Ebon, Chapter Three
#3 of Ebon
The door to my bedroom banged open, jerking me out of my dreamless sleep. I rolled over swiftly, propping myself up on one arm as my father trudged into my room, holding a white USPS box under one arm.
"Oh, dammit dad, don't scare me like that." I grunted, rubbing my face with my free hand." I grumbled. He sat the box on the foot of the bed, and it was only then that I realized he was dressed in something else than a dark tanktop and sweatpants.
"Why are you...all dressed up?" I asked. He wore a t-shirt and dress shirt over his pudgy frame, and an actual honest-to-God pressed pair of khaki pants.
"Your aunt wants me to go to detox." He said, smiling ever so softly. Even the dark bags under his eyes lightened a bit. "We were talking this morning. I gotta get outta this slump, y'know? And I can't do it myself. I've tried, you know."
"Yeah, dad..."
"Now, I'm gonna be gone for at least a month. Bills are paid, everything's copacetic for the time." He sat at the edge of the bed, and I pulled my sheets up slightly. He had no idea I slept naked. "You're gonna be alright, kiddo?"
"Y-Yeah." I said, nodding. This conversation was the most my father's spoken to me since my mother's passing.
"Now, I'm gonna have a cellphone while I'm there, and your aunt lives just a few streets down from the place I'm gonna be stayin' at." He produced a slip of paper, handing it to me. "Our phone numbers. Don't hesitate at all to call me if something happens or if you need something, alright?"
"Alright." He smiled and kissed me on the forehead.
"I know I haven't been a real good dad to you. That's gonna change once I come back. I promise."
"O-Okay." I smiled, and he grinned. He stood and left, and I flopped back down into the bed. Time passed as I laid there and thought about him, but those thoughts quickly evacuated my mind as I remembered the package on my bed. I tore off the tape holding it shut, revealing a trio of smaller bundles wrapped in black tissue paper. I opened one to find a soft leather collar, banded with iron strips and a D-ring in the center. Without thinking I buckled it onto my throat, the pressure around it reassuring me of my master's love. The second held a black book, easily the largest package of the three. Flipping through it, I found it was one of the magical books that he had mentioned and I was not able to find. I shivered slightly as I looked it over, the plain black binding and covers seeming to pull light in instead of reflecting it. I sat it next to my bed as I produced the other; an item which brought a deep blush to by face as I revealed it.
Standing, I went to my computer and started up my IRC client. As was expected, he was online.
[System Message: You have logged on at 10:32 AM.]
Orichalum : I got your package, master.
Cruor : Excellent. Everything was intact?
Orichalum : Yeah, I'm wearing the collar. It's all wonderful, thank you! <3
Cruor : I will not be able to be there all the time for you, my pet. That is what the toy is for. I do not want to find you tight when I visit you after the first time.
Orichalum : Yes, master.
Cruor : Also, pet, I wish for you to do me a favor.
Orichalum : Anything, master.
Cruor : According to the database for the library, there is a book held in the Davison branch that I want. The title is 'Le Veritable Dragon Rouge'. Check it out for me, and have it when I arrive tomorrow.
Orichalum : Yes, master.
Cruor : Also, I've made reservations at David's. You know where that is, I assume?
Orichalum : Yes, it's a fine dining place down on Jacobs street.
Cruor : I want you there at six o'clock PM. We will dine, then I wish to see your home. Now, I must go if I intend to be there by tomorrow.
[System Message: Cruor has logged off at 10:51 AM.]
I frowned. He didn't even give me time to tell him goodbye. Blowing it off as him merely being busy I stood, gathering clothes and heading to the shower.
After I had washed and dressed, I headed downstairs. The house was chilly and eerily empty now that Dad was gone for the month, the TV's usual din absent. However, even though the sounds of my footsteps and the sounds of the laces on my boots as I tied them I felt as if there was still something there, watching me. Several times I looked up from my work to see nothing there, but the feeling remained. Cursing myself for being so jumpy I grabbed my messenger bag from the floor near the door, and headed out into the chilly October day. The suburb was quiet, aside from the vague sounds of a soccer game going on in someone's backyard. I headed down the street towards downtown, a well-worn path for me.
Usually I hated staying inside my house for too long. On my long walks outside I explored every square foot of Davison, from the forest-lined Black Creek to my usual hangout, D20 Games. It was a combination of comic shop and geek hangout, and it was my home away from home. The library was on the opposite side of the town from the shop, so I decided to get Master's book before going there.
"Oh, hey there, Ken." Said an elder raccoon, from behind the check-out counter of the small library. A grandmotherly figure wrapped in a thick blanket, she adjusted her thick glasses as she gazed at me.
"Hi, Mrs. Hawthorne." I said. "I'm looking for a specific book today."
"Oh? Do you want that one game book you usually check out?" She began reaching behind the desk for her check-out stamp.
"No, no, not that." I shook my head. "It's called 'Le Veritable Dragon Rouge'."
"Hmm, I don't know if we have it. We might, though." She turned in her swivel chair to the drawers of book cards behind her, searching through them with an air of expertise. The library had a computerized search function, but she hardly ever used it. The only other librarian that worked there, Jacob Crabshaw, used the computer exclusively.
"Where's Jacob today?" I asked.
"Oh, out sick. He's got the creepin' crud that starts up about this time o' year." She turned back with a card in her hand, looking it over. "Oh, it got checked out. Sorry, lad."
"Checked out? But my master said it would be here." I said. Mrs. Hawthorne looked at me suspiciously, an eyebrow raised.
"Master?"
"A friend."
"Ah. Well, it must have gotten checked out since the last time he was here." She turned back and slipped the card back into its usual place, shutting the drawer. I gave her my thanks and left, worrying. Master didn't take well to being disappointed, but I was sure I could lift his spirits by merely being there.
"Well look who it is!" Said a voice from my right. I jumped slightly, but relaxed as I watched Flintock approach. His apparent son followed him, dressed in a long tan trenchcoat with a Slayer shirt under.
"Oh, Mr. Flintock." I said, smiling. "Surprising to see you here. What's up?" I glanced at his son, who merely nodded at me.
"Came ta' see what this library has to offer. Figured if we're gonna be stayin' here we should know what the place has."
"You're going to be staying here? I thought you were a traveler."
"Well, the government's getting' on me about Craig here's education. Apparently I'm not qualified enough to be teachin' him myself, so I'm gonna enroll him in the school here." Flintock explained, leaning against the brick wall.
"Oh? What grade?"
"Sophomore." He said. His voice was quiet yet smooth, quite lyrical. When he smiled softly at me, and I could do nothing but return it. "I guess we'll be schoolmates, eh?" His father nodded.
"Well, let's not be yappin' out here. How about I treat you to lunch, eh?"
"O-Oh, well, that's really nice of you, but-" I began to protest, but he shook his head with a soft snort.
"No buts about it, boy. My treat, let's go."
The Country Cafe was a little restaurant next to I-70, in a small shopping center. It prided itself on a 'small hometown flair', but really all it seemed to attract was the elderly crowd. The food was good, though.
"So where are you guys gonna be staying?" I asked, as we sent away the waitress with our orders.
"Well, we're gonna try to close pretty quickly on a house down in the suburb by the high school." Explained Flintock, drinking from his beer.
"Oh? I live down there. Which house?"
"What was it..." Flintock glanced at his son, who shrugged. "I think it was 509 Juniper." I blinked at this, a bit amazed.
"That's right next door to my house." I said, and smiled. Flintock grinned and laughed a little.
"That's fate, my boy." He said, smiling.
"But that place is pretty expensive, from what I know."
"Oh, we can afford it. See, when I was down south doing music, we did a few albums and made some royalties." Flintock shrugged. "Apparently they're still selling pretty well 'cos of this new iTunes thing, so we're pretty much in the clear for the house and the storefront I'm lookin' over. And there's really only two of us still alive, so the royalties are split fifty fifty."
"Who's the other guy?" I asked.
"Dragon by the name of Richard Brightst-" He stopped suddenly, looking at me. I looked back, an eyeridge raised in disbelief. "Brightstar. You any relation?"
"That's my dad." I said. Flintock laughed, leaning on the table.
"Well, don't that go and beat all. Damn, son. That's where you went and got yer talent from, then!"
"He never talked about it." I found myself grinning. "It does explain it though."
"How's the old bastard doing?"
"Well, honestly, he wasn't doing well for a while. Mom's passing drove him to drinking, but he left for detox this morning." I explained, gesturing with my drink. "I was worried about him, but now I'm really happy."
"He was always a little too fond of his drink." There was a long pause, in which Flintock sat down his drink and looked at me levelly. "Say, whatever happened to that 'master' guy you mentioned at that club?"
"What?"
"When you came to our room last night, I saw something inside you. Like a wriggling creature holding onto your heart. Its darkness spread over your entire body, almost like a shadow." Said Craig, frowning. "And today you're wearing a collar. And the shadow is deeper." I looked at him, suspicious. But just as I was about to speak, I remembered the words I had heard at the club. You are in danger. You must escape him.
"Oh..." I said, uselessly.
"You never did tell me his name." Added Flintock. "What was it?"
"Uh, his real name? I think it was Akiet Silverwise." I said, after thinking for a moment. Both equines looked at each other, and Flintock cursed quietly.
"Ken, that man is bad, bad, bad news." Flintock said, shaking his head. "Real bad."
"You keep saying that, but you don't even know him!" I said, instantly. "He sent me this! Out of his own money!" I indicated my collar, fastened around my throat. My mind felt fuddled, almost as if it was stuffed with cotton, but I pressed on. "He said he loved me!"
"He said that to me, too." Said Craig, quietly. I glared at him, while in the back of my mind pieces fell together. My glare softened, until I was merely watching him speak. "I was in pretty much the same position as you. Hopelessly devoted, almost slavishly. That's what he calls you, doesn't he? Slave?"
"No, 'pet'." I said.
"Same difference, in his mind." Craig drew in breath. "Akiet is evil. Purely. In addition to being a sadistic sociopath, he's a devoted practitioner of darker magics than should be allowed. We met over the Internet, fell in love, had a relationship. But none of it was by my will. He manipulated me psychically, mentally, with rituals and black magics.
He is probably doing the exact same to you, which is why you stay devoted to him no matter what he says or does. I sent him...pictures of myself, pictures I never would have degraded myself into taking. He used those to increase his hold on me until I awoke enough to throw off his chains and escape his clutches."
"Awakened?" I asked, lost.
"Oh boy, do we have a lot to talk about." Said Flintock, as our food arrived. He dug into his steak like a starved man, speaking in between bites. "We'll go over that later, though."
"Ken, did he ask you to get anything for him?" Asked Craig.
"Yeah, a book." I said, eating slowly.
"What was it called?"
"Uh. 'Le Veritable Dragon Rouge'." Craig frowned.
"He's been looking for that book for quite a long time. I don't know what he wants with it, but I'm pretty sure he shouldn't ever come into possession of it. What else did he ask of you?"
"We're supposed to be going to dinner tomorrow, when he's in town." I explained, a creeping sense of dread coming over me. "I shouldn't go, should I?" Craig looked at his father, who looked at me.
"No, you should." Flintock said, thoughtfully. "You should. We'll tell the Society, and we'll keep an eye on you."
"The Society?" I asked.
"I'll explain later. For now, eat." I did, a sinking sensation that the next few days were going to suck forming.