Chapter 132 – New Ideas. New Friends?

  “Sometimes a crazy idea is just what we need to get into more trouble than we can handle.” Piper after one of Sam’s ‘experiments’

  Kurt both liked and disliked lists. He appreciated that you could make a list for nearly anything, be it simple inventory or a stepped series of tasks based on priority. What he disliked was that they always seemed to change and grow when not written on paper with pen, even then they sometimes managed to change. Case in point, the whiteboard, that they totally hadn’t stolen from Penny, now had many more things on it than it had a few weeks before he started working.

  “Soooo… what’s next?” Sam asked from where she was carefully inspecting her newly enchanted alchemical equipment.

  “Beats the hell out of me.” Kurt gestured vaguely at the board. “I have the armor and clothing orders filled but now I am moving to other equipment and that requires experimenting.”

  “My kind of experiment?” The strange lilt to Sams voice was somewhat alarming.

  Frowning slightly, Kurt turned to her. “I have literally no idea what the inuendo is supposed to be there.”

  Sam’s grin faltered. “Ah, right. You don’t know the lore on that.”

  “Happy to hear it if you care to share.” Kurt said while reading down the list of ‘weapon enhancing treatments’ that Sam had brought in exchange for enchanting some of her equipment. He was getting the barest flicker of an idea in the back of his mind, but it hadn’t quite formed yet.

  “Oh, I am usually brewing or distilling several things at a time and don’t always know what I am doing. I didn’t apprentice under anyone, so I am trying to follow a recipe without context. Also, the translated ones are kinda shit.” Sam began explaining. “So, whenever something is ready, I bring it along in a rift and see how it goes. Sometimes it goes great and sometimes not.”

  “Sounds like it would be a pain in the ass.” Kurt grunted while opening the vault with his grimoire. “I hate equipment that is unreliable, never mind how well it works when it works.”

  “Yeah, I could see that.” Sam snorted. “Well, the first time I tried a throwable instant fire potion… let’s just say there were some pretty intense results. It took me a week to find and make a hair restoration potion for Sif. I made one earlier, but it didn’t work with her plumage, had to adapt.”

  “Any others that stand out?” Kurt had opened his binder and was flipping through the pages, not quite sure what he was looking for. “What is the one that over delivered? Besides the instant fire one.”

  Sam considered for a moment before summoning a small crossbow. It was one of the ‘pistol’ types that were relatively cheap, albeit not very powerful. She pulled out one of the bolts that went with it, holding it to the light. “Probably the one time I made a powder of immolation, and we used it on these. That’s when I figured out that we could put elemental charges on…” She suddenly stopped, seeing the expression on Kurt’s face.

  “Hey, Earth to Kurt.” She waved a hand in front of him. When that didn’t work, she gently touched his shoulder. “Hey, you ok?”

  “Hmm? Yeah. I just had a crazy thought.” He responded before snapping his binder closed and putting it back in the locker. “How well did that immolation powder stick to the bolts?”

  “Pretty good. The elemental powders are not so much powder as they are a playdough consistency. Why?”

  “And there are other types besides fire?” Kurt pressed after retaking his seat to stare at the vampire.

  Sam was giving him a lot of side eye as she responded. “Yeeeesss? I have some freezing, acid and a couple toxins. I can make an electric one with that stuff you got from the rift as a stand in for lithium or other reactive metal. Kurt, what’s going on?”

  Kurt summoned one of his pistol magazines. He held it out to Sam, showing the gaping hollow point cavity in his preferred Gold Dot loading. “Think we can get it to fit in something like this?”

  *****

  “So, what are we doing?” Kristi asked while watching Kurt set up a strange looking rifle that she hadn’t seen before. It was a single shot that hinged just before the trigger guard and had an exposed hammer. It looked a little silly with how short the gun was despite having a relatively long barrel. They were setting up said contraption in the training range that they had been in a few days prior for their baseline testing.

  “Seeing if this ammo works with Sam’s secret sauce.” Val replied in a very matter of fact way.

  Sam just groaned. “Please don’t start calling it my secret sauce. I get enough of that at home.”

  Val suddenly materialized next to the vampiric changeling and leaned in. “Is that a sex thing? Oooohh. It is! It is a sex thing!” She quietly cheered as Sam blushed. “Is it because of- AH-Ah OWIE!”

  A finger flicking across a nipple stopped Val’s question in its tracks and she backed away while rubbing at the offended teat. A triumphant Kristi stood with her index finger extended at Val’s chest level. “Be polite.” She reminded the mischievous vixen.

  “I was being nice. Asking questions is how you get to know people!” Val retorted after pulling the collar of her shirt out and looking down it. “I swear you drew blood. Damn it, Kristi, that hurt!”

  “I didn’t say be nice, I said be polite.” Kristi said, curling the finger back into flicking position and brandishing it at Val. “Don’t tease people for the sake of teasing them.”

  Kurt chose that moment to wander back over. “Sup?” He asked after seeing the scuffle and Val looking down her shirt.

  “Just Val being Val.” Kristi replied, squinting at her girlfriend’s antics. “So, what’s that gun? It looks strange.”

  “It’s an Encore. A single shot gun that you can change barrels on. Pretty much one receiver and every caliber I could ever want. I used it for hunting.” Kurt answered while holding a string. “Ready to test this, Sam?”

  “It’s your gun, so sure.” She flourished her arm, waving it toward the setup. They all turned and Kurt picked up a long string as Kristi summoned a barrier in front of them.

  They had set up the rifle with a 44 Mag barrel and placed it in a vice on a table. The business end was set fifty yards away from a steel plate they had found in the target shed. Next to that was the carcass of a pig that they had bought from one of the local farmers near Petoskey.

  “Firing.” Kurt said and tugged the string.

  As the string tightened, the hammer dropped and the gun fired, bucking slightly in its rest. The metal target pinged and rocked back in a shower of burning fragments. The thick white smoke rising from the burning piles of molten metal reminded Kurt of white phosphorus with how it left little trails of smoke in the wake of the fragments.

  “Well, that was something.” Val said as she picked up a fire extinguisher and went to put out the burning piles of molten metal. Kristi grabbed another and they each doused the smoldering fragments in foam flame retardant.

  Kurt went to inspect the damage on the plate, putting out a couple fires himself as Sam trailed behind him. The round had impacted a little high of the aiming point but that was to be expected with how he zeroed. Where the bullet had hit was covered in white scorch marks surrounding a quarter inch hole that looked like it had been made by a cutting torch.

  “I would say that was a success.” Sam poked at the hole with a glass rod she had pulled from her ring. Wholeheartedly agreeing, Kurt reset the range and they tested it on the pig carcass. The results were disturbing to say the least.

  The round had easily punched through the thin skin of the pig, turning into a mess of bone and bullet fragments then the whole thing just… sizzled. It seemed that nothing of great effect happened for a few moments until the entry wound began to hiss. That hissing then turned into a roaring and whooshing before the entire thing was engulfed in yellow flame.

  “Note to self, don’t get shot by that.” Val commented as they stood there and watched the pig burn from the inside out.

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  A familiar voice suddenly spoke from behind them. “Yes, that would be quite unpleasant.” Jay commented, causing all four agents to turn and face him. “Kurt, are you done here? I have a meeting that I want you to attend.”

  Startled and caught off guard, Kurt looked around at what they had set up. He began making his way to the test bed on the table. “Umm, sure? Let me clean up and we can-“ he began only to be cut off.

  Jay waved his hand, and a black film spread across the floor, enveloping all the remains and residue from the testing before vanishing. “Just grab your gear and come with me. Ladies, I will return him to the house in a couple hours.”

  Kurt had gone to pick up his rifle and only just returned when Jay opened another portal and yanked him through before he could say goodbye. He reappeared in real space a second later only to realize it was Jay’s office.

  “That is a lovely experiment and I want you to continue it but we have a dinner to attend. Before we go, I wanted to give you a heads up on who we are meeting.” Jay began as Kevin came into the office holding up a fitted shirt, slacks and dress shoes for Kurt who looked at them with a very unkind expression. “There is a dress code at the restaurant. Use the bathroom in the corner.” Jay drawled by way of answer while pointing at a door in the corner of his office that Kurt had never noticed.

  Taking the clothes, Kurt went and changed, finding they fit perfectly. He didn’t like them, thinking they were a little too restricting but couldn’t fault the tailor for the style. He emerged a few minutes later to find Jay waiting for him.

  “Good, you’re done. I want to give you a heads up on the man we are going to meet. We are meeting a baron of banking that I have known for a very long time. Alexander VanAndel is a human abbot in the Knights Templar.” Jay explained while Kevin held up a jacket for Kurt to slip into.

  “You want me to meet with the Templars?” Kurt asked incredulously.

  Jay rolled his eyes. “They are not what you are thinking. While they are devout Christians, they are much more understanding about the paranormal peoples of Earth than most expect. I actually went on a couple crusades with Alexander back in the day.”

  “Wait, a human that was alive in the crusades and still is?” Kurt had to ask while lifting his chin so Kevin could put a tie around his neck.

  “Well, he was an archmage so he has some extra longevity.” Jay gave Kurt a once-over and nodded in approval. “Apparently somewhere along the way he found a way to get a little bit of what you, Val and I have in common.”

  The way Jay phrased that made Kurt aware that he was being purposefully vague around his aide so he played along. “Interesting, I wonder what got to him.”

  Jay smiled. “Maybe he will be in a sharing mood over dinner.”

  Kurt frowned and looked at his watch. It was barely lunch time back in Michigan so he was figuring somewhere in Europe or Africa. Going off the name that Jay gave him, he guessed Europe. “We aren’t going to be eating some weird food, are we?”

  “Not at all, probably some of the best you will ever have actually.” Jay smiled and began telling him more about the man they were going to meet and a little about his expectations for the meeting.

  After another fifteen minutes, Kevin brough in very nice coats and handed each of them one. Jay then opened another portal stepped through as Kurt followed behind a moment later.

  He emerged into a poorly lit and rather cold… alley? Yup, Jay had dumped them into an alley that had thankfully been cleared of snow but was dimly lit by nearby street lights. “Where the fuck are we?” Kurt asked.

  “Oslo. Just around the block from one of the Templar vaults and about half a block from our dinner. Let’s go.” Jay said after the portal snapped shut.

  “How did you know that nobody was here to see that?” Kurt wondered. So far, he had always gone through the portal with Jay only to emerge in an abandon location or at least away from prying eyes.

  “Want the long version or the short one?” Jay asked back as they stepped onto the sidewalk and began walking at a leisurely pace.

  “Short is fine I guess.”

  “I can sense what is around the destination I have picked as long as the interference isn’t too bad.” Jay said in a very nonchalant tone. Kurt really wanted to ask for more detail but felt like he had missed his chance at a better explanation.

  “I see.” Kurt forced down his curiosity as they passed a few other people on the street. It was cold enough that not many people were lingering around and everyone kept their heads down with the stiff breeze blowing along the street.

  As promised, after a couple minutes and half a block of walking, they approached the door to a restaurant set on the ground floor of a hotel. Jay greeted the door man in a language that Kurt had no chance of understanding and they were ushered inside to a warmly lit reception hall.

  Jay stepped up to the host stand and spoke to the man there in a quiet voice. The host, wearing a white dress shirt with pleats under a black vest with a bow tie, nodded along as he pulled up a little black booklet and opened it. He snapped it shut a moment later and made a gesture toward the coat check.

  Another man stepped up and took both their coats in exchange for tickets while a third escorted them through the dining area. Kurt looked around the well-lit dining floor at all the people enjoying their meals. He saw most of the patrons were in suits and dresses but the tuxedo wasn’t uncommon at some of the larger tables set in their own partitioned areas.

  Their escort led them along a plush carpet that ran between the dining section to the back of the restaurant where a staircase emerged halfway into the room. He then proceeded to lead them up the stairs and to the first closed door in a short hallway with only half a dozen matching ones.

  After a courtesy knock, they were shown through the door and into a room with only one table within. Well, one table for eating at, there were a couple others along the wall, but they appeared to be there to hold pitchers of water, napkins and extra tableware.

  Sitting at the single dining table were two men. Kurt wouldn’t personally describe either of them as old but the elder of the two appeared to be in his late fifties with salt and pepper black hair that was forming an impressive widow’s peak. He also had a matching neatly trimmed moustache that extended ever so slightly past the corners of his lips. His complexion was definitely on the fairer side but the skin that wasn’t covered by a fancy suit was weathered as much as any farmer Kurt had ever met.

  The second man appeared to be in his late thirties and looked like he hailed from the one of the Asian countries. He wore an equally impressive suit along with a big smile and an even bigger knife. Kurt immediately recognized him as a Gurkha, having met many while deployed overseas.

  As soon as they noticed Kurt and Jay, the elder of the two men stood and came around the table, arms held wide as he approached Jay. His companion was only a moment behind him, looming just within arm’s reach.

  “Jay, my old friend.” The man said with a faint accent that was hard to place other than vaguely European. His voice was bright and clear with a tone that seemed it would carry at anything above a whisper. “I am so glad we could get together after so long.”

  Jay returned the gesture, and they embraced each other in a very familiar way. It reminded Kurt of the few times he had met old friends from the army. “Alexander, it really has been to long.”

  “Bah, I go by Alexi now. Just as you have updated your name, I have done the same.” The old man scoffed after breaking out of the hug. “Unless you prefer I call you Jahamet?”

  The Gurkha stiffened slightly at the name but didn’t move other than a small twitch with his hand. The templar noticed Kurt’s attention on his associate and began to make introductions. “Ah, of course. This is my apprentice Ronni Tammang. Ronni, this is an old, old friend of mine, Jahamet Thecrosis and his…”

  Jay took over then. “Please, call me Jay. This is Kurtis Thalican Rosk, one of my employees within the Order. Though he could be much more… I suspect he is sandbagging.” The usual snark had returned in full force and Kurt was the natural outlet it seemed.

  “Kurt is fine. Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand toward the Alexi then Ronni. It was only once he got within arms reach that he noticed how tall Alexi was, with a couple inches on himself. Ronni on the other hand was a head shorter but much broader. Both men were completely human but Alexi had a little extra something that Kurt detected through his ring.

  “Hi.” Said Ronni with a curt nod and a brilliant white smile. That was all the man said before returning to his original position just within arm’s reach of Alexi.

  “Please, come join us.” Alexi waved them toward the table and they took the two remaining chairs. Jay sat next to Alexi while Kurt sat across from him, Ronni on his left and his boss on his right.

  Barely a moment passed when a waiter appeared through a side door, like he had been waiting for this exact moment. He rapidly approached the table with smooth, graceful steps and placed two small devices on the table, one between Kurt and Jay and the other between Ronni and Alexi. He then took their drink orders which took a little more time than normal.

  “Kurt, please order as you wish. I guarantee this establishment has anything you could ever hope for.” Alexi goaded when Kurt only asked for water.

  “Thank you but it is really ok. Perhaps if there are after dinner drinks, I will have something.” Kurt affirmed. He noticed both the other men frown slightly.

  Alexi raised his eyebrows then, like he had come to understand something. “Of course. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t holding back on my account.” The baron said with a warm smile as he asked for a wine that Kurt had never heard of before and probably wouldn’t be able to pronounce.

  “I will be back momentarily with the drinks.” The waiter said with a very shallow bow, barely more than a head nod.

  “What’s with the buttons?” Kurt asked while looking at the strange device. It had two buttons on it, one red and one green. Just above them was a small crystal bump that looked like the covering for a light of some sort. The whole device was only slightly larger than a pack of playing cards.

  “To order and to request privacy.” Jay said. “Press the green button to call the waiter and the red one to ask that we are not disturbed. The little light will flash when you push the button and go solid when it is acknowledged.” He then promptly went back to chatting with Alexi.

  Kurt hummed in amusement as he looked at the small device before placing it back on the table and returning his attention to the table. Ronni was sitting quietly, listening to the two other men talking. Neither of them felt the need to say anything as the old friends caught up after what seemed to be decades at the least.

  After several long minutes and the waiter returning, Alexi took a sip of wine before letting some of his good humor slip from his face. “Ahem. So, Jay, while I am pleased to catch up, and believe we should do it more often, I am curious to why you called.”

  “It’s all about my young friend here.” Jay slapped Kurt on the shoulder. “Well mostly because of him and his peers. It seems we have a little issue with some pretenders.”

  “Oh? What kind of pretenders?” Alexi leaned forward slightly, his smile fading even more. He looked at Kurt with an intense expression before looking back to Jay.

  The demon shrugged. “The kind who like to pretend they are Templars and seem to have a couple lesser angels mixed in. So, the kind that can cause a problem for everyone.”

  Ronni muttered something under his breath that Kurt couldn’t quite hear while Alexi snorted. “Those damned mercenaries were bad enough in the gulf wars, now we got more to deal with. While I appreciate the warning, I want to know what it has to do with him.” Alexi finished by pointing a finger at Kurt. “I can smell the divinity on him and know he is far too young to be from our peerage. How is it another god is being born in this day in age?”