“No, I’ll be fine. But I have to go. I need to figure it out.” Cory said before rushing off.
“Cory!” I called as she disappeared around the corner.
After a minute of no response and her not returning, I turned back to the Shifter on the ground.
“Alright, asshole. You can just stay where you are.” I said as I knelt next to him. “I hope you wake up with a killer headache… On second thought, I hope you wake up in so much pain you can’t move for a couple days.”
Az
“I hope you know what you’re doing Cory.” I muttered as I exited the alleyway. “Guess I’ll go to the last shop myself and see what I can find out.”
I pulled out the piece of paper we had marked the addresses and names of the shops on and looked around for the street numbers before I headed off in the opposite direction from where I had seen Cory go. After another couple of streets, I found the last shop and went in. The bell dinging as the door opened.
“I’ll be with you in a moment.” A woman called from the back.
I walked through the aisles and looked at various objects before going to the gun counter to look at what was in stock. Common guns that we had seen in all of the other shops were displayed in the locked cabinet. I glanced up at the wall to see if there was a wall mount of other items like some shops had, but noticed there was just an old-looking tapestry, and felt like I had seen it before and should know what it represented.
There were a few indistinct shapes around a big circle in the middle. What looked like a coat of arms in the middle, bisected into four sections. Each section had a different colored horse; a dark red one with strong looking muscles, a white one with a sleek body and coat, a black one that looked sick with its ribs showing, and the last one seemed to be so threadbare that it was hard to see what the horse even looked like.
Why would someone want to hang a rug on the wall? It feels like I’ve seen this before. I don’t particularly love horses, so it couldn’t be that. That’s an odd arrangement of colors too. Maybe I’ve seen it in some art book or something.
“Sorry about that, how can I help you?” A short woman asked, walking out from a doorway. “Oh wait, you’re not here for an amulet are you? I’ll tell you the same thing I tell all the other young Madgie, I don’t carry them. You’ll have to go to a Madgie shop or to the big box store. I’m not licensed for that kind of magic.”
“No, I’m not looking for an amulet.” I said slowly, “I’m actually wondering if you have any other guns than what is shown here? I’m looking for a specific gun on council business. It was stolen from the Smithsonian a few days ago.”
“I’m sorry, this is all I have. Do you have a picture or description I can use in case I have anyone bring it in?” The woman asked.
I gave her a photocopy of the gun and its description.
“If you hear of anything at all, or see it, there are three numbers on the back of that page. The first one is for Council member Jimmer Stone, the other two are mine and my sisters. We’re doing an apprenticeship with him.” I told her.
“Sounds good, if I hear anything at all I’ll call.” The woman said, turning around and heading back through the doorway.
Well, that was the last shop. I guess I should just go back to the hotel room and see if Cory is back yet. Or if the book has any other information we haven’t looked at yet.
◆◆◆
As I’m walking past an alleyway on the way back to Caesar’s Palace, I hear a scuffing and stop to listen for a moment.
“Dude, I feel pretty weird.” A male voice said. “I think Levi did something to me with that gun of his. I know he said he was joking when he shot at me and I didn’t get hit with a bullet. But ever since that I haven’t felt good.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve been feeling a little off as well.” Another voice answered him. “Actually, I’ve been noticing more things about other people than I have before. And I just get this overwhelming sense of jealousy. I’ve never had that before. Think he’s messing with our emotions somehow?”
Levi? Who the hell is that? I thought. Are they talking about the gun we’re looking for?
The voices were getting closer, so I looked around for somewhere to hide and still listen to what they were saying. The only thing I could see was a dead rosebush close to the entrance of the alleyway. Getting behind it I placed my hand on the base of the bush coming up from the ground and cleared my head. After a moment, the bush gained its green coloring back, and the leaves puffed back out. Big orange blossoms formed at the ends and drops of dew started forming on each petal and all the leaves before I opened my eyes. The newly living bush was so lush with leaves and blossoms that it completely hid me from view of the alleyway.
That worked better than I was hoping. At least it didn’t get too far and rot this time. I thought, reaching into the bush and pushing some branches to the side a little so I could see what was happening with the two men at the edge of the alleyway.
“You might be right. You’ve never been jealous of what anyone has, like ever.” The first man was saying.
“Well, I don’t mind working for what I want, it’s really not that hard to do. I like being able to do stuff for myself.” The second man said. “You know who might be able to help us figure out how to get rid of this and feel better? Gr-”
His words cut off as his body started to shake, a wave of green washing over him and dissipating into the ground at his feet. He grabbed the shoulder of his friend so he didn’t fall over before the shaking finally stopped. As he was catching his breath, his friend abruptly fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
“Carl?” The second man said concerned. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?”
As the second man was kneeling over Carl, I saw a bright spot of green fall from Carl’s leg and lay still on the ground.
“Carl!?” The second man yelled.
“I’m fine. Stop bloody shaking me.” Carl said as he sat up. “What happened?”
“You fell over.” The second man told him. “Then started writhing and shaking as if you were having a seizure. How do you feel?”
“I actually feel fine. I feel better than I did earlier.” Carl replied. “Maybe whatever Levi did wore off.”
“Possibly.” The second man said. “I think we should just get out of here for now, we can figure this out later. It’s getting late, let’s just head home for the night.”
As they stood up, the second man’s wallet fell out of his pocket and landed by the still glowing green object. Neither of the two men noticed and hurried off. I stood up, letting go of the branches and scratching my palm, letting out a small ‘ouch’. I went over to the wallet and the green object, picking them up.
“What in the world is this thing?” I muttered to myself as I looked at the glowing object.
Turning it over, I let it rest in my hand to look at it when it touched the blood that pooled by the scratches from the rosebush. The glow disappeared, and my blood changed from red to green. Almost as if the coloring from the object transferred to my blood directly, then turned clear. As I watched, the blood flaked away and blew off my hand in the small breeze.
What the hell was that? I thought.
I opened the wallet to look for a driver's license and found the address for the guy, then closed it and looked at my phone for the time.
Oh wow, it’s already almost nine? I’ll have to take this to his house tomorrow. I need to eat.
Cory
Why can’t I figure this out? I thought to myself as I was sitting on a box in an old abandoned warehouse. Why is it that only Shifters can change form, and a Madgie like me can’t?
I pulled out the notebook and pen I had in my bag, my phone falling to the ground by my feet and lighting up. Picking it up I glanced at the screen.
A full day… Az will have been fine on his own. There was only one shop left to go to. I’m sure he’s just waiting at the hotel. But come on, what is the connection? Shifters have to use some fo
rm of magic in order to Shift. Why can't Madgie tap into that magic as well and Shift?
I put my phone back in the bag by the egg.
“You really came at the wrong time didn’t you?” I said out loud to it. “What am I supposed to do? Build a nest, set you in it and then sit on you?”
The egg just sat there, silent.
“Of course not. That’s just stupid.” I said, turning back to the papers. “Maybe you can help me figure this out then. How about I tell you what I have done so far and then say what my other ideas are? When I get close to the right one, are you going to hatch? How does this work?”
Still more silence from the egg.
“Good gods, I’m going insane. Talking to a bloody egg.” I muttered, picking up the notebook I read out loud. “Let’s see, I’ve tried meditation. I’ve tried chanting. I’ve tried meditation while chanting. All those did was piss me off.”
I looked back over at the egg again. Still no crack, and no sound.
“And of course I still need to do this on my own completely.” I said sullenly. “All a girl needs is a little help. Bastard.”
I looked at my notebook for a little while longer before I bounded to my feet, an idea forming.
“Of course, it’s so simple. Why didn’t I think of it before?” I almost shouted. “I need a live animal as a focusing object to be able to get it.”
I stopped my fast pacing and looked at the egg again, where it still sat quiet and still. Almost as if it was mocking me.
“Oh, what do you know?” I asked. “You’re just an egg”
I went to my bag and was about to flip the top back over and tie it shut when I noticed a motion in the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw a large cat hunched in the corner of the warehouse, looking as if it was cleaning itself.
“Perfect, I can start with you.” I said as I slowly reached into my bag and pulled out a small wrapped sandwich I had from earlier. “Here, kitty, kitty.”
I turned fully toward it and took a few steps, holding out the sandwich, trying to coax it to me. When I got closer, I saw that it was actually a raccoon, with the normal gray fur, and then instead of a black mask, tail stripes, and paws, it was green!
“Well, that’s not what I normally would have chosen. But I guess you probably just got caught in a garbage can and got dirty.” I said out loud. “A raccoon is still a decent choice. Smaller, still protective like a cat.”
I took another step towards it, freezing when its head swung around and looked at me.
“Here there little guy.” I said calmly. “Nothing happening here, just want to pet you for a moment. Please don’t eat my face.”
The raccoon rocked away from me for a moment and was about to run before its nose twitched. It looked back at me, and then at my hand. Sniffing the air, it inched closer, changing its focus from the sandwich to my face. Then finally it was close enough that it started to reach out to grab the sandwich. Before its paws could close around the treat, I had grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and held it up.
“You’re kind of cute.” I said to it. “Stop struggling. You’re still going to get the sandwich. I just need to see if something works the way I think it does, I promise I won't hurt you.”
It stopped moving and looked at me in the face, then back at the sandwich. After a moment it looked back at me and almost looked like it nodded its head.
“Alright, let’s move over here where we can be comfortable.” I said as I started walking back to the box to sit on. “I’m going to have to close my eyes and meditate, so I don’t want to feel like I’m about to fall and almost crush you.”
I sit down on the box and set the raccoon down on my lap, holding out the sandwich to it in my other hand. It takes one of the cut portions and starts eating it. A soft jade mist envelopes me and slowly moves around as if a slight breeze has picked up. With darker strands floating around and drifting up to swirl around my head. After a moment, the raccoon finishes licking his paws, grabs the last cut portion of the sandwich and scratches my hand with one of his claws, drawing a small welt of blood.
“Ouch.” I said while snatching my hand back.
The raccoon jumps down and skitters away, looking back for a moment as if to make sure I stayed where I was.
“I’m sorry little guy, I didn’t mean to… startle… you…” I stumble over the last of what I’m saying. “Wha… What’s happening?”
My eyes flutter for a moment and I fall backward off of the box as everything goes black.
Az
“Come on Cory, pick up your hag blasted phone!” I yelled into my phone when it went to voicemail for the fifth time that morning. “I need to know you’re ok, Pappy has the local MICAW looking for you now, so you really need to either call me back NOW, or call Pappy.”
I hung up and flung the phone at the couch I was pacing by.
Almost two whole days with no sign of where she is. I thought. Cory, this isn’t like you. You turn into a banshee from hell if you so much as miss your morning shower and weird ass hour long brushing of your hair.
I walked back up the stairs in the suite to check her room for the umpteenth time, reassuring myself yet again that her suitcase and all her bathroom products were still there.
This isn’t funny, blast it! I swear to the gods’ woman, if you don’t answer my next call, I’m going to come find you this time, and when I do, you’ll really be sorry.
I stalked back down the stairs to the small sitting area and went over to my phone, sitting down with it and pulling up my call log again. I was about to click on Cory’s number again when I noticed a flash from the corner of my eye. Looking up, I saw the small leather-bound journal with a fading green light glowing from the pages. With a puzzled look, I set my phone down on the table and picked the journal up. Opening it, I saw the same healing potion I had already read a dozen times while waiting for Cory to come back. I turned the pages slowly, looking at all the same information I had already looked at before, just like the first page. And knowing that there were only ten pages worth of things written, I was surprised to find that the page after the energy potion had been filled.
That’s odd. How did that happen? The rest of the journal was blank only about twenty minutes ago.
I flipped through the rest of the pages again and found that there were four pages of new information. The first was titled in big, bold letters:
ENVY DEMON
Envy demon? What the hell? I thought.
Araminta, also known as the demon of Envy, has been around for centuries. The first records of her date back to the early 1700’s when she tried to kill an unknown number of people. The unknown portion is due to the deaths being labeled as dysentery. Although most deaths around this time were due to the disease, it is believed that there were at least a few hundred that died by the demon's hands. The only known indication is the blood of the victims had changed from the normal red coloring to a deep green, almost algae tone. Little is known about Araminta, except that it is believed that she is much older. One record found in 1829 listed Araminta as a Greek goddess that carried an unusual weapon that shot some projectile at her victims, but that the victims did not die immediately. Most common is a mass hysteria, where victims would murder almost anyone they came into contact with.
“A demon?” I said aloud. “I thought the summoning of demons was illegal, and a dead art. Nobody has summoned a demon for a long time.”
I looked at the next page and read:
ENVY’S DEMON PRINCE HUSBAND
Leviathan is a known Demon Prince of Hell. There are too many variations of this demon to know exactly where he comes from. But it is believed that he is the one that found the mortal Araminta and made her into the demon she is today. No other information is given of this prince of hell, aside from the fact that he is a demon of the sea, and for some reason really likes to dress and act like a cowboy.
“Well, that’s just completely useless.” I muttered.
I flipped to the next
page and read:
POTION TO TRAP ENVY DEMON
“Now that’s something we can use.” I said. “Ingredients: Hammer of a god, wild Anemone flower, Araminta’s Anima, Hemlock roots, Ambrosia, and the Essence of a Virtuous person? What the bloody hag wart are some of these?”
Looking at the other side of the page, I saw the list of directions on how to make the potion.
Alright, that doesn’t seem like it’s too hard. But, seriously, what the hell is the essence of a virtuous person? I should call Pappy. He needs to see this.
Picking up my phone, I scrolled through the contacts and clicked Pappy’s number and waited for him to pick up. My leg was bouncing while it rang.
“Hello?” Pappy said.
“Pappy, I need to show you something. I think I know more information about what’s going on with the gun.” I said.
“Oh yeah? Well good, I’m a little busy right now, but I can come to the hotel tonight for dinner and we can talk then.” Pappy replied. “Maybe around six?”
“Sounds good, we’ll see you then.” I said and hung up. “Now I think it’s time to find Cory. I’m done waiting.”
I stuffed the journal in my bag and headed out the door. Slamming it shut.
Cory
Where am I? I thought.
“Hello?” I called out, my voice echoing back. “Is anyone there?”
The surrounding darkness was strange, almost comforting. But at the same time, a little creepy.
“Hello?” I called again.
This time the echo that came back answered my call, almost sounding like it was a few different people talking at the same time. Ranging from children to adult women and men.
This way, they whispered.
“Who's there?” I called out. “Where am I?”
This way, they repeated.
“Look, I don't know who you are, so you'd better answer me. My grandfather is the head of the council. You don't want to get in trouble with them.” I said, trying not to sound nervous and failing.
Stone Cold NV: World of Sin, Book 1 Page 14