Takes place between Proven Guilty and White Night
A Favor Owed
When you’re Chicago’s only professional Wizard you’re not immune to all the crazy the paranormal can throw at you. And it takes a lot to rattle me. I’ve seen homicidal unicorns, porn star witches, ridden dinosaurs, and even battled some of the worst movie monsters Hollywood has ever terrorised its audience with. All of which I have pretty much taken in stride, but it’s always those damn fairies that cross that line from insane and head into the kingdom of Complete Bizaro Land.
I had been working for the Special Investigations’ Division of the CPD on a recent kidnapping case. I don't normally get asked for help anymore as the Chicago’s ‘Powers That Be’ had come down very heavily on SI when their old Lieutenant Karrin Murphy helped me out on a case last summer. Murphy was a friend and and aly of mine. She had skipped town in the middle of a crisis to go storm a winter ice castle and rescue a teenage girl being held by Mab, The Queen of Air and Darkness in the heart of her own power. Granted we didn’t do the actual storming. That had already been done by someone else. We just simple slipped in afterwards while no one was looking, threw around a bunch of Summer’s fire, pulled the girl out, and ran like a rabbit crossing a motorway for the safety of home.
Here I was now paying back some of that favour to Murphy on her most recent case. The villain of the week had held a family hostage overnight before making off with the mother and her six year old son. The reason Special Investigations’ had called me in is because the only witness to all this was traumatised 11 year old girl, who swears to whatever creator she believed in that the “Scary, hairy, tramp had simple just walked into the master bedroom and disappeared into complete nothing.”
I pulled my Blue Beetle Volkswagen into the drive that my tracking spell had navigated me to. Murphy had been able to get me some hair from the mothers hairbrush and after a bit of hocus pocus I begain trying to locate them. Mouse my shaggy oversized canine companion and I had followed the signal all over town until we came to a stop in front of a single story colonial style house, built over 100 years ago in one of Chicago’s nicer neighbourhoods. I stared unsure that the spell had been cast right. Maybe Murphy gave me the wrong hair. So I rechecked the spell with a different strand. Then I checked again. And just to be annoying I did the spell for a fourth time. Every time it pointed me directly at the house Murphy had inherited from her grandmother.
There was simply no way this was right. What the hell were they doing here? How the hell had it even gotten into the house? I got back in my car with Mouse and drove down to the gas station on the next block. Using their payphone I punched in the number to Murphy’s extension at the station and got a gruff voice coming over the line.
“Stallings.”
“Stallings? It’s me Harry, I’m looking for Murphy.”
“Well you got the right place but this is the old extension ‘arry.” I smacked my head in remembrances. Murphy had lost her rank within the department after the fallout of last summer. John Stallings, her old partner had been promoted to Luietenant in her place. “Do you want me to pass a message along?”
“Na, just tell me when she will be back in the station?”
“Back?” came Stallings “She ain’t anywhere, She’s sitting at her desk right outside.”
“Crap.” I muttered “Can you put her on the line for me?”
“Sure Harry.” I could hear the sound of Stallings being slightly put out, but still getting up and going to get Murphy.
“What’s up Harry.” Murphy asked over the line
“Tracking spell led me to your house Murph. I think the bad guy is holed up there.” A barrage of swear words came down the line and I had to hold the receiver away from my ear for a minute or three.
“Hold up and don’t do anything.” Murphy said after she had calmed down a bit “I’ll be there shortly.” I could hear the anger in her voice and after years of knowing Murphy knew when to shut up and get out of her way.
“Will do Murph. I’ll park close to your house to keep an eye on things till you get here. See you soon.” The line went dead as she slammed down the receiver.
We drove back a little ways up the road until Murphy’s house came back into view. As we were still some distance off, Mouse and I got out of the car and took a walk down the road. Just a 6ft 7inch man in a black leather duster and a rune covered staff with his minature doggie mammoth out for a walk .
Yeah thats not going to freak out the neighbours.
I saw everything as it should and just to be paranoid I checked the tracking spell yet again. Again it still pointed directly at Murphy’s place. On our second trip past Murphy’s I noticed her door standing wide open. I looked and didn’t see Murphy’s Saturn parked anywhere which was odd and sent my spider-sense tingling. Cautiously Mouse and I made our way to the open front door. I shook put shield bracelet on my left wrist and clutched the staff in my right hand. Mouse gave me a wary look and followed close behind.
We entered into Murphy’s house and I took in the living room. Murphy hadn’t done much to change it from when her Grandmother had lived here. It was still covered in the ruffles and knitted things that had been left to her. A color patter of yellows and greens could be seen in within the funiture of the entire room, all of which was topped in lacy and doilies. If you knew Murphy you would know just how unlike her all this was. The only traces of the Murphy that I knew came in the form of a pair of Japanese swords over the fireplace, and a series of family photos sitting on the mantle.
I looked around the front rooms, which didn’t take long as I could see them all from the door and saw no one in sight. Cautiously we moved into the house. A low growl started in behind me and I jumped half a foot in the air, spinning around and throwing up my shield. Mouse let out a slight chuckle before starting up the growl again.
“Wise guy.” I said to him and resumed the slow entrance into the house. As we made our way down the tiny corridor, a flash of blonde passed in front of the door to the master bedroom.
“Murph” I said in a loud whisper. Her face appeared back at the door quickly before ducking away. “Do you see anything?” I asked.
“Only you Harry” came her reply. Murphy had been dressed in dark jeans, a white blouse and her leather bike jacket. At five foot nothing, with shoulder length hair and a button nose, it looked like she would be more comfortable in a Stepford Wives outfit than the biker gear she was wearing.
Murpys life had been hard. With the loss of her father and two failed marraiges, all she had now was her work. And she had fought for ever inch of her old authority. She could out shoot any man on the force and led the police department in hand to ahnd combat. Murphy was a genuine badass. Besides if she took her bike to work then it made sense that I didn’t see her car out front, but why didn’t I hear it come down the street?
“What are you doing here?” she called out from the bedroom. I edged up to the doorway and peered inside. Mouses soft growl followed me down. The bedroom was small. A single twin bed and an old style wooden dresser with a high top mirror were the only furniture in the room. Murphy lay on the bed. Looking out the window to the front of the house. Her head on the pillow and arms clasped over her stomach. “I didn’t think you would be here yet.” Seeing her lay there, like that, I knew something was wrong.
“Oh, whys that?” I asked. I tried to keep my tone from showing just how weirded out I was. I glanced in the mirror on the dresser and turned back to stare at Murphy.
“It seems out of order. I was expecting someone else before you.” she said, her voice soft and dreamy. Mouse followed me in and his growl deepened. Yellow eyes flash over to stare at him. Murphy beared her teeth “What is that?”
“Oh, him? That’s my Big Bad Wolf detector. I like to use him when stupid scary things get uppity.” The Not-Murphy’s right hand blurred in a flicking motion. A gust of focused wind shot forth and blew Mouse backwards and out the front door. The door slammed shut in the wake of the spell, and I stared in amazement. The only other time I had seen Mouse knocked off his feet, it had taken being hit by a fricken van. This thing had just flicked her wrist and sent Mouse packing. Now that took power. And I was trapped with it. Good going Harry.
Still she hadn’t moved and her arm was back to resting on her stomach. “How did you know?” Not-Murphy asked
“The mirror.” I said nodding to the mirror on the dresser.”You used it as your door to this house. That’s how you got past the threshold.”
“You’re sure of that?” she asked
“Well you didn’t huff and puff. I can tell cause the house is still standing. Besides by using the mirror it left an impression. A reflection of your true from.” I turned back and looked at the hedious moster. Covered in a soft sun colored hair the creature lay on the bed. Pointed ears and an elongated snout, flainked on either side by a high canine tooth. All of which sat only what could roughly called a humoniod body but with a large distended stomach, connected to stretched arms and reverse jointed legs.
“I always hated that story” Not-Murphy said. “They never quiet got it right. A tale to teach our kind strengh and tactics and you humans turn it into a parrable for hard work. Pathetic really. “ Her voice never rose or changed cadience, but a hard edge come into it. “Our stories tell it differently. It’s a battle tactic taught to our young. I think you phrase it as ‘Look before you leap’”
“Is that why you havn’t come after me yet?” I asked.
“You are not my pray. There is another I have come for. We will be getting to you soon”
I gulped. As I stared at the demented version of a wolf laying on my friends bed, I knew that Murphy was in real danger. This thing had just taken two people from one house and broken past Murphy’s threshold and gained access into her home. Anger swelled in me and and I planted my staff firmly into Murphy’s worn green carpet.
“Ain’t no one going to take my friend. I’ll see you back to the hell you came from bitch.”
Laughter rolled out from Not-Murphy, rich and lyrical “Why Hunter, shouldn’t you come after the girl has been taken. I haven’t played my game with her yet. And I so enjoy playing my game.” In a flash Not-Murphy leapt off the bad and came at me, hands out streached. Her body shimmered as if seen through a desert on a hot summers day, morphying into the horid creature that I had seen in the mirror. Arms changed to claws and the came down on me in a devistating blow. If it hadn’t been for the sheild I had thrown up those claws would have torn me to shreds. Instead the pressure of them on my sheild drove me back down the hall and into the lounge.
I moved with the creature and back into the lounge. I managed to keep my footing until I was pressed up against the side of Murphy’s two seater couch and we fell onto the coushions. I had keep my staff infront of my body and used it to push the wolf off me and onto the floor. I scrambled to the other side of the couch and we started pacing a slow smooth circle. Always keeping the couch inbetween us.
“Who sent you bitch” I snarled.
“Why do you ask hunter? Are you going to lay your self at there feet and beg for mercy? For I can assure none will be granted to you.” The voice came out of the muzzle of the creature still sounding like Murphy. Tre` creapy.
“Nope. I just want to know who to send you back to. Cause this is about something that Murph and I have done and I want to know who I get to thank for this nice little visit.” I replied.
“None” it said, there was bitterness in her voice as she spoke “We were cast for the cold and banished to the wild. Its where our Queen sent us for to many failures.”
“Well the wolf always seemed to get screwed in the end. I guess there is some bases for everything.” We had been circle around each other for a minute. Several times we had gone around all the while I had been trying to formutale a plan to bet this monster. Fro she had broken the number one rule of any combat with a wizard. Don’t give us time. Magic is all about preperation, given enough time and concentration and we can do almost anything. Had it kept going from its initial attack and I would have been left using all my energy defending off said attacks. Instead the dialouge had been resumed and I had time to think, to plan, to prepare.
On each rotation of the couch I had slowly been moving further and further back. Soon I stood within opposite the entrance of the corridor. When I said my last line I reached behind me a gripped one of the swords of the mantle. Swinging it like a complete madman I charged forward, directly at Not-Murphy. The creature jumped to the side in surprise of my sudden attack and I continued forward bolting back down the corridor we had just come out of. Again I threw up my shield, shaping it to fit within the doorframe. It’s disgusting yellow form leapt over the sofa in pursuit. It’s distended stomach catching the lip of the sofa and bringing it down in a resounding crash. Another leap and it hit muzzle fist into my shield. An idiotic sense of satisfaction entered into me as I saw it recoil in pain and confusion. A snarl erupted from its lips, which promptly killed my elation.
I wasn’t terrified. It was a manly turn and fleeing into the safety of Murphy’s bedroom. I swear.
I dropped my first shield and put up another one in the new doorway. Not-Murphy came more cautiously down the hallway this time. It battered one of its paws at the new shield and I could feel its wait behind the thrust. I took a breath and used the time to jump-start my idling brain into action. Stars and stones, I was a wizard, for the freaking White Council. I should just go out there and pummel this thing till it gives in; instead I was cowering in the bedroom of a friend. I looked around and realized I was trapped. Nowhere to go, I had to come up with a brilliant plan, one plan that didn’t involve the destruction of Murphy’s house. Fire was out, and so was kinetic force. That didn’t leave me with much. And I couldn’t quite destroy the fairy tale nightmare until I learnt where it had stashed the mother and the kid.
“Hunter.” it called from the hallway “You’re trapped Hunter. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and I will have you now.” A pause for a moment “Can you hear me?”
I didn’t reply right away, the beginning of a plan was starting to take foundation my mind. Foundations grew and a small dwelling was there. Made of straw I looked on it and reassessed the plan. I strengthen it with a wooden structure. It wasn’t quite right yet, so I added a layer of bricks to it. Finally I was secured with the thought that maybe it might just work.
I aimed one end of the staff pointing towards the creature and the corridor. I held the sword in my left hand. With a fluid motion I dropped the shield and unleashed a small force out of the end of the sword blowing Not-Murphy back down the corridor into the lounge. As the creature went flying I reversed the staff, backed up to the far wall and spoke a few soft words. Not-Murphy let out a tremendous growl that shook the entire house with its rage and frustration. It charged down the corridor at me, and this time I didn’t run away. Instead I repeated an earlier action and once again charged towards it.
Time slowed down. I know it didn’t, not really. But I had one of those moments when the entire seconds feel like minutes and every detail, thought and feeling becomes crystal clear and precise. When the two of us closed in on each other in the corridor Not-Murphy leapt and went for where it thought my throat was. I could see the shock register in its widening yellow eyes when it realized I wasn’t there. Instead I had started in on a baseball slide and angled myself underneath it. The soft sun colored fur flew overhead. From where I lay I could make out every bump and contour of its stomach, and as I brought up the sword I could feel the little resistance as it cleanly sliced through its skin. Cutting the creature from head to tail and leaving a black opening lined in red blood. From its ever-increasing widening gap a hand shot out and clutched at the doorframe. The mother held the door frame pulling her body out of Not-Murphy’s stomach. Clutched to her stomach was her son, hitching a ride like a baby kangaroo.
The Wolfs body continued its flight straight at the back wall of Murphy’s bedroom letting out a yelping sound as it went. Instead of crashing into the wall it sailed right through and kept going, shattering the veil I had put up covering the doorway into Fairy I had opened earlier with my staff after I had knocked the bitch back earlier. I hurried over and closed the doorway, preventing it form coming back through. That is if I hadn’t killed it with my disembowelment trick. I hurried over the mother and son sitting, looking shocked at their surroundings. They sat covered in snot colored mucus style substance, which had began to leak onto Murphy’s carpet. I reached out and gently placed my hand on the women’s shoulder. That one simple act seemed to break her out of the trance
“Ohgod,ohgod,ohgod,ohgod,ohgod.” The words came out in a fluid wave, rolling over her and the surrounding area. Her child started to cry as she spoke and the hugged each other tighter. A crowbar wouldn’t have been able to pry them apart right now.
I had no more than a seconds warning, nothing more than a subtitle shit in the rooms airflow across my cheek, when the door I had just closed ripped open and the creature came back into the room. Its body was healed mostly; you could still see the red cut along its belly and had taken on the proper form now of a wolf. It had looked as if someone had hurriedly zipped the two sides together again. It growled like it had last time, only being in the same room I could feel the force of the growl push us a step or two back. I placed my body in-between the women and child and the monster.
“I will not let you steal my prize,” it howled “Not this time. We will be victorious and win back favor with the cold Queen.
“So huff and puff already cause you ain’t blowing this house down.” I spat back.
It leapt at the three of us huddled there. I raised the sword again in some kind of defense. Useless as it may have been it was the best I had at the moment. I was exhausted. Those spells had taken to much effort out of me and I was tired. This was going to come down to a physical confrontation.
I was screwed.
As the wolf came at us another form leapt through the mirror on the dresser and they collided in mid air landing on the bed. Mouse, my guardian dog hadn’t been able to come back in the house from the door, but he had run the five miles back to the Rogers residence. The mirror, of course, they must be twins of each other and that is how wolf bitch had gotten into the house. And here Mouse was, using the same entrance to come to my rescue.
They two grappled with each other. Each using their teeth and fur to try to bring the other down. So close they were it looked like a warped version of yin and yang. Only this time colored in yellow and grey. I pulled the others out of the room and hurried back down towards the lounge. A large crash sounded from the room we had just left. I heard the shattering of glass and splintering of wood. Well its one way to close down the doorway. As we entered into the lounge I threw open the front door and pushed the others outside. Before I could follow, another crash sounded and I turned to see bodies fall out of a large hole in the wall. Murphy was going to blame me for that. Disorientated the Wolf Bitch turned and looked from me and back to Mouse, realizing that it was right in the middle of us. It turned towards the open doorway and me and came charging forward, Mouse in pursuit. I was to slow to react and its entire weight hit me. We went tumbling off the front porch and down into the surrounding rose bushes.
As its teeth began to close around my throat lightning and thunder erupted close by and I was covered in red rain. I wiped the liquid from my eyes and stared up into the cold blue eyes of the real Karrin Murphy standing there holding her service pistol pointed towards me. A wisp of smoke still trailing out of the gun's barrel.
“Why Murphy, What a big gun you have.”
“All the better for shooting smart moth wizards with, my dear” She replied adding specific comical infliction on my dear to drive home the point that I had just been saved be her. “Especially if they have destroyed my home?”
“Its not destroyed” I said, a little hurt by the accusation. “See look, it’s still standing.”
As she turned back to the house there was another crashing sound from inside
“Mostly” and with that I closed my eyes. I had saved the family, defeated the bad guy and paid back a favor. Not bad for a days work. I thought about the state of Murphy’s house. Well mostly paid back the favor.
The end.
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