“Like a chess master anticipating moves?”
“Except I can only see three moves ahead.”
“Still pretty good,” I said. “Seeing three moves ahead is excellent.”
“Some of the great chess masters can see fifteen moves ahead on several branches of plays. A farsight master can see up to twenty seconds ahead on multiple branches. I’m still a novice, and a poor one at that.”
“Is that what happened on your first case?” I asked. “You looked at the wrong branch?”
“Do you always ask such personal questions?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “Especially if we are going to be facing angry Black Orchids who want to kill you—and by default, me—along with some heavy-hitting, dark mages that want Monty to go full dark.”
“Or dead,” she added. “They may just want him gone.”
“Evers isn’t exactly what I would call stable,” I said, “and this Talin sounds like he’s up there on the batshit scale with wanting to get rid of magic.”
“You have an interesting circle of acquaintances,” she answered, glancing in my direction. “Why are we going to see this Ezra? Who is he?”
“Ezra is short for Azrael,” I said. “Azrael, as in the…”
“The Angel of Death?” she scoffed. “That Azrael?”
“These days he just goes by Death…capital D.”
“You’re serious?” she asked in disbelief. “We’re going to go meet Death?”
“I think you’ll like him,” I said. “He makes a mean pastrami sandwich.”
“A pastrami sandwich?”
“The best in the city,” I said. “Hold on.”
I jumped onto the Westside Highway and headed downtown to loop around the lower half of the city. It was the fastest way to Ezra’s.
FOUR
We arrived near Ezra’s twenty minutes later.
I parked the Dark Goat about a block away from Ezra’s. Peaches bounded out as I opened his door. The Dark Goat rocked on its suspension, swaying side to side slowly.
I was seriously going to have to put him on a diet or get a Dark Goat truck. Hades never told me how large hellhounds grew, but if Cerberus was any indicator, Peaches would outgrow the Dark Goat at some point. Hopefully not too soon.
<The place!>
<Keep it calm. I’m sure Ezra will give you extra meat today…if you behave.>
<I always behave like a hellhound.>
<That’s what worries me. Try not to get too excited. You’ll scare Jessikah.>
<I will practice my furry gratificating.>
<It’s deferred…never mind. Just try to stay calm.>
He tried to sit still, practically vibrating off the ground in excitement.
“Your hellhound seems happy,” Jessikah said, giving Peaches a wide berth as she exited the Dark Goat. “He knows this place?”
“It’s one of his favorite places,” I said. “Give me a sec, I need to secure the Dark Goat.”
“Won’t it get towed?” she asked, looking around. “This is a busy street. I can’t believe you’re going to—”A loud anvil clang, followed by an orange wave of energy racing across its surface, indicated the Dark Goat was locked. A few seconds later, the full effect of Cecil’s runes could be felt. “Oh, I see. Who runed this car? What did you do to anger them so?”
“This is a SuNaTran vehicle,” I said. “I’m pretty sure it’s tow-proof. It’s been runed to prevent theft, among other things.”
“Or proximity for that matter,” Jessikah said, stepping away from the locked Dark Goat. “It feels…”
“Menacing?”
“I was going to say…evil,” she said, taking another step back. “But we could go with menacing, sure.”
“I think Cecil is punishing us, but Monty disagrees. He says…” The words gave me pause. “Monty says, Cecil just wants to figure out how to destroy the Beast.”
“This is not the Beast?” Jessikah asked, pointing to the Dark Goat. “It feels like an angry beast.”
“No, this is the Dark Goat,” I said, rubbing a hand gently over the hood. “She’s mean, and impossible to kill, but she’s not evil. The Beast…well, that one may be evil. I don’t think we need to worry about it, though. That’s Grey Sneaker’s problem.”
“Do you mean Grey Stryder?”
“You’ve heard of him?” I asked. “Owns a place downtown…a real dive.”
“Yes, he is known to the Black Orchid, as is his sword,” Jessikah answered. “He is a mage of considerable power. Several years ago, he unleashed a cast that killed a fellow mage. The Black Orchid has had him under observation ever since.”
“What kind of cast?”
“An entropic dissolution,” Jessikah answered, her voice grim. “A few levels above the void vortices Tristan unleashed on the city not long ago. Frankly, I don’t know how he’s still alive…that cast should have killed him, along with his partner.”
“He’s worse than a roach and harder to kill,” I answered, not sharing that Grey was only alive because of his sword—or at least that’s what Monty had shared with me. “Is it possible he’s stronger than the Black Orchid knows?”
“Not likely,” Jessikah said. “We keep track of all mages of interest. While there are many variables, it’s unlikely our data is incorrect. He is powerful and dangerous. The sword he wields possesses an unknown source of power. Once a mage lands on our watch list, he or she is under observation indefinitely.”
“You realize how creepy that sounds?” I asked. “Can you blame Olga for calling your sect the KGB of mages?”
“I know it sounds bad,” Jessikah replied. “But we do plenty of good. We’ve prevented many dark mages from attacking places of power, including your city.”
“Really,” I said, raising an eyebrow as I thought about the nastiness Monty and I had dealt with in the past, without ever running into a bad case of BO. “I only have one issue with self-appointed keepers of justice.”
“We weren’t self-appointed. All of the sects agreed to create the Black Orchid as a check and balance against the other sects.”
“Who watches the watchers?” I asked. “Who checks the Black Orchid when they step out of line?”
“The Black Orchid would never step out…”
She became silent as the realization of her suicide mission dawned on her.
“Exactly,” I said. “All of the sects are dangerous. Even the ones tasked with watching the others. Especially those, because they can easily
