Hunt 33: Triage - Chapter 2

Game was 8/14/20. Although scattered, people had a good time.

Down at the botanica, Anita grabs her cell phone and calls Gothi. The mage answers on the third ring with a distracted, "Hello?" Anita identifies herself and Gothi immediately replies, "Hi!" Anita explains that she's looking for information about vampires. Gothi confirms that Anita is at the botanica and declares, "I'll be right down!" Although the drive from Northampton to Springfield usually takes about forty-five minutes, Gothi pulls up in an old Cadillac hearse in only twenty minutes. Gothi struts into the botanica in full goth getup, and Anita says sarcastically, "Nice ride." Gothi misses the sarcasm and nods enthusiastically.

Anita asks, "How did you get down here so fast?" Gothi replies, "I fuck with reality every day. My car is no exception." Anita jokes about being a different kind of dead as far as Gothi is concerned, to which Gothi replies, "That is true. We need snacks. Do you have any gummy bears?" Anita admits, "Not here, no. But there's a bodega about a block away, and they can hook you up. While you're gone, I'll make tea." Gothi announces, "Be right back!" and she sashays out.

Anita notes the Latina hen show gathering on the street across from the botanica and is not surprised when the store phone rings. She picks it up and says, "Hello?" knowing full well it's her abuela. True to form, Abuela demands, "Are you having gringo trouble? There's a hearse with fetish gear in the back, is it Josh's?" Anita roars with laughter and hears her sister Del comment, "I'll be right back." Anita retorts, "That's like a Golden retriever in a gimp suit." Abuela demands know what is going on at her botanica but Anita insists, "Don't judge." Abuela grumbles about the gringo upcharge, and Anita does concede that gringos do have those candles that burn at a lower temperature.

Gothi returns to the botanica carrying two big bags of gummy bears. She deposits the bags on the counter and asks sarcastically, "Have they never seen a black person in black?" Anita giggles but retorts, "So what's in the back of the hearse?" Gothi replies blandly, "Don't worry about it." Anita snorts and replies, "You're scaring the Latina squad. My grandmother thought it was Josh's stuff. I should have told her it was William's."

Gothi asks, "What do you need to know?" Anita admits, "Whatever you can tell me." She summarizes their current situation and what they've been able to glean so far. Gothi replies, "OK, I'll give you the basics. Otherwise I'd spend two and a half weeks telling you stuff in intricate detail. Your intelligence is mostly accurate: the families are actually five clans, different bloodlines passed down from vampire to vampire. I don't know the specific names of these clans, but I've heard nicknames such as Lords, Shadows, and Ferals. The political groups are called sects or covenants, I'm not sure. I know there's some Pagan group, a Catholic-like group that worships Longinus, and some sort of group that patterns themselves after Vlad Tepes."

Anita comments, "They have Dracula fanboys?" Gothi shrugs and replies, "Something like that. There's also a group of anarchists and a group that protects their Masquerade, societal rules that keep their presence hidden from the living. They gather in groups called coteries, like your krewe or a hunter cell. Sometimes they gather for strength in numbers, shared political ideology, or because of bigger and older vampire order them too. The alpha-vampire in a region is called a Prince, which is a gender-neutral term. There was a very powerful Prince in Springfield named Obadiah who vanished sometime around the American Civil War. Apparently however, he's back. And he moved north, to Northampton or Amherst or somewhere around there.

Gothi admits, "His rising pretty much teabagged the entire vampiric society in Springfield and most of them don't understand why he moved up to werewolf country. You already know about the supernatural war that happened a few years back. That war included a vicious struggle between vampires and werewolves. This Obadiah slept through the war, so he has no clue about the current status of things. Like TJ said, vampires have been with us since the dawn of human history. Even our myths and legends speak of creatures that drain blood or souls. The greater Springfield area is a hub for them and then the population peters out the further north you go. There's a few here and there up to Greenfield. In Vermont, there's maybe a coterie each in Brattleboro, White River Junction, and Burlington. That's about it for Vermont, but then you get a large nest of vampires operating out of Montreal."

Gothi explains, "As for the three vampires you described, I don't know the young one. The woman in the fancy dress is Elisabete, and she was a contemporary of Christopher Columbus." Anita looks pained as she considers the information Gothi's given her so far. She mutters, "They sound pretentious." Gothi retorts, "Oh, vampires are very pretentious, and I'm a mage saying that." She continues, "The one you called the Phantom of the Opera reject is known only as The Monseigneur. He used to serve Obadiah, over one hundred and fifty years ago. He vanished the same time Obadiah did, and then reappeared very recently. Honestly, he may have woken Obadiah up. Although Elisabete is older than both of them, Obadiah is the one calling the shots."

Gothi adds, "Now, onto the superstitions. TJ told you that they don't work, but that's not entirely true. The older a vampire gets, the more susceptible they can become to these superstitions. An old vampire could be stopped by a cross, or running water, but it's obviously a gamble. Now, to the Concordat. This is a sixty-plus-year-old power-sharing agreement between the pagans, the Catholics, and the Draculas. It was supposed to have expired already, but Obadiah's reawakening threw everything out of sync. Supposedly, Solomon is behind this Concordat."

Anita disparages, "That man is a gigantic gaping dickhole. What's his deal?" Gothi replies, "He's part of a religious extremist faction. Imagine the Westboro Baptist Church but with the power to remake reality. His faction believes they serve ancient demigods and work to keep humanity Asleep. However, this is about all I can give you for the basics about vampires. Supposedly there's some group in Greenfield that knows more, but I don't know much about them."

Anita thanks her, and asks, "What do I owe you for this?" Gothi replies, "Are you going Below tonight?" Anita agrees, so Gothi says primly, "Then I'm coming along with you. I can bring the hearse." Anita sputters, "That won't fit through the gate! And the terrain is way too broken down there." Gothi shrugs and replies, "Not to worry, I'll just shrink it." Anita shakes her head and asks, "Have you ever been down there before? Other than our time last week." Gothi admits, "I've seen glimpses of it, but I know it's complicated." Anita concedes, "This will piss Abuela off." She agrees to Gothi's terms and the two women continue to talk.

Anita texts Peter Sweets, "We have a +1 tonight." Peter text back, "It's Josh, isn't it?" Anita replies, "Nope," but says nothing further. The Latinas start entering the botanica to pump Anita for gossip, but they do start buying things to justify their presence. Anita is happy for the bump in sales, and Gothi tells her, "I'll be right back." The goth-mage exits the botanica and starts her hearse. She drives away to an empty lot, gets out, and then uses her Matter magic to shrink her car. She walks back to the botanica and slyly puts the Matchbox-sized hearse on the counter for a moment.¹⁾ Anita sighs but says nothing.

At the Deuce, William and Officer Davidson continue their casual conversation, mostly sticking to shop talk. Davidson veers into politics, and William listens but doesn't contribute. He finds Davidson to be fairly moderate, and then the karaoke starts in the corner. Davidson effortlessly shifts conversations to some of William's old cases. William willingly tells Davidson whatever he wants to know, until Davidson brings up the serial killer Bruce Schofield. William immediately redirects the conversation and surprisingly, Davidson doesn't notice.

At about 7:30, the temperature outside drops, the wind picks up, and they can hear the rain increase as it hits the roof. At this point, Davidson lowers his voice and leans in. He says quietly, "I want to ask you something. You're seventy-five, but you definitely don't look it. McManus got shot twice in the arm two weeks ago and the report stated he was never going to regain full use of his arm, but it's healing quite rapidly. I can tell. What the fuck?" William replies, "I don't have any answers, and I can't explain it well." Davidson eyes him shrewdly and says, "Then let me run a theory by you. You have a line to some sort of magical enhanced healing, and you're keeping it under the table." William drawls, "If that was correct," and trails off. Davidson nods and says, "Got it." He then starts talking about the Patriots, but conversation drifts to his partner, Lee Gordon. William realizes that Davidson cares about Gordon very deeply and resents the fact that the VA has not been any help for his friend. William also realizes that Davidson is exhausted and is looking for anyone to talk to that's not his partner.

William takes a gamble and asks quietly, "Regarding our previous conversation, is that why you're asking? Because of Gordon?" Davidson looks away and remain silent for a few moments, before he whispers, "Is that wrong?" William shakes his head and replies, "No, not at all. You want to protect those who you care about. I understand that completely." Davidson eyes William again and asks, "Is that why you're in this?" William nods and Davidson asks, "You were married right? For how long?" William says sadly, "Not long enough."

Davidson nods and says, "I've had a few girlfriends in the past, so I have to ask you something. How did you balance it? How did you deal with everything on the job, and then go home to your wife? Did you take it off? Did you shove it to the side?" William considers the question carefully before replying, "I tried my best to get rid of it, to pretend it wasn't there." Davidson asks, "Is that what you're doing to us?" William nods and admits, "Yeah. At a certain point you can't go back to anything normal." Davidson nods and guesses, "I take it you passed that point?" William says softly, "Quite a while ago. But it's nice to have people who understand, even if they don't know."

Davidson nods and says, "Can I ask you one more thing?" William replies guardedly, "OK?" Davidson takes a deep breath, and then asks, "Are fairies real? My grandmother from the old country used to scare me with stories of the Kindly Ones." William hedges and says, "Welp, I don't know what to tell you. They might. Your grandmother may have just been repeating stories she heard. I can't really say." Davidson nods and then asks, "So how do you think the Celtics are going to do?" William blinks in surprise and admits he's more of a casual fan of basketball. Davidson then tries to convert him to the religion of the Boston Celtics. He offers to take William to a game, and William replies, "If I can get some time, that would be great." Davidson talks about the Celtics taking home the championship in 2008, while William realizes one facet of his new body that he's not used to is his higher alcohol tolerance.

Back at the Troy household, Leta sends a text to the group sharing what she has learned from Guiseppe; she tells them that a stake through the heart only incapacitates a vampire, and that Boston is crawling with the bloodsuckers. Leta then exits Serena's old room and heads downstairs to check on Josh. Josh is still talking to Ray, while Abby and Veltis linger in the kitchen. Leta eyes the boys on the couch and asks, "Is this The Babysitters Club? Are we babysitting?" Josh replies, "He's here because his own sister is one of them. We might learn something." For his part, Ray just casually flips her off. Josh apologizes for Leta's behavior and admits, "Leta grew up feral." Leta starts to protest but realizes she actually can't. She concedes, "Well I do have a shapeshifting rat, that is part of my problem." Ray retorts, "Oh I know. I've seen the videos of him shapeshifting." Leta demands to know who taped that snippet, and Ray falls silent for a moment before admitting that his sister was responsible.

Leta realizes she's wandered into potentially dangerous territory and asks, "Josh what snacks do you have?" Josh replies, "All of them." He then asks Ray, "I've been trying to reach you for the past few days to check in. Where have you been? I hope you've been OK." Ray admits, "We went on vacation to the Catskills. My mom was so distraught that she hasn't heard from her favorite beloved daughter." Leta makes a comment about Elisa Mae and Ray winces. Josh sighs and says, "Sorry again, Leta kind of has the empathy of a dead goat." Josh asks about his parents and Ray replies, "Dad knows something's wrong, but Mom's in denial." Josh asks what his parents do, and Ray says, "Dad's a lawyer, and Mom acts as if we're richer than we actually are." Josh looks lost, so Ray looks over to Leta and says, "Dead-goat-girl, you want to explain?" Leta tells Josh bluntly, "She spends too much money." Josh gets it that time but can tell Ray is uncomfortable about his family situation.

Leta also notices Ray's discomfort and tries to relate by telling Ray about her dead father. Unfortunately this devolves into a bit of a rant, as Leta recounts the perceived abandonment, the hard life growing up on the streets, Veltis's arrival, and then the two times they were unceremoniously dumped into the Underworld this week, and how she met her father the first time. Ray listens carefully and when Leta finishes, he says, "You've had a worse week than I've had. Are you going to kill her?" Josh rears back in surprise but Leta replies, "Honestly? Probably. She's not your sister anymore." Josh admits but he's trying to wrap his mind around any idea of how to work with the vampires but assures Ray that he doesn't want to kill Elisa Mae. Ray retorts, "Note my lack of outrage. Oh, no, don't kill my sister." Josh admits, "I can get behind that."

Ray demands, "How are you a marshmallow and the most metal guy ever at the same time?" Josh admits, "I don't think I'm metal." Leta interjects, "It's resilience. It's the Troy family resilience. It's gotta be in the blood." Ray freezes at that comment, and then asks slowly, "Wait, is this a familial thing? Do you have a heritage of hunters in the family?" Josh hedges a bit and then asks, "Why do you ask?" Ray demands, "Are you descended from Sally Troy?" Josh doesn't answer, but Abby says flatly, “We think so.” Josh admits, "As far as I know there hasn't been anyone carrying a candle in recent generations. My grandfather and I kind of got into it accidentally. How did you know about Sally?"

Ray counters incredulously, "Her book? We actually read it. Network 0 did as much research they could for any context to some of the things they've caught on film. Ray read Sally's journal months ago but wasn't sure if William and Josh were Sally's descendants. By this point, Network 0 was well aware of how the Troy cell had become the regional power bloc.)) Didn't you?" Leta says glibly, "We have Abby for that. She gets bitey if you steal her books." Veltis grumbles, "You're a terrible roommate." Leta and Abby both agree but neither clarifies which one they're referring to. There's some joking about watching them as they sleep, and Leta says flatly, "I don't know if you mean you, Abby, or our latest ghostly guests." The temperature around Leta suddenly drops radically, and she grumbles, "Yes, I know it's you. It's not fair that I can't see you though, Petite." Ray eyes her and asks carefully, "Petite? Is she also involved in your family curse?" Josh looks confused, and Ray groans and says, "Read Sally's book! She talks about the familial Troy curse throughout most of it. It was kind of her obsession." Josh's eyes narrow, but Leta demands, "Wait, there's actually a family curse on the Troys?"

Ray nods and replies, "Apparently. Sally thought so anyway. According to her, one of your ancestors in the Troyes region of France made a bargain with something supernatural and sold the lives of his or her descendants to pay for it." Leta turns to Abby and demands, "You need to finish reading that book! Where is it?" Abby replies, "Anita’s basement? But I didn’t find anything in it about a family curse.” Ray’s eyes widen and he gasps, “You found the original almanac? Wow!” Abby eyes him and Ray quickly explains, “We found Sally’s journal by accident at the Forbes Library. It referenced some previous version of the almanac. We found something about how this original was sold after World War I, but we couldn’t find it. What we found was essentially a second volume of her almanac combined with her journal. It’s still at Forbes, in their protected collection.

Leta tells Abby, “You need to steal that book!” Abby flat-out refuses; Leta rocks back in shock but Abby insists, “I don't steal books from the Forbes Library. The Smith libraries are a different story, but not the Forbes Library. Besides, Ray just said it's part of their protected collection.” Ray admits, "Yeah, Network 0 kind of took it illegally. We made some photocopies before returning it surreptitiously." Leta muses, "This French ancestor, could they have made a deal with a demon?" Ray admits, "We don't know. Sally's book is a little vague and she starts going insane while she's writing it, and the handwriting just gets terrible. We pored over the photocopies we made and still can't quite figure much of it out. We know this ancestor's from somewhere in the 1500s or 1600s, but that's about it."

Ray then asks suddenly, "So, are you talking about Petite L'Agincourt?" Josh remains silent as he thinks to himself, "Not my supernatural roommate, not my story." Abby's eyes narrow dangerously as she studies Ray, while Veltis and Leta remain uncharacteristically silent. Ray says softly, "I'll take that as a yes. I hope she found some measure of peace at least." Abby purses her lips as she sees her geist furiously stabbing Ray from behind, although her ghostly blades don't actually do any damage. Josh asks carefully, "What do you know about Petite?" Ray admits, "We don't know much. We found references to her when we were researching some of the history at Smith College." He trails off, and Leta says flatly, "They were Nazis."

Ray looks away and then suddenly blurts out, "My sister's been lurking around my house these past few nights. I don't know what to do." Leta asks, "What about her friends?" Ray looks at her blankly and says, "Who?" Leta quickly runs down the other two vampires they've heard about or seen, and then Josh asks, "How many times have you seen her?" Ray admits, "Four times this past week. Every night other than the ones we were away at the Catskills. I need a safe place for a little while." Josh asks, "Who else do you know that carries a candle?" Tears form in Ray's eyes as he admits, "No one. All the Network 0 hunters I know are dead, and I don't have contact with anyone else." Josh is stunned and tries to distract Ray by asking about what other types of supernatural creatures Network 0 has encountered. Ray admits, "We were aware of werewolves at Smith, and supposedly some cult out in Cummington?" Leta says firmly, "Do not mess with them."

Ray rears back in surprise, and replies, "So noted. Other than that, we have videos of random stuff, and Sally's journal. She talks about a vampire Prince from the Civil War but her obsession with the family curse colored everything." Leta hazards, "So this was more of an almanac than anything?" Ray nods and replies, "Exactly." Joshua turns to Veltis and asks, "You didn't make a deal with our ancestor, did you?" Veltis replies firmly, "No. If I had claim to your family, do you think I'd tolerate your shit?" Josh frowns but can't muster a reply.

Ray asks to spend the night here and Leta advises him, "Tell your parents, at least. With your sister missing, you don't want to add to their stress." Ray concedes the point and texts his parents to let them know that he is staying over a friend's house. Ray then asks about vampire-proofing the house, but Josh admits he's not sure how to do that. Leta agrees with Ray, and Josh jokes "Well we do have Leta's claws." Leta says firmly, "Josh, you can't protect yourself right now. You're hurt and you're vulnerable." Josh looks down at his bandage legs and reluctantly agrees. He then suggests, "Do we want order pizza?"

William leaves the Deuce at 9:30 and realizes the precipitation is about to change to freezing rain. He drives home carefully, unhindered by the alcohol he drank and unsteady with how his tolerance has changed. He gets home a little before 10:00 o'clock to find the others eating pizza in the living room. Josh looks up and asks, "Did you know that we're cursed?" William mutters, "It feels like it." Leta says, "No, really." Josh adds, "It's French, too!" William eyes his grandson, but Josh fills him in on what they've learned from Ray. He also explains that Ray is going to spend the night, but how they're worried his sister might come looking for him. William eyes the black candle on the end table and says, "That might not be a problem." Josh eyes the candle and suddenly agrees.

Veltis suddenly declares, "I want that hat! Give me the papal hat." Ray looks completely confused as Josh pulls out the papal hat and hands it to the demonic rat. Leta looks at Ray and deadpans, "Forget about it, it's pope-hat." Josh gestures to the candle and sort of explains about the dead Swiss Guardsmen that are likely to show up when they go to sleep tonight. Ray stares at him and demands, "Why?" Leta says sarcastically, "Some dead Pope likes the Troys." Josh tries to comfort Ray but realizes his normal is completely out of whack now. He half-jokingly suggests, "Maybe we should see if Anita and Del can come over?" Ray immediately votes for that, but William says, "Anita's busy right now. It's Friday, remember?" Leta suddenly asks, "Wait, Abby, why are you still here?" Abby retorts, "I'm here to protect my beloved boyfriend, who is a dumbass." Josh reflexively checks and is relieved to find that his butt was not crucified. Leta jokes, "I think his butt is OK." Abby retorts sharply, "Are you sure? Serena kept selling it!" William immediately leaves the room, pretending he didn't hear that, as Ray cries out, "What?"

Josh freely admits that his sister Serena chose a dark path and ended up dying because of it. He elaborates a bit, and Ray mumbles, "it sounds like she deserved it." Leta mutters, "I wasn't going to say it." Josh insists, "She didn't deserve it, but she got what comes at the end of the path she chose. I can't get mad about it. She made her choices and she paid the price for them. I'm sad because I lost my sister, but to be honest, I lost her a long time ago. I get how you feel about your sister. Mine's dead, and yet she still kidnapped me last night."

Ray starts to breakdown sobbing, and grabs Josh in a hug. Josh reaches out and embraces Ray like a big brother, and says, "This is a whole lot of suck." Leta looks away, a little uncomfortable at the familial display of emotion. Ray manages to get himself under control, and steps away from Josh. Leta asks him, "So with all these videos, is this a hobby for you?" Ray shakes his head but can't put his feelings into words. Veltis suddenly says, "This isn't a hobby. This is more like a calling. We're here because we were called, and we responded." Josh nods as he reflects upon the events of March 2006 and admits, "We've been carrying a candle for a few years now. I sort of wish we didn't, but we can't turn away now." Veltis agrees, and points out, "Three and a half years later, you're still here, with a cell that includes two Sin-Eaters, and one changeling. Do you know how rare that is?" Ray looks a little confused, so Josh provides a quick explanation.

As the boys talk, Leta steps back and asks Abby, "Did anyone ask the Academitrix about vampires?" Abby shrugs and replies, "I sort of assumed Polly would." Leta murmurs, "We might want to ask quickly. I imagine Polly is up to her eyeballs in work." Josh overhears and asks Ray, "Have you heard of the Academitrix?" Ray frowns as he thinks back, and then he says, "I think so? Sally mentioned her in her book. Some sort of guardian-entity at Smith?" Josh nods and muses about falling down the rabbit hole that is the Vigil. He jokes, "You fit in." Leta says seriously, "You like learning." Ray says incredulously, "How else do you defend yourself?" Leta replies, "Fire and sharp things?" Ray insists, "Yeah, but knowledge and words help you point the sharp things in the right direction." Josh agrees, and Leta laughs and tells Ray, "You got Joshed."