The following is based off of the D20 Modern RPG and
is used under the Open Gaming License. All events are from the imagination of the
Game Master and are shaped by the individual player characters. Characters were
created by the imaginations of the individual players and their backgrounds
created by said players. Any similarities to real events, people, or other
happenstance are completely unintentional.
The following story is copyrighted by Amber Manuel,
the Game Master, and the other players. Without limiting the copyright, no material may be used without written
permission except by one of the players, the Game Master, or Amber Manuel.
Disclaimer: the following contains
violence and foul language as well as sexual innuendos. Read at your own
discretion.
Swiping
the gun off the night table, she frantically squeezed the trigger over and
over. After several misses, she sat up and focused on her target. The laser
finally hit the target and the alarm clock ceased its shrill screech.
With
a groan, Alece set the plastic laser gun aside and rubbed her eyes. Another
night had been filled with strange, sometimes horrifying dreams. She couldn’t
rightly call them nightmares despite the blood, gore, and horror because
underlying there was a sense of purpose, as if the battles raging in her mind
had to happen. She flicked a glance at the dream interpretation book she had
picked up from the Loyola University Campus Library and decided she wouldn’t
bother trying to figure this latest one out. After all, the only real change
was the scenery. At least she hadn’t scratched herself this time.
Getting
up, she stretched as she moved through the second floor of her Garden District
duplex. A contract with a major publishing company had allowed the investment
though the second floor was in need of additional work. Setting her coffee to
percolate, she booted up her computer and logged into her email, stretching
while she waited for the programs to load. She would go through a full set of kata later before heading for the street
car and the campus where she was in her second year of college.
An
email caught her eye. “You coming tonight?”
She
smiled. Vick, aka Victor Delacroix, was a friend from high school who lived in
the French Quarter off Royal Street. She hadn’t heard from him in a couple
months since they were both busy with their own lives, but his email earlier in
the week had given her something extra to look forward to.
The
old group was back in town just in time for the turn of the century.
She
hadn’t really stayed in touch with the guys aside from a few emails here and
there. After they graduated and went their separate ways, she had published her
first novel. In the years since, she had cranked out three more with the next
scheduled to come out shortly after the New Year. Victor Delacroix was working
for his father at Veridian Dynamic, a multi-national corporation that dabbled
in a little of everything from chemicals and pesticides to R&D, weapons…
Two
of the other guys had stuck around the Big Easy as well. One was a regular
Doogie Howser. Word was Theodore “Ted” Killjoy already had his residency at
Charity Hospital. Then there was Michael Browning, a popular local actor whose
skills had him on the rise. The last member of our group had joined the
military straight out of high school. He had been gone for years, but Xavier
LeBeau must be back in town since Vick was getting them together.
Alece
checked the time. It was already past six in the evening. An all-night writing
session had left her schedule completely off, but that just meant that she
would be awake for the evening ahead. “Wouldn’t miss it,” she typed and went to
get ready.
A
tiny gated alleyway led to Vick’s place on Royal. Alece arrived to find
everyone else already there. As she hugged necks, she realized that everyone
looked a little tired as if they hadn’t been sleeping well.
“Bad
dreams?” Xavier asked.
“I
dunno about you, but I can make some serious cash off the dreams I’ve been
having once I turn them into books!” Alece replied.
“Well,
now that we’re all here, I haven’t had time to make groceries,” Vick said.
“Oh,
you should’ve said something,” Xavier returned.
“I
figure that Mona Lisa is a good restaurant and we could just go there. It’s
just around the corner down Royal and we’re far enough away from the
festivities that we shouldn’t have trouble with crowds.”
Since
everyone was agreeable, they headed down the road on foot. “Hey, you grew
boobs!” Xavier said, nudging Alece’s shoulder.
She
looked down. “Yeah, it’s amazing!”
“Dude,
the last time you saw her, you were so drunk that you were groping her back!”
Vick returned.
“Is
that what that was about?” Alece said. “I thought he was giving me a massage!”
Laughing,
the group continued down the road. “So Mike,” Vick called, “I thought I saw a
porn with you in it.”
Mike
grinned and started whistling.
“Seriously,
I saw one of your plays. It was very good,” Vick added.
“Thanks,
we worked really hard.”
“You
guys should go see his next one.”
“When
is it?” Alece asked.
“Oh,
there’s one coming out in February.”
“When’s
your next book coming out?” Xavier asked Alece.
“Next
month, actually, assuming we all survive the new millennium!”
“And
what about you?” Xavier continued, making the rounds on them. “What kind of
doctor are you now?”
“Trauma
surgeon.”
“So
you work in ER?”
“Yeah,”
Ted, man of many words, replied.
“So…blood
and guts don’t bother you?”
“No.”
“Would
your own blood and guts bother you?”
There
was a moment of relative silence in the Quarter.
“What
kinda question is that?” Alece asked on a laugh.
“Herro,
I’m highry inappropriate,” Vick cut in. In normal tones, he continued, “Let me
point something out here, Xavier: you never know when you’ll end up on his
table. Some stray shit happens and your life is in his hands. Don’t mess with
him or he’ll dick you over.”
Xavier
eyed Ted for a moment before he shrugged. “So do they issue body armor at
Charity or do you bring your own?”
“No,
just duck and dodge,” Ted replied with a grin. “I usually leave my piece in the
car.”
“I
never leave home without mine. It’s like American Express,” Vick chimed in. “By
the way, Xavier, I’d like a thanks for the body armor you were wearing over
there.”
“That
was your dad, Vick,” Xavier shot back.
“No,
it was me. I’m exec over R&D now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.
Took a couple pounds of weight off the armor. Thought you’d appreciate that.”
“I
thought it felt lighter… Thanks.”
Stepping
inside the restaurant, they continued razzing each other while they ordered
their pies and found a table.
“So I
need to get my hands on another Barrett 50,” Xavier told Vick.
“What’s
that?” Alece asked.
“The
gun I carried overseas,” he replied for her benefit.
Vick
gave him a look. “There’s better stuff out there, you know.”
“Like
what?”
“Like…
well, not out there yet.”
Xavier
laughed and then grinned mischievously. “By the way, not paying!
“Not
paying!” Alece shot out.
“Not
paying!” Mike and Vick echoed.
“Not…shit,”
Ted muttered, to much laughter.
“You
still fall for that?” Xavier asked, shaking his head. Turning to Vick, he said,
“You remember Sarah?”
Vick
blinked for a moment as he searched through deep storage. “Oh the one that got
caught in the boy’s locker room?”
“Yeah,
that’s her! You seen her around?”
Vick
nodded. “Six kids and going through a divorce.”
Xavier’s
mouth dropped. “Shit! Six kids?!”
“Two
sets of twins,” Vick agreed.
“Holy…”
“Actually,
I don’t know what the hell she’s doing.” When Xavier scowled at him, Vick
grinned. “Do I look like the FBI?”
“Yeah,
actually. Can you get me a job? I need to find a place to put my Marine skills
to work.”
“Dude,
shoving a ‘sword’ down your throat isn’t qualified,” Vick quipped.
The
Marine stared at him for a moment. “Dude, I’ll kick you in the nuts.”
“I
wear a cup!” Vick stated.
Xavier
nodded. “Nut check!” he called and the rest of the group winced as Vick hit the
ground, writhing in pain. Laughing and apologizing at the same time, Xavier tried
to help him up. Vick sucker punched him and Xavier landed on the ground beside
him.
“I
could have sworn I graduated after you guys,” Alece muttered while they both
took their time picking themselves up off the floor. Ted disappeared and came
back a moment later with ice packs for both. He must have apologized for the
scene because the manager didn’t kick them out.
“So
you don’t wear a cup,” Xavier stated when they were seated again, and everyone
laughed except for Vick.
“I’m
gonna start!” he replied seriously.
The
night continued with much of the same bantering between the old friends. After
nearly two hours of shooting the shit, a group of about six gangers come in. The
tallest one was literally about five feet tall flat. The sight should have had
its own caption: “When Jockeys Go Wrong.”
Three
of the gangers went up to the counter while the others hung back near the door.
Alece felt a prickle of unease and was glad she had thought to bring her brass
knuckles. New Orleans definitely wasn’t the safest of cities to live in and she
had grown up practicing Tang Soo Do, a “street-fighting” form of martial arts.
There
were two employees behind the counter that were about the same height as the gangers.
One of the newcomers began shouting at the taller person behind the counter.
“You
cheated longtooth! We’re gonna fight again for real!” He drew out a knife.
“Whoa!”
Xavier called, standing up. “Y’all need to go.”
The
tallest glared at him. “Really?”
Sensing
trouble, the crowd began getting to their feet and heading for the door. The
few gangers who had hung back were blocking the doors and Alece saw them pull
out clubs. She put her hands in her pockets, reaching for her brass knuckles
and her collapsible metal baton. At the same time, the lights went out. The emergency
lights kicked in almost immediately and a yellowish glow cascaded over the
crowd. There was a movement that caught Alece’s eye and then the sound of a
watermelon being pummeled. Red sprayed the wall and people began screaming.
Ted picked
up his chair and swung at the nearest one. It ducked the object even if only
barely. Vick reaches into his coat and pulled out a pistol. He fired towards
the door as Alece darted towards the closest one. She punched it with the metal
knuckles and it dropped like a light. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw
that all her companions were jumping into the fray. One of the gangers walked
up to Ted and managed to hit him over the head. Ted shook his head and glared
at the shorter…person.
In
the screams and chaos, Xavier calmly walked up to another one that swung at him
and missed. Alece didn’t see what happened next, but when she looked again,
only Xavier was still standing. Back closer to their table, Michael swung at
one of the gangers with a beer bottle and missed. He received a club to the
shoulder for his troubles but just shook it off.
Alece
moved deeper into the mosh pit of a crowd, dodging people as she searched for
another of the tiny gangers. She nearly stumbled over the last, which was
already bobbing and weaving in an attempt to avoid being hit by Ted and Xavier.
She helped them knock him…it to the ground.
In
the sudden silence, sirens could be heard down the street. Alece stared at the
one near her feet, blinked rapidly, and looked again.
It
wasn’t human.
She
looked around and spotted another. It was the same…a familiar form from years
of gaming but impossible. They looked almost reptilian with rusty-brown,
blackish-colored skin. Their heads were dog-like with small horns protruding
and blood red eyes. Rat-like tails stuck out the backs of their trousers.
“You
should put those away.”
Alece
snapped her gaze to Vick’s. “What?”
He
pointed at her hand. “Put those away.”
She
glanced down at the brass knuckles she was still wearing. Sliding them off, she
followed him back to their table and sat, staring out over the chaos as the
police arrived and began taking statements.
“I
think I just killed something,” Alece muttered.
There
was a beat of relative silence. “My dear, we all just killed things,” Vick
replied, then added, “Those are kobolds.”
“What
the fuck are kobolds?” Alece snapped. She knew, but her mind was having trouble
reconciling the cross between reality and fiction.
“You’re
a gamer,” Vick said patiently. “You know what a kobold is.”
“I
know, but that’s not a freaking tail hanging off that thing! That’s not a
kobold!”
They
argued in hushed tones for several minutes before the police came up to them
for their statements. Vick’s pistol was confiscated, as well as a knife that
Xavier had been carrying. Alece didn’t tell them about her brass knuckles and
they didn’t search her. When they were done talking with the authorities, the
group met back up at their corner table, staring at one another as if they
couldn’t believe what had just happened.
After
the EMTs and police left, one of the kobolds from behind the counter walked up
to the group. “I know you have questions and unfortunately, I can’t answer
them. I can tell you, however, where to go to get answers.” She held out a card,
which Ted took. “The shop is called Sword and Sorcery – Old Books for a New Age.
It’s over on Decatur.” She turned and walked away without anything further, straightening
tables and cleaning up detritus as she went.
“I
don’t know about y’all, but I could use a beer,” Xavier announced.
“I
could certainly use something a lot stronger than what they offer here,” Alece
agreed.
“I’m
going home,” Vick said. “I’ll meet you at the bookstore tomorrow at eight.”
“I
think I’m going for drinks as well,” Mike said.
“Yeah,
that was a hell of a way to spend New Year’s,” Ted piped up.
The
next morning at 8 a.m. found Alece standing in front of Sword and Sorcery: Old
Books for a New Age. Spotting Ted and Xavier walking down the sidewalk, she
decided to wait for them. A moment after they joined her in front of the shop,
Mike jogged across the street.
“Anyone
seen Vick?” Xavier asked.
Alece
pulled out her cell phone and dialed his home, but he didn’t answer. “He’s not
at home,” she announced.
“We
could just wait inside,” Mike suggested.
Inside,
the shop was set up as a half café, half book store type of thing. Vick was
already inside, drinking coffee. There was only one man working at the counter.
He looked to be about sixty years old and about six feet tall. He was wearing a
tweed jacket over a white-collared shirt and a red bow-tie.
If
he hadn’t been so frail-looking, Alece might have thought he was The Doctor.
After
ordering coffees all around, they sat down with Vick.
“What
the fuck was going on last night?” Xavier demanded.
“I
told you.” Vick pulled out an RPG monster manual and flipped the pages over to a
picture of a kobold.
“That
so didn’t happen,” Alece muttered, wishing her coffee would get there already,
but the scarecrow of a shop owner seemed content to take his time.
Xavier
rubbed his eyes. “This is crazy. I mean, I’ve been having some really fucked up
dreams and then all the sudden we’re fighting real kobolds!”
“What
kind of dreams?” Alece asked, striving for innocence.
“I dreamt
I was King Arthur one night.”
“No
way! I dreamt that, too!”
He
frowned. “Did you wake up with scratches on your side?”
“From
where the dragon attacked me!” she confirmed.
“It
was a banshee, actually,” Vick offered. Everyone turned to look at him. He
shrugged. “Just sayin’. It wasn’t a dragon. It was a banshee.”
“Okay,
I think you guys need to calm down before I take you all to the loony bin,” Ted
said.
“You
mean you didn’t have the dreams?” Xavier demanded.
Ted
shook his head. “That’s insane, and I’m kinda worried about all of you. I mean,
c’mon. Really?”
“How
do you explain that at least three of us,” Xavier asked, and met Mike’s gaze.
Receiving a nod, he corrected, “Four of us had the same dreams?”
Ted
was saved from replying when the store’s patron came out with their drinks.
Instead of leaving them and going about his business, he pulled up a chair. “A
kobold sent you five,” he said.
The
group exchanged glances, Xavier shooting Ted a look of triumph.
“What
you saw last night was real,” the man continued in a firm voice. “Our reality, our
world isn’t the only world.”
“Are
you talking about dimensions?” Xavier asked.
“In
the essence, yes. Different realities as such. Whatever you wanna call ‘em. Here,
we call the other “dimension” Shadow.”
“Which
one are we in?” Xavier demanded.
The
man paused, looking disconcerted. “Ours.” He frowned at the Marine. “Every so
often doorways open between the realms and creatures beings items wash up on
our shores. The tides bring in weird things.”
“Ooh!
Magical swords plus 5 coming?” Xavier quipped.
“What’s
that?”
“It’s
from a game,” Alece told him.
He
nodded his understanding and shook his head. “No, that’s not coming. Our
realities move in cycles, much like a wave pattern. When the realities move to
an apex they’re further apart so the instance of shadow and magic is less
frequent. Just the same, when they move closer that’s when we see miracles.
King Arther, Merlin, Morgana. Our history is peppered with unexplainable
things.”
“So…like,
the gods?” Mike asked.
He
inclined his head. “Sometimes exceptionally powerful individuals come through
the gates who have exception abilities. Sometimes they have exerted their will
and power over things and humans. And humans, not to cast us in a negative
light, but we weren’t always the most advanced beings on this planet. So
obviously we would think people like Hercules were demigods or actual gods.
Achilles, Hector, Ulysses, Perseus, so on and so forth. They were all from
Shadow.”
“So they
came from Shadow?”
“Could
have. Or they could be like you.”
Xavier
let out a string of curses.
“You
might not realize this,” the gentleman continued over Xavier, “but somewhere in
your lineage you have Shadow.”
“How
do you mean?” Vick asked.
“One
of your ancestors was of Shadow. Oh, they might not have been recent, but you
have Shadow blood running through your veins. That’s why you could see what was
really happening, why you could see the actual beings.”
“You’re
saying I have kobold blood?” Alece demanded.
He
rolls his eyes. “No.” He sighed. “There are people who can shape the forces of
magic and put them into a physical manifestation. There are those that can call
upon the divine favor of gods and channel the power through them.”
“Can
you see auras?” Ted asked.
“No.
It’s not some sort of hippy mumbo-jumbo.”
“Well,
thank God for that!” Alece said on a humorless laugh. “It’s just kobolds
running around!” Sobering, she added, “All these things exist?”
“How
many books have you read that have dragons?” he inquired.
She
shrugged. “How many have I written that have them?”
He
didn’t miss a beat. “And where did you base that info off of?”
“Research.
Books and history and things.”
“And
where did they get that?” he pointed out.
She
stared at him. “It’s all really real?”
He
gave her look that told her most of it was. “It’s all based off of some
truths.”
“How
do you know?” Xavier picked up the conversation when Alece lapsed into silence.
“I’ve
read a lot,” he said with a grin. “Let me try to explain it another way. When
you go to work in the morning, how many streets do you cross? Can you remember
what your coworkers were wearing for the past three days?” They all shook their
heads. “We go through life on auto. We see things and forget them. Our brains
have a way of helping us cope with situations that just shouldn’t be. That
can’t be “x” so it has to be something similar, but not so outlandish.
“Your
mind plays tricks and allows you to see what you want to see. You don’t want to
admit that there was a dragon that just flew overhead. It was a low-flying 747.
The hobgoblin in the alleyway was really just a bum with a bunch of hair. And
now,” he continued as the bell above the door jangled, “you automatically see
through the veil into Shadow.”
He
looked up with a frown as a delivery man walked in rolling a huge crate. Alece
frowned at him, trying to see if he appeared anything else than human, but then
the stamps on the sides of the crate caught her attention.
“Fragile”
was followed by “Do Not Drop” but the most cryptic was “Do NOT Feed!”
“What.
Is that?” Xavier asked.
“I
don’t know. I don’t remember ordering anything…” Muttering to himself, he got
up and walked towards the crate. As he drew near, one side burst off, a
tentacle with a large panel at the end sticking out from either side. The shop
owner had barely gasped when one of the tentacles wrapped around his waist.
Alece
ran over, snapping out her metal baton as she ran to his aid. She swung, but
the writhing tentacles wouldn’t hold still. Ted ran up and grabbed the shop
owner, holding him back.
Xavier
pulled out a gun, took a shot and hit the box. Mike pulled out a gun as well, taking
a shot and hitting whatever was in the crate. Vick joined Ted to help the shop
owner get away.
Another
tentacle lashed out and hit Mike, knocking him down.
“You
got him?” Ted shouted.
“Go!”
Vick agreed. Ted let go of the shop owner to run over and help Mike. A tentacle
lashed out at Alece and missed. She punched at it with the brass knuckles and scored
a hit. Meanwhile, Ted managed to get Mike back on his feet, pulling him back
away from the crate. The free tentacle began to flail wildly so that the group
couldn’t get a clear shot on the thing.
Vick
let go with one arm to pull his firearm and shook into the crate. Realizing she
wasn’t doing any good, Alece added her strength to help the shop owner stay
out. One last shot splintered the wood of the crate and the tentacles went
limp. Vick, Alece and the shop owner stumbled back a few paces before they
caught their footing.
“Are
you all right?” Ted asked the man.
“I
am…rather shaken,” he admitted. “By the way, my name is Brogan. You may call me
Mister B.”
Vick
emptied his clip into the box. Xavier opened it a moment later and they stared
at what looked like a part of a brick wall…with tentacles. “What the—?”
“Who’d
you piss off?” Xavier asked.
“That’s
an Otyugh,” Brogan said. “A creature of shadow. I don’t remember ordering one.”
“Who’d
you piss off?” Alece repeated.
“I
don’t know, but I’m very fortunate that you guys stopped by this morning…”
“Why?”
Ted asked.
He
nodded towards the crate. “That’s the second box I’ve gotten from…PTC. I’ve
never even heard of the company.”
“What’s
in the other box?” Mike asked.
“I
don’t know,” he admitted. “I didn’t open it. It’s downstairs.”
“Downstairs?
You have a basement in New Orleans?” He nodded. “You must have a good sump
pump.”
He
just stared at her.
“Okay.
We’ll go down and check things out,” Ted told him.
Intermission: “Spaghetti-Os are not a vegetable!!”
“If
you are going downstairs, feel free to use a few of the items in the closet,”
Brogan told them. In the back corner of the shop was the closet and inside were
random sets of armor, baseball bats, knives and random weapons. Alece picked up
a bat while the guys tried out different items. When she walked back out,
Brogan handed her a shiny brass key that glowed a little bit.
“It
opens the trap door behind the coffee stand,” he said. She nodded, motioned to
the guys, and moved to where he said. There was a trap door all right, but no
key hole. With a shrug, she grabbed the latch and pulled. It door easily
opened. She put the key in her pocket as she observed the ladder leading down into
a lit room. With a sigh, she headed down, Xavier close on her heels.
The
basement was full of crates stacked neatly. As they began to explore, Ted
spotted a shattered crate off to the side.
“This
room is worked stone, guys,” Alece told them.
No
one replied. To the side there was a door that had been shattered. Xavier
headed to the door. Ted went for the crate. “The shipper was PTC,” he announced
as Xavier disappeared down a hallway. “There’s webbing in the crate, and three
web balls that have cracked open.”
“We
should follow Xavier, then,” Alece said. Down the short hallway was a left turn
and a straight hallway. Not seeing Xavier, Alece kept going down the hallway.
When she saw a closed door, she turned around.
“Holy
shit!” Xavier shouted to the sound of pounding footsteps. Alece darted back
down the hallway, saw a giant spider that had to be at least three feet in
diameter and backpedaled. “Oh screw this!” she shouted, a lifetime of
arachnophobia sending her darting in the other direction. She managed to force
herself to stop to make certain it didn’t follow, and adjusted her grip on the
bat she had taken from the closet.
“C’mon!
We fought off a tentacly monster upstairs! We can take this!” Mike shouted.
Grimacing
in fear, Alece darted back to help out, swinging and promptly missing the huge
beast. Vick fired a shot and missed as well. Ted pulled Xavier’s form away from
the fray, working to get him back on his feet. A stray bullet pinged off the
wall near Alece’s head. Another one pinged off the wall by her feet. In the
chaos, Alece finally managed to connect with the bat. Realizing it was dead,
she continued to bash it into the floor a couple extra times.
“Hey,
there’s a chest in the back of the room the spiders came out of,” Ted announced
and worked his way over there as Alece pulled herself away from the grisly
remains. She looked around, spotted Xavier back on his feet despite looking
rather pale.
“There’s
another room down this hall,” Vick announced.
“Let’s
go,” Ted said, pocketing a few items but leaving the chest.
There
were webs on the walls and ceiling. “I think I see a couple spiders,” Xavier
said, and stepped aside so the rest of the group could see.
Vick
took aim and fired. One of the spiders fell to the ground, writhing and
attempting to get back up. The other came down quickly, and the guys swarmed
it. Alece didn’t even have a chance to step inside the room.
“We
should check things out, make sure there’s nothing else back here,” Ted said
when they were done bashing the spiders to bits.
A
brief search turned up a roll of fabric buried in the web in the back. Vick unrolled
it and pulled out a longsword.
“Oooh,
can I have that?” Xavier asked with a mischievous grin.
“Do
you know how to use one of these?” Vick demanded.
“Pointy
end goes through other guy,” Alece chimed in.
Vick
shakes his head and hands it to Xavier. “Fine.”
“What
was down there?” Xavier asked, indicating down the hallway.
“Another
room,” Alece replied. “The door was closed.”
“We
have to clear it.” He started down the hall.
With
a grimace, she followed. There were webs on the walls. “Possibly more spiders,”
Xavier said. “Here’s what we do… I go left, you, Mike, go right. Behind me, I
want Ted to come in, heading to the left after Mike’s cleared the door. Then
Alece, you veer to the right.”
“And
I’ll come strutting up the middle,” Vick said with a grin.
“Sweeping,”
Xavier corrected. “Everybody ready?” He threw open the door without waiting for
an answer and they ran in as he had described. Alece nearly wet herself when
she saw the mothership of all spiders hanging out in the back of the room. It
was wider than she was tall, and luckily she didn’t have to go near it since
Mike, Xavier, and Vick killed it, and the other two smaller spiders, off.
Small
being a relative word.
A
brief search turned up webbing all around the room but nothing of value. The
group trooped back upstairs.
“What’d
you guys find down there?” Brogan asked the moment they emerged.
“Spiders,”
Vick replied.
“Fucking
spiders as big as my dog!” Xavier snapped.
“Six
feet in diameter,” Alece agreed, shuddering. “DIAMETER!”
Brogan
nodded. “That’s a big one. I’ve seen bigger.”
She
gaped at him, but he didn’t seem to notice. “While you were guys were down
there I made some calls about this company and haven’t been able to find
anything. Nevertheless, I have an offer for you. You five have experienced more
occurrences of shadow in the past twenty-four hours than most people do in
their lifetimes. I’d like you to join Department 7.”
“What’s
that?”
“It’s
a department that works with shadow and people in shadow.”
Ted
pulled out a couple of small beakers. “Any chance you can tell me what these
vials are?”
Brogan
observed them for a moment. “Cure potions. Think of drinking one of these as a
six-month stay in intensive care.”
“What
exactly would we be doing for Department 7?” Alece asked wearily. She was
pretty certain she had had enough of
Shadow and the craziness it brought.
“Odds
and ends,” he said cryptically. “Various things.”
“Any
chance of getting better weapons?” Xavier asked.
“You
seem to have faired well enough with what you have,” Brogan replied.
“Something
better?” Xavier persisted.
“Go
to the local gun store.”
“What’s
the recompense?” Alece cut in.
“You
would get the ideas for stories. I mean, after this morning, think of the
stories you could write.”
She
nodded. “I would definitely have fodder.”
“Or
become it,” he said with a happy smile and rolled out a scroll.
She
took it and started reading. “Looks like a standard employment contract,” she
muttered as she continued to read.”
“I
think we need to confer on this as a group and figure out what we want to do
and get back to you,” Xavier said.
Vick
shakes his head. “I don’t want to talk about it. C’mon, guys! How many times
have we dreamt of this? How many times have we played and rode off into the
sunset? Fought and killed and lived the life? This is REAL.”
He
shook his head. “I’m in.”
“You
gonna hook us up with the nice R&D shit you were talking about earlier?”
Xavier asked.
“Possibly.
But this field work isn’t for me. I’ll be your Q.”
“You’re
not going to come with us?” Xavier demanded.
“Does
Q ever go out with James Bond?”
“When
there’s a hot chick around.”
They
look at her. She laughs. “Not hot enough.”
“There’s
one small catch,” Brogan said.
“What’s
your catch?”
“Not
mine. But you all have to die.”
There
was a moment of silence. “What?”
He
looked around the room. “You can’t be an author. You can’t be an actor. You,
not a doctor. You… Well, you’ll pretty much do what you’ve always done,” he
amended when he looked at Xavier.
“When?”
the Marine asked.
“In
the next 2 weeks.”
“We
have to actually die?”
“Your
identity ceases. You don’t physically die.”
“Okay,
quit being cryptic. Spit it out,” Xavier snapped.
Brogan
sighed. “Department 7 is going to kill you, make it public, graphic, and violent.
You will have a funeral. You can’t be embalmed. After you go into the ground,
we’ll dig you up and bring you back.”
“I
don’t know that I’m comfortable with this,” Alece said.
“What
the whole dying part?” Xavier said.
“Yeah.
I worked really hard to get to where I am. I’m not sure about this. I mean…”
“Is
your mom alive?” Brogan asked.
Something
inside her went still. “Why do you ask?”
“Is
she alive?”
“Why.
Do. You. Ask?” she demanded.
“Well,
if you kill a necromancer or piss one off, she would be in danger. You would be
dying to keep your family safe.”
“Do
you keep track of shadow-bloods?” she returned.
He
frowned. “No. But, just so you know, you can see the shadow, and the shadow can
see you. Not all of them will be innocent and leave you alone. They’ll know.”
“Are
you asking us or telling us to join?” she demanded.
“You
don’t have to join. But you won’t have any help should you encounter one of
those who can see you, knows you can see it, and isn’t going to just leave you
alone.”
She
threw her hands up in the air. “I can’t make this decision right now.” Handing
back the bat, she walked out into the sunshine. She kept her gaze on the
concrete, not wanting to see anything that could possibly endanger her. It had
been a crazy evening and an even crazier morning. Spiders just didn’t come in
those sizes, and what the hell was up with the tentacled thing? Was she losing
her mind?
But
no, the guys had seen it, too.
She
shook her head. She had worked damn hard to get to where she was, and she was
being asked to toss it all away to live a life doing…what? Brogan hadn’t
exactly been very forthcoming about what Department 7 would demand of them.
Would it be escort services? Not the dirty kind, but the secret service kind.
Would they have to hunt down and kill beings from Shadow that had gone of their
rockers, so to speak?
All
of the above?
Xavier
fell into step beside her. “Wanna beer?” he asked.
She
nodded, scowling at the ground. “Yeah. I could use something stronger.” And
maybe tomorrow she would wake up and this would all be a dream.
Right.
She had a feeling she had stepped straight into one of the dreams and wasn’t
going to be able to wake up anytime soon.