Rakitaki: A Jonas Quartermain Adventure

by Lee Alexander

  “Pizza and beer, right?” Lily asked him. He nodded, still staring out the window. “Great, I know just the place. They have the best pizza in town.”

  The car rolled on. Eventually, it stopped and they spilled out of the limo. They walked inside and waited for a table. Beer was poured for each of the students, no identification requested. Jonas scratched at the stubble on his chin. Lily caressed his cheek, feeling the rough whiskers that was the beginning of a beard.

  “It looks good on you,” she said.

  “Thanks,” he replied. Elliott looked like he wanted to say something, then jumped as Angie thumped him under the table. The pizza arrived and they dug in. They spent an hour talking, laughing, and telling stories. Jonas found that he was happy for the first time since leaving Akron.

  Just as they were getting ready to leave, a woman walked into the restaurant. She walked past the group as they exited, and Jonas stopped short.

  “Danielle?”

  She turned her head, scrutinizing him. Recognition dawned a moment later.

  “Jonas, is that you?”

  He nodded and she beamed.

  “Wow, you look great! Lots of sun recently, huh?”

  “Not really,” he said as she stepped in for a hug. He held one arm out and awkwardly hugged her around the shoulders. “Danielle, these are my friends Elliott and Angie, and this is my—”

  “Girlfriend,” Lily interrupted. Jonas paused mid-sentence, his jaw slack. She closed his mouth with a finger. “Don’t stare, honey. It’s impolite.”

  Recovering quickly, he said “Uh, yeah. Anyway, how have you been?” Jonas asked, tearing his attention away from Lily.

  Danielle shrugged. “Same ol’, same ol’. You know how it is, small shop. We’re still doing business, so that’s good. Oh yeah, that reminds me, Mister Holcomb asked me to tell you to stop by the shop if I ever ran into you.”

  “Oh, yeah, thanks! I think I got the perfect thing for him.”

  “Jonas, we should get going. You need that shower,” Lily said as she pulled on his good hand.

  “’Kay,” he said. He looked back over his shoulder. “Good to see you, Danielle!”

  She waved and said “you too!”

  Lily asked him “Who is she?”

  “Former coworker, from when I worked at Mister Holcomb’s Pharmacy. Can we stop there?”

  Lily bit her lip as she thought. They got into the limo and the driver rolled down the divider. They all waited, staring at her, then she nodded.

  “Yeah, to the pharmacy.”

  Jonas laughed, and the tension was broken. Lily sat next to Jonas, mimicking Angie by holding onto his arm and snuggling close. A few minutes later, they stopped outside the old shop. It was near the university grounds, so he told his friends to head on home.

  “I’ll catch up as soon as I’m done here.”

  “It’s okay, we’ll wait,” Lily said. Elliott and Angie agreed, nodding silently.

  “Okay, but I need to get Mister Holcomb’s gift from my bag. I’ll try to make it quick.”

  Jonas opened the trunk, then rifled one-handed through his bag. He withdrew the wax-paper wrapped book, closed his bag and the trunk, then walked inside the shop. The bell on the door announced his entry. He looked around the familiar small store.

  “Hello, welcome to Holcomb’s Pharmacy.” The old man’s voice said from somewhere deep in the shop. “How can I help you?”

  “Mister Holcomb, it is great to hear your voice. Where are you?” Jonas answered.

  “Ah, Jonas! I had heard you were back. I’m behind the counter. One moment.”

  Jonas walked to the counter, looking around. He heard a glass door slide shut and then Holcomb slowly stood off to his left. He waved and Holcomb returned the gesture. As soon as he was close enough, Jonas extended his left hand for a shake.

  “It’s good to see you again, sir.”

  “You as well, son. I see you ran into some trouble. I trust that little gift I gave you helped out.”

  “The lighter? Yeah, absolutely.” Jonas thought back to how it had helped him end the monster. “Unfortunately, I had to leave it behind in Cairo. There was some… uh, trouble.”

  “I see that,” Holcomb said as he indicated the cast. “I’ll tell you what though, I think I have another one around here. I got a whole set of them, but I’m almost out now.” Holcomb turned around and started rummaging through boxes behind the counter. “Ah ha!”

  He turned around and presented the same lighter Jonas had left behind. Horus’ eye watched him from the gold cover.

  “Wow, thanks!” Jonas took the gift, placing it safely in his breast pocket where it’s lost twin had been for months.

  “Now, tell me, did you bring me a gift from Cairo?”

  “I did!” Jonas took the bundle out from under his arm and placed it on the counter.

  “Oh, wonderful!” Holcomb carefully opened the wrapping, then moved the foam aside. He grew very still, then a single teardrop fell from his eye. “Oh, Jonas. This is incredible. This looks like a first edition.”

  “It gets better, Mister Holcomb. Open the cover.”

  “No,” he breathed. He gently opened the cover and gasped. “Signed. My word, this is a treasure. How can I ever thank you? This had to cost a fortune.”

  “This is my way of thanking you, Mister Holcomb. For everything. Oh, one more thing, there’s a card that certifies the signature inside.”

  Holcomb turned the page and found the card. He examined it carefully, then nodded. “I know this man. If he says it’s authentic then it must be. I wonder how it ended up in Cairo?”

  Jonas shook his head. “No idea, but as soon as I saw it, even though it wasn’t something from Cairo, I knew it was perfect.”

  “It is, it truly is. On that note, I heard a rumor of a special journal going to auction soon.

  Jonas shook his head. “That’s cool. Why is it special?”

  “I would have to see it first to be sure it is special, but I was hoping you could go bid on it for me.”

  “When would that be?”

  He turned around to look at the calendar on the wall. “What is today, Saturday?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think so. I’m not a hundred percent certain right now,” Jonas said with a laugh. “I’ve been flying so much my head is still spinning.”

  “Then the auction is tomorrow at ten in the morning. It’s over in Columbus. In fact, you should come here in the morning to get my car. I will give you all the details then.”

  “Uh, well I’m not sure—”

  “Nonsense, you’ll be able to go. Bring your girl with you, make a day of it. My treat.”

  “I’ll check with her, but yeah, I’ll try.”

  “That’s a good lad. Now, I think your friends are getting antsy. I can see them looking in through the door. Best go before they come in here and retrieve you themselves,” he said with a dry laugh.

  “Thanks again, Mister Holcomb. I’ll try to be here early then.”

  “I’ll be here,” Holcomb said brightly. Jonas left the shop, unconsciously playing with the lighter again. Holcomb watched him leave, then turned and picked up the phone to make a call.

  Outside, Lily has hopping with excitement. “Let’s go! We have so much to catch up on tonight!”

  “Yeah, I know. Hey, real quick, do you want to go with me to Columbus tomorrow?”

  She was caught off-guard by the question. “What? Why would you go all the way out there?”

  “Mister Holcomb needs me to run an errand for him, and I kinda owe him for everything.”

  Lily nodded. “Sure, we’ll make a day of it.”

  “Funny, that’s what he said.”

  “Now, let’s get you back to the dorm. You really do stink,” she said with a laugh as she fanned the air in front of her nose. They got back into the limo and drove for a minute or two, arriving outside the dorm building. All four got out and walked into the building. Jonas led the way to his dorm room, then grabbed a change
of clothes.

  “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Lily nodded, bouncing on his bed. He left the room with a smile on his face. He was glad to be home.

  Epilogue 2

  “What is your assessment?” asked a deep voice over the conference phone.

  “Promising. He is compatible with the bracelet, which was a twenty-one percent success in our best projections. He found the tomb, opened it ‘by accident’, and solved a five-thousand-year-old prophecy while staring at the hieroglyphics. I took the proactive step of recruiting him for the Archivists.”

  “Archivists? Interesting choice. Why not archeological or investigative?”

  Davion shifted in his chair. He was being grilled by an Officer of the Department of Acquisitions, something that only happened when something went very right, or terribly wrong.

  “He showed exceptional skills in the field, despite a complete lack of training. He’s resourceful, and followed up on clues that took my investigation team twice as long to figure out. On top of that he took out a Class One vampire.”

  “Class One? Are you certain?” Incredulity colored the shadowed man’s voice.

  “While still weakened from the transformation, given time he would have been on the level of Dracula. The body is in holding now. It appears the former Nicholas Calhoun was possessed by the original Class Zero.”

  “Then it was confirmed.”

  “By my own eyes.”

  The voice on the other side of the line stayed silent for long enough that the normally stoic Davion started to fidget. Finally, he spoke again.

  “Excellent work, Agent Jenkins. Keep a close eye on him. Inform me of any further developments.”

  “Yes, sir. On that note, he may be embarking on a new quest soon.”

  “Very good. I want the report handed to your superior by the end of the day. Dismissed.”

  Davion nodded, then stood from the chair. He was alone in a cell with a projector that turned off. He left the room, navigating the cluttered back room. He entered the store itself, feeling disgust as he walked past row after row of adult toys and magazines. Tinny music that disagreed with him streamed through the ceiling speakers. Davion Jenkins, agent of the Department of Acquisitions, left the building without a word.

  A car was idling nearby, and he sat in the rear. He lifted the cover between the two rear seats and retrieved the handset from inside. He dialed a number for a neighboring state, and waited as the line hummed, clicked, and popped, then connected.

  “Has the information been given?”

  A quiet reply through the hazy line. Davion nodded, a useless action that he did for his own benefit. “Yes.”

  “Good. Keep me up to date. This is important.”

  He put the phone back into its recessed compartment, then ordered the driver to a destination not far off. He had several other recruits to check in on. It was shaping up to be a busy year for him.

  Epilogue 3

  Pain wracked his body. He lay in a bright room, too bright to bear. He held a hand over his face to shield his eyes.

  “Ah, you are awake,” said a man’s voice from speakers set into the ceiling. It was somewhat muffled by a thick barrier. “That certainly is quite the feat, considering your wounds.”

  Calhoun snarled, baring his fangs. He squinted through his hands, barely able to see anything. He was in a cell, all clear plastic walls. He lay on a cot that was part of the wall. There was a toilet with built in sink. He could see through the walls to the area beyond his cell. Hundreds of bright lights shone down, some with a bright blue-purple hue.

  He stood from the bed in one smooth motion and checked the room. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that the walls and ceiling were all one piece. There was no door to his room. One small tube descended from the ceiling to a bowl he had missed in his initial inspection. Both were transparent, like everything else in the room. He roared in defiance of being held in a prison, then slammed his fist into the wall.

  “Ah, ah, ah,” said the voice again. “Do that and we will punish you.”

  Calhoun, uncaring and unconcerned thanks to the power that thrummed through him lifted a single finger. He spun in place to make sure it was visible to any and all cameras recording him.

  “Oh dear,” said the voice. “I warned you.”

  The dome lifted, bed, tubes and all. The light met his skin and he burst into flames. He shrieked for a long time as his body burned away.

  “Perhaps next time you’ll listen. We have quite a lot of work to do.”

  Bloopers

  “You know, there’s that echo we heard in the antechamber,” Jonas said, suddenly remembering. “Why do we keep forgetting about that?”

  “Probably because we had to wait for you to be in a funk before we could do something interesting again,” Simon said pointedly.

  _________________________________________

  “What the hell kind of drugs are those?” Simon shouted from his couch.

  “Yeah, if you can do shit like that, I want some!” Dylan joined in.

  “Guys, I just killed people.”

  “Yeah, and it was awesome. Gimme some,” Simon said as he flexed.

  _________________________________________

  Jonas raised his fist to hit Calhoun again.

  “Why do I keep forgetting I’m super powerful?” Calhoun said with a smirk. He pushed his fist through Jonas’ chest and lapped the blood up. "There we go, a proper B.B.E.G.”

  Notes

  Notes:

  Red: hermit Ibis, or Northern Bald Ibis, Red was also the color of destructive fire and fury and was used to represent something dangerous.

  Red: