Spell, Crook and Handle Pt. 06

Louis flawlessly performed ten weapon katas and bowed in Iyaden's direction. He took a short breather and picked up matching gauss pistols and thumbed off their safeties as targets appeared down range. He held one gun behind his back and he fired with his right hand. Ten shots found their mark and he switched hands and nine struck true. Her reaction was fierce and without hesitation. The lash of psychic energy struck between his shoulder blades and registered on the monitors. Louis returned to his primary hand and once more fire ten precise shots. His second set with his off hand was better this time. He returned the gauss pistols and moved onto the next regiment.

What was hours of work for Louis was mere minutes in meat time. He was just finishing up with his spell work and Iyaden was playing a very active roll now. She would conjure enemies and he would have to adapt to them and fire off the proper spell for a one shot kill. He never knew what was going to appear and she was highly unpredictable. One hundred creatures later and Louis was kneeling and panting from the unrelenting onslaught he had endured.

"Impressive, you made it all the way through a full century," she said in her offhand praise.

"I am so done," he wheezed.

"Are you," she said as something stirred in the shadows.

"Oh holy hell," he cursed and staggered to his feet.

The thing was barely a silhouette and it was the stuff of nightmares. It was not in any of the books he had read and something Iyaden had never summoned it's like before. He had no idea of its strengths or weaknesses. It radiated hate and the air crackled around it. Louis called a Bo Staff to his grasp and wrapped it in Astral energy. The blast of raw energy lashed out towards him but he managed to deflect the worst of it and absorb some it for healing. The thing was testing him and he knew it. Louis fired off a spell of his own that sent the thing tumbling backward. While it had struck dead center the creature recovered almost instantly.

"Are you fucking kidding me," Louis moaned still feeling the fatigue and drain tugging at his body and his mind.

The next attack came without warning. The psychic assault was powerful and brutal. It was trying to take over but Louis had been trained to resist such attacks. He visualized an adamantine sphere around his mind and managed to shove the invader out. The thing balked and he could sense its surprise. It was the perfect time to strike. Louis raised his Bo Staff sword-like above his head and teleported to within striking range. The overhand strike at the creature's head should have crushed its skull but the thing imploded once the outer shell had been breached.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"That was a nightmare older than dreams and thankfully as rare." Iyaden replied. "You defeated it handsomely. That is enough for today."

The neural link was disengaged and Louis opened his eyes. He sat up slowly and winced at the aches from his complaining muscles. The doctor moved next to him and handed him some medication for the pain.

"Your mental activity was off the charts, again. There doesn't seem to be any long term adverse effects from your implant. While your heart rate was elevated it never reached a dangerous level. I don't know what you are experiencing while the implant is active but it is having some serious impact as far as muscle development and burning calories. I want you to rest for at least half an hour before you are back on your feet."

Louis nodded and drank the three water bottles that were by his bedside. Iyaden sat silent watching him intently. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged. She smiled and let him rest. He just shook his head and closed his eyes. He let his mind relax and drifted. Perhaps it was the last beastie that Iyaden had conjured or maybe it was just random. The nightmare struck out of nowhere. He was in the first chamber of the Black Cathedral with Yig and his children. His friends were with him and Tatiana was asking him to follow her.

"NO... I am not going to let you murder my friends," he snarled.

"You can't save them, they are already dead," she said and he was suddenly in the room with the pool and waterfall. "You can never save them Louis."

The sound of gunfire and screams filled the air. The sounds faded and he was elsewhere as quickly as he had entered the room with the pool. It was dark but he felt some kind of force pushing against his body. He was hovering and as he adjusted his eyesight he could make out currents of energy below him.

"What the hell is going on," he shouted.

"Just checking up on you Louis," Yog-Sothoth whispered. "You've been a busy boy."

"Is that you demon god?" Louis asked. "I thought you lost interest in me."

"Your encounter with the Watcher has sent ripples in all directions. I have been busy examining the permutations and I can tell they are quite interesting."

"Where am I," he asked.

"A memory," the entity replied chuckling. "This place holds a special place for me. I wanted to share it for reasons of my own."

There was a flash of light in the darkness. A short time later there was a kind of breeze that washed over Louis. The light grew in intensity and the wind became a steady thing. As he stared out at the sphere of light there was movement in the surrounding blackness. There were things swimming in that dark ocean of space. It was impossible to guess their size until one of them crawled between Louis and the light. If this thing was in fact a biological entity it was in the scale of a small planetary body. Louis tried not to let the scale of the thing impact him but when it stopped and looked at him. The full weight of its gaze was upon him and Louis screamed.

"LOUIS, it is okay Louis," Iyaden said. "It was just a dream."

A nurse raced into the room and was soon followed by his doctor. They looked at his EEG printout and the doctor's expression was grave. The neural activity was dangerously high and in areas that had no reason to be active during a dream. Iyaden seemed unconcerned about the high activity and told the doctor so.

"That is to be expected," she told him.

"How long have you been having these nightmares?" The doctor asked ignoring her.

"A few years now," Louis said placating the physician.

"YEARS... dear god," the doctor said as he began ordering more tests for abnormal brain activity.

Louis shrugged and took Iyaden's hand telling her it was okay. She smiled and yielded to his will on this point. She let go and told him she would inform his family and the others about the tests. It was hours later that Louis returned to his family. He was wearing hospital scrubs and being pushed along in a wheelchair. They had heard about the tests but his change of garb and the chair had thrown them. He told them the outcome of the tests and they relaxed. There would be ongoing scans over the next six months to monitor the impact of the neural implant.

Gabrielle had sent out for food and Louis dug in greedily. He was always hungry after training as he tended to burn a ton of calories and the results were clearly showing. He was exchanging fat for muscle to an almost insane amount. Louis was six foot and had been around two hundred pounds but now was closing in on one seventy. He liked the new shape as did most of his lady friends.

"So what are we going to do," Louis asked between mouthfuls of a greasy cheeseburger.

"What can we do," Gabrielle asked.

"I have Feng running phone calls at the moment. We have four members of this group and we have no idea how large or well-connected it its. I still feel we are missing something."

"Like...?" Louis' mom asked.

"Well there is something that you and one of these guys has in common," Inquisitor James added from the sidelines.

"What is that," she asked as everyone looked at him.

"This Damian Vitale, the guy dead in the underground, has an identical twin brother Simeon."

"Wait a fucking second, why am I just now learning about this?" Louis asked.

"I told you he had family, his brother was the one that collected his body for cremation." Gabrielle said.

"Tell me about this Simeon Vitale," Louis asked.

"He is the surviving partner in Vitale Trucking," the young Inquisitor said. "The trucking company was started by one Julius 'Shadow' Vitale. Julius has an extensive criminal record. According to police interviews Simeon has a solid alibi for the time Lily was kidnapped and held while Damian does not. They have written him off as a suspect."

"So the brothers ran the company together?" Louis asked but James shook his head.

"No, Simeon ran the office while Damien was still an over the road trucker. They could easily trade places fooling the office staff. The photos of them in the office show a striking resemblance between the twins."

Louis pondered a few different scenarios and all of them ended with kicking down the door to Vitale Trucking and kneecapping the surviving brother before torturing him to death. Gabrielle saw his expression and recognized it instantly. Her course of action was clear. She leaned down and whispered naughty things in Louis' ear until he smiled. Then the scream came from Lily's room and everyone rushed in. She was sitting up clutching her chest and covered in sweat. Louis stared at her and clenched his teeth. He knew what she was going through and didn't envy the long road ahead of her.

It was Iyaden of all people that intervened. Once the nurses had attended to Lily she took a place next to her bedside. Louis told everyone to give them some time alone and they left. Lily and Iyaden talked for a short while about what she had been through.

"You will be alright. Your family is here and they will support you no matter what."

"I know, I just feel like my life has been stolen from me. I will always be looking over my shoulder in fear." Lily said. "I fucking hate it! I don't want to live in fear."

"I can help, if you let me," Iyaden offered.

"Anything," she said. "I will do whatever it takes to get passed this."

"All you need to do is relax and I will do the rest."

Iyaden reached out and laid her hand against Lily's cheek. Lily's eyes closed as the connection was established. Her expression relaxed as Iyaden entered her thoughts. The last three days replayed over and over again as Iyaden witnessed the blaring siren, blinding lights and something else. There was something subtle at work. It was at the very edge of Lily's perception. Woven into the siren was a message repeated over and over again. Iyaden peeled away the layers of noise to retrieve the obfuscated virus.

"Kill Louis," the voice said. "Kill him. When you see the sign you will kill him."

There buried in the flashing lights an image. A design of intricate cunning that would trigger Lily to attack and kill her brother, this was truly insidious. Iyaden smiled and continued to explore Lily's memories and discovered her hidden feelings regarding Louis. The time they had spent together under the influence of the succubus and the lasting impression it had left. She would use that to manipulate what was already in place. While Lily drifted in a peaceful limbo Iyaden dug deep and rewired both emotions and bonds. Lily would no longer fear her captor and his allies. She would become a hidden weapon against her brother's enemies.

Lily's eyes opened and her demeanor seemed improved. She was smiling and appeared at peace with what had happened. The pair talked for a long time and Iyaden was quite pleased with her handiwork. She told Lily to get some rest and she could talk to her family in the morning. Everyone was waiting patiently as Iyaden came out and pronounced Lily in a much better state of mind. The relief was clearly evident and Louis let out a sigh of relief even as his parents began talking and giggling. He watched as his parents left together and wondered what they had in mind. Everyone was in a better place once Lily's mental health seemed to have stabilized and that is all that anyone could ask.

Louis watched his mom and dad head off together. They were smiling and mom actually giggled. What the hell was that all about? Were they just relieved to know that Lily was going to be okay? He knew he felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. He might just take Gabrielle up on some of her suggestions that she had whispered into his ear earlier. One was particularly interesting and involved Iyaden but he was unsure if the other was into women. I guess there was only one way to find out. He walked up to her and he paused. She was his friend, mentor and lover but for some reason he felt uncomfortable about asking her. He hmmed and hawed as he tried to find the right words. Iyaden found his awkwardness amusing and a little cute.

"Why not try just saying it," she said smiling.

"I uh... have you..." he began and faltered as his cheeks burned.

"Have I what," Iyaden asked as Gabrielle looked on grinning fiercely.

"Ummm... I was just wondering," Louis stammered and stopped again.

"This is going to take a while does anyone want a soda?" Gabrielle asked winking at Louis.

Louis tried half a dozen times and was simply unable to ask Iyaden if she liked women. He growled and stomped off towards the elevator, Gabrielle and Iyaden followed him. The three of them took it down to the lobby listening to 'I kissed a girl and I liked it'. Louis threw up his hands and turned to face Iyaden. He opened his mouth and the elevator door opened on the lobby. Frustrated he stormed off again. The girls were giggling and laughing as they followed him. While Louis and Gabrielle bought soda Iyaden drank only water. She didn't like the taste of carbonated drinks and thought the toxic nature of the drink was ill advised.

"You would be better placing this noxious substance on the edge of a blade to poison it."

"Make mine water," Louis said changing his order.

"Say what you will, I need my Mountain Dew," Gabrielle said defiantly. "Oh hey, Iyaden..."

"Hmmm?" She replied as she unwrapped the plastic seal on her water bottle.

"Have you ever slept with a woman," Gabrielle asked.

"Do you mean sex," She asked pulling the nozzle up so she could drink. "I have had quite a few partners that were female. It is quite refreshing to be honest. Men can be so damn needy and awkward. Louis is a breath of fresh air on that front. Now he knows how to make a woman scream and rattle the windows as he pounds her relentlessly." She stopped and looked around as everyone was silently looking at her. "What?"

"Let's go back up and see how Lily is doing," Gabrielle said and they headed for the elevator.

"Louis, you were going to ask me something."

"Never mind," he said biting back a few choice curse words.

The trio returned to the waiting room while Lily slept recovering as much from the gun shot as from the emotional and mental manipulation. It would be months maybe years for a full recovery. She may be haunted by the psychic trauma for the rest of her life in one form or another. Louis stared out one of the windows as conversations went on around him. There were unanswered questions that irritated him. Why had he triggered the explosives? Was his brother involved in this? How many people were involved in this? Feng was still running phone records, email accounts and work histories. If there were any connections she would find it for him.

"You are worlds away Louis," Iyaden said drawing him back to reality. "You are troubled?"

"There are questions that demand answers," Louis growled. "I just..."

"CODE BLUE... CODE BLUE..." came over the speakers and hospital staff rushed with a crash cart to one of the nearby rooms.

Everyone got to their feet and stared as the nurses and doctor headed for one of the rooms. Louis made a face, wasn't that room empty. A robed figure appeared and it was his mom. What the hell was going on and why was she dressed differently. Louis walked over to his mom and she was crying. He peeked in and there was his half-dressed father being worked on. Louis turned to his mother and she blushed.

"Whose idea was this," he asked.

"Your father's," she replied. "He figured if something went wrong we were already at a hospital. It has been so long Louis."

"I understand, I am not judging you," he said.

"The dreams just aren't enough," she whispered in her son's ear.

"Mara said you had been sharing," Louis said.

"We are still sisters," mom said blushing.

Louis took her hand and held it as they continued trying to revive her husband and his father. Six minutes, that's all it took for their lives to change so drastically. They tried so very hard but his heart was so weak and he passed with the sound of shouting, machines and curses. Louis wanted to scream, was it worth it, be he couldn't. She loved him still as she sat by the empty shell and wept. Lily had been snatched from terror and death only for his father to die in the arms of his loving wife. Louis looked at them and despite the pain and anguish his father's life had ended making love to her.

"You lucky bastard," Louis whispered and found a smile buried beneath the agony. "She loved you to the end."

"I am so sorry Louis," Gabrielle said so softly it almost hurt.

"He died in her embrace," he said equally tender. "Is that so bad?"

"You think he meant to die," she asked.

"I don't think it was intentional," Louis replied. "But I think he measured the risks."

Louis took it on his shoulders and told Lily. He held her as she cried but at some point she began giggling. They wiped away their tears and began sharing stories and memories of the man they had called father. Their mother joined them and they all sat there, the three of them and laughed and cried and did what family did at times like this, survived. It wasn't fair but life isn't fair it is just. Everyone born must perish and a simple man's time had come.

"I am going to London," Louis said at the last. "I want to meet this impossible man that is responsible for me being here."

"I can't go," his mother said. "I just can't."

"I am in great hands," Lily said. "Iyaden wants to help me. I am safe thanks to you Louis. If it wasn't for you I'd be dead."

"What makes you think that?" Louis asked. "We never found you."

"It was something he said... before, well before the explosions began. He had switched on the speakers and I could hear him arguing with someone. It was a stark and terrible voice that demanded my death, a voice so dark and so cold screaming for my life. The man that called himself the Artist denied him and said that the day had been prepared for. A moment later the first detonation occurred and I climbed underneath the cot to hide."

"How does that have anything to do with me?" Louis asked.

"He mentioned your name. The man demanding for my death said you had talked to him about the Artist. He had said that the Artist was meticulous. He wouldn't kill me because he would not be rushed. The other went into a rage when the Artist said 'Louis understands me'. After that he refused to lay a hand on me. Louis, you saved my life!"

"I don't know what to say?"

"Promise me you will never stop until you get all the answers you seek. There is something inside of you that needs to see this through." Lily said smiling.

"I promise."

Wind, Sword and Time:

Three months had passed since his father had died. Louis had mourned the man that had raised him but now it was time to get the first of many answers. The private jet landed at Heathrow Airport at four in the morning. The limo was waiting for Louis and took him to the flat he would be renting while staying in England. It had two bedrooms and looked out over the Wolf and Hound Pub across the street. The elderly landlady, the Widow Beatrice Hyde White, was thrilled to have a famous young man like Louis staying at her flat. While meals were not included in the lease she had given him an open invitation for tea.