Broker didn’t often call Ray in for a meeting during the day.
He preferred to keep his nocturnal avocation as far from his day job as possible. He also preferred not to leave his business in the hands of his employees, even though he’d handpicked most of them and he only picked people he could trust to do their jobs.
He didn’t meddle or micromanage. His presence or absence was not a deciding factor in whether the food got cooked and the drinks got poured. But when he was away… when he couldn’t hear the murmurs and clatters of business at usual, couldn’t look out his door and see the that things were running smoothly… he tended to assume that they weren’t.
So, when he called Ray and asked him to meet him at Cedar’s, the quiet cafe he liked, Ray knew that something serious was up.
“If this is about the Dragons, I’ve already heard,” Ray said when Broker arrived. “Don’t forget, Shad comes to me with these things.”
“Yeah, Lord only knows why,” Broker said, rolling his eyes.
“Hey, you come to me, too,” Ray said.
“Yeah, because I can’t get the Dock Shadow to take my calls,” Broker said. “No. This is about the Bone Lords, or what they turned into.”
“The skeleton things? I thought they were mostly taken care of.”
“Yeah, mostly,” Broker said. “Your blue friend and the New Moon Woman took out a bunch of them with the church fire, but now it seems there’s been a surge of sightings and attacks. That means that either the survivors were spooked and just lying low for a couple of days…”
“Because evil magical skeletons scare so easily,” Ray said.
“…or more likely, their numbers have been increasing,” Broker said. “Which probably means they’ve been ‘recruiting’.”
“What, like vampires?” Ray asked.
“Well, the whole skeletal motif does sort of suggest the living dead, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but… skeletons,” Ray said. “Unless they’re also part piranha or something, I don’t see how they could make others.”
“Save the comedy,” Broker said. “You saw the first one of these things… Bloodhound transformed or mutated or whatever right in front of you. Who’s to say that couldn’t be, you know, contagious?”
“Yeah, but it took human sacrifice to transform him,” Ray said. “The rest of his guys were killed by the spell.”
“Yeah, they were skeletonized, genius. And they came back the next night,” Broker said. “So it seems to me like we’ve got a precedent here for the whole idea of them killing people and turning them into skeletons.”
“Yeah, but… skeletons,” Ray said. “That’s like the bottom of the undead food chain. They’re not supposed to be self-replicating. You need at least a zombie for that.”
“Didn’t you say that she told you they were actually some kind of wraith?” Broker asked.
“Yeah…”
“Then quit with this ‘they’re just skeletons’ thing,” Broker said. “These aren’t some garden variety undead minions someone whipped up with an off the shelf grimoire. We don’t know what we’re dealing with. Your schtick may be magic but you’re as in the dark about this as I am. Luckily, I don’t have to deal with your expertise… there’s an expert in town.”
“Yeah, I heard Alcheman got in last night,” Ray said.
“Nuh uh, Alcheman’s a mystic but his experience is taking out drug rings,” Broker said. “I’m talking about a monster hunter.”
“What, the gunslinger guy? He didn’t exactly give us a phone number.”
“I wasn’t talking about him, either,” Broker said. He pulled a newspaper out of his coat. “If he pitches in, great.” He held the paper up to Ray, showing a story in the arts and living section about the opening of a new gallery. “But you can’t tell me you don’t have Willow Binder’s number.”
Discuss this story on the Livejournal community.
« « 69: All In The Family III 71: Bad Pennies & Black Cats II » »Note: I'm trying out a new comment system. It's new and subject to jiggerypokery. It's moderated. Detailed guidelines to come but follow the general rule: be excellent to each other.
If you enjoy reading, please consider a financial contribution.
« « 69: All In The Family III 71: Bad Pennies & Black Cats II » »