"Carrying Lightning In Your Chest"
May. 15th, 2022 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Carrying Lightning In Your Chest"
5/11/2021
I.
"So I said to him, I can be Vietnamese AND Australian, it's not one or the other. And I'll give him credit, he put on a sober puss and says, he reckons he never really thought about that before, yer know? So, me and him talked it over...."
As Arthur Tran talked, Jocelyn felt her attention slipping away. It was such a gorgeous late afternoon in May, with a breeze and bright sunlight, and sitting at the sidewalk cafe made her feel like a cat dozing in the sun. Their plates sat empty on the wrought-iron table between them. She had eaten more than she normally did, the shells stuffed with cheese and mushrooms felt like an anchor in her stomach but she liked the unfamiliar sensation. With a conscious effort, she got back into her companion's flow of words and found he was talking about how Vietnamese families weren't really as close-knit as they seemed to others. Mostly they were nosy about each other's business and getting in the way to meddle.
In her early thirties, Jocelyn Garimara looked poised and even elegant in her tailored cream-colored pantsuit, her ankles crossed and one forearm resting on the table. She had the rich dark skin and thick straight hair of her tribe, a small Northwestern group almost extinct now. The full lips and wide nose added personality to her face. Jocelyn's eyes were large and wide-set, at the moment they had a friendly openness to them.
Seeing Arthur pause and smile, she grinned back. "Give me a second. That's a lot to take in. I'm trying to figure out your family from what you said, you have two brothers and two sisters?"
"That's right. Sorry to yammer on like that, Jocelyn, I just feel comfortable with you." A few years older, Arthur Tran was no bigger than the petite Aboriginal woman. He had narrow shoulders and a small hands, his face under the mop of glossy black hair looked almost prepubescent. But that was an expensive suit he wore and that watch on his left wrist had cost more than a casual glance would suggest. He was doing all right for himself.
"I have to get going soon," she admitted. "I'm on watch duty today."
Arthur raised an eyebrow and said, "That's funny innit? You said you work for a research organization, poking around where the paranormal is reported? What's with watch duty? That makes it sounds more like law enforcement or military work?"
This was the moment she had been dreading. How did Timothy have so many friends in the civilian world? Every time Jocelyn got to meet someone, there came this moment when she either had to be misleading and vague, or else she took a chance on freaking them out. She took a deep breath. "We investigate situations that are often mysterious, Arthur. You don't have to believe in the supernatural. I can understand that. I'm skeptical by nature myself. But my team often has to go where you can't count on civilized law, where there are hazardous conditions and vicious creatures."
"Oh, this is getting more and more interesting," Arthur grinned, leaning forward. "I work with statistics for a law firm and you couldn't make my job sound exciting no matter how creative you are. So you lot are explorers? Ghostbreakers? You're like that old TV program with the FBI agents chasings spooks?"
Now laughter escaped her in a quick burst that she managed to cut short. "I'm sorry. It's hearing it put that way, but yes. I belong to the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, we find ourselves checking out reports that turn out to be mundane and disappointing."
"Oh, but the remaining one per cent?"
Jocelyn picked up her glass of iced tea and found it was empty. All that remained that was a tiny bit of water from melted ice cubes and she took a sip to stall before answering. "Well, I'll tell you the God's honest truth, Arthur. That one per cent turns out to be truth. Hell. Bloody hell. Let me come right out with it. Yes, we find ourselves fighting monsters. Vampires, werewolves, Skinwalkers, Trolls, you name it. My life is like a trashy horror flick."
Not a trace of amusement showed in Arthur Tran's manner. Instead, he slapped his palm lightly on the table. "I knew it! Ever since I was a kid, I had a feeling there's more going on in the world than we're told. For thousands of years, people have believed in things that come out at night. So, what have you seen personally?"
"Everything. I really shouldn't be telling you this, but the worst that'll happen is you'll think I'm soft in the head. Arthur, I... I've faced creatures out of folklore and out of nightmares." She clinked her empty glass down on the table. "Maybe I've said too much. I should shove off now."
"Wait, don't think I'm not taking you seriously," he said, half rising from his chair. "I have had such a good time talking to you. When I heard you in that shop, your accent made me homesick and happy at the same time."
She tilted her head, regarding him a bit dubiously. "Same for me. I could tell you were from the far Northwest right away. Up by Darwin, maybe. I loved hearing it. Yanks in movies and TV lay on Australian accents so heavy that hearing the real thing is a delight. Come on, let's walk a bit. I have to head toward 38th Street."
"Sure, I'd like that. Nothing waiting for me in my apartment but some pathetic hanging plants and my rice cooker." They had already left money in the plastic tray to cover the bill with a tip. As they pushed back their chairs, a wave of dizziness swept over Jocelyn. Her knees got weak. Even though she tried to cover the sudden weakness, she saw Arthur give her a concerned look.
Overhead, a loud static crackling sounded. Something human-sized swooped down and hit the sidewalk with a deafening roar like lightning striking at close range. For a bare instant for soaring away again, a crimson outline of raw energy stood on two legs and turned its featureless oval of a head toward Jocelyn and Arthur. Then it was gone, leaving only a charred spot on the pavement. The Red Spectre.
II.
Forty minutes later, they went in the KDF headquarters building on East 38th Street near Lexington. Jocelyn had used her Link to tell Sable she was bringing a guest. She and Arthur waited in the foyer until the Trom sensors had scanned them and taken readings more detailed than an MRI. Entering the front hall, they were met by Sable, who ushered them into her office.
A little older than Joycelyn, a little taller and heavier, Lauren Sable Reilly was the KDF captain and also their leader as Tel Shai knights. Her mixed Irish and Cuban ancestry gave her a uniquely interesting face, and the long black hair brushed back off a high forhead added to the effect. Today, she was dressed more informally than usual in a light green polo shirt, jeans and sneakers. She settled behind her desk and watched thoughtfully as Jocelyn and Arthur pulled up chairs facing her.
"I'm sure I haven't seen you before," Sable began, giving Arthur an opening to speak.
"Oh, not at all. Jocelyn and I met today by chance. We noticed each other's accents while waiting in line at a deli. So we started yabbering and got along famously enough we had lunch together."
"Near Rockefeller Center. Facing that famous statue," added Jocelyn.
"I see. You're both Australian, of course. I know Jocelyn is from an Aboriginal family in the Northwest. But you...?" Sable prompted.
"Oh, I'm second generation. My parents came from Saigon looking for work. But I was born in 'Stralia and have never been to Vietnam," Arthur said with a relaxed smile. "That seems to confuse some people."
Sable smiled back. Her powers of enhanced perception were following Arthur's heartbeat, listening for subvocal tremors in his voice. She could smell no tang of adrenaline in his perspiration and his pupils were normal. She was ninety per cent certain he was both relaxed and friendly. Of course, Jocelyn realized that Sable would be testing Arthur this way, but there was no reason to mention it.
"Yes, it's a complicated world," Sable said. "That strange pheomenon you saw, what do you think it was?"
"Damfino," came the prompt answer. "A bright red lightning bolt. Something that resembled a human outline which shot off again like a missile. If Jocelyn and a hunnerd other folks hadn't seen it too, I'd figure I was getting soft in the head. I'd probably be thinking of getting an X-Ray to see if I'd got a big brain tumor."
"You're fine. We know what it is. Joss, you want to explain?"
Taking the cue, Jocelyn said, "It's called a Red Spectre. It's a concentration of gralic force, that is, a mysterious force that science doesn't understand yet. The Spectre is attached to a Human host, and is mostly under the control of its host but sometimes gets stubborn or defiant. It's dangerous."
"I can swear to that," Arthur said. "Damn thing burned a hole in the sidewalk you could sit down in. Hate to be in that Red Spectre's way and get broiled by that flash."
"There's something you should know," Jocelyn continued. "When I reached puberty, I manifested one. I'm the host for a Red Spectre. I can release it when needed."
Arthur Tran did not smile, but he did draw back slightly. "Here now, darling, I need a tick to let that settle in. You've got one of those lightning beasties living inside you?"
"You're taking this so well," she said. "Yes. Right now, my Red Spectre is swirling around in my body. They're also called Gammon. My Gammon is agitated right now after sensing another of her kind. She wants to get out."
"Bugger. That makes me a bit uneasy. You're sure your little lightning friend isn't about to go blasting around this room?"
Jocelyn raised and lowered her shoulders with a sigh. "I'm tempted to tease you, but actually my control is very good. My Gammon is not coming out unless I let her out."
"And you, Miss Reilly? What do you have to add to all this?"
"Please call me Sable. I'm glad you're flexible enough to accept the situation."
"Not much choice, innit? I saw what I saw, and Jocelyn here strikes me as a straight talker. I'm inclined to take her at her word."
"Very well," Sable said. "You should know that experts in the Midnight War thought Red Spectres never meet. There have never been more than two or three manifesting at the same time. They usually appeared far from each other. The fact that one showed up so near to Jocelyn is disturbing."
Arthur caught on. "You don't know what one Spectre wants with the other. Are they gonna shag or fight or what?"
"That's what we're worried about," Sable said. She held out a hand palm up toward Jocelyn. "And either way, what will happen to their hosts?"
III.
The next fifteen minutes were spent with Sable getting them to repeat what they had seen, going over everything in excrutiating detail. Toward the end, Arthur was getting noticeably annoyed. Finally, Sable leaned back in her chair and folded her hands across her flat stomach. "Either of you have any suggestions what to do next? I guess I'll be calling our network of observers to see if anyone has spotted this manifestation."
"Don't look at me," Arthur said. "This is all new to me and more than a little disorienting."
Jocelyn smiled at him, then pushed back her chair. "I'll try to think of an approach, captain. It's too bad my Gammon can't talk."
"All right then. Maybe you two want to hang out in the Rec Room for now?" Sable asked.
"Sounds good," Jocelyn replied. "Arthur, what do you say?"
"I'd like that. I need to decompress. Learning all this has shaken up my worldview."
As they headed through the main hall, past the wide staircase leading up to the second floor, he said, "So. Where's everyone else?"
"Well, Demrak Jin is preggers and about to drop. She looks like she swallowed a soccer ball. Her mate Galvan is with her, I guess they're chilling somewhere. I don't know what Timothy's up to. We do a lot of training and research, it's like being in uni the rest of your life."
"Just the five of you in this huge ol' building?"
"Yep. There's four part-time members who come in one day a week and who we can call in emergencies. But the KDF was never a big organization." She opened the room on the far wall and reached over to flick the light switch. "Here we are. Kick off your shoes if you like."
The Rec Room had subdued recessed light. It was huge, with a lot of open space for gatherings There was a pool table that seldom saw use, and a handcarved chess set on its own pedestal, as well as wall racks of assorted magazines and newspapers and an elaborate sound system. The gigantic TV screen was so large and so detailed that it felt like looking through a window at real people. Hooked up to satellite signals, the system had thousands of channels available.
"Crikey," said Arthur in a whisper. "Not half posh."
Jocelyn took him by an arm and ushered him toward a wall-length couch piled with cushions. "That's so strange. I've been living in the States so long that real slang sounds funny to me. I don't talk like a 'Stralian at all anymore."
"Bludger," Arthur rattled off, "Beauty, eh? Good on ya. Who opened their lunch? Fair dinkum."
That set her laughing as she gestured for him to join him on the couch. "Oh my God. I'd feel a right fool saying any of that. My vocabulary been corrupted by this country, Arthur."
"No worries," he said, which made her giggle again. Then he changed his voice, "I have to ask, you have one of those Red Spectres? What does it feel like?"
"Carrying lightning in your chest," she said in sudden seriousness. "I had just become a woman when this sort of tingling spread through my torso. As if.. as if my blood was sparkling. It's hard to describe. But my body was already going through so many changes at that time, I thought the sensation was part of it."
Arthur loosened his tie and undid the top button of his white shirt. He was still in his office clothing. "Am I being nosy? Would you like me to shove off and let you think?"
"God, no," she said instantly. "I like having you around. An Abo and Vietnamese, both from Oz, getting along famously. What are the odds?" She dug the remote out from under a cushion and clicked on the TV. They started going through news channels until she found one reporting on the Red Spectre near Rockefeller Center.
"That's disappointing," she said as a commercial came on. "The official story is that it was some freak electrical discharge. Like ball lightning. I bet no one who was actually there will believe that tripe."
Arthur thought for a minute. "There was one detail strange, some of them said they tried to take pictures but their phones burned out. One phone had smoke coming out of it and had to be thrown away in case it was going to explode. Is that a common thing?"
"In the Midnight War? Absolutely." She was studying his face for some reason, wondering why he looked so different from her teammate Sheng. Darker skin, thinner bones, a pointed chin... She caught herself and said, "Please don't try to take my picture, okay?"
"I'd like to have a few snapshots of you," he admitted. "But I don't want to have to buy a new phone right now. Maybe you can explain..."
He broke off because of the look on Jocelyn's face. She had straightened up, one hand pressed flat to her chest and was staring off into empty air. "I have to go. Come on, Arthur.."
The two of them burst back into Sable's office, where she was thumbing through loose notes from a manila folder. She glanced up. "Your heartbeat is over a hundred and ten, Jocelyn."
"My Gammon is tugging. She wants me to go somewhere. I'll report as soon as I can, captain."
Standing up, Sable pointed at Arthur. "One minute. This is serious. Listen to what I'm saying. Arthur, if you accompany Jocelyn, you will be placing yourself in mortal danger. Think of it as entering an active war zone or getting in a shootout between rival gangs. If you die tonight, who will you leave behind?"
"Why... Only my parents and a few cousins. I haven't seen them in three years but we keep in touch." He straightened up. "Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I don't fully realize the danger you're talking about, but I'm going with her."
"That's me mate," said Jocelyn, grabbing his arm and heading out of the office. "We'll take the Mustang..."
"Hold it a minute!" Sable yelled. It was so unheard of for her to raise her voice that the action made Jocelyn stop dead in the doorway to the hall. "He does not need to see KDF business," Sable announced. "You bring the car out front to pick him up. Arthur, I'll escort you outside. We have a certain amount of security to maintain."
"Sorry, captain," the Australian woman said with some chagrin. "Got caught up in the moment. I'll go first." With that, she vaulted out into the hall out of sight.
"Give her a second," Sable said. "Arthur, you seem to have won her trust quickly. Jocelyn is a solitary person. She usually keeps to herself."
"I think she's aces," he responded. "Not just that's she's painless to look at. Sometimes you meet someone and you feel you've known them all your life."
"Oh brother." Sable made a clucking noise. "Your personal lives are none of my business. But I want to be sure you understand what you're getting into. I'm dead serious. You're likely to be risking your life tonight."
"It's my life to risk," he said without hesitation. Sable ushered him out into the front hall, through the foyer and down the concrete steps to the sidewalk. Pulling up and double-parking on 38th Street was a deep maroon Ford Mustang that gleamed as if the wax was still wet. Behind the wheel, Jocelyn waved cheerfully.
"Nice meeting you," Arthur said as he trotted over to hop into the passenger seat.
Watching the car ease out into traffic and roar off, Lauren Sable Reilly folded her arms across her chest. "Be careful. Stay safe," she whispered with no one near. "Both of you."
IV.
Crawling north through typically congested traffic, Jocelyn Garimara drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. "This is awful. I'm sure we could get there faster by abandoning the car and running."
"Sable seemed unhappy about us taking off like that," he ventured, not knowing how she would react.
"Oh, I know my captain. She'll be sending one of my teammates after us. Sheng, if he's available. Or Josef, but I think he's at least an hour away. Up near Westchester."
Arthur peered forward through the windshield. "I can't figure out why traffic has stopped. The light at the next corner is green."
"Beats me. Who knows, someone is letting a passenger out, someone is double parked?" She rubbed a spot on her sterum between her modest breasts. "I'm burning inside. My Red Spectre is whirling around furiously. Whatever has gotten her so agitated is closer."
"Hmm. You know, I wonder how would your friends find you? You didn't say where we were headed."
"Oh, we carry a device called a Link. They could track its signal unless I make a point to go silent. Think of it as a phone from fifty years in the future, it's fair advanced."
After another ten minutes of slow progress, Jocelyn hit her blinkers and snatched a parking spot that a yellow taxi had just vacated. "We're getting out, Arthur. I think we're near our destination anyway."
"Suits me." He climbed out and turned around. 63rd Street. A block ahead of them was an entrance to Central Park on the Park Avenue side. "I haven't spent much time there. Too busy racking up the old overtime at the office."
Closing her door, Jocelyn swung around to join him. She was adjusting something under the back of her jacket and he caught a glimpse of a needle-thin barrel in a leather holster.
"I didn't know you were packing a gun, old girl."
"Eh? Oh, it's not a regular firearm. We carry air pistols that fire anesthetic darts. Very quiet and usually non-lethal. Let's head up this path."
After a few minutes of walking quickly into the park, past a closed kiosk which sold hot dogs and hamburgers, Arthur Tran said, "Something funny, Jocelyn. Every one is leaving. I haven't seen anyone heading into the park, they're all heading out."
"Right smartly, too." She paused and placed a hand on his sleeve. "This happens a lot in the Midnight War, Arthur. Normal people tend to get away when something supernatural is in the air. They don't know why, they just feel uncomfortable and want to run away. Look how fast everyone is walking."
"I'm not surprised," he said. "I feel it too. Like.. like we've heard a warning somehow."
She came to a halt and moved over to gaze up at his face. "Perhaps you should wait for me at the car. I've had training and experience with rough situations."
"What, scarper off? And leave a little sheila like you alone? I should say not. I don't care if a bloody giant lizard comes round knocking the trees over, I'm sticking by your side."
To her own surprise, Jocelyn stretched up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, only a light brush of her lips. "I'm glad. We need to keep going."
Still not dark this time of year, it was a gorgeous warm evening with the air dry and stirred by a breeze. No one was in sight. They passed a bench where someone had abandoned a paperback, a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. "There's the Meadow to our left," she said. "I have a feeling we're almost where we need to be."
Despite his brave words, Arthur Tran felt uneasy. He had the uncomfortable sensation of being watched, of feeling hot breath on the back of his neck. But there was nothing there. He consciously squared his shoulders and folded his hands into fists in an effort to feel braver. Looking down at how Jocelyn strode along, he wondered what made her so confident. Up until that moment, he hadn't really thought about her claim to have a Red Spectre but now it made sense. If she was carrying a sort of living thunderbolt in her body, naturally she would not be scared easily.
He had time also to reflect on this whole Midnight War business. His mother had believed strongly in spirits and omens and little customs to deflect bad luck or to protect children. Arthur had never contradicted his mother but he had thought she was terribly superstitious. Now he felt differently.
To their right was a circular clearing, one of many which held a decorative sculpture. This one displayed a concrete toadstool large enough for a person to sit on. And, in fact, someone was perched on that sculpture then, a tall gaunt woman with a face like a skull covered tautly with dry yellowed skin.
V.
"She doesn't make a good first impression, s'truth?" Arthur muttered behind his hand.
"Stay back," Jocelyn said. "This is a Nekrosan. Quite dangerous." In a louder voice, she called over, "What are you doing in the cities of Men?"
The grotesque woman rose smoothly to her feet. She was wearing a brown robe of coarse material that reached to her feet. There was no hair on her head, not even eyebrows or lashes. Her face resembled an animated skull under that layer of tight skin to the extent that only the hostile dark eyes under the brow ledge showed she was alive.
"You do not know me, daughter of Humans," came a weird rasping voice. "But you knew my father well. Golgora!"
That produced a derisive snort from Jocelyn. "What, pull the other leg. I've read about Golgora but he died before I was born. He's only a footnote in the Midnight War."
The Nekrosan hesitated, then said, "No matter. Times passes more slowly in the adjacent realms. Know that you face Lucivero and this hour is your last."
"Oh, I've heard that before," Jocelyn replied, stepping onto the grassy area. "Threats and more threats. Yet here I am. You Nekrosim are always bad news. What trouble are you bringing with you?"
"Stay where you are! Do not come closer." The skull-faced woman raised her hands, bony fingers working as if already strangling someone. "Deep are the dark arts I have mastered. I sense you are the one I seek. You are host to a great power."
"Arthur, don't interfere. No matter what happens," Jocelyn said to her friend. Turning back to Lucivero, she said, "All right. I admit it. I can feel it in you, too. Somehow you captured a Gammon."
"One older and more potent than yours! I have tamed and broken him." Lucivero chuckled as if she could not hold it in any longer. "Loose your wild lightning, Human girl."
Both women sank to one knee, bowed their heads and placed their palms on the grass for support, synchronized in their movements as if they had practiced this together. Up from within their bodies rushed two scarlet beings of raw hissing gralic force. The Gammons were human-shaped in a crude way, outlines of arms and legs and torsos without details. Their heads were featureless oval. Around the Red Spectres, a haze of energy crackled and shifted.
The Gammon which rose above Lucivero was noticeably larger and brighter than the one which emerged from Jocelyn. It circled around the lesser Gammon. The two manifestations neared each other uncertainly, and when they almost touched, blinding sparks showered down upon the grass. The two beings drew back and hovered ten feet off the ground.
"Why do you hesitate?" shrieked Lucivero in her hollow tones. "Seize the other. Absorb her force and make invinc--"
Her words broke off. The Nekrosan clutched at her throat and plucked out two metal needles an inch long. That action was her last. The potent Trom-derived drug was in her system. She had felt a sharp pain as the darts broke her skin, then an instant of confusion before she lost all consciousness. Lucivero sank face down to the ground and let out a sigh she was not herself aware of.
Still kneeling, Jocelyn carefully replaced the long-barreled dart gun to its holster beneath her jacket. The weapons operated on compressed CO2 and made a barely audible cough as they fired. Jocedlyn said, "Aw, shut your mouth," to the unhearing Nekrosan.
Aboved them, visible in the dusk by their own light, the Red Spectres swayed. The larger brighter one whirled and plunged down to crash into Lucivero with a sharp detonation of force that could be felt through the ground. The red light flared up and died down.
"Whoa..." whispered Arthur Tran in the ringing silence which followed.
Lowering to stand astride the blackened steaming husk which had been the daughter of Golgora, the Gammon swung its blank face toward the two living people. One hand without fingers rose in an ironic salute, then the Red Spectre vaulted straight up faster than any physical projectile and was gone from sight within a second.
"Off to find a new host," Jocelyn muttered. "On the other side the Earth, I hope." She struggled up to her feet and held her arms back to push her chest forward. Her Gammon slid effortlessly back into her body. The hissing noise was gone.
Watching close at hand, Arthur felt his hair lower. That was odd. He hadn't been aware of it standing on end from the nearness of the unearthly beings. He came toward Jocelyn, hands out, and the two of them embraced without either knowing they were going to.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said, holding on to him. "Not a pretty sight."
"All I care about it is that you weren't hurt," he replied. "If you had been killed, I don't know if I would have been able to handle it."
Drawing back her head, Jocelyn smiled up into his heads. She gave him a soft gentle kiss, not with passion but with affection, then sank her head against his shoulder.
"Well then," he laughed. "I've been thinking about doing THAT all day."
4/30/2020.
5/11/2021
I.
"So I said to him, I can be Vietnamese AND Australian, it's not one or the other. And I'll give him credit, he put on a sober puss and says, he reckons he never really thought about that before, yer know? So, me and him talked it over...."
As Arthur Tran talked, Jocelyn felt her attention slipping away. It was such a gorgeous late afternoon in May, with a breeze and bright sunlight, and sitting at the sidewalk cafe made her feel like a cat dozing in the sun. Their plates sat empty on the wrought-iron table between them. She had eaten more than she normally did, the shells stuffed with cheese and mushrooms felt like an anchor in her stomach but she liked the unfamiliar sensation. With a conscious effort, she got back into her companion's flow of words and found he was talking about how Vietnamese families weren't really as close-knit as they seemed to others. Mostly they were nosy about each other's business and getting in the way to meddle.
In her early thirties, Jocelyn Garimara looked poised and even elegant in her tailored cream-colored pantsuit, her ankles crossed and one forearm resting on the table. She had the rich dark skin and thick straight hair of her tribe, a small Northwestern group almost extinct now. The full lips and wide nose added personality to her face. Jocelyn's eyes were large and wide-set, at the moment they had a friendly openness to them.
Seeing Arthur pause and smile, she grinned back. "Give me a second. That's a lot to take in. I'm trying to figure out your family from what you said, you have two brothers and two sisters?"
"That's right. Sorry to yammer on like that, Jocelyn, I just feel comfortable with you." A few years older, Arthur Tran was no bigger than the petite Aboriginal woman. He had narrow shoulders and a small hands, his face under the mop of glossy black hair looked almost prepubescent. But that was an expensive suit he wore and that watch on his left wrist had cost more than a casual glance would suggest. He was doing all right for himself.
"I have to get going soon," she admitted. "I'm on watch duty today."
Arthur raised an eyebrow and said, "That's funny innit? You said you work for a research organization, poking around where the paranormal is reported? What's with watch duty? That makes it sounds more like law enforcement or military work?"
This was the moment she had been dreading. How did Timothy have so many friends in the civilian world? Every time Jocelyn got to meet someone, there came this moment when she either had to be misleading and vague, or else she took a chance on freaking them out. She took a deep breath. "We investigate situations that are often mysterious, Arthur. You don't have to believe in the supernatural. I can understand that. I'm skeptical by nature myself. But my team often has to go where you can't count on civilized law, where there are hazardous conditions and vicious creatures."
"Oh, this is getting more and more interesting," Arthur grinned, leaning forward. "I work with statistics for a law firm and you couldn't make my job sound exciting no matter how creative you are. So you lot are explorers? Ghostbreakers? You're like that old TV program with the FBI agents chasings spooks?"
Now laughter escaped her in a quick burst that she managed to cut short. "I'm sorry. It's hearing it put that way, but yes. I belong to the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, we find ourselves checking out reports that turn out to be mundane and disappointing."
"Oh, but the remaining one per cent?"
Jocelyn picked up her glass of iced tea and found it was empty. All that remained that was a tiny bit of water from melted ice cubes and she took a sip to stall before answering. "Well, I'll tell you the God's honest truth, Arthur. That one per cent turns out to be truth. Hell. Bloody hell. Let me come right out with it. Yes, we find ourselves fighting monsters. Vampires, werewolves, Skinwalkers, Trolls, you name it. My life is like a trashy horror flick."
Not a trace of amusement showed in Arthur Tran's manner. Instead, he slapped his palm lightly on the table. "I knew it! Ever since I was a kid, I had a feeling there's more going on in the world than we're told. For thousands of years, people have believed in things that come out at night. So, what have you seen personally?"
"Everything. I really shouldn't be telling you this, but the worst that'll happen is you'll think I'm soft in the head. Arthur, I... I've faced creatures out of folklore and out of nightmares." She clinked her empty glass down on the table. "Maybe I've said too much. I should shove off now."
"Wait, don't think I'm not taking you seriously," he said, half rising from his chair. "I have had such a good time talking to you. When I heard you in that shop, your accent made me homesick and happy at the same time."
She tilted her head, regarding him a bit dubiously. "Same for me. I could tell you were from the far Northwest right away. Up by Darwin, maybe. I loved hearing it. Yanks in movies and TV lay on Australian accents so heavy that hearing the real thing is a delight. Come on, let's walk a bit. I have to head toward 38th Street."
"Sure, I'd like that. Nothing waiting for me in my apartment but some pathetic hanging plants and my rice cooker." They had already left money in the plastic tray to cover the bill with a tip. As they pushed back their chairs, a wave of dizziness swept over Jocelyn. Her knees got weak. Even though she tried to cover the sudden weakness, she saw Arthur give her a concerned look.
Overhead, a loud static crackling sounded. Something human-sized swooped down and hit the sidewalk with a deafening roar like lightning striking at close range. For a bare instant for soaring away again, a crimson outline of raw energy stood on two legs and turned its featureless oval of a head toward Jocelyn and Arthur. Then it was gone, leaving only a charred spot on the pavement. The Red Spectre.
II.
Forty minutes later, they went in the KDF headquarters building on East 38th Street near Lexington. Jocelyn had used her Link to tell Sable she was bringing a guest. She and Arthur waited in the foyer until the Trom sensors had scanned them and taken readings more detailed than an MRI. Entering the front hall, they were met by Sable, who ushered them into her office.
A little older than Joycelyn, a little taller and heavier, Lauren Sable Reilly was the KDF captain and also their leader as Tel Shai knights. Her mixed Irish and Cuban ancestry gave her a uniquely interesting face, and the long black hair brushed back off a high forhead added to the effect. Today, she was dressed more informally than usual in a light green polo shirt, jeans and sneakers. She settled behind her desk and watched thoughtfully as Jocelyn and Arthur pulled up chairs facing her.
"I'm sure I haven't seen you before," Sable began, giving Arthur an opening to speak.
"Oh, not at all. Jocelyn and I met today by chance. We noticed each other's accents while waiting in line at a deli. So we started yabbering and got along famously enough we had lunch together."
"Near Rockefeller Center. Facing that famous statue," added Jocelyn.
"I see. You're both Australian, of course. I know Jocelyn is from an Aboriginal family in the Northwest. But you...?" Sable prompted.
"Oh, I'm second generation. My parents came from Saigon looking for work. But I was born in 'Stralia and have never been to Vietnam," Arthur said with a relaxed smile. "That seems to confuse some people."
Sable smiled back. Her powers of enhanced perception were following Arthur's heartbeat, listening for subvocal tremors in his voice. She could smell no tang of adrenaline in his perspiration and his pupils were normal. She was ninety per cent certain he was both relaxed and friendly. Of course, Jocelyn realized that Sable would be testing Arthur this way, but there was no reason to mention it.
"Yes, it's a complicated world," Sable said. "That strange pheomenon you saw, what do you think it was?"
"Damfino," came the prompt answer. "A bright red lightning bolt. Something that resembled a human outline which shot off again like a missile. If Jocelyn and a hunnerd other folks hadn't seen it too, I'd figure I was getting soft in the head. I'd probably be thinking of getting an X-Ray to see if I'd got a big brain tumor."
"You're fine. We know what it is. Joss, you want to explain?"
Taking the cue, Jocelyn said, "It's called a Red Spectre. It's a concentration of gralic force, that is, a mysterious force that science doesn't understand yet. The Spectre is attached to a Human host, and is mostly under the control of its host but sometimes gets stubborn or defiant. It's dangerous."
"I can swear to that," Arthur said. "Damn thing burned a hole in the sidewalk you could sit down in. Hate to be in that Red Spectre's way and get broiled by that flash."
"There's something you should know," Jocelyn continued. "When I reached puberty, I manifested one. I'm the host for a Red Spectre. I can release it when needed."
Arthur Tran did not smile, but he did draw back slightly. "Here now, darling, I need a tick to let that settle in. You've got one of those lightning beasties living inside you?"
"You're taking this so well," she said. "Yes. Right now, my Red Spectre is swirling around in my body. They're also called Gammon. My Gammon is agitated right now after sensing another of her kind. She wants to get out."
"Bugger. That makes me a bit uneasy. You're sure your little lightning friend isn't about to go blasting around this room?"
Jocelyn raised and lowered her shoulders with a sigh. "I'm tempted to tease you, but actually my control is very good. My Gammon is not coming out unless I let her out."
"And you, Miss Reilly? What do you have to add to all this?"
"Please call me Sable. I'm glad you're flexible enough to accept the situation."
"Not much choice, innit? I saw what I saw, and Jocelyn here strikes me as a straight talker. I'm inclined to take her at her word."
"Very well," Sable said. "You should know that experts in the Midnight War thought Red Spectres never meet. There have never been more than two or three manifesting at the same time. They usually appeared far from each other. The fact that one showed up so near to Jocelyn is disturbing."
Arthur caught on. "You don't know what one Spectre wants with the other. Are they gonna shag or fight or what?"
"That's what we're worried about," Sable said. She held out a hand palm up toward Jocelyn. "And either way, what will happen to their hosts?"
III.
The next fifteen minutes were spent with Sable getting them to repeat what they had seen, going over everything in excrutiating detail. Toward the end, Arthur was getting noticeably annoyed. Finally, Sable leaned back in her chair and folded her hands across her flat stomach. "Either of you have any suggestions what to do next? I guess I'll be calling our network of observers to see if anyone has spotted this manifestation."
"Don't look at me," Arthur said. "This is all new to me and more than a little disorienting."
Jocelyn smiled at him, then pushed back her chair. "I'll try to think of an approach, captain. It's too bad my Gammon can't talk."
"All right then. Maybe you two want to hang out in the Rec Room for now?" Sable asked.
"Sounds good," Jocelyn replied. "Arthur, what do you say?"
"I'd like that. I need to decompress. Learning all this has shaken up my worldview."
As they headed through the main hall, past the wide staircase leading up to the second floor, he said, "So. Where's everyone else?"
"Well, Demrak Jin is preggers and about to drop. She looks like she swallowed a soccer ball. Her mate Galvan is with her, I guess they're chilling somewhere. I don't know what Timothy's up to. We do a lot of training and research, it's like being in uni the rest of your life."
"Just the five of you in this huge ol' building?"
"Yep. There's four part-time members who come in one day a week and who we can call in emergencies. But the KDF was never a big organization." She opened the room on the far wall and reached over to flick the light switch. "Here we are. Kick off your shoes if you like."
The Rec Room had subdued recessed light. It was huge, with a lot of open space for gatherings There was a pool table that seldom saw use, and a handcarved chess set on its own pedestal, as well as wall racks of assorted magazines and newspapers and an elaborate sound system. The gigantic TV screen was so large and so detailed that it felt like looking through a window at real people. Hooked up to satellite signals, the system had thousands of channels available.
"Crikey," said Arthur in a whisper. "Not half posh."
Jocelyn took him by an arm and ushered him toward a wall-length couch piled with cushions. "That's so strange. I've been living in the States so long that real slang sounds funny to me. I don't talk like a 'Stralian at all anymore."
"Bludger," Arthur rattled off, "Beauty, eh? Good on ya. Who opened their lunch? Fair dinkum."
That set her laughing as she gestured for him to join him on the couch. "Oh my God. I'd feel a right fool saying any of that. My vocabulary been corrupted by this country, Arthur."
"No worries," he said, which made her giggle again. Then he changed his voice, "I have to ask, you have one of those Red Spectres? What does it feel like?"
"Carrying lightning in your chest," she said in sudden seriousness. "I had just become a woman when this sort of tingling spread through my torso. As if.. as if my blood was sparkling. It's hard to describe. But my body was already going through so many changes at that time, I thought the sensation was part of it."
Arthur loosened his tie and undid the top button of his white shirt. He was still in his office clothing. "Am I being nosy? Would you like me to shove off and let you think?"
"God, no," she said instantly. "I like having you around. An Abo and Vietnamese, both from Oz, getting along famously. What are the odds?" She dug the remote out from under a cushion and clicked on the TV. They started going through news channels until she found one reporting on the Red Spectre near Rockefeller Center.
"That's disappointing," she said as a commercial came on. "The official story is that it was some freak electrical discharge. Like ball lightning. I bet no one who was actually there will believe that tripe."
Arthur thought for a minute. "There was one detail strange, some of them said they tried to take pictures but their phones burned out. One phone had smoke coming out of it and had to be thrown away in case it was going to explode. Is that a common thing?"
"In the Midnight War? Absolutely." She was studying his face for some reason, wondering why he looked so different from her teammate Sheng. Darker skin, thinner bones, a pointed chin... She caught herself and said, "Please don't try to take my picture, okay?"
"I'd like to have a few snapshots of you," he admitted. "But I don't want to have to buy a new phone right now. Maybe you can explain..."
He broke off because of the look on Jocelyn's face. She had straightened up, one hand pressed flat to her chest and was staring off into empty air. "I have to go. Come on, Arthur.."
The two of them burst back into Sable's office, where she was thumbing through loose notes from a manila folder. She glanced up. "Your heartbeat is over a hundred and ten, Jocelyn."
"My Gammon is tugging. She wants me to go somewhere. I'll report as soon as I can, captain."
Standing up, Sable pointed at Arthur. "One minute. This is serious. Listen to what I'm saying. Arthur, if you accompany Jocelyn, you will be placing yourself in mortal danger. Think of it as entering an active war zone or getting in a shootout between rival gangs. If you die tonight, who will you leave behind?"
"Why... Only my parents and a few cousins. I haven't seen them in three years but we keep in touch." He straightened up. "Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I don't fully realize the danger you're talking about, but I'm going with her."
"That's me mate," said Jocelyn, grabbing his arm and heading out of the office. "We'll take the Mustang..."
"Hold it a minute!" Sable yelled. It was so unheard of for her to raise her voice that the action made Jocelyn stop dead in the doorway to the hall. "He does not need to see KDF business," Sable announced. "You bring the car out front to pick him up. Arthur, I'll escort you outside. We have a certain amount of security to maintain."
"Sorry, captain," the Australian woman said with some chagrin. "Got caught up in the moment. I'll go first." With that, she vaulted out into the hall out of sight.
"Give her a second," Sable said. "Arthur, you seem to have won her trust quickly. Jocelyn is a solitary person. She usually keeps to herself."
"I think she's aces," he responded. "Not just that's she's painless to look at. Sometimes you meet someone and you feel you've known them all your life."
"Oh brother." Sable made a clucking noise. "Your personal lives are none of my business. But I want to be sure you understand what you're getting into. I'm dead serious. You're likely to be risking your life tonight."
"It's my life to risk," he said without hesitation. Sable ushered him out into the front hall, through the foyer and down the concrete steps to the sidewalk. Pulling up and double-parking on 38th Street was a deep maroon Ford Mustang that gleamed as if the wax was still wet. Behind the wheel, Jocelyn waved cheerfully.
"Nice meeting you," Arthur said as he trotted over to hop into the passenger seat.
Watching the car ease out into traffic and roar off, Lauren Sable Reilly folded her arms across her chest. "Be careful. Stay safe," she whispered with no one near. "Both of you."
IV.
Crawling north through typically congested traffic, Jocelyn Garimara drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. "This is awful. I'm sure we could get there faster by abandoning the car and running."
"Sable seemed unhappy about us taking off like that," he ventured, not knowing how she would react.
"Oh, I know my captain. She'll be sending one of my teammates after us. Sheng, if he's available. Or Josef, but I think he's at least an hour away. Up near Westchester."
Arthur peered forward through the windshield. "I can't figure out why traffic has stopped. The light at the next corner is green."
"Beats me. Who knows, someone is letting a passenger out, someone is double parked?" She rubbed a spot on her sterum between her modest breasts. "I'm burning inside. My Red Spectre is whirling around furiously. Whatever has gotten her so agitated is closer."
"Hmm. You know, I wonder how would your friends find you? You didn't say where we were headed."
"Oh, we carry a device called a Link. They could track its signal unless I make a point to go silent. Think of it as a phone from fifty years in the future, it's fair advanced."
After another ten minutes of slow progress, Jocelyn hit her blinkers and snatched a parking spot that a yellow taxi had just vacated. "We're getting out, Arthur. I think we're near our destination anyway."
"Suits me." He climbed out and turned around. 63rd Street. A block ahead of them was an entrance to Central Park on the Park Avenue side. "I haven't spent much time there. Too busy racking up the old overtime at the office."
Closing her door, Jocelyn swung around to join him. She was adjusting something under the back of her jacket and he caught a glimpse of a needle-thin barrel in a leather holster.
"I didn't know you were packing a gun, old girl."
"Eh? Oh, it's not a regular firearm. We carry air pistols that fire anesthetic darts. Very quiet and usually non-lethal. Let's head up this path."
After a few minutes of walking quickly into the park, past a closed kiosk which sold hot dogs and hamburgers, Arthur Tran said, "Something funny, Jocelyn. Every one is leaving. I haven't seen anyone heading into the park, they're all heading out."
"Right smartly, too." She paused and placed a hand on his sleeve. "This happens a lot in the Midnight War, Arthur. Normal people tend to get away when something supernatural is in the air. They don't know why, they just feel uncomfortable and want to run away. Look how fast everyone is walking."
"I'm not surprised," he said. "I feel it too. Like.. like we've heard a warning somehow."
She came to a halt and moved over to gaze up at his face. "Perhaps you should wait for me at the car. I've had training and experience with rough situations."
"What, scarper off? And leave a little sheila like you alone? I should say not. I don't care if a bloody giant lizard comes round knocking the trees over, I'm sticking by your side."
To her own surprise, Jocelyn stretched up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, only a light brush of her lips. "I'm glad. We need to keep going."
Still not dark this time of year, it was a gorgeous warm evening with the air dry and stirred by a breeze. No one was in sight. They passed a bench where someone had abandoned a paperback, a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. "There's the Meadow to our left," she said. "I have a feeling we're almost where we need to be."
Despite his brave words, Arthur Tran felt uneasy. He had the uncomfortable sensation of being watched, of feeling hot breath on the back of his neck. But there was nothing there. He consciously squared his shoulders and folded his hands into fists in an effort to feel braver. Looking down at how Jocelyn strode along, he wondered what made her so confident. Up until that moment, he hadn't really thought about her claim to have a Red Spectre but now it made sense. If she was carrying a sort of living thunderbolt in her body, naturally she would not be scared easily.
He had time also to reflect on this whole Midnight War business. His mother had believed strongly in spirits and omens and little customs to deflect bad luck or to protect children. Arthur had never contradicted his mother but he had thought she was terribly superstitious. Now he felt differently.
To their right was a circular clearing, one of many which held a decorative sculpture. This one displayed a concrete toadstool large enough for a person to sit on. And, in fact, someone was perched on that sculpture then, a tall gaunt woman with a face like a skull covered tautly with dry yellowed skin.
V.
"She doesn't make a good first impression, s'truth?" Arthur muttered behind his hand.
"Stay back," Jocelyn said. "This is a Nekrosan. Quite dangerous." In a louder voice, she called over, "What are you doing in the cities of Men?"
The grotesque woman rose smoothly to her feet. She was wearing a brown robe of coarse material that reached to her feet. There was no hair on her head, not even eyebrows or lashes. Her face resembled an animated skull under that layer of tight skin to the extent that only the hostile dark eyes under the brow ledge showed she was alive.
"You do not know me, daughter of Humans," came a weird rasping voice. "But you knew my father well. Golgora!"
That produced a derisive snort from Jocelyn. "What, pull the other leg. I've read about Golgora but he died before I was born. He's only a footnote in the Midnight War."
The Nekrosan hesitated, then said, "No matter. Times passes more slowly in the adjacent realms. Know that you face Lucivero and this hour is your last."
"Oh, I've heard that before," Jocelyn replied, stepping onto the grassy area. "Threats and more threats. Yet here I am. You Nekrosim are always bad news. What trouble are you bringing with you?"
"Stay where you are! Do not come closer." The skull-faced woman raised her hands, bony fingers working as if already strangling someone. "Deep are the dark arts I have mastered. I sense you are the one I seek. You are host to a great power."
"Arthur, don't interfere. No matter what happens," Jocelyn said to her friend. Turning back to Lucivero, she said, "All right. I admit it. I can feel it in you, too. Somehow you captured a Gammon."
"One older and more potent than yours! I have tamed and broken him." Lucivero chuckled as if she could not hold it in any longer. "Loose your wild lightning, Human girl."
Both women sank to one knee, bowed their heads and placed their palms on the grass for support, synchronized in their movements as if they had practiced this together. Up from within their bodies rushed two scarlet beings of raw hissing gralic force. The Gammons were human-shaped in a crude way, outlines of arms and legs and torsos without details. Their heads were featureless oval. Around the Red Spectres, a haze of energy crackled and shifted.
The Gammon which rose above Lucivero was noticeably larger and brighter than the one which emerged from Jocelyn. It circled around the lesser Gammon. The two manifestations neared each other uncertainly, and when they almost touched, blinding sparks showered down upon the grass. The two beings drew back and hovered ten feet off the ground.
"Why do you hesitate?" shrieked Lucivero in her hollow tones. "Seize the other. Absorb her force and make invinc--"
Her words broke off. The Nekrosan clutched at her throat and plucked out two metal needles an inch long. That action was her last. The potent Trom-derived drug was in her system. She had felt a sharp pain as the darts broke her skin, then an instant of confusion before she lost all consciousness. Lucivero sank face down to the ground and let out a sigh she was not herself aware of.
Still kneeling, Jocelyn carefully replaced the long-barreled dart gun to its holster beneath her jacket. The weapons operated on compressed CO2 and made a barely audible cough as they fired. Jocedlyn said, "Aw, shut your mouth," to the unhearing Nekrosan.
Aboved them, visible in the dusk by their own light, the Red Spectres swayed. The larger brighter one whirled and plunged down to crash into Lucivero with a sharp detonation of force that could be felt through the ground. The red light flared up and died down.
"Whoa..." whispered Arthur Tran in the ringing silence which followed.
Lowering to stand astride the blackened steaming husk which had been the daughter of Golgora, the Gammon swung its blank face toward the two living people. One hand without fingers rose in an ironic salute, then the Red Spectre vaulted straight up faster than any physical projectile and was gone from sight within a second.
"Off to find a new host," Jocelyn muttered. "On the other side the Earth, I hope." She struggled up to her feet and held her arms back to push her chest forward. Her Gammon slid effortlessly back into her body. The hissing noise was gone.
Watching close at hand, Arthur felt his hair lower. That was odd. He hadn't been aware of it standing on end from the nearness of the unearthly beings. He came toward Jocelyn, hands out, and the two of them embraced without either knowing they were going to.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said, holding on to him. "Not a pretty sight."
"All I care about it is that you weren't hurt," he replied. "If you had been killed, I don't know if I would have been able to handle it."
Drawing back her head, Jocelyn smiled up into his heads. She gave him a soft gentle kiss, not with passion but with affection, then sank her head against his shoulder.
"Well then," he laughed. "I've been thinking about doing THAT all day."
4/30/2020.
