by D. A. Smith
I woke up the next day nervous but excited too.
Doriane explained the best magic in the world sometimes is no magic at all.
My disguise had three basic elements.
My face didn’t quite look the same as it did the last time I was in public.
The second was the discount clothes I wore. Nobody, who knew the real me would believe, I’d let myself go out in anything, less than the best of what looked good on me. The clothes I’d been living in were far from my usual.
The third piece was, the Colorado Rockies baseball hat I wore, with my hair tucked up inside. Doriane bought it for me for this purpose. I liked sports to some degree but again, anyone who knew me would be aware, I didn’t dress in the merchandise.
Eating had become a new experience.
Doriane explained, we did better the more natural foods we ate. I still ate meat but Doriane always got it from the butcher up the street, not the prepackaged stuff from supermarkets. We ate a lot of fruits and salads.
With my power active, the taste of food had become sublime, as long as it was natural. The first time I tried to eat something with artificial flavoring, I nearly threw up. I missed some of my favorite junk foods otherwise, I was in heaven with eating now.
After a light breakfast, we prepared the house, for us both being gone, then I stepped outside.
It was now March, so the morning was a little chilly, but the first breath of air outside made my senses stand on end. I could separate all the different smells. My nose wrinkled badly when the first car drove by and I could smell the emissions.
I walked down the two steps, from the front porch, and went to the tree in her front yard. I put my hands on it and could feel the life in it. This being the home of a guardian, the tree was extremely healthy.
We got in her car and I asked, “How can you stand the smell of the exhaust?”
“Lots of years to get used to it. It isn’t near as bad, as when combustion power was first being developed. I sometimes had to find a clean place to go camping for several weeks, to get the smell out of my nose. We can’t stop the progression of science. All we can do is, be on the side that fights to see the technologies become cleaner.”
As we were driving, I made sure to keep anyone from getting a clear look at my face.
I now had a face like Doriane’s; a face that could stop cars in their tracks when the men saw it. I even saw a couple of women taking extreme notice.
The baseball cap hiding my blonde hair prevented anyone from recognizing me but I was garnering attention from people in their cars as they drove to work.
I asked, “How do you keep yourself safe, knowing you have a face many models would envy?
“By being strong mentally and having a firm no on my lips; unless I’m in the mood to indulge myself. It’s one of the effects that has a dual impact. It’s always nice to be admired for your appearance but you have to watch more closely.”
“You can tell me to mind my own business if you want to but you’re my best friend now, so I can’t help being a little curious. Have you had many relationships?”
“I’ve had several dalliances but I don’t let them turn into anything serious. Another side effect of ageing slower is, you’ll see people grow old and die while you stay young. It hurts too much, if you allow yourself to get too close. It’s best to keep your stronger emotions, to the friendships and relationships, you find among the gifted. You and I will know each other for a long while and in time, you’ll meet a few others.”
That bothered me some but again, I was happier being in a position to fight for the good of the world.
I was smart enough to know eventually, I’d have to move to a new place, with a new name.
Doriane Lavoie was her real name but to everyone else, she was known as Kimberly Daniels. That was the name I knew, when I’d gone looking for her.
I felt tension brewing in me that was more than simple nerves, as we turned up the street leading to Ryan’s old house. I knew the neighborhood, even if I’d never been to his house.
I could feel Doriane get a little tense too and asked, “What is that? It feels like we’re driving into an open sewer line.”
“That’s the presence of dark magic. Given how much there is, I’d say the roots of Ryan’s evil did start in that house. Since his first efforts to cause trouble were grounded in science, I don’t think he learned the magic until after he went on the run. I’m pretty sure he had some exposure to it as he grew up. It isn’t unheard of for dark users to become very insular. Let’s see what we discover without driving ourselves crazy with too much speculation.”
We pulled up in front of a beige and brown tri-level. The yard showed signs that at some point, it wasn’t well taken care of but the current owners were trying to fix that.
I asked, “What’s our cover story?”
“We’re special investigators, hired by the police to see if, we can find anything they missed. The people who live here have gotten used to police and FBI coming around. It took two years before the house sold because of the stigma.”
Doriane handed me a few business cards, with the name Debbie Holton, and underneath, the words private investigator were written.
She held up a few of her own that read Kimberly Daniels and she was the owner of the service. We we’re pretending to be investigators gifted at ferreting out clues others miss.
Doriane said, “The man who moved his family into this house is retired police. It’s possible he may recognize you but I believe, he’ll understand about your need to remain anonymous. All the effort to come up with a cover is for the sake of anyone who might come to the house while we’re looking things over. Just keep a tight rein on your emotions, as the sensation you’re feeling, might be stronger inside the house.”
As I promised, we’re getting closer to catching up to current events. I was looking at Ryan as he struggled with something. I wouldn’t say a word to him, until he showed me, which way this fight was going to go.
Doriane and I stepped from her small Honda and walked up to the front door. I was nervous but ready to begin finding out how to fight Ryan.
Ringing the bell, I prepared myself, to use the name on the cards, and to face whatever we would feel inside. I was already growing nauseous just standing on the porch.
A man with salt-n-pepper hair, who didn’t look old enough to be retired, came to the door, then I noticed the cane he walked with. I had to fight my memories of Lisa to keep the emotions off my face.
His eyes came straight to my face but he asked, “Can I help you?”
Doriane answered, “I do apologize if this is an intrusion. My name is Kimberly Daniels. I’m a private investigator, who’s had success in the past, of finding clues that are missed by the police, when investigating crimes. I’ve been hired by the Aurora Police Department, to see if, I would have better luck finding a trail for them to follow to Ryan Gilpatrick. This is my partner Debbie Holton.”
The man’s eyes told us, he knew we were lying, because he recognized me immediately. Doriane’s assessment of the man proved true though.
He knew I was using the false name to stay hidden from Ryan, “Please come in,” as soon as he had the door shut he continued, “My name is Eric Summers. I’m sorry you’ve had to live the life you have, Ms. Holton.”
The emphasis he put on the name sealed it that he knew who I was.
From down the stairs, leading to the bedrooms, came a young girl of about sixteen. She had black hair and blue eyes like Eric’s. She had come to see who arrived.
Eric turned at hearing her, “This is my granddaughter, Laura. Sweetie; this is Kimberly Daniels and Debbie Holton. They’re private investigators who’ve been hired by the department, to try to heat up the cold trail to Ryan Gilpatrick.”
Laura looked a little annoyed, at another visitation by those, looking into such a dismal story. She didn’t recognize me, showing she didn’t pay much attention, “It’s nice to meet you. If your investigations t
ake you into my room, please don’t touch anything. I have everything where I like it. Grandpa; are mom and dad still due back tomorrow?”
“According to your mother when I talked to her last night. Go on and do your thing.”
When she went back to her room, and out of earshot, Eric continued, “Based on what we learned, when we bought the house, Ryan’s room was the one Laura currently occupies. It’s usually best to start there and get it over with, to keep her calm. I’ve managed to convince her, why it’s important to let people investigate, as much as they need to until he’s caught. She takes it hard though. She was too young when all this started, to have a real appreciation for the horror of it. She passes by the memorials at the school with barely a thought for what they mean.”
I responded, “We’ll take it easy. From my perspective it’s better, she doesn’t have to live with the fear. I’m involving myself now because, I’m tired of running from him.”
“Good for you as far as I’m concerned. Just be careful and don’t try to take him on alone. Harold Cramer is still the official lead detective on the case. He’s had to work on it when he has time but hasn’t given up. He comes by to talk shop, from time-to-time, when he has a few days to spare, to look into again. Being in the house helps him organize his thoughts, though he gets frustrated that Ryan continues to elude him.”
Doriane said, “We’ll try to keep it as brief as possible. We already know everything the police do about the house. We’re just here to see if, a couple pairs of fresh eyes, can turn up something they couldn’t. I do have a question. You’ve lived in this house for almost five years and yet, I see you’re having trouble repairing the yard out front. Do you know why that is?”
“I haven’t the foggiest clue. My daughter and son-in-law, who stay with me because I like having my daughter close and it’s easier on all our finances, have worked tirelessly, but every time they put down new sod or try to plant anything out there, it just dies. We can’t afford the hefty price for the chemical tests to see what might be causing it.”
After that, we walked upstairs and went straight to Laura’s room. Neither of us thought anything would be found but wanted to keep our investigation as close to what they’d expect as possible.
The room was just like any teenage girl’s room. Except for a few specific taste differences, it could’ve been my room. Laura was lying on her bed with her headphones on and just tracked our movements to make sure we didn’t disturb anything.
After a few minutes, we looked into the other bedrooms.
It wasn’t until we were standing on the back porch that I had to fight with everything in me, not to throw up, at the foulness coming from under us.
Doriane made sure we wouldn’t be overheard by shutting the sliding glass door, “I can’t get specific details, about what’s below, without a complex spell. We can’t afford that but I know why they can’t get anything to grow on this property. I would imagine, if we were to glance over the fences into the neighbor’s yards, we would see the spread. Whatever’s under us, is still active, and it’s spreading outward. This is one of the imbalances that is our duty to correct. If left to continue, it would eventually, start killing people, and spread to the whole world.”
Doriane and I started looking around the porch, once we could control our reactions.
I was the one who found the hidden trap door, when I stepped into the garage through the door that led to the backyard. I wasn’t surprised it had been missed by those who live here or the investigators before us.
I was only able to see it because my power gave me the ability to.
I called for Doriane.
When the raven-haired marvel saw it, she said, “I can defeat the spell hiding the door but we need to come up with a good excuse, for why nobody spotted it before. It’s in the corner, where they’ve piled a lot of storage on top of it. Some of the boxes look like they haven’t been touched since they moved in. Let’s go inside.”
When we were in front of Eric again, Doriane asked, “Did you move in yourself or did you hire help?”
“I had several off-duty officers come help me. Why?”
“I think they weren’t paying close attention, when they were bringing in the things you have stored in the garage. I think there may be a trap door under the things piled there.”
“Let me call Harold.”
I told him, “That’s fine. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again but don’t broadcast that I’m out of hiding. I don’t feel like being blitzed.”
“I’ll just tell him, I found it.”
I graced him with a big smile as we headed back to the garage.
The wait for Detective Cramer to arrive gave Doriane the time to defeat the spell guarding the door. She showed me what she was doing, as everything was a lesson.
She slipped her wand into her hand then quickly muttered the keyword for the spell she wanted.
When the dark energy dissolved, the door could be seen with normal eyes now. It was still well hidden. The door had been cut to fit with barely a seam showing. It would be enough to make it plausible, it had been missed in all the previous searches.
Detective Cramer’s blue eyes widened, when he stepped into the garage and saw me.
I smiled big but put a finger in front of my lips, in a shushing motion.
I got a good hug then he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Playing private detective. I got tired of running and decided to help. You should feel fortunate me and my friend Kim came because we found something you missed. By the way, call me Debbie while you’re here, and pretend you knew we were coming out. The cover story we’re using is, you hired us because Kim’s detective agency is known for finding clues missed by others. It’s simply a story to keep it from getting out that I’m hiding on purpose, not missing.”
“Your father came to see me, shortly before your car was found, to make sure I wouldn’t flip out. He told me about your plans. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Ryan didn’t make any mistakes. I’ve been looking into a series of murders that have happened recently. Don’t worry. All your friends are safe but a few people you went to school with, have been turning up dead. We think it’s Ryan but he hasn’t left much to make us certain. The main thing that makes us think it’s him is, they were the known bullies at the school, when you two were attending Rangeview. One is Trevor McShane.”
It was like a punch in the gut. Hearing the name of the bully, who was partly to blame for me being in this, was hard. Ryan was obviously using his skills to get revenge on those who tormented him in school.
I asked, “Can I ask how they died?”
“The same way Tom Walters did. Whatever this thing is, he invented, burns the flesh and has the power to turn the heart to ash. We’ve tried not to be too public about it but there are mutterings in the community, as people put the pieces together.”
“When did they start?”
“Two months ago. We have five bodies. We’ve done what we can to find the others but some have moved to other states. Those we have been able to locate, have been warned to keep their eyes open. The problem we’re running into is, the sheer number of those we’ve been told about, who used to bully him. I didn’t realize, until I started checking into these, just how tormented he was.”
“It’s still no excuse. There were a dozen kids who got treated as bad and I don’t hear reports of them running around slaughtering people. Maybe, something down there will tell us how he became so evil.”
Harold did a good job of keeping my name out of it, when he called for crime scene personnel and extra officers to help move the storage. Being the home of a respected, retired police officer, ensured the things were handled gently, as they were moved off the door.
Doriane made sure, she and I showed no signs of the torment we were in. Every moment we had to stand on that property was eating at my senses but we had a duty, to see what it was and stop it.
My mentor and I were provided gear, to ensure we wouldn
’t make the CSI’s job harder.
We wouldn’t have, as we didn’t leave signs of our presence, but had to keep up the pretense as we followed Harold down the ladder that led into darkness. I could see just fine but the detective needed his flashlight.
We encountered a door, similar to Doriane’s, but this one, didn’t have the symbols of the good, natural world. This door had been designed with skulls, dead bodies and the symbols of dark magic.
Harold asked in surprise, “A satanic cult?”
Doriane, as Kimberly, answered, “I don’t believe this is standard satanic ritual. The symbols are wrong. This is something different. Prepare yourself to see the worst in there. When Debbie and I talked about her case, we speculated that maybe, Ryan’s father was into this stuff. It fits with the clues given by the grandparents and Ryan’s aunt. Those who believe in these things tend to be very insular. Ryan gravitated toward science but may have been exposed to some dark mystical influences as he grew.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it. Are there really people who believe this crap works?”
“Like any belief structure Detective, there is a matter of faith. It’s no different than those who believe God grants miracles. What a person believes, is part of what defines, who a person is. Whether Ryan believes in this himself or not, it’s clear his father, and possibly his mother, did believe.”