An Unexpected Offer...Part 3

I stood up from leaning on the ledge and turned to face this creature full on. I wanted to be ready for anything at this point. I certainly had no reason to trust him. "So what are you offering?"

The Slayer remained in place, looking out towards the ruined hulk of old Tiger Stadium.

"Let's start with what we want, first."
I nodded. "OK, I'll bite. So what do you want?"

"It is simple, really. We want the one you call El Diablito."

I laughed. "I thought you guys were working with him. What has your little Axis of Evil suffered a little schism?"

The Slayer didn't seem to find any humor in my joke. "If you want your daughter, the one you call Alexa and her mother returned to you without any lasting harm done to them, you might take this discussion a little more seriously."

The prospect of getting Alexa and Naomi back brought my thoughts right into focus. "OK, you have my attention now. How do I know that you have Alexa and Naomi and that you will make good on your promises?"

Now he stood up and faced me in return. "If you agree to this bargain, we will immediately cease all hostilities against you and your allies and I will bring the one you call Naomi to you in your latest hiding spot unharmed. She will be able to relate to you and the others what has happened to them and that this offer is serious. In direct exchange for this gesture, you will return with me and begin the hunt for our mutual enemy."

I had to admit that there was a certain charm in the idea...you know, 'The enemy of my enemy is an ally' sort of thing.

I nodded. "I will have to discuss this with the others."

He smiled. "That would be rather unusual of you, human."

I tensed as he reached inside of his jacket pocket but relaxed when he pulled out what appeared to be a cell phone. He tossed it in my direction. I caught it.

"Call 'Home' when you are ready to strike the deal." With that I saw him pull the Shadow about him like a cloak and disappear into the bitterly cold, dark air.

An Unexpected Offer...Part 2

The Slayer was the most powerful Doppelganger that I had encountered so far. He could conceal his essence from me if he chose to, but approached unshielded from my vision in Shadowland. In that realm, his form was like that of any other Doppelganger. But he had chosen another shape for this meeting.

He had taken the form of a tall, well muscled man with slicked back hair and olive hued skin. He was dressed casually for a warmer climate, wearing only dark jeans, a t-shirt and an unzipped leather jacket. His boots were meant more for the dance floor than for this kind of hard Michigan winter night. He was as unconcerned about the cold as I was.

The Slayer approached the edge of the building next to me and leaned with both forearms on the icy edge, looking out over the half-deserted city and silent, broken ruins of Tiger Stadium. His voice had a thick middle-eastern accent to it when he spoke.

"You and your friends have shown a remarkable resilience."

I leaned with both hands on the same ledge, each of us talking as much to the cold night air as we were to each other. Neither of us had any trouble hearing the words of the other though, despite the whipping winds and the relatively low volume of our voices. This conversation was taking place on multiple levels.

I smiled in response to his comment. "I missed you in Alaska. Had you been there, your masters might have had to send a different emissary."

His smile was equally broad. "If I had been there, human, your daughter and her mother would be dead instead of safe where they are now."

That caught my attention. I turned to face him, fighting hard against the urge to grab him by the jacket and shake the answer out of him. I remembered all too well how my last match with this one had gone.

"Where are they?"

He kept his composure and remained leaning out over the dark void. "As I said, they are safe, for now. They, and that battle that I unfortunately missed, are why I have come to see you tonight."

I settled back down next to him, sensing that this meeting might represent a significant change in the current state of affairs. I didn't want to hamper my negotiating stance by seeming too eager to make a deal.

"Your side did take quite a beating. It can't be an easy thing to replace three Banes and all those Doppelgangers."
He shrugged. "Those that fell in that battle were the weakest amongst us. They fell into a trap that should have been easily avoided."

I wasn't going to let him get off that easily, I knew the losses to his masters had been significant. "But..."

He nodded. "But, the blow was not an insignificant one." He shifted his weight onto his right arm and looked over directly into my eyes. "I will speak frankly now, human. I tire of these mortal word games. You must know by now that the An'girasii are not a unified force. If they were of a single mind and a single purpose, this world would have never stood a chance against their combined might."

Not sure where he was going with this strange twist, I nodded in agreement in order to keep him talking.

"I see no purpose in enlightening you further to the factions at play here, but suffice it to say that I have been tasked with negotiating a deal with you and your allies."

"What sort of deal?"

"A truce, of sorts."

"What the hell does that mean?"

His eyes changed briefly from the brown pupils that had been to the opaque white that the Dopplegangers eyes normally were. Was he losing control over his form? I had my doubts about that...

"That is what we are here to discuss..."


(Part 3 to be revealed next weekend.)

An Unexpected Offer...Part 1

The wind howled and snow flakes swirled around me as I waited the arrival of the South Beach Slayer at the appointed time. The sounds of the wind whistling through the hollowed-out, windowless building made it difficult to hear if anyone was approaching or not, so I kept my eyes open and weapons handy.

I really had no idea of what to expect form this meeting. The last time we had met face to face, the Slayer had left me on my back in the sands of South Beach with an incapacitated crazed killer to take the blame for his crimes and another dead body. He had also left me with a warning that I had a long way to go before I truly threaten him and his masters like my ‘father’ had. He meant Drake of course, the person who had orchestrated my birth into undeath.

Looking out over the edge towards the abandoned husk of Tiger Stadium, it felt strange to be so alone in the heart of a once-bustling and vibrant city. Even the streets below were devoid of traffic, the snow settling softly on the pavement that the city government could no longer afford to salt properly.

I had arrived at this crusty old shell of a building the old fashioned way, partly for the curiosity of being able to explore the once grand rail station on my way up to meeting and partly to conserve power for a hasty exit, should one be required. The base of the building was surrounded by a strong fence, but it was clear that any number of vagrants and other curiosity seekers had found alternative routes into the building. I was able to follow a trail in the fresh snow to a place where a hole had been made in the fence that I was easily able to squeeze through.

The first floor of the massive structure was covered in graffiti and littered with trash, including used needles and empty dime bags. Empty bottles rattled around and potato chip bags and candy wrappers swirled with the whistling winds. I rousted a pair of young men who were about to inject some recently heated heroin into their veins before they had the chance to get their high going. They scattered when I kicked over their portable kerosene stove, cursing me all the way. Neither of them had the courage to back their curses with action. They fled harmlessly into the night in search of their next fix and a quieter place to get it on.

The stairwell leading up to the roof through the more than dozen floors in between reeked of urine and human waste. The trash was piled highest on the first landing, with less and less of it on each successive level. I didn’t waste time on the intervening floors since it was pretty apparent that the place was largely abandoned, except for the druggies I had already evicted. On a warmer night in the spring or the summer, I could see this place as much busier, but not many folks were immune to the freezing weather like I was.

I sensed the arrival of the Slayer as a ripple of disturbance in the surrounding Shadow. I turned to face him.

(Part 2 by Wednesday, July 1, 2009)

A Blast from the Past

A strange postcard showed up in our mailbox the other day. It was not a commercially available card, but was instead an image of an abandoned train station in Detroit—a place that I was very familiar with, but had never actually visited before.

On the back of the card was a simple hand written message—

“I am enjoying all of the new technology your human society has to offer. Let us meet at this ruin of a building on Monday, January 5, 2009, by your human reckoning. I am partial to the roof. 11:50 PM. You will remember me as the South Beach Slayer.

PS-I very much enjoyed your ‘story’ about me, I look forward to meeting you again.”

It appears that I have meeting tomorrow night with the same Doppelganger I met in the South Beach episode several years ago (updated version much more recent, see November’s archives). It is also apparent that he reads the blog and knows the address where we now reside. This could be very interesting.

I will post about the results of that meeting on Tuesday, unless I am not available to do so.

South Beach Slayer--A Retro Rusty Special

(The following post is the exact text for a short story that will be appearing in an anthology of online writers called *.fiction. The editor is Scott McKenzie, who can be found at this blog site: www.stardotfiction.blogspot.com. This story is based on the prior posts comprising the South Beach Diet series of posts--you can find the original series of posts in the November 2006 archives of this site--November 15-30, 2006 When the book is available, further information on how to get a copy will be posted and provided at that point. Until then, enjoy the story. More original posts are due over the next week.)

South Beach Slayer


I stood high above the crowd below, hidden from curious eyes by darkness and distance in my rooftop perch. From this spot, I could watch both the pulsating crowd below and the wide, nearly empty stretch of sand and waves known collectively as South Beach.

I wasn’t here to enjoy the sights and sounds of South Beach. This was a hunting trip.

There was a very prolific, very sick serial killer loose on South Beach. This unknown killer had killed four young people on four consecutive nights and left their bodies ripped open and splayed out on the beach to be discovered in the morning. Each body had been missing at least one vital organ.

Somehow, in one of the busiest nightspots in the United States, each victim had been killed, laid out on the beach, and been at least partially eaten all without any witnesses who were willing to come forward. The killings had continued even as the police presence had been doubled after the second killing and redoubled again after the third. The local authorities were at their wits end. That was when they called on the FBI to do something.

The fourth killing took place despite the presence of nearly twenty undercover FBI agents blanketing the most popular nightspots and a very sophisticated surveillance project that had been hastily put into place all over the area. The media was now crawling all over the story and the whole region was seemingly in the grip of panic over the lack of any progress on finding this mysterious, cannibalistic killer who had been named the South Beach Slayer by an enterprising news anchorman.

This was the fifth night.

The Bureau was desperate to put a stop to these gruesome murders. One of their best profilers, Agent Jennifer Wilson, had told them that this killer was something more than human. That’s when the decision was made to call on the Bureau’s only agent who also happened to be something more than human…or, as I preferred to think of it, formerly human.

Before I get much further, however, a brief introduction is called for. I am Agent Rusty Bones. I was a street cop from Dearborn Hills, Michigan who was killed in the line of duty. I was brought back to this…unlife…because I had also been a participant in a formerly secret (and definitely evil) government program called the Omega Project that sought to reunite the souls of slain subjects with newly enhanced bodies in an effort to show that it was indeed possible to create immortal super soldiers. I was the lone success of the project-- and its biggest failure-- since I subsequently helped to shut the thing down. I don’t quite think of myself as an immortal super soldier, but I do benefit from the fact that I can’t be killed. I have also acquired a few other special abilities that have been useful from time to time.

Seeing nothing of note moving on the beach, I turned my gaze towards the crowd below. While most sensible people were sensibly tucked away in their homes, there was still a sizable core of young, rich daredevils of all ethnicities gathered beneath me. They were partying with reckless abandon that I found quite amusing. There was a tension in the air that was palpable. These were the type of people who would throw a party on the eve of Armageddon.

From this distance I could pick out the undercover police officers and FBI agents as they mingled through the crowd looking for any likely suspects. The Slayer wouldn’t be so easily spotted. If Agent Wilson’s profile was to be believed, the Slayer was a doppelganger—a mythical creature that could change shape at will, exactly mimicking its victim.

I unfocused my eyes and shifted my vision from this world so that I could survey the scene below in the Shadowland—a separate dimension that parallels the physical world that you are already familiar with, but where the spirits of both the living and the dead are visible to those who can access it.

In this view, the police officers and undercover agents were even more distinct from the more colorful, inebriated spirits of all those potential victims. The spirits of the law enforcement officers were less colorful, more subdued in their hues, focused and vigilant.

There! About halfway down the block at a small, open-air sidewalk café, I caught a glimpse of someone, or better yet, something that was out of place. It was a small, dark spirit that seemed oddly out of place. As soon as I tried to lock my gaze on it, it slipped away into a thronging mass of spirits that obscured my sight. I was going to have to get closer. It seemed to sense me almost as soon as I saw it.

I slipped back into normal vision long enough to get a fix on the place and called the Shadow.

The cool, comforting darkness of the Shadow surrounded me. Using my will, I shaped It into a portal and stepped through.

I emerged from the Shadow in a side alley. I stopped at the mouth of the tight space for a moment to take in the festive scene from my new vantage point—pounding music, snarled traffic, pulsing neon lights, and a gyrating crowd of underdressed people of all races, genders and orientations milling about in their desperate searches for excitement and hook-ups.

A young woman in a skimpy bikini top and a multi-colored skirt stumbled into the dark alley and retched onto the ground right at my feet. She looked up from my puke spattered boots, staggering up to one knee. “Hey buddy, whatcha doin’ back here?” As her eyes traveled upward from my boots, her eyes grew wide. She got up quickly and stumbled off to rejoin her friends.

I stepped over a puddle of fermented vomit, emerging from the comfort of the shadow. I joined the pulsating stream of tense human sexuality that was the South Beach night life. I started towards that open-air café where I had seen that strange spirit.

If the dress code of the partying crowd was any indication, it was about 80 degrees and humid out. Even the bikini-clad gals and the bare-chested young studs were shiny with beaded sweat. I was, of course, the lone exception. I was wearing a lightweight, black windbreaker over a loose black sweatshirt. My sturdy jeans were properly distressed while my heavy black steel-toed work boots were brand new. I wasn’t used to being this exposed.

While preening, inebriated minnows darted and dodged all around me, I was the trolling, brooding shark seeking bigger, more dangerous prey.

I switched my vision back into the Shadowland so that I could scan the crowd easier for that spirit. I had gotten pretty good in the last year at moving my body through the physical world while keeping my vision primarily in the Shadowland. Compared to the kaleidoscope of colors of the Shadowland, the neon signs and Art Deco décor of the physical South Beach was almost bland and boring.

It wasn’t long before I caught a second glimpse of that strange spirit again. It stood out from the large cluster of younger, brighter spirits gathered outside of a particularly flashy nightclub just down the street from the café. It was a darker, smaller form than those of most humans, and it felt my presence as I honed in on it.

The small head of the form swiveled in my direction as soon as I locked my gaze onto it. Two laser red eyes bore into me for the briefest of moments before a massive explosion of intense light knocked me from the Shadowland and back into the realm of normal vision.


The crowd was milling about, oblivious to the dance between two hunters as I tried to associate the out of place spirit I had seen with the right physical body in the swirling, dancing, flirting mass of humanity.

With all of the glances of fear, disgust, and disdain that I was getting, I knew that my appearance was even more zombie-like than normal. I hadn’t found my prey yet. I was reasonably certain, however, that I stood out well enough to let the Slayer know that he or she wasn’t alone at the top of the food chain any more. The minnows danced and darted about, too exhilarated by life to realize that the true dance of death had only just begun.

I slipped back into the Shadowland, hoping to catch a glimpse of my prey yet again, only to find that the creature had slipped away for the moment. I shifted back to normal vision, clenching my fist in frustration. I pulled the Shadow closer, hoping to use It for cover as I redoubled my efforts to locate the Slayer before it struck again.

Standing on the edge of Light and Night, of City and Beach, I was in Shadow. A watchful, vigilant Shade that moved from one world to the next with the ease of a moth flitting around a light bulb, one moment fully visible and real, the next moment a figment of the imagination.

In this new state of being—suspended halfway between the living and the dead—I could walk among the evening revelers leaving no more memory of my passing than that of a strange, cold shiver that caused a tingle along the spine and raised the hairs on the back of the neck.

There was a certain timeless quality to this half-in, half-out existence that I was now in. I was unsure whether I had been searching for five minutes or an hour when I noticed the strange cloud of Shadow darker than any normal night obscuring part of the beach across the street.

Without hesitating, I turned, stepped out into the street, easily slipping between the cars stuck in traffic. I needed to see what was being concealed over there.

I slowed from a jog to a cautious walk as I reached the threshold of the obscured area—it was large enough to conceal any number of dangers. The Shadow parted for me like a curtain. What I saw on the other side of that shade would have caused me to retch if I had been physically capable of it.

The body of the Slayer’s fifth victim lay spread-eagle in the sand, her torso ripped open. A man knelt down beside her with his back to me, holding something dripping and wet to his mouth and tearing into it with his teeth. The lip-smacking sound of him eating one of her organs was enough to throw me into a rage. But one glance at this man’s sickly spirit was enough to convince me that this man couldn’t be the one responsible for weaving the curtain of darkness that was obscuring him from being seen by anyone else.

I reached out and grabbed the man by his long, greasy hair, yanking his mouth away from his disgusting meal and lifting him from his knees. “Hold it right there, asshole! Who helped you do this?”

The man’s eyes were glassy, his mouth dripping blood and bits of the young woman’s liver. He tried to ignore me by bringing the rest of the organ up for another mouthful.

I knocked his hands down with my left hand and spun him around. “I’m talking to you! Who helped you with this?”

Still dazed from his orgiastic feast, his eyes grew wide as he laughed. Bits of liver and blood spewed from his mouth as he did. As I raised a fist to bring an end to his sick display, his eyes narrowed. “Are you Bones?”

That shocked me enough to halt my fist. I could barely keep my response civil. “Yes, how do you know who I am?”

The sick bastard giggled. “The Beast said you would come.” He nodded towards the waterline to his left. “It wants to talk to you. I don’t know why, you don’t look like you would taste very good.”

I ended the conversation with a blow that was sure to keep him unconscious for hours and dropped his sorry ass next to the poor wretch he had been feasting on. I had a date with a doppelganger. I stalked off in the direction the maniac had nodded in.

A figure strolled in the darkness near the gentle surf off to my right. It was walking that line between earth and ocean, alone, just as I moved between the world of Shadow and Light. Its physical form was that of a lithe young man. Its spirit was something other, something that I had not seen before. It was small and dark, exuding a roiling, seething hatred.

The doppelganger was issuing its challenge to me. Come play.

It was time to make a proper introduction. I called the Shadow, wrapping myself fully within it. I gave the dark energy the twist that took me from one place to another and stepped out directly in front of the creature.

The fleshy face of the young man melted away as I stood at arms length from the creature. I was standing face to face with a being that now had no discernible face.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Hunter.” No mouth opened as it spoke, only a slow, grating whisper emanated from the creature.


“Why are you killing these people? What have they done to you?” I stood facing the thing in a combat-ready stance. My hands were open and ready to trigger my batons to drop into place from my wrist holsters at the first sign that it was done talking.

“It is time to hunt again. Have you not heard the call?” Its form shifted slightly, its arms growing slightly longer than would be normal for a human being of its height. Its hands shifted into large, wicked looking claws.

“What call is that?” I rose up on the balls of my feet and shifted my balance forward ever so slightly.

“The Call of the An’girasii, that which has not been uttered in over six hundred years, ever since the Burning Times. How can you not hear it, Brother?” It reached one razor sharp talon towards me slowly, pointing towards where my heart used to be. “Lord Dracaar walks the land once more. My spirit sings with his Call. I feast so that I may grow strong enough to serve him once again! Shall we dine together tonight?”

I brushed the talon away with a sweep of my left arm while reaching up to the sheath across my back that was not actually present in the physical world. Somehow I didn’t think my batons would be of much use against this creature.

“Look buddy, I don’t hear any call from Dracaar or anyone else, but I think you’ve had your last meal on this or any other beach.”

It drew back from my brush off and gathered itself for a lunging attack, both monstrous claws ready to strike with its leap.

It leapt before I could get my hand on the hilt of Excalibur, knocking me backwards onto my back in the wet sand. We became a tangle of grasping hands and claws, kicking legs and tussling forms in the gently rolling waves.

It wrestled with the strength of several men, moving lightning fast with the ferocity of natural predator as it tried to keep me from reaching the blade that it somehow knew was there.

“You are known to us, young Hunter. You have much to learn before you will inspire fear in any of us the way your father did.” It was not straining to speak as we wrestled, it kept the upper hand, always anticipating my next attempt to wrest my hand free to reach for the blade.

“Drake was not my father, dammit!”

It gave off what could only be considered a chuckle as it leaned its grey, blank face close to mine. “It was only through him that you were born into this existence. He is your father in every way that matters.”

I stopped struggling when I realized that this creature, this doppelganger, was sitting astride my chest in the shallow surf, holding me down, but not otherwise trying to harm me. I stared into its blank mask of a face, trying to pierce the veil into its spirit. “Who or what exactly are you and why did you draw me here?”

Two pinpricks of red light grew into glowing orbs of eyes. “I am a humble Servant, a messenger, if you will. I have something for you.”

“What is it?”

It reached into the dark robes that I now realized it was wearing and drew out a rolled up piece of what looked like leather sealed by some sort of wax. It placed the bundle on my chest as it let go of my right arm with its other claw and stood up.

“Read this soon. It is a message for your eyes only. You’ve seen the fifth and final victim already. The human feasting on her carcass is my gift to you. He will serve the needs of your human justice system well enough for now.”

“I can’t scapegoat some poor schmuck for your crimes!”

It stood over me, its eyes fading back into the grey of the mask. “Oh, I’ve chosen well for you. He’s killed far more of his fellow men than I have lately. If he weren’t so fallibly human, he might have been of more use to us. I have enjoyed this meeting, young Hunter. Until we meet again, fare thee well.”

I sat up, grabbing the thick leather scroll before it fell into the water. As I did, the creature faded into Shadow and was gone

A War of Shadows...Part 1

The Shadowland whizzed by in a blur of grey and black images as I slowed a move fast trot. It was proving difficult to move too quickly through this stretch of wilderness since thick, twisted and very substantial trees existed both in the Shadowland and in the real world.

John had once told me that this only happed in the oldest of forests. “As trees age, their spirits strengthen, expanding their presence beyond the world of light to the land of shadow. It is almost as if their essence transfers slowly from one world to the next once they reach the height of their majesty. In some places in the Shadowland there are majestic, towering trees where there is now nothing but fields or cement roads in the world of the living. But alas, over time, those forests fade away in the Shadowland as well once the living trees have been gone long enough.”

My guess was that this stretch of Alaskan wilds hadn’t been significantly touched by Man for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

The howling of my pursuers grew louder, likely both because they were drawing closer and because their numbers were growing. If I didn’t pick up the pace soon, they would be upon me.

I tapped my forearms for reassurance, making sure that my batons were securely in place. Excalibur was practically humming in its sheath, eager to be called upon, but I continued to ignore the blade. I didn’t want to make it that easy for my pursuers to find me.

I pushed deeper into the tangled mass of branches as I wondered how much further it was to my destination. It was going to be a close call as to whether or not I would be able to beat my pursuers to it. If I didn’t win this race, things were going to become very unpleasant.

It wasn’t the shadow wolves that concerned me, but their masters…


***


“Rusty, you got a minute?” Herne’s face was showing the strain of several weeks of stress.

“Yeah, Herne, what’s up?”

He nodded and took my left arm by the elbow. “Come walk with me.”

I allowed him to guide me deeper into the Bat Cave, through the control room and towards the privacy of the small library that had been designated for command-level meetings. It was one of the few places where people weren’t bunked down.

Once we were in the library, he closed the door. I was surprised to see that we weren’t alone in the cramped space. Ravyn, Cerrydwen, the Frau, Alan and Jim had been waiting for us.

“What’s going on?” I was extremely curious about the need for a seemingly secret command meeting.

Everyone remained silent until the door clicked shut and Herne threw the bolt into place to lock us in. He was the first to break the silence. “Rusty, we think that our enemies have found a way to track some of our away parties through the Shadowland.”

This was a new development. “What makes you think that? I didn’t think that was even possible.”

Cerrydwen answered. “No one did. But the evidence is beginning to mount that El Diablito or the An’girasii themselves have found a way.”

Herne nodded. “On the last supply run, Jordan, one of Alana’s students, heard the sounds of what seemed to be wolves of some sort as soon as they entered the Shadowland to make their way back here. Jordan was smart enough not to lead them here, but led them off towards Canada before going to ground back in the real world. Once he could, he called for help. I just got back from that mission myself. I took a few of the security team with me. We ended up hitting a pack of shadow wolves that kept hanging around where Jordan and his crew had left the Shadowland. One of the creatures only looked like a wolf when we hit them. It was really a Doppelganger. It managed to jump one of the men in all of the confusion and escape.”

“Shit. So if they can track us in the Shadowland, it may only be a matter of time before they manage to track us back to the Bat Cave here.”

The Frau nodded, her eyes showing her concern. “That’s why we wanted to have this meeting in private. We’ve suspended all travel in and out until we can figure out the danger those trips are actually posing and how seriously they are looking for us.”

Ravyn was the next to speak. “Right now, Rusty, you’re going to be the only one we allow to travel in and out. We are also wondering how willing you would be serving as a decoy? I know how much you enjoy getting yourself into trouble.” She gave her most impish grin as she finished, knowing that I would take the bait.

I could see the logic of their thinking and nodded. “Well, if they are looking for any of us more than the others, I would certainly be the main target. But I am also the one best equipped to face any kind of attack as well.”

Cerrydwen’s eyes narrowed as she stepped forward to speak. “You are most familiar with the Shadowland and its strange rules. If you were willing to go out and wreak some havoc on a couple of their strongholds and make a lot of ‘noise’, it might attract the attention of whatever forces they have looking for our away parties.”

Herne folded his arms across his chest. “And, if you found that there was some basis for our concerns about being tracked, we would like to see about setting up an ambush…”


***


I had spent the better part of a week stomping around the Shadowland and the real world, stirring up trouble in a number of places. In that week, I had doubled back and slain the wolves that had picked up my trail on at least three different occasions. But it only took a few hours after each battle for a new, larger pack to catch my scent and begin the hunt anew. The pack that both trailed and flanked me now must comprise at least twenty individuals.

This pack, though, was not only larger and better organized than the last couple, but it was smarter. This pack wasn’t comprised solely of shadow wolves. There was some thing, or a group of things, that were just behind the wolves. I could feel it, them, there driving the wolves on.

I pushed on through the forest of giant black trees knowing that my allies lay in wait ahead…


***


Once I had confirmed that the wolves were indeed able to track me in the Shadowland and that there was a concerted effort to do so, I slipped back into the real world to make a phone call.

“Yeah?” Herne’s voice was gruff.

“It’s me. I’ve been tracked twice now. I’ve eliminated the wolves each time, but a new pack takes over within hours for the ones I kill.”

He grunted. “So our worst fears have been confirmed. Are you prepared to move forward with the plan as we discussed?”

“Yes. I’ll see you at the rendezvous point in three days time.”

“Are you going to be able to stay ahead of them?” There was concern in his voice as he asked that question.

“I’ll be fine. Both Drake and John taught me well. Just be ready for the party when I get there, I intend to bring as many of to the event as I can find.”


***


My destination was only a few hundred yards ahead. My pursuers seemed to sense the coming climax as well—the howls grew louder and more insistent. The pack behind and around me had grown in the last hour as well. I could sense the presence of at least one Bane and had glimpsed a group of Reavers out of the corner of my eye. I could only presume that several Doppelgangers had joined the pack as well.

As soon as I emerged onto the trail that Herne had told me would be there, I picked up the pace and gained a few valuable seconds in my quest to beat the enemy to the rendezvous point. I just hope that Herne had been able to get everyone into place in time…

"This...I say...This Means War!!!"

Jim, Ravyn and I stepped from the Shadow into the shadow of the enormous oak tree in the southwestern corner of Jim’s backyard.

The night was dark, since the sliver of the waning moon was obscured by thick, low hanging clouds. It was a quiet, quaint neighborhood of faculty and administrator’s homes for the nearby college. A dog barked in the distance, but not at us.

Jim looked pensive as peered through the night towards his darkened home. “I don’t see any damage.” He was whispering as he leaned forward.

Ravyn nodded, her hands clenching the cuffs of her sweatshirt to keep herself from calling fire out of habit. “I doubt they were worried about the outside of your house, Jim.” She kept her voice to a low whisper as well.

I reached out and touched each of them on the shoulders as I leaned towards them. “I’ll pop inside to get a quick look around. I want you guys to stay here.” I looked directly to Ravyn. “Keep a sharp eye out, but try to burn the neighborhood down, will ya?”

She gave me a withering look before leaning back against the trunk of the tree. “Be careful, Rusty. Let us know as soon as you find anything.”

I nodded and glanced over to Jim. “Do you want my sword again? Just in case?”

He swallowed hard before shaking his head. “No. You keep it. You might need it in there.”

I stepped back and summoned the Shadow.

***

Once in the Shadowland, I took a moment to examine the area for any foes unique to that realm before moving towards Jim’s house.

The only Spirits of note besides Jim and Ravyn were those of an alley cat and the rat it was stalking.

I slipped up to the porch and then through the wall next to the door. The house, like most real world constructions was no more substantial than a shimmering mirage. It was substantial enough to block out my view from outside of anyone or anything that might be hanging out inside, but I passed through the wall like a proverbial ghost.

As I did so, I thought back to the war council that had taken place only a few hours before…

***

“So, it is decided then.” Herne’s voice carried an air of easy authority. “We will send out teams to find surviving ORC’s and associate members and either bring them back here or give them the resources to go to safely into hiding until they are needed.”

Ravyn leveled her gaze at each member of the council before she spoke. “And it has been decided that Herne will be our Commander in this struggle. He’ll be in charge as far as security goes in this facility. The Frau will serve as Steward, handling the daily operations and directing. Jim will remain as Treasurer, handling all of our finances. Alana will be our Spokesperson and handle our computer network. I’m sure that each of these folks will have our unconditional support and assistance, however it is needed.”

“I appreciate the honor.” Herne nodded towards Ravyn as he spoke. “I still think that Ravyn should have accepted the mantle of overall leader, but I understand her reasons for not doing so.”

Ravyn had rejected all titles or positions of authority that the group had wanted to bestow on her, stating that for her this struggle was now far too personal. She had argued that the only true leader of the ORC’s was Alexa, when she was ready for that position and that the Frau would be a far better Steward than she would ever be. No one had been able to persuade her otherwise. Instead, she insisted that her skills would be better used in the classroom to teach the younger ORC’s how to use their powers more offensively and on the battlefield, when needed.

Herne looked from Ravyn to me. “Now that this essential business of leadership has been resolved, we have some additional business. Rusty, I believe that you had something you wanted to tell us about this facility and how it came to exist?”

I stepped forward and told the tale of how Drake and John Red Bear had been secret allies for decades. I also explained how this facility had been a Cold War relic that had become more or less obsolete after the fall of the Berlin Wall and had been mothballed by the military. John had come to learn of the now abandoned facility in what was considered the sacred lands of the Black Hills of South Dakota and that it was safely tucked away in a little visited area of a National Forest Park. He had known that Drake was looking for a safe haven in the United States. Working together with Zulu and through the Bureau, Drake had managed to have the deed to the facility transferred first over to the Department of Justice and then the Bureau and finally was handed over to Drake personally as the Director of the Omega Project. It was then made to disappear from all government records by careful redaction and deletion over a period of many years. Drake had assured me that there was no known remaining reference to this facility ever having existed.

The faces of John’s closest friends among the ORC’s showed the same sense of betrayal and sadness that I had felt.

Ravyn’s eyes glowed with anger, her jaw set as she clenched her teeth. “How did John fool all of us for so long?”

The Frau’s face showed more concern than anger. “If Drake and John were allies all this time, why did John allow himself to be killed by Drake’s servant in Miami?”

Anger flashed in Cerrydwen’s eyes, her voice quivered with rage. “Why? Why the ruse?” She threw her hands up in anger. “I don’t know. There are too many unknowns here. I don’t know that we can really trust this place for too long.”

I held up my hand to the group. “Look, I know how difficult this news is. It has taken me awhile to come to terms with it myself. I didn’t believe any of this until I spoke with John himself. He confirmed Drake’s tale, for the most part, and provided additional details that Drake wasn’t aware of. John had his reservations about the way Drake went about creating me. He honestly cared about each of you and the work that you all did as ORC members. His biggest regret was that he couldn’t be fully honest with any of us.” I looked directly at the Frau. Her question needed a direct answer. “As to why John allowed himself to be killed as part of this whole charade, he freelanced that without Drake’s knowledge. John did that place himself fully within the Spirit World and to work with secret allies that even Drake didn’t know existed at the time.” I looked down to the floor as I shuffled a boot over the hard stone of the floor. “I can’t say that I agree with John that it needed to be done that way, but after meeting with him this last time, I can understand why he did what he did. Ravyn, Zenny, did you guys find a set of ten or so matched pendants in the vault?”

Zenny nodded. “Yes, we did. I could tell that they were items of power, but they resisted my attempts to discover what they do.”

“I’m not surprised. Those amulets are tied in with a very powerful obelisk that is located on the summit of the mountain that this facility is located inside of, but the obelisk itself can only be seen in the Shadowland. It is an ancient artifact that controls who and what can travel through the Shadowland in this area. Those pendants give their bearers the ability to use a special transportation chamber that is hidden inside this facility. I can show you guys how to use them so that we can get people in and out of here without being seen. The obelisk prevents anyone who doesn’t have one of these charms from using the Shadowland to come anywhere near here.”

Herne’s eyes narrowed. “So how did you open a portal inside, Rusty?”

I reached inside my shirt and pulled out my amulet. “Drake retrieved one of these when he took control of my body. He also spent considerable time in getting this place ready to receive us. That’s why the food is all fresh and the technology is as current as it is.”

***

There was a chaotic energy swirling throughout that was immediately noticeable as I entered Jim’s house through the Shadowland. I flexed my hands, dropping my batons down into my palms as I looked about at the disarray of the items in the house. Summoning the Shadow again, I slipped back into the real world to get a better look around.

Whoever had been here had spent a lot of time tearing the place up. Every bookshelf had been toppled. Every drawer and cupboard had been opened and emptied. The place was a disaster zone. I stood stock still as I listened for any sounds of life or other trouble, but I heard nothing.

I walked to the door and pulled it open, pushing debris with it as I did so. I waved an arm towards Ravyn and Jim before heading towards the stairwell that led upstairs where Kenny usually slept in the guest room.

I intended to slowly move up the stairs, but the shadow of a prone body lay stretched across the threshold to the second floor. I pounded up the stairs with a reckless abandon. “Kenny!”

Ravyn and Jim were just coming in the back door as I reached the top and saw that the body was not that of Kenny, but was instead the decaying form of what might have been a doppelganger. A small voice called out from the guest room. “Is that you, Dad?”

“Kenny! Are you alright?” I stepped over the corpse, noting that it was wearing the uniform of a local cop.

Kenny emerged from the shadows clutching a small, silver handgun. It was pointed in my direction, but not with any kind of conviction. “Dad!” He brought the gun down to his side and moved towards me. “I had to do it. I had to shot that guy! They were trying to take me away!”

I held him in my arms, trying to soothe him. “It’s OK, Kenny. I’m glad you shot him, he wasn’t a real cop. It was a creature that would have killed or hurt you.”

He was shaking as I held him, sobbing.

I heard Jim cursing down below as he began to survey the damage done to his home.

Ravyn eased her way up the steps to join us. “Kenny, do you have anything that you need to collect? We can’t wait around long. We’ll take you to your mom and your sister. They’re both OK.”

Kenny nodded as he disengaged from me. He looked down at the gun in his right hand as he wiped away tears and snot with his left hand. “Jazz gave me this gun, Dad. It was one of the guns in your old collection. She told me that I should carry it with me and that she had done something to the bullets so that they could hurt some of the creatures you had been fighting.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “That was good thinking on her part. I’m not a big fan of guns, but I’m glad you had it when it was needed. Let’s get your things and get out of here.”

Jim was still cursing when the three of came down to collect him. He looked up from the debris field near his desk as we entered the office area. He shook his fist at the sky and called out in his best Foghorn Leghorn voice. “This…I say…this means war!”

Starting over...

…is never easy.

The band of ORC’s that arrived in the Bat Cave was a tired, wounded, ragged bunch of shell-shocked survivors. The assault by El Diablito’s forces and An’girasii allies had come as a total surprise. Every ORC safe house, stronghold and academy across the United States had been hit in some way on the same night. All told, hundreds ORC members and students had been slain; dozens more were badly injured or missing.

By the time the final tally of escapees and survivors was taken—several days later—fewer than three hundred full fledged members and associates of the ORC’s survived that deadly night. The last census prior to that deadly night had put the membership rolls at just over a thousand members and associates. Forty of those survivors came with me to the Bat Cave.

After a close inspection by Cerrydwen, Ravyn or myself, I created a portal of Shadow that established a link between El Diablito’s dark tower in the Shadowland and another place of relative darkness—the entrance hall to the Bat Cave.

The hall was actually a natural cavern that had been worked on and expanded extensively by the military in the early part of the Cold War. The hall was easily wide and smooth enough for two vans to pass in opposite directions and long enough to hold a whole caravan of vehicles—in fact several aging but otherwise non-descript vehicles were parked along one of the walls facing the opposite direction. They were facing a set of heavy metal blast doors that opened to the outside world. I knew from Drake though that those doors were concealed from casual observation by what appeared to be a storage facility for salt for local highways.

Looking ahead, our way into the Bat Cave itself was barred by a smaller, but equally formidable set of steel doors that were secured both by lock and key and by a combination key pad set bear the handle of the left door.

Between the keys Drake had sent to Ravyn and the combination codes that I had memorized, we were able to open the doors to the incredible refuge that Drake and John Red Bear had secretly spent nearly four decades creating.

Beyond that sealed door was a decommissioned underground military base that was easily large enough to house several hundred people. The facility was comprised of several sections. It was also fully stocked with food and water. But the true bounty of the Bat Cave was found deep inside, beyond the living quarters. The Command Center was a fully operational, if slightly outdated control room full of computers and communications equipment. The Inner Sanctum was even more amazing as it included a vault that held the hundreds of weapons and other items of power that Drake had taken or acquired through his existence.

The Frau, Ravyn and Herne quickly took control of situation.

The Frau immediately drafted most of the able-bodied folks and began to set up a sick ward in one of the larger rooms in the dormitory part of the complex. She gently clucked out her orders to those that could carry them out while she coddled those who were still too shocked to act independently just yet. Moira, though wounded herself, helped out.

Ravyn, Cerrydwen and Zenny Al Farhan had set up shop inside the vault as they began to identify and catalog the surprising large cache of weapons and items that Drake had amassed.

Herne, the Professor, and the pretty gal from the San Diego Circle, Alana Danae, began the process of firing up the computers and communications equipment in the Command Center. Between Herne’s intimate knowledge of the military, the Professor’s computer tech skills and Alana’s expertise in software and network systems, they had the place humming to life in no time.

As everyone else set down to the task of getting the Bat Cave up and running, I finally had time to search out my ex-wife Katherine and our daughter, Jasmine. Katherine was sporting an improvised sling for her left arm, which had been broken in the initial struggle at the Coop, but she was still one of the people helping the Frau to tend to others. Jasmine appeared to be physically unharmed, but her nerves had been badly shaken.
I had come up from behind Jasmine and touched her gently on the shoulder. “Jazz, are you alright?”

She flinched at my touch, but whirled around for a fierce hug when she heard my voice. “Dad!” She was sobbing. “I was so scared!”

“I know, honey. I wish you never had to experience that.” I put my hand on the bottom of her chin to get her to look into my eyes. “Did anyone hurt you?”

She swallowed hard, her gaze glazing over as she looked through me rather than at me. “I…I…think I killed someone, Dad, with my…my…magick.”

“Was it someone who was trying to harm you?”

She nodded. “One of those shape-shifter things grabbed me from behind, it looked like Mom at first, but it just didn’t feel right. The eyes didn’t look right, so when it tried to take me away from the others, I pushed it away. I saw it’s face change for just a moment. I was so scared. When it grabbed for me again, I just sort of felt the magick flow through me. I killed it with a blast of lightning from my hand.” She was looking down at her right hand. Her fingertips were still blackened by soot. “I just did what Mistress Fyre had taught me to do.”

I nodded and pulled her close in another hug. “It’s alright, Jazz. Those things aren’t really people. They’re monsters. That thing would have probably taken you away and stolen your memories before killing you. You did the right thing.”

Katherine stood watching me console our daughter. She gave me a tight little smile and small nod of approval before giving me that look that she had always given when she wanted to talk, in private.

I disengaged from Jasmine and pointed her towards where the Frau was. “Jazz, do you think that you can go see if the Frau needs any help? Sometimes you just need to stay busy to keep from thinking of nasty things like the attack for awhile. We’ll have more time to talk later.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure Ravyn will be very proud that you were able to summon and control that kind of energy.”

As Jasmine shuffled off to go help the Frau, Katherine and I took a small walk back out into the large area where we had first come in, the garage area.

“Thanks, Jason, Jasmine needed that from you.”

I nodded. “It was the least that I could do. Has anyone heard from Kenny?”

Her face tightened up. This was why she wanted to talk to me. “No. He was away at school. I don’t know if he is safe or not. Can you try to find him?”

I nodded. “As soon as I can make sure this place as safe as it seems and Herne and Ravyn give me the all clear signal, I’ll go check on him. I think he’ll be safe enough at that school since it didn’t have anything to do with the ORC’s.”

Katherine didn’t look very reassured. “I don’t know, Jason, the Professor teaches there and I know that Kenny often stays at his house when the Prof is away. He could be in all sorts of danger.”

I reached out and grabbed her healthy hand, giving it a quick squeeze. “I’m worried too. If he’s in danger or has been harmed in any way, I will find out and get him to safety. You can count on that.”

She squeezed my hand hard. “I know, Jason. I have faith in you. I better go see if my help is needed inside.” She released my hand and went back to the infirmary.

I made my way back to the Command Center.

Herne looked up from a monitor as I walked into the room. The previously quiet room was not a hub of beeping, buzzing, and chattering activity.

“Rusty, come check this out. This stuff looks vintage but it was top of the line equipment not that long ago.”

I walked over to stand behind him. The monitor was an older clunker, with a resolution level that would’ve given me a headache if I had actually had any optical nerves left to be irritated.

Despite its age and its low level of resolution, it was clearly accessing the internet. Herne had pulled up a newswire service.

“It looks like there is a strong PR campaign going on to characterize the ORC’s as some sort of New Age death cult. All of the news agencies have picked up on the various attacks, although the attacks aren’t being depicted as attacks at all, but as some sort of suicide pact.” He looked up at me. “They’ve got to have agents in the government and maybe even the Bureau to have tied all of this up so neatly so quickly.”

The Professor sat at another workstation with his own unique laptop that had somehow survived our bizarre journey. Alana was standing behind him, a look of concern on her face.

Jim looked up form his computer. “They’ve acted very quickly to shut down all of our corporate accounts as well—none of my attempts to access any of them have been successful.”

That reminded me of something else Drake had given me. I pulled out a small notebook that Drake had used to record several account numbers and passwords for the off-shore accounts that he had held in reserve. I held it out towards Jim. “Try looking up these accounts. I think you will find that we’ll have the financial resources to put up one hell of a fight.”

He nodded and took the notebook.

Within minutes, he had logged into the first of the accounts. He whistled in appreciation. “Yeah, there’s more money in this account alone than the ORC’s have ever had in all of our other accounts. It’s a Swiss account too, so we will have absolute privacy with what we do with it. I can make this work quite well.”

I watched as Herne bounced from website to website checking out all of the stories about the attacks. El Diablito and his allies had done a very thorough job of destroying and discrediting the ORC’s.

Ravyn and Zenny soon joined us, notebook in hand. They had heard some of the news already from Herne before. Ravyn’s face was quite grim.

“Rusty, we’ll need to have an executive council meeting as soon as the Frau has seen to the last of the wounded. We’re going to need to take stock of who’s here and what resources we have at our disposal. I think we’ll want to gather as many of our members and associates to us as possible, but we’ll have to screen anyone we bring back to ensure that we aren’t bringing any Doppelgangers or other spies back to our little haven here. I’m afraid we’re going to be working long and hard over the next few days to take full stock of what’s left of the ORC’s and what can be salvaged.”

Herne nodded. “We also need to come up with a plan of action. We need to show these bastards that while they’ve won this battle, they’re going to have a long, hard war on their hands.”

There was no disagreement with Herne’s statement.

Playing Hardball...Part 2

I turned to face the Frau. “OK, we’ve seen what’s happened at the Coop. What else is going on?”

Frau scrunched up her face as she moved to take a seat on a comfortable looking sofa and waved for the rest of us to do the same. “You all might as well sit down. Things have gone from bad to worse in a hurry.”

Cerrydwen emerged from the kitchen to place a steaming platter of eggs, sausages and toast on the counter that separated the kitchen from the immense common room. “If anyone’s hungry, come and get it while it is still hot.”

Ravyn rushed to the bar stool nearest the food and began piling a plate high with servings of everything. She waved at the Frau to begin speaking. “Don’t wait on me. I’ve never been so hungry in my life. I’m listening!”

The Frau nodded, setting her cane to the side as Alexa came bouncing up into her lap with an energetic giggle.

“Herne did note that everyone that Ravyn and Betsy had sent out there had arrived safely, but the news was certainly not all good.” Her glasses slid down towards the end of her nose as she spoke. “He has already received a second group of refugees from the San Diego Circle and has heard reports of an attack on the Salem House in Boston, but he hasn’t been able to reach Tessa or any of the other principles of Salem House.”

Jim gave a low whistle and took off his hat in frustration. “That means that three of our largest teaching facilities have been hit on the same night!”

Ravyn looked up from her plate, her mouth half full of food. “No wonder he mentioned the Railroad.”

The Frau nodded. “Yes, he has activated the Railroad and has been sending out the refugees first.”

I looked around, everyone else seemed to know what the Hell the ‘Railroad’ was, so I had to ask. “What is this Railroad business and what does it have to do with these attacks?”

Jim stood up. He began twisting and wrenching his baseball cap in his large hands as he began to explain. “The Railroad is one of major contingency plans. It was actually something we came up with when we were dealing with Drake and his minions, when we thought that we might be pitted against the FBI and other federal agencies in trying to help you in those early days. It is based on the Underground Railroad that helped freed slaves escape the South before and during the Civil War. It is a way of moving our people around without too much notice.”

“I guessed as much, but where are these folks going and how are they getting there?”

He shuffled his feet and twisted his cap even tighter in his hands. “We have a network of transit points that link each major ORC facility to few select safe houses scattered around the country that are known only to select principals in each facility. It was one of those transit points that Ravyn activated to get most of the folks from the Coop to Herne’s Lodge in the Rockies.”

Frau cleared her throat. “Yes, as well as the dozen or so from San Diego. The Lodge is one of our primary rally points, but Herne is concerned of the possibility that it has been compromised as well. That was why he activating the Railroad to move out most of the refugees to even safer locations until we can get our bearings and come up with an appropriate response.”

Ravyn bounced up from her stool now that her plate was empty and stalked over to me. She stood facing me, hands on her hips. “I know one thing that we’re going to be doing! Bane hunting! I…”

My Bureau issued cell phone chose that moment to erupt in music, silencing Ravyn in mid-sentence. With more than a little trepidation, I reached into my pocket and pulled it out. I didn’t recognize the number, so I flipped the phone open. “Bones here.”

Agent Jennifer Wilson’s voice hissed through the crackling static of the ear piece, but she was clearly trying to mask it. “Damn it, don’t use any names. It’s about time you I found you. Look, I can’t talk long. The Bureau is shutting us down.”

“What? Why?”

“I just received a summons from very high in the Bureau. All work in our unit is to cease immediately and all agents and assets are to report for reassignment immediately. The scuttlebutt is also that you’ve been compromised and have gone rogue, but I don’t believe it. There is an all point’s bulletin out for you to be taken into custody by any means necessary. That’s why I had to use this disposable phone to call you. I recommend that you dump this phone immediately when we terminate this call and get rid of any other Bureau issued items that might be traceable.”

“Damn! What about you?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me. Oh, two more quick things. First, that body that I was examining disappeared along with all of my notes and computer files, but I can tell you that I think they have an aversion to silver, the purer the silver the better. Second, your friend in DC, the one named after the African tribe, has been taken very ill and has been quarantined for the last week. No one except his doctor and the guards that have been assigned to his room is being allowed to see him for any reason.”

“Jesus…”

“I have to go. Remember, ditch your phone immediately and get away from wherever you are. There are serious resources being dedicated to finding you right now and they don’t have good intentions.”

The phone went silent and the squealed in protest as I crushed it in my hand.

I looked up in the questioning, concerned faces of my compatriots. “Well, it looks like we just moved from the frying pan to the fire. We need to pack up as quickly as possible and get the heck out of here, pronto.”

(To be continued…)

Hell's Bells...Part 4

I hefted the black rucksack over my left shoulder and drew Excalibur from its sheath. I then stepped into the hall, glancing back long enough to shout out to Ravyn. “Let’s get Naomi and move to the rally point!”

Clutching Alexa in her left arm and raising her now flaming right hand to shoulder height in front of her, she nodded, her jaw set in grim determination.

Most of the noise was coming from the first floor. It was an eclectic mix of screams, grunts, breaking glass and other clashing sounds. As I pushed past a door on my right to get towards Naomi’s room, the door was wrenched off its hinges by an implosion of some sort. I glanced back to see Ravyn staggered towards the gaping maw that was now the portal before she steadied herself and sent a bolt of a flame towards a target that I was too far away to see. The stream of curses that flew from her lips was only slightly less caustic than the flame bolt that she had hurled.

I stopped to see if she needed any help, but turned back around to press forward again when she waved me off with a resigned sigh. “Keep going. There’s no one to save in there.”

As I came to Naomi’s door, I paused long enough to hear the sounds of struggle coming from inside. I glanced back to Ravyn. “Trouble.” I took one half step back and kicked the door handle with my left boot and used the moment of coming down to slam my shoulder into it, splintering it into flying wooden shards.

I shrugged off the rucksack as I turned to face whatever it was that Naomi was struggling with, only find myself facing two identically dressed Naomi’s locked in a violent embrace that was causing them to crash into the battered furniture of the small room.

“Shit!”

The Naomi’s separated as I stood there cursing. The Naomi closest to me turned and moved towards me. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here Rusty! This creature came in took my shape! Kill it!”

The other Naomi sank back against the battered desk. She looked up at me and asked a simple question. “Is Alexa safe?”

The first Naomi turned her back to me, continuing to point at the second, shouting at me to kill the intruder, but it was too late.

I lashed out with Excalibur using all of my strength. The blade lashed out blindingly fast and sliced into the neck of the unsuspecting Doppelganger.

The head of the creature went spinning as a fountain of greenish black ichor leaped into the air, spraying all over me and the rucksack as the body collapsed in a heap next to me.

Naomi’s shoulders slumped. She was clearly exhausted from her struggle with the creature. She perked up though as Ravyn pushed into the room behind me, the wriggling Alexa still held to her left hip. “Alexa!”

“Mama!” Alexa slipped from Ravyn’s grasp and bounded over to her mother in three running steps, somehow avoiding all of the pooling ichor as she did so.

Naomi held our daughter tight for a single quiet moment before the reality of the situation caused Ravyn to clear her throat.

“We need to move. Others haven’t been as lucky as you, darling.”

A Visit From an Old Friend

I emerged from the Shadow into the forest surrounding the clearing where Yggsdrasil stood. Since I was in my actual physical form as opposed to my Spirit form, the path did not form for me as it normally would have.

I couldn’t remember the last time that I had come to this place in body as well as soul, but I felt a niggling little pull in the back of my consciousness that told me that it was time to come here. Traveling in this manner was the lazy way of accomplishing the task since it didn’t require any meditation.

I picked my way through the dark, gloomy forest, crunching heavily through the thick, dry underbrush. The forest seemed to resent my intrusion. Every low lying branch hung an inch or two lower than I thought, each root cluster standing an inch or two taller than it looked. But despite the obstacles, I pushed through and emerged into the clearing that John Red Bear had first introduced me to in his earliest instruction. Of course, I had since planted the seed that had grown into the massive black tree that now stood sentinel in the middle of the clearing.

Its massive, gnarled trunk would have required the interlocked arms of ten men to cover its entire circumference. Its enormous crown of leaves whispered in the breezes of this place, sometimes forming words that could be understood when the tree wanted to be understood, but the strangest thing about those leaves was their color. The top side of each leaf was black as the darkest, moonless night, while the bottom side of each leaf was milky white. I had found fallen leaves with the faces of people I knew etched on the white sides. The thick, gnarled root clusters spread from the trunk of the tree in every direction rising up high enough in more than one place to become impromptu benches where I, and others, could sit under the canopy. On the far side of the trunk there was a small, dark opening where the roots of tree parted to reveal a stairwell down to a cavern where a reflecting pool had formed. That part was always the same, the cavern was always on the opposite side of the tree from where I entered the clearing, no matter which direction I came from.

Sitting on its haunches amidst the roots near the trunk of the tree was the brown form of an enormous bear, a bear with a splotch of red fur on its front, left shoulder.

“John? Is that you old friend?” I almost ran as I called out towards the creature.

The massive head of the creature turned to face me, its mouth curling into a snarl that become a smile as his form shifted from that of the bear to a near-human form the glowed with an internal radiance. John raised his right hand in greeting as I approached.

“Jason!” He looked around him, pointedly glancing at the tree trunk and the canopy of black and white rustling leaves. “I see that you have seen fit to redecorate our old meeting place. I must say that I’m rather impressed.”

I reached out to take hold of his glowing hand in mine, noting the stark contrast of light and darkness as he pulled me into a fierce hug.

I shrugged as we pulled apart. “I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened.”

He laughed. His smiling face was now free of the lines of premature aging that had once marked it. “That is not unusual in this place. Take care in this place, for all actions taken here are likely to bring about consequences that you didn’t intend.”

“Yeah, so I’ve noticed. Now instead of a quiet place of contemplation, I get a grumpy tree that likes to laugh at me and gives all sorts of cryptic advice.”

The rustling of the leaves grew louder, as if in complaint at my characterization of it, but nothing intelligible was discernible. Probably just as well.

“The Tree is a reflection of its creator, Jason. There is much for you to learn from it, however.” He pointed to a cluster of roots that was tall and long enough for both of us to easily sit. “But I called you here today to speak about other things.”

“So it was you who called to me!”

He nodded. “I have wanted to speak with you for a long time now, but I haven’t been able to get back to this place until now.”

“I would have thought that you travels through the many worlds would have taken you far from this place, John. Frankly, I’m surprised that you’ve come back at all. I’m glad you have though, because I’ve missed our lessons.”

He nodded as he looked directly into my own eyes. I felt as if he could see everything about who and what I had become since we had last spoken. I wanted to tell him about it, but speaking seemed so frivolous, so unnecessary.

“Jason, I can see that you have become far more than I ever could have imagined. I have watched as you have battled first to regain your humanity and then to become…more than human. I cried when I saw you fall to that foul creature of darkness beneath New York.

“I rejoiced to see you return and come to grips with the changes that were brought about by that experience. I wanted so badly to warn you from trying to free the creature that you know as Dracaar, but I was not permitted to interfere.”

“What do you mean that you weren’t permitted? If I had really known what it was that we were trying to do, what it was that was being freed from that damn urn, I would have taken it far, far away from our world and left it to rot.”

A single glistening, radiant tear fell down his right cheek. “I know, Jason. But as I said, I was not allowed to interfere, to help you in any way at that time.” He held up a hand to stay my next question. “I cannot discuss who prevented me, or I why I wasn’t allowed to help. It must suffice for me to say that I was simply not permitted to intervene. What is important is that the deed has been done and that it cannot, now, be undone.

“Dracaar was going to be released, by you or someone else, but it was critical for you know this new foe and for you to have access to information that would allow you and your allies to have a chance to face him and his ilk. It was crucial for you to see the nature of your true enemies.”

“Well, I’ve certainly seen that these damn creatures need to be defeated. But I have no clue how I am to do it. I had trouble facing one of their damn servants!”

He looked down at the mass of roots spread out beneath us. “Yes, the doppelganger in South Beach. You did better with the second one, but you were right in your assessment that the one in Detroit was weaker. You have made yourself known with that killing. The An’girasii will not take the slaying of one of their valuable servants lightly. That is one of the reasons I called you here.”

“Are you going to give me some clues as to how to kill these things?”

He shook his head at that. “No, that touches on other things of which I am not permitted to speak. However, I can tell you that have access to all of the clues that will lead you to find a way to stave off defeat at their hands, if only temporarily.” He reached out and touched me on the chest with his right hand and then waved up at the canopy of leaves and the tree trunk behind us. “Just as you carried within you the seed to plant this magnificent tree, your seed has been used to give birth to the one person who can bring about the final defeat of the An’girasii.”

I sat back. “Alexa?”

He nodded. “Yes. Only she can now bring about their total defeat, though the costs may be higher than even she may be able to bear. But while only Alexa can trigger the keys to final victory over the An’girasii and their minions, she will never be permitted that chance unless you and the ORC’s first find those keys and get them to her, all while protecting her from them.”

I shook my own head. “How can the fate of the world rest in the hands of toddler? How can all that pressure rest on the head and shoulders of any one person period?”

He raised his hand to stop my questions. “It has taken extreme efforts over many millennia by secret allies that I cannot reveal to bring about this one chance.”

“You mean there are ‘secret allies’ out there that have been running this show? Why can’t these assholes, whoever the Hell they are, step in give us some real damn assistance? John, can’t you help me to understand this?”

A second tear rolled down his cheek. “I can only say that there are Laws that prevent these allies from providing any of the direct assistance that you are asking for.”

I threw up my hands. “What the Hell is it with all of these damn ‘laws’? I was a cop and am now and FBI agent. I don’t know of any damn ‘laws’ that would affect this shit! Drake keeps talking about ‘laws’ that the An’girasii have to live by, and that damn elf queen, the Lady of the Lake or whatever the Hell she was, mentioned stuff about ‘laws’ too.”

He laid a hand on my leg. “Jason. I know this all seems so foreign and strange to you now. When I was alive, I was not aware of any of this myself. It is only in the traveling that I have done since my death, and the knowledge that I have gained in those travels, that has given me the perspective I now have. Please understand that the people you have just mentioned have already provided you some of the clues that you will need in order to have a chance at helping Alexa succeed in achieving her mission. Drake is with you for a reason. He holds answers that no one else possesses about the An’girasii.” He brought his hand to tap me on the chest. “Drake has answers about who, and what, you have become. Listen for those clues in what he has to say and perhaps you will find the strength to do what must be done.”

He looked away from me as I sat in stunned silence.

“You have time yet, to seek those clues. The An’girasii are just beginning to emerge again and will take some time yet to gather their strength. They have yet to understand your true significance and the significance of Alexa. Luckily, they also have a disdain for human technology and methods of communication or the telling of this story as you have been until now could be disastrous.”

“Oh shit. Should I stop blogging about this stuff?”

John shook his head again and looked me in the eyes. “No. It is part of what keeps you in touch with your humanity. And it is that which will enable you to face the coming challenges with a chance to succeed. If you lose touch with your humanity, then all hope is lost.”

John stood up. The glow within him grew brighter, his body more translucent. “Jason, I must take my leave.”

I stood up as well. “Will I see you again, John?”

His face looked very somber. “Perhaps. If given the opportunity, I will gladly visit with you again, but that may not be for me to decide.”

I reached out to touch him as his body continued to grow brighter and more transparent. He took my hand in a grasp that was warm and strong. I could feel energy flowing from him as it entered into my own Spirit, filling me with joy and peace as he flashed brighter and faded away.

The whispering of the leaves reflected a sadness that I shared as I sat down again to think on all that was said.

Enemies Mine...The Clean-up

As soon as Papa Locks’ portal closed up, a collective sigh of relief was released by my three companions.

Jim’s face turned a pale shade of green as he looked about the room for a garbage can. When he spotted it, he grabbed the thing and hobbled out of the room, mumbling something about coming back in a few minutes.

Ravyn shot a look of concern Jim’s way, but decided that he preferred to be alone, so she pulled out a chair and sat down. “I can’t believe that Papa Locks is back! How did they manage that? Cerrydwen is not going to be happy at all when she learns about this.”

I grabbed the head of the doppelganger from where I had last placed it and then walked over to where the hand was laying on the floor. I knelt down to pick that up as well. “You know, I don’t know why I didn’t think of the possibility of his return previously. He was a very powerful priest in his own right, and it just makes sense that they would have taken some sort of precautions to be able to bring themselves back from the dead if they were going to do it for the local cops like me who they had snared into the Project.”

Zenny reached down to the table and picked up the Soulscope that she had placed on it to show El Diablito. “Rusty, it seemed like you were the only one in the room who knew what was going on. This encounter didn’t go anything like we expected. How did you know they would back down like that?”

I shook my head as I dropped the head and the hand of the doppelganger next to the main carcass. “I had no idea that Papa Locks would be here, or even that Chandler was a doppelganger until he led us out of that elevator. Something about the way he moved and the way he noticed me looking at him in the Shadowland reminded me of the doppelganger on South Beach, although I don’t think this one was as strong as the other one. As to knowing that they would back down like that, I didn’t. Once I saw how shocked they were that Chandler wasn’t who he said he was, I took the bit in my mouth and bluffed like I had never bluffed before.”

Zenny cocked her head. “Bluffed? What does that mean?”

I grinned. “It is sort of like pretending to be in stronger position than you really are. It is something you do a lot in a casino like this. I used to play a lot of poker when I was alive.”

Slightly less green about the gills than he was, Jim limped back into the room, making a point of not looking at the still smoldering body on the floor. “Well from what I saw Rusty, you might have a future in playing poker again. I was pretty impressed by how you handled that after the surprise of the…creature.”

Ravyn got up impatiently and walked over to Jim, showing him to a seat where the body wasn’t in view. “So how could you tell that the butler was a doppelganger Rusty? If these things serve the An’girasii, then we are going to need to know how to spot them in the future. You won’t always be around to deal with them for us.”

“Well, first I noticed how calm the guy was down in the lobby when he was waiting for us. He seemed to be keeping himself supernaturally still, and then kind of came alive when he noticed us approaching. I’m sure Chandler was a very good butler, someone who had a cool, calm demeanor, but I don’t know too many humans who can keep themselves that calm.

“Second, in the elevator, I noticed how he moved. The first doppelganger that I met in South Beach was super fast. It moved way faster than I ever could, unless I was using magick of some sort to enhance my speed. In the elevator, the butler moved with such speed and grace that I began to have my doubts at that point. That’s when I slipped into the Shadowland to take a glance at his Spirit form. His Spirit form reflected a sense of power and calmness that I didn’t quite think was appropriate for a human. What sealed the deal though was when he gave me a slight nod of acknowledge in the Shadowland, like he sensed me looking at him there. I have yet to meet a normal human being who can sense things simultaneously in both the physical world and the Shadowland and distinguish between the two places. I knew then that he was either a very powerful Caster or something else.

“The final straw was when he exited the elevator and didn’t touch anyone as he slipped past all of us to get ahead again. That was simply inhuman. I’m betting that at least some of these creatures only have the power to fool human sight, but not the sense of touch. I think the doppelganger in South Beach was stronger, that it could fool other senses, but not this one. That’s probably why he chose to impersonate a servant who would not be required to get that close to anyone else—he had a reason to keep his distance from other people.

“It will be very hard to distinguish these creatures from the people they are trying to impersonate. Agent Wilson and her crew will be taking the body back to Quantico and conducting an autopsy of it in the hopes of discovering some of their secrets.”

Agent Jennifer Wilson walked through door to the room just as I mentioned her name. She was followed by several agents in bio-hazard suits, two of whom were carrying a stretcher sheathed in a plastic of some sort.

She glanced at the corpse on the floor, wrinkled her nose at the smell of things and started giving orders to her team to gather up the body. A second crew followed the first, this crew pushing a cart with all sorts of bottles filled with liquid and various cleaning tools. She put those folks to work cleaning up all of the droplets and puddles of liquid that I had helped to create.

“I want this room roped off until we’ve got the task done. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get this done in good time.”

Once she had finished giving her orders and the body had been flipped onto the stretcher and the other parts collected and covered, Agent Wilson let her guard down a bit as she gave Ravyn a big hug. “It’s been too long Mistress Fyre.”

“Oh, stop that. Call me Ravyn. You aren’t my student any longer. So you’re leading a team now, I see.”

Agent Wilson stood slightly taller than the diminutive Ravyn, but it was almost like she still looked up to her. “Yeah, this team was Rusty’s idea, actually. He pulled some strings at HQ to let me form a special response team. Each of the team members has some measure of Talent that most of them were unaware of until I tested them using those techniques you had taught me back at the Coop. I’ve been bringing them along slowly, showing them evidence from our files that had been previously disregarded as unexplainable or as anomalies. I was just about to give you a call actually, before Rusty gave me the heads-up to show up here with the team.”

“Oh, what about?”

“I was wondering if we could set up a sort of intern program with you at the Coop. I’d like some of these agents to really hone the Talents they have, some of them could become decent Casters, if they had the training. It might also help you out to have a couple of agents in residence, in case more creatures like this thing come calling.”

I walked over to them. “That sounds like a good idea, actually. By the way Jennifer, what have you decided to call the team?”

She grinned and looked down at her feet sheepishly. “Zulu recommended that I call it the Omega Team.”

That brought a groan from my lips. “It figures. Well, why not use the designation for something positive?”

Jim stood up now that the body had been removed. He was close to his normal color again. “Well, that might be a good idea for the Coop. However, I would have to see whether or not we could increase the budget to allow for the extra expenses.”

Jennifer shook her head. “No worries there, Sir. If Ravyn agrees to host the agents, I’ve been given the green light to authorize a per diem expense at the going rate for the Chicago area for their living expenses, which should more than cover any expenses incurred by the extra agents in residence.”

Jim nodded. “Yeah, I think you are right. I don’t have any objection then. Do you, Ravyn?”

Ravyn shrugged. “I have no objection, so long as they know who the boss around there is! They can’t be any worse than this dumb zombie of ours is!”

Enemies Mine...Part 5

El Diablito’s eyes narrowed and his voice took on a harder edge as he looked from the red-faced Ravyn to Zenny. “Speaking of pets, is this Bernstein’s little pet? I’ve heard and read so much about her. I must say, I can see what drove him to distraction.”

Zenny stepped up from behind me, her own face a mask a barely hidden pain. “I am no one’s pet, you butcher. Your words cannot harm me any worse than others have already done with their deeds. I have found something you probably wish had remained lost to the sands of time.” She reached into a pocket and drew out the Soulscope. She placed it on the table with the stark Nazi swastika facing up.

El Diablito sat back in obvious shock. “Wherever did you find that?”

I moved forward to the edge of the conference table, placing both hands on the edge and leaning onto it. “Let’s just say that we’ve been digging into your past, Dr. Klimm, and we’re not done yet.”

Dick Arnold finally recovered enough of his wits about him to glance up from the head of the doppelganger that still sat directly in front of him to El Diablito. “Lito, why do these crazy people keep calling you by this other name? Who is Dr. Klimm?”

The Professor finally made his way past the smoking corpse of the doppelganger, moving to Ravyn’s left side. He plopped his backpack on the table, reached in and pulled out a plain manila folder, less than half an inch thick. He tossed the folder to land just to the left of the head and its small pool of sizzling black liquid, on the other side of the head from El Diablito.

“Mr. Arnold, in that folder, you will find copies of the evidence to show that the man sitting at your side was previously known as Juergen Klimm, a German scientist during Hitler’s Third Reich. He is a wanted war criminal. The photos and articles inside that folder should be all the proof that you need that the man you have listed as D. B. Lito in all of your SEC filings for Bone Financial and the Mercury-Unlimited Group is a known and wanted war criminal. This information has not yet been made public, but additional copies of that folder are safely in the hands of those who will ensure that every major newspaper in America will have this information if anything should happen to us tonight. I don’t think your stock holders and investors will like the idea that the man known as the Zombie King in Nazi Germany is up to some of his old tricks with their money.”

El Diablito had recovered from his shock, his face taking on the expression of someone who was thinking hard to come up solutions to an unexpected problem.

During this whole exchange, Papa Locks had stood motionless between and slightly behind both of the sitting men. His arms were crossed, his face still obscured by the enormous hood of the cloak.

Dick Arnold’s expression became one of a businessman engaged in a serious negotiation. He licked his thin lips, intertwined his fingers and looked from the folder, still untouched, back up to Jim.

“So, what is it that you want from us? You obviously could have gone public with this information, but have chosen not to use it yet. Why not?”

That was my cue. I stood up straight again and nodded in El Diablito’s direction while looking Dick Arnold directly in the eyes. “We know who you have working for you.” I glanced up at Papa Locks. “And what you have been doing with his knowledge and expertise. We also know that Dr. Klimm here is building an organization of Caster’s of questionable ethics and character.” I strode down the length of the long table until I approached where the two men were sitting.

The guards behind them nervously fingered their weapons, trying to decide if I was posing a threat to their charges.

I got close enough to Dick Arnold to reach down and palm the top of the head of the doppelganger. In the same motion I picked the head up, droplets of acidic black ichor trailing across the table as I did so.

“As much as we’d like to dedicate the time and resources to putting you and your little undead factories out of business, there are greater enemies out there right now.”

I turned the head of the doppelganger so that I look into its vacant eyes for a moment before turning its dead gaze back on the lesser foes sitting before me.

“This creature, this doppelganger, is but a minor servant of an enemy of all of humanity that sees Casters like Dr. Klimm and Ravyn as threats to be eliminated so that they can take control easier. They see beings like myself, and now apparently Papa Locks, as well as any other undead you dumbasses have managed to create as possible tools to taken and used and discarded at will.

“Dick, you were surprised to see that your longtime manservant, Grimes, was actually a monster in disguise. How long do you think you have been making your plans in front of that servant, not knowing that he served another more powerful master? How many other such spies are around you?”

I brandished the head, letting the little droplets spray around as I did so. “These creatures can take any damn form that they want to, shifting their bodies and their Spirits to match the forms of the person they are killing. They can take your voice, your mannerisms, and enough of your memories to pass as you so well that your own mama wouldn’t know the difference. How much longer do you think you would have lived if this doppelganger had decided that he wanted to be you, instead of your poor servant?”

Dick Arnold sat back and gulped at the thought.

I wasn’t done yet, however. “We agreed to come here tonight to see you in the hopes of getting you to pay attention to the real enemy that we all are facing right now. The An’girasii have been awakened. They are taking stock of the world and gathering their forces.”

I slammed the head back down on the table for emphasis. It landed with a thick, wet splat, droplets spraying all over. Arnold and his guards jerked back in reaction to the spray.

“Finally, we are here to give you warning.” I leaned down and picked up the folder, now splotched and smoldering in a couple of spots. “We don’t expect a lot of help in facing this enemy from the likes you and your cronies, but if we think for one minute that you have decided to throw your lot in with that enemy, or you hinder us in any way—everything that you have built up, your fortune, your reputation, and your companies will all be destroyed without mercy.”

I was looming over Dick Arnold now, his guard having shrunk back in fear at the way I was moving and carrying myself. “And, Dickie boy, I will hunt you down like the dog that you are, and there is not a damn thing you, or any of your servants and stooges will be able to do to stop me. Do I make myself clear?”

His mouth was moving up and down again, but no intelligible sounds were coming out of it.

I turned my attention to El Diablito. He was trying to glare back at me with defiance, but it came across more like petulance.

“You and I have some unfinished business, Klimm. If we both survive the coming struggle against Drake’s ancient foes, you will have much to answer for. I am looking forward to that day. In the meantime, you had better keep a civil tongue in your head, or I’ll make time to deal with you sooner rather than later.”

Finally, I looked straight up into the darkness created by the hood of Papa Locks cloak. He stood unmoving, unimpressed.

“I’m not sorry to see you back, Locks. Now I’ll have that chance to settle my own score with you. But that too, can wait for now.”

I stepped back and made a dismissive wave with my left arm. “I would recommend that you all take your leave now. A team of specially trained investigators and field agents from the FBI will be here shortly. I don’t think it will be a good idea for you to be here when they arrive. The body stays.”

Papa Locks nodded. “I have taken my measure of you anew, Bones. You have grown into your powers impressively.” His laugh rumbled forth from his body again. “I am looking forward to our next encounter, it shall be most interesting.” His hood shifted slightly as he looked down as El Diablito and then Dick Arnold. “Come, my little friends. We have seen and heard enough tonight.”

His skeletal right hand emerged from within his cloak and drew on the power of the Shadow to create a portal. The guards were the first to step through, then El Diablito, his lips pursed in thought. Dick Arnold reached down and took the folder that had been given to him before he too stepped through.

Papa Locks was the last one left. He glanced back in my direction and raised his left hand in either a salute or a challenge. “Until we meet again, Bones.”

Enemies Mine...Part 4

I let the carcass fall to the ground and glanced at the blade. The black blood was now dry and flaking off. I gave the flat of the blade a hearty tap on the edge of the table and watched the rest of the stuff fall off in jagged flakes.

Everyone watched in silence as I guided the end of the blade back into its special sheath with my left hand, the weapon, sheath and all slipping into the Shadowland as it clicked into place. I raised my hands in a belated show of peaceful intentions.

“Let’s have everyone put away the weapons. I don’t see any need for more violence tonight.”

The guard on the right was the first to visibly relax. He rose from his kneeling position, moving the muzzle of his pistol away from me and towards the ceiling.

El Diablito settled back into his chair as he regained his composure, allowing his power to dissipate. “That was an impressive display, Rusty. How did you know that Grimes was an imposter?”

Dick Arnold was still staring in disbelief at the monstrous smoking head that had landing directly in front of him. Hearing the name of his missing manservant seemed to restore the ability to speak. “Grimes! What happened to my Grimes?”

The brooding figure of Papa Locks crossed his arms. “You’ve changed a great deal since the last time we met, Bones, but so have I.”

“Yeah, Locks, I seem to remember you being killed in Miami. May I presume that you are not just a spokesperson for Bone Financial, but a client as well?”

He didn’t respond.

Ravyn stepped over the fallen form of the doppelganger with a look of disgust. “You had better have a good reason for requesting this meeting, Dr. Klimm.” Her voice dripped with acid as she spoke his name.

El Diablito’s facial expression shifted from smug to shock back to smug within in microseconds. “Ah yes, I’ve enjoyed our duels, young lady. But I am less than fond of your pet bird, I must say.” He rubbed his hands together as he spoke.

Enemies Mine...Part 3

Seizing on the opportunity created by the surprise of seeing Papa Locks standing across the room, I stretched my right hand up to my right shoulder and seized ahold of the hilt of Excalibur.

In a blindingly fast move that I had been practicing ever since that nasty encounter on South Beach, I drew the blade and lashed out with it. Even with surprise, however, I would have missed my target if the blade hadn't adjusted itself in mid-swing.

The magickal blade whizzed out faster than the human eye can see, taking Chandler's head and the hand that he had brought up in an attempt to ward off the blow that no one else knew was coming. Hand and head went flying up in the air as tremendous energies and a fountain of blackish ichor were unleashed in a gushing flood. The lights of the room flickered as the Spirit of the creature was destroyed by the blade's deadly magick.

Dick Arnold sat stunned, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. His hands clenched to the table as he watched the head of his long time servants head go flying, only to see the head of a monster land on the table with a thud. The empty eyes of an alien creature stared back at him.

El Diablito had the presence of mind to kick back from the table and stand up, a ball of powerful energy gathering around his right hand, ready to smite any who threatened him. "Bones, what is the meaning..."

The two guards reached for weapons at their sides, the guard on the right side ducking down to use the table as cover as he drew a weapon. The guard on the left had his pistol up and out in a standing postiion.

Only Papa Locks didn't react in utter surprise. Even though his head was obscured by the dark hood of the cloak, I saw it tip back as a laughter echoed forth, his shoulders shaking in mirth. "You see, Little Devil, I told you that butler was not who he seemed to be!"

I heard Zenny gasp in surprise, while Jim uttered a series of curses that would have shocked his students. I could feel Ravyn gathering her own power, whether in response to El Diablito or to my actions, I wasn't sure.

I reached down to the oozing form of the doppleganger on the floor, hooked my left hand into the hole at the top of its neck and pulled the body up for all to see. Excalibur still smoking in my right hand, I looked to my other enemies across the table.

"We need to talk."

(To be continued tonight...)