A-Cup Angst Ch. 15

"You see, my father was not only a caster, but he was also a seer; the most rare and potent of combinations. He was called a prophet of magic by his contemporaries and people and organizations from all over the world vied for his favor and talents. He could see limited snippets of the future, like any other seer, but, since he had also been born with magic, he could cast spells that allowed him to look into the future and gain specific knowledge at will. Coupled with our family's table, he was all but omniscient."

Laura sighed heavily and shook her head. "In the end, his great gift was his undoing," she said, her voice bitter. "I still don't know who it was that killed him. I was just a little girl at the time, but even I knew that no one could catch him unawares and his ability gave him every possible advantage against any caster fool enough to try and harm him, or his family. I asked him. His spirit, that is. Again and again, as I had my friends contact him for me, I asked him to tell me which serpent had killed him and how. You see, I guessed that they must have threatened him with something terrible to get him to come peacefully and allow himself to be killed.

"As I grew into my magic, I learned more about it and I thought that I had been the reason my father let himself be killed. I had thought that he had been threatened with harm against me and that that was the reason..." She wiped her eyes and sniffed. Jamie patiently waited for her to continue, noting that the story completely occupied Alessandra's mind, temporarily driving away the thoughts of losing him.

"He told me that hadn't been it," Laura finally said. "I had been pestering him to reveal the identity of his murderer to me each and every time I had had him summoned. He never did reveal it, but he did tell me that I was not the instrument of his undoing. He told me that threats against me had been a daily thing ever since I had been born and his gifts revealed to the magic world and that he had effortlessly dealt with those in the most ruthless fashion. I asked him, then, why did he allow himself to get murdered, over and over, and over and over again, he refused to tell me. I still don't know why, or who did it." She looked out the window and looked lost to Jamie's eyes.

He could sense that there was no duplicity in her mind. She was telling him the truth, so far. "What sort of warning," Jamie asked.

"What," Laura said, as she looked at him, uncomprehending.

"What was the warning your father's spirit wanted to give to you," Jamie said.

"Oh," she said and looked to her daughter. Alessandra looked uncomfortable under her mother's teary-eyed, haunted gaze. "He said that I am to die before the year is out and that both my child and Alessandra's are to follow me into the grave."

Alessandra and Jamie gasped in shared shock.

Soft mumbling woke up Lilah Marsh. She stretched on her uncomfortable, wooden pallet and slowly rolled off it to stretch some more in a standing position, as well. The pallet wasn't doing her back any favors. She stepped over to the door of her cell and bent over at the waist to peer out through the crack of the food slot. As usual, three men in hooded robes were standing right in front of her cell and casting the enchantments that prevented her from using her magic, or her shapeshifting abilities.

It was the only break she had in her daily routine of sitting in her featureless cell, ever since she had gotten kidnapped, not counting the two tasteless meals that were delivered to her every day. She was beginning to lose track of time in the dark, windowless cell, illuminated only by a small, weak bulb on the ceiling. She had no idea what time it was in the world outside, or where exactly she was. She had tried her best to keep track of the casters outside of her cell, but their mumbled chanting was impossible to keep track of. Today was different. When her dinner had been delivered, the sliding cover of the food slot had not been closed properly and she could now see outside.

At first, she had not seen anything, just a dark corridor, but now she saw that the corridor was lit with fluorescent lights from its ceiling. The corridor itself was brick and mortar, just like the walls of her cell. She saw no other feature up or down the corridor, for as far as her limited perspective allowed her to see. She focused on the casters standing by the door and confirmed that there were three of them, as she had suspected.

As she watched the trio finishing up with its casting, she thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar face among them. She squinted as best as she could at the middle figure, but it was cowled and the light from above was not helping her. She couldn't quite place the face. She had nothing left to lose, so she decided to try and connect with it, whoever it was.

"Help me," she screamed, using her little girl voice. As a shapeshifter, born of a werewolf raping a woman, she carried twice the magic of a normal caster and counted as two under The Law of Numbers. That was the reason why three casters had to cast the enchantments on her cell to stop her from using her magic. She also aged at half speed of normal people and lived to be twice their age as a consequence. At present, she was thirty years old and looked like she should be starting high school. She decided to play the lost, little girl to get her captors to connect with her and maybe even drop their guard around her. She had had no contact with any of her jailers since her kidnapping. Maybe they didn't know who she was.

When the trio finished its casting, the middle figure tossed back his hood and nodded at the other two figures. Lilah gasped as she realized where she knew the man from. He was Section personnel, a marksman from the alpha strike and intervention team. As the other two figures walked out of her view, she struggled to recall his name, since they hadn't served together long enough to be on a first name basis.

He crouched before the door and opened the food slot wide. "Hello, Lilah," he said.

She looked at his handsome face and polite smile. The smile didn't quite reach his brown eyes that looked a bit crazed. She gulped nervously and whispered, "When is Section coming?"

"Section," he asked. "Coming here?" His face drew up in a confused grimace as he scowled. "Why would they be coming here?"

Lilah finally remembered the man's name and addressed him by it. "Dana! When am I going to get rescued? Where am I? What is this place? Why aren't you helping me? How come you're a caster now?"

Dana Moran saw the rising horror and betrayal on her face and smiled a wide, sincere smile.

"You're not undercover, are you," she asked, her voice resigned. He shook his head no, still sporting his smile of predatory contentment. "Whatever's going on here, you're part of it, aren't you?"

"Not just part of it," Dana said. "I'm actually in command of this facility and our special project."

"Were you the one that kidnapped me from my bed," she asked. "Are you the one I have to thank for this predicament?"

"No, sadly," he said, "I was commanding the attainment of Drinks Rain."

Lilah's heart leaped up at the mention of one of the other two shapeshifters. "Is he here, too?"

"No," Dana gleefully said. "We sacrificed him first."

Lilah searched desperately for a sign of sanity, or compassion, on her former colleague's face. Finding none, she mournfully asked, "Sacrificed?"

Dana nodded. "Yes, we are sacrificing shapeshifters so we can take command of the curse the natives put on this land."

"Take command," she asked, taken aback.

"Take command and turn the resulting disease against all casters, instead of against all who live on north american soil."

"That's insane," she whispered in shock.

Dana snorted. "More insane than the very existence of magic? I don't think so."

"It wouldn't work. It can't work."

"It can and it does," Dana said, "if you have all the items the original shamans used to cast the curse and connect it with the earth. Add to that the blood of their descendants and a live shapeshifter sacrifice and..." He laughed smugly.

"What are you trying to accomplish? End all magic?"

"Yes," Dana said, nodding. "That's precisely it."

"Why?!"

"Because the world needs to make sense again," he said. "Because this 'gift' of magic turns the few into superior beings that walk all over the masses with impunity and that we can no longer abide."

"No," Lilah said, shaking her head in denial. "That would never work. You could never get all the casters in the world to catch the disease."

"All it takes to spread is for their auras to touch," he said. "Whether just by standing very close to one another, or by casting spells together, or on each other, the disease spreads. We've already had our test run and worked out the details."

"But, you're a caster, now! You're on our side! If you were to do this, then it would mean the death of you, too!"

"Oh, Lilah," Dana said, "don't be so naive. We have access to an obedient vampire. It gave us our magic, and it will take it away again, just as soon as we're done with it."

"You'd give up that kind of power? Willingly?" She shook her head. "No way. I can see it in your eyes. You've got something else in mind. After this disease of yours runs its course and vanishes from the world, you'll emerge as the only magician left, won't you?"

Dana smiled an ugly smile and said, "It was nice talking with you, Lilah. Goodbye!" He slid the slot shut and walked away, leaving the girl to bang impotently against the heavy, metal door to her cell. As he passed the armed guard post at the end of the hall, he stopped and said, "From now on, only agent Rodriguez can deliver food to the sacrifice. Understood?"

The senior guard saluted and said, "Yes, sir!"

The junior guard frowned and said, "Isn't she deaf?"

"Yes," Dana said, rounding on the junior guard with a death glare, "she is. That is precisely the reason why she will be the only one to come in contact with the sacrifice until the ceremony. The young shapeshifter speaks several native languages, which is a fact that we hadn't known about her and there is genuine concern that she might be able to ensnare the mind of an agent blessed with the gift of hearing."

"Ensnare their mind, sir," asked the senior guard with trepidation in his voice.

"We are surrounded with ancient items that bestow incredible powers upon those descended from the native tribes," Dana said. "I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. If there's even a remote chance that she can call upon those powers to influence a person's mind, I want it dealt with. From now on, only Rodriguez brings her food! Understood?"

"Yes, sir," both the guards said in unison and saluted.

"Good," Dana said and turned to leave. He huffed as soon as he rounded a corner. He had given a pretty lame excuse for his orders, but he couldn't afford to have Lilah Marsh sow the seeds of discord between him and his patsies. Not now, when his victory was drawing nigh.

He ascended the winding cave that served as the prison annex, until he came to a large set of wooden double doors that led to the sacrificial chamber. He opened them and stepped through. The chamber itself was large and round, with a domed ceiling. Its walls were carved out of the bedrock and it represented an exact replica of the original cave where the great curse had first been laid upon the land. The other exit from the chamber was to Dana's left and he started towards it. He cast another look at the various items in the chamber. They appeared to be scattered haphazardly about, but they had actually been carefully placed to recreate the events of the original casting.

The altar had been cleaned of the blood of the second shapeshifter that Dana had personally sacrificed this morning. He grinned in satisfaction. The results of his little experiment had been most satisfactory. He felt assured of his success.

Noises coming from the other exit interrupted his satisfied musings. Shouted challenges were heard through the door and angry voices responded. Dana grimaced. "News of my little experiment must have reached the wrong ears ahead of schedule," he thought. He went to the door to open it, but it burst open on its own.

At that moment, Joseph Franks walked through the other door, startling Dana. "Joseph," he said, "what a pleasant surprise!" The two men closed the distance between them and shook hands. "What brings you here? I thought you were enjoying your retirement."

"I was," Joe said. "I am. The senior management just asked me if I'd stop by here and have a little chat with you."

"Oh," Dana said, surprised. "What about?"

"About you sacrificing the second shapeshifter this morning and not even releasing the disease," Joe said. "They're a bit confused as to why you did that. Dana, you know that half of them don't want a young buck like yourself running a big, autonomous operation like this all by yourself."

"They didn't seem to mind me running things while the going was good," Dana said.

"Yes," Joe said, nodding, "no one minds anything as long as things go smooth. Honestly, I'm surprised this place is still up and running. Didn't you determine with the first sacrifice that you can't use the native curse to kill all magicians?"

"There were some," Dana said and paused, "obstacles that needed overcoming, yes. But I've figured out a way to overcome them."

"I'm glad to hear that," Joe said. "The half of senior management that believes you're the anti-magic messiah will be very glad to hear that, too, I imagine."

"Yes," Dana said, chuckling. "That's the purpose of your little visit, isn't it? To see if I've made any progress?" Joe nodded. "I figured as much. You want the short of it?"

"Always," Joe said. "You know me, I like to keep it simple. But, keep in mind, I haven't been briefed about this project in full. All they told me was that they found out after the first sacrifice that it can't be done. They want to pull the plug on this place and divert their resources elsewhere. Tell me what went wrong the first time!"

"The two main problems we've had," Dana said, "were the guardian spirits and the nature of the magical disease itself."

"Guardian spirits?"

"Yes, some of the shamans that had cast the original curse are standing guard over it in the spirit world. Apparently, they can see it being deployed and they tried to change it into a disease that kills everyone in North America, just as they intend it to do. We had to pull the plug, lest we cause the Apocalypse to happen."

"Oh, that does sound bad," Joe said.

Dana nodded. "I've figured out a way to get past them. You see, they have a blind spot. This very place," Dana gestured all around them, "is an exact replica of the place they first cast the curse and connected it to the land. It has been consecrated with the blood of their descendants and it is a blind spot to them. We can summon the disease upon it and leave them in the dark about it."

Joe looked at the cavern and the many items strewn about it and said, "Well, that's nice, but I don't see how you're going to squeeze all the casters in the world in here."

Dana smiled. "We don't have to. All we need is one. One particular man needs to be here to receive the disease."

"One," Joe asked, surprised. "How can one be enough? Who is it?"

"Jamie Jacobs, The Bludgeoner," Dana said, making Joe's eyebrows rise. "He is protected by the blood magic of over a thousand spell casters from all over the globe. If we infect his aura, then all of those people will be infected when they renew their protection spell upon him. It will be a worldwide, simultaneous release of the disease and the end of magic in our time."

"Wow," Joe said. "That sounds... That's... Won't this protective magic, you know, protect him?"

"Well, it would, if he was a caster in need of protection in the first place," Dana said. "He isn't, which is why I had to sacrifice the second shapeshifter this morning. I needed to figure out a way to both make the disease weaker and to make it linger in the protective aura that surrounds Jacobs."

"Weaker? Shouldn't you be making it stronger?"

"The problem with the disease is that it kills casters too quickly," Dana said. "We've infected hundreds and nearly none of them lived long enough to pass it on. Even if we hadn't pulled the plug on it, it would have failed to achieve our goal. Mundane quarantine measures would have been able to defeat it. Section actually believes that's how it saved itself and the world. They're having their entire staff trained by the CDC in Atlanta."

"But that won't help them," Joe asked.

"No," Dana said. "I've modified the disease to linger in a caster's aura for a week before killing them. That way, they serve as our unwitting disease dispensers before they die. Imagine it, Joe! A thousand casters, all over the world, walking around for a week and infecting every other caster they come in contact with! Then they fall ill, leaving the others they've infected to panic and try to help by banding together and spreading the disease even further. All the world's governments would try to fix the problem by themselves, or hide it to not appear weak in the magic department to their enemies. By the time the information finally leaks, it's too late to do anything about it, anyway. I've run simulation after simulation and most of them predict total success on our part."

Joe nodded along, engrossed in the vision. "It might just be enough to wipe them all out," he said.

"I think it will, Joe, I think it really will."

"But it all hinges on this thousand casters casting a protection spell on Jacobs and the disease somehow bypassing it," Joe said. "The senior management will want proof of all this. They really are eager to shut this whole place down, you know."

"Don't worry, Joe," Dana said. "I've got ECHELON intercepts of a Jordanian diplomat putting this 'Jacobs Protection Society' together and I know every last detail of their protection spell. I've already tested my modifications to the disease. They'll work!"

"So, that's why you sacrificed the second shapeshifter?" Dana nodded. "Well, then, my boy, take me to your office and let's put together a presentation for the senior management and convince them to give it a whirl!" Joe clapped Dana on the shoulder and the two of them walked out of the sacrificial chamber to go to Dana's office. Dana felt certain of his imminent triumph and rise to power.