Face Behind the Mask

by Leo King

  She looked at her hands. The injuries from her incarceration were already healed. With a heavy sigh, she went into the bathroom and closed the door. “I need to crap and then shower.”

  “Right,” he said. “Um, now I should leave, right?”

  “No. Please stay. I need someone I trust near me for a while.”

  “OK. I’ll be here when you come out. I promise.”

  By the time she got out, snug in a robe with her hair wrapped in a towel, she was righteously tired, but she and Aucoin stayed up for a little while longer, chatting about everyone they knew.

  New Orleans had a new mayor, Marc Morial. Harry Connick, who was now known to be in the Knight Priory, had changed from the outspoken man of justice into a ruthless politician who ensured that the Priory’s enemies disappeared. Caroline had become increasingly reclusive, gathering only for Priory business. And Ouellette, who was still trying to keep New Orleans from falling apart, was as secretive as ever.

  Sam shifted the conversation over to people she actually liked.

  Dixie had married Gino and then moved to New York shortly after the birth of her daughter Felicia. Cathy had been placed in the witness protection programs. Tania had vanished without a trace. The surviving patients of Dr. Klein were either being treated at Acadia Vermilion Hospital or had since gone home—except for Misty and Lester, who had joined GEIST as part of the technical staff. And Aucoin himself had made sure Meghan was buried in her family gravesite soon after the escape from Evergreen Plantation.

  By the time Sam was ready to go to sleep, her opinion of Aucoin had shifted completely. Gone was the man who had been like a lunatic when he’d arrested her, and in his place was one of the most level-headed and amazing people she had ever met. As he left, she watched him fondly.

  Ya never know how someone will end up. Go, Kyle.

  She closed her eyes and slept well for the first time in years.

  “Sam, Kyle. Please, come in!” Dr. Lazarus motioned them both into his office, one of the few parts of the facility above ground. Large windows overlooked some of the rolling hills of southern Arkansas. Abel was there, standing beside him, along with several other people. A red-headed woman in a nurse’s outfit served coffee.

  As soon as Sam entered, she gasped, recognizing one of the guests as someone from her time in Tulane hospital. “Miss Dumont?” The woman with blue-gray hair pulled back into a bun was like a younger version of her social worker.

  The sudden shock made Sam feel dizzy, and she leaned against Aucoin, who said, “Sir, with all due respect, I think you should explain things to Sam before she passes out from shock.”

  “Yes, yes,” Dr. Lazarus said good-naturedly. “Sam, let me introduce you to the person who was helping me keep an eye on you. You knew Veronica as Miss Dumont. She’s an expert in infiltration, disguise, and espionage.”

  Veronica smiled gently. “I love the new hairstyle, Sam.”

  Sam was still floored. I knew there was something about her, but wow.

  Sitting across from Veronica was a lovely French woman with long, black hair. And sitting across from Dr. Lazarus was a tall, hairless man.

  “This tall gentleman is one of my closest friends, Professor Mathias Drakos from New York,” Dr. Lazarus said.

  Professor Mathias stood and shook her hand. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I have studied your case since the very beginning. An amazing story.”

  Kyle was right. He did look like a mummy.

  Finally, Dr. Lazarus motioned to the woman with the long, black hair. “And this lovely lady is Leona Eversoll from the Eversoll Institute for Paranormal Research.”

  Leona bowed her head politely. “Bonjour.”

  As Sam took a seat, he continued. “Our original plan was to keep you at Tulane and use the legal system to get you out. But Dr. Kindley trumped us before we could complete the plan. That’s when Dixie stepped in.”

  The red-headed nurse, with light skin, blue eyes, and blood-red lips, leaned over and offered Sam a cup of coffee. “You like Community coffee, Your Majesty, isn’t that right? Cream or sugar?”

  Sam shook her head, still feeling overwhelmed. Beside her, Aucoin squeezed her shoulder. “Sir, please, let’s wait until she recovers. She’s adjusting to a lot.”

  “Quite right, Andre,” Professor Mathias said. “Let the poor girl absorb everything first.”

  Closing her eyes, she inhaled the coffee-and-chicory scent, her favorite in the world. She sipped the brew, savoring the sharp, bitter taste. It was one she had sorely missed. Everyone was quiet as she took a minute to calm her nerves.

  Finally she opened her eyes and gazed at Leona. “So is the Eversoll Institute a part of GEIST?”

  “Non,” Leona said gently. “The Institute is in Demark, outside of GEIST’s current jurisdiction. We are, how do you say, its benefactors, oui?”

  “Correct,” Dr. Lazarus said. “The Eversoll Institute is one of the oldest paranormal research facilities in the world. I’ve known its director since childhood. When he read my reports—”

  “You mean all the stuff that happened with me?” Sam asked.

  “Not just you. With everyone affected by the loa during the new Bourbon Street Ripper case. When Dr. Eversoll saw tangible proof of malicious supernatural activity, he immediately began funding our organization.”

  “And through my connections to the federal government, GEIST got sanctioned to operate within the United States,” Professor Mathias added. “You probably recall the missile strike at Evergreen? I’m the one who passed that information on to the president.”

  Sam skimmed everyone in the room. “So, how big is GEIST?”

  Chuckling again and rubbing the back of his neck, Dr. Lazarus said, “Well, GEIST itself is only about a hundred people. Kyle, you know. Veronica is one of my best agents. Mathias here is more of a consultant, while Leona is a representative of the people funding us. Abel and Camellia are my assistants.”

  Camellia leaned back over, her red lips forming a saucy smile. “Is your coffee to your liking, Your Majesty?”

  Putting down the cup, Sam exhaled loudly. “Why the hell do people keep calling me that?”

  Several people in the room, especially Leona, recoiled at Sam’s outburst. Showing no emotion at all, Professor Mathias sipped his coffee. “Andre, I think we’re done with formalities. I suggest you explain pantheons and fusion to her.”

  “Pantheons? Fusion?” This was starting to sound like a bad TV show.

  “Quite right,” Dr. Lazarus said. “Sam, do you know what a pantheon is?”

  “You mean like the Greek gods of Olympus?”

  “More than that. In our line of work, a pantheon refers to a belief system that a regional culture subscribes to. Like voodoo in the southern US and Haiti, or the various Native American animal spirits, or the Celtic pagan mythos.”

  “OK. So what about them?”

  He leaned forward, tapping his fingertips together. “Well, the spirits that make up each pantheon have a dominion of sorts over those regions. So, in the South and Haiti, the voodoo pantheon rules. In the Midwest, a sort of totem pantheon rules. In Ireland, what you would call a pagan pantheon rules.”

  Mulling over that, she asked, “So, basically, most religions that we would call polytheistic are pantheons of powerful spirits that watch over their part of the world?”

  “In a simplified manner of speaking, yes.” He leaned back. “Now, you know how there are two levels of possession, right? Riding and full possession?”

  This was something she knew well. “Yes. Riding is when a spirit, like a loa, attaches itself to your spine and influences your actions and augments your body. That’s how Michael, Rodger, and Dallas were able to have enhanced abilities. Full possession is when a spirit is resident inside a body for a longer period of time. It’s stronger but can cause permanent damage to the host, such as mental degradation and insanity. Basically, what happened to Blind Moses. I didn’t suffer those effects from Marinette because
of the drugs Dr. Klein gave me. And a willing, symbiotic possession can be long-term without any damage to the host.”

  “Correct,” Dr. Lazarus said. “And any kind of spirit from any pantheon can be used. Loa. Animal spirits. Fairies. You can even use ghosts to ride or possess someone.”

  She nodded. Things were rapidly falling into place. “So I’m guessing that fusion is a special type of possession?”

  “Oui, oui!” Leona said charmingly as she sipped her own coffee. “It seems Her Majesty understands.”

  Nodding, Professor Mathias said, “Correct. But it can only be done with a high spirit such as Madame Bridgette. Basically, a god or goddess within a pantheon. High spirits can enter a pact with a human and merge their souls together. That is fusion, and that is what has happened to you. When a person becomes fused, they obtain godly power and stop aging, becoming technically immortal. They can still die from trauma or disease, but not age. And only when they die is their soul and the high spirit separated.”

  “It was Mathias here who actually discovered fusion, so to speak,” Dr. Lazarus said.

  “Less discovered and more quantified, Andre.”

  While that explained why her body hadn’t aged in the past three years, it conflicted with what her father had said. “But I thought I was the only person who was immortal. Vincent. I mean, he…”

  Leaning forward, Dr. Lazarus locked eyes with her. “That’s what confused everyone for so long. You kept saying that Vincent made you immortal. When we finally understood the ritual he had performed, we realized the severity of your condition. Yes, you are immortal due to your fusion with Bridgette, but you are also incapable of dying from trauma or disease, as Mathias said. To understand why, you need to accept a basic tenet: because of the pantheon you were born under—voodoo—your version of the Grim Reaper is Baron Samedi. As you die, he is the one who removes your soul from your body.”

  “How does that even work?”

  “We don’t know,” Professor Mathias said. “We’re only beginning to understand it.”

  She slowly exhaled. “So no matter where I am in the world, Baron Samedi is my ‘Death,’ correct?”

  “Correct,” Dr. Lazarus said. “But because of Vincent’s ritual, Baron Samedi cannot come for you, and neither can any other pantheon’s Grim Reaper. Therefore, no matter how hurt or sick you get, you cannot die. And the power from being fused with Bridgette will eventually heal you of any injury.”

  Closing her eyes, she shuddered. It was exactly how Vincent explained it, and she knew it to be true from the year spent in the Gulf of Mexico. She simply could not die.

  “And the reason I can’t get pregnant?”

  “Our research indicates that every person who becomes fused gives up something, depending on the deity they make a pact with. You were pregnant before becoming fused, but afterwards, you could not become pregnant again. More than likely, that is what you gave up—being able to carry any more children.”

  “That really, really sucks. And I take it being unable to die is a rare thing?”

  “Never in recorded history has there been a person with your condition, Your Majesty,” Professor Mathias said. “There have been many wonderful and terrible people who were fused—Alexander of Macedonia, Peter the Great, Mahatma Gandhi, Cao Cao, even Emperor Nero. People who have shaped history for good or worse have often been fused. But you? You are unique.”

  “Right. Any other fused people running around that I should know about?”

  “None that I know about,” Dr. Lazarus said. “Because the spirit combines with its host’s soul instead of being a mere possession, a fused person doesn’t even appear possessed.”

  “Their pupils are dilated for the first year or so, but then, even that goes away,” Professor Mathias added.

  Sam nodded. Her eyes had gone back to normal.

  “Anyway, that is why we call you ‘Your Majesty.’ You are the queen of the loa, and we are showing you respect.”

  She tittered. “All right. Well, don’t. Just call me ‘Sam’ from now on, OK?”

  All in the room nodded.

  Sipping her coffee, she thought about what else she wanted to ask them. One question stood out. “So, since you all are experts in this stuff, how do I get to where Vincent is to destroy him?”

  An uncomfortable silence blanketed the room, with everyone else shifting their gaze away. Finally, Professor Mathias said, “I’m sorry to say, we don’t know of any way to do that. We can assume Vincent is deep within the spirit world. As how to get your physical body there to fight him? I’m afraid we don’t know.”

  With a soft sigh, she sipped her coffee and then popped her jaw. Part of her knew that she was attempting something impossible. “So, I may never be able to end this?”

  “We need to destroy the silver pen,” Dr. Lazarus said. “We may not being able to defeat Vincent, but if we sever his connection to the physical world, then his loa will not be able to wreak such havoc. The naturally malevolent loa may still pose the occasional problem, but…”

  “But not like they are now?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  She sipped her coffee again and then she asked, “So is that what GEIST is doing?”

  Abel stepped forward and bowed respectfully. “Yes, Your Majes—Sam. As you no doubt realize, his power is rising. As his power increases, the damage and harm he can cause grows. If his link to the physical world is not cut soon, untold disasters will occur.”

  “Yay, as I feared.” Even if she couldn’t figure out how to get to him and destroy him, she had to sever his connection to this world.

  Taciturn as ever, Abel continued. “But for the moment, we’re investigating the various experiments the Knight Priory is performing with the tkeeus. Investigators like Kyle find out where these experiments are being done, and then agents go in and shut them down. If the situation proves to be serious, we send in operatives.”

  At that, Dr. Lazarus chimed back in. “Including you, we currently have four operatives. One of them is deep undercover in New Orleans, trying to locate where the Knight Priory is headquartered and where they have your children.”

  That got her attention.

  “You see, Sam, the experimentation with the tkeeus all started when Vincent injected it into Dallas. The effect was that Dallas had a permanent ability to attach spirits to him whenever his adrenaline spiked. Since then, the Knight Priory has made exponential strides. But it hasn’t been without its problems. You’ve seen their failures up close at Evergreen.”

  “I remember them,” she said. “So, then, my job will be to shut down Knight Priory operations that are too big for agents to handle?”

  “Yes.”

  Once more, Professor Mathias spoke up. “We should tell her about the Oracle.”

  “I met him,” she said, her body heating up. She gritted her teeth as she remembered how the Oracle had destroyed her chance to leave Evergreen with her children. “I hate him.”

  Abel cleared his throat. “We know very little about the Oracle. He has gone through great lengths to hide his identity. What we do know is that he is an honorary member of the Knight Priory and the one who brought the tkeeus to Vincent years ago. Throughout the years, he has assisted them as an advisor of sorts.”

  Still grimacing, she said, “Sounds like this Oracle could be fused, yes?”

  Leona finally spoke up. “Considering that he once sealed away a very powerful spirit called Lord Dooley with his bare hands, I would say that’s a fair assumption.”

  “Thank you, Miss Eversoll,” Abel said. “Sam, our secret operative has been trying to ascertain who the Oracle is, but with no success.”

  “So there you have it,” Dr. Lazarus said. “That’s the current state of affairs. Do you have any other questions?”

  “Will this secret operative report in as soon as he finds my children?”

  “She has several other objectives, but yes, she’s been told to contact me when she finds them.”

&nb
sp; “Then my only question now is ‘when do I begin?’”

  Dr. Lazarus grinned. “Excellent. Kyle, can you get her started?”

  Aucoin, who had been silent the entire conversation, stood up. “Yes, sir. Sam, come with me. Abel will handle orientation, while Meyer will assess your need for combat training.”

  “Assuming you don’t require any training,” Dr. Lazarus said, “we’ll start you on missions as early as this week. And by the way, your operator number is zero.”

  “Yeah, I saw that on my door. Why zero?”

  “You aren’t the first operative, but without you, GEIST wouldn’t exist. So think of it as another way to honor you.”

  Finishing up her coffee, Sam smirked. “With a zero, eh? Cute.”

  The actual orientation to GEIST was more like starting a new job than Sam had expected. There was a photograph for a security badge, a series of forms to fill out, and even an explanation of salary and housing allowances.

  “So what about health benefits?” she had asked Abel, mostly joking.

  “If you get sick, we have an on-staff physician. If you die, we pay for your funeral or cremation. That’s pretty much it.” He had said it very matter-of-factly.

  “What about child care?” Sam had asked, pushing to see how far this would go.

  “We need to recover them first.”

  She stopped pushing after that.

  Her training assessment went much more quickly. When she showed that she was able to hit the bulls-eye on every shot and could punch holes in concrete, Meyer just checked a box marked “No Training Needed” and sent her off to dinner.

  By the time her day was over, she was exhausted, and Aucoin had to help her into her room. She flopped onto her bed. “You know, this is pretty amazing. I’m still expecting to wake up and learn this is all a dream.”

  Aucoin unlaced her boot and tugged at them. “I know what you mean. The world is different than it was years ago. We have to accept that.”

  As he helped her out of her boots, she examined him. He was smiling kindly and with a sort of sad strength to his face. He was so different from the angry, bitter man she had known as Dixie’s partner. And despite being many years older than Sam, he had handsomeness that shone through his face.