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The story so far...
Louie Greenthorpe is a vampire. He is living in the Greenthorpe Mansion,
on the outskirts of the town of Greenthorpe. He is the subject of local ghost stories.
Some children decide to explore the mansion, but run for their lives when they catch
a glimpse of Louie. Majo, a wandering jeweller, meets them and goes to investigate
the mansion. She meets Louie and feels like she trusts him, but is horrified when she
learns that he is a vampire. While trying to escape, she trips and hits her head,
losing consciousness. Outside, one of the children's fathers, Theodore Thatcher,
arrives. He learns of Majo, and enters the mansion to make sure she is okay.
Louie is leaning over Majo's body, and Theodore assumes the worst. In the ensuing struggle,
Louie kills Thatcher, and hides the body before Majo regains consciousness. When she does,
she finds herself unharmed and realises she can trust Louie. Louie decides he must leave
Greenthorpe, and the two depart together.
Kaz is a mercenary, and goes on a mission to steal data from a military base.
He is the bait, and flies his ship above the base, dropping bombs while his comrades
carry out the theft. The base's nuclear reactors explode, sending his ship hurtling to
the ground. When he regains consciousness, he sees his comrades are happy. When they realise
he is alive, one of them offers to kill him for a share in his wages. Kaz kills them.
Kaz goes on a vengeful killing spree against the Carrotus military. On one
morning-after-the-night-before, he wakes up to see a bag of money, indicating that he has been
hired.
Jargon Random is technomancer: he combines engineering with sorcery. He lives on
Diamondus, where a war is raging. One morning John Radin, a friend from his Order,
arrives at his door and tells him they must flee. The city is being invaded. Jargon
grabs his autocaster and some food, and leaves with John.
Tony Waterbeck, renowned racing pilot, is practicing one day when he sets off an old
Shellian defence system. Some Shellian fighters respond, and pursue him around the galaxy.
He decides to head for Carrotus in the hope that they will destroy his assailants.
when he gets there he finds he has to maneuvre through the Carrotus asteroid belt.
With his attention thus diverted, a Shellian shot hits his left wing, sending him
plummeting towards Carrotus. He crashes in an empty field just outside Greenthorpe.
He heads for a building he can see in the distance.
Verity works in a Tavern on Diamondus, for a rabbit named Eddie. Secretly, she is also
working for him as a hacker, supporting one side in the Diamondus War. Her town is a dangerous
place. Nobody knows who is on which side, and food is hard to come by. Every day, she thinks
about the poison in her medicine cabinet. She is on the edge of despair.
Tier is an Arcania Zombie. He is effectively invincible, but it takes a while for
missing body parts to grow back. He must feed on the living to prevent himself from rotting.
He prowls around Carrotus, looking for prey.
Thomas Bradhurst, a Greenthorpe councillor, receives a letter from a company wishing
to establish a factory in Greenthorpe. He finds out the land they want is held in a trust,
and sets off for Orleton to talk to the trustees. He is told that the land can only be sold
once the trust has passed to an heir. He leaves for the Carrotus Central Records Office
to find an heir. The trustees, not wanting to lose the profitable Greenthorpe estate, send
some thugs after him. They ambush Tom in a forest. He escapes, but trips, rolls down
a slope, hits his head, and loses consciousness.
Unfortunately, Theodore Thatcher has become a vampire. A TV crew and a group of marines
arrive at the mansion to investigate the rumours, and are devoured. The video makes it onto
the internet, where it is found by Schism. Schism is an organisation that preserves the
Masquerade, the system by which the general public is kept unaware of the existence of
supernatural creatures. Alexander Garand, a Schism agent, is sent to sort out the problem.
On his way to Greenthorpe, he is attacked by werewolves.
Diallo Kalu, a resident of Muckamok, receives an unsettling call from a telemarketer.
He subsequently gets into a fight in which he shoots his opponent in the leg. He calls an
ambulance. Diallo does not appear in the story again.
An unknown female rabbit is staying at an underground "monastery". There is
unpleasantness in her past, including her sister having developed a poison called Jade Dawn.
In small amounts, it dulls the senses. When aged and mixed with water, it causes severe
bodily damage. It is eventually banned, to be replaced by Cherry Blossom (see ch. 2).
When she first arrived at the monastery, she was disturbed by nightmares, and woke up
screaming. Eventually, she forgets who she is.
One restless night, she goes to the waters from which they all drink. She throws
herself in, and an undercurrent carries her to a seperate cavern, where Jade Dawn is being
poured into the water by three of her siblings. The Jade Dawn is eating away at her,
and they pour a substance over her to neutralise it. She escapes and tries to warn the other
siblings, but they do not believe her. She escapes into a lift to the surface, but a
Jade bomb is thrown after her. She reaches the surface mutilated and blind.
Icarus and Naomi were once lovers. Icarus was accused of killing his family.
Though he was found innocent, Naomi's father forbade her ever to see Icarus again.
Icarus and Naomi meet again on Carrotus. Icarus has been smuggling refugees away
from Diamondus. Naomi agrees to help him with one more trip, before he is to settle down with
her on Carrotus.
Jesse Aimon witnesses his house burning to the ground, his family inside. He refuses
help from his neighbour, Miss Savon, whom he knows to be a spy. Presumably, she started the
fire. Dawn comes, and Jesse leaves.
ShaH-li Felenzo Orbonzen is hired by Andrew Ricarden asa bodyguard. He is attempting
to exploit dreempipes fuel. Neither character appears in the story again.
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The story so far...
Louie and Majo learn of the severity of the Diamondus war and the impending arrival of refugees on
Carrotus.
King Jazz announces that Carrotus will not become involved in the war. He also announces that refugees
will be able to go to Medieval, Carrotus' first moon, and that camps will be set up in the Peddleburg woods,
to the north of New Carrotus, and to the north of Oakloma.
Louie decides that his mansion should be used to house refugees. He learns that Greenthorpe's council
has voted to tear down the mansion. He and Majo return to Greenthorpe to visit Thomas Bradhurst. They arrive
to find that Tom has left, but are attended to by Gary Parker, candidate for the governorship of Peddleburg.
Louie and Majo are apprehended by two of Gary's thugs. There is a violent struggle, in front of a hall full
of people. Louie gains the upper hand and learns who sent them. He and Majo steal two horses and head to
Orleton. On the way, they find and rescue Tom. They set off for Prestbury.
Normal transport between Diamondus and Carrotus ceases. Refugee ships are all that will be making the
journey from now on.
Kaz enters the employ of a battle-scarred individual, probably a rabbit. He is sent on a mission
with a turtle who he nicknames "burnt". His left arm is mummified, the other is burnt. They plan to divide
an alliance of gangs by framing one side for a Jade Dawn attack on the other. They go to Crystallis to get
the Jade Dawn, and end up leaving with the mutialated rabbit from chapter 10. They arrive at a city on
Carrotus where they abandon her before staging the attack.
Jargon Random and John Radin get into fight at the spaceport, then steal a private shuttle and escape
Diamondus.
Tony Waterbeck briefly explores the Greenthorpe mansion before heading into town. In a tavern called
"The Crooked Carrot", he asks if there are any spaceports nearby. He is directed to Oakloma. He leaves, and on
the way comes across Louie, Majo and Tom (Continuity issue: He finds them in the place they have just left).
Verity's lover Raphael comes to her tavern. He brings with him two blue lizards and a grimy rabbit, all
armed with fusion lasers. They kill Eddie. The rabbit tries to kill Verity, but Raphael intervenes. He is
killed.
A month later, Verity locks up her apartment and heads for a spaceport. In exchange for fixing their
computers, she hitches a ride with Icarus and Naomi. They are not sure whether or not to trust her.
Michelle, whose brother was killed a few days previously by a vampire in Greenthorpe, comes across
Tier. When she finds out that he can kill vampires, she gets him to accompany her. She persuades him to
infect her, so that she too becomes an Arcania Zombie. They attend her brother's funeral before trying to find
his killer.
Susan Bradhurst is ushered to a Greenthorpe Council meeting where they discuss the deaths of the TV crew
and the marines, and the appearance of Louie at the town hall. They agree that the Greenthorpe mansion is in
urgent need of demolition.
Tom wakes to find himself in a hotel room with Louie, Majo and Tony. He finds out that Louie is a vampire,
and is forced to accept that vampires exist. He is told of Louie's desired use of the Greenthorpe mansion,
and agrees to help. They return to Greenthorpe.
Susan and Tony investigate the site of the proposed Peddleburg refugee camp, and discover signs warning
of radioactivity. Tom finds a loophole allowing Louie to claim ownership of his mansion. Louie goes to the
mansion to deal with Theodore, and a struggle ensues.
The mutilated rabbit from chapters 10 and 15 is found by Erditine, who agrees to take her to Pneum
Arlik. Erditine names her Neoma and takes her to the Mills of the Giants. There, Neoma feels a stone gateway
and remembers that she knows this place. There had been magic creatures there. Erditine is killed by
a creature Neoma is unable see. The creature says it will kill her, but first cures her blindness.
Verity has now fixed the computers and they are on their way. Icarus is sloshed. Their ship comes under
attack.
Jesse is arrested under a false (but still weak) charge. The police are evidently corrupt, and when Jesse
tries to leave there is a scuffle. A fire starts and Jesse escapes. The building is consumed by flames, and
Jesse leaves.
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The story so far...
We learn that Louie was "killed" by a vampire called Estella.
Louie wins the fight with Theodore, finally decapitating him. He rescues Alexander Garand. When Alexander
learns who he is, he points his gun at him. The gun is loaded with miniature stakes. He changes his mind,
and Louie knocks him unconscious.
Gary Parker arranges a fake job interview with a young lady, who he kills. It turns out he is a vampire.
Jargon and John arrive on Carrotus and part ways. Jargon uses his autocaster to make a companion
robot from his old robot's CPU and crashed spaceship junk.
Verity realises that Naomi's ship is trapped in a synthetic orbit around Diamondus, the apparent distance
of the planet a mere projection. They return to the surface of Carrotus. They see the burnt-out shell of the
police station in which Jesse was held captive. They go to a tavern (The Marinated Pearl) where they are
approached by Jesse. Verity thinks that he is Jonathan, Jesse's father, and is somewhat less than pleased to
see him.
Michelle and Tier come across a dead werewolf and a guy who tries to kill them with a "cookie cutter".
Tier kills him. Tier eats the werewolf and Michelle eats the guy. They head off for Greenthorpe again,
and eventually reach the mansion.
Gary kills his grandmother, who has been donating money to his campaign from her secret stash.
Louie takes Alexander to the Bradhursts' house. Louie tells him that Theodore has been dealt with.
Alexander tells them of the Masquerade.
While they are cleaning up the mess at the Greenthorpe mansion, Michelle arrives. She demands to see
her brother's killer, and learns that he is dead and buried.
The creature makes life very unpleasant for Neoma. Something tears through Neoma's skin, and the creature
forces Neoma to look at the words she has carved: Her name, "Estella". Neoma remembers that she had once been
called Yakira. Two creatures, one white, one brazen, appear and fight. Something emerges from the surrounding
forest and engulfs Estella. The next thing Estella knows, she is running towards Greenthorpe mansion.
Jesse's father was a general, who has done something unforgivable towards Verity and some unspecified
others. Verity is forced to accept that Jesse may not be Jonathan. Icarus realises that Jesse was involved in
the police station fire. Verity reveals that Jonathan was responsible for the deaths of Eddie and Raphael.
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The story so far...
We learn that Estella loved Louie. She left him for his own good.
Alexander Garand reveals that Gary Parker is powerful in the underworld, and that even the werewolves
worship him. There is a great enmity between the werewolves and the vampires.
Gary Parker is associated with the trustees of the Greenthorpe estate. Gary's plans are coming together.
His inheritance from his aunt has made him a multi-millionaire.
Louie, Tony and Tom go to inspect the mansion. A lot of progress has been made. As they leave, they
come across Yakira. They take her to Susan, and Louie promises that he won't let any harm come to her.
Icarus forms a plan to escape from Diamondus: Coat the ship with Tetracolyhydroxide. It is a controlled
substance also used as a hallucinogen. It is only available on the black market, and at a high price.
Jesse obtains it for them. As he leaves the place of purchase, the lizard who sold it to him reaches for the
telephone.
We learn that Verity is going to Carrotus to be bitten by Louie.
Tier is feeling left out. Tom gets him to fill out citizenship papers so that he can vote. Tier recalls
how he became a zombie: He was in battle, and zombies entered the fray.
Refugees start filling up the Greenthorpe mansion. Gary Parker wins the governorship. Yakira reveals her name and the name of her assailant.
The group in Greenthorpe is divided over whether or not to kill Gary Parker. Alexander decides that it is their problem, and opts to return to Schism headquarters.
Tony, while tending to Yakira, gets some jade Dawn on his hand. When he tries to rinse it off, it makes his entire hand bleed. Nobody can identify the substance as Jade Dawn.
Michelle and Tier reveal that they can sense hundreds of werewolves surrounding Greenthorpe: Gary Parker is seeking revenge for his defeat there in the election. The refugees barricade the Greenthorpe mansion. Alexander decides to stay. Tom tries to call the townspeople to arms, but only four people show up.
We find out how Gary became the monster he is.
Adrian, who was in the police station Jesse burnt down, is being questioned. Adrian is an experienced spymaster, working for the government. He becomes a renegade to get his revenge on Jesse.
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The battle for Greenthorpe begins. After a long battle, in which Tony is seriously injured. The werewolves lose.
Louie heals Yakira. Majo walks in while this is happening, and thinks that he is ravishing her.
The victory is followed by a modest but long-lasting party.
We learn that during his period of solitude, Louie was visited by a mysterious old man.
Following a botched TV news report, the lawyers Cholmondely & Smith disassociate themselves from Gary Parker, but he kills them.
It is implied that, at some point, Tier spent 154 years trapped underground.
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Chapter 41: A dinner and a showdown
Susan and Yakira had excused themselves earlyer this evening and were sound asleep by now. Thomas remained tat the mansion to watch over the refugees as the settled in and tried to make the best of their situation.
Louie enjoyed having a bit of time for himself after several hectic days.
He had spend many years in solitude and being surrounded by so many people all at ones was only something he knew from very distant memmories.
His body was tired but he knew he had to enjoy the few moments he got for himself and tried to make the best of it. The news channel showed reports of the situation on Diamondus, hundreds of soldiers would die for a greater cause as the southern troops marched on to the northern borders. Diamondus looked more and more like damnation by the day.
Louie looked around the room and even though this house was a lot smaller then his, he knew this made a better home for the group. The cozyness, the warmth his new family gave him.
Little by little emotions started trickling back into his soul that had been empty for so long.
Everything around him felt more alive and more real then anything had in his dead house.
A portrait of Susan and Thomas hang over the fireplace, staring into the room overlooking it’s visitors. They were a happy couple and he was hoping that they would still be when and if all of this madness ever ended.
He thought of Yakira, the little creature that through her own pain and suffering made him realize that there was a world of people out there to watch over.
She alone broke through the shell he had build up over the years and he had allowed her in with open arms. He thought of Majo, the girl that had taken a liking to him and whom he had dissapointed so much. Even if it was not his fault, he felt an incredible guilt.
How would he ever explain and would she listen to him if he did?
He rubbed his paws through his eyes, sleep was taking over. Louie decided to get some sleep, but a knock on the door held him out of the grasp of a slumber just as he was about to ascend the staircase.
Majo gave him a filthy look, she was disgusted by him. “Listen, you got it all wrong.” He said in a tone that lacked compassion nor regret. It might still take him a while to pick up those traits again. She did not respond and walked straight passed him without considering him to be worthy enough for a second look in the eyes. Majo dissapeared up the stairs and when she had closed the door of her bedroom behind her he whispered ‘I’m sorry.’ And he ment it from the bottom of his still heart. He looked down at the ground and scratched himself behind the ear. “I don’t know what you did, but you sure blew your chances to score with that one.”
Louie did not turn around, he recognized the voice of Alexander.
He felt like responding but lacked the energy to pick a fight and without a word he walked up the stairs to finally get some rest. “There’s time enough to sulk about her later. We have more important things on our hands then love affairs.”
Gary Parker walked through his dining room. The necassary preperations had been made and the sparkling plates and glasses stood in long rows on the massive oak tables.
The finest white satin clothes were layed out and enough staff would be available tommorow to meet the guests every desire. Cholmondely and Smith’s bodies had been disposed of in an orderly fashion. The last trace of Orson Cholmodely could be found on Parker’s napkin that dangled from the pocket of his suede cloth nightrobe.
The senator turned and faced the empty room that would be filled with people tommorow.
“Ladies and gentlemen…’ He started and chuckled with satisfaction over his achievements.
“Rise for your new master.” Gary sank down on his knees and raised his hands towards the heavens above. “Not even you can stop me now Carrotus. I will feast on your women and swim in the blood of your men.” His screams echoed through the room as it grew darker. Even the light seemed to fear this man. There was one person however, who did not.
A soft applause could be heared. ‘Very impressive.’ It felt as if even her voice carressed his skin. He turned around and looked into the most beautiful face he had ever seen.
The monster in Gary calmed down and followed every movement of her erotic physique with hungry eyes. He shook his head and pulled himself together.
Estella with her golden curls and innocent look approached the monster without fear and stood still next to him. “Are we having a party?”
Gary’s hand shot out and grabbed her by the troath. All she could do was smile at the brutality of this man. “How dare you enter my house?”
She grabbed his hand and looked deep into his eyes. His grip loosened and she took his paw into hers as her face moved closer to his. “I want to form and alliance.”
Everyone was sound asleep that night untill Alexanders Closed Circuit Communicator started beeping. He jumped out of bed and got into his clothes as fast as he could. Minutes later he stood in the hallway. He was greeted by a worried Susan and a slightly annoyed vampire who were the only ones who had not slept through the sound of his CCC.
“Is everything alright Alexander?” Susan asked worried when she saw the panicked look on his face. Alexander immidiatly shook his head. “I have to go. There’s something amiss at my headquarters.” He wanted to rush off but Louie stopped him.
“You can’t go alone. You should at least take Tony with you.” Tony showed his head, as well as Majo and Tier, who had just gotten back from a hunt.
“I’m going with you as well.” Majo said right away. The thought of being away from this place made heading into danger sound not all that bad.
“Let me get dressed.” Tony said right away.
“The rest of you better head back to bed. We have to get up early in the morning.” Louie said to Susan and Tier.
The latter one raised his shoulders and went off to his room again seeing as how he did not care to much about any of this anyway.
Alexander tried to contact Shism several times while everyone got ready for the trip. “Find out what you can” He told Louie who took place against Yakira’s door and raised his thumb. Outside the three were greeted by Michelle, who had returned from her nightly business. Something seemed different about her, she seemed a bit healthyer and more at ease then she usually was. “Your coming with me.”
Thomas got home in time for breakfast and got an update on last nights happenings.
Tier gave a little cough to ask for everyone’s attention. ‘I will join you this evening if you do not mind. I myself am wondering what mister Parker is up to.’ He looked at Louie who nodded. ‘That’s settled then Thomas and Yakira will accompany us.”
Susan felt an urge to object but the comforting hand of her husband on her knee made her hold her breath and figure that they would need him more then she would tonight.
Yakira enjoyed being able to eat by herself again. Her sight had not restored and Louie would ocassionaly shove something she wanted within reaching distance for her.
“I can not wait to go dancing.”She said as if she did not have a care in the world and as if nothing bad had happend over the past few days.
No one around the table could find it in their heart to make her feel any different.
Alexanders group had managed to rent themselves two horses and were making rapid progress. The cold wind swept across Tony’s fur. Majo sat behind him and held him tight. It was an interesting experience to travel in such an archaic way. The bigger city’s were filled with the most modern means of transportation. The contrast between those cities and the countryside was so vast. She was used to archaic means of transportation however as she had walked miles and miles on foot. To her this felt better then the big cities. Lush forests and open plains. Sleeping under the starlit sky and the adventure and excitement of not knowing what was lurking behind every corner. Tony enjoyed all of this to a lesser extent.
He had been a racer before he came here. Always struggeling to be just a little faster then the last time. Loved and admired by the people back home. Here he wasn’t, he had to struggle but it had never been this hard before. He had faced death closer then ever before.
He never believed the other rabbits when he heard them say that a person can change. He was that person now though. He thought he could stay that happy go lucky racer forever.
But that was before he had almost died by the hands of a werewolf. This was a new world to him. A world of treehugging vampires. A world in which rockstars with bad attitudes hunt down mythical creatures that should have stayed in their books. And a world in which accounts picked up arms and turned into generals.
In this worlds friendships were formed within a single battle. And when the dust settles you realize they’ve already left you for a place in the heavens where they joined the goddess, but he believe that same goddess must have brought them here to aide these people.
He believed he had a purpose in a life. And that feeling made him stronger then he had ever felt before. Even if he was uncertain.
He looked to his left. Alexander and Michelle rode next to him. Two wonderful people to have around in a situation like this he thought. He felt Majo’s breath is his neck. He would fight to keep them all breathing untill this thing was over. Well, except for Louie ofcourse.
Alexander had still not made contact with his headquarters. The silence on the other end of the Com device felt more threatning every time he tried.
They would soon arrive and he knew what could be in store for them. He looked at Majo and shook his head. He had dragged an innocent girl into this. There was no way she would be able to make it thought all of this. Even he had a hard time fighting off the werewolves, but he was lonely in the fact that he could never let it show. One of shisms first lessons. Insecurity spreads like a disease. Michelle returned to her senses still oblivious of the things that had happend to her last night, she met Svez and the other creatures and they had taken her to some place. Apart from the dry blood in her fur and the taste of raw meat in her mouth she had no clue of what she had gotten herself into.
A strange sensation made her aware that she had said goodbye to innocence however.
Susan looked over her husband and their guests. “You all look very charming.”
Her husband was wearing his finest suit. It might not have been the newest or most fashionable, but she thought it made him look like quiet the handsome rabbit.
Tier was wearing one of Thomas’ older suits which weren’t exactly a snug fit.
He also had to use half a bottle of cologne to mask the smell of dead and decay.
He’d be alight, as long as no one wanted to shake his hand to firmly.
Yakira was wearing the dress Susan wore in celebration of the 500th festival of the moon. She had met her husband there and decided to move from the busy town to this quiet village.
Yakira looked beautiful as opposed to Louie who was wearing one of his own suits.
Time had been rough on it but Susan had done her very best to patch it up and cover the holes formed by the moths who must’ve thought of it as a delisious snack.
Susan enjoyed the few chores she had to do for the greater whole. Thomas’ wife prefered staying on the background. Away from danger, helping the people that needed her.
They heard the horses being halted to a stop outside of the little house and went outside.
“Senator Parker sends his compliments, please enter.” A creepy looking toad said, bowing deep enough to be kissing their feet. His smile bared his disgusting, yellow teeth.
The first guests arrived at Gary Parkers mansion, just outside of Greenthorpe.
Parker sat at the head of the largest table accompanied by the vice president of Carrotus, Neela Jasu, she occasionaly threw a smile at Parker as he looked at her. But this man made her feel uneasy. Her mother told her never to trust a man who’se hair is shinyer then a bed of ice on Lake Tamhu when the frost had started to set in. He looked slick and everything there was about him was, in the eyes of most of his guest, absolutely perfect.
She could feel there was more to him then that however. Gary Parker was a man who wanted to much. Her father had been that kind of man. He had protected her as they grew up, but he was never happy enough in life. He always said that great things would happend to him one day. He worked as a clerck at a lawyers office but he wanted more. He wanted to see his name out there on the front sign in big, golden letters. One day her father had started to come home with exact the same glint of power in his eyes. From there on it all went down hill.
Her mother who worked in the local flowershop was not good enough for him anymore and he left home one day and left young Neela in her care. Jason Jasu got what he wanted.
His name still stands, proud golden letters glimmering in the sun. The glint of power took away her father and she was now confronted with it again, in the eyes of the man next to her.
He must have wanted to take over her position more then anything in the world and she didn’t feel save. She did not know why, but she just did not feel safe.
Torque Nafas, a buff turtle enjoying every bit of attention he could get sat on the other side of Gary. He waved when the camera’s of the press were turned in his direction. Torque, head of the royal guard and official represent of the king had never made a secret of his support for his friend. His glass was filled again by the monster using Gary’s hand and smiling at Torque.
‘You could prove to be very useful.’ He thought.
The carriage arrived just in time for dinner. The four latest arrivals were greeted at the door by a small rabbit who shook his head. He was clearly displeasured by the arrival of these slobs. Well, the girl was alright. “Interesting choice of clothes, gentlemen. May I have your names.” He said, making sure to avoid eye contact with these filthy beggars.
“Bradhurst and… friends.” Thomas said, he was sure that the little man at the door would let them in right away after hearing his name.
“Who?” The rabbit said. Mister Bradhurst was slightly displeased.
“Thomas, dear friend.” A fat rabbit wearing a shabby brown suit that made theirs look very fashionable indeed walked outside and pushed the little man out of the way. It looked as if his pants could barely contain his enormous stumach. He reached out his hand, dripping in gravy. Left overs from the ‘little apetizer’ he must have enjoyed before the feast began.
“How are you my boy?” The fat man said. It seemed as if he sang every word and he let out a small pant after all of this. Going through the tremendous efforts of gnawing on everything edible in sight must have really worn him out.
“Hello Montgomery. It’s a pleasure to see you here.” Thomas was grateful to see him and his smile was a warm one. Montgomery knocking over that annoying little man was reason enough to smile. “I take it you are not very hungry?” Louie whispered to Tier who shook his head in return. “You’d better see if you can find Parker’s office, there might be something useful in there.” Tier nodded, he liked it if things were kept simple.
Louie and Yakira were introduced to Montgomary and the guests sat down at the table.
“Dear ladies and gentlemen. I present to you, the new governor of Peddleburg and my good friend, Gary Parker.” Torque Nafas belted through the room and his words were followed by a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. “Like sheep to the slaughter.” Louie mumbled. Thomas mimicked an applasure and Yakira searched for Louie’s hand.
“It’s so loud. I can heard all of them.” She turned her head to face him, the wounds around her eyes had started to heal and for a moment Louie thought she could see him.
“Thank you my good man. And how nice of all of you to show up here. Please feel free to get drunk at my expense tonight, we are celebrating after all.” With those words Gary began his speech. And his four years of lies and treachery.
“We’re there.” Alexander stopped his horse quiet abruptly near the small village of Tahamo. “But we are in the middle of nowhere.” Tony cleverly stated.
Majo was excited and jumped of her horse at the sight of Tahamo.
She had spend several months in the peaceful and archaic village untill she left it because she thought that life on the road would be much better then getting stuck in one place. Lots had happend since then and she had second doubts about her initial decision.
Her excitement grew when Alexander walked towards the town. She let out a small scream and ran for it, as quick as her feet could cary her.
Alexander turned around and looked at Tony who raised his shoulders. “Don’t look at me man. I don’t know what got into her.”
The small clay houses of the village lay spread across a peaceful hill. A quiet and peaceful place enjoying the last few rays of sunshine of the day. The animals sought up eachothers company and lay on their bellies in the tall grass.
And the rabbits, old and young alike made sure to take their time with everything they were doing. An attractive young girl enjoying a picknick with several of her friends waved at Tony.
“Looks like you’ve still got it champ.” Michelle said. The girl was just about as old as her she was much more alive unfortunatly. And that would most likely be one more thing she’d never have. Love. Most guys would pick a girl with a pulse over her any day of the week.
“Your still the loveliest girl I’ve met since I’ve crashed on this planet.” Tony said and he quickly stroked her arm. Something in his eyes gave her new hope.
“I’d better…” Tony started pointing at Alexander. Michelle nodded ‘Ofcourse, ofcourse. We’d best make sure his friends are alright.” They both stood there looking at eachother for a moment and then Tony ran to Alexander.
Majo overlooked the village, the church that stood at the very center of the hill. Overlooking the marketplace in which several occupants were busy exchanging goods, haggeling, enjoying the many warm delicasies and meeting their friends. Majo looked to the right of the marketplace. A great willow tree provided the bench in front of it with plenty of shadow.
“Keith.” Majo’s memmories of that place were fond, she had spent quiet some time there with the only young man she had ever truely loved. He would take her there and always have a basket ready filled with the most delisious goods and fresh yellow roses that smelled so wonderful. She had left the village because she was afraid to get settled. Even though she loved this young man more then anyone. Her free spirit took the overhand and she left him promising she would return to see him one day. How she wishes she would’ve stayed here.
That would’ve made everything so much easyer.
“Majo, are you coming?” Michelle waved at her and pointed at Alexander who just entered a local tavern. Majo made a gesture showing them that she’d catch up with them.
She needed some time to be alone, she wanted to meet some of her friends and visit the places that now seemed so distant to her.
Majo knocked on the door of a small cottage, a fresh layer of yellow paint had been applied after she left. A planter box in front of the window was filled with yellow roses, she plucked one and let the smell carry her back to the days of yore.
The door still creaked in the same way as it used to and auntie Gerda still looked the same.
“My dear Majo.” From behind her glasses her little eyes peered at the girl in front of her and she opened up her arms. “Oh, auntie Gerda, I’ve missed you so.”
The hardness of the cold travelling and the many hours she had spend in solitude were shaken of in an instant now that she was safely in aunties arms. “Come inside dear, please I just made dinner.” Majo entered, the sweet, old lady always made sure she had plenty of food incase someone would drop by as the often did. “Have as much as you want my dear, you look like you could use it. I want to hear all about your travels.”
Tier walked through the silent hallway. His ability to detect life forms proved the be very useful on his stealth mission. A guard nearing him might be nice enough to tell him the location of Gary’s office. If Tier managed to motivate him enough to share this kind of information. With the proper pressure, everyone was nice enough to reveal something though.
Tier hid in the shadows and patiently waited for the right moment to jump out and knock the guard against the floor. Before the poor man knew what was happening he had Tier’s foot on his neck and looked down the barrel of his own gun.
“I’m going to lift up my foot, and you are going to tell me where Gary Parker’s office is. Is that understood?” Tier raised his foot and the guard gasped for breath.
“Please, please don’t kill me. I’ve got a wife and family.” Tier cocked the gun.
“I asked you a question, answer it and I will let you live.” The guard sobbed and stuttered as he pointed Tier in the right direction.
“You’ll find that I’m a man of my word.” He struck him hard with the back of the gun forcing the guard to take a nap.
He hid the body in an antique trunk that was occupying the far wall and continued to Gary’s office, which was unguarded. How convenient.
The door was unguarded, but locked. The small lock was not much of a challenge to Tier, he broke trough the door with his fist and pulled it out of the doorframe.
‘This is all a little too easy. And too easy is never good.’ He thought as he stepped into the neat and tidy room. An all to familiar smell hid the dirt that had been removed from the eye. The scent of death, many a rabbit had lost his life in this room.
Gary’s desk seemed like a logical place to start, but apart from a rotting apple core, several work related papers and five pens ordered neatly by colour, it was empty.
Tier walked around the room, past an aquarium full of exotic fish from the farthest depths of the ocean. There were even some in there that he had never seen.
‘You’ve got quiet a nice place for yourself, don’t you Gary?’ He said to himself staring into the clear water that seemed to glow in the reflection of the bright light above it.
A bookcase caught his interest. It seemed like mister Parker had quite a nice collection of books on the occult. “A brief history of demonology’ by Alconsus Foley, ‘Plunging into the shadows.’ By Adelaide Sylphor. Tier let his hand glide across the many books untill he spotted something that took his breath away. Methaphorically ofcourse.
‘Chronicles of Bruhn. How did you get your hands on this.’
Bruhn was a mythical being, the creator of darkness and the father of all that is evil.
He was born in a time in which there was only good. Bruhn was born with an unhealthy dose of curiousity however. He wanted more out of life and this blinded him to the beauty of the paradise around him. There were lands to explore outside of the first city, lands that were untouched by men before, for everything the people needed could be found inside the city.
He lead a group outside of the gates with the permission of the great leadress, Carrotus. She had granted him permission, not seeing any harm within this young man.
His group had settled far away from the great city in a dark and desolate landscape. The darkness grew on them and the joy for life had left their bodies as they absorbed the darkness around them. The need for entertainment arose and they retorded to sick and twisted games.
They conjured demonic creatures made up by Bruhn and set loose in a pit to fight eachother to the dead. But the people wanted more and more. And the land on which they used their foul magic began to rot underneath their feet.
Bruhm passed on some of his magic to seven of his subjects so that they would divide across the planet and shape the world in the image of Roth. The first settlement of the evil-doers.
Eight settlements had formed around the great city, but it still wasn’t enough. And as it often goes with megalomaniacs, Bruhn wanted to much.
He began an attack on the city and stories say that he destroyed millions before he came to his end. His body died, but the magic in him had grown to strong for his soul to dissapear into nothing and he was imprisoned far underneath the planets surface.
There were only two of these books left in exsistence and one of them was here, right in front of him. He reached out his hand but as it touched the surface of the book a liquid substance sprayed out of it covering his hand. It started to eat away at the flesh and would soon eat its way through his hardened bones. He quickly pulled the book from the shelf but it only came half way. He could hear a click however and heard something slide away behind him.
He walked through the office as his hand softly hissed while the flesh dripped onto the ground and the acid started gnawing away the bones.
Tier walked to the closet where the sound had come from and when he opened the door a staircase that led down into the darkness was revealed.
“Well, here goes nothing.”
Louie looked through the room, his eyes shifted from one person to another.
Tier was taking quiet a long time, he would have expected him to have shown up already.
He scratched his arms and noticed he was rather nervous. He shook his head.
Hordes of werewolves were no problem, but here he was sitting between all of these people in the bright light that shone from the chandelier above his table.
Those beasts they had fought earlyer could care less about his appearance or the fact that he somehow had been risen from the death. It was different with this crowd, people peered at him and exchanged whispers. A young boy a few seats away from him kept staring at him and quickly looked away when he noticed a woman, appearing to be his mother gave him a dirty look. She smiled at him and threw him a fake smile. In the hope that would suffice as an apoligy for her sons rude behaviour.
Everything had gone so fast the past few days and here he was, letting the words of Parker fly by him, dissolving in thin air. Since all of it were lies anyway as far as he was concerned.
He adjusted himself in his seat once more, just to appear busy and evade the looks of the curious. Yakira had taken a spoon between her thumb and index finger and lightly tapped the side of her cup with it. The man across from her turned around and coughed.
‘What’s your problem buddy?’ Louie blurted out and he immidiatly wished he could have taken it back. It was never in his nature to be very rude. Unless someone really deserved it ofcourse. Like Alexander Garand. The man scratched his throat and quickly turned around to listen to Gary Parker again. Louie took the spoon out of Yakira’s hand and placed it back on the saucer. ‘We’d best not draw to much attention to ourselves.’ He whispered at her.
Yakira was at ease. The pain she had gone through over the past few days seemed so far away. And she was here with two man of whom she was sure that they would protect her with all their power. Louie, whom had been there to look out for her and had not left her side by to far. She did not know why he went through all this trouble, maybe he needed someone to save because nobody had been there to save him. She wasn’t sure and she didn’t dare to ask him.
And then there was brave Thomas. The ordinary man who had been plunged into this, his home invaded by these colourful figures. Yet he was here, in the den of the dragon. Because he had to be here, for them and for the countless people that he was lying to.
Thomas had also been nice enough to give all of them a place to sleep and to allow her to heal. She was very grateful to him. Thomas was following the speech more closely then the others. He grew madder with Gary Parker by every lie he heard.
He would turn Greenthorpe back into the wealthy village it once had been and restore the crippled economy of the region. But at what cost, he failed to mention that.
He promised safety for all of the refugees the region could handle. But the truth was that he wanted to tear down the mansion, which was safely blamed on someone else.
Who had surprisingly dissapeared from the political stage and was now enjoying a nice vacation. The press hadn’t been informed of his where-abouts because the person in question would rather be left alone.
Tier had better hurry up, a security guard was trying to contact someone and it seemed like there was trouble.
Tier entered a small room with an interesting and beautiful altar in the middle. A large marble stone covered with specks of gold and a sticky, red substance. A small pool of what appeared to be rather fresh blood surrounded the base of the altar.
As Tier looked to his left he saw a sight that would’ve made every regular persons stumach turn. A pile of fresh corpses lay stack neatly in a corner of the room.
He recognized the politician that had dissapeared days before over the mansion scandal. Several beheaded bodies of what appeared to be young girls made up the rest of the pile, there clothes torn from their bodies and chunk removed from it. As if someone returned here to eat from them every now and then. A small card lay on top of a small table filled with strange and no doubt occult relics. ‘Cholmondely and Smith legal team.’ It read, followed by the adress, a business card. He stopped dead in his tracks when he was faced with a depiction of Bruhn.
‘He’s a worshipper.’ Tier took a few steps back and almost stumbled over the base of the altar. ‘Time to get out of here.’ His wrist stung which was a good sign, his hand had started to restore itself. He grabbed the old drawing from the wall and stuffed it down the pocket of his suit and took a sprint up the stairs.
He closed the office door behind him and ran down the corridor. He detected several life signs, the guard had been found and his exit was blocked. There was no way for him to get back to the others undetected.
Alexander entered the bar followed by Michelle and Tony.
“Hey Leandra. How’s business.” Alexander walked over to the lady behind the bar and gave her a quick kiss. She looked quite worried.
“I’m glad your here, I haven’t been able to get into HQ, nobody is replying.” He held up his CCC. “I know, I’ve been trying to reach them myself. Did you hear or notice anything out of place?” She shook her head, she had been here ever since Shism broke contact with her and then nodded her head in the direction of the two rabbit standing behind him. “Can we trust them?” That’s all she had to know, she didnt care about their names or where they had come from, as long as Alexander said they were alright by him then they were alright by her.
“You can trust them, let’s go.” Leandra led the party to a backroom filled with barrels and kegs and Alexander threw her a strange glowing device.
“You know the routine, twist to the left two times and then to the right.”
They both pushed a keg out of the way and each removed a loose tile in the floor to reveal a small slot. After she had done her part Leandra headed for the door. “Please be careful, you don’t know what’s down there.” She adjusted her shirt and headed back into the tavern.
“Get your weapon ready Tony.” Alexander waited patiently for exactly one minute, then a screen popped out of the side of a wall, it had been there all the time but was cleverly disguised as one of the bricks in the wall. He manually entered a code, followed by a retinal scan and a voice regonation. “Alexander Garand. Open up (-).”
The floor under their feet seemed to dematerialize and the slowly sank down. “This might feel a little strange, just, hold on to your hats.” The plunged into the darkness that had formed beneath them and fell down at an incredibly high speed. Michelle and Tony both screamed in panic but after a fall of several seconds they slowly stopped and felt a strong wind blow over their bodies. “Reversed sucker tubes.” Alexander explained. “They keep us stationary, we are checked here to see if we are not carrying in any strange diseases or unwanted guests. We will most likely skip that process now since nobody seems to be here.”
The sucker tubes calmed down after a minute or two and they were graduatly brought down to the ground. Alexander opened a small door to the west of them. “Welcome to shism headquar…” He got cut short in his sentence. “Oh god, no. NO!”
The floor was scattered with bodies, bathing in their own blood. Computer screens smashed to pieces. They had descended into hell. Tony hauled up his breakfast by this gruesome sight.
“M…monsters.” He stuttered as he whiped the corners of his mouth clean and felt his stumach cramp up. “Who could do such a thing.”
Alexander was horrified and walked around aimlessly looking for survivors while his brains told him there weren’t any. It screamed that he should get out of there.
An idea supported by Michelle. “I’m sorry for your loss, I really am, but we have to get out of here as fast as we can… There’s something still here.”
“He’s in trouble.” Louie got up and walked out of the dinner hall, followed by the eyes of several of the guards who started talking trough their ear pieces. Two buff turtles followed him out. “Here we go.” Thomas said, more to himself then to Yakira who he grabbed by the arm and dragged with him after Louie.
“Excuse me sir, you are not allowed to enter here.” They were stopped in a hall, over the shoulder of the buff guard Louie could see another one being calmed down by some of his collegues, Tier had definatly been here. The vampire smiled at them.
“But gentleman, I’m sure we can come to some sort of understanding.” He grabbed the big one by the neck and kneed the other one between the legs. He bared his fangs and moved closer to them both “You let me pass and I’ll let you live.”
“Oh, that’s a briljant idea.” Thomas shouted, but when he saw that the rest of the guards drew their guns he kicked in the door of a room and quickly threw himself and Yakira against the floor. Bullets flew through the air and several of them hit Louie in the chest.
A misconception in the world of demons often is that vampires do not feel pain. If only this were true. He grabbed for his scythes only to discover he had left them home incase they would get searched. Several more bullets pierced trough him and the blood spat out against the walls around him. He made a leap for the group of guards, feeling countless bullets ripping him apart so very slowly. “Looks like you could use a hand.”
Tier showed up behind the group and grabbed the heads of two guards, smashing them together with such a great force that they spat apart like ripe fruit.
The guards were now the ones that were surrounded and kept firing away at the demons in front of them. No matter how many bullets they would fire, the men in front of them would not go down. Chunks of flesh were seperated from bone, one bullet went straight trough Tier’s heart and he had not let a single sound escape from his lips.
“Lay down your weapons.” A strong voice behind them echoed trough the hall.
Torque Nafas held a gun aimed straight at Louie’s heart. “I know who you are, Greenthorpe. And you are not getting away with this. I place you both under arrest for taking the lives of four innocent men. And don’t try anything funny. If I am not mistaking, silver nitrate can end your pity existance.” Louie frooze, or, his body did. Self preservation over everything.
Tier did not hesitate to move either. He wasn’t friends with this vampire but he could prove to be rather useful. Louie would dispose of Torque easily if it hadn’t been for the fact that he just lost so much blood in the fire fight.
Thomas overheard the conversation that took place in the hallway, he peered around the corner and saw Torque standing with his back towards him. He did not hesitate for a moment and ran in to him with all of his power, he knocked over Torque.
“Quick, this way.” The three of them ran back into the room just in time to avoid a rain of fire from the guards that had made their way to the hallway.
A large, glass window provided to be the only way out. There was no time to hesitate, this wasn’t a time to ponder and Thomas knew this, he took a deep breath and jumped through the glass with his hands in front of his face and his legs crossed. The window broke and shards of glass flew through the air, some bits cutting its way trough Thomas’ skin, but he could not feel pain. There wasn’t any time to feel pain. Soon the guards would enter the room and start shooting at everyone that was still in there. Tier was the next to jump and safely landed on his feet. “Yakira, trust me.” The poor, helpless girl had looked forward to this night so much, this would be her night. She should have been dancing, she deserved to be dancing and these bastrds had taken all of that away from her. What did she do to deserve all that had happend to her? Louie picked her up and carried her in his arms, the guards had entered and fired away, the wounds had turned his fur into a stick, red mess. “Out of the way, you fools.” Torque shouted and he aimed the gun at the vampires heart a second time, there was no hesitation this time and he fired just as Louie jumped. The bullet had barely missed him flying into the wall and falling apart there. “After them! Get after them!.”
A stagecoach was parked right in front of them, as if Carrotus herself finally blessed them.
The several shots the guards fired all missed their target and the stagecoach rode away into the night leaving the enemy behind in a dustcloud.
The carriage arrived at the Bradhurst residence later that night.
“We can not stay here, pick up Susan and get ready to leave this place. I’m afraid this place is no longer safe. We are going to have to leave Greenthorpe.”
Louie knew this was the only thing they could do.
“What about the others, how will we find them again?” Yakira said in panic. “We can’t just leave them behind and clueless about these happenings.”
Tier shook his head. “The vampire is right, there is no other option. We should take all we can carry and leave this place.”
Something was still inside the Shism headquarters and it had noticed it was not alone…
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Mythical Escapes
It was the end of the academic year at Relwick University. Tom and Jay were alone in one of the many computer labs.
"Engineering? Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Jay, incredulously. Tom was somewhat taken aback.
"The world needs engineers," replied Tom. "There aren't enough of them about."
Jay couldn't believe what he was hearing. They'd been doing the same course for a year. He'd seen Tom almost every day, and had witnessed nothing to suggest that he was having any trouble with the material.
"But you're good at this stuff!" he protested.
"Am I? I've looked at next year's stuff. There's no way I'll be able to keep up. Besides, I don't see the point. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who hates mythology subjects. They're just not my thing. I want to help us advance into the future, not wallow in the past."
"Oh, don't give me that (rhubarb). This isn't wallowing in the past. This is about beliefs which people all over the galaxy live by today, and will continue to live by in the future. I know you aren't a believer yet, but you can't deny..."
"Yet?" Tom interrupted. "When are you going to get it into your head, I'm never going to believe this stuff."
Jay knew he'd gone too far, but he couldn't back down entirely.
"Fine. But don't get (annoyed) the day I say 'I told you so'."
"Fine, I won't."
"But you'll still have thrown away a year of your life."
"Yeah, I know. But there's nothing I can do about that."
* * *
"For his extensive studies, especially in the field of extra-sensory perception in quasi-vampiric entities, it gives me great honour to announce that Jayden Lyle has been granted the title of Doctor of Vampirology."
The gowned academic handed Jay his diploma. They shook hands, and the audience applauded.
After the ceremony, Jay walked to the Explanatory Notes, a small pub he and Tom had been to a few times before. They met fairly regularly, and were still good friends. Tom was sitting at a table towards the back. He had an ale for himself, and an orangeade for Jay.
"Hey, man. Congratulations," said Tom.
"Thanks," replied Jay, sitting down opposite him.
"How was the ceremony?"
"Good. And by 'good' I mean 'long, drawn-out, and boring'."
"Good to hear you had fun, then."
"Yeah."
The conversation meandered on for a while. Jay described the highlights of the ceremony. Tom described his progress in his own studies. They reflected nostalgically on the years they'd known each other.
They talked until 6 o'clock, when Tom had to leave to catch a train. He was meeting up with a girl he'd been talking to online, called Susie.
Tom knew he wouldn't be seeing Jayden for a while. Jay, on the other hand, knew this would be the last time he'd ever see Thomas.
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Chapter 42: One Last Job to Do
Schism, supposedly the greatest counter-force to the supernatural, lain to waste. It was unnatural. The bodies were strew about with no discretion, some with limbs lopped off, others with holes blow clear through their torsos. Almost all were contorted in some way or another. Computer screens left smashed and broken. Alexander couldn’t even see his own ankles through the blood bath, let alone the once shimmering steel floor. Everything was coated in an ethereal darkness, as almost all lighting had been destroyed. To the three unfortunate souls that were forced to bear witness to the aftermath of whatever events had just occurred, the scene gave a fairly clear image of hell.
Tony was the second to speak after Michelle. “Hey chief…wha…hmm…” Words understandably failed to escape him. Alexander turned back slowly and looked into Tony’s eyes. Pupils dilated and breath wavering, Alexander remained equally as speechless. Michelle on the other hand remained distant. Had she not been dead, she certainly would be experiencing a heart attack. So close. So close was the thing that created this destruction. Oh god, why would nobody listen to her, she thought. Suddenly, a disturbing calm overcame her. A second-death was staring from behind, and she felt it’s cold eyes against her neck.
“We’re about to join them.” She said, indicated with a rotting claw towards one of the dead rabbits around her feet. Tony fumbled a bit with words, before meekly nodding in agreement.
“Boss…we gotta leave.” Breathlessly spoke Tony, almost to the point of inaudibility. However with a gleam in his eye, Alexander looked sharply at Tony, and then to Michelle. “I’d advise running kiddos. I’ve still got a job to do.”
Michelle inhaled, about to argue before Alexander cut her off. “You say something’s still here? I want to meet it.” Michelle needed not to give a reply, as the lurking horror began shifting as if to answer anyway. Practically frozen in time, they watched the blood ripple and wave. In the dim lighting, Alexander could barely make out a blurry shape, until a grey hand larger than even his chest slammed on the ground, sending more waves through the blood. Each finger however, was a shade of purple and orange, with worms tearing through it’s flesh. Finally, ancient white hair flown from it’s knuckles and floated on top of the surface of the blood. Another hand, this time with large black claws instead of fingers slapped into sight on the other side. Finally, the muscles contracted and pulled the rest of the body slowly forward. The arms, similarly grotesque but thankfully covered by more hair came into sight, finally connecting to large sockets located at the base of a cyndrilical body, protected by a loose hanging kite of obsidian colored armor on large gold trimmed chains. Finally, with one finally pull, a head loomed out of the darkness, completely grey and wrinkled, and lacking all facial features spare three evenly spaced, perfectly round holes where it’s eyes and mouth should have been. A faint, rhythmic whistle came from all three holes, suggesting breathing. Overall, the monster rose almost twice as high as Alexander who was a giant on his own standards. This was the stuff of nightmares.
Alexander huffed. “I’ve seen better.”
Alone on a window seat, Majo stared out into the setting sun. Flickering across her mind were memories, wonderful ones, about childhood, life, love… Her Aunt Grenda placed a paw on her shoulder. A smile danced across Majo’s face, breaking up lines in her cheeks that formed over her travels. She finally resolved to give up her travels. But firstly, she needed to set up her life again.
“Auntie…do you have a room I can unpack my things in? I think I’m going to be moving back in with you for a while.” Her Aunt lit up like a candle.
“Oh of course sweetheart! You’re always welcome here! Let me go make a bed for you and you can settle right in dear.” With a flourish, Grenda turned on her heels and scurried upstairs and out of sight. Meanwhile, Majo amused herself with more thoughts about her newfound lifestyle. Fantasies of opening a small shop, making a garden, and settling down again almost brought a tear to her eye. Suddenly, only one thing occupied her mind. Keith.
When her Aunt came returned from upstairs, Majo asked her about Keith.
“Hmm, Keith. Well, not much happens in a small town like this. If I can recollect, he still lives just down the lane, working for the military or something.” Grenda answered with furrowed brow and hard thought. “But I’ve been getting battier and battier. Tell me, why do you want to know?”
Major’s heart almost stopped. A flood of dread came down on her like a hammer.
“I’ve got to see him. Right now.” With that, she bolted out the door and blindly started down the dusty road. Her Aunt called after her. “Wait! You should at least take a bath before you start kissing boys again!”
But kissing him was Majo’s last concern. Please let it not be Schism, please let it not be Schism. I don’t want that again were the thoughts playing through her mind like a record. As she overcame the final hill, all thoughts escaped her. There Keith was, outside raking leaves in his own yard. He had not taken notice of Majo, who by this point was barreling down like a bat out of hell. At the last moment, he looked up to see Majo, arms outstretched leaping towards him. He had less than a second to go “Whoa SHI-OOF,” before being tackle hugged by a hysterical Majo. Together, they tumbled to the ground and rolled to a stop. Keith rose up above Majo, and looked down at her. His blue eyes moistened slightly.
“I told you I’d return someday.” She whispered eagle-sprawled. Keith gave a small chuckled and replied with a smile.
“You smell terrible.” They threw their arms around each other, and Majo’s smallest concern suddenly shot to pole position. Their lips met, right as the sun finished it’s descent beneath the horizon.
The beast slammed it’s right clawless hand down onto ground, sending large waves through the blood. Anyone would be able to figure that it was getting agitated, and that definitely wasn’t good. However, descretionless Alexander couldn’t have cared any less.
“Haha, you think I’m scared of you? Huh? Answer me you grey (-).” He yelled and cursed at the thing, only to get the same steady whistling as a response.
“Hey, sphincter face! I’m talking to you!”
Tony cleared his through. “Boss, I don’t think it can hear you, and if it can it’s got no intent on replying.” Again, the thing raised it’s fist and slammed it into the ground, twice in succession this time. Tony blinked for a second. “Why isn’t it ripping us apart right now though?”
Michelle answered. “I don’t think it can see us.”
“Can it see thi-“ Alexander interjected
Tony asked a question to cover up Alexander’s obscene gestures. “Why do you think that Michelle?”
“It’s got no eyes.” Tony was taken aback by the simplicity of the statement. All of the insanity abounding made him unable to see the obvious. In an attempt to recover some minor dignity, he chuckled.
“Huh, guess that makes sense. But if it’s blind, how else do you think it’d move around?” Michelle fell silently thoughtful and raised a finger to her chin. The thing slammed the other fist into the ground this time.
“I think that it tries to feel vibrations in the ground to find things. But with all this blood pooling on the ground, it’s probably obstructing it’s senses. It’s slamming it’s fist in the ground, probably trying to send out waves, kind of like echolocation.” A wicked grin appeared on Alexander’s face.
“So if it’s blind, that makes it easy to kill.” He sloshed forward with a little difficulty towards the monster. Suddenly, it stiffen up and ceased moving. It pivoted to face Alexander.
“Wait, stop! It can feel your movement!” Michelle called out a half-second too late. A massive cable like arm whipped out from the creature’s backside and wrapped itself around Alexander’s chest, squeezing his arms tight to his body. It began to crush his body with a fierce tightness. A single thought raced through Tony’s mind: I’m going to die.
“Susan, if we stay, we die! I know it’s difficult but-“
“No Tom. Absolutely not. This is our home, and I’ll be (-)ed if we have to leave it!” Louie and Tier relaxed downstairs in the Bradhurst’s living room on what might be their last time there. The fight carried on above them for what felt like hours, as Tier and Louie half eavesdropped half didn’t care. Tier was standing up pouring himself a flue of fine wine while leaning against an old record player. Louie had an arm behind his head and lazed on their sofa. More muffled shouting could be heard through the house, so Tier blew the dust off a record and delicately set the needle down on it.
“Didn’t Tom say it’d only be a few minutes?” he asked while trying to poke the play button and not destroy the thing. Both came true, as classical violin music flirted through the air but his claw broke off the button.
“What a piece of crap. Care for a drink?”
Louie gave another shrug of the shoulders. Annoyed, Tier raised the glass to his lips.
“Hrmph. More for me then.” He downed the glass as quickly as possible, accidentally breaking the glass in half. With a very agitated grumbled, skipped the glass entirely and began drinking straight from the bottle. More yelling could be heard from the room above them. Surprisingly, Louie coughed a bit and asked Tier if he found anything about Gary Parker.
“His guard’s heads are softer than melons. Barring that though, I made my way into his office. Initially I didn’t find anything that looked out of place, but I quickly found a passage down into a hidden chamber below.” Tier took a moment at this point to have a particularly large gulp of alcohol. “Ah. Well, it was pretty crazy down their. He had a blood-stained altar set up with bodies set-up for sacrificing, neatly stacked about 10 high. Tables with relics adorning various evil deities, mostly minor ones were down their too. I picked up a small depiction written on the back of a business card of a particularly interesting figure.” Tier stopped again to drink more. While lowering the bottle, he walked over to where his bullet-torn suit hung, and removed the paper from the inner pocket. A hole burnt through the corner of it, but the drawing and most of the writing remained intact. Tier flicked the card onto Louie’s chest and took a drink again as he looked.
“Hmmph.” Louie grunted while lazily bringing the card up to his eyes. When he saw the figure, Louie’s pupils shrunk to pin-points. He propped himself up slightly on his elbows. “This…what is it’s name again?”
“Bruhn.”
Louie’s eyes never wavered off the card as he spoke. “Estella worshiped this same being. She tried to convince me to as well, but I…it would have destroyed us. Yakira…she was harmed by Estella. Probably to help her gain power and favor with Bruhn.” Tier harrumphed.
“You sure your ex just wasn’t being jealous?” Louie shot Tier a dark look.
“I hate you because you’re smug.”
“Hmm…what do you know about Bruhn? Perhaps it’ll help us understand Parker’s motives.”
“Well, as you known, Bruhn is a soul that has transcended with enormous power, to almost a deity like state. However in his life he was an atrociously evil being, so it goes to show that he would be an atrociously evil demi-god. However, he with his ultimate banishment to the core of this world, he lost the power to directly act, and was forced to manipulate any potential followers into his will.” A loud thud came from the room above them. Tier and Louie paused to look up. Both shrugged, and Louie continued. “If I remember, in his early years, Bruhn was so spiteful about his situation that he would reach out and kill anybody who attempted to appease him. Their bodies would generally end up being incredibly mutilated. Eventually, he matured I suppose and now only kills the greater bulk of people who worship him. Parker must be somehow useful to Bruhn for him to not be outright mauled yet.”
Tier downed the last sip of bubbly and whipped his mouth across his arm.
“Sounds like a wonderful guy.”
“I agree Auntie, he’s amazing.” Majo and her Aunt were sitting at a table, sharing a conversation and coffee. “Although I have to wonder why he’s remained single for so many years.” By now, the sun had set long ago and the stars were almost coming into their full glory. Majo had freshly showered after her engagement with Keith. She walked on air without the stress that years on the road gave her.
“Well, he was probably waiting for you dear. And so have I. You’ve just returned and you’ve spent all day galavanting around. Why, you haven’t even unpacked yet. Please, settle down for a while. I made your bed and everything.” Majo sighed. While she thought, a light tapping sound beated against the roof. A small drizzle of rain had set in and nobody noticed.
“I suppose I should. It’s almost midnight, and here I am making you stay up so late. Well, I guess I’ll be heading up there. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Majo got up and politely pushed her seat in. She grabbed her small box of belongings and dragged it upstairs into her new bedroom. Cozy and small, this was where Majo hoped her new life would be. A bed, albeit a bit short for her now rested flush underneath a window. An end table with a reading lamp. A wooden bookshelf sagging under the weight of it’s literature. Warm yellow wallpaper that peeled at the corners. Majo let out a contented sigh, and dumped her belongings out on her bed. She sat next to the items and sifted through the pile. She barely had time to figure out what to bring, so the bulk of the stuff was clothes randomly grabbed from her dresser. She pulled out an undershirt to sleep in and out of it tumbled a small necklace. Majo bent over, grabbed it, and brought the necklace up to her eyes. A blue marble wrapped in silver. Suddenly, she instantly regretted looking at it. The necklace reminded her of how she got it, which reminded her of Louie. She wondered how she could possibly have been so foolish. He was a vampire for god’s sake. Majo told herself that she had no business to associate with him for as long as she did. She felt emotions, jealousy and anger building up in her. Other memories of Tom, Alexander, Tier, et cetera. Freshly met people who impacted her so much. She hated them all. She reached across and slammed the necklace down on her dresser in an outburst of this. Majo had crossed the point of no return. Turning back was out of the question. She was no longer a part of the group.
Suddenly, she realized that she hadn’t checked up with Alexander or the others in several hours. She didn’t care for them, but acknowledged that she would have to at least go back and tell them of her decision. She forced herself off the bed and grudgingly walked down the stairs again, making sure to walk lightly and not wake up Aunt Grenda. The door gave a creek as she pushed it open and stepped out into the rain.
Alexander’s chest felt like it was collapsing on itself. The tentacles bound so ferociously tight he couldn’t breath. Michelle was screaming. Tony babbling. It would prove to be a humiliating end to Schism unless somebody acted fast. Michelle’s shouting suddenly stopped when she remembered her own fighting prowess. Mustering up a bit of courage, she charged head-on towards the beast with an unsightly speed. She couldn’t even feel the liquid slowing her down as she practically skimmed across it. Michelle gave a battle roar that although needing practice, shook Tony out of his funk and into action. Thinking on his feet, Tony grabbed a blaster pistol out of a dead guard’s hand and began shooting blindly into the thing’s face and eyeholes. Michelle jumped up towards the monster and sunk her teeth into it’s flesh, not penetrating very deeply but hopefully causing pain. The beast didn’t even shudder, but it’s grip on Alexander relaxed. He fell to the ground, took a gasping breath, and immediately jumped onto it’s claw arm. With a huge effort, he bent the claw finger back upon itself, and with a large grunt, he felt it break. Michelle paused on biting her opponent for a nano to wonder why it released Alexander. Her attack didn’t do any major damage. Perhaps it was really just all bark and no bite?
The next second she was blinded with pain and flying through the air. Apparently it formed it’s tentacles into a thick baseball bat like cylinder and gave her a massive thwack across the ribs and through the air. Tony ducked his head just in time as she flew through the air above him. Michelle crashed against the far wall with a sickening crack of her back and neck, and bounced limply into the ground face-down in blood. Tony wasted no time to rush to her side.
“Michelle…Oh my god. Please say something!” he panicked. He grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to flip her over. Her torso did, but her legs did not. The crash had broken her spine in the center, and her body was no longer connected. Tony yelled in horror. He flipped her back around immediately and jumped backwards. There was nothing he could do.
Alexander did some great damage to one of it’s hands, although at a great cost of stamina. It seemed to be crippled though. The tentacles formed themselves into a large blade now, and sliced at Alexander’s body with deadly accuracy and astonishing speed. He couldn’t keep up, and repeatedly got nicked on arms, legs, neck, everywhere. He only just then noticed that Michelle was down and Tony in shock. He jumped away from the monster and landed in the middle of the gap between Tony and the beast.
“HEY! Mourn later, battle now!” he bellowed. Tony looked back up at Alexander, tears flowing from his eyes. He pulled out the blaster and fired again at the monster.
“Tony!” Michelle shouted. She was experiencing tunnel vision, and the colors seemed ethereal. Yellows, violets, and greens dancing across her view. Tony gave no reply. Instead he turned around to face back at Michelle. In Michelle’s eyes, she couldn’t see anything but Tony’s face, getting closer and closer. When it looked like it was inches away, she tried to purse her lips, but yelped in horror instead. Tony’s skin began to melt off of his face until it was just a skull in a pool of blood. Michelle suddenly snapped back from her hallucination into the reality of the battle. She was face down in blood, practically on top of another dead body. It dawned upon her about what she had to do to survive. With her last instinct, Michelle lowered her mouth down around the corpse.
Tom and Susan Bradhurst were having what could probably be called the longest fight of the century. Susan was adamant about not moving out of their house and made quite a point of expressing that at the top of her lungs. Tom sat helpless at the foot of their bed, trying to convince her otherwise. Ah the fights married couples share.
“Tom, I’m afraid that we can’t do this. We’ve lived her far too long to suddenly move in one night. I don’t care what you have to say, we simply can’t do it. I don’t know, maybe your vampire friends can run away, but I’m not going to hear a word of it.”
Tom rubbed his temples in frustration. He tried to rationalize to Susan.
“We’ll die. There is no other way to put it Susan. If we don’t try to escape, we’ll die. I hate it just as much as you do but please. These are our lives we’re talking about here. Why throw that away?” Susan put her hands on her hips.
“Oh please, and who is going to be the ones who kill us? Werewolves? Zombies with guns for arms? Maybe a crazy vampire bear who breaths fire! Tom, NOTHING will harm us if we stay here. The only reason we’re in any danger is because of your sudden change in company, and inviting a freak show into our house.” She cursed. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone along with this whole idea. This has gone on long enough. You’re going downstairs to tell them to get out now mister, so help me god I don’t beat you into doing it.” Tom shouted back again.
“No! They’re the only people who will be able to protect us when the time comes. We can’t fight for ourselves! We’ll be slaughtered, mauled, just brutalized.”
“Tom, nothing will happen. I’m normally always here to support you in your every endeavor, but not this. I even played your game while you were dancing around on the fountain in front of everyone we know trying to act like a hotshot general of some inane war. Tom, these people, this world you’ve fabricated around us. This whole battle idea. I'm not going to support this anymore. You've got to face up to some things!”
"Like what?" Tom questioned with sarcasm.
"You need to face the real world, face your failures, and especially face the fact that you live a LIE!"
Tom gave no reply. The comment had taken both of them by surprise. Although Susan grieved inwardly about what she said, she had to press on to gain the upper hand in this fight.
“Yes. You live this way because you thought it would be fun and fulfilling to your boyhood fantasy to participate in some epic war for justice. You’re an accountant, not a general, although obviously you want to prented it’s not true. Well it is Tom, and that’s not how it works in reality. It must have been quite something to stand in front of everyone and rally them to battle, but…no more. Just please, no more of this?”
Tom looked down into his hands that lay lamely in his lap. With a long breath, he finally spoke.
“Consider it done. I’ll go down and tell them to pack up and leave right away.” Tom got up and walked past Susan out the door. He walked down the stairs, all the way to where Louie and Tier sat in the living room. Immedtiatly the stench of alcohol flared up in his nostrils, making him slightly dizzy. Tier acknowledge Tom first.
“Heeeey, it’s you again. Did you have make-up sex yet?”
Louie got off of the sofa and stood in the center of the room. “Are you prepared to leave?” he asked.
Tom made what felt like a megaton decision.
“No.”
Louie reacted with a disgruntled remark. “We’ve got to leave right now. There is no more time for these antics. Get ready.”
“No.” Tom shuddered.
Louie grunted. “What do you mean no?”
Tom gave a sigh and explained. “I mean no as in we’re not leaving.”
“What?” Louie dropped any semblance of kidding around, and his tone fell flat.
“Let me rephrase that. Susan and I aren’t leaving.”
“Well I am.” Louie shoved Tom out of the way and walked up the stairs towards Yakira’s bed chamber. Tier looked at Tom and shrugged awkwardly.
“I guess…thanks for your hospitality. And sorry about the suit.”
Tom idled, giving no reply. He stared down at the ground, completely at a loss of what to say. Yakira walked down the stairs followed closely by Louie. She tightly gripped Louie's hand and felt around for the walls and railings.
“You ready to leave Tier?” Louie asked on his way out.
Tier shrugged and said “I suppose.”
“Then let’s leave.” Louie replayed.
Tier scratched behind his head and looked over at the man who had welcomed into his house. “Goodbye Tom.”
The trio walked out of the door and into the brisk midnight air. About midway through the driveway, Louie froze. Tier did a second later. Yakira took another step before realizing that everyone had stopped. A werewolf that looked not unlike the leader of their pack that the group had to just recently fight stood at the end of the lane, apparently waiting for them. He flashed a disgusting grin, and snarled.
“I’ve been waiting for you to leave. I’m here to kick your (-).”
Louie shot a very enraged look at Tier.
“Why didn’t you tell us that there was another living thing just outside?”
“I’m drunk, what do you expect?!”
Upstairs in Tom and Susan’s bedroom, Susan asked whether Tom had done what she wanted or not. Before he could answer, a booming thud echoed through their window.
“What the hell?!” both shouted in unison.
Alexander looked forward as Tony emptied bullet after bullet into the creature. Although repeatedly impacted and greviously injured, it didn't even shudder when hit. A few bullets ricocheted off of the chains holding it's obsidian plate armor. Tony's aim was suffering as he was distraught too much by the catastrophic ongoing. As if like a light was switched on, Alexander realized the way to beat this thing.
"The armor. Obviously, it's covering something vital." he said to himself and then to Tony. "Aim for the links." As Tony complied by half aiming at the links, Alexander ran two steps forward, before a flashing streak blew past him. The rush of wind and wake in the water startled all three people in the room. Tony became the first to deduce what the streak was.
"Michelle?" he whispered uncontrollably. To confirm it, Tony looked down where Michelle lay moments before, and saw nothing. Alexander watched utterly stunned as Michelle jumped up much like she did on her first attack, gave a solid punch to one of the links, and completely shattered the chain around it's neck. The armor gave a loud sliding sound and thunderously crashed on the ground, to reveal that it's torso was hollow, with a pulsating black heart connected by multiple tubes. A second later, the beast began to teeter on it's one good hand. Apparently the sudden loss of a massive weight sent it off balance. And like the walls of Jericho, it titled backwards and slowly tumbled down. After the blast of air from it's collapse, Alexander ran up and jumped onto it's body. He kneeled reaching into it's chest and rested his hands upon it's heart. He felt it beating rapidly now, and with powerful contractions.
"This is the end of the line for you." Alexander droned. He had a fire in his eyes, but a dullness in his mind, perhaps the most dangerous combination of all. He placed a hand on either side if it's heart, and began to apply mighty pressure against it. The contractions sped up, and the beast's body spasmed violently.
"And with this, I have finished my final assignment." Alexander yanked his arms high above his head, pulling the heart out of it's torso. As the tubes and viens ripped out of the muscle, black ooze squirted in every direction. The heart in Alexander's hands gave a few parting beats before stopping forever, and as for the creature, it's body gave a massive quake and then fell limp.
Michelle, who had landed on the opposite side of the monster, looked up at Alexander's nightmarish act. Tony, far behind Alexander, almost passed out from the combination of physical exertion, emotional somersaulting, and traumatizing actions. Alexander, covered almost head to toe in a thick bile, tossed the heart aside, and silently walked back to the elevator. Michelle matched his funeralial like pace and fell in step behind Alexander. Tony waited until both passed, before schlopping his way into the elevator with them. All three were covered in blood, sweat, and tears, but none would be more content with their safety. All except Alexander, who's eyes traded for the dullness, but his mind gained the fire. He punched the code for exiting, practically burned a hole through the wall staring directly ahead while the machines went through the procedure of letting them pass.
The bar was empty and closed. It was past midnight, and a little town like this had no alcoholics. They wormed through stools and tables. Alexander reached the door and ripped it off it's hinges on the way out. Fearing for their lives, Tony and Michelle solemnly followed on his heels. The rain was a blessing, although cold. It washed away the blood, and hopefully the memories for now. Not daring to ask where they were heading, Tony instead wondered about the next thing on his mind.
"How did you do it Michelle?" He would soon regret ever asking, because stopped and gave the answer.
"She drank the blood of one of my friends." Unable to see through the dark night, neither Tony or Michelle realized that he had stopped and was mere inches from both of their faces. They both knocked into his chest, as he towered above them. His hair caught the wind and lifted slight in the breeze. Tony would never be able to describe the feeling on that black night, seeing Alexander's shillouette against the faint grey clouds above. The rain intensified, falling harder and faster.
"Schism is done with. Therefore, I'm done with you. Tomorrow morning, three horses will return." He turned and began to walk away.
"So what? You're going to turn tail and run on us?"
"Sounds about right."
"We need you, and you need us. Yet naturally, you're just going to run out the door again. How you managed to get a wife it a great mystery to me, since you're so detached from the world."
"Who are you to tell me how to live, considering you're the dead one here."
Tony shifted very uncomfortably. The remark cut down to the bone, yet Alexander showed no remorse. Michelle oddly didn't seem to notice, as she carried one without pause. "Although I may be a corpse, I can still see life. And you're just leaving yours in an ice box."
"Haha, your words are nice. But life isn't an abstract concept. It's a state that you're no longer a part of. Not like I would know without the infinite wisdom obviously doled out to the non-living."
In the middle of the tension, the sound of a person struggling through the mud could be heard. Majo approached the group holding a latern high above her head and fighting her way up to them
"Glad I could find you guys. I've come to say one last thing, and I wont' be convinced otherwise. I'm leaving the traveler's life behind and settling down here."
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Chapter 43: Icarus's Augury
"These should do the trick," Icarus said as he walked out of the hull of the ship. He was carrying two objects that looked suspiciously like hand held vacuum cleaners. Jesse knew immediately what they were and nodded as a broad smile crept over his face.
"I haven't seen one of these since I was a child," he said, "and my father and I..." Suddenly his smile narrowed and his eyes turned downwards.
Icarus set down the sprayer and snapped his fingers at Jesse's face, "We need to get this over with quick. It's best to do this efficiently and fast in case there's someone on to us."
Naomi and Verity were already inside the ship, prepping it for launch. Naomi had given Icarus a walkie and her voice suddenly chisseled through the static. "You there, Icarus?"
Icarus set down the other sprayer so Jesse could pour in the Tetracolyhydroxide. He pressed down the green talk button on his walkie without taking it off his belt and said, "Sure am. What's on your mind?"
"Verity told me that although the Tetra will disable our shields, it's a fine way to see if the stuff is actually working. So I'm going to start her up in standby and activate them. We'll let you know once they've been rendered obsolete."
Icarus almost laughed. "Rendered obsolete, ten-four, batten down the hatches," he mumbled to himself. A very strange, foul smell was suddenly snaking its way into his nose. Then he remembered to press down on the button, "Gotcha, love." He turned towards Jesse and noticed he was very carefully pouring the Tetra into the sprayers. "Is that what that God-awful smell is?"
"Oh, sorry about that," Jesse started, setting down the Tetra and pulling a couple face masks out of his satchel. He tossed one to Icarus and pulled the other over his mouth and nose. "This stuff will certainly make your hairs stand on end. I had forgotten what it must smell like." Icarus pulled his own mask into place and nodded absentmindedly. Jesse finished pouring in the Tetra as the ships engines began humming idly. Snapping the tops into place, he looked up at Icarus. "What if this doesn't work?"
Icarus returned the look but didn't answer. Instead he grabbed the sprayer by the handle and took the hose in the other, turning towards the ship. But Jesse wouldn't let it rest, and he asked it again. "What are the stakes?"
"The stakes, Jesse without an I or a last name?" Icarus asked wryly. "What am I supposed to tell you? You know your own stakes. I've been smuggling people on and off this God forsaken planet for years and never wanted to know their stories." He hadn't turned around until now to face Jesse. "I'm not one to get involved. So don't look to me to tell you what will happen if whatever you're running away from catches you. Let's just get this over with, shall we?" Jesse nodded and they began spraying down the ship.
Icarus began spraying the chemical onto the ship, but not thirty seconds later Naomi was speaking over the walkie. "Icarus? Icarus, are you there?" He set down the sprayer, moved his face mask down over his chin, and pressed the talk button.
"There a problem, Naomi? We just started spraying on the Tetra moments ago."
"The shields are already down. If you only just started spraying that stuff on it must be pretty powerful." Icarus breathed in deep and got a sudden whiff of the stench.
"Indeed."
"Are you alright?"
Icarus coughed. "I'll be fine, this stuff just smells something fierce. I'm gonna coat the ship with more, we can't be too careful." He quickly put the mask back over his mouth and nose but felt a little dizzy. Nothing came back over the walkie so he simply picked the sprayer back up and continued.
It took hours to completely coat the ship. Everyone figured they had done much, much more than they needed. Jesse had even opted to quit early, to Icaris's chagrin. By the time it was finished he was utterly exhausted. He entered the ship fully intending to go straight to sleep, but Naomi greeted him as he entered his room.
"You look terrible!" She exclaimed.
"Thanks," he mumbled and plopped down onto the bed. She scooted close to him and held his face.
"I.. we need to take off immediately. I was hoping you could be in the control room with Verity and me as we went. I'm still a little worried and I was hoping you could be there.." Icarus, however, didn't feel like he was in any place to be doing much of anything right now. The sickly stench seemed like it was still lingering in his nose. It was almost as if he could taste it. And he was so tired. So unimaginably tired.
He tried to reply but felt he couldn't move his jaw or his tongue. His eyelids drooped as if tied to weights. Distantly he became aware that Naomi had left the room. "I must have gone to sleep," he thought. Then he started. "How am I thinking if I have gone to sleep?"
Suddenly that unbearable weariness left him and he felt a stinging roll of electricity race up his spine and explode in the back of his brain. It was as though all the energy in the world had spontaneously built up and was released the only place it knew to. Tentacles of fire raced through his skull in a burning fury. He felt himself sit up with completely open eyes and looked around him.
The walls of the room began to quiver and flow as if they were standing pools of water suddenly disturbed by a dropping pebble. He felt his paws move up to his temples but he wasn't controlling them. What was going on? His heart raced and his fur became damp with sweat. The walls continued to wobble and soon the floor joined in. The waves became larger and larger until everything seemed to run into itself.
And then, there was nothing.
Icarus felt himself to be freely floating in a perfect empty void. He had no limbs, no body, no eyes. There was only silence. He could still think, however, and it all seemed to register somehow. And then the silence was broken with a distantly familiar voice, but he could not tell where it came from.
"No one's going to die," it said.
"What?" Icarus thought. The phrase seemed to register as being recent.
"No one's going to die," it repeated. And another time. It continued until Icarus thought he was going to burst. How, he didn't know, but it had to stop. Its simplicity and calmness was even more maddening. "No one's going to die. No one's going to die. No one's going to die."
In what seemed like an eternity later, a rush once again came over him and the void was replaced with a beautiful meadow of grass. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and two moons hung in the sky. He became aware of himself again and that he was laying down. Naomi's face appeared above his looking panic stricken. "Icarus!" she yelled and pulled him up.
As he rose from laying in the grass to rising to his feet, the scene around him completed obliterated. Dark clouds rushed overhead and the ground shook violently. There were rabbits running everywhere. "We have to go!" Naomi said and tugged at his arm. He looked down and found a gun in his right paw, but it did not strike him as unusual. In the distance he saw a ship crash into the ground, bursting into flames.
"This is Carrotus," he thought. "We made it!" But what was going on? Naomi tugged again at his arm and they began running through the grass. Naomi raced ahead, letting go of his arm, and Icarus strained to keep up. He was panting and his legs felt like they were going to give. The beautiful girl before him slowly went further and further ahead until she was a speck on the horizon. Icarus gave up and stopped running. He stooped down to catch his breath, staring at the dirt and his paw touching it.
He blinked. When his eyes reopened his surroundings had again changed. The grassy meadow had become a dark, abandoned house. "Now where am I?" There was a crashing sound from above him and he heard struggled screaming, seemingly from a female. A bizarre urge came over him that he must go upstairs immediately, so he stood. He squinted and tried to find a staircase or a promising hallway, but once he attempted to take a step forward the floor gave beneath him and he fell through it.
There was a short sensation of freely falling before he hit the ground. It was no longer dark. As he turned to look up, expecting to see the ceiling of the house, he was greeted once again with a blue sky. This time, however, he was surrounded by dirt. His limbs felt weak and he couldn't stand, but he opened his mouth to try and yell for help from above. A smiling face greeted him, looking into the hole, but the smile wasn't friendly. It disappeared and suddenly his mouth was filled with dirt. Someone was burying him. He struggled but it was of no use. The light from above slowly faded to be replaced with the weight of more and more dirt.
Once again, there was nothing.
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Chapter 44
The spy network is an amazing thing. Anything worth knowing, regardless of how inconsequential it may seem, somehow finds its way through the appropriate channels, to the ears of those interested most.
Reg’s call sparked a chain of events. Jesse Aimon’s name ensured that the information was passed on, filtered through informants and contacts, until it fulfilled its purpose and was filed away for future reference.
Adrian had built a fairly complete picture of Jesse. Fierro and Hayley had done their work efficiently, if somewhat hesitantly. He had been put in contact with an agent, alias Lyndsey Savon, who had been instrumental in the removal of the Aimon family. Her failure to eliminate Jesse seemed to have been excused by her handler, but Adrian did not approve of such errors. He disregarded the fact that Jesse had also eluded him, justifying it with the fact that his slip would shortly be rectified. It did not appear that this agent had even made an attempt on Jesse’s life, following his escape from the fire that had consumed his home. Adrian questioned her further, attempting to learn Jesse’s character and personality, before excusing himself amiably.
Ten minutes after their parting, Lyndsey Savon became the tragic victim of a drunk driver, who walked away from the accident and disappeared. Adrian was nothing if not thorough.
Fierro’s call came the next morning. Adrian had found another vehicle, nondescript and generic, procured from one of his many contacts. He was already preparing to move out when his phone rang.
“Adrian.”
“Fierro here.”
“Line’s clear?” Adrian demanded.
“Yeah, I’m sure of it. Got news on the Aimon kid.”
“Talk,” the dark-furred rabbit said tersely. Fierro did.
Adrian was not a stupid fellow. His mind was working long before Fierro finished.
“Tetracolyhydroxide?” What could he possibly want that for?
“That’s the stuff,” Fierro confirmed. “This kid’s not an addict, is he?”
“No,” Adrian said shortly. “Not with his psych profile. Not the type at all. He wants it for something else.”
“I’d say, since he got about two and a half gallons of the stuff.”
“Right. Anything else?”
“He paid the dealer in Carrotan gems. Medium quality, not large stones. Had a fair quantity.”
“Gems? Carrotan gems?”
“That’s what I said. That’s all the info I’ve got for you.”
“Where do I find the dealer?”
Fierro told him.
“Alright, thanks Fierro. I’ll follow up.”
“Yeah. Keep your trail clean, Adrian. Later.”
Fierro broke the connection before Adrian could respond.
Adrian was not a stupid rabbit. He had an excellent memory and a keen intelligence, which enabled him now to recollect the pertinent facts about tetracolyhydroxide. Putting two and two together was easy. Adding in the Carrotan gems, which indicated another ally for Jesse, and the result was logical.
He’s leaving Diamondus.
Well, Adrian would follow him. He had a score to settle, which was becoming intensely personal. The kid knew his name, knew his face, knew his voice and mannerisms, knew altogether too much for Adrian’s comfort.
The black rabbit conveniently forgot that his authority did not extend past Diamondus, indeed did not go past the edge of southern territory. To him, this had become a matter of self-preservation.
Jesse woke suddenly, coming fully alert in the darkness. The sound of his father’s voice still echoed in his ears, carried over from dreaming into the waking world. The teenager sought the comforting hum of the ship’s machinery, eager to erase the dream dialogue from his memory.
He dreamed frequently of Jonathan Aimon, these days. It was bitter irony that he should cringe from the memory of his father, once his greatest hero, now a dangerous, treacherous enigma. He had not approached Verity about her experience with Jonathan, and shied away from the idea. His image of the general had crumbled far enough. He had no wish to aid in its further destruction.
Something had woken him, not the dream; he rose silently and padded into the hallway, leaving the cabin he shared with Icarus. The other rabbit slept soundly, and Jesse had no wish to wake him. Their day had been busy, painting the ship with the tetra he had obtained. Icarus had been exhausted by nightfall.
Once in the hallway, the youth paused and listened carefully. Something was different about the ship’s sound, some ineffable variation that he could not place, that should not be present during the night cycle. Following his instincts, he drifted towards the cockpit, feet soundless on the deck. He paused at the threshold, observing the interior of the room and its’ sole occupant.
Verity was hunched before one of the terminals, its brightly lit screen painful to Jesse’s dark-accustomed eyes. She was not yet aware of his presence, and he debated leaving her to her solitary research. She bore him no love, after all, and his presence would undoubtedly prove unwelcome.
He had made no noise, but Verity twitched and swung around regardless, sensing his gaze. Her eyes widened and then narrowed with ill-concealed suspicion. Jesse looked away and considered the blank terminals, deliberately refraining from eyeing her screen.
“What do you want?” she demanded, her voice loud and jarring in the dimness. Jesse shrugged after a few seconds, laconic, attempting to look unthreatening.
“I heard someone,” he said. “Guess it was you.”
She favored him with a hard glare. Jesse wanted nothing more than to avoid this female, to ghost back into his room and return to sleep.
“You hate him so much,” he said suddenly, on impulse. “Jonathan. You hate him enough that you were going to kill me just because I look like him.”
“I thought you were him,” she snapped. “I’m still not convinced.”
She was lying, he thought. She distrusted him for other reasons. But he found suddenly that he needed to know, badly.
“What did he do to you?”
The question was so childish that Verity stared, briefly silenced, and in that moment Jesse looked younger than his seventeen years. He was so quietly confident that those around him often forgot that he was still a teenager, inexperienced by most standards. The reminder was unwelcome to Verity.
“None of your business,” she said, brushing away the concern and pain that Jesse’s voice expressed.
“It is my business,” he said quietly. “It became my business when I almost died because of what he did. I think I deserve to know what you almost killed me for.”
“No one needs to know except myself and Jonathan,” Verity said sharply, lifting her chin and daring him with her eyes to argue. Jesse dropped his eyes to the floor, considering his words. The silence stretched between them.
“You know he’s dead,” he said finally, breaking the quiet. “They burned his house to the ground with him and his family in it.”
“You can’t know that,” Verity objected flatly.
“It was all over the news,” he said quietly. “Showed his picture. He looks a lot like me. People said so then, too.”
He wanted desperately to tell her that he was Jonathan’s son, that Jonathan had hurt him too. Verity did not have to tell him what kind of a character his father was. Others had mentioned things as well. Reg, the lizard dealer, seemed to know Jonathan well; he had seen the resemblance between the two and his puzzled comments to Jesse had told the teenager far more than Reg knew. He wanted her to know that he shared the same kind of pain.
Of course, her predictable reaction would be to transfer blame from father to son, and carry out her revenge. Jesse was keen on survival. He kept his mouth firmly shut on the words he would like to say.
“I don’t believe you,” Verity stated, and the truth of that was obvious. Jesse shrugged again.
“Don’t, then.”
She spun her chair about and went back to the terminal, studiously ignoring Jesse. The white rabbit eyed her curiously.
“What are you doing, anyway?”
He began to wonder if she had even heard him, when she finally replied.
“I’m verifying our data,” she said, flicking to a new screen. “We have one chance. I want off this ball of dirt.”
“I can understand that,” he said dryly.
No answer was forthcoming, and she resumed ignoring him. Jesse turned, inwardly amused, to return to his cabin.
Tomorrow they would make their attempt, and Jesse prayed fervently that it would succeed. He, too, wanted off of Diamondus, but for his own reasons.
Adrian was still out there, and he had neither forgiven nor forgotten.
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