Globe Tracers 1: The Case of Thomas Crain

Chapter 19: Darius

Kyle:

Jessica explained to Allen that we had met up with John at the bus stop and that he was on the case, but wasn't able to offer anything very promising. Jessica didn't however bring up the issue of Gregory or the idea of a trickster god. Personally, I wanted to see if there was anything the man knew about what was awaiting us if we summoned Darius, so I decided to try to ease into the subject.

"So Allen, is it true there are actually five earth-bound mutant societies?" I asked.

"Yes, it is," he said with a nod, "You've met me of course, and you've had interactions with banshees and wildmen. The two you've been rather lucky enough to avoid up to this point are the mystics and the gargoyles. As you probably already know, your race and the gargoyles are mortal enemies. You see about the mystics though, officially no one is actually at war with them, but as a race, they've always had a different way of looking at the world. For them, everything is about profit and really they don't care much about the rest of us. As far as the mystics are concerned, it wouldn't matter if the werewolves, banshees, and wildmen didn't exist. Their society mostly stands alone." I nodded. "As to their power, if you ever meet one... just keep your encounters short. They can pretty much kill you with a thought. I think rightly the only creatures that know about them, and don't fear them, are gargoyles."

"The males control fire and the females can move matter right?" I asked.

"A witch could pick up this car with her mind on a whim actually and a warlock, a male, could incinerate your whole body in about two seconds. They're not invincible by any means, and they still cooperate with the societies to the point needed to protect themselves and hide from the world, but really I wouldn't expect any help from them if that's the tree you're barking up."

"I'm not thinking about working with them, we just met one." Allen's eyes widened as he looked back at me. He quickly returned to looking at the road. Jessica quickly snapped a different look at me, like she was both afraid and enraged at what I was doing. She mouthed "don't" to me. She pulled out her card and mouthed, "Keep him out."

"What are you two going on about?" Allen asked.

"Um..." I began as Jessica turned around. "He just made Jessica nervous. Me too to be honest. Seems he's been spying on us."

Allen's eyes seemed concerned. "Well, I don't like the sounds of that. Do you know how he's doing it? Does he know who you two are?"

"He says he's been on our trail since yesterday," I answered. "He didn't say why, he just seemed to want to creep us out."

Allen looked around the car and out each of the windows as we came to a stop sign. "Well to tell the truth I haven't noticed anyone tailing us. Would you guys like a security detail to follow you around for the next few days? How much did he know about?"

"Um well... he knew we went to school and he knew we went to the airport... really I'm not sure what you guys can do anyway. Sides, really it's more creepy than scary. He didn't make any threats. About the extra security detail, I really don't want someone following Jessica and I everywhere we go."

"So you just want me to keep this to myself?" Allen asked. "You know I can't do that."

"Not keep it to yourself..." Jessica replied. "But really, we can handle ourselves mostly. We just wanted you aware."

"Well..." Allen looked around again. "He didn't make any threats? None at all?"

"None. And he was really just a kid," Jessica replied.

"Kids don't drive themselves around here," Allen replied. "But I suppose we can treat this as someone just trying to mess with us for the moment. I'll let my superiors know what you said and see if I can keep them from putting a permanent guard on you... we seem to be alone here and I'll have a few folks watch the tower for any suspicious persons, but I think you'll probably be allowed the same freedom of movement as before." I nodded.