Hunters in the Night (8 page)

Once
the exchange was complete, our target’s lady friend sashayed away. But Mr.
Bartender stayed, just hanging around and not doing anything in particular.
Then I felt another presence.

“Interesting,”
Newton said. “Is he waiting for something?”

“Or
someone,” I said. “There’s another nightcrafter coming.”

“From
where?”

“South,”
I answered. But I’d been wrong. There wasn’t just one new presence in the Rift.
At least ten people came around the corner. They were an ethnically diverse
crowd of mostly middle-aged men with one woman and a guy who looked even
younger than me. They were well-dressed, and they were laughing, and they were
all nightcrafters. I cut myself off from the Rift completely and pretended not
to notice them as they passed.

“All
those people?” Newton asked.

“Yup.
All of them.”

“Do
nightcrafters often meet up like this?”

“I
don’t think so. But I wouldn’t know for sure. The only direct contact I had
with another nightcrafter was my teacher, but that might have been standard
procedure for a student. Maybe the graduates hang out all the time.”

“Do
you think they have like a . . . guild . . . or something?”

“Maybe,”
I said. The group met up with Mr. Bartender, who was all smiles and nods and
handshakes. Then he joined the pack as they headed up the street, towards a
less populated area of town.

“We
should follow them,” Newton said.

“No.
I
should follow them. You
should stay back.”

“Dominique
told me I shouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Things
would get dramatically more difficult if I have to watch out for you while
tailing them. Besides, I’m the team leader, right?”

“You
are, but. . .”

“No
time for arguments,” I said. “They’re moving. Stay behind and monitor the
situation remotely.”

“Dominique
isn’t going to like this.”

“If
things go well, she doesn’t have to know.”

“And
if things go poorly?” Newton asked.

“If
things go poorly we’ll have a lot more to worry about than Dominique being mad
at us.”

Newton
didn’t have anything to say to that. I watched the group of nightcrafters make
their way along the street until they turned a corner, then I started my
pursuit. I kept myself cut off from the Rift completely so that my targets wouldn’t
be able to detect me. I walked at a brisk pace, but not so fast that I’d draw
suspicion.

I
turned west, a direction which took me onto a narrow street lined with crates
and Vespa scooters. I spotted Mr. Bartender and his friends at the end of the street.
They had picked up two more female companions. Smiles and hugs were exchanged.
These people were old friends.

“What’s
going on?” Newton said in my ear.

“They
picked up two more,” I said, trying to keep my voice down.

“
Two
more? Are they having a damn
convention or something?”

“Looks
like it,” I said. “I’m going to try to follow them, but if they keep adding
people the chances of them noticing me go up a lot.”

“Stay
with them,” Newton said, “but keep far back. I’m going to try to get clearance
to tap into the city’s surveillance camera feeds.”

“You
can do that?”

“Maybe,”
Newton said. “But it will take a while.”

I
followed the troupe of giddy nightcrafters as best as I could, using the
tiniest possible connection to the Rift to find them whenever my eyes couldn’t.
Gradually, the group grew larger as more nightcrafters joined. A dark-haired
woman on one street. A short Indian man on another. A silver-haired couple
holding hands in front of a coffee house. They all cheerily greeted the group,
then merged into it as they traveled to their next destination. As their
numbers increased, I grew more nervous and hung back further behind them.

“Are
you getting this?” I muttered.

“Yup,”
Newton said. “I haven’t been able to get access to the surveillance cameras
yet, but I did get the data back on the bartender’s phone number. His name is
Werner Brehm. He’s thirty-five years old. No spouse, no kids. Lives in Austria.
Self-employed.”

“Pretty
standard profile for a nightcrafter his age,” I said.

“His
passport records show a lot of activity in the past few months,” Newton
continued. “He’s been all over Europe.”

“Doing
what?”

“No
idea.”

The
night deepened as I continued my slow pursuit. The streetlamps switched on, but
it was still hard to make out my targets with my eyes. I made a brief foray
back into the Rift and I could immediately feel that big blob of nightcrafter
power ahead of me. The group turned a corner. I slowed my pace to not look too
suspicious, thinking I would pass the street they turned on and use my senses
to circle around and follow from a different direction. But something magical
happened right at that moment.

They
all disappeared.

“What
the hell just happened?” I muttered. I’d never felt such a strong presence in
the Rift simply disappear like that. Usually when someone cuts themselves out
of the Rift after making a big splash there’s a bit of a lingering presence,
like waves in the pool that remain even when you get out. But this was
different. The nightcrafters had simply been there one second, and gone the
next. I kept walking, speeding up my pace now. I came to the corner they had
turned around. It was a short alley, with a high brick wall at the far side. A
dead end.

I
heard Newton’s voice, whispering through the tiny speaker. “Kal, what’s going
on?”

“They’re
gone,” I said.

“Gone?
Gone where?”

“No
clue,” I said. “They just vanished.”

“Do
you think they entered a building on that street?”

“Doubtful.
They didn’t just get out of my sight, Newton. They’re completely gone. I can’t detect
them using the Rift anymore. So either they all stopped using magic—”

“Maybe
they spotted you,” Newton said.

“Maybe,”
I replied. “Or maybe they’re just not here anymore.”

“Where
could they have gone?”

That
was a good question. I paused for a moment to consider the answer, but I came
up with nothing. “I don’t know, and I don’t think we’re going to find out.”

“You
think they’re up to something?”

“That
many nightcrafters in one spot? Hell yes they’re up to something.”

“Why
do I get the feeling that this is really bad news?” Newton asked.

“Because
you’re a smart boy and you know trouble when you see it,” I said.

“I’m
going to call Dominique,” Newton said. “You should head back here.”

I
didn’t reply. I just stood there in the street, carefully expanding my reach
into the Rift and hoping I’d find something. I’d never seen that many
nightcrafters in one place before, and I was forced to come up with desperate
guesses for why they would be here. None of those guesses left me with warm
fuzzy feelings.

* * *

We
waited for hours for any more signs of magic, but gave up after it became
apparent that our group of nightcrafters was not going to show up again. I was
not looking forward to our debriefing.

After
we returned to the hotel, Newton reported to home base. Later, he told me that
Dominique sounded “icier than usual” when he gave her details of the
nightcrafter disappearing act. A few hours after Newton reported in, we were on
a commercial red-eye flight back to New York.

Newton
called dibs on the window seat and kept his attention fixed on the city lights
below as we ascended. He was a lot more relaxed than I was, and he slept during
most of the trip back. Sometime during the night, his head rolled onto my
shoulder. I didn’t mind, until he started to drool.

Seven
hours later, we started the descent to New York City. I peeked around Newton’s
head to get a view of the world below us. The sun was up and the city was
bathed in early morning light. The signature skyscrapers were shining and the
Central Park Lake caught the light just right so it shimmered like a huge pile
of sapphires. After so many long weeks away, that beautiful sight almost made
me cry.

We
landed, got off the plane, got our bags, and headed out. I took a deep breath
of the familiar New York air as Newton stretched and yawned. “There’s usually
an official briefing immediately after these trips,” Newton said. “See you in a
few hours I guess.”

“Yeah.”

I
made my way home in a stupor. My initial excitement at being home gradually
gave way to a sense of exhaustion. I was tempted to tap into the Rift for a bit
of extra energy, but I fought off the urge. A good bit of sleep in my own bed
should do the job.

I
got back to my building and exchanged some pleasant nods and smiles with the
few neighbors I’d had a chance to meet when I moved in. I’d been gone for so
long I didn’t even remember their names, but they seemed nice. The building
where I stayed was one of the most secure in the city since a number of United
Nations and NATO staff stayed there temporarily or semi-permanently. My
neighbors were quiet, nondescript people who just happened to have dangerous
secrets tucked away in their heads. As I approached the door to my place, I
made a mental note to try to get to know them a little better. Then I heard a
cough from the other side of the door.

Someone
was in my apartment.

Out
of reflex, I immediately reached into the Rift. My fight-or-flight instincts
kicked in. But nightcrafters never run from anybody, so a fight it would be.
Besides, it had been a while since I’d been in a good fight. I kind of wanted
one.

I
used my lock-picking spell to quietly open the locks on my door, then I paused
for a moment as I tried to figure out the best spell to use next. I didn’t want
to kill anybody, so the potentially lethal spells weren’t an option. I also
didn’t want to damage any of my stuff, so that limited my selection too. I
decided on a simple illusion: a spell that would send billowing smoke under the
door and hopefully draw the intruder out into the hallway, where I could freely
beat the crap out of them.

I
was just about to cast the illusion when the door opened, and Dominique was
standing there.

I
spent of couple of seconds gawping at her until my brain caught up with the
situation. “You really shouldn’t try to sneak up on a nightcrafter like that,”
I said. “You could get hurt.”

Dominique
raised an eyebrow. “Who said I was sneaking?”

“You
entered my place uninvited and unannounced. That’s sneaking.”

“No,”
Dominique said. “That’s surprising. If I wanted to be sneaky, you’d have never
known I was here.”

I
rolled my eyes, stepped into my apartment, and closed the door. Everything
seemed to be where I left it, but I inspected the area carefully to make sure.
“So why
are
you here? Can’t you just torture me at the office tomorrow?”

“You
won’t be going back to the office. Not for a while, at least.”

“Am
I laid off or something?”

“No,”
Dominique said. “Quite the opposite actually. You’re going back out to do more
field work.”

“More
field work? I must have impressed you.”

“No,”
Dominique said. “You’ll find I’m hard to impress. However, your performance in
Europe was . . . satisfactory.”

“Good
enough for government work?” I said.

“Something
like that.”

“So,
what do you want me to do?”

“I
want you to close that damn thing. Permanently.”

I
plopped onto my couch and took my shoes off, trying to ease the stress I felt
building up again. “You’re referring to the Rift,” I said. “You want me to
close the Rift, which has existed for who knows how many centuries.”

“Yes.”

“I
don’t know how to do that,” I said.

“But
you know someone who might.”

“I
have no idea what you mean,” I said.

“I’m
talking about the man who taught you everything you know about nightcrafting.
Kellar was his name, wasn’t it?”

I
laughed. “You’ve lost your damn mind.”

“You
said he left you with memories for a reason,” Dominique said. “Maybe he wants
you to find him again when you’re ready.”

“Even
if that’s true,” I said, “I doubt he’d just waltz into your office and help you
destroy the craft he’s devoted his life to.”

Dominique
crossed her arms. “I’m not saying that you should ask him politely.”

“Then
what
are
you saying?”

“Bring
him in as a detainee. We will make him cooperate.”

“You
can’t detain a nightcrafter,” I said.

“With
your help, I think we can.”

“My
help? What makes you think I can help you with this?”

“You
know these people. You know their ways.”

“Not
all of them,” I said. “I’m just a novice. I don’t even know what I don’t know.”

“You
still have more expertise than any of us,” Dominique said. “And you have also
become a very resourceful tactician during your time as part of our team.
Combine that experience with your skills in nightcrafting, and I’d say you’re
one of the most dangerous men on the planet.”

“You
give me too much credit,” I said.

“You
give yourself too little,” she said.

I
laughed at that. “I’m not being modest. I’m being realistic. I don’t see how
this idea is going to help. I have no idea how to even find Kellar.”

Dominique
slowly walked over and took a seat next to me on the couch. When she spoke
again, her voice was softer. “You just had an encounter with more nightcrafters
than we’ve ever seen in one place. There’s also been a worldwide spike in
unexplained nighttime events. Something is up. The nightcrafters are getting
bolder and more conspicuous. If we find enough of them, we’ll eventually make
our way to Kellar.”