Hex to the No

by Constance Barker

  Apprehensive, Sir Kain still followed Fred the gargoyle down an aisle towards the back of the library. He followed but made sure to maintain a healthy distance between them.

  “A fan of poetry are you, sir...?” asked Fred.

  “Kain. My name is Sir Thomas Kain. And no, not really.”

  “That’s a shame. I am. Does that surprise you?”

  More than words can describe. “No?”

  “I know. It’s weird, seeing a gargoyle like me. Most of my kind are nothing but mindless brutes, content with pounding a witch or warlock in the ground over using their words. Don’t get me wrong, I could still pummel you into dust Sir Kain, but I’m not a fan of violence. No, this role suits me just fine.”

  “Your role?”

  “As a doorman, a gate keeper. Most see me and are hesitant to start any trouble, if they were so inclined to do so. I don’t have to hurt anyone while also satisfying my innate desire to guard things.” Fred turned back and smiled at Sir Kain. It was very unsettling.

  “Does you co-worker, that nice lady up front. Does she know?”

  “Who? Susan? No Susan sees me as mundane, same as herself. I’m afraid she’d probably have a heart attack if she saw the real me.”

  I'm about to have a heart attack.

  “So, the rules. Once inside, no magic is allowed. If caught casting any spells, you’ll not only be removed but banished to the Void for however long the staff decides. There is no fighting allowed, punishable by removal and possible banishment to the void. Any soul stealing or casting curses, you will be eaten, period. The hell hounds are always hungry.” Fred stopped at the door to the men’s bathroom. “Any questions?”

  So many.

  “No, seems self explanatory.”

  “Very good. Step right in and welcome to the Midnight Bar Sir Kain.” Fred motioned for Sir Kain to enter the bathroom.

  When he stepped into the bathroom, Sir Kain found himself in a dark alleyway. He was flanked on both sides by stone walls. The ground was cobblestone, wet as if it just rained. Puddles on the cobblestone reflected the neon sign above a large wooden door at the end of the alleyway. The sign read: “Midnight Bar”, and flickered on and off. Above him all Sir Kain saw were stars and open space.

  Sir Kain opened the door to the Midnight Bar to the sound of smooth jazz. It was dark inside, lit by what looked to be hundreds of candles. And the place was packed.

  Now, where are you Basil? Sir Kain stepped inside the bar. He had been directed there by an Elveri. Knowing that the place he saw the former coven beast master last was in the Elveri’s home dimension he went there first. He was told Basil Augustine left and was most likely getting drunk at the Midnight Bar.

  A member of the mundane can not enter the Midnight Bar. Actually they would never be able to find it but even if they could, if they knew what to tell the librarians and braved Fred the gargoyle, they’d instantly regret it. For what they’d see there would be too much for them to take.

  There’s a world under, in between and right alongside the mundane, the human world. Everything that they told stories of, things that went bump in the night or populated their urban legends, were real, just hidden. And in the Midnight Bar, these impossible things congregated to drink, relax and socialize. Same as the bar down any street in America.

  Sir Kain saw gnomes and trolls sitting on stools at the bar drowning their anger with concentrated mead so strong that any other creature would need their stomach pumped after a couple of sips. In fact, a couple fell off their stools resulting in a chorus of laughter from their friends.

  Fairies flew around the Midnight Bar, which was surprising to Sir Kain. They’re untrustworthy, unpredictable and had a predilection to kidnapping babies. He could’ve swore he saw a troll in the back, mostly hidden by shadow. Various warlocks and witches also decided to tip a few back as well. But what caught the former knight’s attention was a man in one corner, surrounded by vampires.

  There you are. Vampires, it had to be vampires. Karma, I guess it is real. Sir Kain approached the vampire's table. When he reached it, he did indeed see his old friend, who looked to be under one of the blood sucker’s spells.

  “Basil? It is me old friend, Thomas.” Sir Kain tried to ignore the creatures that sat on each side of Basil. One, a woman, had her hands all over him, whispering in his ear. The other, a man with a terrible ponytail, stared daggers into him with dead, lifeless predatory eyes.

  “Nice to meet you Thomas. But it looks like your old friend isn’t interested in meeting you.” Every word out of the vampire with the terrible ponytail made Sir Kain feel almost ill like his very act of speaking was poison.

  “And you are?” asked Sir Kain.

  “His new friend. Now if you wouldn’t mind leaving us be, we were quite enjoying our night.”

  “You never asked my name,” pointed out Sir Kain.

  “That’s because we don’t care. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave. Our fangs...” the ponytail clad vampire bared his teeth, his two incisors elongated. “...They can even bite through stone.”

  “My name is Sir Thomas Kain. Try and tell me you have not heard that name.” Sir Kain didn’t even finish his sentence before the female vampire hissed and crawled back into the shadows, up the wall and across the ceiling. Her pony-tailed companion followed suit.

  What kind of trance did they put you in old friend. Sir Kain tried his best to get Basil Augustine’s attention but his eyes were glassy and he didn’t respond. Over his long years of fighting things that went bump in the night, a lifetime before meeting the Blackwards, he’d ran into plenty of vampires. That meant he often ran into their prey. One of a Nosferatu’s oldest tricks was to magically put their victims into an almost comatose state, unable to fight back, unable to scream.

  “Okay, so you are definitely out to dinner. Or breakfast? No, lunch. However it goes, we need to get you out of here. I wish you could tell me the spell to break this.” Sir Kain talked as he tried his best to pick Basil up out of the bar booth. But the man was dead weight making it hard, even for a being made of living stone. Strength be damned.

  SUDDENLY ALL THE CANDLES in the Midnight Bar were blown out. No one panicked. Again many customers there dwelt and thrived in the lack of light. They whispered, talked, tried to figure out what was going on. Then the creaking sound of the wooden door opening made everyone go silent.

  “Thgil eb ereht tel,” said a very unlucky warlock. For a split second a light appeared, floating just inches above his hand. It was only for a split second because something immediately lunged onto him, dragging the poor man into the darkness. His light extinguished.

  Sir Kain heard the clicking of what sounded like claws on the Midnight Bar floor. Whatever entered that bar wasn’t human. He needed to get out of there with Basil Augustine but he wasn’t a witch and couldn’t recite a spell or...

  Just get Basil to say the words. You know them. Get him to say it.

  “Basil. Basil!” Sir Kain slapped Basil Augustine in his face.

  “Wha-?” Basil wasn’t comatose anymore but groggy, completely out of it.

  “Basil? I need you to say something for me.” Sir Kain could hear the clicking footsteps getting closer and other Midnight Bar patrons making way or even leaving. All he could see was almost pitch black.

  “Sure,” said Basil. He laughed afterwards. Sir Kain knew that the whispers of a vampire not only made people suggestible but also act as if they’re under the influence of drugs. In a way they are, a magic drug, better than anything you could find on a street corner.

  “Enabflow drows eht htrof nommus,” instructed Sir Kain. Now, say it after me, “Enabflow drows eht htrof nommus.”

  “Enabflows drowns eht htrof nommus,” incorrectly repeated Basil.

  “No, no.”The clicking got closer. “You are killing me here Basil. Maybe literally. Enabflow drows eht htrof nommus.”

  In his past life Sir Kain fought monsters like vampires, skin changers, gremlins and tr
olls. It was his calling in life. It was what brought him into the service of the Blackwards, a story for another time. If he had to fight whatever was approaching, in the dark, unarmed, he would. There was a chance he could take it. But that was a question he wasn’t willing to answer in that moment unless he had to.

  “Enabflow drows eht htrof nommus,” groggily said Basil before falling down.

  Within seconds, Sir Kain’s sword appeared in his hand. He ran his hand of living stone across the edge of the blade. Sparks flew then the sword was engulfed in fire.

  The light of the sword’s fire revealed the same Midnight Bar that Sir Kain saw before the candles were blown out. Only it was a little more empty. Confused but still on the defensive he slowly swung it around, using it as a torch.

  “That sword. Is that...Wolfsbane?” Sir Kain heard a voice from the darkness, just beyond his weapon’s glow. It’s owner had a slight Hispanic accent, common in Southern California. “Yeah it is,” the stranger laughed a smoker's laugh.

  Be prepared for anything.

  “Who’s that?” asked Basil from the floor.

  “Good question. Who are you?” asked Sir Kain as he waved his flaming sword in the voice’s direction.

  A tall, skinny man with long greasy black hair stepped into the dancing light of the fire. He smiled, his multiple gold teeth shined. His hands were up in a motion that indicated he came in peace. It was Sandoval Lobos.

  “Me? I’m just a grieving son,” Sandoval fully emerged from shadow into the flaming sword’s light.

  Grieving?

  “What do you want?” asked Sir Kain.

  “From you? Hopefully nothing, for your sake. Tell me friend, where did you get that sword?” Sandoval took a couple steps forward to the point that he was inches from being burned by the flames of Sir Kain’s sword.

  “What’s it to you?”Sir Kain was on the defensive ready to act at the drop of a hat if necessary.

  “My people, we have what you could call a long history with it. You see, it’s name was earned with their blood. So again I ask, where’d you get it mister...?”

  “Mr. Leaving. Now if you do not mind, my friend here and I were getting ready to leave.” Sir Kain used his free hand to try and lift the still pretty limp Basil. He looked down at Basil who was giggling on the floor. “I said, we were just leaving.”

  “That’s Sir Thomas Kain!” The pony tailed vampire who drugged Basil with his words outed Sir Kain. He was still clinging to the ceiling.

  “Sir Kain? The Sir Kain. Well, well, that’s certainly interesting. No amigo, I don’t think you are going anywhere,” Sandoval’s smile turned into a stern look with wide blood shot eyes. Two large black wolves came out from the darkness and stood beside him and growled at Sir Kain and Basil. One of them had something in their teeth, a pair of cracked glasses. Their claws clicked against the floor with each step. “We don’t think you’re going anywhere, no one is until we get what we came for.”

  Are those Fred the public library gargoyle’s glasses? What did these monsters do to Fred?

  “And what is that?” asked Sir Kain. His grip tightened on Wolfsbane. Because Sandoval was right, the sword did earn it’s name in blood. The man who taught Sir Kain how to fight, how to hunt monsters in his former life before the Blackwards (a long story for another time), he had a real grudge against skin changers, specifically werewolves.

  “Answers. Any of you hear of Armando Lobos?” Sandoval looked around. His creepy smile was back. “Anyone? Nobody? Member of the high table? Come on, give me something. “How about you Sir Kain?” Sandoval got as close as he could without getting burned. He took a deep whiff of the man of stone.

  “Yes, I have heard of your father. I have heard of Armando Lobos.”

  “And...what have you heard?” Sandoval was so close Sir Kain could smell his breath. Smelt like a dog’s breath if dogs smoked cigarettes.

  “I heard that he is a good man, an asset to the coven and high table. But his son, I heard he was a bit of a screw up.”

  Sandoval laughed. The two wolves next to him growled. “Tranquilo guys. Tranquilo. You Sir Kain, you are something else. But you’re not wrong. I am a bit of a screw up. I’m a screw up that is trying to find out what happened to his father. He’s gone missing. And we need to find him. Now, you hear anything about that?”

  “No, I have not.” Sir Kain was finally able to get Basil to his feet.

  “Really? I find that a little hard to believe. Considering what you’re holding, your reputation. Unlike these vampiros cobardes that are too scared to fight a genuine monster hunter like yourself. Me and my siblings here, you’ll find that we don’t scare so easy.” The two wolves next to Sandoval inched closer to Sir Kain and bared their teeth.

  “We are not looking for a fight Mr. Lobos. I never met your father, I know nothing about his disappearance. Take that up with the coven police. Now move, and rest assured just because I do not want one does not mean I will shy away from a fight.” Sir Kain was ready to engage Sandoval and the two wolves.

  “Very well Sir Kain. If you don’t want to willingly talk, we’ll tear the truth from you.”

  Chapter 4

  The Return to Talon

  “I’m sorry, who are you again?” asked Winter. She sat next to Aunt Rose in her dining room. Across from her was Lilith and Eve. She addressed Eve.

  Eve was kneeling on the worn wood of a dining room chair, sniffing Lilith’s eggs, toast and bacon. She was completely oblivious to what was going on around her. Lilith slumped in her seat nursing her coffee.

  “Her name is Eve Lobos, one of Armando Lobos’s many offspring,” answered a very annoyed Lilith.

  “And why is Eve here?”

  “It’s a condition of the job. She comes with it. Non-negotiable.”

  “That doesn’t strike you as a bit odd dear?” asked Aunt Rose.

  “Odd? Yup. That’s one way to put it. But so far she seems har-” Lilith couldn’t keep talking as she watched Eve pick up a couple pieces of bacon with her mouth. The odd young woman retreated and sat down, munching on the crispy strips of salty pork. “Ummm...she seems harmless enough, even if she is weirding me out.”

  “Eve?” Winter tried to get Eve’s attention. The girl looked at her with her innocent almond shaped eyes, through her brown hair and growled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I don’t want your bacon. I just wanted to know why you are here? Why do you need to stay with Lilith?”

  “I have to stay with her,” replied Eve, her voice was impossibly soft and kind.

  “I know but why?”

  “My mother, she said so. I need to stay with her until they find the pack leader. Keep an eye in her.”

  “On her,” corrected Lilith.

  “Sorry. That’s what I meant. I have to keep eyes on her, you.”

  “That doesn’t, this doesn’t smell right.” Winter was apprehensive.

  “Smells fine to me,” answered Eve as she stuck one of the remaining strips of bacon almost up her tiny nose.

  “Do you remember what I said when you guys asked what my mom wanted?” Lilith put her coffee down.

  “That you didn’t trust her as far as you can spit and that in the end she’ll probably screw you over?” Winter answered first.

  “That she wasn’t being completely honest with you?” Aunt Rose followed up.

  “Well, yeah, I did say that. But I also said that the job seemed legit. Her motives aside, Eve’s father-”

  “Pack leader,” said Eve.

  Lilith sighed. “Eve’s pack leader, a member of the high table has gone missing. The coven is in disarray and things will only get worse the longer he’s not found.”

  “And how is that your problem?” asked Aunt Rose. “The coven, it’s done nothing for you. They ostracized you when you didn’t pass the judgment. Even though you cast a spell more advanced than anything most member of the high table could even imagine. Your parents, they tried to kill you dear and the coven, they didn’t punish them. Instead
they promoted them. Now you’re forced to live on the edge of town with your old Aunt Rose, afraid to go home because of what might be waiting for you.”

  “The coven didn’t do any of that to me. The Cold Dawn did. And despite what some might think,” Lilith glanced over at Winter. “They are still out there. And the kidnapping or worse of a high table member? That reeks of the cult.”

  “As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right. We need to do this. It’ll get us closer to taking down the cult and, sorry, your folks.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about. They deserve it.”

  “Now that that’s settled there’s only one question left,” said Aunt Rose.

  “Is there more bacon?” asked Eve.

  “Ignore her. What question is that Auntie?” Lilith finished off her coffee.

  “Where do we start?”

  “Let’s ask our guest,” Lilith turned her attention to Eve. “Eve, where was your pack leader seen last? Where’d he disappear from?”

  “Me? Are you asking me?” Eve put her head down on her arms on the dining room table. Lilith nodded.

  “Lemme see...” Eve looked up and tapped her index finger against her lips. Lilith noticed how dirty her finger nails were, much like her whole state of being. “Oh yeah! The Talon something, Talon Blouse? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Uhhh, the Talon Couch? But where’s that couch? Was she sitting on it?”

  “Honey, do you mean Talon House?” asked Aunt Rose.

  “Yes!” Eve was unreasonably excited. She jumped up out of her chair which fell behind her. “Talon House! The pack leader was last seen at the Talon House. Wait...” She looked over and down at Lilith. “What’s house?”

  “What’s the Talon House, or what’s a house?” Winter was a little taken aback and dreaded Eve’s answer. Eve was at least in her late teens maybe early twenties, she had to know what a house was. There was no way she didn’t know what a house was.

  “I...” Eve looked at Lilith to appeal for help.