Dreadful Weather We're Having I
Jess executed a back handspring and let the destructive power out of her hands.
The dummy was blown to pieces.
Ms. McGowan clapped. 'Very good, Jess. Did you do gymnastics when you were younger?'
'I did.' Jess was very uneasy about doing this, though. It was one thing to learn how to control magic, but another to learn how to attack people with it. Wasn't that the problem with the witches in her books: they were attacking people? Of course, this wasn't how people thought witches attacked them.
'Did you do the reading I gave you?' Ms. McGowan asked.
'Yeah…' Jess frowned at that.
Ms. McGowan frowned. 'Something wrong?'
'No,' Jess said. 'I'm just a little confused about why you gave me literature on why classic Hollywood monsters are bad.' Vampires, goblins, werewolves…but nothing about how witches were bad. That was one thing her mother had been able to tell her.
'Hey, mom, what do you call brochures that demonise one demographic while ignoring others that would technically be a part of it?'
'Propaganda.'
Yes…it seemed like propaganda.
Ms. McGowan gave a dry chuckle. 'Sort of obvious?'
'A little bit.'
The art teacher nodded. 'Yes. Hollywood gives you base information but those people don't understand the real creatures. And the Helsing Society is the only thing that stands between them and the rest of mankind. That's why you have to learn all of this. You're certainly a lot more mobile and flexible than I ever was.'
The teenager smiled tightly.
Ms. McGowan was starting to make Jess feel uneasy.
She tried to tell herself, It's just the shock.
:[
A sleek red car shot through the countryside.
'All right, guys,' Vince said, taking one hand off the wheel and reaching for the key in the ignition. 'Ready to try it out?'
'Yeah!' Frank nodded vigorously in the back seat.
'Do it, Vince!' Howard cheered. 'Do it! Do it!'
Vince grinned a flicked the switch. The car transformed into the newly-dubbed Drakster – maroon panels sliding over the red, the car maker's insignia flipping over to be hidden. Inside the car, the controls shifted too. The dash in front of Vince shifted, changing from everything needed for a car on the road to a new display. The central console flipped over, revealing all of the controls needed for a vehicle that could go on land, sea, and air.
'Wow, that's nifty!' Howard murmured.
'Let's test it out.' Vince reached over and turned the dial from "Land" to "Air".
The steering wheel in his hands shifted, transforming into something that would look more in place in a plane. Outside the car, two panels on the bottom of the Drakster opened up. Wings unfolded from each side of the vehicles. The wheels retracted and they were lifted up into the air. Nervous, and trying very hard not to show it, Vince thought back the lessons he'd gotten from Carmilla as he took them higher and higher.
'Wow…' Frank looked out the window. 'The land's so pretty from up here!'
Vince chuckled as he spotted the sea. 'Well, we're about to test just how sea-worthy this thing is.'
:[
Jess walked up into the attic.
She quickly lit the hearth, a task she was well-used to doing by now. That done, she sat down in the new chair she'd set at the desk. Resting her head in her hands, Jess stared at her grandmother's books, resting in the bookcase. She'd made it as part of experimenting with her magic. Still, her mind was elsewhere.
Now Ms. McGowan wanted her to come and train every day after school and during the weekend too.
And she wanted her to tell her mother that she was preparing for a debating competition to explain the extra hours.
Despite how quickly the room was warmed, Jess hugged herself.
Caw-caw!
Jess looked up. With a flick of her fingers, the panel opened. Merle flew in and landed on his perch. Jess looked at the bird. 'You saw those three at the zoo the other day, didn't you?'
Merle flew from his perch and landed on the bookshelf. He began tapping one of the books with his beak. Curious, Jess stood up and walked over. She pulled the book, a small handwritten journal, down from the shelf. Merle flew back over to his perch. Jess opened up the book. It seemed to be a collection of spells and potions that her grandmother had catalogued making. Scanning through it, she returned to her seat.
It didn't take her long to find what Merle had been trying to show her.
It was marked out with an explanation before the formula for the potion.
The entry was made when Jess was four or five years old.
It has become necessary for me to create this potion.
The son of a vampire, the son of a patchwork monster, and the son of a wolf-man have all fallen into heavy misfortune on account of the Helsing Society.
The three boys are all under the age of five, and all three have been orphaned by the Society. They are currently being hunted like dogs. The only way to hide them is to give them this potion, which will transform them into humans. There will be no way to entirely suppress their powers in human form, but that is not the point.
For God's sake, they're no older than my granddaughter!
This potion will also allow them to transform between their natural forms and their human ones at will for the rest of their lives.
Once this potion is completed, it will be given to Dracula, who is the uncle of one of the boys and, as of now, the guardian of all three.
Jess looked up at Merle. 'They tried to kill little kids?!'
:[
The three boys had brought the car to the lake after their test drive. They also returned it to looking like the red sports car it was originally. Vince laid back on the grass and enjoyed the afternoon sun. He was glad for the human blood in his veins. Allowing him to bask in sunlight was only one of the advantages it afforded him. It also made the spell work so much better if he wasn't inexplicably photosensitive.
'Ooohhhh-wwwhhheeee!' Howard cheered, sounding like the wolf he was. 'What a beautiful spot!'
'I'll race to you to the lake, Howard!' Frank took off running.
Howard chased after him. 'Last one in is a bucket of bolts!'
Vince watched as Howard overtook Frank and came to the end of the pier.
'Ha, ha, sorry about that, Frank!' He jumped in… 'Yike!'
But there was no splash. Frowning, Vince stood up. He walked across to get a closer look at the lake. As he did, Frank dived into the water. There was the very distinctive sound of thick ice breaking. Most people wouldn't be familiar with the sound, but Vince had lived with Frank Herbert most of his life.
If it could be broken, Frank was liable to break it.
Vince stopped at the edge of the…water. But it wasn't in liquid form anymore. There was a layer of ice on the lake that Howard was now on top of, shivering in only his swimming trunks. Cautiously, Vince stepped onto the ice. It held steady under his body weight. As he crossed over to his friends, mindful of the fact that the ice could crack at any moment, he noticed both of them were decidedly blue.
Their human forms were more susceptible to the cold than his was.
Vince knelt down and knocked on the ice. 'I don't believe it.' He stood up. 'The lake is frozen stiff!'
'That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen,' Howard declared.
Vince noticed the white begin to fall. 'No, not quite. This is the weirdest thing you've ever seen.' It was coming down heavier now. Soon it was coming down enough to be piling up on them and on the lake. Vince may have been less susceptible to cold, but even he shoved his hands in his pockets as his friends shivered against the cold.
'A summer snowstorm?' Howard demanded.
'S-Summer or not, I'm…freezing!' Frank declared. 'Let's get out of here!'
Vince nodded and the three of them made their way off the lake. It was only now Vince paid attention to the people beginning to gather around the edge of the lake. They weren't the only ones completely befuddled by the sudden changes. Pretty soon, Vince imagined, there would be all sorts of people looking to find answers for this.
And Vince could think of only one person crazy enough to do something like this.
:[
Dr. Dred laughed.
OGRE stood around a device that seemed to be made up of seemingly random odds and ends.
'Another first for the all-time most despicable, dastardly villain in the world!' Dr. Dred declared.
'And very modest besides, Dr. Dred,' Toad added.
'My masterpiece!' Dr. Dred gestured to the cobbled-together machine. 'The Dr. Dred Dreadful Weather Machine!' He picked up the old teapot. 'The Secret lies within this ancient brewing vessel. It cooks up a tiny storm and, with my computerised solid state system, I have amplified the proverbial "tempest in a teapot".' He produced a small lightning cloud. 'I'll rain on everybody's parade!'
'Oh, Dr. Dred, the whole world will be singing about you!' Toad declared.
'Really?' Dr. Dred gushed, pulling his hat off. 'Magnificent me?'
'Yes.' Toad immediately began to recite. 'Oh, Fiendish Dr. Dred, how could you be so mean; For to invent such a terrible machine? Tornados smash; hurricanes lash; and lightning hits the scene. There is no place on earth that's safe…from Dr. Dred's machine.' He started sniggering.
Dr. Dred had put his hat back on. 'How poetic.' He patted the henchman on the head. 'Not bad, Toad. Not bad at all.'
Toad then patted himself on the head. 'Good Toad. Good Toad!'
But Mummy-Man wasn't impressed, having just been tossed around by the Weather Machine. He immediately started voicing complaints.
Dr. Dred frowned at him. 'Pull yourself together, Mummy, and stop growling. We have work to do?'
'Work, Dr. Dred?' OGRE asked him in unison.
'Yes,' Dr. Dred said. 'We must remove the threat of Drak Pack's interference before my newest, most evil, world-shaking plan can be realised.'
'How do we find them, Dr. Dred?' Vampira asked, absentmindedly rubbing at her hip. She was still sporting burns from their last encounter.
'Oh, don't worry,' Dr. Dred said. 'They'll find us.'
:[
The world outside was under a thick blanket of snow.
'Okay,' Vince walked through as soon as they warmed up sufficiently. 'Let's tell Big D about this freaky phenomena.'
'Are you sure he doesn't already know?' Frank asked.
'He's a vampire, Frank. He doesn't feel the cold.' Vince pushed the portrait aside and then pressed the button. Instantly, the walls flipped over. The computers fired up, humming and beeping, as Vince walked over to the big screen. Big D's coffin was shown, completely frosted over.
'I hope he's awake,' Howard said. 'And I hope he can get out of there.'
'No problem.' Vince raised his voice. 'Big D? Wake up! Wake up!'
Cracks suddenly appeared in the ice. Vince distinctly heard the sound of Transylvanian curse words being uttered. Suddenly the lid of the coffin was thrown up. The ice that'd frosted it shut went crying. Big D leaned over the edge of his coffin and looked down at the ice caking it. Then he lifted his head.
'What is this?' he demanded. 'I can't have slept through the Summer and the Fall!'
'You didn't,' Vince said. 'That's the problem. The entire city is covered in thick snow. We don't know for sure, but we think Dr. Dred is fooling with the weather, Big D.'
'He's not fooling,' Big D snapped. 'He means it! I've seen this before. Controlling the weather like that will affect everyone – even us!'
'I guess that means it's Drak Pack time!' Howard suggested.
'And step on it!' Big D slammed the coffin lid closed again. 'Kids today!'
:[
After a quick transformation, the Drak Pack headed out again, transforming their car into the Drakster again.
'How are we going to find Dr. Dred in this blizzard?' Howler demanded.
'Like this.' Drak reached down and turned on the Drakster computer. He tapped out the command and a map of the city appeared. 'There we go.'
'What's that, Drak?' Frankie asked.
'A monster scanner,' Drak said. 'It's designed to pick up everything. See?' He tapped the screen. 'It even shows Jessie, and she's just a witch.'
'So it's showing us where Dr. Dred and his goons are!' Howard leaned forward. 'Hey, I can even see Big D!'
'And you'll notice that Vampira's dot is pink whereas Big D's is red, despite them both being vampires,' Drak said. 'The pink colour indicates a vampire with humanitis. It's a rare enough illness that she's the only one around that has it.'
'Alllll right!' Howler cheered. 'I guess we're onto this!'
Drak followed the map to an area outskirts of the city.
The Drak Pack then climbed out of the Drakster.
They could see the Dredgible in the distance.
Showtime.
