Midnight Liberty League - Part I

by Brock Law

information they need. However, we cannot figure that she hasn’t also given personal information about the rest of us in the hopes that it would draw our attention to her and eventual rescue. In fact I would expect her to craft a method to do that exactly. Therefore, I think that it is prudent we all remain away from our homes. As Franklin is so fond of reminding me, we should all hang together. We should accept that any of our residences may be monitored, making it unwise to temporarily move the Grail to any of the locations in which we are most familiar. Going directly to it and disturbing it may in fact be the plan in place to divulge it to these creatures. Indeed, since we are all strategically garrisoned around its location, we maintain the best opportunity to cast a web of guardianship without physically interacting with the artifact. I think that even if Vivienne were to give up its spot, attaining it would take such lengthy preparation and a quantity of material destruction obtrusive and blatant to the rest of the city’s public security measures that it would be preventatively noticeable. For the moment, I’m wagering that it is best left stationary.”

  Washington nodded in agreement. “I think that’s a fair assessment. If no attempt has been made upon it already, we should leave it lie until we can better equip for inevitable unfriendly encounters.”

  Enticed and wanting to be useful, Will asked, “So where is it exactly?”

  Jefferson smirked. “I am not mistaken that your intention is, genuinely, to help, but I’m afraid we can’t make it quite that easy on you.”

  Sheepishly, Will acknowledged, “Of course. Well we’ll need to draw them out somehow. I don’t think we could find Vivienne without meeting them again. Even if we could find her, these things won’t go away.”

  “True,” Madison agreed. “Thomas, as much as you may want to handle this benignly, it will not be possible to quell this gang’s obsessive pursuit without martial action. Not to mention that William does not have the same luxury to disappear as we do.”

  “Unfortunately,” Jefferson replied sadly. “If they are in fact relics of another time as much as ourselves, we cannot simply ignore their existence. Such a tortured form cannot be allowed to menace the world.”

  “It’s horrible to think about that poor darling trapped by such nightmarish fiends,” Martha interrupted. “To think a story like that could be true. Goodness, vampires. It’s foul even to say the word.”

  Will perked up. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  Martha put her coffee to her lips guiltily. Her eyes stared over the cup at her husband, seeming to apologize for adding more frightening details to Will’s already shattered reality. The immortals shifted in their seats.

  “William, perhaps you know better than the rest of us,” Madison asserted. “Franklin has recounted to me that the men that have chased you two have displayed some peculiar traits.”

  “Well,” Will remembered distastefully, “yes, I think, but I haven’t really been able to make sense of them. They are almost animalistic. I can’t seem to get rid of them.”

  “In that case I will believe what they are at least as a precaution,” said Jefferson.

  Will stuttered from the casual statement, “You mean like…really? How is it…I guess anything is possible now.”

  He fell back in his seat, eyes dilated, devastated.

  “Super strength, teeth, attraction to the smell of blood,” Will remembered. “Is it really that simple to explain?”

  Jefferson cleared his throat and began, “Not entirely. When we received the Grail, we also received numerous other histories and legends as fantastic as the vessel itself, which provided context to its journey. One of many stories was that of the diabolical creature mentioned by our dear Martha. It was alleged that the consumption of immortal blood could temporarily have the same effect on a mortal. However, being that the divine blood was since saturated with errant human blood, and of course ill gotten, that it didn’t quite have all of the intended consequences. It would act more like a potent narcotic. Initially there would be a heightened sense of invulnerability, superhuman dexterity and chronological stasis. Ultimately, however, without sustained usage that would diminish and revert the individual back. Naturally though, as with any drug, there would be biological corruption resulting from abusive dosing or withdrawal. According to the warning that was passed to us, that would include the very symptoms you described. Apparently, digestive interaction with an immortal is the true origin of the vampire myth, according to the source.”

  “I’m a vampire slayer?” Will questioned sarcastically.

  “It would seem so,” Jefferson said with a mildly congratulatory tone.

  The exhale that Will released from his mouth carried on dramatically for several seconds, akin to that of a balloon slowly leaking air and fluttering away. His foot began tapping incessantly. He closed his eyes and processed what he’d just heard, which hopefully no one outside the group had.

  “And this source being?” Will quizzed. “These Swiss people that everyone keeps mentioning?”

  Jefferson acknowledged hesitantly, “Yes.”

  Slightly perturbed, Will pressed, “And they are?”

  Again, the immortals moved uncomfortably. Martha went for more coffee. Washington straightened up to look around the room for anyone that might be within casual listening distance.

  “Well, since it appears likely that you will meet them, perhaps quite soon, you should be aware of their presence. We’ll have to tread diplomatically,” Madison warned. “It’s been an awfully long time since they…lived. I cannot attest to how they may view a new quester, since they are the originals.”

  “Really, James,” Martha butted in. “They’re lovely…in a very old fashioned kind of way.”

  “Admirable in many respects,” Washington agreed.

  “Perhaps not Archie,” Madison interjected. “The man has been celibate for nine hundred years.”

  “Not to mention the vow of silence,” Jefferson exclaimed. “I can sympathize, but hardly imagine such a love loss.”

  Uneasily, Will prompted, “What do you mean by ‘the originals’?”

  Jefferson said after another sip of coffee, “William, this may take somewhat of a leap of faith from you, but I suppose you’re used to that by now. The Grail had been under the close watch of an order much older and more deeply rooted than the Freemasons. In fact the sentiments of the Masons, as well as countless other monastic, military and occupational guilds, sprung from the void of constructive brotherhood left behind when this particular group disappeared. Previously, the Grail itself had been relegated to complete isolation. It had been entirely forgotten and abandoned, until a written memoir was uncovered that referenced it specifically. The men who found that document followed its trail across the Middle East and Europe until they eventually discovered where it had been hidden.”

  “When was this?” a captivated Will asked.

  “The time in question,” Jefferson spoke, “is the end of the First Crusade, 1099 AD. The men in question are nine. Hugues de Payens, Godfrey de Saint-Omer and Andre de Montbard, with whom we are most familiar, as well as six of their kinsmen. They are knights, veterans of the Crusades. They are the founding members of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.”

  “The Templars?” Will gawked as the word resonated.

  “Correct,” Jefferson commended. “After Jerusalem had been captured by the Crusaders, these nine knights created an organization to safeguard the vehement passages to the Holy Land and protect pilgrims traveling to the city. They were given clearance to set up a small headquarters on the Temple Mount, which many considered to have been built on the ruins of Solomon’s Temple. Hence the name of the Order. Their mission, unbeknownst to the Church, was twofold, and the location of their headquarters quite strategic. They intended to excavate into the underlying Temple, which perhaps you have heard before. Archaeologists have discovered several of the trenches and tunnels that they left behind, and have hotly debated their function for generations. We
of course have the privilege of knowing the primary sources. They were looking for the Ark of the Covenant, which was said to have been housed in the Temple of Solomon. It vanished from history when the city was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BC. Particularly, they were looking for a niche cave known as the Well of Souls, in which it was said spirits went to await judgment and pass into Paradise. They believed the Ark had been stored and subsequently buried there before the siege. Afterwards the Mount changed hands every century or so, and the reliquary of the Ten Commandments was forgotten. Their searching dragged ceaselessly for years, but the Templars never found the Ark. To this day, a full survey has never been conducted on the Mount due to the millennia of tensions surrounding its ownership. What they did immediately find was a suppository of scrolls that had been stashed for an unknown period. It was one of these that contained an account of the creation and embarkation of the Grail.”

  “I want to believe this so much,” Will salivated.

  “Do,” Martha cut in. “These events are focused on its existence. Even if it weren’t true, believing might just save your life.”

  “So why do you call them the Swiss?” Will pressed on.

  “Switzerland, or what became the place, is where they settled after the dissolution of their Order,” Jefferson answered. “During the crusades they