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Display a printable version Keystones
"I'm sorry," Karen said. "I don't mean to offend. It's just a little shocking." "This is why I had you brought here. To see me like this. Do you see me?" Karen looked at the once hearty and beautiful Lady of the Grey Manor; a woman who had returned to her something very important not too long ago. Instead of the handsome woman, full of vibrant elegance with a hint of mischievousness, an old woman with a balding wrinkled head and only a few wisps of hair to cover it, lay there breathing what seemed to be her last breath with every rise and fall of her boney chest. The Lady's skin seemed paper thin, translucent where it wasn't covered in ugly brown age spots. Her smiling face had become a mass of wrinkles and lines. Worst of all, those clear grey eyes had turned the murky color of a muddy street after a hard rain. "I see you, Lady. I see you very well." "This is what threatens every supernatural group within the city of Kendrick. This draining of life and vitality will kill most of them. You must stop it. You must lead the people and find a way. Lead them through the coming fear. I, my people, cannot be saved now but the others can. Look to your City. Look to your peers. You are the keystone of their salvation." Then, the Lady of the Grey Manor stopped speaking. The energy needed to get her message across sapped the last of her strength. She looked at Chief Walks-the-Ocean and whispered, "Look for me in the Grey Pearls." With that, the Grey Lady simply faded away. The blanket that covered her crumpled in and only a slight impression of her body remained to dent the bed sheets. "What happened?!" Karen turned to Walks-the-Ocean. "Where is she?" "She has gone to the earth to rest for now and to recuperate. She and her people will be safe on Makah land." "Why? Why are they safe here and not anywhere else?" She tried to keep her fear and anger in check. "What makes this place so special?" "The land cares for its' people and its' people care for the land. She will recover. Sooner if you can stop what is happening. I will help you if I can." The old man looked as sad as she had ever seen him. Karen stared at him and wondered just how she was going to save the city and its people when she did not know what was wrong with it. She had an idea of who was causing the problems and that was all she had to go on. She turned and left, not quite sure what to do now but knowing she had to do something. *** "Come here, Daddy-dearest." Vicki said with a gleam in her eye. "I've got something for you." Mason, one of the most powerful men in Kendrick, sighed softly and got up from behind his desk. He had seen his bastard daughter cum godling avatar lock the door on her way into his office. Apparently, it was time for another lesson in patience or pain or maybe she just wanted to torture him again. He walked over to stand next to her at the window. He said nothing and waited. "Do you want that?" Vicki pointed out the window. Mason looked, seeking the thing Vicki pointed to. All he could see was Kendrick's City Center where the small shops and Colonel Kendrick's Park lay nestled together in perfect architectural harmony. He, himself, had made sure that the City Center promenade remained uncluttered by chain stores and overdevelopment. Only local businesses were allowed. It gave Kendrick its homey small-town feeling while serving the needs of its 55,000 residents. He looked back at her but she was no longer pointing. "I don't see..." She waved an impatient hand at him, cutting him off, before gesturing to the view before him. "Do you want it back? Do you want you and your family to regain your heritage?" He felt his stomach drop and his knees weaken. Dare he hope that this monster would actually go through with her word? Maybe. Hopefully. Just a week ago his youngest son tried to commit suicide. He now lay in a hospital bed in a chemical coma. "Yes." He breathed, hoping against hope that he was not wrong. She turned mean spirited eyes on him. "Kneel, Patriarch of the Stewart Clan. Kneel before your ruler and beg." Pride made him want to stand his ground but thoughts of his loss and his family forced him to his knees. He swallowed that pride as well as his hate for the thing his bastard daughter had become and bowed his head. "Please, Victoria. Please, I beg you. Give us back our heritage." She looked at him for a long time, long enough to make him squirm and look up. Then she smiled. "I really just needed you to kneel because you're so much taller than me." Vicki leaned forward and kissed him full on the mouth. Mason did not pull away. He did not respond until he felt the flow of power from her to him. For the first second, it was a trickle. Then it became a torrent. If he had not grasped her shoulder, he would have fallen over with the power of it. The power of the city, the heritage his family had been missing for months, flowed into and through him; from him to his entire family. All of them felt the rush of the power's return just as they had felt it being ripped away. Some Stewarts crumpled in a faint. Some fell to their knees in thankful prayer. Some danced for joy and sought others of their clan in happy reunion. One opened his eyes to look upon the shining face of his mother and said, "I am whole again." In the office of the Mayor of Kendrick, Vicki grinned at the openly weeping Mason. "You see, I can be kind to those who deserve it and I do keep my promises. I have kept mine. Keep yours." She flipped her teal hair over her shoulder, unlocked the door and left. *** In the back store room of the Kendrick Museum of Art & History, Susan Moore stood, speaking to something in the shadows. "Are you certain?" If anyone were to come upon her, they would think she was speaking either to the huge statue in front of her or to herself because no one but her could hear Alexander's reply. Alexander was the leader of the gargoyles in the city of Kendrick. He was old before Kendrick was born but drawn here nonetheless. He stood about seven feet tall, looked like the classic cathedral gargoyle with wings and was made of stone when he was not moving about. He was also bonded to Susan and would sacrifice himself before allowing her to be hurt. 'I am certain. The youngest of us are the weakest and thus the most at risk. They are also the first to fall when calamity strikes. This is not the first time something has attacked the gargoyles. It will not be the last. But it has been a long time. So far, the youngest have not died but they have returned to their most protected state.' She put her hand on his arm, feeling the warm flesh and muscle beneath her fingers. "What can I do? I won't let someone just attack the gargoyles. I won't let you and yours be hurt!" He put a clawed hand over hers. 'Find out who is doing this. Find the keystone that has been lost. It could be the link that this attacker is using.' Susan nodded. "I will. I promise. I won't let you be hurt." 'I would be the last to die. While I live, the gargoyles will survive.' "You will live!" She raised her head to keep the sudden fear from overwhelming her. "I will find a way." *** "Did you see that monster? Did you see it?" Sergeant Webber said. "We dusted him like nobody's business." "Good job, Sergeant." Detective David Hauberk said. "You're getting the hang of the team. Maybe we'll stop calling you Tenderfoot on the next mission." Sergeant Webber held up a broken rock in the shape of a paw. "This is all that's left of him, Sir. I think I'm going to keep it as a souvenir." David, who had been smiling, suddenly grew serious and shook his head. "No way, Tenderfoot and with another fuck up like that you're going to be a Jack-Leg again." He held out his hand for the prize. "All pieces of supernatural creatures are to be destroyed immediately. Some supernatural creatures can regenerate from a piece of themselves as small as a finger. Or did you forget that part of your training, Sergeant?" Sergeant Webber had the grace to look chagrined as he reluctantly handed over the piece of stone. "Now, Tenderfoot. You get to explain what you did to the rest of the Special Unit and they get to decide your punishment." "Aww, Sir..." "That's an order, Sergeant. Don't make me repeat it." David turned his back on the man. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Sergeant Webber sheepishly explaining things to his peers and watched the wicked gleams appear in their eyes. He straightened up as Sergeant Mueller approached him. The two men put their backs to the rest. "This is all I could save." Sergeant Mueller pulled three small gargoyle statuettes from various pockets. "These guys like the kill a lot." David accepted the gargoyles and slipped them into his pockets. "Were you able to save any of the bigger ones?" He nodded. "One. I waved it away. It wanted to save the one that was being pummeled into dust but when I hissed at it, it went." "Hissed?" Sergeant Mueller shrugged. "It works with my kids and my cats." "What are you guys whispering about back there?" Sergeant Webber asked. David and Sergeant Mueller turned and grinned at him. "I was just showing him your little prize." David tossed the gargoyle paw in the air and caught it. "Talking about the other dumb shit that newbies have done. I was also asking him what you should do to remember this lesson." By now, the rest of the Special Unit had crowded around. Sergeant Mueller grinned. "Yeah, and since you seem to have a thing for feet...." He gestured to the stone paw, "I think my boots need polishing. In fact, all of our boots need polishing." This was greeted with a cheer from the rest of the Special Unit and a disbelieving look from Sergeant Webber. Then, the doomed man groaned. "You're not kidding." "Better make it good. Inspection in a week." Sergeant Mueller said with a smirk.. David smirked as well. "Now, I'm going to properly dispose of this. I'll meet you all at the usual spot in an hour." Walking out, he waited until he was out of sight before he subtly slipped the rock paw in his pocket. He had no idea if gargoyles could re-grow from a single paw but he would not throw it away. He would give it to Karen and hope she knew how to help these doomed creatures who seemed to die far more easily than he expected. This made him sad, knowing from Karen, that gargoyles were actually city guardians. *** Elsewhere... Doctor Mercer watched Vicki with growing interest as he gave her his report. "One large and two medium sized gargoyles have been destroyed in the last couple of days. They are reported to be easier than expected to kill. I suspect that you have something to do with that?" Vicki sat curled up on the couch in Doctor Mercer's office. "Of course. It was a little thing for me to do once I found their weakness." "Which is?" "I found one of the city's keystones." Doctor Mercer waited patiently for her to elaborate. When she did not, he prompted her. "Which is?" "Oh, I forget, sometimes, that you don't know as much as me. A gargoyle keystone is, hmm, I guess you could say a piece of their original world. In every city that has gargoyles, there are at least two keystones. Most are buried deep underground, never to be disturbed. Some are in people's collections because they sense the power from it but never really know what it is." Vicki reached into her coat pocket and pulled something out. She got up and placed it on the doctor's desk so he could get a better look at it. In truth, there was not much to look at. It seemed to be a small granite stone the shape and size of a large grade A egg. There was a small crack in the top. From it something gleamed. "May I?" He asked as he slowly reached for it, watching her face. She nodded. He picked up the stone and looked at the crack but no longer saw the gleam. It perplexed him. As he turned it over, he saw the crack gleam again. Logic said that whatever the gleam was, you could not look at it directly. So, he looked forward and held the keystone out to the side. He could see the gleam clearly in his peripheral vision. It shimmered like rainbow hematite. "Where was this one?" "Luke Coleman had it at his store, Treasures & Trinkets. I'm pretty sure he knew what it was because he told me if anyone else had tried to buy it, he would have refused sale. It was meant for me." She grinned. "Then he told me, 'Do your worst on those bastards.' He meant it. I'm not sure what the gargoyles did to him but he carries a grudge." Vicki pondered. "You may want to have the SU check out his shop. Just to see what's there." Doctor Mercer put the keystone down and nodded. "All right. Looking for anything in particular?" "No. Just delivering the unspoken message that the SU knows he's there and to stay out of our way." "Ok. Anything else?" Vicki nodded. "Yeah. That." She pointed to the keystone. "I need you to keep it very safe. Very, very safe. Can you do that?" He almost tossed out a casual "of course I can" answer, but based on the way she was looking at him, his answer was very important to her. He looked at the stone again. "Yes, Vicki. I have a very safe place in mind. A vault. Will that do?" She nodded. "It will. This is a little secret between you and me. All right?" "Yes. I understand." Doctor Mercer did not ask all of the questions that came to mind. Vicki did not like 'unnecessary' questions and he knew from experience that she was apt to hurt him if he asked too many of them. However, he could not help but wonder why neither the Stewart mansion nor the Children's warehouse were no longer safe for her little toys.
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| Last updated on 3/14/2008 10:56:28 PM by Jennifer Brozek |
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| Other documents at this level: 25 - Shades of Grey 26 - Broken 28 - Observations 29 - May Day 30 - Entropy 31 - The Past and Present Collide 32 - Absorption |
"Do not hide your face, Karen Wilson. I know how I look, but I cannot die. Not as you would understand death. I am not mortal," the Grey Lady said from the bed of Chief Walks-the-Ocean. "I, and all that are mine, can be forced away to sleep for a time against our will but what is a few decades for those who live beyond time? But, you and the City will feel our loss."