by T S Paul
Chuck was interested now. "How so? Was it a real curse?"
"You know, it might have been. I'm sure the Bureau checked. Robert Candid, the middle brother, was a lawyer. He became involved in the Orc riots out in California in the mid-1960s. They were protesting low wages, poor living conditions, and unfair legal practices. When reports of cannibalism, demon worship, slavery, and murder came to light the situation exploded. Orc Town went up in flames during one of his rallies. The report I saw said they never found his body. His shoes and suit were found among the personal items belonging to a halfling arrested five years later, but the Candid family covered it all up. Edward, the youngest, accidentally drove off a bridge and drowned his girlfriend. He's still in prison as far as I know." Bill smiled.
"What's so funny?" Cat stared at the older man.
"Nothing. A buddy of mine was in on the case in California. He said the halfling was a slave. There was a mass breakout, and the halfling escaped. The suit was all he could find to wear after the others took off. According to him, all prisoners are eaten. It's funny because his biggest goal was to help the Orcs find cheaper food." Bill laughed to himself.
"It is true that the Orcs eat people. No matter how civilized some paranormal people may look, remember, we are still monsters' underneath. Now the evidence against Director King." A faded birth certificate popped up on the screen along with a DNA matching report. Ana pointed.
"The Director has always used his personal physician for these tests. However, he broke his arm during a car accident just last year and was treated at a local hospital. Following FBI procedures, agents collected any and all test materials including blood under the Hex protocols. Those were submitted to the FBI lab and compared to material already on file there to guard against shapechangers and spells. DNA is not usually run as long as the chain of custody is maintained. That was the sample I ran against the various databases." Ana looked at the team and smiled.
"Now, both the FBI and OSS records showed a 98.79 percent match that Patrick King is related to the Novara family. I ran a search on men his age with his birthdate and came up with this, Patrizio Novara. Novara disappeared off everyone's records a year before King came into existence. The age is off by one year, but it may have taken that long for them to get the story straight."
"Why does Novara seem familiar to me?" Bill peered at the screen.
"Massima Novara is a member of the Commission. He is directly related to one of the Strega bosses."
"Holy crap! What do we do with this?" Chuck pointed at the screen.
Bill sat down slowly. "I have no idea. He's about as high up the food chain you can go. Who do we dare report it too?"
~~~~~~~
Emesh stepped out of the door into another reality. Doors could take you to another land, dimension, planet, or time. Emesh had traveled them all, even the portal on Earth's moon. For some reason, a Fae lord created one there. Doorways were left turns to nowhere. A stray traveler might chance upon a shortcut or dark path and suddenly find himself somewhere else. Traveling the doors was a skill many could never acquire. For some, it was like learning another language. Others came to it naturally. Those beings were the true masters of the paths.
Emesh was one such person. He used the bounty of The Garden to provide one such reality with food and other things of interest. The place was called the Badger Hole Bar by its many regular patrons. Travelers just called it 'the bar to the right of reality.' Anything and everything might be found in this place, not just drink. Over the years, other buildings joined the bar.
The town had grown yet again. Emesh could see several new buildings as well as what appeared to be a corral and stable. A dark cloaked figure waited for him at the very edge of the boundary.
"Magistrate. Something wrong?" Emesh asked.
"No food? You're early this week, Emesh. Is something wrong with your suppliers?" Deep in the Magistrate's cowl, yellow eyes peeked out. Emesh knew of the lawman's race, but always wondered how he ended up here. Each being had their own story, but it was considered impolite to ask how they came to be here. Occasionally someone, deep in their cups, might offer you the tale.
"No. I need to talk to Calvin at the Library. He may have the answer to a question that plagues me." Emesh explained to him.
"A question that eludes you must be a question indeed. Just remember the rules. No trouble or I will have to uncloak my bad side, and you don't want that. Do you?" The Magistrate's eyes flashed gold sparks in the darkness of his hood.
"No. I do not. As always, I bow to your wisdom." Emesh moved past the lawman. The town, if it could be called that, was growing. That fact alone was disconcerting. This place only grew when something deep and of the darkness threatened the universes surrounding it. It confirmed his suspicions something was indeed coming.
In another time or place this might be called a palace of learning, but here it was just the Library. "Callimachus? Are you in here?" Emesh called out as he approached the building.
Emesh looked around the building. From the outside, it appeared as a rundown old warehouse. On the inside, only ancient Rome rivaled it. Sweeping columns and stonework from beyond time held the most precious of materials. Books and knowledge. The fruit of the finest minds across the paths was gathered here to be used and protected.
"Callimachus!" Emesh yelled louder.
"My name is Calvin. Please stop calling me Callimachus! You are the only one that remembers it, anyway. Just Calvin is fine. You just won me a plate of Tacos and a very pleasant cup of mead. I bet Glock that you would be here early this time." Calvin responded.
"And how is Glaux, doing?" Emesh searched the ceiling for something.
"He's about to drop something stinky and squishy on your head if you don't stop that 'Glaux' crap. In this time and place, my name is Glock." A large golden owl dropped out of the sky suddenly and landed upon a much-worn post set into the floor.
Ignoring the comment from the owl, Emesh looked at his old friend. "So you feel it too?"
"We both do. Something is coming. You noticed the town? We have not had so many new buildings since the founding of the Draconic Empire. Earth's Purge only caused three to be built." Calvin smiled at Emesh. "Regardless, it was getting a little boring around here."
"Speak for yourself, Greek boy. I was getting ready for a nice yearlong nap. Now I have to answer questions and flap for the sightseers. If they ask me to pose with the coin again one more time, I'm pooping on them. I swear it." Glock snapped back.
"You know you like it. Let's go get a drink then we can ask the bartender and the staff. Maybe they've heard something. If not, there is always the Magistrate."
"He hates me. I doubt he would help. Besides, he would love to see all of this destroyed." Emesh waved at the buildings.
"Maybe. The Magistrate has grown to like the people here. His exile was long ago. Is the world he came from even there anymore?" The large golden owl, Glock, flapped along behind the two older men as they walked.
"Possibly. I don't travel as much as I did. Too much war and destruction. You might be right. I will ask him before I leave."
Chapter 10
Something I can mark off my bucket list is sleeping in a smelly old hotel with a unicorn and a strange man. Who snores worse? In fact, I think Fergus makes more noise than Marvin does. Whoever Sheila is, she must love him to put up with that. I felt a slight pulse from my wrist as my bracelet agreed with me. I think? "Did you communicate with me again?"
Research is one thing that being in charge of a team has helped with. I had time to do it now. I knew from Grandmother that her grandmother left this bracelet in the care of the family. Guardian bracelets were rare. Old ones like this one were even more unusual. My great Grandmother Verity claimed it talked to her. Or at least that is what her journals and spellbook said. I heard the bracelet myself say 'yes' in response to a question. I knew it also happened at least once during the fight against the reverend and his brood. With magick everything is possible. Ev
en talking jewelry.
"Can you answer questions this time?" I was keeping my voice low but doubted it would wake either of my companions. I climbed out of bed and sat at the ancient table near the window.
The bracelet trembled, but the pulse felt like a yes. "My research says the Guardian bracelets date back to ancient Egypt. Are you one of those?" I held my breath waiting for an answer.
There was a faint pulse, and a voice answered in my head. "Yes. Power focus. Guardian."
"OK. Power focus. What does that mean?" There was silence in my head. Four words were more than I have gotten so far from the thing. I spun the gold bracelet on my arm a few times. The Egyptian markings I once had difficulty seeing appeared clearer now. Weird. My research had shown there were always guardians of some sort that protected doors to both the underworld and to elsewhere. I remembered Grandmother mentioning something about that once upon a time. I was looking out the window trying to remember when the first attack hit my shields.
One problem with the shields I placed on the hotel is that I felt them intimately. It is both good and bad to do it that way. The good part is, I can feel an attack and react to it. The unfortunate part is I can feel the attack. They hit my shield with enough power to smash it into little pieces if I hadn't tied it to me. The initial impact tossed me from the chair I was in. It felt like someone tackled me. Sitting on the floor, I took a second to catch my breath as the next attack hit and then the next. Whoever they were, they were battering my shields like someone would beat a drum.
"Focus, Agatha," I muttered to myself as I grabbed the bed to pull myself up. Instead of directing my energies outward to reinforce the shield, I directed them toward the bracelet. The middle of a battle wasn't time to experiment, but they would drain me dry soon trying to break through.
When I cast Magick, I see it as waves of blue and green I can direct. My magick poured into my Guardian bracelet as if floodgates flashed open. Deep inside of me, I felt a door open.
"Finally!" That word didn't come from me! I glanced down at my bracelet. It was glowing!
"Did you say that?"
"Yes. I hoped you would understand. Use me like you would the unicorn, a power focus." The bracelet was talking in sentences!
I yelled at the sleeping man. "Marvin get up!"
Grabbing my sleeping unicorn, I thrust him into my pocket. He woke up kicking and poking, but that's one reason my pockets were reinforced. My bags were packed and next to the door prepared for running if need be.
"What's going on?" Marvin sat up in his bed. He still wore clothes which I saw as a bonus. Nobody needs to see that man in a speedo.
"Bad people are coming. We need to leave. Now." I checked to make sure I didn't leave something important like my spellbook and tossed our bags out the door.
"But I was just getting comfortable! Why do we have to go?"
There was a loud boom sound outside I only moderately felt through my body. Something to be said for this power focus idea. "That's why. If you want to die or never see Sheila again, you can stay here."
Marvin laid back down and thought about it! "Nope. No choice buddy." Focusing my power, I levitated the small man and floated him out the door to the car. I followed out the door behind him to the SUV.
"I wasn't ready!" Marvin whined.
"Too bad. You don't get a choice. You still have to testify. Get in the damn car. Please." I ordered as I lowered him down next to the battered SUV. I purchased the SUV using my money as part of my pre-planning.
"Breaking through." I heard the bracelet's voice in my head and had no time to acknowledge it before another powerful strike almost blew me off my feet.
Grunting, I shoved Marvin into the car and slammed the door. I was firearms qualified despite having a low shooting range score at the Academy. Guns, while required, aren't my thing. However, the training is there embedded in my psyche. The instant the shield shattered, four black-clad attackers, came charging around the corner straight at me. I drew my sidearm and fired.
The one in the front dodged to the left, but my shot hit him, anyway. His body crashed into a second attacker, both hit the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. I shifted to my left firing multiple shots. Surprised at my results, I had forgotten that I reloaded my gun with experimental ammunition.
Two attackers remained, not counting the one attempting to get off the ground. Channeling, even more, power to my bracelet, I threw up a personal shield. I could feel a fireball form in my hand as I readied myself. Two thrown knives ricocheted off the shield breaking a car window and skittering off across the parking lot.
"Give us Loman!" The voice was gravelly and harsh to my ears.
The man on the left drew a large sword and ran straight at me. Dropping my gun, I threw up my right hand in a stopping motion. The bracelet activated on its own creating an instant shield.
Clang! The sword hit the shield like an immovable object. I followed through with my left hand hitting him squarely with the fireball. The light from the fire briefly lit his face as he was consumed. His scream muffled the attack of his companion on my right. Bringing my arm downward, I used the shield to batter the black-clad man who grabbed me.
"Now you die!" I looked left to see the third man with green flames dripping down his arm. Each drop hit the ground and began to eat holes in the concrete. Pulling his arm back he launched a fireball at me.
Quickly, I cast a shield spell just as the flaming acid hit my hand. The flaming droplets sprayed across the shield hitting me in several places. I could feel a searing sensation followed by intense pain on my forearm. Reacting without thinking, I brought my right arm up and hit the flaming green man with a bolt of electricity.
Groaning in pain, I slumped across the front of the SUV. The pain in my arm was increasing exponentially. Looking left, my assailant was on the ground with little blue sparks of electricity arcing around him. I pulled myself off the car and glanced at my arm. Green smoke wisped up as whatever was in that flame burned its way through my flesh. Quickly I covered the holes with my right hand but was unable to put the small fires out.
"You're doomed, little Witch." He said rising from the ground and stood. The fire continued to drip down his arm, and he formed another fireball.
I tried to respond, but I couldn't get the power to form because the pain in my arm was too distracting.
"Is that all you have? What sort of Witch are you when you can't." He tossed a fireball at my feet. "Even." Another hit the car next to me. "Protect." Yet another landed near the front of my car. "Yourself." The warlock said snidely.
I bowed my head, and for a split second, I felt defeated, alone. But then Fergus kicked me, and everything came back into focus. I had a living battery in my pocket to draw from.
"Say goodbye little Witch. Tell your father hello from me." Two large green balls of flame formed in the man's hands.
My father? My head came up as I knocked the flame from the air with my shield. He might be small, but Fergus is mighty when it comes to power. Channeling my energy and fury, I began battering him from each side using my shields. "What do you know about my Father!"
I hit him over and over. I was pounding him into the ground further and further with each strike. The assassin's bleeding and broken body lay on the concrete. Damn it! I cursed at myself. He might have been able to tell me how they found me! Dropping my shields, I checked the man's pulse. He was still alive if barely.
"Hey! What did you do to that man?" A large burly man stepped out of the hotel office with a cell phone in his hand. "I'm calling the police!"
Cursing, I stepped away from the man's body and opened the door to my rented SUV.
"Those people were trying to kill you!" Marvin's eyes were incredibly wide in his face, and he was shaking.
"I know. They were after you, Marvin." Hearing sirens in the distance, I slammed my door and reversed the car in a squeal of tires and burning rubber. Then performed a 'moonshiners' turn to straighten the vehicle out. Jack's trainin
g was coming in handy for once. I could see the hotel manager waving his phone in the air as he shot video of our escape.
"Me! Why me? What did I do to them?" Marvin quickly buckled up his seat belt. Just as we hit the entrance to Hell's highway, I mashed the gas and floored it. Flashing lights with sirens were coming from our rear as I weaved in and out of traffic.
"Stop! You're going to get us killed!" Marvin braced himself against the dashboard and the door as I swerved to miss a large delivery truck. Glancing in the mirror, I could see the disco ball with blue flashers coming up hard. FBI or not, stopping was not an option.
Route 666 had been modernized in many spots across the Virginia countryside. We passed under an overpass, and it gave me an idea. My Magickal reserves were weak from the fight, and my wrist was still slightly smoking. I needed time to fix it as well as hide from the local LEOs. Ahead of me was a PaulandMary semi-trailer truck hauling large pallets of lumber and other building supplies. About a mile ahead of me was another overpass.