Down On The Bayou Detective Agency - Case Files
Chapter 9
Case #16 - Un vampir de energie Part 8
Summary:
Disclaimer:
Definitions:
Author's Note:
~o0o~
Previously:
"Then, let's get this show on the road!" roared Sam.
~o0o~
The six friends checked into the best hotel they could find in Greenville, set up shop at once, and began to hunt for anything they could that might lead them to the vampir de energie.
Edward was the first to pick up something. It was just a niggling vibration, but the more he concentrated on it, the stronger it became.
The experiences from working together with other psychics had taught Edward and the rest that they were definitely stronger as a group. If one of the group found something, they'd talk with each other about what they'd felt or discovered. By following this process, they were able to slide, metaphorically, on each other's rails.
This was very true today.
Edward told his family that he'd felt the killer was hungry-to the point of being starved-and it was frightenedof being discovered.
"It was as if I hadn't eaten in months. I felt weak from lack of nourishment, and I felt terror, so I was following that thread but came up to a very high and thick wall I can't seem to get through, over, or around."
Sam thought about these descriptions and soon found he was standing next to what he'd come to recognize as Edward on the inner planes. Edward was a towering beacon of pure, blazing energy in the shape of a man. Sam went to this beacon and joined hands with him. Soon Angela saw them and reached for them, and they'd reach back until they were holding hands.
Lauren's visions of her sister, Edward, and Sam were a tiny bit different as they appeared as huge flames of blue-white that did not burn nor feel cold. The presence was warm and familiar to her. She also joined hands with them on the inner planes. The force of their wills was formidable.
What they found was more shocking than they realized it would be.
Before them, on the inner planes, was a humanoid shape which did not give off light but appeared to be sucking it in. It almost looked like a walking black hole. Had they not been joined, they might have been sucked into the dark, grayish vortex. The power of the being almost got to them, but with their combined efforts, they were able to pull back into their own bodies.
The four of them were shaken by what they had seen and felt. No wonder those young people had been taken so easily. The walking force would have gotten them as well had they not been very experienced in dealing with the inner planes.
They opened their eyes and took in their physical surroundings, beginning to ground themselves once more.
Shivering, Angela asked Bella if she'd go down to the coffee shop in the hotel and get some hot tea and bring it back up. Angela didn't want to have to deal with some stranger at the moment since she was pretty sure the creature they'd encountered would come looking for them on this plane.
"I'll go with you, Bella," Emmett volunteered.
Bella and Emmett wasted no time because when they looked their spouses and friends, they were very pale. It frightened the ex-homicide detective and Chicago PD Captain to see how weak and strained their loved ones were. They returned quickly, pushing a cart that contained not only the requested hot tea, but also an assortment of pie wedges, slices of cake, and even some dinner rolls and butter. Bella had learned in working with her husband that after going into the astral, it was necessary to eat something and to drink something hot or, at least, warm. This action helped to close down the inner planes and supplied calories to the body to replace the energy that was expended on the journey.
As Angela, Edward, Lauren, and Sam ate they related to Bella and Emmett what they'd seen and experienced as a group as well as individually. When they'd finished, Bella asked, "How the hell are we going to kill this, this monster of pure negative, black energy?"
"That's it!" Angela piped up, "We drain the life energy from him somehow."
"Ok, Cher but," Sam said, "how do you recommend that be done?"
"She's right, Sam, and so are you," Edward said quietly, "but how?"
Bella, ever practical, asked, "How would you go about draining the energy from a battery?"
Everyone in the room looked at Bella as she continued. "A battery has positive and negative poles, right? Somehow, we discharge his/its energy to the point of death-just like its done to humans."
The men looked at Bella with something akin to awe. Edward jumped up and grabbed his wife and kissed her soundly. "I married a genius!"
~o0o~
"So, we know we must somehow drain this fucker, but how?" Emmett asked.
Sam spoke up. "Do you remember a movie that was made in 1951 called "The Thing"?
Everyone but Emmett had seen the movie who asked, "No, but what's that got to do with our present problem?"
"Oh! I see what you mean," Bella spoke quietly. "They electrocuted that monster." She paused, thinking quickly, "But I don't see how that would work in this case."
Smiling, Sam spoke again. "As I see it, we need to somehow lure our creature to walk between two poles-one with positive power flowing and the other with negative power-and make it strong enough to drain him."
"I see where you're going with this, but how would we lure it?" Edward asked.
Lauren, who'd been silently listening, said, "We'd have to get him to come after us. It knows we're here, and it knows how strong we are."
"Yeah, ok, but the problem remains, how do we go about it?"
Angela spoke up then. "We know that somehow he gets his victims to leave the clubs with him, and he takes them someplace where he can do his business-for lack of a better word. There must be something about him that lulls them into some kind of state of mind where they experience no fear." Angela paused. "We'd have to insulate ourselves from that lure. I suspect, very strongly now, it is sexual. That he's able to project a pheromone like ours which has a strong effect on human sexuality."
"Alright, working from that premise, we'd need to put ourselves into a purely intellectual state of mind," Edward said.
Angela, nodding first and then slowly shaking her head no said, "Both Lauren and I work from an emotional state. I don't think I could raise up high enough to be in a purely intellectual state of mind."
Lauren nodded her agreement with her sister. "It's the way we are wired."
Sam walked over to Angela and pulled her into his arms. "We'll figure it out." Releasing her from the hug, but keeping his arm about her waist, Sam turned to Edward. "We need to write down everything we know about our killer and then formulate a plan-step by step."
Everyone nodded their agreement. Edward found and opened his briefcase, from which he pulled out several legal-sized, yellow-lined pads and pens, enough for all.
The group seated themselves around the room and began to make notes.
They would find a way.
~o0o~
