Author's note: I've wanted to write a Halloween themed Burn notice/Blair witch 2 mash up for a while now, I wouldn't consider this a crossover because I'm not faithful to the movie's cannon. Happy Halloween!
Michael Westen and the book of shadows
When you are a spy… you get absolutely no training on how to deal with the supernatural and the occult. I am way out of my league here
…..
For Michael Westen Halloween was one of the worse nights of the year, he hated everything about it. He rolled his eyes at the corny merchandising swarming every store and every house, along with those generic pumpkins that became rotten too soon on the hot Miami sun. He hated how every person seemed to take an arbitrary date on the calendar as an excuse to get irremediably drunk and cause several stages of mayhem wherever they went. Children in corny costumes running around the street asking for candy was in fact, a rather cute aspect of the holiday, but the grown adults that should know better than to slap on those same costumes and play pranks on the populace was not.
Only a handful of people (mostly esoteric weirdoes') still attribute somewhat of a spiritual significance to the all hallows eve, yet even sane rational people let themselves get swept up in a mild mass hysteria that seemed to give them permission to try stuff they wouldn't think about otherwise and then blame it on the nonexistent spirits that supposedly plague that night. That's why on that date the ER at most hospitals get congested, so do the police stations and fire departments and the burnt spy always finds himself in more trouble than usual.
There is a mantra he often hears every 31 of October: "weird stuff happens on Halloween"
Michael's loft, earlier that day:
It was a sunny Monday morning and Michael was about to go for a run, he was actually relieved to have some time to himself, since Fiona and Sam were in fact working together doing a gig.
They planned to steal all the information guarded in the private computer of a wealthy business man named Henry Masterson. According to Sam the guy went from a regular nobody to a tycoon in the space of a few months and a buddy of him that worked on the FBI suspected Masterson might on fact be running an international pyramidal scheme. Michael would of course stay alert in case they needed him, Jesse would be available as well.
Just when he thought he might finally have a quiet uneventful day for once he found three people waiting for him outside, his defensive instincts kicked in as he reached for his hand gun hidden behind the waistband of his jogging pants.
-"May I help you?"- He said in false cordiality.
-"Hello mister Westen"- An elegant, pale skinned dark haired woman in an expensive black suit asked politely –"I am sorry to disturb you sir but I was wondering if we could go inside and talk for a minute"-
-"About what?"- He was not eager to let strangers into his place and he did not trust anyone who could track his whereabouts considering all his continuous effort to keep a low profile.
The group sighed and seemed uncomfortable. The woman that addressed him earlier continued –"we need your help with a dangerous criminal, a serial killer in fact. But the details are complex and I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss it out in the open"- then her blue eyes gazed into his and for a moment he could almost believe she was reading his mind.
-"I see you do not trust us to get inside your home, but if you are curious about our situation please meet us at this address in an hour"- She handed him a piece of paper with the name of a small bar close by, and with a shy waving of their hands the three people left without uttering a word.
…..
Less than an hour later Michael was into the tiny bar called "La escondida". Sam Axe, always a connoisseur on the subject, had told him about that place. He said the drinks were phenomenal but he rarely went there because it wasn't a good place to pickup women and he described the atmosphere as a little daunting. The burned spy had to agree, the place was shabby and it was obvious the owner hadn't cared much about basic maintenance, even in a sunny day it was dark since it had no windows. You could almost think the owner wanted to keep people outside yet the place had been around for years now, so he must have a faithful clientele.
In a small table in the middle of that bar the trio he met earlier welcomed him nervously, they did seem harmless. –"I'm sorry sir we were never introduced"- The elegant dark haired woman said shaking his hand. –"My name is Kim Diamond I am a psychiatrist"-
Beside her a petite beautiful red headed woman introduced herself; she had very light skin and warm blue eyes that seemed to spark joy all the time. -"Hi my name is Erica Gueerson and I'm a meteorologist"- on the other side a blond man with blue grey eyes gave him a firm handshake –"Steven Parker, geologist"-
-"You said you needed help"- Michael said not wasting any more time
Kim responded: -"I have a patient in the hospital I work for, her name is Tristen Ryler you might have heard about her case, it infested the newspapers ten years ago. She murdered two men and three women in the everglades in what seemed to be some sort of Satanist ritual; the victims were tortured and dismembered limb by limb then placed around a pentagram. Two days after the murders she was caught by her husband while trying to cook the flesh of one of them in her own kitchen, he called the police immediately."-
Michael had a dim recollection of hearing about that case but at the time he paid little attention to it since he was far from the US, yet the news made it even overseas given the outrageousness of the murders. He admitted the whole crime was extremely bizarre even for a city like Miami but she had been caught and trialed quite fast and with the case closed people simply moved on over time.
-"The thing is"- Erica interrupted –"That both Tristen and her husband believe the true culprit for the murders wasn't actually her but an evil arcane spirit that possessed her body and hasn't let go of her ever since. So her husband plans to perform a Wiccan exorcism on her, and for that he needs four people to perform the ritual."-
Looking around Michael could guess what they had in mind –"You have got to be kidding me"- he couldn't help laughing at the idea.
-"I know it sounds crazy mister Westen but she has been on strong antipsychotics for over ten years and nothing seems to work. She is so violent she almost killed several security guards during her fits of rage. I cannot control her, I gave her enough drugs to overdose an elephant and I have found no physical restraint that can hold her back more than a few hours. I am the fifth psychiatrist to treat her and like all my predecessors I have found nothing that can diminish her violent attacks both on herself or others. I still have trouble believing how a slender woman like her can overpower men three times her size even after I have seen the security tapes"-
For some reason the thought of a petite violent woman overpowering strong powerful men reminded him of Fiona. But then Kim removed a large tablet from her purse and showed him a snippet from the security tapes.
The image showed a slender blonde woman in a straight jacket that was wrapped with large iron chains, she was swinging her upper body back and forward in the middle of a padded room. A moment later a large orderly came in, the man was 6,5 feet tall and vey wide. He approached her with the same caution a lion tamer would have on his beasts, with slow careful steps, but that was all for naught. Before he knew the large chains that imprisoned her were torn by her little arms along with the fabric of the straightjacket, she then lifted him high above her head as if he weighted nothing and threw him face first towards the camera. As the face of the muscular man impacted towards the lens of the rudimentary camera the former spy couldn't help the reflexive flinch at the awful images, especially when he could have sworn he saw her face contort into something ugly and inhuman for a split second, but then dismissed those thoughts immediately.
-"That poor man is still in the hospital"- Kim said –"I have the hope that maybe if we play along with this delusion of hers we might convince her "the spirit" inside of her is gone and she might make some improvement. It is ridiculous I know but at this point there is nothing more we can do aside from killing her or let her mangle the staff."-
-"There is one other thing, three years before those murders five more corpses were found in a forest near Burkittsville Maryland and the crime scene was quite similar, pentagram and all, except for the fact that those bodies had no skin whatsoever, as if it had been expertly peeled off. The murderer was yet another young woman named Elli Kedward, she killed herself in prison shortly after her trial. Both Tristen and her husband Rustin were allegedly investigating her case so they could write a book about it."- Stephen explained.
-"Are you saying she might be a copycat killer?"- Michael asked a little intrigued.
Erica continued –"No but you seem like a skeptic mister Westen just like Tristen and Rustin were at the time, they didn't become wiccans after the second murders happened. What I mean to tell you is that you should be warned that just because you don't believe in the evil spirits don't mean they're not real. Maybe she is telling the truth"-
When you are a spy, deceit is by far your weapon of choice. On of the most succesful forms of deceit is the use of supernatural imagery. If your target belives in it your power of persuasion increases tenfold and since faith is by definition unquestionable, they will believe in whatever you tell them, no matter how much evidence they have on the contrary.
As someone who had sometimes manipulated people using their beliefs in the supernatural Michael understood the power of superstition, as fake as the myths are they still can have impact on real life. –"So what do you need me for?"- he asked fearing the answer.
It was up to Erica to explain-"Blaire's husband, Rustin Parr, is convinced that the people needed to perform the ritual must stand in for the four elements, so he has selected all of us considering our affinity with each. I am a meteorologist that specializes in air currents so I stand for air. Stephen is a very talented geologist who also won several awards for gardening, which means he is earth. Meanwhile the doc here is a very talented swimmer and deep sea diver on her spare time, which make her perfect for the water element. As for you mister Westen, you have been seen all around Miami setting things on fire, sometimes just by snapping your fingers like you were the lord of darkness brought to earth"-
Michael groaned at the mention of that particular job. He should have known playing the devil that time he wanted to scare Omar and get to Rincon would give him trouble in the future, he didn't blame them for coming to him expecting to do some sort of magic when he had created such a convincing illusion. He explained them it had all been a carefully crafted Vegas style magic trick and he had in fact no actual links with the occult.
-"Mister Westen I am a skeptic as well but I do believe this might work if she believes the exorcism is real, of course it would be all smoke and mirrors but just because it's not real doesn't mean it can't have tangible results"- Kim said softly.
-"Speak for yourself Doc I am a proud Wiccan and I think this is the only way to save that poor woman"- Erica said beaming.
-"I am a devout catholic and I should stay the fudge away from this pagan BS but I need the money, my mom got colon cancer last year and the medical bills have done nothing but pile up. I owe forty thousand dollars and if I don't make a down payment to the bank soon I'm losing my house"- Stephen said with a tinge of anger and frustration in his voice, the last year had thrown one bad news after another on his tired shoulders and the sadness in his eyes showed he was about to have an emotional breakdown.
-"Yes Mister Westen, I forgot to mention Mister Parr is willing to pay ten thousand dollars to each of us if we do this. If you don't believe this exorcism is worth your time perhaps the twenty thousand dollars might be"- Kim explained
-"Twenty? I thought he was giving us ten each"-
-"Yes but I do not need money I do this basically for professional curiosity, so I am willing to give you my share of the profit if it helps to convince you to do this"- Kim implored
-"I, on the other hand, do this because as a wiccan it's my duty to keep the evil spirits at bay and receiving money for it would put me in the same position as all those carnival fake witches are. They give us all a bad name you know? So I'll give my part to Terrence, he really needs it"- Erica spoke in her customary cheery voice.
-"Thanks ma'am"- Stephen said grateful while giving her the first smile he had in a whole year.
With a sigh of resignation Michael asked: -"How is this ritual supposed to work out? I mean, what do we have to do?"-
Knowing they had convinced him Kim said in her sweet, almost hypnotic voice:-"We'll go to a secluded area surrounded by nature; we'll go to the exact place in the everglades where she committed the murders. Once there we will form a circle, Tristen will be in the middle, and then each of us reads a chapter from a book mister Parr is keeping in his house. Preparations aside it should all be over in less than thirty minutes"-
-"That's it?"- Michael said, wary of any job that presented itself as "easy money". He learnt by experience those were usually the ones that became messy. –"Now have you wondered what would happen if the psycho that can break through iron chains escapes while she is in that circle in the middle of nowhere?"-
-"A full security team will be guarding her; they will be armed, as well as two more physicians in case she hurts herself. You need to understand mister Westen that this is our last chance; if she doesn't make some kind of improvement she won't be alive by Christmas. The employees at my clinic refuse to come close to her even to give her food and with good reason, she has stopped sleeping altogether and her health is declining fast. That is why I'm willing to do this crazy form of therapy I have run out of options"-
Now Michael felt obliged to participate in this crazy plan, if only because leaving these untrained civilians alone in the everglades with someone as dangerous as Tristen would probably result in a bloodbath. He also suspected all this exorcism crap could be an escape plan made by her husband. In a more logical world he should have laughed at them and left that ugly bar, but he knew it was better to supervise this exorcism and make sure Tristen staid contained than let them try this on their own and wind up releasing that serial killer out on the open.
-"I'll do it with two conditions; one is that I get to supervise the whole security of this thing and two is that Stephen gets all of our shares so he can pay his debt."-
The former spy was not ready for what came up next, Stephen threw himself at him, crushed him in a vice like hug and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek with tears of happiness falling freely from his eyes. –"Thank you so much man, you have no idea how much does this mean for me"- It took several minutes for Michael to wrestle himself out of that grip and get his precious personal space back.
…
Michael's loft, later that day:
A few hours later Michael was helping Fiona make a few explosives in case her job with Sam turned south. Jesse would supervise the whole thing from outside to bring extra back up. It seemed though, that all those preparations were not necessary, since their target actually seemed like an honest man. With all the information both Sam and Fiona were gathering they still couldn't find any link from Madison to a criminal activity whatsoever but they couldn't find out how he made so much money in such little time either.
-"This is almost unfair, me and Sam are going to this huge masquerade party that Masterson is throwing while you'll stay locked up in the loft watching horror films"- She gave him her prettiest smile, being around C4 always put her in a good mood.
He chuckled and shook his head, -"If you must know, I am invited to do a witchcraft exorcism on a serial killer"-
After he told her about the strange meeting he had in that bar (carefully avoiding the part about Tristen being able to rip iron chains) Fiona had grown from bemused to concerned.
-"Maybe you should take Jesse with you, I mean if this is all a charade from Parr to get Tristen out of the asylum a lot of people could get hurt"-.
-"Actually it is her safety I'm beginning to worry about, at least nine police officers agreed to supervise the whole thing. My guess is that they're not interested in magic they just want an excuse to kill her, so I'll make sure there are no bullets being fired. It's a good thing the exorcism will be recorded for psychiatric research purposes; it's less likely the cops try something illegal that way"- Michael did not want any of his friends near the exorcism, it was bad enough that he had to do something so ridiculous with a bunch of strangers, much worse would be to have his friends witness that absurdity.
-"So … does that mean you are a witch now? That's interesting I never had sex with a master of the occult before"- She asked in a coy sultry tone, the way her hips sway made her intentions clear.
She was cornering him towards the bed, as her slender hands pushed him roughly onto the lumpy mattress he joked –"I think the proper term is warlock"- then he could speak no more as Fiona climbed on top of him and gave him a rough forceful kiss.
…
Everglades, one hour to midnight:
Of course the ritual had to be performed at midnight, especially on a clear night without a single cloud on the sky where the full moon shone bright, hey if they were going for Halloween clichés they might as well go hard at it.
They all met in the everglades, Michael arrived before the police and the medics were set in place, everything seemed to go smoothly.
It didn't take long before he was surrounded and greeted by the now familiar trio; they quickly introduced him to Rustin Parr.
Rustin was a pale blond man who looked ten years older than he really was, but aside from the gauntness in his face he looked like a regular guy. Michael was surprised he didn't look like an esoteric pastor or something like that, considering the man had become one of the most famous and wealthy gurus on the east coast. According to Kim, he was a skeptic before his wife's murders took place but it didn't take long for him to use the crime's infamy and claims of dark magic to make a lot of money out of bored rich people who were interested in the occult.
Then the alleged sorcerer said to the group of improvised witches in a solemn voice: -"this is the book of shadows"- he presented them a strange book covered in what seemed like uneven pieces of leather, in a soft motion that book separated itself into four equal parts
–"Each chapter is meant for a different element"- He gave one part to Stephen and with the same solemn air a royal named a knight he pronounced –"Earth. You are the only stable element of the four, it is your job to keep the other witches safe"- the same happened to Kim and Erica until he told them –"Both of you must keep your emotions in check, when controlled your elements are essential to life but loose that control and you can both be destructive with the same ease"- when it was Michael's turn he said gravely –"Fire, you must be careful, your element is as powerful as it is frail. Fire can burn entire cities to ashes but unlike the other elements who merely exists on their own, when you deprive fire of air, fuel or heat it will die off"-
-"I'll keep that in mind"- he said dryly while holding his chapter of that strange book. –"Now what are these books made of?"- They didn't seem like anything he ever saw before.
-"Human skin, the book was made with the remains of the victims in Maryland. It took me several years and lots of money to find it so please you guys be careful, it is supposed to go back to the Burkittsville police by tomorrow morning"-
All four of them made a face of disgust, so that is what happened to the skin removed from the original victims. Opening those books they noticed it was written in four different languages like a Rosetta stone. Earth was written in Farsi, water in French, fire in Russian and air was in Mandarin.
-"I assume you all know each of the languages in the book right?"- All of them nodded. It was for a weird coincidence that for some reason each of the four knew the language the book was written. By sheer serendipity and for very different reasons the four exorcists had at some point in their lives traveled to countries that spoke them.
Then a van that was lent from the local police to transport prisoners arrived to the narrow unpaved path that led to that forsaken swamp in the everglades. Inside that van, heavily guarded by several police officers, was the allegedly possessed witch. It took several officers and a few orderlies from the asylum to drag the beastly creature that was supposed to be Tristen Ryler outside that van. Nonetheless once outside, to the surprise of everyone, the woman was quiet aside from a few maniac laughs as they led her to the center of a pentagram drawn with salt on the ground. She had in fact; obeyed on every command they gave her while muttering in an intelligible language and giggling to herself.
Midnight came and the group got placed in an awkward circle holding hands while surrounding the woman now chained in the middle of them. Outside of the circle several police officers and a few medics stayed ready to shoot or help in case something went wrong. In four corners state of the art cameras with nocturnal vision would record the entire thing.
Once they were in place Tristen said in a voice that seemed disjointed into two different tones, as if in fact there were two persons speaking in unison, that their exorcism would fail and that the portal of hell they would open would bring chaos all over the world. –"That's right guys open the gate so my friends will come to play"-. She said in that unnatural voice while her spine twisted in ways that would paralyze any other human being and with every word her mouth deformed in one awful expression after another.
-"Let's get this started shall we? "- Michael scoffed hiding in a toothy grin the fact that Tristen's wails were giving him the creeps.
Erica was the first, as she repeated the words written in the book of shadows: -" Xié'è de línghún cóng xiàmiàn de shēnghuó de jìngjiè. Wǒ lái zhèlǐ shì wèile niǔzhuǎn nǐ zàochéng de xié'è."- the mild autumn breeze that blew softly on the swamp that clear warm night turned into a strong wind that begun to blow harder with every one of her words, sending her red curly hair whipping through the wind. The light of the full moon was soon obliterated by dark clouds that seemed to be formed out of nowhere.
Kim was next, when she began her chant: -"Mauvais esprit de ci-dessous le domaine de la vie. Je suis venu ici pour inverser le mal que vous avez fait."- tiny droplets of water fell from the sky when she spoke the first words but after finishing her part of the spell heavy rain was pouring over all of them.
From behind them the four witches could hear the grumbling and complaints from the members of the police, some found the coincidence funny while others seemed afraid the ritual might not be so harmless after all.
Until now Michael had discarded the events as an ill timed storm but when Stephen begun his chant in the lines of: -" rwh alshshrr min taht ealam al'ahya'i. laqad jit huna lieaks alshshrr alty tasbabt."- the earth became too soft and sticky as if they had stood over quicksand, their feet were soon buried up to their knees, pinning all of them on the floor rendering them unable to run away.
The spy was beginning to panic, just like all the police officers and medics that surrounded the quartet but the voice of reason told him it was probably the mud that formed because of the storm "just get this thing over with" he thought, the sooner he did his part the sooner her could be either home or helping out his friends in an actual job other than this hocus pocus bullshit.
So he begun to speak and said what the book instructed: -"zloy dukh ot nizhe tsarstva zhivykh. YA prishel syuda, chtoby obratit' zlo vy prichinili-" And thunder appeared on the sky resonating loud and clear, with every word the crackling of the electric particles in the air became more prominent and the smell of ozone assaulted his nostrils, the storm grew more intense with every passing second until he uttered the last syllable of the spell. That's when he was suddenly struck by lightning.
Tendrils of pure and unabashed electricity invaded Michael's body and as he was holding hands with the other three it wasn't long until the lightning spread to the four of them. As it touched every one of the exorcists a circle of fire was formed right below them, then the same electricity invading their bodies was directly shot at the possessed witch.
In a logical world the burnt spy should have either died or lost consciousness but as the lightning bolt invaded him he noticed that time was halted into a stop and he was in fact more lucid than ever, seeing in frightening detail how the lighting went from the four people in the circle to the woman in the middle of it. He could also hear the anguished wails of the people behind him.
The rest of what happened Michael could never explain, the logical part of his brain could never find a way to justify what he was seeing so it merely shut down in a fit of panic.
In the middle of a circle invaded by air, water, earth and fire Tristen was screaming at the top of her lungs. The petite blonde collapsed on the floor and a large lump begun to form in the middle of her chest, then a black hand erupted from her torso, followed by a deformed humanoid head whose face was occupied solely by a large gaping maw filled with several rows of pointy teeth like a lamprey. They all saw in horror as little by little the entire deformed black body of the creature emerged from the woman's chest and hissed at them with a loud hellish battle cry.
In all the warzones, prisons and sieges Michael ever was, he hadn't felt the fear he was feeling right now. How could he save the situation when he had no idea what to do? He couldn't run away but he didn't know how to fight this thing either.
-"What do we do now?"- Stephen said frightened.
Left forgotten in the middle of the circle Tristen, the real Tristen, rose shakily to her feet and instructed to her saviors: -"you know what to do! The power of nature's spirit is inside all of you now. If you want to destroy this monster you need to become one with your power instead of fighting it, don't be afraid and open yourselves to the voice of nature!"-
Awestruck and terrified Stephen kneeled on the muddy earth and prayed asking god for answers, Erica chanted a calling for mother Gaia to give her guidance and neither Michael nor Kim could understand what the hell was going on ,as a matter of fact the panic inside of them threatened to give both a heart attack.
But then they saw Erica slowly levitate enveloped by a small tornado and as the redhead screamed her eyes turned white and gust of wind knocked the horrible creature out.
-"She's right guys! Stop holding the power back and you'll be able to fight this spirit out of this world!"- Erica said now flying above them.
The creature recovered fast though, scanning the witches that were attacking it noticed that while the air and earth one were stable and gaining power because of their faith, the water and fire ones were staggering since they were skeptics. So it chose to attack the fire witch first, since he could be the most powerful should he made proper use of his element. The creature's twisted hands soon turned into large razor sharp talons and it launched itself at the helpless man. Yet before its sharp claws could rip his flesh the thing stumbled into the ground dragged by powerful roots that sprouted from the earth.
The former spy could see that behind the creature Stephen was kneeling on the ground, his body covered in fast growing plants while his eyes shone a bright emerald green. Michael should have freaked out but something in the way Stephen looked at his fellow exorcists felt reassuring. Kim must have sensed the same because she slowly stood up and raised her hands above her face, her eyes shone a bright fluorescent blue and the heavy rain that was pouring all over the place soon concentrated right above the creature, joining itself to the concentrated gusts of wind Erica was using against the monster as the real Tristen seemed to pray and levitate above all of them.
Michael saw no point in trying to deny whatever the hell was happening in here so he took a deep breath and tried to relax. He realized then that the panic that was overwhelming him and the tightness in his chest was not in fact an imminent heart and /or panic attack but the arcane energy bubbling inside of him begging to come out, so with a conscious thought he opened the gates to the energy locked inside of him and let that power transform into a blaze of scorching fire.
When it did the explosion was enormous. Parr was right fire was frail but it was also extremely powerful, in a red haze he saw fire emerging from his hands and with a snap of his fingers the creature was enveloped in flames. Now contained the monster had to be kicked right into the hell it had emerged from. The pentagram below them was no longer drawn on earth, now it was a black bottomless pit and in that hole a million other horrifying creatures were fighting to get out, stepping over each other trying to claw their way out of their realm in the hope to get into ours.
It was Stephen's idea to join hands once again as earth shook and stronger roots begun to block the entrance to hell, the mud was no longer trapping them and Erica's power was in fact lifting the four of them from the ground. Kim made water spring from a nearby river and along with the powerful rain a sphere of water surrounded the group.
-"We have to push it down before the portal closes"- Erica cried from above, but Tristen had other ideas.
-"NO! WE WON'T TAKE IT BACK WE ARE KILLING THIS THING RIGHT NOW!"- She had suffered ten long years in the grip of this thing, she had seen firsthand what it was capable of and she also knew that it would find the way to come back and hurt someone else.
Michael directed a blaze of bright fire at the thing's chest in the hope of burning it from the inside out, he could sense the real Tristen guiding him and helping him channel his power.
Apparently Tristen worked as a fifth element, without having a power of her own she was responsible for potentiating the force of the four elements as a whole.
The sphere of water Kim created was then torn into a million different droplets and they in turn became microscopic ice picks that the water witch directed straight to the creature's heart.
The monster begun to scream with enough force to shake the earth, its arms then turned into four large tentacles covered in sharp needles which it used to envelope the exorcists in and iron grip.
Stephen blocked the pain caused by the needles that ravaged his skin and made several sharp roots emerge from the edges of the gate that pierced the body of the monster, Erica gave the final blow directing a strong gust of wind into the open wounds the other exorcists managed to inflict on the thing's body. With one final inhuman scream the creature died turning into a pile of dust but not before launching its final attack, before dying the monster caused an explosion that threw them out in the air.
…..
Midnight, Masterson's manor.
While Fiona was distracting Masterson Sam managed to enter his office and search his computer, there was no security password which told Sam that either the man had nothing to hide or that there was nothing of importance inside that computer.
With a little browsing Sam understood why Masterson was so trusting, he wasn't breaking any law. Masterson was merely a large shareholder that bought several stocks for the company that the FBI knew was a pyramidal scheme. At the height of the company's popularity he made millions and now that the scheme was about to be exposed he simply sold the stocks before the shit hit the fan. How did Masterson got the Intel Sam didn't know, since there was absolutely no record or paper trail that showed he was connected to the company. This meant it would be very hard to prove he did anything illegal.
-"Did you get anything?"- Jesse asked him trough his intercom. He was in a rented Mercedes playing the part of Mister and Miss Finley's chauffer.
-"Yeah kind of"- he said disappointed –"Turns out Masterson is not a criminal per se just an A hole"-
Sam got a copy of the file in a flash drive, sneaked his way out of the office and placed his stupid mask on his face. He had left Fiona flirting with the guy to keep him distracted. Looking for the pixie gunrunner he found her giggling on the balcony. She was playing the part of Charlotte Finley, cheating gold-digger trophy wife to perfection. But as he was approaching her he heard Jesse's voice in the intercom
-"Sam listen something's up with Mike, I called him to ask for help on this thing. You know he might be the only one that could make Masterson either confess of pay for what he did but I can't reach him, something must be wrong, his phone is disconnected."-
-"Got it buddy I'm getting Fi outta here, there isn't much more to do in this place anyway"-
-"Great I got the car ready"-
Fiona was chatting amiably with Masterson on the balcony overlooking to his large courtyard. Below them a large group of people danced in the masquerade under the bright fool moon. In the distance she could see clouds and lighting forming in the horizon.
She was in fact enjoying the party, her glitter filled mask hid her contempt for Masterson and made her flirting much easier. She thought that with a little more champagne and coaxing she might even get a confession out of the guy.
-"So that's where you've been"- "Chuck Finley" said in his posh accent, placing a hand on his "wife's" waist.
Before she could blow Sam off the ex seal told her in false joviality –"Sorry darling but we must go, I have a few things to take care of before our trip to Bahamas"-
Fiona could tell by the tense smile Sam was displaying that something was wrong so she gave Masterson a friendly goodbye and left as fast as she could without raising suspicion.
Once inside the car both Sam and Jesse explained what Sam had found on Masterson's computer but Fiona couldn't care less about that at the moment. Michael never missed a phone call, especially when his friends were on a job and might need his back up. They had tried not only his regular phone but many of the spare phones he had and there was no answer.
-"So you're telling me Mickey is playing with witchcraft on a serial killer?"- Sam said exasperated.
-"It was actually just a psychiatric experiment Sam"- Fiona explained sheepishly
-"An experiment that involves one of the most violent and deranged murderers in recent history. You should have told us before Fiona! I can't believe you let him go alone!"- Jesse scolded her
-"He had at least nine police officers and an ambulance ready in case something wrong happened"-
-"If only a quarter of what they say about Tristen Ryler is true then the entire army might be not enough, I've heard about her case and the details…"- Jesse shook his head trying not to think about what might happen if she got loose.
-"What do you know about her?"- Fiona asked suspicious
-"Enough to believe she might not be entirely human, hasn't anyone thought what might happen if she were in fact possessed?"- Jesse could not hide the fear in his voice.
-"Wow wait buddy, are you telling me you actually believe she is the host of a demon?"- Sam said chuckling, he never thought Jesse to be the superstitious type.
-"Laugh all you want Sam, but I've heard from people who investigated her case, logical smart people, and they said they believed there was no sane explanation for the way she killed those people"-
Rolling his eyes Sam merely added –"Ugh just speed up will ya? Unless we find Mickey flying on a broomstick or dancing with Lucifer we'll get him out of whatever trouble he got himself into"-
….
As they neared the place in the everglades Sam, Fiona and Jesse begun to panic. The scene in front of them looked like an aftermath of a horrible war zone. Several members of the police force and a few doctors were lying unconscious scattered on the ground.
One quick check up showed them that the people scattered on the field were unconscious but alive, their pulse and breathing strong and steady. Sam called the authorities but they were far away into the everglades so help would arrive in at least an hour.
In the middle of the ground there was a pentagram drawn in salt, inside of its lines there was a lump of black ash and what seemed so be a human corpse charred almost up to the bones.
-"Jeez what the hell were these guys up to?"- Sam pondered a little freaked out. Just because he didn't believe in ghosts or whatever this was, it didn't mean he could shake off the feeling in his gut that said something horrible had happened here.
Fiona and Jesse were calling up to Michael but found no answer. –"Let's split up guys, I' heading east. Fi why don't you go to the west?"- Jesse said and Fiona immediately went looking for Michael.
-"I'll go to the swamp, if we don't find anything I'm meeting you guys in an hour by that time we'll have the cavalry here"- Sam said while scanning in the water for anything that might at least give him a clue of what had happened.
As he neared the swamp he noticed a body floating in the water, at closer inspection he saw it was a dark haired woman. Somewhat relieved the corpse did not belong to his friend he guided her to the shore. Usually the least you should do when finding a dead body is altering the crime scene but he thought it was better to keep her in the shore and away from any crocodile looking for a quick lunch. When he turned her around he sighed in pity, the woman was young and very beautiful her fair flawless skin looked radiant with no early signs of decomposition, as if she had merely fallen asleep. He gently brushed away a few errant ebony tresses from her face but at the mere contact to her skin she opened her eyes.
Sam gave a little scream in shock as the brunette looked at him, quickly coming to his senses he felt her pulse and found it perfectly normal.
-"Who are you?"- She asked calm
-"Oh hey my name is Sam Axe"- he said nervously –"Don't worry ma'am help is on the way you'll be fine in no time"-
-"I am fine sir, thank you for your concern"- she brushed him off and stood up quickly
-"Are you sure? I mean…"-
-"Yes of course"- she cut him off –"I just fell asleep, that's all"-
-"You chose to fall asleep face down on a swamp?"- He said outraged
-"I wouldn't say choose"- She looked at him sheepishly.
Before Sam could demand some answers he heard Jesse screaming not far away.
Jesse hadn't walked more than half a mile when he felt something tugging at his foot, when he looked down he screamed in horror as he saw a human hand that sprouted from the earth and was grabbing his ankle with force. Falling down he saw that had was wriggling as if screaming for help, the floor around it begun to move and that's when Jesse figured out this wasn't a scene of a zombie movie but a person that was buried alive. With his hands he begun to dig into the earth, Sam and Kim were quick to run to his side and help them.
A few minutes later Stephen emerged from the earth gasping for air, like Kim before him he recovered quickly and seemed to be fine.
-"Would any of you please tell me what happened here?"- Sam was losing his patience.
-"Sorry man but you wouldn't believe me if I told you"- Stephen responded, behind him Kim nodded gravely.
-"Could you at least tell us were Michael is?"- Jesse implored
Stephen shook his head, after the explosion they were all scattered around he had no idea where he could be.
-"Oh crap look!"- Kim said pointing far behind them, following her gaze they saw a woman hanging in the branches of a large tree. They ran towards her and Jesse being the most fit and strong of all of them he climbed into it. Erica woke up as the young man was gently trying to untangle her from the large pointy branches that were keeping her in place, she saw his handsome face and gave him a sweet bright smile. Jesse smiled shyly at the beautiful red haired woman who seemed so calm in spite of being suspended several feet above the ground.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he jumped out from the tree and landed swiftly on the wet ground, with the slender young lady in his arms he was now in a very good mood. He always liked being the night in shiny armor.
-"Thank you"- Erica said as she stood up.
Sam thought the moment those two were having was adorable but right now they had more pressing issues at hand. -"Look this is lovely and all but we need to find Mike"-
Fiona walked deep into the thick vegetation when she saw something at a distance, it seemed like a flickering light at first but as she got closer she recognized it was a small tree burning up. Her heart almost stopped when she saw that trapped in that tree was an unconscious Michael. Ignoring the flames she climbed into it and shook him in an effort to wake him up.
Michael woke up from his slumber feeling disoriented, in his mind he thought he was back in the loft. A familiar voice was calling him and all he could mutter was the word -"coffee"- hoping the black liquid could help him clear the fog inside his head.
A hard slap on his cheek brought him right back to reality and he saw Fiona's face inches from his own –"Wake up Michael we have to get out of here!"- Looking around he realized the predicament he was in. Struggling he noticed the branches of the tree had his hands and legs trapped and the fire was slowly consuming the wood coming closer at him every second, luckily Fiona wasn't trapped as well.
-"Fi you gotta go. Get help!"-
-"No I'm not leaving you!"- She said failing to untangle him from the ominous black branches of that god-awful tree.
-"The more you stay here the more time you waste! Go now and get help!"-
With a look of determination Fiona sprinted out of the tree and to where she came from screaming for help.
Once she was out of sight he sighed in relief. Deep down he knew what he had to do, he let the flames consume the tree completely and envelope him. Soon the fire had died off leaving an undamaged Michael dusting off ashes from his clothes.
He knew that from then on, fire would never burn him. He could feel the element bending at his will and protecting him from harm instead of burning him. With grim determination he contemplated his new power and said out loud: -"I hate Halloween"-
….
Author's note: A second chapter explaining the aftermath of the story will be posted on November the first, right after the holliday.