Gaia's Champion Ch. 19

"Mason jars?" Emalia questioned.

"Brand name jars that are often used in holding jams, jellies and preserves, like pickles," Karla explained as Luke dialed. The fairies understood and went back to minding the shard they had taken.

"I think I have something!" Eva called out. "The creature is called a wraith?"

"Yes! You found something?" Daelina asked as she hurried over. Eva placed the book down on the floor, so everyone could see it. Daelina simply tsked and shook her head.

"No, that will not do. Mina, you OK to manage that shard?" the dusky-skinned fairy asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right. Do what you were going to do," the strawberry blonde fairy told her friend.

Without another word, Daelina tapped into Gaia's magic, calling upon it for assistance. She directed her energies at the wooden floor, tapping into the runes she needed for the spell. The floor then shifted and changed, bubbling up like it was expanding. The wood was expanding, slowly taking the shape and form of a table, growing right out of the floor.

Everyone there was amazed at what Daelina was doing with the floor. When she finished her spell, the book was sitting on an elaborately decorated table. It looked like it was grown from living wood and glowed with an inner green light. Karla let out a low whistle, while Amy, Eva and Darren stared at it in utter amazement.

"You have got to teach me how to do that!" Amy enthused. Eva and Darren also voiced their desire to learn such a cool spell, and Daelina promised that she'd teach them what she could.

"Yeah, that was the thing that attacked the mother and son in the park. It was much scarier than that though," Darren stated, looking at the drawing in the book. The wraith was rendered in full detail, but it looked more like tame apparition, rather than the terrifying monster it was.

"What does it say, mom?" Amy asked as Eva stood over the book.

"Wraiths are the living embodiment of vengeance. Such creatures are often either a singular lost soul, or a collection of lost souls. Driven by the need for vengeance against those who wronged them in life, the soul(s) are granted Dark Magic through a ritual with a Dark Witch or a Warlock, in which a piece of who they were is given in exchange," Eva read.

"That explains why it felt... angry," Darren shuddered.

"But vengeance isn't the end of it for a wraith. Often, the Dark Magic they were given corrupts them to where they require more life essence, more souls, in order to survive. Dark Magic compels them to continue stealing souls to not only feed it, but to feed the magic. They effectively become parasites, feeding on the living. The more souls it steals, the more powerful it becomes," Eva continued.

"I can attest to how powerful it was, encountering the beast twice," Daelina stated with a shiver. "That mother and son should count themselves lucky that we were there to intervene when the wraith attacked them. Had it taken their souls..."

"It would have become powerful enough to try coming at us. Its strength had grown considerably since I first spotted it, and I'm stumped on how it's become so strong, so fast," Phalmina grumbled.

"I think I may have an answer to that," Luke interjected.

"Oh? What do you know?" Daelina questioned.

"It's not so much what I know, but what I've heard. I was trolling through the Dark Web over the last few weeks and picked up some chatter about some pretty horrific murders that have been popping up all over the city. A lot of folks are saying it's the work of Satan or some malevolent spirit, but no one has a clear answer about it," Luke started.

"They're not far off in their guesses. Did these people say anything else?" Phalmina demanded.

"I didn't get into the conversation, so I didn't get any details. But the one common denominator about these murders was that the people who were the victims were walking, talking and breathing just like anyone else. When they were found, a day or two later, it was like they had been dead for months, maybe longer," Luke finished.

"That makes sense, as the book goes on to say that a wraith can and usually drains all life essence from its victims. The touch of a wraith is enough to send someone into shock. The drain is so complete that the victims appear as dry, withered husks," Eva told them all.

"What is a wraith made of? Does the book say anything about that?" Darren growled, eager to find a way to kill it.

"It is a hybridization of both spirit and corporeal and can shift from one to the other. It's what allows it to vanish and reappear at will. What you said about it being capable of attacking us, Mina? That can happen, if it takes enough souls to feed its hunger. Once it reaches that level of power, there is little that can be done to stop it," Eva continued, reading from the book some more.

"Can we kill it?" Darren asked.

"It can be killed, if enough life giving magic is fed into it. So, spells of healing and regeneration would destabilize it long enough to sunder the hold of Dark Magic over the souls. Without a host to latch onto, the Dark Magic would wither and die, having nothing to feed off of," Eva finished.

"Next time we corner it, we need to be sure that we have everyone there. If we have it at our mercy with everyone present, it wouldn't stand a chance!" Emalia grinned, happy there was a way to deal with the fearsome apparition. Everyone present agreed and knew they would have to get Jason and Sheena up to speed. If they were going to win this one, they would need all the help they could get.

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At a ratty old motel that was on its last legs in rough side of the city, police were busy cordoning the area off. They were getting more than a little tired of finding bodies at dives like this, with little to no evidence to go on. It was a real pain in the ass for them and since they had no leads and no suspects; it was looking bad for them.

Detective Konstantin Thermopolous pulled up in his Ford Taurus before dismounting his vehicle. He was a moderately handsome man, his Grecian features and heritage obvious with his dusky skin and raven black hair. His beard, which he kept neatly trimmed, was just as black and thick. He moved with a level of confident authority, used to being the one in command of any situation.

Konstantin was also a powerful man, as evidenced by his frame, which he maintained religiously. That and his height of six feet was something that often earned him the attraction of the fairer sex, which he often enjoyed. A ghost of a smirk played across his mouth as he caught the attention of several female onlookers. Though he would have loved to go up and talk to a few of the prettier ones, he had a job to do.

His grey eyes scrutinized the scene before him as he walked forward, dressed in plain clothes. A couple of beat cops stopped him from going over the line, but after showing them his badge, they let him pass. One of the cops, Krug by his nametag, led Konstantin deeper into the crime scene.

"Talk to me. What have we got?" Thermopolous asked.

"Same as the first thirteen we found. No entry or defensive wounds, no signs of a struggle and both of them dry as oversmoked beef jerky," Krug told the detective.

Konstantin grunted noncommittally and walked over to where the bodies had been found. Both of them were lying in a dumpster, which was the first change that had happened since the bodies started showing up. Every body they had found until today had been found in alleyways, looking like they'd been there for months. The scary part was these people had been alive a few days prior.

This was something that had been stumping investigators for a while now. How people could go from being fully alive to a desiccated corpse only days later was a conundrum. Medical examiners were left scratching their heads, wondering how this could be. The very idea of someone dying and decomposing that quickly was the stuff of nightmares. Even some veteran beat cops were rattled by this.

Thermopolous was thankful that the precinct was able to keep this out of the public eye. Lord only knew what the media would do if they ever caught wind of this. So far, the entire list of victims had been drug users primarily, with a hobo or two on the list. Konstantin was grateful that when the victims were found, people had thought they were old ass bodies, rather than freshly deceased ones.

"Is there anything new at all you can tell me about this?" Konstantin asked the beat cop.

"One thing. You're not the only Detective here. You're one of two who've been assigned to the case," Krug told him.

"Oh? Who's the other detective?" he asked.

"The other detective would be me," a familiar voiced sounded from his right.

The voice belonged to Meera Sadeghi, one of the few detectives at the precinct that Thermopolous viewed as his equal. She was also a colossal pain in his ass, as she'd often chastised him for running a bit too loose with the law on occasion. Though she wasn't wrong, Konstantin hated it when people second guessed him, especially when his hunches were right. He sighed as he turned to regard the woman approaching them.

"You just assigned on the case then Meera?" Konstantin queried.

"Just this morning, as you were. Got word from the captain that we're to work together on this," Meera told the man.

"What?? Seriously?? The captain knows I don't work well with others!" Konstantin griped.

"Take it up with her if you have a problem with it. Is this going to affect the work you do?" Meera asked him, raising an eyebrow, while her brown eyes gave him a questioning look.

"Not at all!" he replied nonchalantly, while looking the smaller woman over.

Meera Sadeghi was as beautiful as she was smart. Though she was shorter than Konstantin by half a foot, she had all the looks and beauty of an Instagram model. He didn't know where she was from initially, but her middle eastern heritage was clear. She was well put together as she rocked her curves wherever she went. She wasn't huge in her rack or rear, but it was more than enough to make a man stare.

She had hair as black as his was, which she wore short. Thermopolous thought it a bit odd, but couldn't deny that the look worked for her. It made her look dead sexy, yet fearsome at the same time, but he didn't know how. Though he hadn't seen her at it, he'd heard that she was just as devoted to fitness as he was, and it showed. Meera's arms were toned, her shoulders and legs strong, and Konstantin knew she had an ass for days!

"So, what do you think?" Meera asked him as she looked up at him after viewing the corpses.

"Normally, I'd say it's a case of serious overdose, as these two were known druggies, who would hang out at this motel often. I've heard of the other guys here talking about how they were known at the precinct. Lot of priors, according to them," Konstantin replied.

"Honestly, Detectives, I'm at a loss," stated Cawley, the lead CSI (Crime Scene Investigator) at the scene. "These two look like they've been dead for months, not less than a day! I'd have even said they were dead for a while, if it wasn't for the footage that was pulled from the motel."

"Show us," Meera asked him, and Cawley led them to the motel office.

The manager was co-operating and showing them all footage of the couple before they had become corpses. They had the manager go back to that footage where the couple had come in and paid for a room. They were both scraggly and unkempt, looking every inch like a pair of addicts. They paid cash, then walked out with the key to the room and that was it.

"The time and date stamp show they were here last night. What the hell happened since then? Are there no other cameras?" Meera questioned.

"There are, but they don't work. They're there mostly to try to keep people from misbehaving themselves," the manager told them.

"What?!? Why don't the other cameras work?!?" Konstantin fumed.

"Hey, don't look at me! I'm just a manager here, I don't own the place! The owner is a tightfisted old fucker who sucks up every spare dollar he can get! He barely pays me enough to get by as it is," the manager told them, while holding his hands up defensively.

"Oh, we'll have a talk with your boss, you can be sure of that! His negligence has cost us any leads we could have garnered!" Meera growled.

"Good luck!" the manager scoffed. The detectives fired him a dirty look, but after reviewing the tape several times, they left with Cawley.

"Make sure we get copies of those tapes. There might be something we missed," Konstantin told the CSI.

"Already in the process of doing it. Seriously, this is scarifying though. If those two are career addicts, it might be they have stumbled onto something," Cawley guessed.

"What do you mean?" Sadeghi asked.

"Something they might have taken. A new designer drug perhaps? Thing is, I haven't heard of any drugs out there, new or otherwise, that do this to anyone. There's also the fact that it's clear that they didn't get in a tussle with anyone here at the motel. I swear, this case gets stranger and stranger by the day," Cawley replied, scratching his head.

"A drug that dries someone up to where they are dead within a day? The thought of that is scary!" Konstantin admitted.

"Hmm. It gives us an angle to explore. Has anyone thought of it as being drug related?" Meera questioned.

"They have, but toxicology reports have been an absolute mess. Given the shit these people put into their bodies," Cawley responded.

"Give us a list of all known chemicals that would cause a body to dry out like this. We have to stop looking at this as a bunch of random cases and maybe look at it as a murderer on the loose," Meera stated.

"I'll put one together right away and have it on your desk in the morning," Cawley replied, retreating to where the bodies and scene were being processed.

"You think we might have a serial?" Thermopolous asked, finding the idea to have some plausibility.

"In light of the lack of evidence and a motive, I think it might be the only thing we can really consider. Fifteen people, all known as either hopeless addicts or homeless folk, winding up dead like this? No evidence and no signs of attack or struggle? That smells of something that is planned," Sadeghi finished.

"Now that's an idea I can wrap my head around. Think the ME (Medical Examiner) might have something new with this pair?" Konstantin asked.

"Doubtful, but it's still worth a shot. The ME has even told us he's at a loss of what's going on," Meera replied.

"Still, looking at it from a different angle never really hurt. I think you're onto something here," Thermopolous told her with a grin.

"That's just what the rational, sciencey side of me is telling me to investigate," Detective Sadeghi told the big man.

"Oh? And what does your gut tell you?" Konstantin asked.

"That we're in over our heads. That whatever or whoever we're chasing is more than what either of us is capable of understanding. Something... evil," Meera replied with a slight quaver to her voice.

Konstantin almost scoffed at the notion until he saw that look in Sadeghi's eyes. He'd seen her here and there and in a variety of different moods. Angry, outraged, happy, sad, moody, etc., but he'd never seen her frightened. He would never mistake that look in someone's eyes, the look of pure terror and fear. As he got into his car, Thermopolous hoped that whatever it was they were chasing down, was something they could catch, or kill.

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Sheena pulled up to the house at the same time as Carlotta did. Though she and Jason should have been there much sooner, things got a little... heated between them. Though Sheena was wearing a massive grin, she knew that she'd be hurting the following day. She'd forgotten just how much of a beast Jason could be, and now that he was a fit man with the powers of a Druid... it would be a miracle if she could walk the following day!

"Well, it looks like you two had an... eventful afternoon!" Carlotta jibed, smirking at the goofily grinning couple. As a woman and a former porn actress, Carlotta knew the look of a woman who had been utterly and mercilessly pounded. She could even tell with Jason, who was wearing a smile so bright, it might as well have been the sun for its intensity.

"That would be... one way to describe it!" Jason chuckled.

"I am guessing that I will continually see you two... glowing like this often?" Carlotta teased.

"Oh, hush! You just wish that you were there, or that you were me," Sheena fired back with a smile. Carlotta laughed that one off as she walked with them into the house. But it had hit a little close to the nerve.

Inwardly, Carlotta was feeling like she was dying and in need of a proper companion in her life. Since Mikkel had died, she'd dallied with various people, men mostly and the occasional woman, but no one seemed to click with her. There was also the fact that no one took the time to see her as the woman she was. Everyone she'd been with since she stopped grieving saw only the name and the money associated with her.

"... and that's how we keep it bay. At least for now," Phalmina finished.

"Hey! I'm guessing you lot found something on the wraith?" Jason asked as he walked into the living room area with Sheena and Carlotta.

"Yeah. Here's what we learned so far," Eva stated, and she reiterated what they learned so far and of the countermeasures that could be done to deal with the beast.

"Well, I am a little worried about what that thing has been doing out there!" Sheena responded after listening to the whole bit.

"As am I! That thing could come for any of us!" Carlotta worried.

"Don't forget, that the spell of protection that's up here, at Jason's, Liz's and Eva's homes will keep it out. As powerful as it may be or may become, it can't cut through the spell. Not from what we know and have deduced anyway," Daelina told them.

"We can get right to placing such a spell at your home, if you want," Phalmina told the Danish woman.

"I would like that very much! Thank you!" Carlotta said.

"But what about those of us who don't have magic? They can't fight this thing like we can," Jason reasoned.

"That's where these come in!" Amy said, walking forward with several small, smooth stones in her hands. She handed them out to everyone, and Sheena noted the runes that had been carved upon them.

"Are these... protective runes?" Sheena asked.

"Yeah. Mom and I were working on these, with the direction of the fae and Xaera. Between us, we've come up with these, which will provide some level of protection when out and around," Amy went on.

"So... how do these work?" Carlotta questioned.

"Think of these stones like a bulletproof vest. They will keep you safe from harm, but like such items, they will wear down eventually. When the green color from the rune fades, the magic in it is spent and needs to be recharged. They will stay charged as long as you aren't attacked, so there's no need to worry about the energy fading from disuse," Amy explained.

"Damn! All right then! At least we all have a way of keeping everyone safe now!" Jason grinned.

"So, let's get down to brass tacks. How do we fight this thing?" Sheena questioned.

"Well, from what Ema, Lina and I have discovered, it's easily startled and intelligent enough to avoid a direct confrontation. I believe it knows that if it were to attack any of us, it would lose. It's not much, but I think it is something that we need to take into account," Phalmina started.

"The fact that it went after healthy and hale people in broad daylight is concerning," Darren interjected.

"But we've put it on the ropes. We weakened it when we fought it. Though it disoriented us before it escaped, I could sense the surrounding darkness. It was steadily lessening as it fought us," Daelina assured her mate.