Scenes: Part VII
White Mage’s Library
“All right,” Malachi said, pacing back and forth. “Tell me about Mallefus.”
Gomurr leaned back against his desk, poring through one of his books. “It’s been a while since we have had a ‘lesson’, so I think we’ll begin there. What do you remember of the Elohim?”
“The Elohim?” Malachi asked. “Seven of the most powerful beings in existence. They report directly to the One who rules above All. They are basically the equivalent of angels in the Christian faith…”
“Quick synopsis… effective, but gapped. I won’t get into that, now. One of the restrictions placed on the Elohim is that they cannot enter Heaven. Nephilim, however, have no such restriction.”
“Nephilim?”
“A child of an Elohim and a mortal.”
“I don’t understand,” Malachi said. “I’m assuming that Mallefus is a Nephilim, otherwise you would not have brought it up. Yet, if a Nephilim is just half an Elohim, then why did it take six of the seven Elohim to imprison Mallefus? Is he really that powerful?”
“Malachi,” Gomurr answered. “You just witnessed an Elohim personally ask the Circle of Mystics for help. What does that tell you?”
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On the road back to Strong Towers
Well, tonight was a bust. That was a light way to put it. Sharon was so pissed right now that Gabe would have to be an idiot to try seducing her tonight. The only thing he could do right now to make her feel any better was drive the car and nod as she went on. Fortunately, Khalid was in the back seat quietly eating his fifth steak. (The cook gave him a free one.)
“I can’t BELIEVE you, Khalid,” Sharon seethed. “I went through all that trouble setting the two of you up and you act like… like…” She stopped, letting a strained growl come through her teeth.
“Yet another reason you shouldn’t try playing match-maker,” Khalid said. “Every girl you set me up with is bad news.”
“Come on, Khalid,” Gabe said, stopping at a red light. “You’re known for dating bad news. She would have been perfect. Of course, you’d have problems like hell breaking up with her in about two to three months when she started showing…”
“GABE… you aren’t helping,” Sharon said, crossing her arms across her chest. Gabe sighed. She gets sexy when she’s angry. Unfortunately, angry is also the time she’s LEAST likely to have sex…
“Sharon, he was right. Camille is pretty loose. As the valet brought the car over, I saw her getting into a cab with Dan Anders, chief executive of Anders Sanders.”
“So?”
“She had already hiked up her skirt as she got in.”
Sharon sighed, uncrossing her arms. Gabe smiled. Okay… mildly peeved. That was good. That he could work with. He might still get some tonight… Sharon glanced toward the back where Khalid had just finished his steak. “Okay, Khalid. I’m sorry about tonight.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Khalid said, momentarily flashing his photon aura around his hands to burn off the grease. “It happens… and the dinner was delicious.”
“I just…” Sharon stopped. “Khalid, you’ve just been so different for the past two months. I already mentioned everything before, but… It’s like you’re possessed.”
Khalid wasn’t sure what to say. He’d admit that he’s changed since going to Egypt (Shifting Sands), but he did not really feel different. It was always there, but he just did not realize it. He sat quietly in the back seat, looking morosely out the window as they passed.
“This past week, especially,” Sharon said. “You’ve just… come off so strong…”
“Tell you what,” Gabe said, interrupting her. “I'll just take him and go beat up bad guys for the next week or so. If he’s still messed up in the head after that, I’ll get a few hookers and lock him in the training room.”
“GABE!” Sharon glared.
“Trust me,” Gabe chuckled. “Sex and violence ALWAYS tames the putty tat.”
“Or makes it hyper…” Sharon glared.
“Hyper just means ‘receptive to more activity.’”
“Are we talking about HIM or YOU?” Sharon laughed.
The two of them were interrupted by a soft light growl from the back seat. At first, Sharon and Gabe looked at each other, and then they looked in the back seat just to see what Khalid was doing. He was looking out the window at Gomurr’s strip club as they passed.
“Forget it, K,” Gabe said. “You know what happened LAST time.”
“Actually,” Khalid said, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I just remember waking up three days later.”
“Oh… that’s right… Mufasa was in charge after the second vodka,” Gabe said. Suddenly, his eyes snapped wide as he remembered who was in the car with them.
“What ELSE happened LAST time??!!” Sharon said in her I’m-sleeping-at-my-apartment-tonight voice.
FUCK!!!!…
End Part VII
Scenes: Part VIII
Strong Towers
Fast and furious. That was the melody floating through the apartment. The man at the piano knew it well. Khalid had learned it years ago. Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 3 in A minor. Many people considered the piece a war-horse. Khalid loved it. You just HAVE to love a sonata whose tonal plan cycles up by major thirds in minor keys just in the first theme group.
Well… at any time other than 2:00 A.M…
“What the hell?!” Gabe said, bursting into the practice room.
The figure turned on the piano bench to face Gabe, moving his cape out of the way so it did not bunch around his waist. “Hello, Daemon…” SuperGrover said. “I think we have to talk.”
“Talk?!” Gabe said, flashing his sword. “Oh YEAH, you better talk… like how you got past my alarm system and why the fuck you are in my apartment at 2:00 in the morning!”
“All right,” Grover answered. “Though, put your sword away… It’s too late to fight. Basically, I want to hear from YOU exactly what is going on with Khalid… and what the hell happened to him.”
“About time one of you people from the White Court decided to give a flying fuck what happens…”
“I’d have asked earlier, but there were extenuating circumstances…”
“Yeah… like you were evil.”
“Bingo.”
“Fine,” Daemon said, sending Anubis back to its pocket dimension. “But after this, I am demanding an explanation of my own… like what the FUCK happened to my Grey Bishop!”
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Prydesville, NY
Khalid knew something was up the moment he stepped out of his bedroom and onto the front porch. No, he didn’t have the urge to hunt tonight. After all the meat he ate today, he just was not hungry. He felt this energy – nervous energy? – that he felt was just burgeoning beneath him. Whatever the case, he knew he did not want to sleep. The visions were bad enough when they came to him in a waking dream. It was hell in sleep. What he would not give for a good night’s sleep.
With a flash of his eyes, he started to turn around when two fingers were sharply planted on both of his temples. “I was… wondering… when… you’d show up…”
“Nice to feel missed,” Patrick Walsh said, pushing in tighter on Khalid’s head. As strong as he was, this move applied just enough pain so that he could easily telepathically enter Khalid’s mind. “Hello, Löwe… Let’s talk. Have a seat.”
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“Let me get this straight… Sharon asks you to train him. Maul volunteers. THAT should have been a red flag right there…”
“Yes it should have,” Daemon answered. “Great-grandfathers have a habit of pulling out the most embarrassing baby photos at just the wrong time.” Grover and Daemon stopped, each one staring at each other for a moment. “Sorry, I forgot that Terrans don’t routinely live to see their great-grandchildren as adults.”
“You were RAISED here?”
“Don’t get sarcastic, Smurf King…”
“As tall as you are, where do you think you get off calling ANYONE a Smurf?”
“Let’s get back to the subject at hand!” Daemon glared. Yes, he would normally slap the hell out of someone who said that, but not now… especially when he opened himself up for it.
“All right… Some people who call themselves the Toc-Ra came out to capture Khalid, because as Mufasa he hid the artifacts known as the Eye of Ra and the Key of Ra… and only he knew where they were.”
“Got it…” Daemon said. (See “Full Circle” and “Shifting Sands” to see what REALLY happened…) “Mufasa took control… ripped them a new one. I decided that if these artifacts were indeed bad news, that we should get them before anyone else.”
“Ever the proactive Grey King…”
“The switches back and forth between ‘Khalid’ and ‘Mufasa’ started happening more and more, being even more unpredictable while I was researching the archaeological databases in the area. He was acting funny as if he were afraid of something…”
That’s when the premonitions started… Grover thought.
“I observed it for a while noticing how it shifted in varying degrees… particularly when he sensed the Toc-Ra found the Eye. I think that is around the time when I found that the ‘two’ of them ‘fused’.”
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“Why… are you… doing… this?” Khalid said, fighting Maul’s lock on his mind.
“I gave you a gift, Löwe,” Maul answered, applying more pressure to Khalid’s temples. “I ‘freed’ you enough so that what lay inside could come out.” His eyes flashed as he started moving his fingers in circles.
“You… brainwashed… me…”
“No… Mind control and brainwashing are two different things. Put it this way, Löwe… Everything has a price. I freed you… and you owe me.”
“Get out of…”
“You’re my back-up,” he said, with a sneer. “I don’t think I’ll tell you just how. I’ll let you find out with everyone else, should I decide to play that card. However, you don’t need to be remembering I’m alive just yet. I’ll take care of…” He stopped. “A block? A telepathic block?”
Unseen by Maul, Khalid’s eyes and tattoos started glowing bright white.
“How come I never noti…” Before Maul could complete his statement, a psionic backlash ripped through his system, causing him to drop to the ground.
Khalid stood up, staring down at Maul. “Sorry, Walsh…” he said, taking hold of Maul’s energy field. “I’ll allow your telepathic suggestion to run its course, but I WON’T allow you to endanger everything.”
“I… don’t know…”
“You’re right… You don’t know.” Khalid sneered. “And I’m making sure it stays that way.” With a flash of his eyes, Khalid forced Maul’s telepathy to erase the events from his own mind. Instead, Maul would have the memory of ambushing Khalid and reinforcing the psionic suggestion, then returning to the shadows to spy in secret. Satisfied, he triggered Maul’s shadowsporting ability to return him to the shadows. “Can’t play that card until it’s time.”
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“So, they just ‘fused’, huh?” Grover asked. “Well… UNFUSE them. You created this problem with him… you fix it back.”
“FIX it?” Daemon said. “FIX it?!” Once again, Anubis flashed into his hand. “Do you have the faintest CLUE what the fuck your ‘cousin’ has gone through? The HELL he was in?!”
“We loaned him to you so that he could learn how to defend himself… NOT to release the ‘King of Kemet’!” Grover answered, forming the Gauntlets of Excalibur into a staff.
“K and Mufasa were one and the same; they were ALWAYS one and the same! What did you THINK they were? Two people trapped in the same body?! The REASON K had problems was because he refused to acknowledge it. Once confronted with his past, he couldn’t deny it.”
“Or maybe being confronted with his past was what caused him to snap!” Grover answered. “Whatever case, he is NOT the same person we know…”
“No… He’s not. This time he’s actually whole,” Daemon said, sending the extradimensional sword back into its pocket dimension. “And sometimes it takes some doing to get settled in. If you want to give him back his case of split-personality disorder, then do it yourself… and know that if you do it, I’m going to fucking gut you from crotch to chin.”
“You DARE threaten me?!” Grover said.
“YES… You tell me RIGHT NOW if you think your cousin is any better off than he was before.”
“HE… is…” he stopped. “You’re right.” He stood up, walking toward the door. “You are absolutely right. I wanted to be sure.”
“Sure… of…”
“That you knew what you did… and to say thank you.”
“THANK you?! Fuck that… You want to ‘thank me’, then maybe you should get your court up to snuff instead of watching them fall to pieces the MOMENT you aren’t there to babysit them. Maybe if they aren’t fighting amongst each other so much of the time you might get some shit done.”
“I DON’T need your advice.”
“No… YOU don’t,” Gabe sneered. “And K doesn’t… and individually, no one does… Your court as a whole…”
“Good night, Mr. Strong,” Grover said, and flew out the window before Daemon could say another word.
“What you fail to realize,” Daemon said, instantly changing shape with a flash of light. “Is that Mr. Strong is currently at Ms. Stokes’ place…” With a flick of his hand, the Stranger cast a spell that changed the recordings on Daemon’s security discs. “Good night, Grover… You might want to take my advice.”
End Part VIII
Mufasa
King of Kemet
King of Insanity
The White Rook
XMBB Editor
The only man ever denied entrance into the Beer Cult.
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