The Diablo Ouija
by
Sophie Duncan
The Diablo Ouija - Smashwords Edition
The Haward Mysteries Short Story #1
This publication is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organisations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
Wittegen Press
Copyright 2011 by Sophie Duncan
Cover art by Natasha Duncan-Drake
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Reference No: WP000554
ISBN 978-1-908333-08-7
Dedication
Thank you to Tash and Rob for all their help and support.
~*~
Contents
~*~
Theo looked up at the shop-front: last time he had seen it, the place had been a wreck. Now a sign proudly told him, 'Esoteric Books', and warm, orange light spilled out into the dark October night from between rows and rows of shelves within.
"DCI Swanson, bane of the criminal underworld, interrogator extraordinaire, bought a book shop?" Remy asked as he stopped beside Theo on the pavement.
His twin's incredulity was not a surprise to Theo, since this had been a secret he had promised Bill Swanson he would keep.
"Not a word to the rest of the squad," Theo decided to repeat the oath he had extracted from Remy before he had shown him a picture of it on his phone for the Fade.
"Cross my heart," Remy rolled his eyes and smirked when Theo tried to fix him with a big-brother look.
More or less satisfied that his ex-partner's secret was safe with his twin, Theo crossed the wide, London pavement towards the door, that, even at 6pm, was showing 'Open'. He was forced to step back when the door was pulled inwards and two young women dressed head to toe in black and purple practically fell through the entrance, each holding a brown paper bag and giggling a little nervously. They paused and gave Theo an up and down look, which made him wish he's taken the time to fade home and change.
"Nice costume," one of them decided.
Theo smiled awkwardly, glad that the girls didn't know the guy in the poet-shirt and breeches was a police officer on duty.
"Ladies," Remy greeted them with none of Theo's reticence, leaning half over Theo's back and left shoulder.
The girls' eyes widened and Theo knew they were admiring the glamour Remy was wearing.
"OO, teeth and sparkles, you can both come to our party if you like," the more forward of the two girls invited and made eyes mainly at Remy.
"Thank you, but we're expected elsewhere," Theo answered quickly before Remy could reply.
The young woman pouted her black-stained lips, took her friend's hand and, looking them up and down once more, replied, "Pity."
Then, with one last smile at Remy, she led her companion off down the street. Remy remained lounging over Theo's back and when Theo glanced at him, his brother's mouth was hanging open so he could just see the tips of the fangs Remy had lengthened for the night.
"Unless you want Swanson to laugh you out of his shop, drop the glittering," Theo shrugged Remy off him and took hold of the door handle.
Pushing inwards, he was followed by the tinkle of a bell and, "Oh, and I suppose he's going to be fine with your ghostly Byron impression is he?"
Theo ignored the quip and felt Remy's magic shrug off the glamour as Remy shadowed him into the shop. As soon as he was inside, the musty scent of old books hit Theo, reminding him of the library back at Blackwood and he sensed magic permeating the shelves here as well. There was a desk piled with books and what Theo thought was an old-fashioned, manual cash register somewhere underneath the varied collection of old and new tomes, but the chair behind it was empty. A much more ordinary-looking, red-headed young woman than the costumed two who had just left was sitting behind a computer, half hidden behind one of the bookshelves on the other side of the room, but she did not look up from whatever task she was on.
"The Prof will be with you in a moment," she told them, eyes on her screen.
"Prof – are we in the right place?" Remy murmured into Theo's ear.
Theo didn't bother to reply. They didn't have long to wait, although the man who strode towards them from the back of the shop was not the forever suited and booted DCI Swanson who had shown Theo the ropes in the SeCT Murder Squad. The figure had Swanson's face, which was at that moment, looking down at an open book, but where there had once been a buzz-cut, long, grey hair fell around the man's engrossed expression, and contacts had been replaced by half-moon spectacles. Coupled with a pair of rather worn old brown cords and a fading T-shirt sporting the monolith of an owl, the whole impression went much more with the title the girl had given Theo's ex-mentor than any memory Theo had of the man. The change left him shocked and Theo couldn't help himself, he was staring when Swanson walked blindly up to him and finally looked up.
The book snapped shut and a smile slowly crept over the older man's features.
"Theo," he greeted.
"Sir," Theo replied, automatically falling back on old formalities.
"Now, what did I say the last time we met?"
"Hello, Bill," Theo forced himself into the new convention, but he could see Swanson's attention drifting past his ear, so he chose to leave behind the pleasantries, "this isn't a social call."
Swanson backed off, putting the book behind him on the sales' table. The man's face straightened and he glanced between the twins.
"From the look of you two, no time to hang around either?" Swanson showed he hadn't lost any of his reasoning skills.
Theo shook his head in agreement and asked, "Is there somewhere we can talk in private?"
"Chloe, mind the shop for me," Swanson called to the girl at the computer and turned back the way he had come.
The girl made a face, but did wave what had to be an affirmative.
"Chloe is my computer guru and manages my online store for me. You know what I was like with computers," Swanson told Theo as he followed him towards the back of the surprisingly long room.
"I remember them being a mystery to you whenever there was a report to write, Sir," Theo returned, emphasis on 'sir'.
Swanson chuckled, a deep and much more relaxed sound than Theo had ever heard from him at work on a case.
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Remy joined in, slapping Theo on the back.
"Finally got yourself saddled with the reprobate, I see," Swanson quipped and glanced over his shoulder as he took hold of the door handle of an office hidden at the back of the shop. "Didn't anyone else want him?"
Theo didn't say anything, he just allowed himself a ghost of a smirk as Remy audibly ruffled behind him. Swanson winked at him and then led them all into the office. The light flicked on with a small rub on the charm around Swanson's neck and he crossed to a chair that had been pushed under the desk in the corner. Swanson sat down a little heavily, puffing as he did so, which caught Theo off guard again. His disquiet had to have been showing on his face, because when Swanson looked up at him, the man showed his disapproval.
"We all get old, Boy, even if you and yours will take longer to get there than the rest of us."
Swanson had been one of their few fellow police officers who had not thrown their Natural Magic User status back at the twins, so the jibe dug a little deeper than normal for Theo. However, he had more important things to think about, so he grabbed the spare chair in the room, sitting down opposite Swanson and left his brother to stand at the door, which Remy had already closed. Swanson blinked and moved on from the moment with, "So, what is so important you turn up on my doorstep on Hallowe'en, one of my busiest trading nights?"
Remy pulled out a small laptop from one of the oversized pockets on the oversized coat he was wearing, opened it and handed it to Swanson.
"The Diablo Ouija has been stolen from the dangerous evidence store and three teenagers are already dead," Theo revealed the reason he and Remy had been called in on a planned night off.
A palpable silence fell as Swanson adjusted his glasses and flicked through the crime-scene images Remy had given him. Theo watched, the knot that had started in his belly on discovery of the victims growing tighter. The Diablo case had been his first experience of hunting a serial killer, twelve victims, all killed in threes over four nights, starting on Hallowe'en two years ago. The whole squad had been involved, led by Swanson as SIO and it had been Swanson and Theo who had tracked down one Raymond Holiday. At least, Swanson had given Theo some of the credit for the collar, but, in truth, Theo had not been present during what had turned out to be a deadly battle between the experienced detective and the vicious killer. They had never spoken of the details of that night, only bare facts, enough to satisfy the investigators who had made sure the use of deadly magic had been warranted to save Holiday's last three victims and Theo had always known there had been more to the encounter than just a rescue. The secret was in Swanson's eyes as he finally looked back up at Theo.
"I'm retired, Theo," Swanson began, shutting the computer and pulling off his glasses.
"And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important, Bill," Theo challenged earnestly.
Swanson sat stiffly, clearly uncomfortable, but Theo would not back down: he met his old mentor's gaze steadily, letting him see the concern that had been churning his belly since DSI Sato had called him and Remy in almost two hours ago. Eventually, Swanson looked down at the closed computer and huffed.
"So what is it you want?" the man muttered, his voice gruff with the discomfort that was still in the set of his shoulders.
Theo didn't allow himself to relax, instead, he glanced at Remy. With a small nod, his brother backed up to the door, took hold of the handle and then was gone.
"I need to know what happened, Bill," Theo cut right to the point.
Swanson bristled and objected, "You know what happened, you were there."
"The room was locked, I was outside. You were in there with Holiday for twenty minutes. I need to know what he said, there might be something that could lead us to the copycat, and I need to know why you took him out," Theo replied as calmly as he could.
"Holiday had the kids hostage, it was the only way," Bill returned, too quickly, and he would not meet Theo's gaze.
"There are three more on the slab now, Bill, and there will be more unless we can find Holiday's copycat. Did he mention a fan when you were with him, anyone who could have decided to pick up where he left off?" Theo started to dig for specifics, just as Swanson had taught him.
Bill shook his head.
"Raymond Holiday was a loner all the way. The only thing he cared about was that spirit board and feeding it with..." he stopped before he finished his sentence and shook his head. "No way he was training a disciple."
"What did Holiday say?" Theo pressed as he watched Bill's resistance waning.
"A lot of hocus pocus twaddle," Bill dismissed with a wave of his hand, but Theo could see the look in the man's eyes and it said Swanson was not as sure of himself as he was making out.
"Bill," Theo challenged.
Swanson looked up finally then and he huffed, but Theo saw the break in the other man's composure and he knew the truth would be forthcoming.
"That boy knew nothing about our kind of magic," Bill finally spoke with a frustrated tone to his voice and waved the source around his neck at Theo to make his point. "When I got into that room he had the kids tied to the chairs around the Ouija board, just like the report says and he was intoning at the board with its ghastly devil doll standing over it, but it wasn't Grail, wasn't even any language I'd ever heard, just made up gibberish and he wasn't controlling that board."
Bill rubbed his face and shook his head again, something akin to disbelief in his expression. Theo had seen how hard the case had hit his mentor at the time, but he had had no idea that night still stayed with Swanson.
"You called to him, I heard you, and that is when the door slammed on me," Theo decided to move things along.
Bill seemed grateful for the support and paused a moment, regarding Theo carefully. Finally he continued with a short nod, "Holiday did that, dived for the door and locked it, threw the key across the room. I went to try and grab him, but he had a knife, so I backed off and he started yammering at me about souls and that it was too late, that the board would have its fill. I tried reasoning with him, then I tried a little magical persuasion, but it bounced right off; he wasn't using any magic of his own, but the bloody board protected him."
Swanson sounded like he was trying not to believe what he was saying, but he was sincere and Theo just listened.
"He kept me going for a long time, pacing around the back of the room away from the board, waving his knife, threatening himself and me if I even tried to check on his victims. In the end though, I realised he'd been playing me for a fool, giving the board time to warm up. The doll dropped the planchette on the board and I felt the magic spike. In all my days, I'd never seen anything like that board. The magic was totally autonomous. This blue-white mist rose up from in, spreading out towards the kids and they didn't move at all, like they were in its thrall. I couldn't let it take them, so I balled up all the energy I had in my talisman and aimed it into a fire spell. I went for the board, but Holiday yelled as I let the flames rip and dived in front of the whole bloody expression. He went up like a roman candle."
Bill ran his fingers through his wild hair and shifted awkwardly, the pain of remembering it in his face.
"There was nothing I could do, I just watched as he started screaming and he fell back onto the board, knocked it away from the kids. I grabbed their chairs and pulled them away further. I'd tapped out my talisman with the expression, had no power left to put the flames out, but the white mist wrapped itself around Holiday and he stopped moving. The fire just went out like it had been doused with water, didn't even touch the board and then that damn doll moved. I swear it looked up at me and the kids from where it was half bent over Holiday and its arm, the mechanical one that held the planchette, it lifted up like it was pointing at us. Then the magic was gone."
Bill ran out of words, but Theo felt there was something more his friend was having difficulty expressing. Swanson had never been an overly emotional police officer and the man was keeping himself under rigid control as Theo watched him, but Bill had been unable to keep the horror out of his words. The death of a suspect was unusual, but not unheard of and the investigation had cleared Swanson of any wrong-doing, but it wasn't guilt that Theo could see. Still, looking at a dead end enquiry, he couldn't afford for Bill to hide anything.
"What's the matter?" Theo prompted.
Bill looked at him through his fringe.
"You're going to think I'm nuts," Bill replied.
"Try me," Theo responded immediately, not the first time he and Swanson had thrown around odd ideas.
Bill sat up straighter at that and assessed Theo again. He made his decision and began, "Our report said Holiday was using the board to drain power from his victims."
"Standard magical parasitic attack," Theo nodded.
"Then why were only two out of the fifteen victims magic users, and only one of them was a Natural?"
"Holiday didn't know what he was doing," Theo responded with the explanation that had made sense at the time.
"Okay, suppose he didn't know how to spot a Natural, why did he kill his victims when he could have left them alive and used them again?"
"Incompetence."
Bill shook his head vigorously this time.
"No, killing them was deliberate."
Bill stopped, on the cusp of admitting his thoughts and so Theo stayed very still, not wanting to stop him. Swanson took in a deep breath.
"He wanted their souls."
Ice sliced down Theo's spine and every sensible thought in his head denied Bill's statement. Souls were the realm of religion, not magic. However, before his denial could make it to his mouth, Bill held up a hand and continued, "Think about it: it's a spirit board, designed to commune with dead people. Why make a board like that with magic unless you're trying to mix the two?"
"No," Theo dismissed the idea. "We can measure magic, it's real, it exists: ghosts are stories to scare children. And even if they did exist, how do you mix real and ethereal?"
Bill slumped back in his chair and held out the computer.
"Alright, don't think about it. Only other thing I have to offer is, look to the survivors, they were exposed to that thing for hours before we got there and that thing leaves it mark," he finished.
Theo took the computer and the dismissal, standing up as he did so.
"Thanks, Bill," he nodded to his ex-mentor.
"Next time, make it a social call," the man replied, half a smile on his lips.
Theo managed a watery smile back and then headed to the door.
"And Theo," the call brought him to a halt and he glanced at Bill once more; the man was sombre, "be careful."
~*~
Remy didn't like leaving his twin to chat to Swanson on his own, but he knew it was the best way. Still, after he closed the door on Theo and Swanson he stalked back down the shop. He wasn't really angry with Theo for keeping secrets: he knew a few about his ex-partner, Richards, that he hadn't shared with his twin either, but the whole bookshop thing was a big one. Add to that the way Theo had been tight-lipped about the case since they'd been summoned by Sato and it left Remy on edge. He ran a distracted eye over the ranks of books that Swanson had stuffed into every available spot in the shop, but he couldn't stop his mind coming back to Swanson and the dodgy enquiry that had followed Holiday's death. It couldn't be that bad, Theo was too straight-laced to keep quiet about anything criminal, but there was definitely something that had generated suspicion in his big brother's eyes and Remy wanted to know what it was.
Still, he wasn't about to eavesdrop: Swanson was too wily to let magic seep into his office without noticing, so Remy set his sights on finding out more about the retired DCI whom he had often spent afternoons verbally sparring with. The premise also gave him a good excuse to wander back towards Chloe, who was rather cute in a geek princess sort of way. The shop was still empty, which made Remy wonder what was a non-busy trading day for Swanson, but that meant Chloe was still deep in concentration over her laptop and Remy moved up behind her.
Remy didn't take much notice of the screen, only enough to work out it was some kind of code.
"Looks complicated," he announced his presence.
To his surprise, Chloe did not jump, look up or giggle, any of which would have given him an in. Instead, she told him flatly, "I'm updating the firewall for the website. We had M-hackers last week and they nearly got through the defensive expressions."
"Nearly, but not quite – you must be good," Remy tried a compliment.
"Most of it is off the shelf, common sense, no more," Chloe sighed her disinterest in him, which would have dented Remy's ego if he'd been trying at all.
"Now I know Swanson and he wouldn't employ just any hack, he always goes after the best," Remy turned on the charm and leant on the edge of the desk just to the side of his quarry. "He said you are his computer guru."
His move more or less forced Chloe to look at him and as soon as she looked up, Remy smiled. He was given a frown for his trouble, but Chloe did not look away.
"You're police?" she checked, pushing a rather attractive pair of purple-rimmed glasses back up her nose.
Remy nodded.
"What do you want with the Prof, he's retired?" Chloe sounded protective.
"Oh, just checking up on the details of an old case, help from an old colleague," Remy dismissed with a wave of his hand and another winning smile.
Chloe seemed to settle a bit then and her cheeks coloured as Remy continued to smile.
"So you run the Prof's website for him?" Remy dived in, settling his arse on the edge of the table.
Chloe nodded and glanced back at the screen. It flicked into another tab and Remy was shown a dark background proclaiming, 'Prof's Esoteric Books and Artefacts'. The girl then looked back up at him, the ghost of a smile on her face as Remy put on his interested expression.
"It's nothing really, just a small e-commerce app," Chloe told him, a finger going to her pigtail and twirling self-consciously.
"That doesn't look small to me," Remy flattered. "I bet it's what keeps this place afloat."
It was a guess based on the lack of traffic in the shop, but a quick nod and, if Remy was not mistaken, a breathy giggle, confirmed his suspicions.
"So, how did you come to be saving the Prof's business, then?"
Chloe finally turned in her seat away from the computer and looked up at Remy properly.
"I like to think a friend brought us together," Chloe revealed, a smile or her lips, but sadness in her eyes, "but you might think it's morbid."
"Oh yes?" Remy kept his expression non-descript, but his interest was flaring.
"We met at a funeral."
Chloe bit her lip and Remy tried very hard not to let his eyebrows hit his hairline.
"Well, it's usually weddings," he eventually had to say something to Chloe's unsure expression and he smiled.
She relaxed and continued, "We were both non-family, outsiders, and we got talking. Prof gave me his card and told me I was free to visit anytime. That was last year. I took up the invitation and then I kept coming back. He can charm the pants off anyone, that man."
Chloe leant in conspiratorially, giving Remy a rather good view right down her skinny t-shirt.
"Oh yeah, I've seen him in action," Remy agreed with a laugh and was rewarded with a hand-covered, rosy-cheeked giggle that made him wonder if Swanson had done more than just charm the girl.
"Anyway," Chloe leant back again, which was rather disappointing for Remy, "I'm a student at the college down the road, IT, and I saw the state of his old website. I couldn't leave it like that and so Prof offered me a job."
"You're here most nights then?" Remy checked and Chloe's pale features went almost beetroot, which confirmed his suspicions. "The Prof is lucky to have you around. Why do you call him the Prof?"
The relief at the offered out showed on Chloe's face and she gabbled quickly, "Oh, he teaches some classes at the college, History of Magic, Ancient Artefacts, stuff like that and, well, you've seen how he dresses."
Remy grinned and nodded: the transformation had been a surprise.
"Artefacts, really?" he began to follow his nose into the conversation.
"Prof is an expert on medieval, semi-religious, magical relics," Chloe nodded solemnly, which revealed a whole new side to Swanson Remy had never known existed. "He's written two books on the subject."
"Wow, when did that start?" Remy tried to sound nonchalantly interested, even though his spidey sense was tingling.
"He told me he'd started to be interested when he was still in the Murder Squad," Chloe showed no signs of noticing Remy was digging, "something about a case that of course he's not allowed to talk about."
Remy nodded agreement and waited for the girl to continue. However, they both heard the office door open and Remy stood as Theo came into view.
"Thanks for keeping me company, Chloe," Remy applied a little more charm and half-bowed to the girl and then fell in beside Theo as they headed out of the shop.
"Learn anything?" Theo asked Remy as soon as they were on the street
"Only that Swanson is sleeping with his shop assistant and now has an expert knowledge in old artefacts," Remy replied.
Theo frowned, which did for any amusement in Remy.
"That would explain the odd ideas, I suppose."
"Odd ideas?" Remy checked.
"Doesn't matter," Theo shrugged. "Swanson did have one good idea, go see the survivors. He said they were in thrall to the board for a long time and might have been influenced."
"Back to base?"
Theo nodded and, walking out of the street light into the shadow of the shop wall, Remy let his magic out and felt his body grow light.
~*~
Theo came out of the Fade with a sense of foreboding: the building in front of him was an old warehouse on the river and it was an unlikely address for Felix Alinson, one of Holiday's survivors, but that is what the computer had provided.
"This does not look good," Remy sounded Theo's disquiet for him. "Wanna call for backup?"
"We need more than our feelings to go on. Let's check it out first," Theo decided, his talk with Swanson giving him the shivers all the same.
"You okay?" Remy checked for the umpteenth time since they'd left the bookshop.
"Overactive imagination," Theo replied, looking up at the broken windows that were reflecting the distant lights of London. "Swanson was going on about ghosts and I must have let it get to me."
"Ghosts and you didn't think to share this before?!" Remy objected.
"It was just a hypothesis, and anyway, magic needs somebody living to direct it," Theo tried to be sensible, even though in the face of the hulking old building his non-logical thoughts were having a field day.
"You and I both know strange stuff happens all the time at Blackwood," Remy countered, clearly more willing to follow the flight of fancy than Theo.
"We live in a magical epicentre, of course stuff happens," Theo countered.
"You know what I mean," Remy growled back through gritted teeth.
Theo just gave his brother a stern look for that, neither of them needed histrionics if they were going to locate Felix and either eliminate him from the enquiry or arrest him. Remy fidgeted under his gaze, made a face, but finally grumbled, "Alright, let's get in there, but if that bloody Ouija thingy goes all phantasmagorical on our arse, I get the 'I told you so's for the next 50 years."
Ignoring Remy, Theo led the way up towards what looked like it had once been a loading bay. The steps up the side were crumbling concrete and the metal handrail wobbled when he put his fingers on it. Carefully, he let his magical senses out in front of him, but the hatch to which they were heading was as dark to his talents as it was to his eyes. Leaving the vague lighting of the open ground behind, Theo pulled out a small torch and flicked it on. The blue-white light lit up a corrugated metal shutter in their way, however, one side was buckled inwards from some previous entry attempt.
"Can you make that bigger without blowing a hole in it?" Theo turned to Remy and indicated the half-made gap.
Remy rolled his eyes, but then held out his hand. With his senses still open, Theo's world lit up yellow with Remy's power for a moment and Theo heard metal groaning. As the magic faded back to background level, Theo blinked and was greeted by a gap, highlighted in a vague yellow glow, now big enough for them to slide through.
"Thanks," he nodded to Remy and then ducked into the building.
Theo stumbled forward as his torch beam disappeared into wide-open blackness ahead. He could feel the space around him, even though he couldn't see it and the unknown brought Theo to a stop, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. He was glad when Remy stopped beside him and they both stood there a moment, listening to each other's breathing. A long way away, a boat's horn echoed down the river, but it was faint compared with the immense silence in front of him and Theo blinked into the shadows that swirled outside the reach of his torch.
"Nice place Felix has," Remy muttered. "Tell me again why we didn't pick one of the survivors to visit who lives in a nice ordinary semi?"
There were no signs of habitation in the near vicinity, not even someone living rough, so Theo let sense and his nerves get the better of him.
"Maybe we should wait for backup."
He and Remy turned in unison and Remy made a step towards the exit first. However, the jangle of a chain overhead caught Theo's attention and, on pure instinct, he grabbed Remy's voluminous jacket and yanked backwards. Remy smashed into him and they staggered more sideways than backwards, but as they vacated the spot a large crate crashed down in their place, throwing musty air and splintering wood out over them.
"Bloody hell!" Remy exclaimed, stuttering to a halt and sinking into a defensive position, magic flaring in Theo's senses.
However, the only thing that greeted them as the smash echoed away to nothing was a cackle of laughter.
"Felix?" Theo called, ice running up and down his spine.
"Well, we're in the right place then," Remy relaxed out of his fighting stance when nobody appeared and glanced back at the wreckage of crate and contents that was now blocking their exit.
Theo took his phone from his pocket and unlocked it.
"Bollocks," he swore as it blinked 'no signal' at him. He held it up for Remy to see and told him, "We're on our own."
"I'll save the 'I told you so's for later," Remy told him and scowled.
Theo was saved from eating humble pie when any more discussion was interrupted by the sound of running feet heading away from them. He was on his toes immediately and Remy stayed right next to his shoulder, which, when running blind into the inky blackness was one hell of a comfort. The hard slap of his leather boots on the concrete drowned out the soft pads of their quarry, but Theo felt the world close down around him and his torch beam began to pick out flashes of shelving on both sides, forcing them straight towards the back of the building.
"Felix Alinson, police!" Theo tried again, but his voice just echoed off the rising struts of metal that had them confined.
"I don't like this," Remy warned and as if to prove him right, suddenly the torch lit up the recesses of another large crate immediately in front of them.
Theo skidded to a halt and half turned, but not in time to stop him from slamming into the crate, shoulder first. His whole body jarred and the wind flew out of him, leaving him gasping and, what was worse, the small torch went sailing up and onto the top of the crate. Theo didn't have enough breath to swear again, but in the stream of light now streaking over their heads, he could see the grimace on his twin's face that expressed everything he was feeling. Remy was hunched over, his hand to his nose and it took Theo a moment to realise that his brother had not been as lucky as him in the collision: Remy's nose was bleeding. Quickly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of tissues, fumbling with them in the shadows below the crate.
"Here," he offered out the two that came out at once.
Remy took the tissues, putting the whole clump to his nose and glaring at Theo.
"Next time I say 'back up', Mr Brand New DI, we're calling them," Remy growled.
Theo stayed silent and let the ire run out of Remy: it didn't take long, it never did between them, and then Remy sagged against the crate.
"Well, can you reach the torch?" he grumbled the last of the pique at Theo.
The crate was nearly as tall as them and Theo had to stand on tiptoe to look over the top. What he saw was disappointing: the crate was as wide as it was tall and the torch was teetering on the other side.
"Give me a leg up," Theo replied.
Remy huffed and checked the tissues. The nose-bleed appeared to be over, so he stuffed the tissues in his pocket and, linking his fingers, put his palms out to Theo. A quick step and a hoist and then Theo was belly-over the top of the crate. However, he was just putting his knee up onto the scratchy wooden planks to pull himself the rest of the way when he saw a flash of white caught in the torch beam. Theo realised it was a gloved hand when the fingers closed around their only source of light and snatched it off of its perch.
"No!" Theo yelled, lunging at where the torch and thief had been, but he only touched empty air.
What light there was went out completely then and, frustrated, but blind, Theo could only listen to those footsteps running away from him again accompanied by spine-chilling laughter.
"What? What?" Remy demanded, sounding so close he had to be half hanging off the crate.
"Torch is gone," Theo replied and heard Remy hiss.
However, it was the distinct jangle of chain from immediately overhead that caught his attention and it meant more than any alarm bell. The strange positioning of the box had been suspicious, but with his associations to that noise, Theo's flight instinct kicked in.
"Back!" he yelled at Remy and then dived forward off the crate.
~*~
Remy staggered backwards as Theo's boot nearly caught him in the face and his brother's order jarred through him. He felt a rush of air and then his world erupted with a second, almighty crash of wood on wood and he was knocked off his already unsteady feet. Alarm daggered through him as he realised the impact had been where Theo had been kneeling and, protocol out of the window, he let his magic flare in his hand, fire ripping from his palm and lighting up his surroundings. He was faced with a twisted mess of two large crates and contents totally blocking the gangway and no sign of Theo. Clambering to his feet, he tried to find a way round or over the barrier, but it was an impassable, splintered mess, so he started pulling out pieces, looking through gaps and called, "Theo, Theo!"
He was relieved when he heard swearing coming from the other side and relaxed a little, but his heart was still hammering and he wanted to see his twin.
"Theo, are you alright?" he demanded rather more gruffly than he intended.
Theo appeared from the darkness on the other side, his hair was everywhere and it looked like he'd taken a header into a pile of dust, but he seemed more annoyed than injured.
"We've lost the deposit on my costume," Theo told him, showing him a rip in the sleeve of his shirt, "but apart from that, I'm fine."
Satisfied that Theo was unharmed, Remy's thoughts turned to their predicament.
"Anyone would think that Felix was expecting visitors," he snarked, stepping back a little and looking up at the mess.
A smaller, blue light flared from the other side of the blockage and, feeling a little bit safer sensing his big brother working magic, Remy just waited for a verdict.
"There's no getting past this," Theo eventually called.
"I'll Fade to you," Remy called.
"No, let's split up, we can cover more ground that way," Theo countered quickly. "You go back the way we came, take a look round the rest of the warehouse. I'll carry on this way: there should be offices at the back here somewhere, I'll check them out."
"You have seen horror movies," Remy objected, not liking that idea at all, "when the victim wanders off alone into the haunted mansion."
"This is real life, Little Bro," Theo sounded very much like he was rolling his eyes.
"Just saying..." Remy grumbled, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as he thought about heading back down the pitch black aisle on his own: he wasn't normally scared of the dark, but ever since Theo had mentioned ghosts, the place had been giving him the heebie geebies.
"Do your job, Detective Constable, and if you find anything, send up a flare."
"Yes, Sir!" Remy barked back, annoyed at the way Theo was pulling rank.
"And be careful," Theo finished, the concern in his voice quickly undermining Remy's annoyance.
"You too," he called back and then turned to look down the way they had come.
The place was as dark as he'd ever known an investigation site, no windows, no skylights just a blackness so deep it swirled in front of his eyes just out of reach of his raw magic torch. Remy pulled back on his magic and the flames receded, leaving a low glow and that was when he noticed it, a faint change in the colour of the darkness, a small, greenish tinge. Remy let his light go out completely as it got in the way of what he was seeing and, blinking a couple of times, the green glow resolved out of the inky surroundings. It took Remy a moment to realise it was so faint because it was moving away and that it was fading still and, hoping there was a suspect at the end of that shimmer, he began to trot down the aisle, using his hand to guide himself down the shelving.
Luckily for Remy, the light did not fade completely and he discovered the reason it had faded at all was because its owner had moved through a gap in the shelving and when he reached it, the green glow was really quite strong from the other side. It wasn't an official break in the regimented warehouse aisle, only a gap between two large bundles of something and, carefully, Remy climbed through. Cobwebs and dust cascaded into his face as the soft bundles gave to his passage, making his eyes water badly and his thoughts bemoan the effect on his carefully coifed hair. He stumbled out the other side, trying not to look like a myopic idiot, but he couldn't see very well at all as the water in his eyes broke his world into lots of misty pieces, each lit by their own bit of green.
"Police," he announced to where he thought the source of the light was, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve as he did so.
He was given no response, only a dimming of the light as it began to move away from him and, still clearing the painful dust, Remy called, "Wait."
The light's owner was not taking orders, however, and, as he blinked away the remnants of the dust, Remy only saw the back-glow disappearing around another corner.
"Dammit," Remy growled, pausing and beginning to wonder if this was another of Alinson's traps.
Still, the shimmer was disappearing with every second and Remy knew he couldn't afford to lose his quarry, so, rippling his magic under his skin, just to make himself feel a little safer, Remy set off after the light again.
~*~
Theo found the offices he was looking for up a long flight of metal steps that ran up the back wall of the warehouse. He kept the light he was generating in his palm to a low blue, mimicking the torch he had been carrying just in case they were dealing with anyone outside of the magical community and it lit up just enough of the steps that he could see where he was going. However, it left a big black void to his left over the hand rail and left him feeling like he was rising up into unconnected space. It was a very strange feeling that made his stomach turn and Theo was glad when he finally reached for the door at the top of the stairs.
The door was not locked and Theo pushed it in, remaining to one side, checking the area for anyone hostile. He shone his light into the room, directing it like a torch beam and sweeping it across the darkness. One side to the other: a chair, a bent old desk lamp, a filing cabinet. Back the other way: a desk with one drawer open, a coat stand, a puff of white. Theo's hair stood on end and he swung the light upwards rather too quickly. It swept past a face, Theo was almost sure, a face so white it shone in the beam, eyes dark hollows. Alarmed, Theo re-aimed his light, flaring its intensity, but where there had been the mask-like face, now there was nothing but empty darkness.
Theo swallowed hard. Unsure of what he had seen, his mind trying to make sense of the flash of white and the deathly face, he took a moment to let his heart rate settle before he swept the room once more. There was nothing there except old office furniture. Kicking himself for his own imagination, but not able to completely settle again, Theo went inside.
"Alinson, Felix Alinson," he called, more for his own benefit than to actually garner a response.
Theo wasn't expecting an answer.
"Welcome, Detective Haward," a deep male voice greeted from his left.
Theo swung round, light flaring with his nerves, and what he found looking at him from atop the desk made him step back rapidly. He knew the devil doll from the spirit board immediately: the leering grin over its pointed beard and its horrible, yellow eyes had been etched into his brain from the moment he had broken into the room and found it bent over the dead body of Raymond Holiday. To see it standing alone, unsupported by the framework of the board, sent ice slicing down Theo's spine and it stalled him into inactivity, his dread growing when, slowly, its chin lifted and he knew it was looking directly at him.
"Time to pay the price, Policeman," the large voice boomed from the small mannequin and disbelief protected Theo as he recognised the voice he had only heard in muffled ranting behind a reinforced door.
"Raymond?" he had to speak his suspicion, but in no more than a whisper.
A chuckle greeted him, the same one that had echoed out in the darkened warehouse and slowly the doll's arm came up, pointing at him.
"Time to die," Holiday snarled.
That threat kicked Theo back into gear. However, it was too late. He heard a rustle behind him and turned in time to see a streak of white, but then something hit him in the arm and in another second a shock of pain ran out through his body. He only realised it was a Taser as his knees buckled under him and his teeth locked. Theo crumpled, his last, horrified thought the white, expressionless mask of his attacker watching him go down.
~*~
Following the light which always kept one turn ahead of him was getting old for Remy, but there was something compelling about the green glow that he could not fathom, but which kept him following. He'd followed his guide down countless rows of industrial shelving in a pattern that rivalled the maze back at Blackwood and his patience was finally reaching breaking point.
"Felix Alinson!" he called for a last time, having had no response the first dozen times he'd called out.
However, as he turned the final corner, his world opened out. No more shelves, no more long-deserted warehouse items and he walked into the green glow he had been following lighting up an open space. It had to be magic, but a quick squint showed Remy nothing about its origin and quickly his attention was drawn by something hanging from a girder. The light was still dim, so Remy approached cautiously to make out what it was, and when the grey-green shadows revealed their contents, he came to a smart halt about 5 foot from his centre of interest. The rope which he had thought held something dangling from its end was in fact only rope and the bulk at the bottom was a noose. The rope was swinging slightly and the hairs on Remy's neck stood up as he realised there was no air movement causing it.
"Felix?" Remy asked the empty space, not liking the feeling that was creeping up his spine.
The rope stopped. Remy took a rapid step backwards.
"No way," he denied. "Felix, what magic are you messing with?"
The rope started to swing again. That was too much and Remy turned on his heel. However, as he did so, the green glow pulsed and then he heard a fluttering of paper. Remy could not stifle an involuntary shudder as slowly, like it was being teased by that same non-existent breeze, a piece of newsprint floated slowly to the ground. Whatever magic was in play, Remy's imagination was doing overtime, but when he looked around, his senses open, he could still find no source.
"Alright," he muttered and, bending down to pick up what he could see was a newspaper article, agreed, "I'll play, for now."
He squinted at the print in the dull light: it was the front page of some local paper and the headline read, 'Student Suicide After Hostage Trauma'. The photograph underneath was of a smiling youth and when Remy recognised him as Felix, the prickling of his skin grew worse. Still, he read on.
'Felix Alinson, a first year IT student at The University of Mid-London, was found hanged in the old Lawson Warehouse yesterday. His parents said that Felix, 19, had never recovered from the trauma of being kidnapped by the serial killer, Raymond Holiday, suffering from depression...'
Remy had read enough and he dropped the paper. He looked up and over his shoulder at the noose, which, once again, was hanging stock still and he was absolutely certain he was not alone. Closing his eyes, he did the only thing that would keep him sane, he thought of Theo. He had never felt such relief as his body went light and he entered the Fade.
Remy opened his eyes as he came out of the Fade, but there was not much to see, just blackness. He flared his own magic again and then any ethereal dread turned into very real concern, because he lit up Theo. His twin was sitting in a sturdy-looking wooden chair, his head lolling forward, his position only being held because of ropes around his torso and his wrists. However, Remy only managed one step towards Theo before a dig in his shoulder precursored a shock that sent his senses spinning. Confused and afraid, Remy pitched forward and passed out.
~*~
Theo coughed and lifted his head rapidly from his chest, his thoughts full of the last image he had seen before collapsing. However, as he reared, his body jarred, coming up against tough resistance that dug through his thin shirt. He came to a halt, distracted and breathing hard and trying to get his senses to catch up with whatever had happened. He blinked and looked around, but the room was black and he could see nothing. Panic was his first reaction as he found himself tied to a heavy chair that had not even shifted with his movements. His wrists were fixed to the arms, his ankles to the legs and his torso was wrapped in half a dozen turns of rope, making deep breaths difficult. However, then he heard a moan, very definitely from his twin and not very far away, and the panic sank behind worry.
"Remy?" he checked in a hiss, not wanting to alert his blank-faced captor.
"Ugh," was the only response.
"Remy!" Theo snarled a little louder, anxious for a better reply.
"He'll be back with us soon," a voice Theo had not expected to hear told him dryly.
"Bill?"
For one horrified moment, Swanson and his attacker became one and the same, and many hours of trust threatened to evaporate. However, suddenly, a light flicked on immediately overhead and his true predicament hit him. He was tied into one of three chairs that were arranged around a small table. On that table sat the Diablo Ouija, fully equipped with its demonic dolly holding the planchette. The other two seats were occupied, one by Remy, still coming round, opposite him and Swanson in the one to his right. He glanced at his ex-mentor and was given a grimace in return. The man's hair was tangled and one of the lenses of his glasses was broken.
"What happened?" he asked, looking around, but not able to see any movement in the circle of light the hooded shade created.
"Got jumped in the shop," Swanson replied.
"Who?" Theo mouthed rather than asked.
As if in reply, the devil doll, slumped in its cradle at the edge of the board, slowly lifted its head.
"Gentlemen, so good of you to join me," Holiday's voice appeared to come out of the mannequin and set Theo's teeth on edge.
"Where are you, who is doing this?" Theo demanded, ignoring the doll and looking once more for the source of the manipulation.
"Don't you recognise me, Detective Haward?" the doll asked, looking in his direction.
"Raymond Holiday is dead," Theo told the room in general.
Laughter greeted his statement, echoing around the dark space.
"Oh, limited little policeman, for all your magic, you understand nothing. I go on."
Theo refused to believe that and glared at the painted, unmoving yellow eyes.
"Dolls don't steal themselves," Theo retorted and glanced at Swanson for some back up.
Yet, his ex-partner was staring at the doll with something near resignation.
"I had a little help," the doll continued to speak with Holiday's voice and looked over its own shoulder.
Theo followed the move and finally was given a full look at the ghost that had assaulted him as a figure stepped into the light. The blank expression was in fact a white mask surrounded by a close-fitting black hood. That disappeared into a ruff that flopped over the owner's shoulders. The mask showed one, small, black tear drop and the clothes went with it, a loose-fitting, pierrot clown costume: it was the clothing Felix Alinson had been wearing on the night he had been kidnapped from the student party he had been attending.
"Felix?" Theo didn't want to believe that the quiet youth was behind the mask.
"What?" Swanson surprised him with the incredulity and he glanced his way. "Felix Alinson?"
Theo nodded.
"That boy is dead," Swanson sighed.
Theo's brain skipped past the part where the police computer had not known that and on to the more urgent question of, "Then who?"
"Chloe," Remy announced that he was much more awake than he had shown as he raised his head and looked over to their masked captor.
~*~
All the strands came together in Remy's head at once and he was absolutely sure when he met the hidden gaze.
"You and Swanson met at Felix's funeral, didn't you?" he revealed some of his hand. "Did you intend to go this far, or did you just want to know what happened at first?"
He paused, trying to hide any disquiet he felt at the ropes around his body and waited for a response. Slowly, Chloe reached up and pulled off the mask, wild red hair falling around an expression that was far darker than the mask.
"Very good, Detective, you get a gold star, but being a smart arse won't save you," the young woman sneered, her eyes blazing. "You will all pay for failing my poor Felix."
Remy knew better than to challenge his captor's logic right out, instead, he kept a steady eye on her and asked, "Felix was your boyfriend, you met at university?"
Chloe nodded and, as Remy had hoped, she began to talk.
"He was the best guy I ever met, shy, kind and happy, we were so happy. Then you idiots let that Ouija get into him and he just started to fade away right in front of us. When he finally killed himself, there was nothing of him left, just a shell, and all he could talk about was that bloody board. All he could think of was that night, he was even wearing this," she pulled at the costume, "when he killed himself."
"Why did you come to the shop?" Swanson joined the conversation, his tone gentle and measured.
"I wanted to find out about the board, I wanted to know why my lover had committed suicide," Chloe snarled, showing her teeth and her eyes blazing. "When I finally got you drunk enough to tell me what had happened, that you'd let that board start on him, that's when I decided that you'd pay the same way he had."
The doll cackled at that and observed, "Quite something, isn't she? I despaired of ever getting out of that damnable vault and then, one day, my dear Chloe rescued me."
Remy really wanted to kick the doll and board into orbit, but he held onto his desire just as the ropes held onto him.
"Chloe, you killed three innocent people last night," Theo's tone was flat as he made the observation.
The look of hatred flickered out at that and the girl glanced down at the little demon that was looking up at her.
"I," she began, confusion flashing across her features.
"You what?" Remy pushed and regretted it as soon as he saw the anger flare again.
"I had to see if it worked," the girl growled, but it was obvious to Remy from the look in her eyes that she was no more in control than he was.
Remy could feel magic now, it was coming from the board and it felt nasty. He hadn't seen the thing in real life, only in pictures, but he knew how it had earned its name. The black lettering was old, broken where the leather surface had worn over the years and he could feel the evil in them. The board had control of Chloe just as it had obsessed Holiday.
"Surely you'd learnt enough not to have to try it out?" he tried to reason with whatever sanity was left to the young woman.
"Oh, I'd learnt so much," Chloe snapped back, grinning uncontrollably. "You know that board is four hundred years old? He told me that," she pointed sharply at Swanson, "but what he didn't tell me, what he wouldn't tell anyone, I had to sneak through his books to find it out myself, is that it was made by Jules Van Der Hoff, a necromancer. He wound it with magic that can tear a man's soul from his body and that is what is going to happen to you all."
Swanson sighed, shaking his head and drawing everyone's attention.
"It was me who failed Felix, not these two," he appealed to Chloe. "Why hurt them?"
"There have to be three," Chloe started to pace, agitation in her manner, and she continued to waggle her finger at Swanson. "You know that. Any two would have done, but I improvised when these two came into the shop tonight. I knew I could get some of your old team here if I hacked their system."
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