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.

Little Keep on the Borderlands... Epilogue

Cerrydwen waved us forward. “Come, let me take you to the others. I can explain things bit as we walk.”

Despite the appearance that these two were who they seemed to be, I was more than a little nervous as we came up closer to them.

Ravyn showed no such inhibitions and gave each of the women a big hug. She exchanged quiet, unheard words with each of them and seemed more than satisfied with the responses that each gave her.

The Frau padded up and gave both Ravyn and Zenny a long sniff and single wet lick on the cheek.

Jim took the more cautious approach of a small wave and a nod of acknowledgement to each.

Cerrydwen turned and nodded back in the direction from which she had come. “Well, let’s start our little tour of the mad man’s little tower of horrors.” The massive stone door grated open with a wave of her hand. “This whole place is a tapestry of tightly wound spells that must have taken years to craft. This lower level is where he houses a small army of the trolls that you have seen so much of.” She motioned for us to follow her into the gaping maw that led into the dark tunnel where the war trolls had retreated to.

I couldn’t resist breaking into the narrative. “Cerrydwen, how did you gain control of those things?”

Cerrydwen returned my look with a steely gaze. “Sorcery, Rusty. I don’t like practicing it in our world, but I am, unfortunately, quite talented in its use.”

“How is Sorcery any different than the magick that the Frau or Ravyn use?”

She gave a harsh little laugh before she answered. We continued shuffling down the long, curved corridor as she spoke. “You’ve seen me engage Papa Locks and others before in a battle of wills, where I try to make those folks face all of their various Karmic mistakes and dark misdeeds to get them to reform, yes?”

I nodded.

“That is something that I learned from John Red Bear, so that I would have magickal tools that would be a little less lethal and a tad less evil than my natural powers.” She stopped and looked at me deeply for what seemed like the very first time since we had met. “You see, the magick that comes most naturally to me is a very dark and twisted form of magick that is often referred to as sorcery. Sorcery gives me as much mastery over the bodies of other beings as I want. The problem is that this control can only really be used to bring them harm and pain. It is one of the reasons that you me very reluctant to form close attachments or to interact with other people very much. When I get frustrated or angry, it takes an enormous amount of control not to break bones or to choke them with a glance and a twist of my Will.”

“Wow.”

She nodded. “Yes, I was not a very good person when I was younger. I hadn’t learned how to properly restrain myself and I got frustrate very easily. If it hadn’t been for the Frau and her intervention when I was a teenager, I likely would’ve gone down an even darker road and ended up working with someone like El Diablito.” She turned away and started walking again. “So to answer your original question, Rusty, I got the trolls to follow me by demonstrating on a few of them that they couldn’t hurt me nearly as much as I could hurt them. There really aren’t that many left anyway, they aren’t what you would consider to be fast learners.”

The Frau swiveled her massive head towards Cerrydwen and licked an ear before projecting her thoughts to all of us. “Cerry dear, are you going to be alright?”

Cerrydwen nodded without looking back. “Yes, I’m in full control of myself. It’s easier this time because this place is so different and for the most part, the trolls deserved their fates. They are dark, hate-filled creatures that only serve those who they see as stronger. I’ve just allowed them to see my stronger side.”

We came to an intersection in the hall. We could have turned either right or left down similar type hallways, but instead went straight which soon led us to a large stairwell the curved upwards and to the left with long, shallow steps that seemed to stretch on forever.

Cerrydwen led us up the curving stairwell that ended at a large landing and a smashed wooden door. Picking her way through the debris of the door, she led us down a long hall, passing several doors that began to look familiar. It wasn’t until I saw the dark door with glowing rose emblem that recognized this place from the Nick’s memory globe. Passing the door marked with the palm tree only confirmed it.

Cerrydwen ignored all of these doors, taking us all of the way to the end of the hall where we encountered another broken door. This door had been crafted of metal and lay to side of the doorway, twisted and wrenched from its hinges. Beyond the door was an enormous room filled with towering book cases, scattered tables that were buried in scrolls, books and pieces of paper. Huddled around a large square table in the middle of the room was a group of about twenty bedraggled looking people, some of whom I recognized.

Ravyn bounced into the room, nearly skipping with joy at seeing so many familiar faces. She called out names as danced forward. “Moira! Herne! Alana!”

The faces of the obviously tired—and in many cases injured—ORC’s lit up as they saw the ever cheerful Ravyn moving towards them. She was closely followed by the Frau and Jim. I hung back, still nervous of some sort of trap.

Cerrydwen had stepped into the room and then slid to the side, hanging back in the shadows herself.

Zenny had shuffled quietly after Ravyn and the others, leaving Cerrydwen and I to our quiet shadows.

I looked over to her, studying the pained look on her face. “Cerrydwen, you don’t seem to happy to see us all together again.”

She shook her head, looking form the joyful group of long time friends and survivors to me, her expression remained stoic. “Rusty, you perhaps more than anyone else here understand how difficult it is to hold something dark and terrible inside, hoping to keep it buried forever. Tonight, I had to use abilities that I long ago sworn never to use again.”

I nodded. “I do. You can bury those abilities again, if you want to. I’m sure it wasn’t something that you enjoyed doing.”

Her lips quivered ever so slightly into the briefest of chilling smiles before she regained her stoic expression. She turned to watch the reunion as she responded in a quiet whisper. “That’s the problem Rusty. I really like it. It makes me feel so alive when I use those powers. I enjoy the pain that my victims feel. That is why those surviving trolls feared me enough to serve me. They recognized a kindred spirit when they saw me torturing and killing their companions.”

I reached out to touch her on the shoulder. She flinched as I did so. “I understand.”

Ravyn had finished her round of hugs. She turned to wave in my direction. “Hey Rusty! Come here!”

I moved from the shadows to join the group. I recognized a number of Ravyn’s students from the Coop as well as Moira and Herne. The others were strangers.

Jim was standing with Herne and a shorter, dark haired woman with an easy laugh and a slightly raspy voice.

As I approached, she came forward, offering her hand. “Rusty, I’m Alana Danae from the San Diego Circle. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

I nodded as I shook her offered hand. “Likewise. I hear you’re pretty handy with computers.”

Ravyn interrupted with an impatient clap of her hands. “OK folks, I’m so glad to see each of you alive, but we really need to know where Alexa and Naomi are right now.” She glanced at each face in the gathered circle. “Do any of you know what happened to them? Cerry? What happened?”

Cerrydwen had joined with circle with little fanfare. Her face hardened as she took one step forward into the group and spoke up. “When we transported from Michigan to the safe house, we were attacked the moment we finished the transport. I was out of it before I realized who had attacked us, although I presume it was Papa Locks and El Diablito. I never saw what happened to Alexa or Naomi. Did anyone else see anything? Zenny?”

Zenny fidgeted with her hijab before lifting her eyes to look at everyone. “I saw the dark giant you call Papa Locks strike Cerrydwen with his fist before she could react. Naomi tried to escape with Alexa back through the portal but one of the doppelgangers grabbed her and prevented her from leaving. The one you call the Little Devil cast some sort of enchantment on me that caused me to lose consciousness at that point.”

Moira nodded. “A group of doppelgangers must have slipped into the safe house with the refugees from the San Diego Circle, because just as we were tending to the wounded and getting ready to call you, several of those that we thought were our allies attacked. The fight was over before we knew it.”

Herne coughed. “They were unbelievably quick. Once the doppelgangers had us subdued, El Diablito and Locks came through the portal with several armed goons and that freaky female, Rose. Moira and I had been paralyzed by some poison that the doppelgangers had used on us, but we were able to watch all of it.” He looked down at the floor, ashamed. “Once the doppelgangers had Naomi and Alexa, El Diablito turned to the largest of them and said: ‘There, you have your prize, now, I expect you and your masters to hold up your end of the bargain.’ The thing snarled at him and said: ‘The Fire Witch was slain as promised, it is not our fault that she was brought back. Our bargain is now complete.’”

“So that crinkled old man needed those things to take me down, did he?” Ravyn snorted derisively as she spoke. “OK, so do we have any idea where the doppelgangers took them and why they wanted Alexa in the first place?”

Herne nodded again. “Even as I was paralyzed, Alexa looked over to me and I heard what must have been her older self speaking to me. She said, ‘Herne, let the others know that this is what must happen. I am in no imminent danger from the An’girasii or their servants. They need me alive and unharmed. Don’t try to rescue us—it will only cause us harm if you do. When the time is right, we shall return. Until then, gather our friends, help them to heal and grow strong once again, and prepare to weather the coming storms. El Diablito and his new organization must be stopped from gaining too much control.’ Then they disappeared through the portal and I lost consciousness.”

I stepped forward. “Look, I don’t think we have much more time before El Diablito and Papa Locks recover from Ravyn’s surprises and come looking in on things here. We need to get out of here fast.” I looked at everyone’s faces. They all appeared eager to be quit from this place as well. “I know of a place that El Diablito doesn’t. It is a safe place the Drake had created to store all of the things he had collected over the millennia to fight the An’girasii. I can take us there now so that you all can recover, heal up and take stock of where we are as an organization. We’ll have all of the resources we’ll need to regroup and take on El Diablito when we’re ready.”

The nods of agreement and smiles of relief that greeted my recommendation were overwhelming. So with little more debate or discussion, I summoned the Shadow and opened a portal to our new, secret destination.

For the first time in a long, long while, a plan of ours was enacted without any changes or major surprises. The ORC’s disappeared from El Diablito’s stronghold and went into hiding while we regrouped.

Little Keep on the Borderlands...Part 4

I was up and running towards the third troll before his spear stopped skidding behind us. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got to him, since I didn’t have a weapon in hand.

It had already turned its attention so fray between the Frau and his companion, so my leaping kick landed squarely on the side of his enormous kneecap. I felt and heard the crunching of the bone. His leg buckled and collapsed on itself.

I tucked and rolled out of the way of a massive fist that sought to crush me as the thing lashed out n a blind rage at its sudden immobility.

By the time I had tumbled to safety and regained my bearings, I saw that Jim had already found his own footing and was racing to help the Frau in her struggle.

Ravyn was striding forward towards the troll that was now trying to hobble towards me. She smiled as she sent a lancing bolt of flame into the back of its skull, ending his miserable life before his smoldering corpse hit the floor.

I turned to see how Jim and the Frau were faring just in time to see Excalibur slash downwards in a fatal stroke across the already tattered throat of the final troll. The Frau had rolled clear in time and stood on all fours, panting with exertion. Her fur was torn and bloody in several spots, but it wasn’t entirely clear how wounded she might be. Most of the blood seemed to be darker ichor of the troll.

I jogged back to pick up my batons and joined the rest of them near the mangled body of that final victim.

Jim mopped the sweat off of his forehead and nodded as I approached. “I can’t wait to give you back this damn sword and let you play at being the hero Rusty. I’ll be more than happy to resume my roles as a counselor, researcher, and treasurer.”

I chuckled at that. “Yeah, this sort of stuff is a lot less worrisome when you’re already dead.”

Before anyone else could join in the banter, there was a loud grating of stone on stone as a very large doorway opened in the back of the chamber. Several more armored, well armed trolls marched into the chamber, their hobnailed boots echoing in a strange unison as they lined up four to a side on each side of the doorway. The strangest part of this scene was the two smaller, hooded figures that emerged from the shadows behind the trolls. They looked to be human and seemed to have a distinctly feminine aspect to them that was not entirely concealed by the heavy cloaks that obscured their faces. One of the women was clearly taller and heavier than the other, but neither carried any weapons in their hands.

We all turned to face these new foes, each of us wondering how we would be able to face eight trolls and these two women of unknown strength.

Jim broke the silence first. “Fuck! Why would this damn sword choose now to go quiet?”

I glanced over at the blade in his hands, which was now no longer glowing. It had cooled and quieted as the women had entered the room.

The larger of the women gave a short, throaty laugh as she reached up and pulled back the hood to reveal her face. “Maybe that blade doesn’t want you to swing at a friend by mistake.”

Ravyn gasped. “Cerry? Is that really you?”

Cerrydwen nodded before turning to the trolls that now seemed to be under her command. She grunted an order in their guttural tongue that sent the guards trooping back from whence they had come.

I had my doubts. I had seen Excalibur go quiet on me at inconvenient times before. “Careful everyone, she may be a Doppelganger. And we don’t know who the other one is yet either.”

The smaller of the women stepped closer and brought her gloved hands up to her own hood. Zenny Al Farhan’s soft, musical voice spoke from within. “Rusty, we are not shapeshifters. You can touch me if you would like to confirm that.” She pulled the hood back to reveal her face.

“How is this possible? We had heard that you were captured by El Diablito and Papa Locks.!”

Cerrydwen walked forward slowly. As she came closer, we could each see that her face was badly bruised. “We were caught by surprise at the safe house and were captured with Alexa and Naomi. It’s a long tale though and I don’t think we have the time to tell it here. We need to leave before either El Diablito or Papa Locks return. My control over those trolls will not survive long if they comeback. I’ve found out though, that the trolls can tell who the Doppelgangers are. They are very efficient at hunting them, when they choose to do so.”

“Wait, where are the others? Where is Alexa?”

Her face clouded over in obvious pain. “I don’t know where Alexa or Naomi are right now. But almost all of our other allies who had been taken in the raids and were brought here are safe. Herne and Moira are watching over them on the next floor up since some of them were badly wounded. Let’s go get the others and get out of here. We can tell our respective tales once we are safely away from this place.”

It was the best of times...

Despite the looming uncertainties about what exactly Draakar was, and what he intended to do with Drake’s body, the first few months after Drake’s defeat were great.

Zenny Al Farhan, Naomi and Alexa all returned with Ravyn to the Phoenix Coop, where both Zenny and Naomi began their first lessons in becoming full-fledged Casters in their own right.

Alexa was quickly adopted by all of the other residents of the co-op and named ‘Princess of the Coop’. She essentially had the run of the place, even Ravyn deferred to the Princess, especially when she flashed that toothless smile of hers.

Ravyn did manage to put both Zenny and Naomi to work in running the Coop itself, allowing her to spend more time instructing and playing with Alexa than she had before. She had also ‘convinced’ the Professor that all of her new students should receive scholarships, sponsored by the ORC, Inc. treasury.

The Professor continued his research and studies, both of the data taken from Bernstein’s computer files, and of the portion of stolen VortiCorp files that we had recovered in Miami when we broke up Drake’s organization.

Cerrydwen and the Frau returned to their secretive ways, although they too made frequent visits to the Coop to check in on the Princess and the rest of the crew there.

Herne and Moira returned to their Colorado home, although they were beginning to make grumbling noises about moving to somewhere more ‘natural.’ Herne kept hinting that Alaska was his choice destination for early retirement. Somehow, the thought of him loose in the primeval forests of Alaska seemed just about right.

I had to return to work, pulling several small, but still significant assignments over the months that all involved travel to some extent. The Bureau was learning to appreciate the value of an agent that didn’t need sleep or food, and who they didn’t have to worry about getting hurt. Some of the cases that I was involved with were interesting enough to write about, but I felt that owed you, my gentle readers the full effort of getting the main story of Drake’s downfall down. I will write about some of these cases as time permits, but I will not let them get in the way of any of the more important stories that I have to tell.

I did find time to return on an almost weekly basis to visit the Coop to check in on Jasmine (my oldest daughter-who was also studying under Ravyn) and Alexa. I also made some time to take Kenny to a few Detroit Tigers baseball games this summer, it was nice to bond with my son while watching the first winning Tigers team in his living memory.

There were two unresolved issues that took some dealing with during the last few months.

The first of these issues, was the new sword that I now had the burden of carrying. Excalibur was a blade of legendary powers, but it had a stubborn streak that was as wide as it’s reputation was large. The blade simply wouldn’t allow me leave it anywhere I chose to, it wanted to be borne as the legendary weapon it knew that it was. The problem with carrying such a weapon around, of course, was that I was already conspicuous enough as a walking corpse. Add three feet of gleaming, sharp steel, and you have one truly noticeable oddity.

The solution to this dilemma was provided by the Merlin. After a couple of weeks of tinkering, he was able to devise a special sheath that actually shifted the blade into the Shadowland, yet still allow me to carry it around. Thus the blade was always handy, in both the Shadow and in the physical world, should I need to to retrieve it.

The second issue would not be so easily resolved. That will be the subject of next couple of posts...

Wrapping Up...Part 3

The Frau leaned forward, patted Ravyn on the shoulder and spoke up. “Ravyn, my dear, we all know how you feel aabout such things. Don’t you worry none, Jim will return your sample to you. Meanwhile, some of the rest of us are more curious.

“But, beyond that, we’ve got some other things to discuss at the moment.” She looked around at everyone, gaining their attnetion as she did so. “I was there when this Dracaar fellow took over Drake’s body and transformed it in no time flat into the spitting image of a powerful, dynamic man who could easily gain influence over any number of people through his looks and magnetism. This Dracaar was a pwerful warrior and leader in his native time, someone who Drake considered dangerous enough to risk own life to stop from being released. We can’t dismiss the threat this being may pose. He also took the still sealed urn of his consort away with him.”

Cerrydwen stepped forward from the shadows and spoke up as well. “Yes, this Dracaar could be an even tougher foe than Drake, if he, or we, choose to become foes. But first, I think we need to learn more about him and what his intentions are before we declare him a foe. We also have to be careful, we don’t know if this man has acquired any of Drake’s memories, or will have access to any of Drake’s secret network of servants, allies and resources.”

Herne sat forward and pitched in his offer of assistance. “I think I can do a little grunt work here and see about locating this guy. Moira and I don’t mind the opportunity to do a little travelling, now that we won’t be babysitting, and I think I’ve got an idea of how to track this guy. It sounds like he’s not the most subtle of operators, he’ll leave some bright, glowing magickal fingerprints wherever he goes, at least until he realizes that others can track him by those markers. We’ll make regular reports back to Jim here once we find something.”

“That sounds good.” I offerred. “I can also use the resources of the Bureau, put out some feelers within the government to be on watch for this guy. If I get any leads, I’ll let you guys know.”

Naomi, looking a little frustrated and desperate almost whispered. “This is all well and good, everyone. But what about me and Alexa here? I got no one in New Orleans now with Mama gone.”

Ravyn stopped her pacing and knelt down next to Naomi, gave her a gentle hug. “I’ve got a place you can come to, darling. It’ll be perfect for you for as long as you want to stay. There’s plenty of room, lots of help is available for raising Alexa, and you’ll be able to learn to harness your own natural abilities. I can see the potential in you to be great even now!”

Naomi’s spirit seemed to be lifted with the immediate offer of a place to stay. “Thank you.”

“Speaking of that,” I said. “I don’t want Daniel Bernstein to be around Naomi or the baby. Ravyn, he’s still with the students there, isn’t he?”

Ravyn nodded.

“I’ve got some unfinished business with him anyway. I’ll be taking him away and dealing with him.”

Jim looked thoughtful. “What are you going to do with him, Rusty?”

Cerrydwen emerged from her comfortable shadows again. “Rusty and I will be seeing what we can do about having him face the karmic consequences of his own actions in all of this. He has much to account for.”

Jim asked, “Can he be truly be held accountable for actions he has no memory of committing?”

Cerrydwen’s face grew dark. “Oh, I think he’ll have enough memories of the incidents before we finish with him.”

Wrapping Up...Part 2

I told the story of Drake’s fall and the ring that he virtually dropped into my hand with little emotion. That style became impossible, however, when I came to describing the Lady and her domain as I saw and all of the events that arose from my meeting with her.

Looking up from the floor as I finished describing the choice that was given to me, I noticed that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I quickly moved on to the release of Diego and the discovery of the strange new sword on the table. I finished by pulling the wrapped blade from my shoulder and drawing it out for everyone to see and touch as i passed it around for them to feel for themselves.

After everyone had marvelled at how plain Excalibur seemed at first glance, but how right it felt to the touch, I wrapped the blade back up and slung it over my back again. As long as that blade was out in the open though, no one could focus on anything else. Once it was put away, it was a like a spell had been broken, allowing us to move on.

Jim cleared his throat, sat forward and began speaking. “Well, I can cofirm some things from Daniel Bernstein’s lab. He did have boatloads of genetic data, including what appears to be a full work up on Drake’s DNA, and it does appear that Drake had engaged in some form of ‘seeding’ program, something that began several centuries back, but appears to have ended maybe 30-40 years ago. Dr. Bernstein appears to have collected some genetic samples of many in this room, apparently when we were held captive in Las Vegas for that brief period of time, but that he never had the opportunity to analyze that information.

“So it’s possible,” he continued, “that some of us here are descendants of Drake to some degree or another, but the data hasn’t been analyzed. Now that Drake is no longer with us, in the flesh anyway, I’m not sure whether it is very important to anyone here to know if he is in fact a relative of yours. I have been able to figure out how to run the machinery, so I can complete those tests if you would like, but I can also destroy the genetic samples of anyone who wants me to. I think this information belongs to each of you, so I will honor each of your requests. I will be spending another several days in his lab before I finish my work there and strip all of the data cards and hard drives from the computers there. By the time I am finished, that lab will be useless to anyone who follows, but we’ll have a library of genetic data to analyze for the ORC’s-although we’ll need to make sure to safeguard that information well.”

With that, Jim sat back, took a swig from his ever-present two liter of Diet Pepsi and waited for the answers from everyone present.

Ravyn was the first to reply. “I for one, don’t need to know if I am related to that...creature. I know my lineage quite well, thank you very much. I want my genetic samples back ASAP.”

Jim nodded in assent to her request.

Moira spoke up next. “I’m with Ravyn, although I’ll trust you to destroy my sample, Jim.”

The Frau cleared her throat and tapped the floor with her cane. “I’m pretty curious. I’d like you to run my sample if you would, Jim dear.”

Cerrydwen added, “Me too.”

Jim noted their requests with a nod, took another swig.

Everyone’s eyes drifted back to me. I shifted, feeling a little uncomfortable. “Hey, I’ve got nothing to hide, run my stuff too.”

Naomi, looking up from the smiling face of her daughter added in her surprsing comment. “Hey, don’t forget about me. If you’ve got a sample from me, run that too. If you need a sample, let me know, I’ll give you one. I’ve heard some stories from my mama about some shady ancestors. I want to know too.”

“Very well then, this will give me some work to do when i get back there. Ravyn, when you take me back, I’ll give you your sample right then and there.”

“You better believe it, bub! If you didn’t, I’d burn that place to the ground!”

(To be continued with another post tonight...and more tomorrow.)

Wrapping Up...Part 1

The arrival back at the Professor’s home was a joyous celebration like few I’ve ever seen before. Cerrydwen had made some calls on her cell phone shortly after we had gotten back to the car, so everyone had had plenty of time to gather back there to join in the party.

Even Jim had managed to find a way back to greet us, although his truck wasn’t parked in its normal spot, indicating that Ravyn had probably helped expedite his journey back.

The reunion of Naomi with her...our...daughter Alexa was most heartwarming to witness. I would have been balling like a baby myself, had I been capable of it. Instead, I merely stood by watching as she hugged the child close. She was choking with sobs and shedding abundant tears of joy.

After carefully disengaging with Naomi, Ravyn ran to the Frau and then to Cerrydwen crushing each of them in a bear hug or her own.

Jim hung back, watching the reunions from his normally discrete but comfortable distance.

Moira and Herne came up to me, Herne asking for details about how everything happened, while Moira’s first questions were about the blade that was now wrapped and slung over over my back.

In no time at all, the gathering swept into the house and dissolved into half a dozen smaller conversations until everyone was settled back into the living room where Cerrydwen had laid out her bold plan. On some unseen and unheard cue, everyone grew quiet and still, all eyes eventually settling on a rather startled Cerrydwen.

“I see.” She said. “So I get the honor of starting things off, eh?”

When we all nodded silently, she began speaking in a low, hushed voice. She told the tale of our journey north in short, efficient sentences that provided the necessary details but left out everything that wasn’t absolutely essential. She explained how she felt that Drake had some way of tracking me and how she fully expected him to show up when we reached our destination.

She then grew even quieter as she described the Island and the events that took place there, all of the way up until Drake was defeated. She fell silent and looked to me at that point, with all of the others turning to me as well. It was my turn to describe what happened...

(Continued tomorrow...)

Conclave...Part 9

A moment of silence stretched into a seeming eternity after I had stopped talking.

The Professor took a long, deliberate swig from his ever present two-liter of Diet Pepsi and began to speak. “So, it doesn’t look like Daniel opened up either urn. We can also figure that Drake still wants them back. Now that he has some of your ability to manipulate and travel through Shadow, he will be even harder to locate or predict. Finally, we also have Alexa to consider. We now know that she was the product of some sort of twisted genetic program of Daniel’s and Drake’s devising, so I sincerely doubt that Drake is going to let us raise her in peace in the way that we would choose. What do we do with these urns? How do we protect ourselves from a vengeful Vampire with the powers of a Demigod? And how do we protect Alexa long enough to let her grow up into the young woman she’s quite possibly destined to be? Those are the questions we need to resolve. Does anyone have any answers?”

Cerrydwen pushed herself free from the corner she had been lurking in and stepped forward to the edge of our little circle, a wicked grin on her face. “I say we release the Spirits in the urns.”

An uproar of voices met this suggestion. “What...?” “Why would we do that...?” “Not in my house...!”

Herne’s was the only voice that remained calm and quiet as his statement cut through the cries of everyone else. “I agree with Cerrydwen. Release those Spirits, it’s not right to hold them imprisoned in this way.”

Cerrywen raised a single hand, forehead furrowed like the noise of everyone speaking gave her headache. When everyone quieted down, she began to speak again. “Herne’s right. It’s wrong to leave those Spirits imprisoned. I had been wondering why I had been feeling so ill since they were brought out, but I can tell you that there are two very unhappy entities trapped within them. I can feel their pain. But, Jim, I am not suggesting that they be opened here in your home, or anywhere near where Alexa is.”

Jim piped in. “Damn straight.”

Cerrydwen nodded in acknowledgement and continued on. “Releasing these two Spirits serves a number of purposes. First, Drake won’t be hunting for them if they no longer contain the Spirits of his trapped parents. Second, if what we have heard of these two Spirits is anywhere close to accurate--remember we are getting this information third hand and as a product of Daniel torturing that poor woman--then Drake might be put off balance and on the run for a bit himself. That could give us some precious time to make arrangements for Alexa. Finally, if any genetic material does survive inside those things, we very well gain that critical DNA evidence to see if Drake really is an ancestor of any of us. Rusty, you’ve still got Daniel’s memories, right?”

I nodded, mulling over everything she had just said.

“Good. Then you probably also know where Daniel’s equipment is and how to use it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. So here’s my plan--Rusty, you need to give Jim here the address and directions to Daniel’s lab and information he needs to access Daniel’s computer files and lab notes. If he needs any special identification or permissions to get inside, you need to make arrangements for those as well. Jim, you’ll want to get there and start puzzling out how to use the equipment and see about gathering up all of the genetic data on Casters and all of the other subjects of their genetic program, but be ready to test some samples when we return with them.

“Rusty, Frau and I will take the urns to a place I know about in the Upper Peninsula where we can perform a series of rituals prior to releasing the Spirits in the urns.”

“What about me?” Ravyn asked, almost plaintively.

Cerrydwen actually smiled at that. “Ravyn, sis, you’ve had your share of excitement lately. It’s time to let some of the rest of us play around in your sandbox. Besides, we really do need to be concerned about Drake’s new abilities, so someone with Power needs to be near Alexa, just in case. I was thinking of asking you to accompany Herne back to Colorado with Alexa. Herne and Moira are experienced parents and can easily handle the mundane chores of taking care of a young child. Herne can handle himself against almost any magickal threat as well, but if Drake comes for her, he has no way to escape with Alexa to safety like you do.”

Ravyn looked almost sullen for a moment, then perked up as Bob floated down to nuzzle her neck. “Well, at least I won’t have to babysit a Zombie, I can actually babysit for a real baby this time! Betsy does need some time to heal up as well, that damn dragon’s acid was potent.”

Looking around at everyone’s thoughtful faces, Cerrydwen nodded. “It appears to be settled then. I think we all have some prep work to do to get ready, right?”