Canopus and Keel - The Hive.

by Stephen Jarrett

  “LaMoya. Huh, that’s funny.”

  “Funny?” asked Canopus clenching his fist, “Why?”

  Rone’s eyes felt like a jackhammer was behind them. He really wanted to hurt the girl. He remembered something about a name, Keel? Kill Keel. Yes, she was dangerous, he knew that. He should kill her.

  “Andrews, why don't you just check LaMoya’s credentials? Y’know just to be sure and all.”

  “Sure thing,” replied Andrews licking his lips, “I’ll check her real good.”

  Rone drew his gun and pointed it at Canopus.

  Canopus sighed and with all his strength, punched Rone in the chin, spinning his body to the floor. Quickly grabbing back his handgun, he spun on the young Schultz. “Drop it Son. Let’s not do anything stupid here.”

  Keel quickly kicked Andrews in the forehead, knocking him to the floor.

  Andrews tried to stand but fell against the wall, it was hard to keep his thoughts straight.

  “You have the right to remain silent,” stammered Schultz edging away from the barrel of Canopus’ gun.

  “Come on Son, we didn't want this,” sighed Canopus “and I know what this must look like, Hell I would be suspicious as shit, but trust me, it isn’t what it looks like. Now turn around and drop to your knees,” he commanded.

  “I have a wife, kid too,” replied Schultz dropping to his knees.

  Canopus took Schultz’s gun and then tucked it into his belt, “We ain’t going to hurt you. We are the good guys. Keel?”

  “He’s clean. The others are contaminated by shrouds though. We need to get out before more come.”

  Vince tried to stand but it was too difficult with his hands cuffed. The skin of his wrists felt raw and tender. ‘I can use this’ thought Vince, ‘make them feel sorry for me.’ He added the pain from the cuffs and mixed it with memories of Debbie, then through tear drenched eyes he looked up at Keel. “Get me up, please.”

  Keel tilted her head and looked at Vince. She wasn't sure how she was meant to respond to this, so she quickly smiled, held a finger to her lips and then walked over to Schultz dragging her hand against the kitchen wall collecting blood. Kneeling down in front of the young cop she used the blood to paint a symbol of interlocking circles and numbers on his forehead.

  Schultz tried to move and talk but with each symbol painted he felt his muscles grow tight and rigid.

  “Shush. This isn’t going to hurt, well maybe quite a lot, if I don’t get this just right,” said Keel, concentrating.

  “What’s going on?” asked Vince, craning his neck to see.

  “It's a paralysis Hex, but if done slightly wrong, it will break his neck. There! It has a great side-effect, where it paralyses part of your frontal lobe, breaking synapse connections. Unbinds the K36 protein.”

  “It makes you forget,” added Canopus, looking closely at Rone, who was slowly stirring.

  “Keel, hurry up, this one is going to be awake soon and I don’t want to punch him out again, my hand hurts.”

  Schultz’s eyes glazed over and he fell to the floor. Keel touched his neck and felt a steady beat. She closed his eyes. “There. Should wear off in 95 minutes. Unsure why it’s exactly 95 minutes but always is!”

  “What about their shrouds? Can we remove them?” asked Canopus, removing the cuffs from a relieved Vince.

  Keel looked through the crystal at the two shrouds. Their black eyes followed Keel around the room, while their wide mouths screamed silently at her. Still tethered to their hosts, they were harmless until the cops woke up. “I don’t think I can. You saw what happened to Ludvig. I need to consult my notes and I think we need to get out of here before more come.”

  “She is tracking us Keel.”

  Keel agreed, “I’ve never seen Shrouds take control of their hosts before. Something isn’t right.”

  “What now?” asked Vince rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, salty tears stinging the raw flesh on his wrists. Vince sniffled.

  “We are going to take a little road trip and find this town where Ludvig is from, right?” replied Keel.

  “Right, sure, but first I have to stop home, pack a few things.” He looked around at the three unconscious cops and the blood smeared walls. “I think I’ve had it with Portland.” ‘For once an honest reply’, thought Vince. It felt odd.

  SEVEN.

  “Something not right about that kid,” muttered Canopus as he watched Vince enter his apartment block. “We should have gone with him.”

  Keel tossed Vince’s wallet onto her partner’s lap. “He left his wallet, didn't he? He’s not going to run out on us. Well I’m at least 88% sure.” Keel went back to studying the grimoire, tracing sigils with her fingers, memorizing their shapes and structures. She stopped and looked into Canopus’ grey blue eyes, he looked worried. “Look, why don’t you take a peek, do some of that old school detective work you miss so much.” She smiled awkwardly, felt immediately uncomfortable and then went back to the grimoire.

  “Maybe I will,” agreed Canopus, picking up the wallet and flicking through the contents. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he had been doing this long enough to trust his gut and it sure as hell didn't trust Vince.

  “Now tell me I’m not being paranoid, one bank card from Bank of America, with the name Dale V Sycke and eighty dollars in twenties, one with the word rache, written on it. That’s it. No credit card, no social security card? And who the hell is Dale Sycke?”

  Keel sighed, “Dale V Sycke The V I’m guessing stands for Vince or Vincent, his middle name. Better Vince than Dale Sycke, which actually sounds like a Supervillain name.”

  “And no credit card? Everyone has a credit card Keel. Heck, I have four and the missus another two.”

  “Maybe he doesn't carry it around with him, maybe he doesn’t believe in corporate financial institutions. There is one thing that’s odd though?”

  “What?” asked Canopus, eyes wide.

  Keel took the twenty dollar bill with the writing on it and studied it closely, “Rache. I know this word. It was the word written on the wall in a Study in Scarlet.”

  Keel looked at a baffled Canopus and held up her hands, “From the first Sherlock Holmes’s Story? Rache, German for revenge. It was written in blood on the walls. Lestrade thought it was short for Rachel.”

  “Those kid books you always read?”

  Keel was shocked, “They are certainly not kid’s books!” She buried her nose back into the grimoire, “I enjoy the escapism and the complex narrative.”

  Canopus placed the wallet’s contents carefully back into the wallet, re-aligning their positions. “OK, so he’s a nerd like you and enjoys Sherlock Holmes. Great. Hang on, what’s this?” Tucked into the wallet’s sleeve was an old black and white photo, he pulled it out. On the front was a smiling girl, with curly hair, wearing a large frilly hat, Canopus wasn't sure from what century but it looked old.

  “Take a look at this. Pretty girl.” He held it out to Keel and then narrowed his eyes as he studied the writing on the back, “Debbie.” Looks like he’s scribbled out something here too, can’t make it out.

  Keel held the photo up to the car’s interior light, “Yeah hard to say, maybe a date?” She handed it back. “It’s probable she’s an old relative.”

  Canopus pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the girl and then tucked it back into the wallet. “Maybe. But I’m going to get the guys to run it. Wouldn’t hurt to run a check on him too.”

  Keel chewed her lip and nodded, she glanced up at the car’s clock. “We will give him 8 minutes exactly. If he is not out by then, we go in.”

  “You going to tell the coven that you have a lead on Lillian Fox?”

  Keel shook her head, “We have differences of opinion of what should happen if we find her. Considering what she is an all.”

  “Damn right.” replied Canopus. Leaning forward, he watched as a light turned on in a window on the top floor of the apartment block. He nudged Keel and pointed.<
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  “7 minutes and 25 seconds,” she replied and then went back to the grimoire, continuing to search through the pages of condensed notes, hoping that her father, the greatest supernatural hunter she had ever known, had once discovered a way to kill an Angel.

  EIGHT.

  Vince stood outside his apartment door and took a deep breath. He held his key up to the lock but before he had time to insert it, the door slowly swung open and the light inside turned on.

  With his heart beating fast, Vince peered inside. The air was so still it felt thick and frozen. He stepped into the corridor, the door slowly closing itself behind him.

  “I did as you asked.” He called out. “They believe me. At least I think they do.”

  No answer.

  Vince stopped walking, “You are here, right?”

  “Yes,” replied a female voice no louder than a whisper.

  Vince felt eyes burning into the back of his neck and quickly turned around but there was no-one there. “Where are you? I need to pack up, they are waiting outside.”

  “Good. Your suitcase is packed and on your bed.” replied the whisper.

  Vince slowly walked towards his bedroom. The door was shut but as he walked closer, the door slowly opened and the light inside flicked on.

  Sitting on the bed was a young girl, no more that twelve. She was dressed in a deep red dress with long sleeves. Her face was covered in a red veil and her head was bowed, looking at her bare feet, which she swung from side to side.

  “Enter Vince, don’t be scared,” whispered the lips under the veil.

  “I’m not scared.”

  The lips smirked under the veil, “Of course you aren’t, you are my brave little Vince. You are never scared. You have done well.”

  “Why didn't you tell me that Ludvig was the Pied-piper? The Pied-piper killer has been all over the news.”

  “Remember Vince, each day you have only three questions. Are you sure you want this to be today’s first?”

  Vince thought about this for a second and then raised his hands, “OK. No, that wasn’t my first question. I’m guessing, you didn't tell me, because it wasn’t important. That isn’t a question either by the way.”

  “What is today’s first question Vince?”

  “I did what you asked. They believe that I know the location of where Ludvig is from.”

  “You do know the location. I told you,” whispered the girl.

  “Yeah right, sorry. Look, today I saw something pretty strange, this creature attached to Ludvig, it looked like a rubber worm. Keel said it was feeding off his life force. It was really crazy but kind of beautiful and disgusting. Do they make you more powerful?”

  “They can yes, but at a price. I wouldn’t recommend it. One question gone,” smiled the lips under the red veil.

  Vince cursed under his breath. He didn't mean that to be his first question. He should have remembered that he needed to be more careful when talking to the Red-girl. He thought for a second and then continued.

  “Keel mentioned a name, someone called Lillian Fox and that she is controlling these creatures, shrouds she called them. Who is Lillian Fox?”

  The Red-girl looked up. Vince was sure that her lips parted just a little too wide, revealing rotten pointed teeth.

  “Not a who, an it. Lillian Fox is an angel. Last question Vince.”

  Vince couldn't believe it, an Angel? He had been working for the Red-girl a long time, a really long time and had seen things that made him truly believe that magic was real, black magic he would call it though, not rabbit out your hat magic, unless the rabbit also had a thirst for blood but magic nevertheless. But Angels? That was serious, right? And didn't Angels imply that there was a God? That there was Heaven and Hell, right and wrong? Vince had done a lot of wrong things. What did that mean? Did he have a soul? Should he ask the Red-girl if he has one? If he was going to Hell? Was there a God and what did he look like? Was God even a he? It was all too much and Vince sat down on the floor and hugged his knees.

  The Red-girl moved her head from side to side. “I’m guessing this is big news for you. I have been around for a long time, seen many things. But do not concern yourself. Angels are very different to what you may believe. But right now, Carina Keel wants to kill this one as it killed her Father and we can’t allow that. They are very powerful creatures and very rare. The Coven has warned Carina Keel but she continues to ignore them. She has put up protective spells around her and the giant oaf she travels with and now they and I are unable to track her. But you will journey with them and I will track you. I believe Lillian Fox is hiding where Ludvig is from. But it is far too dangerous for us of power to be there alone. If we travel with Keel, the protective spells they hide behind will also hide us. I need Keel to find Lillian Fox and when she does there will be a terrible, terrible battle. One that will weaken them both, I have predicted this. When Keel is dead and the angel weakened, our true name will take over her form. You remember our true name?”

  Vince looked up, “Yes I remember and I understand.”

  “Last question then my brave little Vince,” replied the Red-girl.

  Vince’s last question was the same question he had asked for the last eight months, “If I help you, will you bring her back to me?”

  “Of course,” whispered the Red-girl, “I promise.”

  Standing up from the bed, the Red-girl walked towards the door, ‘See you soon, my brave Vince,’ she whispered as she passed. Vince didn't bother following, he knew that she would disappear, just like she did every night. Instead he walked over to his suitcase, picked it up and looked around his bedroom. “You didn’t see much action but you saw enough. Farewell.”

  Vince stood outside his apartment and sighed, he had a bad feeling about the journey ahead and an even worse feeling about Carina Keel and Jon Canopus. What if they found out he was working for the Red-girl? What would they do? And if he failed, what would the Red-girl do to him? Also, what if this Angel, Lillian Fox knew they were coming and tried to kill them all? Too many risks Vinnie and whatever happens, at least one or more of that group are going to want you dead, he thought.

  Vince rubbed his chin; he would assess the situation when the time was right and then join the group that looked like it had the best chance of winning but only after the Red-girl had brought Debbie back to him. He needed to see her again and explain. ‘The A-game starts now, Vinne. You need to play the biggest con you have ever played and play it to Ocean's 11 standard.’ whispered Vince to himself and so, with a deep breath to calm his nerves, he headed down the stairwell to tell Canopus and Keel where Ludvig was from.

  NINE.

  “Here he comes,” pointed Canopus.

  Keel looked up and smiled “And with 32 seconds to spare.” Closing the grimoire, she tucked it back into her satchel.

  Canopus opened the car door and pulled forward the front seat of the Pontiac, allowing Vince to climb into the back. “You all set? Got everything you need?”

  Vince squeezed into the back seat, “Yeah, sure. Look I was just thinking, why don’t I give you the address and you drop me off at Union station? You don’t need me slowing you down.”

  Good. Ease them in, so they see you are not a threat, whispered the Red-girl’s voice dancing deep in his ear.

  “Best idea I have heard all day,” said Canopus, “Union Square here we come.”

  Keel touched Canopus’ arm. He immediately sighed. “Wait. We can’t allow this.”

  “Why not? What’s in this for me?” asked Vince, careful now, don’t scare them away, whispered the Red-girl.

  “Let me put it like this. You saw a shroud, right? That inhuman rubbery worm, sucking Ludvig’s life force? Well, those cops had them too and they found us fast. Very fast! I’m pretty sure Lillian Fox is controlling these shrouds and she can see what they see and she saw you with us. She wants us dead and you were with us, so I’m 80% sure she is now hunting all three of us. If we leave you alone, you aren't going to surviv
e. You don’t even know how to spot a shroud. It could be the girl who is smiling at you in a bar, could be the hobo sleeping in an alley, could be your boss at work and before you know it they will rip out your throat and suck out your life force.” Keel paused. “Well there is a 20% chance you may survive. 20% isn’t very good odds but we have dealt with worse. It’s up to you, but right now we are your best chance to live through at least the weekend.”

  “You don’t know that for sure,” stammered Vince.

  Yes. She does, said the whispers.

  “Actually, yes I do. Tick-tock Vince. That’s your life running away from you, if you are on your own.” Keel looked deep into the eyes of Vince but he immediately looked down.

  “Jeez Keel. You’ll give the kid a heart attack,” grumbled Canopus.

  Keel turned and looked out of the window. The sun was rising, casting milky red streaks across the sky. “I’m not going to lie to him.”

  Vince looked down at his hands, they were shaking. He looked at Canopus and Keel. The old man looked tough, plus he handled himself well against the cops but Keel? What was she 25? 28? Could she really protect him? How much did she really know about magic, she didn’t ooze power like the Red-girl, she looked like an amateur, a hipster amateur at that. The Red-girl, now there was power, he had seen it, plus she looked the part and had promised to protect Vince. When they discover the location of this Lillian Fox, Vince would call the Red-girl and then the coven would come. Screw Canopus and Keel, they’ll make their own bed and they will lie in it. Vince felt his hands steady. The Red-girl, that’s where your trust should lie, he thought, that was true power. “OK, OK I’m in. Head to a town called Bonners Ferry in Idaho. It’s about seven hours drive. That’s where Ludvig is from.”

  Clever Vince, whispered the Red-girl once more.

  Why do I know that name? Bonners Ferry? asked Vince in his mind.

  'No more questions for today Vinnie.’

  Canopus punched the address into his phone and handed it to Keel, “I-84 here we come. Don’t worry Vince, we’ll get this all sorted. It’s what we do, right Keel?”