Laurel yawned as she padded down the hall in her pajama bottoms, Mayfield Colossi jersey and fuzzy blue slippers, holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee. The other hand ran through her still wet hair.

It had been a week since classes at the Liedecker Institute had started and though teaching was turning out to be deeply satisfying, she missed her workshop and being Codex.

The weekend meant she finally had time to get back to the business of monitoring the media for leads on the Tome or the Magical World, going out on patrol, and designing new training scenarios for the others.

Sensors in the room detected her biometrics the moment she opened the door and a half dozen screens blinked to life, bringing up images of the websites and media feeds that constituted her morning routine. She smiled in the familiar glow and sipped her coffee before settling down into her chair.

There were a handful of pertinent stories that morning.

Gina Sheldon, aka Impact was having her sentencing hearing Monday and was being transported under heavy guard from Braddock Island to Federal Court in Florida for it. The ROCIC had already sent her a brief on their security plans and she'd sent him a few suggestions for improvements.

Police in Kansas City, in cooperation with the USMC’s Superhuman Intervention Division had encountered and neutralized a creature that had killed a number of people in a hospital the night before. The military assured the public that the creature was NPO, or of non-psionic origin; the new keyword they used for the creatures crossed over from Faerie. General Pratt had warned her that the military would shy away from actually calling Faerie by its name.

And finally, an article in the Scribe had come up as flagged by her pattern recognition and compilation system. The police dispatch had reported the sixth butcher shop robbery in the past month. The targets were always whole sides of beef and one or two trays of high end cuts. Delicacy wasn’t part of the MO; the door had been knocked in or the windows broken on all occasions.

Laurel ruminated over this. It was probably nothing more than someone realizing that meat markets and butcher shops were less well guarded than over shops and selling the meat. Stealing the harder to carry and conceal sides of meat, however didn't make a lot of sense, especially given that the thief clearly knew about smaller, more expensive cuts.

She decided that it wouldn’t hurt to do a quick cross referencing for other such cases before moving on to other tasks, so she pulled out her keyboard drawer.

The Book of Reason was lying on top of the keyboard, open.

She didn’t remember reading it the day before and knew for certain that she kept it under lock and key when she wasn’t reading it. Yet there it was. She wasn't quite surprised at this; it was one of the 4, after all, highly magical books with clear goals when it came to magic.

Taking a closer look, she found that the section it was open to was a treatise on teaching spellcraft to others.

“I just spent all week teaching.” She felt silly complaining to a book, but it was a very unusual book after all. She frowned and picked the tome up and skimming over the contents. “Hmm. But this isn’t any kind of curriculum I’ve ever seen.”

Her train of thought was interrupted by her phone ringing. The name on the called ID display didn't come as a surprise either; there was only one other person directly involved with the Book. “Hello, Occult.” She answered. “Yes, mine did to.” She listened to the other end, nodding along before saying, “I figured as much. That’s why I trusted you with keeping it. Any idea where we’ll find our prospective student?”

Augustus Roe was having a great week. The second week of college had seen him make a lot of good friends, find that he liked all his classes, and luck into a job between classes working in the rec room at the student union.

With the return of better fortune, his muse had returned as well. Bursting with creative energy, he’d risen early that beautiful morning, biked to Wagner Park and climbed the hill behind the tennis courts with canvas and supplies in hand.

For more than two hours, he had painted the serene landscape laid out in front of him and felt at peace with the world. Then a shade of rose he had hoped never to see again tinted the world around him.

“Hello, Augustus.” Occult rose from a pool of astral light just behind him. She was cloaked and hooded, as usual, her staff grasped in one hand, the other holding the palmtop computer in which the digi-book or Reason resided.

Deep dread filled Augustus. There was absolutely no other reason that she’d be there, speaking to him. The Book of Passions had to be involved.

“No.” He said instantly and backed away from her. “I don’t want it. I don’t even want to see it!”

Occult completed her emergence from the astral portal, which winked out of existence, leaving her standing on the grass. She sighed empathetically. “I understand how you feel Auggie, I really do. But with or without the Book, you’ve had contact with magic and soon your powers are going to start manifesting. With the Book, you can at least learn to use them safely.”

“Powers. Look, I’m not a psionic, if that’s what you think.” Augustus informed her as he went to pack up his paints.

“No, you’re not.” Codex came up the hill to stand behind Occult. “But psionics aren’t the only people born with genetic predispositions toward something the uninitiated would call the supernatural. And like it or not, you're one of them.”

Augustus scoffed. “No, I don’t. Look, I don’t get why that strange guy was after me. I don’t care now that he’s gone. I don’t care about the book. I’m happy now. Leave me alone.”

Occult sighed. “I’d like to Auggie. I would. No one would rather be doing something else on a Saturday morning. In fact, I had plans for this afternoon.” She added unhappily, “But this is really important. My powers got activated after I had a spell cast on me. I started sensing things, and moving things without understanding and it scared me a lot.”

“What does any of that have to do with me?” Augustus demanded.

“Because Warpstar cast a spell on you and very soon, the same thing’s going to happen.”

“How do you know?” Augustus challenged, collapsing his easel. “What the hell makes you so sure?”

“The Book gave me a vision—“

“I don’t care what the Book says. It wants me; it’ll say or do anything to get to me. It’s bullshit.”

“Augustus,” Codex said in a calmer tone, “I understand how you feel, but these Books are serious business. It’s not going to leave you alone. And since it can’t alter your mind to make you do what it wants, it’s going to go more and more out of its way to convince you to take it up.”

“And I’ll just keep saying no.”

“That won't work, Auggie. In fact, it’s in your paint kit right now.” Codex said.

Augustus’s eyes widened and very slowly, he opened the kit and peered inside. He was greeted by the leather bound spine of the Book of Passions. The kit tumbled from his hands and clattered to the ground.

“I saw it appear there when you were closing it.” Codex explained. “Once it’s picked you, it’s not going to give up. But there’s a silver lining to it: the Books aren’t malevolent; they just want to keep magic around in the world. You can use it as you see fit; to control your powers.”

“I don’t want to ‘control my powers’ I don’t want any powers!” Augustus waved his hands wildly in the air and kicked the case containing the book away from him as if it were a dead, festering rat.

Occult didn’t see it. Augustus didn’t know what to look for. But thanks to her hypercognition, Codex did. In his gesticulating, Augustus was moving his hands in a very specific pattern. Completely unconsciously, his middle fingers were following hidden lines of force.

“Augustus!” Codex leapt at him and tackled him just as a green glow suffused through the ether. She was up and in a defensive crouch before Augustus had even come to rest next to his paint kit.

A humanoid form materialized from the glow; a fair young man with curly, rust colored hair and ears that stabbed the air in sharp points several inches out from his head. His eyes were shimmering marbles of black and violet. What appeared to be a poncho made of strips of oily leather was draped over a buckskin vest and breeches. His feet were shod in supple leathers.

An imperious glance was cast around the hilltop as he took a deep, cleansing breath. “It’s about time we found a way through.” He seemed not to notice the other people there.

“Yes. Is being long time since daoine has being come to Blue World.” The voice came from a mote of red light that seemed to hover next to his left ear.

The ‘poncho’ twitched and flowed, a pair of leering orange eyes appearing on a spot just under his shoulder. “And look what we’ve got here, Uur.” A gurgling, hissing voice said, “Witches. We should fight them, Aenix, yes.”

“We don’t have time to fight witches, Ecksion.” The man called Aenix chided. “Maybe once the job is done. There’ll be plenty of fighting once we find the gift.”

“Just who and what are you?” Occult demanded, bringing her staff on guard. “And what business do you have in the mortal world?”

Aenix sneered. “I’m called Aenix, daoine bounty hunter. And my business is my own. Don’t get in my way, witch.”

“Sorry.” Codex straightened herself up. “We’re responsible for keeping everyone in this city safe. We can’t just let a bounty hunter go traipsing around wreaking havoc and attacking innocent people. Let’s talk.”

“As if you could stop me.” In one, smooth motion, Aenix drew a long, straight bladed sword from beneath his leathery cloak.

Codex made a smooth motion of her own, pulling out her grapnel launcher and firing low. The line wrapped Aenix’s legs and with a sharp tug, she pulled him off balance and sent him crashing to the ground.

Occult didn’t waste the opportunity. “Levanto esta pared!” She conjured a shield and pressed it down on the bounty hunter to pin him.

The sneer faded from Aenix’s face. “Ecksion.” He ordered.

“Yes?” The oily voice replied with mock sweetness.

“You can fight the witches now.”

“Excellent.” A rigid, black spike stabbed out from the black cloak, shattering the shield with little effort. At the same time, a claw similar to that of a praying mantis formed at the bottom of the garment and slashed through the line tangling Aenix’s legs.

Thus freed, the daoine kipped up and brandished his sword once more. “You have no idea who and what you’re pissing off.”

Ecksion’s form flowed down Aenix’s non-sword arm and formed a snarling gargoyle head over his hand. “I resent being called a ‘what’” He snapped before belching a stream of noxious, green goo at Codex.

The blue clad prelate leapt aside, observing how the spatter withered the grass and turned the earth beneath it to gray ash. She didn’t want to test how well her suit would stand up to that.

On the other side of Aenix, Occult chanted a spell in its original Aramaic, ending with a thrust of her staff and her own made up words of power. “Vos Solaris!” A bar of yellow light streaked toward the bounty hunter with blinding intensity.

With inhuman speed, Aenix bought up his sword and reflected the beam, raking it across her ribs and turning her around. “Not even a challenge.” He regained his sneer as he moved in to hit her while her back was exposed.

But in doing so, he exposed his back to Codex. She took the opening to aim a horse kick to his back. But the moment she did, a three fingered claw lashed out from the boiling mass that was Ecksion, turned her foot aside, and threw her to the ground.

“The witch doesn’t know that I’m the eyes in the back of the head.” Ecksion laughed, opening a half dozen orange eyes across Aenix’s back.

“It does surely not.” The red point of light called Uur echoed, floating above one of the eyes.

Undaunted, Codex came up with one of her screamers and set it to full burst. The result was the opposite of what she expected.

Aenix clutched his head with his free and hand snarled painfully. “Damned witch!” He turned and rushed her with his sword. Another vos solaris beam caught him in the back, sending him sprawling. Now on his knees, he sheathed the sword and covered his ears. “Ecks! Get me out of here. We don’t have time for this!”

Apparently unphased by the hole Occult had just burned into his flesh, Ecksion pulled away from Aenix’s front to expand into a pair of dark, membranous wings. “We’ll be back for you witches.” He gurgled, “Once we’ve done our jobs.” With a mighty downbeat, he lifted Aenix into the air and away from the battle.

“Where did that come from?!” Occult was already summoning a horizontal shield that she could ride pursuit on.

“Augustus.” Codex said. “He—where’d he go?” She looked around and found both Augustus and his paint case missing. “Damn it. Go after the bounty hunter. I’ll find Augustus and catch up to you. He summoned those things and he may be the only one that can banish him.”

-- • --

Augustus plowed through the underbrush at the bottom of the hill and kept moving. Already, his breath was ragged, but adrenaline drove him on. He didn’t care if his lungs burned and his legs became knots of cramps as long as he put as much distance as possible between himself and the insanity unfolding behind him.

He hadn’t asked for this. He didn’t want it. He was probably going to need to move out of Mayfield now, just to get away from Occult and Codex and that stupid Book.

The Book. It was still in his paint case, he realized. Why was he still carrying it? What kind of hold did it have on him even now?

Lost in frenzied thought, Augustus didn’t notice that he’d come out of the woods and to the edge of an earth wall that lined one of the park’s jogging paths until he was already stepping out into empty air.

Luck (he hoped) kept him from breaking anything as he hit the ground stumbling and blundered into the earth wall opposite it. He dropped his case and clung to the exposed dirt on the side of the trail, trying to keep his feet.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there, but the next thing he knew, he was aware of someone behind him. To his dismay, he knew who it was even before she spoke.

“I’m sorry about this, Augustus.” Codex said, her voice heavy.

“How’d you find me?” He breathed, laying his cheek on the cool dirt.

“You’re not the stealthy type.” Said Codex. “You left a very easy to follow path. Now come on, we have work to do.”

“Not going anywhere.”

Codex sighed. “I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want. But what just happened makes it clear that you do need to learn. You’ve got this power and unless you learn to control it, you have the potential to be far more dangerous than any psionic ever born.”

This got him to turn around at least, but he pressed his back to the wall like a cornered animal. “What does any of that have to do with me?”

“When you had your little blow up back there, you were waving your hands around.” She started.

“So? You don't understand how it feels to have someone come up to you and tell you that they’re going to make you face your worse nightmare.”

“And I understand that, but let me finish.” Codex stared him down from behind the smoked lenses of her goggles until she was confident that there would be no interruptions. “As I was saying, you started waving them in a pattern. Unconsciously. It was a spell; one that weakens the boundaries between our world and the world those creatures came from. He must have been searching for weak points to breech when you created one.”

“What? No.” Augustus moved to pick up his case, but stopped himself. He stared at it instead. That was where the Book was; waiting. “I had nothing to do with that!”

“You did, Augustus.” Codex said firmly, “And we’re going to need your help to find him. God knows who he could hurt if we don’t’ get to him first.”

Darleen Summers gratefully took a seat on one of the benches lining the wall at Ray’s Gym in downtown Mayfield and pulled her water bottle out of her bag. She never would have set foot in the place three months ago and would have been insulted if anyone had suggested that she needed to. But things had changed since she started sharing her body with the demon called Rehenimaru.

In the weeks since she’d made her covenant with the exiled being from another dimension, there had been many changes.

At first, they had been barely noticeable. Her appetite had grown, especially for red meat, but nothing she ate seemed to add any weight. Her libido had soared and she found herself going to clubs every night after work. And her energy levels… well the gym hadn’t been Rehenimaru’s idea; Darleen just found that she became agitated and stir crazy now if she didn’t keep active.

And then there was the magic. Rehenimaru called it Blood Magic and had promised that it would only get stronger the longer the remained bonded. Darleen was already fascinated with limited shape changing; it was more effective and cheaper than all the make-up and hair products she’d been used to. And the fire conjuring was more than a little exciting, even if she still had a hard time lighting a candle.

For her part, Rehenimaru seemed largely content to just to experience Mayfield through her eyes, occasionally demanding to visit places they’d seen on TV or bus ads. The only other favors she’d demanded were far less vile than Darleen had expected for a demon, if still legally dubious.

She downed her water and admired her own toned legs. Having someone else sharing her body was strange; disconcerting at times, but she couldn’t fault the results. She’d had more dates in the last few weeks than the majority of her adult life. Life seemed to be doing nothing but looking up.

In an alley not far from Wagner Park, a red glint of light floated down to the lid of a dumpster. “It has being gone.” It called.

Slowly, the lid lifted. At first, it only raised enough for an orange eye to emerge on a stalk and have a look around. Then it opened fully for Aenix to climb out, wrapped almost head to toe in the black shroud that was Ecksion.

“That was not pleasant.” Ecksion gurgled, shaking detritus free. “Hiding in filth from witches. Why?” He spat the word witches, quivering in fury.

Aenix grimaced and pulled a long, thin vial from his belt and quaffed the contents. “Because that isn’t the job.” He threw the now empty vial against the wall and enjoyed watching it smash. “Besides, the blue one did something. Nearly made my ears bleed. We don’t need that.”

“But I like killing witches.” Ecksion moaned, “It’s been so long. Especially Mankind witches. Haven’t killed one of those since before you were even born. They've got a nice flavor.”

“This isn’t a pleasure trip, Ecks.” Aenix reprimanded him harshly. “We’ve got a job.”

“It never is.” The creature muttered, “It’s always work.”

“And it keeps us fed and in luxury.” Aenix noted. “Now be serious. He said that there’s a Sai’n’shree demon here in the Blue World and he wants her bought back to Auckshuld for questioning. See if you can scent anything demonic around here.”

Ecksion pouted, but did as told, forming a gargoyle head behind and above Aenix’s and sniffing the wind. After a few moments, the leer on his face deepened and his eyes narrowed with pleasure. “She's been near. Less than a week ago. She’s in a Mankind body.”

“I’m not surprised.” Aenix made his way toward the mouth of the alley. Evading Occult had been a feat. It seemed that half the people on the street were more than eager to point out which way he’d gone. He didn’t doubt that they’d alert her if they saw him again. “We need a disguise.” He said. “Something that won’t stick out.”

“I have finding something!” Uur called. The red mote hadn’t left the dumpster and was hovering over one of a trash bag that had come open.

Aenix stalked back and took a look. He smirked. “Lycanthrope Hunter Z to X?” He read the cover of the flat format disc box lying partly out of the refuse and nodded his approval at the character that graced it. “Well, if this is how the Blue World’s bounty hunters dress… Ecks, can you make it so?”

The gargoyle head nodded, “Except for those… loops over the shoulders. I don’t think even I have the muscle control for that.”

Occult emerged from a rose portal in the park once more. Her expression was dire. “He managed to lose me in the city.” She reported to Codex, who was sitting on a bench next to a very frustrated and frightened looking Augustus. “I see you had better luck.”

“Not by much.” Codex said, frowning down at her palmtop. “He still refuses to look in the Book of Passions for an answer.”

“Then what now?” Occult asked, sitting down heavily on the other side of Augustus and staring at her own boots. “Without a piece of this demonic bounty hunter or something that belongs to him, I can’t scry for him.”

“I know.” Said Codex. “I already thought of that.” Her thumbs flew across the tiny keypad of her computer. “With no Book of Passions,” She made sure to intone that as seriously as possible for Augustus’s benefit, “and nothing to scry with, magic is going to get us nowhere. So it’s time for science to step in.”

“Science?” Augustus leaned over to peak at the screen. “What are you doing?”

“Last time we dealt with creatures from Faerie, I learned that they have different astral signatures. Luckily, I just so happen to have a network of astral transceivers distributed across the city. It’ll take a while to cycle through them all, but even if we can’t find the bounty hunter, maybe we’ll find the demon he’s hunting. We can't ignore that any more than we can this Aenix person.”

“Either way, we need a plan to deal with that bounty hunter.” Occult opened the digi-book of Reason. “At the very least, I want to know what the hell that thing on his back was.”

Augustus fidgeted in his place between the two women. There was a silence filled only with keypads being tapped. “I couldn’t have summoned that thing, whatever it was. It had to be the Book. It’s trying to make me learn. Just like it called those monsters to the college.”

Codex shook her head. “I doubt it. Aenix could have killed you back there and quite possibly would have if you hadn’t run away. If you’re dead, the Book doesn’t get used, which is all they want. I’m inclined to believe that it’s all you and I’m hoping the Book itself comes up with something that helps; if only to protect you.”

“But I’m not in danger.” Augustus countered.

“That thing Aenix was wearing, Ecksion; it wanted to kill all of us because it sensed the magic. Once it and Aenix deal with the demon they’re after, they’ll come back for us. All of us.”

Augustus’s eye went wide. “Well… call the other Descendants. They can protect me. Why aren’t they here already?”

“I asked her not to.” Occult said. “Not unless it gets really hairy. The Magical World is my responsibility. As long as we still think we can handle it, I’d rather not involve them. The Book of Reason and the Book of Passions are both far better weapons against this threat than the Descendants’ powers.”

Codex nodded. “But if things do get hairy, I’ve got my finger on the button.” She assured Augustus.

“Then push it.” Augustus sniffed. “In case both of you have been ignoring me, you don’t have the Book of Passions because I’m not going to use it. I don’t care if it chooses me and chases me to the end of the world; I’m not going to use it. I don’t want to be taken over by an evil book.”

Codex turned toward him very slowly. “Augustus, look at us. Occult and I are right now putting our all into helping you. Protecting you. By using the Book of Reason. Do we look evil to you?”

“But—“

“But nothing.” Codex said sharply. “I’m sorry if you didn’t want it. I’m sorry if you’re afraid of it. But this is part of who you are now. Just like thousands of psionics are born with their abilities.

“Believe me; more psionics than you know have suffered for their powers. And like you, they have to take personal responsibility for it. Like it or not, having the power to fix these things, to do what’s right, and not using it... it’s almost as bad as using it to do evil yourself.”

Augustus sank back against the bench and glowered at the paint case at his feet. “I guess you can call me evil then.” He said. “I don’t want it.” With that, he kicked the case as hard as he could. It flew across the path and cracked open against the opposite bench.

The Book of Passions tumbled out, its pages falling open.

Occult glanced at him and when to retrieve the Book. “Real mature. I thought you were a college guy. There’s more mature guys than you at my…” she trailed off as she saw what page the Book had opened to.

“Codex, look!” She picked up the Book to show its contents to her. The page read ‘Ritual to Banish Bad Faeries.”

“Excellent.” Codex said, “It looks like the Book is willing to help even if Augustus isn’t. Now let’s hope I can locate Aenix before he causes some serious trouble.”

Most women (or anyone for that matter) wouldn’t even consider taking such an alley home alone. It was situated so that the only time light even fell into it was high noon and even then, not much filtered down.

But most women didn’t have demon enhanced strength, agility and reflexes, so to Darleen Summers, it was just a shortcut that cut a good four blocks off her walk from the gym to her home. She usually didn't even look over her shoulder when she went took it.

But as she walked home, humming contentedly to herself, she heard soft footsteps behind her. And the soft hiss of a sword being drawn.

“I guess you’re Rehenimaru. Or, I suppose you’ve got her inside. Fun’s over, demon. Don’t make me cut you out of that pretty shell.” Hissed Aenix.

Both Darleen and Rehenimaru smiled as they heard another sound behind Aenix. The bestial snarls represented the other reason no one ever came down this alley. Aenix was about to learn first hand.

-- • --

Despite the expansion of human civilization into places that were once pristine and untamed, nature finds a way to adapt and survive. Many former woodland creatures have learned to subsist in urban environments nearly as well as they did in the wilderness.

As such, cities play home to a variety of squirrels, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and many species of birds. Even the occasional large creature, such as a wild cat or bear manages to live for years undetected in the press of the city. Mayfield, however, was the only American city that had to deal with baboons.

On the same night Rehenimaru took up residence in Darleen Summers’ body, she also absconded with an entire troop of baboons from the G M Logan Zoo and infused them with demonic power in behalf of her then lord and master, Colos. The intent was to give Colos an army while he reasserted his demonic power in the new body he’d taken.

The whole thing had come apart when Colos’s tentative ally, Morganna, betrayed the demons and attempted a spell that would kill the demons of Sai’n’shree in order to strip Morganna’s earthly enemies of their psionic powers.

When the spell failed, the resultant magical shockwave greatly diminished Rehenimaru’s spell over the baboons, leaving them once more mortal, but still tougher than their kin. Over the weeks that followed, most of the troop was recaptured and returned to the zoo, or killed by animal control or law enforcement.

But Rehenimaru had managed to find and gain the loyalty of three with plentiful and generous feedings of stolen meat. Sated, they were content to lair n the alley not far from Darleen’s home and wait until she needed them.

She had need of them now.

A daoine bounty hunter stood before her with a Wellspring-forged sword drawn. A long black coat that flared at the bottom was seemingly bound to his body by a dozen or so leather straps fastened by dull, black buckles. The buttons across the chest were orange and glowed slightly, seeming more like eyes than anything else. Loops of leather encircled his arms without actually touching them save for where they attached under the arms. Gloves and boots were also black leather, with points and spikes of dull metal sticking up at odd angles.

The hat was the worst part; wide brimmed and pointed at the top, it bore what looked like a flattened, devilish face that leered at her as if it didn’t know whether to eat her or ravish her.

In an instant, Rehenimaru was in control of the body and she used that opportunity to smile. The baboons had already moved to close off the other end of the alley and by the time the bounty hunter heard them snarling, they were already leaping at him.

The sudden impact of one of them landing on his shoulders nearly unbalanced Aenix as he turned to face his attackers. Though the demonic energies they once possessed had ebbed, they were still baboons; several times stronger than a man and armed with sharp teeth and brutal claws. Another closed its teeth on Aenix’s leather sleeved arm.

“Gah!” Ecksion shrieked as the teeth dug into him. He responded by flowing off Aenix’s arm to fling the offending beast by its teeth, slamming it against the alley wall. He formed that same pseudopod into a fleshy fist to knock the creature on Aenix’s shoulders away.

Free of the added weight, Aenix whirled and caught the third baboon in the ribs with his sword. Undeterred by the gash in its side, the creature surged forward and raked at his chest with its claws.

Aenix batted it back with the flat of his sword. “Cute. But now I’m going to kill your pets in front of you before I drag you back to Faerie.”

Rehenimaru snarled wordlessly and leapt forward, aiming a kick at Aenix’s back. Her foot was in turn caught in a vice of clamping teeth. Ecksion hissed out a laugh before swinging her down hard on her back.

“Did he say that we had to bring her back alive?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Aenix was trying his best to keep the baboons back with his sword, but the beasts were fearless and only an actual blow turned them back. “But he didn’t say how much of her we had to bring back.”

“Excellent!” Ecksion opened the toothsome maw on Aenix’s back further and belched a stream of withering ooze at Rehenimaru’s legs. The composite human and demoness didn’t even try to dodge. “Try kicking us with those, bitch!” Ecksion cackled.

Seconds later, an ooze covered foot was planted in his face and Rehenimaru kipped up. “You don’t have much experience with Sai’n’shree blood magic, do you, flow beast?” She snarled, unleashing a series of punches into Ecksion’s face. “It doesn’t matter what my body looks like. We’re still resistant.”

Before Ecksion could snarl a response, one of the baboons broke through Aenix’s defenses and tore one of the eye buttons free. “You filth!” Ecksion shrieked shifting his attention to the fore and extending a spear of blackness into the baboon’s chest and out its back. “You unforgivable filth! My eye!”

Aenix took advantage of Ecksion’s rage at the animals to turn his own focus on Rehenimaru, setting her on guard with a series of harrying sweeps with the sword. “Not that I’m not grateful.” He remarked to his ally/armor, “But you have dozens of eyes.”

“It still hurt!” Ecksion wailed. To accent this statement, he swung the still writhing, speared baboon like a hammer, crushing a second one to the ground under its weight. Another set of jaws formed out of the loop over Aenix’s left shoulder and clamped around the throat of the third beast.

Aenix spared a glance over his shoulder at the howls of pain and outrage. “See that?” He asked, “Your fuzzy friends are dying. Ecks is very sensitive about loosing parts. He’ll probably rip them apart.”

Rehenimaru ducked low to dodge a sword thrust, and knocked the sword aside before grabbing Aenix’s sword arm with inhuman strength. “Hope you’re just as sensitive about loosing parts then.” She twisted his wrist in hopes of disarming him.

“Are you mocking me!?” Ecksion roared, bringing the speared baboon around to strike Rehenimaru directly in the chest, knocking her down. He bore down, seeking to drive the spear into her through the struggling ape.

“Remember only to maim her.” Aenix instructed, tossing the sword into his good hand and putting the tip of it to Rehenimaru’s throat. “She’s wanted in Auckshuld.”

At the mention of Auckshuld, rage played in Rehenimaru’s features. They also played in those of the baboon. With a blood curdling shriek, the ape caught the spear in its claws and rent it apart with the tip still buried in its body.

Simultaneously, the other two seemingly dead beasts leapt upon Aenix’s back, bearing him to the ground. Roars erupted from their mouths as they set fangs against Ecksion’s flesh. The wellspring wrought sword slid along the ground, free of Aenix’s grasp.

Screaming curses in a language not even pronounceable by a human tongue, Ecksion unfolded from Aenix into a pair of heavy, leather wings, dashing the baboons against opposite walls with enough force to crack the brick.

Aenix rose to a knee, wiping blood from his lips from where he’d bitten the inside of his cheek. Before he had any time to get his bearings, Rehenimaru kicked him in the face, span and kicked him again, hard enough to put him on his back.

“Who and what the hell are you?” It wasn’t Rehenimaru, it was Darleen, putting her demonic strength to good use as she grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him before slamming him against the wall, crushing Ecksion brutally against the wall in the process.

“No more threats.” Darleen demanded. “It’s five against two and we have more advantages than numbers.” The baboons, wounds already knitting, formed up behind her, snarling and ready to tear into the daoine.

“Is that what you think?” Aenix laughed in her face. “You have no idea, little Mankind.”

Darleen pounded her fist into his gut with enough force to have done serious internal injury in a human. “You think so? Talk.”

“Ah, what’s the harm?” Aenix shrugged, trying to unpin Ecksion, but finding it impossible. “The demon lord of Mountain Realm Auckshuld heard that Sai’n’shree found a way into the Blue World again. Your girl there? The one in your head, making you strong? He knows she’s here, thinks she knows how to cross the way. There’s a big, big price for bringing her in so he can get over here and pick up some tasty mortal shells himself.”

“You’re not getting her.” Darleen and Rehenimaru spoke as one for entirely different reasons.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Not surprising, seeing as how you can’t even count.”

“What?”

“You said there were two of us. Uur!”

“Who?” Darleen started to ask when a red point of light was suddenly directly in front of her left pupil. Reflexively, she swatted at it with her free hand, easing up only a tiny bit on her grip around Aenix’s neck.

The bounty hunter took the chance, using the death grip and the wall as leverage to bring both legs up for a powerful kick to Darleen’s midsection. It didn’t break her grip, but she stumbled back just enough to free Ecksion, who formed two great fists that punched her through her baboon vanguard and into the opposite wall.

With the nimbleness of his kind, Aenix leapt over the baboons and raced to reach his sword.

“That didn’t help you the first time, why do you think it’ll help you now?” Rehenimaru snarled, getting to her feet. She was back in control now, her white hot anger drowning out the protests of pain from the body she shared with Darleen.

Aenix got a toe under the blade of the weapon and flipped it easily into his hand. With a fluid motion, he hurled it blade first into the demoness, sinking it to the hilt in her chest and nailing her to the alley wall.

“Because I hadn’t done that before.” Aenix snickered, breathing heavily.

The demonicly possessed woman slumped against the wall, her head lolling back.

“Weren’t we supposed to take her alive?” Ecksion asked.

“Not to worry, Ecks, she’s just in shock from the pain.” Aenix gestured to the baboons, which had also keeled over, and were writhing in agony. “Looks like we lucked out too. She soul bound those beasts of hers.”

“What do we do now?” Ecksion asked.

Before Aenix could answer, something tugged at his senses. Daoine were very sensitive to the movements of the ether and the Astral, and Aenix had trained for years to develop that sense.

“Now, Ecks?” He dropped into an unarmed fighting stance and faced the mouth of the alley, “Now we kill witches.”

-- • --

As Aenix held himself ready to fight, Ecksion took the opportunity to pound on the baboons until they were unconscious. “Happy?” Aenix asked.

“Extremely.” Ecksion replied. “Now bring us the witches.”

“I sensed teleportation nearby.” Aenix said, “It has to be them. They’re scrying us and they’ll be here soon.”

The ultrasonic screech of the screamer preceded Codex into the alley. Aenix cringed and clapped his hands over his ears. “Indeed we will.” She was presenting the screamer before her like a holy symbol and held a silver cylinder in her off hand. Occult, with a very wary Augustus fell in behind her.

“Codex.” Occult gasped, seeing Darleen Summers’ body slumped against the wall, transfixed by the wellspring wrought blade. “That’s the woman the demon possessed when Morganna came back…”

“I see her. This faerie must have smelled the demon or the baboons on her even after all this time.” Codex said softly. “She’s still breathing. Do you know any healing spells?”

“Nothing that can fix a sword through the gut.” Occult worried.

Aenix tore a piece of his shirt off with his teeth and stuffed it into his ear. “Damned witches, you knew she was here. We should have tortured her location out of you.”

Codex ignored him. “Get to her and stabilize her then. I’ll call an ambulance. Augustus, go with her and do exactly as she says. We have to be rid of this faerie and his flowbeast friend before the paramedics arrive.”

“How do you know that word, witch?” Ecksion demanded, chaffing at the fact that Aenix was in no condition to move so the group was in range of his attacks.

“We did our homework.” Codex said, “Looked up ‘acid spitting’, ‘symbiotic’ and ‘shapeshifter’ in the Book of Reason. Seems flowbeasts often pair themselves up with daoine and have a special love of battle, especially against spellcasters.” She glanced at Occult and Augustus. “Go now!”

Ecksion had had enough. He extruded a pseudopod and dragged Aenix forward. In the same motion, he lashed out with a fleshy tendril and knocked the screamer out of Codex’s hand. The device clattered against the wall, its shrill noise dying.

Almost immediately, Aenix recovered, pulling his makeshift earplug out and tossing it aside in disgust. “Now you’re going to pay for your spell making my ears bleed, witch.” He noticed Occult and Codex trying to rush past him toward Darleen. “But first, Ecksion’s going to shred your friends.”

The flowbeast obliged by sending a pair of spears streaking for the pair’s hearts. But Occult raised a shield to block.

“That’s not going to happen.” Codex said, leveling the silver cylinder. It was an aerosol spray bottle. “Do you know what else I learned about flowbeasts? Their skin is incredibly sensitive and they have dozens of hidden eyes.” She pressed down on the spray cap, sending a stream of liquid spattering over Ecksion and Aenix.

While Aenix roared in pain and shielded his eyes, Ecksion’s reaction was nothing short of spectacular. With a high pitched shriek, the flowbeast reared up and fell away from Aenix, revealing it’s true form; a grayish black, vaguely star shaped sheet of orange eyes.

Codex emptied the can on the exposed eyes, causing Ecksion to pitch over, writhing into hundreds of shapes, trying desperately to find one that didn’t rub more chemical into its burning eyes.

Aenix looked at the flailing form of his ally in shock. “What conjuring is this?”

“This?” She asked, discarding the used can of mace. “This isn't conjuring. This is science.”

If it was even possible, Aenix’s fury grew. “I will show you what I think of your science.” He launched himself at Codex, fists and legs already tracing trajectories for strikes.

Meanwhile, Occult and Augustus reached Darleen.

“Oh my god, the blade is stuck right into the wall.” Augustus breathed. “How is she still alive?”

“A magic sword, I'd bet.” Occult tried to keep her own stomach from churning at the sight. “Help me pull it out.”

“Won’t it pull her insides out too?” Augustus asked.

Occult shivered at this. She hoped not. If it did, she knew she simply wouldn’t be able to handle it. Fighting down nausea, she pushed those thoughts aside. “I can’t do anything for her with the sword still in her. Help me pull it out.”

“She’s leaning on it…” Augustus fretted, “We could saw her in half or something.”

“Stop it!” Occult snapped. “It’s going to be okay. Hold her up by her shoulders. Keep her steady and I’ll pull it out.”

Cowed, Augustus did as he was told. He didn’t want to see what she’d do if he continued to argue.

With Darleen held firmly in place, Occult took hold of the sword with both hands. Even through her gloves, it felt warm to the touch as if it had only recently come from the forge. Taking a deep breath, she stepped back and pulled as hard as she could.

It came out bloodlessly and so easily that she stumbled back a few steps with it. Through the torn fabric of Darleen’s shirt, she saw caked blood, but a scar where a wound should have been.

“Why isn’t there any blood?” Augustus put words to what Occult was thinking.

“It’s a magic sword.” Occult sad, tossing the sword aside and helping Augustus lower Darleen gently to the ground. She looked up into Augustus’s frightened eyes. “I’m going to check for internal injuries.” She explained, unbuckling her component pouch from her belt. “Take what you need from this and start the spell.”

“Why do I—” Augustus started.

“Because you’ve come this far.” Occult cut him off. “Because I need to tend to this woman and we can’t let the paramedics and animal control arrive here to get attacked by this guy. Please, Auggie. Everyone is counting on you.”

Hands shaking, Augustus took up the component pouch.

Codex took a blow from Aenix on her right shoulder, turning and bending with the force of the strike so that it slid past rather than doing any real damage. She answered with a pair of quick chest level strikes that Aenix simply absorbed.

“You’re not a witch at all, are you?” Aenix asked, lashing out with a kick and a straight punch, both of which Codex blocked. “I don’t smell the power in you like the other two. You’re something else; something like the Mankind they called Morganna told the Sai’n’shree about. It’s strong enough to let you nearly match both Ecksion and myself. What is it?”

Dodging another punch, Laurel caught Aenix’s arm and sent him sprawling with a hip throw. “I’m very smart.” She went to stomp on him, but finding only pavement.

The daoine rolled on his shoulders, spinning around to hook her legs with his own and send her tumbling. “Yes, I’m sure you think you are.” He said, leaping to his feet to take advantage of her prone state. He was dealt a pair of boots to his center that made him stagger and almost trip on his discarded sword. Deftly, he flipped it into his hand as he had against Rehenimaru. “Last chance to tell me what your power is.”

“You misunderstand.” Codex produced a foot long tube of steel from a sheath at her hip. With a quick manipulation, it expanded into a quarterstaff. “Being very smart is my power.” With that, she launched into a flUury of lunging strikes, forcing Aenix to go on the defensive with his sword rather than closing with the blade.

Refusing to give up ground, Aenix blocked the staff with forceful sweeps of his sword until finally, he knocked it far enough off his center that he found time to effect his own thrust. Codex leapt away and he followed, blade flashing. “Then your brain will leave an unusually large smear.”

Through the entire fight and the one before, Codex had been watching him and committing his fighting style to memory on an almost unconscious level. He fought like no human could or would; relying on speed and faerie creature resiliency to force openings. His lack of concern for his own defense left many openings, but his speed denied many chances to exploit it. At least at his center. His arms were almost always over extended in his rush.

Codex stepped back out of one such strike, letting it come within inches of her ribs before bringing her staff down across Aenix’s arms. The force caused him to drag the blade against the ground, giving her time to bring the staff up to crack into his jaw.

It got him to retreat and go back on his guard, but Codex realized it wouldn’t work on him a second time. She glanced over to Augustus and Occult.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing.” Augustus whispered to Occult. He had drawn a chalk circle filled with geometric shapes and esoteric symbols on the alley wall, copying from the Book of Passions. “I can’t even draw.” He added, noting the lopsided nature of the circle.

“It doesn’t really matter.” Occult said. He eyes were closed and one hand was on Darleen’s sternum and the other was on her head. “Magic is mostly in the mind if you’ve got the power in you. People like Codex; people without magic powers, they need specific items and precise diagrams to make a ritual happen. We just need something we think is close enough.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Augustus complained. He took a bag of salt and a handful of nails from the bag. “But okay. It’s drawn. You can cast the spell now.”

Occult shook her head, eyes still closed. “I can’t. I’m still trying to help this woman.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Augustus gave the unconscious woman a sympathetic look.

“That’s the thing; I don’t know.” Occult said. “Her lung and spine were hit by the sword, but something about it made them heal. There’s nothing wrong with her anymore and no reason she’s not waking up.”

“But she’ll be okay.” Augustus said, “The paramedics will fix it. Right?”

“I can’t be sure this isn’t a spell of some kind that I can’t detect.” Occult said. “I’m trying every counter I’ve learned so far to wake her up. I’m sorry, Augustus, but you have to do the spell on your own.”

“How? I can’t even read—” He looked back at the page. The Middle English script had been replaced in the Book with clear, modern words in a modern typeface. “I hate this book.”

Aenix bought the wellspring blade down hard in an overhead blow that Codex was forced to parry by holding her staff over her head. He took the opening by kicking her in the knee. She danced away from this and held the staff before her as if trying to fall into a new stance.

Instead, a pair of thick pegs telescoped out of the side of the staff as the staff itself shortened slightly. Codex caught the new handles and pulled the staff apart to form a pair of tonfa.

“I refuse to be impressed by your device.” Aenix said disdainfully and launched into another flUury of quick strikes.

But Codex had fallen into a much more aggressive combat style; deflecting the sword with one implement and attacking his torso and legs with the other. Slowly, but surely, the bounty hunter was losing ground and being backed up to the wall.

Aenix was not having it. With a strong one handed blow, he warded off one attack, while he took the painful blow from the other weapon on his bare forearm. Pain tore at his mind, but it left Codex open to a kick to her chest, followed up by a full roundhouse that knocked her away and caused her to trip on one of the unconscious baboons. She lost her grip on one of the tonfa, which span away down the alley.

“I’ve only been in the Blue World a day and already I hate Mankinds.” The daoine spat, leaping at her with an overhead, two handed grip on his sword.

Codex threw her legs over her head, avoiding impalement by inches and rolled on her shoulders into a crouch. Her disarmed hand drew another device from her belt. It was a narrow, black box with a grip handle on one end and a hollow end that held a three pronged grappling hook. From her crouched position, she fired the grapple into the faerie’s shoulder.

Aenix shouted in pain and grabbed the hook with his off hand to pull it out. “What did you think that was going to do?” He sneered, “Sure it hurts, but—”

Before he could finish, Codex manipulated the grip and the hook expanded in his shoulder. The pain was blinding and the numbness that spread down his stricken arm caused the sword to tumble from senseless fingers. He foe disarmed, Codex hit the retract button on her grappling gun and pulled Aenix to his knees.

“You’re mistaken about your ‘demon’.” Codex regained her feet. “That woman was possessed, but the demon left her months ago. There’s no reason for you to be here. Now is your last chance to go home on your own accord.”

“Or what?” Aenix rose defiantly to his feet, taking a step toward his sword. From his left came the tortured gurgle of Ecksion. Aenix looked to see the flowbeast covered in green, sparking spider webs of energy that contracted by the second and diminished Ecksion as they did.

“Or you’ll go forcibly.” Codex said as Augustus tagged the daoine bounty hunter in the back with a green, glowing hand.

It was mid afternoon when Laurel pulled into the parking lot next to Freeland House. She ached, but it was the kind of ache she felt good about. She and Occult had saved Darleen Summers’ life, returned a trio of dangerous faerie creatures (the mote Uur had begged to be sent back after Aenix and Ecksion had been banished) to their world, and three baboons to the zoo where they belonged.

Not that it was all wins. Darleen had awakened the moment the faeries were gone and had thrown a fit over the baboons that she had apparently taken to feeding. Presumably, her previous possession protected her from the aggressive animals.

And of course, Augustus had once more refused Occult and her own attempts to teach him how to control his emerging power. In fact, he’d demanded that she take the book with her. At least she managed to convince him to take a signal key chain like the one the Liedecker Institute students and faculty carried to directly alert the Descendants to danger. If he accidentally summoned something else dangerous, at least they would know immediately.

Stretching out cramped muscles, she got out of her SUV, taking her gym bag out of the passenger seat. It now contained her Codex costume, the Book of Passions and the daoine's sword.

There would be hell to pay when she let the others know what she’d been through without letting them know. It would have been, after all, the smartest thing to do. They would just have to accept that sometimes the most intelligent option isn’t always the option one wants to take.

As she crossed through the kitchen, headed for her room and a long, soothing bath, she wondered; had the Book of Reason nudged her into going to teach Augustus for his sake, or for her own?

End Issue #35