When Strange Forces Come

When Strange Forces Come

                                    When Strange Forces Come

Amy sat in her usual chair, the rocking chair in the corner of the living room, reading the local newspaper, The Parmont Gazette.  The only recent news was that the high school football team tied the neighboring city at ten and ten.  Crops were still growing in the farms.  Politics were still hotly debated.  The usual was still as it had been.  She looked up for a moment at her son Ben, playing with action figures in the opposite corner.  At least life was simple for him.

Amy kept reading.  The comics were still funny.  But now for national news.  The new election campaigns were really getting underway.  Amy cared enough about government to vote, so she read carefully.  It seemed so distant to her, though, like a story almost.  Besides gas prices, things in Parmont didn’t change, at least not much.

Amy pulled away as she heard the bus approaching.  She placed the paper down and walked out of the house.  The bus slowly screeched till it gave out a gasp.  The door pulled open and Stacey started stepping out.  Amy waited there as she got off.  “Hey, be at the park today,” Stacey called out as she waved back before fully exiting.  The doors closed and the bus gasped again, heading off, but not before a face could be seen staring after her and waving bye.

“Well who was that?”  Amy asked.

“Relax.  It’s just Aaron,” Stacey replied with subtle annoyance.

“Are you two going out now?  I thought he was just a friend.”

“We are just friends.  I told you that.  Why do you always have to worry?  It’s not like I’m two.”

“Just asking.”

“Well, I’m going to change and go to the park.”

“Fine.  Just wear something decent.”

“When’s the last time I didn’t?”

“I’m just saying—“

“Well you need to stop ‘just saying’.  I know how to dress myself.”  Stacey walked onto the porch and into the house.  Amy followed behind.  Ben stopped playing.  “Hello Stacey,” he exclaimed as he walked over to hug her.

“How are you doing?” she replied as she mussed up his hair.  She proceeded upstairs.  Amy returned to her chair and picked up the paper once more, and Ben went back to playing.  She decided to turn to the letters to the editor.  Oddly, many were complaints.  Almost half of the letters addressed the rise in gas prices, which didn’t surprise Amy at all.  Some had to do with the recent politics, and a few mentioned the local government.

Amy once again looked up from her paper, this time it was at the sound of a car driving on her pavement.  At the same moment, Stacey came down dressed in jeans and a hoodie.  “We have another customer, Mr. Landry.  Early, though.” Amy said as she went to the door.  Stacey, not one for greetings, went back upstairs.  Amy owned a bed and breakfast, which she inherited from her uncle.  She quickly stepped to the door and opened it.

---

On the porch stood Mr. Landry.  He wore a simple plaid button-up with jeans and work boots, not unlike the farmers that had ventured in from further south.  The colors were incredibly faded, though.  Upon seeing her, he held out a hand.  “Hello.  My name is David.”  Amy quickly assumed the roll of a welcoming hostess and grabbed his hand with both of her own.  It wasn’t calloused like she expected, but she did feel the edges of a strange burn on the back of his hand.

“Welcome,” she said as she looked at his face.  He had gray-green eyes and short brown hair.  His smile was pleasant, but something was different for some reason.  It wasn’t fake.  Nor was it unintelligent.  It was as though he was both tired and full of energy at the same time.  She held her gaze for a moment and then went on to the business.  “Now we usually don’t get customers until later, but the room is nearly ready.  A few touch ups and it’s perfect.  If you have any belongings with you, we can move those into the room.”

“Actually,” he began, “I was hoping I could just pay for the room and return later.  I have things to take care of in town.  Purchases to make and so forth.”  Amy adjusted.  “Alright.  As you know, the room runs for one-hundred.  That covers everything, from shower to breakfast.”

“Good.  When can I pay?”  Usually they weren’t that ready.  Amy began to explain more details: “Before we make the transaction final, I’ll remind you that I have a son and a daughter,” she glanced through a window at Ben, trying to balance a toy on its feet, “and that you need to sign the guest book to finalize the deal.”

“Of course.  I can do that now.  And children won’t bother me.  I find homes much better for sleeping in than hotels.”  Amy and David stepped inside.  She showed him a chair at the dining table in the kitchen to the left while she went toward the back of the house where her office was.  She retrieved a rules-and-regulations sheet and guest sign-in book from her desk and returned.

When she came back, Amy found David sitting, both hands on the table, fingers laced together.  Amy saw that both hands had burns on the backs of them, but she couldn’t tell if they were accidental or intentional.  She lay the papers down.  “Here we are.  Please read over the rules and here’s the guest sign-in book.  When you’re done, we can handle the money.”

“Thank-you,” he replied as he began reading over the paper.  Amy began walking back to her desk to retrieve an envelope for his payment, but as she went behind him she stopped for just a moment.  She turned and glanced at either hand.  It was intentional.  Both hands had designs, and both were different.  And both fascinated her.  David paused and tilted his head up, sensing, perhaps, that she had stopped moving and leaned over to get a better look.  Amy hurriedly fetched the envelope and returned, hoping he wasn’t in a cult.

When she did, David had skimmed over everything and signed the guest book.  His handwriting was unusual as well.  It isn’t illegible, Amy thought.  The letters were formed with grace.  His style had a weird calligraphic touch to it.  He held out a hand to her, holding the one-hundred required.  The burns seemed so intricate up close.  “Alright, David, I’ll have that now,” she grabbed it and placed it neatly in the envelope, “and I’ll show you to your room upstairs.  Do you have any luggage that you would like to bring in?”  She expected he had a suitcase of some sort.

“Yes.  I’ll bring it up when I return from town.  I’ll be having my own dinner as well.  I should be back by nine-thirty.”

“That’s fine.  I hope you enjoy your stay here.”  She began to walk back to her desk to deposit the money.

“I’m sure I will.  It’s not my first time here in town.”

“Oh.  In that case, we welcome you back.”  David headed to the front door and almost walked out but instead stopped halfway and turned.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to know a Denmoor family, would you?  They used to live around here.  I don’t know where the house is, though, and they weren’t able to tell me when we last met.”  Amy did know a Denmoor family.  They were the friends of her own family.  Before she moved out to college, she lived next to their house on the other side of Parmont.  But that was years ago.  I was seven when they moved.

Amy walked back to the living room and answered.  “I do actually.”  David gave a quick smile and focused more on her words.  “They moved out a long time ago, though.”

“Would you happen to know where their old house is?  They have something of mine that they were holding for me.”  Amy closed her eyes in remembrance.  “…Yes.  They lived at three-four-two-seven Fence Street.  I lived next to them when I was younger.  They were friends of ours.  There might be another family living there now.”

“There’s not.  I’m sure of that.”  In fact, Amy was also fairly certain of this.  They never sold the house, at least while she lived there.

“At any rate, the doors and windows must be locked—“

“I have a key.”  He pulled it out from his front pocket.  The Denmoor’s home was, even back then, very old.  The key, large and brass, certainly looked like it matched.

“Are you sure that whatever you had there will still be there.  I’m sure they must have taken it with them.”

“Don’t worry.  It’s there.  They left instructions to me to get it.”  Not having anything else to say, David began for the door again.  “Well, I’ll be going.  Like I said, I should be back by nine-thirty.”  David then waved and fully walked out the door.  Amy waited and listened to him start up his truck.  When he left, she brought her attention back to settling the transaction and preparing the room.  She placed the envelope of money on her desk and went upstairs to the guest bedroom.  As she was about to open it, Stacey opened her door and walked out.  “So, who’s the customer?”

“A man named Mr. Landry.  He’s odd, though.  He somehow knows the neighbors I grew up with, and he has weird designs burned onto his hands.  He’s gone to town to get some things and to retrieve something from my old neighbors’ house.  Says he’ll be back at nine-thirty.  Where are you going?”

Stacey began to walk down the stairs.  “I’m going to the park.  Aaron and John will be there.”

Before she left entirely, Amy shouted down, “I want you back by ten, got it?”

“Fine.”  Amy heard the door open and close and the sound of Stacey’s car start up and drive off.  Amy returned to her task of making up the room, remembering Stacey before Todd had died.  Stacey took it the hardest.  Was still taking it the hardest.

---

“Well there she is,” John called out when he saw her coming.  Aaron shifted toward John, giving the bench a blank for her to sit on.  He almost wrapped his arm around her as she sat but decided against it.  “Well, what’ll we do now?” he asked with renewed joy.  He and John could keep themselves pretty entertained, but he always felt that the three of them together resulted in the most satisfaction.  That, and he liked Stacey’s company more than John’s, not that he would admit it.

“We were thinking about going over to the theatre and seeing something,” suggested John.

“Anything good- Wait.  That’s that guy’s truck.”  Stacey almost didn’t realize it as it passed in front of them on the road they faced.

“What are you talking about?” began John, “That red one?  Who’s this guy?”

“He’s this guy that rented our room for the night,” Stacey explained, “My mom said he’s going over to a house in town to get something the family was keeping for him  I saw his truck from my window, and that has to be his.”

“So what,” asked Aaron, “you want to follow him?  We can’t catch him now anyway.”

“I listened in on my mom talking to him,” Stacey replied, “He says he’s going to three-four-two-seven Fence Street.”

“Well I know where that is,” said Aaron, “But why?”

“’Cause Mom said he was weird.  That he had burns on his hands in weird designs.  And how often do I get spy on customers, especially weird ones?”

“Whatever.”  Aaron didn’t want to argue with her.

“Alright,” said John, getting up from the bench, “my car’s over there.”

---

David quietly walked out of a house he knew to have been built in the nineteenth century.  The brown brick and burgundy shingles, not to mention the almost over-grown rose garden, reminded him of home.  The lawn, however, was mowed.  And the interior was dustless.  David expected as much though.  He carried in his hands an archaic chest, bound with iron and locked with an iron mechanism just as old.  The memories had been pouring back ever since he saw it.

The hunt.  The fight.  The escape.  Trying to get the boy out alive.  The parents died, and he couldn’t let that slow them.  The boy’s lineage held the answers, the power to stop the war, defeat the enemy.  It was only a matter of time before the traitors took control, and that would be the end of them.  If the boy died, they would all follow sooner or later.

The boy lived, though.  He returned with David to David’s land, safe and secure.  And the boy loved it.  But his son didn’t.  His son left, disappearing.  Then where did he go?  More importantly, who were his children?  And who were there children?  And which one had what they needed?

David walked to his truck bed.  He had a cover attached to it, also locked.  Setting the chest down with ease, David reached into his pants pocket and retrieved the keys, and after unlocking the cover, put them back.  As he did so, he realized something and glanced across the street.  Two boys were on the porch of another house, talking, and a car (he presumed theirs) was in the driveway.  They weren’t there when he came.

David stared for a moment, yet it was enough for him to tell that they were watching him.  He continued to work, opening the cover and sliding the chest in beside the ammo stores, but all the while tracing through his memory.  He had never seen them, and he always remembered whom he saw.  He closed the cover and returned to the cabin.  From the sound of their voices, he determined that he had never heard them before, and that they were trying, poorly for his standards, to cover their spying.  The house was probably not theirs as well.

After starting up the truck, and some analytical thinking, David concluded that someone had connections with the bed-and-breakfast.  He only spoke of the location of the house to Amy.  The child in the other room wouldn’t have cared enough to remember it.  He backed out and shifted gears.  Amy wouldn’t tell anyone the house number, not with a personal agenda involved.  He could sense that much from talking with her.  Were they the only ones in the house?  He began to turn the wheel straight and accelerate.  No, they weren’t.  The daughter must have been upstairs.  Passing by the house the two were on, he quickly glanced into the car.  Sure enough, a blond haired girl sat in the passenger seat.  He understood her curiosity, though.  At times, he surprised himself.

---

Oddly enough, there was another watching David.  Much further off down the street, on another porch, just outside of the area a nearby tree hid from sight, sat a figure.  Since entering the town, he made sure not to expend his strength, remaining hidden from David’s senses.  The stranger let out a small grin as David drove away, oblivious.

The Denmoors never were very powerful.  Put together, they might rival David, or even himself, but if one was gone, they were weakened that much.  Still, they had unparalleled wisdom, and a natural talent for creating powerful defenses.  And if David just acquired one, it would be hard getting around him, assuming he’d be a threat at all.  It didn’t matter, though.  No one had ever bested him before, and countless had tried, legions even.

The stranger quietly retreated into the house.  A single man lay motionless on the floor.  His wrists, ankles and neck were bound by crude rope, and around his head sat a dark green circlet.  He was unconscious, but pain clearly showed on his sweating face.  The figure ignored his victim and walked over to a chair.  As he sat down, he pulled out of his jacket a rolled up paper.  He read it over yet again, checking again what to do when he found his target.

Finished, the stranger stood and went to the man bound and unconscious.  He removed the circlet and watched a moment as the man coughed and writhed on the floor when he did.  “Thank-you for the use of your house, but it seems I have business to attend to,” spoke the stranger as he walked out the door.  The man continued in his agony, beginning to groan and scratch at whatever he felt.  The stranger always enjoyed how well the circlet worked, even when removed.

---

Amy stood in the kitchen cleaning up after the dinner she had prepared. Stacey had yet to return.  Ben was rushed off to bed shortly after.  Amy looked at her watch.  9:14.  Amy finished cleaning up and waited on her chair, reading a book.  At exactly 9:30, David arrived.  He was carrying a chest, though.  It looked to be older than he was.  “Hello,” he said with a nod.  The chest caught Amy by surprise.  Seeing this, David explained.  “This is the item the Denmoors were holding for me.”

Not knowing what to make of it, Amy replied, “Oh.  Well, my youngest is in bed, and my daughter is still out.  She won’t wake you when you return, though.  Have a good night.”

“Good night,” he said, walking up the stairs.  Stacey returned only moments later.  “Make sure you don’t wake the guest,” Amy told her, looking up from her reading.

“I won’t,” replied Stacey, walking up stairs.

---

Only minutes pasted when David came rushing down the stairs.  “Is there something you need?” Amy asked.  When he motioned her into the kitchen, a worried look came to her, but she didn’t hesitate.  “What is it?”

“Just stay here,” David said as he grabbed a chair and placed it in the corner of the room, out of view of the living room.  “Stay silent.  I only have one chance at this.”    He quickly ran to the counter and grabbed a knife from her assortment.

“What are you talking about?”  Amy felt her stomach clench.  “What’s going on?” she demanded.

David almost answered her, but suddenly tensed up and turned his attention to the door.  He became deathly quiet.  Amy quieted as well, knowing something very wrong was happening.

Then came a hiss from behind the front door.  It quickly stopped, but immediately after, the door exploded open, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.  Amy screamed in horror.  David ran out of the room and threw the knife at Thaedus, standing in the doorway.  Surprised at David’s presence, the blade lodged into him, just left of his heart.  He painfully yanked it out and threw it back.  David, foreseeing the throw, evaded easily.  David could sense the other’s use of power in time for a small preparation, but neither man expected the other to be there.  David should still have been searching for the Keeper.  Thaedus shouldn’t have been in the city at all.  Both found the other to be further ahead in the game than they thought.
         
“Mom?” called Stacey with panic.  The man glanced at the stairway in reaction, a gleam of evil in his eyes.  Both David and Thaedus rushed for the stair case.  “Run!” screamed Amy, hoping Stacey would try to hide.  David dove for the man as he neared the stairway, ramming him into the corner between the stairway and the wall adjacent.  The man, seemingly unaffected, jammed his elbow into David’s back.  David ignored it and drove a fist into the man’s stomach.  But instead of pulling it away and punching again, David uttered something.  A glow came from the burn on the hand in Thaedus’ side.  Despite constant beating, both on David’s back and head, David held and released his fist, sending a fire from his palm around Thaedus.  He gasped in pain, but only for a moment, then grabbed David’s shoulders and threw him off.  Head throbbing, David struggled to his feet and began running after Thaedus as he ran up the stairs.

Reaching the top, Thaedus uttered his own words and thrust out his hand toward the stairs.  Instantly, they were ablaze.  David recoiled at the sudden heat, shielding himself as he stumbled backward down the stairs.  Thaedus kicked open a door.  The girl wasn’t there.  He went to the next and kicked it open.  Again, no.  By then, David had quelled the flames with more words and was rushing upstairs.  Wasting no time, Thaedus kicked open the third door.  In the corner, holding a boy, she sat crying.  Oh yes, this was the one.

He started forward.  Unable to take her alive with David around, he started toward them, saying the words to kill her with.  He looked at her eyes, though, and stopped.  Such power.  Even her gaze had force.  He quickly broke free of her defense and started for them again when David clasped his arm around the man’s neck.  David dragged him out of the room and began pounding on the man’s head with his other hand.  Thaedus quickly jabbed an elbow into David’s side, and as David recoiled, solidly kicked him in the chest, sending David into the hallway wall.  A final kick to David’s head gave Thaedus the time he needed.

As David’s head reeled, the man rushed to the girl and boy and spoke his spell.  His hands instantly became engulfed in black smoke and he went to grab the girls head.  However, she grabbed his arm in panic.  The man’s eyes went wide and the smoke left his hands.  His jaw dropped and a gasp left his mouth as a searing pain ran through him.  Stacey released him and watched as the man fell over convulsing.  David recovered himself and went into the room.  Seeing the man’s state, he rushed over to Stacey.

“Take your brother downstairs and go outside with your mother.  Stay there and wait for me to finish here,” David said with firmness.  Stacey looked at him, and even after expending enough power to floor Thaedus, her gaze was strongly felt by David.  “Go.”

Stacey quickly got up with Ben and ran down stairs.  David looked again at Thaedus.  He shook less, but his immobilization was still in affect.  David could only wonder at the power Stacey had in her.  For all the Denmoors had explained in the past, he had trouble even then comprehending her power.  He only wished he had anticipated the attack coming early.  Usually the Council was quicker than the Vost at getting agents out.

After binding Thaedus and his power, David placed a seal on the house and hurried outside.  He found the family audibly weeping.  Thankfully, the nearest neighbors were far enough away to remain oblivious.  “You have to go with me now,” he said, looking at Stacey.

“No.  Why?” began Amy, distraught and confused.  “She has to…”

“She has to go.  If she stays, you’re all in danger.  If you go with her, you’ll be in danger also, as well as a burden I’m not prepared to deal with.  Stay in the Denmoor’s house.  There are…defenses set in place.  In time, everything will be explained and you will be allowed to return here.  You may even see your daughter before the year is done.  But now, we have to leave.”

David walked to Stacey and tried to take her hand, but she pulled away, tears beginning to flow even faster.  “I… don’t understand.  What’s going on?  Why am I leaving?  Why am…What the hell is going on?  I don’t…”

“You have to,” David answered, “You’re different from other people.  Even different from me.  You’re too important to ignore, and too young to be left to yourself.  But you’ll be safe with me,” he looked at Amy and Ben, “and they’ll be safe at the Denmoor house.”  He went for her hand, and this time she let him.
         
Don’t go yet,” Amy struggled to say.  “Let me just hold you this last time.”  She knew what had to happen.  She didn’t know why this night came or even how, but she did know that Stacey had to leave.  She embraced her daughter with an infinite love, and finally Stacey held Ben.
         
“Don’t worry, Amy,” David said as he and Stacey walked to his truck, “Stacey will be safe with me, and you will see her again.  Thank you for your trust.  Goodbye.”

The last Amy saw of her daughter was her sad, tear-streamed face as she left in David’s truck.  Amy took Ben and went to her own car, weeping all the more.

---

David and Stacey had just exited Parmont when David broke the dead-silence.  “If you want, I have a drink in my chest that will send you to sleep, enough to rest your mind.  Surviving an assassination isn’t easy for anyone, especially one so young.  I didn’t think the Vost would have known you were here.  If I did, I would have forcibly brought you myself.  But they somehow knew, which troubles me even more.  In time, I’ll explain more, but you should sleep.  Do you need the potion?”

“No,” she replied, “I can’t sleep.  I don’t want to sleep.”

David shrugged and let it go.  “When I left home, I didn’t sleep either.”