Hunt 35: Emotional Fallout - Chapter 3

William spends the afternoon watching football on TV and he idly wonders if Josh is actually coming home first or simply driving straight to Haydenville. For his part, Josh decides to let Anita tell Abuela and Del about the legal situation; he climbs into his Ford Explorer and drives back to Northampton. He drops by Leta and Abby's apartment around 5:45 to check on Veltis. He walks in and greets the familiar; Veltis opens his mouth to say something snarky in reply when Abby glares at him and Veltis shuts his mouth quickly. Josh takes note of the new power dynamic as Veltis grumbles, "I'm fine, are we carpooling?" Josh admits, "I'm not entirely sure. Let me head home and talk to Grandpa first."

Down in Springfield, Randall Crowe drives away in his Cadillac and Anita sends a group text, "Should I bother driving up?" She then texts her sister Del, "Incoming shit storm, about to be excused from legal troubles, announcement tomorrow." She receives no reply, and the message sits unread, so she shifts gears and then calls her friend, the mage TJ. TJ answers, "Ow. What? Are you dead? Wait, you're already dead, so that doesn't matter. Are you finally dead-dead?"

Anita reports that she is fine, but then sobers and asks, "Do you have any idea why Del's shit is no longer applicable?" TJ go silent for a moment before replying, "Wait, what?" Anita gives TJ a quick explanation and confirms that the district attorney's office is involved. She admits, "I was hoping you could figure it out with your connections within the Springfield Police Department." TJ says gruffly, "Let me make some calls." Anita ends the call and, with it being now 5:45 in the evening, decides to drive straight to Haydenville but to meander a bit and take some back roads.

Anita hits Williamsburg at about 6:45 when her phone rings with an incoming call from TJ. Anita answers and sets the phone on speaker; she says cheerfully, "What's up, Jigglypuff?" TJ growls, "Fuck you." Anita laughs, but sobers when TJ explains, "So this thing has been kept under wraps, and no one knows anything. I've even checked with Peter and he had no idea this was happening either." Anita makes a joke about Peter being really dehydrated and TJ retorts, "Be that as it may, but this thing seems stabler than his baby-mama." Anita snorts but agrees, and then asks if he found anything.

TJ replies, "A few things, and I have a working 'supposition.' Before I start talking however, I want to make it clear that I do not require nor want an assent or denial from you, capiche?" Anita warily agrees so TJ continues, "There are rumors going around that the botanica is now inveigled with Black's syndicate. Again, I don't want any details or anything further. However, the Springfield Police Department views the botanica as a potential asset. Your family has credibility, respectability, and multiple generations of history in the city. The key thing here is the so-called announcement because that is definitely illegal. I'm betting that this is the bargaining chip, however. The SPD is betting that they can get your family to bend not knowing that such an announcement is illegal, or even if you do, not having the funds or the ability to mount a lawsuit. And honestly, even if you did, the SPD is so buried in lawsuits as it is, that realistically it will take four years before a judge even looks at this. Essentially, the botanica is caught between the weird cold war between the SPD and Black's syndicate. The SPD has given Black some room to maneuver, because they see him as a stabilizing force, but they're not about to lose such a potential asset to Black without some sort of reply. Peter has made a formal statement stating that he is fine with Del's record getting expunged, and he hopes it proceeds smoothly and without any bureaucratic hang ups, which is a not-so-subtle 'fuck you' to the SPD."

Anita swears she contemplates the implications of all this but thanks TJ sincerely for his help. TJ promises to keep looking, and Anita thanks him again. TJ says, "10-4, over and out," just before he hangs up. Anita snorts, but realizes this is simply two decades of habit on his part. She pulls into Doctor Ranjip's driveway a few moments later, and finds Abby's Saturn, William's Buick Skylark, and Polly's Honda are already present.

The rest of the cell is just walking up to the front door when Anita arrives, so they wait a moment until she joins them, and they enter Doctor Ranjip's house together. They are immediately hit by the smell of spicy cooking from the kitchen, and Anita licks her lips while Veltis declares, "Oh, yeah!" Doctor Ranjip bustles out with small plates of tacos that have been individually scaled for the recipient's tolerance for spiciness; Anita and Veltis tie for the spiciest.

Doctor Ranjip admits, "I figured some of you wouldn't have eaten yet," with a pointed look to Anita; Anita shrugs and starts devouring her tacos. The others also dig in and thank the good doctor for his consideration. Josh asks about Abuela's spice tolerance; Anita replies, "Same as mine, and probably a little less for Del." Josh adds, "Great! Del was super excited about the coming tomorrow." Anita narrows her eyes and muses, "Did she? Interesting."

Doctor Ranjip asks if anyone has any specific requests; William replies, "I don't care, you're hosting so I'm fine with whatever you cook." The others nod but Josh checks if Doctor Ranjip got his text message. The good doctor admits, "No, I haven't looked at my phone in a while. Unfortunately, even if I take personal time, there's always something cropping up at CDH that must be dealt with by me personally, or so the administration thinks."

Doctor Ranjip fetches his phone and checks the list; he admits, "I know a few of these, but three of them I've never heard of before. This should be an interesting challenge." Anita wanders over to check the rest and gives Doctor Ranjip a quick summary of the unknown dishes. Doctor Ranjip listens carefully and asks if he should we create them as faithfully as possible. Anita shakes her head and says, "No. If you try to make these in the traditional Puerto Rican fashion, Abuela will absolutely judge you. She'll be less judgmental if you put your own spin on it."

Doctor Ranjip starts jotting down some notes and ideas when the cell hears another car pulling up the driveway. William asks, "Were you expecting someone else?" Doctor Ranjip shakes his head and applies, "No, I wasn't. I have no idea who this is." Josh ambles over to the window and sees a deep blue 2009 SUV rolling up to their cars. The windows are illegally tinted, so he cannot see inside and there are no identifying marks on the car. However, he is fairly certain then when someone steps out of the car that this person is the only occupant.

The driver steps into view under a porch light and Josh sees a shaved bear of a man in a tailored suit with long bright red hair that is barely contained by his newsy cap. Josh calls out, "Do you know any burly redheads in tailored suits?" Doctor Ranjip shakes his head and grabs a kitchen knife as he walks towards the door; Leta sidles up next to Josh and they both see something gold on the man's tie. Doctor Ranjip opens the door, and the unknown man says, "Good evening, Doctor Ranjip. I was wondering if I could come in and speak to you all for a few moments, I have a warning to pass on."

Doctor Ranjip steps aside and a large man enters the home. Leta notices the gold thing on his tie is a small crucifix and she grows, "Fucker." The large man simply nods at her and introduces himself in a thick Irish accent as Seamus, of the Malleus Maleficarum. Leta demands, "So are you one of the ones that's living next door?" Seamus looks at her oddly for a moment before he says firmly, "No, I'm not living there. I'm hard to miss."

Leta continues needling Seamus and Anita jokes, "Get a room!" Seamus immediate replies, "No thank you, I'm not into threesomes." Leta looks at him in horror and he snaps, "What? You're a package deal." Leta sputters in outrage as she realizes he's talking about Veltis, and then Seamus whips out his phone and takes a picture of her expression! He checks the phone and chuckles, "This alone was worth it."

Seamus becomes serious again and tells the hunters, "Your friends in Cummington are under attack. It's the Long Night in Goshen, they called for reinforcements and a group called the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord answered." Josh asks, "Are they allies of yours?" Seamus looks horribly affronted and snaps, "They're Protestants!" Leta laughs and says snidely, "They don't get along, Josh. In fact, I think they'd be more offended by that question then even he is!"

Seamus grunts in acknowledgement and Josh asks about this group. Seamus replies bluntly, "They are an offshoot of the Christian Identity movement from the 1970s. They're white supremacists and they are firmly against gay rights of any sort, the feminist movement, and abortion." Josh retorts, "So, like the Catholic Church?" Leta cackles in reply but Seamus says evenly, "I cannot speak for the greater church, but the Malleus Maleficarum is willing to look the other way regarding abortion if the mother's life is in danger."¹⁾

The hunters can see which Seamus is deeply uncomfortable with coming to them, and Leta calls him out on it. Seamus shrugs and agrees, he says, "I cannot respect or support how you conduct the Vigil. You ally with the walking dead, werewolves, sorcerers, and other things. However, these are Protestant extremists, and we do have our understanding with the Lucifuge." Mick asks about tactical information; Seamus replies, "Twenty soldiers, most ex-military, with body armor and semi-automatic weapons. Likely their point of attack is to focus on stealth first and take out any guards or scouts, before approaching the house, cutting the power and phone lines, and setting up a jammer to block any cell phone reception. Then they move in and keep quiet as much as possible, but in the end their goal is to burn the monster in her lair."

The hunters realize that Seamus has rationalized coming to them as the less-shitty choice, and Josh slips into the next room and quickly calls Del. She answers a moment later with a bleary, "Yeah?" Josh greets her and asks, "Are you still working through things with Abuela?" Del replies, "Yeah?" and Josh relaxes fraction. He says, "Something's going on in Cummington, something very dangerous. I wanted to check on you and make sure you weren't up there for some reason. We're going to go deal with it now, and I'll text you when it's done."

Josh joins the others just in time to see Seamus depart quickly. As he drives away, Leta says, "We should call them first, just to see." Mick agrees so William pulls out his phone and calls the number to Cummington. He gets only dead air, and he quickly tells the others. Anita wonders if they can call Hakim; Josh shrugs and steps back into the room and dials the number for Amira, Hakim's assistant. An unfamiliar and heavily accented male voice answers the phone, "Hello?" Josh says, "Hi! I met Mr Hakim a few weeks ago, and something has come up that I think impacts him and his organization. I was looking to speak to one of his associates?"

The man replies, "One moment, please." Josh hears the man talking to someone in a foreign language before the man returns the phone and states, "I am authorized to speak on his behalf." Josh replies, "Great! I believe you know about the group in Cummington. They are under attack right now, and we were hoping that you had some way to contact them and would be able to help?"

Josh passes on the information he got from Seamus, and the man goes silent for a few moments before stating, "We have more arcane ways, so we will reach out to them. However, we have no assets in your area at this time. Everything we have currently is in the eastern half of the state." Josh says, "OK, thanks. Any advice on the situation?" The man retorts, "Headshots?" Josh cheerfully replies, "Great, thanks!" He then hangs up.²⁾

Josh returns to the others and passes on the results. Mick considers everything they have so far and says, "I have the beginnings of a plan. The biggest problem here is the chalet's defenses are unknown. We know they have cameras and landmines, but we don't know exactly where they are. I think our best bet is to head up there and maybe do a drive-by to see what's going on. We have to assume the Goshen PD's either been sidelined or is an active participant, so we have to keep an eye out for them too. Ultimately it may be the safest choice to follow in their wake because presumably they have set off anything in their advance."

The others consider his proposal and agree that it is the best option. Josh pulls out his phone again and sends a text message to the Smith's Daughters pack, warning them of what's about to go down. He then asks Mick, "Should I come, or should I stay behind?" Mick replies, "That's your call, I made that mistake once. However, I know you can handle yourself and if there's any chance we can talk this down, it's with you." The others nod in agreement, so Josh decides to accompany them.

Leta turns to Doctor Ranjip and offers, "Care to work out some emotional yuckiness bye killing racists?" Doctor Ranjip retorts, "You say the sweetest things," and Leta grins. Anita crams down her last taco and then jokes, "It's a pity we can't weaponize these, cayenne pepper works great against white dudes!" Doctor Ranjip blinks and then says, "Give me a few minutes." He turns and then runs down to his basement. He comes up several minutes later with two bulging plastic Target bags.

Doctor Ranjip pulls out a pink gourd the size of a small pumpkin and says cheerfully, "These are new, but they are worse than ghost peppers… and with added hallucinogens! To activate them, you have to blow on the stem first, then wait three seconds before you throw them. Once you throw them, do not breathe in." Mick mutters, "These could be useful in my other line of work…" and Polly nods.

Anita tells Veltis firmly, "No panda bears in the back seat!" Veltis looks at her blankly and says, "What?" Anita insists that Veltis not shapeshift into any large animals while in her car, but Veltis retorts, "What are you talking about? I can't shapeshift into a panda bear!" Leta retorts, "Yes, you can. You changed into a panda bear, and a chinchilla, a raccoon, and even a succubus!"

Veltis insists, "No I can't! I haven't been able to do that in centuries!" The other hunters assure him that he very much did shapeshift into a panda bear and succubus, amongst other things, but then Mick yelps, "Wait, Anita's right! Do that! Be a bear!" Veltis frowns and concentrates, and then suddenly shifts from a small rat into a big black bear! He crows, "This is awesome! I can eat people again! Oh, it's been a long time since I've been able to do this!"

William interjects, "Wait, no one else is concerned by that?" Leta shrugs but then Veltis concentrates again and shifts into the succubus form! He crows in genuine delight but then wonders why he did this in the first place! Anita replies, "You turned into your incubi-form earlier and Polly was not interested. So, you turned into that. However, still not interested." Polly shakes her head firmly but Veltis shrugs and says, "Fair enough." He then says excitedly, "Wait, I can do this! I can be a naked lady running up to some Protestant fundamentalists!"

Leta retorts, "Remember the part about being Protestant fundamentalists? Naked ladies aren't gonna help you. Naked dudes might. But you might just want to stick to animals." Veltis's eyes go wide as he whispers to himself, "I can be a shark again! I can eat people's faces again!" William grumbles at this second reference to eating people, but Leta says, "Don't be a shark. There's no water there." Veltis insists that there's a river right off of Route 9, but then shifts back into his rat-form.

The cell heads out and piles into two cars: Anita's Honda and William's Skylark. They pull out of the driveway and swiftly get back on to Route 9. They had east on Route 9 and soon enter Goshen. They're almost through Goshen before they pass a Goshen police car going in the other direction. The cops clearly recognized them, as they pull an illegal U-turn on Route 9! Their lights go on, but by then both cars have turned a corner. Thinking quickly, Anita pulls down a side street and turns off her lights. William does the same thing, and then the cop car speeds by them without spotting them!

The hunters give it a few minutes before they pull back out onto Route 9 and continue heading into Cummington. They slow down when they near the driveway, and then they pull over onto Wilder Road and park their cars out of sight of Route 9/112.³⁾ They get out and walk carefully toward the driveway of the chalet. As they walk, the hunters perform the Moral Support tactic⁴⁾ and at about 8:00 o'clock they come within sight of the driveway and see the Goshen PD car blocking the driveway with its lights on, but not the siren. Two Goshen cops have gotten out of the car and are talking to a third man wearing black body armor and a mask. Both the mask and the body armor sport bright silver crosses, leaving little doubt as to this person's affiliation.

Unfortunately, Mick steps on a branch, and the three men immediately spin in their direction. Thinking quickly, Veltis leaps off of Leta shoulder and then shapeshifts into a giant black bear again! The Veltis-bear ambles up Route 9 and the hunters hear the three men hiss, "Oh shit!" The CSA militiaman taps a throat microphone and warns his companions, "Head's up everyone, there's a bear in the driveway!"

The three men start backing up the driveway, trying to make noises to shoo Veltis away from them! Veltis starts walking up the driveway after them, and then one of the cops hisses, "You have pretzels, don't you Mitch?" The second cop - presumably Mitch - whispers, "Oh shit!" and then he pulls out a snack pack of pretzels, opens the bag, and then chucks them right at Veltis, hoping to distract the bear so they can get away. However, as Mitch yells, "OK, he's distracted! Run!" the bag of pretzels hits Veltis square on the nose!

Mitch scrambles back immediately but the other cop yells, "Dude! That's how you get a bear to chase you!" Veltis picks up speed and the three men turn and run up the driveway, yelling, "Bear!" Clearly, any noise discipline is gone. The hunters shrug and then follow in Veltis's wake. They reach the gatehouse and realize with sinking hearts that the structure is covered in blood! William hesitates because he doesn't really want to see Boris's dead body, but Anita and Abby look around and whisper, "There's no Boris-ghost here." William sighs but steps into the gatehouse to check for any communications gear while the others look around carefully for any CSA scouts.

William doesn't find any communications gear, but he finds Boris, lying in a pool of blood from multiple gunshot wounds, but still alive! He whispers a warning to the others as Boris stirs, looks up at him, and whimpers, "Boris hurt." Doctor Ranjip pushes William aside to get into the gatehouse before he drops to his knees, pulls out a yellow fruit from his bag, and then start sliding them into Boris's gunshot wounds! Boris twitches violently for a second before declaring, "Boris no longer hurts."

William asks, "What can you tell us?" Boris looks right at him with clear eyes, and then starts telling them everything he knows about their attackers - in Croatian. The others make it clear they can't understand him, so he obligingly switches - to Serbian. He cycles through Romanian, Hungarian, and Czech before he suddenly settles on Mandarin! Luckily, Josh picked up Mandarin with his pact with the totem spirit and quickly starts talking to him. Mick whispers in awe, "Dude, how many languages do you speak?" Still in Mandarin, Boris breaks off, looks at Mick, and answers before turning back to Josh. Josh supplies, "Fifteen," before going back to their conversation. After Boris stops talking, Josh supplies a translation for what happened, and it ends up confirming Mick's original theory; the CSA snuck up on the chalet, took out the guards, and set up a jammer before going into the house.

Leta hisses a warning and the hunters turned to see a new problem approaching, a different black bear! This bear is smaller, and the hunters realize it is a female, likely attracted to Veltis's pheromones. Anita does her best to remain calm and redirect the bear up the driveway to Veltis; ironically, the city girl succeeds.⁵⁾ Leta activates her telepathic link with Veltis and warns him, "Head's up, there's a female bear approaching."

Veltis replies, "Understood. Uh, let her approach, let's see if she can help get us up there safely. Do you think I can eat one of these bastards?" Leta retorts mentally, "Don't eat anyone where Josh can see you. Also, you might have to fuck the bear." From up the driveway the hunters hear the other Goshen cop yell, "Oh shit, there's another bear!" Leta muses to the others, "Interesting news… Veltis is an incubus in all forms, and she's a hot bear, evidently."

Up ahead, they hear the voice of the CSA militiaman yell, "Weapons free!" Mitch then calls out, "No! They're just going to bone, let it happen! Don't make them angry!" The other cop snaps, "Mitch, you're an idiot." However, no weapons are fired, and then they all hear the unmistakable noises of bear-on-bear action. Mitch crows, "I told you! I fucking told you!" The other cop snarls, "Shut up, Mitch!"

The hunters creep up silently and stop just before the driveway makes the final turn on to the top of the ridge and the chalet. They peer around carefully and can see the three men edging towards the porch but are clearly distracted by the sight of the bears. Leta murmurs, "Should we kill these guys… sneak past these guys?" Josh glances at her, and she grumbles, but they carefully slip past the three men. They spot the jammer near the bears, and William whispers to Leta, "Can you tell Veltis to move towards the jammer?"

Annoyed, Leta does pass on the suggestion, but Veltis is a bit occupied right now. Then a gunshot rings out from inside the house and the female bear spooks and bolts back into the woods! Veltis roars in not-quite-feigned outrage and drives all his weight down on the jammer! He lets out another bladder-loosening roar, and then another CSA soldier steps out on the porch and demands, "What the fuck is going on out here?"

That soldier yelps in surprise when he sees Veltis start advancing on the porch, while the others are scrambled backwards. Veltis then charges in and yells, "Hey Mitch! You're fucked, dude!" The four men are so startled by a talking bear that they hesitate for that crucial split-second, and then Veltis barrels into them! The others rush in, but Veltis has these four well in hand. Doctor Ranjip pulls out his goblin fruit grenade, blows on it, and then hurls it into the open doorway to the chalet! They hear a loud pop and then choking and screaming! They can smell a bizarre odor that reminds them of sugar, cinnamon, and broccoli! The aroma then turns to sharp pepper, and they hear someone inside the house yell, "Jesus was a woman!"

One of the CSA militiamen comes running out of the house in a blind panic, and thanks to adrenaline successfully jumps over Veltis! Veltis booms, "Where are you going?" but the militiaman flees in blind terror into the woods by the driveway! A few seconds later everyone hears a loud boom as said militiaman just stepped on one of the cult's landmines! Veltis snorts before turning back to the last surviving opponent; he leans in and grins with bloodstained teeth, "Hey, Mitch! How's it going? Those were shitty pretzels!" He then grabs the severed head of the other cop and proceeds to beat Mitch to death with it!

Josh disassociates a bit due to the screaming and the blood but snatches one of the militiamen's walkie-talkies and triggers a feedback squawk to every other walkie-talkie, alerting the cult of where their attackers are. The hunters advance into the open doorway but Veltis remains behind. They find two other militiamen on the ground in the hallway, pink tentacles partially wrapped around their faces as they choke and pass out. Mick eyes them and deems, "Well, they're out of the fight." Josh doublechecks to make sure everyone's cell phone is on silent, but then sends a text from William's phone to all of the members of the cult that he has phone numbers for, "Troys are here, where do we go?"

Ironically, Barry Kells is the one who responds, he texts, "Basement!" The others realize that they don't actually know the layout of the chalet other than the library and the one 'appointment' room a few doors down that William saw, so William texts back, "From library?" They then hear gunshots under their feet, and no one answers his text.

Realizing the cult has other concerns right now, Josh pulls out his phone to text Del to ask for the layout of the chalet, when Petite slides out of a nearby wall and smacks Abby upside the head before pointing to a door. Anita snorts as she watches the exchange but realizes Petite has already scouted a good chunk of the chalet thanks to her ghostly nature. Veltis ambles up behind them in a smaller bear-form and says, "Surprising no one, Mitch did not taste good."

The hunters ignore the implications of Veltis's statement and quickly debate if they should go downstairs to the basement immediately to help. Mick argues, "What about other attackers on this or the upper floor? I don't want to charge down there, and then get flanked into a trap." The others acknowledge his concerns, and William suggests that he, Mick, and Polly do a quick sweep of the first floor. They agree and the three police officers start their search. Anita realizes she has a more macabre method that she can employ, and she unlocks the Boneyard Haunt. Her senses expand throughout the entire house as poltergeist activity kicks into gear; she whispers to the others, "Seamus was right, there were twenty attackers, not counting the two cops. Seven are dead or incapacitated at our hands, and the cult has killed another six. There are four militiamen on the second floor tearing it apart to search for something, while there are five militiamen in the basement attacking the cult, who's barricaded in front of a large golden double door."

Anita decides that in there to not extend the Boneyard Haunt past the door, but she does amp up the ghastly effects of the Haunt. The temperature drops, doors slam, and spectral shapes appear at the corners of people's eyes. Veltis eyes the macabre spectacle approvingly and then announces, "Wait, I have an idea. I'll take care of the four upstairs while you head into the basement. Just in case, I'm going to step into the next room before I change forms."

Veltis ambles into the next room and then shapeshifts into a gigantic black widow spider! Anita can see everything through the Haunt; She shudders and declares, "Be glad you can't see that!" Leta growls and replies, "I can!" due to her mental connection to her familiar. Anita decides to focus the Boneyard on the basement and the first floor, because she does not want to see what Veltis is about to do. William, Polly, and Mick return, having found no one else on the first floor.

The hunters open the door that Petite pointed to and find the stairs down to the basement. Gunfire echoes out from below, so Mick pulls out a telescoping mirror and uses it to see what's down there before they descend the stairs. The basement is ornately furnished, with two large statues of fu lions perpendicular to the stairs; the five militiamen are crouching behind those two statues for cover and are exchanging fire with Kells, Marisol, Lucia, and two unknown women who looked more like security than escorts. There are several bodies between the two sides, and the cultists are using some more statuary for cover as they shoot back.

Anita frowns as something occurs to her and she points out, "Wait, the four dudes from the Goshen church aren't here at all." The hunters hesitate as they process this,⁶⁾ and Anita refocuses the Boneyard's spectral effects to the basement. One of the militiaman screams, "My God, it's the mummy's curse!" William lifts his goblin fruit grenade, and then Doctor Ranjip snatches Anita's grenade, as she's clearly not going to use it. Leta activates her Family Vestment Castigation ritual. Josh sends a text to the cultists, "Hold your breath!" William and Doctor Ranjip toss their bombs down the stairs, and the hunters see the two goblin fruits land, one behind each statue, and the militiamen look down in confusion. Then the goblin fruits erupt, and pink tentacles erupt from the gourds and lash out to the militiamen's faces before spraying the hallucinogen and the pepper into their eyes!

The five men start screaming, but one staggers to his feet, hollers that God's will be done and God will defend him! He then charges at the golden double doors, but he is so addled he cannot make a straight line. At best he runs serpentine, but then Leta charges down the stairs and drives her claws into his back! The militiaman dies gurgling on her claws and the other hunters hustle downstairs. Josh eyes the choking militiaman at the foot of the stairs but notes that while sixteen men have been killed on their side, six are still alive but incapacitated. He also realizes that of the ten cultists at the house, only five have survived.