The Mysterious Door

Chapter 20

"Unfortunately this isn't a social visit, my dear," The Instructor says to Stacy, "Purely business, you know."

"Glad to see nothing has changed," Stacy glares, "You know you're not welcome here. June, please take care of the intruder."

June steps forward, wand in hand, but before she can mutter a word Gustav is next to her. She jumps back, but he got a hold of her and within the blink of an eye they're gone.

"Don't worry," the Instructor says, "He won't harm her. He just took her somewhere far away so she can't get in our way. Now, you lot can listen or follow the same fate." She steps forward and Gustav appears behind her again.

"We don't need more of your lies," I say, "You can't take all of us away."

"You have no idea what Gustav can do," she smiles, "Your powers are but a drop in the ocean of possibilities. Let me demonstrate."

Gustav closes his eyes and raises his hands and portals open all over the room, letting in the worst looking people I've ever seen. All of them have some kind of animal quality to them, but it looks like they're just wearing really horrible Halloween costumes.

"Just as easily as he can bring people here, he can send them away too. So listen or I might not be as kind to just send them away anymore."

"How did you get in," Stacy asks, "It should be magically impossible to get in here."

"Well, it's really all thanks to Jake," again, all eyes on me, "Thanks to him I discovered that Gustav is capable of a lot more than we initially thought. You see, Gustav is not bound by the inherent limitations of any ordinary teleporter. In fact, he turned out to be even more powerful than our data could have ever predicted."

"The Mysterious door will never allow you to stay," Martyn says, "It's only a matter of time before you're kicked out like the trash you are."

"Cute puppy you have there, Commander," the Instructor says, "But not the brightest. I think it will be best to put him out. Don't you think if that stupid door could kick us out it would have already?"

"You haven't made your intentions clear," Stella says, "You're on borrowed time."

"You're right," she smiles, "Usually the door would evict anyone that has bad intentions, but that's only possible if you used the door to enter that forsaken realm in the first place. That rule, unfortunately for you, doesn't apply to those of us that used our own door."

"That's impossible," Liam says, "There's only one way to enter Fairshadow."

"There was only one way," the Instructor says as she rubs Gustav's shoulder, "Now there's two."

"So what is it you want, Instructor," Stacy asks, "I'm guessing there's a point to your being here."

"I want to invite all of you to join me," she smiles, "If you do, your lives will be spared and if you don't, you will die. War is coming and this is your chance to join the winning side."

"What makes you think any of us will join you," Martyn asks, "We're not afraid of you or your halflings."

"Don't worry," she says, "Doggy will get a treat for his obedience. I offer you all a gift if you join our fight." She walks over to the leaders. Gustav disappears and returns in the blink of an eye accompanied by June, "Firstly, to the vampires, I offer that there will be no blood-law in our new world. You will be allowed to drink from willing humans. I'm guessing the animal diet can become quite revolting."

"Is that all you've got," I laugh, "Their loyalty is surely worth more than that."

"Don't speak so quickly, boy," Duncan says, stepping forward, "Speaking as the leader of the vampires, I gladly accept your offer."