The Dungeon Con: One Foot in the Grave ( Hank Grave Book 1): One Foot in the Grave (Hank Grave series)

by Marty Myers

  When she got there she saw a small crowd standing around outside one of the rooms with a cop talking to a few of them. She moved a bit closer and heard them talking about something really weird that had happened here a little while ago. Apparently, a gaming group had just been finishing up and clearing out of one of the rooms when two of the men stopped to talk. A loud jarring sound boomed inside the room and the two men had had a table flip up on top of them. Chairs had been thrown around and papers, pencils, and dice were flung everywhere. When the other gamers had rushed back in to see what had happened the two weren’t there anymore. There was only one door into the room too, so everyone was confused. The cop looked very skeptical as this was repeated to him. Francis with a feeling of dread walked up and looked at the doorway in question. There was a signup sheet posted on the door with Hanks name on it. What did any of this mean she thought.

  Francis asked if anyone could tell her who the men were or what they had looked like. One guy standing nearby eyed her outfit and said, “ hi I’m William, I was here when it all went down. The one guy was dressed like a thief, kind of dark-skinned and small but lanky with dark hair. He said his name was Alastor, I didn’t catch a last name or nothing. The other guy I have met a few times before at gaming stores around town and cons. His name is Hank something.” “ Graves,” Francis said, “ his name is Hank Graves.” William gave her a look and then shrugged. “ Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, what that guy is saying to the cop is pretty much how it all went down.”

  “ I don’t know what happened but I did notice something else when they were over there talking just before it all happened, the Alastor guy pulled out a big wad of cash and set it right in front of Hank, then Hank reached out and picked it up. Then the wind and noise came out of nowhere, the table went flying up and over and I swear it even felt like the room was shaking like a quake or something was hitting. Although everyone else here at the con says nothing like that was felt by anyone other than us and then we all rushed over to the table and they were just gone.” The cop finished up and walked over to them. “ A big wad of cash? Is that what I just heard. Why don’t you come over here and give me your version of events.”

  Francis was at a loss she guessed she should wait to talk to the officer but didn’t know what she would tell him since she had not been here. Just then an old woman dressed like a gypsy at a booth across from her shook her head and said, “ They will not find them.” Francis walked over and said, “ excuse me, what are you talking about?” “ The officer,” the old woman motioned over to him. “ He will not find them, as he hears more, he will look less until finally he convinces himself something sordid and mundane happened and then writes a report saying that and puts it away in a filing cabinet and then moves on to the next case. He only looks for facts that fit conveniently in his own worldview.”

  Francis shook her head as a tear leaked out from her eye. “ No, no Hank is here somewhere.Where else could he be? He will turn up and sort this mess out any minute,” she said. “ My dear I am sorry but I know these things, Hank will not be showing up here again. I was sitting here, waiting for my next customer when the strangeness occurred. I felt it happen. Someone in that room made a terrible mistake. A deal with a devil never ends well I am afraid dear.” The old lady patted her on the back. “ I know you too are not ready to hear these things. You will go looking for him yourself, when you are done looking everywhere else come to me and I will tell you more.” With that she handed Francis a business card that read Madam Farsi, fortunes told, auras read, truths revealed and an address not too far from here. She then sat back down at her booth and resumed watching the passerby with old knowing eyes.

  Francis went back over to the police officer and told him who she was and that she had come here with Hank. She told him that Hanks car was in the shop and that he had rode here with her. She gave him the name and room number of their hotel. She gave him both their phone numbers and agreed she would call him as soon as she saw Hank again. Francis asked him to call her if the police heard from him the officers noncommittal was dispiriting. The rest of the day Francis went around trying to find Hank. She had him paged. She left notes at the information desk. She repeatedly tried calling and texting him. She called back to the hotel and left messages. After several hours she even called Hanks parents and let them know Hank might be missing. Nothing she did turned up Hank. Finally, she went back to the hotel to wait and see if he would come back there.

  The next day after a mostly sleepless night she got up and debated what to do. She called his phone and the other people she had called yesterday again to see if they had heard anything and then decided to go back to the dungeon con in case he showed back up there. Another truly miserable day later she came back to the hotel and cried. No one knew anything. Hank had not shown up anywhere as far as she could tell. Her girlfriends had been there again but hadn’t been any help. She did try filing a missing persons report but was told over the phone it had not been long enough yet.

  In the morning she left the hotel and drove back home. Hank wasn’t at their apartment. She even went around and asked the neighbors if they had seen him the last two days but no one had. Almost a week went by like this with no answers and no Hank. His boss had called looking for him as had the mechanic working on his car. She hadn’t had anything she could really say to them other than she would have Hank call them as soon as he turned up. She had filled out a missing persons report but even while she was doing it she could tell the police officer didn’t really care. She was dismayed to see just how little anyone other than her and Hank’s parents thought Hanks disappearance mattered. It really shook her faith in the system.

  It wasn’t until she stumbled upon Madam Farsi’s business card while putting away her costume that she thought about what the old lady had said. She thought about calling her but noticed that the card didn’t have a phone number just an address. Francis had nothing else she could do to search for Hank, as crazy as it seemed she decided she would go see what Madam Farsi had to say. Thinking Hank might even now come back to their apartment while she was out she wrote him a letter telling him how much she loved him and that she was very sorry for how they had parted. She wanted to write more but couldn’t think of any other words that could help. She grabbed her purse and left.

  Finding Madam Farsi’s wasn’t easy, the address seemed to lead Francis to an older run down block of the city where public works and beautification grants had not reached yet. The old brick building she parked by had an outdoor stairway with the Madams sign hanging next to it. Francis carefully looked around at the neighborhood before climbing out of her car and walking down the steps.

  A stout gray worn wooden door met her at the bottom of the steps. She quickly knocked when the doors handle would not turn in her hand. The door was opened by a very large brick of a woman in a shapeless dark charcoal gray dress. When she spoke her voice was deep and raspy sounding like a man who had smoked several packs a day for years. “ Come in off the street and wipe your shoes,” she said. A tiny store met her eyes as the woman stepped to the side to allow her to enter. Books, odd knick nacks, and other curiosities lined shelves all around the room. An old glass case with crystals and other oddities with an old manual register on top blocked most of the back wall. Beams of light slanted in through high small windows set in one of the walls and cut across the gloomy store front. To one side a dark beaded curtain draped across a doorway leading further into the back.

  “ Come in my dear Francis,” a voice spoke to her from the heavy air. Francis made her way back beyond the curtain as she heard the door close and latch behind her. There Madam Farsi sat at a small round table with a crystal ball and some tarot cards. Again she was dressed like one imagined a gypsy might have dressed many years ago when they still traveled in wagons on back roads through dark forests. Francis could not decide if she was trying to be authentic or ironic.

  Madam Farsi spoke, “ your Hank has not returned. The police do what they usually do
in such cases they do not inderstand which is little. You have run out of other options to seek him, yes.” Francis nodded as she didn’t trust herself to speak. Madam Farsi motioned for her to sit. “ Francis I am not the enemy here. I will try to help you, but you must understand that a lot of what has happened and will happen now are things you will have a hard time accepting. If you want to find out what happened to Hank you will need to be open minded. If you want more than that, you will need to be strong and brave and truly exceptional.”

  “ First though I must have a good look at you.” Farsi took her hand and spent some time holding it. She also looked intently at Francis and into her eyes. The whole thing felt weird to Francis but she was already here and getting up and leaving at this point without any answers seemed like more than she could bear. At last seemingly satisfied she released her hand. “ Okay dear, so when we met I knew you would want answers and so after you and the police officer and the crowd had left I was still sitting there at my booth. I already knew much of what had happened as I said before. Someone made a deal with a devil and the men’s disappearing and the room being in disarray was all caused by that.” Francis gave her a disbelieving stare. “ Yes I know you don’t believe that this is possible. It is only desperation that brings you here,” Madam Farsi said.

  “ Regardless listen to what I have to say, my words cannot make Hank more missing than he already is yes. I am a seer like Cassandra, and many of us throughout history have been doubted until it is too late and we are proven right. Do not let that be your path. At worst if I am wrong all my advice will cost you is a little of your time today. Even if Hank returned to your home while you are away there is that letter there to let him know your sorry yes.” Francis jerked in her seat as she heard these words. How could the old lady know that? She thought. “ I know many things,” madam Farsi said.

  “ Now as I was saying I went and took a closer look at the room. There was the stench of brimstone fading away but still hanging in the air. It is a common sign of a devils tricks. For you see their were not two men there, instead there was Hank and a devil disguised as a man. What one would be doing there I do not know. This devil offered a contract to your Hank. Usually this is a pledge to receive wealth or power or something else the mortal dearly wants, in exchange for possession of his soul after death, but it can offer other terms instead. The contract had set upon the table that was flipped over and I could still get a sense of it from where it rested. It was not a bargain for Hanks soul. That is the good news. But I do not know what the two bargained for.”

  “ The way the devil and Hank made their deal and disappeared while others where around is most unusual I can tell you they prefer to not reveal themselves unnecessarily. My intuition tells me it may have been summoned home by its master. The bad news is I am not familiar with this devil, his use name he gave is a common one used by many throughout the ages to protect their true names. It would be like you or I going by Jane Doe.”

  “ I also don’t know exactly where Hank was taken to, except that it wasn’t anywhere I am familiar with. Now some good news for you. I got enough of a whiff of this devil to start trying to find its trail. The past week I have followed it back through this city looking for clues to its whereabouts and I found something. Not too terribly far from here is where it must have first come to our world. There it returned a time or two as well in its wanderings and left its mark. It must have wanted to have a sure way to find this place again.”

  “ I will tell you how to find this mark. This is what it looks like. Madam Farsi handed over a paper with a strange glyph drawn within a circle. It is scratched high up in the crook of an oak tree near the corner of 45th street and Saint Andrews. Look for the mark. I have foreseen that if you go straight there today you will find out where Hank was taken and have a chance to find him. But my sight grows murky beyond that. There is much danger and uncertainty down this path. Sadly the wisest and safest path for you would be to let Hank go and let your heart heal over time before finding another. To go to find him now is to risk so much Francis. Nothing I can say can fully convey this truth to you.”

  Francis didn’t know what to think of any of the woman’s predictions, but she did know that she wasn’t giving up on Hank. “ Madam Farsi I will do anything to get Hank back.” “ Do not say such things child!” The old lady cried. “ There are things so terrible that once done they cannot be undone, things which once said cannot be unsaid!” Madam Farsi said.

  “ I have helped you thus far, but more of my aide will come with a cost.” Francis expected this to be where the old lady tried asking her for money and as desperate as she was to find Hank she admitted to herself she would pay her for any hope she might give her. No matter how fleeting it might be. Instead the old lady said. “ In the future you will owe me three boons. Nothing too great or terrible, I can not ask you for a death or a your wealth for instance. But when the time comes you must give me exactly what I ask for.” Thinking nothing of it Francis of course agreed. The old lady placed a mark upon her hand. She also touched each of Francis’s ears and eyes. Again Francis felt very strange when Madam Farsi touched her, she even thought she saw some kind of light come off of the old ladies hands when she did it. This was by far the strangest encounter she had ever had.

  Madam Farsi stood up and came around the table. she spoke a few words in a low voice and kissed Francis on the forehead and then led her out into the front of the store. The larger woman was nowhere to be seen and Francis wondered where she could have gone. Surely she would have heard the front door open and close from the small back room she thought. The old lady handed her an old wooden staff with carvings on it. “ Humor an old woman and take this with you. It has supported me on many long journeys in the past. I will ask for it back when I see you once again.” She also handed her some kind of a poncho which looked too large for her. “ Its begining to really rain out there Dear and you may need this, just bring it back when your done with it.” Francis was going to refuse but she could hear the rain pelting down outside and figured the poncho would keep her from getting drown while she chased this white rabbit down the rabbit hole. Besides the corner where the tree and the mark was supposed to be was just a block and a half from here so Francis might as well walk down and be disappointed as to drive down and try to find some parking. “ Good luck Francis, fare well.”

  Francis walked up the stairs and then down the street looking every so often to see if anyone were going to trouble her. At least this over sized stick will prove useful if someone does try anything, she thought. She did take some comfort in the feel of the sturdy staff in her hand. It wasn’t nearly as awkward carrying it around as she had imagined it would be. Maybe all those long ago people who had carried them while crossing vast distances had been onto something she idly thought. Before long she found herself at the intersection she was looking for. The rain was letting up a bit and so she looked up to try to identify just which tree she might be looking for. That is when she first saw a young man in a bright white robe standing up straight and dry overhead in the branches the next tree over…..

  Chapter 9

  Not too long ago….

  Apostophus was frustrated, he was thinking over how things were now arranged in the heavens and what he might do to change his lot. As an angel of the lesser host of the Lords of Light his duties were pretty minimal. Like many in the host, he had not originally chose or been chosen to serve any one Lord and none of them had since asked him to join their household. The Lords of Light and Darkness had all originally traveled here together as a group with the angels. Once they arrived divisions arose amongst them and they began to feud.

  The angels took sides with the vast majority backing those Lords who became known as the Lords of Light while a lesser number chose to side with the Lords who were later to be called the Lords of Darkness. Then there were a few loners who declared themselves neutral in the disputes. Outnumbered the new Lords of Darkness searched for more servants and found the d
emons to bargain with and then enslave to their cause. The two sides warred and after a great struggle, the Lords of Darkness were defeated. They were forced to agree to a treaty called the Ban and withdrew for a time, resting until at last their powers were restored. In the treaty, many restrictions were placed upon Lord, angel, demon and mortal alike that resided here in this world.

  For instance, the first Ban, enacted after the First Great War of Light versus Dark that had almost shattered the world restricted The Lords themselves from personally fighting amongst each other upon the face of the world for fear of causing its total destruction. Instead, they would act indirectly through their servants and followers in the world and fight their own personal battles amongst the firmament of the Heavens and in the depths of the Hells.