3. Luke
Chapter 3
Luke
Luke didn’t expect to keep his disobedience a secret, so he decided to lean into it instead. After he killed the demon and spent some time talking the nurses down about what they saw, he dragged himself out to his car and drove home. His back felt like one giant bruise after his harsh introduction to the wall during the fight, but he felt accomplished. He saved that little boy and killed the demon.
He didn’t even bother to shower, leaving his clothes in a trail toward his bed and collapsing in exhaustion. In the morning, he would admit what he’d done to Sloan and accept whatever came next.
Bright and early the next day, he braced himself to return to HQ to type up his official report. Sloan wouldn’t be happy, but facing his punishment with honor was better than continuing to lie about what he’d done. With a travel mug full of the blackest coffee known to man, he made his way to the library to type up his report. The papers were still warm from the printer when he reached Sloan’s office. He rapped his knuckles on the door and waited for Sloan to call out.
“Come in.”
He opened the door and stepped inside. Sloan was standing like he’d just barely gotten in for the day. His messenger bag with his laptop was sitting on his desk, not yet put away, and his personal coffeemaker in the corner was gurgling softly.
“Paladin Morgan, what can I do for you this morning?” he asked. “I hope this isn’t about what we discussed yesterday. I consider that matter settled.”
“It is settled, sir, but not in the way you think.” He strode over and handed Sloan his report. “My report for last night.”
“Last night? You weren’t scheduled to patrol last night.”
“I know, sir. Please, just read it.”
Pursing his lips, Sloan sat down and focused on the report. Luke sat across from him, waiting patiently as Sloan flipped to the next page, leaning over on one elbow. The minutes ticked by, and Luke resisted the urge to fidget. Finally, Sloan looked up, laying the form down on his desk.
“You went to the hospital anyway.”
“I did.”
“You disobeyed a direct order.”
He winced. “I did.”
“I should have you suspended,” Sloan said sternly.
Luke wilted. “Yes, sir.” He would accept his punishment, no matter what. His conscience was clear. He’d saved a child last night. Suspension would be boring, but it was better than living with that guilt.
Sloan studied him for a long, hard moment. “But,” he said slowly, begrudgingly, “as it turned out, you were right. There was a sagdrannon stealing kids from the hospital. So, while you’ll be reprimanded appropriately for insubordination, I am willing to concede that I shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss the halfling’s intel.”
Luke ducked his head. “Thank you, sir.”
“It does, however, also make me question that halfling’s motives. Why would it willingly give up a fellow demon? What does it want?”
“I don’t know, sir, but I don’t think it matters. Whatever his motives are, the children are safe. That’s the most important thing.”
Sloan passed his fingers over his jaw, thinking. “Agreed,” he said, if reluctantly. “However, we have to assume we played into the halfling’s hands by doing this. If it approaches you again, do not engage it in conversation. Just kill it. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.” All that remained now was the punishment for his disobedience. He waited stiffly.
“I don’t want to suspend you for protecting the innocent. You followed your gut, which is a good thing, even if I don’t like that it meant disobeying my order. So,” Sloan paused, tilting his head in consideration, “I’ll put you on archive duty. After your regular training drills, you’ll go downstairs and do that. Log your hours with the desk downstairs. Four hours every weekday for two weeks.”
Luke relaxed. Archive duty wasn’t so bad. Four hours of training, four hours standing in the cool basement and scanning old documents into the computer system. It could be worse.
He stood, gave Sloan a salute, and turned to go. With his hand on the doorknob, Sloan’s solemn voice drew him to turn back around.
“It worked out in your favor this time, Paladin Morgan, but don’t disobey me again. I won’t be so lenient next time, no matter how many lives you save.”
An uneasy knot settled in his gut as he ducked his head and slipped from the room, turning those words over in his mind.
No matter how many lives he saved? Was obedience really the most important lesson to be learned from all of this? If he’d obeyed that last order, a little boy would be dead, and the demon would go on to kill more. Wasn’t disobedience for the greater good better than blind obedience at the cost of innocent people’s lives?
He wondered if Sloan’s new iron-fist mentality came from having lost Hawk to a demon. Ruling the guild like a dictator wasn’t the answer, though, and Luke would never obey if it meant watching people die.
He drifted out to the training yard for morning drills. Because he didn’t have a squad to train with, he usually trained with whoever was already out there. The training yard never had a shortage of paladins willing to spar, and today was no different. He fell in with a group who was already getting started, led by Captain Nicolas Garcia. They practiced offensive and defensive stances, did some light conditioning work, and then broke into pairs to spar.
All the while, his mind churned.
Sloan wanted him to kill Malachi if he saw him again. But without his intel, Luke wouldn’t have learned about the sagdrannon. Children would still be dying. If he saw Malachi again, his first instinct would be to thank him, not run him through with his sword. Sure, he was a demon, but he helped him. Luke just wanted to know why. What was his angle? He’d approached Luke intentionally, waiting outside the warehouse where he’d been hunting. How long had he been there? How did he know how to find Luke? Had he been following him?
He had a thousand questions, and the only way to get answers was to ask. Which meant engaging the demon in conversation if he saw him again, not killing him. Which would be disobedience. Which was wrong.
Or was it?
Maybe he needed to confront Malachi. If he could uncover his motives, it would set his mind at ease. Should the halfling mean harm, he could deal with it and reassure Sloan that he’d dealt with the problem. If his reasons were benign, Luke could thank him and warn him away. He owed him that much, at least.
All he had to do was find him.
He showered in the locker room, had a quick lunch in the cafeteria, and then made his way down into the basement archives. The basement consisted of two levels, and nearly all the rooms housed old filing cabinets full of books, scrolls, and various kinds of parchment from the guild’s history. They’d been slowly scanning and uploading each document into the computer system, but because there was so much, it took time.
The first room at the base of the stairs was the lobby. Most people who came down here only needed a specific file, so they asked Etta. She’d been his English teacher at one time, but now she worked here. Her eclectic style decorated the room, with colorful artwork hanging on the painted brick walls and warmly lit lamps making up for the anemic fluorescent lights overhead. A plush rug covered the beige tile, and trinkets covered every surface. Some porcelain frogs sat beside her computer. A tiny gnome village thrived on the filing cabinet behind her. An e-reader with a case that looked like a leather-bound book was next to her keyboard.
She grinned when she saw him, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Well, if it isn’t Luke Morgan, paladin extraordinaire! I got an email a little while ago telling me to expect you. You forget to turn in your homework again, sugar?”
He chuckled. “No, I’m afraid not. Forgot to follow an order, more like. Intentionally.”
Her warm brown eyes widened behind her purple-framed glasses. “Really? You disobeyed an order?” She leaned in closer. “How bad are things getting up there?”
He sighed. “I’m not sure yet. I hope things level off soon, though. It’s been tense.”
“It has. I don’t see the worst of it, since I’m in a different quarter than the paladins, but I’ve been keeping you all in my prayers.”
“I appreciate that, Ms. Etta.”
“So you’re down here with me for two weeks, it looks like?” she asked, clicking something on her computer.
“Yes, ma’am. Just point me where you need me.”
“You can go to filing room fourteen. That’s on this level, just down the hall. There’s a scanner there. Just start with the first filing cabinet and make your way down. They’re all labeled.”
“What kind of documents are they?”
“Loose documents that paladins have gathered over the years. Rituals and spellcraft, mostly.”
“Spellcraft? Like magic spells?”
“Exactly,” Etta replied. “Using it is forbidden, of course, but the guild likes to have documentation of such things so they can recognize it when enemies use it. Magic of that kind is pretty rare these days, though, so they’re mostly just forgotten pieces of paper now. Who needs a tracking spell when our cell phones log our location twenty-four-seven, anyway?”
He snorted. “Right.”
She grabbed a clipboard and laid it before him. “Just sign in there and mark down the time. If you need anything, let me know.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He signed in, gave Etta a wave, and wandered down the hall to get started. Each room was closed and had a brass tag on the wall beside it with a number. When he found number fourteen, he let himself in.
The room was deeper than it was wide. Filing cabinets lined both walls, and there was another row in the middle with cabinets on either side. The scanner was tucked in the corner. It was actually a copier, scanner, and printer in one. With any luck, it was actually functional. Otherwise, he’d probably have to walk the files to another room to use a different machine.
With a sigh, he went over to the first filing cabinet, labeled helpfully with a number one, and opened the top drawer. He grabbed a big stack, carried them over to the machine, and got to work. Scanning each document and setting it aside was a monotonous task. They were all going to Etta’s email. She and a handful of other administrators organized the digital filing system.
His eyes drifted over each document as he put them into the scanner. There were old warding spells and protection sigils, not unlike the ones the guild used today, except these all invoked either a demon or a pagan god. He wondered where some of them came from and how the paladins had found them.
After a while, his eyes glazed. When he finished with one stack, he returned it to the cabinet and grabbed the next handful. He did that several times over the next couple of hours, going from drawer to drawer. And when he was debating a break for an afternoon coffee to perk him back up, his gaze fell across something interesting on the next paper he was waiting to scan.
‘To Summon a Beast.’
He shook himself, focusing on the faded words. This was a ritual for summoning a demon. Any demon, as long as the summoner had its real name.
Would this work on a halfling? If Malachi was actually his real name, could Luke… summon him wherever he wanted? That would make finding him a whole lot easier.
He laid the paper facedown in the scanner, and this time, after he pressed the button to scan it, he also made a copy. It was worth a try. The copy went into his pocket, and he went back to work, the need for caffeine forgotten.