"Witch, Devil, Ghost"
May. 20th, 2022 06:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Witch, Devil, Ghost"
11/1/20018
I.
When he entered the lobby of the Aurelio Tower on Fifth Avenue, Jeremy Bane had been immediately greeted by a young woman with an amazing mane of wavy black hair past her shoulders and a pleasant reassuring smile. His Kumundu training alerted him that she was way above average in terms of physical conditioning. From the balance in her stride, the way she kept aware of everything behind her and how she presented her stronger side to him, Bane realized she had some martial training, too... self-defense courses at the mininum and more likely a full-scale mastery of some fighting art. She was as much bodyguard as hostess, he thought.
Corroborating this, the metal clipboard she tucked under one arm did hold a sheaf of papers, but the clipboard was thicker than usual and had a rounded handle in the middle of its back that would allow it to be used as a weapon or as a shield. The rather thick fountain pen fastened to the top of the clipboard looked as if it had been gimmicked, probably to spray some noxious chemical.
The eccentricity in her clothing also interested him. Her dark grey pantsuit outfit had barely visible chalk lines running along both jacket and pants. The off-white silk blouse with its double strand of pears also was decorated by thin light grey lines. The effect was not blatant but once he noticed it, he also saw that her jet black hair had a few silver strands running parallel from forehead down her back. She caught him noticing this and gifted him with a smile. It was only then he recognized how pretty she was.
"Mr Bane? Good morning. I'm Christine Alfred, Mr Aurelio's aide. If you'll come with me..." She led him across the vast cavernous lobby, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Groups of middle-aged men in suits conferred in hushed tones here and there, while a few younger men hurried on evidently urgent errands. In the center of the lobby was a fountain which burbled reassuringly. They made their way past a deep reception counter staffed by a regal Asian woman who nodded solemnly as they went to a plain unmarked panel in one corner. This swung on hidden hinges to admit them into a small private elevator.
The assistant did not touch any controls. The elevator hummed smoothly and rose upward by itself. She was watching the Dire Wolf with a mixture of fascination and uneasiness. "It's rare indeed that Mr Aurelio admits anyone to his office that he hasn't known for years and, to be honest, most people have to wait weeks for an audience."
"He must think I can be useful," Bane replied without inflection. The Dire Wolf was dressed all in black as usual, slacks and turtleneck and sports jacket. Six feet even, still gaunt and active even at sixty, he had a narrow feral face under short black hair which was flecked with increasing numbers of white strands. It was those intense pale grey eyes that fascinated and even unnerved everyone he met. She was regarding him the same way she would watch a real wolf that had suddenly entered her path.
The cage doors hissed open and they stepped out into the elegant office of the Richest Boy On Earth.
Bane had of course stood in throne rooms of actual kings and emperors in Androval, Signarm and Chujir. Aurelio's office was not garish or overdone, it was all dark polished wood and deep plush carpets, with gold trim on furnishings that was not ostentatious but seemed a natural accent. Some comfortable chairs and low tables stood to one side behind an open wooden frame and there was a flatscreen TV on the wall behind that area. The air was dry and almost chilly.
Behind a desk larger than most beds, a young man rose to his feet and put down a tablet he had been studying. The famous heir to the Aurelio family network of businesses and enterprises could not have been more than nineteen. He was below average height, slim and well-toned in a tan suit with a yellow tie and a few accents of gold in his watch, right-hand ring and tie tack. Auric Aurelio seemed to be monochrome, with his dark blond hair and even tan blending into the same tones. Even his light brown eyes with their gold flicks matched. He flashed a brilliant smile of textbook perfect teeth and gestured for his visitor to approach.
"Jeremy Bane! The Dire Wolf. I've heard stories about you all my life," the youth said with evident delight.
"Well, here I am," replied Bane without enthusiasm. "That was a creative way to get my attention."
"Ah, please have a seat. Stripesy, you sit in on this as well. No notes, please, this is a personal matter." As Bane and the woman called Stripesy settled into plush leather chairs in front of the desk, Aurelio sat back down himself. "Yes, I hoped it would please you. A considerable donation to various soup kitchens and warming centers and homeless shelters along the West Side near Times Square, funding them for years..."
"You found out my childhood was spent there," Bane said. "I was an orphan of the streets. I know that life. You've helped hundreds of people who had no reason to expect hope. But you did it rather than simply offer me a fee and I have to wonder why?"
Aurelio was still smiling, with no signs of calculation. He seemed genuinely delighted. "Stripesy here did some research. You have officially retired and closed your Dire Wolf agency. I didn't think any offer of money would tempt you to take a new case at this point. But hopefully, if you approved of my donations, you might be curious enough to at least hear me out."
The Dire Wolf sat upright in the chair, palms down flat on its arms and fixed his pale eyes on the billionaire. "I'm listening."
"Mr Bane, over the years I have learned a bit about the Midnight War. Much more than any of the media dare report, more than even most so-called experts on the occult ever discover. Your career has been remarkable. For decades, you protected the human race from threats they didn't even imagine existed."
"Go on."
"This should be confidential, please. You are still a licensed Private Investigator, Mr Bane. Even if you haven't taken me as a client yet, I hope that what I tell you will considered privileged information."
"You already know I'm a closed-mouthed guy," Bane said.
"Yes, yes of course. Still, this is hard for me to reveal. It's my younger sister, Mr Bane. Gwynifer. Since childhood, she has shown remarkable psychic gifts and all her free time has been spent hiring various tutors in the mystic arts. Gwyn started with Reiki lessons and crystal-seers but she long ago moved on to darker and more dangerous teachers. I believe she somehow located a Dartha here in this very city and studied under him."
Sudden tension crackled in the air like static electricity. Bane's voice had hardened into steel. "A Dartha! Tell me everything."
"That lasted a year. She also met with a few elderly men who claimed that they had been members of Red Sect back in the old days. I am afraid even Those Who Remenber have taught her some of their nonsense. Gwyn is not a dabbler by nature, Mr Bane. She plunges headlong into her hobbies. I am sure she has become a genuine no-fooling Witch of great ability and she intends to gather some of the worst creatures of the night to be her servants. What plans she has for them, I can't say but the possibilities give me nightmares."
II.
As they rode down in the private elevator, Bane decided that Stripesy was carrying a .25 caliber LCP on her right side under the suit jacket. Even tailored, the clothing did not hang quite in a natural way. The way the woman sat down and rose again also gave away her awareness of the weapon and how she kept it available.
He saw she was giving him a quizzical look and he asked, "Something bothering you, Miss Alfred?"
"Oh, please call me Stripesy. I'm so used to it. You're not at all what I expected, Mr Bane. The notorious Dire Wolf. Pracrtically an urban legend. It takes a little shifting of the mental gears to realize I'm actually speaking with you."
"You're wondering why I didn't take your boss as a client?" he continued.
"To be honest, yes. I know you are well-off yourself and you don't need the money. But since you agreed to look into this matter, I can't see why you wouldn't at least accept a modest retainer of a few thousand." Her caramel-colored eyes had long natural lashes and their effect would have been mesmerizing to most men as she gazed thoughtfully. "Most millionaires still lunge to pick up a penny off the sidewalk."
The Dire Wolf met those eyes with a cool grey regard that showed no warmth. "Auric Aurelio, 'the Richest Boy In the World,' tries to hire me. I know the public version of his lifestory, of course. His sister is seldom mentioned in the articles and interviews and I wondered why. This Witchcraft angle is unexpected."
The elevator cage opened to reveal a section of the building's underground garage which had been walled off for Aurelio's private use. Three gleaming luxury cars shone as if they had been waxed and hand buffed seconds earlier. An Audi A8, a silver Lexus LS and a BMW 7-series. No surprises there, but at the end of the row sat a smaller, sportier model... a dark green Fiat 124 Spider with two thin yellow stripes running along its outer sides. "That one's mine," the woman said with a touch of pride she couldn't conceal. "I guess you're wondering about my, well, predeliction for stripes on everything. It's just an eccentricity. No deeper meaning."
Surprisingly, that made Bane gave one of his rare subdued smiles. "I can't criticize. I've been wearing this same outfit for forty years. My friends would fall down if I showed up in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts."
She made a faint chuckle of approval as she took out her key fob and chirped the doors open on her Fiat. "I have to say I'm pleased you agreed to let me take you to visit Miss Aurelio. I really expected you to insist on working solo."
Moving toward the right side door, Bane shook his head. "You would follow me anyway, maybe with a few big goons trailing along afterwards. Trying to shake you would be more trouble than any you might cause. I've learned the hard way to bend a little." He settled into the passenger seat and did not mention that he wanted to keep an eye on her as much as she was obviously instructed to monitor him. All his instincts were warning him that this woman was dangerous. He caught the sharp analytical glint in her eye as she watched him buckle in before climbing in behind the wheel herself. This was not a cat and mouse situation, he thought wryly, it was two cats.
As she pressed a button on the dash and announced, "On our way," Stripesy started up the car and swung it around toward the wide concrete apron that led up to street level. Two horizontal bars swung up out of their way and a green light blinked on the wall. No security guard was in sight, but certainly cameras were everywhere. They emerged into the parking lot behind the Aurelio building on a chill drizzly afternoon in early November.
"You might as well call me Jeremy if we're going to be working together," the Dire Wolf said.
"Suits me fine, Jeremy. My parents named me Christine but I only hear that in doctor's offices or courtrooms. Stripesy is fine."
"You seem uneasy with this whole assignment, if I dare say so," he told her. Bane's long Kumundu training had given him the ability to judge her veracity by tension in her neck muscles, subvocal tremors at the start of each sentence, the degree to which her pupils dilated when he asked a question. In a quiet room, he usually could detect heartrates but not while riding in a car with its motor revving. "Is it the supernatural aspect that bothers you?"
"You could say that," she snapped, then softened her tone. "I decided I was an atheist in high school, Jeremy. My family was not particularly religious in any case. I don't believe in the so-called occult. But. The things I've seen lately... I'm confused. I tell myself there has to be fraud and trickery and special effects behind Gwynifer and her monstrous pals. It's like those seances where they floated cheesecloth on strings and blew over dry ice to make it look spooky. It has to be."
Bane took a second to choose his words. "I don't try to convince people about the Midnight War. If they see it for themselves, they're convinced. If not, I figure they're better off thinking there's nothing to it."
"I wish!" She headed across Midtown toward the Lincoln Tunnel. Traffic was less frantic than usual that day. "I saw, with my own eyes, things I just cannot explain. Gwynifer. Her buddy Flamito, a Devil from Hell. Balthezar, a ghost. And the giant yellow baby! My God. I swear, if Mr Aurelio didn't confirm he saw the same nightmares, I'd be applying for heavy sedation and anti-psychotic treatments." She visibly shuddered as if a blast of arctic air had hit her. "Ugh!"
They rolled through the Tunnel, crept up onto the New Jersey side and eventually got out where traffic was flowing easier. "Oh, I hate driving so close to a hundred other cars. It gets on my nerves."
To his annoyance, Bane was having trouble reading Stripesy's truthfulness. The noise of other vehicles, the poor visibility on a gloomy day with light rain, the overt effort she was putting into calming her voice.. all these factors worked against his perception. Even the techniques taught at Tel Shai had limitations. "So, I need to know if this Gwynifer and her gang have harmed anyone?"
"Not yet, to be honest. Mr Aurelio thinks they are still organizing and planning whatever they have in mind. He suspects she wants to try a Those Who Remember ritual to free a Sulla Chun or at least one of the servitors."
"That never ends well," Bane said sharply. "Give me some more to work with. Does Gwynifer have a staff? Servants? Has she been known to employ bodyguards?"
"Yes to all that," replied Stripe. At a red light, she turned her huge dark eyes to him. "The Aurelio family is so wealthy that they really need a new word to describe it. They are in the top one percent of the top one percent, if that means anything. The parents ran other nations in the Middle East and Central America the way a millionaire might run a corporation. Auric and Gwynifer grew up thinking of themselves as an aristocracy above all governments."
Bane made no comment. He saw they were heading north from Jersey City. "The Palisades?"
"Oh yes," Stripe replied. "Leave it to Gwynifer Aurelio to live in a mysterious tower perched on a cliff."
III.
Cold rain was coming down more steadily and a stiff breeze from the North made the air even chillier. Stripes pulled off the highway to drive along a back road that rose up to reveal a strange structure. A round tower of granite blocks, it rose up four stories and was topped with a metal dome. At the second story level, a railed walkway ran around the tower and several narrow dark windows were spaced along this.
But there were no other windows visible, and no doors at all. No lights showed. There were no cars in sight, the grass and weeds around the base of the tower were withered and dried as if from long drought.
Peering through the windshield, Bane said, "This is something new."
Stripes reached into the back seat and brought back a folded clear raincoat. "I'm sorry I don't have an umbrella."
"That's all right." The Dire Wolf got out and approached the weird structure, starting to circle around it. In a moment, she joined him with the hood on her raincoat up.
"I've never been here," she said. "If it wasn't for GPS, I don't know if I could have found this address. This gives me the creeps. Gwynifer MUST be a Witch. Look at this place!"
"Oh, there are possibilities," Bane replied as he neared the tower. "Hidden panels. A trap door concealed under the grass or even a simple rope ladder that is lowered from that walkway. I've found a lot of occult phenomena turned out to have mundane explanations."
"I didn't expect you to be so skeptical."
"Huh. It'll take a while to inspect the walls for trick openings." He ignored the rain and the cold, but he honestly wasn't aware of the weather. Decades on the Tagra tea diet had not only augmented his healing factor but it allowed his body to adjust to more extreme conditions than this. Bane touched the stone blocks curiously, then starting moving around the tower while examing the walls.
From overhead, a hollow female voice called out, "Turn back! Turn back before it's too late!"
"Yeah, that'll work," Bane said. "I don't see anything suspicious yet. Checking the ground for trap doors will take days. There could even be a tunnel that opens a mile away." He frowned and pressed the fingers of his left hand to his right forearm.
"Can I ask what you're doing?" asked Stripes.
"My silver daggers are getting warm."
"Oh well," she shrugged. "Ask a silly question..."
He raised an eyebrow and explained, "It means there is powerful gralic force nearby. There is what you might call magick here."
"Oh my God!" she yelled and grabbed his arm. "What is THAT?"
Shaking off her hand so he would be ready to fight if necessary, Bane swung around and froze into a ready position. Drifting at head level not twenty feet away from them was a semi-transparent teenage boy in a long white robe that hid his feet. The boy's features were hazy and unclear, only a pair of large dark eyes were visible. The apparition regarded them silently.
"Is that a ghost? A real ghost?" she demanded.
"I don't know," the Dire Wolf said. "Maybe. I haven't seen anything like this before." He took a cautious step toward the floating figure.
"Don't be afraid," came an ethereal voice that echoed in the rainy air. "We could be friends. Come closer."
"Yeah? How about explaining just what you are?" asked Bane. He drew a bit closer, watching the apparition suspiciously. "What am I looking at?"
"In life, I was Balthazar Celardo. I died before you were born."
"Okay. Thanks. What are your intentions toward us?" Bane went on. He was at arm's length from the nebulous entity at this point.
"It is lonely in this afterlife," Balthazar told them mournfully with no mouth that could be seen. "Most people can't see or hear me. Who are you?"
"We're here to see Gwynifer Aurelio. Do you know if she's in?"
"Come closer. Take my hand."
"I don't see where that's a good idea." Bane raised his right arm and used his left hand to whip out a short throwing dagger from its sheath under his jacket sleeve. The silver blade flared with a clean white light. Instantly, Balthazar winked out of existence and was gone without a trace.
Behind him, Stripes gasped. "I'm going to have a heart attack. I can't catch my breath."
The Dire Wolf took her by the arms and squeezed hard enough that the pain got her attention. "Come on now. If it helps, maybe that was a trick too. You've seen holograms. There's enough moisture in the air to support a convincing image. You saw how it disappeared as if it was simply turned off."
"Well.. yes." She held a hand to her chest and visibly tried to pull herself together. "That makes sense. But do you believe it yourself?"
"Not really. I'm not sure what it was." Bane held up the silver dagger. "I don't know how to explain this, but these blades react to gralic force and creatures of the night are repelled by them. I want to see that image again and check it out."
Unexpectedly, Stripes gave out a full blood-curdling scream right in his ear. Bane winced and whirled around again to see a second, even weirder presence. Peeking around the rim of the tower was what looked like a seven-foot tall baby in a diaper. Its skin was a bright lemon yellow and it had a diaper around its middle. Big dark eyes blinked at them, then the strange being ducked back around out of sight. In an instant, Bane had lunged after it but nothing was in sight but the tower.
"That does it," he said, returning to Stripes. She had her fist pressed against her mouth and was breathing heavily. "Stand back, I'm going in there."
IV.
Moving back twenty yards, Bane sprinted straight at the tower and leaped straight up past his own height to seize the railing, swinging his legs around and over so he was landing lightly on the walkway. It had all happened in a fraction of a second. Watching, Stripes had only caught a blur that made no sense to her. She could not process how fast the Dire Wolf really was.
"What? That was amazing. You're so quick," she said.
Leaning over the railing, Bane shrugged. "You should have seen me when I was younger. Here, wait a second." He unbuckled his leather belt to reveal it actually had encircled his waist twice. Uncurled, it stretched over five feet in length. Bane gripped the square buckle and knelt down to let the belt trail toward Stripes.
"The leather has a steel cable running inside it," he said. "I've used this belt many times as a weapon and to climb. It will hold a three hundred pound man with no trouble."
"I don't understand." She reached up took hold of the lower end but hesitated.
"Wrap it around one wrist and hold on with both hands. This will only take a second." As she complied, Bane lifted her off the ground and hauled her up to the railing with one smooth move. He made it seem effortless. Catching her around the waist, he got the woman on her feet next to him and threaded his belt back through the loops of his slacks.
"Why would you even have a belt that heavy? Are all your clothes full of gimmicks?"
"You have no idea," he said, which was true. Over the decades, he had tried hundreds of gadgets and kept those which seemed reliable. His outfits cost a fortune. "Look, we saw what seemed to be a ghost and a giant baby. I'm still not convinced but it's a lot of trouble to go to for scaring away trespassers. I see you have a gun in your waistband, maybe you should be holding it."
Stripes was too disoriented by the whole situation to deny it. She pulled out her LCP, thumbed off the safety and gripped in both hands. "In the movies, monsters aren't even slowed down by bullets."
"Some are, some aren't," he answered as he examined the high narrow pane of dark glass behind them. "No latches, no handle. That figures. I have no problem breaking in under the circumstances but do you want to be an accomplice?"
"Sure, why not?' she replied lightly. "We can tell the judge we were worried about Gwynifer's safety."
Using a powerful pencil flashlight from an inner pocket, the Dire Wolf pressed it up against the glass. "I can't see anything in there. This place is starting to annoy me. Step back a little while I see if this window is shatter-proof."
Before he could try to break the pane, Bane swung Stripes around behind him and faced a small creature which had fluttered down to perch on the railing barely out of reach. It had been the flapping of those batlike wings which had given away the being's descent. About three feet high, it had a naked childlike body with a pudgy middle. The leather hide was bright crimson, there were talons on the hands and feet, and a ropelike tail whipped back and forth. The creature's head was hairless, with erect ears like a hound and the chubby face was developing a distinct muzzle.
Staying in an on guard position, Bane relaxed imperceptibly. "Now this I recognize. It's a Kulan from Fanedral, one of the Red Slasher breed. I never saw one so young before." He raised his voice, "Nagush Kulan Du! Nagash."
The demon child cocked its head quizzically but made no other response. It was watching the two Humans with great interest. As it smiled, two rows of ivory fangs were revealed.
"Flamito. Kulan baruka nagash." Bane was disappointed at getting no response. "I wonder if this beastie was brought up in the real world. Maybe he doesn't speak Fanedral."
"Now we're facing a baby devil from Hell," muttered Stripes. "I give up. Nothing is going to bother me from this point."
Again, the Dire Wolf pulled one of the silver daggers from its sheath and again the weird beings reacted with panic. The ribbed wings cracked their full width and the Kulan shot upward over the tower and out of sight.
"Something funny about all this," Bane said.
"I'm glad you find it funny. I'm going to see a therapist as soon as we get back to the city. An all-day session."
"You know what? Put your gun away. I don't think you're going to need it."
As soon as he said that, the window near them slid open with a hiss. A teenage girl in a maroon robe with long floppy sleeves was revealed in the opening. Under an overhanging cowl, honey blonde bangs brushed down over deepset blue eyes. She smiled and raised empty hands, palms out. "Tell me but that you come in peace," the girl said, "And you will be welcomed here in the Refuge."
IV.
Bane held up his own hands in a gesture showing he was not holding a weapon. "You must be Gwynifer, I guess?"
"You have spoken it. And this is the woman who loves stripes so much. How droll." The Witch grinned, showing an overbite that bordered on buck teeth. "You, the man in black with eyes the color of steel. The famous Dire Wolf? Yes. You can be no other." She turned sideways and motioned for them to enter the tower.
"Your.. friends might seem scary but they didn't try to harm us," Bane said. "I never saw a Kulan that didn't go for the throat as soon as it spotted a Human."
"Flamito was brought here as a newborn. He was a sorcerer's experiment to determine if his breed are innately vicious. I ended up with custody of the child."
Walking into a dome-ceilinged chamber lit only by candles on stands, Bane asked, "How's he doing so far?"
"He seems a bit touchy but non-violent. As yet." The Witch shrugged. "We'll see what happens when he hits puberty. That's hard enough for Humans to endure." She gestured at the chamber. "Breathe easy. Relax."
The room was warm and dry, with a faint pleasant odor of cinnamon. In the subdued light, one of the cream-colored walls had an OM symbol painted in dark blue. Piles of cushions in the corners and a wooden framework holding numerous crystals such as tourmaline and apophylite added a final touch. Try as he might, Bane could not see any sign of Draldros worship or Voodoo or the Red Sect.
In the center of the open floor space, lying on several wool blankets, a teenage boy slept with his hands clasped at his chest. He had on the same white nightgown that the apparition outside had worn. A gentle slow movement of his chest showed he was breathing. Stepping closer, the Dire Wolf peered down at the boy and then turned back to Gwynifer.
"I think I understand," Bane said. "This kid is projecting, right? His sleeping mind gathers gralic force into a vague semblance of himself that he sends out. Like a Red Spectre, but not nearly as powerful."
Gwynifer hugged herself in delight, twisting her upper body from side to side. "Exactly. You are exactly right. Balthazar imagines himself as a ghost to cause the effect. I've been trying to train him but he has a natural gift."
"I have to say you are not what I was afraid to meet," Stripes admitted, going over to admire the crystals on their wrack. "I expected a Witch with, you know... the pointed hat and the evil cackle and the broomstick."
"Oh, there are such things," said Gwynifer. "But I am what they used to call a White Witch. I draw on the transcendental force which fills the universe and shape it to heal and to help. I try to focus as much positive mental energy around me as I can."
The Dire Wolf had finished examining the chamber, satisfied that no threat was immediate. "So that explains the Witch, the Ghost and the Devil," he said. "But what the hell was that huge yellow baby we saw?"
"I wish I knew! He simply turned up one day. I guess he is drawn by the spiritual nexus here. He will not come in, he doesn't touch the food or milk I leave out for him." She shrugged and made a pouting face. "Maybe he will trust us enough to join our little community as some point, I can only hope."
Stripes was watching Bane but his grim expression gave away nothing of his thoughts. "It seems Mr Aurelio was misinformed about your activities here, miss. He must have received misleading reports."
"You think so?" snapped Bane. "I wonder. He sent me here as a weapon to hopefully damage or destroy these beings. I have a reputation for quick strikes but sometimes a reputation like that is useful. I think I need to go back and have a few words with your boss."
The Witch placed a small hand on his sleeve. "No. Please, you can't change the mind of someone as spoiled and narcissistic as my brother. He believes what his yes-men tell him and what he wants to be true."
"I should punish him somehow. He tried to use me and I resent that."
"Forget it. No harm was done, after all. And we would not have met otherwise. Come, sit down on some cushions. I have ginseng tea brewing. We will get to know each other."
Slowly, reluctantly, Bane untensed and his fists opened into hands. "All right. Thank you. Maybe this will turn out for the best. I've had enough fighting in my life."
As Gwynifer passed through a beaded curtain where a table held a bubbling teapot, she laughed. "Hearts of good will should get together as often as they can."
Passing directly through the stone wall as if it wasn't there, the apparition of Balthazar stuck its nearly-featureless head into the room. "Is it okay if I join you? I would like to make new friends."
2/15/2019
11/1/20018
I.
When he entered the lobby of the Aurelio Tower on Fifth Avenue, Jeremy Bane had been immediately greeted by a young woman with an amazing mane of wavy black hair past her shoulders and a pleasant reassuring smile. His Kumundu training alerted him that she was way above average in terms of physical conditioning. From the balance in her stride, the way she kept aware of everything behind her and how she presented her stronger side to him, Bane realized she had some martial training, too... self-defense courses at the mininum and more likely a full-scale mastery of some fighting art. She was as much bodyguard as hostess, he thought.
Corroborating this, the metal clipboard she tucked under one arm did hold a sheaf of papers, but the clipboard was thicker than usual and had a rounded handle in the middle of its back that would allow it to be used as a weapon or as a shield. The rather thick fountain pen fastened to the top of the clipboard looked as if it had been gimmicked, probably to spray some noxious chemical.
The eccentricity in her clothing also interested him. Her dark grey pantsuit outfit had barely visible chalk lines running along both jacket and pants. The off-white silk blouse with its double strand of pears also was decorated by thin light grey lines. The effect was not blatant but once he noticed it, he also saw that her jet black hair had a few silver strands running parallel from forehead down her back. She caught him noticing this and gifted him with a smile. It was only then he recognized how pretty she was.
"Mr Bane? Good morning. I'm Christine Alfred, Mr Aurelio's aide. If you'll come with me..." She led him across the vast cavernous lobby, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Groups of middle-aged men in suits conferred in hushed tones here and there, while a few younger men hurried on evidently urgent errands. In the center of the lobby was a fountain which burbled reassuringly. They made their way past a deep reception counter staffed by a regal Asian woman who nodded solemnly as they went to a plain unmarked panel in one corner. This swung on hidden hinges to admit them into a small private elevator.
The assistant did not touch any controls. The elevator hummed smoothly and rose upward by itself. She was watching the Dire Wolf with a mixture of fascination and uneasiness. "It's rare indeed that Mr Aurelio admits anyone to his office that he hasn't known for years and, to be honest, most people have to wait weeks for an audience."
"He must think I can be useful," Bane replied without inflection. The Dire Wolf was dressed all in black as usual, slacks and turtleneck and sports jacket. Six feet even, still gaunt and active even at sixty, he had a narrow feral face under short black hair which was flecked with increasing numbers of white strands. It was those intense pale grey eyes that fascinated and even unnerved everyone he met. She was regarding him the same way she would watch a real wolf that had suddenly entered her path.
The cage doors hissed open and they stepped out into the elegant office of the Richest Boy On Earth.
Bane had of course stood in throne rooms of actual kings and emperors in Androval, Signarm and Chujir. Aurelio's office was not garish or overdone, it was all dark polished wood and deep plush carpets, with gold trim on furnishings that was not ostentatious but seemed a natural accent. Some comfortable chairs and low tables stood to one side behind an open wooden frame and there was a flatscreen TV on the wall behind that area. The air was dry and almost chilly.
Behind a desk larger than most beds, a young man rose to his feet and put down a tablet he had been studying. The famous heir to the Aurelio family network of businesses and enterprises could not have been more than nineteen. He was below average height, slim and well-toned in a tan suit with a yellow tie and a few accents of gold in his watch, right-hand ring and tie tack. Auric Aurelio seemed to be monochrome, with his dark blond hair and even tan blending into the same tones. Even his light brown eyes with their gold flicks matched. He flashed a brilliant smile of textbook perfect teeth and gestured for his visitor to approach.
"Jeremy Bane! The Dire Wolf. I've heard stories about you all my life," the youth said with evident delight.
"Well, here I am," replied Bane without enthusiasm. "That was a creative way to get my attention."
"Ah, please have a seat. Stripesy, you sit in on this as well. No notes, please, this is a personal matter." As Bane and the woman called Stripesy settled into plush leather chairs in front of the desk, Aurelio sat back down himself. "Yes, I hoped it would please you. A considerable donation to various soup kitchens and warming centers and homeless shelters along the West Side near Times Square, funding them for years..."
"You found out my childhood was spent there," Bane said. "I was an orphan of the streets. I know that life. You've helped hundreds of people who had no reason to expect hope. But you did it rather than simply offer me a fee and I have to wonder why?"
Aurelio was still smiling, with no signs of calculation. He seemed genuinely delighted. "Stripesy here did some research. You have officially retired and closed your Dire Wolf agency. I didn't think any offer of money would tempt you to take a new case at this point. But hopefully, if you approved of my donations, you might be curious enough to at least hear me out."
The Dire Wolf sat upright in the chair, palms down flat on its arms and fixed his pale eyes on the billionaire. "I'm listening."
"Mr Bane, over the years I have learned a bit about the Midnight War. Much more than any of the media dare report, more than even most so-called experts on the occult ever discover. Your career has been remarkable. For decades, you protected the human race from threats they didn't even imagine existed."
"Go on."
"This should be confidential, please. You are still a licensed Private Investigator, Mr Bane. Even if you haven't taken me as a client yet, I hope that what I tell you will considered privileged information."
"You already know I'm a closed-mouthed guy," Bane said.
"Yes, yes of course. Still, this is hard for me to reveal. It's my younger sister, Mr Bane. Gwynifer. Since childhood, she has shown remarkable psychic gifts and all her free time has been spent hiring various tutors in the mystic arts. Gwyn started with Reiki lessons and crystal-seers but she long ago moved on to darker and more dangerous teachers. I believe she somehow located a Dartha here in this very city and studied under him."
Sudden tension crackled in the air like static electricity. Bane's voice had hardened into steel. "A Dartha! Tell me everything."
"That lasted a year. She also met with a few elderly men who claimed that they had been members of Red Sect back in the old days. I am afraid even Those Who Remenber have taught her some of their nonsense. Gwyn is not a dabbler by nature, Mr Bane. She plunges headlong into her hobbies. I am sure she has become a genuine no-fooling Witch of great ability and she intends to gather some of the worst creatures of the night to be her servants. What plans she has for them, I can't say but the possibilities give me nightmares."
II.
As they rode down in the private elevator, Bane decided that Stripesy was carrying a .25 caliber LCP on her right side under the suit jacket. Even tailored, the clothing did not hang quite in a natural way. The way the woman sat down and rose again also gave away her awareness of the weapon and how she kept it available.
He saw she was giving him a quizzical look and he asked, "Something bothering you, Miss Alfred?"
"Oh, please call me Stripesy. I'm so used to it. You're not at all what I expected, Mr Bane. The notorious Dire Wolf. Pracrtically an urban legend. It takes a little shifting of the mental gears to realize I'm actually speaking with you."
"You're wondering why I didn't take your boss as a client?" he continued.
"To be honest, yes. I know you are well-off yourself and you don't need the money. But since you agreed to look into this matter, I can't see why you wouldn't at least accept a modest retainer of a few thousand." Her caramel-colored eyes had long natural lashes and their effect would have been mesmerizing to most men as she gazed thoughtfully. "Most millionaires still lunge to pick up a penny off the sidewalk."
The Dire Wolf met those eyes with a cool grey regard that showed no warmth. "Auric Aurelio, 'the Richest Boy In the World,' tries to hire me. I know the public version of his lifestory, of course. His sister is seldom mentioned in the articles and interviews and I wondered why. This Witchcraft angle is unexpected."
The elevator cage opened to reveal a section of the building's underground garage which had been walled off for Aurelio's private use. Three gleaming luxury cars shone as if they had been waxed and hand buffed seconds earlier. An Audi A8, a silver Lexus LS and a BMW 7-series. No surprises there, but at the end of the row sat a smaller, sportier model... a dark green Fiat 124 Spider with two thin yellow stripes running along its outer sides. "That one's mine," the woman said with a touch of pride she couldn't conceal. "I guess you're wondering about my, well, predeliction for stripes on everything. It's just an eccentricity. No deeper meaning."
Surprisingly, that made Bane gave one of his rare subdued smiles. "I can't criticize. I've been wearing this same outfit for forty years. My friends would fall down if I showed up in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts."
She made a faint chuckle of approval as she took out her key fob and chirped the doors open on her Fiat. "I have to say I'm pleased you agreed to let me take you to visit Miss Aurelio. I really expected you to insist on working solo."
Moving toward the right side door, Bane shook his head. "You would follow me anyway, maybe with a few big goons trailing along afterwards. Trying to shake you would be more trouble than any you might cause. I've learned the hard way to bend a little." He settled into the passenger seat and did not mention that he wanted to keep an eye on her as much as she was obviously instructed to monitor him. All his instincts were warning him that this woman was dangerous. He caught the sharp analytical glint in her eye as she watched him buckle in before climbing in behind the wheel herself. This was not a cat and mouse situation, he thought wryly, it was two cats.
As she pressed a button on the dash and announced, "On our way," Stripesy started up the car and swung it around toward the wide concrete apron that led up to street level. Two horizontal bars swung up out of their way and a green light blinked on the wall. No security guard was in sight, but certainly cameras were everywhere. They emerged into the parking lot behind the Aurelio building on a chill drizzly afternoon in early November.
"You might as well call me Jeremy if we're going to be working together," the Dire Wolf said.
"Suits me fine, Jeremy. My parents named me Christine but I only hear that in doctor's offices or courtrooms. Stripesy is fine."
"You seem uneasy with this whole assignment, if I dare say so," he told her. Bane's long Kumundu training had given him the ability to judge her veracity by tension in her neck muscles, subvocal tremors at the start of each sentence, the degree to which her pupils dilated when he asked a question. In a quiet room, he usually could detect heartrates but not while riding in a car with its motor revving. "Is it the supernatural aspect that bothers you?"
"You could say that," she snapped, then softened her tone. "I decided I was an atheist in high school, Jeremy. My family was not particularly religious in any case. I don't believe in the so-called occult. But. The things I've seen lately... I'm confused. I tell myself there has to be fraud and trickery and special effects behind Gwynifer and her monstrous pals. It's like those seances where they floated cheesecloth on strings and blew over dry ice to make it look spooky. It has to be."
Bane took a second to choose his words. "I don't try to convince people about the Midnight War. If they see it for themselves, they're convinced. If not, I figure they're better off thinking there's nothing to it."
"I wish!" She headed across Midtown toward the Lincoln Tunnel. Traffic was less frantic than usual that day. "I saw, with my own eyes, things I just cannot explain. Gwynifer. Her buddy Flamito, a Devil from Hell. Balthezar, a ghost. And the giant yellow baby! My God. I swear, if Mr Aurelio didn't confirm he saw the same nightmares, I'd be applying for heavy sedation and anti-psychotic treatments." She visibly shuddered as if a blast of arctic air had hit her. "Ugh!"
They rolled through the Tunnel, crept up onto the New Jersey side and eventually got out where traffic was flowing easier. "Oh, I hate driving so close to a hundred other cars. It gets on my nerves."
To his annoyance, Bane was having trouble reading Stripesy's truthfulness. The noise of other vehicles, the poor visibility on a gloomy day with light rain, the overt effort she was putting into calming her voice.. all these factors worked against his perception. Even the techniques taught at Tel Shai had limitations. "So, I need to know if this Gwynifer and her gang have harmed anyone?"
"Not yet, to be honest. Mr Aurelio thinks they are still organizing and planning whatever they have in mind. He suspects she wants to try a Those Who Remember ritual to free a Sulla Chun or at least one of the servitors."
"That never ends well," Bane said sharply. "Give me some more to work with. Does Gwynifer have a staff? Servants? Has she been known to employ bodyguards?"
"Yes to all that," replied Stripe. At a red light, she turned her huge dark eyes to him. "The Aurelio family is so wealthy that they really need a new word to describe it. They are in the top one percent of the top one percent, if that means anything. The parents ran other nations in the Middle East and Central America the way a millionaire might run a corporation. Auric and Gwynifer grew up thinking of themselves as an aristocracy above all governments."
Bane made no comment. He saw they were heading north from Jersey City. "The Palisades?"
"Oh yes," Stripe replied. "Leave it to Gwynifer Aurelio to live in a mysterious tower perched on a cliff."
III.
Cold rain was coming down more steadily and a stiff breeze from the North made the air even chillier. Stripes pulled off the highway to drive along a back road that rose up to reveal a strange structure. A round tower of granite blocks, it rose up four stories and was topped with a metal dome. At the second story level, a railed walkway ran around the tower and several narrow dark windows were spaced along this.
But there were no other windows visible, and no doors at all. No lights showed. There were no cars in sight, the grass and weeds around the base of the tower were withered and dried as if from long drought.
Peering through the windshield, Bane said, "This is something new."
Stripes reached into the back seat and brought back a folded clear raincoat. "I'm sorry I don't have an umbrella."
"That's all right." The Dire Wolf got out and approached the weird structure, starting to circle around it. In a moment, she joined him with the hood on her raincoat up.
"I've never been here," she said. "If it wasn't for GPS, I don't know if I could have found this address. This gives me the creeps. Gwynifer MUST be a Witch. Look at this place!"
"Oh, there are possibilities," Bane replied as he neared the tower. "Hidden panels. A trap door concealed under the grass or even a simple rope ladder that is lowered from that walkway. I've found a lot of occult phenomena turned out to have mundane explanations."
"I didn't expect you to be so skeptical."
"Huh. It'll take a while to inspect the walls for trick openings." He ignored the rain and the cold, but he honestly wasn't aware of the weather. Decades on the Tagra tea diet had not only augmented his healing factor but it allowed his body to adjust to more extreme conditions than this. Bane touched the stone blocks curiously, then starting moving around the tower while examing the walls.
From overhead, a hollow female voice called out, "Turn back! Turn back before it's too late!"
"Yeah, that'll work," Bane said. "I don't see anything suspicious yet. Checking the ground for trap doors will take days. There could even be a tunnel that opens a mile away." He frowned and pressed the fingers of his left hand to his right forearm.
"Can I ask what you're doing?" asked Stripes.
"My silver daggers are getting warm."
"Oh well," she shrugged. "Ask a silly question..."
He raised an eyebrow and explained, "It means there is powerful gralic force nearby. There is what you might call magick here."
"Oh my God!" she yelled and grabbed his arm. "What is THAT?"
Shaking off her hand so he would be ready to fight if necessary, Bane swung around and froze into a ready position. Drifting at head level not twenty feet away from them was a semi-transparent teenage boy in a long white robe that hid his feet. The boy's features were hazy and unclear, only a pair of large dark eyes were visible. The apparition regarded them silently.
"Is that a ghost? A real ghost?" she demanded.
"I don't know," the Dire Wolf said. "Maybe. I haven't seen anything like this before." He took a cautious step toward the floating figure.
"Don't be afraid," came an ethereal voice that echoed in the rainy air. "We could be friends. Come closer."
"Yeah? How about explaining just what you are?" asked Bane. He drew a bit closer, watching the apparition suspiciously. "What am I looking at?"
"In life, I was Balthazar Celardo. I died before you were born."
"Okay. Thanks. What are your intentions toward us?" Bane went on. He was at arm's length from the nebulous entity at this point.
"It is lonely in this afterlife," Balthazar told them mournfully with no mouth that could be seen. "Most people can't see or hear me. Who are you?"
"We're here to see Gwynifer Aurelio. Do you know if she's in?"
"Come closer. Take my hand."
"I don't see where that's a good idea." Bane raised his right arm and used his left hand to whip out a short throwing dagger from its sheath under his jacket sleeve. The silver blade flared with a clean white light. Instantly, Balthazar winked out of existence and was gone without a trace.
Behind him, Stripes gasped. "I'm going to have a heart attack. I can't catch my breath."
The Dire Wolf took her by the arms and squeezed hard enough that the pain got her attention. "Come on now. If it helps, maybe that was a trick too. You've seen holograms. There's enough moisture in the air to support a convincing image. You saw how it disappeared as if it was simply turned off."
"Well.. yes." She held a hand to her chest and visibly tried to pull herself together. "That makes sense. But do you believe it yourself?"
"Not really. I'm not sure what it was." Bane held up the silver dagger. "I don't know how to explain this, but these blades react to gralic force and creatures of the night are repelled by them. I want to see that image again and check it out."
Unexpectedly, Stripes gave out a full blood-curdling scream right in his ear. Bane winced and whirled around again to see a second, even weirder presence. Peeking around the rim of the tower was what looked like a seven-foot tall baby in a diaper. Its skin was a bright lemon yellow and it had a diaper around its middle. Big dark eyes blinked at them, then the strange being ducked back around out of sight. In an instant, Bane had lunged after it but nothing was in sight but the tower.
"That does it," he said, returning to Stripes. She had her fist pressed against her mouth and was breathing heavily. "Stand back, I'm going in there."
IV.
Moving back twenty yards, Bane sprinted straight at the tower and leaped straight up past his own height to seize the railing, swinging his legs around and over so he was landing lightly on the walkway. It had all happened in a fraction of a second. Watching, Stripes had only caught a blur that made no sense to her. She could not process how fast the Dire Wolf really was.
"What? That was amazing. You're so quick," she said.
Leaning over the railing, Bane shrugged. "You should have seen me when I was younger. Here, wait a second." He unbuckled his leather belt to reveal it actually had encircled his waist twice. Uncurled, it stretched over five feet in length. Bane gripped the square buckle and knelt down to let the belt trail toward Stripes.
"The leather has a steel cable running inside it," he said. "I've used this belt many times as a weapon and to climb. It will hold a three hundred pound man with no trouble."
"I don't understand." She reached up took hold of the lower end but hesitated.
"Wrap it around one wrist and hold on with both hands. This will only take a second." As she complied, Bane lifted her off the ground and hauled her up to the railing with one smooth move. He made it seem effortless. Catching her around the waist, he got the woman on her feet next to him and threaded his belt back through the loops of his slacks.
"Why would you even have a belt that heavy? Are all your clothes full of gimmicks?"
"You have no idea," he said, which was true. Over the decades, he had tried hundreds of gadgets and kept those which seemed reliable. His outfits cost a fortune. "Look, we saw what seemed to be a ghost and a giant baby. I'm still not convinced but it's a lot of trouble to go to for scaring away trespassers. I see you have a gun in your waistband, maybe you should be holding it."
Stripes was too disoriented by the whole situation to deny it. She pulled out her LCP, thumbed off the safety and gripped in both hands. "In the movies, monsters aren't even slowed down by bullets."
"Some are, some aren't," he answered as he examined the high narrow pane of dark glass behind them. "No latches, no handle. That figures. I have no problem breaking in under the circumstances but do you want to be an accomplice?"
"Sure, why not?' she replied lightly. "We can tell the judge we were worried about Gwynifer's safety."
Using a powerful pencil flashlight from an inner pocket, the Dire Wolf pressed it up against the glass. "I can't see anything in there. This place is starting to annoy me. Step back a little while I see if this window is shatter-proof."
Before he could try to break the pane, Bane swung Stripes around behind him and faced a small creature which had fluttered down to perch on the railing barely out of reach. It had been the flapping of those batlike wings which had given away the being's descent. About three feet high, it had a naked childlike body with a pudgy middle. The leather hide was bright crimson, there were talons on the hands and feet, and a ropelike tail whipped back and forth. The creature's head was hairless, with erect ears like a hound and the chubby face was developing a distinct muzzle.
Staying in an on guard position, Bane relaxed imperceptibly. "Now this I recognize. It's a Kulan from Fanedral, one of the Red Slasher breed. I never saw one so young before." He raised his voice, "Nagush Kulan Du! Nagash."
The demon child cocked its head quizzically but made no other response. It was watching the two Humans with great interest. As it smiled, two rows of ivory fangs were revealed.
"Flamito. Kulan baruka nagash." Bane was disappointed at getting no response. "I wonder if this beastie was brought up in the real world. Maybe he doesn't speak Fanedral."
"Now we're facing a baby devil from Hell," muttered Stripes. "I give up. Nothing is going to bother me from this point."
Again, the Dire Wolf pulled one of the silver daggers from its sheath and again the weird beings reacted with panic. The ribbed wings cracked their full width and the Kulan shot upward over the tower and out of sight.
"Something funny about all this," Bane said.
"I'm glad you find it funny. I'm going to see a therapist as soon as we get back to the city. An all-day session."
"You know what? Put your gun away. I don't think you're going to need it."
As soon as he said that, the window near them slid open with a hiss. A teenage girl in a maroon robe with long floppy sleeves was revealed in the opening. Under an overhanging cowl, honey blonde bangs brushed down over deepset blue eyes. She smiled and raised empty hands, palms out. "Tell me but that you come in peace," the girl said, "And you will be welcomed here in the Refuge."
IV.
Bane held up his own hands in a gesture showing he was not holding a weapon. "You must be Gwynifer, I guess?"
"You have spoken it. And this is the woman who loves stripes so much. How droll." The Witch grinned, showing an overbite that bordered on buck teeth. "You, the man in black with eyes the color of steel. The famous Dire Wolf? Yes. You can be no other." She turned sideways and motioned for them to enter the tower.
"Your.. friends might seem scary but they didn't try to harm us," Bane said. "I never saw a Kulan that didn't go for the throat as soon as it spotted a Human."
"Flamito was brought here as a newborn. He was a sorcerer's experiment to determine if his breed are innately vicious. I ended up with custody of the child."
Walking into a dome-ceilinged chamber lit only by candles on stands, Bane asked, "How's he doing so far?"
"He seems a bit touchy but non-violent. As yet." The Witch shrugged. "We'll see what happens when he hits puberty. That's hard enough for Humans to endure." She gestured at the chamber. "Breathe easy. Relax."
The room was warm and dry, with a faint pleasant odor of cinnamon. In the subdued light, one of the cream-colored walls had an OM symbol painted in dark blue. Piles of cushions in the corners and a wooden framework holding numerous crystals such as tourmaline and apophylite added a final touch. Try as he might, Bane could not see any sign of Draldros worship or Voodoo or the Red Sect.
In the center of the open floor space, lying on several wool blankets, a teenage boy slept with his hands clasped at his chest. He had on the same white nightgown that the apparition outside had worn. A gentle slow movement of his chest showed he was breathing. Stepping closer, the Dire Wolf peered down at the boy and then turned back to Gwynifer.
"I think I understand," Bane said. "This kid is projecting, right? His sleeping mind gathers gralic force into a vague semblance of himself that he sends out. Like a Red Spectre, but not nearly as powerful."
Gwynifer hugged herself in delight, twisting her upper body from side to side. "Exactly. You are exactly right. Balthazar imagines himself as a ghost to cause the effect. I've been trying to train him but he has a natural gift."
"I have to say you are not what I was afraid to meet," Stripes admitted, going over to admire the crystals on their wrack. "I expected a Witch with, you know... the pointed hat and the evil cackle and the broomstick."
"Oh, there are such things," said Gwynifer. "But I am what they used to call a White Witch. I draw on the transcendental force which fills the universe and shape it to heal and to help. I try to focus as much positive mental energy around me as I can."
The Dire Wolf had finished examining the chamber, satisfied that no threat was immediate. "So that explains the Witch, the Ghost and the Devil," he said. "But what the hell was that huge yellow baby we saw?"
"I wish I knew! He simply turned up one day. I guess he is drawn by the spiritual nexus here. He will not come in, he doesn't touch the food or milk I leave out for him." She shrugged and made a pouting face. "Maybe he will trust us enough to join our little community as some point, I can only hope."
Stripes was watching Bane but his grim expression gave away nothing of his thoughts. "It seems Mr Aurelio was misinformed about your activities here, miss. He must have received misleading reports."
"You think so?" snapped Bane. "I wonder. He sent me here as a weapon to hopefully damage or destroy these beings. I have a reputation for quick strikes but sometimes a reputation like that is useful. I think I need to go back and have a few words with your boss."
The Witch placed a small hand on his sleeve. "No. Please, you can't change the mind of someone as spoiled and narcissistic as my brother. He believes what his yes-men tell him and what he wants to be true."
"I should punish him somehow. He tried to use me and I resent that."
"Forget it. No harm was done, after all. And we would not have met otherwise. Come, sit down on some cushions. I have ginseng tea brewing. We will get to know each other."
Slowly, reluctantly, Bane untensed and his fists opened into hands. "All right. Thank you. Maybe this will turn out for the best. I've had enough fighting in my life."
As Gwynifer passed through a beaded curtain where a table held a bubbling teapot, she laughed. "Hearts of good will should get together as often as they can."
Passing directly through the stone wall as if it wasn't there, the apparition of Balthazar stuck its nearly-featureless head into the room. "Is it okay if I join you? I would like to make new friends."
2/15/2019
