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#20
MAR 10 |
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Tales of the Guild, 3 Years Ago:
“Beast in the Fold”
“Beast in the Fold”
Three Years Ago
The young Thief ran through the darkened streets of New Orleans. He didn’t dare look back to see if it was still after him. He didn’t have to.
He could hear it easily keeping pace with him. Its claws clicked as its feet struck the sidewalk. He pushed a trash can over as he passed it, hoping it might add another second or two to his lead. It didn’t. He heard a moment of silence, then a landing, and then the footfalls were even closer behind him.
It was only moments later that he felt hot breath on the back of his head and then a crushing weight slammed into him, throwing him to the ground. “You’ll do nicely,” a voice purred before the Thief was grabbed by his collar and thrown over its shoulder.
“Another one?” Jean-Luc demanded. He jumped to his feet and began pacing in the small room inside the brownstone he considered his office. “How many is this?”
Minister Hoard flipped through a notebook, obviously trying to keep from giving the answer. Finally he realized that the question wasn’t going to go away. “Seven,” he admitted.
“Seven?” Jean-Luc yelled. He swore in French before asking his next question. “How long?”
Hoard didn’t even scan the notebook this time. “Two months.”
“Two months?” Jean-Luc sank into his chair. “How could dat many of us disappear wit’out any trace?”
”Unknown,” Hoard replied. “I can only tell you that no trace of the missing Thieves has been found since they were last seen.”
LeBeau cursed again as he picked up a telephone and dialed a number from memory.
New Orleans Police Detective Alain Theroux frowned as his telephone started ringing. “Theroux,” he answered. His face, although it didn’t go white, paled considerably as he heard the voice on the other end. “When and where?” he asked. He grabbed a notepad and jotted down an address and a time. He jumped up and hurried out of the office.
“T’anks for meetin’ me.” The voice came out of the shadows of the darkened warehouse, jolting the already-jumpy Theroux.
“My pleasure,” Theroux said. “What do I owe de pleasure?”
Jean-Luc stepped out of the shadows and stood before Theroux. “Some of our members have been vanishing. I need to know if you can tell me anything. If de Assassins are up to somet’in, we need to know.”
Theroux paced back and forth. “We have discovered several unnamed bodies lately,” he mused. “But dey don’t have de trademarks of an Assassin attack. Dey look like dey were dissected in a lab or sometin’.”
The Thief frantically looked around. He had been stripped and tied down to a cold metal table. His eyes were clipped open by metal clips. He desperately wanted to blink as a flake of rust fell from the clip and landed on his eyeball, forcing his eye to begin watering.
“You’re awake,” his captor said. The Thief drew a breath to scream only to feel a sharp pain in his neck. His captor pulled the needle out after injecting its drug and laid it aside. “There we go,” he said. “After all, we can’t go disturbing the neighbors.”
The Thief frantically studied his captor, looking for a weakness. Although the other creature was only around six feet tall, something about him seemed to make him look much taller. Perhaps it was the thick blackish-gray fur that covered him. Or his long fangs.
The Dark Beast turned and picked up a scalpel in his long, thin fingers although it was possible that his claws could have performed surgery just as easily. “You appear to be the exact age I require,” he said. “I know that you Thieves have some lovely little concoction running through your veins. However, I have been unable to discover it yet.” The Beast stepped closer with the scalpel held at the ready. “I feel that this is due to an error in my procedures. You see, until now I have performed my surgeries on corpses. My hypothesis is that the chemicals degrade after death. Therefore you will be the lucky recipient of my first vivisection in far too long.”
The Thief tried to force his paralyzed vocal cords to scream as the scalpel bit into his chest. “Just relax,” the Beast said. “We’re only getting started.”
Theroux handed LeBeau files on the dead Thieves. “Accordin’ to de agreement, we started investigatin’ and stopped when you indicated that you were interested.”
LeBeau nodded. “We appreciate that, Detective,” he said. “Our people will look these over,” he added, motioning with the files. “We’ll send you anyt’ing we find.”
“We’d appreciate dat,” Theroux said. “We’ve got enough unsolved homicides in dis town as it is.” He turned to see that LeBeau had vanished.
“Gone,” Theroux said. “Fo’ some reason, dat feels kinda familiar.”
“I want to know where dey were and what happened to dem,” LeBeau ordered as he dropped the police files onto a counter in the lab. Elixir, the Thieves’ resident scientist, picked up the first and began flipping through it.
“Excellent,” he said. “The autopsy photos and results are included.” He ignored LeBeau as he continued studying the file and muttering to himself. “I only wish we had a blood sample. Tome may be able to assist me with this…” LeBeau watched him a moment and realized that Elixir was lost in his own little world. While it made him an extremely effective scientist, it also made him annoying.
“Keep me informed,” LeBeau said and left the room.
Jacques was waiting as he closed the door. “There is another one of us who is missing,” he said, falling into step beside his father as they walked down the hall.
Jean-Luc cursed. “Who?” he asked.
“One of our newest members,” Jacques said as he told his father the name. Jean-Luc listened intently as Jacques told him where the Thief had vanished.
“I want dat area searched and searched again,” Jean-Luc ordered. “I want to know who’s behind dis and I want to know now.”
“Father,” Jacques said, “Have you considered bringing Remy home? This is the sort of thing he specializes in.”
Jean-Luc fought to keep his anger down. He and Jacques had fought this battle more than once. “For de last time, you know I can’t,” he said in a barely civil tone. “Dat’s one of the conditions of the peace treaty between us and de Assassins, and we can’t hunt dis killer down while we’re fighting dem, too.”
Jacques thought a moment. “Have you considered that it might be an Assassin doing this?’
Jean-Luc shook his head. “No. Some bodies have been found by de police. If de Assassins were behind dis, dey’d make sure de bodies were delivered to us. Dere’s no sense sendin’ a message if de recipient don’t know it’s been sent.” Jean-Luc turned as he prepared to enter the room he used as his private sanctum. “And you stay put,” he said, pointing at Jacques before he placed his hands on his shoulders. The volume of his voice dropped. “It’s getting’ dangerous out dere,” he whispered. “I don’t want to find you as one of de next victims.” Jean-Luc grabbed Jacques and pulled him close. “You’re my son - de only one I may get to see again and I want you safe.” Jean-Luc released him and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.
A thoughtful Jacques walked away. His father obviously still missed Remy. Perhaps there was still hope that his brother would be allowed to return.
As Jacques walked into the main room, he saw a guard escorting Souris in. He hurried down the stairs and rushed to Souris’s side. “This is not a good time,” Jacques said.
“I h-h-have information about the w-w-one who is k-k-killing you,” Souris said.
Jacques’s eyes went wide. He dismissed the guard and pushed Souris toward the steps. “Then it must be given to my father immediately,” he said.
“Bah!” the Dark Beast roared. “Nothing!” He pulled the heart off his crude scanner and crammed it back into the Thief’s body with a sickening squish. A light began to shine behind him. The Dark Beast turned and covered his eyes with one paw as a man who glowed blue emerged.
“It appears you are being unsuccessful,” the newcomer said as he studied the corpse.
“Very,” Dark Beast agreed. “Who are you?”
The man smiled as he turned to face the Dark Beast. “Simply a newcomer who wishes to observe you,” he said.
Dark Beast’s eyes narrowed. “Did Sinister send you?”
“Hardly,” the man replied. He continued a moment later. “Call me New Son.”
Dark Beast thought a moment. “Very well,” he said. He returned to his work as New Son smiled.
Jean-Luc LeBeau looked around at the group of Thieves he’d assembled. It had only taken a call to Detective Theroux of the New Orleans Police Department to clear the area for this assault. He studied the rundown old mansion where Souris had said that their quarry was hiding.
He fought back a shiver. The LaLaurie Mansion. A memory tickled at the back of his mind. Something from the diaries of fallen Thieves… Was it Fleur’s?
He shook his head. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the fact that the murderer was inside this building. He led the Thieves toward the mansion.
Inside, Dark Beast growled as he saw the Thieves approaching his lair. “It looks like you’re in a bit of trouble,” New Son mused.
Dark Beast snarled at him. “Help me or leave, but do not just stand there!”
New Son smiled. “Would you consider switching employers? I could use someone like you in my labs.”
A crash reverberated through the old mansion as the Thieves broke through the front gates. “Very well,” Dark Beast agreed. “Just get me out of here!”
New Son’s smile grew. “Of course.” A moment later a portal swallowed the two of them and they were gone.
When the Thieves arrived, all they found was an abandoned lab. Of course, they found personal items that identified their missing Guild members, and set fire to the building. By morning, all that was left standing were the exterior walls.
Jean-Luc LeBeau never mentioned the matter again, but he always hoped for an opportunity to catch the killer who had vanished so suddenly.
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To Be Continued...
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