The Storm of Garmr

by Bo Luellen

  Another “crack” rang out as Thomas finally found his mark. He stopped and panted while he searched for where the insect had landed. Standing there in the dark, a soft glow pulsed from the end of his staff. It illuminated the side of his sweaty face and reflected off his thick glasses. Slowly, Thomas turned to the firefly that had attached itself to the end of his staff. Before he could react, the creature transformed back into the half insect girl. The new weight ripped his weapon from his hand and slammed it to the ground.

  Her insectoid eyes stared into his thick glasses, acidic liquid dripping from her salivating mouth. The monster’s body trembled, and a high whining sound came from its throat. The girl grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her open mouth. The druid did his best to resist and chanted in Scottish Gaelic. The words seemed to cause her pain, and she responded by slapping him hard in the face. Thomas reeled onto the ground, as a stream of blood drained out of his nose. As he lay on his back, the vampire jumped onto his stomach with both feet, forcing an exhale of pain into the cold night air. She remained perfectly balanced, as the creature squatted and pushed his crimson speckled face to one side, exposing his vulnerable neck.

  David gathered himself and pulled out the LED flashlight the Van Helsings had given him. He clicked it on and bathed the vampire in its blue light. The creature dismounted Thomas and advanced on him. He backpedaled as her face was immersed in the blue glow.

  He slapped the LED, “What? He said this would work!”

  The girl smiled and shook her finger, “Nothing can save you, David Keller, but I’ll make you an offer. If you willingly give yourself to me, I’ll only kill your friend and allow you to continue as one of us. You have but to ask nicely.”

  Silence hung in the air for several seconds before Thomas found the breath to cry out, “The answer you’re looking for is ‘no’ you jackass!”

  Keller kept the light on the beast as he yelled back, “Well, I’m being polite. I don’t want to seem rude and turn her down right off the bat!”

  From behind one of the trees came a waterfall of liquid aimed at the girl. As the torrent hit the creature, Basten yelled a curse at the beast. Smoke filled the air, and she hit her knees and screamed in pain.

  The creature writhed on the ground as David remarked, “Besides, I needed to buy them time to do that.”

  From around the same tree, a wide-eyed and frightened Nicolaas threw a water-soaked net over the wailing monster. With David’s help, the pair managed to trap the undead inside the netting and tied it off on the ends. The cords burned into the flesh of the Vampire and coagulated blood regurgitated out from her mouth.

  Basten helped Thomas up and said, “The vile thing is vomiting its last meal, like a snake which is in distress.”

  The druid rubbed his stomach, where she had landed, “What did you splash on her? Holy water?”

  David smelled his hands from gripping the net, “It smells like coconut. What the hell is this?”

  Basten examined Thomas’s busted nose and replied, “It is a mixture of coconut water and palm oil deluded down. Just the thing needed to snag an Adze Vampire.”

  The druid slapped the old man’s hands off his face and asked, “What’s an Adze Vampire, and just how the hell did you identify it? I thought you said it wasn’t easy.”

  The elder Van Helsing laughed, “This upstart revealed herself too early. The more seasoned vampire will hold their true clan a secret until the bitter end.”

  David inquired, “I’m missing something. How did she reveal herself?”

  Basten sneered, “Well, I had a hunch based on Marcus taking the Lanyon girls. Adze’s sustain themselves on the blood of their victims. They are known for taking children, keeping them as a source of sustained sustenance. On rare occasion, they will even corrupt them, and guide them down darker paths until they are full-grown members of their clan.”

  The Druid yelled out in the forest, “You fossil! We could have been killed if you were wrong!”

  Van Helsing stroked his grey beard, answering, “And I wasn’t! Stop whining! We must stay focused. As Holmes would say, “The game is afoot! Now we have one of Marcus’s children. Perhaps even his actual offspring and not just a turned victim. The die is cast, and we must act, or the devil will be upon us!”

  David grabbed an ax out of Nicolaas ’s backpack and asked, “So what now?”

  Nicolaas unlatched a hatchet from his belt as his grandfather answered, “We lay a trap for Marcus. Now that we are sure what kind of Vampire we are dealing with, we can prepare. It won’t be easy, and there are unknowns to consider.”

  Nicolaas and David went to work cutting down a small tree, as Thomas held his nose and asked, “What unknowns?”

  Basten stuffed two rolled-up pieces of gauze up the druid’s nose, “Unfortunately, this particular type has a tendency to delve into the mystical arts and a bad habit of possessing unprotected sorcerers. I suspect he will try to attack us tomorrow night after he discovers this one has gone missing. These creatures are linked to their spawn. Once she is washed free of the coconut water and palm oil, then her Master will sense her again. Marcus is no fool. He will know it is a trap and bring the full force of his powers to bear on us.”

  Careful to avoid the thrashing Vampire, David and Nicolaas threaded the long piece of pine through the net and created a litter. They got on each end of the tree and lifted their quarry up off the ground. The group started their long trek towards the minivan as the creature sizzled and hissed from inside the ropes.

  The elderly Van Helsing did his best to keep pace, “I remember when I was about Mr. Keller’s age. We held up in a Pilipino church with the spawn of a Mandurugo Vampire clan leader. The Mistress of the clan destroyed the building, and her minions set the surrounding city block on fire. We barely survived that night, but we dispatched the bitch and her coven. This beast we face might bring the Crimson Brotherhood with them, or they might handle it personally. Regardless, we must get this creature to Mr. Booth’s house before daybreak so we can lay our trap.”

  Thomas stopped in his tracks, “Back to my house?!”

  Chapter 7: Shoshannah I

  New York City, New York – Tuesday, November 6th, 2018 – 11:23 a.m. CST

  Shoshannah Feinstein closed the door to her apartment and locked the deadbolt, “Lousy little shits!”

  She turned and looked at what was once a secure 42nd floor of her 432 Park Avenue safehouse. The appearance of the Pearce Brothers had just compromised its secrecy and made it useless. Shoshannah hadn’t expected the Crimson Brotherhood to find her so quickly, and regretted ever having conducted any business with them.

  She leaned on the door with her back, “How dare Richard Enfield send the Pearce Brothers here! So much for staying in hiding. Fuck all!”

  A synthesized Australian voice came from her laptop, “It was a tactical risk to ignore Master Enfield’s request for a different golem.”

  Shoshannah knocked the back of her head against the solid oak, “He asks for a golem whose soul is pure evil. Then he changes his mind and wants one with a good soul. It took me weeks to track down a serial killer who’s not in jail or dead. Do you know how hard it was to find one?”

  The Artificial Intelligence responded blandly, “The statistical probability is 1 in …”

  She knocked her head a second time, “Please, don’t! I guess I could just go to Oklahoma and kill all the Crimson Brotherhood.”

  The Aussie accent responded gleefully, “Would you like for me to formulate a tactical proposal, Mistress?”

  She rolled her eyes, “I was kidding, IGOR. I think, at least.”

  The Artificial Intelligence reminded her, “If I might be so bold, this might be a blessing in disguise. With Adam’s sudden appearance in the States, you urgently need to go off the grid. If the Pearce Brothers could find you, then so could he. Statistically, the Crimson Brotherhood stronghold in Tulsa might be the safest place to hide. You can conclude your business with Master Enfield, enjoy his
protection, and give me the time needed to find Adam before he finds you.”

  She sauntered over to the gold plated bar, “Do you honestly think the Brotherhood could stop Adam if he decided to show up at the Howard Estate?”

  The Australian voice soothed, “No, Mistress, but he might think twice before acting.”

  Shoshannah slammed bottles around looking for the Alize Vodka, “Maybe you’re right. Contact Silvio. Let him know I’m interested in having dinner with him tonight. I’ll leave for the lab right afterwards.”

  The computer gave a few beeps and replied, “Understood, Mistress. Shall I bring the new car online?”

  She sighed and turned to look at her sparsely decorated house, “I think it would be best. It will be a pity to leave this place after so much work making it tolerable to live in.” Shoshannah looked over at several massive boxes, “I just ordered the Victorian furniture from Paris. Oh, well. Make arrangements to put the flat up for sale, IGOR. Donate the contents to some charity. I don’t care which, you pick.”

  The AI made a few more beeps, “Of course, Mistress.”

  Shoshannah gulped down her drink, then said, “I suppose we had better get moving if we are going to make it to the swamp house by midnight.”

  After packing what little clothes she had into a backpack, Shoshannah paused to look at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her long black hair had never lost its curl, even through the centuries. The woman’s beautiful face and sharp nose line accented her bewitching blue eyes. She took off her white blouse and put on a tan sweater that matched her cargo pants. Shoshanna never felt the cold, so wearing warm clothes was just a show meant to help her fit in. In the reflection, her pale skin showed long deep scars along her chest and back, which decorated her smooth skin and slender figure in macabre designs.

  She put her Bluetooth in her ear and activated the device, “IGOR, I have a few errands to run before my date with Silvio. Contact Jagger and tell him to expect me in the next half hour. In the meantime, I’m connecting you to my Apple Watch. I’m going to walk rather than Uber to keep AEGIS from tracking me. Hack into the city surveillance cameras and blackout five city blocks around us. The last thing I need is that redneck Texan knowing I’m working for the Crimson Brotherhood considering what is happening in Oklahoma.”

  The cheerful reply chimed in her ear, “As you wish, Mistress.”

  Shoshannah stepped out of her apartment building and into a chilly November breeze. She rounded the corner onto 57th Street and headed at a brisk walk towards the bus station. The bustle of the weekend traffic echoed off the high rise buildings as she passed by a street performer. She reached in her jacket and pulled out some money. As she dropped it into the man’s guitar case, she looked him in the eyes and read his soul light. The elderly performer had a full beard and the sunken-in jawline of an addict. His skin was rough and looked like someone had carved a roadmap on his flesh. Through his hollow and lifeless eyes, she sensed the soul light within him was dim and flicking. The guitarist gave a toothless grin and kept playing a rendition of “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley.

  She trod onward, So many dim soul lights these days.

  After an hour on the bus, she arrived at Queens General Center Hospital. The cream colored building seemed so uninviting to her, and she always looked for ways not to visit. She regretted having to make an exception to that rule, but the circumstances demanded it.

  Shoshannah went to the front desk and asked to page Dr. Clerval. As she sat cross-legged in the waiting room, her phone vibrated. She looked down and saw she had received a text.

  She sighed and read, “We couldn’t help but notice you have left your apartment, and your pet disabled the city cameras. Now, you know the rules. – John Hamilton”

  She stabbed the keys, “Your leash is too short. I might take it off.”

  A few minutes later, the response came, “Just keep your phone on you, and I’ll make sure Control looks the other way.”

  Shoshannah smiled and typed, “I knew you loved me.”

  She heard the worried and meek voice of Jagger Clerval from behind her, saying, “Sho! What are you doing here? What has happened?”

  The man was in his mid-thirties, with a slight build. He had on blue scrubs, a white lab coat, a surgical paper hat, and a name tag that read “Dr. Jagger Clerval, Surgeon.” He looked as if he had just run a marathon, and sweat was dripping from his forehead.

  She got up and smiled, “Now, calm down, Love. Everything is okay, we just need to go back to work a little sooner than expected.”

  Dr. Clerval took Shoshannah by the arm and pulled her into a corner of the waiting area, “You said we weren’t doing anything else until you located Adam! That is what you promised! Do you know what he will do if he finds us? What he could do to my family?”

  She grabbed the man’s trembling hands and rubbed them, “Jagger, look at me. The Brotherhood found me and they’re demanding the golem. They’re not taking no for an answer. We have to do it tonight.”

  He pulled his hands back and begged, “I have responsibilities, Sho! I can’t just leave. I’m on rotation in the ER tonight. My house is in the middle of being remodeled. My wife is expecting me home, and the kids are going ...”

  She put a slender finger up to his lips, “Richard Enfield has paid a bonus of a quarter of a million dollars for a personal delivery.”

  Jagger stammered, “Wha... What? Are you serious? That’s one million dollars in total.”

  She nodded, “The funds deposited in our offshore account this morning.”

  He turned and sat down on a bench. Shoshannah put a hand on his shoulder and slid down next to him. She entwined her arms around his bicep and gave a squeeze of assurance.

  She straightened his badge as he processed what she said, Poor Jagger. Just as excitable as his father was.

  She leaned in, pressing her firm breast against his arm, “You do this with me tonight, and you’ll have enough money to finish your house. You can buy some plane tickets to Greece and take the family on a surprise vacation tomorrow. That will give IGOR time to track down Adam. You know how your wife loves traveling, which you rarely do. I’m surprised she hasn’t left you out of neglect.”

  He kneaded his legs with his hands, “Sho, this isn’t funny! What about our obligations to AEGIS? Won’t they take exception to you just disappearing?”

  She patted his chest, “They won’t mind if they don’t know. IGOR can mask my movements, and you’ll be safely overseas. Besides, after Vegas, I have John Hamilton under control.”

  He turned towards her with worry, “How long will that last? How long until they try to force the process from us, or worse, demand that we join AEGIS full time? I like being a doctor, Sho! I don’t want to work in some government lab for pennies.”

  She stood up and replied, “My Love, they never will. They want us as consultants or to perform a rare resurrection. Besides, they need us much more than we need them. If they decide to push me, Russia has made some generous offers, and that gives us options.”

  He got up slowly and started biting his nails. No matter what cases they went on or what dark deed that needed to be done, he was always anxious. It seemed to be as much his nature as his family tendency to explore the forbidden alchemical realms.

  She pulled out her phone to check the time, “Be at the swamp house tonight before midnight. This will all be over soon, I promise.”

  As Shoshannah turned to leave, Jagger asked, “What are we going to do about... supplies?”

  She put on her sunglasses, “I’m stopping by to pick up a few things. I wish I could stay, Love, but I have a date to get ready for.”

  Shoshannah kissed his cheek and then caught a cab ride to a nearby storage facility. She tipped the driver and sauntered along the long line of containers. She stopped at row 18, unit 23, and unfastened the lock and lifted the large door. The New York sunlight poured into a dusty bin that contained a car that was covered with a grey tarp.

 
She keyed her Apple Watch and asked, “IGOR, are we set?”

  The Australian accented male voice piped up, “Yes, Mistress. The new modifications are checking out. All sub-systems are fully charged, and munitions are at full capacity. Onboard computer has booted up, and I’ve been successfully integrated into its matrix.”

  Shoshannah yanked the tarp off to reveal a 1969 black Dodge Charger, “What exactly did the good Dr. Zorka do to it?”

  The AI’s voice emanated from the car’s speakers, “The engine has been replaced with a modified 2005 V-10 Dodge Viper engine. An advanced nitrous system has been installed and can be activated several times before it depletes. Thanks to the Doctor’s brilliance, the vehicle can sustain a top speed of 305 miles per hour, under the right conditions. The rear end has a wheelie bar to keep the vehicle from flipping backward from a sudden 700 horsepower acceleration. Its frame was replaced with a handcrafted Titanium shell, complete with a roll bar. The windows were replaced with a 1.6-inch thick bulletproof aluminum oxynitride glass that can withstand a .50 caliber round. The interior was designed to look classic. Still, it houses a multitude of evasion and anti-tracking gadgets that Alex Zorka personally installed. I would recommend that you give me at least a few more minutes to perform some tests before you drive it.”

  She ran her finger across the black exterior, “To hell with the tests.”

  IGOR sighed, “Of course, Mistress, what was I thinking.”

  She walked to the back of the unit and grabbed two heavy duffel bags from the corner. They made metal clacking sounds, as she pitched the 200 lb. packs into the back of the muscle car. As she closed the trunk she peered down at the personalized license plate that read, “WHIM.”