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NOTE: These stories are
intended for a mature audience.

Betrayal
A "Kendrick" Story
By
Jennifer Brozek
Start at the beginning of the Kendrick series

"Please don't hang up on me. It's important. It's about the Order."

Karen sighed. She should have looked at the caller ID before she answered her phone. She took a moment to look at it and saw that it was a restricted number and not his usual cell phone number.  "What is it, Aaron?"

"I know what ritual the Order is going to do and I think I know where."

"Good news. Sort of. What is it and where?"

"I can't over the phone."  There was a pause. "I can't from here."

"Aaron..." Her voice held a warning note.

"It's not a ploy to get you back. I swear."

She was silent for a long moment.

"I have to tell you this in person. Not on the phone. I'm not in a good place to be telling you secrets. Please."

She thought she could hear a certain note of desperation in his voice. "Alright. But, you can't stay long. Heather is coming over and we've got some work to do."

"This will help. I promise. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye."

She snapped her cell phone shut and hoped Aaron was true to his word. The full moon was tonight and she still did not know where the Order's ritual was going to be held; much less what it was supposed to accomplish. It was hard to mobilize your forces for disruption if you did not know what they were supposed to do or where they were supposed to go.

While she was waiting for Aaron and for Heather to show up, she continued to get ready for tonight. She was not sure if jeans and a t-shirt were what heroines wore but it was comfortable and she could move in it. She had an old sweatshirt to throw over that for warmth in the chill of the fall evening. Also, she was packing what she had mentally dubbed her 'CYA bag' because everything in it was designed to cover her ass for just in case purposes. So far it had scissors, candles, matches, a pocket knife, a flashlight, extra batteries and a rain poncho. She wandered around the apartment looking at what was there. What else should she put in her CYA bag?  She thought about her favorite movies and what they used.  Maybe some tools. What did one use to stop or fight a possible Armageddon?

"With my luck, the ritual is designed to give Kendrick good weather for the rest of the year or something as inane as that." Despite her anger at the guys, she still trusted them. Otherwise, she would not have let Aaron come over.

Karen was rummaging through her hall closet looking for the toolkit she knew she had in there but had not yet used when there was a knock on the door. She knew it was not Heather since she had given Heather a key with instructions to come in - no matter the time of day or night.  It had to be Aaron and sooner than she had expected him. This annoyed her. It made her a little suspicious that he had been waiting down the block and this was going to be a play to make her change her mind on their relationship.

Her ill concealed irritation turned into outright surprise when she opened the door and it was David standing there instead of Aaron. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm good. How are you? Well, I hope?"  David said in a bland tone.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you."

"Another lover?" He held up a hand, "No. Not my business anymore. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I've come with a peace offering and some information. Can I come in?" He gestured with the brown paper package in his other hand. "Just business. I promise."

After a brief hesitation, she nodded. "Alright. But only for a short time. I've got work to do."

"I know. That's why I'm here." He walked passed her and into the apartment. He was familiar with the apartment, bypassing the living room and dining area in favor of the more neutral kitchen with her following him, trying to quell her annoyance at his unexpected visit and her worry at the possible emotional train wreck just waiting to happen if he was still here when Aaron arrived.

Once in the kitchen, he turned and offered her the package. "For you."

Again, she hesitated. She had treated both David and Aaron poorly and they had not deserved it. Not really. She accepted it and opened it. It was a candle. On it was a small tag that proclaimed it to be for "Gargoyle Protection." On the backside of the card was a small story about gargoyles being protective spirits and lighting the candle would call them to her.  She smiled. "I think I already have this protection."

"I know but it made me think of you and it smells good."

She took a sniff and nodded. "It does."

"The lady in the store says it smells even better when it's lit. Light it?"

"Ok." Karen returned his hopeful smile. "I do like candles and who cares if it's the afternoon."  She started rummaging through her drawers for the matches then remembered they were in her CYA bag. "I'll be right back."

While she was in the living room, David called, "Do you mind if I have some coffee?"

"Sure, go ahead." She called back and dug the matches out of her bag and returned. Back in the kitchen, she saw him sitting at the kitchen table fixing his coffee with sugar. She preferred hers black. She paused to take a sip of her half full cup and grimaced at the bitter taste. She hated lukewarm coffee and topped the cup off with the fresh hot stuff.  As she lit the candle, she asked, "So, what information do you have for me?"  Something fell over in the other room but her attention turned totally to David and his answer.

"I know where the ritual is going to be tonight and I know what it's supposed to do."

"You what?" She was very surprised. How had both David and Aaron found out what she and the people working with her could not? It seemed strange to her. At least she would have Aaron to corroborate (or not corroborate) the information.  She sat down, gazing at him as she drank her coffee.  "Where? What is it?"  Belatedly, "How do you know?"

"It's going to be in the Colonel's Park, tonight, for sure. I don't know the exact time but I suspect around midnight to 1am when the moon is high."

"The Colonel's Park? The Order has been warned away from ... Oh, wait. I never had a chance to tell Lamiel. So, she never told the Order to stay away from there."

"You're talking about the night you and I met."

Karen nodded. "Yeah. You were on patrol. Was that coincidence?"

"Yes." He paused. "Mostly. That area of town is my beat but I got word through the Special Branch that something might be going down."

She wanted to ask more about this "Special Branch" of the Kendrick police force but this was not the time or the place.  She needed him out of here and needed to get a message to Susan, who had become her defacto Second in Command. "How do you know all this?"

She went to put her coffee cup down and paused as multiple coffee cups and multiple tables blurred before her eyes. With an effort, she forced herself to put the cup down without spilling the coffee that was left. She looked up at David who also swam before her eyes for a moment before coming into focus.

"I know," he said, looking at her, "because one of the leaders of the Order told me."

Shocked, she started to object, to move back away from him, to call for Sebastian. Instead, she slumped forward on the kitchen table, her head on her arm. She was still conscious for the moment but she was unable to make her body do anything she wanted it to. In her mind, she screamed for Sebastian.

"You don't know it Karen, but you've been lied to by Reginald from the beginning. He's used you and manipulated you to make sure his hold on the city remains. He's used magic on you to bind him to you and you to him. I know you can't tell. That's part of the magic. The Order's ritual is going to break his hold on the city. That's why they've been gathering the items they have. They all have a special significance to the city of Kendrick."  He walked over and stroked her hair back from her face. "I'm sorry I had to drug your coffee. But, it is war, Karen; between this supposed 'Master of the City' and the Order of the Sacred Eye. If you go tonight, you'll be hurt or killed and I love you too much to let that happen. I'm sorry it had to be this way but once his hold on you is broken..."

David's words were interrupted by the unexpected sound of the front door being unlocked and opened. Heather came in, calling for her. "Karen! Karen! I got it! It fucking sucked and hurt like a bitch but I got you the meeting with the Children of Anu." Her voice traveled through the apartment as she looked for Karen. "But, something big is going on tonight. So, we have to go..." She reached the doorway between the small dining area and the kitchen, "... right now?"

David and Heather looked at each other in silence for a couple of seconds. David could see that Heather had been through something unpleasant. She was dirty, bruised with a black eye and her clothing was torn. "What happened to you?" David asked, unable to help himself.

"Test of worth. I passed." She said, frowning at him and the scene. "What the hell's happening here?" She gestured to Karen slumped on the kitchen table.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, girl." 

The voice came from behind Heather. Paul Maloy, known as Todesengel within the Order of the Sacred Eye, stepped into sight and grabbed Heather as she turned. Without hesitation, the man slit Heather's throat from ear to ear and held her captive as the blood gushed from her throat. Whatever she had been holding tumbled from her hand and skittered off to the far corner of the dining area as she struggled with the man killing her.

It was Karen's worst nightmare. She could not move or fight. She watched as Paul Maloy, the object of her focused hatred, murdered her friend in front of her. She mentally shrieked for Sebastian again and again.

"What are you doing?! This wasn't part of the plan. No one was supposed to die." David started forward, only to be pushed back into the stove, off balance, by the multiple bullets that slammed into his chest.

V'ger stepped forward, pistol smoking, as Todesengel tossed Heather's no longer struggling body to the side. "Plans change. We only needed you to find her. The Master of the City kept her location hidden from us. Thanks." He punctuated his gratitude with another shot to David's chest.  David fell over onto his face and did not move again.

Karen could not see David but she saw the shots and heard him fall. She could see part of Heather's limp form in the dining area and she could see these two men - one she knew and one she did not.

Paul walked over to her. "You wanted me, bitch. Now you got me. How do you like them apples?"

"You can gloat over her later at the rite. Let's get her back to the house before Cerridwen's potion wears off." V'ger turned and walked back towards the living room.

Paul grinned at her then picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "Bet you're sorry you ever started this and you ain't seen nothin' yet."

Karen could do nothing except continue to call for Sebastian. Just as she was about to give up she heard him, faint but there.

'Karen! There's a barrier. Can't get in. It hurts.'

'Go for Susan. Get Susan. Tell her...'

'No! Save you!'

'You can't. They've got magic. You can only save me if you tell Susan where the Order will be tonight. They're going to be at Colonel's Park. Tell Susan!'

'Karen...' His mental voice was whine of fear and anger.

'Sebastian, you must. This is the only way to save me. They're going to take me to the ritual. You have to get Susan to get everyone there. You have to do it. Go now! Hurry. Before it's too late!' She thought he was going to continue to argue but there was no immediate response.

'Ok. I go. I'll save you. I will.'  His voice was small and reluctant. Then, it was gone.

There was a crunching sound as Paul strode through her living room. He paused, looked down, and then stomped the floor hard, grinding something under his heel. When he resumed his pace, Karen got a glimpse of a mostly crushed tiny gargoyle. All that she could recognize was the top of his head with one broken ear and two tiny horns and knew that it had been the courier gargoyle Louie. Now, he was dead, too.

At the doorway, V'ger made the assassin stop. He walked around behind and grabbed a handful of Karen's hair. He pulled a damp cloth from his pocket and pressed it to Karen's nose and mouth. It smelled sweet. Without the ability to fight him off, Karen was unconscious in moments.  "Alright. Now we can go."

Everywhere Else...

The city had gone mad.

Reginald was beside himself with concern. His connection to Karen was muted, almost non-existent and he did not know where she was. There was powerful magic at work. Not more powerful than he but more cunning and sly. It was possible for the gnat to crawl through the tiniest hole of a screen with no way to stop it.

Every traffic light in Kendrick suddenly started blinking red.  Traffic unexpectedly snarled up on this late, lazy Sunday afternoon. Tempers flared and horns blared. No one at the city planning office or the power stations could make heads or tails of what was going on with the traffic light system.

His last conversation with Karen had been poorly handled. He had been so intent on getting her to listen to him that he had not listened to her at all. He had chosen her because of her good heart, willingness to help - it was what 911 operators did after all - and for her determination. The fact that she was creative and adaptable had not hurt.  It was her stubbornness that confused him. Why could she not see the logic behind his reasoning?

Throughout the city center, water refused to flow, facets remained dry and toilets flushed just the once. More and more people called the power company, the water company and the emergency services lines. Every person in a call center knew something was terribly wrong in the city and while they knew the symptoms, no one knew the cause.

She had been so easy to work with at first. Then, she started getting her own ideas of what was good for him, for the city. While these ideas were good, her way of going about it was so disruptive.  Changes took time. Karen acted as if everything had to be done now.

Mayor Mason Steward frowned when he picked up his phone to make a call and received only silence. That was unusual. More unusual was Cecelia coming into his den without knocking first. He waited and listened as she apologized then explained that something was very wrong with the city. That the Oracle was unconscious with a sudden backlash of stimuli and no one knew exactly what was wrong. Then, the lights the Gateway district went out, including the lights in the Steward estate. "It's time to contact the family and Julie."

Maybe she was right. He was losing sight of the smaller picture. The devil was in the details he had always heard. He was losing control, a bit at a time, being nibbled to death by gnats. He did not believe it could happen…, to lose control of himself and his. That thought frightened him more than he ever thought possible. He would be no one's slave. Never in life! Never in death!

Power surges raced through the city. Light bulbs burst. Breakers tripped. Warning sirens flared in every district. Every light in the city not run on battery or backup generator winked out with a startling finality.

He had to stop his rising panic. It was not an emotion he was accustomed to and he did not know how to handle it. He had to do something. He had to find Karen and save her. It was because of him she was in this mess. He owed it to her and she was his most favored of his favorites. She could be stubborn and confusing but she was also good hearted and sweet.  Humans were so confusing. He was still getting used to being with them and he wanted to continue being with Karen. It was time to make that happen.

Story by Jennifer Brozek, Copyright 2006
Photo by Rory Clark, Stopped Motion Photography, Copyright 2006