I wanted to be mature with the air of principal but instead stamped my foot in frustration and then again because it just didn't seem enough I stamped again. With a growl I ripped the bag holding the ticket off the car and attempted to tear it in half. Xanthic appeared behind me and gently took the small packet from my hands.
"Is this yours?" he called out with authority towards the warden.
The warden turned and cheerily said back. "Not anymore mate."
Xanthic held the parking fine between finger and thumb in front of him and it burst into flame, combusting in its entirety until not even ash was left. Xanthic smiled as the ticket, to both my and the warden's astonishment, appeared back on his pad and completely blank. A row of small infernos, one after the others in turn on the windscreens on each of the nurses cars until there was no ticket anywhere other than the warden’s pad. The warden spasmed in alarm as his pad visibly swelled and then realised his camera had melted and his pen was.....now somewhere making it difficult to walk.
"No one touches my car." he got into it and I had to cram myself in the passenger side as he gunned the engine and roared away.
"The evil bitch that attacked me." I screamed at him a little too loud in my excitement. "running away from us as we play with that idiot." I indicated the warden and also pointed through the rear of the Jag shaking my finger to indicate the direction the ran off in.
"It's daylight, I guess she may try to run to the nest. How do you feel about following her?" he asked it like it was his idea so I slumped into my seat and decided it wasn't worth fighting.
"Yes, let’s go and remove that bitch from the face of the Earth."
"Can't possibly do that, no harm should come to her, I just want to follow." his eyes were staring straight ahead as the Jag swerved against oncoming traffic to head off after the crying lady with a chorus of horns. "You meet her tomorrow night without a scratch, so logic dictates she must remain so until tomorrow at least."
Some times, if you have nothing positive to say it’s better not to say anything, so we spent the rest of the journey in silence.
16:00
We had been sat in a rundown carpark for hours and a Jaguar maybe a fine car to look at but the lustre doesn't carry over to the inside after looking at it for the last ten hours straight.
Xanthic was currently out 'casing the area' which I was sure meant sitting in a bistro café drinking latte and having a much better day than I.
My role in all this was to watch the entrance to a small cement and shingle covered building which to the casual observer appeared to be a small plant room, emergency generator shed or something else of the ilk. It did not scream out as hideout for unspeakable evil, where are all the hollowed out volcanoes or ocean bases filled with heavy weaponry and private armies. The biggest thing I saw was a pigeon pecking around at a patch of weeds and then disappear, although I had yawned and a fox might have got it or it could have flown to find dinner in a better part of London. There was nothing else to comment on, other than broken tarmac with weeds pushing through, scrap cars and a high retaining wall that once must have kept the rubbish and undesirables out and now it kept it all in.
17:30
Nothing had happened apart from the sun had started to sink lower in the sky and I had resorted to eating a half opened packet of soft powdery mints found in the glove-box. It was so quiet not even a rat had ventured into the desolate yard; And I so wanted action, something to do or watch to take my mind off a very pressing matter. As my watch snapped to the half hour I made a decision that had been weighing heavily on my mind - and other parts of my body, for hours and ran to a quiet corner and irrigated the stunted vegetation struggling to grow behind a pile of used bricks and a wall in such a poor state it wouldn't be long before it resemble the bricks in its own pile.
With a relief that felt as good as anything I had experienced and about two gallons lighter I walked back to the Jag which Xanthic had parked with his usual flair skidding to a haul it a shower of stones and not as I would have on a stakeout such as this by hiding it to one side. I got back into the passenger seat relieved nothing had happened in my short absence.
"Good urination?"
My heart leapt into my mouth and I went cold as if ice water had dropped on me from a glacier. Shit, trust Xanthic to come back in that one moment of dereliction to duty.
"Yes thank you, I performed excellently." it was all I could think to say and my employer seemed amused at this.
"Well while you have been out on personal errands during the working day I have been busy. Would you like to hazard a guess at what I found out?"
I answered that I, a mere mortal could not possibly deduce what information he had gleamed - Often its easier to pander to his ego than to play his games and I wonder if this will ever work if I met a real Demon one day, I mentioned this once to Xanthic and he didn't talk to me for hours, so win for me by my reckoning.
The local area had been abandoned, even with the desperate need for parking and outdoor space. A group of young entrepreneurs who managed their business from the site moved away after their clientele refused to go there even when absolutely desperate to purchase their wares. That and a couple of the business management team ended up with their insides missing and presumed eaten by a large animal. Stray dogs and rats - or those that didn’t leave gnawed bits of themselves around the vicinity, had moved out a long time ago, being smarter than the average small business supporter. The kids at the local school dared each other to climb the wall and run across the car park to win respect of their peers and a bucket full of sweets: None of them even tried. So the car park had been left abandoned, the owners who had experienced issues with the businessmen and their product placement policies had given up trying to improve the site and had listed it for sale. But the taxi-rank comments sourced by Xanthic about the number of drop offs they get here, all young girls traveling alone and all left where we are now. The drivers didn't know where they went or saw if anyone met them due to their haste to leave but one thing all were sure about, there has never been any collections. Other locals talk of weirdo's and vagrants coming and going after dark. From tallying up all the arrivals and leavers, this place should be full of souls and as you can see from one dilapidated wall to the other, it’s as quiet....
"...As the grave?" I added at the end of the tale.
"No not the grave, definitely not the grave.'' He seemed to think for a moment with his hand over his mouth. '' It seems to me we have one course left to us. How big would you say that building is?''
''That one?'' I said indicating the service building. ''Three metres by four, I guess, it's hard to tell in this light.''
''Not big enough by half to house more than a couple of people unless they are really friendly." The thought hung in the air drifting between us.
Silence descended as we settled down for a long boring wait, which against all my imaginings on how this job would progress didn't transpire. Shortly after we settled down in our seats the door to the brick building opened ajar and a few seconds later wide enough for a slim figure to skulk out and zip purposefully towards the shadows.
"Your crying lady?" asked Xanthic pointing towards the disappearing creature. "Fancy a walk to stretch your legs?'' He was out of the car and marching towards the building before I could respond. I did my best to keep up but I paused to wind up my window and close the doors. Xanthic was on one knee looking straight at the keyhole probing it lightly with his finger.
''Old Yale lock with no extra security. Probably didn't need to worry too much about attracting attention so it shouldn't be too hard to.....''
A second later the lock clicked and it swung inwards releasing a pungent aroma of decaying meat and old oil.
"There, easy. Ladies first." he took a small side step presenting to me the full doorway, I was less than impressed.
"Age before beauty." I replied with a smile placing my hands on my hips. We looked at each other for a few ticks on the clock before Xanthi
c gave a small bow and turned to walk through the door.
In enclosed spaces the melodic aura of my employer reverberate from the closeness of the walls and intensify the whole experience, like listening to a heavy metal concert live recording on full blast on old tinny headphones; but whether it was my nerves or lack of sleep recently but the normal tune carried a lot of dropped notes and one of the musicians was definitely out of key.
"Its warm in here, must be nice and cosy for any inhuman beast's first choice for stinking lair in the area. Look around for any clues as to why it's here or where it came from."
I entered behind my employer and covered my mouth and nose with a hand. There was a big generator covered in grease and spider webs filling almost the full spread of the room with a small gap around for the thinnest of engineers if things went wrong. A tail end of a disgusting sheet lay sprawling down the left and Xanthic ended sideways up the gap with head bowed to get a look at what could be a improvised nest for any discerning creature.
"Looks like its been sleeping here." he bent to extract something from the floor which appeared to be pages torn from a notebook when he stood. "Says Medway Hotel along the top."
I took one of the sheets offered to me and Xanthic kept the other. My one was blank apart from the printed heading of the hotel, his was covered in a scrawled mess that could have been writing or a drunk spider who fell in a bottle of ink. Xanthic grunted with exhaustion as he squeezed past the bulk of the emergency generator and into the space behind.
"There appears to be a lot more back here, clothes and things as if.....yes, here's a ruined small case, looks like it’s been ripped open with claws or something not adept at operating a combination lock or zip. Too nice for a Vor to be seen in…..almost like the best clothes of a teenager, possibly a run away packing her best stuff. Yes, even a few trinkets at the back." Xanthic paused in his speech and I could hear him ruffling through his findings. "Look around for any evidence of people being here will you.”
"Like coats and shoes?" I asked back.
"Like blood, bones and other remains. There are two small cases back here with clothes and things and from experience Vors and Fae don't normally pack when they travel, especially in a hurry. This could be the only materials things left from a couple of runaways."
I was thinking now would be a good time to leave, maybe follow the crying lady to where she was going and stop her before she collected another take-away. I was about to vocalise this when Xanthic seemed to find something that interested him.
"Hmmmm, looks like a pretty little knife where it’s sleeps. Which I might add is a really big nest, so either this lady of yours likes to spread herself out when she sleeps or....." He stood up and started making his way back around to the front of the machine. The bulk sticking out of the side slowing his progress.
"Or?" I asked knowing it was a stupid question.
"Or there are two of us!" screeched a birdlike voice as a blackness came out of the shadows and raked at my employer who was at a great disadvantage in his cramped location from an attacker with the luxury of space in which to move. A bird caw laugh gave out followed by a great roar and Xanthic fought back with claws of his own but he could not turn to make them connect where they needed to. He kicked out and was rewarded with a loud squawk. The knife dropped to the floor and I snatched it up and its weight felt familiar in my hand. My initial plan was to pass it back to my employer with which to defend himself with but one look at his hands told me he would not be able to hold it, not with talons curled wickedly from paws of pure muscle and strength. So I tried to use the long blunt blade to attack over his shoulders. Being small I jumped and caught the wrong hand leaving a dirty rend in the tough skin.
"Sorry." I cringed pathetically as Xanthic scathed me with a look that burned red through the dark lenses of his glasses.
He got the upper hand and ripped his claws into her flesh and pulled her over the generator depositing her at my feet. I stalled, the bayonet was in my hand but I was unable, when it came to it, to push the weapon down. My failure was not left unpunished. The crying lady, for I now recognised her this close lashed out with her own attack and I was only saved by Xanthic who had worked his way loose and kicked down hard on her arm. He pulled his leg back to strike out again as the door was flung open filling the small area with greying light.
"Sister!" it came as a battle cry and another of the creatures, the one we saw leave earlier had returned enraged at our intrusion into its home.
I was in the way, between the new thing and her distressed sister. The knife was plucked from my hand and Xanthic pushed it forward as the thing descended on me with outstretched claws. It pushed through her with ease and she fell silently to the ground with the blade and Xanthic's arm under her which brought the fighting tiger down too. He cursed as he lost his footing and the crying lady, my original quarry grabbed at her sister's lifeless body. She spat at us and fled from the room.
"Don't let her get away!" screamed Xanthic pulling the knife free which now looked like a great hunting knife in his human hand. But I could no more stop her as I could stop a falling rock from hitting the ground. He pulled back his arm to throw the blade at her back as she fled but I suddenly remembered something and grabbed his wrist in both my hands. Even with my weight he managed to lift me off my feet and throw the knife several tens of metres along the car-park.
"What have you done? She's got away." he called angrily.
"She attacked me in the hospital." I replied trying to sound braver than I felt.
"I know, you told me. I hoped to stop her from doing that."
"But it’s already happened to me, she has attacked me and I'm still here." I don't know how the world would cope if history changes but I wasn't willing to risk it, especially as I was at the epicentre of any repercussions. Xanthic considered this and spat on the floor leaving traces of blood. He knelt by the corpse and turned it over. In death it had a human exterior but when he opened the eyes the pupils were anything but. Quickly and with some skill he stripped the thing of its clothes and the torso was covered in fresh painful scars running from navel to neck as if it had been opened up for major surgery. It had ugly injection marks along the length of the arms. I was almost sick when he lent forward and licked the body. He smacked his lips tasting and processing and said after a little thought. "Human. But human with a little added spice."
We looked at each other as I digested this information.
"First things first, you dispose of this body, we don't want any local kids finding it and using it as a plaything.... I'll track down this Medway Hotel and see if it’s linked to this somehow. We don't have much more to go on."
"No." I said. "You need to visit me in the hospital. This is Friday right? So you arrive on the ward in," I looked at my watch which helpfully displayed the time in bright neon numbers. "... about half an hour. You'll have time to drop this thing off in the incinerator on your way. I'll look into the Medway, after all research is what an assistant is for."
"I'll go with that plan. Any tips on what I do when I see you?"
"Be nice to the security staff and take that thing with you." I said indicating the knife. "You leave that with me for safekeeping."
"Really? It might prove useful." he mused.
"Yes, it really does!"
20:20
The Medway hotel was nigh on impossible to track down. An internet search on my phone gave no results in the London area; even using the elastic boundary technique - Bromley and Gatwick are considered by some to be London parishes, but even greatly inflating London by half there was no luck. The closest two taxi ranks, which are normally filled with topographical golden nuggets of information drew a blank as did the main post office. I was beginning to wish I had followed Xanthic's original plan and left him to do the running around.
I sat down on cold grey steps leading up to a tall building and sank low into myself feeling the exhaustion descend.
"Can I help you?" a kindly male vo
ice came from behind me.
I didn't look round but said "No, only if you know where the place is." I held out the torn piece of paper with the Medway Hotel heading.
"Castle Road. Probably about three miles from here or a little more."
I was on my feet instantaneously, there was an elderly slim man in a black shirt and dog collar standing on the steps of an impressively constructed church of old school gothic architecture.
"You know this place? how do you know where it is?"
"No, I do not. But the address is printed along the bottom of the page. Pity it's ripped or it might have given a post code and I'll have looked it up in my sat-nav app."
I snatched the paper back from his hand. "Sorry Father." I added realising what I had done. "Castle road. Why didn't I see this? Thanks Father, you are a Godsend!" then I tore off towards the nearest taxi.
20:28
I called Xanthic to inform him I had located the hotel, to make the story quicker I edited it to only the outcome omitting most of the process, and sat back to enjoy the ride in peace. When the car pulled up I jumped out and gave the driver some money I had left in my bag and he drove off leaving me alone in a run down business area where the last big deal was brokered out of a white BMW window and not across a boardroom table. I did not feel safe one little bit so in the interest of self preservation and information gathering I located a nearby greasy spoon that overlooked the end of the road and settled down on a ripped red leather bench inside the window which, covered in posters for pukka pies and real hunger busting all day 'breakfasts' and ordered a coffee so thick the spoon could stand by itself from a large lady behind the counter.
Diary Of An Occult Resolution Assistant Page 24
