Chapter 1 - Bagels


    The door to the van slid open.


    A tall, sandy blonde-haired, muscular young man ducked in and excitedly shook a brown paper bag.  "Who wants bagels?"


    "''Bout damned time, Martin!" said a young woman as she swiftly reassembled a pair of semi-automatic pistols.  With dexterity and precision that can only come from repeated practice, she fluidly inserted a full clip into each, popped the slide forward, and dropped the pistols into her hip-strapped holsters.  She turned towards Martin and held out her hand.


    "I''ve got seven different kinds.  What''s your poison?", he said as he peered deeply into the bag.


    "Plain.", she said.  Her voice was serious and her expression doubly so.  Her eyes squinted for a moment, breaking her severe look.  "Unless you have something with garlic."


    "Well, I guess we know young Emily isn''t a vampire.", said another figure from the back of the van.  He was a thin man of early forties with frazzled reddish-brown hair.  He reflexively reached with his index finger and prodded his round-rimmed glasses back up his nose as he spoke. He held a large tome inscribed with arcane symbols that seemed to glow faintly.  Gently, he closed the tome, placed it in a worn wooden box, closed the lid, stood, and made his way towards the bagels.


    "One poppy seed coming right up Heinrich.", said the man holding the bag.  His hand searched blindly through the bag until it emerged holding a seed covered bagel.  He handed it to Heinrich.


    "Thank you, Martin.", Heinrich said.  He held the bagel up in a gesture of thanks, did a little bow, and returned to his spot in the rear.


    Martin held the bag in the direction of the man sitting in the driver''s seat.  "How about you, J?  You want one?"


    "No.  Thank you, though."  The man in the driver''s seat appeared to be in his thirties.  He was tall, olive-skinned, lean, and athletic.  He glanced around at the collection of people in the van, considering their faces and demeanor.


    An older gentleman sat in the passenger seat and stared into the darkness of the cemetery that spanned outside of the van.  "Joshua never eats before we work.", he snapped.  One would think you''d know that after three years."


    Martin shot back, "I do know that, but it''s still polite to ask.  Maybe this time he felt like a bagel.  Geez.  What''s got your undies in a ruffle?"


    Joshua glanced over at his old friend.  "You do seem a bit tense.  Did you see something that''s got you worried?"


    Douglas looked at his hands.  "No.  Everything is fine.  Just pre-show jitters."


    Joshua leaned towards Douglas and asked quietly, "How long have we known each other?"


    "I''ve lost count of the years."  Douglas smiled.


    "A long time." Joshua whispered. "I''ve known you since before you could tie your shoes."


    Douglas chuckled and nodded.


    "And in that time I''ve learned to tell when you''re being straight with me."  Joshua paused.  "I don''t feel you''re being straight with me."  The tone of Joshua''s voice was serious, but his expression remained calm and kind.  "So, tell me again.  Did you see something?  Should we back this van out of here and leave?"


    Douglas looked up from his hands and stared into Joshua''s eyes.  His eyes held back fear.  "I didn''t see anything that should sway us from this path.  We are where we need to be."


    Joshua looked at his friend and put his hand on his shoulder.  "Alright.  If you say so.  It''s almost time."  He said as he turned to address the rest of the crew.


    "Ok guys.  The darkness is upon us.  Let us be ready.  This one isn''t your run-of-the-mill vampire.  As I said during the briefing, everything points to this being a Lichen. Heinrich, wanna give us the rundown again?"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Heinrich stood and cleared his throat.  "The uh, Lichen is the soul of a human wizard or warlock that has bound itself to an earthly item.  It then feeds on the life-force of others to maintain itself indefinitely. It retains any powers it had during its mortal time, as well as the ability to gather new strength and power from the astral plane.  We''ll be looking for its mooring or anchor.  It will be something buried or entombed with the physical remains of the wizard."


    Emily took a large bite of bagel.  "So, how do we find this ''mooring'' or anchor or whatever?"


    Martin pulled some leather batting gloves from his back pockets and squeezed his hands into them.  They seemed two sizes too small.  Then he reached over and grabbed a large wooden baseball bat sitting next to the door. It was engraved with glyphs and wrapped in barbed wire.  "This is where Heinrich comes in handy."


    He twisted his hands around its handle and tested his grip and continued, "He may be nerdy on the outside, but he''s one bad mofo when it comes to magick."


    Heinrich pushed his glasses up and stuttered, "Ah, y.. yes, thank you for that compliment.  I uh, well, I will use an incantation that will help us find the mooring.  By charging it with enough ethereal energy, it will resonate in the visible spectrum, allowing us to pinpoint it in darkness."


    Emily motioned with her bagel, "So...it''ll glow?"


    Heinrich responded excitedly, "Precisely!"


    Martin held up his bat in a way that reminded Emily of He-Man holding his sword.


    "Heinrich, hit me!"  Martin said with a slight dramatic flair.


    "Oh!  Uh, yes."  Heinrich closed his eyes and held his palms out towards the bat.  He began to quietly mutter some words.


    Emily winced and grabbed her ears.  "What the hell?"


    Joshua placed his hand on her shoulder.  "It''s ok.  It happens when you''re this close to a spell being cast.  It''s a good thing.  If you can feel it in your head, it means it''s a real spell.  It means it''s powerful.  It means you should be glad he''s on our side."


    Emily grimaced and looked at Heinrich while still trying to comfort her head and ears.  "If you say so. I have to say, though, I feel a little violated."  Then she turned her attention to Martin''s bat.  The symbols were now glowing and there was a faint hum.  Red arcs of electric-like energy began to jump and travel along the barbed wire wrapping of the bat.


    "That''s the stuff!" said Martin, holding the bat with both hands.  "Time to kick some demon ass!"


    Heinrich finished his incantation and dropped his hands to his side.  "Uh.  Technically, this isn''t a demon, Martin.  It was human.  A human wizard."


    Martin rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, yeah yeah.  You know what I mean.  It sounds cooler to say demon than ''Former human wizard ass''."


    "So, can you do that for my guns?", Emily stood admiring the magic glowing bat in Martin''s hands.


    "Uh, well, of course, yes.", said Heinrich.


    "Right!?  Let''s do this shit!  That''s what I''m talking about!"  Emily looked around the room for any shared enthusiasm.


    "However," Heinrich added, "we would need to determine the proper glyphs to etch onto your guns before we could incantate them with energy.  Unfortunately, we don''t have the time for such research, now."


    Emily looked at her guns and then back to Martin''s glowing bat.  "So, will my bullets even hurt this thing?"


    Heinrich nodded, "Oh.  Absolutely.  It will sustain damage to its corporeal form.  While it won''t die, so to speak, any damage it sustains will weaken its ability to interact in the physical world - physically.  It will still be extremely powerful from the ethereal side."


    Emily motioned to Martin''s bat.  "So, what does that do?"


    Martin''s face stretched into a giant grin.  It was highlighted by the red glow from his bat.  "It will knock that bastard back into the next life.  That''s what this will do.  It''ll light him up like a Christmas tree and send him straight to hell!"  Martin glanced at Joshua, "No offense."


    Josuha nodded back to Martin, "None taken."  He turned to Douglas.  Douglas had turned his attention back outside and was lost in thought.


    "Hey."  Joshua said.  "You sit this one out.  There''s no need for you to be out there in the thick.  You''re more useful here.  If something pops up, just radio us.  Or blast the horn a couple of times."


    Douglas looked at him.  His face contorted into a slight smile, but it was clear something weighed heavily on his mind.  "Yes.  Perhaps it''s for the better."


    Joshua patted Douglas on the back, turned to the driver''s seat, and grabbed a black tactical vest slung over the back of the seat.  He slung it on, putting a large caliber pistol on his left and a long dagger on his right.  The dagger''s blade was a bronze spear-head. Instead of being fixed to the end of a pole, it had been set into a curved-bone handle adorned in etchings.  Joshua headed toward the door of the van and addressed the crew one last time.


    "Ok guys.  Let''s make this place sacred, again."


    Martin let out a "yeah!" in support.  He started to head out of the van but suddenly stopped and turned back to Douglas.  "Hey old man.  Why don''t you have yourself a bagel?  There''s a few left in there.  Help yourself to whichever one you want."


    Douglas reached out and gently grabbed Martin''s hand.  "Thank you, Martin." he said.  His voice was filled with sadness.


    "Sure. I mean.  It''s just a bagel.  J actually paid for them so..."


    Douglas interrupted, "No, I mean, thank you Martin.  For always having such a kind and pure heart."


    Martin looked puzzled.  "Uh.  You''re welcome, I guess.  Why you gettin'' all sentimental?"


    Douglas stared at Martin''s hand for a moment and then smiled and took the bag of bagels.  He reached in and pulled out a bagel.


    "Ooh!  Poppy-seed.  I do enjoy these."