Finding the Key
Posted on Sun Oct 16th, 2022 @ 2:14am by Gideon Asher & Andrea Carter
Edited on on Sun Oct 16th, 2022 @ 4:11am
Mission:
Daemoniacus Tribulatio
Location: Andy's Shop
Timeline: Current
“Aun vos brengt aykh tsu aundz hayntikn ovnt, Gdeun Bn Ashr, Hvildar-Maor fun di Blut-Vertner?” said Moyshe Lowenstein. Moyshe ran a kosher slaughterhouse outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Moyshe had a side hustle supplying the blood of domestic livestock to vampires whose ‘principles’ forbade them from consuming human blood, and to those who were just too squeamish or maybe down on their luck and couldn’t afford the good stuff. Gideon was new to town, but as the local Havildar-Major of the Blood Rangers, it was his business to know about, well, everything, including people like Moyshe Lowenstein. Apparently, Moyshe Lowenstein felt it was his business to know about people like Gideon. They’d never met, but Moyshe knew both his name and his face. Gideon made a mental note to remember that Moyshe was clearly dialed in on the area and its important residents. “Avdi hat eyner azoy alt vi dir rezignirt tsu trinken mentshlikhe blut? Farvos hot ir nit keyn noyt far a anider shukht aza vi ikh zol aykh farzorgn blut fun bhmus?”
Gideon smiled. The old man was speaking Yiddish, asking Gideon what brought him here and politely, a little too politely, suggesting that a 1200+ year old vampire should pull up his big boy pants and drink human blood and leave an old shochet, a person who slaughters animals in a kosher manner, alone and in peace.
Gideon grew up speaking Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, and Ladino, the Portuguese/Spanish version of Yiddish (which was German and Eastern European in origin), but he’d learned Yiddish later on. Gideon told Moyshe the blood was for a friend, a youngling, turned against her will because she was trying to live off of rodents.
“Es iz far a fraynd, a iung meydl, eyner vos iz geven farkert kegn ir viln. Zi s treyng tsu lebn avek fun roudants.”
Moyshe grimaced "Freli!” he said, and spit on the ground, cursing feral vampires everywhere. “Vart da,” the old man said. Gideon waited as instructed. Moyshe returned in a moment with a bottle of blood, still warm. “Bottled just before sundown.”
“Thank you,” Gideon said. “This will do nicely. How much?”
Moyshe waved away Gideon’s offer to pay. “Free, this time,” he said. “If your friend likes, we will discuss money.”
“My thanks,” Gideon said. He took the bottle and got back in his car. “Miss Carter’s store, please,” Gideon said to his driver.
“Of course, sir,” his driver replied. Before long they were at the store. Gideon got out and took the bottle. “Wait for me. And watch your back.” Gideon went to Andy’s door and knocked.
Andy nodded to the gentlemen in jumpsuits as they rolled in more boxes, vaguely gesturing to an empty plot of floorspace in her workroom for them to unload the dollies. So many boxes! She never knew just how much she owned until it was time to move and she had to pack it all up. Returning her attention to the box in front of her, she carefully removed the book concealed in bubble wrap. Freeing the tome revealed a layer of paper underneath the bubble wrap, and once the paper was disposed of, Andy could finally see the title; another alchemy book, which meant the rest of this box was likely filled with alchemy books instead of the subject she was searching for. Andy gently stowed the book in a glass-front cabinet where the aged text would be protected, then set the box aside with others that had been opened to find subjects unrelated to her search. Hoisting another box atop her worktable and slicing through the tape keeping the box closed, she continued her hunt.
Then she heard the knock. Looking up, she made eye contact with one of the movers, nodding toward the front of the store.
“Let him in, and I’ll spot you another box of donuts if you take the trash with you on your way out,” Andy said. One of the men shrugged and began to collect the trash bags full of bubble wrap and packing paper; he wasn’t about to say no to free donuts. The other man headed out of the workroom with his dolly and passed through the storefront, opening the door for Asher.
“Back room,” the mover said simply, then slipped past the vampire to return to his truck parked in the curbside loading zone, striding up the ramp and disappearing inside to load up more boxes.
“Thank you,” Gideon said to the back of the mover. Gideon had put the bottle of blood in a bag to be less conspicuous. Not that it would have bothered that mover. Gideon caught a glimpse of bite marks on his neck under his shirt collar as he passed. Either he was letting vamps bite him on the side for a little extra cash, or he just got off on having vamps bite him. Either way, a bottle of blood clearly wouldn’t have given him pause. Gideon found Andy in the back. “Good evening, Miss Carter. I hope all is well. I come bearing gifts.”
Andy squeezed her eyes closed at the smell wafting towards her; the bottle was clean, but still the smell of blood clung to it. Sighing, Andy removed her white gloves and maneuvered around her worktable.
“I’m alright, I guess,” Andy replied in a defeated tone, taking the offered bag. She waited for the other mover to remove himself from the room with the trashbags before she opened the bag and peered inside. “Yeah… Fuck,” she said with another sigh, then leaned against the worktable. “So not ready for this.”
“I figured as much,” Gideon said. “I think the best way for you to start is to drink it from a shot glass. Just pour and shoot it back… and swallow, of course. You got the blood fridge I sent over? Keep that between 2 and 4 degrees Celsius and store the bottle in there when you’re not drinking from it. It will stay viable for a while. The bottle is designed to seal really well. Just remember, the longer you hold on to it, the less appetizing it is going to be. And don’t consume it with regular food. You need it undiluted.”
Andy nodded.
“Shotglass, I can do that, I have shotglasses, somewhere…” Although where would be the question, her apartment was still only half unpacked. Then she spied her coffee cup from earlier sitting on the desk angled in the corner. Running her tongue over a fang as she gave the idea some thought, Andy set the bagged bottle on the desk then took the mug to the neighboring restroom to rinse the cup clean, then returned. The movers had returned to deposit more boxes, so she waited for them to leave before she retrieved the bottle and unstoppered it, pouring a measure into the clean-ish mug.
Oh fuck, the smell, the undiluted smell of fresh beef blood, it stirred something within her. Replacing the stopper in the bottle, she gripped the mug with a trembling hand and brought it to her lips, hesitating for just a moment before knocking it back and swallowing as fast as she could. The taste was… Andy had no words for the taste, but it was so warm and satisfying as it went down, and she nibbled at her lip as she briefly savored that feeling as the warmth spread throughout her body. It was good, she liked it, but she didn’t want to like it. Licking her lips, she glanced over to Gideon uneasily, taking the bottle over to the blood fridge next to the desk.
“Thanks,” she said uneasily.
Gideon smiled gently and nodded. “Well done. You’ll start to feel better as you drink more of that. And don’t be ashamed if it makes you feel good, really good, even turns you on. It’s the way we’re wired. There’s nothing to feel bad about. And I can say that and you might even intellectually understand what I’m saying, but I know you need to make your own peace with your new normal. It will come.”
Andy nodded. He was right, her head understood completely, but her emotions hadn’t quite caught up yet. She double checked that the mini fridge was set at the proper temperature, then stowed the bottle. “So, uh, about that book,” she said uneasily, desperate for a change in topic. “I haven’t found the Lesser Key of Solomon yet, but I did find a couple references on demonology that might be useful, if you want them.”
“That would be very helpful, thank you,” Gideon said. “Oh, since I have a demon hunt going on, most of my rangers are engaged at the moment. But I can help you look for that book if you’d like. Unless I’m making you uncomfortable.”
“No, you’re not making me uncomfortable,” Andy admitted honestly with a slight shake of her head. She gave a weak smile, then wandered over to the worktable where she restored old books, but it was currently cluttered with boxes and packing paper. She opened a drawer and found a pair of white cotton gloves. “A lot of the books are fragile and susceptible to damage from the oils on hands, even ours, so you’ll have to wear these,” she said, offering the gloves to him.
“Of course,” Gideon said, taking the gloves and putting them on. “Where should I start?”
Andy shrugged then gestured around her. “Just find a box that ain’t open and start digging,” she said, then made her way around the worktable to the box she had been working on earlier. “I’ve been pulling one book per box. Since everything should be well organized by subject, if I find anything unrelated to demons, then I put the box off to the side to finish unpacking later. Anything we unwrap needs to go into the glass cases,” she instructed as she pulled on her gloves and pulled out a book and unwrapped it. “Aaaand another alchemy book,” she said with an exasperated grin. “Sorry, I used to be an alchemist, so I have quite the collection of resources on the subject,” she said, then placed the book in the glass front case.
Gideon scanned the room, selected one of the unopened boxes and opened it. He selected a book at random and unwrapped it. It was an alchemy book. He placed the book in one of the glass cases, and moved on to another box. After he unwrapped a book from that box he laughed. “Amore Al Chiaro Di Luna? 16th Century Italian Lycanthrope Eroticism? Why Miss Carter, I may have underestimated you!”
Andy gave a fanged grin.
“Hey, I got no problem with crossing the species boundary to have a little fun,” she replied candidly, then her grin eased into an easy neutral smile as she shrugged. “But as it happens, I didn’t acquire that for myself. It was part of an estate auction, the books had to be purchased as a lot, and there was another book in that lot that I really wanted. But, I restored them all, sold off or traded most of the ones I didn’t want, haven’t been able to unload that one yet,” she continued as she loaded another trashbag into the nearby trashcan so they could keep the bubblewrap and packing paper under control.
“Well,” Gideon said. “They don’t call this town Gnashville for nothing. Plenty of shifters here. One of them is bound to be interested in it. Some of them are quite well off and can probably afford it.
“Good, then I’ll make sure it’s available for sale,” Andy replied with a chuckle. She shoved some bubblewrap into the trashcan, then returned to the unpacking. “So, you ever cross the species boundary?” she asked as she cut open another box, but almost immediately, she regretted the question; the man was over a thousand years old, of course he’s played the field. Idiot!
Gideon chuckled. “Yes,” he said. “From time to time. It’s difficult, though. Humans and witches grow old and die. Even Lycanthrope lovers, who age more slowly than humans, still grow old and die while we live on. On the other hand, the idea of spending an eternity with another vampire sounds wonderful in young adult vampire romances, but isn’t always practical.”
“Yeesh, same person for all eternity, that would get boring!” Andy said with a shudder. While she had nothing against monogamy, she hadn’t yet found Mister (or Miss) Right to urge her to settle down. Now suddenly eager for another subject change, she let the tickling curiosity at the back of her mind come to the fore as her expression grew pensive. “So… What’s it like? I mean, to see centuries pass by, watch everything change around you?” she asked.
“Well,” Gideon said. “Some vampires make that mistake. Watching it all change around them, watching it all pass them by, letting themselves fall behind. In fact, I’d argue all of us go through phases like that. Before the accords, we lived our secret lives in the shadows, mirroring the human world, manipulating it here and there. So did the witches, by the way. Lycans had less to bargain with. No magic, no immortality. The smart ones among us tried to stay plugged into the human world as much as we could. Art, architecture, music, poetry, theater, science, engineering, mathematics. And politics. Oh, did we meddle in politics and play power games. Sometimes to protect ourselves, sometimes for less honorable reasons. We still pay for those manipulations today. A popular way to influence someone was to offer them immortality or to offer to heal a sick, crippled, or dying relative by bringing their ‘little darlings’ across. But some of these ‘Little Darlings’ should never have been made vampires. They were twisted and sick in mind as well as body. We Blood Rangers still refer to them as ‘Darlings’ and part of our mandate is to hunt them down whenever we get wind of one. They are extremely dangerous.” Gideon cleared his throat. “But, as I was saying, since the Accords, it’s much easier to stay plugged in, stay invested, to broaden our horizons. Just watching it all pass you by… that way lies madness.”
“Huh,” Andy said with a curious tilt of her head. Shelving another book, she pondered her next question carefully. “Okay then, um, how- er,” Andy released a frustrated exhale as she found her vocabulary failing her. Why was this so hard? “How did you make your way through the ages?” she finally asked, moving some boxes around to make more room. “And experiencing all the changes, that had to be disorienting, especially with technology lately, it advances so fast!”
“Very carefully?” Gideon said with a smirk. “Well, first of all, I was turned by what was then known as a Blood Knight. The word ‘Ranger’ didn’t exist yet, not in the context it exists now. She saved my life by bringing me across and she recruited me directly into the Blood Knights. She trained me, gave me purpose. I wasn’t always with the Knights. I drifted from time to time. But I always returned to my duties. And there were rough periods, times when I was assailed by doubt. Music helped. I learned to play instruments, I attended late evening concerts, many nights I just sat in a dark corner of a tavern and listened to the minstrels play. I read poetry, plays, and philosophical works. When I was able, I made a point of meeting some of these artists and poets and philosophers and men of science. After the Accords, this was infinitely easier. I’ve seen both great and horrible things happen. I’ve tried to do good when I could. I fought my fellow vampires when they joined with evil men, as they did in the American Civil War and in World War II, and many other times.” Gideon sighed. “It all gets rather overwhelming at times. The trick is to find and continue to find things that help ground and center you. When it all seems too much, you re-read a favorite chapter of a favorite book, a favorite scene in a play, read a favorite poem or two, listen to music, paint, dance, whatever it is you need to do to get back to yourself, to slow down. Which, I suppose, is what a mental health practitioner would tell a human to do. So perhaps we’re not too far off from our human roots. ”
Andy gazed across the worktable at Gideon for a long while, letting his words sink in. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she was feeling both full of hope yet bereft of it; on the one hand, maybe being a vampire didn’t have to be such a dramatic change, that she could still have a life, and yet… At the core of his words was the reminder that he had an anchor that she didn’t have: the Rangers. For her, that had once been Alchemy and the Guild, but now she didn’t have that; for all that she had her whole life and more ahead of her, she was lost, adrift with nothing to tether her to life and give her the sense of purpose that the Rangers gave to Gideon and that Alchemy had once given her.
“Did you ever meet-” she started to ask as she opened another box and unwrapped a book, then she paused, staring at the book. It was The Key. Or at least part of it, Ars Almadel of the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis. She carefully laid the book, little more than a leather bound notebook with weathered vellum pages, on the worktable then quickly dived back into the box to begin freeing the other books until Ars Goetia, Ars Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, and Ars Notoria sat free of bubblewrap and packing paper next to each other. Then she shared a glance with Gideon and picked up Ars Goetia. “This is the one you want,” she said, her tone resigned, but for what she knew not.
“I’m afraid,” Gideon said. “Even having had some experience with demonic entities, I wouldn’t know what in this book I’m looking for. Could you explain it to me? And then I might need you to explain it to someone else. She’s both a Lycan and a Witch. Her name is Dominique Framboise. She calls herself Nikki. She’s the leader of the Hounds here. She’d have a better understanding of what you’ve got there.”
That name sounded familiar, but where had she heard it before? With a sigh, Andy began to flip through the pages of the book, looking for the entry she needed.
“This text is a list of demon names with information about the demon, their rank, even seals to bind them. It’s in Latin, but when I restored it I overlaid it with a translation spell, so the text should appear in whatever language you’re most comfortable reading,” Andy said as she continued to flip through pages, then found the entry she was looking for. “Astaroth, Duke of hell, commander of 40 legions,” she scanned from the pages, then offered the open tome to Gideon. “The other books contain everything from spells to sigils, thaumaturgy, rituals… I’d recommend taking all the books, as well as the Dictionaire Infernal and Grimorium Verum I found earlier. And yes, I’ll explain it to your sidekick if I have to, I’ll even help figure out how to bind and banish the bastard if you need me to.” The offer was just good for business, couldn’t have a demon on the loose spreading around incurable athlete’s foot for all eternity.
Gideon laughed. “Thank you,” he said. “But Miss Framboise is hardly my sidekick. The Hounds have enforcement authority over everyone, not just themselves. She is surprisingly easy to work with so far, considering. I’ve interacted with some Hounds that feel the need to piss in all of the corners to mark their territory. Not literally of course… well, there was this one time… never mind. She’s a nice person. I think you’ll like her.” Gideon looked at the pile of books. “Would it be rude of me to ask you to put them all in a box? Also, do you want them back? Or would you like me to purchase them? I can buy them off of you if you’d like. I imagine it would give you a good head start here. And that way if Astaroth eats them or something, you’ve already been compensated.”
“Considering the circumstances, I’m willing to loan them out, but if you break ‘em, you buy ‘em,” Andy replied, emptying out a box then lining it with bubblewrap and packing paper. Once the box was safe, she carefully started stacking the books within. “Of course, I won’t turn down the money if you wanna just pay me now,” she admitted, then strode over to the glass front cases to pick out the two texts she had found earlier, adding them to the box. For good measure, she tossed in a few pairs of gloves for any potential readers.
“Dare I ask how much?” Gideon said. Whatever it was, he was fairly certain the Council would pay it. Cost of the Accords was working together to clean up supernatural messes, and that included sharing the costs.
“Mmmm,” Andy hummed as she did some mental math. “Yeah, a small fortune,” she said with a nod. “I can get you a printout of the appraisals I had done when I had them insured, if you want more solid figures,” she offered, then went to her desk and sat before her computer to pull up those appraisals. Within minutes, the nearby printer had spit out several pages which she then took and offered to Gideon.
“Thank you,” he said. “May I take these and give them to my assistant? They’ll deal with all of the bureaucratic red tape and get you your money ASAP. That is, if you believe I’m good for it?”
“Look, the world could potentially be ending or facing a case of chronic athlete’s foot, I’m not gonna play Scrooge McDick right now. I’ll get the money when I get the money, just save the world,” Andy said, leaning back in her chair.
“Your wish, my command,” Gideon said. “But don’t get too comfortable. We need to track down Miss Framboise and show her what you’ve found, and then we need to figure out how to put it to use. Your magic might be on the fritz for the moment, but your brain is working just fine.” Gideon softened his expression and his tone. “Andy, we need your help. You don’t need anyone’s invitation or permission to be a part of this community. You just need to get out there and be a part of the community. So, if it’s not too much trouble, drink a bit more of that bull’s blood, and come help us save the world.”
Andy steepled her fingers as she released a heavy exhale. He was right, she could sit back and watch the world pass her by or she could be a part of it all. She still felt lost and adrift, but here he was reaching out with a hand to steady her as she found her feet. The least she could do was try.
“Alright, you go find your sidekick, when you have a location to meet at, send me a text with the location, my number should be on the appraisal forms,” Andy finally responded. It was time for her to put on her big girl pants and woman up!
“Thank you,” Gideon said. “I would have felt tremendously stupid if you’d told me to piss off. I’ll be in touch.” Gideon took the box of books. “Until later,” he said. And a moment later, he was gone, out the door so fast a human wouldn’t have seen him. Even a Youngling Vampire would have difficulty seeing him moving that fast. As he put on his seatbelt, Gideon whispered just loudly enough that even as young and undernourished as she was, Andy would still hear him. “Someday, you’ll be able to do that, too. Good night for now, Miss Carter.” And then his car drove him away.
Andy simply snorted.
“Showoff.”
