Hex to the No Read online

  Hex to the No

  by

  Constance Barker

  Copyright 2019 Constance Barker

  All rights reserved.

  Similarities to real people, places or events are purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Hex to the No

  Detective Theodus' Just Desserts

  Living on the Edge....of Town

  Where's Sir Kain?

  The Return to Talon

  Like a Ninja

  Family Troubles

  The Grand Theater

  Clean Up

  Case Closed

  The Funeral

  To Hex or Not to Hex

  Chapter 1

  Detective Theodus' Just Desserts

  “Aren’t y-y-y-you afraid of what h-e-e-e-e-’s gonna say?” asked Seymour Theodus, Detective Milo Theodus’s younger brother, stutterer, simpleton and partner in many a crimes. He sat in the driver’s seat of his brother’s car.

  “We came for Heinrich Talon’s spell. And we got it! That’s all that matters.” Det. Theodus said as he scrolled through his phone in the passenger seat.

  “Yeah, I know but the women, they got away.”

  “Who cares? This, this is what matters.” Det. Theodus held up the map to Heinrich’s spell. He and his two thugs may not have found and/or eliminated Lilith Blackward and Winter Krueger. But he found the vital information the latter left behind in that dock warehouse in San Francisco. Now they were on their way back south to the small town of Devil’s End to hand over something that could destroy the human world. And they were going to hand it to one of the most powerful warlocks in California.

  Someone laughed from the backseat of Det. Theodus’s car. It was the third man and perhaps the most dangerous of the three. He was the forgotten Essex, eldest son of Sterling, Amadeus Essex.

  Amadeus was slumped over, his high-top sneaker clad feet against the back of Seymour’s seat. He stared out at the Southern California desert outside his window. The sun was just starting to set. They were about three hours from home.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Det. Theodus.

  “Nothing dude, nothing at all.”

  “Then why were you laughing?” Det. Theodus looked back in the rear view mirror at Amadeus.

  “Yeah! You w-w-w-ere laughing,” echoed Seymour.

  “Seymour, focus on the road. Now, what could you possibly find funny about any of this Amadeus?”

  “Besides the fact that you think Marcus Blackward, member of the high table, leader of the Cold Dawn and all together sneaky viscous dude would just take your failure or, I dunno, half success lightly?”

  “I don’t agree with that but yes besides that?”

  “We lost his daughter and the woman who knows his secrets. So what, Mr. Blackward is just going to welcome us with open arms, forgive us and thank us for a map that we can’t read to a spell that might not exist. Nah dude, we’re better off turning around and finding them before returning home.”

  “We’re not going back just because you’re scared of big bad ‘dude’.”

  “Scaredy c-c-c-at!” Excitedly yelled Seymour before laughing uncontrollably. Really, he laughed so hard he started to swerve on the road.

  “Hey! Eyes on the road bud,” Det. Theodus turned his attention back to his brother.

  “Smooth move by the way. I’m sure he was the best choice to drive your car. You’re lucky he hasn’t driven us off the road yet,” said Amadeus, eyes back to the window.

  Suddenly there was a loud pop and Seymour actually lost control. The car slid and spun on the luckily deserted highway. After a couple rotations it came to an abrupt stop on the side of the road kicking up a cloud of dirt.

  Det. Theodus was the first to get out of the car. Actually he more accurately opened the door and fell out into the dirt. When he looked down he saw blood trickling down onto the desert floor. He must’ve hit his head.

  “You just had to open your big mouth didn’t you?” asked Det. Theodus as Amadeus stumbled out from the backseat.

  “Yup, my bad dude.” Amadeus leaned back against the car to steady himself.

  For whatever reason, perhaps panic, Seymour climbed out his driver’s side window instead of trying the door. He landed with a splat on the hot asphalt. All he wanted to do was cry but he didn’t want to look weak in front of his big brother or the very cool (in his eyes) Amadeus.

  “You okay?” Det. Theodus groggily made his way over to his brother.

  “I t-t-t-hink so.” Seymour held his elbow up and examined the scraps on it.

  “What happened?”

  “I d-d-d-on’t know. I was just d-d-d-driving and I l-lost control. The wheel it, it, went crazy.” Seymour looked genuinely confused and remorseful that he put them in a predicament.

  Amadeus knelt down and took a look at the car’s tires. All four were blown out. Someone might lose one even two tires due to a nail or something in the road or from a combination of heat and inflation. But to lose all four? That was sabotage.

  “I think we have a problem here,” Amadeus said as he tried to pry something out of the rubber of the front passenger side tire.

  Det. Theodus looked around. There was nothing but desert and mountains in the distance. Distorted by the heat above the road, he saw nothing down the highway, either way.

  “No kidding.” Det. Theodus took out his cell phone. “Of course!”

  “What’s w-w-w-wong?” Seymour put his elbow down.

  “No service. No water. Not enough spares. We are screwed gentleman.”

  “Worse than you might think,” Amadeus was finally able to pry out the foreign object in the tire. It was a metal spike. “Someone did this to us. And chances are...”

  “They’re still here somewhere.” Det. Theodus finished Amadeus’s thought. “We got no choice. Let’s start wal-, wait you hear that?”

  “Motorcycles,” answered Amadeus. “A whole, I dunno, flock, of motorcycles? Flock is that the right word for a bunch of bikes dude?” He pushed his long black hair away from his face so he could get a better look at what was coming.

  “Maybe th-th-th-th-ey can help?” Seymour was hopeful.

  Within a minute, a group of nine or ten motorcycles, hogs, Harleys appeared on the heat obscured horizon. Their riders were clad in black and hard to make out in the distance.

  “Be prepared for anything guys,” warned Det. Theodus. He checked behind him to make sure his revolver was still in its holder and tucked in his jeans. He checked his pocket to make sure the map to Heinrich’s spell was safe and sound.

  “For what? To ask for help?” Amadeus stepped out into the road and waved his arms.

  “I don’t like this.” Det. Theodus moved behind the oblivious Seymour.

  With a rumble the motorcycles pulled up on the road right in front of Amadeus. All but one of the riders wore helmets. The lead rider had stringy greasy black hair down to the small of his back. It was thin and unattractive, just like his very being. His bike was all black except for the design of a red snarling wolf’s head across one side.

  “Thank God you dudes showed up. As you can see, we got some car trouble,” said Amadeus with a friendly smile, an impressive feat for an Essex.

  The lead rider swung one skinny skin tight black jean clad leg over and got off his bike. Amadeus couldn’t tell i
f the copper skinned man was sniffing at the air or just had the sniffles. He slowly took off his sunglasses to reveal a pair of unsettling light amber eyes.

  “Looks like it. Why not call a tow truck or something buddy?” asked the lead rider. He stared hard at Det. Theodus and Seymour.

  “No cell service out here. You know, the desert and everything?”

  “Si extrano. Reception.” The lead rider waved his ring covered hand around. “It’s no good round here. Need some help?”

  “We’ll take all we can get.” Amadeus looked back at Det. Theodus and Seymour, and gave them the thumbs up.

  “This stupid idiot is gonna get us robbed or killed,” Det. Theodus was not pleased with the situation.

  “What’s with your friends back there extrano?” The lead rider casually took off his black leather riding gloves. “They shy or something?”

  “Very. It’s actually kind of a problem. Tried taking them to parties, all they do is cry. And what’s up with your amigos over there? Very, Tokyo biker gang there with the black helmets and visors.” Amadeus pointed over at the other guys and gals on motorcycles.

  “Don’t worry about them extrano, my name is Sandoval Lobos.” The lead rider, Sandoval, held out his hand for Amadeus to shake.

  Amadeus hesitated for a second before shaking. And he immediately regretted it once he did. It wasn’t because of how sweaty Sandoval’s hand was. No, it was the fact that the long lanky biker knelt over and smelled Amadeus’s wrist when they did.

  “I’m Amadeus, those are my friends Milo and Seymour. Nice, to, meet you?” Amadeus was so surprised and perplexed by Sandoval’s unique greeting he was , for the first time in his life, lost for words.

  “Now that we’re not strangers anymore I think we can help you,” said Sandoval. “There’s a gas station about an hour or so away. I can give you a ride so you can call a tow truck. That sound good?”

  Amadeus looked back at Seymour and Det. Theodus, then back at Sandoval. “That works. Hold on, I gotta tell them what’s up.”

  As Amadeus returned to his compatriots, Sandoval put his sunglasses on then started with his gloves as he walked back to his motorcycle. Det. Theodus was on the defensive as Amadeus approached, Seymour was oblivious.

  “So?” asked Det. Theodus.

  “So, they’re going to help us,” explained Amadeus. “But I gotta go with that shady looking dude. He’s gonna give me a ride to the nearest gas station where I can get us a tow truck.”

  “Then we g-g-go home?” asked Seymour.

  “I don’t trust them,” Det. Theodus voiced his misgivings.

  “Neither do I but what choice we got? You wanna start walking be my guest.”

  FOUR HOURS PASSED SINCE Amadeus got on the back of Sandoval’s motorcycle and disappeared with the rest of the leather clad gang. Det. Theodus felt every last second of it. Restless didn’t begin to explain how he was feeling as the hot desert turned cold under the moon light.

  “Don’t worry M-Milo. He’ll be back. He wou-wou-wouldn’t leave us out here.” Seymour had all the naive faith in the world that his new friend Amadeus Essex would be back.

  “Enough! I’m not waiting out here in the open for another second. C’mon Seymour, we’re walking.” Det. Theodus started down the highway.

  “But it’s dark an-an-an-an-and we don’t know-”

  “Come or stay here alone. I don’t care. But I’m leaving.”

  Silent, Det. Theodus seethed and Seymour worried about Amadeus. The two walked and walked until their feet hurt. And then they kept going. All the while there was no sign of civilization. And any car just sped by without even acknowledging their existence.

  “You hear that?” asked Det. Theodus. He stopped as soon as he heard the sound of engines. The bikers appeared to have come back.

  “Yeah I hear it. Wh-where are they?” Seymour and Det. Theodus both stood in the middle of the road. They looked down opposite directions and both saw nothing. There were no headlights, no nothing.

  Det. Theodus almost fell over as he felt and heard a motorcycle speed right past him. It kicked up dirt and sand but he couldn’t see the bike that narrowly missed him. Then it happened again.

  Confused and somewhat scared, the duo watched as invisible motorcycles crisscrossed all around them raising a cloud of dirt that was nearly impossible to see through. Det. Theodus heard laughter, Sandoval’s laughter as he and his brother stood back-to-back. He took out his pistol.

  “I knew it! They’re after the map!” Det. Theodus had his pistol raised and at the ready. “Tegrat rieht dnif ot stellub eseht tnahcne!” Seconds after reciting the spell the bullets inside his pistol glowed orange, light bleeding through any crack or open space of the firearm. “Seymour! Stay close to me!”

  Dark shapes darted back and forth in the growing cloud of dirt. Det. Theodus wildly fired. His enchanted bullets flew around tracking their targets. When he heard the cry of a hurt dog, he was perplexed. He thought he was firing at men.

  “Skin changers?” Det. Theodus asked himself as he stood over the corpse of what looked to be a coyote. “Seymour you seeing-. Seymour?” In that moment he realized that his brother was no longer beside him.

  Det. Theodus, in a panic, looked for his slow brother. He was nowhere to be found. That was until he ventured off road.

  Seymour was face down in the loose dry powder like dirt. Det. Theodus watched as his brother looked up at him helpless and scared. A second later he was dragged into the cloud of dirt and the desert night, screaming.

  “Seymour!” yelled Det. Theodus. No longer concerned with Heinrich Talon’s spell tucked away in his pocket, or of what Marcus Blackward might think, all he cared about was the fact that he just lost his brother. A callous man, the only thing he cared about (other than himself) since they were kids was poor Seymour. He looked after him, took care of him and even taught him magic.

  On his knees in tears, Det. Theodus was defeated. He dropped his gun and waited for the inevitable. His head lowered, it only rose when he heard the slow approach of a motorcycle.

  Unmanned, a motorcycle rolled up to about ten feet from Det. Theodus and toppled over. Behind it, a snarling black wolf was revealed, twice as big as any he’d ever seen before. It stared at him with unsettling light amber eyes then lunged, teeth bared, claws out.

  Chapter 2

  Living on the Edge....of Town

  Lilith Blackward sighed as she put the finishing touches of what had to have been her hundredth game of solitaire. She looked around her Aunt Rose’s attic which she converted into the new offices of Lilith Blackward PWI. She was alone.

  A lone oval shaped segmented window shined a beam of light in from the outside afternoon. It was just enough light to highlight the dust of the very sad offices. Consisting of just a single desk, a chair behind it, another in front of it and sheet covered furniture on all sides, it was a hair shy of professional.

  Other than a closed rarely used laptop, a small stack of papers, some pens and playing cards, there was nothing on Lilith’s desk. That was both figuratively and literally. Since returning from San Francisco, about a month prior, she’d been living with and kind of in hiding at her Aunt Rose’s house.

  “Has she been up there all day?” asked Winter Krueger as she cut green peppers in Aunt Rose’s kitchen. Saved by Lilith and Sir Kain, Winter stayed there with them afraid of what would happen if she returned to town.

  Winter had good reason to be nervous. It wasn’t just that she lost Heinrich Talon’s spell, which was surely now in the possession of a corrupt Det. Theodus. All of the members of the cult of the Cold Dawn were free and unpunished. Chief among them was the leader, Lilith’s father and newly minted member of the coven high table, Marcus Blackward.

  “I’m afraid so dear,” answered Aunt Rose in her always cheerful voice. She poured a box of dry pasta into a pot of boiling water. Rotund and a bit of a flower child, Rose chose to live in the woods not far from the beach and just at the edge of where Devil’s End
began and/or ended.

  Aunt Rose’s house could’ve been pulled straight from a home improvement channel on television. Her cabin style home was definitely from the before the makeover segment. There was a lot of unpainted wood, whether it be the crisscrossing pillars across the ceiling or the rounded oak corners. Pictures of flowers, animals and landscapes covered almost every wall. This was to a slightly obsessive degree.

  “This really isn’t healthy. I think we should get her out of this house,” suggested Winter. Her necklace, a simple chain with a locket on the end hung down and was in the way. She tucked it back into her shirt.

  “When she’s ready.”

  “When will that be? I mean I get it, it must be hard, knowing your parents are well...evil. Sorry no offense.”

  Aunt Rose politely smiled to hide her disdain for the shot against her brother Marcus. “None taken dear. Are you almost done with those peppers?” She moved on from the pasta to the saucepan full of canned tomato products, the gravy.

  “Almost.”

  “I know that my brother has done some bad things. But he’s not evil.” Aunt Rose didn’t let it go.

  “Well he, or I guess the cult he leads, has had people murdered and tried to kill me.” Having cut them into strips, Winter moved on to cutting those strips of green pepper into cubes.

  “He’s misunderstood.”

  “He tried to have Sir Kain killed.”

  Aunt Rose stirred the gravy a little faster. “He’s a little misguided.”

  “He wants to murder billions of people and end the mundane world.”

  “Okay, maybe he’s a smidgen evil but he’d never do anything to Lilith. I know my brother, he loves her more than anything in the world.” Aunt Rose tasted her gravy. She giggled. “It’s almost perfect.”

  “So what’re you saying Rose?” Winter stopped stirring and turned to Aunt Rose.

  “Maybe, just a suggestion, maybe you take her into town.”

  “I want to. I really want to. The cop in me...it’s eating me up inside that him, Detective Theodus, Alizia Blackward, Deacon Thorne, Lady Sage and Sterling Essex are still out there.”