Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 18 A Bad Influence

“Everything is locked up like Fort-” Isaac winced. “It’s impossible to get into without the chime that dispels wards and the ability to pick dial locks.” Isaac explained. He had just gotten back after a brief sashay through a certain gangsters office. It had been the last building they had scouted out for a reason. The magical defenses were twice as good as the ones in any of the other buildings that Duncan ran or owned. The man was meticulous. Any and all incriminating evidence was either burned away in the ashtray on his desk or locked inside the most secure safe Isaac had ever seen. The outside, and no doubt the inside as well, of the safe was covered in wards and structural reinforcement enchantments.

“I guess we just have to wait, boss.” Lenny replied. “Once he makes his move maybe we can get inside?” He offered.

Isaac shook his head. “No, it isn’t worth it. If our plan is just to mess with his operation, outright raiding it would be counterintuitive. If we remove the mortal trafficking then all he is really doing is growing and selling drugs, which, in all honesty, is completely fair game as far as I am concerned.” He explained. “Let’s just leave him alone from here on. It’s been two days. The word about the festival is going to get spread around and we should see some movement soon. For now, let’s split up. Lenny, keep watching this one.” Isaac said and gestured towards the building he had just sneaked out of. “Lenna, take the bunkhouse and keep track of how many different gangsters are on his payroll. Kahtesh and I’ll take the warehouses. Let’s meet up tonight at midnight on the roof of the pawnshop.”

Just like James and Lenny had planned, the pawn shop was up and running again. The brothers had hired a retired guard from the slums to run it. The man had lost both his legs to a monster two decades prior and had been doing his best to survive. He could keep a secret and had no problems dealing with thieves so he had been a great pick. In the brother’s youths he had given them a little instruction in knife work so they could protect themselves and now it was their turn to repay the favor.

Lenna narrowed her eyes on Isaac. “Why do I feel like you are up to something?” She asked him.

“Probably because I am.” Isaac commented. “But that is besides the point. We should still split up and get the full picture of how he plans on responding to the festival news.”

Lenny nodded. “Sounds like a plan, boss.” He agreed and settled in to continue watching Duncan’s office from a rooftop across the street.

Lenna sighed. “Fine.” She acquiesced. “I assume I will find out whatever you are up to after it is too late to stop you?” She asked Isaac.

“Most definitely.” Isaac agreed. “If it makes you feel any better it isn’t dangerous… well, it shouldn’t be, though,” Isaac rambled on before he added under his breath: “if I manage to get myself hurt with paint then I probably deserve it.”

“Paint?” Lenna asked.

“Nope.” Isaac replied.

“I clearly just heard you mumble something about paint.” Lenna pressed.

“You’re hearing things.” Isaac said simply. “Anyway, see you tonight.” Isaac said and squeezed her hand. Shadows clung to Lenna’s hand as Isaac disappeared.

“I think I am more concerned now than when I had no idea what he was doing.” Lenna commented.

Lenny glanced at her. “You know, I don’t know if I’m more scared of him now or when I thought he had a brand on my soul.” He commented. “Before it was more a fear of dying but now it’s a fear of what kinda shit he’s gonna to drag me into.”

Lenna sighed. “You have no idea.”

—

“What in all nine of the hells did you do to him?” Lenna asked with a mix of awe and horror.

“I think the lines are… neat.” Lenny commented.

Isaac held his chest as if he’d been shot. “Neat?” He questioned. “I spent five hours on those and all I get is ‘neat’?”

Lenna shook her head as she looked down at the little dragon. Isaac had spent his entire time watching the warehouses painting Kahtesh. The dragon’s white bones were now home to black lines that ran along each bone as if he had simply traced the base skeleton. All of the areas where the bone was stretched, or grown out to cover the openings, were covered in jagged, lightning-like lines that all further obscured the true size and shape of the dragon. All of the black paint made it almost impossible to properly track the dragon’s movements when he was moving quickly in the dark. “He needs a bath.” Lenna said at last.

“Come on, it looks awesome.” Isaac tried to argue.

“It looks like one of those plants that you put in a bowl of dyed water so you can see their leaf structure.” Lenna commented. Isaac and Lenny both stared at her like she had just said something far beyond them. “What?” She asked.

“You really did have the best education money could buy in the Drow Empire didn’t you?” Isaac asked.

“Education?” Lenny asked. “What does colorful plants have to do with education?”

Lenna shook her head. “Let’s just forget about plants and whatever art project Isaac decided to turn Kahtesh into.” She said and took a deep breath. “Back on target boys. What did we learn?”

“Duncan and his top players are running around like there’s a devil after ‘em.” Lenny explained his findings. “It looks like they’re taking the bait.”

“They brought six wagons into the warehouse. I didn’t see any of them leave but that doesn’t mean they will still all be there in the morning.” Isaac continued. “I’d say they plan on using six wagons.”

“Forty seven men stay in the bunkhouse. Twenty three of them look like they can handle themselves. I don’t think any of them are over level seven though.” Lenna revealed her own findings.

“This is seeming more and more doable.” Isaac said. “I think it’s time I get Alexander to set up a meeting with the dwarves.”

“Oh, boss, one more thing.” Lenny cut in before they decided to go their separate ways for the night. “I stopped by my house since it was on the way here, James got word about the next auction.”

“Oh?” Isaac said, suddenly even more interested. “When?”

“Two months from today, like I said before, they give a two month heads up.” Lenny replied.

“If we can, I’d like to go with you.” Isaac replied. “If not, I’ll make sure you have enough money to buy at least one good disguise item.”

Lenny nodded. “Got it, boss.” He said and then gave the duo a wave. “I think I’m gonna sleep in my actual bed for once this week.”

“Good.” Isaac and Lenna said at the same time. Lenny shrunk back like he had just been chastised by a parent. He backed up until he hit the edge of the roof before he rolled backwards off of it and out of sight.

“You are a bad influence on him.” Lenna said. “He has started going for dramatic instead of efficient exits.”

Isaac laughed. “I’m a bad influence on everyone who isn’t a bad person.” He replied. “I take saints, like you, and drag them to the line that separates the light and dark sides.”

Lenna rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t make any sense.” She said with amusement in her eyes.

“Sure it does.” Isaac countered.

“Oh?” Lenna asked. “How?”

“Shadows are the boundary between light and pure darkness.” He said. “Also, death is just a transition point between being alive in life and being whatever you are in the afterlife.”

Lenna just stared at him. “No.” She replied.

Isaac chuckled. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I am not acknowledging that just because it sounds like it should make sense, because it doesn’t.” She explained. Isaac’s laughter filled the rooftop while Kahtesh watched on with confused curiosity. Sometimes the little dragon had no idea what was going on, this was one such time. In the little dragon’s defense, nonsense was a human pastime, not a dragon one.

—

Lenny may have said that he was going home to his own bed but that was just so the boss, and especially the lady boss, would get off his case. He knew that they meant well but it felt like they were treating him like their child instead of their partner, underling if Lenny was being honest with himself, and it was a little annoying. Regardless, he had something he really needed to do. It was this thing that led to him swinging by the storeroom in the theater hall. The building hadn’t been used in at least seven months. Everyone knew that Safeharbor was too poor to host plays every weekend like the larger cities so it sat empty and unused unless there was a very special occasion. In those instances the duke would clean it up and try to make it look like it hadn’t sat idle the rest of the time. All that really did was make what Lenny was planning on easier.

Once inside the storeroom Lenny searched through half a dozen creates full of props until he finally found what he had been looking for. When Lenny was a boy, maybe four or five, his brother had snuck him inside to see one of the plays. The mask of the villain of the play was pure white with an exaggerated black grin painted on the front. The eye holes were covered in a thin, black, veil of some kind that made it impossible to see through from farther than a few inches away. This let the actor still see but removed the ability for any onlooker to see the eyes of the wearer. In the play that had been necessary because the grand reveal had been that the villain had been the mentor of the hero all along. That villain had also used a pair of sparkling curved swords. Little Lenny didn’t really understand the plot or the message the play tried to convey but his young mind and eyes had latched onto the flippant villain, his swagger, and probably most importantly of all, his mask and swords. Now, in his hands, he had the mask. On his hips he had real swords that were even more extravagant than the villain’s because, unlike the villain, his swords were real.

Lenny slowly put the mask over his face and couldn’t keep himself from grinning, much like the mask. “Finally.” He whispered to himself. “The Phantom has come to life.”