Chapter 5: Monster Hunter

It was going to be a bad day, Blaylock thought. The UnderDark was yelling, screaming, snarling and throwing things. Everyone else was too terrified to do anything but whimper and hide. That mean Blaylock had to be the one to calm down the UnderDark. It was his job as head minion.

Blaylock hated his job today.

"Blaylock!" the UnderDark yelled.

"Yes, my Lord?" Blaylock did his best to sound casual, as if he hadn't been aware of the UnderDark's mood.

"Who's doing this?"

"Doing what, my Lord?"

"Don't play stupid, not if you value your hide. Monsters have been defeated and caught. There is a monster hunter in the Tri-state area who is successful beyond words. How is this possible? The monster hunters are buffoons. What is going on here?"

"Well, that's a complicated question."

"Give me an answer right now!"

"Well my lord, he doesn't act like any other monster hunter."

"Do you know who he is?"

"His name is Justin Russo. A few months ago, he was just a student, but now…"

"Now he's a threat to us. To ME! How did this happen?"

"Well, it started when all the other monster hunters in the area got killed. Then he was automatically graduated to full monster hunter status."

"Which should have guaranteed his immediate failure."

"It did. " Blaylock punched some keys and on the screen they got to see Juliet fall victim to the Mummy's curse.

"Who is that?" The UnderDark asked.

"Her name is Juliet van Huesen. She's a vampire."

"She can't be, she's too wholesome. Too…..virtuous."

"Well, she has a soul."

"A soul! A soul!" The UnderDark raged. "The vampire community dares to allow one of its members have a soul? Blaylock, we are going to wipe them off the face of the earth."

"Well, sir, the vampire community is nowhere close to acting with one mind. What you call a community is an unorganized group of individuals with nothing resembling a central government. Now we can go after them if you want or we can deal with the first effective monster hunter to come down the pike in the last century. We can't do both, so what do you want us to do?"

The UnderDark shrieked and howled for a few moments. "How is he beating my monsters?" it asked when it was calm again.

"Well, it started with the kobolds we sent to Central Park a month a ago. Instead of fighting them head on, he cast a spell that caused them to dance until they collapsed from exhaustion. Then we sent a basilisk into the subway system. It was petrifying people with its gaze. The monster hunter handbook would have him there with a mirror. Instead, he used remote control toy helicopters outfitted with webcams and speakers, which herded the basilisk into a holding pen by emitteing high pitched sounds that only the basilisk could hear."

"And this last one?"

"On your order we let loose a six-headed hydra in the Hudson. The Monster Hunter guide would have had him trying to cut off the heads and trying to burn the stump to prevent more heads from growing. Of course, no wizard has survived fighting a hydra like that."

"Or anyone else."

"True. Well, young Russo cast a spell that shrunk the hydra. He scooped it up in a bucket and took it to the containment facility."

"Where is he right now?"

"Well, he's at his house." Blaylock hit a few buttons, and they saw Justin laying on his bed wearing the dream helmet.

"He's wearing a bicycle helmet to bed?"

"Well geniuses are often eccentric. Of course, maybe it's not just any bicycle helmet. Let's run a scan and see if it's magical." Blaylock tapped some buttons, the image on the helmet glowed red. "It's magical alright." He tapped some more buttons, and observed something on one of his smaller screens. "He's in someone else's dream right now."

"Who's?

"Juliet's."

"Show me."

Blaylock tapped some more buttons, and the screen changed. There was an image a street in Paris. Justin and Juliet were walking arm in arm. Justin was gong on and on about something, and Juliet was listening with rapt attention. It was the sort of romantic scene that usually made the UnderDark shriek in anger.

Usually.

This time, however, the UnderDark's reaction was laughter. At first, Blaylock thought he had imagined it. But the UnderDark kept laughing.

"Sir?" Blaylock said.

"I get it now. It's all about her. He isn't a crusader. He's practicing. Well, not so much practicing as training to rescue her from the Mummy's curse. This is too precious."

"I don't understand."

"Send in Lethe. Remove Juliet from Justin Russo's mind. When he stops visiting her in her dreams, her anguish will be delectable." The UnderDark turned around and walked away.

Lethe was a tall and lean looking man, who liked to dress in white linen suits. He was one of the UnderDark's minions who looked human. He had a special ability to destroy people's memories. He could take all of it or just a little. He just had to be in relatively close proximity to do it.

Say, in the same room. It was easy to do it to Justin Russo. He came to the Subway Station a few days in a row, during Justin's shift. And little by little, bit by bit, Justin forgot all about Juliet. Oh, he remembered they knew each other. But he forgot about his plan to save her. He forgot about how much he loved her. He forgot about hunting monsters and what he wanted to do after she was free. He forgot about using the dream helmet to be with her.

And he had no idea it was because of the polite man in the white suit who tipped well.

Three nights.

It had been three nights since her Justin had appeared in Juliet's dreams. The first night was disappointing, but she could keep herself calm about it. After the third night, however, she started to fear. Did something happen to him? He was monster hunting, and something might have happened. He could be hurt or worse, dead. She would never know.

"Oh Justin", she said mournfully. It was the fourth night, and in her dream she was on a mostly barren wilderness, except for some trees with no leaves on them. The tree limbs were covered with black birds. The whole scene was gloomy. If Just in was here….

"Waiting for someone, miss?"

She turned around to see a tall, lean man in a white linen suit.

"Waiting, perhaps, for a young man? Your boyfriend, what's his name, Justin?"

"Yes."

"Well, you'll be waiting a long time. He's not coming. Not night. Not ever again."

"How do you know? Who are you?"

"They call me Lethe. Maybe you've heard of me. I'm an expert with ... memory. Well, maybe not an expert as much as it's enemy. Memories are so fragile. When you know how do it, you can make them go away. Take Justin, for example. Just a few days, I made him forget he loved you. Forget to rescue you. Forget to come." His smile was vicious.

"No." She said. "You're lying. He will be here. He will."

"How long has it been? Two nights? Three? More? He has forgotten all about you. He's even forgotten about monster hunting. No more hero. Just another teen-age wizard squandering his powers."

"No." she said. "No." she said it louder. "NOOOOOO!" Her screams of anguish travelled all the way to the UnderDark's lair.

It was music to the UnderDark's ears.