by Alexie Aaron
“Your daughter is putting Mia in danger.”
“Maybe so.”
“I can’t interfere,” Roumain said. “I’m being watched.”
“As we all are,” Guillaume commiserated. “Don’t worry, old friend. Mia is a complex being with a lot of experience. She stands a chance.”
“What is the danger she will have to face?” Roumain asked.
“The demon-with-no-name. He’s ready to leave the island on which he was exiled.”
“I had forgotten about him.”
“You lie,” Guillaume said. “But we will talk no further of him. Come, walk me back to the pool. I must release more sorrow.”
Roumain extended his hand to the magician, but Guillaume waved him away.
“I can do this. I still have enough strength,” the magician said.
It didn’t occur to Roumain why Guillaume didn’t want to touch him. His mind was on other things.
~
Mia looked at the people congregated in the office and drew from their courage. The PEEPs had come without question. Nicholai filled the end of the room. His presence there attested to the esteem the birdman had for Mia. Orion and he greeted each other and shared a few private jokes, much to the annoyance of Audrey who sensed they had something to do with her. Acting-Sheriff Tom Braverman leaned against the wall, deep in conversation with Murphy. Jake eyed each human and entity with the same disdain he gave Burt. They were all equal pains in the butt in his eyes. Dieter and Mark had been allowed to be there. Mia told the others that the two teens may have a perspective that could be overlooked otherwise.
“As long as you don’t intend on taking them with you,” Ted said firmly. “They will want to go, but this isn’t their fight.”
“I agree with you,” Mia said. “What about Sariel or Altair?” she asked Ted.
“It may make this thing political,” he warned. “There is a supposed demon involved.”
Mia nodded. She grabbed his hands. “I don’t know how I survived before I had your counsel,” she admitted.
“To quote my favorite professor, McGonagall, ‘By sheer dumb luck,’” Ted said, drawing her close.
The warmth of what came after still made Mia blush when she thought about it. She forced the memory into her safe space and cleared her voice. “Friends, I have asked you here for your help. Just like many seek out sages to gain answers, I’m asking you all for your advice to gain understanding and, hopefully, an advantage in the situation our associate Sabine has found herself in.” Mia went on to give a detailed description of the investigation, Whitney Martin’s contact, Angelo’s request, and the information Mia had gathered from Guillaume and Roumain.
“Mia, Whit can’t conscript you into helping him,” Tom pointed out. “It is a tactic the Feds use, but in this case, it’s not legal.”
“Thank you, Tom,” Mia said.
“Since the treasure hunt originated with a PEEPs investigation,” Burt began, “I’d like to keep track of it. I would be willing to go with you if you choose to go.”
Mia was gobsmacked but didn’t show it. “Thank you, Burt.”
“This demon-with-no-name doesn’t ring any bells. I’ve been around for a long time. Orion, do you know anything about this?” Nicholai, Mia’s trainer, asked the scribe.
“No, but I’ll head over to the Dark Vault and see what I can find. I have a suspicion that its identity has purposely been obscured.”
“How evil does a demon have to be for it to have no name?” Audrey asked.
Orion answered, “Before the fall, there were many creatures that existed far from the light of day. When the angels who fell cracked the earth’s crust, they inadvertently let out things that should not have ever breathed oxygen. These creatures transformed and, with them so did their appetites. Flesh-eaters aren’t rare in the demon class, but rarely do they actively cannibalize each other. It’s more of a rite than a food source.”
“Where are you going with this, dear?” Audrey asked, her hand on the middle of her stomach.
“Oh. If it’s a cannibal, then the demons may have exiled it to a place where it would eventually starve and, in doing so, revert to the foodstuffs demons normally consume. And no, I won’t mention what they eat, as my wife has a weak stomach,” Orion said.
“Hypothetically, I may know someone who may have looked into Whitney’s case,” Cid began, watching Tom’s face for signs he may be compromising the officer. When he received none, he continued, “Starfish Cruises recently lost forty patrons and crew who were supposedly headed for a day at the beach. The normal destination was unavailable, so they sought out another uninhabited island. Which island is in doubt because none of the locals will talk about it. A dark web informant leaked that some high-level senator has asked for Whit’s special team to step in and get some answers. They are being pressured. I’m surprised he isn’t offering you and Ted a stipend of some kind.”
“To pay them would mean, he would have to list them in his paperwork,” Tom pointed out. “Explaining Mia may be too much for an unimaginative writer.” He had a sly smile. “Don’t worry, Mia. I have a great imagination.”
“Thanks, Tom. I think?”
“What’s the situation right now?” Mike asked.
“I heard they moved the boat away from the island, but they will be returning,” Mia said.
“How important is it that they continue this investigation?” Nicholai asked.
“I don’t see any real reason beside greed. They are looking for a treasure,” Mia admitted. “It’s probably long gone or, if it is there, it is so tainted with evil that I’d leave it be.”
Mark raised his hand.
“Yes?” Mia asked.
“Can I have the floor for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”
“I know we are meeting, basically, to talk about whether Mia should interfere with the treasure hunt that Sabine, Patrick, and Mason are on, along with Kevin Murphy and Fergus O’Connor. But after listening to the evidence, I’m very concerned. My fear is, if the demon-with-no-name has started taking people, then he is drawing power,” Mark said. “In every lifeform before they change, evolve if you will, power is drawn. Just like Mr. Murphy draws from Mother Nature or a lesser ghost takes the electricity out of the air, the demon needs power in order to leave the island prison.”
“Impressive reasoning,” Ted said.
Dieter hit Mark on the arm. “Show off.”
“So, it looks like it’s possible this thing is trying to leave the island. Sabine is powerful enough to carry a demon over water,” Mia surmised.
“But so are you. Angelo too. I think it’s foolhardy for any advanced being to go anywhere near that island,” Burt voiced.
Mia wasn’t used to being lumped in with the advanced beings. She could, however, see what he was pointing out. “We need to get them to stop exploring the island. Maybe I can get Gerald, Mrs. White, and Pavel Matveev to pull funding temporarily…”
“I don’t think we need to go that far,” Mike said. “The three are intelligent people who…”
“Are on a treasure hunt,” Ted interrupted. “I’m not sure if I had a hot lead, I would leave it, money or no money.”
“Right now, their GPS has them headed away from the island,” Cid said. “Maybe they have come to the same conclusion.”
“Mia, why don’t you and I do a little recon?” Nicolai suggested. “We won’t land on the island. We’ll just see if what this young man fears is actually happening. He presents a good case.”
“If you’re going, can you take a passenger?” Ted asked. “I can take readings from miles away. Just drop me off on the nearest island if they won’t allow us on the boat.”
“I’d like to see if I can stall or redirect the investigation,” Burt said. “If you think that we need to act to shut it down, then I believe Patrick will listen to me. You see, PEEPs have filming rights to the White investigation from which the treasure hunt started.”
Nicholai looked at
the investigators. “How much equipment?”
Ted did a quick calculation. “A backpack weighing fifteen pounds. I weigh 185 dripping wet.”
“I weigh considerably more and will be carrying twenty-five pounds of camera and other recording devices,” Burt said.
“We can’t call to warn them,” Mia said. “The Feds have the satellite phone tapped.”
“We need to be able to find their boat in the dark,” Nicholai said. “Tell me, can you find an alternate way to inform Sabine of our arrival?”
“I think I can through Komal. He’s tapped into her. They speak telepathically.”
“Will he be able to do that from that long of distance?”
“He can try,” Mia said.
“Call him. Gather your gear. We set off in one hour,” Nicholai said.
“Why are you doing this? It’s not that I don’t appreciate it but…”
Nicholai looked at Mia. “God created the birdmen to protect the children of this world. I understand that children were victims too of the island. If Mark is right and this being leaves the confines of his prison, then children will be the first innocents that it will crave. If I can stop this, I will be saving the Brotherhood a lot of trouble.” He turned to Orion. “Get to the vault. Take this Mark with you. Get the answers we need to proceed.”
“Yes, Nicholai.”
Mia looked at the rest. “Decide amongst you who will head this alternate investigation. If there are any problems, err on the side of containment. Dieter, stick around. We may need our friend to rally the troops.”
Audrey watched Mia rush out of the room. She turned to Cid. “Is this friend Angelo?”
“No, I’m sure she means Roumain. If we are dealing with a powerful demon, we need the friendship of something more powerful. Someone who knows what happens to the world when evil rises.”
Chapter Five
Kevin looked over at Fergus as they crept slowly down the passage of the squat cave. They had spent a lot of daylight trying to determine whether the ghost that wandered the edges of the jungle could see them or not. Were they sentinels or were they spirits looking for a way off the island? A lot of the them still held the visages of death. Their dead eyes didn’t connect with Fergus’s as he tried to communicate with them. They didn’t seem to see him at all.
He discussed this with Kevin as they slowly made their way. “I’m starting to see a pattern. The ones that died together seem to be able to communicate with each other, but the various groups were ignorant that they were not alone on the island. It’s as if each group was in a moving pageant of invisibility. Why we two can see them and they can’t see us is another mystery,” Fergus said.
“I get the feeling they’re window dressing,” Kevin said. “They’re meant to attract us so that the active members of this isle can sneak up on us unawares.”
“You were always suspicious,” Fergus said.
“Wasn’t I right that our landlord was in cahoots with our employer? When we got a raise, the landlord raised our rent. We were never going to be able to move up in society, no matter how hard we worked.”
“Or drank,” Fergus said.
Kevin pulled out his flask and offered it to Fergus. “Go ahead, it’s not going to kill you now.”
“How come it never runs out?” Fergus asked. “It’s the devils brew, pure and simple.”
“I think of it as the universe’s compensation for my death,” Kevin said, swirling the contents of the flask before taking a drink. “It gave me this to get me through eternity, just like it gave you your knife.”
“Or your son his axe. I use my knife to whittle. I shudder to think what your son uses his axe for?”
“He assures me he does a lot of pruning, but I sense he uses it to fight evil when the opportunity presents itself.”
“How do you feel about having a son older than you?” Fergus asked, stopping for a moment to examine some oddly shaped stones.
“I’m sad he didn’t live a full life but happy he lived longer than me. He accomplished a lot in such a short time. He owned the land he farmed. Built a house, a barn, and a few outbuildings. He cleared the land.”
“I hear he’s filling it in again,” Fergus said. “Something about returning what he took.”
“He’s rather odd that way. I think he got that attribute from his ma. Catherine would borrow from the poor box and return it with a little extra. She weren’t even Catholic. I was, but she was raised outside the true faith.”
Fergus looked over at his friend. “I don’t remember seeing you in church.”
“I’m what they’re calling lapsed these days.”
Fergus started laughing. “I’m glad we were able to see these days even though we’re dead. Can you imagine if we had all these electronic gizmos when we were lads?”
“Instead of dying in the bar, we’d probably die in front of the television. My wife would have killed me herself. The only redeeming thing she could ever find with my alcoholism was that it got me out of the house.”
“I’m not seeing any evidence of large crates being moved through this here cave,” Fergus said, examining the walls. “I do see claw marks and bits of skin.”
“I think we’ve gone far enough for right now. I need to recharge.”
“You’re the only ghost I know that takes naps,” Fergus complained.
“How many ghosts do you know?” Kevin asked as he made himself comfortable in a small alcove.
“Including you?”
“Yes.”
“Five.”
“Are you including yourself?”
“Yes. Well then, four.”
“Not a great sampling,” Kevin said as he fell asleep.
Fergus pulled out a small piece of driftwood from his pocket, opened his knife, leaned back against the wall of the cave, and began to whittle.
Sabine’s head stopped pounding. She sat up and walked out onto the deck carrying three flashlights she had found in her cabin. She climbed to the top deck and walked the perimeter. As she passed each of the yacht’s exterior lights, they faded as if the energy was drained from each bulb. Sabine turned on each flashlight, placing them five feet from the others, making a perfect triangle that shot its light heavenward.
Mason, who was on night watch, approached her out of the darkness.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Doing what Komal asked me to do,” she responded, her voice a creepy monotone.
She sounded odd. Mason turned Sabine around. Her eyes were open, but her breath came easily as if she were asleep.
“Fair Sabine, I think you’re sleepwalking.”
“Best not wake her then,” Mia’s voice came from above him.
Mason whipped around and almost called out in alarm. A large hand over his mouth stopped him.
“Shush, we need you to be extra quiet. Can you do this?” Mia whispered.
Mason nodded.
“Burt, release him,” she said.
The hand was lowered, and Mason turned around. He was momentarily blinded by a flashlight being lifted before it was shut off. The boat shifted as if a large weight landed on the deck.
“Tell me, do you have any empty cabins?”
“Two,” Mason said. “Why?”
“You’re going to have company for a while. Where is Patrick?” Mia asked from the dark.
“In the lower stateroom on the… damn. I don’t know the nautical term. The right as you go downstairs.”
“Thank you,” Mia said.
“We’ll get set up,” Burt said. “Come on, Ted.”
“I can’t see a damn thing,” Mason complained. He hardly heard the three pairs of feet as they descended to the lower decks.
“Good, that means neither can the people watching this boat. Where’s the captain?”
“He’s below. The first mate is entertaining a female crewman in the whatchamacallit, engine room?” Mason guessed.
“On this pretty boat, it could be called anything,” Mia
said, coming closer.
He couldn’t yet see her, but he could smell her. “You smell like the wheat fields after the rain,” Mason said. “Did you parachute in?”
“Maybe.”
“How many are here?” he asked.
“Four. Five, if you include Murphy. Out, Murph,” Mia ordered. “I know you hate boats, but it’s the best I can do right now.”
Mason felt a crisp wind move by him. He heard a fluttering of feathers, and then Mia walked into the light. She was wearing all black - he suspected Kevlar. She had on metallic boots that she had stretched black knee-high slipper socks over. Mason guessed it was to protect the deck of the ship or to give her a soundless landing.
“Looks like you have cold feet, girly girl.”
Mia was pleased that Mason had gotten his attitude back. He was an unknown commodity when he was under fire. Mia would rather have him back to his own smart-alecky self that she was used to dealing with.
“Damn, did I hear Burt say Ted?”
“Yes.”
“Patrick is going to be pissed. Ted can’t keep his mouth shut.”
“He can when it counts,” Mia argued. “I need him here.”
“Why are you here?”
“Trying to stop you three from unleashing hell on earth.” Mia extinguished the other two flashlights and led her cousin away from the edge of the boat. “Why is she walking around in her nightclothes?” Mia asked.
“It wasn’t for my enjoyment, I assure you. Don’t be getting all jelly on me.”
“Asshole,” Mia said, trying not to smile. She gently led Sabine to a cushioned lounge chair and settled her down. “She’s probably still under Komal’s control.”
“Who the hell is Komal, and again, I ask, why are you here?”
“Excuse me a moment,” Mia said, touching her ear. “Ted says the ship isn’t bugged, but Jake says there are eyes on us from 500 yards to the west. Do you think they have a parabolic dish?” She stopped and listened to the answer. “K. Sorry. Yes, I do read too many spy novels.” Mia took Mason’s hands and pulled him deeper into the shadows.
“I’m beginning to feel a bit uneasy, Mia,” Mason said.