Succubi Unplugged - #5

Tryst gave me her cell-phone number and said she'd be ready when the time was right. When she left I oh so conveniently remembered my wallet again and called up a taxi to haul my ass home. Lucky me, I'd forgotten it'd been Thursday so I snagged the street-cleaning citation from my truck; at least they didn't slash my tires this time. Everything at the apartment seemed fine: no messages as usual, bills, a lingerie catalog left for the last tenant and several hours worth of vacuuming and mopping the ritual room.

Seeing as how I didn't have the money or savvy for the information age, I spent the next few days driving around town, reading over newspapers and cross-referencing with some of the auto-club maps I had. Sections of the subway above and below ground were shut down due to stalls and in a few cases derailments. Oddly, the wisp blackouts and power failures had stayed more or less in the same places. I thought that whatever was causing the problems had to be localized or maybe there was some business or resource around in just those places. Hell of a patchy downtown area to cover, though. I knew I was missing something, but whatever it was had the decency to wait for me to catch up.

Still, I had other contracts and an employee to feed, so I headed over to the office to see what Ren was up to. She was sitting in my chair with her body hunched over, dressed in the battle fatigues of the fringe corporate world. It seemed like she'd cut her hair short and sweeping in again; too bad, really, she had a nice face. I still remember when I met her awhile back, a grown-up raver chick with a Tolkien/C.S. Lewis fixation who had a "smidgeon" of an occult fetish. Neither of us knew what a real job was and I think that got us through most days.

"Ahoy, Ren," I said with a smile as I parked myself on the guest chair, "Watcha got for me?"

Ren shook off something for a second before looking at me. "Oh, hey D.L.," she said at a light frolick, "I was just busy doing your job again, sorry man."

I scrunched up my face and shook my head. "Pft, come on," I chuckled, "If you didn't do it, who would? Besides, the dust preserve on your old desk is fetching."

She half grinned and gave me an 'eh' face. She handed me a message list and started going through the clientele case motions, ticking off appointments for security installations, DSP's (Demonic Sex Possessions; very popular), some consultation jazz and other things. I also got a coded message from my old advisor at my Alma Mater, Dr. Mason, saying hello and catching me up on the goings-on and occult news bits I might be interested in. I'd just thought about calling him up about the fungus sample when Ren distracted me.

"Oh yeah," She mentioned in a dead-pan, "That big Sal guy called from 'Hell' again. He was wondering if you had any leads that'd come up in the past few days on the blackout case or where-" She chuckled, "Your 'friend' Tryst was at. You guys are twisted, man, I swear."

Now that's bizarre, I thought, where not in the hell has she been?

Sure enough, though, Tryst was on the other end of her cell-phone and seemed a little too excited about the CODU inteview at 1:00pm. It was 10am then and I'd already moved my appointments to the evening so I went down, got my bag o' magus and hauled it up. Ren was busy at my paperwork so I creeped by and slowly shut myself inside the office closet. While the Druids that worked with the public wore suits, I guessed that most of them in The Grove would be sporting robes like the old student rag I was holding. I preferred jeans and a t-shirt myself-less conspicuous, easier to run in-but business attire was business attire (since they'd instantly recognize my power).

I walked out of the closet only to catch Ren looking up and flashing me her trademark smirk. "Well well, Nicol Williamson with a 12 o'clock shadow! Are you keeping me out of the loop again? I didn't think you had to resort to kids' birthday parties to get cash still."

"Not a birthday so much," I replied, "But you've got the rest right. Best wishes, my dear. You know the routine if anything happens."

"Like I'd ever need to torch your office, man. Honestly, though, I wish you'd keep me in the know so I could keep tabs on you. Anyway, get going and bring me back some cake," she said.

I nodded and smiled, going outside past the tribal lawyers and down to the truck. It was easy finding parking around lunch-time. Tryst wanted to meet at 204th and Rowen, though, which was right next to The Grove's south perimeter check-point-and a good twelve blocks away. For security reasons you couldn't park your car anywhere nearby the place.

As I stood on the meeting corner for a few ticks I saw her come up from the side. She shimmered against the sun as if light wasn't sure what to do with her. She looked over at me with moonlight in her eyes. I didn't bother looking back.

We passed by the check-point without so much as a raised eyebrow. The female guard seemed put-off, but a glance from Tryst subdued her. The trees swayed and critters gargled over the gems of light piercing the canopies. The ground felt old. Tryst began walking slower. I felt something overtake me, spinning my vision around. I was standing in the same place, but everything was different: silent, still, but peaceful. A man sprouted from around a bush, walking toward us. His features stood as angular as his suit and staff.

"You're welcomed and expected, junior Magus," the man intoned, "To assure your continued comfort, I suggest you become and remain blind-folded for our short trip."

"And you are greeted and acknowledged, Druid," I said, "But what about my associate?" I could feel Tryst get hot and angry beside me.

The guy got flustered and seemed to notice her for the first time. He scowled at me. "She can't come any farther; you were to come alone."

"She's my apprentice," I lied with a shrug, "She's just a possession so long as she's mine."

It was one hell of a stretch to act that traditional at my age, but it worked.

"Be that as it may," he growled, "I can only protect one entity at a time and summoning another Druid isn't an option. You'll have to defend yourself."

"Not a problem," I lied again. The Druid tied a stretch of cloth around Tryst's eyes and mine. Suddenly I felt wind and space bend around me like a river. I extended myself outward to sense my surroundings. Everything was ominous, terrible and alien. Seeing anything felt like reading Mandarin Chinese from a faded page. My metaphysical self was hemmed in by brambles like wolves, circling around, feinting, sniffing. I kept gropping for a foothold. I was drowning. Teeth locked around my throat as my essence blurred. They kept squeezing down--harder and harder. I lost track of where the Druid was leading me. My vision began to tunnel. I was lost. My breath gurgled out as I fell down.