Dallas:Sessions:20050326

Track 1 – Deal with the Devil - March 26, 2005

GM: Bobby J. / Bill S.

Write-up: MaryK

GM Notes: No

Deal with the Devil

A121 Track 1 Assignment

MISSION TEAM

• Paula Baker
• Blake Drummond
• Jeremy Grant
• John Kines
• Al "Axle" Lee
• Steve McAllen
• Kefya North

Friday, October 3, 2003: A couple of days after the death of Kevin McGuire’s evil clone, Paula finds a letter on the kitchen table. It is in Kefya’s handwriting, though rather shaky.

“I quit. I may be a slave to Fate, but I’m not Enigma’s pawn. I see now that you kept your real self hidden from me. I am scared of you… all of you. And I’m afraid, so very afraid, of what I am becoming.”

Laid out on the table are Kef’s pistol and shotgun (unloaded and impeccably clean), cell phone, and the keys to her RV. Her backpack and some personal effects are gone, as is Kef.

October 4: Paula Baker produces a handwritten letter.

Paula informs Steve McAllen, Blake Drummond, and Jeremy Grant that Kefya has left, leaving a letter saying she has quit. Paula sounded upset, and once she had informed all of them, she could not be contacted for the rest of the weekend. (She was not at the house, and there was no word of her anywhere on the streets.)

October 6: Monday morning Paula called Steve, Blake, and Jeremy in a conference call. She told them that she was going back to Montgomery, Alabama, but that she was still available if they needed her. She assured them that she did not know where Kef was, but trusted that she would be safe and work things out. Paula would speak of Kef’s disillusionment, and would only give details of the note if they strongly insisted. Paula then asked them to take care of the house and Kef’s other things until… whenever. By the end of the day, Paula had left the DFW area.

October 9: By Thursday, at least two people in every Renaissance Faire and area that Kef and Paula had ever worked had a sealed letter in their possession, which they were asked to deliver to Kefya if they saw her. Also, there was an e-mail from Paula in Kefya’s e-mail box. Anyone looking for Paula for the rest of October would be able to find her in Montgomery, Alabama.

Over the next few weeks:

Jeremy gets a message that Kurt Perry, a pilot who flies a business shuttle out of Alliance Airport, will crash on October 27th unless he realizes that his plane’s fuel guage is malfunctioning.

Blake gets a message to tell Deputy Tyson that the man’s name is Darrell Wayne Vogel, 5’9”, 180#, 38 years old, dirty blond hair, bushy mustache, various tattoos, and on the evening of October 28th will pick up his next victim at a movie theater in Enterprise. Blake calls, and learns that Tyson has been on the trail of a serial rapist.

Steve gets a message that three teenagers – Richard Grisham, Greg Slocum, and Jay Byler – are planning a Columbine-style massacre at their school, Pernell Swett High School, Pembroke NC, on October 31st. October 23: The three teenagers are found passed out in a car with several weapons and explosives, after a tape of them planning how to get the explosives in place is sent to the local police.

October 26: Blake returns to Enterprise in search of Darrell Wayne. He contacts Carla and Vivian Gray to help in the search, but does not tell them why. With their help, he finds Darrell. Blake convinces Darrell to write out a confession detailing all of the killings and where the bodies are located. This process will take about a day and a half. On the return trip to Dallas, Blake tells Deputy Tyson where to find Darrell. Tyson finds Darrell in his trailer bound and gagged, in need of medical attention for his severe head and groin injuries.

October 29: Kef has so far not checked her e-mail. She chances to meet a friend of hers in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, who gives her a letter from Paula.

Summer, 2004: The Gray family – Carla, her husband Don, and their children Vivian and Ed – visit the Dallas area on vacation. Blake spends some time visiting with them. Carla was hoping to see Kef as well, but Blake says she’s out of town.

Axl has started a limo service. He has made 15 cars available, scattered in various locations around the Metroplex. All of them use the same ignition, door, and trunk keys, and he has sent a set to each of his friends. These cars are guarded by retired truck drivers, and are moved around occasionally.

[I’m going to mess with the timeline here to make it fit the story.]

January 13, 2005: In a diner somewhere in Oregon, Kevin McGuire appears and speaks with Kefya, apologizing for his clone’s actions and telling her not to give up fighting evil. Kef had been doing drugs to try to “burn out” her precognitive abilities, but her powers actually became stronger, and the drugs gave her nightmares. She flushes the drugs, then calls and talks to Blake. She doesn’t tell him where she is, but implies she is heading back to Dallas.

February 2: Blake gets a phone call from a Los Angeles hospital. They have a “Jane Doe” patient (no ID), badly injured. Among her meager possessions they found a scrap of paper with the letter “B” and Blake’s phone number on it. The patient is about 5’6” and has red hair and green eyes. Blake’s sure it must be Kef.

Blake finds Jeremy and they fly to Los Angeles. En route, Blake informs Paula as to what is going on. Paula calls Axl to try to hitch a ride on one of his rigs. “I don’t want to fly right now.” Axl says he will check with his friends.

Jeremy and Blake arrive at the hospital and locate the room. The patient, seemingly unconscious, awakens as soon as they walk in. The woman is indeed Kef, who is very happy to see them. She has big purple bruises on her face and arms, and a couple of stab wounds that (she says) aren’t serious.

Kef asks if they can get her out of the hospital without anyone seeing them, then later on Blake can transfer some of her funds to the hospital to pay for her care. She just wants to get out of the hospital and go back to Dallas. Blake, who anticipated this request, gives Kef some clothes, a wig, and sunglasses. While Blake pays the hospital, Jeremy walks Kef to the car.

On the way to the airport Blake asks “what happened?” but Kef refuses to tell until they are all safely airborne. Then she says she had been attacked by a man with a knife who had intended to rape her. She managed to take the knife away, then next thing she knew her assailant was rolling on the ground screaming and her hands were bloody. She stumbled away, blacked out, then woke up in the hospital. She pretended to be unconscious so she did not have to speak to anyone. She figured the cops would be coming to question her, but her sixth sense kept warning her not to talk to them.

Kef thanks Blake and Jeremy for getting her out of there. She asks Blake whether Sheriff Tyson was able to catch the serial rapist.

Kef looks like hell. The nurses at the hospital cleaned her up some, but her hair is a ragged mess (and she had always been proud of it before) and she looks like she hasn’t had a decent meal in weeks.

After the plane lands, Blake drives Jeremy and Kef to his house. Jeremy and Kef are in the back seat, and Kef falls asleep with her head on Jeremy’s shoulder. She dreams that she is walking in darkness holding someone’s hand. As she approaches a door the darkness begins to lift, and she sees that the person she is holding hands with is Jeremy. They open the door and see a room with a table with places for five people. There are two individuals at the table. One of them is Blake, and the other is very large with red skin, black eyes, and pointy teeth. He radiates an unpleasant feeling. Blake and the red devil both look up from their card game at Jeremy and Kef. Blake smiles at his two friends, but the devil does not look pleased. Kef wakes up and finds Jeremy looking at her strangely. She knows that Jeremy has experienced the same dream.

When they arrive at Blake’s house, Blake offers to call a doctor for Kef. She declines, saying, “No, thank you. I don’t want any doctor. They’d ask too many questions. If you’ve got Tylenol, I’ll take three or four.” She brushes her hand over her face. “I had a vision just now. Blake, have you been consorting with the Devil lately?” Blake, handing her a bottle of Tylenol, says, “No, I haven’t had any dealings with devils.” Kef describes her dream in detail, as she wanders through the house testing for evil vibrations. Jeremy comments, “I think you ought to be careful who you play cards with.” Blake replies, “I haven’t consorted with demons since the mark disappeared… You never know when your past will catch up with you… Maybe Kef’s arrival is a bad omen for the demon… I’m sure they’re not holding a grudge.”

While Blake fixes hamburgers, Kef takes a long shower. She emerges, a towel wrapped around her hair, wearing one of Blake’s old t-shirts. After lunch, Jeremy returns to Love Field. Kef falls asleep in one of the guest bedrooms.

Late that evening, Paula arrives in Dallas. She phones Axl and thanks him for arranging the ride, assuring him that the trucker was a perfect gentleman. She then calls Blake and asks how Kef is doing. Blake says she looks pretty beat-up, but she’s safe now. Paula obtains one of Axl’s cars and arrives at Blake’s around midnight. She looks in on Kef who is sound asleep, then sleeps in another guest bedroom.

February 3: Blake and Paula are up early. The smell of breakfast cooking brings Kef into the kitchen. Paula’s greeting is reserved, and Kef responds in kind.

Blake notes that Kef has a towel on her head again, and Kef complains that her hair is still a mess. Blake offers to bring in a hairdresser. Kef doesn’t want anyone seeing her banged-up self and asking questions; Blake tells her to go put on a sweatshirt and jeans (he has plenty of women’s clothing hanging in the guest bedroom closet… hmm) and assures her that the hairdresser he has in mind is both highly competent and very discreet. Blake makes a phone call, and within the hour Nicole (Niki) Shelf comes bouncing into Blake’s house. Her chatter puts Kef at ease, and 45 minutes later Kef’s hair is a halo of fluffy curls. Blake walks Niki back to her car; her squeal of delight can be heard clearly by those inside, and Blake walks back in, grinning. Kef comments, “She was really impressed by that bulge in your pants,” and Blake replies, “Yeah… my wallet.”

At 2:00pm Axl and Jeremy arrive for lunch. Axl gives Kef a set of car keys. Kef draws a sketch of the vision she (and Jeremy) had had of Blake playing cards with a devil, and while doing so, she recalls that in the background were cavern walls and the eyes of lesser demons watching from the shadows.

Kef talks a little about what she had gone through over the past year and a half, how she tried to get rid of her visions only to have them become more frequent. Sometimes she has them two or three times a day, interspersed with nightmares. She has come to a renewed acceptance of her ability, and a reluctant realization that she alone cannot handle all the troubles she foresees, thus she must ask her friends for help, possibly endangering them. “You can always opt out, though – but I can’t.” Blake opines, “Life has a way of moving things to where they need to be,” and Paula is impressed with this wisdom.

Blake gets a call from a Detective Smith with LAPD about the “Jane Doe” in the hospital. Blake implies that he’s willing to cooperate, while at the same time revealing very little the cops don’t already know.

Blake tells Kef and Paula that they can stay with him as long as they need to, but he thinks they should work on getting Kef’s life back to normal. Kef’s house (which Kef says is Paula’s) has been taken care of, but they should go “open it up” and make it truly homelike again.

Life goes on. Kef’s injuries heal, and she puts back on enough weight that she doesn’t look like skin and bones. Paula does some research trying to identify the devil/demon from the vision, and insists on talking to Blake every day. Despite numerous attempts to contact him, no one has heard from Steve in many months. There is speculation that he is out of the country.

Paula has made it a point to keep in contact with everyone she could, but during the afternoon of March 21st, it occurs to Paula that she has not actually spoken with Blake in a few days. She and Kef drive over to his house, which is locked up tight. Blake’s cherished sports car is gone; Kef’s psychometry indicates that it last left the driveway on the 18th.

Blake’s administrative assistant at Solution Security, Sara Summers, tells Paula that Blake hasn’t been to the office since the 18th. From his files Ms Summers produces the last few entries from Blake’s handwritten business journal.

March 16, 2005: Meet client today. Client’s name is Andrew Stronomer. Wants to investigate his partner, Marc Balsam. Marc Balsam may be a lot older than he is saying. His birth date is 11-11-58. They are Masons, but I think they are into something else. Mr. Stronomer is independently wealthy, but so far I can’t find out how he accumulated his wealth.

March 17, 2005: Meet new client today. Client’s name is Marc Balsam. Wants to investigate his partner, Andrew Stronomer. Wants to know his history. He asks if I am interested in becoming a Mason. I decline. He says Mr. Stronomer has some mental power. I inquire about the nature of these “mental powers.” He says he doesn’t know. I’m sure he is lying.

March 18, 2005: Meet third client in three days. Client’s name is Consta Millan. She is a professional palm reader and sometimes can see the future. There is something not right about her. I can’t put my finger on it. She says she represents some power interests (her words) who want me to investigate Marc Balsam and Andrew Stronomer. I inquire why her clients want these men investigated. She says that they owed her clients a great debt, and her client will collect on it soon. What do they want me to do? I asked. She says that I will bring the darkness. I ask What does that mean? She said when we meet tonight she would explain.

Apparently Blake routinely photographs his new clients, so Sara has a photo of Marc Balsam. She describes him as being about 45-50 years old, 6’ tall, thin, with salt-and-pepper hair and “funny eyes” that are very dark. The photo of Andrew Stronomer did not come out. Consta Millan did not come into the office.

Thanks to a special device in Blake’s sports car, Sara can tell Paula and Kef that it is currently parked near the Sam Moon store near the corner of I-635 and Harry Hines Blvd. Paula contacts Jeremy and asks him to fly his helicopter over. Paula and Kef quickly locate the car, parked well away from other cars. Via remote control, Sara turns off the alarm system and unlocks the car for them. “Blake’s gonna freak when he realizes his baby’s been outside in the weather for three days,” Kef remarks while going over every inch of the car with clairvoyance.

Kef realizes that Consta Millan’s business address places her somewhere in this shopping center, so she goes looking for it. However, when she reaches the place it should be (next to a nail salon), not only can she not find the suite, but her feet keep carrying her past the place it ought to be. Paula comes up and unsuccessfully casts Detect Magic, but nonetheless she can easily see a door bearing the words: Madame Millan – Seer of the Future. When she steers Kef in that direction, she can see it, too. They enter the dimly lit front room of the suite. From behind a curtain emerges a little old lady who looks to be in her mid-70s. She already knows that they are Blake’s friends. Paula phones Jeremy and Axl on a three-way call and leaves her phone line open.

Madame Millan invites them back into a candlelit room where the three of them sit down at a small table. Upon the table rests a crystal ball. As soon as they are seated, Paula hears the cell phone connection go silent. Madame Millan tells them frankly that she serves “evil masters” who have given her certain psychic powers… at a price. Her masters want Blake to “bring the darkness,” which she thinks refers to Stronomer and Balsam.

Curious (and ignoring professional courtesy), Kef stares into the crystal ball. Once more she sees herself walking in darkness, holding someone’s hand. As they approach the door, the darkness lifts and she can see that the person beside her is Jeremy. This time she turns and looks behind her. Following them are three more people – Marc Balsam; a thin, bald, elderly man (who is later determined to be Andrew Stronomer), and a tall person dressed all in black. Opening the door and stepping in, she sees Blake and a devil playing cards at a round table. There are stacks of bone poker chips in front of each of them – Blake’s stack contains about twice as many chips as the devil’s – and three empty places with smaller stacks of chips.

Madame Millan explains that Stronomer and Balsam owe her masters a great debt. They had tried to summon someone (or something) else and got her masters instead.

Jeremy has found a place to land his helicopter, and is trying to find Consta Millan’s address when Kef and Paula emerge. Jeremy is perturbed that he can’t find the door on his own. He uses a flare to scorch an arrow onto the sidewalk, pointing directly to the door, but once Paula steps away from the door Jeremy can no longer see it. Nor can he walk to it, even though he is walking on the arrow. A quarter tossed in the direction the arrow is pointing is somehow diverted to land in front of the nail salon. At this point Paula realizes it’s not simply an Aversion spell as she had thought. Kef says, “Don’t be too upset, Jeremy. I can’t see it either.”

Axl arrives with a trailer to load Blake’s car into. Jeremy needs to take his helicopter back to Love Field, so it is decided that Paula will pick him up at the hangar and they will go to Marc Balsam’s place of business, a New Age/Occult bookstore in the Oak Lawn area called In Time.

What they find is a good-sized store, rather untidy, but with lots of customers browsing the shelves. A short, pudgy man in a gray suit stares at Paula. Jeremy approaches one of the store’s employees and says, “I need to talk to Mr. Balsam. Blake Drummond sent me.” A few minutes later Balsam descends a stairway (exchanging a few words with the staring guy) and invites them up to his office. “What has Mr. Drummond found out?” he asks them. Jeremy replies, “You need to come with my colleague and myself.” Balsam tells them their colleagues won’t find Andrew. “Mr. Drummond could find him. Andrew wants to be found by Mr. Drummond.” Andrew usually uses a wheelchair, but “he can walk when he wants to.” He can read minds, make people forget or remember things, and astral project. Balsam turns to Paula and asks her, “Have you ever considered being a Mason?” Jeremy points out that the Masons only accept males, and Balsam implies that it’s a special type of Masonic group.

Balsam says that he and Stronomer have worked together for “a couple of decades.” Balsam came here from a foreign country, which he does not name. He gives his birth date as 11-11-58; Paula presses him for the century, but Balsam turns coy. Paula comments, “You’re making yourself an enigma to us,” but doesn’t get any particular reaction. Jeremy advises him, “Brush up on your poker.” In turn, Balsam suggests they examine recent violent events in Texas.

A tall, very handsome, well-dressed man comes in and wants to speak with Balsam, who indicates to Jeremy and Paula that their meeting with him is at an end. As she leaves Paula tells him, “If I were you, I’d close the deal quickly.”

Axl and Kef drive down Harry Hines to an office/warehouse. The outside office door is locked and the place looks deserted. Axl finds an unlocked loading bay door and raises it, and he and Kef slip inside. The warehouse is empty and looks like it has been for a while. There’s no answer when Axl knocks on the office door, but it is unlocked. Axl writes out a note as Kef searches the office. From a desk drawer she removes what look like two oversized pennies. The obverse bears a misshapen Abe Lincoln; the reverse has the markings of a “wheat penny.” The coins both bear the date 1896. Kef detects an evil feeling from them.

Upon leaving the office, Axl notices something they had overlooked before – a pentagram painted on the floor of the loading bay. Each point of the pentagram bears the symbol of an evil Egyptian god, including Anubis and Set. From the looks of it, the pentagram has not been used in quite a while. Kef holds the strange pennies near the pentagram; there’s no apparent reaction, but Kef notices that the coins are a strange color – like copper mixed with blood. Kef erases part of the pentagram by rubbing it out with her sneaker.

Axl and Kef rendezvous with Jeremy and Paula at Jeremy’s hangar at Love Field. It is 6:00pm on Monday, March 21.

[April 9, 2005]

It is 6:00pm. Kef, Paula, Axl, and Jeremy meet at the Infinite Solutions hangar at Love Field. Jeremy and Paula relate their encounter with Marc Balsam at his bookstore. Paula draws sketches of three men – Balsam, a man she refers to as a “sniffer” who identified her as a mage, and a “painfully handsome” blond man who reminded her of a Greek god. The latter seemed to be someone with whom Balsam had business dealings, though as Kef pointed out, if the man was considered important then Balsam would have gone to him. He is not the third man in Kef’s vision, who was a light-skinned black man.

Axl and Kef briefly describe the deserted warehouse and its pentagram. Kef shows Paula the two copper-and-blood “pennies” dated 1896 that she had found; Paula detects nothing magical about them.

Kef’s cellphone warbles. Sara Summers, Blake’s administrative assistant at Solution Security, gives the results of some checks she has run. Regarding Andrew Stronomer she has found nothing. There are four Marc Balsams, all with the same birthdate (11/11/1958), originating in Arkansas, New York, California, and Missouri, though only the one in Arkansas has any history. This one traces back to one John Balsam of Washington, Arkansas, which Sara thinks is located near Hope, “but it doesn’t show up on MapQuest.” In response to Kef’s questioning, Sara says there are no public records at all regarding Balsam – no property purchases, no land deeds, no tax payments, no school records, no birth certificate, nothing. Kef exclaims, “You can’t just Google these people – you have to do some footwork!” Stiffly, Sara replies that she does have people out searching, that she thought Kef would want her early findings even if they didn’t amount to much. Sara goes on that the warehouse in Dallas had been sublet to Masons Inc. for cash; this turned out to be a fake corporation. When Kef pointedly asks whether the Masonic angle has been followed up, Sara coldly responds that she is in the process of doing so, then signs off. Right after the phone connection is severed, Kef vents with a heartfelt, “Bitch!”

Paula ventures the thought that this has to do with what she calls a “dimensional incursion.” Kef asks snidely what Paula’s boss Enigma is going to do about it, and Paula looks around at Jeremy and Axl and replies, “We’re it.” Even Enigma can’t keep an eye on every world to watch for ‘incursions.’ Kef implies that these things didn’t happen on this world before Enigma intruded his agents (Axl inserts, “Or maybe we did and we just didn’t know about them”) and wonders if Paula’s former co-worker, the one nobody liked, had somehow put a gigantic “kick me” sign (as Paula puts it) on this Earth.

Paula calls Sara (Kef: “I don’t think she wants to talk to me”) for the name of the company that rented the warehouse to Masons Inc. Allied Inc. had actually rented warehouses to Masons Inc. at least four different times – Dallas, July 2004; Houston, September 2004; San Antonio, December 2004; Carrollton, March 12, 2005… nine days ago.

Recalling that Balsam had told Paula and Jeremy to examine recent violent events in Texas, Kef begins a search of AP and other news reports on the Internet. Starting in December 2004, one item quickly stands out – in San Antonio, 12/15/2004, four prostitutes were discovered in a warehouse, brutally sexually assaulted and murdered in what was described as a ‘ritualistic’ manner – their throats slashed and their hands and feet severed. Hieroglyphic type markings were found near the bodies. Kef quickly finds related murders: Houston, 12/14/2004, four prostitutes raped, throats cut, hands severed; Dallas, 07/13/2004, four prostitutes found murdered at the very warehouse Axl and Kef had searched earlier; Carrollton, March 12, 2005, the Dallas Morning News reports four prostitutes killed and dismembered (but their throats were not cut).

Kef is incredulous that something of this nature happened in this area so recently, yet she had heard nothing about it. Paula comments that this brings necromancy to mind. Kef responds, “Don’t necromancers start with dead people?”

The group climbs into Axl’s semi and heads for Carrollton, arriving at the warehouse around 8:30pm. Aware that the crime occurred pretty recently, everyone is alert for police presence and makes an effort to remain unseen. The back door has had plywood nailed over it, and Axl goes to work with his crowbar while Jeremy and Paula keep a lookout. Kef tries a side door but it’s locked.

Paula’s cellphone chirps. Steve McAllen says cheerfully, “Hi, Paula! Has Blake been kidnapped yet? What’s going on… is it the hookers?” Paula: “I thought you were in Belize?” Steve: “Doesn’t mean I don’t keep up with things.”

Axl unplugs the phone lines so the alarm system can’t dial out, then crowbars open the door. Kef slips inside and goes directly to the pentagram. The bodies have been removed, though chalk outlines remain. Blood stains four points of the pentagram. Kef kneels at the fifth point and extends her senses back in time…

Person in robes standing at the top point, wearing a dog’s head mask, elaborate robe and gloves. Lying at the four other points – four women, two already dismembered. Other two women also dead, their faces frozen in expressions of extreme terror. Center of pentagram – devil with large sword. Waves of fear wash over Kef, emanating from the center. To the sides – many people in plain brown robes, faces hidden by hoods, radiating bloodlust. Two others in elaborate robes, hoods pulled back; one is Balsam, the other is the very handsome man. Devil reaches out of the pentagram and dismembers the other two women with the sword. Then raises the sword and points at the masked man, as if in salute. Masked man and Balsam glow. Robed men begin chanting, “Tiamat… Tiamat…” The devil laughs, then vanishes. The robed men file out. The handsome man brings a wheelchair and helps ease the masked man into it. The man removes his mask; it is Stronomer. Stronomer, giggling: “We are close to being able to summon Tiamat!”

Kef forces herself to go back further, to the beginning of the ritual. The four women, nude, walk in, seemingly in a trance. Stronomer, wearing the mask, orders them to lie down at the points of the pentagram with their legs spread. Twenty robed men arrive and proceed to have sex with the women. More robed people enter. Two of them speak with Stronomer; Kef gets a glimpse of one man’s hand, the flesh of which is very white, like a dead man’s. Chanting begins. Power flows from Balsam and Stronomer into the pentagram and they glow. A hole opens up inside the pentagram and the devil rises up bearing a sword, smiling like he knows a joke that no one else understands. Devil spins around, brandishing sword and generating panic. Devil hacks two of the women and the robed men cheer. Other two women come out of their trance and begin screaming, screaming, then convulsing. Devil hacks them…

Meanwhile, Paula tries a fire spell, then a lightning spell, to test the mana. She doesn’t detect any increase or aspect to the mana level here. She begins to wonder whether there was any magic used at all.

Axl calls time; they have to leave before the alarm goes off. Paula fetches Kef, who has not quite returned to the here-and-now, and leads her outside. As Axl drives away, Kef describes most of what she saw, leaving out the more graphic details. As she speaks, Jeremy can see the images in his mind’s eye.

Paula mentions, “Steve’s back in town.” He has already been investigating the prostitute murders. Kef sinks back in her seat, staring at nothing. Her voice starts out level, but rises to a cry, “Paula… my being a precog… having these so-called powers… is so damn useless!” She is appalled that at least sixteen women have been murdered as part of demonic rituals, and she never had a clue. Axl tries to offer comfort: “No one can see everything, be everywhere.” Kef: “But what is it for, if not something as horrible as this?”

Axl continues to drive around as the group discusses what to do. Paula calls Steve to meet them at the Infinite Solutions office at Love Field. Steve arrives to everyone’s greeting. He says to Kef, “I like the hair.”

At the point of midnight, there’s a knock at the door. The security monitor shows a tall, light-skinned black man dressed all in black. Kef exclaims, “It’s him!” – the unknown man from her vision. Axl answers the door. The man introduces himself as Earl Grimes, and asks for Kefya North. Paula casts an Aura spell and reads that Earl, who is a mage, is basically a good guy with a few darker spots. Once inside, he pulls out his white amulet for the others to see. He explains that he was sent to Dallas to deliver something to Kefya North, then to help in whatever way he can. He had been approached first by Enigma, then by Kevin McGuire (Kef’s eyes go wide); the latter seemed almost penitent, saying that he had wronged Kefya and wanted to make amends to her.

Earl hands Kef a silver ring and explains that it will focus her precognitive abilities. The ring bears a sword design that he says will help protect her.

Kef outlines the scenario and explains that they need to find Andrew Stronomer. Earl assures her he can do that. “Seeker and Trace?” Paula asks him; he implies that he has another method. Steve: “You must be a great and powerful wizard indeed.” Earl: “That’s what I keep telling myself.”

Everyone agrees that a good night’s sleep is in order. Jeremy has a room behind the IS office; Axl will park his semi in the hangar and sleep in the cab. Steve will go to one of his houses. Kef invites Earl home with her and Paula, and he graciously accepts. Just before she leaves, Kef approaches Steve and takes his hand. She says simply, “I’m glad to see you again,” squeezes his hand, and quickly departs before Steve can reply.

As Kef drives homeward, having just gotten onto LBJ Freeway, her danger sense alerts her that they are being followed. She alerts Paula and Earl about the four people in the car behind them. Paula immediately calls Steve, who gives instructions to delay for about twenty minutes, then head for the Tollway and go north; he will rendezvous with them. Meanwhile, Earl teleports onto the top of the pursuing vehicle. A cone of darkness forms around him. He leans over and knocks on the windshield. The car starts to swerve back and forth as if the driver is trying to make Earl fall off. Earl returns to Kef’s car and the darkness dissipates.

As Kef leads the pursuers up the Tollway service road, Steve comes up from behind and hits them. In an amazing feat of driving skill, the car does a 360° and continues chasing Kef. Steve catches up to them and with his silenced .45 shoots out a front tire. The windows roll down and guns emerge. Steve tosses a flash-bang on their windshield. The car screeches to a stop.

Steve gets out of his car and approaches cautiously. The driver’s head is down and both hands are on the wheel; the other three have been dazzled by the flash-bang. Steve shoots each of them in the trigger hand, then zip-cuffs the driver and pulls his shirt over his head. Kef brings her car around and she and Paula get out. Paula searches the trunk and finds two bodybags and a length of rope. The driver starts to raise his head; Steve warns, “I wouldn’t do that.” Paula tries to cast Minor Healing to stop their bleeding, but her spells fail. She asks Earl to help, and he does so. Steve blindfolds each of the men, who are then loaded into the trunks of Steve’s and Kef’s cars. As they pull away, Steve shoots a hole in the pursuers’ car’s gas tank and hurls a lighted flare at it. Paula phones Axl and tells him what has just transpired; Jeremy will alert Love Field security.

Going to an area with no other traffic, Steve performs a more thorough search of the men. He takes a cellphone from one of them. Each has one of the odd “pennies” in his pocket; Steve disposes of them. He suggests to Kef and Paula that they shouldn’t go home tonight, and leads them to one of his safe houses.

At the Infinite Solutions office, bullets strike the front door, shattering the evening’s silence. The security monitor shows four men wearing brown shirts, hoods covering their faces. Jeremy calls Love Field security… but there is no answer. He leaves a voice mail: “There are bullets being fired here; where are you guys?”

Axl and Jeremy level their shotguns at the door. As the four men burst in, the leader sees Axl, then grabs his buddy and pushes him forward as a shield. Jeremy shouts, “Come on in, boys!” Axl fires both barrels and kills a man.

Axl takes three steps toward the door. One intruder points his gun at Axl, yells “Stop!” then fires three shots, somehow hitting Axl in the butt. Jeremy heads for the door as the other two intruders rush in.

Axl goes through the door. Jeremy yells, “You, freeze!” and fires; one guy (the lucky one) rolls out of the way, but another is hit in the legs. One guy says “Stop” and another aims and says “Freeze.”

Jeremy steps back inside the office and slams the door. Axl is reloading; Jeremy indicates “there’s a rifle right there.” On the monitors, Jeremy sees lucky guy get up off the floor, pointing his gun at the office door. The other guy checks the dead guy, then he and lucky guy pick up the injured guy and start backing toward the outer door. As soon as they get outside where they can’t see him coming, Jeremy starts out in pursuit. Axl opens the hangar doors and climbs into his semi.

Jeremy, who can see well in the dark, fires his shotgun. He hits both the injured guy and one of the guys carrying him. He chases lucky guy, gaining on him slowly. By the time lucky guy gets into his car, Jeremy is less than 20 feet away. Ducking down, the guy starts the car. Jeremy fires at a front tire, blowing it out. The guy shifts into reverse and stomps on the gas. Jeremy fires through the driver’s-side window, shouting “Freeze!”

Axl’s semi, all its lights blazing, roars up. Lucky guy glances up, then floors it. Axl runs right over the car, killing the formerly lucky guy. All four of the intruders have the strange pennies in their pockets; their car’s trunk contains two bodybags. Axl asks Jeremy for a sling…

Jeremy phones Paula. “Are you guys having trouble with bad guys?” Paula acknowledges, asking if Jeremy and Axl are all right, and whether they had interrogated the intruders. Jeremy exclaims, “Talk to them! That would have been a good idea, huh, Axl?” Axl moans, “I’ve got three holes where there should only be one!”

Jeremy then phones the main Love Field number. “Are you having trouble contacting Security?” “We just called them and they answered.” “Send ‘em over to clean up the mess they couldn’t stop.” Jeremy is also perturbed that the IS security system, designed by Steve, hadn’t alerted him to the intruders until they were right at the front door.

At Steve’s safe house, Earl volunteers to interrogate the driver. Kef stands behind the driver and taps into his thoughts. Earl stands before the driver; darkness forms at his feet and spreads across the floor. The driver starts out fiercely defiant (with an image of Andrew Stronomer in his mind), but soon fear insinuates itself. A fireball appears in Earl’s hand; as he bounces it in his hand he says, “You’re going to tell us the truth.” The driver responds “You can’t scare me,” but his thoughts say otherwise. The driver at first denies knowing Andrew Stronomer, but then Earl sets his pants on fire. Earl steps back and suddenly a demon is there, demanding the address where they were to meet Stronomer.

The driver starts spilling information. The coins are the identification required to get into the secret meetings. Their objective is “whatever the Master tells us… The Master is planning something great.” Tonight they were to capture the two women and take them to an address in Oak Cliff. The Master’s assistant had said that one of the women was magical; the Master himself said the other was special. If they didn’t check in by 2:00am, it would be known that their mission had been a failure. He claims there are “thousands” of members in their group, but he only names a few. The very handsome man is called Roman; he never stops smiling, is very strong (e.g. he can snap a man’s arms with almost no effort) and unusually fast. One time, the driver relates, a shot knocked Roman down, but he got right back up and broke the shooter’s neck. Marc Balsam can read minds. As for Andrew Stronomer, “The Master can do anything.”

It is 3:00am Tuesday, March 22.

[April 23, 2005]

It is 3:00am Tuesday, March 22, at one of Steve’s safe houses. Earl Grimes looks around from questioning the driver and enquires of the others present whether he should ask anything else. Kef moves out from behind the driver and asks calmly, “Are you done with this one?” Earl indicates affirmative. Kef stands before the driver, staring down with eyes so dilated as to appear black, her backlit hair like a crown of fire. “She was nothing but a headless torso to you, was she.” It is not a question. “She had a name, she had friends, she had a life.” The driver starts to giggle and Kef snaps, “Shut up.” She goes on, “To you and your little boys’ club, she was nothing but a &^&=, a reward for good little boys who do as their ‘master’ tells them.” The driver continues to snicker and wisecrack. “Shut up. Tonight your ‘master’ told you to kidnap two women. It didn’t matter to you what for or who they are. But he said one of them was ‘magic’. And you were thinking you’d never had magic &^&= before, and you were going to get yourself a piece.” The driver leers as Kef snarls, “You were planning to rape… my… friend.” Whatever his last words may have been are lost, as Kef draws her pistol and fires three fast shots into his heart. In the ensuing silence, Kef turns away, not looking at anyone, and stalks out of the room.

Several seconds pass. Then Steve glances significantly at one of the other captives. “What’s your story?” The man starts to babble, “Uh, I’m from Plano.” Steve gives an impatient sigh and shoots him through the head. The next man looks up fearfully. “I’m a low man.” He says that he and the others are sometimes sent out to round up vagabonds, then a demon comes and leads them away. ‘Away’ where, he doesn’t know. The demons are very frightening; in fact, a wall of fear surrounds them.

Paula finds Kef sitting in front of a computer screen, staring off into space. She asks quietly, “How are you doing, Kef?” “Not well.” Kef sets her right hand on the mouse, but her hand is shaking so badly she can’t control it. Paula sits down and takes Kef’s hand in both of hers. Some minutes pass before Kef speaks again. Demons can’t be summoned without magic, so the lack of magic use at the pentagram indicates that the demon’s appearance and the human sacrifices were simply a show to impress the followers, with the rapes a reward for the faithful. Kef googles the term “Egyptian Masons” and gets back a few references to a demonic cult. They are an offshoot of the Freemasons, combining the remnants of the Knights Templar with a cult that worshipped the evil Egyptian gods Anubis and Set. A man named Jack Balsam led the Egyptian Masons in the early 1900s. There is also mention of a Sumerian voodoo-style deity called Tiamat.

Love Field security finally arrives at ISHQ. Jeremy demands, “Where the hell have you been?” The squad leader, who Jeremy doesn’t recognize, asks him to identify himself. Jeremy: “Ask that guy – he’s on patrol.” That Guy: “Uh, he’s the owner.” Jeremy: “Yeah, the guy who called BEFORE this all happened.” No one in the security office remembers hearing the phone ring at the time Jeremy had called. Jeremy: “You might hire guys who aren’t on drugs, eh?” The leader asks Jeremy, “Do you know who these guys are?” “I didn’t stop to ask. I could guess, but I don’t know… You didn’t get here in time to stop them.” The squad leader, glancing around, replies, “Their bad luck, looks like.”

Dallas police, along with paramedics and firemen, arrive. Axl, who has been sitting patiently in his semi (keeping pressure on his wounds), is first-aided and transported to Parkland Hospital. The police take a statement from Jeremy, who mentions the most-likely-related attack on his friends along the tollway. “Our PI buddy is missing,” he says, giving Blake Drummond’s name. The police tell Jeremy he’ll have to vacate the crime scene.

Jeremy calls Paula. “The police are making me leave. Where are you guys at? Do you need help?” “Things are well in hand,” Paula assures him. The attackers were sent by “The Master,” Andrew Stronomer. Kef is rather upset. Jeremy: “I’m sorry I didn’t save any for her.” Paula: “Just as well.” Paula learns that Axl is at Parkland; she says she’ll go heal him. She gives Jeremy their current address and says, “Make sure no one’s following you – and if they do, we’ll get more of them.” She gives Jeremy a summary of the interrogation of their attackers.

Jeremy hits the road, then calls Steve. “So what’s next?” Steve advises, “Get some sleep.” “Sleep?? We gotta find this Stronomer bozo!” “How? I’ve got a mess to clean up.” Jeremy suggests leaning on Marc Balsam. He fusses about the failure of the ISHQ security system to give sufficient warning of the attack, and Steve agrees to check it over sometime. “Be careful. Make sure you’re not followed.” Jeremy goes to his own home, checks for stakeouts, calls Steve back and says “I’m home,” then goes to bed.

Around 4:30am Steve and Earl return from “cleaning up” (Earl muttering “Note to self: Bloodthirsty crew!”). Steve pokes his head into the room where Kef and Paula are still working at the computer, and suggests that everyone go to bed.

Almost immediately, Kef begins a series of dreams.

In the first dream, she is walking through a place she recognizes as Stonebriar Mall in Frisco. As she passes in front of The Gap, one Hispanic man steps out behind another, puts a silenced gun to the latter’s head, and fires. A clock in The Gap reads 4:00. She continues on to the information desk, which displays the date, March 23.

Next, Kef is sitting at an outdoor café. Across the way is a Kroger supermarket. A street sign reads Cedar Springs. From the angle of the sun, it appears to be late afternoon. Traffic is heavy. Across the street a woman is walking. Suddenly a man steps out of a doorway, grabs the woman, and snatches her into the building. No one else seems to notice. A clock inside the café shows 5:00, and Kef feels that the event is imminent.

Then Kef’s point of view changes. She is looking down at herself lying on a bed. A cellphone rings; Kef gets up from the bed and picks up the phone. Caller ID indicates… Blake Drummond. A photo of Blake comes up on her screen. “Hello, Kef? I’m in Hell.” In answer to Kef’s concerned questions, Blake tells her he’s just fine, for the time being, although a doglike demon tried to bite his arm (and hurt its teeth), and the demons occasionally “play catch with me.” He had gone to see his new client, Madame Millan, and “a big red guy” caught him and escorted him to “this place.” He has heard that “Darkness is coming for me” and that “the two people who think they’re in charge are going to get the joke.” He believes that the reason he has been able to contact Kef is that the big red devil, Azael, is speaking at that moment with Stronomer, and he was able to “piggyback” his call’s signal. Blake suggests that the group should be able to set a trap for Stronomer.

On the phone’s screen appears a new scene: A devil, whose back is turned, addresses an image of Stronomer. A mirror behind Stronomer reflects tall buildings… and a flying red horse. Blake’s photo reappears, but then the connection is cut. Kef tries to awaken but finds she cannot, and tumbles into darkness.

Before anyone else is up, Paula calls Axl at Parkland and says she’ll come get him. She is able to cast a healing spell that substantially mends his backside. Then Axl must deal with the paperwork of getting himself checked out of the hospital.

Around 11:15 Kef awakens. Quite unusually, she feels very refreshed. She grabs a pad of paper and a pencil and sketches images and scribbles down notes from her dreams. A little while later Jeremy phones her. “Did Blake call you from Hell?” Jeremy had had that exact same dream, and from the landmarks he saw he has determined which building Stronomer was in. Blake’s call had come in at 5:30am.

Kef hears Earl heading into the kitchen, and she follows. “The demons are expecting the darkness,” she tells him; “What does that mean?” Darkness rolls over the room as Earl explains that in his world he belongs to a super team, where “my name is Darkness.” He had once gotten in a “lucky shot” and killed a demon prince, and ever since then he’s been aware that the demons are not happy with him. He had sensed that Enigma was sending him into a confrontation with demons, but his conscience makes him go and face them, even though he expects to die. (“I always expect to die.”) Kef expresses gratitude for his help. She is intrigued by his description of a world where superheroes are real, and wonders why Enigma wouldn’t have sent an entire hero team along with Earl against the demon. Earl shrugs and says he’s been sent to help her team. Kef says, “We’re not a team;” it’s been over a year and a half since the last time they had all been together. Kef says she’s been acting on many of her visions alone; Earl tries to explain how a team is better than an individual, because they can do more, and keep her from getting shot, stabbed, and beaten as she admits she has been.

Paula and Axl arrive back at Steve’s house. Steve finally rolls out of bed. Kef calls Jeremy, who has determined that the building Stronomer was in is owned by the Bank of America and is currently vacant. Paula turns on the TV; the news reports that a Dallas businessman was attacked and a private investigator is missing. Steve asks Earl what to use to fight demons; Earl suggests “magic weapons sometimes work – or explosives.” He hands Steve and Kef one clip apiece of caseless 9mm demonbane bullets, saying “I got them from McGuire.” Steve’s search on the names given by their captives had turned up only minor thugs.

Jeremy phones Steve; “Balsam’s not at the bookstore.” He had called and asked for Balsam and gotten the response, “Who?” The person who answered claimed that the store was owned by someone named Webster. Jeremy says, “I’m thinking Stronomer has wiped out their memories.”

After Jeremy arrives with lunch – BBQ from Sonny Bryan’s – Kef describes her other two visions, at Frisco and in Oak Lawn. No one recognizes the people in her sketches. Steve, Paula, and Axl will go to Stonebriar Mall, while Kef, Jeremy, and Earl go to Oak Lawn. Steve makes up himself, Axl, and Paula so that none of them are recognizable (Steve looks like a ‘stoner’). On the way to Frisco, Steve stops at a church and obtains some holy water.

The Stonebriar group arrives around 3:00pm. Paula sets up near The Gap, acting like she’s waiting for someone. Axl sits on a bench, eating Dippin’ Dots and watching for the victim. Steve scopes out the vicinity, noting the locations of entrances, restrooms, and so forth. At 3:47 Paula sees an outside door open and calls Steve. Steve responds, “Those aren’t supposed to be open – I’ll be right there.” As Steve comes downstairs, he sees the victim come out of The Gap and walk past Paula into the men’s room. Steve in his stoner guise wanders in. The victim and the shooter are talking together in low voices; they move away from Steve. They exchange a few more whispered words and shake hands, and the victim leaves.

Steve, inside a stall, hears a bag being opened, followed by a loudly whispered exclamation. The shooter leaves the bathroom, walking quickly, pulling a gun from one pocket and a silencer from another and fitting the two together. Axl rises from his bench. Steve fast-draws his gun and sticks it in the shooter’s back while simultaneously grabbing the shooter’s gun arm, saying in Spanish, “Hold it. Let me have it, or I’ll let you have it.” Paula starts creating a noisy disturbance in order to draw onlookers’ eyes to her. The victim has moved on out of sight. Steve continues in Spanish, “Your opportunity’s gone; let me have it or you’re dying.” Rather than give his gun to Steve, the shooter shoves it into his pants, then raises his empty hand out away from it. Steve walks the shooter into the restroom; Axl follows them.

The shooter, whose name is Juan Fernandez, tells Steve, “Henry Hernandez cheated me, that dirty thief. We’re in it together. He said there was a gold watch and some diamonds in there,” indicating the bag. Steve takes Juan’s gun, then examines the bag, which contains gold-painted pennies, glass gems, and a watch marked Olex. Steve asks Juan, “Are you a fence?” “No, I was the lookout while he robbed the stores.” “That’s not your line of work,” Steve observes, indicating Juan’s gang tattoos. “We’re going to have a little talk. Outside.” Via radio, Steve tells Paula there’s no apparent connection here with Stronomer.

Juan had had a key for the outside mall door. Steve and Paula get into Juan’s car, with Axl following in theirs. Paula calls Kef, says “We got him,” and briefly describes the disagreement between the two thieves. Kef growls, “How freaking useless.” Axl suggests, “Maybe we prevented something else.”

Suddenly Juan smiles at Steve, and his eyes change color from dark brown to gray. “Shoot him now!” Steve shouts to Paula, backhanding Juan. Paula shoots Juan in the shoulder and Steve adds, “In the head!” Instead, Paula mutters and gestures and casts a spell. Juan simply sits there, smiling at Steve. Steve, with sudden comprehension, says, “Hello, Mr. Stronomer.” Paula then puts her gun to Juan’s head, telling Steve, “I hope I’ve inhibited his intelligence.” Finally Juan speaks. “Ow, you shot me.” Steve replies, “I shot this guy you’re using.” Juan turns his head to stare forward, still smiling. Steve suddenly stomps on the brakes, making Juan fall forward, then shoots him in the head. As Juan slumps over dead, Paula asks, “Why did you do that?” Steve explains, “Stronomer was working through him. He wasn’t feeling any pain, and he might have tried some mental shit.”

Paula phones Kef. “It’s a trap,” she says, describing what just happened. Kef gets up from her seat at the outdoor café (which is actually a Chinese restaurant) and goes to tell Earl. Earl says they should continue with their plan; Stronomer may be gathering info. Paula calls again, telling Kef she thinks Balsam might have read her mind (while she was at the bookstore the other day) and gotten names and images. Earl remarks that Kef’s probably overestimating their abilities; Kef thrusts her phone at him, exclaiming, “Talk to Paula! It’s her, not me.” In Earl’s opinion, what happened was “sadistic play” rather than part of a deliberate plan. Earl believes Kef picked up the visions because they were tied to Stronomer, not because he sent them to her. “If Stronomer could send dreams to you, he’d just come get you instead.” Earl does think Stronomer is now after Paula, having learned of her magic powers. “I make my enemies overestimate my abilities.”

Meanwhile, Jeremy had scoped out the office building. The offices on the ground floor are vacant. One of them is unlocked, and appears to be in use by a homeless person. The floor is strewn with porn magazines and empty whiskey bottles. A few red stains are on the dirty bedding. At 4:40 the door opens and a hunched-over man enters. He seems unsurprised to see Jeremy, but tells him in a flat voice, “This is my place. You gotta leave.” Jeremy: “I can leave, but not yet.” Jeremy accuses the man of grabbing women and dragging them to this room. The man responds, “I don’t grab women.” He continues to tell Jeremy to get out. Jeremy offers him $20 to let him stay for 20 minutes. The man takes the money, but again orders him out. Jeremy replies, “I’m stayin’. Fair’s fair.”

Then the man straightens up and slides the $20 into his pocket. He says softly, “Well, I guess you can stay.” His eyes change color from brown to gray. Jeremy realizes that someone just entered his mind. “That’s a good trick. Are you Mr. Stronomer or Mr. Balsam? I just want to talk. I’m not into shooting, like my partner is.” The man responds, “Do you have the time?” “I got plenty of time.” “What time is it?” “4:45 – you have fifteen minutes.” “Plenty of time,” the man says. Jeremy: “It’s Kef you want, I don’t know why.” Suddenly Jeremy feels himself becoming very tired; he punches redial on his phone.

Kef’s phone rings; it’s Jeremy’s number, but there’s nothing but a few thumps and an indistinct voice. Kef motions to Earl, indicating the office building. Earl takes Kef’s hand, and in the next instant they appear in the room. Kef hurries over to Jeremy, who is lying on the floor, and awakens him. Earl shines Sunlight in the man’s face. The man is raised up and turned away from Earl. Kef approaches and tries to get into the man’s mind; at first she feels resistance, then she is sucked in.

Kef is standing in front of a table. Seated in a chair, bound and gagged, is the man who was going to grab the woman. Nearby is an old man in a wheelchair, leering at Kef, who she recognizes as Stronomer. They trade words, Stronomer insinuating that he would soon have Kef; Kef, challenging, responding that he didn’t possess what it takes to have her. Stronomer, seeming excited, hands Kef a coin and says he is looking forward to seeing her soon. Then her connection is broken… but she can still “see” the coin resting on her hand, and feels a slight but definite tug from it.

As Kef recovers, Jeremy and Earl learn that the homeless man (who has returned to his hunched posture) can’t remember anything for the past two days.

[May 7, 2005]

After dinner at the Chinese café (Kef’s fortune reads “The end is near”), the group discusses how to get into the vacant building and take Andrew Stronomer. With a quick recon, Steve notices several cameras set up outside with no apparent blind spots. Several plans are discussed and discarded, including getting into the old Magnolia Building across the way, peering through the window with one of Steve’s high-powered scopes, and then Earl teleporting Stronomer away. Paula, knowing how much magical skill this takes, is impressed that Earl can even consider doing such a thing; Earl tells her sincerely, “You must brush up on your spells.” Earl declares “we can’t let Kef go in alone,” to which Kef responds, “Why not?” Steve asks Kef if she’s sure it wasn’t him disguised as Stronomer in her vision; while she’s aware of Steve’s amazing disguise powers, she’s sure it was indeed an elderly, crippled man she saw. Steve asks Earl, “Can you make [Stronomer] unconscious?” “I can make him anything,” laughs Earl.

Finally a plan emerges. Jeremy and Axl will go to Love Field, come back with Jeremy’s helicopter, and be available for a rooftop extraction. Earl will turn himself and Steve invisible, and they will follow Kef and Paula into the building.

The building is unlocked. Kef, with Paula following, strides right past the manned information desk toward the elevator bank. As Kef reaches out to push the elevator button, however, one of the two guards waiting there stops her. The guards insist on frisking the women for weapons. Paula holds her purse out to the side; the guard is so interested in patting her down that he doesn’t think to check inside her purse. Standing off to the side, Kef slips out her 9mm and holds it behind her, and someone takes it. (Steve, still invisible, finds himself walking toward a stairwell, and with a powerful effort of will he makes himself go back to the elevators.) Elevator doors open. One of the suits steps in and punches multiple buttons. Kef and Paula are herded inside, and Steve and Earl slip in with them. Earl returns Kef’s gun.

Jeremy, having been warned of Stronomer’s mental powers, fashions himself a tinfoil hat. (Genuine Reynolds Wrap, not the cheap stuff. Double layer.) He files a flight plan indicating that he is taking tourists for a ride over downtown. Since Kef had advised them to bring a door opener, Axl finds his shotgun and a four-foot-long crowbar. Once he sights the roof of the target building, Jeremy sees a spot where he can easily (since he’s Jeremy) set down the helo.

The elevator doors open on the second floor, a large open area that was formerly a gymnasium. Paula walks out like she knows where she’s going. Kef acts nonchalant.

The doors open again on the 6th floor. No one gets in or out. (Steve feels a “tickle” in his head but no compulsion.)

At the 8th floor, the doors open and the incredibly handsome man called Roman strides in and grabs at Steve (who Kef can’t see). The suit looks fearful as Roman grabs him with one hand, but when he is set beside the control panel, he pushes the “door open” button. Kef starts fussing at Roman for barging in, but he pays her no heed. Steve sprays Roman with mace but it has no effect. Roman grabs again at Steve, who dodges. Kef steps out of the elevator; Roman turns, picks her up, and sets her back inside, behind the suit. At point-blank range Steve fires his M16 into Roman’s eye; Roman flinches and raises a hand to his face. The injury looks to be no more than a razor cut, oozing very red blood. Steve unloads a burst into Roman’s side, succeeding mainly in shredding Roman’s expensively tailored Armani suit. Roman grabs for the barrel, but Steve twitches it out of the way, stepping back out of the elevator. Kef shoves the suit hard, bouncing the guard off of Roman. Roman sets himself in the front of the elevator, and the doors close, leaving only Kef and the suit inside.

Paula’s feet carry her forward toward a very short man (4’2”). She is only about a yard away from him when she realizes something isn’t right. The midget doubles up his fist. Paula opens her purse, gets hold of her gun, and fires right through the purse, getting what would seem to be a solid hit. The midget swings his fist, missing twice but then striking Paula. She kicks him in the head, but to her mind comes the thoughts, “I know he dodged; how did I hit him?” She fires at his head and misses. The midget leg-sweeps and Paula falls down.

Five yards away from him, Steve sees a humongous roach. It skitters toward him on all six, then raises up its upper half, clutching at him with two sets of limbs.

Paula rises to a crouch. She notices that the midget’s bullet wound isn’t bleeding… but then it begins to bleed. The midget lands a punch on her chin, knocking Paula onto her back. Realizing the truth of this fight, Paula mentally screams “Get out of my mind!” The midget melts away. Bruised and sore, Paula gets to her feet.

The suit holds the elevator door open. Psyching herself into self-assurance, Kef steps regally into the luxurious penthouse. She turns her head and Stronomer leers at her. Beside him stands Marc Balsam, with a funny look on his face. Kef is aware that ever since she got into the elevator someone has been repeatedly and unsuccessfully trying to get into her mind. Kef smirks and takes a couple of steps toward the pair.

“Progress check.” Axl’s voice comes over their radio headsets. Steve: “I’m on floor 8 with Roman and a giant roach.” Earl: “I’m on the 8th floor with Roman, a giant roach, and Steve.” Paula: “Which means Kef’s by herself.” Jeremy: “It’s shotguns and crowbars time!”

Steve fires at the roach, which dodges. With one pair of legs the roach grapples Steve around the waist, and with another limb it grabs for Steve’s gun hand, but he fends that one off. With a few steps’ running start, Roman leaps to tackle Steve – but suddenly freezes in midair. Surprised at first, Roman concentrates, straightens himself from a horizontal posture to vertical, and steps down to the floor. From somewhere Earl’s voice murmurs, “Oh, shit.” Steve jams his gun against the roach’s head; one burst gets through. Emitting a chittering sound, the roach grabs again at Steve’s hands; Steve parries. Then the roach hauls off and flings Steve at Roman. Roman raises a hand to smash Steve into the floor – but then stops. Steve flies under Roman’s hand and hits the ground. Chittering, the roach runs toward Steve… and then Roman completes his swing and strikes the roach with a loud splatting, cracking sound.

Kef’s words also go out over the radio. “Ah, Mister Stronomer. We meet at last. And you must be Mister Balsam.” Still with the odd expression on his face, Balsam says to Stronomer, “Andrew, I bounced.” Cackling, Stronomer replies, “Of course, you fool. I told you she was juicy. I’m going to have fun with her.” Turning his beady eyes back to Kef, he adds, “I know all about your friends. The ones on the roof, too.” Kef notices standing in shadows a very plain-looking man holding a gun, staring at her. Suddenly Kef fast-draws her gun and fires at Balsam, who simply steps out of the way. The shadowed man raises his gun. Kef fires three more times, but the bullets bounce off an unseen barrier. Then her gun flies out of her hand and into Stronomer’s.

Jeremy makes a fast landing on the roof. Axl comes out, shotgun in one hand, crowbar in the other, and takes cover behind a massive air conditioner unit. He takes aim, fires, and blows the roof access door’s latch to pieces. He reloads his shotgun, then wedges the door open and starts down the stairs. As he reaches the door to the 10th floor, two ninjas step out of the shadows. At the same time, a huge dog rushes out the roof door. Jeremy drawls, “Axl, you let the dogs out.”

Paula runs back to the 2nd-floor elevators, to be met by a thin, red-eyed man with pallid white skin. Having been warned not to make eye contact with this one, she shuts her eyes and concentrates on a spell. The man reaches her just as she completes the spell and touches him; unfortunately, the Daze spell fails. She turns away, but the man grabs her by the gun hand and turns her back to face him. She tries to pull her gun away but cannot. Then the man head-butts her and lets go; Paula staggers back. Opening her eyes, looking toward the floor, she can see the man’s feet, so fires her shots upward from there. The man grunts loudly and draws his own gun. Paula fires again and the man goes limp, his gun dropping to the floor. For insurance, Paula puts three or four bullets into his brain. She collects the man’s weapon, a .380.

Steve fast-draws his pistol (the M16 is empty) and fires three fast shots into the roach’s neck wound. The roach chitters agitatedly. Steve gets up, and the roach scurries away toward the stairs. Roman, who seems to be listening to something, speaks: “I yield.” Steve puts his pistol away and reloads his M16. “Okay, you yield.” Earl’s voice inquires, “Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” “Let’s take an elevator ride.”

Axl backs up and throws his crowbar, not believing the ninjas are real. The crowbar passes through Ninja1 and clangs against the wall, but N1 is still there. N2 swings and hits, but the wicked-looking katana does about as much damage as a rubber knife. Axl thinks the words, “Get out!” N1 vanishes; N2 strikes Axl again but causes no injury. N2 drops his sword and he and Axl trade punches. Axl orders, “Go away, man.” Throwing up his hands, N2 steps back into the shadows. Axl radios Jeremy, “Whatever ran up the stairs isn’t real – but other stuff might be.”

Jeremy turns the helo’s spotlight on the onrushing horse-sized white dog… then proceeds to ignore it. Over the radio Paula says, “Jeremy, shout it out of your mind.” “There’s nothing in my mind.” The helo shakes as the dog thunks into it, and the dog backs up for another charge. Jeremy thinks to himself “At least do something intelligent!” as he picks up his gun and opens the door. The dog head-butts Jeremy, who feels it but is unhurt. Turning his back on the dog, Jeremy heads for the rooftop door. The dog, following, bites Jeremy in the back, then clamps onto his arm and starts gnawing. Paula: “How’s it going, Jeremy?” Jeremy: “This dog that doesn’t exist is hanging on my arm.” Steve: “Just get downstairs and quit playing with it.” Pulling the dog along with him, Jeremy descends the stairs.

Axl opens the stairwell door, half-expecting to meet a geisha. Another locked door is in front of him.

Kef says softly, “Mister Grimes, where are you?” Earl answers, “On the elevator with Roman.” Stronomer tilts his head, and Paula feels a feathery touch on her mind: “Don’t worry, be happy.” Paula replies, “Go to hell.”

The elevator dings. Steve palms a flash-bang. Roman moves out first, his feet not touching the ground.

The dog still hangs from Jeremy’s arm. He casually jams the dog’s head against a doorjamb as he continues on.

Axl walks quietly through a kitchen area, then he can see Balsam and Stronomer from the side, and then Kef, then Steve and Roman.

Steve hurls the flash-bang onto the floor in front of Stronomer. Kef, guessing what Steve’s sudden throw indicates, closes her eyes and covers her ears. Axl aims at an armed man that emerges, staggering, from the shadows. Balsam flinches and Stronomer giggles.

Paula comes out of an elevator. Jeremy catches up with Axl, who glances at the dog and suggests, “Get him something out of the refrigerator.” Jeremy calls out, “Hey, old man, your dog’s here.”

Kef strolls toward Stronomer and Balsam. “You owe a debt that you haven’t paid, and we’re taking you there to pay it.” Steve: “There’s two ways you can go.” Paula: “They’re giving you a sporting chance. Do you play poker?”

The dog disappears, and Jeremy feels really good. Paula pleads with him to “get him out of your mind.”

Stronomer claims to remember no debt until Kef mentions the name Azael. Then he protests, “We didn’t have a pact.”

Jeremy walks up and takes Kef’s hand. He suggests that Kef turn on the TV. “Try channel 666.”

Steve says to the armed man, “Put that down before you hurt yourself.” (The man – the mage-sniffer that Jeremy and Paula had encountered at the bookstore – cannot see Earl, so he thinks Steve is a wizard.)

Once more elevator doors open, and out steps Madame Consta Millan. Earl becomes visible. Madame Millan takes the TV remote from Kef, then goes over to the TV and a doorway opens. Kef says, “Let’s go.” Kef and Jeremy lead the way, followed by Roman (still under Earl’s control), then Earl, Stronomer, and Balsam. Steve grabs the sniffer by the ear and pulls him along, too. Paula and Axl follow.

Ten minutes’ walk brings the group to a door. Kef opens the door and steps in. Here is the cavern she had seen in her vision, including the poker table. Blake looks up and smiles; the devil Azael frowns. Other demons lurk in the shadows. Then Azael grins and says, “Darkness.” Earl mutters, “Oh, shit.” Jeremy, brightly: “Friend of yours?” Earl: “Never met the guy.” Azael announces, “My friends, it’s time to tell the truth.”

Azael notices Roman and stares at him for a while. When the sniffer glimpses Azael, he faints dead away. Paula murmurs, “Overload.” Paula can feel that the mana level here is ridiculously high; she mutters “Oh, boy,” then warns the others, “Be careful what you wish for – it may happen.” Everyone else feels a strange tingle, like electricity.

Azael raises one hand and gestures thrice. Stronomer and Balsam are jerked out of the group and float toward the table. Earl waves his hand and Azael says warningly, “Darkness…” Earl sends Roman drifting over to the table.

Kef starts toward Blake on a path that would pass close to Azael. Steve calls out, “Hold up, Kef. I think we have a substitute.” He indicates the sniffer. Azael says disdainfully, “I already have him.” Steve: “Blake didn’t volunteer for this deal.” Azael: “I will explain in a second.”

Azael addresses Stronomer and Balsam. “Gentlemen, I’ve been kind of not truthful. You tried to call Tiamat, and I stepped into a breach. Tiamat is not a demon – isn’t that right, Roman? Tiamat is an alien – isn’t that right, Roman?”

With a pained expression, Roman responds, “I didn’t know. I was a long-range scout for Tiamat. My mission was to estimate how long it would take to take over the Earth.”

Azael: “Andrew Stronomer, I knew you wanted to get stronger and rule the world, but now you have to stay with me. Marc Balsam, I’ve been after you for centuries. You killed and tortured so many, and I thank you. But I wanted just one person… You, Darkness. You killed one of my best colonels. We had almost achieved a way into that dimension.” Earl protests, “I got lucky – it was the elf who destroyed him.” Azael: “You can’t leave. I have a teleport shield on this place.”

Azael then raises his hand and gestures at Earl. All of a sudden, darkness explodes from Earl and surrounds the group…

Three long seconds later, the darkness roils back into Earl. A golden aura surrounds Blake. Steve has disappeared. Axl has grown taller and broader, and his skin has become metallic, ridged. Jeremy has sprouted wings. Kef is clad in a tan-colored robe and bears a glowing sword. Balsam, terrified, has drawn a large sword. Jeremy hears Stronomer’s voice in his head: “Come to me.” Shadows disengage from the cavern walls.

From the ceiling a nine-foot-tall demon leaps down and crouches in front of Axl. Axl brandishes tire chains and enwraps the demon’s arm. Unseen, Steve flits over beneath Stronomer. Jeremy flies over and lands on the table facing Stronomer; Azael swipes at Jeremy but misses. Earl grabs Azael with Levitation. Paula, feeling she can do almost anything with this wealth of mana, casts Haste on herself and moves toward Azael. Kef leaps over Azael, who swings at her; she parries with her sword, drawing sparks along the devil’s arm. Blake stands up and takes a punch at Balsam; he misses, but knocks a chunk out of the wall. Azael draws a flaming sword, then throws a red bolt at Paula. Paula Blinks and finds herself standing in the chair Blake just vacated. Grabbing hold of the chain, the demon jerks Axl forward and wraps his arms around him.

Sensing something behind her, Kef swings twice at a 7’ demon, which curses and falls. Steve slithers up Stronomer’s back and begins penetrating his force field. Axl flips on his high beams and sounds his air horn; the demon faints. Blake swings at Balsam, breaking the latter’s sword; Balsam stops smiling. Stronomer levitates and whizzes across the room toward the door. Earl raises Azael another yard. Azael slams the door shut, then swings at Jeremy’s back; Jeremy feels heat, and something ricochets off the wall and strikes Stronomer, slapping him out of his wheelchair. Stronomer falls to the floor and cries out. A demon swings at Paula, who Blinks. Jeremy backflips, flies over to where Stronomer lies, and says, “Yes, master.”

Steve penetrates Stronomer’s force field, puts his hand in the old man’s mouth, and lets poison flow from his fingertips. Kef strikes Azael twice, raising sparks but causing no damage. Axl begins racing around the perimeter of the cavern, attempting to run over the demons. Jeremy doesn’t feel so happy anymore; he flies up twenty feet and takes aim at Azael. Azael, who has returned to the ground, speaks the word “No,” and the entire cavern turns, causing Earl and Paula to fall down. “Enough.” Stronomer reaches for Steve’s mind. Steve whispers, “You’re dead – you just don’t realize it yet. Nothing can save you.” Stronomer hisses, “I don’t think you understand me, boy.” Green gas emerges from Azael’s butt, and Kef leaps upward.

With all her might (and Force), Kef brings her sword down on Azael’s head, but the devil doesn’t even flinch. Paula casts Create Object and something like a metal vase completely covers Azael’s head. Steve replies to Stronomer, “No, I think you stay in your body,” and mentally pushes him out. Axl runs over two demons and comes to a stop when he hits a third. Azael disappears – leaving the vase hanging in midair – then reappears, smiling. Earl goes to one knee as Azael laughs, “Fool, you can’t Banish me from here!”

Kef lops off a demon’s head, but it keeps coming at her. Steve jams his poisonous shadow fingers in Stronomer’s eyes. Suddenly, everyone in the cavern freezes in place… except Azael and Kef. Azael turns toward Kef, who raises her sword.

In the next instant, Kef finds herself standing in the penthouse. With her are the others except for Earl Grimes. The sniffer is there, but Stronomer, Balsam, and Roman are not. According to the clock, only a minute has elapsed since they left.

The television clicks on, and Azael smiles out at them. At the table behind him can be seen Stronomer, his mouth open in a silent scream; Balsam, looking rather the worse for wear; Roman, unfazed, clothing repaired. “Where’s Darkness? He was getting irritating, so I sent him back with the rest of you.” Axl answers, “He didn’t come from here.” Steve warns, “Are you sure you want to find him? You’re gonna lose.”

[May 21, 2005]

The group performs a cursory search of Stronomer’s penthouse suite, taking a handful of CD-ROMs, a computer, and the security camera recordings (also on CD). Jeremy and Axl carry the computer up to the roof and fly away in the helo. (Jeremy makes the helo smoke a little, to back up their story regarding engine trouble.) Paula goes to check on James Spector’s body, and it’s not there.

By the time the police arrive, they find a vacant building.

On the way to Marc Balsam’s condo in East Dallas, Blake says that Azael and various demons tried to rough him up a bit, but for some reason they couldn’t hurt him. He doesn’t know the source of the golden glow that surrounded him after the burst of darkness. He speculates that the reason he was kidnapped was that Madame Millan “got unlucky” and had a vision of Blake and Earl in the same room, and so predicted that taking Blake would bring Darkness. Blake thanks the others for rescuing him. Kef says, “We couldn’t not come after you, Blake.” Steve snorts eloquently. Kef insists that Blake call Sara Summers.

As an aside, Kef says to Paula, “You need to stop talking in code.” Paula admits that under stress she tends to lapse into the jargon employed by her previous Infinite Solutions team.

At the condo, Paula announces she’ll watch the street, but Kef asks her, “Shouldn’t you check for magic stuff?” As it happens, Paula finds on the front door a small diamond-shaped object imbued with a Nightingale spell; i.e., it will sound an alert if the door is disturbed. Steve finds no sign of any electronic security, and he easily picks the lock. The condo is rather sparsely furnished – Kef figures that Balsam had many residences, and this is but a minor one – but they collect a hardcopy list of 20 names and phone numbers, financial records, and Balsam’s journal.

Back at Steve’s safe house, Steve, Blake, Paula, and Kef start going over what they’ve collected. Stronomer’s bank accounts contain a total of $4 million. There is a list of cities where over the past five years Stronomer had had prostitutes and homeless people murdered to carry out the rituals he believed would summon Tiamat. His notes indicate that he knew Balsam was several centuries old, and possessed of a substantial mind shield; he was only able to read Balsam’s surface thoughts. One time Stronomer attempted to mentally strongarm Balsam, which knocked out Balsam and left Stronomer stunned.

Balsam’s bank records list cash and property holdings worth nearly $30 million. His personal journal goes back to the 1400s, when he fought in the Crusades and discovered he was immortal. More recently, he noted “what a sick f*ck Andrew Stronomer is,” but he was “exciting,” someone to watch and eventually kill. “Andrew always cleans up when he moves to another place,” including destroying his followers.

Axl arrives with Stronomer’s computer. There’s not much on it besides the codes to his security system.

“Creepy James Spector – call him Demise.” He can feed his own death into other people’s minds, making their bodies shut down. Many a time Spector has been shot and stabbed, wounds that would have been fatal to other men, but he still lives. Paula says, “We’re talking subatomic vaporization… I put three bullets in his brain and he walked away.” She’s sure he was real, not one of Stronomer’s constructs (like the midget, the ninjas, the giant dog). The security recordings show that about ten minutes after Paula left him, Spector began to stir and the bullets popped out of his head. The giant roach came and helped him up, and they departed the building through a side door, the roach disguised in a trenchcoat and hat. (Kef marvels that a giant roach can walk the streets of Dallas unnoticed.)

The next round of sacrifices were to take place on April 30th; Stronomer’s notes indicate that either this would be the one to summon Tiamat, or he would end the Texas attempts and move on. Kef is adamant that all the remaining Egyptian Masons be hunted down, and the rapists killed. Axl suggests that the group invite them to the next sacrifice, then blow them all to hell. Blake will interrogate and then kill one particularly sadistic cultist, while Steve will carry out most of the other executions.

Around 2:30am Steve tells Kef, “We’re not going to solve this tonight – go to sleep.” He takes his own good advice. Blake and Kef continue to comb through the data for another hour and a half, at which point Blake thinks to ask, “Where’s my car?” Kef, her head resting on Blake’s shoulder, responds drowsily, “It’s been taken care of.”

The next day Paula and Axl go looking for Madame Millan’s place, which they easily locate – the shop is no longer warded. The woman who greets them looks familiar, but is much younger than the medium they had thought was Consta Millan. She claims to have had her shop there for a couple of years, but she had been out of town for two weeks. Deciding to give Kef a chance to check this woman out, Paula offers this Madame Millan $1000 to dine at Antares restaurant and do a reading for a “potential business partner” of hers and Axl’s.

Kef dresses to the nines in a slinky forest-green dress and four-inch heels. She puts on contact lenses that change her eyes from green to blue-gray, and covers her flame-red hair with an auburn wig. She introduces herself as Sabrina West. While Paula keeps up a line of chit-chat, Kef determines that Consta Millan really does have psychic powers, though via touch only. Millan is basically a good person with a broad streak of greed. When “Sabrina” allows Millan to take her hand, the latter immediately reports a vision of Sabrina, Paula, Axl, and a man matching Blake’s description. They are sitting at a dining room table at what appears to be a planning session, talking and smiling. “Your business venture will go well for all of you.”

Jeremy and Axl, accompanied by excellent legal counsel, are questioned extensively by the authorities. A week goes by before Jeremy is allowed back into his hangar. Axl finally gets his truck back on April 13th, then files a lawsuit against Love Field security. On April 27th they are no-billed by the grand jury. Jeremy has a small fine levied against him for landing near Sam Moon’s.

Paula devotes 10-12 hours per day practicing spells, trying to shake off the rust and to re-learn all that she has forgotten.

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