured I would do my part to distract the resident supercop. Sure enough, he shrugged under his bulky armor uncomfortably and gave me his full attention. Mei spared me an amused look as she sat down with the others.

“The city voted. The special forces division is official. We've been planning this for a long time, so we should be organized by the end of the week.”

“Congratulations,” I said heartily. Should I bring food out, or would that be inappropriate? A turkey dinner or a cake?

“Thank you. You had a large part in the decision. The last encounter the police had with the zombies and vampires just drove home how ill-prepared the civil forces are to handle these threats.” I could tell the bubbly Estella's attention was drifting. Mine was too. What did this have to do with me?

“Glad to help, civic duty, all that stuff,” I offered distractedly. I needed to get Jeremy to enter the new coordinates we had. My living room holo hadn't blown up lately, so maybe we could finally use it for more than watching old movies.

“...so that is why the city would like to hire you,” Conrad finished. Blinking, I forced my memory back a few minutes. Had Conrad just offered me a job?

“Gee, thanks, but I am pretty busy lately. I am not sure I have time...”

“Give it some thought before you decide. As a consultant, you wouldn't spend all your time working with us. It would be mostly looking over the crimes scenes involving the more esoteric events.”

“So you wouldn't call me on werewolf muggings?” I asked with some relief.

“No. The common crime we can deal with. We would call you in for the cases involving magic. We lack any expertise on the subject. There are no experts available that we know of, except the few ‘magic men’ that know a few tricks and voodoo women out in the boondocks.”

I must look positively reliable compared to the natural mystics in the public view. “Well, I don't know. I have a lot of things on my plate at the moment...”

“I know it’s a real burden, but who else are the police going to have identify the spell books and magic contraband?” Mei chimed in with a sweet smile on her face.

I froze with my mouth open in the middle of a protest. “I guess it is my civic duty to help wherever I can.” Nodding gravely, I continued. “Perhaps we could set up some secure storage facilities for the more dangerous artifacts and tomes. Some of them can be dangerous unsupervised.” Like my basement.

“I think that can be arranged,” Conrad pondered. “I'll verify that we can do that and get back to you.”

“Meanwhile, since we are all here, let’s talk a bit about how our search for Jin is going. I assume you already know Estella's concern.”

“Mei mentioned she's here from another dimension because of a vision from a priest of some sort.”

“Some sort of cataclysm,” the cheerful álfar contributed.

“Yes...” Conrad responded somewhat halfheartedly. He clearly wasn’t as cheered to hear the distinction.

“I can't speak for her priests, heck I can't get a good prediction more than a few minutes into the future, but a professional can get a decent idea when something big is on the horizon,” I tried to assure him. He didn't seem to be that comforted by that either.

“Great, and you think it is Jin?”

“Jin and the two magic users Derek uncovered do seem to be connected, Conrad. If they aren't what Estella is worried about, then we don't have the slightest clue what it is,” Mei firmly stated from her seat.

“There may be an unrelated disaster looming in the future, but let's go with this assumption until we find some evidence otherwise,” I urged. I wanted to keep him focused. It seemed pointless to worry about the sky falling until we knew more.

I heard a little jingle as the wristband on Conrad’s arm buzzed and flashed. He activated it, and a beam of light shown directly into his eyes. Hmm, a private band holo terminal. I frowned to myself. He really shouldn’t use that in the house. A minor power surge from my workroom below us, and he could be blinded. Of course, he was a shifter and immune to anything non-mystical in nature. Okay, he was safe. The next question was whether the battery cell in those things was powerful enough to damage my stuff if it blew up?

“Damn,” the armored man muttered as he lowered his arm, and the light vanished. “The barrier went down, and the entire block above the hideout just melted. Nothing left, but a sinkhole,” he looked at me and nodded. “It’s a good thing we evacuated the area. The shield generators we put in place lasted about two minutes before they melted too. The military will be furious. They were on loan.”

The circle’s heat must have been a secondary effect instead of an actual flame. That would explain how they ignored the shield the police had up. I am not sure this world’s technology had any way to block those effects. More due to them not being able to gather empirical data than ability. Perhaps if they had a gravity generator in sync with the barrier, they may be able to set up a harmonic standing wave that would affect the fabric of space enough for magic to actually notice it was there. Of course, it would be easier to simply ward an area than do that. I would still mention the idea to Jeremy. Maybe he’d get a patent out of it or partial credit if anyone implemented the idea.

“...does that sound acceptable, Professor?” the police officer was looking at me as if he expected a response.

“I’m sorry,” I asked, a bit confused. “Did you say something?”

“Did your mind wander a bit?” Mei teased while Estella tittered from her seat. I shrugged. I am sure if Conrad had anything interesting to say, I would have noticed it.

“I was saying that we would appreciate it if you could look at the slag pit and give up your opinion if there is still a hazard,” Conrad said rather impatiently.

“Well, the pit is likely to be molten well into tomorrow based on the entire block melting on top of it,” not that the heat would bother me, but I don’t want to have to shop for a new pair of shoes. It would probably be pretty disgusting, maybe like mud. “I didn’t even know permacrete and durasteel melted.”

“It doesn’t,” the shifter stated flatly.

I wondered if that could be used in my alchemy experiments to remold materials. If I ever figured out the heat effect of the circle. “Good to know. I’ll stop by later tomorrow once the surface solidifies. It should be safe. Burying a circle is a tried and true method of disabling them.”

“I would say it’s a bit more than disabled,” Mei offered.

“Not necessarily; most magic is immune to its own effects,” Estella volunteered. She was only slightly subdued after hearing of the disaster. I assume that Mei had given her the details during their ‘girl talk’ over the last few days.

“It is very likely the circle exists, but with all the material sitting on top of it, no one is going to be able to get close enough to activate it even if it had any energy left. The dimensional portal also should not be able to activate if there is a solid mass where the breach is. Unless...”

Conrad sighed, “Give me the bad news.”

“Well, it is not likely, but the circle master was pretty good.” Better than anyone I knew from home at least. Excluding a giant, scaly, evil monster who needs no introduction. “It’s possible, if the mage was smart enough, he might have set up the barrier to collapse or have a secondary barrier to activate when the shit hit the fan. If that happened, it may have formed a bubble that all that goo would cool around.”

“Oh, a natural cavern that he could reopen the portal into from the other side,” our happy little elf added.

I didn’t think Conrad could get grimmer, but I noticed a change in his mood. “Fine. I’ll have some multi-environment floaters go over it and take some scans. We’ll know soon if there’s anything down there and...”

“Your scans won’t work,” I offered. I didn’t think he was an idiot, but I was constantly surprised how even the supernaturals forgot the basics. “Whether there’s a bubble or not, there is an entire room of exhausted but active circles. Your sensors won’t give you anything but static.”

“Then we’ll excavate...”

“And there’s no guarantee the circles don’t have enough residual energy to activate and do it all again if they are triggered.” It would likely be on a lesser scale, but still...

Conrad sat there. Lips tight and his left eye twitching. I could tell he was considering his options and was unhappy with what he was coming up with.

“Come on, Derek, stop playing with him. Tell him how to fix it,” Mei berated me. I think she was amused, but she took the news seriously.

“No, keep it up! Conrad’s funny!”

This last came from the elf, who had been watching both Conrad and me in delight. She was enjoying it, even more than I was. And I have to admit I was getting a kick out of teasing Conrad.

I nodded in both the girl’s directions while Mei gave the elemental sorceress an exasperated look. “Fine. Just do what I suggested when you first asked me about it.”

Conrad looked confused again. “We did. We did exactly what you suggested.”

“Then you weren’t paying attention. I distinctly remember suggesting that you get the military involved and have a satellite blow through the barrier. Even if it is immune to energy, possible but not definite, it should clear the way to see if there was a bubble at all. If it wasn’t, just refill it with the plentiful slag in the area. If it was, then either it is destroyed, or it will be exposed for alternate means of destruction.” Or was that Matt I told? It was somebody in a uniform.

“What if the new barrier is immune to everything?” Conrad asked with some evidence of trepidation.

“Then...”

“Mortal magic can usually only completely shield against energy or kinetics on low energy worlds like this one. They can be very durable and even regenerate themselves, but you can likely destroy it with a little work.” Estella finished her explanation with a smile.

I pouted. I could have dragged that out for Conrad until he was frothing at the mouth. The police officer looked at the elf with new eyes. “I don’t think we have been completely introduced, Ma’am.”

“She’s an elf from Norseland,” I injected as revenge.

“I am not! We haven’t been there for ages. Don’t be a meanie,” she pouted.

“I don’t think Norseland is a real country,” Mei shot me an aggravated look.

“Well, the álfar aren’t real elves, so all the figments of our imagination can gather in one place.”

“Never mind,” Conrad emphatically declared. “Forget I asked.” Sighing, he continued in a slightly more formal tone. “If your people ever wish to be recognized and accepted by the world at large, just come to me. Apparently, my new position includes playing ambassador for races still in the closet. Just wait a few weeks for the bureaucrats to invent the paperwork.” He sounded less than enthusiastic about this part of his job.

“Will you be able to tell what the situation is tomorrow?”

“No,” I thought more about my last astral escapade. I wasn’t going through that again. “All I’ll be able to do is tell if there are active magics. We already know the circles are going to be live to some degree or another.”

“I may be able to help,” Estella piped in again. “I would be happy to commune with the elements and see if there is a disturbance.”

Mei and Conrad looked at each other and then at me for clarification.

“She means that she’ll be able to sense if there is a gap in the rock... er, congealing permacrete sludge.”

“Great! I’ll send Officer Cromwell here tomorrow at noon for both of you.” He nodded politely to all of us and backed out of the door. He was probably just happy to leave with most of his sanity intact.

After closing the door, I turned toward the girls and clapped my hands together. “Well, now that’s out of the way, let’s wait for Jeremy so he can enter the data points the vampire council has kindly left us.”

Mei stared flatly at me for a second. “You’re going to make a lousy consultant. Why did you wait until Conrad left to bring this up?”

“Well, I got a little distracted,” I hesitantly defended myself. “Besides, until we enter all the data, I don’t see any reason to get Conrad all excited about it. He can help once we figure things out.”

Mei held out her hand. “You may be a genius, but you’re an idiot. Telling Conrad after the fact is just going to make it obvious you were leaving him out of the process of finding Jin. Considering he organized the shifters to do the grunt work and is now officially responsible for protecting the city against supernatural threats, that seems like a poor career move.”

“Do you think he’ll take away my parking space?” I said as seriously as I could. “Vivian came by just before you got here. She was that big billowing cloud. There’s nothing we can do at the moment anyway.”

“Vivian Delargo? She is pretty high on the council. I suppose it’s a fortunate thing you have a good relationship with her.”

I thought back to the damage to my door and the fire in Vivian’s eyes. Well, figuratively speaking. “Well, that may be overstating the situation a little, but I am sure we will work fine together,” I said optimistically. “As soon as the council stops pissing themselves at the sound of Jin’s name.”

“You are very aggravating,” Mei said tensely before she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, we’ll deal with it. Give me the chip. We don’t have to wait for Jeremy; I can do data entry as well as he can.” I doubted that but handed over the chip.

“This is ancient. Is this even compatible with your holo box?” she asked as she turned over the chip in her hands.

“It’s the same generation as my box.” At her surprised look, I continued. “You can tell because it’s the same form factor as the port. Keep in mind that Vivian is ancient. She has the same problem as I do,” I shrugged uncomfortably. “You know, with my... magical lab downstairs that causes so much interference and blew up your wrist terminal.”

“Right. Your lab.” She stared at me without expression before turning away and marching over to the vid box. She inserted the data chip and then started working with the holographic interface.

I turned to Estella. “So where is tall, dim and muscly?” I almost made a snarky remark about him attacking me but held off. Since I was the one to last haul off and attack him without provocation, I was trying to be the better man. Failing, but trying.

“You should try to get along better; you have so much in common.”

I stood there with my mouth open for a minute. “I... I... what?”

“See, you’re both so cute like that,” she smiled as she walked over to where Mei was.

I just stood staring after her. She had to be nuts. Maybe all elves were crazy. Of course, she had just avoided answering my question, so perhaps the birdbrain act was just that, an act. It was a very good one, though.

Once I shook off my stupor, I joined the women and looked over the interface. She had already imported the data and was about to overlay all the data points onto the three-dimensional map of the city. It was relatively tiny on the interface, so I gestured at the wall where we usually projected the movies. With a nod of acknowledgment, she pointed to the emitter, and the wall suddenly disappeared to show a large representation of the city.

Red dots littered the city. Some had little icons of creatures. I assume the vampires had included data on the creatures found near the sites. I walked over to the projection. Through some technological trickery of reflections, I did not interfere with the image as I stepped into it.

“Lines here, blue,” I directed the lobotomized AI as I pointed my fingers at two dots. “Lines here, blue. Lines here, red. Circle here, translucent, red.” I continued a series of directions as the map of the city gradually came alive with crisscrossing lines and nodes. Occasionally, I would erase one or make one darker or lighter. Ones with creatures were generally stronger and became darker circles or lines. Unfortunately, those were the ones we were too late for.

Before an hour had passed, we had a revised map that I was reasonably sure most accurately reflected reality. “These locations need to be staked out,” I tapped the darker circles. “It is likely the apprentices will test these out next. I would also like these watched, even though they have been ‘visited’ already. They seem to be strong nodes. Maybe strong enough for what he wants. If not now, then when the energies peak.”

The girls had stayed mostly quiet during my work. “That’s twenty-four locations, ten in vampire territory. We’re going to need their help or at least their promise to let us move through their territory,” Mei responded uneasily.

Uh oh. That didn’t sound good. “Didn’t you say the territorial divisions were fixed in stone?”

“Except for the Blight, yes,” Mei responded.

“It’s a good thing you have such a fine relationship with Vivian. I am sure she’ll be happy to help you.” Estella had said the last. She had been listening to Mei, and I argue. The funny thing was, she sounded very earnest. Either she hadn’t picked up on the subtleties of how Vivian didn’t like me, or she was being sarcastic. If so, she had an excellent poker face, and I couldn’t swear to either one. Mei snickered.

“We’re both reasonable adults,” I replied, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “I am sure we can work something out.” It may be prudent to talk to her when she had a chance to cool off. “But not tonight.”