"DOUBLE ENMITY"
Chapter 8
A barely patient warlock sat inside her rental car, across the street from the police station. Nearly twenty minutes had passed before the daemon teleported back inside the car. "Well?" she demanded.
Klymus heaved a sigh. "Sorry. I couldn't get her purse."
"Why not?" Olivia paused. "Did the other Olivia remain at her desk?"
According to Klymus, Olivia's counterpart had left her desk for several minutes. "I was able to search all of the drawers . . . except one. It was locked. I think she may have placed a spell on it."
Olivia frowned. "Why would she do that?"
"How would I know?" Klymus retorted. "You should know. You're . . . her."
A thought came to Olivia. "Wait a minute. I can think of a reason why she would cast a spell on her lock. She must have something hidden inside that particular drawer. Something valuable. Which is what I always did when I had something valuable on hand, when I'm at work."
Klymus demanded, "If you've done it before, what's the counter spell?"
A sigh left Olivia's mouth. "Forget it. The other Olivia is probably at her desk by now." She switched on the car's engine and drove away.
Two blocks later, Klymus demanded, "So, that's it? You're just going to give up like that?"
"I'm going to take a step back, rest, and try to think of another way to get my hands on that staff," Olivia coolly replied. She stopped the car at an intersection. "Why are you so interested in me getting that staff?"
"I've been ordered to help you."
Olivia gave the daemon a long and penetrating stare. "And why is that? Why is Artemus so willing to help me, now that I know where the other Olivia lives?"
Instead of giving her an answer, Klymus merely squirmed in silence. Then he glanced at the window shield and said, "Green light."
Olivia continued to drive. Something about the daemon's reaction bothered her. Come to think of it, her difficulty in first meeting Artemus had struck her as odd. "You know, I get the feeling that your boss has some plan in motion." Klymus remained silent. "And he wants to ensure that I won't fuck it up for him. Am I right?" When Klymus failed to answer for the second time, Olivia pulled over to the curb. "Okay. That's it. You're gone. Good-bye."
"What?" Klymus stared at her in confusion.
"If you can't be honest with me, I don't need you around. I can't depend upon you."
Klymus retorted, "What do you expect? I'm a daemon! Heck, I wouldn't even depend to have you around me! Even Artemus is worried that you'll . . ."
Olivia gave the daemon a knowing look. "That I would do . . . what? Screw things up for him? Expose his location?"
A long silent moment followed before Klymus heaved a defeated sigh. "All right! Yes! I am here to keep an eye on you."
"What exactly does Artemus fear?"
"You mean . . . whom." Tersely, Klymus revealed the senior daemon's plans to become the new Source. Apparently, Artemus had escaped from the Stygian Abyss after discovering a prophecy regarding the old Source's death. Not only did Artemus require a certain item to become the new Source, this item happened to be located on a piece of property belonging to one of Cole's clients. "With Belthazor and the Charmed Ones around, his chances of getting that item are slim."
"Why?"
Klymus rolled his eyes. "What do you mean . . .?"
"I can understand why Artemus would be leery of the Charmed Ones," Olivia said. "But why would he fear a fellow daemon? Is Cole . . . this Cole that dangerous or powerful?"
The daemon hesitated. "Well . . . yes." He went on to reveal a fantastic tale in which Cole ended up possessed by the old Source. Unaware of what happened, the Charmed Ones killed the possessed Cole and he ended up in some dimension called the Wasteland. "I don't know how he did it," Klymus continued. "His human ancestry must have saved him from perishing in the Wasteland. But while there, he managed to collect a good number of powers that enabled him to escape. The belief is that when a daemon enters the Wasteland, his or her powers are immediately separated from the body before being consumed by some monster. Belthazor must have avoided being destroyed. And the powers he had collected made him more powerful than ever. More powerful than the old Source. If Artemus is to become the new Source, he would not last a day with Belthazor still alive." He paused.
"And . . .?" Olivia continued. "What else?" Klymus glanced sharply at her. "I can see it in your eyes. There is something else to this story."
Klymus sighed. "There is a prophecy regarding Belthazor . . . and his wife, the other Olivia. Aretemus does not want it to come true."
Olivia snickered. "Prophecy, huh? Looks like Artemus has a lot on his agenda." She shook her head. "I wish I could help, but I have . . ." Her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure and she nearly brought the car to a screeching halt.
"What the hell?" Klymus demanded.
The red-haired warlock barely heard him. Instead, she guided the car into a nearby parking space and switched off the engine. "Did you see the two men standing in the middle of an alley we had just passed?"
"Hardly," Klymus shot back. "What about them?"
Olivia climbed out of the car. So did Klymus. "I had recognized one of them," she answered. The pair walked toward the alley. "His name is Lee Ramos. In my dimension, he was an informant of mine, when I was a cop." The moment they reached the edge of the alley, Olivia held up her hand, signaling the daemon to stop.
"What the hell is this about?" Klymus demanded.
A cold smile curved Olivia's lips. "I've just found a way to get my hands on the other Olivia's keys." Both she and the daemon peeked around around the corner and into the alley. They spotted the two men in the middle of some transaction. One of them was a stocky man, with short curly hair. The other possessed long blond hair and a mustache that drooped over a long jaw. "You see the man with the long, blond hair? As soon as I give the signal, kill him. But don't incinerate his body."
Klymus frowned. "What will be the signal?"
"You'll find out. C'mon."
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The warlock entered the alley with daemon close at her heels. "Well, well, well," she cried out, surprising the two men. "If it isn't Lee Ramos!"
The dark-haired man gasped aloud. He quickly tucked his hands inside his jeans pockets. "Hey! Inspector! What brings you here?" he asked nervously.
Olivia approached Ramos. "Looking for you," she coolly replied. Her eyes briefly rested upon the blond man. "Something going on here?"
"Uh . . . nothing," Ramos assured the redhead. "Just . . . ah, ran into an old friend. That's all."
"Hmmmm." Olivia continued to stare at the blond man.
Ramos continued, "What can I do for you?"
Olivia returned her gaze to the informant and smiled. "Just stand there . . . and do nothing." Then in a lightning move, she flung out her hand and sent a stream of fire straight through the informant's chest. A smoldering hole now existed where his heart used to be. Ramos quickly crumpled to the ground.
"Oh shit!" the blond man cried. "He's dead! You just . . ." He gave Olivia a peculiar stare. "Hey lady! What the fuck are you?"
The warlock nodded. A second later, Klymus shoved a dagger into the blond man's chest. The latter joined his colleague in crime on the ground. Once Olivia verified the blond man's death, she searched his jacket and retrieved a cell phone from one of the pockets. "Here," she tossed the phone to the daemon. "It's time to call the police. Dial (415) 706-1239 and ask for Inspector Olivia Turner."
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The witch leaned toward her computer screen and typed in the phrase - MISHEWAL WAPPO. The Yahoo search engine on her computer screen produced a list of web links on the subject. She clicked on the first link. At that moment, the telephone on her desk rang. She answered it. "Inspector Turner, SIU. May I help you?"
"Inspector Turner?" a distraught voice replied. "Are you Lee Ramos' friend?"
Lee Ramos? Olivia forgot about her Internet research project and focused her attention on the call. "Yes, this is . . . Lee's friend. What's wrong?"
The voice continued, "Oh God! Oh God! It's Lee! He's . . . he's dead! Oh God, it's weird! There's a hole in his chest!"
"Hole in his chest?" Olivia demanded, "What do you mean? Who is this?"
"I'm . . . uh, another friend . . . of Lee's. We, uh . . . we were supposed to meet near Powell and California," the voice continued.
Olivia sighed. She knew what this meant. Her informant Lee Ramos and this friend may have been involved in some kind of deal. Lee was known for trading in all kinds of illegal goods. Including drugs. "Again . . . who are you?"
The man answered, "My name is . . . um, Stan Marin."
The name did not strike a familiar chord within Olivia's memories. "And where did you find Lee?"
"In an alley near Powell and California. Look, do I have to stay here?"
Olivia coolly replied, "If you don't want the police searching this city for you . . . yes. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Marin said in a shaky voice, "Uh . . . yeah. Sure. See you." He quickly hung up.
As she slowly returned the phone onto the hook, Olivia wondered if Marin would remain with the body. She doubted it. Then she headed for Darryl's office. "I just received a phone call. One of my informants might be dead. A Lee Ramos."
"Sorry to hear that," Darryl replied. He glanced at Olivia, who remained silent. "What?"
Olivia gave him a meaningful stare. "This Stan Marin claimed that he had found Lee's body in an alley near Powell and California." She paused. "With a hole in his chest."
Darryl sighed. "I knew it had to be something." He stood up and grabbed his trench coat. "Let's go."
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From behind a dumpster, Klymus and Olivia watched a group of uniformed cops, three plainsclothesmen and a few people from the Coroner's office gather around the two bodies. Klymus noticed that one of the plainclothes cops happened to be his companion's doppelganger. "Okay, she's here," he commented. "Now what?"
"Just wait and see," the warlock commented. "If I know me, I'll be drifting away from the group for more clues." Several minutes passed before Olivia Turner drifted away from the rest of the crowd. She walked toward another alley, adjacent to the one where they had left Ramos and his blond companion. "It's about damn time."
The warlock slowly walked away from the dumpster and headed toward her look-a-like. Klymus remained in his spot, as he prepared to witness what promised to be a most interesting encounter.
END OF CHAPTER 8
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