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NOTE: These stories are
intended for a mature audience.

The Past and Present Collide
A Kendrick story
By
Jennifer Brozek
Start from the beginning of the Kendrick series

"He's supposed to meet us here?" Karen asked.

John nodded. "David suggested the store because he thinks your place might still be under surveillance."

She nodded. "It might be. Sometimes, I see people in cars I think I recognize but I'm usually too busy to really pay attention." She hesitated. "Do you really think he has what we need to help the gargoyles?"

He pulled out one of his Todari tarot cards and shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. He seems driven to help us." Help you in order to make up for what he did to you, John amended silently. "This will help me figure it out. He held the card out for her to see.

It was the Moon, number 18 in the major Arcana. As always, the vivid colors made her catch her breath. This card was of a crescent moon. Sitting on the inner curve of the crescent was a beautiful woman with long flowing dark hair and a diaphanous white gown. Below her, on the edge of a lake were two dogs howling and barking up at her as she looked off to the side, unconcerned. Crawling out of the lake from the other side appeared to be a lobster.

"Imagination, intuition and dreams for you. But for one you love, bad luck may ensue. Unseen perils, possible woes. Deceptions abound with secret foes." John recited, gazing with rapt adoration at the object of his obsession.

Karen reached a hand out to stroke the card just once. Then she pulled away from it. She knew her lover's obsession. The mere fact that he let her reach out to it and touch it let her know just how much he trusted her. More than a year ago, he had given her one of his precious cards, the Four of Swords, to help heal Sebastian. It was the same card that was keeping him alive now.

"This card will tell you what to do with what David brings us tonight?

A sharp rapping on the back door interrupted the conversation. John and Karen exchanged a glance. He gestured for her to stay where she was as he slid the card into an inside pocket in his jacket. He walked to the back door and opened it. It was David and he was not alone.

John paused and stared at the second man. "I know you."

Aaron nodded. "You do."

John's eyes widened then narrowed a bit as he remembered where he knew that face from. He looked between David and Aaron and back again.

"It's a long story." David said to the unspoken question.

"No doubt." John said and opened the door wide for the two of them to come in. Then led them back to the main room where Karen waited.

***

Mason Stewart listened with outward patience to the man he had put in charge of the Special Unit. The more he listened, the more he realized that Dr. Mercer acted as if he was the one in charge and not the one taking orders. That was how it was, wasn't it? He thought to himself. Vicki insisted that I put another in charge while I dealt with her wants and there Dr. Mercer had been. And he had changed over the last half year, hadn't he? Almost an extreme version of himself.

"Mr. Mayor, are you listening?"

That tone of voice was a whip crack across his senses. "I'm sorry, Dr. Mercer. I was woolgathering."

Dr. Mercer pushed his glasses back up his nose. It was a gesture he made when he was irritated. "If you'd rather we met at another time, we could do that instead." 'Instead of wasting my time' was the implied end of that sentence.

"No. I'm sorry. Please go on with your report."

Dr. Mercer eyed him for a moment longer. "I'll start from the beginning but just give you the highlights. The gargoyles have all but been defeated. They will trouble this city no more. We're still having problems with the cultists. Most of them seem to have moved out of the woods and back into the city to do their destructive rituals in the safety of clubs within the city where they do even more harm."

Mason nodded in a non-committal manner.

"I recommend that we shut down all of the nightclubs of the city."

"I think my constituents would protest such an action, Doctor." He kept his voice mild and amused at such an outrageous suggestion.

Dr. Mercer suppressed a long suffering sigh, "You don't just 'shut them down,' Mason. You put in a new ordinance that requires that all nightclubs go through a new set of inspections. If they pass, they're fine. If they don't, they're shut down until they can pass."

"I suppose you already have a list of suspect sites that will immediately fail this inspection?"

"I think you fail to see the gravity of the situation here, Mr. Mayor. These cultists have moved back into the city. They are doing their harmful rituals in and among the blissfully ignorant mundane citizens of the city."

Mason suppressed the acid comment of, 'And whose fault is that?'. He nodded, knowing that right now, he had to go along to make sure that neither Vicki nor the Doctor knew he was onto them. "Alright, Doctor. Let me see this list. Do you have the ordinance you want me to push through the counsel and the list of special inspectors?"

Dr. Mercer's smile was smug and arrogant. "In fact, I do. I knew you'd be too busy to deal with it. I like being a valuable member of your staff."

"Of course."

He dug into his briefcase and came up with a plain manila folder. The tab said, "Mold Hazard" on it. He put the file on the desk between he and Mason.

"Mold?" Mason looked at him with a skeptical eye.

Dr. Mercer nodded. "Molds are nasty things. They can cause everything from illness to hallucinations to death. There's a new strain. All public gathering places will have to be inspected. Except restaurants. They already go through the tighter inspection process."

"I believe you've covered it all. Good work." Mason said, flipping through the pages in the folder. It was better to throw the doctor a bone than let him know just how much he hated the man right now.

"Thank you, sir."

"Anything else?"

"No."

Mason nodded. "Thank you. I'll get right on this."

Dr. Mercer gathered his things. "We'll speak soon and I'll give you an update on how the fight against the abominations is going."

He turned away and left the office before he could see Mason's bland expression of acceptance turn into a scowl. Mason felt his stomach unclench as the spirit-ridden man left his office. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed the cues of supernatural magic around the doctor before now.

***

At first, Karen did not recognize Aaron. It was the lack of dreadlocks and make-up. Also, it never occurred to her that she would see him in friendly companionship with David. Her eyes widened when she did recognize him and she looked at John in confusion.

John cut off that unspoken line of questioning by asking a question of his own. "David, what have you got for us?"

David gestured to Aaron. While he came forward to reveal a grey stone the size and shape of an egg, David said, "We don't really know. Doctor Mercer, the one who has been having us target the supernatural creatures for eradication, had it. We saw him with Vicki."

"Vicki!" Karen scowled. "The Children of Anu are involved with the Special Unit?"

Again, John cut in to smooth things over. He was looking intently at the stone egg. "It makes sense. Have others do your dirty work. Pick off the other competitors for your food supply. Or, in this case the flow of energy that the city of Kendrick products." He paused. "Karen, do you think this is the kinstone?"

"Yes," came Reginald's simple response over the Bluetooth earpiece she always wore.

She looked at it and repeated, "Yes. That's it."

John glanced at her lack of hesitation, then held his hand out for the stone. Aaron handed it over, pouch and all. "I need to do a little bit of research on this. Make yourselves at home." John turned and headed towards his office.

Karen, knowing he needed to use the card for a vision of what to do with the kinstone now. She looked back at her two former loves and studied them. Accept them. Accept the help from your past, the Grey Lady had said. "This is unexpected." Karen admitted to the two waiting men.

"I'm sorry." Aaron immediately said.

"For what?"

"I didn't tell you I was back. I should've called."

Karen nodded. "It would've been nice but..." She struggled to keep her voice light. "I understand that things are busy all over." She paused and looked at David. "I'm just a little surprised. The last time I saw you two together was over a year ago, outside this place and you looked like you wanted to kill each other."

"I asked for help." David said. He kept his opinions and heartstrings to himself. He knew that this meeting would shock Karen and he was right. She was keeping everything very tightly controlled.

"I think we've both changed." Aaron said.

"And time heals a lot of wounds. For once the cliché is true." David added. It was true for himself and hoped it was true for both Aaron and Karen.

She looked between them. "I guess it has for some."

"Karen, do you think we could meet for coffee sometime soon to talk? Talk about what happened and what's happening now?" Aaron asked.

John saved her from having to answer the question. "This is the kinstone and we've got to get it back to Susan and Alexander." He burst into the room, already talking. "It woke up Sebastian just long enough for him to reach for it. It might be able to wake up Alexander. He'll know what to do with it." He looked between the three of them. "Come on!"

David grabbed Aaron's arm. "We'll stay behind. We shouldn't be there. Call us if you need us... and please call if it saves them. Let me know." I need to know was the unspoken plea.

Karen looked at them and saw Aaron nod, then step back with David. "All right. I'll call you as soon as we know something."

The four of them left The Teller's Fortune and split in two different directions.

***

Monica, Susan's assistant, answered the phone at their call and then the door at their knock. She looked tired and worried. "Do you really think you have what they need?"

Karen nodded and tried to smile a confident, reassuring smile. She hoped so. If it wasn't what was needed, she was on her last idea. But this had to be it. They strode through the museum to the storeroom where Alexander stood as stone and Susan lay dying at his side.

Hurrying to Susan's side, Karen gently shook her awake. "The kinstone. Susan, we have it. What do we do with it?"

Susan's eyes fluttered open. "Alexander. Give it to him."

Karen looked at John who held the kinstone out to the unmoving statue of Alexander. He shifted it so it was touching the leader of the gargoyles. "C'mon big guy. We have what you need. It's the kinstone. C'mon. Save yourself. Save your people."

Susan reached for Alexander and Karen helped her up, holding Susan as she leaned forward until she was standing against Alexander. Then Susan grasped the kinstone, taking it from John. She held it between her body and Alexander's. John stepped back and watched.

Karen, still holding Susan because she would have fallen otherwise, felt the jolt of power that came from the kinstone and into both Susan and Alexander. Later, Karen would surmise it was this that allowed her to witness these final heart wrenching moments between these two.

Beloved, wake. Wake. We've got the kinstone. Tell us what we need to do.

There was a slow, gravelly stirring as the power flowed between them. The kinstone. It must be destroyed.

How? We'll do it.

It is our anchor into this place. We cannot exist without it.

Then what do we do? How do we save you?

There was a pause, then a feeling of love and sadness. I must destroy it. I must replace it.

I don't understand.

I will be here, Susan. I will be with you always. But not as before.

What does that mean?

I will become the anchor for us all. Place me in the sanctuary of this place.

Karen felt Alexander's wordless love and devotion flow into Susan and the horror of Susan's understanding of what was about to happen. Karen was helpless to do anything about any of it. It was then that the three of them watched Alexander move for the last time. He kissed Susan on the forehead and then took the kinstone from her hand. He lifted it to his mouth and swallowed it whole.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the sound of cracking stone could be heard within Alexander's body and the flash of released power burned so powerful and bright that even those without magical ability were momentarily blinded. When they could all see again, Alexander was once again stone. He was hunkered down, his wings folded with one hand out, still holding Susan's hand.

Karen would remember Susan's cry of loss and open weeping for the rest of her life.

In an empty estate in the Gateway district of Kendrick, a teal haired teenage girl screamed in rage at her own sudden loss.

***

Elsewhere...

In The Teller's Fortune, a small gargoyle opened his eyes and looked around. He was the youngest gargoyle still alive. All over the city and in the sanctuary of the museum, gargoyles on the verge of death relaxed into flesh form and reveled in their sudden safety. One and all knew the sacrifice that the greatest of them had just made to ensure that this would remain true.

Story by Jennifer Brozek, Copyright 2008
Image by Rory Clark, Stopped Motion Photography, Copyright 2008