Seal of Solomon (Journeyman Book 2) (4 page)

Joey had talked back and forth with himself about putting on a pair of jeans or something for modesty, but he was admittedly feeling quite lazy and it was already pretty warm, so it made perfect sense to just get this morning’s tasks done as-is. After all, despite everything that had happened, there was still a part of him that took pleasure in Gage noticing. He threw on a pair of old flip flops that he kept on the porch and made his way over to the not-so-pretty GMC.

Resting on one of the shattered headlights he closed his hand and gave it a little fist bump. “You did well, girl,” he said, remembering all the times the truck had carried them to and from missions. Moving on, he walked around to the truck bed. The last time he had gotten in, all three of them were about to cleanse a coven and he was showing off some nice new tech that he had whipped together.

Well done J!
Adrienne’s voice said to him, echoing in his mind.

He resisted the desire to cry, but the tears had certainly welled up to blur his vision. Wiping them away, he set to opening up the right side box and pulled out one of the large boxes Gage had brought back with him from his dad’s cellar. A few more boxes were tucked in behind it, the space being much larger on the inside than the outside. He was enormously thankful that the expansion wards remained unbroken during the crash. It would have been a travesty if the priceless items and notes were lost. Joey truly hoped there was something in there that could lead to more innovations or ways of reinforcing the property’s defenses.

He pushed the substantial container to the end of the bed and got down onto the grass, turning to pick it up before carrying it some way down to the workshop. It was times like these that he was thankful he worked out, though he could definitely do with some extra cardio. By the time he arrived at the workshop, he was panting deeply. He shuffled over, careful not to drop the box, and touched one of the wards on the door with his pinky. It sprung open, allowing him to step inside.

Gage smiled, always impressed by Joey’s drive. Just like Adrienne had been. He watched as Joey bounded diligently out of the shop to retrieve another box from the truck.

Gage eyed the axe sitting against the chopping block.
Should you do some more cutting or to head over to the JSF?
he asked himself. Looking to the stack of ample wood already stored, he decided on the latter. They both needed time for some additional conversation, especially while the freshness of recent events still remained.

“Hey there, my man!” Gage shouted across the way to Joey, who was struggling to carry the second box down the pathway. He arrived a few moments later, having casually sprinted over to him. “Oh here, lemme get that for ya.”

“Thanks G,” Joey replied, happy to hand over the weighty cube. He had developed a little crick in his back, so paused for a second to stretch it out. “I definitely need to join you for cardio,” he said, “or a better option is to just have you do all the heavy lifting.”

Gage laughed. “Yeah, yeah, I know my role here,” he answered while they both continued down to the shop door. “How many more boxes are left up there?”

“I think two,” Joey said, stepping inside. “Maybe three. I’ll be sure to snag them later on.”

“No worries,” Gage responded while following him. “I’ll bring them down to ya in a bit.”

Joey was pleased to see Gage back to some semblance of normal, though he suspected it was only on the surface. “I appreciate that. Oh, just set that one down there on the floor to the right.”

Gage lumbered his way over a few feet and bent at the knees, setting the box down with a loud
thump
next to the one Joey had brought in a few minutes earlier. He slung back his arms then pulled them up into one of those double arm flexes he did so well. Joey certainly took a long, drawn-out stare at Gage’s flared back while he continued to scrutinize the workshop, seeking anything and everything that could be used to make the Noctis pay dearly for what they’d done.

Gage noticed the shelves were bowed, loaded up with unique tech and gear, like the UV headsets from their last mission and something that resembled a small, empty surface to air missile launcher. It looked promising, but he had no idea what it did.

“So J, we definitely need to use this on a future mission,” Gage stated excitedly.

Joey chuckled, shaking his head. “Um, maybe once it’s done. I haven’t figured out what it is yet.”

Under the overloaded shelves, a series of cabinets topped with bamboo looped around the wall. Grimy workbenches sat parallel to each other in the center of the room, piled high with tools and a smattering of different colored rune stones. Whether looking at the place in part or whole, it was unquestionably in shambles. Nonetheless, Joey still knew where each item was with pinpoint accuracy.

Joey plopped himself down on one of the workbench stools, cleared himself a narrow space, and propped up on an elbow. Gage was still scanning the room with a fire in his eyes and a look of determination his face.

“So tell me big guy,” Joey intruded, “how are you holding up? I know it’s only been a couple days since…”

“I’m doin’ alright, I suppose,” Gage said heavily, stopping what he was doing. He was unsure that he believed the words coming out of his own mouth, but just went with it. “I just… I just know that she’s in a better place now.”

“True, she is,” Joey agreed. “That doesn’t make it any easier for us, though, does it? I think it’ll take us some time to fully adjust to her loss, but the life we live, especially with the current situation out in the world, doesn’t afford us with too much luxury.”

“Sometimes, do ya find yourself wanting to shrink away?” Gage asked with hints of remorse. “Like walk away from it all, find some remote corner of the world and say ‘fuck everything?’”

“More often than you think these days,” Joey muttered. “But that's not who we are, is it?”

“Nope. And some days I hate the fact we aren't.”

“Getting back to Ady,” Joey resumed. “Obviously, from a personal perspective we both loved her dearly, myself as a brother and you… well, you as much more in the end.”

Gage nodded and leaned back against the countertop. “Honestly, I don’t think she loved either of us any less than the other, my man.”

Joey fought off the pain. “Well, we also have to adjust to her being gone from a practical perspective,” he continued, giving his nose a hasty wipe. “After all, she was incredibly skilled at slaying vamps and using those daggers of hers. It -”

“It’s in the glove box, by the way,” Gage cut in. “The dagger.”

Joey’s eyes fell to the workbench. He was so tempted to hug it out with Gage again. “Gotcha, man. I hope it’s a lucky break for us, you being able to bring back what you did despite the overwhelming odds.” His mind switched over to something less depressing. “I’m going to spend a while looking over those things to determine how we can most effectively use both the information and items in those boxes. We also have to figure out what the damn Order plans to do. They’ve been incommunicado over the whole situation staring them right in the face.

“Honestly, I’m surprised they haven’t broadcasted the call for an Assembly yet. I know it’s only been two, maybe three days tops – hell all these nights are running together – but I would think they couldn’t miss that epic light show sent up a billion miles high. You’d have to have been dead to miss that and something tells me even then, you would have seen it.”

Gage’s sadness broke and he chuckled lightly. “Yeah, the Herald.”

“Did it come from that?” Joey asked, pointing to the amulet resting in the middle of his chest.

“Yes sir,” he replied, flicking it with his finger. It answered with an unsympathetic
clink
. The two of them sat in silence, the subtle call of wild birds finally catching up with the rising sun.

“Well then, it seems that for now we’re on our own,” Gage said, also wondering what the Order was waiting for. He looked over at Joey, staring directly into his eyes. “I’m glad that you’re here, J. I don’t say that nearly enough and I want you to know, for sure, that I do. Your ambition and resolve are all that keep me going some days.”

“Well, I don’t plan on giving up any time soon,” Joey stated. “On this situation, or on you.”

“Good,” Gage said assuredly, “because we both have some huge favors to repay.”

THE NEXT FEW
weeks passed all but sleepily in Houston. The hit or miss warmth grew more wintry by the hour and the morning temperatures threaded the freezing line.

With Halloween just around the corner, Gage had decided it would be the perfect time to get himself back into the swing of things and in typical fashion, he meant that quite literally.

With his trustworthy machete in hand, he had gone off on assignment to Lake Livingston, about an hour and a half north, with an associate from around those parts. Tim Perry was a Journeyman in his mid-fifties, living just outside of Huntsville. Oftentimes working with the Whites, he lent them his experience in hunting and tracking during small jobs that would arise in the area.

A week ago, Tim had gotten wind of something that sounded like a kelpie giving campers at the state park some trouble. The reports started as mainly distant sightings with a few blurry pictures thrown in as ‘evidence,’ so he didn’t think too much of it. That was until the day an innocent child lost her life playing close to the edge of the water. After that attack, he decided to call in Gage, who had been fairly vocal about getting antsy sitting at the Lodge all day long. There was only so much wood he could take out his pent up frustrations on. Here was an opportunity; another monster that was far from its native habitat, likely plucked from home and thrust into a foreign territory just like the bunyip back in Amarillo. However, that didn’t make them any less dangerous, so when Gage got the word, he couldn't resist getting involved to send it packing.

As for Joey, he had been somewhat distant from his partner, each managing their sorrow in their own way. Joey took to locking himself away for hours, sometimes days, at a time in the JSF burning the midnight oil. Tirelessly, he researched the cellar spoils and the results were thankfully promising.

Focusing first on the perimeter defenses, he had already managed to double the range of the Lodge’s existing protective wards, even learning of a few new ones along the way. Those latest symbols were innovative, not appearing anywhere else in his stacks of textbooks or journals, but he found their intricate lines and swirls extremely complicated to draft. That was certainly in-keeping with the Journeyman’s flair for the flamboyant. Regardless, they worked incredibly well and there was now a solid mile around the property that could be considered a safe zone against evil. To Joey, that was well worth the extra draw time.

With his face still buried in endless reams of notes, one of several things that kept coming to the forefront was Charles’ fascination with that talisman Gage had around his neck. The fact he never took it off was bizarre enough, but the references to it as the ‘Devil’s Ire’ and calling the chain ‘shackles’ only added layers to the strangeness.

Moving on, he examined the documents to see if there were any clues on the origin of the amulet and chain. Perhaps that could help them figure out how they worked or how they tied into the Noctis’ plans of opening a doorway to Hell.

Why couldn't demons have fewer grand ambitions?
Joey thought.
Always trying to end the world with apocalyptic shit.

Unfortunately, the pages he had in hand only spoke vaguely about where Charles had traveled and even less on where he procured the artifacts. Probably done as a means to preserve secrecy, it sure was a pain in the ass right now. Joey did pick up on allusions to the Middle East in quite a few spots, but it was generic and offered no clues on a precise location.

“Ugh,” he moaned, pushing the papers away in a fluttering show of discouragement. “That trail’s ice cold.”

He rubbed his eyes, stinging from burnout. The words had been blurring together for some time, one sentence ambling into another. The clock on the far wall told him it was quarter past three in the afternoon. No wonder he was having trouble – he had been at this for six hours straight.

Standing, his legs prickled with pins and needles, subsequently seizing up. He had to wait a good minute and a half before he was able to move them without the risk of falling over. Once able, he waddled over to one of the square windows overlooking the yard to the west and propped himself up on the sill for a little bit of a breather.

By the looks of it, the day had turned out to be a great one despite the chilly morning temperatures. There wasn't a cloud in the deep blue sky and the sunlight that danced through the low slung tree branches teased his skin with satisfying heat.

There has to be something you're missing
, Joey pondered.
More information – somewhere in here – on the Devil’s Ire, its shackles, or any of these other four items that keep getting mentioned in passing. Hell, just a lead on any of them would be great…

Joey was fully aware that he was trying to avoid the elephant in the room, growing progressively sure that the enigmatic Om Citta was the lead he was desperately searching for.