Chapter 3

Origins

After some work on preparing Bentley's computer for the task, Blain inserted the disk he got from Carmelita's body and they used it to find the location of the nearest portion of Carmelita's soul. Luckily, it was still located inside the Paris City limits. After a bit more research, Bentley found out the book was hidden somewhere in an old abandoned library. It was a two story library that still had over a 1,000 books in it. Another problem was that the library was the hideout for a gang that worked closely with Mz. Ruby before she was sent to jail, the Top Hat gang.

The gang's leader was a man named Mr. Marvel. His real name was Douglas Smith. He grew up in a normal, middle class family. At a young age he was fascinated with magic tricks. The seemingly impossible tricks that the old magicians would pull off. Sawing a lady in half, disappearing act, the grand escapes from seemingly impossible acts, they all brought wonder to his eyes. Soon, he began practicing the tricks that were based on slight of hand, and optical illusions. Soon, he was as good as any magician he had seen in his youth.

The problem was that as he grew up, people's tastes changed. No matter how hard he tried, Douglas Smith just couldn't get anything better then a five year old's birthday party. Finally, after a few years of trying to fight his way to the top, he decided to use his magic tricks for a more lucrative purpose. He studied up in real magic and mystic spells, and mixed them with his tricks. Soon, he was pulling off crimes that could compare to magic shows in Las Vegas. With his new found money, he recruited some minions and formed the Top Hat gang. A gang that specialized in stealing things, anything you asked them, and putting on a show while they did it.

Blain new a bit about Mr. Marvel, and knew that he was dangerous. Even though he sounded like a side show magician gone crazy, his magic tricks could be deadly. He was also one of the hardest people to catch because the second you think you have him he disappears into a puff of smoke, and reappears on the other side of the room, laughing his head off.

Four days after Sly visited Carmelita in the hospital, he was standing on the roof of the abandoned library. Bentley and Murray were back at the safe house, waiting patiently for him to return with the recon photos. Sly tapped his foot a few times, looking around at the library. It was Greek in architecture, with columns all around the outside of the building. The roof was flat except for a large dome that was in the center of the building. This is where Bentley could find a place for Sly to get into the building. There was a hatch on one of the dome's panels, and it didn't have a lock on it.

Sly his turned when he heard footsteps behind him, and saw Blain walking up to him. Sly turned to face Blain as he said, "So, what do you think. Is their some mystical security systems, or do we only have to worry about standard stuff."

Blain pointed to the hatch on the roof of the building as he said, "The only magic I can detect that could alert Mr. Marvel to our location in on that hatch."

Sly groaned as he said, "Great, are one point of entry is being watch by a magic spell, something Bentley can't turn off."

Blain chuckled a bit as he said, "You forget Sly, I can turn that kind of stuff off." Blain then motioned toward the hatch as he began to walk closer to the library's dome. He stood in front of the hatch, and held his hand a few inches above it as he closed his eyes. Small, thin trails of electricity began to flow between his hand and the hatch as Blain said, "By the wind and the lightning of the sky, I bid this alarm spell to be gone." A slight flash came from the other side of the hatch, and Sly saw a few trails of pink smoke rising up as Blain turned toward him and said, "After you."

Sly nodded his head, and opened the hatch. He put his head in through the hatch, and checked to see if the coast was clear before he hooked a rope to the side of the hatch and began to lower himself down. He reached the end of the rope, and hung in the air even with the second story of the library. Sly hung in the center of the library's large foyer, the interior second floor balconies just a few feet away. Sly swung on the rope a few times, and then landed on the second floor balcony without a sound. Blain soon followed, and the pair began to sneak through the rows of books and shelves.

After a few minutes of walking Sly and Blain found an old closet, and hid in it. While Sly made sure the door was locked, Blain took a seat on the floor. He crossed his legs, and brought his hands together as he began to meditate. Sly watched as Blain closed his eyes, and then they flew open, glowing a dark blue color. Suddenly, Blain's shadow separated from his body, and slipped underneath the closet door.

Blain's shadow speed through the library, going completely unnoticed by any guards it passed by. Finally, the shadow found its way down to the library's first floor and searched for Mr. Marvel. After fifteen minutes of searching, Blain's shadow found a set of steps that lead to the library's basement. It skimmed down the steps, and found he was in a large, open office like room with a large desk sitting in the back end. In the chair at the desk, Mr. Marvel sat quietly, working on some paperwork. Behind the desk, a large portrait of Mr. Marvel hung on the wall. Blain's shadow slipped along the floor, around Mr. Marvel's desk, and behind to picture frame. The shadow saw that the frame hid a vault door, and the shadow slipped through a seam on the door to see what was in the vault.

The vault itself was filled with a very large amount of gold coins, priceless artifacts, and other valuable goods. What caught the shadow's attention though was something that sat in the middle of the room, away from the rest of the cluttered treasure. It was a book, gently placed on a pedestal. The shadow slipped along the pedestal, and over top of the book. The shadow slipped into the book's pages, and read a few lines before he pulled away from the book. The shadow slipped down the pedestal, out of the vault, and eventually returned to where Sly and Blain were waiting. The shadow reattached itself to Blain, and he blinked his eyes a few times as he said, "I know where the book is."

Sly smiled as he asked, "Where is it?"

Blain stood up, holding his head a bit as he said, "It is a vault, behind Mr. Marvel's desk, in the basement. It is hidden behind a portrait of Mr. Marvel."

Sly nodded his head and said, "That's good. Now, you can head back to the safe house. I have to take some recon pictures for Bentley, and then I'll head back." Blain nodded his head, and slipped out of the closet and found his way back to the rope he and Sly used to get into the library. Sly waited a few minutes after Blain left before he snuck out of the closet, and began to creep through the library. It didn't take Sly long to find his way down to the first floor, and then to the steps that lead down to the library's basement. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he peaked out of the door, and into Mr. Marvel's office.

Sly quickly ducked his head back, and hoped that Mr. Marvel hadn't seen him. He had seen something he could use though, an air vent. Sly climbed back up the stairs, and stepped into the library's first floor. After a bit of searching, and with some help from Bentley, Sly found a vent that was connected to the one in Mr. Marvel's office. Sly crawled into the vent, dust making him sneeze a few times before he slid through the network of vents, and found his way to Mr. Marvel's office.

Sly looked through the grates on the vent to see Mr. Marvel stretching as he stood up from his desk. Mr. Marvel was a White Bengal Tiger that was about as tall as Sly was. He was dressed in a formal tuxedo with a cane and a top hat. Sly snapped a few pictures of the room in general, one of Mr. Marvel, and one of the large portrait that the vault door was hidden behind. Sly looked around the room a few times, looking for something that might help them draw Mr. Marvel away from the vault Mr. Marvel's phone rang.

Mr. Marvel pressed the speaker phone button, and continued to work on the papers that were on his desk as he said, "Hello, can I ask whose calling."

"Why, Mr. Marvel, it's me, Mz, Ruby."

Mr. Marvel smiled as he looked away from his paper work and said, "Why, Mz. Ruby, it is always a pleasure to hear from you. So, what has you dropping me a line?"

"I was just calling to make sure you got that book I sent you. You know the one I'm talking about."

Mr. Marvel nodded his head as he said, "Yes, its locked away safe in my vault. I can guarantee that no one will get their hands on it. Not only is it protected by thick, reinforced steel door, but also by a special mystical barrier that only I can walk through unharmed."

"That's good, that's good. Just make sure that book stays there. I have reason to believe my old apprentice, Blain Shadow Walker, is trying to steal the book and undo my beautiful Soul Shatter potion."

"I will not fail you Mz. Ruby." With that Mz. Ruby hung up her phone, and Mr. Marvel shut his speaker phone off as he returned to his work. Sly sat their in the vent for a few minutes, and then slowly began to back up. He made his way back through the vent system, and into the library's first floor. With out a sound, Sly made his way back up to the second floor. He found the rope that he had used to get in still hanging there, and was up and out of the museum within a minute. He pulled the rope up, and shut the hatch on the dome before putting the rope over his shoulder, and making it back to the gang's safe house.

Sly, Bentley, Murray, and Blain had set up the safe house a few blocks away from the abandoned library. Upon Bentley's urging, they rented an open shop on the roadway, and put together a fake business to cover their actions. With Blain's magic helping them, they painted a quick sign on the windows. It was just enough to convince any passer by's that it was legitimate business, but not enough that it would disrupt their true intentions.

The shop was set up into two halves. In the front, there was a small space that was broken in half by a counter. This was all that they truly used of the business. The back end of the shop made up their hideout, sleeping quarters, and everything else. When Sly returned, Murray had fallen asleep in front of the TV, Blain was sitting at a small round table in the center of the room, and Bentley was on his computer. Blain looked up at Sly, and noticed that Sly seemed to be glaring at him. Sly set the roll of rope down by the door, and moved over beside Blain as he asked, his voice slightly irritated as he asked, "So, when were you planning to tell us you were Mz. Ruby's apprentice."

Blain paused a second, then looked up at Sly as he asked, "What does it matter?"

Sly put his hand down on the table, his eyes glaring at Blain as he asked, "What does it matter? It matters to me, considering that I might have put Bentley and Murray in harms way by allowing you to join."

Blain sighed, and then stood up. He and Sly were just around the same height, their eyes exactly even with each other as Blain said, "I am sorry, but it is not a part of my past I am proud of. Now, if you want to kick me out, that is all right, but I would like to see you find some else that can put Carmelita's soul back together."

Sly and Blain stared each other down. Bentley and Murray watched as the tension in the air began to escalate, and finally Murray broke in and said, "Sly, it's all right."

Bentley nodded his head and said, "Yeah, Blain had the right to keep a few parts of his past secret."

Sly glanced over at Bentley and Murray, and then back at Blain. The tension between the two held strong for a few more minutes before Sly sighed and said, "Sorry Blain. It's just that, recently, we were betrayed by someone we thought was our friend. In fact, Neyla went on to double cross Interpol, us, and even the Klaww Gang. She was just into the whole thing for herself, and she played us all like cards."

Blain eyes were fixed on Sly's for a second, and then he smiled and put a hand on Sly's shoulder as he said, "I understand. Now, why don't I go get us something to eat? Who's up for some Mexican? I saw a Mexican fast food place a few blocks down the street."

Murray smiled and nodded his head as he said, "Yeah that does sound good. The Murray approves." Ten minutes later Blain walked out of the shops front door, and began to walk down the street. He had put on a black trench coat over his white shirt, and almost disappeared into the darkness of the street. The only part of his body that reflected light was his emerald eyes that glowed in the light from the street lamps.

Blain reached the Mexican fast food restaurant, and was surprised to see it was pretty busy for that late of night. He then saw a school bus was parked outside the restaurant, and guessed that a sports team from a local school was stopping at the restaurant for some dinner. When Blain stepped in, he groaned as he saw that there were at least 50 teenagers lined up behind the three of the four registers. Blain began to debate trying to find another Mexican restaurant, or another restaurant in general when he heard someone calling at him. He turned, and saw a young tigress had come up behind the unoccupied register, and was calling to him.

Blain gently shouldered his way through the three lines of teenage athletes to the fourth register, and smiled at the girl as he said, "Thanks, I hate to be stuck here waiting for those guys to clear out."

The tigress nodded her head and said, "It's our usually policy to let the sports team's take up all but one of our open registers. Now, Welcome to Taco Johns, can I take your order?" Blain quickly read off Bentley, Sly, and Murray's orders before he picked out his own order from the menus above the register. He then took his number, and took a seat at one of the tables while he waited for his food to be finished.

Blain sat their for nearly half an hour, and was debating telling the tigress at the register just to cancel his order when he noticed a few people in heavy trench coats come in the front door. He raised an eyebrow, wondering why anybody would be wearing such heavy coats as he began to get a bad feeling about the three dogs in trench coats. One of the three was a Doberman pincher while the other two were a pair of grey hounds. The guys in trench coats pushed their way to the counter, and before anybody could respond the tigress at the register screamed as the Doberman pulled out a semi automatic. Quickly, the two greyhounds pulled out shotguns, and fired off a few rounds into the restaurants roof.

The restaurant fell silent, and everybody stared at the three dogs as the Doberman said, "Now, everybody get down on the floor. We don't want any trouble, you got that. We're just here to pick up this restaurants protection money, the money they owe to the Top Hat gang" Blain gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to stuff the Doberman and his two buddies into a small box. He couldn't though because he would risk alerting Mr. Marvel to his, Sly, Bentley, and Murray's presence in the area. That would make the job of getting the book that was Carmelita's knowledge, almost impossible. So, in the end, Blain did what the Doberman said and got down on the floor with the rest of the restaurant patrons.

The Doberman look around the restaurant a few more times, maxing sure everybody was on the floor before he turned and told a wolf that was working one of the registers to get their money from the manager. The wolf quickly moved into the back of the restaurant, and the waiting began. Blain kept a weary eye on the Doberman and two greyhounds while they waited for the wolf to come back with the money.

The whole restaurant was deathly quite, but the Doberman took no mind as his eyes moved across the room, and then to the young tigress that was still standing behind the fourth register. The Doberman smiled, and moved over toward the tigress. The tigress's eyes began to grow wide as the Doberman drew closer, a hungry look in his eyes. Finally, the Doberman lunged at the tigress, caught her by her wrist and pulled her around the counter as he said, "Come here sweet cheeks. Don't you want to have some fun with me tonight? I know this cozy little motel just a few blocks away from here."

The tigress looked in pure horror as the Doberman's free hand reached up to her shoulder, and began to gently life away the sleeve of the tigress's shirt. That was the final straw for Blain, and he placed his hand forward on the ground as he mumbled a spell. Half the people in the restaurant jumped when the Doberman yelled in pain, and looked behind him to see a stone hand had risen out of the floor, and taken hold of his tail. The stone arm had a firm grip on his tail, and the Doberman let go of the tigress as he turned around and tried to free his tail from the strange, stone appendage. The two grey hounds were looking at the Doberman with confused looks, and didn't even notice Blain stand up and charge at them.

The two greyhounds looked in surprise as Blain took hold of their shotguns, pointed them up at the ceiling, and glared at the two greyhounds. Out of instinct, the greyhounds fired their shotguns, and the bullets went into the restaurants roof. Blain then wrenched the shotguns from the greyhounds, and threw them off to the side before he reared back and punched one of the greyhounds squarely in the jaw. The greyhound fell back on the floor, out cold while the other one tried to attack Blain. Blain moved to quickly though, and swiped his foot underneath the second greyhound, and knocked him to the floor. The force of the hall stunned the second greyhound, and he lay on the ground unconscious.

Blain smiled a bit, but then turned around just in time to see the Doberman free his tail from the stone arm, and grab his semi-automatic. Blain turned to face the Doberman, but he was to slow and the Doberman raised his semi-automatic up and shot Blain a few times, square in the chest. Blain fell back, holding his chest as the Doberman looked around the room, asking, "Does anybody else want to make any more trouble?"

When no one moved, the Doberman smiled and turned back to the tigress as he said, "Now, where were we."

"Right here." The Doberman turned to see Blain standing a few feet from him, his fist pulled back. Blain forced his fist forward, and punched the Doberman in the face. The Doberman staggered a bit, and then tried to bring his gun up. He was to slow though. Blain had already moved forward, and drove his knee into the Doberman's stomach. The Doberman hunched over in pain, and Blain took this opportunity to bring his hands high above his head, and slam them into the Doberman's back. The Doberman fell onto the floor, knocked out from the force on Blain's strike on his spinal cord. Blain breathed hard a few times, and then held his chest as he looked around the room. The other people in the restaurant were standing up, some of them starting to clap. The tigress moved over to Blain, and smiled as she said, "Thank you, so much."

Blain forced a smile, but then cringed in pain as his wounds caught up with him. He fell over onto the floor, and his wounds began to bleed. The tigress saw the blood, and told someone to call 911 while she rushed behind the registers and pulled out a first aid kit. She brought the kit back over to Blain, and pulled of his coat. She then lifted away his shirt, and almost gasped when she saw his chest. Not only did he have four bullet holes in his chest, there was something else. A mystical symbol, contained in a circle was easily visible on his chest. It was made of white fur that seemed to grow naturally out of Blain's chest.

The tigress was about to touch it when the door to the restaurant opened, and a large purple hippo in wrestling gear moved in. He looked around a few times, and then saw Blain lying on the floor, blood starting to spread across the tiled surface. Without a word to anybody, the purple hippo moved over to Blain, picked him up, and ran out of the restaurant.

Murray was back to the safe house in a few minutes, and got Bentley's attention. Bentley had Murray lay Blain out on the table in the back of the shop, and took a look at his wounds. Bentley also noticed the strange symbol, but decided to ask Blain about it later as he rushed out of the shop, and into the team van. He came back with a medical bag, and began to patch Blain up.

Bentley, with his high IQ, had taken almost every online course imaginable. His passion was still in computers, and hacking. Still, he had gotten degrees in dentistry, physiology, chemistry, engineering, and as a general surgeon. All these degrees allowed Bentley to act as the gangs on site doctor and dentist, saving the gang the time of going into a legitimate hospital or dentistry, and preparing all the false ID's they would need to go in unnoticed.

Bentley took the bullets out of the wounds, and then used a special paste he developed to fill the wounds. The paste would make it a lot easier for the body to heal, and made the wounds bleed a lot less. Bentley then bandaged the wounds, and cleaned up as Murray went into the other room to wake up Sly. Once Bentley was finished, he moved into the back room, and saw Sly get up from the couch as Murray told him about Blain.

Bentley walked over to Sly and Murray, and asked Murray to bring Blain into the back, and set him on the couch they had found. Murray nodded his head and walked toward the front part of the safe house as Bentley moved over to his computer, and began to type furiously. Sly walked up behind Bentley, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Bentley glanced over his shoulder at Sly, and then looked back at the screen as he said, "I'm checking something. There is something on Blain's chest."

Sly raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What, a wart."

"No, it was a mystic symbol. It wasn't a tattoo or anything like that. It looked like it grew naturally from his fur, like it was completely natural. Ahh… I think I found something."

Sly looked over Bentley's shoulder at the computer screen as he said, "What is it Bent?"

"I found the symbol that was on Blain's chest. It here, on this museum's website. The symbol is a part of a large tapestry that depicts an ancient culture I have never heard about. According to the museum's researchers, the tapestry can be dated back to when some of the first cultures were appearing in the world, like the Egyptians. From what the researchers can gather, the culture held the power of magic above all else. Their greatest leaders were those who mastered several different mystic arts. The greatest of their ruling family's were a family of panthers that had used magic to find the ancient culture. It seemed that while the panthers were in power, the society flourished."

"What happened to them?"

Bentley shook his head as he said, "I don't know Sly. It just cuts off their. The last piece of the cultures history that is recorded is when a new family came into power. Then, there is nothing else. It's as if the entire culture disappeared in one felt swoop."

Bentley and Sly stared at the screen, each pondering what might have happened to the culture when they heard someone say, "That is exactly what happened." Sly and Bentley turned to see Blain standing at the other end of the room. Murray was a few steps his eyes wide as he tired to convince Blain to lie down. Blain pushed him away, and walked over to the table and took a seat.

When Blain sat down, he cringed and held his chest for a few seconds. When the pain subsided he placed his hands on the table, and said, "The panthers, the Shadow Walker clan, ruled that lost civilization for generations. Then, the city fell under attack. A rebel leader, a python, convinced the entire city to rise up against the Shadow Walker clan. The panthers were forced to flee from the city they had cared for like their own child. Then, the rebel leader took power. That evil python held power for a year before he drove the city into the ground. He then did something that brought about the entire cities destruction. He cast a forbidden ritual, trying to gain enough power to take over the world. It blew up in his face, and turned the entire city to dust.

Blain paused a second, forcing down the pain in his chest before he continued by saying, "The Shadow Walker clan, the royal family, had escaped the city, but they felt as if they had lost a part of their lives. That is when the panthers, the Shadow Walkers made a vow. They had stood idly by, knowing what spell the python was planning to cast. They blamed themselves for what happen. They vowed to fight against anyone who tried to use such powerful and dark spells and rituals."

Blain stopped for a second, pushing down a wave of pain. Bentley thought about the symbol on Blain's chest, and then looked up in shock as he said, "You are descended from that royal family."

Blain nodded his head and said, "You are very intuitive Bentley. Yes, I am descended from that royal family of panthers. That is why I became Mz. Ruby's apprentice. There were many signs she was using dark spells, and every time she did I kept a weary eye on her actions. She never tripped over the line though. Her spells were dark, but they were always low or medium strength spells. That was until that night at the warehouse. The Soul Shatter potion is a very dark and very powerful potion. Its power comes from its key ingredient, water from the dark mojo spring."

Murray scratched his head as he asked, "What is the dark mojo spring?"

Blain opened his mouth to answer, but Bentley quickly cut him off as he said, "As I told you back at the Contessa's castle, dark mojo is a powerfully dark magic force. Now, the dark mojo spring is the ultimate source of dark mojo. Dark mojo is usually in a gaseous state, but the spring produce a dark mojo energy that is concentrated into a liquid form. Adding it to any potion or spell can make it lethal. The thing is no one in the world has ever found the springs location. How did Mz. Ruby get some of the water?"

Blain rubbed his head, groaning as he said, "It's easier then you make it out to be Bentley. The reason no one in the world has ever found the bad mojo spring is because it doesn't exist in this world. The spring lies on the boarder between the world of the living, and the underworld. It must be summoned to this world, and then it can only be summoned by someone well versed in voodoo magic."

Sly chuckled as he said, "That's Mz. Ruby to a letter."

Blain nodded his head, agreeing with Sly as he said, "Now, though the dark mojo water can enhance any spell, there are only two things that actually require the dark mojo water. The first is the Soul Shatter Potion. The second is a spell, a ritual. It is meant to give the caster immense power, but it comes at a price. For the ritual to be successful, Mz. Ruby needs two clocks of life, one of which she already has."

Sly's eyes narrowed, his mind going back to what Blain said Carmelita's soul was split into. One of the five items was a clock, and it was the most crucial piece of Carmelita soul. The same fact dawned on Bentley and Murray, and Blain just nodded his head as he said, "That night, at the warehouse, Mz. Ruby spoke of giving the Soul Splitter potion to two people. One of them was Carmelita, the other..." Blain stopped, and his eyes rested on Sly. Bentley and Murray turned to look at Sly, and their eyes widened as they realized that Mz. Ruby was planning to give the potion to Sly as well.

Blain waited a few minutes, and then his voice turned very serious as he said, "Right now, we don't have to worry about Mz. Ruby performing the ritual until she gets a hold of Sly's clock of life. That is, until, she thinks were getting to close. Then, she will likely just kidnap some innocent person and use theirs with Carmelita's clock of life. Unfortunately, Carmelita's clock of life is the last item we can collect. The spell that showed us where to find Carmelita's book of knowledge can only show us the location of the next item after we have obtained the book. The spell also works in a set order of going from the book of knowledge, to the statue of will power, to the medallion of conscience, to the diamond of emotion, and finally the clock of life. It is the way the spell works, and there is no other way to find the items."

Sly nodded his head, and turned to Bentley as he asked, "Bent, how long till you have a plan for getting a hold of Carmelita's book of knowledge?"

Bentley scratched his head a few times, and then began to smile as an idea popped into his head. He then turned his head toward Sly as he said, "I'll have it ready by tomorrow night."

"Thanks Bentley, now Murray, Blain, lets get some rest. We are going to have to be rested for the job tomorrow night."