 
### Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter I - 'Servium'

### by E. Oliver Daze

Copyright 2015 E. Oliver Daze

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

# Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

About E. Oliver Daze

Other Books by E. Oliver Daze

Connect with E. Oliver Daze

Prologues to other books in the series:

# Prologue

"Is it Heaven that you speak of?"

"I speak of a realm of a different dimension where all spirit-life originated. All entities must earn their place and the earth-plane is where the trial is conducted. Spirits were given the gift of human form as protection against the 'Children of Darkness' and the vessel that was chosen to allow them to grow in grace."

"Are you an angel?"

"I am referred to by many names. I am Devas, Frovashi, messenger and yes, if you wish to call me angel, then so be it."

# Chapter One

I **t was a cold day in April.** Five of us huddled under a partial rock outcrop on an Afghan mountain side bordering Pakistan. The combination of hail storm and rock slide, that suddenly caught us, threatened to knock us back down where we came from. The source of the quake was unknown but was strong enough to shake things up where we were.

"You think they'll use this to get away?" The Lieutenant was saying. "Or do you think they're taking cover like we are?"

I said, "Probably the latter LT. They're flesh and blood like us. Unless fist-sized hail and five pound rocks falling on their heads don't bother 'em."

I'm Marine Captain Arch Angelo, my team and I had a mission to disrupt pockets of anti-coalition militia in the region. We were on reconnaissance when we came under attack. They had opened up on us with small-arms fire then retreated up the mountain.

Amidst the clatter of the hail and rocks falling and rolling past us on the hillside we began hearing the distinct sound of someone's stomach growling. I said, "Lieutenant was that you?"

"No Sir." He looked to his right at our freckled-face sergeant. "Liver, was that you making all that noise?"

Our Sergeant Rogers as a young boy at family gatherings would smooch on his cousin's arms on a crowded couch to make them run in disgust thus making more room for watching television. 'Liver-lips' became his moniker after that but only known to people who were close to him and he despised it. Rogers shook his head and pointed behind him with his thumb at our other sergeant - Leroy Trucker.

Trucker had survived the streets of Chicago and had joined the Marines because he figured if he was going to fight he might as well get paid for it. He was a black version of the incredible Hulk and made the space under the outcrop of rock even more crowded. Still he was of gentle disposition unless you accused him of something he didn't do. He said, "Hey man. I know you ain't pointing at me? You want me to rip those fucking freckles off your face? Get that damn thumb away from me or I'll gnaw it off and you'll hear some real growling while I'm doing it." He made a biting motion towards the offending thumb which was quickly withdrawn. "It was the dip-shit Corporal behind me making all the noise." He said.

The hail had stopped falling and the last of the loose shale had bounced past us down the hill side. But now we were all looking at the Corporal at the end of our squatting huddled formation. His name was Johnny Nicholson the youngest in the group but also the best shot. But now he was just looking at us with a shit-eating-grin on his face.

"God dammit," I yelled. "Didn't I tell you yahoos to load-up on chow before we went out on these patrols? We fight on our stomachs, Gentlemen. You learned that in 'Basic' on day one. Chow this morning is probably the last meal you're 'gonna' see until we make it back to base camp and that might not even be today."

"But — but Sir, I did eat." The Corporal said. "The food's just not agreeing with me." He grimaced and suddenly bent over in pain grabbing at his gut. Then we heard another sound as he unleashed a noisy one-man salute out into the open. The crowded area under the outcrop quickly reeked of foul gas.

Leroy yelled in disgust. "MUTHAFUCKA." He grabbed the Corporal by his collar and flung him out into the open. Nicholson went skidding on his backside down the ice covered hill.

The rest of us scrambled from our positions under the ledge. The men were doubled over in laughter except for Leroy who was still furious. He jabbed a finger in the direction of Nicholson who was attempting to get back on his feet. "You pass gas on me again you little 'muthafucka' and I'm 'gonna' stick a hail-stone up your white-ass."

Of course that started another round of hooting and hollering. "Listen up Jarheads," I yelled. "Straighten up and get serious. We still got some ass-kicking to do."

In unison, the word 'OohRah' echoed down the canyon walls.

Who the attackers were that came after us was anybody's guess. There were a number of aggrieved parties running around the area who were either representing themselves or some larger interests. What they all had in common was they all liked shooting in our direction. We caught up with the enemy fairly quickly and they appeared to be holed up in a cave above us on a ridge. We figured there were four of them but perhaps more. A long dirt and stone path led up to it. Most of the caves we've run into were no more than 30-feet deep created by mujahedeen fighters in the 70's. This was probably a trap and they planned to hold us off until their friends arrived. Using a sniper-spotting-scope, I peered intently into the darkness of the cave entrance and saw the slightest of movement inside. I called out to my 1st Lieutenant Guy Sanders.

"LT, we need to light them up ASAP. Give me cross-pattern strikes with the RPGs on the cave walls starting at the entrance. You stay here in the middle to launch the heat. Give it a couple of minutes then fire two towards the back of that hole. Then hold and wait on me. Remember, 'Thermos' down the middle and 'Frags' on the sides. The Corporal and I will take out any runners."

We immediately laid down a barrage of RPG fire. The Thermobaric grenades were lethal against enemy forces holed up in caves. They would toast everything inside. As insurance, frags from the other RPG's would be ricocheting off the walls inside that enclosure so there would be no place to hide. We began to hear secondary explosions indicating stored munitions. The screams told us what we wanted to know. Explosions repeatedly rocked the cave then abruptly stopped. We held things up waiting for some kind of response but there was none.

Suddenly, the LT pointed up at the smoke cloaked entrance. "Captain, look."

A man with shredded and smoldering garments stood there. His uncovered head was a surrealistic blackened landscape of charred flesh and smoldering patches of grey hair. He stood at an odd angle and lost balance when he pointed his AK-47 skyward but caught himself. He sprayed the magazine's full contents into the air in a last act of defiance but dropped the weapon when the front-grip burst into flames around his hand. He attempted to scream something but could not muster an intelligible sound. He staggered forward and came rolling down the hill in our direction stopping just several yards away facing skyward.

I said, "LT, take the men with you and secure the cave."

I approached the prone figure with my hand-gun drawn. As I removed a dagger from his belt, his eyes slowly open and locked on mine. From photos of opposition leaders in the area that I carried with me, he appeared to be Khalid bin Abu Rabi, one of the locals who had lost his lumber business to the Afghan central government. But according to reports he took up a new career fighting coalition forces and became a powerful figure in the area. He continued to squint up in my direction like he was trying to burn my image into his brain. He tried to speak so I leaned closer. His lips moved several times emitting a hoarse whisper. He closed his eyes, opened them again and this time he just lifted a finger from a charred hand and pointed it in my direction. Then with his eyes still open and looking skyward, he shuddered and was still.

I heard my name being called and running and sliding down the hill towards me was the LT in panic mode. "Captain," he said. "We need to leave pronto. Our sources just informed us there's maybe fifty armed Taliban headed this way and they're not wasting any time."

"Well then, neither should we. How much time do we have?"

"Well, they're about 2-klicks away. With the weapons they're carrying over this mountainous terrain I'd say maybe 15-minutes if we're lucky. A chopper and a backup are already on their way to extract us and hopefully we'll be long gone before that horde gets here."

"How's the inventory going up there?" Are there any useful intel?"

"Well, they had a videographer and he was on top of his equipment so it was pretty much undamaged but most everything else was FUBAR, pretty much fucked-up beyond all recognition. They also had munitions stored in there but most of it went 'kabloowee'. There were a few undamaged IEDs and a couple of cases of AK-47 rounds. We're going to include them when we booby trap the place. In any event we also set timers so it'll blow no matter what."

"Ok Lieutenant, good job." I nodded towards the prone figure on the ground. "Take his prints and get a mug shot for the Intel boys. When you're done put him back in the cave with the rest of 'em. I'm going up there now to make sure everyone's moving with a purpose. We need to be out here taking defensive positions in case that chopper doesn't get here on time. Does everyone up there have their masks on?"

"Yes, Sir but it's making it hard to see and it's slowing us down."

"Well, LT, if they breathe in the shit that's in that smoke it'll save the Taliban from wasting bullets on 'em."

"Roger that Sir, but there's one more thing Captain. There's a female up there who looks like she's in her teens maybe 12 or 13 at the most. She doesn't appear to be a combatant."

"Is she..." I started to say."

He shook his head and said, "She's dead, Sir. But the explosives didn't kill her. Someone shot her in the head."

I muttered an expletive under my breath, "What the fuck was she doing out here in the middle of a fire fight? And you're saying she was fucking shot?" Then I muttered to myself. "What were these a-holes doing dragging a young girl around with them in hostile territory?" I thought about the implications but more than that – it was a bad omen. I turned and ran up the hill.

The cave interior was lit by scattered fires and embers that cast the interior in a reddish glow along with moving eerie shadows. The slim figure lying prone at the rear of the enclosure I knew to be the girl. The hair at the back of her head was mostly incinerated exposing a neat round entry wound but on the other side half her face was gone. Close by was the murder weapon, a 1911 Colt .45, which was a Marine issue but not yet in wide distribution. We were all still packing Berettas. It looked like a plant to blame us for the killing. They wouldn't have planted a Beretta because around here it was pretty much a household item in villages throughout the area. If their ambush had been successful, our bodies would have also been available for show and tell to make 'em all look like heroes.

I heard a warning shout of "Captain, look out!"

I felt something slam into the side of my head sending my helmet flying. The Advanced Combat Helmet or ACM that I was wearing was designed to stop an AK-47 30-caliber round at 400 meters. As I fell backward I saw a man sitting up against the cave wall pointing his rifle at me from less than five meters away. My last recollection was of him falling as bullets ripped him to shreds. Later, I found out that my team did their job and had gotten us out of that cave and into waiting helicopters without further incident. I was rushed to a mobile surgical trauma unit who did the preliminary work of removing bullet fragments from my skull and pulling a few skull fragments from my brain. They then put me into a medically induced coma. After that I was MEDEVAC to an in-country medical facility where I underwent further surgery and there I stayed until I was well enough to travel. I spent several more months at a military medical facility in Germany recovering. I was finally flown out of Ramstein Air Base back to the states where I was medically discharged from the Corps.

As luck would have it the LT was going out on the same Ramstein flight that was taking me home. We shook hands and he said, "Captain I see you're still with us in the land of the living." He said he and the other men were reassigned to different units after the fire-fight but none of them would be staying in the service since they were diagnosed as suffering from mental issues.

I said, "So LT what are your plans?"

He said, "I will be part of the permanent staff at the training facility at Dam Neck Annex in Virginia. But I plan on resigning my commission in about a year. The boys and I plan on getting together when they get discharged sometime in the following year. Could we interest you in the reunion?"

"Thanks LT but I plan on disappearing from sight. I'm 'gonna' chill out for a while and see where the road takes me. Maybe I'll find a good woman and settle down somewhere. I want to thank you for saving my life by the way. Now how 'bout filling me in on what happened after I got shot."

"Thanks Captain but you would have put your life on the line for any of us. Well, we got out of there not a moment too soon. We got you and the girl loaded up on the choppers. We checked out their video camera and they had documented everything including kidnapping the girl and shooting her in the cave. We returned her to her parents so she could get a proper burial. Also the ambush party showed up at the cave maybe within a few short minutes after we left because we heard the explosions while we were in the air. It went off earlier than it was supposed to so some of 'em must have gone inside.

I don't know if it was me or not but the LT normally quite outgoing seemed a bit distant and reserved in his demeanor. On a couple of occasions I caught him looking my way. I'd raise my eyebrows and tilt my head up inviting him to say what was on his mind but he just shook his head and looked off into the distance. I know I was feeling a bit down myself. Who knew what was bugging him? Hell, the war changed all of us. We only think we're leaving it behind but we end up carrying a piece of it around somewhere inside us.

I was diagnosed with extreme post-traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD at my medical debriefing just prior to being released. But it seemed that the stress of being a civilian made it worse. The reality of life was in the killing fields around the world not the peace at home. I was war weary but felt guilty about being home while other soldiers were still putting their lives on the line somewhere on another continent. I drank to forget and in a short time I found I had become the quintessential park-bench-bum. Being homeless, drunk, and depressed became my new normal. I went hungry by day and suffered nightmares at night. One day I got caught sleeping in a Civil War cemetery and was thrown in the slammer. When they found out I was a Vet they dropped me off at the local VA Hospital at the edge of town where a number of Vets with a sundry of ailments resided. I landed in a ward of fellow alcoholics who quickly informed me of a Virginia ABC store just off the hospital grounds. We drank and shared war stories and there were a lot of laughs. One day the laughs were dimmed by tragedy. A fellow group mate, who often took his motorized gurney outside of hospital grounds to get breakfast at a nearby McDonald's met his end. He'd usually steer by lying face down to better maneuver his way along the road. What he would do was get in line with the cars that snaked around the building and then order at the window like everyone else. It used to cause a ruckus inside the restaurant with the customers gathered around the window at that side of the building trying to take selfies with him in the background. The employees were already used to it. But this particular day he suffered a heart attack and died before he could get his order in. There's nothing that sobers you up faster than the death of a fellow comrade.

One day I paid a visit to the restaurant and happened to see an 18-wheeler pulling into the parking lot from the nearby Interstate-64.

I said, "Hey friend, which way you headed?"

"I'm a-headed for the Golden State," he replied.

"Mind if I tag along? I don't have much money but I could spring for lunch."

"Sounds like a winner to me," he said.

I went into the restaurant and came out with sandwiches, fries and drinks. After we ate, he got back on the interstate and headed west. We introduced ourselves and turns out he was an ex-Marine of sorts who went by the name of Joe-Bob. He never made it out of boot camp but did adopt them as his favorite branch of service.

I asked, "How long have you been a trucker, JB?"

"Oh going on ten-year now."

I said, "Guess you must like it. Doing it for that long, I mean."

"You 'betcha' partner," he said. The wife didn't like it none so I wrote her a note saying 'So Long Sally' and left it on the dresser when I took off this morning."

I said, "You're kidding? This morning?"

He said, "Yes, 'Siree'. A little after ten. She was still 'a-snoring' away when I snuck out. I went straight to the company to pick up the truck and fill out some paper work and wouldn't you 'knowd' it. She was a-calling over there asking 'fer' me. But I told 'em to tell her I'd already left and 'twern't' coming back to her no-way, no-how."

I said, "Wow, sorry to hear that."

He said, "Don't worry I've left her dozens of times. She's used to it. Hold on a sec partner let me see if I can get me a Smoky report right quick." He picked up the mike from the radio mounted on his dashboard. "Breaker one-niner, breaker one-niner. This is the one and only Joe-Bob. Any east-bounds out there with their ears on? Come back."

His radio crackled and a voice said, "Go Breaker, this is Desperado. You're wall-to-wall and tree top tall. What can I do you for?"

Joe-Bob said, "Roger Desperado. What's your 20? Over."

Desperado replied, "10-4, I just passed that there Fort Eustis Avenue exit 250A."

Joe-Bob said, "Roger, My 20 is Exit 268 and I'm west-bound to Shaky-town. Any bears hiding in them bushes? Over."

"10-4 Joe-Bob. Be advised that we've got us multi-fender benders at 250A west bound near the Ft. Eustis exit. The place is just crawling with bears. The show-off lane is clear but looks like a turtle-conga-line going through it. Meanwhile you got you a log jam, I'd say, going back maybe 5-mile in your direction and getting longer. You'll probably see nothing but break-lights around the Jefferson Avenue exit 255. It'll give your grandma-gear a workout for sure. 4-10?"

"Roger that Desperado. Was that the good news or the bad news? Over."

Desperado said, "Heh, heh, heh. I can tell you're no road-virgin my man. 'Gotta' take the bad with the good, right Partner? It's all part of the territory. Well I do have a piece of good news Joe-Bob. After the 250-exit, you're clean and green to Richmond. Over."

Joe-Bob said, "That's a big 10-4 Desperado. What kind of rig you driving Neighbor?"

Desperado said, "I'm hauling Toyotas. How 'bout yourself? Over."

Joe-Bob said, "A load of furniture for a GI-Joe, Partner."

Desperado said, "10-4. Good luck neighbor. Watch them bear traps. Don't get yourself bit. Maybe we'll catch you on the flipside sometime. We gone."

Later we spotted a truck loaded up with vehicles approaching from the East bound side. Joe-Bob said, "There's Desperado with his mobile parking lot." Both trucks leaned on their air horns in passing.

Joe-Bob had been in the moving business going on ten years. He just left his wife again which suited him just fine. But trucking came first in his life and it gave him the one thing he needed most and that was his freedom. He had been driving close to fourteen hours when he pulled into a rest stop to get some shut eye. I caught a ride with another trucker just pulling out which took me to Denver. The last truck I ended up hitching a ride on was the one that took me across the Nevada state line where I decided was the end of the line for me. The driver had pulled into a truck stop on I-80 in Elko to fill up and to grab a bite. I was immediately drawn to the area because it was a mountainous area like the places I pulled duty at when I wore a uniform.

I saw a sign that read Banshee 15-miles away on State Road 221. I don't know why that caught my attention but after thanking the trucker that dropped me off I hitched a ride to Banshee. I was tired and hungry when I got there. I was walking around when I caught the scent of food and followed it down an alley. It was getting dark but a light turned on straight ahead. A door opened and someone came out holding a pan of what looked like scrap meat. He started doing the 'here-kitty-kitty' thing before setting the pan on the ground and retreating back into the building. I then saw small dark shadows leaping over fences and jumping off nearby sheds making a bee line for the pan but the sounds of my footsteps running towards them made them hesitate, turn, and disappear back into the darkness. I picked up the pan and kept running until I made it to the back of the building where I sat down against the building and wolfed the food down my gullet. I couldn't see exactly what I was eating but it stayed down and chased away the hunger pangs. After that, I curled into a ball against the building falling into a fitful sleep where I dreamed of demons that came crawling out of the ground and little girls with holes in the back of their heads. I woke up often drenched in sweat despite the chilly night air only to give in again to fatigued-induced-slumber.

It was almost noon when the sun finally chased the shadows from the alleys. The sun's rays and buzzing flies finally annoyed me into sitting up. I could hear music coming from inside the building and I made my way around front. There was a sign beside the entrance that read "Oasis" and I walked in through the open door. Luke Bryan's 'Strip It Down' was blaring out of a jukebox near a stage to my left that had a dance pole at its center and a girl with unusually large breasts next to it who was doing more jiggling than dancing. A bar with large mirrors behind it was at the right side of the room. The middle of the room had about a dozen tables with chairs. Then behind them across the way were four pool tables and on the far wall there were a number of doors. There were several people occupying stools around the bar but my focus was on the dark liquid that the bar tender was pouring into a shot glass. I looked down at my shaky hand, rubbed the back of it across my mouth, and headed for the bar. There were a couple of loud mouth customers who were plastered more than they should have been for this time of day. They were egging on the dancer on the stage.

One of them said, "Hey baby why don't you take off them pasties and throw them over here."

She said, "Why don't you kiss my ass."

The other one said, "Does it come with a road map baby? We might get lost trying to cover all that territory you got back there."

"Go fuck yourselves you morons," She yelled.

I waited until the bar tender walked over to the far end of the bar to attend to a customer. I approached some of the patrons along the bar to see if they could find it in their hearts to buy a war veteran a drink. I was just a couple of stools away from the loud-mouths. They caught me pandering and one of them walked over and grabbed the back of my shirt.

He said, "Junior come see. Looks like we got us a stinking beggar over here."

Junior said, "Yeah, Cole, the homeless fucker ain't got no business being in here."

I would have gone quietly on my own because the last place I wanted to be was in the middle of a ruckus. But then the bar tender turned around then and saw what looked like a fight starting. He came running over on his side of the bar.

He said, "I'm getting tired of you low-down varmints. You know there ain't no fighting allowed in here. Get the hell out or I'll call the law directly."

The two goons pushed me aside and reached across the bar and dragged the old guy over it.

"You know something you old geezer we're going to 'larn' you to keep your pie-hole shut."

I can take a certain amount of personal abuse but I really, really see red when the weak and helpless gets picked on by an A-hole especially when there's more than one A-hole. I walked behind one of them and swung a foot up between his legs feeling the satisfying crunch of his goods being driven into his pelvic wall. His scream made the other guy turn toward me and was greeted into unconsciousness by my boot to his head. He awoke in time for the sheriff to put him in cuffs but the other guy had to go to the emergency room for ruptured gonads.

The bar tender who was still wiping blood from his mouth, patted me on the shoulder, and said his name was Jay. Then he told me to wait. I saw him get on the phone by the bar and began nodding and looking in my direction. Finally, he hung up, and came back to me.

I said, "Is there a problem?"

"No just the opposite young feller. I just talked to the boss-man and told him what happened and he wants to know if you'd be interested in working here seeing as we're short a bouncer."

"Well," I said. "I just might be." But even if the payment was for a free shot of whiskey I probably would have jumped at the offer.

"Look son, it don't pay much you know but it'll be for $300 a week plus room and board." After I just got through spending the night in an alley and competing with the local kitty-cats for their supper the deal sounded good to me.

I put on the best grin I could muster, stuck my hand out, and said "You've got yourself a deal old timer."

He said, "Well all right then. Follow me and I'll show you your room. It ain't much but it's all we got." I followed him to the far side of the room and he pointed at a closed door which was the first of four doors along the wall.

A couple of doors down one of them opened and a guy was coming out with a girl. He gave her a pat on the behind and walked off towards the pool tables. She was closing the door behind her and gave me a wink and a smile when she saw me looking. Jay had turned back to me and said "Oh if you're hungry go to the kitchen and grab whatever and tell them that Jay said it was alright".

I opened the door to the room and walked in. It had a stained thread-bare mattress near the far wall and it decorated the floor like a throw rug. Other furnishing included a second-hand table with a lamp and chair, a waste basket, and a broom closet. A commode and sink was at one end of the room and it put a big smile on my face. Being able to own my own 'shitter' officially meant I wasn't a two-bit bum anymore. I started feeling more human with each passing day. The dance-hall girls were both easy going and easy. They were skimpy dressed ambassadors to the seamy side of life. You'd be hard put to find anyone in the service industry more adept at customer relations than they were.

One night when I got off shift I saw Janie, one of the strippers sitting at the end of the bar having a drink by herself. Her physical assets probably didn't match up with some of the other girls but she reminded me of someone I used to know. She had short cropped blonde hair, long lean legs and the cutest dimples. It went with her smile like peaches and cream.

I said, "Hi Janie. Are you going to be up next?"

"No. Not right away. Probably another forty-five minutes."

"How come you're out here so early?"

"Oh I just don't want people waiting on me. I'm the kind of person that shows up fifteen minutes early for every appointment. I'm kind of nuts like that."

I said, "Well, Janie I'm going to be upfront with you. I've always thought you were the cutest thing and always wanted to sleep with you."

"I think you're 'kinda' cute too Arch but I'm going to be on soon and I don't want to get into trouble."

"What if I guaranteed you'd be back out here with plenty of time to spare? I even have an alarm clock I can set."

"Are you sure Arch?"

I said, "Cross my heart and hope to die."

So I grabbed her hand and led her across the floor to my room. I didn't have to work hard to liberate her of her clothing unless you count peeling off pasties as laborious. Her ample bottom and thighs were decorated by a G-string and thigh-high fishnet stockings so there was really nothing to remove. It didn't take me long to shed my clothes but she was already on the mattress with knees up and opened for business. We conducted business to our mutual satisfaction. I think I was getting more worried about her missing her dance number than she was at that point but she did have time for a smoke. It was when I was blowing smoke-rings up towards the ceiling when she told me about a whore-house at the edge of town.

From what she said, Lucy, the madam running the place was looking for security guards. Some girls of hers were recently murdered, and cops were poking around asking questions scaring customers away. She said her friend Rosie worked there and was going to quit because she didn't feel safe. She tried to talk Rosie into working here with her but the girl was shy about dancing in front of people. She said the bar tender could give me Lucy's number if I wanted to check it out. So, I said I would and she put her pasties back on and left.

I took one last puff on my cigarette and grounded it on the floor. I then slid my hand between the mattress and the wall and ran my fingers under the edge of it pulling out the weed I had rolled up earlier. I lit up and inhaled deeply holding it in and feeling the calm wash over me before releasing it slowly out of my nostrils. The room was dark except for the small lamp on the table by the broom closet where I ate my meals. The ticking of the battered old alarm clock next to it was the only sound in the room and I found myself focusing on every tick and tock. I soon felt the day catching up with me and the tiredness began to seep into my bones as I puffed away on the weed. My eye lids were starting to get heavy and I must have dozed off. The joint must have slipped from my fingers because it burnt through a layer of skin on my chest causing me to react. I rolled off the mattress cursing and brushing at the embers. My brow wrinkled in disgust for almost letting my guard down. A shiver ran through me in the darkness because I always had this feeling that there was something out there in the darkness. I could not see it but something was definitely out there waiting.

I rose and unlocked the broom closet and grabbed the bottle of bourbon I kept hidden there. It was half-full but would be gone before the night was over. I found the shot glass by the lamp, filled it to the brim, and raised it to my lips. I would usually throw the first shot down fast to feel the burn go down my throat and then feel the vapors rise up my nostrils. After that I'd nurse the rest of the drinks pondering about my wasted life while slowly feeling myself getting wasted. I settled myself in to begin my nightly ritual when I heard a loud commotion outside in the bar area. I could hear breaking furniture, yelling, screaming, and glass breaking. I looked at my watch and it was just a few minutes after midnight. The bar should be closing if not already closed. My shift was over so it wasn't my concern. Then the door flew open and one of the strippers came rushing in.

"Arch", she said sobbing. "There's a bunch of guys here making trouble."

"Where the hell is Virgil?" I retorted, "He's supposed to be closing the bar."

"There are five of them Arch. They got Virgil down on the floor and they're kicking the shit out of him."

Cursing under my breath, I carefully set the drink down, walked over to where my jeans were on the floor and slipped them on. I looked at her and told her to stay in the room. I stepped outside the room into the bar area quietly closing the door behind me letting my eyes adjust to the light and looked things over. I was bare-footed but the glass I had heard breaking was just the mirror behind the bar where it probably took a direct hit from a flying beer bottle. There were just six girls working tonight and five of them were huddled up on the dance stage screaming obscenities at the men. No one noticed me enter the room.

They surrounded Virgil who was in a fetal position at their feet just past the pool tables trying to cover his head with his arms. Never let them get you on the floor I thought. There were three men nearest to me with their backs turned and there were two others across from them taking turns kicking and laughing. I was in luck because they were all lined up like bowling pins but the element of surprise was going to be my biggest ally. The shortest guy with the broad shoulders was even closer to me than the others and was just watching so I wasn't going to have problems with him. I was six feet two inches tall and weighed two-hundred and fifteen pounds so they weren't much bigger than me but the next guy just in front of 'shorty' had to have been over seven feet tall. I'll call him 'Andre the Giant'. I would have to take him out quick. Usually when you take out the toughest guy the others split. They'd have no more coattails to hang on to. Anyone who teaches self-defense will tell you this. The guy to his left was a skinny dude wearing a 'wife-beater' tee shirt. The other two on the other side of Virgil were facing my direction. I figured one or both of 'em would run.

I grabbed a pool cue as I passed by a table and ran at 'Shorty' with full speed hitting him between the shoulder blades with my right shoulder. He catapulted forward against 'Andre' grabbing the giant around the waist to break his fall. 'Andre' had his hands down trying to shed 'Shorty' when I smashed the butt end of the pool cue across the bridge of his nose toppling him down amidst a splatter of crimson spray. Mr. 'tee-shirt' to his left came at me but Virgil hung on to his dung stained dingo's and he fell over face first and ran into my knee. Virgil got up off the floor and now the fight was a little more even. But like I figured one yellow belly turned and ran. The remaining trouble maker decided he was going to go down swinging and threw a haymaker at Virgil who ducked and slammed a fist into his family jewels. He bent over clutching at the pain. Virgil put him out of his misery with an uppercut to his chin. Then Virgil explained what happened. He was fixing to close when these men came in and were pissed when he tried to escort them out. One of them had got behind him and broke a chair across his back. Anyway, I checked all the trouble-makers and they seemed to be breathing all right. Since the bartender called 911 already I told Virgil he could take credit and brief the cops when they arrived because I needed to go back to my room to tend to some unfinished business. But before I turned to go, Virgil took me aside and said he started working part-time at this whorehouse called 'The Station' and asked me to give Lucy the owner a call. With two Lucy endorsements in one night I was getting damned curious about her.

I had no idea what time it was when I woke up but I was naked, which was not all that unusual for me but there was an equally naked girl lying next to me. I glanced at my watch and it was past nine in the morning. Her name was Casey, the girl who rushed in my room last night and sounded the alarm about the yahoos who started the fight. She was sleeping face down with one of her enormous boobs visible under her since she was using an arm as a pillow. The tit was pancaked under her but appeared to run the length from her arm pit to the bottom of her rib cage. She was the kind of woman whose physique inspired men during my tour of duty to decorate their tents with center folds to help take their minds off the war. I looked up at her and found her looking back at me with an amused smile on her face.

"All right mister what were you looking at just now?" she said coyly.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I thought someone finally furnished me with a pillow." She laughed. "Uh, did we do anything last night?" I said.

"Not really," she murmured. "I think you had good intentions but passed out before you could do anything meaningful. You didn't see me even after you finished your bottle. But I stayed because I don't like living in suspense not knowing how something could have turned out. You know what I mean? Besides, you beating up those guys last night really got me turned on."

I said, "Well you should have cleared your throat or something to let me know you were still here. But since we haven't been formally introduced I'd like to say hello. I apologize for being rude last night but let me make it up to you, ok? Would you mind scooting up on your knees and sticking your fanny up in the air for me so I can introduce myself?"

"You mean like this?" She said wagging her tail end which was now up in the air.

I said, "That's perfect ma'am." I leaned over and deeply inhaled the cheap perfume she wore behind her ears. "You know I love that perfume you're wearing. What do you call it?"

"It's called 'Let's Get It On'." She giggled.

"I don't rightly know if I've heard of that perfume before, Ms. Casey but the name has a catchy ring to it." I rose and gave her a playful slap on the ass and held on to her ample hips. I wanted to demonstrate my good intentions and to get down to the business of doing something meaningful. I'm not sure how long I was at it but I remembered it to be a noisy affair with her making most of the noise. But from her encouragements I figured her for a rodeo fan. I was still a bit tipsy and exhausted from the previous night but I managed to regain consciousness hours later. I was face down drooling into my stained mattress and burping bourbon. Somehow it didn't taste as good coming up as it did going down. One lazy eye followed a buzzing fly that was constantly harassing me but became cautious after my first swipe at it. I finally flopped over and stumbled to the table across the room to check the alarm clock. Ms. Casey was already gone. I wasn't a morning person for sure but half a day was almost gone and for some reason I felt antsy about it. But, as far as the morning went I had no complaints. Not that I remembered that much of it.

I finally made myself walk over to my meager bathroom facility in the corner of the room both to relieve myself and throw water on my face. I had some errands to run not least of which was to pay Madam Lucy a little visit. I walked out to the bar area to use the phone. Hank our other day time bar tender was at his usual station sitting on a stool at the far end of the bar waiting for customers. Most of the customers didn't start coming in until after lunch but now and then we'd have a few walk in to ogle the girls who would be up on the stage practicing their dance-pole routines. Hank gave me Lucy's number and she answered the phone almost immediately like she had been standing right there by the phone. I found her to be friendly and engaging. I told her I was interested in coming to see her and she replied by asking me if it was for business or pleasure but laughed immediately to let me know she was just having fun with me. She told me she had already cleared her schedule for me and then hung up. I stared at the phone for the longest time before hanging up. I looked at my watch and it was almost ten thirty. She said she had already cleared her schedule. How did she know I was even interested in coming to see her? It didn't add up and it was time to find out who this mystery woman was.

Back To Top

# Chapter Two

I **had no problems locating the whore house.** It was about an hour since I'd talk to Madam Lucy on the phone so my visit should have been expected. I parked the borrowed Impala in front of what used to be an abandoned train station. The wooden platform in front where people would wait to board trains was still part of the building. What used to be tracks was now a hard-pack dirt road leading to the building. But it became track again past the building and through a tunnel where the abandoned tracks eventually swung northeast past the station. Someone decided this building needed to be painted a bright pink and so it was. You would think a whore house would try to operate in a more discrete fashion but then again with some exceptions prostitution was legal in this state.

'The Station' was about 8-miles east from the town of Banshee located down in the valley. The road between was a well-traveled-rutted-hard-pack that wound its way downhill from the 'The Station' through sandy, alkali flats littered with sagebrush and greasewood shrubs. Mesquite trees also grew here along with cacti and yucca. There were plenty of critters here that you could hunt and some you didn't want to mess with. High peaks of mountain ranges could be seen in the distance with buttes and mesas in between. Cars with shot suspension systems needed to stay away from this road. Washboard sections of it could bounce you off your seat and off the road if you weren't paying attention. Visitors consisted of off-road adventurers, week-end hikers, recreational campers, and out-of-work drifters like me. Well-traveled dirt roads and trail paths could be seen here and there disappearing off into the distance. But the distant mountains held the most allure for me with their deep canyons and steep ridges. I aimed to explore them one day, particularly the Ruby Mountains which was east-south-east of town. It was sometimes referred to as the Swiss Alps of Nevada. When I looked at the high elevations in this part of the state it would bring back memories of a war where I navigated on foot through similar terrain while chasing the enemy or being chased by them.

But before I made my way up here to Lucy's, I tried to do some checking to see what I was getting into. I checked library newspaper accounts of the murders that took place. There were two hookers and also a couple of men who died out here but the Chief of Police, known to be a consummate politician, had downplayed the stories. One attacker in question had killed two prostitutes before killing himself so it looked like a neat little case of 'murder-suicide' but then a couple of nights later a prowler outside the building was killed by a police officer working part-time as a security guard. They were deemed separate incidences and the books were closed on both of them. With the two bordellos in town and Lucy's place making up more than half of the town's tax base I could see why the town would want to downplay any negative publicity regarding them.

I went up the steps at the right end of the building and started walking across the platform peering into windows and doors until I got to the other end but didn't see anyone along the way. A hill rose precipitously up in the air at this end of the building looming high above it but the ground was leveled for about thirty yards from its base to the building but gradually sloping down and leveling out again into a plateau towards the rear of building. The platform I was on wrapped around the building itself and I saw a door marked 'Office' as soon as I turned the corner. The sloped terrain at this end accommodated a walk-out which in this case was a four-car garage at ground level beneath the platform. Two large garage doors secured their entrances. There was also a side-access door entrance beside them from what I could see. Stairs directly across from the office door led down to the garages and to the adjacent graveled parking lot below. I started to press a buzzer when the door swung open. Standing there was a smiling, short, and slim attractive woman in her early thirties whose ample breasts moved about unencumbered under a short silk Japanese kimono. A pastel pink sash tied around her waist ensured her assets did not completely escape from the loose confines of her attire. She smelled of fresh cut flowers from a summer meadow. Her tousled bobbed blonde hairdo reflected a late-riser or an early-riser who did her best work in the early hours while everyone else slept. She led me to a brightly lit kitchenette which was just across the office. Both thresholds were separated by a darkened hallway that went left and right to other parts of the building. The ambiance was a pleasant mixture of her sunshine smile, freshly brewed coffee and evenly toasted bread. A serving tray with a tub of butter and a bottle of peach preserve sat on the table along with two steaming mugs of coffee. Hers was half-empty so she'd probably been waiting maybe 10-minutes or so.

"I was just having breakfast Mr. Angelo. Would you care to join me?"

I said, "No thanks Lucy." I pointed to the coffee she had waiting for me at the end of the table. "I'm fine with that. I'm sorry I don't know your last name so I hope you don't mind me calling you by your first."

She said, "Actually that's my nickname. My full name is Cecilia Lafontaine. But Americans love short nicknames. Do they not? So I just call myself Lucy and you should to. It's just easier to remember."

"So you're not American?"

"Well not by birth. I was born in France but married a U.S. serviceman. Then I divorced so I changed my name back to what it was. I'll tell you all about me in time."

She had her legs crossed while talking to me. When she got up to grab more coffee the bottom of the short pink and white kimono briefly parted and I could see she was totally indecent under it. I held on to my coffee cup with both hands trying to concentrate on the steamy black liquid inside it. I peered up from the mug and she was standing inches in front of me with the coffee carafe. She had alarmingly large breasts for such a diminutive woman and they were works of art, for sure, regardless of their origins. She suddenly erupted in laughter causing her to sit down.

"Mr. Angelo," she laughed. "You are so funny. Did you want your coffee freshened up?"

I said, "No, I'm fine with the coffee." I'm not sure why she laughed but it still made me feel guilty about what I was thinking. "Did I do something or say something out of line?"

"No Mr. Angelo, not at all. It's actually what you were thinking and my girls are the real deal I assure you."

I said, "Were you reading my mind?"

"Mr. Angelo I don't have to be a mind reader to know you're attracted to me. It's written all over your face."

I felt my face heating up. "I'm sorry I didn't know it was that obvious."

She said, "But I don't mind telling you that I am psychic. I can anticipate things. I'm sensitive to moods, intentions and things like that. But if another person is psychic I can communicate to some degree with that person mentally. But I also have a belief that if I share both an emotional and physical bond with that person there would be... well, who knows how far we could go with it." She laughed. "I guess I better stop before you think I'm some crazy lady, no?"

I said, "Well look, first I must apologize. I didn't mean to ogle visually or mentally. What can I say? You're a very attractive woman. You must think I'm a pervert or something. But I was just trying to... actually, I think about silly things when I'm nervous, ok? Listen can we start over? I'm actually looking for a part-time job and somehow I don't think the interview is going all that well for me."

"Mr. Angelo, relax. You're doing just fine. In fact, I think we can start over by sharing our stories. I'm going to tell you all about me then you can tell me your story. Ok? Don't make any judgments about me and I'm certainly not in a position to pass judgments on you or anyone else for that matter." She rose from her seat to put away the coffee container. I made it a point to not stare in her direction. She returned and sat back down. She picked up her coffee mug, paused, and then took a careful sip from it. She appeared to be gathering her thoughts.

"Well," she began, "I'm quite the woman of the world I think. I came from a wealthy family in Paris, France. I attended universities in Paris and Vienna. I bought my clothes from expensive designer boutiques and ate at expensive restaurants. But I felt strangely disconnected from the lavish lifestyle and the snobs who frequented it. I hated the parties my parents took me to and the men they tried to set me up with who they said were guaranteed to move us all up on the social ladder. So, I ran away. My parents would never set foot on the working streets of Paris so that's where I hid. I had my looks but no money. So I worked as a street-walker. I mostly worked the side streets near the 'Arc de Triomphe'. Becoming a whore was not as traumatic a change in my life as you might think. I found I loved sex and the money was easy. But more than that I was fascinated with the stories from the men I slept with. They filled me in on a world I never knew existed. There were military men who had been stationed in far off places. And even commercial fishermen on holiday who risked life and limb for the four hundred dollar lobsters I used to order in restaurants. There were good people on the streets but there were also the shysters. These hooligans would take every franc you had if they could. But I had the opportunity to deal with them on my own and not be insulated from them. I learned from my experiences and became street smart. The good and the bad were all good to me. For me it was called life and I was free to deal with it on my own on terms.

"Then one night I met this young man who was an Army Private stationed in Germany. He passed by me several times before stopping to talk. I discovered he was in Paris on a three-day pass looking for his first piece-of-ass and he fantasized about making it with a French girl. I felt sorry for him and taught him how to make love and afterwards I took him to a nice restaurant and paid for his meal. He never had a girlfriend and in his mind I quickly became that for him. He made many trips back to Paris on leave. He didn't seem to mind traveling four hours by train to see me. Anyway, I always found American soldiers to be generous so I humored him. But one day he surprised me when he asked me to marry him. I always wanted to go to the U.S. and was getting tired of walking the streets so I said yes.

"So, we got married but then I wasn't happy with the salary he was making. So, I went back to hooking and did that wherever they assigned him to. He always believed that my money was coming from regular jobs and I had my own bank accounts so he never caught on. One day he got assigned to this post in Texas and that's where I met his boss who had the hot's for me. I gave him free sex and he supplied me with clients. Well one day, as luck would have it, my young Private caught me and his boss together in bed so we got divorced.

"After that, I never married again but the only thing I knew to do was what I've done most of my life. I started running whore houses instead of working in them and as a result I made even more money than I did before. I never had much of a family life because I never really got along with my parents. So to make up for it I treated the girls who worked for me like family. I made sure they saved their money, paid their medical bills, and sent them to school with the goal of making them independent and hoped that eventually they'd stop being whores. It's rather funny don't you think that a career whore like myself would want my girls to do something else with their lives.

"I moved to this state because prostitution was legal here. So this is where I decided to settle. Life had been good to me but not so much anymore. I don't feel like I have control over my life now with my girls getting killed and this threat hanging over our heads. What I'm facing now I am not able to handle and neither can the police. I am dealing with something very dangerous and when I made contact with you on the phone this morning I knew right away you were the one person who could help me push back against whatever it is."

"Look Lucy," I said interrupting her, "I'm flattered you think I can help you but if the cops can't help you I don't know why you think I can. I could probably put some kind of security plan in place for you but you know I've got a full time job already and it sounds like you need more than just part-time help."

"Well," she said, "What kind of money do you make in town, Mr. Angelo?" I was almost embarrassed to tell her how little they paid me. "How about working full time for me Mr. Angelo? I'll give you $1,500 a week plus expenses and you'll have your own room and car. There was a long silence on my part because I couldn't believe I was worth what she was willing to pay. I think she may have thought I was trying to come up with some kind of counter-offer but I was just trying to pick my jaw back up from the floor. But then I forgot she was psychic because she was already holding up a key ring with two keys on it. One key was for a room and the other one for a car. I reached for it and she pulled it back. "There's one more thing Mr. Angelo. You will be of no use to me drunk."

"Of course," I said rather sheepishly, "I have this problem and it's not really the alcohol but I'm working on it."

"I know about your problem Mr. Angelo and I promise that will be resolved soon with my help."

Of course I had no idea what she was talking about but at the moment anything that came out of her mouth I would gladly have agreed with. "But I do have one condition Lucy and it's that you start calling me Arch".

"Very well Arch we have a deal then," She said handing me the keys. "Of course you know that we'll have to work very close together because the police won't be able to help us. I want to keep them close but I also don't want them interfering in our business. As you know we've had two of our girls killed and the police have the man responsible. So as far as they're concerned everything is just fine now. On a different day they killed an intruder outside our building but there was nothing to tie him with the first man. Nothing has happened since so officially they've closed both cases. But, unofficially they're still keeping an eye open because I've asked them to. I've briefed my girls that we all will give the police our fullest respect and cooperation. Of course at this point you don't fully understand what is going on either. But you will in time because I sense that together we'll finally have the ability to push back at this thing that is trying to terrorize us.

"Your room will be adjacent to mine so if we have to talk we can do it discretely. As a matter of fact, there's an intercom box beside your bed connected to the one near mine. We can communicate instantly by voice if needed regardless of the hour. If you just hear it buzz that's a signal for us to meet in the adjacent office.

"Now, I gave everyone off today so that you can collect your bonus."

"What bonus?" I asked still dazed about getting the job.

She said, "You'll see. Come follow me and I'll show you your room." We walked out into the carpeted hallway and hung a right. "I put in a lot of work refurbishing the interior of this building," she said proudly. "I work mostly with private contractors from other counties who I trust. There's nothing cheap about this whore house." She stopped at an oaken door on the left side of the hall a few steps from the kitchen and right next door to her office and used one of the keys on the ring to open it. I thought it was her room but she said it was mine. It had a king sized bed, carpeting, dresser, night table, bedside lamp, an alarm clock and a humidifier. There was a private bath with a walk in shower and a linen closet stuffed with towels and spare robes. There was a strange looking black box against the wall the size of a large humidifier with gages, switches, and knobs that baffled me. It emitted a constant buzz and had a row of flickering green lights except for one large light that would occasionally flicker to amber and had the word "Alert" below it. I peered at the back of it and it had a bundle of electrical cables coming out of it and plugged into a metal receptacle on the wall. I knew we were going to talk later so I made a mental note to put this at the top of the list. At the back part of the room and to the right was a walk-in closet with a door concealed as a full length mirror. The mirror was a sliding door that opened up into an office and meeting room with a large table at its center surrounded by six chairs. A desk to the right of it had a mini-ATX computer on it, a stack of yellow legal pads, an old stained coffee mug crammed with pens and pencils, and a traditional banker's desk lamp. There was a sofa and love seat across from the large table. There was even a granite topped island with a mini-sink and faucet to the right of the entrance where we entered and it had a large coffee maker sitting on it whose timer was set to go at 0700 hours. A fully occupied glassed encased rifle-rack rested against the wall at the far left side of the room containing a couple of short barreled 12-gauge pump shot guns or scatter-guns, an illegal fully automatic AR-15 rifle, and a Winchester hunting rifle with scope. There was a chest by the rifle rack with three large drawers. The top had a collection of S&W revolvers and Glocks, 38's, 45's and 9mm's. The second drawer contained ammunition for all and the last drawer held stun guns, knives of all shapes and sizes, pepper sprays, mace, and silencers for the guns. The last time I saw this many armaments in one place was in a cave in Afghanistan.

Most curious of all was what was in an adjacent smaller room next to the cabinet. There was a round container with what she said was holy water, large crucifixes, and a whole array of electronics I learned later were so called ghost-hunting equipment. She told me any questions would have to wait until tomorrow. Another secret door led to her room which she wouldn't allow anyone to enter. The main entrance to it was in the hallway outside. She mentioned there were several entrances and exits to her bedroom from both the inside and outside of the house. All business that needed to be done would be conducted here in the meeting room. Finally, she said we'd have to go back to my room for the bonus I was due. I should have known that she was referring to herself. To get this mysterious job done she said our minds and bodies would literally have to work in sync and before the night was out I'd know what she meant. First of all she said I stunk, so the first order of business was for me to get cleaned up. She said I could temporarily use some of her former husband's clothes because we were about the same size. She went to get them and would meet me in the shower.

I got naked and walked into the bathroom that was composed mostly of ceramic, glass, and steel. I stepped in the spacious stall which had a main shower head and flanked by more on each side. I turned on the warm spray and let it wash over my face and body. The opulence was unnerving. I felt more at home at my sink at the strip club. It had been awhile since I had a real shower and I'm surprised she could stand being in the same room with me. I had already scrubbed down twice when I felt her nipples pushing into my back. I turned and she looked up at me. "Now isn't this cozy," she murmured, as she wrapped her arms around my waist. She was looking very desirable. She must have been a knock-out in her early twenties. "Well thank you for the compliment," she said reading my mind again. She moved her arms around my neck and gave me a lingering kiss.

I said, "You know you're starting to freak me out Madame Mind reader. Can you tell exactly what I'm thinking?"

"Oh no, no, no," she protested. "What I read are mostly emotions and intentions and that sort of thing. But when I'm really relaxed like I am now I'm able to catch a word here and there and most of the time with my other gifts I can pretty much guess at what you're thinking. Like right now I can sense you can't wait to make love to me." I exaggerated looking down between us at my bobbing-member which was now looking more like a missile ready to launch.

"Well, I don't know how you do it." I said feigning sarcasm. "You must be some kind of mind reader." Tonight there was a reason she wanted to make love. I wasn't sure why anyone would need a reason but I wasn't complaining. I turned her around so her back was against me and I reached around to cup her breasts and kiss the top of her shoulder. Her nipples were surrounded and enhanced by the pale discoloration of her tea cup saucer sized areolas not unlike diamonds whose beauty is made more apparent because of their settings. They were works of art for sure, not meant to see, but to feel and as she had said earlier they were the real deal but who cared. I turned her around to face me again and pressed her against me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest and let out a sigh. We stood there naked and embracing under the relaxing warm spray of the shower. Using both hands I ran my fingers through her wet hair starting at the top of her forehead and pushed it back until my hands were on each side of her face. She looked up at me with her greyish green eyes that seemed to say she was putting her world in my hands. I said, "You're a beautiful woman Lucy. Not only that but you're one smart lady. Not many people could manage what you've been able to put together here. But I'm most attracted to a woman who cares a lot about other people and that's you."

She said, "Please I'm dripping in butter here. You've already landed the job, remember?"

I said, "I know and I really do appreciate it? Maybe I talk too much."

She said, "Amen." She wrapped both arms around my neck giving me a deep kiss. I picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. She crawled up on the bed and signaled for me to join her. I put her on her stomach and took her from behind. Foreplay for me was when she offered me the job. As for her, I could tell she was a self-starter. She was a woman in complete control of her own body and right now she wanted me for whatever reason. She acknowledged each of my thrusts with growls of approval and vulgar epithets. We reached higher and higher levels of pleasure through one position after another throughout the night and neither of us wanted it to end. Soon her breathing was getting labored but still she begged for me to go on. Then when we were on the verge of surrender, it happened. For just a few fleeting seconds we both experienced an out-of-body moment. We were still clutching each other tight but we were rotating slowly above the bed together in slow-motion and could see ourselves below. Just as suddenly, we were back into our bodies as a tsunami of ecstasy ripped through us both. I finally rolled off her spent and dripping with perspiration. We laid there in the afterglow of our love-making, tired but content. She finally drifted off to sleep. Her orgasms subsiding down from the earthquakes that rocked her to the gentle tremors that softly rippled up and down her belly. I joined her in slumber soon afterwards.

But a curious thought occurred as I drifted off to sleep that several times during our lovemaking I thought I was suddenly looking at myself through her eyes and was feeling the pleasure that she was feeling in addition to my own. Morning arrived much too soon and when I awoke I didn't know where I was at first. I looked around the room and at the beautiful spent creature lying beside me. I thought I was still dreaming. The nightmare would have been that I'd wake up and found that it all was just a dream and I'd be back on my mattress at the strip club. But the woman beside me opened her eyes and kissed me. I realized everything was as real as I wanted it to be. I also realized that for the first time in a long while that I had, had an uneventful restful night. She moved and the covers shifted down exposing her magnificent mounds.

She looked at me dreamily and said, "Oh my God, I dreamt that somebody was just pounding me into oblivion. So thank you very much sir if it was not a dream." She looked down at my hand which was squeezing her breasts. "Oh my God, will you stop that already, you're getting my engines going again." I moved closer leaning over to kiss her while sliding a hand under the covers and found that the woman was not exaggerating

"You know what?" I said. "I think maybe I'm getting to be psychic because I sense you want me to 'do' you again."

She said, "You know I've heard that before." She laughed. She then grabbed my arm pulling me on top of her and let out a sigh as I settled in between her raised knees and started rocking gently into her. She really never cooled down from our last session because it didn't take long before her back was arching up and her body shaking as she held tightly to me. She lay there for a while until her belly settled down. As for me I couldn't believe I was getting paid for this job. I would have just signed up for the benefits. When she had sufficiently recovered we hit the shower together. Afterwards we donned terry cloth robes and retreated to the meeting room. We poured ourselves some coffee, compliments of the coffee maker I saw yesterday. I started settling on the couch beside her and she pushed me away pointing to the love seat facing the couch.

"No more distractions. Arch." Tell me your story now please. But I do want to mention one thing."

She was quiet for a few minutes sipping at her coffee then said, "I hope you don't get mad but there was another reason I wanted to make love with you last night. You see, I didn't lie to you when we were in the shower when I implied I couldn't exactly read what you were thinking. But that all changed the moment we made love and I'm sure with repeated sexual contact my bond with you will get even stronger. Did you notice anything different when we were making love last night?"

"No." I started to say. "Wait a minute. I thought I was imagining things but there were times I was looking at you but then seeing myself instead of you, like I was literally looking out of your eyes and seeing me. Also did you get the feeling we were floating above the bed?"

"Yes." She said. "Somehow I thought it was possible with you but wasn't really sure until it happened. Now our strengths will be combined but I'm not sure to what degree. But this is new to me also because I could never find anyone that could take me to the heights like you have. You don't feel like you were manipulated in anyway, do you?"

"Hey, I'm a simple guy." I replied. "If it's like that every time I have sex with you, hell, I'm never going to have sex with a non-psychic again. Also, for the first time since I left the mid-east I haven't had a bad dream since I've been with you and haven't even thought about a drink since I've been here."

"Look." She said. "It'll get even better believe me but right now it's time to talk about our problem. I wanted you here because someone or something is out here trying to kill us and so we need to sit down and come up with a plan on how to proceed. But I also recognize that what we're dealing with is powerful so I'm including others on our team." She saw the disapproval in my eyes that I would be sharing her with others. "You're still going to be the key to our success Arch, but we'll need assets, connections, and tools at our disposal to have any chance. So, one person who'll be helping us is Blake Hanks who is a Police Detective."

"I thought you wanted to keep the Police out of this?" I reacted in surprise.

"Blake's girl friend is one of my girls. He keeps us in touch as to what the police is doing or not doing. As a detective on the case, he has contacts and resources that we don't. He also keeps an eye on the police for us but is independent and operating outside their circle. He still needs to be careful because the Police Chief is his boss and he can't be seen doing us any favors."

She said there was one more team member that would be helping us and it was a woman named Rebecca Grey.

I said, "She has the same name as one of the girls that recently died here."

"That's because that's who she is," Lucy said tears welling in her eyes.

I said, "So was there a mistake in reporting her dead? Was there an attempt on her life and you're trying to protect her by keeping her under wraps? Or are you talking about clues she left behind."

She said, "No, Arch, Rebecca was murdered but her spirit remains and I'm in communication with her."

"You know something Lucy when I got here yesterday I didn't think you were playing with a full deck and now I'm sure of it."

"Oh, you'll meet her soon enough Arch but this is just between the two of us. I'm indulging you because of the gifts you possess that you don't know you have yet but they will be vital to us later. You have to meet her because you'll be relying on her a lot. She is not only our direct contact with the spirit world but like you she is also indispensable to our team if we are to be successful. You are not to mention her to Blake or anyone else for that matter. Believing in psychics is as far as Blake's beliefs will take him. Rebecca worked for us as one of the girls but she was also a gifted medium who entertained the other girls at parties but all in good fun. I had a special relationship with her because of our respective gifts and we would be able to enjoy a certain telepathic communication with each other. One night she appeared to me to warn me about this evil spirit that was responsible for her death as well as the others. Maybe not directly but through physical hosts who it uses to carry out its crimes. Tonight you can meet her and ask her whatever questions you want. Her experience with communicating from the grave is limited at least for now so I have to act as a medium through which she is able to communicate. On a different note, this afternoon we can meet with Blake and he can grease the way for your eventual meeting with the Police Chief."

"Do I really need to meet with the Chief," I said.

"Yes, while Blake has led the investigations in this place he still reports to the Chief who is double checking anyone who works out here - especially if they're new. Blake can help grease the way for you but he also has to approve of you first but he trusts me and I'll be vouching for you."

I said, "So Blake does know you're psychic?"

She said, "Oh, to a degree because I've helped him with cases in the past and I've even helped him solve some of them. However, he just doesn't know the extent of my psychic powers. But he expects me to help him with whatever goes on out here. So you'll meet with him this afternoon and he'll set up an appointment with you and the Chief. The fact that you have a couple of Silver Stars from the military will help, and also the fact that you don't have a rap sheet. It helps that you went to jump school at Bragg. The Chief of Police has never been in the military but he bleeds red, white, and blue and there's not a man in military uniform he doesn't like. Both the Chief and Blake had told me to get a body guard so that helps. They just don't know that I already have you picked out. So why don't you go ahead and take a trip into town and get some new clothes and open-up a bank account. The car I have for you is an old model red Volvo which is not that sexy but is something that won't draw attention. I'll meet you at the Police Station at two. Just tell the Desk Sergeant that you have an appointment with Detective Blake Hanks. Use your friend Virgil's name from the strip club as a work reference during your interview if asked. I heard he owes you one. You know he works part-time for me and he first recommended me to you. "Now why don't you give me some background about yourself?"

I began, "There's not much to tell. I was a Marine, my father was a Marine, and his father was a Marine. You might say it was a family tradition only I didn't join just because I grew up living and breathing it. I really believed that what I was doing was the right thing you know. Fighting for my country was what I wanted to do. I believed in this country and the freedom it offered. But what I got sick of was the politicians trying to conduct wars from Washington. Given enough men and equipment we could have gone to war, took care of business, and then came back home in short order. Instead they handcuffed us with a bunch of rules that made winning difficult if not impossible. Meanwhile the other side was committing all kinds of atrocities that barely got a mention on the six o'clock news. I got tired of fighting for a nation of pussies more interested in playing political games than winning a conflict. The last straw for me was seeing that young girl in that cave with her brains blown away. She reminded me of my sister who was that age when I joined the Marines. I came off the battle field and back into civilian life all messed up in the head. I think my attitude has improved some but probably not by much. But I was a soldier once and I follow orders because that's what a soldier does. As far as I'm concerned I still am a soldier. So I'll march into hell and take on Satan if that's what you want me to do."

She said softly, "You know, you might end up having to do that my friend. Well, ok then, I have some personal business to attend to and I'll see you at Dan's office." Then she handed me a check for $2000.

"So you'll be sitting in when I meet up with Blake?"

"Of course, he is on our team right? We will use him and the Chief the way lawyers use private investigators. The difference is that we can't ask either one of them to dig up information for us but we don't need to because we can pretty much do that on our own. Also we're selling both of them on the idea that while you'll be providing security at the 'The Station' you're also going to be my own personal body guard. Have you ever seen how FBI types act when they guard someone? They hover in the background noticing things but are always looking professionally distant and aloof and say very little. That's the way you need to appear to both Blake and the Chief. Can you do that?"

"Sure," I said. "Are you sure you're just a sex merchant? If I didn't know better I'd think you were a Defense Department campaign planner laying out the groundwork for an upcoming invasion."

"Arch, I hope you're just trying to be funny and not being sexist or judging me based on my occupation. There are legit actresses and porn queens with IQs over 150 you know. Hedy Lamarr for instance was an actress and was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world at one time. But, her concepts led to our modern day 'Wi-Fi' communication capabilities. So everyone who has a mobile phone stuck to their ear owes her a debt of thanks. But she has nothing on me because I found you Arch and you're going to be my secret weapon. With you no one is going to hurt anyone under my care again. Oh, in case you're interested, I have an IQ higher than Einstein's. That should also tell you that IQ scores don't mean 'diddly-squat'."

"Ok, I was trying to be funny but everything about you blows me away but in a good way," I said. "Anyway, I think we'll be a good team. You're a planner and I'm a soldier and good at following orders. I'm not fully aware of what's up your sleeve but I like what I see so far."

Back To Top

# Chapter Three

I **t was close to 10 a.m. when I left 'The Station'.** Back in the day when I was shooting and blowing things up in a war zone the last thing I thought I'd end up doing was guarding a whore house. But already I was beginning to sense things were not as simple as they appeared. The first thing I planned on doing when I got into town was to let the folks at the 'Oasis' know I was leaving their employ. It was going to be tough. They were good people and helped me when I needed them most.

I learned a lot from the patrons at the 'Oasis' also, one of them gave me a history of the town. It may be a one-horse town now but back in the day it was sparkling like the rubies they thought they found up in the Ruby Mountain range east of here. Back then people were traveling through on their way to the gold fields in California and back then railroad was king. But over time it declined like anything else. Of course the Interstate had a lot to do with it. But places like Banshee didn't close up altogether. They just simply reinvented themselves. They catered to travelers headed further west and of course it didn't hurt to have the largest open pit gold mining operations in the country right across the Interstate. Then of course with three brothels keeping the town in the black, a town like Banshee did just fine. I was told that the wife of the business man who built the town was an Irish lady and she wanted to call the place Banshee. She said the winds whipping around the canyons at night sounded like what she though a banshee would sound like. This was part of Irish folklore that when someone died you would hear the wailing of this spirit and a black carriage drawn by headless horses would come take away the one targeted for death.

I finally got to town and pulled up outside the 'Oasis'. The owner Willie was there and I explained that I was moving out for good and he wished me well. I went to get my things from my former room and Virgil was back there on the mattress humping one of the strippers. He heard me come in.

"Well, hot damn home-boy." He exclaimed when he saw me. He jumped off the woman and walked towards me still at half-mast and grinning ear-to-ear with his hand extended and his wand bouncing around in the air. I thought it was the funniest damn thing I had ever seen in my life. I pointed at the sink and told him to get decent. He washed up and wrapped a towel around his waist but it did little good because the towel looked like a tent with a pole under it." I looked to see who was on the mattress and from the big ol' tits on her I knew it had to be Casey.

"Hi Archy," she said waving her fingers at me.

"Casey," I said, "You're as big and beautiful as ever." She blushed and let out a giggle. "Excuse me and Virgil for a minute, ok?" She nodded. I turned back to Virgil who now just looked like a guy with a towel around him and I shook his extended hand.

He said, "Hey buddy, where have you been? I knew you had gone up to Lucy's and then later I got this call to cover your shift because you didn't show up for work. I figured you were taking your time sampling some of the merchandise up there."

"Yeah," I said. "I apologize for that."

"No problem big guy. So what's the verdict?"

"Yeah, well, Lucy asked and I'm taking her up on her offer."

He yelled, "Hooahh. That's what I'm talking about. Way to go Geronimo. You know I put in a good word for you, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know and I appreciate it Virgil. Only thing is the offer was for a full time job so this will be it for me over here."

Virgil just stood there in a moment of silence with his mouth open and then he finally shrugged. Wow, I didn't see that coming but hey, whatever makes you happy 'Bro'. You know the welcome mat will always be out for you over here so don't be no stranger."

"Ohhh, Arch you're leaving us?" Casey cried out. She rose from the mattress and ran towards us just a-swaying away. Virgil and I forgot our tearful farewell for a moment and just stared at her in awe. She stood on tip toes to give me a hug and I was tempted to give the 'Charmin's' a parting squeeze but it wouldn't have been ethical considering what I walked in on. I managed to give her a couple of brotherly pats on the back and told her to take care.

"Well, I think you two have some unfinished business to attend to," I said winking at Virgil. "Let me grab some of my stuff." I walked over to the broom closet and grabbed a shirt I had washed in the sink a few days ago and had been drying in there. I had Lucy's ex-husband's shirt on and the sleeves were about three inches above my wrists. They both stood there looking at me as I threw the shirt I was wearing in the waste basket and put on the other. I didn't have time to go to the bank so I had no money to buy something decent for the interview which was in about ten minutes. "Listen up you two I'll be dropping in from time-to-time but right now I want to pay my respects to some of the guys outside."

"All right Arch, you take it easy," Virgil said. I looked back before closing the door and he was already leading Casey back to the mattress. I bid farewell to the staff in the bar area and the crew in the kitchen and headed for the car. It was no problem finding the police station. It was a small but official looking brownstone in the middle of town with twenty inch high bronze letters above a double entry way that simply said 'POLICE'. I told the desk sergeant I had an appointment with Detective Hanks and he told me to have a seat and pointed to a bench near the entrance. In a few minutes I saw a man coming down the hall towards me but then Lucy was also walking in at the front entrance at that moment. They met by the Desk Sergeant's desk and appeared to be exchanging pleasantries. Finally, I saw Lucy motion for me to come over. I shook Blake's hand, introduced myself then we all went down the hall towards his office. There were two chairs in front of his desk and that's where Lucy and I took our seats. He poured over an opened folder for a few minutes than looked up smiling. He was a distinguished looking guy between 40 and 50 with sandy hair cut short and greying at the temples. Hardly a guy you'd think would be frequenting whorehouses. But he looked trim, fit, and tan and was probably a jogger. I'd bet that his idea for lunch was probably a salad. I'd take a second bet that he probably wore a rubber when he was fucking his soon to be wife at the whorehouse. Then I felt a stern voice in my head and glanced over at Lucy who was sitting there with compressed lips and an equally stern look on her face shaking her head at me.

The Detective said, "Mr. Angelo I'm finally glad to meet you because Lucy tells me she is going to hire you as a security person and personal body-guard is that correct? And are you aware of what you're getting yourself into working there?"

"Yes sir, Detective Hanks," I replied trying to sound as pleasant as I could. "I've talked to folks around town, including Ms. Lucy, and did some research at the town library and read up on the newspaper accounts of what happened at her place."

He said, "Well, that's good to hear and what do you think?"

I said, "It's unfortunate what happened at 'The Station' with the two women who worked there. Lacking further evidence I tend to agree with your conclusion that what happened inside and later outside the building were separate incidences. Your allowing your men to help beef up security outside the building did help catch that one intruder. So its Ms. Lucy's opinion and mine that you-all are doing all you can to keep us safe and for that we're all very grateful." I felt Lucy's approval.

"Why thank you, Mr. Angelo. Exactly what role do you see yourself playing as a security and body guard?"

"Well I'll be drawing up a security plan that I will of course let you preview before implementing. It will include such things as educating the girls on security rules. I want them to know what their roles are and what to be watching out for. I want them acting on and trusting their intuition regarding all clients. I don't want them taking any silly risks like meeting anyone in locations other than at our site. I would also like to install security devices like cameras, motion detectors for after hours, and buzzers in each room and public areas in the building that will set off a signal in a mobile device that will be on or near my person 24/7." I got another feeling of approval from Lucy.

He said, "Well, I'm impressed, Mr. Angelo I agree with everything you are saying but you are also signing on as a body guard. I assume you have experience in this area. I've checked the circumstances under which you were hired at the 'Oasis' and I am aware of your physical prowess but what I'm mostly interested in is your judgment and decision making ability."

I said, "You are probably aware Detective that as an experienced combat team leader in the Marine Corps I've had to make split second decisions not only to accomplish the immediate mission but to ensure the safety of my men. Sometimes that meant aborting missions. I absolutely take protecting people or assets in my care seriously and that's always my number one priority. We can't always prevent something from happening but you always anticipate what can happen. So with this in mind any actions I consider taking first always strives for the preventive rather than the reactive. Also, the rule I play by is to meet force with equal force. On the other hand I'm not a mind reader and when someone attacks me or those under my watch I have to assume the worse and react accordingly. Am I capable and willing to kill if necessary? The answer is yes and I've proven that on the battlefield on more than one occasion. Am I capable of taking less lethal actions if I'm able to? The answer to that is also yes."

"Well, so far so good Mr. Angelo. I checked your military records and you have two Silver Stars to your credit. However, you were also diagnosed with PTSD which unfortunately indicates to me that you are an emotionally unstable individual. In my view someone like you really shouldn't even be licensed to carry a fire arm much less considered for security work. So despite your obvious qualifications I can't recommend you for the job." I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I felt the anger welling up inside Lucy. The smile left her face.

I said, "Well I'm sorry you feel that way Detective but that information you are citing about my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder couldn't have been obtained from my military records because that would mean the government was in violation of the 'Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act' or HIPPA that safeguards medical information. Perhaps you heard that second-hand from another source. Well, Detective, that would constitute hearsay and grounds for a law-suit if you attempted to use that to bar me from employment. But I don't think we'd have to resort to that because you are not the one employing me. Even if both you and the Chief disapproved of my hiring, Ms. Lucy can override both of your objections if she wished to because you have no legal standing to interfere in the job hiring practices of private businesses. You can only advise. Now I realize you may have some say about the type of business Ms. Lucy is running if you chose to go that route. But you have to know that unlike most counties in this state this county doesn't have anything in the books to make a ruling either way about the legality of brothels doing business here. Besides I'm betting that neither you nor the Chief would want an open public hearing in court about this considering both your personal involvements with 'The Station'. Am I right Detective? Although Lucy insisted on my coming down here, you and I both know it wasn't at all necessary. She did it as a courtesy to both you and the Chief and to let you all know that we're all on the same team. So what's it going to be Detective? Will it be your blessings or our law suit? It's your choice." I was probably getting the wrong signals from Lucy but at the moment if I wasn't mistaken she was getting horny as hell right at the moment. I looked over at her and the smile was back on her face.

Blake looked at Lucy and said, "Dammit, Lucy. You didn't tell me this guy was a fucking lawyer. But he's right, we can't stop you from hiring him but if anything happens we're going to hold you responsible for him."

"Of course, it would be my pleasure." Lucy said. "We can go ahead and see the Chief now if he has time."

Blake said, "That won't be necessary. He was listening this whole time." He leaned over his phone system and said "Ok Chief we're done, you can come out and say hello to Mr. Angelo." The door to Blake's office opened up and a short balding man in uniform came into the room with a grin on his face. He was chewing gum and his uniform top was unbuttoned. He wasn't the overly serious type I expected and he extended his hand to me.

"Mr. Angelo I hope we haven't put a kink in your day. I'm Chief Roark. You know we're very protective of our Lucy and now that I've met you I'm going to feel a lot better with someone of your qualifications watching things at her place. You know I'm a military buff myself and wanted to join whatever service would have had me but due to my weight and problems with my ticker I couldn't get in. Blake here may have had a problem with your PTSD but not me. I would have given you a clean bill of health regarding that. To me PTSD is a badge of honor. Yeah, on a personal note we have to make people better and get them treated but it also means we treat them as heroes and not hold it against them. You know I have to salute you Mr. Angelo you're a well-spoken representative of your branch of the military service. You've just made my detective look like a chump."

"No, no Sir. I assure you that, that wasn't my intention at all. I merely wanted to present the facts as I understood them."

The Chief looked at his detective with disapproval, "See that. He wasn't even trying to make you look like a chump. Well, got work to do. I'll be looking forward to working with you soon and good luck." I noticed him give Lucy's arm a squeeze on his way out.

The Detective looking like he just ate humble pie said, "Well, I guess I've been out-voted but please don't take it personal, Mr. Angelo. I'm trying to look out for Lucy as well. I can't wait to work with you." Looking at Lucy he said, "I'll be here if you need anything." She nodded. We walked out of there and she gave me a quick pat on my ass while we were going down the stairs.

"Hey," I said "You're blowing my cover as an aloof undercover FBI type."

She said, "We really need to start working on your psychic abilities Arch because I want to fuck you right at the moment and you're not even picking up on it."

"As a matter of fact I did," I said grinning at her. Where did you park?"

"I'm parked around the back so how about giving me a lift." I drove her around back and sitting there was a black BMW M4 convertible. She said because of her line of work she didn't want people seeing her car parked in front of the police station. It would be bad for business. I parked alongside of it and leaned over to give her a kiss and the next thing I know she had unzipped me, reached in, and pulled me out into the open. One good thing about a station wagon is it lends itself to last minute decisions best executed from a horizontal position. We crawled in the back but didn't undress. I laid down on my back with her on top in the classic 69-position. I pulled her skirt up over her rump and her bottom was as bare as a new born baby's.

I said, "You're not wearing any underwear?"

"Yeah, so what's your problem." she said.

"I hope you weren't uncrossing your legs in Blake's office."

She said, "I didn't have to since you were doing so well at defending yourself."

"I thought he was fixing to marry one of your girls?"

"Well that doesn't mean he doesn't have a dick does it?"

"You know I don't even know how to answer that."

"Are you going to talk all day? I think it's getting dark outside."

So we got busy. She scaled the heights while I explored the depths. One thing I liked about Lucy was the enthusiasm that she always puts into her work. I tried to focus on results and she responded positively in response to what I was focusing on. Afterwards she gave me a peck on the cheek like a newlywed seeing off the new groom before leaving his side. I had things to do and I assumed she did as well. I watched her drive off towards 'The Station.' I went to the local credit union to open an account and deposit the check she had given me. I figured withdrawing three hundred in cash was more than enough for everything I needed but it felt strange having that much money on me. Then I headed north to Elko City fifteen miles away to see what kind of 'duds' I could buy to fill my empty wardrobe. On the way back, after my shopping expedition, the sun sinking below the mountains began cloaking the valley in darkness. I had just passed Banshee on the last leg home when I sensed Lucy in my head.

She said, "We have a meeting tonight remember?"

"Yeah," I thought back. "I'm about eight minutes away." Since we started doing this type of communicating I no longer thought there was anything weird about it. It was like using my cell phone only I didn't have to worry about charging the batteries all the time. I had been driving another mile when on the road ahead of me I could make out dark forms blocking the road ahead. The bouncing beams of my head lights were reflecting back gleaming rows of yellow eyes. I felt like my nightmares were finally metastasizing into reality. I heard Lucy's concerned voice in my head.

"Arch what's wrong?" The moment of panic quickly past because Lucy's mental powers began fusing with mine.

"Lucy," I said. "Make yourself see through my eyes and tell me what you see."

She said, "Oh my God. What are those things?" I had stopped my car 20-feet away and could finally see what they were.

"Lucy, they look like a bunch of wolves."

"There are no wolves in this area Arch. The last sighting was a hundred years ago up in northern Elko county."

Just then one of them jumped on the hood of the car and walked menacingly towards me with its head lowered as it peered at me through the windshield. I didn't know coyotes from dogs but this animal looked like a very large wolf to me. His nose was so close to the windshield it would fog each time he expelled a breath.

Lucy said, "Arch, get out of there." I heard Lucy's voice in my head again but this time I also felt her fear.

I put the car in reverse to quietly start the car slowly drifting back. I didn't want the animal on the hood jumping off just yet. Then quickly I slammed on the brakes causing the animal's body to come swinging around and slamming into the windshield. Just as quickly I had the car in drive and bore down on the gas pedal. The spinning back tires started kicking up stones and dirt as the rear end swung left and right before straightening up and catapulting forward plowing through the coyote pack. Furry bodies were flung everywhere and their leader went sliding off the windshield and down the side of the car. I could feel bones and bodies crunch under the tires as I made my way out of there. The car continued to fish-tail forward and the only thing keeping the car on the road as I hit a washboard section of it was my death grip on the steering wheel. The car bounced and came down off the side of the road and I fought to steer it back. Finally I felt like I had full control of the vehicle as I tried to put some distance behind me. I took a quick look in the rearview mirror and saw nothing but then I thought I heard howling. I rolled the side window down and tried to hear over the sound of the tires speeding forward. I could make out the faint strange sounds in the distance behind me. It was an eerie prolonged sound but then again it also could have been just the wind. I got to 'The Station' still shaking and rested my head on the steering wheel going over everything that happened, I couldn't get rid of that image in my head of that menacing creature staring at me through the windshield.

I heard Lucy's voice, "Arch, Arch. Are you all right? Where are you?"

"I'm outside Lucy and I'm all right. I'll be in, in just a second." I waited a few more seconds trying to pull myself together.

She said, "Arch drive around to the side of the building where my office is located. Go past it and you'll see the garage doors. Use the door closest to the stair case. There's a remote for it in your glove compartment." I did as she asked and drove into the garage that was built under the building and closed the garage door behind me. I heard her say to stay in the car until she said it was safe to get out.

I said, "Ok Lucy let me know", I hadn't seen anything follow me into the garage but then I was a soldier. In combat if you didn't follow orders to the letter you got sent home in a body bag. The garage began to fill with mist. By the way it was forming droplets on the windshield I'd have to take a wild guess that it was water. "Lucy this is a hell of a time to be putting the car through a drive-through car wash."

"Be still and be patient Arch." She said sounding irritated. Then the lights were turned off in the garage and I started hearing a humming sound coming from some kind of motor. It must have been a pretty big motor because it was causing the car to vibrate. Then the garage suddenly became as bright as day. Only it wasn't from the fluorescent lamps in the ceiling. It was from electrical discharges crackling and popping all around the vehicle. The fine mist in the air acted as conductors to allow electricity to reach every part of the garage and vehicle. I found out later that underneath the vehicle metal strips had risen up to make contact with car to ground it and control the path of the charge. Because there was no light source other than the electrical discharges it was like being up in the clouds during a storm with lightning flashing all around you. Most of it was just flashes of white discharges arching and flashing about but there seemed to be bright orange ones that also appeared then quickly disappeared.

"Arch you still alive out there?" It was Lucy and she seemed to have recovered her sense of humor. "Lean back in your seat, close your eyes, and let me enter your mind. I want to be sure you're not infected by any of the scum that attacked you." After a few minutes I felt her all clear signal of approval and left the car and entered the building but before walking in the door I had to dump all my clothes in this bin along with my shoes and socks. She was taking no chances. It was just as well. When I had opened the window while driving, dust had swirled in and out of the car and the road dust was all over me. She was waiting on the other side of the door and wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her head against me. She also accompanied me when I jumped in the shower and afterwards we went to the meeting room in our bathrobes, grabbed some coffee, and headed for a couch. I plopped down in a sitting position. She propped some pillows against the far sofa arm and leaned back and propped her feet on top of my legs and we spent some quiet moments engulfed in our own private thoughts. Finally, I gave her foot a squeeze and looked at her and thanked her.

"What are you thanking me for?" She said.

"For the moral support I guess. I felt myself getting the shakes out there. I felt my mind being overcome by that beast. I felt like I was in deep water and then out of nowhere you threw me a life-line."

She said, "Well, that was the plan from the get go wasn't it? I help you and you help me. I didn't know we were going to be tested this soon though. I think this was our first test of fire and I think we did all right, don't you? I think tonight we both learned something. You know what they say - what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

"Lucy, I hadn't really had time to digest all of this and don't get me wrong I appreciated your help but I'm not sure about all this free access to my head now and what it'll do to me by allowing it.

"Sorry, Arch. It's like all this stuff is hitting you all at the same time but you're doing better than most people would under the same circumstances. But I think I know what you're really concerned about. You fear losing your identity or privacy, right? Well, just know that you won't. Trust me on that. Now I don't know if you know this but your mind is in a sad state of affairs right now. When I go in there it looks like opening a drawer filled with tangled cables and wires but I hope to fix that. You've done such a good job of blocking bad things from hurting you in the past but you're also holding back the good things that can help you, us, and the girls."

"How are you going to help me?"

She said, "Well normally I'd say it would be a slow process but right now people's lives depend on you and me. But it's mostly going to depend on you reaching your full potential so I need to push you as hard and as fast as I can without permanently assigning you to a mental institution."

I said, "Well excuse me if I don't break out into my happy dance, Lucy. Right now, I feel like I'm talking to Madame Frankenstein who wants to give me a new brain."

"No not a new brain, Arch, a better brain. That thing on your car was actually trying to possess you just like it possessed all those coyotes that it was controlling and you held it off with ease. Yes, I threw it for a loop when I joined you but it was mostly you and that's partly the answer to your question about your mind not being your own."

"I have a lot of questions and you've lost me. What answers are you talking about?"

She said, "Look Arch I don't know how observant you are but what we have been dealing with from the get-go has been the supernatural. We're being attacked for whatever reason from dark forces from who knows where. If you don't believe in spirits now you will when you meet Rebecca later tonight. So that leads us to the light show that you witnessed in the garage. Pure energy like lightning are a bright white light but for whatever reason electricity from a foreign entity within the body of a host are discolored when it is discharged and struck by the electro-magnetic waves that we released in the garage. Did you observe anything like that?"

"I think so," I said. "I thought I saw orange flashes but it happened so quickly and I didn't think anything of it."

"When you told me you ended some of those creatures I thought there would be a possibility that whatever spirit was controlling them would try to hitch a ride by attaching itself to the car."

"So you zapped them with electricity? Is that how you kill ghosts?"

"Well, in a manner of speaking. Remember that matter is never destroyed but it can be changed to a different form but for our purposes they are as good as dead. Every living and non-living things has its own vibration. The electrical-devices in the garage produced electromagnetic fields that altered the vibrations of our unfriendly spirits and scattered them to the four winds. You have to remember that ghosts or spirits are sensitive to free flowing energy in the air so that's why they hide in basements, dungeons, and other permanent shady places. That's why you see them more at night than during the day. So I had some physics people I know work with my contractors to transform this building into a ghost version of an electric chair. We wouldn't have needed the mist in the garage for just bodies but we needed the extra zapping power to remove them from the car's framework."

I said, "I don't understand what we're fighting Lucy. In combat if we didn't know anything about the enemy we couldn't win. We needed to identify who the enemy was to figure out how to destroy them. What do we have here? Are we fighting demons, ghosts, spirits, or what?"

"Well I'll tell you the gist of what Rebecca has told me. I don't want to bore you with the details but basically there are several dimensions represented here on earth. We have demons, spirits, original spirits or if you will angels, and of course humans. There is a celestial law that forbids demons attacking humans directly but anything else is fair game. Everything is leading up to Judgment Day but until then both Heaven and Hell conspire to see who tallies the most souls by then. But it's not that simple because Heaven gives humans a conscience to choose right from wrong so they ultimately decide eternal joy or damnation for themselves. So both sides engage in recruitment efforts if you will, to win souls. Heaven uses houses of worships, religious writings, and prayer and Hell uses calamities, possession, and temptation. But that doesn't mean that there's not cheating going on. But the last thing both God and Satan want to do is reveal themselves at least not until the Day of Judgment according to Revelations in the Bible. However neither side seems to be able to fully control those under them very well either. A lot of times something happens and either Heaven or Hell incorrectly gets the blame for it. In our case there are clearly demonic forces at work. What we don't know is who exactly is behind it?"

I said, "Well I don't know how true all of that is but we just have to deal with whatever comes up. As-far-as security goes, what about the rest of the building? What you have in the garage seemed pretty sophisticated but as an ex-military man I'm big on overall perimeter protection."

She said, "The whole building from top to bottom is wired to produce alternating electromagnetic waves to discourage entry. That mysterious box in your room and mine are backups in case they breech the outer perimeter. It's automatic. Any vibrations that it doesn't recognize from what I program into it will get fried."

I said, "All this must cost a ton of money and as lucrative as your business must be I wouldn't think it'd be enough."

"Arch I use the proceeds from this place along with all the other brothels I've ever had as seed money for self-sustaining investments that pay dividends and accumulate value and as you can probably guess my psychic abilities along with a good broker make for successful trading. I also own shares in CGD along with other stocks. Do you know what that is? You know what the Carlin Trend is? It's an open pit mining operation that is one of the largest producers of gold in the world and its right here Arch, right in our own backyard. It's across the I-80 Interstate as a matter of fact. Take a drive on I-80 north of here if you want to take a look at it because you can see it from there.

She continued on, "I also won't disclose my contractors because of a private agreement and they're not from here but I pay them enough so that they are always at my beck and call. About three months ago, around the time when my girls were attacked, I had an army of them come up here and fortify this building and they completed everything within three weeks."

I said, "Ok you've made a believer out of me but how did you know to put all this stuff together?"

She said, "Well a lot of it from self-study and eclectic contacts. A woman in my position rubs elbows with people from all walks of life from people in high echelons of city and local governments to the local citizenry. I have my own personal group of contacts who are experts in their fields including people who have advanced degrees in physics who I am able to consult with and bring in if necessary. But in all my preparations there was still one piece of the puzzle missing and I believe you are that missing piece Arch."

"Lucy the more things I find out about you the more amazed I get. What are your plans for my brain since we're sort of on the subject and when do we start?"

She said, "Well it's been on my mind since I met you and I've been thinking about the best way to go about it and as I said, time is of the essence. But what I want to do generally speaking is find that point in time when your mind was first affected by the fears that haunt you today. During the process, I'm going to be talking to you the whole time letting you know what I'm doing. But the mind can be an independent thing and it has built-in defenses. That's why I'm not going to put you completely under so you have some conscious control over your mind and not mistake me for an intruder. To make sure of that I need someone helping me with your sub-conscious telling you that all is okay and if for some reason you attack me I'll need early warning. I need to be completely focused on peeling back the onion of your memories so I don't want to be constantly looking over my shoulder sort of speak."

"Well I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about but like I said before I'm a soldier and I always see my role as executing a plan and trusting the soundness of it to the planners. But what do you mean you're going to have someone in my subconscious and doing what to me?"

"I'm going to need Rebecca, Arch. She and I will be doing this together."

"Wow you mean I'm going to have you and a dead person in my head? Maybe, I need to have my head examined for listening to all this."

"Well that's exactly what we're going to do Arch and what about all your talk about being a soldier?"

I said, "Ok, ok already but can I at least get a couple of drinks and I would at least like to see whoever will be poking around inside my head."

She said, "Actually that's not a bad idea. It'll relax you but not to the point where you lose your judgment but you can't see Rebecca. She's a ghost, remember?" But it'll probably be possible later if things work out. We'll just have to see. But we'll have to turn off the electro-magnetic device in the room so I can bring Rebecca down here."

I asked, "If there are electromagnetic devices throughout the rest of the building how is Rebecca going to be able to come down here?"

"She just needs to be temporarily in a stabilized environment that can shield her. The electro-magnetic field around the house is just a barrier. Whereas the fields in the garage and in the rooms here are hooked up to a computer and will seek out and destroy spirit entities.

I said, "You mean she's going to be inside of you?"

"That's right. We have an elevator that rises above the roof line where she'll be waiting for me and I can escort her back here."

"Ok, you do that," I said. "In the meantime I'll be trying to anesthetize myself." I headed towards the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass. I tossed two down in quick succession and started to put the bottle away but poured another one for good luck. Just then, Lucy walked back into the room and I stared at her to see if I could make out anything different about her. She was looking back at me with some amusement. Then I heard her in my head.

"Will you stop looking at me like that? You don't want to be rude in front of company."

Then I heard another voice inside my head: "Hi Arch I'm Rebecca." Then Lucy's hand came up to offer me a handshake. I looked at the hand then at Lucy's face. Then I heard Lucy's irritated voice in my head again.

Lucy said, "Oh for God's sakes Arch will you shake her hand already."

I said, "Lucy, I swear to God if you're trying to pull a fast one on me. If you're trying to what's the word... punk me or something I'll... I'll." I heard a voice giggling in my head. I reached out and gave Lucy's hand a skeptical shake and quickly withdrew.

"Do you want to see what I used to look like?" said Rebecca.

I said, "I thought I wouldn't be able to see you?"

Lucy said, "I didn't know we would be playing show and tell but in the interest of calming you down as much as possible we can make it happen. She'll project an image of herself in the occipital lobe of your brain, ok?" As I stood there a smoky image began to form like it was in front of me. Then before I knew it, there standing in front of me was a shapely and very cute young woman of African descent in her early thirties with short cropped dark hair and large brown eyes framed by long lashes. She had a beautiful but melancholy smile on her face. Then the image was abruptly gone.

"Wait." I started to say but I was now looking at Lucy.

"I think he likes you" I heard Lucy saying.

I said, "Ok ladies let's get this show on the road before I change my mind."

Lucy made me lie down on the couch. She pulled up a chair beside me and started to talk to me in soothing tones. She said she was going to count back from number five and that I would fall into a deep restful sleep when she got to number one but by the time she got to number two I was already out.

Back To Top

# Chapter Four

I **t was that feeling of first awareness after a night's sleep.** It was that floating disembodiment feeling that so invites you back into the dream state. It was that twilight world where there is but a small window of clarity that reminds you why you need to get your ass out of bed. So you try to rise and discover you can't because neither your body nor your limbs will respond.

"Arch can you hear me?" It was Lucy's voice.

"Yes I hear you." I replied.

Lucy's voice came in again. "All right Arch we're going to start now and from now on the only voice you'll be hearing will be mine and the only person you will address during this session will be me, is that clear?"

"Roger that."

"You still seem a bit tense so I want you to get on top of that 5-step platform that you now see before you. Do you see it?"

"Yes I do," I responded.

"The sound of my voice will penetrate deep into your subconscious and any resident consciousness other than the host will also submit to my every command. All will respond to my voice and only my voice. At this time descend the stairs and with each step you take you will fall into a state of deeper relaxation. Give me a sign when you have reached the bottom."

"I'm at the bottom and very relaxed."

"Very good but now your body will be so relaxed you will be unable to move your limbs until either I give you permission or I tell you to completely awaken is that understood?"

"Understood."

"At this time if there is any other entity residing inside the host, I want you to raise the host's right hand now." After a few minutes Lucy said. "All right Rebecca, looks like he's clean so let's continue."

Rebecca said, "Thank goodness."

"But while I'm working on him be looking for anything unusual that might serve as some sort of tracing device. Those creatures tonight were tracking him and knew where to set up their ambush."

"Ok Lucy will do."

"Arch how are you doing Love, you ok?"

"Yes Lucy just dandy but it's so quiet. How come I'm not catching any of your thoughts?"

"You are a patient Arch, so have patience. How many people undergoing brain surgery that you know of have running conversations with their surgeons? I need for you to work with me especially when we get to the symptom producing event or memory causing the nightmares, ok?"

"Ok I'm with you."

"Ok Arch here we go. Listen to my voice. From now on when we revisit your memories I want you to dissociate yourself from it, ok? I'm going to put a video screen in front of you. Do you see it? I want you to project the images in your mind on to that screen so we all can see it."

"Yes I see the screen."

"Excellent. When we start, your memories will play on the screen but I want you to see yourself on the screen only as an actor who is playing you. Is that understood?

"Yes, understood."

"Rebecca, I'm sensing his problems began with that last fire-fight in Afghanistan before he was discharged from the Marines so I'm starting there. Are you seeing anything?"

"Yes Lucy I think so. When his synapsis' are firing away they are like a bright lime-green but there's a very small tumor like growth on his frontal lobe that's not part of his grey matter. I don't know if that's part of him or something that was put there."

"Well we'll have to take a closer look at that before we wrap things up."

"Arch, take us along with you to the cave where you had that fire-fight and show it to us on the screen."

Images of Marines in uniform carrying weapons appeared on the screen and they were behind large rock formations looking up at a hole on the side of a steep hill. In slow motion a lone Afghan native comes out of the cave and rolls down the hill. My character is now bent over the figure who is saying something.

"Arch, tell us what he's saying."

"He tried to speak but couldn't. He just pointed a finger in my direction before he died."

"What was that discoloration on the screen between the two of you when you bent over him? Sand being blown about or what? Can you replay and freeze, please?"

On the screen the discoloration on the screen appeared to be a form of an orange static electrical discharge that when seen at normal speed was barely discernable. As fast as it occurred my brain had picked it up and recorded it in my subconscious.

Rebecca said, "Lucy do you think Arch is being possessed there?"

"No Rebecca I think Arch was too strong for that but because the spirit couldn't possess him it may have just left a piece of itself on his brain as some sort of tracking device."

The next scene was Arch's character bending over the young girl. On the couch tears poured from Arch's eyes and his body on the couch shook visibly. This was the 'symptom-producing event' Lucy was looking for.

"Arch, dissociate yourself now. Separate yourself now from the actor's emotions and talk to us. Tell us what he is feeling."

"It's his fault Lucy. That young girl didn't deserve this. She was probably playing outside without a care in the world. Then she was kidnapped and dragged into his world of violence where she had no place being. He was thinking about how terrified she might have been and probably crying for her mother. His younger sister was also kidnapped you know. He was taking care of her at the time. She was never found again. Now it's happened again under his watch."

Lucy said, "Arch you can put away the screen now. You know there are evil people in the world and we are all at their mercy. These things that had happened to your sister and this little girl were not your fault. What do you think the girl's chance for survival would have been even if you or your men hadn't run into those men up in that mountain?"

I said, "She probably wouldn't have made it through the conflict because there was a number of coalition forces out there at the time that could have been lured into their trap and the girl would have ended up the same way."

"So why are you blaming yourself, Arch?"

I said, "Because it was not some other team that caused it, it was mine. My sister was with me when she was kidnapped. I went into the store to pay for the gas. When I came out she was gone. I was responsible."

"What do you think about the type of people who harm defenseless children like this?"

"If I could kill them all with my bare hands, I would."

"What do you think would happen if the men up in that mountain weren't killed?"

"A lot more children would have been taken from their parents and murdered in different ways to gain sympathy for their cause."

"Arch you buried all those men, avenged the girl, and probably saved untold numbers of girls like her from getting the same treatment. Don't you think that was a good thing?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"Arch, what I want you to do now is to discard the bad thoughts and feelings you carry with you from both that event and what happened to your sister long ago. I want you to replace it with the good feeling that you have about saving the lives of hundreds of children like them and put these positive thoughts into your subconscious. I'll count to three in reverse order and you will fall into a deep slumber and when I squeeze your shoulder you will wake up refreshed with no memory of our conversations. You will only have positive feelings about the past. Here we go 3 - 2 -1 and sleep."

Lucy said, "All right Rebecca let's take a look at that growth." Lucy removed a metal wand connected to the black box against the wall by a long cable. Lucy pointed it directly over where the tumor was located under the skull. The wand emitting super-focused magnetic waves concentrated at its tip disrupted the vibrations that gave the alien-tumor life. Since the vibrations differed from the rest of Arch's brain he was easily tracked by whoever put it there.

"That tumor will be gone by the end of the week Rebecca. I'll let Arch sleep a little more before I wake him up. Day-break will come soon so you best be on your way. How's Isabel doing?"

"Oh she's doing great. She's making great progress and she's taken to visitors now even though she won't allow them to touch her except for you of course because she really believes you're her other Nana."

"Well, I think it's a great thing you're doing protecting her now. I wish she'd never lost you. It's hard enough losing a mother but especially for a child in her circumstances, it's just heartbreaking. She's a lovely child. You better scoot. I'll be contacting you soon. Love you."

"Love you too, Lucy, bye."

Lucy ascended the elevator to the rooftop with Rebecca inside her and stepped outside the glass and wire covered enclosure just outside the elevator that was ghost-proofed as well. Rebecca couldn't penetrate it so ensuring the elevator door was closed she turned off power to the cage and Rebecca was gone.

As a 4th dimensional creature Rebecca had but to focus on her intended destination and she was there. She was now in her daughter's room hovering just above the sleeping form. Isabel was curled up in a ball holding the hand of her 'Dennis the Menace' rag doll. She had a thumb in her mouth while the cloth hand of the doll that she called 'Deddis' was pressed just under her nose, its familiar scent giving her comfort. As a toddler it was a familiar sight to see the doll dangling from her grip as she sucked on her thumb. Now, at thirteen she had pretty much broken the habit but at night would revert back to her child like ways. She was first diagnosed with Autism when she was around 18-months old. It was heartbreaking and Rebecca was riddled with guilt. Maybe it was the immunizations like people say. Maybe it was her poor diet when she was carrying her child because they didn't have much money. Her husband Lewis would beat her when he came home from his shift at the mine if there was no food on the table. She often went hungry because she wanted to make sure he had plenty to eat but he also drank most of their money away and there wasn't much left for groceries.

Before her husband got to drinking they had certain aspirations that were modest compared to more well-to-do couples their age. At the top of the list was moving into a double-wide trailer rather than the one they were in and perhaps into a house some day after that. What they lived in was adequate but got a little tight when they had visitors.

He was enraged when he first found out she was pregnant but grew to accept it but they couldn't afford hospital bills so her mother found an Indian woman from a nearby reservation who was a mid-wife. She was accompanied by another Indian woman who Rebecca was told was like a Doula or a person who would take care of her immediate needs after the mid-wife left. The Doula didn't live with them but was standing outside the trailer door every morning after her husband left for work. She stayed for almost a year and grew quite attached to Isabel but her husband Lewis came home early one day and told her he didn't want no Indians hanging around his property. Isabel was a sickly child and the medical bills piled up along with their economic woes over the years but Rebecca did her best to provide a happy home.

One day it was Isabel's birthday, she had turned twelve and Lewis's birthday was going to be the next day so she decided to have a birthday party to celebrate both. She borrowed some money from her mother to buy some chocolate cake mix and ice cream. Her mother made the cake in her own house before bringing it over. Rebecca had been running water in the tub for a bath when her mother arrived. She assured her mother Isabel wouldn't see it because she was in the bed room taking a nap. When her mother lifted the top of the cake carrier she remembered how beautiful it was.

Both of them were startled when the trailer door suddenly opened and standing there was her husband glowering at them. He had just been fired from his job and the fact that they were throwing a party further infuriated him even when she explained it was for his birthday. He flattened the cake with his hand and back-handed her mother when she tried to stop him. She tried to protect her mother and that's when he had grabbed the front of her robe and pushed her back into the bathroom and down into the water-filled tub. She fought as he forced her head down under the water trying to drown her. Her mother came up behind him holding a stun-gun and pressed it against the back of his neck until he collapsed on the floor. Her mother pulled her out of the tub and they both got Isabel then ran to a neighbor's trailer to call 911. He was arrested and sentenced 8 to 20 years in prison for attempted murder. She moved in with her mother and started working at 'The Station' where Lucy took a personal interest in her. Her mother, she felt, knew what went on up there but pretended not to. She was getting along in age and living mostly on social security and the money Rebecca brought in was welcomed if nothing else.

Rebecca's affinity and special bond with Lucy was borne out of the fact that Rebecca was a bit of a psychic herself though not to the degree Lucy was. Her gifts were more in the line of enhanced intuition. Her intuition was working overtime that whole day prior to the attack on her but she pushed those feelings aside and didn't heed its warnings. During the time she worked at Lucy's, Lucy worked with developing her gift till they got to the point where they could almost read each other's thoughts. Lucy became a second grandmother to Isabel and her mother would allow Lucy to come to the house to see Isabel but would always find an excuse to be in the garden or somewhere else in the house on these occasions. Rebecca put Lucy in her will as being Isabel's guardian if her mother wouldn't be able to for whatever reason.

But a little more than a year after her husband attacked her, Rebecca was murdered. She was working at the time when she heard her friend Marcy's voice next door begging for her life. She pulled herself away from the arms of the man she was with and ran into the room next door. Marcy was sitting on the bed and a man behind her held a knife against her throat. The moment Rebecca burst in he killed Marcy and went after Rebecca stabbing her multiple times before ending his own life.

Rebecca then remembered finding herself facing a robed image of herself. It was just her, the figure, and the white swirly fog that surrounded them. The image smiled and began to talk to her but she just heard its voice in her head.

Back To Top

# Chapter Five

T **he spirit said, "I am Azrael.** Do not be afraid."

"Where am I?" Rebecca asked.

"You are nowhere at the moment. You are lost unless you choose to be found. But fortune is yours loved one because your Karma is positive and it matters not that your earthly life was terminated early and not by your own hand."

"What is this Karma you speak of?"

"You fall under the laws of Karma which on earth determines your destiny."

"I don't understand what that is."

"It is many things but it begins and ends with choice. That choice is either for good or evil. Nirvana or whatever term you prefer is to the right of the scale and advancement is made only through good works and positive actions but past negative actions will determine where you really are on the day when all are judged."

"I'm still confused."

"The laws of Karma affect mostly humans but they also apply to spirits. The Golden Rule if you will. It is a scale in which all will be judge. On the 'Day of Judgment' the scale will tip to the side where the most effort has been placed. The scale in this context is Karma. What you reap is what you sow. While your slate is not entirely clean the long journey of suffering and sacrifice in your life thus far makes you worthy to exist in the next dimension. But the next dimension is but a buffer to further prove your worth to enter even higher planes of existence. But even though you now have no physical presence in the worldly plane you will still exist in it. Here in spirit form you must further prove yourself as an 'Original Spirit' by aiding emerging spirits such as yourself who are in need of guidance. What is given to you, you must now give back. The rewards of your new calling will be reflected by your ever increasing illumination and ultimate ascension into what humans conceive of as the Astral Realm."

"Is it Heaven that you speak of?"

"I speak of a realm of a different dimension where all spirit-life originated. All entities must earn their place and the earth-plane is where the trial is conducted. They were given the gift of human form as protection against the 'Children of Darkness' and was the vessel chosen to allow them to grow in grace."

"Are you an angel?"

"I am referred to by many names. I am Devas, Frovashi, messenger, and if you wish to call me angel, then so be it."

"What happens if I don't accept the role of 'Original Spirit' that you have laid out for me?"

"In this time of transition, the laws of Karma that preside over human life still pertain so you still have one ultimate decision left. But should you choose to stay you will be as a lost soul doomed to wander the earth for all eternity. Should your daughter finally move on from this life you will be unable to follow her."

"Then you know about my daughter."

"Yes you are emotionally still connected to earthly things even though who we speak of is your daughter. You should know that all innocents from infants to people like your daughter who have had their choices taken away from them through no fault of their own are given special compensation and protection. When entities are unable to make choices there is no Karma debt to hold them accountable. But if you stay on as a lost soul, you'll have no power over the evil that infests this realm. The protections of a human host will no longer be applicable because what you once were lies cold in the ground. If you still had Karma debt you'd be allowed to reincarnate but you don't have that choice.

"As someone who has been given status as an 'Original Spirit' can I still be connected with my daughter?"

"You can be her guardian if you wish while still be available to help others."

"But, what of my daughter's faith?"

"The faith of your soul is of concern now child not your daughter's."

"Then I accept the divine role you speak of."

"Then so shall it be."

Rebecca attended her own funeral and burial service. Marcy had no family but she was part of Lucy's family. So they were both given dual services and laid to rest at the same time. Rebecca felt the sad raw emotions that emanated from the events. Her mother and daughter cried throughout. Lucy and her girls were all there dressed in black to pay tribute to their friends. Aware of the electromagnetic conditions and other electronic interferences during daylight, Rebecca hitched a ride in a cougar for the burial and observed the ceremonies undetected from thirty yards away. But it was during the burial services when she felt the presence of an evil entity but it wasn't focused on her. The source was a red tailed hawk that circled endlessly miles above the ceremony.

Later Rebecca learned that the next person to die at 'The Station' was an intruder killed by a police officer working part-time as a security guard. The perpetrator was trying to break into the building in the early hours of the morning. At three a.m. the next day Rebecca visited the site of that attack and the room where she had been slain and noted the vibrations of the DNA signatures left behind by each of the men involved. Vibrations never cease they may evolve if the matter takes on a different form. A physician client once told her that patients often picked up more illnesses in hospitals than anywhere else. This was because the only thing that was done when a sick patient was discharged was that sheets were changed and maybe the immediate area swabbed in disinfectant if at all and that was about it. But studies showed that when the ceiling, walls and curtains in the room were examined, DNA from previous patients who once occupied the room along with their particular illness could be found on them. With just the power of will Rebecca transported to the City Morgue where the men were scheduled for autopsies. She identified them through their DNA vibrations left at 'The Station' and she scanned their brains. What she found was evidence of tampering. Vibrations from some entity were indeed comingled with the mind of each man. What went on at 'The Station' were crimes that were connected somehow. She made sure Lucy knew what she found.

Back To Top

# Chapter Six

L **ucy thought it was time to rouse Arch from his hypnotic sleep.** "Arch, wake up."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes. It was like waking up from a deep slumber. I was just a mite disoriented but becoming more focused by the minute. Lucy stood beside me, a look of concern on her face.

"Are you all right, Babe?"

I saw her mouth moving and the words hitting my ears at the same time. I said, "We must be back to verbal communications?"

She said, "Yes I need to check if all your cylinders are firing. You are my first patient or should I say experiment you know?"

I said, "What? You're telling me that now?"

She said, "Not to worry. I took it very slow. The steps were simple. If anything went wacky it would have been from some unexpected reaction on your part but I had Rebecca with me to help stabilize your psyche."

"Where is she?"

"She's gone but you'll meet her again. As a matter of fact we all need to meet again and soon. Now sit up and I want you to recall for me everything that has happened since I first hired you including our meeting with Blake at the Police Station."

I went through the drill with her being careful not to leave anything out. I didn't want her picking through my brain with her inquiring mind looking for any mishaps on her part. I felt strangely relaxed and in control like I was an observer looking at what was happening from another room. We went through an exercise where she would verbally give me a set of numbers leaving out numbers but kept them in her head and I would playfully give her back the numbers she wanted but as a total. She caught on to what I was doing and wasn't too amused.

She said, "You can't be horsing around here, Arch. It's past six in the morning and if we're lucky we can grab a few hours of sleep. Blake normally comes by in the morning and he's probably going to have some questions about the dead animals you've probably left all over the road coming up here."

I said, "Yeah, I almost forgot about them." She told me about the homing device planted in my head and her suspicion on how it got there. She told me Rebecca suspected that something sinister was afoot."

Lucy said, "We need to go get a couple of those coyotes you hit when it gets daylight and bring them back here."

"What for?" I said.

She said, "I think Rebecca is right. Whatever is attacking us is doing so through other beings or creatures. We need to check on these wolves of yours to see if they were being controlled."

I said, "Lucy, Do you think whatever happened to me in Afghanistan has something to do with what's happening?"

"I can't say for sure but something happened when you were leaning close to that Khalid bin Abu Rabi character and then I find a growth in your head exhibiting a different electrical pattern than the rest of your brain. It's very suspicious to me. The amount of hate that oozed out of that man was so toxic I wouldn't doubt if he could somehow reach out beyond the grave to come after you."

"But you don't think he possessed me somehow or hitched a ride on my person."

"No, otherwise he wouldn't have wasted time putting a marker on you so he could track you down. According to Rebecca, it is a difficult thing for someone to be possessed by an evil entity. Somehow a person had to invite the entity into his or her life by showing interest in the occult and then acting on that interest."

"But you hear about young people or seemingly innocent people being possessed all the time."

"Most of it is rubbish but it can happen. Original spirits who moved into human hosts at the beginning of time were not just the 'children of the light' but also the dark entities as well. So, people possessed by dark entities have no idea what's inside them but they exhibit telling negative signs. They harbor hate, are depressed, always fearful, overly envious, and psychotic in their need to exact revenge. They run the whole 9-yards of negative emotions that you can think of. While the rest of us experience these feelings to a certain degree it doesn't consume us like these others. Demon spirits don't need permission to control these people because for the most part they've already damned themselves and can easily be joined by other demons or influenced by them. But there are sneaky ways that demonic spirits can impose their will on those already possessed of evil souls. One way, is to put suggestions in their heads while they sleep which is the time when people are most vulnerable to suggestions. Then through the power of suggestion people are made to do their bidding via ideas planted in their subconscious mind."

"Ok Lucy let's say you're on to something about the attacks on us being connected to my past. I worked at the 'Oasis' for a while. Why didn't it or they come after me then? Why this place? Why now?"

"Arch when I was going through your memories you felt an affinity for this part of this country because it reminded you of the hills and high elevations where you spent much of your overseas military assignments. We're at seven thousand feet elevation here. We probably have the same terrain features that you found in Afghanistan. Now when you drive up to 'The Station', does it remind you of anything?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Yes, dammit. You go uphill on a hard-pack road surrounded by high desert vegetation with sandy rock-strewn terrain all around and with boulder-sized rock formations at the bottom of the hill before it begins elevating some more and up on a ridge isn't a cave but this building. This all seems too much of a coincidence. Are you suggesting he wants to get me in this building than somehow blow the whole damn thing up like we did his cave? If that's true why did his pack of critters try to kill me on the road?"

Lucy said, "I don't think that's what he had in mind Arch. I think he sacrificed them. You run over them with your car freeing the spirits inside them. They attach themselves to the car in an attempt to get in the building and probe our defenses."

I said, "Well, I'll be damn Lucy. Instead of a 'Trojan-Horse' we have 'Trojan-Mutts'. War strategy doesn't change much over the ages and not limited to cultures either. But Lucy, there's 'gotta' be more to this. I can't put my finger on it but I have a feeling just killing me is not going to be enough to satisfy this invisible psycho.

"I think you're right Arch. I've learned a number of things from Rebecca. Evil spirits need to feed and what they feed on are negative emotions: fear, sorrow, anguish, and regret, you name it. Violence in any form strengthens and empowers them. I don't know what it's trying to cook up on the side but you're definitely on the main menu and probably the 'special du jour'.

"Lucy, we're throwing a lot of conjecture around. I think we both agree with Rebecca's assessment of the occult connection and we think we have a suspect from the past but how did that thing get here?"

"Well, spirits can go from point A to B but they can't if they don't know where 'B' is. They didn't know where you and your men were headed to so they had to get on that chopper with you."

I said, "The only ones it could possess besides me were my men."

"Could be, but it's unlikely, at least not initially. You-all were trying to high-tail it out of there. They saw your emotional state at the sight of the girl and guessed you weren't going to leave her in there. They needed to possess something quickly, something offering no resistance - at least initially."

"The girl?"

"Yes," Lucy said, "I'd say so. She was an empty host and I'd also be willing to bet there was more than one that possessed her. How many of them were in the cave?"

"Just four of 'em. They're objective was to get chased then set up an ambush. They could have held us off a long time if they wanted to. It would have worked if we hadn't made quick work of putting them down."

Lucy said, "Have you been in contact with any of your men?"

"No, I was a mess when I left the service. But, I have a buddy that works in the Veteran's Administration RMC in St. Louis and he owes me a favor so I'll see what he can dig up."

"Great Arch, I need to know what you find out, like yesterday. But I do know one thing whatever is attacking us is on our home turf so they'll have to play by our rules. Lucy looked at the clock on the wall. Well forget sleep. It'll be sunrise in a few minutes. Let's take a ride and see if we can bring some carcasses back here. We'll take the El Camino and just throw them in the back."

"Geez, Lucy, don't they consider that car a cult-classic and you're using it to pick up coyote carcasses."

"Well, I don't know about that," she said. "I know it ain't what it used to be but it still runs. Maybe I'll put it on 'E-Bay' when I'm done with it. But right now, it's one useful car."

Less than a mile from 'The Station' I saw the first of the furry creatures at the side of the road. There were more along the way for twenty or more yards. About four in all, but blood trails leaving the area indicated I had injured even more. We had brought a couple of 'scatter guns' with us in case some of them were still hanging around.

Lucy said, "Jesus, Arch, remind me not to be walking on the road when you're behind the wheel. I'm going topside, on the car to keep watch with the scattergun just in case their relatives are out there looking for you. Just throw a couple of them in the truck bed." We made the trip back to 'The Station' and ran the El Camino and its payload through the electromagnetic routine that I had gone through previously.

In a corner of the garage was a small examining room used by a visiting physician who took care of the staff's medical needs to make sure Lucy met all the requirements of the State Hygienic Lab of Health and Human Services. The office had the latest gadgets money could buy to include an AMX mobile X-ray machine with advanced imaging capabilities. It came in handy for our purposes. While Lucy can probe inside someone's mind what we needed was to examine the outside contours of the brain. Rebecca could have done it for us but she wasn't around. What we found in the cranium of both carcasses were growths similar to what Rebecca had found in my brain. Maybe for these critters it was more than a tracking device. "Well Arch we've confirmed it. We're dealing with hostiles we can't see. We'll leave these animals for Blake to check out. Not a word to him about our conclusions. Remember he thinks everything is hunky-dory over here now. At some point though, if anything else happens, we'll have to let him in, or not, on our suspicions."

It was almost quarter to eight in the morning when the phone rang. Lucy had her office-phone extension in the garage. It was Detective Hanks.

Lucy answered the phone. "Good Morning Blake. How are you? No, we're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed so you come right on up. I'll meet you in the office and I'll have some coffee waiting on you. A word of warning though, Arch ran into what we think were a pack of wolves last night on his way back from a shopping trip in Elko and there's a big mess on the road. No, he wasn't speeding. They jumped on his car and he sort of freaked-out and plowed through them to get away. Yes, he's ok. We went and got a couple of them in case you need to send them in for rabies testing or something. Oh, you mean we shouldn't have been handling them? We made sure we had gloves on, yes that's right. Ok, we didn't know but when can we expect you? Thirty minutes, ok then, we'll be seeing you. Bye-bye now."

Lucy's voice was low, husky, and flirty on the phone especially the throaty little laugh that had you believing no one else existed in the universe except you and her. She probably wasn't aware of it. It was part of her DNA. That natural ability of hers to get perfect strangers to think they've known her for years. It was quite mesmerizing to be sure and ensnaring when directed at you. It was hard not to be solidly on her side no matter what the circumstances.

I said, "You're not going to be wearing that silk kimono again when Blake gets here, are you?"

She laughed and said, "Why do you want me to?"

"Only if you send everyone else out on holiday."

"Well, buddy-boy you catch this ghostly-goon for me and maybe there'll be more time to fool around."

I said, "Well I hope it's sooner than later." But I didn't need much incentive on this one since it seemed I was the one with the target on my back. The girls that were killed were more than likely just a diversion.

Lucy retired to her bedroom to prepare for Blake's visit. I was getting low on adrenalin but I needed to know what Blake's visit was all about. I took a quick shower and downed a few careful sips of steaming hot coffee and walked over to Lucy's office. Lucy was dressed very un-Madam like with a one-piece floral jump suit zipped up to hide her cleavage. She wore a three-row long station necklace, her favorite black pumps, and the whole ensemble was topped off with a pastel blazer. Blake was there and had just gone through a cup of coffee and was now on his feet holding out his hand to me in greeting.

"Mr. Angelo, Good to see you again."

I said, "Please call me Arch, Detective."

"Very well, Arch, Lucy was going to show me those things you ran over."

"I hope I didn't break any laws here. It was dark out there and I felt threatened."

"Well it depends on what they are. Wolves are a protected species but Coyotes aren't."

We headed to the garage by walking outside of Lucy's office and descended down the steps to the ground level. We entered through an access door to the side of the closest garage door and walked over to a large work table where the animals were lying. Blake had a small camera with him and walked around the table taking pictures. He took out a small notepad and jotted down my description of what happened.

"Well, guys." he said. "These are neither wolves nor coyotes but a combination of the two. But they're not protected and most people just consider them a nuisance. These guys are larger than the average coyotes and are called Coy-wolves. These guys look like part grey wolf and coyote. But it's not unusual to see a mix of these things in a pack. You'll have regular coyotes, coy-wolves like these, and even coy-dogs. I'll take these things with me and turn them over to the Wild Life Management folks." Lucy walked over to a cabinet, pulled out a large burlap sack and handed it to Blake. I helped him put the animals inside them and into the trunk of his car. He turned to me and said. "Arch, what you described to me about what happened seems to be a bit unusual the way they gathered on the road and attacked your car. I'll have these things checked for rabies. But have you guys checked the news lately?"

Lucy said, "No Blake we've been kind of busy."

Blake said, "Wildlife Management folks have confirmed that there seems to be a massive migration of coyotes, and other coyote like critters on the move. It's been going on now for the past several months. No one can make heads or tails, pardon the pun, of it. Just in this county alone we've had reports of campers, hikers, people on dirt bikes all coming under attack. People are being allowed to shoot those things on sight."

I said, "Anybody figure out where they're headed?"

"Yes," Blake said. "They are all headed here to Elko County for whatever reason. Well I need to go. In the meantime tell the folks around here not to touch anything out there on the road. I'll call the Fish and Wildlife people about cleaning up the road."

I said, "What was the reason for him coming up here Lucy?"

Lucy said, "Well, he was checking up on you. I gave him the security plan you drew up and he was fine with it. They can't do a background on every one that comes up here wanting to get laid but with you being here and the security guard checking for weapons, and with a cop car occasionally sitting outside he seems to think it's really about all that can be done. He also said he and June intend on getting married soon."

"Who's June?"

"Really Arch, you're our new security person in charge and you don't know who June is?"

"Give me a break Lucy I just got here and besides you yourself said it's been busy. You know we've had the wolves, and then there was my brain operation. You know? All that stuff."

Lucy said, "Ok, ok, first of all they weren't wolves and what you went through was more of a psyche adjustment than anything else. But you not knowing the people who work here is my fault and we'll take care of that first thing after lunch. I don't know about you but I plan on getting some more sleep – by myself." Then she laughed at my look of disappointment. "But in answer to your question, June is one our girls."

I said, "Doesn't that seem a little screwy to you. I mean first of all Blake's going to marry someone who every male in the county probably knows in a biblical sense. But he also seems so straight laced and I don't know. It just seems a bit screwy that's all."

"Arch you really disappoint me you know that? First of all you're making commentary about June and you don't even know her. Actually, they're a lot alike but in opposite ways as far as what they appear to be. She's looking for a normal life with a husband, a house with a little white picket fence around it and maybe even lots of babies. He on the other hand was probably a choir boy who kept porn magazines under his mattress. He is probably looking for a woman that's a good wife during the day and a whore in bed at night. Whatever arrangement two people have when they hook up with each other is their business and not anyone else's. Many times what people do is not who they are."

After the two girls were killed on the premises only thirteen remained counting Lucy. Lucy wasn't going to hire anymore until the problem was solved. I told Lucy I could just simply leave and the danger to her and her girls would probably go away. She reminded me that I could have probably walked away from the cave those many years ago and letting those people live on to kill others but I didn't and she was just as committed to not let that happen here.

Sundays were a non-working day reserved for meetings and letting the girls take care of personal business. The girls' work hours were by appointment only, usually 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. They would probably see three to five guys in that time period but the scheduling was entirely up to them. So in this arrangement the chance of crazies, drunks, teens on a dare, and walk-ins were greatly reduced. But until Lucy had put in what we referred to as her spirit faraday cage, there were no defenses against ghostly attacks. Noon came much too soon.

The buzzer beside my bed went off and Lucy was on the intercom saying "Rise and Shine". Meet me in my office for breakfast and I'll take you around."

"What's for breakfast?" I said still half-asleep.

She said, "Eggs and coyote steaks, what else?"

"I shouldn't have asked. I'll be there in 15-minutes."

"Make it ten. We have a long day ahead of us."

I took a quick shower and walked into Lucy's private breakfast-nook next to her office. I was fully dressed while she was fresh from the shower and still wearing her bathrobe. It was loosely tied around the waist and her two big assets were taking turns trying to play peek-a-boo from under the robe. She had the morning paper folded in half in front of her with a half-finished cross-word puzzle on it. Large framed reading glasses hung from the end of her nose, her forehead was creased in concentration, and her lips pursed in disgust.

"Ok, damn it, I give up. What's a four letter word meaning 'Can of Worms'? Bait?" She looked up at me and said, "Were you thinking the word bait just now? Of course that's the word. I don't know why but I have trouble with the easy ones."

I said, "Yes it's easy when you read someone's mind. Look Lucy I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"Arch, you know you can put up a privacy field around your mind anytime you want but if you did that you normally won't be able to project your thoughts either. We are totally synced right now and you need the practice. We don't have anything to hide from one another, do we?"

"No. Not really. I'm just not used to it that's all."

"Good because our survival is going to depend on our two minds operating as one. So from now on, no vocal speaking unless we have company, ok? And stop looking at my boobs."

"Jesus A-Christ Lucy you're worse than my former Marine drill instructor. But if he had boobs like yours I probably would have asked him to marry me. I then sent her racy images about what we could do to top-off breakfast."

She thought back, "What I think is that your discipline is a little rusty soldier so from now on you're in dry dock until our mission is accomplished."

The only thing I thought to say was 'Wow'. Her boobs swayed enticingly beneath the terry cloth robe as she leaned forward over the cross-word puzzle. I thought the robe needed to be further apart and it came undone fully exposing her. She didn't know it was me doing it at first. Hell, I didn't know it was me doing it.

"I'm sorry Arch she said closing the robe. I'm not trying to tease you." She tightened the robe at her waist with the sash and picked her paper back up.

At this point I really didn't know what was going on with me. I would think thoughts a normal guy would think but now I was seeing for the first time that whatever I thought actually happened. So I thought the sash holding her robe together should untie itself and I saw that it did. I thought the robe should open wider and expose her breasts and it did. I had Lucy's attention now. She looked down at herself then up at me. I put a finger to my lips to quiet her.

I thought, "Lucy I don't know how I'm doing this but don't try to stop me. Let me see how far I can take this."

I raised her boobs pulling them slightly towards me. I could see the flesh being squeezed and released in direct correlation with my thoughts. I started making love to her and felt her starting to respond. I walked backwards to put even more distance between us but it made no difference. I could feel her pulse racing and the rhythm of her heart increasing. She was gripping the edge of the table now and gasped. The mug in front of her began to clatter about and began sloshing its hot contents on the table top. She rose unsteadily to her feet. Her wrought iron chair fell over and rattled noisily on the tiled floor.

"Ohhh my God," she gasped. "I'm...."

Then a thought hit me in a sudden flash of insight. I was suddenly having an epiphany.

Lucy said breathlessly, "Arch what - what's the matter?"

I said, "Lucy you're right. I think you hit it right on the head."

"What are you talking about? I hit what on the head?"

"That's what is happening. Don't you see? When you said bait a while ago that's what this thing is all about. This thing is using you and the girls to lure me up here as part of some elaborate scheme. But I don't know quite what it is yet. What do you think? We might have talked about this before but since you brought it up again it's making more sense to me." I grinned at her waiting for her to share in the revelation.

She said, "You want to know what I think? What I'm thinking right now is that I'd like to strangle you into oblivion. You stopped because of that? Have you ever been knocked-out by a woman before Arch? Right now, I'd like to launch you to the moon with my foot."

"Oh you mean.... Because I..... Damn Lucy, my apologies. It's just that my subconscious must be working around the clock on the problem and I just had an "Ah-huh" moment at the wrong time."

Lucy said, "Well if you're going to have an "Ah-huh" moment especially at my expense could you make it a little more substantive. Your 'light-bulb' moment has been obvious to me from the get go."

"Well your woman's intuition must be working faster than my male subconscious. Why didn't you bring it up before now then?"

"It seemed so obvious. It wasn't even worth mentioning."

"I thought our minds were supposed to be in sync or something?"

"Arch not every little itty-bitty thought is going to be picked up by either of us. It has to be directed, it has to have emotion behind it and the other person's inner radar has to be tuned in to receive the signals to include visualizing or thinking about that person. It's like 'WiFi'. You need to have a transmitter and receiver and each one has to be set up before hand to make the communication work. But my God Arch, what you were doing to me just now went way beyond telekinesis. You're evolving into something really scary. Scary because we don't know what it's leading to or when it's going to stop."

I said, "So what exactly did you do to my brain, Lucy? It's like you gave me a new toy to play with."

"I think your gifts were always there but suppressed. A brain normally consists of two halves and connected to each other by bundles of cells called synapses. Your brain is abnormal in that your brain is more like a whole brain instead of two halves making communication between the two almost instantaneous."

"Well whatever you did Lucy I'm grateful for it. If all you did was take away my nightmares that would have been more than enough for me."

"But don't you see, Arch, you're evolving right before my eyes. You're brain before was its own worst enemy. It's almost like it was keeping itself in a box all these years trying to keep itself from its own full potential. But I'm not surprised because most people do this to themselves because they don't think they're worthy or are afraid of failure. But I think you're a different case altogether. You're either trying to protect the world from you or you're God's secret weapon against the forces of evil right here on earth.

I said, "Talk about surprises Lucy. Look at this." She was looking at me then all of a sudden there was two of me. I saw the unbelieving look on her face. She started to reach out to touch the other me when I made it reach out to shake her hand. She jumped backed startled."

The Other me suddenly said, "Sorry I scared you Lucy, didn't mean to."

She said, "Oh my God Arch. Do you think independently of each other? How can I tell which is the real you?"

I said, "What it sees and what it does is what I see and what I want it to do. I can see through its eyes. But it's a one way communication. It does what I command it to do. It cannot be harmed. Any attempt to shoot it or send a projectile at it will just go through it. However, if I make it take another form like a bird or some beast and it receives trauma to the head and I'm still in communication with it perhaps I could get hurt. Well, I'm still playing around with it trying to get familiar with what I can do with it. But in answer to your question there is no way to tell us apart. You can engage in conversation or interact with it even though I'm hundreds of miles away because I'll be looking through its eyes and hearing what it hears. But when it talks it will be originating from the original me. You can address it as my Similar." With that I made my duplicate merge with me again. "So are you confused already?"

She said, "Oh my God Arch. You're getting to be one scary dude. I mean that. In any confrontation and with whatever enemy you come up against you'll always be the monster in that scenario." She came to me wrapping her arms around my waist and gave me a long kiss. "Well, as long as you're my little monster I won't worry."

I replied by slipping a hand inside her robe. I felt her smile against my lips before she shoved me away.

"Well I know one thing," she said. "Maybe your one-track mind is the kind of focus we're looking for. I'm going to take a cold shower and I'll be back in ten minutes to take you around."

Back To Top

# Chapter Seven

L **ucy had contacted the girls to work their schedules around our visit.** We were going to meet them individually in their rooms instead of in the meeting room by her office. June, the soon to be bride, of our Detective Blake was first in line. Each room was designated as an apartment and identified by the first letter of their first name and additional letters added for any clarification that was needed. So the first door we knocked on was Apartment JUN. When Lucy said that these were apartments, it was exactly what they were, albeit a small one, but an apartment just the same. They had their own stocked kitchenette, bathrooms with tub-shower combo, combined bedroom and sitting room with queen sized beds, full-sized sofas, 60" plasma TVs hooked up to video equipment to record lovemaking sessions and DVDs offered free to clients. The ceiling above the bed contained a mirror as wide and long as the bed. The kitchenette had an office area with phone, computer and filing cabinets. The girls were responsible for keeping track of their own clients and attracting new ones. Pricing was up to them but range from twenty-five hundred to five grand that went up to ten grand for holiday stays, special events, and fantasy enactments. Lucy wanted to keep this professional so she requested that they cover up for our introductions. The intros were supposed to be quick and then I was supposed to use my own time later on to get better acquainted with them. The computer in the office next to my bedroom was supposed to have everybody's name and profile on it anyway.

Lucy pressed a button by the door and I heard musical chimes go off inside. June opened the door wearing a big smile. She was wearing shorts and a blue #9 Dallas Cowboys jersey. Her pageboy hair cut framed a pretty face with pouty lips that curled ever so slightly at the corners. Sort of a sexy Mona Lisa smile if you can picture that.

Lucy said, "Hi June this is Arch Angelo our new Security Chief."

That was the first time I heard what my title was and I repeated it in my mind liking the sound of it. ''Hi June," I said sticking a hand out.

"Please come in and have a seat", June said giving my hand a polite shake. "Can I get you all something to drink?"

Lucy said, "No honey we're not staying long. We're just making the rounds so Arch can see who you all are."

"I see you're a Cowboy's fan." I said.

June said, "Yeah, I grew up in Dallas."

"I heard you were also getting married?"

"That's right. Detective Hanks and I were thinking about tying the knot maybe this coming spring and you and everyone here are going to be invited of course."

I said, "I wouldn't miss it. Well, glad to meet you and just to let you know I'll be sending out group emails a lot regarding security so do me a favor and read them, ok?"

"I'll be sure to, Arch and I'm glad to meet you."

Lucy and I continued our trek down the hall. I said, "Nice girl."

"They're all nice", Lucy agreed. "I've grown attached to all of them. In a way they're all still here because of me despite being scared by what's going on. They're putting their trust in me to take care of them like I always have."

We went on to meet Rose, Judy, Jepp, Martha, Debbie, Chrissy, Dawn, Aisha, Crystal, Dehavia, and Sherri. I gave them all the same message about getting an email from me.

Rose seemed the most nervous of the bunch about past events so I spent a little more time with her. Rose was the product of several failed marriages. Lucy didn't see much potential in her friend Janie when she and Rose had come here looking for work so she was never offered a job. Rose on the other hand was less than a year from getting her Masters in Mathematics. She was also a competitive skeet shooter who came out on top in many local competitions. She grew up on a ranch and had been pleading with Lucy to get some horses so she could go out riding but Lucy was too overprotective to even consider it.

Judy was a black girl from Jamaica who had just turned 21. Back when she was living with her aunt in Miami and had a year left in high school her aunt wanted her to drop out so she could work and help pay the rent. When she refused she was kicked out of the house and moved in with another aunt here in Nevada. She went on to graduate high school with honors but good jobs were hard to find. After a series of low paying jobs she was ready to call it quits when she met a woman in a laundry mat who had asked her why she was crying. It turned out the lady whose name was Marie used to work for Lucy. She wrote a note in the way of an introduction and told Judy to hand-carry it up to 'The Station' and hand the note to Lucy. So Lucy took Judy into the fold. One local who took interest in the new girl was Chief Roark. He paid like everybody else. The Chief was an influential respected married man in town so he really didn't come around that often. His visits had to appear official so he used Lucy's office to come and go.

Jepp's full name was Jeppebine but her friends changed it to something that was less of a mouthful. She was from Denmark where prostitution was legal. But to her the laws there seemed screwy because brothels were banned but individually profiting from sex was not as long as it was just a part-time thing. She wanted to operate a brothel there legally for profit so she intended on changing the laws there by running for political office. Women held all the government's top jobs there anyway and she intended to be one of them. Currently, she was enrolled in an online graduate Executive MBA program with the University of Nevada Reno. She worked as a model once and had all the credentials.

Martha was a shy private person but only in public. To accommodate clients she did a lot of role playing with a ton of costumes to fit every occasion. But her biggest appeal was that she was overly attentive to her clients. Her photographic memory allowed her to memorize birthdays, anniversaries, and individual preferences of her clients. She even sent gifts and flowers to wives and children of clients in their name to ensure family anniversaries and birthdays were never missed.

Debbie was the house's bondage specialist. Her apartment resembled a torture chamber. She had enough chains, leather, whips, sex machines, cuffs, latex, and vacuum pumps to start her own web site.

Chrissy was the fetish queen. She was basically willing to try anything her customers wanted to do from role play to latex. She was a former commercial airline pilot whose flying skills I noted for future consideration.

Dawn was a young divorcee who had been married to a workaholic. Her whole life revolved around driving her pre-teen son all over the state to participate in sports events. One day she told her husband she was going to do some traveling on her own and never returned. She became a high priced call girl in Vegas but attended college part time to study engineering. She heard about Lucy's place and was invited to stay.

Aisha was a tall mixed-race girl of statuesque proportions. She was raised in the church and sang in the choir. Her father was a Bible thumping Baptist minister with a deep commanding voice. He was an over the top disciplinarian. She had to go straight home from school and prevented from socializing with friends of either sex. Her every move was monitored. Her activities were limited to church and school. She endured confrontations and lectures on a daily basis and occasional whippings with a switch. College was out of the question. She was to stay home and help with church activities. One day before leaving the house to attend a service. Her mother drove her to the bus station instead and handed her a backpack. She was to read the letters inside. She walked into the cool recess of the waiting room, found an empty bench and opened the bag. It contained money, a one-way bus ticket, and two letters. One letter was for her, apologizing for not being able to protect her from her father. She said her sister agreed to take her in. The other letter was addressed to her mom's sister who lived in Carlin, Nevada. It turned out Aisha's cousin was our Judy who had already spoken to Lucy about her cousin.

Crystal was the daughter of a retired judge. In grade school and high school the other girls made fun of her lisps when she talked. She had a lot of dreams including wanting to be a judge like her father and the other girls made fun of that to. Her father had taken ill and most of the money went to medical bills. They no longer could afford to keep sending Crystal to the private school she was attending so she dropped out of school altogether. They lived in walking distance of town and she started hooking. One day she met up with a truck driver who was going to pick up a load in California and bring it back to the east coast. He paid her to be his companion for the trip but she left him when they got to Nevada. She worked as a stripper for about a week before she applied for a job at Lucy's.

Dehavia was a Spanish girl of sultry beauty. She had large dark eyes with a full mouth that she painted generously with lip color. She had generous hips that swayed gracefully when she walked. She was the owner of long shapely legs that tapered down to slender ankles. Her accent was intoxicating and was part of the package that included a dazzling white smile and a warm provocative laugh that came easily to her.

Sherri was a provocateur and exhibitionist. She flaunted her sexuality openly to Lucy's disapproval. But it was undeniable that she also possessed an IQ only surpassed by Lucy herself. Lucy wasn't sure what would win out: Sherri's desire to use her intellect or her need to feed her gratification. Sherri was currently working on two separate degrees at the same time.

Afterwards Lucy and I parted ways to catch up on some personal business. She went to her office to meet up with her accountant to go over the books. I went to check on the security guards manning the front entrance. There were several levels of security being used. First there was a buzzer at the entrance with a sign saying 'Guests Only. Visitors go to Main Office' and there was an arrow pointing towards the east end of the building where Lucy's office was situated. A camera at the entrance provided facial recognition capability which automatically opened the door. The entrance led into a twenty-foot hallway that was wired to a give off a low grade electromagnetic pulse designed to zap unwanted spirits but harmless to people. The security guards themselves were the third leg of the entrance security where the client was scanned for weapons, cameras, and any video equipment. Then they would go into a private lounge which served cocktails and await the hostess they had made an appointment with. Of course no security is fool proof especially if you're dealing with something you can't see. Lucy's office had a similar setup. Of course she had an added advantage of being psychic and was sensitive to hidden dangers. She also had the entire floor of her office rigged up like a stun gun to debilitate anyone not standing on the rubberized carpet behind her desk.

One of the security guards pulling the entrance door detail was Virgil. He spotted me first as I approached. He quickly was off his chair extending his hand in greeting. "Arch you son-of-a-gun. I refer you to this place and now they got me working for you. Ain't that a bitch. Of course if you hadn't saved my ass at the 'Oasis' I probably wouldn't be here right now." He turned to his partner who was a retired longshore man from San Francisco. "Phil say hello to the big cheese. Don't get him mad either. He took out five men at the strip club in three minutes flat."

I shook Phil's overly large hand. It was the hand of a man who labored all his life. I felt the quiet strength in them and knew that if I got into a fight he was someone I wanted watching my back. "Glad to meet you Phil. You worked here long?"

Phil said, "No I started working here same time as Virgil. So we're both part-time. I was also hired to replace you at the Oasis. There's another new feller but he's working right now."

Virgil laughed, "See that Arch, they needed two guys to replace you."

I turned to Phil and said, "You know Virgil was just exaggerating about me. There were only three guys because one guy ran and Virgil took one out by himself. "

Phil said, "Well, that must have been something to see!"

I got serious and looked at Virgil. "I know we're friends but are you going to have a problem with me calling the shots around here?"

Virgil held both hands up in the air and laughed. "No boss man, not me. You say jump and I'll say how high."

The front buzzer went off so I shook both men's hands again and told them to enjoy the rest of the day. A client came through the door and got mid-way towards us and orange sparks began arcing through the air behind him. The client reacted in fear and ran towards us. All three looked down the hall in puzzlement which now revealed nothing untoward. Of course the guards knew nothing yet about the unseen dangers we were facing. Their job was going to be mostly protecting against assaults from the physical entities. They all looked at me for some kind of explanation.

"Don't worry about that," I said. "That's just some kind of short in the wiring. I'll have it looked at." I sent a thought Lucy's way. "Lucy did you catch that?"

"Yeah Arch they're probing our defenses again by trying to get into the building."

I said, "How about that client that just walked in. You think he's clean now?"

Lucy said, "Try your hand at probing him Arch but I think the hallway did its job."

While the guards were scanning the client I did some scanning on my own and couldn't find anything. "I think he's ok, Lucy. I'll see you tonight."

Back To Top

# Chapter Eight

A **ccording to a number of writings, humans were given the power to choose their destiny.** Spirits were not, at least not as long as they were spirits. They were already pre-judged and accepted their fate at the hour of their death as humans. To be singularly still attracted to worldly things posed a danger to them because their focus was to continue gaining in grace through the sacrifice of spiritual tasks assigned to them. Each sacrificial tasks completed allowed them to grow in power and ascend ever higher into the next spiritual plane of existence. If a spirit chose anything it had to be something that would elevate them spiritually. There was forgiveness given to spirits while their host still lived to allow them to overcome bad decisions of the choices they made but that protection was gone once death occurred. A spirit turning down 'Original Spirit' status and choosing to remain in the worldly level strictly to remain attached to earthly concerns voluntarily or un-voluntarily meant for the most part that they had little chance of ever meeting their 'Maker'.

Rebecca had a problem regarding this because she thought more or her daughter than she did herself.

When 'Original spirits' choose a body to occupy they don't pick a host mentally incapacitated to the point they can't make choices or know the difference between right and wrong - there would be no point. The only reason this could happen would be if the spirit was once in a person who abused the handicapped. Then according to the law of Karma this would be a way for this wrong to be righted. But the evil spirits who were not bound by any rules except their own could possess an empty or weak vessel to further their own ends. Rebecca's daughter Isabel was such a vessel.

It happened one night while Rebecca was at Isabel's bedside watching her sleep. She was such a pretty girl and at thirteen Isabel showed promises of becoming an even more beautiful young woman. If you observed her from a distance she seemed like any other girl her age. She did have problems with walking while growing up but with therapy and Rebecca's dedication you couldn't detect the slight hitch to her walk unless you were looking for it. One of Isabel's gifts was her fiercely independent nature and she hated being depended on other people. She personally was more responsible for finally getting rid of her leg braces than anyone. When it was time for her appointment to receive therapy she insisted on being early. Often times sitting by the clinic door fifteen minutes before the therapist arrived. She would watch television for endless hours to watch people speak so she could improve her own speech. She still had problems with being touched or held by others but she used to make Rebecca hold her from behind for a few minutes every day so she could get used to it. She still had problems with enclosed spaces and walking through doorways but her mind was always working on how she could make herself better.

One night Rebecca didn't see the shimmering above Isabel at first but then it became more pronounced. It didn't stop until the spirit from Isabel's body had completely separated itself and was standing at the foot of the bed looking back at Isabel's sleeping form. Rebecca sensed this wasn't just someone having an out-of-body experience because she sensed that this spirit did not intend on returning.

Rebecca addressed the spirit. "Spirit why do you depart?"

"I am newly arrived but have already heard whisperings."

Rebecca said. "Does the whisperings concern your host?"

"Yes. Her life is threatened soon at the hands of another. I am not yet ready to face Azrael which I surely will if I stay in this body."

Rebecca said, "Spirit who threatens the life of this child?"

"Someone who is near but it will be at the behest of the evil ones."

Rebecca said. "Is this future set to happen? Why do you not take on the characteristics of this host?"

"No future is set. There can be many outcomes. Your daughter had not been fit to be a host so no 'Original Spirit' was birthed along with her when she was conceived but she has shown great promise. I can see her being blessed by a formless spirit who will become her in time. I am but a wandering spirit trying to satisfy a Karma debt. So I have no choice but to move on."

Rebecca said. "Spirit wait I need to know more?" But the spirit vanished from the room.

It was too much for Rebecca to bear. Then suddenly she heard Isabel speaking to her.

Isabel said, "Mother is that you?"

Isabel was sitting up in bed looking in her direction. Rebecca immediately made herself appear to be in her earthly form.

"Isabel how is it you can hear me? Can you see me as well?"

"Yes mother, I can do both? For the past few months I've been hearing and seeing things but attributed it to my autism and perhaps that's what it is after all. Though I didn't think any of it was real."

Rebecca said, "Oh baby how I've missed you. Will you let me hold you? Though I doubt you'll be able to feel me." Rebecca drew as much energy from the room as she could muster to get as solid as she could and put her arms around her daughter.

"Oh mom, I missed you so." Isabel held on to her mom crying.

Rebecca felt tremendous joy but couldn't express it in the normal way but her glowing inner light lit up the entire room. She sent out an urgent mental call to Lucy. Lucy was going over her ledger in her office when Rebecca's image popped into her mind and she seemed upset.

Lucy said, "Rebecca what's the matter?"

Rebecca immediately replayed the events that unfolded in the room. Lucy checked the clock on the wall and it was almost two in the morning.

Lucy said, "Hang on Rebecca. For her safety, Isabel needs to be here with us. I'll have to roust Arch out of bed and we'll come down and get her."

I was in the middle of a bad dream where I reported to a transport hangar for a mobility exercise. I was selected for a random check of my mobility bag and it contained 'civvies' instead of my field uniforms. The buzzer beside my bed went off and jolted me from my sleep. I heard Lucy's voice in my head.

"Arch we need to be on the road in three minutes. Isabel is in danger and we need to go get her and bring her back here. I'll meet you in the middle office so we can grab some fire arms."

I threw on some clothes and Lucy already had the armaments she wanted laying on the table.

Lucy said, "We'll take the Humvee in the garage."

We grabbed the weapons and we were on our way. It was a cool desert night with the temperature hovering in the forties. Lucy filled me in along the way.

I said, "What do you make of Isabel being able to see and hear her mother?"

Lucy said, "I really don't know Arch. Autistic people have various gifts that they amaze people with. Some say that all the discoveries of the modern world were accomplished by people who had some form of autism. Isabel's gifts are probably maturing right now. When we get back to 'The Station' Isabel and Grandma can stay in your room and you can stay with me. But we need to have a pow-wow immediately if not sooner."

"Lucy this is pretty suspicious, don't you think? The cave girl in my past was the same age as Isabel."

"Yes, I know. We're going to have to decide an approach. Do we hole up at 'The Station' waiting to get ambushed or do we go after whatever this thing is?"

I said, "We're kind of out there without knowing what is planned against us. What we need is someone we can interrogate but then we'd have to figure out how we're going to water-board a ghost."

"You know something Arch that's not a bad idea."

I said, "What? I was just joking."

"Listen," Lucy said. "You, Rebecca, and I need to pool our resources because somebody out there is playing host to this lunatic spirit. Even if we don't get him if we get one of his helpers that'll be good."

"But even if we get lucky and find someone, how do we make it talk?"

"Arch, remember when I said they were playing on our home-turf. What I meant was in our universe they are subject to the physical laws of our universe especially when they occupy the body of a person.

If we can hypnotize the host, we can also place the entity inside it in a trance because if it's attached to a human brain it can be hypnotized. I think it's worth a try because we don't have anything else."

"Lucy there was four people in the cave. I counted two orange flashes when I first drove into the garage. I believe there were two of them from that client we received yesterday morning. That should have been all of them but there's seems to be a lot more."

"I don't know Arch there are a lot questions and damn few answers. How many coy-wolves or whatever the hell those things are, were on the road that night?"

"At least a dozen Lucy but they're pack animals. All it takes is one to lead them."

"Yeah Arch, I could see that if they were tracking down some game but on a road in the middle of the night. I don't think so. They stayed put even when your car was right on top of them. Normally they would run when anything human came their way. It seems a bit screwy to me. Something ain't right here."

We drove on the rest of the way in silence. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. Rebecca's mother's house was just a couple of miles from town. She lived in a rural residential neighborhood typical of houses around Banshee that were a mix of shoe-box style houses and mobile homes. Lucy had me making left and right turns when we entered the neighborhood until we finally stopped in front of a small white clapboard house with a full covered porch in front with railings. We pulled up to the left of the steps going up the porch. There were no lights which was understandable if Rebecca was still inside.

Lucy sent out a mental probe towards the house. "Rebecca we're here. Are you and Isabel alright?"

Rebecca said, "Yes Lucy we're alright. My mother is also with us but she's not feeling too well."

Lucy said, "All right we're coming in."

We got out of the Hummer and looked around the area and saw nothing. We ran up the porch steps and let ourselves in. Isabel was sitting on the couch in the living room and her grandmother was nearby in her wheelchair. There was a small suitcase on the floor ready to go. Lucy began embracing someone I presumed to be Rebecca.

"Hi Arch." I heard Rebecca's voice in my head.

"Hi yourself," I responded. I turned to Lucy and said, "I'll carry Grandma and you bring Isabel." Just then there was a knock at the door.

I turned to Grandma and asked her if she was expecting anyone and she shook her head. There was no peephole so with Glock in hand I went to the door and said, "Who is it?"

"This is Chief Roark Arch, open up."

I looked at Lucy and she shrugged her shoulders to say she didn't know what was going on.

"Chief, what the hell are you doing up this early in the morning?"

"I could ask you the same question Arch, now open up."

I opened the door and the Chief was standing there and all five of his deputies were standing behind him. He stepped inside with hat in hand. I nodded towards Lucy. "I certainly don't have to introduce you to Lucy do I Chief? I'm here as her body guard and we're all here at the request of Grandma. So there's nothing untoward going on here so again I must ask what you're doing here?"

The Chief said, "I'm here to enforce a summons Arch for your arrest."

I said, "Are you kidding me? I haven't broken any laws here that I'm aware of."

"Maybe, maybe not but then I'm not the one who is pressing charges. Let's go."

"How about them?" I said looking at the frightened figures behind me.

"You're the only one he wants right now. We'll come back for them later." He told two of his deputies to stand outside the house and to not let anyone leave.

I said, "Who is this 'he' you're talking about?"

"You'll see, now get moving."

Rebecca said, "Lucy what are we going to do?"

Lucy said, "We'll just have to sit tight for right now. We have to trust that Arch will come up with something. If there's a way out of this he'll find it. He is able to do things now that are unbelievable. Rebecca you were in Arch's brain. Didn't you see anything unusual?"

"No, I was doing more close surface scanning than observing from afar."

"Well, his brain wasn't divided into two spheres. It was completely whole. There's an energy that falls constantly from the heavens. Most of us don't notice it but you can literally charge batteries with it if you knew how to rig it up. His brain is literally covered with receptors of some kind and it's lit up bright red around those receptors. Ever since we boosted his psyche his mind has been absorbing this energy at a tremendous rate. The other day he literally took my clothes off with his mind and then had mind blowing sex with me while all that time he was several feet away."

"Oh my." Rebecca thought.

"Yes, oh my." Lucy said.

Chief Roark had his men cuff me from behind. He apologized saying it was just protocol. They put me in the back of a police car with a deputy on each side of me. One drove and the Chief rode shotgun. I was wondering where Blake was but he was probably doing what all sane people were doing at this hour which was sleeping. The deputies let me out and walked on each side of me as we ascended the steps of the police station with the Chief and a deputy leading the way. They escorted me straight to the interrogation room where seated at the head of the table was Lieutenant Guy Sanders or as we used to call him LT.

"Surprised to see me Captain," he said with a smirk.

"Well LT as I live and breathe. How the hell are you? Or should I just call you Khalid?" The smirk left his face. "I also see you've been working on your English."

Khalid sneered, "That's what I hate about you Americans. You invade our country kill our women and children. You destroy everything then go home drink beer and make jokes."

I said, "First of all Khalid, your reasons for revenge are getting old not to mention ridiculous. You need to go back to your war organizers and tell them to come up with something better. Where's the LT Khalid? What have you done with him and the other men?"

The smirk came back. "We went into girl until the chopper going back to your camp. Accept for you, it was easy to do while men sleeping. Maybe we fail with you because you more fuck up on inside than look on outside." He started laughing at his own joke. "We drive your men crazy so they get kick out of service. We get together and now we here. We finally track you down."

I said, "I saw you in Ramstein. You spoke perfect English. You did not possess the LT then?"

"Yes I in him. But I control what he say in his voice. Otherwise my cover is lost. But you need to hear my voice now so you can appreciate more my revenge. Tonight you die. Everyone will die. My men are with me. Your men are with me. Who knows more about explosives than your men and my men." He started laughing hysterically. "We make pack with the demons Captain. I agree for them to take souls tonight in exchange for victory. So trial is over for you tonight Captain. I will execute you tonight and all those whores on the hill. We stole explosives from the mines Captain. You and the whores will die slow painful death like my men in the cave. At last I make you pay good. Here in village, your former comrades have set many explosives on timers. There will be many secondary explosions. People who escape the fires will be eaten by the wild dogs. Tonight I will send many people to hell. There will be standing room only." He started cracking up again.

I said, "What about the people I left at the house? What happens to them?"

Khalid said, "I kill them also what you think? I will show them mercy or something? I give them same mercy you give my men at the cave. They will die slow death just like my men. They will be given the same justice I give you and the whores."

I sent a thought out, "Lucy are you getting all this?"

Lucy answered, "Yes Arch. You know if you have some kind of a plan we could use it right about now?"

I said, "Look outside so I can see what's there."

Lucy went to every window throughout the house and the place was now surrounded by snarling animals. Suddenly Lucy said, "Hold on Arch something is happening."

Lucy had come back into the living room where the family had gathered. There was a shimmering green light forming slowly next to Isabel. It solidified enough so you could tell it was the figure of an old woman.

Lucy said, "Rebecca who is that?"

"That's Isabel's Doula or Indian nanny. She helped me after Isabel was born and stayed with us for about a year until my husband ran her off. She grew quite found of Isabel. I never realized she died."

The Indian spirit was saying something to Isabel." Then she disappeared.

Rebecca said, "Isabel what did she say?"

"I'm not sure Mom", Isabel said. "But it sounded like she was going to get help."

Lucy said, "Well she probably meant well but it's past two in the morning. Anybody who even wakes up and sees her would probably think they're dreaming and go back to sleep. What do you think Arch?"

I said, "Well it certainly is a strange turn of events. But right now we have other things to worry about. Our collective rumps are in a sling and they are going to start the party by slaughtering everyone in town. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to defeat these monsters without also killing the good guys who are temporarily possessed by them."

A series of explosions began rocking the stillness of the night and the screaming and the blood curdling howls could be heard well into the distance. The genocide of an entire town had already begun.

I said, "Khalid you murdering bastard." Why don't you just kill me? I'm the one you wanted your revenge on, remember?"

"No I want very slow death for you. I want it should last weeks or longer. It will give you time to think about the great sins to my country you and your people have done. But I give word to demons I would give to them many souls. Tonight wild dogs and demons will feast on the blood of my enemies."

"I hate to rain on your parade pal but it was your government that fucked over you and your people. As far as the war was concerned we were both pawns serving others. I followed orders from my government and you from whatever special interest you represented. But instead of fighting like two warriors fighting man-to-man you and your friends fought like cowards hiding behind women and children. You killed many of my men but I'm not the one running all over the world trying to get revenge. I really do think you have some kind of hormone problem, you know that Khalid? You're acting more like a vengeful bitch on the rag than a real man. Now that you've lost your balls for all eternity can't you just let 'bygones-be-bygones'."

"Again you talk with shit on the shoulder. You American pig. You make jokes till the end so maybe I cut your women in pieces in front of you what you think? Let's see if you are cocky when the streets turn red with the blood of the people. You think this is joke. Maybe you have big laugh when you see throats ripped out and children eaten alive." He turned to the Chief and said. "Put him in car. We give the Captain a village death tour. Bring one deputy. Send other deputies to help kill people. Finally my hour has come. Revenge is mine. The Infidels fall on their knees before me."

It was a terrible sight. Hundreds of people lay dead on the streets. Houses and Trailers alike were on fire with doors blown open by external and internal explosions. People were running around in the streets being pulled down and ripped apart by the coyote creatures from hell. The coy-wolves were everywhere in a killing frenzy. The sounds of slaughter, explosions, and screams of terror were everywhere. Khalid stopped by three figures at the side of the road rigging up explosives. They were dressed up in desert camouflage and I immediately recognized my men. They looked at me but it was more like looking through me and they showed no signs they even recognized me. They had set up the whole five- mile wide residential neighborhood to go off about the same time. The explosives they were currently working on were no doubt for 'The Station'. Khalid told them they had an hour then they were to start heading for Lucy's place on the hill. He wanted the whole hillside above 'The Station' to come down on top of it. He said he was going to get some more infidels and would meet them over there. But they were to have the explosives rigged up to explode by the time he arrived.

I sent a message to Lucy to get ready because we were headed for the house.

Lucy said, "Arch, Rebecca's mom isn't doing too good. I think all this excitement has been too much for her. We need to get her to a doctor. Rebecca and Isabel are with her now."

I said, "I don't know Lucy. All hell is breaking loose right now. When we get the Hummer we'll have to find a doctor and bring him with us. Do you know where her doctor lives?"

"Yes but we would have to swing back into town because he lives right above his office which is right next to the police station."

"Well I can't promise anything Lucy we'll have to see what the situation is going to be like. Our estimated time of arrival to the house is in three minutes. You got that."

She said, "Yes, Arch."

Grandma's house was fast approaching. The white clapboard sides were bright in the moon light. Coy-wolves formed a ring around the house pacing back and forth and occasionally attacking each other.

The Hummer was parked, where I left it, to the left of the front porch as we approached and a couple of the beasts were sitting on the hood. Khalid pulled up directly in front of the porch. When he got out of the police car the coy-wolves re-treated further back away from the house. Some sat, some were lying down but all eyes were on him for his next command. The Chief crawled out from the back seat with his gun drawn. He and the deputy grabbed my arms and we followed Khalid into the house. They didn't notice my handcuffs slipping to the ground. Isabel and Lucy were next to the sofa where they had put Grandma. She looked weak and frightened but still alive. Lucy had given her, her nitroglycerin pills to get more blood to her heart but it did little for her pain.

Lucy said, "Chief, this woman needs a doctor. She's in terrible pain."

Khalid said, "I have something for her pain." He turned to the Chief and said. "Shoot old woman."

Suddenly all three men were grabbing at their throats because I had them in a mental choke hold by restricting their lungs from getting air and their brains from getting blood. The Chief and the deputy fell to the floor immediately. Khalid was fighting it. He didn't know what was happening. He just knew his gig was up. The air shimmered around the LT's body as he was falling and stepping away from his body was the transparent image of the animal that had jumped on the hood of my car a few nights ago. Looks like Khalid had made a pact with demons and was given the power to transform himself into a Lycan, a shapeshifting werewolf like creature. Only according to legends a Lycan was a much more powerful version of a werewolf. His eyes filled with hate as he looked back at me and then vanished through the front door as he sprinted from the room. I looked at the figures on the floor and told Lucy there was no need to tie them up.

Lucy said, "Won't the evil scum inside these guys try to leave, Arch?"

I said, "No I don't think so. I put them in a dream state. Right now they think they're in heaven interviewing virgins to join their harems and they'll stay dreaming until I shake their hand. So even if Khalid tries to communicate with them it will take a physical contact on my part to awaken them from their trance." I looked outside and the hairy fiends were still out there. We had to get out soon. Right now we were still alive because Khalid wanted us to die a certain way. Plus he was probably trying to figure out what kind of magic I pulled to get the best of him. But if he loses his patience, he could order his pack of mutts to enter into the house via a kamikaze charge right through the windows. I was still untested in my new found abilities. I didn't know if I could handle wave after wave of these critters coming at us from all sides trying to rip us to shreds.

"Rebecca, Are you there", I said.

I was still looking out the window and something made me turn. Rebecca was behind me and I was able to see her. She was transparent but had taken on her human form. "You can see me Arch, she said?"

"Yes Rebecca I can. I feel myself changing by the hour and my mental clarity is the first thing I'm noticing getting sharper but we can talk about me later. Is there a way we can get up on the roof?"

"Well yes I believe so. Mother had a satellite dish put in but she also had the workers put in an access door to the roof up in the attic for an easy way to get to it for maintenance."

Lucy said, "Aren't we just prolonging our situation by stranding ourselves on the roof, Arch?"

"No." I said. "We're going to put that Hummer on the roof where they can't get to us. We're all getting into it and then we're all going to get the hell out of here." There was a stunned silence behind me.

Lucy said, "Arch you know how much I believe in you but I mean. How much does that thing weigh?"

I said, "Oh, I don't know it's a 1990 H2 one of the bigger models. It's maybe eight thousand plus pounds or about 3-tons. But we won't know unless we try, right? Besides I have a feeling that in a few minutes we're going to be neck-deep in coyotes if we don't vamoose out of here. I put Lucy in charge of re-hypnotizing the three men on the floor to get them to rise and follow us on the roof. I went first levitating Grandma behind me up to the attic. We had to pull the attic stairs down and Isabel held on to Grandma's feet so she could levitate through the attic door head first. Isabel had to do it again going through the access door to the roof top. I set Grandma down and Isabel sat beside her. I waited for the three men to get up on the roof and had them lie down. I helped Lucy up then went back to the attic to make sure the stair case was pulled up and inaccessible. I looked down at the ground and howls split the night air when they spotted us. We heard the breaking glass below us as they immediately charged into the house. I looked around to see where to set the car. The roof's pitch was one of the lowest allowed for this area about four inches or so, so it wasn't going to be a problem. I'd just hang the wheels on each side of the roof's apex to make sure it didn't go anywhere until we climbed in.

I said, "Lucy, Rebecca hold on to my shoulders. I'll need to draw upon your energies." But then I also felt Isabel's thin arms wrapping around my waist from behind. I smiled in Lucy's direction then reached out to the Hummer below. It actually began coming up easier than I imagined but several of those furry mutts were still on the hood and I had to tip the car forward to slide them off. Then I felt resistance and the vehicle was being pulled back to the ground. It had to be Khalid. He was still a little woozy from the choking but I felt his power. I sent a bolt of energy directly into his brain and saw him fall over on the ground. The Hummer came up easily after that and I set it down a few feet from us and we were in business. We put the Chief and the LT in the third row seats and the deputy in the cargo space. Lucy rode shotgun and Isabel, and Grandma was strapped in behind us. Rebecca hitched a ride inside Lucy. One seat space was available for the doctor. I looked up and saw clouds starting to hide the moon. I needed as much dark as I could get. The wait was difficult but necessary. I had them place a hand on me this second time and I sent the Hummer floating up off the roof and away from town. The howling pack followed. Then I sent the Hummer soaring higher until it was cloaked in cloud-enhanced darkness hundreds of feet above the ground. I spent a few minutes going the same direction then tried swinging the Hummer in the opposite direction. That's when the vehicle plunged abruptly down towards the ground. Isabel's deafening screams filled my ears. The next thing I know she had undone her seat belt and was behind me with her arms wrapped around my neck in a choke hold. I had my attention riveted to keeping the vehicle afloat so I couldn't get her off me. I felt myself starting to black out. I sent an emergency thought out. "Lucy, Rebecca, help me. Get her off me." Rebecca left Lucy's body and entered Isabel to try to calm her. Lucy had grabbed one of Rebecca's wrists pulling it away from my throat. Then I felt her in my brain giving it a boost. The vehicle came to an abrupt halt in midair and then I was able to bring it down in a controlled descent until it touched down on the street next to the house. I was mentally drained so Lucy got behind the wheel and we sped off towards town.

The carnage was everywhere. We were dodging bodies on the road and watched the houses engulfed in flames as we raced towards town. I figured by the time we made it back to the 'The Station' most of the town's population would have already been wiped out. The only thing in our favor was the danger had already passed through the town proper and hopefully the coyotes were still looking for the Hummer in the opposite direction from where we were. We pulled up to the Dr. Burk's office and I ran up the stairs to his living quarters calling his name. He came out of his closet holding a revolver. I grabbed an empty suitcase and we got as much of his medical supplies inside of it that we could. I made a quick stop to the 'Oasis' but found it a gruesome mess. The door to my old room was broken down and Janie, Casey and a couple of other girls were huddled at a corner of the room where they sought cover and they had been partly eaten. I ran out of there vomiting along the way.

Lucy said, "Arch, are you all right? Do you want me to drive?"

I said, "Thanks Lucy but I got it." I sent the Hummer barreling out of town towards 'The Station'. I explained what we needed to do. First we needed to get into the garage. We needed to see what kind of information we could get from one of the captives in the car. I figured if we saw my other men on the road we would have to somehow trick them into entering the garage as well where we could kill the entities inside them. I only got a couple of miles out of town but then quickly pulled over to the shoulder with the lights off. "Rebecca", I thought. "Are you here with us?"

She said, "Yes Arch I am."

"I feel a presence on the road just ahead. See who it is."

Rebecca hovered over the road and less than a mile further spotted my former Marines in a pickup truck with its lights off and the entire bed of the truck filled with what looked like explosives with Carlin mine labels on the boxes. Lucy came back to inform us. Lucy and I got the Chief and his men out of the vehicle along with the LT. I re hypnotized them and had the LT up front driving with the Chief on the passenger side. The deputy was in the third row seat and the rest of us in the middle. I was right behind the LT but I had control of him and the Chief. We caught up with the pickup which was now blocking the road ahead. My former Marines were out of the truck and pointing AR-15 fully automatic assault rifles in our direction. Then they saw who was driving and one of them came over. I took over the LT's speech mechanism and told the corporal we were headed to the building but they were to follow us inside because there was a change in plans. They allowed us to go on through and followed close behind.

I thought, "Lucy, do you have the garage remote?"

She said, "Yes, Arch."

I said, "Ok we'll have to do this by the numbers. You open the garage doors. We'll wait for the pickup to pull in beside us. I'll put them to sleep. Grab your box of cable ties and I'll help you tie them. Then we'll need to put one of these guys on the table and see what kind of information we can get out of him. Ok?"

The pickup had just pulled up beside the Hummer in the garage when I had them all grabbing at their throats as I slowly choked them into unconsciousness. The corporal was the only one whose hands we tied in front because we needed him face up. We dragged him to the examining table at the end of the garage and laid him on his back. I told Lucy since he was already in a state of slumber she could re hypnotize him and the spirit inside him. In the meantime I was going to crank up the turbines below to prepare for the cleansing process. All of us had to sit through this treatment to ensure we were all clean. I moved the pickup with the explosives outside and shut the garage doors. Then I rejoined Lucy. In a monotone voice the spirit inside the corporal was saying they planned on destroying all human life in the towns, cities, and reservations in every county throughout the state and would keep going until there were no Americans left alive. They intended to start with our building and kill everyone inside.

I said, "Lucy I've heard enough. Let's line these guys up on the garage floor. We'll sit in the vehicles. We then laid the Chief, the deputy, the LT and his men side by side in the middle of the garage floor. I said that Rebecca would have to go inside the building." Lucy opened up an electrical panel on the wall. Set a timer for three minutes and pushed a couple of buttons and then we headed for the Hummer. Isabel and Grandma were still inside strapped in their seats.

Since we had no time to fully reprogram the computer with individual vibration patterns we set it to a general scan. The success in the operation depended on the scanners detecting the wave length or vibration in the brain that was unlike the ones in surrounding tissue. Than the computers would flood it with different wave signals to try to change their vibration pattern. The entity would have to detach if it didn't want to lose its identity. Upon leaving the body it would collide with the low-grade positrons a form of anti-matter being hurled back and forth by magnetic shields in the garage. While the spirit itself wouldn't be destroyed per say it would be in so many neutralized pieces it would no longer have an identity. The resulting tiny explosions would also produce gamma rays that would damage some human tissue but would just be little more than sun burns.

After it was over, we checked the men and they were still in a hypnotic induced slumber so we left them on the garage floor. We brought Isabel, Grandma, and the doctor inside the building where Rebecca was waiting on us. We situated them in my room where the doctor could attend to Grandma. Lucy, Rebecca, and I retired to the meeting room to have a quick powwow. Lucy reminded me that the pickup with the explosives was still sitting outside so I brought it back in and secured the door of the garage. Lucy was sitting down at the table nursing a hot cup of coffee and had a cup waiting for me.

Lucy said, "We're not only in deep shit Arch but the world itself is going to be in deep shit and they just don't know it yet."

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost three thirty in the morning. "What time is sunrise Lucy?"

She said, "Between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., Arch."

I said, "Well we only have a few hours to save the world. Anyone have any ideas?"

Rebecca said, "How many of those critters do you all think is out there?"

"Well," I thought. "Probably as far as the eye can see and that's probably just for starters. But we need to get started. Rebecca I hate to put you in danger like this but can you go on a reconnaissance mission for me? Right now, you're the only one able to do it."

"Sure Arch. What do you want me to do?"

"I need for you to scan the area from here to town and let me know what's going on at the moment."

Lucy and Rebecca went up the elevator to the roof but were coming back minutes later. Rebecca was still with her. "Arch", Lucy said. "You need to come up to the roof with us."

"What for Lucy?"

She said, "Just come Arch, hurry."

We headed for the elevator just a few feet past the garage entrance. As I passed the glass doors to the garage I could still see the men out there still on the floor. I made a mental note to wake them up when I came back down. The elevator cage was constructed of glass panels like you see in some malls and in it we spotted Isabel headed up to the roof. Rebecca started going after her but Lucy stopped her reminding her she had to take shelter in a human form so Rebecca obliged her. Lucy began punching the elevator button impatiently until it made its slow way back down to us. We were making our way back to the top when a bright green glow began filling the elevator's interior. We stepped out of the elevator and out of the protective cage around it to the roof-top outside. The whole roof area was bathed in luminescent green. And so was the sky. It was like a northern light show above us. It lit up the entire valley with an undulating luminescent green with streaking bands of blue and red. Isabel was standing on the far end of the roof holding the ghostly hand of the Doula her former Indian nanny. Rebecca rushed out of Lucy's body and joined them taking Isabel's other hand and all three of them were looking up and out towards the valley. From beneath the moving shimmering glow in the sky dark clouds emitting thunder and lightning was rolling slowly in from all directions. Strong gusts of air began pushing us first one way then the other. Then wonder of all wonders ghostly forms of long dead warrior spirits of the Indian nations began riding out of the clouds on their phantom horses by the tens of thousands. All were dressed for battle with feathers and war paint. Fleeting about the valley making unearthly sounds were other ghostly figures with powerful wings. Thunder shook the building and lightning flashed all around. If this wasn't the end of the world perhaps it was a preview to what it would be like. In the far distance their numbers so massive that we could make out their dark evil forms and incessant howling were the demon possessed coy-wolves. The howling from the black moving mass picked up by the wind got even louder as the hounds of hell started moving swiftly in our direction.

Lucy called out, "Rebecca get Isabel back here."

Rebecca looked in our direction, hugged the Doula and thanked her for bringing back help, and both she and Isabel hurried back towards us. I looked at the former nanny who was standing there looking out towards the valley.

I said, "Rebecca, how come a nanny has this much pull that she can call the heavens down on top of all of us?"

She said, "She's not just a nanny Arch. She was considered a great medicine woman whose reputation was known throughout the Indian nations. She was known for many miracles in her day."

I said, "Then we are all indebted to her. If what we're seeing is not a miracle, I don't know what is."

She said, "This fight is no longer just between us and the evil ones from your past, Arch. The demons from hell somehow got involved and broke some cardinal rules set at the beginning of time that humans were off-limits from direct attacks from hell. Oh we hear people being possessed here and there but when two thousand people are slaughtered in one night, well that can't be ignored by either the Creator or the Ruler of Hell. It would bring about unwanted attention that neither of them wants. The balance has to be restored and it will be tonight."

I said, "Not that I'm complaining but the evil spirits weren't the ones who were butchering all the people in Banshee."

She said, "The demons thought that as well Arch but they forget that animals on their own were not given a conscience. They kill to eat and to protect young ones. They mostly act on instinct. If they act otherwise, it would be because they were directed to do so as it was in this case. So that makes the demons themselves responsible for the killing of all the people in town and so they knowingly or unknowingly broke the law.

I asked, "How does this all fit in with the Prophesy of Tribulation in Revelations?"

She said, "It doesn't. Satan is probably just as surprised about this attack as anybody. This is not his style. In fact, it will probably interfere with the Prophecy of how he comes to power. Just as God has never appeared to the masses neither has Satan but as you may notice keeping their constituents in line is not easy for either one of them. Right now, demons mostly exist in people's imaginations and Satan wants to keep it that way at least for now. But now that Khalid has stirred up the children of darkness into a killing frenzy, he may have possibly preempted the plans of the two most powerful beings in existence. This could happen when the world wakes up later and starts asking questions."

The building began shaking now along with the tremors felt throughout the whole valley. The legion of ghostly-warriors was all on the ground now completely surrounding the dark shapes moving swiftly along the valley floor. Rebecca said they were past warriors of the Shoshone, Washoe, Paiute, and Hualapai tribes of the region and they were ready to engage in an epic battle to protect their land from the demonic horde. The shaking of the earth got stronger and a fissure began to open up in the hardened lava bed that made up the valley floor. It was directly in front of the advancing snarling beasts. The Indian warriors surrounding the beasts wouldn't let them run anywhere except forward."

She said, "Arch you'll probably never see something like this ever again."

I said, "I know. This is so unreal and it's something I'll never forget."

Rebecca said, "That's not what I mean, Arch. This is probably the only time you're ever going to see Hell and Heaven cooperating with each other. Look in the shadows at the far end of the chasm. It is Satan himself."

I felt the hairs at the back of my neck rising and a chill coming over me with the thought that the 'Beast' himself was actually in our presence. But I couldn't make out anything accept perhaps a shape that seemed darker than the surrounding shadows. But the shadow almost encompassed the whole hill on that side of the valley. But the shaking was getting more violent now as the opening in the earth grew into a yawning chasm. Rocks from the butte behind us began hitting the roof and rolling and bouncing over the edges of the building to the ground below.

I said, "Lucy, get Isabel back in the building. It's getting too dangerous up here." Lucy grabbed Isabel's hand and ran to the elevator and hit the button to bring it up. Rebecca stayed on the roof with me. Someone was coming up on the elevator. It opened and Doctor Burk stepped out.

Lucy said, "Dr. Burk, is Rebecca's mom ok?"

Dr. Burk said, "Oh, she's fine I just wanted to know what was going on up here."

Lucy said, "You need to go back down with us right now. It's getting too dangerous staying on the roof."

He said, "I'll just be a minute. You all go ahead."

Lucy said, "Ok don't say you weren't warned." She got on the elevator with Isabel and both disappeared down into the building.

Dr. Burk walked out to the roof's edge and said, "My, my, This, I did not anticipate."

I walked behind him and said, "What was it that you didn't anticipate, Khalid?"

Khalid said, "I under estimate you Captain. You are full of surprises. He stood there with his hands clasped behind his back rocking on the balls of his feet. "It looking like you have powerful friends but so do I. I am here to escort you to the gates of Hell where my friends have prepared a special welcome for you." He turned to face me. "But time is short. You come with me now."

I said, "You don't know the half of it Khalid. Both eternal friend and foe are here to clean up your act. You've fucked up Khalid and now neither side is on your side. You should have stayed buried in that cave."

He said, "Captain, I would be willing to face many life times of torture in Hell for chance to rip head from your body."

I said, "First, I just want to know how you happen to be inside the good doctor's body?"

"Sure why not. I was in pickup truck with the explosives, Captain. You removed it from the garage before your light show. Then you drive it back in garage afterwards. Very foolish on your part."

"Well," I said. "Thanks for the info but now it's time for you to go to sleep. Then I started to put Khalid in a choke hold. He staggered about the rooftop outside clutching at his throat. I felt him starting to black out when a large rock from the butte behind me bounced off the roof and hit a glancing blow to the side of my head. A direct blow would have cracked my head like an egg shell. I dropped to the roof-top and laid there half-conscious. I was trying to keep from totally blacking out. I called out to Lucy. I lost my grip on Khalid and he saw I was helpless. He sprang out of the doctor in his Lycan wolf form with such force that the doctor fell backwards over the edge of the building to his death below. The demons gave Khalid the power of shape shifting so he was not just a spirit in a wolf's body he was in essence the physical being that he transformed himself into. He covered the ground between us in mere seconds. He leaped at my helpless form and his fangs were inches from my throat when a blast of double aught buckshot from a shotgun sent him sprawling across the rooftop. Lucy was just coming out of the elevator. She stood between me and the creature.

"Arch, Arch," she pleaded. "Get up. I can't hold it off much longer." I could feel her mind melding with mine bringing me back from the brink of oblivion. "Please Arch get up."

The creature charged again more prepared for the force of the blast from the shotgun. He leaped at Lucy and she fired again. He staggered but kept coming. This time her weapon dropped down to the rooftop as she collapsed on top of me. Her presence in my mind vanished but it had helped to revive me. I quickly looked to locate the beast. The Lycan stood a few feet away. It had Lucy's bloodied head in its jaws.

I heard a heart wrenching cry from Rebecca. I sat there on the rooftop looking at the whole reason for my existence in the terrible jaws of that creature. I hadn't realized how much she meant to me until that precise moment. I raised a trembling hand slowly above my head and then clenched it into a tight fist-of-rage. A blinding white light began emanating from inside my closed hand. My fist trembled as if my hand could no longer hold back the power building up inside it. I opened my hand and a blinding light lit up the roof-top and the darkness changed from night to day. And there within the confines of the roof-top time suddenly stood still. The rocks and stones falling on the roof were suspended in mid-air. Time only stood still for my three-dimensional world but the Lycan was in that world and was now trapped and motionless as well. I put Lucy's body gently aside and straightened her up. I slowly rose and approached the Lycan. I gently pried Lucy's head from its jaws. I sank down on the rooftop staring down unbelievingly at the decapitated head of my mentor and companion.

"Oh my God Lucy," I murmured. "I'm so sorry." It was still dawning on me that she was gone forever. All my powers couldn't save her. "Dammit it Lucy. You should have stayed away. But you had to rescue me again didn't you?" The wind picked up. I could hear the wailing of a Banshee in the far distance.

I held on to her and looked towards the distant mountains unaware of what was happening around me. I don't know how long I sat there. The appearance of the Doula standing in front of me startled me back to reality. Rebecca was standing behind her with her hands covering her face. She couldn't express her grief in the normal way but I felt the pain she was going through.

The Doula touched my shoulders and said, "Arise warrior you must make haste. You must go below before the sun shows its face upon the land. The Great Spirits say when the sun rises in the east no evidence of tonight's folly shall be permitted to remain."

I got to my feet. I levitated the Lycan's motionless form above my head and in a single motion sent it flying overhead in a high arc above the valley. Hundreds of celestial arrows looking like shooting stars flew skyward from the valley floor piercing and ripping through its body. When it started to descend a formless figure with mighty wings caught it by the tail and sped towards the fissure. I thought the evil creature Khalid would be hurled into it to join his pack of demons but the winged spirit suddenly veered toward the boulder strewn hill at the far end of the fissure. It released the Lycan and the creature plummeted to the ground. A large, clawed hand suddenly came out from the shadows to snatch the falling creature from the air and both disappeared from sight.

There were a few minutes of silence as the last of the coy-wolves were swept into the rift. The Indian warriors that ringed the valley began moving now down towards the edge of the fissure. Smoke began spewing out of the opening followed by spitting showers of molten lava. The rising lava began flowing out, boiling and splattering its contents in all directions. It filled the gap and continued pouring out but headed in only one direction. It flowed steadily towards the town of Banshee in a growing rising river of molten rock. The rumbling sounds being created were deafening as tremors shook the earth and swirling gusts of heated air sent showers of sparks skyward. The valley was filled with the stench of sulfur as the burning, glowing mass of earth and rock flowed along the ground burying and incinerating everything in its path. The Indian spirits stayed where they were with the forming lake of lava passing through them and the ghostly war horses they were riding.

I asked, "What's happening Rebecca?"

She said, "Arch by sunrise you're not going to see any evidence of what happened today. All the bodies, buildings, and roads will be entombed under a sea of lava. It is an attempt to fulfill the requirements of the divine divide to set things back to neutral. The headlines tomorrow will simply say that a freak volcanic activity buried the town of Banshee under tons of lava and ashes. No one will try to dig for survivors because no one is expected to have survived."

"Why are the Indian spirits staying?'

"They were directed that not one evil soul from this ordeal was to be left on the worldly plane to influence any other spirits so they'll stay until the fissure is closed."

"What about the demon spirits that fell into that trench?"

"Believe me Arch. It's bad enough being in hell but if there's a faith worse than that, that's what they're going to experience."

I said, "What about possible survivors in town like Blake?"

She said, "If there were anyone in town that survived, neither demons nor angels could afford to have them live, Arch. But for our peace of mind I can do a fly-over without notice. You can't see them but there's a ton of angels represented here and they won't notice one more flying around. This won't take long. If there's anyone alive out there that information would be instantly passed to all the spirits in this valley and I would pick up on it."

"Ok, but be careful."

Less than ten minutes later Rebecca was back. "There was nothing Arch. The critters did a thorough job of making sure no one lived."

I said, "If it was so important to cover everything up why would they let us live, Rebecca? It would be so convenient for them to have a hole open up and swallow this building. That way there'd be no witnesses to any of it."

Rebecca said, "I thought of that also Arch. Why don't you go downstairs and do what you need to do to ensure there were no witnesses from downstairs. Meanwhile I'll try to contact the Doula to see if your faith, as-well-as the faith of the others in the building, are hanging in the balance. I'll keep watch up here and let you know if anything changes. The fact that you haven't been erased already tells me they're not ready to kill you just yet."

I said, "Well, that certainly makes me feel a whole lot better. Ok, Rebecca thanks." As I made my way below, I thought of all my options but there was only one viable one and that was to ensure no one remembered the last several hours.

Suddenly Rebecca appeared in my mind. "I have some news Arch. The powers that be can't afford to have a repeat of this incidence ever so they want you to help put down any similar activities that may crop up in the future. You will have great leeway, authority, and powers from both sides of the divide to accomplish this. You will be called to any part of the universe if they or you become aware of anything brewing being instigated by heaven or hell."

"Well, Rebecca you tell the Doula or whoever you're talking to that I don't accept. This kind of responsibility is a little bit beyond my pay grade. The wings and horns set needs to duke it out on their own."

"Ok, Arch but you won't like the alternative."

"What alternative, Rebecca?"

"Well you know that giant fissure in the middle of the valley floor?'

"Yes. What about it?"

She said, "Well if you don't accept the offer, the entire building that you happen to be standing in at the moment will be ripped from its foundation and will be dropped down into that giant hole in the ground. Right now the entire town is under a bed of lava and the closing of the fissure is awaiting your answer. Also anyone who even speaks of this event unless it's in the context of your new duties will instantly be erased from existence. Remember when I'm done speaking the very next words that come from your mouth has to be either yes or no. I would suggest that you don't even try to clear your throat before you answer."

I said, "Yes. Tell them hell yes. I agree to do it already." I looked at my watch. It was almost sun rise. I heard a great rumbling and the building shook like it did before. The fissure was closing. I didn't have time to do a one on one on everybody. I went to the storage area where the doctor's supplies were kept and pulled out a tank of general anesthesia gas. I had to make sure everyone was zonked out. I placed it by the air vent that reached every part of the building and let the gas escape into the intake vent.

I heard Rebecca's voice, "Arch. You might end up killing someone."

I said, "You heard the ultimatum Rebecca. Unless we can keep a lid on what happened here they'll be as good as dead anyway. But don't worry I'm monitoring it. I wanted them to be dazed just enough so that they could be susceptible to suggestion." After about five minutes I closed the valve on the tank. I opened up the intercom to each room and in hypnotic soothing voice performed a mass hypnotic induction exercise. Gary was in Sherri's room. The other guard was sleeping with Dehavia. I was going to need to kick some asses about them not being on the job. Of course if they had been doing their job they would have seen everything. I went to the garage and levitated all five men who were still in a trance down the hall where the girls lived and deposited them with a girl apiece. After cutting their bonds, I had to remove their clothing which was made easier while they were floating in the air. I slipped them all under the blankets. I put the Chief with his girl-friend. I already set the scene in their heads that they had fallen asleep with the girls and knew nothing of what occurred in the wee hours. Of course the Chief had some explaining to do about where he was but I could back him up with whatever he came up with. I waited until the sun started spilling some of its rays upon the valley floor then I hooked up the pickup with the explosives to the back of the Hummer. I brought Lucy's body down from the roof and wrapped all of her in sheets and placed her in the Hummer. I found the doctors body and threw him in the pickup. I dumped the pickup with the explosives in a side canyon, doused it in gasoline and put a ten minute timer on it to blow up the truck and its contents.

I buried Lucy's body at the bottom of a hill and set off some explosives I had saved to send boulders crashing down on top of her grave site. This way it would keep the animals from trying to get at her body. I drew a large heart in the sand near her grave with her name in it and headed for the Hummer. Before climbing in I looked back and the wind was already blowing her sand tribute away.

Rebecca suddenly appeared beside me. "Are you ok Arch?"

I said, "Yes I guess I am."

Rebecca said, "I'm going to stay here a few minutes Arch to see if I can reach her spirit. I'll see you back at the building."

I told Rebecca I would see her later and headed back to 'The Station'. I heard the explosives from the pickup go off ensuring that the last vestige of a battle that left no winners was permanently erased. I ensured no one remembered. I alone bore that burden.

I went back out on the roof to the edge of the roof line that commanded a view of the valley. The lava on the floor of it was still red hot sending sulfuric smoke up in the air. You wouldn't even have known that just a few hours ago cayuse reigned supreme out there. The hills behind me were still holding off the rising sun behind them and keeping most of the valley floor below in shadow. In the far distance I could hear the faint sounds of sirens from emergency vehicles and fire trucks racing towards Banshee.

I heard Rebecca behind me, "What's going to become of us Arch?"

I said, "Well there's no longer a town. I suspect the girls won't stay. Your Mom and Isabel are homeless. I'm not sure of anything right now Rebecca. Have any luck trying to make contact with Lucy?"

Rebecca said, "No but if there was a way for her to make contact with us you know she would. You know Lucy put you in her 'Will' Arch. She left everything to you."

I said, "What? When did she do that?"

"It was that day you and her had that interview with Blake. She was headed back here that day but her intuition told her she needed to legally give you ownership. So she headed to Elko and filed the 'Will' with the Elko County Court House. There's a copy of it in her room."

I said, "Wow. She must have had a premonition but never said anything. She was the planner in this operation you know? I was just the soldier following orders. She was the kind of person you'd follow into battle because you trusted her judgment. She was the kind of person that would stand by you against all odds. She put every one's welfare ahead of her own you know. I owe her my life. What a woman. I'm going to miss her."

"We both will Arch."

"Rebecca?"

"Yes Arch."

"Do you think that she'll come back to us as a spirit just as you did?"

"It's hard to say Arch. Some of it depends on how much Karma she has to make up for. She has done a lot of good things especially in the end. But there were also moments she was not proud of like problems with her parents, her husband who left her, and other things she may have done that we don't know about. We don't know where her life was in the balance. It also depends on what she agrees to on the last choice she is given. Will she choose to be on earth for all eternity or will she opt for the stars."

I said, "Well I don't know how the great beyond is going to judge her but to me she was a kind gentle soul who looked after her girls and in the end willingly gave up her own life in a heroic attempt to save mine. That has to count for something."

Rebecca said, "One more thing Arch she got with Mom and also made you a co-legal guardian of Isabel should something happen to Mother. Do you mind?"

"No I don't mind Rebecca. I'm honored to do it."

The sounds of the sirens were louder now. News and Police helicopters were circling a smoldering blackened area where the town of Banshee used to be. I could see plumes of dust in the distance on the road leading to 'The Station' and it was getting closer.

I said, "Well a very curious world approaches. I need to go back down and prepare for them. But there's one more thing Rebecca."

"What's that Arch?"

"Well I know you were Lucy's best friend. You stood with her to the end. You also were always right there beside me through all this. I want to thank you for that. Lucy and I couldn't have done it without you."

"You're sweet to say that Arch. Thank you. You don't know how much I wished I was in human form right now to give you a hug." I suddenly felt a reassuring-warmth throughout my body. "There Arch I don't know if you felt that but it's the best I can do."

I said, "Rebecca will you be staying? I don't know if I can stand losing two friends within days of each other."

"I have been allowed to watch over Isabel so I can stay at least as long as she needs me. After that I don't know what happens.

"That's a relief Rebecca. I've been given some remarkable powers but you and Lucy kept me grounded and were supporting of me when I was feeling the most vulnerable. So I would appreciate your help for however long you can be around."

I turned and gave a last look out towards the valley. The vehicles coming our way were within sight and their flashing lights were visible. I didn't know what the future held but the problems of the present had to be addressed first. After that there would be plenty of time to assess the future. I turned and walked to the elevator. I felt that things were only getting started. I pushed the button to go down.

x x x

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won't you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

Thanks!

E. Oliver Daze

Back to Top

# About the Author

I'm a new author and retired from the Air Force. I've worked for a number of years for a family oriented non-profit agency as a database manager. My father was a career war veteran so as an army-brat and a career-airman I've traveled extensively in the states and abroad. I've come to call many places home but my most cherished memories are of my boyhood growing up in rural New Jersey. My interests are many and varied to include sports, and outdoor activities. I hold a bachelor's degree in Commercial Art from Northwestern University at Natchitoches, LA and graduated Summa Cum Laude from ECPI (Electronics Communications, Programming and Information Systems), Hampton, VA with an Associate degree.

Back to Top

# Other books by this Author

Please visit your favorite ebook retailer to discover other books by E. Oliver Daze

Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter Series

Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter I - 'Serviam'

Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter II - 'Sic Infit Bellum'

Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter III - 'Hoc Est Bellum'

Back to Top

# Connect with the Author

**Smashwords author page:** http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/surfNsam605

**Follow me on Twitter:** eodaze

**Favorite me at Smashwords:** http://www.smashwords.com

Back to Top

# Prologues to other books in the series:

### Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter I - 'Serviam'

"Is it Heaven that you speak of?"

"I speak of a realm of a different dimension where all spirit-life originated. All entities must earn their place and the earth-plane is where the trial is conducted. Spirits were given the gift of human form as protection against the 'Children of Darkness' and the vessel that was chosen to allow them to grow in grace."

"Are you an angel?"

"I am referred to by many names. I am Devas, Frovashi, messenger and yes, if you wish to call me angel, then so be it."

### Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter II - 'Sic Infit Bellum'

M **y challenge was not to make the men believe in ghosts.** It was to make them believe in me. Without that steadfast belief in me I had no assurance they would follow me into the unfamiliar waters of the unknown. Good soldiers follow their leaders come hell or high water. Unless they were willing to put their lives on the line for me and follow orders without question or pause they would be absolutely useless in the fight that lay ahead. They had to believe in me or I could not let them stay. Also because of the risk of enemies using them against me I also would not be able to let them leave. They did not realize the seriousness of their situation.

### Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter III - 'Hoc Est Bellum'

"Well she's confirmed what we've heard on the radio about the great darkness throughout the land. She said a great bird came out of the southern waters and flew over the land and lit up like the sun. Then the land grew dark and many of our people fell from the sky. Then other birds soon followed out of the oceans and rained upon the land. She said the elders along the Potomac were the first to be attacked and killed."

Back to Top
