The cleric knights sat around the long
table. Each one a fighter. Each one a preacher. In the forty years since the
death of the great king, Onrius Skiv, the Goblins had held the upper hand. Many
of these thirty knights had seen the horrors of war with Havskel of the Deep
and had looked into themselves, into the place where their soul ached to rejoin
its Gnuph body in Mhalasia. Since the death of Onrius Skiv, the kingdom had
divided. Skiv, ever the peace maker, had held it all together. Now it was a
time of warlords, thieves and, of course, the Goblins.
In the great, green hall of Elbum
Cathedral, the High Cleric Adron’etz and the Warlord Pflezka took their places
at the council table. Adron’etz raised his glass and blessed the cleric knights
with the Rites of Olhm-Shuul. When the blessing was over they drained their
ornate goblets. Adron’etz took a deep breath.
“Zjon the Sword is dead. Struck down
by Havskel of the Deep. Havskel is still in possession of the Skiv Killer but
lacks the true stone.” All but Pflezka closed their eyes at the mention of The
Stone. “The seed of Zjon have scattered to the corners of the world and have
secreted the stone. Unlike my brethren in the High Council, I do not feel that
hiding the Stone is sufficient. Until the Stone is returned to Elf lands, we
are vulnerable to Havskel’s hoards. So you have a task. A task that may not end
in your life time. A task that will one day deliver the Elves from the
onslaught of The Tainted. A task that will reunite our people with our Gnuph
bodies of old.”
An unease spread through the cleric
knights. The High Cleric’s words were frightening. It was strange that he would
hand down a charge that went against the High Council of Orders. The High
Cleric rose and held aloft a golden seal. “This is your crest! The Crest of
Elbum. Your sole purpose is to find The Melk Stone, wherever it is in the world,
and return it to the elves so that we may be victorious. This is your mission, the mission of your
children, and all your bloodline until the quest is complete.” He looked at one
of the knights. “Mantah. I am placing you as leader. You are to recruit those
you deem worthy and stand as high judge over those you deem guilty. As you
decide, I will uphold.” He looked to the knights. “Mantah and all those whom he
appoints are the law makers. They are The Mezo.”
The Knights of Elbum rose and faced
Mantah. They bowed. Their lives were his. His was the divine right. The driver
of their souls. The keeper of the quest. He was now The Mezo.
- Big City -
APERTURE
by Eric Schwartz
Charlie blinked.
While he and the young lady had only met for a moment, the power of her eyes
and the beauty of her face had stayed with him all these weeks. She had rushed
out so suddenly at their last meeting, he wanted to grab her and make sure she
didn’t bolt again.
“Miss Danae?”
Charlie said again. “What are you doing here.”
Kalista was
rushed. She stepped up to him and removed her ball cap. Her long hair fell
around her face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Pickens.” She moved past him into his office.
“The door was open.”
“Miss Danae,
I’m…”
“My friends call
me Kali, Mr. Pickens.”
“Kali. I’m sorry
but Smiles isn’t here.” Charlie shut the door to his office. He didn’t mean to
but something inside of him made him want to be alone with her.
“I know. I am
here to see you, Charlie.” She stepped up to him again. “Please don’t think me
forward.” She took his hand and stared up into his eyes. The moment seemed like
forever to Charlie. The urge to lean forward and kiss her was strong. Her siren
eyes beckoned him. Her body was close. He watched her breasts rise and fall as
she breathed. In his mind, he knew that this was part of what a Siren was. He
thought of Laura and broke through the spell a bit. An instant later Kali
released his hand. She turned and sat gracefully in the chair. “It’s true,” she
said.
By this time
Charlie was well aware of Kalista Danae’s gift. The young Siren could see
images of person’s future through simple or, as Stack and Needless speculated,
more complex touching. He felt a shiver in his spine. Something was wrong.
“I read about
the attacks in the paper,” she said. “At Serenity. I was as shocked as anybody.
But it put some pieces together for me.”
“Pieces?”
Charlie sat in his chair, staring intensely at her.
“Several weeks
ago, when we met outside this office, just briefly, I saw things.”
“Yeah. You said
I wasn’t like the rest of them, I was different.”
“Did I?” She
chuckled. “Yours were some of the most intense images I have ever received. I
understood very little. But some of those images made sense when I heard the
news.”
“The vampire
attack?”
“I knew I had to
see you. I had to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“I believe
you’re in danger. Or will be. Soon.”
*
Needless
stumbled backward, stunned. The brilliance of the flash had left him
momentarily blind. He heard the shrieking of injured vampires and the sound of
a thousand voices yelling. He heard fists and rocks and sticks colliding. He
was sun-blind in the middle of a riot. He felt a sharp pain and was thrown to
the ground. As the white-purple after-image began to fade he realized that
several angry young men were bearing down on him. He pulled his shield up in
time to hold them off. The half-elf rolled out from under them and gained his
footing.
Needless thrust
forward with his shield and knocked one of the young men back. With his free
hand he grabbed another and forced him to the ground, shouting “Don’t move!” He
turned in time to see his fellow officers fire gas canisters into the crowd.
What had happened? It had all gone to hell. As if second nature, he slipped one
of several, plastic strips out of his belt, the ones they use because it’s
impractical to have thirteen pairs of handcuffs, and cuffed the man on the
ground. The other two had scattered into the crowd.
There was no
order, no battle lines. Everybody fought everybody else. The suddenness of the violence had taken the riot squad by
surprise and they had broken ranks. It was a free for all.
Needless looked around and
saw two vampire youths on the ground, their faces splotched with severe burns.
The sunshine grenade had been diffused by all the people, but where it had hit
them, their skin had browned and bubbled. He rushed to them. They were both
shivering from the cold and slipping into shock.
Needless knelt
beside them and bellowed into his radio. “This is Sgt. D’yen!” Before he could
speak again, dozens of voices screaming for ambulances blasted from his radio.
There was no point. He looked down at the oldest of the two.
“Can you walk?”
he asked. The vampire nodded. Needless looked at the other, who wasn’t doing as
well. He took a deep breath.
A moment later,
Needless, with one of the injured vampires thrown over his shoulder, the other
running beside him, fought his way through the chaos, to the street where the
ambulances would arrive.
*
Wood splintered,
glass shattered and the doorframe was ripped from the wall as the Ironton
police rammed through the door into the kitchen. Only a few dozen feet away, in
the garage, Stack Fury and his temporary partner Callisto had discovered a
fertilizer tank filled with what Stack was sure to be discovered as the blood
of the Serenity victims. As the last slivers of the door jam fell, police began
to roll through the kitchen door and spread into the house.
Stack and
Callisto soon followed.
It wasn’t a
vampire home. The occupant was an elderly human, Warren Blevins. Stack feared
the worst. Something in his gut told him that the owner had no idea of what was
stored in his garage, or that the police were there. Callisto turned on his
flashlight and the two eased down the stairs to the basement, guns at the ready
for whatever they might find.
The musty smell
of the dank, unfinished basement hit them with a drop in temperature as they
descended the stairs. Their feet finally came to rest on the cement floor and
they began to look around the room. Unfinished wooden shelves lined several
walls, containing the bric-a-brac of a lifetime. Winter Season decorations, old
books, dust-covered board games and boxes were crammed onto shelves. Above them, the wooden beams creaked as the
Ironton police moved with all the stealth of a drunken fat man.
An old workbench
adorned another wall of the basement. A few tinkering projects laid unfinished
on the bench. Tools ranging in age from shiny new to decades old hung in their
proper place on a peg board mounted to the wall. While Stack had never been
here, he knew the place. It reminded him of the basement of his father’s house,
his grandfather’s house. His sense of dread grew.
Light trickled
through the grime and weeds covering the windows that sparsely lined the
wall near the ceiling. Callisto dragged his light along the wall near the
floor.
“You think we’re
looking for Blevins?” Callisto whispered. Stack nodded and moved his light
along the opposite wall. Finally the two lights converged on a freezer in the
corner. It was a large unit that opened at the top like a casket, the best
friend of hunters and fishermen. Stack and Callisto looked at each other and
moved toward the freezer. Stack sighed. It wasn’t large enough to hold a man.
Unless…
Stack’s light
fell on the old man’s frozen stare. Callisto surveyed the body and jumped back
with a gasp. Blevin’s frail, naked form had been snapped in half and stuffed
into the freezer. His throat had been slit. As Stack leaned in an ran his
gloved hand along the slit on the throat, his eyes came to rest on something
else. An emblem, about the size of a foam coffee cup bottom, burned into the old
man’s chest.
*
Charlie stared
into the girl’s eyes. Fearful and sultry. Deep, swirling pools that seemed to
want and warn him. He nodded.
“Kalista, what
exactly did you see?” he asked.
She smiled
gently. “It’s not something I can put into words easily. The images started out
slow but quickly grew faster.” She closed her eyes. “You are on the phone. You
are seeing newspaper pictures of The Serenity and blueprints. That was the part
that started making sense. You are very afraid. Mmmm, ‘Both, please’? Then things are a little disjointed. You are cold
and in the dark. Needless is there. There is a scuffle and then burning.”
Charlie
swallowed. “Somebody burns me?”
“No. Burning. A
hot green flash. Nothing you have ever known. This is where I don’t understand
what follows.” She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. The
images were too difficult to explain. Things she understood but couldn’t
comprehend. Words. Numbers. Movement. She opened her eyes and looked at Charlie
and shrugged. “All I can feel in the moment is Mathtalker. Does that mean
anything to you?”
Charlie looked
at her quizzically. He shook his head. “What happens next?”
Kalista looked
into him. “Black. Just blackness.”
“Like…”
“Death.” Kalista
murmured.
Charlie felt his
knees shudder. He had just heard the circumstances of his own death. He looked
at her. “Why are you telling me this? You don’t even know me.”
“I felt I owed
it to you. You…” She swallowed hard. “You confirmed some of my suspicions.”
“About
Manzetti?” Charlie said, regaining his footing.
She nodded.
“Yeah. I probably have said too much already.” She caught her breath for a
moment and headed toward the door. She moved out into the main waiting area.
Charlie rushed after her.
“Wait. Is he
after you? Does he have something on you?” He yelled after her.
“I don’t…I don’t
know.” She stopped and turned. “I don’t even know who he is or how he fits into
my life. All I know is that I feel him around me. I know he’s looking for me. I
need to get out of the city for a while.”
“Smiles…Stack…they
can protect you. You can help them find Manzetti.”
Kali shoveled
her hair back into her ball cap and slipped some sunglasses over her eyes. She
chuckled slightly. “They can’t even protect themselves from him right now.” She
opened the door. “Please don’t look for me.” She sighed. “And watch yourself.”
When the door
closed Charlie could feel the quiet of the room surround him. He shuddered
slightly.
*
Mayor Denizen
looked out of his window at the riot as it spilled out on to the streets around
center park. Behind him Smiles and Venect watched also. The Mayor’s aides and
staff seemed much more content to watch it all unfold on a bank of televisions.
They all groaned as one of the national cable news networks began running a
feed from the local affiliate. Things were not going well. Except for the
constant din of the overlapping newscasts, nobody spoke.
The Mayor put
his hand up on the glass. He had already been told that it would be pointless
and dangerous for him to venture down into the fray. His mind raced. His city
was falling apart and he felt helpless to stop it.
The phone rang.
One of the aides pulled himself away from the televisions and answered.
“Mayor Denizen’s
office. Yes sir. Yes. I understand. Thank you.” The aide hung up. Wordless, the
Mayor turned. The aide sighed. “That was the Governor. He’s mobilizing the
Militia.”
The Mayor’s eyes
lowered. Smiles and Venect looked at each other. The Mayor braced himself. “I’m
going down.” Aides stood, terrified. All shouting that it was too dangerous,
pleading with him not to go. “Enough! I am going down there. Tell the media
that I will meet them outside the main door.” He looked at Smiles. The Mayor
could feel that this man didn’t have a political bone in his body. He searched
Smiles face for justification. Smiles nodded. That was all he needed. “And
somebody get me a bullhorn.”
*
Phendra Ilken
sat in front of his television, watching the devastation unfold in the heart of
the city. He frowned that so many elves were being hurt. But it was for the
greater good. Everything was going according to plan. It was only a matter of
time before they would find the second marker.
Everything had
been prepared for. It had been so long since their name had surfaced. Soon the
police would find the symbol and their name would once again begin to strike
terror. An announcement that they were still alive, still strong, still
looking.
After decades
they had found the location of the first marker. The marker laid a thousand
years ago. It was the first step in the path to the ultimate goal. He just waited for the news that would mean
they could begin their move. He looked down at the ring. A ring older than the
city, older than nearly anything. The ring that declared him Mezo.
*
Throughout the
city, smaller riots were breaking out. Shop windows were being smashed and
stores being looted. The television was over and over again reiterating that
the free-for-all had begun and Big City was up for grabs. Racial dislike and
tension began to bubble up and spill over. Bars emptied as drunken patrons
began to join the fighting.
In the heart of
it all, Needless Action was trying to save lives. He placed the Vampire youth
into the arms of a waiting EMT who quickly worked to help the boy. Needless
watched for a moment, making sure that the boy was going to be all right.
“Is he going to
be okay?” Needless yelled over the noise of the riot.
“He’s in shock.
I need to get him to the hospital.”
Their
conversation was cut short by shattering glass. Needless’ head whipped around
to see a group or rioters approaching. They were pitching rocks at the
ambulance. They saw the two Vampires that Needless had helped and they began to
charge. The EMTs looked up, horrified. Needless turned back to them.
“Get them out of
here!” Needless helped the more-mobile Vampire into the ambulance. The two EMTs
pulled the other in and shut the door. Needless heard the engine roar to
life. He turned back to see the group charging, pipes and bottles
in hand. ‘Shit’ was his only thought.
The rioters
descended on the ambulance and Needless.
Feeling his
human blood erupt inside him, Needless pitched his shield into one and kicked
another one back. He felt himself gripped from behind and he used his attacker
as a wedge. He rolled back and brought his police issue boot up into the jaw of
another rioter. He then completed the flip and found himself behind the guy who
had tried to restrain him. As the surprised attacker turned, Needless drove his
helmeted head into the unsuspecting face of the attacker. The thug fell to the
ground. As Needless broke free of the group, he realized that the ambulance
couldn’t move because of the crowd that had gathered.
Without a
thought, Needless clambered to the top of the ambulance. Reaching the top he
found a young elf had scaled the ambulance as well and was kicking out the
flashers on top. Needless grabbed him by the nape of the neck and flung him
back down on to the street.
Inside the
ambulance the terrified driver jumped as a pair of black boots appeared out of
nowhere and landed on the hood in front of him. Needless Action pulled his
beloved Really Big Gun, Penny, out of its holster and slid down the hood into
the crowd of people attacking the ambulance.
He rocketed feet
first into a pumped up guy, lost in the moment, as he was smashing the
headlights. As the guy sprawled backward he jerked back, ready to smash a
skull. He found himself on the business end of the Really Big Gun.
“Penny for your
thoughts,” Needless blurted, staring into the guy. The guy scrambled to his
feet and moved back. The surrounding crowd also fell back as the crazed cop
began making wide, sweeping motions with the gun.
“Mother fuck! I
have been dying to use this all day! Please, one of you, give me an excuse. And
believe me, these ain’t rubber fuckin’ bullets! So, unless some of you want to
star in a closed casket funeral, you all best go home and let this ambulance
pass.” He turned to the driver. “GO!” He bellowed.
The crowd gave
the ambulance wide berth as it pulled forward, siren wailing, and headed off to
the nearest hospital.
Needless wanted
to arrest all of them. They all stared at him for a moment. He knew that he
couldn’t take them all out. He was a cop. He couldn’t take any of them out. He
would have had longer to worry, but that was when the armored military
personnel carrier hove into view.
A few moments
later the Governor’s Militia joined the battle.
*
Tim Carnaby
hadn’t left the lab all day. He sat eating goblin take-out with the traditional
slit bottom bowl. He had learned the method from a culturally aware friend at
college. Purists claimed it was the only way to eat Hot Kzeek Stew. Of course
the purists had their own slit bottom bowl, a Nok bowl. Carnaby, being only a
passing purist, used the cardboard one provided by the restaurant.
Hot Kzeek Stew was a two
phase meal. The spicy stew would be poured, steaming, into the Nok bowl. The
bowl would then be hoisted above the face, the head tilted back. The diner then
squeezed the malleable bowl (traditionally made soft wood with a lining of a
cave hog stomach) until the broth began to seep from the slit into their open
mouth. The person would then slowly enjoy the broth. When the broth was done,
the meats, fish and vegetables that had been steeped in the broth and strained
could then be eaten from the bowl in the second phase.
Carnaby knew that the
process wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Many a novice would squeeze too hard and
get scalded by broth, or at the very least ruin their shirt. Most people gave
up. Too much effort for soup. Carnaby, ever the perfectionist, made certain he
was a pro. It was great soup. If nothing else, it impressed dates and gave him
a reason to show off. If he ever had dates, that was.
He hadn’t eaten all day.
He had spent the entire day analyzing evidence from Serenity, and more was due
any minute. He was going to eat, dammit. He had been gorging himself on Kzeek
Stew, Highland Grass noodles and Underworld Dumplings (admittedly a human
concoction of blind cave fish and cabbage, but good all the same). It was the
first moment’s peace he’d had in what felt like days.
He had just lowered the
nok bowl to begin eating the stew’s fixings when his printer roared to life. He
rolled his eyes. A fax. Slowly a black and white image began to emerge from the
machine. The image was a close up of skin with some kind of symbol apparently
burned into it.
He put down his food and
gently lifted the picture from the tray. The phone rang.
“Carnaby,” he said,
lifting the receiver to his mouth.
“Tim! It’s Stack. I’m out
here in Ironton. We’ve got the truck you scoped. You were right, my man. It’s
stashed at an old guy’s house here. We found the home owner folded like a
wallet in a freezer with this burned into his chest. Can you find out what it
is?”
Carnaby stared at the
picture and nodded. He then realized that Stack couldn’t hear him nodding.
“I’ll see what I can turn up.”
“I’m sure you will.” The
line clicked and Tim listened to the dial tone for a moment before he hung up.
He reached into the bowl
and popped a chunk of meat into his mouth. He sighed through bites and turned
to his computer.
*
“It
is a scene you would think came from one of the oppressive dictatorships
elsewhere in the world. Tanks and soldiers patrolling the streets. Angry
citizens turning on police, firemen and emergency medical workers. Innocent
people being beaten, buildings burning. The frightening truth is …this is our
home.
Early
yesterday morning, an alleged vampire attack at the Serenity Club in the heart
of Big City’s trendiest area claimed the lives of 178 souls and left dozens
more struggling for life in area hospitals. Tonight unanswered questions,
racial tension and general anger boiled over into a full blown riot which left
14 dead, hundreds wounded and a city in shock.
What
started as a protest march from Center Park to City Hall, prompted by EVUN
spokesperson, The Elfnigma, turned deadly when a live sunshine grenade was
thrown into the gathering protesters. The riot began so quickly that the riot
police standing by were completely unprepared and soon overwhelmed. In an
unprecedented move by Governor Haljis, the Militia was soon called in to put an
end to the violence.
The
riot lasted nearly four hours before police and military were able to break up
the rioters. During the four hours, Mayor Denzien and the team he has assembled
to help the community in the wake of the Serenity Massacre took to the streets
to help comfort the wounded and plead with ordinary citizens to stop the violence.”
The scene cut to Mayor
Denzien standing atop a car yelling into a bullhorn.
“I
promise you. Justice will be done. It will be swift and fair and no race will
be targeted. But this fighting has to stop now!”
The mayor’s comments were
cut off mid-sentence as the scene returned to the anchor.
“The
Militia, local law enforcement and the mayor’s office have issued a curfew for
the next 36 hours. For now Big City remains in a state of forced quiet. Fire
fighters are still battling some blazes in the center of the city, but
estimations of property damage during the four hours is still forthcoming. We
here at BKKY will keep you up to date as…”
Smiles switched off the
television. He leaned back against the headboard and took a long drink of
whiskey. He had been put up in a hotel room for the duration of the crisis, sequestered
and on call to the Mayor’s office. Outside his window, the lights of the
military, police and the fires created a second daylight. He tried hard to put
the events of the day out of his mind. He hadn’t slept fully in almost two
days. The three or four hours of alcohol induced sleep the night before hadn’t
provided any rest.
He stubbed out his
cigarette and kicked off his shoes. He glanced at the clock. Quarter past one.
He shifted and re-shifted his body until he was prone on the queen size bed. He
stared at the smoke alarm light on the ceiling as it throbbed gently. He closed
his eyes.
He thought again of his
father and of Gina. He hadn’t thought about the pictures in hours. Possible
proof that his sister was still alive. It raised a hope in him that didn’t sit
well. He was used to being alone. His father. His mother. Gina. All gone.
As he exhaustion took him
he thought of how proud Gina would have been of what he had done that day. It was the sweetest thought he’d had in a
very long time. An instant later, the middle-aged gumshoe let loose a snore
that gave the vampire Venect, sitting in bed in the next room, reason to
chuckle.
*
Stack awoke with a jolt.
Callisto flashed his badge to the checkpoint guard who waved them through. The
car accelerated. Stack was slumped back, nearly wedged between the door and the
seat, his arms folded against his chest, sore and numb. Callisto looked over
and chuckled.
Sunlight was beginning to
stream out from the behind the mountains to the east. A wave of pain ran
through Stack’s neck as he sat up in the seat.
“Good morning.” The pudgy
detective laughed.
Stack peeled his tongue
from the roof of his mouth and nodded slowly. “How long was I out?” He looked
at his watch, which told him nothing.
“You went back out to the
car about four to get something and I found you passed out there. You’ve been
out for a couple of hours.”
Stack smiled. “Thanks.”
“No problem. I got kids. I
know it’s best to let them sleep. We wrapped everything up in Ironton. They’ll
be transporting the fertilizer truck to Big City in a couple of hours. Blevins’
body is already in the hands of the Ironton M.E.”
Stack nodded. The streets
were strangely quiet. It was the weekend now, but traffic still seemed to start
up about now. Then Stack began to vaguely remember getting news of the curfew.
He felt hung over. He wanted a Java
Jalopy Double Shot in the worst way. He prayed she’d be out tooling the empty
streets, looking for him.
He ran his fingers through
his matted mess of hair. He needed a shower, badly. “Any word from Carnaby yet?
On the symbol?”
Callisto shook his head.
“Nothing yet.”
Stack could feel his gut
again. That nagging itch that told him that this wasn’t a vampire attack.
Something else was at work. But what? Why make it look like vampire? He knew
the symbol was the key. He half closed his eyes from the glare and tried to
send all his thought energies to Carnaby.
*
Laura sat propped up against her headboard. Something wasn’t
right, she could feel it. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was
in the air. An unease was floating in this nearly perfect moment. Outside, the
Big City dawn held the promise of a new day. She could smell the coffee brewing
in the automatic coffee maker two rooms away. Charlie breathed gently, his head
resting on her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair and watched his
head gently rise and fall with every breath she took.
It was a perfect morning
but there was a smudge. In the back of her mind she was uncertain. Like one of
Stack’s absent-minded sculptures, on the verge of collapse for no known reason.
She knew it wasn’t the Serenity Massacre. While horrible, she was fairly immune
to that type of news. She had to be, it was her job. No, there was a second shoe hanging in the air and waiting to
drop.
She and Charlie were
quickly approaching their second anniversary. Charlie had fit into all the
spaces in her life that she had been unable to fill. The excitement that he and
all the people this relationship had brought to her seemed to fulfill her. Her
life before Charlie and Smiles and Stack and Needless had been fairly
uneventful. He brought with him an energy that seemed to overtake the jaded
righteousness that seemed to fill her days before. She was now a woman of
action. A strikingly un-journalistic thing for a journalist to be.
It had almost cost her her
life on several occasions. The car accident while chasing down the lake
monster. The crooked cop who almost killed her and T’lea. Countless other
dangers she’d started facing. She had almost lost him, too. But she found, in
her heart, that she wouldn’t trade it for anything. She had a new found zest
for life. All because of Charlie.
She wondered for a moment
if she was in love with Charlie…or the life she now found herself in.
Laura had arrived late
home. The rioters were starting to disperse. Nothing more seemed to be coming
from City Hall. She called the night editor and said she was going to get some
sleep. Her hands hurt from the writing she had done all day. When she had
arrived home, Charlie was already there. He’d been drinking, didn’t seem to
want to talk. He just wanted to be with her, to hold and kiss her. To make
love. Maybe, she wondered, that was what was making her uneasy. Something was
bothering Charlie and he didn’t want to tell her.
Charlie quivered in his
sleep. Laura looked down and smiled. Then she let her head roll back onto the
headboard. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the morning. She drifted
back to sleep.
*
Needless sat alone in the
booth at the Gobblin’ Goblin, watching as the Big City streets began to come to
life. Life goes on, he told himself.
His coffee seemed to help maintain the adrenaline buzz from the past 24
hours. The club, the riot. He swallowed hard. Even without the riot, sleeping
was not on his agenda. His gut hurt too much. He had lost the first woman he’d
ever loved.
He looked into the gently
swirling black of his coffee and thought of Sioux.
He had been taken off of
riot duty sometime after midnight. His thoughts were filled with nothing but
Sioux and the desire to make it right with her. He returned to the station,
showered and rushed to Sioux’s apartment. After several knocks he had used the
key she gave him.
The furniture was still
there, but all her personal stuff was gone. Clothes, pictures, toiletries, all
gone. He found a letter to him on the counter.
“John, I am leaving. I know you didn’t mean for the
things you said this afternoon to affect me as deeply as they did. I know you
would never hurt me intentionally. The problem is, John, I have been denying
who and what I am for a very long time. I didn’t want to face the fact that I
am a vampire. I have struggled for a very long time to assimilate myself. To
sleep in a bed rather than a box. To deny my heritage. The events of the past
day have thrown that all back in my face.
So
I am leaving. I am going to stay with family in my ancestral home. Please don’t
come after me. I know you and I know your passion. I need this. I need to find
who I am. Thank you for your love. “
Needless looked up from
his coffee. His head spun from the swiftness of the end. A clean break. No
chance to defend himself. No real goodbye. He thought of her tenderness after
the ordeal at the clinic. The two weeks they’d spent at sea. The love they’d made.
His gut twisted again. He shook it off and realized that he had bent the spoon
absent-mindedly.
It was going to be a long
day. He finished up his cup of coffee.
He had to find Stack.
*
Stack pulled the towel
around his waist as he stepped from the shower. He never favored bathing at the
station, but there wasn’t much else to be done. There was too much to do for
him to go home. He thought of Arrow and realized that he hadn’t fed him in two
days. He tried to remind himself to run home later and feed him. He stepped to
his locker and began extracting a fresh set of clothes. As he slipped into his
spare jeans, Breen entered and sat on the bench near him.
“Hey Cap,” Stack said,
toweling his head again.
“Long couple of days?”
Stack chuckled. “Yeah.”
“So what’d you find out in
Ironton?”
Stack sat on the bench and
buttoned his shirt. “It’s a mess. If it was a vampire sect, why would they
drain the blood and truck it down to Ironton? Why would they slit Blevins’
throat? And the sheer size of the attack. It’s not adding up. “
Breen sighed. “Well, it’s
about to get a whole lot more confusing.” He held out a manila folder. Stack
opened it to find crime scene photos. “These are the vamps you took a look at
in the warehouse yesterday. Riddled with bullets and blasted with a sunshine
grenade. We thought it was a retaliation killing for the Serenity but the M.E.
said it happened before the news really started to break.”
Stack looked confused at
the twisted bodies in the picture. “So? Drug deal? Purist blood market?”
Breen shook his head.
“Their teeth match bites on the Serenity victims.”
“What?!”
“I had the lab boys run
them just to be sure.” Breen leaned in. “But check this out.” He pulled out a
close up of a tattoo. “Each one of them had this.” Stack recognized the body
art.
“They were Viss Kvazan?”
“What do you know about
them?”
“Purists, blood market
hoods. We pick them up for hate crimes, vamp supremacy stuff. But it’s all
penny ante shit. Vandalism. Assault. They’re on the watch list but…nothing like
I saw yesterday. It’s too big. They’re small time hoods, really. Last night
took planning, took money. Viss don’t have the resources.” Stack sucked a
mouthful of air. “Oh…man.”
Breen knew the brain was
on it. “What?”
“What if the Viss were
brought in as goons?” Stack was shuffling the photos.
“By a larger group?”
“Even non-vamps. Opposite
but equal motives. Another group.”
Breen wanted to stick his
hands into Stack’s skull and massage the brain. “How would that benefit them?”
“Driving a wedge between
vamps and everybody else always suits the Viss. They’re anarchists.
Anti-vampire retaliation would feed their cause. Make them the heroes.”
“So what happened? Why’d
they get whacked?”
“Double cross? They’d
served their purpose and were cut loose.” He looked at Breen. “We’re dealing
with some ruthless people. They’ll kill anybody. They have no regard for any
kind of life. But what do they want? A political statement? Revenge? What? This
was a planned, strategic attack. This wasn’t a random act of violence. This was
stealthy and deliberate.”
Breen stood. “I need you
to find out who this group is and what they want. I got a call from Bledsoe an
hour ago. If we don’t have some answers in the next few hours…the Bureau is
taking over.”
“Oh shit.”
“Exactly. I need some more
answers by noon.” He patted Stack on the arm.
Stack breathed deep.
*
Carnaby looked at his
watch. Too early. All of this…too early. His coffee steamed gently in the
morning breeze. He looked again at the address. He refolded the paper and
shoved it into his pocket. He bounded up the steps to the brownstone and turned
the antique doorbell knob. He waited a moment, looked at his watch, reaffirmed
the address and rang the bell again.
A moment later he was
shocked by the sound of a window above him slamming violently open.
“What the bloody hell do
you want?!?!” Came the haughty, foreign voice. Tim backed out from under the
porch roof and looked up. Three stories above him a man of late middle age,
salt and pepper hair tossed about on top of his head, and hand-holding a ratty
terry cloth bathrobe around himself, was sticking his head out the window. He
was comical looking, but furious. “So?! What do you want?”
“Dr. Elrich Chandler?
I’m…uh…here about your web site.”
“Oh shit. Another role-playing
idiot. Go away!”
“Actually. I’m a sci-fi
dork. But I know a lot of gamers. My name is Tim Carnaby. I’m a forensic
detective with the Police Department. I discovered your web site while
investigating a piece of evidence.” The old man seemed unconvinced, but more
open. Tim reached into his bag and extracted the photo that Stack had sent him.
“It seems to be a brand of some sort. We discovered it burned into the chest of
a murder victim. One connected with the Serenity Massacre. I found the same
symbol on your web site.” He extended the picture above his head.
Dr. Chandler adjusted his
glasses and seemed to stop breathing for a moment. He ducked back inside and
the window slammed shut. Carnaby sighed. A moment later the front door opened
and Tim Carnaby was invited into the first solid lead in the case so far.
*
Smiles took a long drag
and leaned back against the marble column. Here he was, helping to save some
lives at the behest of politicians, and they wouldn’t even let him smoke inside
the building. Over the last few hours the militia guards had gotten to know
Smiles rather well. The first couple of smokes he came down for, he was frisked
and his ID checked. Now he just made the international symbol for cigarette, a
two fingered “V” moved back and forth in front of pursed lips. The guards just
chuckled and waved him through now.
“Do you have a light?”
Smiles was surprised by the female voice that seemed to come out of no where.
He turned. His eyes met a pair of pale green elf eyes. They twinkled. She
smiled. “Sorry. I gave this up a week ago.” She chuckled. Her black hair,
flecked with the blue, was cut into a bob that swayed with a fluidity as she
stepped toward him. Her pant suit gave nothing away but still teased Smiles
into imagining, if only for a moment.
She stopped close to him. “So, sorry, I don’t have a lighter.”
“Not a good week to quit.”
He lit his lighter. The woman rested her wrist on his and cupped her hand to
protect the flame. As she pulled gently on the cigarette with her lips, and the
cherry flared, her eyes rose to meet Smiles’. His face suddenly felt to him
like weather beaten leather. Like he should apologize; ‘sorry, my good face is
at the cleaners, I had to throw this on.’ The woman stood up and joined him in
leaning against the column. After her first drag, the woman pinched a tobacco
leaf off her tongue with her thumb and pinky and flung it to the brickwork
walkway. Smiles could only think one thing…’Holy shit! She’s smoking
straights.’
“What a horrible couple of
days.” She said, looking at him. He nodded. “I have barely been home in 18
hours.” She looked over and extended a hand. “Sue Bley’na. I work for the
Department of Diversity.” She looked over and smiled at a passing militia guard.
“Robert Johnson. My
friends call me Smiles.”
“I know who you are. Your
father nearly built our department from the ground up.” She looked at him with
a wry smile. “We have a conference room named after him.”
“He would have been
proud,” Smiles chuckled.
“You smoke filtered?”
Smiles looked down at his
smoke. “Yeah. I haven’t smoked straights since…I was at the academy.”
She turned and held out
her pack. “Here take one.”
Smiles chuckled. “Oh! No
thanks. I’m good.”
Her reply was slightly
more emphatic than Smiles expected. “I really think you should take one. It’s
going to be a long day.” The twinkle left her eye for just a moment. Smiles
glanced down at the pack. There, sticking out of the pack like an offered cigarette,
was a note.
Another guard moved past
them both. Sue winked at the guard, who smiled.
The twinkle returned to
Sue’s eyes. Smiles slipped the note out and dropped it into his own pack. “Ah!
What the hell. It’s like riding a bike.” They both chuckled.
“Well, catch ya later.”
Sue said, dropping her cigarette to the ground and crushing it under foot.
Smiles watched her walk away. She was still beautiful, but now there was
something else. Something dangerous. Smiles hated the fact that a hint of
danger made him want her even more.
A couple of minutes later,
Smiles stepped into the elevator, the door slid shut. He quickly unrolled the
note:
“4th
floor ladies room. 10 minutes.”
Smiles returned the note
to his cigarette pack.
*
Charlie pulled up into the 15 minute parking
outside The Herald. Laura rifled through a few things in her bag. She stopped
and looked over at him.
“Thanks for the
ride. Will I see you tonight?” She smiled.
Charlie nodded.
He took a deep breath. “Kalista Danae came to see me last night.” Laura looked
at him, stunned. “It shook me up a bit. That’s why I haven’t been…myself.”
Laura felt a
lump in her throat. “What…happened?” She feared the worst.
Charlie smiled
weakly. “No…I didn’t sleep with her.” Laura’s shoulders visibly eased. “She
told me that she had visions that I was in danger and might…die.”
The pit of
Laura’s stomach dropped. It was worse than worse. “How did she…”
“It has
something to do with Serenity. She didn’t know what.”
A panic gripped
the journalist. “You have to leave town. Go get away until the whole thing
blows over. That’s the deal right? She tells you because you can change
things.” She caught herself. “Did you believe her?”
“She believed
herself. Which was enough to convince me. I just…”
“Just what?”
“Look I can’t
hide out. Smiles needs me. Stack and Needless might need me. If I can help
solve these murders…I have to try. I’ve been in danger before. I just have to
be extra careful.”
Laura nodded.
She wished he would get out of town. Go up to the Skion valley for a week. But
she knew that he was right. She felt the responsibility too. She leaned in and
kissed him, hard. She wanted the kiss to go on forever. When it ended, her eyes
fluttered open and Charlie’s face was out of focus through tears.
“Please,” She
said. “Go home and just try to stay out of trouble as best you can.”
Charlie nodded
and smiled. “I will.”
Laura stepped
from the car. The pit of her stomach never rose again. That was never a good
sign.
*
Smiles eased
into the ladies room. As he stepped through the door the only sound he could
hear was the echo of the hinges. He scanned for signs of life, nothing. He
stepped into the room.
“There’s nobody
on this floor today.” Came her voice. She stepped out of the stall at the far
end of the room.
“No?”
Sue ran her
fingers through her hair and looked in the mirror. “No. This is a public floor.
Marriage licenses, stuff like that. With the building shut down, this is a dead
floor. “
“I assume this
isn’t a romantic rendezvous.” Smiles smirked.
Sue looked away
from her reflection, to him. She smiled wryly. “No. You seem to be the only
person in this entire building that I can trust. And if not trust, at the very
least, rely on.” She moved to him.
Smiles’ brow
furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I am privy to a
lot of information from a lot of sources. Something is about to happen and I
can’t let it go on. “
“How do I know I
can believe you?”
Sue held up a
small shoebox. “Open it. I think this will let you know that I’m not full of
shit.”
Smiles put the
box down on the edge of the sink. He looked back at her and then down at the
box. He lifted the lid. His breath caught in his throat.
*
Needless crashed
into the seat across from Stack. Stack looked up from photos of Serenity. The
two looked at each other for a moment.
“Any headway?”
Needless monotoned?
“No. I’m waiting
to hear from Carnaby. He’s out on something and his phone is turned off. Any
sleep?”
“No. Where’s
Callisto?”
“Gone home for a bit.
Checking on his kids. This is all hitting him kind of hard.”
There was a pause.
Needless looked at his hands. “Sioux is gone.”
“Gone…like…”
“Gone, gone.
Left town. She packed up her stuff and left. I didn’t even get a chance to say
good bye.”
A quiet settled
over the two desks. Both men deep in thought. The moment was shattered by
Stack’s phone. The detective’s hand rocketed out and snatched the receiver from
the hook.
“Forray.”
“Stack! It’s
Tim. I’ve got something. It’s huge and you’re not going to believe it. I have Dr.
Elrich Chandler with me. He’s an iconologist and historian from BCU. He knows
what the symbol is.”
“Bring him in.
We need to talk to him. Time is wasting. If we don’t have something to the
commissioner in the next hour, the Bureau is taking over the case.”
“Well that’s the
problem. He doesn’t want to come in. Once he saw the symbol he freaked out. You
have to meet us.”
“Dammit!” Stack looked at his watch. “Okay. Downtown. Near City Hall. Clarence’s! That pub at the corner of Whedon and Carter. That way, if this is the information we need we can take it straight to Bledsoe.” The two hun