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Ultimatums, Part Two
A "Kendrick" Story
By
Jennifer Brozek
Start from the beginning of the Kendrick Series

"You want me to do what?" Karen stared at Corelli with a mixture of confusion and outrage. "Why?"

"I want you to stop searching for the Abbot. You cannot be the one to find him. Neither you nor your particular resources." Corelli repeated. "As for why, I can't answer that. However, you have to do as I ask."

"But we agreed! Susan and I would find the Abbot. You would find where the sacrifice was going to take place. I'm close! I know I am. You can't just tell me I can't do this."

"Yes, I can. You agreed that you owed me. You agreed to give me anything I wanted. This is what I want."

Karen remembered that horrible night and what Corelli did to help her and Sebastian.  Karen struggled to free herself from the ritual bonds the Order of the Sacred eye had tied her with as Sebastian lay almost dead next to her; slowly being murdered by the spell on her to keep the gargoyles away. She felt someone or something watching her.  Karen looked for the new presence and saw a lone blond haired girl in Order robes crouched by a tree. She looked frightened but not panicked. In one hand was Changer's Claw, still bloody from both Karen and Paul's blood.  Not knowing what else to do and desperate, Karen yelled through a ragged throat to the girl, "Please! Help him! Get him away from me. Please! I'll do anything!"

The girl looked around at the fighting chaos. She winced as a werewolf slashed at a girl and a guy backed up against a tree with knife-like claws. With a quick nod, she ran towards Karen, still crouched. She raised Changer's Claw when she reached the small gargoyle and the prone woman. For a moment, Karen thought she had been betrayed again but when the weapon came down, it severed the strap binding Karen's left hand to the stake.  Karen did not hesitate; she turned over and pulled as far away from Sebastian as she could.

"I'm Corelli. What they were doing was wrong." The girl said as she scooped up Sebastian. "That's why I'm helping you. But, you still owe me. I'll get him to safety." 

She had gotten him to safety. She had done what she said she would do. Sebastian was alive because of Corelli. But why this demand? Why now? What did she have to gain?  "What if I say 'No.'?"

"Then Sebastian's life is forfeit and belongs to me. You'll have to turn him over to me now. There are rules that even you, who represents the Master of the City, cannot break. I will accept nothing less."  Corelli repressed her own wince as the words came from her be-spelled mouth. She hoped to God that the magic of her lip gloss was working correctly. She wanted to apologize and say that she would never hurt Sebastian, but she knew that her words were the ones that Karen needed to hear to do as Corelli needed her to do.

"You bitch. To think I trusted you." Karen shook her head. "Tried to help you and the Order against all that was sane. First, V'ger's not only alive and in charge, now this." She shrugged with an angry jerk of her shoulders. "I have no choice, do I?"

"No. Whether or not you believe it, this is for the best and all debts are cleared with this one act."

"I don't think I could hate you any more right now if I tried." Karen threw a five dollar bill on the coffeehouse table and stalked out.

It took all of Corelli's will not to chase after Karen to apologize and explain. Karen would not listen and even if she did, she would try to get around the demand made by the Children and Corelli could not risk that. She wanted Karen to know the truth. She also wanted them to find the Abbot before it was too late. The more she thought about it the more her path became clear. "John Corso," she said to herself. She needed to call him and tell him what happened and why. He would understand the old laws. He would also be able to help look for the Abbot. The Children specifically said that Karen could not be the one to find the Abbot. They did not say anything about anyone else. She pulled out her cell phone and made a call.

***

It was a strange meeting on the beach north of the Camden District. An old Indian man dressed in fringed leathers met with a young teal-haired girl in buckled denim and silver. The two of them stood opposite each other, squared off like duelists at high noon. The old man flinched first.

"I've done what you've asked. Now fulfill your end of the bargain." Walks-the-Ocean said and looked away.

"When do they think the sacrifice is to happen?" Vicki asked, clearly enjoying her power over him.

"Halloween night."

"Good. As if we'd follow the dictates of another religion. There were no questions?"

"No. Give me the amulet."

She held up an old beaded necklace adorned with claws and feathers. "You mean this?"

"Yes." To his credit, he did not lunge for it. Walks-the-Ocean kept his dignity for himself and his tribe.

"No. Not until all this is done."

He gritted his teeth and took a breath. "That's not what we agreed."

She shrugged. "Don't care. In a couple of days, all this won't matter. You'll have your precious amulet back as well as full autonomy of your land. As per our agreement, the Children of Anu will make no claims or inroads into Makah territory again. As for this amulet, you will have it back. That's how you'll know that your land, including the cave, is all yours again. Then you may do with it as you will."

"We'll cleanse it of your taint."

If Vicki was offended she did not show it. "Why are you so angry? I'd think that you'd be happy that we're getting rid of the Brotherhood's leader. The white man has not been good to the Makah people. We could be such good allies and not just ..." she shrugged, "what we are now."

"Enemies. And don't look now but you're white, too."

"Companionable enemies. And, yeah, I'm white but I can be reasoned with. The Children of Anu keep their word."

"Then why won't you give me the amulet now?"

"That is not the Children's decision. Reggie sent me here to give it to you. I am choosing to keep it as insurance. Just so you know who is really in charge here."

"Child, I am not stupid. I knew it was you from the moment I saw you. The spirits told me and the Makah tribe keeps its word. You should, too. Especially if you want to deal with us on friendly terms ever again." Walks-the-Ocean took two steps forward and held out his hand. "If you represent the Children, give me the amulet."

Vicki narrowed her eyes at him and took two steps forward to meet him. "I represent Anu. Not the Children though I am one." She held out the amulet to him. When he went to take it from her hand, she grabbed his with a supernatural strength, pressing the beads of the necklace into his flesh. "It would be good of you to show more respect the next time we meet."

He could feel the strength of the spirit already starting to ride the girl's body. He could hear it in her voice. "Thank you for the amulet. My people will rejoice at its return." He did not wince as her delicate hand pressed down with an impossible strength against his. He steeled himself. He would rather have a broken hand than show weakness to the creature inside the girl.

Suddenly, Vicki let go, leaving the amulet in Walks-the-Ocean's hand. She gave a teenager's laugh and he could sense the spirit receding and hoped never to see it again. The two of them nodded and turned away from each other. Walks-the-Ocean felt a pang of guilt at the forced betrayal of the city but as the Chief of his tribe, he had to do what was best for his people in the long run.

He stopped, his heart suddenly jack-hammering in his chest as he saw the two children playing in the sand just down the beach.  They were the Grey Lady's twin helpers. Though they looked and acted like children, they were far from it. He sighed to himself and continued to walk towards them. As he reached them, the twins stopped building their sandcastle and looked up at him.

"The Lady is angry." Theodore said.

"But not so angry that she's not willing to listen." Theodora said.

"She hopes that you will come speak to her soon."

Theodora continued, "to explain what you've done and why."

"She understands that there are many forces in motion."

"She hopes that your explanation will sooth her ire."

"And that you come to her before she has to look for you." Theodore concluded. The twins fell silent and watched the old Indian man chose his words carefully.

"I will come to her soon. I will tell her all that I can. I hope she will understand what I did and why. She is of the land as I and my people are. If it were not vital to us and our survival, this... betrayal... would not have happened." Walks-the-Ocean said.

The children looked at each other, and then looked back at him. They nodded. "The Grey Lady wishes you a pleasant afternoon and will have tea ready when you come."

He sighed in relief. "Thank you." The matter could still be contained between the oldest of them here in Kendrick. The younger ones would never understand.

***

Karen had spent a good hour in a self-indulgent bout of pity, intermingling tears and moping, at Corelli's sudden betrayal and her threat against Sebastian. What brought her out of her moping was Sebastian’s offer to go bite Corelli on the butt. The image he sent her of him chomping on Corelli's rear end and not letting go was too funny not to laugh at. It was what she needed to pull herself up by her own bootstraps. She needed to think about what had happened and what she could do about it.

She replayed the conversation in her head and fastened on one particular phrase, "You cannot be the one to find him. Neither you nor your particular resources." She thought about that. Neither you nor your particular resources. That meant that she could not personally find him. Nor could she ask the gargoyles to or John to use his cards. Those were particular resources. But, she could make an anonymous call to the police... or a not so anonymous call to David. He wanted to bury the hatchet and regain her trust. This would go a long way towards that.

She picked up her phone and debated with herself. Was she ready to make nice with David? After all he did? After a moment, she still did not know but decided that the life of the Abbot was worst the risk of the possible heartache.   She dialed his number.

"Hello?" David answered the phone.

"David, it's Karen."

"What do you want?"

She was surprised at the abruptness of his tone. "I needed to talk to you about some things."

"No. I don't think you do. In fact, I really don't think you should call me again."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're one of them now. You're working with the other side. There's no way I can trust you. There's no way I should trust you. Don't call me at this number again."

Karen blinked as the line went dead.  Then, she blinked some more as the tears welled up. His unexpected rejection hurt a lot.  Her phone rang again. She looked at the number and did not recognize it. She answered it anyway. "Hello?"

"Hi. It's me. I'm sorry about that but I'm pretty sure my normal cell phone is bugged." David said.

"What? What's happening? Why did you say that?" This sudden turn around was bewildering.

"I don't really have an answer for you but I think you need to make sure you only call me at this number and don't spread it around. OK?"

Completely confused, Karen nodded. "OK."

"What did you want to talk about? Are you all right? Are you in trouble?" David sounded concerned.

"I'm all right. I'm not in trouble but someone else is. I need help."

"Who?"

"The Abbot of a monkish order called the Brotherhood of Light. He's been kidnapped and... I need help finding him. I can't do it myself."

"Brother Peter? Are you talking about Brother Peter?"

"Yes." Karen knew she should not be surprised at his knowledge. The Special Unit of the Kendrick police force was designed to deal with supernatural threats.

"And you want to help him?"

"Yes. You know him?"

"I've heard of him. Why can't you do it yourself?"

Karen paused. "I've been ordered not to."

"And you're listening? That's not like you."

She sighed. "Apparently, like you as a cop, I have rules I have to follow."

"Karen... are you still... human?"

"What? Of course I am! Why would you ask that?" The question surprised and angered her a lot. It was one hell of a loaded question.

He paused. "Never mind. Forget I asked. Do you have any leads?"

She frowned at the phone before deciding to drop it. "I think the Children of Anu have him and I think they have him somewhere in the Camden District. Is there anything you can do in the... um, Special Unit... to see if you can find him? His life is in danger. I think they're going to kill him."

"Do you have any proof? No, never mind. I don't care. I don't know if I can find anything out but I'll try. I'll call you when I have something." He paused. "Karen?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for everything. I really am."

"Me, too."

"Remember. Don't call my regular cell phone."

"Ok."

"Bye."

"Bye."  Karen hung up the phone completely confused but hopeful. She wondered what the hell was going on in David's life that his regular phone was being bugged, that he couldn't be caught talking to her and why he asked her if she was still human. Something very strange and unpleasant was happening in his life and she did not like it. Also, like it or not, Karen realized that she still had feelings for him.

David hung up the prepaid cell phone he bought specifically for this purpose. He had come to the conclusion that Dr. Mercer wanted him to say that all supernaturals were bad and could not be trusted. He was also certain that he was under surveillance. Talking to Karen at all was a risk but she called him and needed help. She was looking to help a good man and a man of God. He was willing to risk a lot to help him and was willing to risk everything to help her. Maybe this would start paving the way to repaying his debt to her.

***

"You know sometimes that you have to do something you don't want to because you're repaying a debt, right?" Corelli asked John as she doctored her tea with sugar and milk.

He nodded, putting together his own afternoon concoction. "Yes. In some cases. I do."

"Can I trust you?"

He shrugged. "As much as you can trust anyone, Corelli. I'm an independent. You take your chances."

"I need you to understand something so, someday, you can explain it to Karen. I don't think she's going to be talking to me for a while."

"Why?" He frowned. "What happened?"

"Back in December, the Children fought along side the Order of the Sacred Eye."

"Yeah...?"

"I didn't make the agreement. I didn't want that ritual. I -"

"Skip the caveats and get to the point." John was in no mood to listen to her excuses. He wanted to know what was going on with Karen.

She grimaced at that. "OK. The Order owed the Children a debt. It was an acknowledged debt. I had no choice but to pay it for the Order."  She nodded at him as he twirled his finger impatiently in a silent 'come on already' motion. "The Children ordered that I make Karen stop looking for the Abbot. She and her particular resources could not be the one to find him. With that, all debts between the Order and the Children would be paid.  Karen owed me an acknowledged debt. So, I ordered her to stop her search. She resisted... and I had to get mean."

"What do you mean 'had to get mean'?" His voice was carefully neutral. His thoughts were decidedly less so.

"I threatened to take Sebastian from her. He was the reason she owed me. I saved him." She sighed, looking down at her tea, feeling miserable. "I wouldn't have hurt him or anything. I just needed her to stop looking. That doesn't mean that Susan can't look or even you. We can still look for him but not Karen. Karen not looking clears all debts." She looked up at him, her eyes begging for him to understand.

His bland, neutral gaze met hers. "I understand. I don't like it but I do understand it. I suppose this was the easiest way to get the Order out from under the thumb of the Children and for you to clear the way between you and Karen. Of course, you may not like her attitude towards you now."

She nodded, looking down at her tea again. "I hated myself doing it. But there wasn't anything else I could do. The Law of Debt was on me. If I didn't... there would've been blood. A lot of blood." Tears ran down her face and dripped into her cup. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Seems I do have to take an active role in all this. I didn't want to. People need a neutral point of contact. I have no real choice. I'll use my resources to look for Brother Peter. Has the Order at least done their bit and found the sacrificial site?"

"Almost. We know it's near water. I have my best diviners on it. We were thinking of seeing if Bacchanalia would be willing to do a group divination. Pooling all of our talents. There's a powerful magic blocking us."

He nodded. "Good."

"Do you think Karen will ever understand why I did what I did?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I appreciate the warning that she's been hurt by you."

"I didn't want to."

"I know. But, I'm not the one who's hurt."

"I know."

***

Elsewhere, thirty-six hours later...

The entire membership of the Children of Anu gathered at the sacred cave under the dock north of the Camden district. Restlessness filled the air as friend punched friend in camaraderie. There would be blood tonight and more. It was the coming of Anu. It was the coming of Marduk, Bel and Enlil. It was the coming of their God. It was history in the making and they were there for it.

The crowd erupted in cheers when Reggie stepped forth on the ridge overlooking the sacrificial stone. The old man, Brother Peter, Abbot of the Brotherhood of Light, the symbol of their greatest enemy, was already chained there. He looked weakened but healthy enough. He did not seem afraid. Instead, his head was bowed in prayer.

He raised his hands for quiet and the cave became still. "Great god Anu! Father of Heaven, creator of the stars, lord of the constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, your Children have not forgotten you. Your Children remember this is the prophesied year of your return. I, your most beloved servant, Reagan Lee Mordecai, have gathered your believers here on this night of your prophesized return. We have before us the needed sacrifice. We have before you, your avatar. Great god Anu! Instruct us in your wisdom. Judge us worthy with this task.  We are your Children and your servants."

From across the way, another voice suddenly rang out. "Who is our most loved?"  It was Vicki.

"REGGIE!" The congregation shouted.

Reggie was surprised. This was not part of the ritual but everyone seemed to not to mind. He looked across to his little sister and saw her joyous smile. He returned it and allowed her a little time to shine.

"Who is our most loved?" She shouted again.

"REGGIE!" The congregation shouted again.

"Who must we give up to allow Anu to return to us?"

"Our beloved!" This time it was not the whole congregation who responded. Just most of them. The ones who did not respond looked around themselves with confusion. Some stopped responding. Some tried to keep up.

"Who must sacrifice to Anu?" Vicki's shout was very loud and Reggie blinked, frowning. He did not understand what was really going on. It was already too late for him.

"REGGIE!" The Children of Anu shouted a third time and the chaos began.

Mike, the more loyal of Reggie's seconds was immediately jumped by three of the Children standing next to him. He was too busy trying to save himself to save his best friend and leader.  Sam, the more knowledgeable of Reggie's seconds hit Reggie in the back of the head with a baseball bat.  As soon as Reggie fell to his knees, two other Children leapt upon him and bound him up. He was dragged bodily down into the sacrificial pit, where, bleeding but conscious, the former leader of the Children of Anu was chained next to Brother Peter to the stained sacrificial rock.

Vicki walked down to the sacrificial pit and lifted Reggie's bloodied face so her eyes could meet his. "I'm sorry." She kissed his brow.

"Vic, you can't do this. This isn't how it's supposed to happen."

"I don't want to but I can do it and I will do it. This is how it is to be." She gestured the Children. "They've all known for the last week. The true believers. The ones who worshipped Anu and not you. We all love you so much and that's why we must give you up to Anu. You must die so he can live."

"But, I'm his chosen avatar. I'm the one."

She shook her head sadly. "No. You aren't. You've ignored all the signs in your hubris and because of it I have to lose the person I love the most." She leaned close so only he could hear her. "But fear not, brother. You will live on through me. I promise."  She stepped back from him and turned to the Children. She raised her voice loud. "What is our offering?"

"Our greatest enemy!"

"What is our sacrifice?"

"Our greatest love!"

She turned back to the sacrificial stone, addressing both and neither of the two men chained there. "Great god Anu! Father of Heaven, creator of the stars, lord of the constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, we call to you. We call to you on this most holy day. We give to you our offering and our sacrifice so you may rise in this world. Anu, Marduk, Bel, Enlil and all your holy names, we call to you! Accept our sacrifice! Accept our offering and come rise to new glory!" 

Vicki ignored Reggie's scream, raised the revered bloody mace high and brought it down sharply on Reggie's head.  Her blow killed her brother instantly but none of the other Children knew it, nor would they have cared. They swarmed around her and the sacrificial stone bludgeoning the two men beyond death.  By the time they were done, they were little more than bloody smears and broken bones.

Story by Jennifer Brozek, Copyright 2007
Image by Rory Clark, Stopped Motion Photography, Copyright 2007