Game was 10/12/19.
At the Troy household, Veltis cooks a supper of spiced strip steak, mashed potatoes, and corn. Leta, Abby, and William all enjoy the meal, but note that Josh is gone and left no note. Leta jokes, “He’s out having irresponsible adventures,” but William retorts, “No, he’s not. If he were, he’d have dragged us into them!” Leta snorts and counters, “Perhaps he’s out having responsible adventures, then!” William finds that idea genuinely disturbing, but kicks everyone out of his house after dinner. He then settles on to the couch and turns on the TV. Abby drives Leta and Veltis home and prepares for her trip to Springfield and the Underworld tonight while Leta and Veltis settle on to their couch to watch trashy TV.
Down in Springfield, Anita kicks everyone out of the botanica so she can finish closeout. After finishing, she settles downstairs in her office to decompress after today’s events. Josh and Ray follow the remaining Montoya women to their home and settle into the living room while Abuela mutters to herself in Spanish and starts preparing food. Josh knows Maria Montoya doesn’t like interlopers underfoot while she’s in the kitchen, so he sits quietly – and ignores Del’s lusty glances his way. After a few minutes, Abuela comes out with some finger food and settles into her chair. She sits silently, gathering her thoughts, and the food goes untouched while Josh inwardly frets on what to do.
Flo is still at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, hours after she should have gone home. However, the loss of the combat team three weeks ago means the Cheiron Group is understaffed, and she had to reclaim the missing bodies and deal with the immediate fallout of Anna Bell’s theft. Anna is also in the hospital, handcuffed to a bed while she’s being treated for her head wound. Her cop boyfriend is also under guard while the medical technicians deal with what they swear is a musket wound. TCG also acquired the initial ballistics report from the shooting, which indicates a shooter involved used a Tommy gun.
By 8 o’clock, she’s stuck in another staff meeting, Andrew Pritchard is irritated but not at his lieutenants. The normally prissy Director of Operations aims his ire squarely at the cockup with the missing bodies, and he openly acknowledges that they all want to go home. Flo sits with her supervisor, Sarah Haynes, Director of Finance Angela Banlow, and veteran retrieval specialist Levi Highlander, and they’re all exhausted. Pritchard reveals the secret tox-screenings revealed both Bell and her boyfriend had trace amounts of vampire blood in their systems, marking them as blood-slaves – or ghouls, to use their vernacular.
Pritchard then states, “We have two issues, and I’d like to have a quick brainstorming session on them before we call it a night. The first is what do we do with these corpses?” The team goes back and forth for a few minutes, and three options emerge. The first is to hire security to guard the morgue. The second option is to lock the drawers, while the third option is move them off-site. Flo states she supports a simple lockup, but Levi counters, “Why not A and B? Lock them up, sure, but also have security on hand. We have some scrubs1) on retainer, so let’s retain them.” Pritchard eyes Angela, who runs some numbers mentally and replies, “I think we can cover the additional manpower cost for a few weeks, anyway.” Pritchard approves.
Pritchard then turns to the second issue: the Troy cell. Since it’s clear their efforts returned the bodies in a roundabout fashion, Pritchard is content to call it an ‘outsourcing win.’ He adds, “We need to keep an eye on them, and I doubt they’d be happy about our harvesting policy. However, Sarah and Flo have had the most contact with them, so let’s hear their thoughts.” Sarah immediately replies, “Keep the corporate concerns away from them. They won’t understand; they’ll think it’s… monstrous. But we have to remember that they’re not stupid.”2)
Levi interrupts, “Milan is a factor. They’re under the Lucifuge’s protection; that’s not something to underestimate. Leta and the demon-rat are a threat, and they have two… whatever you call living people bonded with the dead. And then there’s Doctor Ranjip; yeah, we can reach him easily, but the reverse is also true: he can get to us.” Angela interjects, “We cannot alienate the doctor. He’s both a surgeon and a trauma specialist. He’s too cost-efficient for HR.” Pritchard snorts and looks at Flo; Flo says, “I don’t really have anything to add.”
The five TCG hunters discuss the Troy cell and decide on a general protocol to keep the Troys under passive surveillance ‘in the wild’ while remaining friendly. With that settled Pritchard ends the meeting, but as everyone gets up, his or her phones all ping to indicate an incoming e-mail. Each of them has the same e-mail from Dr. Brett Chapman, the mysterious doctor in the Prosthetics Center. The e-mail reads, “Due to personal reasons I must tender my resignation, effective immediately. Sincerely, Dr. Brett Chapman.” Each of the TCG hunters sees the active countdown box in the e-mail, it’s got one minute.
The five TCG hunters stare blankly at the countdown until it hits 45 seconds, then Levi snaps out of it and yells, “Lock down that floor! We’ve got patients up there, it’s overflow space!” Pritchard immediately uses his tablet to lock down the floor and issue a coded evacuation order. At 20 seconds left, the staff evacuates the wing, and Levi dashes for the stairs. Sarah follows, but Flo sticks with Pritchard and Angela as they duck into Pritchard’s office and he calls up the security feeds. He then accesses the secret camera he installed in Chapman’s office; they see the doctor sitting primly and twiddling his thumbs. Six seconds remain.
Flo turns away as the countdown hits zero, and then Dr. Chapman erupts in a shower of viscera and cogs! All that’s left of Chapman is a gigantic smear and broken cogs on his desk, the walls, and even the ceiling. Flo gags, but part of her mind registers that the viscera doesn’t look right – it’s too… purple. They see Levi and Sarah burst into the office and stare in horror, until Levi crosses over and dips his finger in the viscera. He then sniffs the finger – and licks it! Sarah dry-heaves at the sight, but Levi calmly pulls out his walkie-talkie and reports, “It’s grape jelly. He’s made of Smuckers and watch bits.” Pritchard stares blankly and utters over the walkie-talkie, “I’m sorry, what?” Levi repeats his findings, and Pritchard shakes his head in disbelief. Flo groans as she realizes she’s not going home anytime soon: they must stay and sanitize the scene.
Back in Springfield, Josh asks Ray, “Do you speak German?” Ray shakes his head and replies, “English, a little Spanish, and some Latin. Private school.” Josh nods and turns back to Abuela. He says, “Senora Maria Montoya, do you want to go into the kitchen and curse at me in German?” Del stares at him, but Abuela considers the offer and replies, “That would be great, thank you.” Josh turns back to Ray and says, “We’ll be back… when she’s done.” They step back into the kitchen, and Abuela unleashes a fifteen-minute rant in German, but she reverts to Spanish when she gets heated. Josh can’t understand the rant but can read Abuela’s body language enough to realize she’s scared and angry.
Abuela winds down, gasping, so Josh gets her a glass of water. She gulps it down, and then says in surprising calmness, “Tell me what you know about The Witch.” Josh describes how she once was a mortal woman in colonial times who was married to Josh’s ancestor but died. Her ghost stuck around until she possessed the second wife and rejoined her husband in a night of passion that resulted in a pregnancy. Some time after that, the woman’s ghost evolved into The Witch, but Josh freely admits he has no understanding of how that happened. Abuela stares at him and says slowly, “So, you’re telling me she liked that Troy dick so much she hung around for one last fuck?”
Josh’s cheeks turn bright red in embarrassment as he thinks of Abby, but he says quietly, “Whatever you think of The Witch, Anita is trying to make the world a safer place, and I doubt that comes from her. She got that from you.” Abuela retorts, “Slick. Tell me about Silas Black.” Josh admits, “I honestly have no idea.” They return to the living room and Abuela promptly starts yelling at Del. Josh asks Ray, “Is your family like this?” Without batting an eyelash, Ray retorts, “Sorry CuteButt217, my family is much more WASP-y.”
Peter Sweets, Isobel Vanora, David Klein, and Abby meet at the Montoya Botanica around 9 o’clock. By longstanding agreement, one person drives and slashes his or her palm to offer blood to the Avernian Gate, and tonight is David’s turn. They climb into David’s hatchback and he drives to Court Square and the First Church of Christ. He parks and they get out. After a year of practice, they easily break into the old church and slip down to the subbasement and into the room with the Avernian Gate. Isobel clucks in disappointment as David slashes his palm and smears blood on the far wall. The Avernian Gate opens, and the five Sin-Eaters enter. There is the split-second of dislocation, and then they are on the rickety stairs down to the Autochthonous Depths.
The quintet carefully descends into the Boiler Room, the heavily industrialized ‘zone’ where someone painted yellow lines amidst all the piping and grinding machinery. A blue line snakes off to direct travelers to the train station, but the Sin-Eaters ignore it, intent on collecting the rent and leaving. They navigate the Boiler Room and enter the subterranean city block. As grave dirt trickles down from the ceiling, the Sin-Eaters walk along the empty streets. They stop and look around; usually there is someone here, but the place is quiet – until they hear a high-pitched shriek. Then, a headless ghost of a man all in black runs into view, shrieking, until it slams into a wall!
The Sin-Eaters stare at the incongruous sight, and then they realize the ghost has a head – it’s just been smashed into his torso! The ghost hops up and runs around shrieking, and then a second one joins him! The Sin-Eaters look at each other as two more ‘headless’ ghosts run out of buildings and race about, slamming into walls and each other. Abby ventures, “A show of hands for anyone who wants to check this out?” Anita considers it, but Peter declares, “Fuck it. I really want to know.” He picks one at random and strides over. He grabs the ghost and spins it around, yelling, “Police! Freeze!” The ghost then kicks Peter right in the balls and runs away!
Peter goes down, gasping, and Anita turns to Abby and says, “Let’s grab one together?” Abby is game, but David interjects, “Hold on, I want to try something first.” He then cups his hands to his mouth and yells, “Do any of you know the Troys?” All four ghosts stop and raise their middle fingers! Abby glares at David, who retorts, “What? If something completely weird happens by, it’s them. Or Peter.” Anita concedes, “I really want to argue that… but I can’t.” Abby flips her off, but Anita yells, “Are you the Night Watch?” All four ghosts give thumb’s-ups, and Anita sighs. She heads over to Peter and says, “You OK, Crotch-Boy?” Peter wheezes, “Night Watch? Really? What, was Batman trademarked?”
Anita sighs and replies, “The Night Watch are a group of hunters my brother joined. They went after Silas Black the other night. All but Carlos died, clearly ending up here.” David and Isobel both exclaim, “You have a brother?” Anita grumbles but retorts, “Yes, I have a brother. Black has him and wants protection money for his release.” She strides over to one ghost and pricks her thumb; plasm oozes out and she smears it into the ghost’s mouth as best she can. The specter becomes lucid and squeaks, “Where are my feet?” Anita retorts, “You’re dead, jackass!” Peter staggers to his feet and grabs the ghost by the collar and the crotch before dead lifting him to be perpendicular to Anita so she can see his face.
Anita demands to know what happened with Silas Black; the dead ganger admits, “There were eight of us. We jumped Black and threw holy water at him, but it didn’t do anything! He punched my boy Emilio so hard his head caved in! Silvio shot him, but he ignored it and punched Silvio through his fucking chest! Carlos ran at him, but Black grabbed him, seemed to recognize him, and slammed him against a wall, knocking him out. He then came after us… and now I’m staring at you. Nice tits.” Anita sighs and Abby points out, “You’re dead. There’s no dead-jail.” David replies, “There is, actually.3) We don’t talk about it in front of Peter.” Peter glares at David, and the starts chasing him with the dead ganger! Anita looks for the other three dead Night Watch, but Abby says, “They may not have remained as ghosts.” Anita concedes that, and yells at the boys to move on. Peter chucks the ghost into the street and ambles away.
The five Sin-Eaters leave the street and slip through the glass maze to enter the dead garden. They then step into the hallway – and it’s completely silent and still. Peter snaps into cop-mode as the hallway is usually a raucous riot, and he slips to the wall and enters the first room. He calls out, “Clear!” and then swings across the hallway to the door opposite. This one is also empty, and Peter continues the search methodically until they get to the brothel. He slips inside, and then calls out, “Guys? You’d better get in here.” They all enter the brothel, and find it completely trashed.
Peter scans the scene and absent-mindedly sketches out the sequence of events as someone entered and then proceeded to herd everyone out in a counterclockwise fashion. David gets worried and wonders, “Is this your dead True Fae?” Anita and Abby shrug, but they all decide they need to check on the Professor’s room, the Frogger room, and their personal room. They exit the brothel and Peter reinitiates his sweep-and-clear. They eventually reach the Professor’s room, which is ajar for the first time ever. The Sin-Eaters hesitate, and then Peter raps his gun on the doorframe and calls out, “Police, we’re coming in!” The Sin-Eaters enter and find smashed scientific equipment everywhere – and a large, ashy stain along the back wall with a stake driven through it and into the wall!
The X-Krewe stands in dumbfounded horror, and then David asks, “I assume that’s a dead vampire. Was that the Professor or Melissa?” Anita shrugs and then David eyes the equipment and adds, “All of this stuff is older, some of it really old. Those jars are from the late 19th century. In fact, there’s nothing modern in this place at all.” The Sin-Eaters leave and resume their search. The find the Frogger room destroyed; someone smashed their foot down on the Atari. They finally reach their personal room, and find it destroyed; nothing remains intact. As the Sin-Eaters stare at the devastation, David says, “I see two possibilities here. The first is Sethic or whatever that True Fae goes by. But this seems way too targeted to be someone pissed off we got away.”4) Anita agrees, and David continues, “Second option, this could be whoever took Erika.”
That sobers the Sin-Eaters, although Abby never met Erika Cook. They leave the room and finish their search; the rest of the hallway is deserted and silent. They reach the Egyptian-style double doors and stop. Anita favors heading back, but Peter says simply, “We took rent money in exchange for protection. We failed.” Anita grumbles, “Way to go, Josh,” but doesn’t argue. The krewe opens the door and descends into the sacrificial room. On the altar is another black stain with a wooden stake rammed through it. The Sin-Eaters eye the vampiric remains silently, and then Peter strides forward, past the altar, and out to the veranda overlooking the River of Boone Dust. This is as far as the krewe has ever gone, but Peter points and says, “The Ferrymen. They’re still here!”
Anita sighs with strange relief to see the skeletal figures swathed in black cloaks, still standing sentinel by the river. Peter shrugs and adds, “Well, time to interrogate some witnesses.” He heads down a slim staircase that leads to the thin strip of sand before the river, and the others reluctantly join him. He strides across the strange sand and right up to the closest Ferryman before asking it, “Hi. Can you tell us what happened to the inhabitants of the hallway?” The figure remains silent and unmoving for a second, but then turns it’s cowled head and intones, “Something hunted them, herded them away. But it would not cross the river.” Peter asks, “Which way?” and the figure points to the right.
Anita eyes the featureless sand in that direction and sees no landmarks but is ready to press on. Peter counters, “Or we come back with help and more supplies. I say you go to Sunday dinner and remind the Troys they owe us a favor.” Anita frowns but doesn’t dismiss the idea, and Abby groans and says, “I’d only have to convince Josh; the rest will follow.” Anita snorts at the callousness but doesn’t dispute it. They retrace their steps up the stairs, through the temple and past the hallway. When they reach the subterranean street, the four ghosts are still cavorting, and David says, “Wait a minute. They’re still here. Everything was fine last Friday, and these guys died Thursday, so whoever swept through did so between those two days and likely hasn’t returned.”
It’s almost 1 o’clock in the morning when the Sin-Eaters exit the Avernian Gate and slip out of the church to David’s car. He drives them back to the botanica, and they go their separate ways. It’s about 1:15 when Anita walks into her house, only to find Josh and Ray still here and talking to Abuela and Del. Del looks totally lost, and Ray looks up at Anita and says half-jokingly, “I’m playing catch-up.” Josh greets Anita, but then realizes the time. Ray curses and then apologizes, but it’s way past his curfew. Ray checks his phone and finds no messages; Josh asks, “Is that normal?” Ray shrugs and replies, “Sadly, yeah.” Josh and Ray depart quickly to get Ray home.
Anita sinks into the couch and holds her head in her hands. Abuela growls, “Sometime very soon, I’m going to yell at you.” Anita concedes, “Fair,” but Abuela continues, “Or more specifically, what’s inside you. Visit any interesting brothels?” Although she said the last part in mocking jest, Anita looks up and replies softly, “It’s been destroyed. We don’t know by what.” Abuela goes still when she realizes the seriousness and asks, “Kerberoi?” Anita is surprised her grandmother knows of the Kerberoi, but shakes her head and says, “We don’t think so. It was something with a personal grudge.” Del leans in and snipes, “So Black wants protection money from you, who goes into the lands of the dead to collect protection money every week.” Anita glares at her sister and retorts, “The irony is not lost on me.” Abuela sighs and says, “Go to bed, both of you. Sleep in, and we’ll go to IHOP for breakfast tomorrow.”
William wakes up around 6:30 as normal, and realizes the house is completely quiet – until he hears Josh’s soft snores. William gets to his feet and takes a shower before calling his friend Sam Shepherd to see if he wants to go out to breakfast. This is their normal Saturday morning routine, and Sam comes to pick him up. By 7:30, they’re settled in a table at Jake’s. Sam looks around carefully before leaning in and whispering, “Chief Vandernoot called me last night. I think she was drunk. Something about missing files, missing bodies, and an officer-involved shooting?” William nods and dances around the questions for a few minutes before stating, “I know you know things. More stuff like that happened last night.”
Sam goes quiet for a few moments before stating, “I have two questions. There’s a guy I sponsored to the ballistics team that sent me something unofficial. Why was there a Tommy gun? And a musket? To quote one of your young friends, como se what the fuck?” William replies, “I was as surprised as you, and I can’t explain it at all. But your guy did excellent work.” Sam eyes him and growls, “Are either of these weapons going to make a comeback?” William replies, “I honestly can’t say, you never know what’s going to pop up around here. But I sincerely hope not.” Sam grunts and adds, “Officer McManus is at Cooley-Dick with two slugs in his right arm. Although his overall prognosis is good, there’s some question on how much use of that arm he’ll have.”
William nods but replies, “I’m confident he’ll make a full recovery. He’s a strong young man.”5) Sam changes topics and ask, “Who was spying on me?” William replies, “Someone looking for me.” Sam demands, “Is my family in danger?” William shakes his head and says, “No. It was looking for information on me. You are safe.” They finish their breakfasts discussing more pleasant topics, and Sam drives William home.
Josh wakes up around 8:00 and texts Ray. He then showers, eats a healthy breakfast, and settles into the kitchen table with some homework. William returns at 9 o’clock, and Josh ask, “How’s Sam?” William concedes, “He’s good,” as he sits down at the kitchen table with another cup of coffee and the newspaper. Josh stretches and decides it’s time to take a short break to check the news of his phone. He finds the news reports about the shootings at Damon Road and the autopsied bodies stolen from Cooley-Dick. He raises his eyes to look at William and asks, “Two corpses?” William feigns confusion and replies, “Wait, there were two corpses in Northampton?” Josh shows William the story on his phone and snaps, “Were those the two corpses?” William nods and replies, “Yes. They were recovered thanks to Officer MacLeod.” Josh brings up the shooting and William admits, “Mick was involved with that. He’s hurt.”
Josh insists on visiting Mick later, and William readily agrees as he planned to do that anyway. Josh sends a text to Mick wishing him a speedy recovery, and then reveals his encounter with Ray Curran last night and their trip to Springfield. William nods, and Josh slowly describes how he had to tell Señora Maria Montoya about all of it. Anita pulled back the curtain to reveal her nature, and her sister accidentally saw her. Josh adds, “Señora Montoya knew enough already that she wasn’t surprised. Also, there are more connections to The Witch.”
William nods and replies, “Speaking of people finding out, two more people found out today. I tried to stop it, but Veltis was there, and he revealed a lot to Chief Vandernoot and Officer MacLeod.” Josh exclaims, “Unkie McCool6) knows?” William sighs at the childhood nickname, but Josh asks, “How did they take it?” William concedes, “As well as I would have expected, honestly.” Josh shrewdly asks, “Have you heard from them?” William shakes his head and admits he was planning to reach out in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Anita gets breakfast at IHOP as promised, and opens the Botanica a little late. Leta rolls out of bed and deigns to go work at Dunkin Donuts. After working a shift, she heads home to relax. Flo gets up late, gets coffee, and plans to bum around her house. Around noon, she gets an e-mail with a tox-screen attached. She opens the report and finds out the purple viscera was indeed 100% Smuckers grape jelly.7)