by T S Paul
The phone cut off leaving me staring at it. Looking down I perused the brief notes I took. It was starting to look like I was standing in a minefield all alone.
“Good morning Agent Dalton! Did you sleep well?” Abigail was awfully bright and shiny at eight AM when I literally crawled from the bed.
I clutched the coffee in front of me like it was the last cup on earth. It was going to be a very long day. “Just fine. I’m not used to soft beds. I usually sleep on a cot in the back of my truck.”
“That’s terrible! You should tell that Mr. Hoover to pay you agents more then. We still have eggs and toast left, would you like some?” Abigail asked.
I answered her in the affirmative and went back to studying my notes. Marcella and the others obviously wanted something, or they wouldn’t have asked me here. Figuring out what they wanted was my primary mission. After that, any of my observations would be an excellent way to flesh out the file. From the reaction of Captain Chamberlain and his man, the State Police did not come here very often. Understanding why might explain a lot.
A plate of eggs and toast was placed in front of me. “Here you are, Agent. Milly, our cook, said she put a little cheese, onions, and peppers in there for you. Texas-style she said. Please enjoy it.”
I wasn’t so sure about ‘Texas Style,’ but the food smelled wonderful. Taking a bite, I knew instantly what she had added. They weren’t green peppers but Hatch chilies, giving me a taste of home. Texas-style indeed! It wasn’t until the last bite that I looked around. Where did someone find those sort of peppers in Maine, let alone the winter? More questions searching for answers.
“Abigal?” I called out.
The smiling woman appeared at the door to the kitchen. “Yes, Agent?”
“How do I get to the Blackmore house from here?” I asked her.
“If you look out that window, you should be able to see it. The family built right on the top of the bluff overlooking both the valley and the town.” She pointed out the window behind me. “Take the north road and make a left at the first turn you come to. It’s right next to the vegetable stand. Go past the entrance to The Garden and drive up the hill. Only house up there. I believe you’re expected at noon. You won’t want to miss Minerva’s cooking regardless. She’s the best cook in the entire valley.”
“There’s a garden here?” I asked.
“You’ll see. The view is best from Marcella’s house. She’ll explain it to you. Is there anything else?” Abigail asked.
I shook my head and peered out the window. The house looked very impressive from here, sort of like it was watching everyone and everything.
“Is everything all set for lunch?” Marcella asked.
Stopping to wipe her hands on the apron around her waist, Minerva answered, “Of course. Would I let you down? I’ve got all your favorites and a few new things as well. Milly called and said he liked the eggs, so for starters, I’ve put together a bit of Texas fare, tacos and such.”
“Excellent. I want you there as well, we can get some of the girls to serve in your place.” Marcella instructed Minerva.
“How’s the harvest coming along?” Minerva asked.
“So far so good. There has only been a couple of incursions this week. I’ve got half the Coven patching holes. We can fix all of this if we can only find Emesh. He’s got the ability to mend the fabric of space and time. That is completely beyond the scope of my powers, and you know it,” Marcella replied.
“What are you going to tell the FBI about the incursions? If some of those critters get out of the valley, all hell could break loose,” Minerva pointed out.
“It’s under control. We don’t have any…” A yell from outside brought Marcella up short. Both women looked out the window to see a large creature emerge from the garden gate and race across the yard. “Oh, damn!”
Marcella muttered to herself and cupped her hands as she ran from the kitchen toward the very large wraparound porch. Thrusting her hand toward the fleeing creature she shouted. Balls of light left her hands and illuminated the animal. When the light dimmed, it stood frozen in place in front of the lawn maintenance shed.
“What is it? If it’s one of those veloc.. velockator...V creatures. Save it for me. They taste like chicken.” Minerva yelled at her friend.
Marcella examined the frozen creature. “The word you’re looking for is Velociraptor. Somehow the portal in the Garden is either locked onto a world in early development, or it’s time traveling for some reason.”
“Can’t you Magick it closed?” Minerva asked.
“No. It is the unstable one of the pair. The other one goes to a pocket universe that is mostly stable. Time is a bit different in there as well. In a good way though. I really don’t want to go for outside help on this, but if the portal is shifting, we need to do something. There are much larger things than this looking for a way in.” Marcella pointed to the dinosaur.
I had several hours to kill, so I drove around. Briarwood was a nice little town. Lots of shops and parks. The people seemed content, and that in itself was a bit unsettling. Out in the rest of the world, some countries were only just now settling down after the Demon War. Trade was coming back, and luxury goods were finally accessible again. Here it was like time had stopped. I didn’t see any major industry or activity until I reached the far edge of town. A large industrial building stuck up in the middle of a pine forest. Dozens of the newer refrigeration trucks were lined up to receive fruits and vegetables for distribution. Garden Deliveries was the name on the building. At least now I knew where most of the townsfolk worked.
Following Abigail’s instructions, I was able to find the Garden entrance and the road to the Blackmore estate fairly easily. The entrance to the Garden interested me though. Dozens of people were filing in and out of the main gates.
“Is this the Garden?” I asked.
“Of course. How can we help you, Agent Dalton?” A grizzled looking man asked as I approached.
Giving him a funny look I asked, “Does everyone know who I am?”
The man chuckled, “Pretty much. We were told you were coming and since you’re the only stranger here…”
“OK. I understand. I was freaking out there a little. What sort of vegetables do you grow here?” I asked.
“We grow all of them. Would you like something specific?” He asked me.
“All of what?” I asked.
“Vegetables. The Garden provides for all and is able to produce all. Is there something you wish of her?” The man smiled and patted the gates he was standing next to.
“No, thank you. Does this road lead to the house?” I pointed to the road and then the house in the distance.
“Yes, it does. They are expecting you. Have fun and tell Marcella I’ll be looking into her little problem for her as well. I need to get loaded up first.” At my strange look, he laughed. “No worries my friend, just say you met Emesh and she’ll understand.”
I arched an eyebrow at him but replied anyway, “OK.”
Walking back to my truck, it was all I could do to hop in and drive away. This was getting to be a very strange place.
The house on the hill was magnificent. A true Victorian masterpiece of architecture. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to grow up here surrounded by these crazy people.
Marcella Blackmore stood on the steps of the house, waiting for me when I pulled up and stopped my car.
“Do you folks have like tribal drums or something around here? I swear everyone knows about me before I meet them,” I remarked.
“It can seem that way at times. At the moment, we’re a rather close-knit community. The produce plant is expanding soon, and we are expecting some new residents. Being insular is not the way to be. So this is my home.” Marcella waved, “It predates the town by a few years actually.”
Remembering my notes, I commented, “Not in this form though, right? Construction in the late 1500s would have been log cabins or something.”
“Touche, Agent Dalton. You’re correct. The first sawmill didn’t go up until the late 1600s around here, and they were still using the trench method which was very slow,” Marcella informed me.
“Trench method? I’m not familiar with that,” I commented. The intricacies of early American industry was beyond me.
Marcella smiled. “You dig a trench deep enough for men to stand in. Using a very large crosscut saw they stand in the pit and cut the log from above. Not efficient and very labor intensive. Parts of the kitchen are from the original house. There’s one spot where you can touch the rough cut of the boards. A lot of history in this house.”
There was movement just out of my sight which caused me to turn. Instinctively I reached for my guns! “What is that?”
A large lizard of some kind was running straight at us on its hind legs.
“Not another one! How on Earth do they keep getting in,” Marcella pulled back her hand and tossed a fireball in the creature’s direction.
Pulling both my 1911 automatics, I began firing. Like shooting fish in a barrel, the creature was hard to miss. The fireball hit it, outlining it in flames. The fire and pain distracted it, but my efforts were what brought it down.
The flaming lizard crashed to the ground less than ten paces from where we stood. Rapidly following in the first creature’s wake were three other, similar lizards. Quickly I dropped the magazines and reloaded my guns, but I wasn’t fast enough. Marcella raised her hand and screamed a word to the sky. Lightning flashed, and all three running animals vanished as if they hadn’t ever existed.
“If only we can find Emesh, he’s the one that can fix the problem. I can’t keep killing these things all the time. Someone is going to be hurt eventually,” Marcella muttered.
“Emesh? I met a man earlier who said his name was Emesh.” I explained about the man at the gate, including the fact that he had told me to pass his message on to her.
Marcella looked heavenward and muttered something I couldn’t hear. “Thank you, Agent Dalton. By just being here you’ve helped. Emesh is… Let’s just say he’s a gardening expert who has experience with alternate realities. He will fix the problem of the Velociraptors for us.”
“Is that what that thing is?” I pointed to the smoking lizard.
“Yes. It’s a dinosaur. I’m getting ahead of myself. Lunch will wait, let me explain the Garden to you. That will help you make more sense of all of this. Come with me.” Taking my elbow, she led me across the yard to the edge of the bluff.
“What do you see, Agent Dalton?” she asked me.
Looking down, I saw a different sight than I had expected. Instead of the town, there was an enormous garden laid out before me. Acres of farm fields and masses of vegetation were everywhere. “Where’s the town?”
“This is the Garden. When my ancestors settled this land, they planted the beginnings of it. Natural formations of Magickal energy called Ley Lines cross this county at all angles. One strong one called the Kachina Ley crosses over this very spot.
“My ancestors took that Magickal force and infused it into the very earth surrounding this area to allow the garden to propagate. Little did they know at the time that they were creating life.” Marcella paused briefly to see if I had any questions. Caught up in her narrative, I was speechless.
After a moment, she continued, “The Garden itself took on… call it a persona. We communicate with it through growth and need. It answers as it sees fit, which is not always the response that we either want or have predicted.”
My look of disbelief must have been very apparent because the Witch laughed softly before talking again.
“The Garden has many capabilities and aspects. One of those is its control of access to other places, both on this world and others. There are entryways into other realities called portals that can be used to travel to and from those other worlds that exist naturally in many places here on Earth. The portal opened in Germany was similar to the one in the Garden. It was forced to access the Demonic plane through a little-used channel of Magick. That is where the Demons came from,” Marcella explained.
“Demons? You have a portal to Hell here?” I reflexively tightened my grip on the guns still in my hands before I realized that I had just pointed them at the Witch beside me. Shrugging in apology, I put them away.
“Not quite. The portals here could be forced to go to the reality called Hell, but they could go to other more dangerous places as well. My family and the Coven here would never allow that to happen. It is our mandate in fact. We guard the portals. Emesh is just one of many that we work with to prevent dangerous creatures like that from entering our world.” Marcella pointed to the still smoldering dinosaur.
“I don’t understand. Why tell me about this? When the Director hears about it, he could call up the army, and they’ll do here what they did in Conception, California. Then your town, this house, the garden, and all of it would be gone,” I explained.
“It’s because of that core reason that I wanted you here. We are a resource, not a threat and the government needs to understand that. I know this is hard to take in, but hear me out. The main Portal here is a stable one. We use it to go from here to a sort of way station between worlds called the Badger Hole Bar. The portal that let loose the velociraptors was a temporary one that is being repaired. We watch for those and usually slam them shut immediately. It takes a full Coven to seal something like that unless you’re a God, like Emesh,” Marcella commented.
“Wait, this Emesh guy’s a God? Like, God?” I pointed my finger skyward.
“Magickal beings walk among us every day. Some are spiritual beings, others are just forces of powerful Magick. Why do you find that surprising, Agent? They are living archetypes of our own imagination and belief. I called you here to explain everything to your Director Hoover. I could just pop into his office like my ancestors used to do, but he might take that as a threat,” Marcella replied.
Without more than a split-second pause, the Witch continued to explain. “This country has so much potential, and we want to make it so much more than it is. To do that, we need to be able to communicate with those in power. Tell them to leave us be and to trust us. We use our power for the light and to destroy the dark. Can you convey our message for us?”
It was information overload for me, and my head felt like it was simultaneously spinning and ready to explode. How would I tell the Director of the FBI these things and not have him lock me up? In my head, I decided to lay it all out for Anastasia and let her decide. She knew him best.
Realizing Marcella was waiting for an answer, I nodded. Living gardens, dinosaurs, Covens, and Witches, this was a mission to end all missions.
Over lunch, she explained more of the history and purpose of her group which confused me even more. As we finished our meal, the powerful Witch gave me some last instructions and messages to pass on.
“Take the information I’ve given you back to the Vampire that controls you. Let her inform your government. Tell her that a time will come when she cannot hide from her fate,” Marcella instructed.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t really understand all of this,” I explained.
“We know dear. Take what I’ve given you to heart and trust us. In the future, you will need our knowledge. Just take what life gives you and roll with it for now. What do you think of the fish? It’s local,” she asked.
The total non-sequitur threw me off even more. But maybe that was her goal, to begin with. Leave me floundering just a little, but clear on the messages that needed to be delivered.
Instinctively, I trusted the Witch. She was intelligent and articulate, not bullying or applying pressure. Despite all of Anastasia’s warnings, this woman was very nice.
My trip back home was going to be a very thoughtful journey, and the writing of my report might take me weeks.
“Did you tell him what Kassandra said about him?” Minerva asked.
Marcella looked out at the Garden. She could see Coven members
in the fields, and the serenity of that view eased her mind. Emesh was there with his load of vegetables for transport. He waved and pointed to where the random portal had been, and she saw that it was no longer there. Even from this distance, she could see Emesh’s satisfaction with its absence.
Bringing her attention back to Minerva’s question, Marcella said, “No. Tampering with the timestream is never a good idea. Look what happened to Tesla. All that interference causes is trouble. What will come to pass will come to pass. Or not.”
Marcella paused, considering her next words. “Kassandra said he would help the savior of our Coven to achieve her best. If I told him the prophecy, Jack might then have asked what we needed saving from, and there is no answer to that. Not yet at least. Kassandra said other things associated with this Agent Jack that tells me we need to prepare for the future. And I, it seems, must find a man suitable for fatherhood. Who would you pick for that adventure?” Marcella asked.
Minerva smiled and caused her eyebrows to bounce. “What about that British movie star Sean…”
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Book 4
My name is Jack Dalton, and I’m a monster hunter.
What is it about Witches that fascinates so? My last mission was to visit an entire town of Witches, and it wasn’t even Salem. I passed the information they gave me along to my supervisors, primarily Anastasia and Director Hoover. Why we want an alliance with a paranormal group boggles my mind. Other than the Werewolves none of them will work with us, at least not in any official capacity.
I find humor wherever I can when I’m on the road. The FBI office in Boston was one such case. My orders are such that I’m supposed to use Bureau resources whenever possible to report in, write reports, and requisition materials. But even though Congress and President Long may have wanted a Magical Division, the FBI didn’t. I’m a political token. If I want to keep my job I have to earn it and prove I can do it. They had no idea how to deal with me or what I represented.