Alexis sat on one of the stone benches in front of Freeland House, taking in the cool of the late October breezes. She was reading with intensity the documentation Laurel had arranged to be sent to her from the Brunswick Boarding School, one of England’s private schools for young descendants.

Most of what it revealed were things she already knew from her teaching days at the Academy; power control though focus techniques linked to martial arts, overcoming fear of one’s own powers, and many other basic curricula for teaching young descendants about their powers. What interested her; however, were the concepts of ‘power exploration’ and ‘power creativity’.

The focus when it came to descendants in The UK was based on insuring there were no ‘accidents’ with undiscovered powers manifesting and harming people. This was opposed to the goal of the academy system installed in North America and much of East Asia that focused on putting descendants’ powers to work for the good of society. The difference was that the academy system never put much emphasis on exploring a descendant’s full potential.

In the UK and several other European nations, this exploration came in the form of stress tests called ‘power exploration’ and learning games called ‘power creativity’. Exploration was based around putting descendants in situations that pushed their powers to the brink; for example, asking a water controller to empty an Olympic sized swimming pool in as little time as possible. Creativity was goal oriented, confronting the descendant with a standard problem and asking them to solve it using only their powers.

It hadn’t been long ago, after convincing Life Savers, Inc to divulge tier exploits, that Alexis had learned that Warrick’s power to convert elemental metals had been discovered in a ‘real world’ exploration scenario. At the very least, there was evidence that the Brunswick School’s proscribed techniques would be an aide in training Freeland House’s residents – both younger and older.

The overly loud protest of an engine from the parking lot made Alexis glance over. A white sedan, probably built in the previous decade, pulled into the lot and disgorged Cyn, Juniper and Warrick. Kay got out of the drivers seat and stretched. Her hair was dyed black and orange for the approach of Halloween.

“Thanks for the ride, Kay.” Juniper smiled, heading around to the trunk.

“Yeah, lugging all of this stuff up the stairs out front from a cab would’ve been murder.” Warrick said, following Juniper’s lead.

“No problem.” Kay said cheerily. “Gives me an excuse to drive.” She had received her father’s old car for her birthday earlier in the month and the novelty of finally driving for herself still hadn’t worn off.

“You do realize we’ll be mooching off you all the time now, right?” Cyn asked.

Kay laughed. “That’s just what Lisa said. She hates JC’s car – it really wasn’t built for tall people.”

“Maybe you and JC should trade cars then.” Cyn grinned, poking gentle fun at her friend’s diminutive stature.

Warrick and Juniper started unloading bags from the back of the car as Alexis walked up. “Hey, Ms. Keyes.” Warrick said. He grunted as he hefted several hefty bags out of the trunk. The wing of a rubber bat flapped comically from the top of one of the bags.

“Let me get that.” Alexis said, reaching for one of the bags. “You shouldn’t be stuck helping decorate for your own birthday party.” It would be the second birthday Freeland House had seen, though things had been too tense to properly celebrate Ian’s birthday in July.

“Nah, it’s okay.” Warrick replied, lugging the bags toward the side door of the house. “It’s not just my birthday party after all; it’s also our Halloween party.” He made a face, “Speaking of which, Cyn can you remind me to pick up some of those giant candy bars from the store after school? I want to make sure all those stairs are worth the climb to for any little trick or treaters.”

“It’s also serving as a debut party for Snackrifice.” Kay beamed. “We’ve got our first performance at the Dungeon the weekend of the party.”

“I notice you said ‘performance’ and not ‘gig’.” Cyn said.

“It’s not a gig if you’re not being paid for it.” Kay countered. She was far too excited about actually playing to think about money.

“Does that mean Adel’s going to be at the party too?” Juniper asked, referring to Snackrifice’s new drummer, Adel Mills. Her cheeks pinkened slightly.

“Yep, the drum monkey will be in attendance.” Cyn smirked. “I delivered the invite to him personally – on your behalf.”

Juniper blushed a bit more, but Kay saved her more embarrassment by changing the subject. “You know, Kaine, it says something about you that your birthday is All Saint’s Day.”

“I sort of took it as a hint.” Warrick shrugged, not going into detail as to how far he’d taken the hint.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised you all aren’t using the excuse to throw three separate parties.” Alexis laughed as they entered the house.

As preparations of Freeland House’s Halloween/Birthday festivities commenced in the kitchen, Laurel and Melissa were in the workshop with Kareem attending via the astral transponder Laurel had designed for him.

“The others should be back any minute to start planning the party.” Laurel said, consulting schematics on her tablet computer as she constructed yet another complicated device.

Melissa shook her head. “I’m not too excited about it. I hate Halloween anyway. Besides, you said you had a new idea of how to help Kareem and I want to help.” She took a seat across the work table from Laurel. “Especially since I couldn’t…”

Laurel paused a moment to frown a bit. On several occasions, Melissa had tried to use her healing powers on Kareem’s comatose body. Though his health had stabilized and most of the physical trauma he had endured had repaired, Kareem was still unable to reenter his body and awaken in the physical world. The psionic genius theorized that some sort of psychic trauma had been inflicted on Kareem. This contrary to her previous assumption that his stasis cell had failed.

“It isn’t your fault.” She and Kareem said at the same time. The older woman deferred to the telepath with a nod of her head and he continued. “What has been done to my body is not the kind of damage you are able to fix. I am just happy to know that you were willing.”

“I still want to help.” Melissa said, resolute. “What’s this new breakthrough, Laurel?”

“Well, we already know that Kareem is limited in his astral movement by some sort of resonance between himself and his body. Originally, he couldn’t move more than six hundred feet and some change from his body. But since the Astral has been in flux following what was hopefully Morganna’s death, he’s been able to move up to a mile away on certain days.”

Melissa listened to the recounting of the past few months patiently, nodding that she understood.

Reassured, Laurel continued. “The reason for this is that his body’s resonance frequency carries further in the Astral now that it’s in flux. What I’m working on right now is a beacon of some sort – think of it as a relay station, akin to a wireless communication tower. With it, I can modulate and demodulate the resonance frequency from Kareem’s body and broadcast it through my astral monitoring transceivers.”

“Basically, you’re bouncing his signal so he can move around at will?” Melissa translated for her own benefit.

Laurel confirmed with a nod. “It’s a small step, but a first step. Once this is done, I may be able to make a mobile version of his transponder so he can perceive more of the real world than what the sensors in the house show. And after that… well, Brant Industries has some discarded patents I think may prove very useful.”

“I appreciate all that both of you are doing for me.” Kareem said, “But I don’t want my situation to consume your entire lives. I can wait for you to finish this.”

“But—“Melissa started.

“No.” Kareem said. “Both of you have given me so much in the past few months. Now, give something to yourselves. There are friends and enjoyment waiting for you. I sense that the others have returned with Kay. Please, go and help them instead of me.”

Laurel put a hand on Melissa’s shoulder before she could protest. “Kareem, you’re a noble young man. I promise we’re going to make things better for you. It’s the least I can do for your help with the Book of Reason and the least Melissa can do for your kindness to her during the worse of her early days here.”

This time, it was Kareem who was starting to protest, but Laurel held up a hand to stop him. “And it’s also the least we can do to obey your wishes. At least for a little while. Come on, Melissa.” She led the perplexed redhead toward the door, but turned before opening it. “I’ll be back to finish later. I’ll see you then, Kareem.”

“Enjoy yourselves, Ms. Brant, Melissa.” Kareem said as they left. On the Astral, he frowned. He had sent them away because he could feel them burning themselves out as they tackled the problem. But that wasn’t the full reason.

Since the night Morganna had met her demise, and he had had contact with the Book of Reason, he could feel odd things moving in the world. He had felt Morganna up until the explosion, all the way in Mayfield and now something with a similar aura was in the city. What was worse, he also felt something else there, things whose astral presence was marred by inhuman amounts of hate, fear, pain and madness.

They were black wells of astral void and truthfully, he feared leaving the safe, happy eaves of Freeland House and moving among such obvious monsters.

Ian glanced up from his newspaper as Warrick exited the kitchen with a confused and vaguely wounded look on his face. “Get kicked out?” he asked the younger man.

“Apparently, I’m not allowed to hear all the details of the party.” Warrick answered, flopping down on one of the couches. He picked up a gaming magazine from the coffee table and thumbed through it.

“Ah, I see where this is going. Alexis thinks every birthday has to have something that’s a surprise. My advice, just grin and bear it – sometimes she even comes up with something fun.”

“But it’s a Halloween party.” Warrick groaned. “The best holiday of the year and I can’t help?”

“I doubt they’re going to cut you completely out of the loop.” Ian offered, flipping briskly thought his paper. “But in the meantime, take a look at this for me, will you?” He pushed the folded paper across the table. The headline ‘IS LOCAL PARK HAUNTED?’ was at the top of the B-section.

Warrick’s expression grew slightly more confused as he traded his magazine for the paper and read aloud. “Since the start of this month, the city’s largest recreational park, Wagner Park, has been the site of numerous strange phenomena, starting with reports of strange lights in the night and progressing through disappearing and reappearing fixtures, and freak winds.”

He scanned further down the page. “Last night, the flashes of light were credited with frightening away two men as they attempted to rob a woman on a bike path…” He shrugged and put the paper down. “Weird. Do you think the park really is haunted?”

Ian shook his head and took the paper back. “I think someone’s causing it. Especially with those lights just ‘happening’ to scare off some muggers.”

“You think…” the idea dawned on Warrick and he shook his head. “That’s not LSI’s MO, Mr. Smythe, you know that.” He glanced at the kitchen door, mindful of Kay’s presence. “They only do rescue type things. The only time they’ve gotten involved with criminals was during a major attack.”

“So it wasn’t LSI.” Ian confirmed. “And I’m almost 100% certain it’s not a ghost…”

“You think there’s a new prelate in town?” Warrick tried to keep the excitement out of his voice. “Maybe we should make contact…”

Ian shook his head. “Not a good idea. We don’t know who this new guy is. I’m not saying avoid them, but don’t seek them out if you don’t have to. With luck, they’ll stay on the criminal side of things and LSI can focus on saving lives.”

The needle tore a hole; the old, familiar sting turning dreamless sleep into wakefulness. A sensation of discomfiting cold flowed through the creature’s veins. Its heart raced, its muscles tensed and all of its senses engaged with sudden clarity.

It was no longer in familiar surroundings. The curved, metal wall that enclosed the space it found itself in was barely large enough to accommodate its bulk. Light came from a slender gap inches from the creature’s muzzle; feeble and grey.

Fully dilated pupils made the best of the light available and were able to make out the only feature inside the tiny, metal prison; a faint numeral five scratched into the floor, just beneath the gap. The creature didn’t know what the symbol meant. It only knew that that shape had been associated with it for its entire life.

It shifted its weight, feeling heavy plates slide over one another with the faint whisper of metal against metal. The plates were part of it, yet it knew that this had not always been the case. There had been a time when it had felt soft breezes ruffling its pelt in places it now only felt the protective weight of its armor. A particularly heavy collar weighed around its neck.

The stimulant began to do its work. The already too close walls seemed to be closing in. Breath came faster, its lungs burned to breath fresh air.

A buzz interrupted its thoughts of desperate escape, a burst of static just inside its ears. “Five.” A voice said, invoking the alien sound that had been associated with the creature. “Seek and Press.” Thoughts of escape melted away, replaced by something deeply ingrained in the creature’s being.

Air rushed in; fresh and alive. There were trees and grass nearby. In the far distance, the sounds of city traffic reached it. But foremost in its ears were the sounds of birds singing, a few dogs barking, and the babble of humans conversing.

The collar made a low beep and a sixth sense flooded in. The creature felt several keening calls around it, their intensity representing their proximity. It had been raised to hate them. To track and destroy them. Getting it its feet, it stretched its tired limbs. It knew what it was to do now. It was in its nature to hunt and destroy.

-- • --

The sun was low in the sky over Wagner Park. Though growing shorter, the days were still warm enough that families and individuals took advantage of it to commune with the oasis of nature in the middle of Mayfield.

Children played tag or a haphazardly organized softball game. Couples enjoyed picnic suppers on blankets. Joggers waged their constant war against sloth. It was in many ways an idyllic day. The only people that may have noticed something amiss were the ones who suddenly discovered their canine companions refused to venture near the east end of the park.

Unlike a human’s, a dog’s innate ability to sense a predator has not dulled over the centuries.

Stalking in the underbrush, the creature followed its sixth sense to the source of the nearest keening call. It spotted its prey some sixty yards away, sitting with a woman. He was in his thirties with already thinning brown hair. His skin was a pale green. As the predator watched, the color shifted to a sky blue in response to something the woman had said. The shift in color was accompanied by an intensification in the call that had lured the creature to him.

A low growl began in its throat. Gathering itself, it leapt into the open and charged.

Children screamed and scattered as the beast barreled into the open. Its body was reminiscent of a large wolf; four strong legs, tapered, furry tail, and jutting snout. That’s where the similarities ended. The upper half of its body and leading edges of its legs were covered with overlapping plates of dark metal culminating in a skullcap that seemed to be melded to the top half of the creature’s cranium, and gruesome looking metal claws were welded over its huge paws. Thick, almost greasy, fur stuck up at odd angles from under armor plates and along its belly and legs. Once, it may have been white, but grime made it a sickly brown.

It ignored the fleeing children and made straight for the startled psionic and his companion. As it came, it howled, a deep, low sound that vibrated the air around it visibly. Long strides closed the distance to its prey with malevolence in its eyes. It leapt for the color shifter even as the man helped his companion to her feet.

“Levanto esta pared!” a strong, female voice commanded. The air between predator and prey suddenly bloomed with faint, red light. Translucent planes of force, roughly pentagonal in shape folded outward in space, overlapping one another to form a quarter sphere. The dog-thing slammed into it at full speed with a clattering din.

Even as it regained its wits, a woman clad in red silken robes and a full, black cloak complete with a face obscuring hood stepped out of the woods. She held a piece of clear glass before her like a religious icon as she advanced. “Stay behind me.” She ordered the psionic.

“Who are you? What is that thing?” the woman, the psionic’s wife, judging by the ring on her finger, shivered.

“Call me Occult.” The robed woman said, “I have no idea what that is, but it’s definitely bad news.”

Snarling, the monstrous canine flung itself at the wall of force. Its metal laced claws squealed as they gouged into the obstruction and it barked ferociously as it eyed the prey it so hated.

Occult felt the glass in her hand vibrate sympathetically as the wall came under attack. It wouldn’t last long. “Muevo esta pared.” She said, forcefully presenting the shard. The wall of force jolted forward several feet, knocking the beast backward.

Howling in rage, the beast charged once more, bringing its claws to bear on the wall. Red light flared brilliantly and the shard of glass in Occult’s hand crumbled to dust. The wall simply winked out of being.

The psionic’s wife screamed.

Occult wanted to scream as well, but she needed to concentrate. She extended her palm, face up and lifted it straight up with a sharp motion. “Tomo esto.” The creature roared as it was lifted five feet into the air. “Get out of here. NOW!” she said quickly. The couple didn’t hesitate to make their escape.

Biting her lip, Occult tried to focus on holding on to the thrashing creature as she reached into a hip pack situated under her cloak. After a bit of fumbling, she produced a clear glass marble. Cursing herself for not learning anything that could be used offensively, she spoke the incantation. “Globo de la fuerza,” and released her hold on the struggling monster.

Though it was invisible to all senses but touch, Occult felt the sphere of force snap over the armored creature. Remembering how the thing had shredded her wall with its unnatural claws, she pulled out another marble. “Globo de la fuerza.” She repeated, enclosing the first sphere in a second. For safety, she used one more to reinforce the last two.

Trapped, the creature when mad, lashing out with claws and teeth against its invisible prison. It managed a few gouges, but the curved surface made purchase exceedingly difficult. Another needle injected more chemicals into its blood and its efforts redoubled to no avail.

“Just what the hell are you?” Occult asked, regarding the berserk creature with guarded curiosity. “Hopefully, someone’s calling the police and animal control as we speak, Cujo.”

“We can’t have that.” The voice from the creature’s collar spoke up. Occult stepped back in surprise. “Sorry, five.” The voice said. The collar began making a high pitched whine.

The beast froze. It had heard this sound once before; only moments before—

The explosion filled the globe in brilliant, orange light. Occult exclaimed and covered her eyes as she felt the inner most globe fail and the middle one dwindle. There was no sound, only horrible light. When it was done, the globe’s interior was black with smoke.

Hesitantly, Occult lowered her defenses. A pillar of black, greasy smoke rose into the sky, leaving behind only the blackened, slightly warped exoskeleton of armor the beast had been wearing. Not an ounce of organic material remained.

“Oh my god…” Occult murmured. “What just happened?”

“… several witnesses, including the apparent targets of the brutal attack, Lowell Springs resident Frederick Carlson, and his wife Laura confirm initial reports that the creature was some sort of monstrous wolf.” A blonde, twenty-something reporter was saying on television as Ian, Alexis and Laurel looked on.

“Yesterday’s attack and subsequent rescue by the robed prelate who identified herself to Carlson as ‘Occult’ is the latest in a stream of reports of bizarre occurrences in and around Wagner Park and the surrounding Forest Heights neighborhood.” The reporter continued. “Police admit that little had been done prior to the attacks because they were believed to be innocent pre-Halloween pranks, but in light of yesterday’s rampage, steps are being taken to assess the situation. Police spokesman Henry Downs had this to say:”

The screen cut to a rough faced man in a suit standing behind a podium with several microphones aimed at him. “At this time, the Special Crimes Unit of the MPD has no leads as to the identity or origin of the alleged wolf creature or the prelate status of Occult. I’ve heard rumors being spread that this is rogue psionic activity, but I would like to urge the community to keep an open mind.

“Not all seemingly supernatural occurrences can be attributed to psionics. It was only six years ago that a surveying robot’s AI became corrupted and it ran amok downtown. Even more recently in other cities, illegal animal mutations have caused similar strife. Please, allow us to investigate every possibility before drawing conclusions.”

A graphic of the artist’s conceptions of both the ‘mystery beast’ and Occult appeared on screen. The beast was depicted as extremely bulky in the chest and facial regions with too small hind quarters. Inordinate amounts of saliva hung from its open jaws. It looked like a classical depiction of a werewolf save for the dark carapace that covered its hunched back and forelegs and its quadrupedal posture. Occult was less a victim of stereotypes, but her robes were depicted as extremely formfitting and her hood was conspicuously wide with a discernable point at the top. The reporter voiced the obvious thoughts the artists had meant to convey “With werewolves and witches doing battle in the city’s heart, this looks to be – for good or for ill – a Halloween Mayfield won’t soon forget.”

Laurel turned off the TV as the reporter segued into political news. “Looks like you were right, Ian, something is rotten in Wagner Park.”

“I honestly didn’t expect a transmogrified wolf.” Ian said. “I was worried there was a spellcaster involved though.”

“You think Occult is Morganna?” Alexis asked.

“Saving people doesn’t seem to be her modus operandi.” Laurel shook her head. “And she honestly didn’t seem bright enough to come up with something that results in this being a play for publicity.”

“It doesn’t have to be Morganna to be someone we don’t want to cross paths with.” Ian said. “How many spellcasters do we know of? More than likely, Occult, if she isn’t Morganna learned her spell slinging from her. Logically, she probably learned Morganna’s ‘psionic killing’ platform as well.”

“And the wolf thing was…?” Laurel queried.

“We’ve seen Morganna twist animals. That thing could be her servant. Or worse, some other sorcerer’s pet and they’re having a magical gang war in the park.” Ian frowned, and then his face lightened. “At least we won’t have to tangle with Mega-War Rover.”

“I would not be so sure of that.” Kareem’s voice said moments before his face appeared onscreen.

“What do you mean, Kareem?” Alexis asked. As worried as she was with having LSI back in action saving people from burning buildings and runaway vehicles, imagining them taking on the creature described in the news report was deeply troubling.

“For the past few days, I have had a sense of horrible, mutilated presences in Mayfield.” Kareem admitted. “I did not mention them because I was afraid.” His face betrayed his shame in this. “Afraid that their dark auras on the Astral could be harmful to me.” He drew a long breath, his mind remembering a time when breath was necessary. “But one of those presences disappeared yesterday – at the same time as the attack.”

“You think this dog creature was one of those presences?” Ian asked.

“And there are more of them?” Laurel chewed her lip. She was a bit off put that Kareem hadn’t told her about what he had sensed, but there was no time to dwell on that now.

“Three more.” Kareem confirmed. “I could be silent no longer. If these monsters are attacking innocent people, their blood would be on my hands if I did nothing.”

“You did the right thing, Kareem.” Ian confirmed, proudly.

Alexis nodded in agreement. “Where are they now?”

“At this distance, I cannot tell.” Kareem said. “That is why… Ms Brant…”

“You want to try my signal tower idea.” Laurel finished the thought for him. “I haven’t tested them yet, Kareem, are you sure about this?”

“It is the only way I’ll be able to find them before they harm someone else.” Kareem nodded.

“The kids should be out of school by now.” Ian starting to stand up. “I’ll get my cell and call them.”

Before he could, Alexis’s hand was on his arm, urging him to sit back down. “Our deal was that they get to continue Life Savers, Inc if we train them.” She said firmly. “They haven’t had any training at all yet.”

“That’s not their fault.” Laurel said, “The Brunswick School needed to ensure we weren’t a rival before they sent us teaching materials and I had to make sure they weren’t just another group of evil opportunists…”

“It is imperative that we move quickly. Their dark auras are easier to sense in the failing light on the material plane. But if Warrick, Cyn and Juniper do not help defeat these horrible creatures, who will?” Kareem asked.

Alexis gave Ian a sly smile and stood up. Her black heat enveloped her so that she was a void in the center of the room. “We will.”

Laurel beamed. “I’ll break out the costumes.”

It had been moving all day, skulking in the shadows of the towering buildings and slinking quickly across thoroughfares to avoid being seen. The place the voice in its ear urged him toward was a long distance from the greenery it had awakened in.

Frequent injections had ensured that It hadn’t tired or become the slightest bit inattentive during its sojourn. The cocktail of chemicals in its bloodstream addled it’s mind beyond caring about the painful needles and the weight of its armor. It lived only to follow commands.

Finally, after a series of difficult, free running jumps, it found itself on the third story roof of a storefront overlooking Westinghall Plaza. The financial center of Mayfield, the elegant Westinghall Building, soared into the air across two hundred yards of concrete replete with a fountain, peddlers and other typical city fare. The voice told it to wait and observe.

“Shall I unblind Seven’s theta sense?” a technician asked her superior. She, along with three others were arrayed in a room packed with monitors displaying a dizzying array of information. Before her, a data feed from the micro-dot camera embedded in the creature’s champron gave her a visual of the area from its point of view.

“No.” Brother Wright said. “We won’t be needing it. But bring the thermate detonation sequence to standby, just in case.”

“Sir, I thought this exercise was to draw out the prelates in Mayfield, not to purposefully destroy as many inugami as possible.” Another technician commented, even as he obeyed orders. “We’ve never had to initiate the detonation sequence in two inugami trials in a row before. Shouldn’t we at least try the transmission beam?”

Wright shook his head. “The orihalcite armor would interfere in that. The transmission beam isn’t all that safe for complex materials to start with. Trying to not only transmit something organic, but to run the risk of the beam trying to deconstruct and reconstruct orihalcite would lead to disaster.” He gave a little shrug. “And beside that point, the CS-132 strain of the inugami project is a trash line anyway.”

On that note, he was right. That particular breed of the deadly canines was riddled with crippling problems. Their ability to sense the unique theta waves of descendants was so sensitive that without repression, it proved painful to the animals. Further, they had proven to be less intelligent and more uncontrollably violent than previous strains. If not for their enhanced strength and high pain threshold, they would have been destroyed anyway.

“Still…” the technician protested.

Wright wasn’t listening. On the screen showing the inugami’s point of view, he saw his quarry. He smiled menacingly.

“Sir, the mission parameters…” the first technician said as she recognized the person Wright was sneering at.

“The mission parameters were to draw out and engage Mayfield’s prelates in order to gauge the inugami’s effectiveness against the descendants Tome wants to recover. I can personally vouch that these people are just as strong as Tome believes those children to be. And what better way to draw them out than attacking a ‘beloved pillar of the community’?”

“But sir, that’s—“she argued.

“I know.” Wright said as he watched the man he knew as Brill open the back door of a huge, black town car for his target. “Vincent T. Liedecker.”

-- • --

“So what costumes is everyone going to wear tomorrow?” Alloy asked. Ostensibly, Life Savers, Inc was patrolling the city to keep it safe. But Facsimile’s scanner had been silent and there had been little in the way of activity save for one purse snatcher who had the scare of his life running full tilt into the city’s well known protectors as they happened to be passing by. The man had actually personally carried the purse back to his would be victim and presented himself to the responding police officer for fear of being on the business end of the prelates’ powers.

The drought of actual peril had led them to take a breather on top of a skyscraper whose upper precipice seemed to be crawling with gothic style gargoyles.

“I think you guys have already seen the Princess Symphony costume I’ve been working on.” Zero said. The trio plus Melissa had all gone to see Fantasy in Black and White, the latest animated epic from Japan earlier in the month and Juniper had become enamored with the feature’s song-magic weaving protagonist.

“I’m interested in what you’re going to do with your face and hair for a character that’s only shown in black and white.” Facsimile commented. She was perched beside a gargoyle and had shifted her feet and wings to mimic the stone creatures’. Until she had spoken, she’d also been aping the statue’s pose.

“I’ve got some makeup stuff and Kay’s loaning me her white hair gel.” Zero answered, shying away from the edge of the building. Unlike her associate, she didn’t have the means to stop a fall should it happen.

“What are you going to be?” Alloy asked Facsimile. “I mean, shapeshifter and all, you could be anything you want…”

“I prefer the classics.” The golden skinned heroine said, matter-of-factly. “Vampress, bride of Frankenstein, 2020’s era club girl… though I’m not sure I can do body mods that well…” she shrugged. “The list is endless. I’ll just make up something before party time.”

“I’m guessing yours is still a secret?” Zero directed her question at Alloy.

“Yeah,” Facsimile interrupted the reply. “You’ve got some nerve asking us about our costumes when you’ve been keeping us in the dark all week about what you’re going to be.”

“I want it to be a surprise.” Alloy defended. “Plus, I’m kind of bummed that the boys can’t help me this year. Last Halloween at the Academy, they were my special effects crew for my Professor Mental costume.”

Facsimile snorted. “You played the part of a bad guy?”

“That’s just how good my acting is.” Alloy chuckled. His cell phone chirped with its alarm tone. “Oops, we’d better head for the Dungeon to meet the guys.”

“No sense in wasting time.” Facsimile said, standing precariously on the edge of the building. “Let’s head over there the fun way. We can cut past all the traffic around Westinghall Plaza that way.”

“Good idea.” Zero said. “Isp?” she inclined her head toward the forenamed tentacle and it encircled her arms in a makeshift harness. With no means of rooftop locomotion of her own, she depended on either the tentacles or Facsimile to carry her on their cross city travels in costume.

His passenger secure, Alloy nodded to Facsimile and they were off.

Brill felt rather than saw the beast leaping toward him from its third story perch. He had been a bodyguard far longer than he had been in Liedecker’s service and one develops a sixth sense about some things in his line of work.

He slammed the car door and drew his gun in a single, smooth motion. Turning, he only had time to see the inugami lower its head and slam headlong into him, sending him flying. He landed a yard away in a shoulder roll. Even before he stopped moving, he fired three rapid shots into his attacker.

Bullets ricocheted off the orihalcite armor, not even warranting the monster’s attention. Snorting contemptuously, the inugami set its claws into the side of the door and jerked backward. Metal screamed as the door was ripped free.

Giving an eerie, air rippling howl, the creature lunged into the town car after its prey.

A muted explosion sounded inside the car and as quickly as it had entered, the inugami was launched backward out of the car. It tumbled end over end until it collided with a parked car across the street, shattering all its windows and setting off the alarm.

Red faced with fury at the audacity the monster had to attack him, Vincent Liedecker emerged. In his hands, he wielded a wide bore rifle with many joints worked into its barrel. Blue motes of light shone in the joints as heat rippled along the weapon’s length.

“This.” Liedecker addressed his would be assassin. “Is a Morton Defense Works C-42 pulse cannon equipped with state of the art recoil damping technology. It packs about the force of a tractor trailer hitting a coyote.” He pushed in a tab and the weapon whirred as it charged for a second source. “Purely for self defense, of course.”

The inugami wrestled its way out of the twisted metal wreck. Its armor was still intact, but through its narcotic fugue, it could perceive broken ribs and its unprotected lower jaw was clearly dislocated. Snarling as best it could with its disfigured mandible, it gathered itself and leapt.

Liedecker sneered, raising his weapon. But he didn’t need to take the shot.

A flash of gold filled his vision and the inugami’s flight was redirected sideways into the street by a flying tackle by Facsimile. The murderous animal skidded several yards down the street on its back. The orihalcite armor tore a furrow in the pavement two inches deep.

Denied his kill, Liedecker scowled at the golden skinned prelate. There was a hollow clang and Alloy landed near him, one of his tentacles lowering Zero to the ground. “Oh good.” Liedecker scoffed quietly to himself. “The heroes.”

“It’s another one of those things the news was talking about.” Alloy said, taking a step forward.

“And it’s attacking V. T. Liedecker!” Zero added with a tinge of star struck glee. She had just recently read an article about his rise from the son of an already well known industrialist into one the most beloved philanthropists in Mayfield.

“Get his autograph, Z.” Facsimile said, flexing her hands into vicious claws. “I’ve got this one.” She stalked toward the inugami as it righted itself. In doing so, it scraped its jaw along the ground, popping it back into place. Howling, it rushed to meet its attacker.

Facsimile screamed as the beast closed with her. Her form wavered and writhed unnaturally. Thus distracted, she gave little resistance when the inugami collided with her, clamping its jaws around her neck and dragging her to the ground.

“Fax!” Alloy shouted. Even as he moved to help, Osp lashed forward, dug into the asphalt and launched him bodily at the creature savaging his friend. The armored hero slammed into the inugami, throwing it clear of Facsimile.

The golden skinned woman shivered as she stood. “What in the high holy hell was that?” The howl from the thing felt like it had torn her apart.

“No idea.” Alloy said, “But I’m going to make sure it doesn’t do that again.” He charged the still reeling creature, grasping at the metal armor encasing it as he came. To his horror, the armor didn’t yield to his power. Before, when he had attacked Morganna’s enchanted blade, his power had simply been turned away. But the metal that formed the monster’s carapace was simply not responding to his efforts.

His confusion gave the inugami time to launch an offensive. Its claws raked across his chest, cutting through the power-reinforced metal as if it was cloth, but luckily only shredding the shirt beneath.

“Holy shit!” Alloy exclaimed as the tentacles encircled the monster and dashed it hard into the sidewalk. “It cut through my armor!”

“I would’ve killed it ya’ll hadn’t got in the way.” Liedecker muttered to Zero. But she wasn’t listening. Her eyes had unfocused and she was staring at the sky above the monster. A slight chill ran over the crimelord’s skin. Ignoring the sudden drop in temperature, he swung the pulse cannon around toward the creature. For a moment, he considered ‘accidentally’ blasting Alloy, but the armored hound was the threat of the moment.

The cannon roared, its segmented barrel compacting and hissing out steam. A scintillating wave of force collided with the inugami. This time the monster was ready for it and lowered its head. The wave of energy washed harmlessly over the orihalcite armor and tore up the street in a wide arc behind it.

“What ever that armor is, it’s tougher than anything I’ve ever seen.” Brill said, coming to stand beside Liedecker.

“I know.” The secret master of the Mayfield underworld said. Silently he added; I want it.

Zero was the only one close enough to hear the exchange, but still wasn’t listening. Instead, she gestured downward toward the beast. The very air congealed. Humidity in the sky coalesced into a solid bubble of water which then became ice so quickly that it didn’t have time to even crystallize.

The inugami was sealed in a vertical cone of solid ice. It glared balefully from within its cryogenic prison.

“Y-you okay, Mr… Liedecker?” Alloy asked, simultaneously trying to recall Zero’s earlier comment, while tearing his gaze away from her handiwork.

“Any idea what that thing was and why it went after you?” Facsimile chimed in.

Liedecker shook is head to clear it and shouldered his pulse cannon. In an instant, he slipped into his ‘jovial statesman’ facade. “No idea, my dear, but I’ll certainly have my people look into it. Thank you ever so much. If there’s anything I can do for you…” He didn’t mean it, but as Life Savers, Inc had yet to interfere in his dealings, he could manage being civil.

“Nothing at all, Mr. L.” Facsimile said, “Aside from maybe and autograph for—“the ice pyramid erupted in a white cloud of sudden steam. At its core, the inugami had been consumed by an orange fireball which had quickly dissipated its energy in converting Zero’s ice into steam.

“What the hell?” Alloy peered through the expanding cloud. All that was left of the monster were bits of its armor. He strode over and picked up a segment of metal claw and examined it. “Did that thing just teleport away?”

“Doubt it.” Facsimile said. She waved a hand in front of her face. “Smell that? Smells like burning hair. Looks more like it was a kamikaze – blew itself up rather get dragged in by the government to study.”

“We’d better get this to…” Alloy stopped himself, remembering civilians were present. “back to base to study.” He finished. The others knew he meant taking it to Laurel. He turned to the crime lord. “Mr. Liedecker, would you mind calling the cops to clean this up?”

“We’d better call ahead.” Facsimile said after Liedecker had consented to Alloy’s request and they were moving away from the scene of the battle.

“Good idea.” Zero nodded. “And I’ll call Kay and tell her we can’t make the Dungeon.”

As the heroes disappeared from view, Liedecker nodded to Brill and then to the remains of the inugami. “Get it all. I want this marvel of engineering in the hands of my people at Solomon by this evening.”

As Brill moved to collect the scorched armor, Liedecker stared in the direction the prelates had left. His pulse cannon had failed to put the rampaging monster down. Given time, it would have eventually killed him. It was possible he owed the interlopers in his territory a small debt of gratitude.

He made a fist. “As for whoever sent that overgrown coon dog to try and tree me… I owe him hell.”

“I know we’re not supposed to talk about it…” JC started quietly. With Juniper’s call, and Lisa’s earlier exit, he and Kay were alone for the night. They had retired to the arcade down the block from the Dungeon to waste time. “But ever sense the whole… thing a couple months ago, Lisa’s been more of a no-show than usual.”

Kay looked up from the screen where her avatar had just thrown JC’s through a window and frowned. “She’s just having a hard time with things is all.” She assured him. “I’m not even going to guess what effect having a medieval witch wreak havoc with your body, then kidnap your aunt would have on a person. And now her Aunt’s just totally missing? Give her time, JC.”

“I know.” JC said, “but I can’t help but feel she’s being secretive about something…”

“About what?” Kay asked. “I’ve known Lisa since third grade and trust me, if she was keeping anything a secret, she’d tell me.”

“But would you tell me?” JC asked.

Kay smiled mischievously. “Probably not.” She smirked at his look of surprise. “But believe me when I say there is nothing your perpetual girlfriend is hiding from you.

Laurel flipped her cell phone closed and placed it back in its holder at her hip. For this venture, she’d donned her own costume; a light blue body suit with white highlights. A white harness encircled her waist and held a tactical pack containing her tablet computer and various other bits of technical equipment. A utility belt, bearing her phone, a multi-tool, several pouches of mundane, but potentially useful odds and ends, and a slim loop of cord with a grappling hook at one end was buckled around her waist. The outfit was completed by a cowl that covered her head and a set of bulky goggles that glowed a soft blue around the edges.

“That was Cyn.” She said quietly. She, Ian and Alexis, all in their pseudo-prelate costumes, were standing in a secluded area of Wagner Park, near the site most frequently mentioned in reports of paranormal activity in the past month. “You were right, Ian. The disappearance of one of the entities was caused by them defeating one – all the way across town near Westinghall Plaza.”

“Are they okay?” Alexis asked. She was holding the clipboard sized device that served as both a focus for Kareem’s signal booster as well as a means for him to communicate with them.

Laurel nodded. “Yeah. They’re a little weirded out by the experience though. The thing was able to claw through Warrick’s armor and its own armor was in turn immune to his powers.”

“That’s pretty damn powerful.” Ian said. “We better take them down while they’re napping. Kareem, lead the way.”

“I am trying to focus on them, but it is very difficult.” Kareem answered. “Their auras extend a great distance on the Astral.”

Ian frowned. “How about finding this Occult person? She’s probably the best solid lead we have on the things.”

“You don’t have to find her.” A voice said. The assembled elder residents of the Freeland House turned to find Occult emerging from the underbrush. She held a glowing pendant by its chain in her left hand and regarded them quizzically from within the perpetual shadows of her cloak. “But I can tell you right now that I know exactly as much as you do.”

-- • --

The instant she had spoken, Occult wondered if that had been the best idea. She could sense the sudden rise in energy, both the emotional surge of people who were not exactly joyful at her appearance as well as the marshalling of psionic power in preparation to strike. Metaphorically, she had just put her foot down on a hornet’s nest. How she reacted in the next few moments would determine how badly she’d be stung.

“I’m not here for a fight.” She said quickly. After a second she added, “Not with you anyway. There are…” She felt silly trying to describe such frightening creatures in the only terms she had for them, “I don’t know-- cyborg dogs out here and they need to be stopped.”

“She talks like a normal person.” Alexis noted. “Definitely not Morganna.”

“That doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous.” Ian pointed out. “Drop the glowy thing and show us your face.”

Despite her features being hidden in shadow, they got the impression that she had glanced pensively at the glowing, teardrop shaped pendant. “Er… I can’t drop the pendant.”

“We know how magic works.” Laurel said, “How you need foci and components to work spells. There’s no way we can see you as anything other than a threat if you’re standing there, holding what, in your hands, could be equivalent to a loaded gun.”

“This isn’t what you think it is.” Occult protested. “It took me almost twenty minutes to make it and if I drop it, it’ll be another twenty before I can track those things again.”

“A divining pendulum.” Laurel surmised.

“A what?” That was Ian.

“That’s what the book calls them. I recognize it now that you pointed that out.” She nodded to Ian. “She can’t hurt us with it.”

“I’m still going to ask you to show your face.” Ian said.

“I can do that.” Occult said. “But notice how I’m not demanding any of you take off your masks.” With her free hand, she pulled down her hood. The obscuring shadows lingered over the top half of her face for a moment longer than natural shadows would, pulling back to reveal a smoothly tanned face topped by blonde locks. She wasn’t a day over twenty if she was that old. Shaking a long, blonde braid out of the hood bunched at her shoulders, she gave them a petulant look. “Satisfied?” she asked.

They nodded. “Good.” She said, “You can call me Occult. We’ve already established that I know magic, but I’m not like Morganna.” She shivered at the very mention of the name. “I want to help people with what I know. I’ve been practicing for weeks so I could use the magic I know to that end.”

“You’re the source of all the weird happenings people have called in.” Alexis realized. “And you’re the one that scared off those muggers.”

“They were going to do worse.” Occult frowned. “She only saw lights, but I raised a wall to knock them away from her – give her time to run.”

“So we have Glenda.” Ian grudgingly admitted Occult was probably on the side of good. “So where’s the wicked witch of the west and why’d she trade in monkeys for schnauzers?”

“I don’t think they’re magical.” Occult said “I think they’re robots or something. I fought one and when I had it trapped, I heard someone say ‘sorry’—like it was a recording or something. Then the thing exploded!” She noticed herself getting too excited and took a deep breath to keep the glamour over her appearance in place.

“A robot is not an emotional being.” Kareem said via the device in Alexis’s hands. “Only something with emotions or imbued with deep emotions would have an impact on the Astral Plane.”

Occult stared at Alexis oddly. “Who said that?”

“You can call me Ephemeral.” Kareem said, “I will respect your secret identity if you respect mine. I exist on the Astral Plane and can sense the beasts that we are hunting. I hope that this arrangement is not too confusing to you.”

Occult shrugged. “I just spent twenty minutes turning a piece of my mom’s costume jewelry into a magical tracking device to hunt down cybernetic hellhounds. I can accept that you’re a man in a box.” She turned to the others. “Whatever they are, we still have to find them. My little pendant… pendulum will only work within a couple of hundred yards of them and Wagner Park is only slightly smaller than Central Park. We have a lot of ground to cover in only a little time.”

“What a coincidence, K—Ephemeral can sense them within a broad range, but can’t pinpoint them.” Laurel said. “By the way, you can call us Chaos, Darkness and… hmmm, call me Elle for now. I didn’t consider giving myself a codename.”

“Excellent.” Occult said. “Lead on.”

The band of would be heroes headed in the direction of the nearest disturbance. Ian fell behind, puzzling over something. Occult may have taken her hood off, but with magic in play, that didn’t mean she had shown them her face. What really bothered him was that her voice sounded vaguely familiar, even with her attempts to disguise it.

“If this is how he handles the inugami, then how do you think he’ll handle the team he’s building?” Thomas Cross, head of Project Tome’s biological research and development section demanded. “Is he just going to sacrifice them too? Maybe strap thermate detonators to them in order to cover his tracks?”

Simon Talbot gave Cross a bored look as he sat his fork down next to his plate of rigatoni. The two were in Talbot’s private dining room adjacent to his office, ostensibly to have a celebratory dinner in honor of Cross’s section’s recent breakthrough. But Cross had spent most of the time bemoaning Brother Wright’s appointment to head of the newly created specialized personnel section within the Enforcer Corps.

“Wright isn’t an animal person.” Talbot observed. “I didn’t bring him in to be an animal person. I brought him in to be a people person. He knows how to control people, manipulate them – Convince them that everything he wants them to do is to their own benefit. If this was a war, he would make an excellent general.”

“Then why give him control of the CS-132 strain?” Cross demanded.

“Because a man like Wright always has a reason for asking for things. Several reasons at once if he can help it. It’s no secret that he has a grudge against Vincent Liedecker and the prelates of Mayfield. The inugami are bred to hunt psionics—do the math.”

“I don’t understand…” Cross puzzled. “Why waste even weak strains of inugami on letting Wright carry out his petty vendetta?”

“Because until Wright came to me about his sob story of Liedecker destroying his network in Mayfield over the actions of the prelates, we weren’t aware there were prelates in Mayfield.” He dabbed his mouth with his napkin and stood to pace the room. “I’ll say that once more, Thomas; we, the organization behind the organization tasked with monitoring the actions of unaffiliated psionics – were completely unaware of the existence of the only organized team of prelates in North America.”

He moved over to the window and looked out over the darkening city below him. “A team that consists of a metal controller, a woman with impossible physiology and another woman who freezes the air. Ring a bell?”

Talbot smirked at his reflection in the window as he heard Cross’s fork clatter to the floor. “D-does Wright know what he’s dealing with?”

“Not in the slightest.” Talbot said. “He doesn’t even have access to black files. And I’ll keep it that way for a while.”

“We should dragnet the entire city!” Cross ranted. “Put an all points bulletin in with the local police! We need them – it’s the perfect time too, considering our recent…”

Talbot silenced him with a hand. “No, Thomas. We don’t dare do that. Not only do we not have confirmation of their identities yet, but we don’t have all of them yet. The second we make a peep on any proper channels, Brant will know and they’ll be ghosts within hours.”

“We can’t just ignore this, Simon.” Cross said, “Those kids are our holy grail.”

“I know that.” The director of Project Tome said. “And I have a method of confirmation already on the way. Until then, let’s see if we can glean anymore useful tidbits from Wright’s little crusade. For example, CS-132-FIVE encountered the most unusual thing – a prelate that didn’t trip its theta sense.”

“It’s close.” Occult said in a hushed tone as she stepped out of the darkness and into the pool of light provided by a streetlamp set up on the jogging path the group had been following. She held up her divining pendulum and noted the direction it was pointing in.

“Very...” Kareem’s voice was tinny and uneven. “The poisoning of the Astral is thick here. Almost unbearable.”

Occult pointed. “It should be behind this trashcan.” She slowly stepped around the waste receptacle, avoiding the bits of paper and plastic that had accumulated around it, but saw nothing. “I don’t get it.” she muttered.

“Look at your pendulum again.” Laurel pointed out, standing close enough to see for herself. The magically charged piece of jewelry was pointing once again at the trashcan.

“You have got to be shitting me.” Ian said. “It’s in the trash?”

Alexis pressed one of the clasps on her scarf and it stiffened into a bo. She used the weapon to gently probe the refuse at the top of the can, only to find that it was only a few inches deep. “It’s fake.” She reported. “Who makes a fake trashcan?”

“Someone who wants to hide large, dangerous animals in the middle of a city.” Laurel stated. “Think about it; Mayfield employs a huge sanitation department for the city, but Wagner Park is maintained by volunteers and community service details that only work here once every two weeks. So a garbage can here would be the perfect place to conceal creatures for whatever purpose they have.”

“Your codename should be Brainchild.” Alexis said. “Seriously ‘L’, reading up on the city’s sanitation practices is a little much even for you.”

“I’m leaning toward Codex, actually.” The genius laughed. “I think it provides a nice counterbalance, if you know what I mean.”

“I suggest we hurry.” Kareem cut in. “The creature is not aware of us at the moment, but that may change quickly.”

“Right.” Alexis said. “Sorry.” She called up her black heat and ensconced herself in it. Occult stepped back as she did. “Don’t worry,” she assured the magic user, “It doesn’t hurt anything I don’t direct it into.”

“You said the other one exploded?” Ian suddenly thought aloud. “How big of an explosion are we talking about here?”

“I used magic to seal it in, but I’d say it was pretty big.” Occult said. “Enough to not leave any bone behind after it went up.”

“Hold on Ale… Darkness.” Ian snapped as he glared at Occult. “When did you plan on telling us that part? After we got ourselves atomized?”

“I figured you knew that!” Occult said defensively. Now that she was fairly sure who these people were, she felt compelled to keep their respect, even in the guise of Occult. “But don’t worry; I can shield us from the blast.”

“We don’t really have time to yell at each other.” Laurel said in her rarely used no nonsense tone. “You can go back to showing Occult your McCarthy impression after we kill the deadly super-beasts.”

“She’s right.” Alexis said. “And you’re the one who was so passionate about doing the right thing with one’s powers. Well, let’s do the right thing!” With that, she extended her hands, palm outward and sent her black heat to flow around the fake trash receptacle. Within moments, the metal began to glow a dull orange. Hidden seams groaned and deformed, twisting the can out of shape.

A very doggy whine of surprise and pain came from within, followed by a thrashing and the squeal of metal scrabbling against metal. Claws broke through the red hot walls of its prison as the beast within fought to free itself. But it was already too late. As armored as its hide was, as advanced as its genetics were, its lungs were never meant to breathe superheated air. With a low, rumbling death rattle, the struggling ended.

Alexis continued her black heat assault until the metal began to melt and steam into the autumn air. “Got it.” She finally said, her voice showing the strain of maintaining the black heat at those levels.

”One down, one to go.” Laurel said.

“And we’re no closer to finding out how or why.” Occult pouted.

“That will have to come later.” Ian said, still trying to place where he’d heard Occult’s voice before. “The main thing right now is to make sure the public is safe. Once that’s done, then we can find the source.”

Alexis smiled and gave him a little hug as they started walking toward the next target. “You’re really getting into this prelate stuff, aren’t you?”

“I’m not the one who flash fried a chaotic monster in thirty seconds.” Ian smiled.

“I admit that it was… I don’t know... a visceral sort of joy to cut loose with my powers.” She said. “But this is only a one time thing.” She added.

“We’ll see what you say once we get the job done.” Ian said slyly.

Laurel smiled to Occult as the two walked along behind them. The younger woman was rolling her eyes. “Shameless, I know.” The genius said, “But it’s better than having them fight the whole time.”

“What in the ever loving Christ was so important that you had to call me away from dinner?” Brother Wright was in the back of his private car, returning to Tome’s east coast headquarters. “I was speaking with Teddy Drake – the Teddy Drake, the entertainment mogul when you interrupted!”

Even as he spoke, he was entering Theodore Drake’s name into his new database. Talbot had been very generous with his rolodex and in Wright’s skilled hands; it was blossoming into an even higher profile social network than he had ever dreamed. Forget Mayfield. Forget the United States. By his calculations, he would have international influence if Drake played ball. If only he could convince Talbot to introduce him to some useful psionics – not the worthless second stringers that largely constituted his ‘team’…

“Eight is dead.” The technician’s voice interrupted Talbot’s train of thought.”

“I didn’t order anyone to send it out.” Wright said, accusingly.

“He wasn’t let out, sir. Someone found him. A psionic for sure—the last data transmissions before the equipment died reported temperatures in excess of one thousand degrees.”

“My, my, my.” Wright said, adding a low whistle. “Someone saw through the utterly moronic trashcan disguise? How is that possible?”

“Sir, we need orders. If Eight was compromised, Six may also be vulnerable.”

“Then let it meet them head on.” Wright said, casually. “Let Six out, pump him full of enough amphetamines to wire a small nation and send him toward Eight’s last location. Killing an inugami in its sleep is easy, but let’s see if they can handle one that’s cranked past the point of self preservation.”

-- • --

Floating in the rosy landscape of the Astral Plane, Kareem took note of the environment around him. There, the park was the wild, overgrown heart of the forest that had once stood where Mayfield stood now. Many of the old trees, long uprooted to make room for the manicured foliage and concrete paths of the municipal area, still cast their long, magnificent shadows on the Astral.

Around him, the minds and emotions of his companions also cast their shadows. Arcs of purplish energy crackled between Ian and Alexis. The pair’s astral forms were more closely entwined on the Astral than was physically possible in the physical world. Laurel, as always, glowed, a vibrant, deep, blue with such brightness that Kareem could almost see definition in her astral form – as if she was partially projected onto the Astral Plane.

Then there was Occult. Kareem knew the girl beneath the glamour, despite never having had any direct contact with her. Before, she gave off the same general milieu that most people gave off when not feeling an emotion strongly enough to register on the Astral. Recently, her aura had become more like Laurel; in tune with the emotions of the rest of the world. Kareem wondered what could cause that sudden change and deduced that it was related to the magic she now wielded.

As he considered asking her why she was doing what she was doing – particularly why she hadn’t revealed herself to Life Savers, Inc, a gale lashed at him.

Wind didn’t occur naturally on the Astral Plane. It wasn’t the earthly result of uneven heating of air, it stemmed from sudden and intense turmoil in a creature’s emotions. Even extreme cases, like torture, surprise or genuine love at first sight only generated slight ebbs and flows in what passed for air on the Astral. What Kareem felt coming from the path up ahead was the kind of zephyr that tore umbrellas from people’s hands and made driving high profile vehicles difficult.

It was followed by a rolling cloud of negativity that almost stunned the young telepath. A howl of fury and anguish echoed into the rose colored world.

Mentally reaching out to the device Alexis carried, Kareem started to speak, but what he saw next struck him dumb.

The monster (for there was no other word for it), bounded out of the hazy, underbrush, the leaves of the memory-plants boiling away into the ether wherever they touched its form. On this side of the veil, it was eight feet high at the shoulder and covered with long, shaggy hair that seemed to have been dipped in pitch. Its paws were the size of a man’s head and tipped with impossibly long and jagged razors that exuded a dull, red glow. The worst however was its head – or rather its lack of one. A dull, black collar encircled a neck that ended in a stump, which bled black filth. It was from that weeping stump that the plaintive howl emanated.

Kareem had never seen anything like it. The beast’s tormented emotions so intense that they solidified into a true avatar on the Astral. He had guessed as much when he first felt their presence, but now, he knew for sure: the creatures they were fighting could destroy him just as easily as it could kill his friends in the physical world.

Kareem’s transponder squawked fitfully for a split second. It was the only warning Alexis had before the inugami came tearing down the jogging path toward them. She cursed and started to call up her black heat, but the monster was already in the air.

“Levanto esta pared!” Red light flashed as Occult’s wall unfolded into being just ahead of the onrushing inugami and knocked it back. “That’s not going to hold long!” the spellcaster declared, holding the glass focus up. In fact, the beast was already bounding forward again to assault the magical wall.

Ian and Alexis were ready for it this time. Alexis wreathed herself in black heat and rose sharply into the air while Ian launched a veritable wall of wind as the inugami crashed through the barrier. The resultant vortex threw the roaring creature hard into a tree.

The unfortunate flora had barely begun to collapse when Alexis directed a beam of heat in the direction of the raging monster. This, it took more gracefully, shifting so its orihalcite armor took the brunt of the heat.

““Globo de la fuerza” Occult spoke. The smoke from burning underbrush highlighted the limits of the newly formed barrier.

“Don’t you have a fireball or a disintegrate or something?” Ian demanded.

“I’ve only learned defense spells and some illusion.” Occult admitted, embarrassed. “But last time, it blew up when I globed it.”

This time, however, the inugami’s systems were in total overdrive and it propelled itself, claws first into the force field, orihalcite metal easily cleaving lines of magical force. The entire construct glowed a slight blue as it collapsed feebly around the inugami. Motes of glowing magic clung to its armor, making it appear even more fearsome as it charged Ian.

“Tomo esto.” Occult made a sharp gesture and Ian was lifted out of the path of the inugami. Orihalcite claws tore up chunks of ground as they sought their target. Snarling, the berserk creature wheeled, finding Laurel and Occult.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Laurel said firmly as she held up a grey, plastic cylinder. “Let’s see how much dog is left in there, shall we?” She moved a finger on the device’s surface and suddenly, the inugami howled and reeled as if struck.

“What did you do to it?” Occult asked, gaping in surprise.

“Nothing much.” the older woman shrugged. “Just juiced the frequency on an electronic dog whistle. I figured if it looks like a dog, and barks like a dog, it probably hears like a dog too.”

Staggered by the sound, the inugami was caught between pressing desire to escape the painful sound and its drive to kill the creatures it was bred to hunt. Then the decision was made for it. A loud, sharp whistle shrieked though the speakers in its ears at crippling volume. There was a moment of even more intense pain, then silence.

“Gah!” Laurel shouted, clapping her hands over her ears.

“Was that your thing?” Ian asked from where Occult had dropped him.

“No.” Laurel answered. “Whoever’s holding this dog’s chain just blew out his ear drums to keep him in the fight.”

Its pain gone, the enraged inugami resumed its attack on Occult and Laurel.

Shouting once more in Spanish and presenting yet another piece of glass, Occult erected her magical wall just in time. Learning from the first time, however, the inugami stopped short of the shield and rose up on its hind legs to claw it down with its forepaws.

From the Astral, Kareem watched the tortured astral form of the inugami bearing down on the flickering astral shades of Occult and Laurel. Even if their attacks harmed it, there was little Ian and Alexis could do to redirect the single minded fury of the beast from their allies in time.

He didn’t want to watch them die. He didn’t want them to die at all. Laurel had done so much for him that he could never truly repay her. Above that, she was the warm and caring sort of soul whose loss the entire world would suffer. As for Occult, he didn’t know her personally, but he knew that she was a good person who didn’t deserve the fate that was swiftly approaching her.

Time slowed down. He was used to the ebb and flow of time on the Astral, but this wasn’t the usual flux. It was centered on himself. He felt the ether thicken and coil around him. Was it responding to his thoughts? It had before, yes, but it had never moved and flowed quite as freely as it did now. It was as if it was responding to his own pained emotions, just as the shades of plants had been destroyed in the monster’s passing…

Suddenly, he understood. The Astral was a place where everything was composed of emotion. Stronger emotional footprints erased weaker ones. Stronger wills affected larger changes. If he truly and desperately wanted to save his friends, then he could use the Astral Plane itself to fight back.

Armed with the knowledge, he focused his thoughts on the monster and manifested his will into the ether around him. A spear sprouted from the ground beneath the inugami’s Astral being, impaling it through the belly.

The wall flickered out of being as Laurel and Occult hurried backward from it. Black heat and compressed wind washed over the orihalcite carapace to no avail as the inugami dropped back to all fours to stalk its prey.

Then it screamed a long, inhuman wail. Its entire body shuddered and it struggled to keep its footing. The pain it felt now was nothing it had ever experienced. There was no source; no broken bone, no pierced skin, it simply knew pain.

Laurel and Occult were forgotten now as the inugami span, trying to find the source of its agony. Black fire made its fur smolder and pulse after pulse of air made keeping its footing a challenge, but it no longer cared about that.

It sensed another creature near it – one of the those it was born to kill. But wherever it was, this being was invisible to all its senses, except the sense that delivered the keening call of a psionic using their power.

More pain scarred its being and this time, it stumbled. It was becoming difficult to move. The air was becoming more difficult to breathe as well. More phantom pains ravaged its body. None of this made sense. It had to get away. To heal…

The hideous astral form of the inugami shivered as yet another spear formed in the ether to pierce its hide. Almost a dozen such weapons now jutted from its body, the wounds they had inflicted wept black ichor.

Wracked with pain, the beast turned to flee through the shades of Laurel and Occult.

“You will not hurt them.” Kareem wans’t even sure the creature could perceive his voice. “You will not escape and you will hurt no one else.” The hafts of the spears suddenly grew chains the leapt outward like kudzu, anchoring themselves to the ground to.

As quickly as it had begun to flee, the inugami froze in place, its body practically vibrating with pain. Its throat had grown too raw to continue to shriek, so all that was left was a low whine as it writhed.

A sword formed in Kareem’s hand as he surged forward. Shouting his anger and fear, he plunged the emotion forged weapon into the monster’s dripping throat.

The myriad screens monitoring Six simultaneously returned failure messages. There was a collective gasp from the technicians as the inugami’s head mounted camera recorded its collapse.

“How the hell did they do that?” Asked a slack-jawed Wright.

“Perhaps the woman with the utility harness is a telepath?” one technician offered. “That’s the only way I can explain the sudden cessation of all brain function.

“No.” Another offered. “This was a massive bioelectrical event. The heart, spine and lungs also ceased function at the same time.”

“Work on it.” Wright said, standing up. “Trip the thermate on Six and compile all your findings for me. This operation is official over.”

“A failure, sir?” a tech asked.

“Not at all.” Wright’s look of frustration was suddenly replaced by a businesslike smile. “You didn’t really expect an attack dog to be able to take down prelates, did you? These people fight other people with powers all the time. No, this was a trial run for the inugami so my team knows what they’ll be dealing with. And that—that has been a rousing success. I wasn’t even aware of half of the prelates our inugami encountered.” He moved to the exit. “Rest assured, my friends that you will all get exemplary evaluations from me… save for you, Mr. Simms – the containment pods’ camouflage was ineffective. I pray you’ll have something better cooked up for my people.” With one last glare at the offending technician, he was gone.

“I don’t quite know what to make of this…” Laurel said. She was sitting in the passenger seat of Alexis’s car as the group returned home. The twisted and burned collar from the last dog monster in her hands. “Someone went through a lot of work just to have a few mutant rampages in Mayfield in the week leading up to Halloween.”

“Are we ruling out another spellcaster then?” Ian asked.

Laurel nodded. “As far as I know, no magic spells require highly sophisticated injection systems or high explosives to get the job done. Science made these creatures. It also made this metal. It’s amazing—like nothing I’ve ever outside the realm of theoretical science.”

“Does that mean you don’t know who made it?” Alexis asked.

“I don’t, but it narrows the list quite a bit. There aren’t more than ten scientists with the credentials to even start producing this stuff – and one of them is apparently using it to make sci-fi barding for these monsters.”

“What if they send more?” Alexis asked. “We barely took this one out. If it wasn’t for Kareem…”

“Now that I know what to look for, I’ll modify my astral transceivers to detect their brand of astral disturbance, no problem.” Laurel said, dismissively. “And I’ll make my next dog whistle modification lethal. In the meantime, there’s not a lot we can do until we track who ever’s behind these things down.”

“We can keep an eye on Occult.” Ian said.

“Give her a break, Ian.” Alexis said, “She helped us out tonight. She could have easily let that thing maul you, but she didn’t.”

“Magic is magic.” Ian said stubbornly, “And we’ve learned that it hates us.”

“I’ve been reading that book, Ian,” Laurel said, “Trust me; it’s pretty much just another force, like gravity. Morganna is just a special, insane case. The best you two can do right now is to give me time to work on tracking down the people behind these mutations. For example, I was going to be the one picking up the cake for the party tomorrow. One of you doing that would help a lot.”

“Are you sure we should even have the party with all of this going on?” Alexis asked.

“Absolutely.” Laurel said, “Even if more will be arriving, there are no more in the city now and I highly doubt any will be moved in within twenty-four hours. Canceling our plans now would be needlessly stressful—plus, the kids have been through enough in the past year that I think they really deserve a party.” She smiled at both of them “You both know I’m right, so there’s no point in arguing with me about it.”

And they didn’t. Because Laurel was right. Whatever was happening, whoever was sending the deadly mutants to Mayfield, they couldn’t allow those events and people to stop them from living their lives. Otherwise, they had already failed.

End Issue #10