Blood Magic by Steve Moore

“Hello, Rothbourne.” Jonathon said as he looked down at the old man at the table.
“Well, well, if it ain’t Jonathon Ludlow.” Rothbourne replied. “We were beginning to think you weren’t gonna make it.”
“There’s only one thing that could’ve stopped me coming here tonight.” Jonathon said as he turned towards one of the two elderly ladies who sat next to Rothbourne. “Now, my memory’s getting bad these days, so you may have to help me with names.”
“Oh, this ‘ere’s Elizabeth Whitmore, sister to Katherine, think you two shacked up once if I remember right.”
Jonathon looked embarrassed. Elizabeth only managed a slight head nod.
“And I’m Katelyn Dunbar, and I don’t believe you’ve shagged any of my kin, but all the same, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Jonathon held out his hand and Katelyn did likewise. Jonathon looked over at Elizabeth. She didn’t seem interested in shaking his hand.
“The Mosley Arms, aye?” Jonathon looked around the corner of the pub in which the three were sitting. “Bit of a shithole in a rather shitty region of a less than fantastic city.
“What’s so shitty about this neighborhood?” Rothbourne asked.
Jonathon picked his leg up and put his right foot up against the edge of the table. He had to use both his arms to help get his foot up that high. He then pointed at the bottom of his boot and to the substance that was caked in the tread.
“Yeah, well, the dog shit’s a bit thick on the ground in these parts.” Rothbourne nodded, and Jonathon took his foot off the table and wobbled a bit as he placed it back on the ground.
“A million pubs in this town, and you choose the bloodiest underclass one you could find.”
“Well, it’s right around the corner from where I live.”
“You live ‘round here?”
“Besides, we’re well hidden ‘ere.”
“Hidden by what?”
“By mediocrity. By failure. By the sheer overwhelming fucking mundanity of this place.”
Jonathon glanced at the lads at the bar.
“Got plenty of that round here don’t you, William?”
“Well, it’s what’s kept me and me doings off their radar.” William leaned forward and in a hushed tone continued. “It’s sorta like this ‘ere place’s so unmagical that it cancels out everything they may use to find me.”
“All it cancels out in me is my will to breath.”
“Well, just sit down ye bastard, yer already beginning to get on me tits.”
“You got tits now, do you?”
“I got all types of droopy saggy bits on me these days.”
“Your face certainly is hanging a bit lower than it used to.”
“Well, you don’t look a million quid either.”
“You boy’s gonna flirt all night?” Katelyn asked.
Jonathon looked up at the bar.
“Hey, I think I need a pint. They serve any ale here?”
“Thought you’d be wanting some Budweiser or something after living so long in the states.”
“No body I know in America drinks Budweiser.”
“But you ain’t got no proper ale there, do ya?”
“No, it’s all pasteurized and filtered and served cold as an Eskimo’s titty.” Johnathon paused. “You know, just about the only think I’ve missed is the beer.”
“I’d go for the Carlsberg if I were you.”
“Carlsberg? Fuck if I’m drinking the Danish equivalent of Budweiser.”
“I’d do it tonight. Remember what I said about mundanity and mediocrity.” Rothbourne gave Jonathon a wink.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You telling me that I’ve even got to drink shitty beer.”
“It couldn’t hurt.”
“It couldn’t hurt, huh?”
“The more ordinary and trite our surroundings the better off we are. So, you just go up there and order the most bloody commonplace beverage known to humanity and we’ll be alright.”
Jonathon shook his head.
“This is bullshit.”
He glanced at Elizabeth who didn’t appear to have any interest in him or anyone else at the table.
“Fine. Fine. Shit beer in a shit pub. Fine.”
Jonathon walked up to bar, and the three middle age men sitting there glanced at him and his long purple coat.
“A pint of Carlsberg, please.”
The man mumbled something.
“What was that?”
He mumbled it again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Jonathon paused and leaned in toward the man who stared coldly back.
“Two pounds.” The words seemed to come straight out of the man’s nose.
“Ah, right. Couldn’t understand you with that uh,” Jonathon paused again. “Here you go, here’s the two pounds.”
The bartender and the three men at the bar watched Jonathon walk over to the far side of the room.
“Good God, what kind of dialect do they speak here?”
“Oh, now you’re gonna winge about they way they talk round ‘ere?”
“No, it’s just, well, I couldn’t understand the man. I think I pissed him off.”
“That coat of yours ain’t helping matters. Bloody purple silk.”
“Oh, right, well, you want me to take it off?”
“No, it’ll come in use later on.”
“Oh, will it now.”
Jonathon took a sip of his beer. Katelyn sipped the whiskey in front of her and eyed Jonathon.
“So, are they here? The two kids.”
“Aye, right over there. Playing snooker.”
Jonathon glanced over his shoulder, and then back at Rothbourne.
“You sure they’re the ones?”
“Absolutely. Read about them in the Daily Mail I believe it was. They were born to this white couple living in Birkenhead. One came out white as a freckled leprechaun’s arse, and the other as brown as bloody Gandhi.”
“One of twilight and one of dawn.” Katelyn whispered.
“Yeah, so I’d been looking out for such an occurrence, not really expecting the you-know-what to be fulfilled, but when I heard of these two, well, I knew I was onto something.”
“Well, you must have quite a few twins where one is mulatto and the other pasty white.”
“Don’t happen that much, mate.”
“Still, it happens.”
“Well, listen to this, when the father saw that one of ‘is twins was colored ‘e went fucking nuts. I guess ‘e wondered what pakki bastard she’d been screwing on the side, and ‘e took a knife to her.”
“Did he kill her?”
“No, and that’s the interesting part. ‘E stabbed her in the shoulder, but before ‘e could stab her again ‘e fell over dead, brain aneurism they say it was.”
Jonathon thought on this for a minute.
“You think that she did something?”
“What else could it’ve been? And don’t tell me that these things just happen. That woman, well, she was protected by something. And so were those twins.”
“Where’s the mom?”
“Dead. Killed ‘erself a year later. That’s the newspaper version of it anyway.”
“What do you think?”
“Don’t know. Did some investigating, but never could find any sign of fowl play. Didn’t want to look too closely into it anyway, as the mom don’t matter. Well, not near as much as those two.”
“So how can you be sure?”
“I weren’t through. I was about to say that I found out something about the mother’s father. ‘E was a McMillan.”
“So?”
“So, the last known heir of Richard Dunnan was a McMillan.” Elizabeth said.
“Nobody thought he had any children.” William continued. “Everyone thought Dunnan’s line had ended.”
“Yeah, but how many McMillan’s are there in Britain?”
“I knew you’d say that, but ‘eres the thing. The mother’s father didn’t go by that last name. ‘E had it changed when ‘e was just a child by an unnamed caregiver as the boy was fostered around a bit.” William stared at Jonathon. “It all adds up, mate.”
Jonathon nodded. He glanced over at the twins then back at William.
“And they turn seventeen, tonight?”
“Aye.”
“Ain’t they are little young to be drinking? I mean, even in England.”
“They’re uncle owns this fine establishment. ‘E’s also the one who raised ‘em, just a few blocks from ‘ere.”
“So, you want one of us to go over and say hello?”
“No, they’ll come to us. Give ‘em a couple more minutes.”
“Do they know you?”
“No, but I’ve seen them about, and they’ve seen me.”
“And they’ll come over here because?”
“Because of that bloody great purple coat of yours.”
“What’s their names?”
“Tracy and Mikey.”
“So,” Jonathon said as he looked straight at Elizabeth. “You’re awfully quiet.”
Elizabeth looked at Jonathon and frowned.
“Was that a dig?”
“A dig?” Jonathon looked taken back. “No, I just mean, I mean you haven’t said much.”
“You think I’m stuck up.”
“What? No.” Jonathon laughed and looked around at the others.
“Well, you have the right to think what you want.”
“Who the hell pissed in your fruit loops this morning?”
“In my what?”
“She just don’t trust you, mate.” William said. “Thinks you been working the other side too long, and to be honest, everyone’s been wondering what you been doing studying all of that, what do they call it nowadays, astronomy?”
“Astrophysics.”
“Right, astrophysics, studying about the inside of bloody stars and all that, in’it?”
“It’s actually rather interesting.”
“Interesting? Fucking ‘ell.” William shook his head. “Well, what can it tell you? What can be learnt from it?”
“Well, we can figure out the origin of the universe, for one thing.”
William shook his head again.
“First of all, it won’t figure that out for you, mate, cause there weren’t no origin to the kosmos. Secondly, who bloody well cares what about the origin of the bloody fucking universe? I want to know when I’ll bloody be getting laid. Better still, I want to know when and where I’ll find me true love. That’s what the stars used to be able to tell us. But these days, with the Law of Unproveability and all that, the stars ain’t been telling us shit.”
“Why didn’t you just stay over there in that university of yours.” Elizabeth spoke up. “Seems like you’ve adapted to the new ways.”
“Well, I’ve thought of myself as a spy.”
“A spy?”
“An insider.”
“Insider, aye?” William asked. “And what has it done for ya?”
“Well, what have you been doing for the past half century? Have you accomplished anything other than pissing your self away in some shithole and looking for signs in the Daily Mail? And Elizabeth, I hear you’ve opened up a new age shop in Cornwall, now that’s a sad state of affairs.”
“E’s got a point there, Beth.”
Elizabeth glared at Jonathon.
“Screw you and screw him. I don’t have to take shit off the likes of either of ya.”
William smiled at Elizabeth and then turned his attention back to Jonathon.
“So, what 'ave you found out, mate?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Enlighten us.”
“Well, I can see that the world is turning, and in the fields of science things are afoot that threaten to bring the whole thing crashing down on our heads.”
“What sorta things would that be?”
“Paradoxes and conundrums and incomprehensible riddles.” Jonathon leaned forward and lowered his voice. “They’re piling up and everything tells me that people are unhappy with the bloody default settings of the universe and that deep down on some unconscious level…”
“On what level?”
“On an unconscious level.”
“Unconscious level?”
“Yeah, you must’ve heard of Freud? The unconscious mind?”
William shook his head.
“Fucking where you been, man? Anyway, people are wanting and needing the old ways even though they’ve forgotten them.”
“Bloody too right they are. The kosmos were never meant to operate this way.”
“Exactly, and so cracks are beginning to show up. Cracks that just keep getting wider the more you look at them, and that’s what I’ve been doing. Looking for the cracks.”
“You’ve been looking for cracks for fifty years?” William asked with a grin. “I think you got a crack in yer bloody head, mate.”
“Fuck you and listen. Everything I’ve seen tells me that we’re at a tipping point.”
“A tipping point?”
“You know, like what they say about the Earth’s climate.” Jonathon stared at William. “You’ve heard about climate change? Global warming? Al Gore?” William shrugged. “Fucking hell, man. Well, anyway, I figure all it will take right now is just one good shove in the right direction and the momentum of the kosmos will do the rest. That’s why I think this plan of yours has a chance.”
“Well, I don’t need to look through some bloody telescope to tell me things are ripe for change. I can feel it in me bones. See, you’ve lost your instincts, mate. You been thinking the way they do. Plotting this and plotting that and getting some computer to tell you where things will end up. Me, I need a computer like I need an arsehole on me elbow.”
“Right, so we’re all in agreement that it can be done.”
“I thought there’d be more of us.” Katelyn said in a low voice. “I was hopping there’d be twelve or at the very least seven of us.” She shook her head. “And where’s Arwen? She wrote to me not two days ago and said she would be coming. She should be here.”
“Maybe someone did get wind of this.” Jonathon said. “Maybe she changed her mind. Who knows, but I don’t think we can turn back now.”
“Well, if no one else shows up then I fear that we may not have enough between us to do the job.”
“Jonathon’s right.” William said. “We can’t turn back, and I sure as hell ain’t waiting round for another opportunity like this one. We got four of us here, and I reckon that’ll have to be enough.”
“So, you’re sure this boy and girl’s gonna come to us, then?” Jonathon looked across the room at the twins who just then happened to look back at him.
“Sure I’m sure. Just drink your shitty lager and enjoy the bloody ambience.”
Jonathon took a sip of his lager, and watched as three of the lads from across the way walked over with the twin Mikey at their rear.
As one of the lads, the oldest one, passed Jonathon he purposely bumped up against him. Jonathon let out a quiet groan.
The boy turned and looked at Jonathon.
“What was that, mate? What you call me?” The boy asked as he faced up to Jonathon who stood a good half foot higher than the boy.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Did I hear you just call me a nigga?”
William stood up and began to walk around the table, but no one was paying him any attention.
“I can assure you that I did not refer to you as a nigger, but I can tell that you’re a real shithole of a human being just by looking at you.”.
As Jonathon was talking, one of the other boys walked around behind him. He was about to give him a shove when William caught his hand.
“I wouldn’t touch that coat if I were you, lad.” William’s voice was soft, but the boy had no trouble hearing him. The boy looked back at Jonathon’s coat, and noticed for the first time that there were shapes on it. The boy stared at the coat and the shapes appeared to move ever so slightly. They grew brighter and appeared to flicker like stars in the firmament.
“Aye, what you doing with your hands on me mate, you owd queer.” The oldest boy said to William.
William walked up to the boy.
“I’m impressed, lad. Four young boys against an equal number of old geezers and nits. That’s some courage, that’s bloody fucking braveheart, lad.” The boy just stared at William as William walked over and stood toe to toe with the boy. “Last lad who put ‘is nut into me ended up loosing it.” The boy felt something sharp touch his stomach. “You pull yours and we’ll see what happens now won’t we, lad.”
“Fucking crazy owd geezer.” The boy muttered as he took a step back and turned away. “Come on, lads.”
William eyed the boy as he walked off.
“That’s right, lad, just keep on going to the shittus and all ‘a be well.”
“Come on, Paul.” One of the boys said to the one who was staring at Jonathon’s coat.
Paul nodded and he followed the other two. Mikey began to walk away with them, but he couldn’t help glancing at Jonathon.
“Hey, Mikey.”
The boy turned and looked at William.
“Come over ‘ere, lad, and ‘ave a seat. Got something we wanna tell ya.”
Mikey looked for his friends, but they had disappeared into the shittus.
“What you want with me? Wasn’t my idea to come over ‘ere.”
“We know it wasn’t, lad. Just come ‘ave a seat.”
“What you want me to ‘ave a seat for?”
“What if I told you I knew something about your family.”
“Me family?”
“I know an old relative of yours. Now, come on, lad.”
“What you know about me family?”
“I know about your mom’s family, her father’s side.”
“Me mom never knew me grandfather. Nobody did.”
“I did, lad. You wanna hear about ‘em.” William grinned and gave the boy a wink. “There’s something in it for ya.”
“What’s that?”
“An inheritance.”
The boy shook his head. He looked shy and nervous.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Your mom’s grandfather was a very powerful man, Mikey. ‘Is name was Richard Dunnan.”
“How you know this?”
“I knew your great grandfather. Knew ‘em well.”
“Why you telling me this, now? I seen you around ‘ere. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I was waiting for your seventeenth, lad. I couldn’t give you what ‘e left or even tell you about it till you turned that age.”
“Seventeen? I thought it was eighteen when you got inheritance and all that.”
“For most types, but not this.” The boy looked around at Jonathon, Elizabeth and Katelyn. “They knew your great grandfather, too. Some of ‘em traveled from quite a ways to pay their respects.”
“Pay their respects?”
“’E’s buried not far from here, in the Ancient Church graveyard.”
“Ancient church?”
“Yeah, the one down the hill and on the corner, across from the old theatre, and what ‘e left you’s buried with him.”
The boy stared at William.
“I don’t believe you, mate.”
“Yes you do, lad. It’s hard to believe, I know, but you know I ain’t lying to you, don’t ya?” William eyed the boy. “Come on, go fetch yer sister, and we’ll be off.”
“Off?”
“Yes, off. We’re going to the graveyard, lad.”
“It’s ten fucking o’clock, mate.”
“I know the time, lad, but now’s when we’re going, so go get your sister and be quick.” The boy stared at William. “Get going, and we’ll meet you outside.”
Mikey walked back over to his sister as William and the others quietly left the pub.
“You think they’ll come?” Jonathon asked as he took out his pipe.
“Aye, I do.”
William plonked some tobacco into his pipe and lit it.
The door to the pub swung open and out walked the two twins. The girl was yelling at the boy.
“Why the fuck we got to go out ‘ere for?”
“Just come over ‘ere, and meet these people.”
“Meet what people?”
Jonathon got his first good look at Tracy who was wearing pink flannel trousers and matching pink flannel hoodie. Her face, Jonathon noted, was one shade of orange darker than that of an Umbalumba.
“They say they knew mom’s grandfather.” The boy pointed at William. “E’s the one who I talked to.”
The girl looked at William for the first time. She stared at his face.
“’Allo thar, Tracy.”
She looked at William and then at her brother.
“Ow’s he know me name?”
“’E lives ‘round here. ‘E just told me ‘e knew mom’s family. Said one of them left us some inheritance.”
“Oh yeah, right.” Tracy gave William a nasty look. “You say you knew me mom’s family?”
“I knew your great grandfather.”
“So, what are we doing out ‘ere for?”
“’E said ‘e was buried in the old graveyard down the road, the one on the corner.” Tracy stared at her brother. “Well, ‘e said that our inheritance was buried with him.”
“What inheritance?”
“Something was left for you. Left to wait till you two turned seventeen.” Jonathon said.
“Who are you?”
“Come on, just take a walk down the street with us, and we’ll explain who we are.”
“I’m not walking no wheres with you, mate. Come on, Mikey.” She tugged at his jacket. Mikey didn’t budge.
“What did ‘e leave us?”
“Your birthright, lad.”
“Me birthright?”
“Can’t you see they’re having you on?” Tracy said.
“What if ‘e ain’t?”
“What if e’ ain’t?” Tracy shook her head. “You really think there’s some money or something waiting for us in some grave? Christ, Mikey, you can’t be that fucking dim.”
“Would you like to see a magic trick?” William asked.
Tracy ignored him and tugged on her brother’s arm again.
“Come on.” She said through clinched teeth.
“What sort of magic trick?” Mikey asked.
“A real one, not one of those bloody tricks where they just misdirect your attention , but a proper one.”
“You can do magic?”
“You got a penny or two pence piece on you, lad?”
“Don’t give ‘em any of your money.” Tracy said as she stared up at her brother. “That’s ‘ow they get you, Mikey.”
“Well, he wouldn’t make a lot asking for two pence pieces, now would he?” Mikey said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out such a coin. He handed it to William who grasped it firmly.
“Ever seen a gold coin? Ever held one in your hand?” William asked. Mikey shook his head and stared at William’s clinched hand.
William opened his hand to reveal the same two pence piece only now it shown a slightly different color beneath the halogen lights overhead.
“Ere you go, mate.” William passed Mikey back the coin. “Pure gold.”
Mikey inspected the two pence piece.
“It ain’t gold, Mikey.” Tracy said and she looked at William. “I don’t mean to be funny or nuttin, but if you could turn pennies into gold then you wouldn’t be living ‘ere and wearing them clothes you got on, mate.”
“Yeah, that’s what I didn’t get about them ‘Arry Potter books.” Mikey said as he continued to look at his gold coin. “I mean, why was ‘Arry’s best mate so poor? They’ve got all these magical powers, but ‘e can’t afford new clothes. It don’t make no sense.”
“Well, it said that they couldn’t turn things into gold, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, but ‘e wouldn’t ‘ave to. I mean, there’s loads of ways you could get money if you could do proper magic. I mean if they can turn bloody tea cups into rats then ‘e could do something about ‘is clothes and stuff, couldn’t ‘e?”
“Well,” William began slowly. “The lass who wrote them books wouldn’t know magic if it took a shat down her throat with a bloody note attached to it which read, this is magic.”
Mikey looked up from his coin and smiled at William.
“I got some more coins. Can you turn ‘em into gold?”
“Don’t give ‘em any more of your money, Mikey.”
“Well, I ain’t exactly supposed to be turning anything into anything else.” William said. “There’s laws against it now.”
“Laws against it?” Mikey asked.
“There’s laws against pretty much all forms of magic these days.”
“There’s laws against magic?”
“There ‘ave been for hundreds of years, but it’s only been since 1919 that all proper magic’s been outlawed.”
“You believe in magic, do you?” Tracy asked William.
“I don’t believe in it, I know it. I just can’t practice it anymore. Not outside of the odd coin trick.”
“Your off your ‘ead, mate.”
“Why do you have to be such a twat all the time.” Mikey said as he eyed his sister. “You’re always having a go at someone. Why can’t you just try and be nice.”
“Nice? Mikey, these people are,” She paused. “I don’t know what they’re trying to do, but they’re ‘aving a big laugh at your expense cos you’re so fucking thick.”
“I’m not thick.”
Tracy turned and glared at William and the others.
“What do yous want with me and me brother?”
William paused to study the girl.
“Your mother’s grandfather, your great grandfather, was a necromancer.”
“A what? A naked dancer?”
“A necromancer. A magician. Just like us four.”
“Right.”
“You may be the last of ‘is line, luv.”
Tracy let out a snort.
“I’m going back in the pub.” She looked over at her brother. “If you want to wonder off and get buggered by a bunch of owd pervs then go ahead. I’m tired of this. Tired of worrying about you, tired of looking out for you cause your so fucking thick and so fucking soft.”
“I’m not thick so stop calling me that.” Mikey said. “’Ere, take this coin and show it to Uncle Pete.”
“’E won’t know if it’s gold.”
“’E might.”
“And even if it is gold it don’t mean ‘e turned it into gold.”
“She’s right, lad.” William said. “You can’t prove I did proper magic.”
“Can’t you do something that can’t be just a trick?” Mikey asked.
“There’s laws against what Will just did.” Katelyn said. “You can get away with it sometimes, because it’s hard to tell proper magic from illusions, but if you come with us, to your great grandfather’s grave then you will see magic.”
“Why would there be laws against magic?” Tracy asked.
“Bloody health and safety.” William muttered.
“It happened slowly.” Jonathon said. “They started with the black arts, and at first everyone was behind it. Outlawing forms of magic that probably should’ve been outlawed. But they didn’t know when to stop and eventually pretty much every form of magic was deemed too dangerous.”
“There was that, and there was the fact that many feared that magic was concentrated into the hands of too few.” Elizabeth stated. “The laws and regulations were a way of putting everyone on more of an equal footing and to reign in the most powerful of us.”
“Your great grandfather was one of those.” William said.
“And so everyone was stopped from doing magic?” Mikey asked.
“Well, there was one thing they couldn’t regulate.” William replied. “You see you got some magic that’s in your blood, and your brain don’t really got no control over it. So they can stop you from purposely using magic, but they can’t get rid of the magic that’s in your blood.”
“Unconscious magic.” Jonathon added.
“That’s why they also stopped us from marring one another.” Katelyn said. “To dilute the blood magic as much as possible. To let it die out.”
“And we owd geezers are the last of our kind.” William said. “The last ones to remember the time before when magic was wild.”
“I thought you said it was completely outlawed like a hundred years ago or something?” Tracy asked. “You ain’t that old, mate.”
William grinned.
“At the turn of the twentieth century I was already well over a hundred years old.”
“That’s a load of rubbish.”
“It’s getting late.” Katelyn said.
“Right.” William replied. “Well, let’s go.”
“I’m not going.” Tracy said.
“Well, stay here then.” Mikey yelled back. “I’m going.”
Tracy watched as the five of them walked out of the parking lot of the Mosley Arms. She looked back at the pub, and then ran after her brother.
“I’m gonna tell Uncle Pete what you’re doing.”
“Then tell ‘em.”
“When you gonna be home?”
“I don’t know.”
“He wants us home by eleven, you know?”
“Would you shut up and leave me alone. Just go back to the pub.”
“You don’t believe this load of rubbish do you?”
Mikey ignored his sister.
“So, were you rich?” He asked William.
“Better off than I am now.”
“So, you could turn anything into gold.”
“No, just certain metals.”
“Oh.” Mikey paused. “But you still should ‘ave been able to load yourself up with gold.”
“Yeah, lad, but if everyone did that then it wouldn’t be worth much. Be like everyone printing themselves a million quid.”
“I suppose.” Mikey looked down at his feet. “What else could you do?”
“You heard of that Jesus fella turning water to wine?” Mikey nodded. “Well, that weren’t all that hard. Weren’t nothing for me to turn an ordinary cup of tap water into a dram of single malt or better.”
“Too bad you can’t turn dog shit into diamonds or you’d be set living out here.” Jonathon said.
“Ignore him, lad. E’s bloody obsessed with dog scat.”
When they reached the Ancient Temple they found that the gate was open.
“Me and Katelyn did all the hard work already.” William said.
“E’s buried in a Christian graveyard?” Tracy asked. “Thought you were all witches.”
“Oh, well, this ‘ere’s always been a nonconformist church.”
“Don’t you worship the devil and all that?”
“We don’t worship any bloody devil. Least I never did.”
In the graveyard they came upon a plot which had been recently dug up. Next to it was a large black cauldron full of black water.
Katelyn lit the fire under it.
“Wow, it’s a proper witch’s pot, in’it?” Mikey said as he admired the cauldron. “What’s it for?”
“Wizard soup.” William replied. “Your great grandfather’s bones are going in there.”
“’Is bones?”
“That’s right lad. We’re gonna brew the magic out of ‘em and hope it’s enough.”
“Mikey, what happens when the police come by and see us here?”
“What they gonna do, trace, give me an asbo that stops me from entering graveyards?”
They both looked at the freshly dug grave and watched as William pulled something out of it that was tied to a piece of rope.
“Is that really our great grandfather’s grave?” Tracy asked.
“Aye.”
“Don’t take the piss, mate.” Tracy glared at William, but he ignored her. “So, what ‘e do, leave all his gold in this grave?”
“You ain’t been paying attention, luv.” William said as he emptied the contents of the sack into the cauldron.
“Are those bones?”
“Gold ain’t worth diddly squat to us.” William continued as he dumped the last of the bones into the cauldron. “It’s the magic in these bones we after.”
“Bones?” Tracey repeated and she looked at her brother. “Mikey, come on, I’m begging ya, let’s get the fuck out of ‘ere.” Tracy pulled on her brother’s arm. “Come on, for fuck’s sake, they’ve dug up some poor bastard and ‘are cooking ‘is fucking bones.”
“Now all we need is some of everybody’s blood.” William said as he pulled out his knife.
Tracy screamed moved backward and tripped over a grave stone.
“Oh, sorry luv, we don’t need yours, just us owd geezers’.”
Tracy picked herself up and ran back to her brother.
“Come on, Mikey.”
When he wouldn’t budge she turned and began to run for the gate. She stopped when she noticed a figure, a silhouette, standing at the edge of the graveyard. Tracy looked at the black shape which began to move towards her. She stepped backwards and tripped. This time Jonathon caught her.
“Come on.” He said as he helped her to her feet.
“Who the fuck is that?” Tracy asked as she tried to make out the shape. She kept wanting it to be a human shape, but it wasn’t.
The figure took another step towards them, and Tracy managed to make out its face. She screamed.
“Who is that?” Mikey asked as he ran up to his sister and helped pull her back to the others.
“That’s an incomprehensible.” Jonathon said. “Didn’t think it’d be onto us so soon.”
“It’s a what?”
“An incomprehensible.”
“It’s face.” Tracy said. “Look at its face, Mikey.”
Mikey looked at its face, but he only saw darkness.
“Just stay down, lad.” William said as he pulled a German luger out of his coat pocket.
Mikey looked up at Jonathon.
“What is it?” Mikey asked.
“They uphold the laws.” Jonathon replied. “Basically they are the laws. The forces that maintain the status quo.”
“Keep them bones cooking.” William said. “I’ll take care of this thing.”
“First you got to give it some sort of form.” Katelyn yelled.
“I know what to bloody fucking do.” William replied. “The girl’s half way done the job for me.”
William looked at the dark shape and in it he saw a beast with a bat’s head, ram’s horns and a bear’s body. It’s hands were lobster claws and it’s feet were hoofed. It had a lion’s tail and a serpent for a penis.
“’Allo there, luv.” William said as he pointed his gun at the beast’s face.
“Do you really think that gun will do me any harm?”
“It will if I want it to.”
William then felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned to see Elizabeth holding a knife.
“Beth?” William managed to say as he fell to his knees.
She turned and ran at Katelyn who raised her hand to protect herself. Elizabeth slashed the palm of Katelyn’s hand and then laid a cut across her forearm. Katelyn cried out.
A shot was fired and Elizabeth fell to the ground.
William picked himself up, and looked back at the beast.
“It’s over.” It told him.
“No, mate, it ain’t.” William fired again and this time a whole stream of bullets came out of his pistol. They sprouted wings and teeth and attacked the beast like a swarm of angry bees. The beast swatted at them and screamed as they stung him. The beast then ran towards the iron fence of the graveyard, jumped over it and landed in the street. An 82 bus coming from the city center plowed into the beast. The bus came to a stop as if it had just hit a cement pillion. The beast pulled itself out of the wreckage and limped off.
“Christ almighty.” Mikey said as hugged his sister and looked up at Jonathon. He had tears in his eyes. “I don’t wanna be here no more, mate. I wanna go home. Please, mate. I don’t want nothing to happen to me sister. I just wanna go home.”
“Take it easy, lad.” Jonathon replied. “You’ll both be fine. You have my word.”
“You alright?” William said as he helped Katelyn to her feet.
“Not too bad.” She looked over at Elizabeth. “I never would’ve thought she’d be on their side.”
“Me neither.” William walked over and pulled Elizabeth off the ground. “Come on up here now.”
“Is that lady dead?” Mikey asked Jonathon.
“You don’t know what you’re doing.” Elizabeth said as William hauled her over to the cauldron. “I had to try and stop you. Had to kill the others.”
“Who’d you kill?” William asked as he sat her on her knees next to the cauldron.
“I beg you, William. Think about what will happen if you break the new covenant.”
William paused for a moment before he laid Elizabeth’s head over the cauldron and shot her in the neck. Katelyn screamed as Elizabeth’s blood poured into the dark liquid.
“You didn’t have to shoot her, did you?” Katelyn asked.
“They’ll be back soon enough.” William said as he took out his knife and cut the palm of his hand. “Now hold your hand over it.” Jonathon walked over and William handed him the knife. Jonathon cut the palm of his hand and the three of them emptied their blood into the cauldron.
Mikey stayed with his sister who was sobbing and disoriented. He looked up at the fence wondering when the police would arrive and saw that there were more of the black shapes.
“Hey!” He shouted. Jonathon looked over at Mikey. “Look there, mate, it’s more of those things.”
Tracy looked up at the shapes and grabbed Mikey’s shirt.
“Oh god, oh Jesus, Mikey. We’re gonna be kilt We’re gonna be bloody kilt.”
“No we won’t trace. They looking out for us. You saw how he shot that other one.”
“Mikey, ‘e just shot that lady. Shot her in her head. I seen it.”
“She tired to kill ‘em, Trace.”
The shapes moved though the fence and into the graveyard. There were so many that they blocked out everything behind them.
“Get your arses over here.” William yelled.
Mikey picked himself up and pulled his sister up with him.
“They’re gonna kill us, Mikey.” She hid her face in her brother’s shirt.
“Now, come here, lad.” William said as he reached out his hand and pulled Mikey towards the cauldron. “We need you to do something. The final piece of the spell.”
Mikey nodded.
“What you need me to do?”
“Drink some of this.” Katelyn said as she produced a large ladle and dipped it into the cauldron.
“Oh god, Mikey.” Tracy said and began to cry again.
“Drink it?”
“Aye, drink it and I’d say we only got a few more seconds for they’re on top of us.”
Katelyn handed Mikey the ladle as William rushed past him. He positioned himself in between the cauldron and the dark shapes. He pulled out his gun.
“Alright, which one of yous wants it first?” William asked as he aimed his gun at the shape nearest to him. It moved forward and in the blink of an eye batted the gun out of William’s hand.
William fell to his knees.
The dark shape placed its hand on William’s head and William turned cold and white.
“Drink it!” Jonathon yelled.
Mikey brought the ladle up to his mouth smelt it closed his eyes and then took a sip.
“More. Drink the whole bloody thing.”
Mikey swallowed the rest of the ladle full of liquid coughed and almost choked.
He turned to see that the shapes surrounded the cauldron.
“It’s over.” They said.
“No, it’s not over yet.” Jonathon replied as one of them placed its hand on his forehead. Jonathon dropped to his knees and turned pale as granite.
“Mikey.” Katelyn whispered as the shapes grabbed her. “You can…” She fell silent and collapsed to the ground.
Mikey looked at the shapes and wished that he could make them disappear.
In the next moment, the shape nearest to him came apart into a thousand smaller shapes which resembled fairies. The fairies flew around Mikey’s head and then out of the graveyard. The next shape collapsed into a legion of gnomes which upon hitting the ground scattered in all directions. The other shapes stopped and then receded into the shadows.
Mikey looked down at his sister who stared up at him.
“Did you do that?”
Mikey shrugged.
His sister stood up, and they walked over to Jonathon who lay silent on the ground next to Katelyn.
“Are they dead?”
“I don’t know. They look dead.”
They heard a grown and both of them turned.
“Bloody fucking ‘ell.” William said as he stood up.
“You alright, mate?”
“I’m a hair short of being dead, mate.”
William walked over and collapsed next to Jonathon.
“They alright?”
William glanced at Jonathon
“I think they’re a hair short of being alive, which is where I’ll be soon enough.”
Mikey stared at William.
“You did all this,” He began. “All this was so I could use magic?”
“Not just you, mate, but everyone.”
“What about the laws and all that?”
“What we did here will send out shockwaves though out the whole bloody universe, lad. We’ve taken a chisel to the foundation and cracked it wide open.”
“We did all that?”
“You see,” A voice said and Mikey and William turned to see that Jonathon had his eyes open. “The kosmos was at an unstable equilibrium point.”
“Don’t listen to him, lad. E’s a doctor. Thinks ‘e knows things when ‘e don’t.”
“So, what do we do now?” Mikey asked.
“We dump that body in the grave and shovel all the dirt back in.”
Mikey nodded.
“Um, I mean, after that.” Mikey paused. “I mean, what do I do?”
Rothbourne smiled at the boy.
“What do you do?” Rothbourne paused. “Well, lad, all I can say is that your options have just greatly increased.”
Mikey watched as Jonathon dumped Elizabeth’s body into the open grave.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about, but you just get yourself and your sister on home now. We’ll take care of this.”
Mikey nodded and looked on for a moment as the three old necromancers shoveled the dirt back into the grave. He gently picked his sister up and as he left the graveyard he could sense something in the darkness watching him, but he knew in some vague way that it was more afraid of him now than he was of it.
He smiled and found that he liked the thought of being feared.
He pulled his sister close to him as they walked up Edge Lane, and for the first time in his entire teenage life he whispered to her, “I love you.”
She looked up at him, perhaps wondering what had moved him to say this, and then without hesitation she kissed him on the cheek.
And for a moment it felt like when they were much younger. It felt like they were back in that time when they openly and completely adored one another.
To Mikey it was the greatest and most magical feeling in existence.