Luke was driving through the city, headed towards the park that Xaera called home. According to Felicitae/Amy, there were certain components that she required to make a potion or something. Whatever it was, it would provide them with a level of protection from the Dark Magic that the corrupted Nymph wielded.
Luke was still coming to grips with everything he had learned in the past few days. He managed to get his head around the fact that there were items needed as spell components, which he thought was beyond cool! To him, it was almost like a real life game of D&D, where he was a player!
That he was now part of a gathering quest nearly gave him a nerdgasm! Luke was doing everything he could to stay on task, as they needed certain items to make this spell work. There were some items needed that grew in nature. Others were from a... less than savory source, which is where they ran into a bit of a problem.
"So, you're saying that we need all of that stuff in order to make this... spell work?" Luke questioned.
"Yes. I know that... acquiring a piece of my... body will be problematic," Felicitae/Amy admitted.
"Problematic? That's putting it mildly! Getting anywhere near you without turning into a rotted husk, or being thrown like Amy was, is going to be more than a little problematic!" Emalia huffed.
"So, we need a piece of you, in your dark form, in order to make this spell of yours work?" Luke reiterated.
"A piece of my body is the best option, but anything that is tainted with powerful Dark Magic will also do," Felicitae/Amy replied.
"Powerful Dark Magic? Like from any source?" Luke questioned.
"Yes. It must from something powerful though, in order for any level of protection from this spell, to be effective," Felicitae/Amy stated.
"Hmm. I have an idea," Luke said as he pulled over.
"Sweetie, what are you doing?" Emalia questioned.
"I need to make a call. I think I know where we could get such an item," Luke replied as he fished out his phone and made a call. The line rang, and Luke only hoped that Randy was amenable to doing business at this time of day.
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Randy was busy finishing cleaning the table on which a corpse had rested. He sighed, as he knew that the work of morgue tech was never really done. There were always bodies that came in, which needed identifying, processing, and an entire array of tests to determine the cause of death. The man huffed as he surveyed his cleaning job, moderately satisfied with his work.
He placed the spray bottle loaded with cleaner on a nearby shelf and moved to wash his hands. Though he was sure that his hands were clean, you could never be too careful these days. He stood up and grabbed some paper towel to dry his hands when he was done and caught his own reflection in the mirror.
Randy was a moderately handsome man, standing at around five foot ten, with long brown hair and blue eyes. He had a slight, yet sturdy looking jaw, a beaky nose and a clean complexion. He was handsome enough, as he'd never had trouble attracting the fairer sex. The only problem he had was attracting the women he wanted, which proved troubling because of his beta personality and lanky form.
He often wished that he could find a way around that and was making some progress. Randy had been taking a few classes and courses and even attended a few seminars about how to be more assertive. He had no trouble remembering the theory of it, but putting it into practice... that was another matter entirely. Sighing, he went back to scrubbing tables when he felt a buzz in his back pocket.
He pulled out his phone and grumbled as he received the text from Luke, stating that he'd arrived. Randy headed to the sink to wash his hands, yet again, before heading to the back door as he dried them. He opened the door, hoping to see those hotties that Luke had in tow. He was happy to see one of them, but the other woman with him was unfamiliar to Randy.
"You've got maybe thirty minutes before my co-worker gets back from lunch. So, make this snappy, OK?" Randy warned.
"Got it, bud," Luke stated, as he handed Randy a crisp one-hundred dollar note. The tech took the money before letting the trio inside the building.
"So, do you have any fresh corpses that were wrung out? Like from before?" Emalia asked, getting straight to the point.
"As a matter of fact, we do. Picked up this guy out of a landfill, but because of the rate of decay and that his teeth were a right mess, we're having trouble identifying him," Randy told them.
"He get brutalized?" Luke wondered.
"More like his entire mouth rotted to where his teeth were nothing more than jagged bits of calcified shrapnel. Even the bones were quite brittle this time around," Randy stated as he walked over to the freezer where the corpse was stored. He opened the door and pulled out the slab, bringing the body out for everyone to see.
"It's getting more powerful," Emalia breathed, looking over the withered corpse. It lay there, looking like it had been dead for more than several months, rather than just a few days. The fact that the thing was in pieces made fairy's stomach turn.
"What was that?" Randy questioned.
"Nothing. Just... my mind running off on a tangent," Emalia supplied.
"Any luck on where he was dumped?" Luke wondered, steering the topic to something else related.
"The CSI's are working on that right now. If they find out anything, we'll know about it," Randy told them. Both women stared at the corpse, sensing the dark energies that emanated from it. It made them sick just to be in proximity to the dead body, but they knew it would eventually fade.
"I can... sense the... evil... that was done to this guy," Felicitae/Amy stated.
"You going to be OK?" Luke asked, turning to the woman.
"I'll be all right, thank you. What we do need is the neck or the right forearm. That's where the Darkness is strongest," Felicitae/Amy responded.
"Wait, you told me you needed to look over the body! That you might find a clue or two about it that the boys and girls in blue missed! Not take a piece of it!" Randy groused.
"Sorry bud, but I knew you wouldn't deal if I told you that," Luke fessed up.
"I can't let you have it. I could seriously lose my job over that shit if I were to let you take body parts, man! And what the fuck do you need them for, anyway?" Randy questioned as he shuffled closer to the intercom.
"That's something that's none of your business," Emalia told him.
"I say that it very much is my business! Why the fuck do you need the desiccated arm of a human corpse?" Randy demanded.
"We don't have time for this!" Luke growled, looking like he was about to tackle the man before he reached the intercom. Felicitae/Amy sighed in disgust before she let the Nymph take control. Her eyes glowed a bright green and her voice changed, taking on an ethereal quality.
"What we are chasing down is beyond the scope of the police to apprehend. If any of them even found the creature that is killing these people, they would soon join them in death," Felicitae/Amy told the morgue tech.
Randy yelped and slipped, falling to his ass in disbelief. Seeing her friend reveal what she truly was, Emalia figured there was nothing for it and uncased her wings. His eyes bugging out of his head, Randy sat there gaping like a fish. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing, but he knew he wasn't dreaming.
"What the... who the... how..." Randy blubbered, trying to find the words but failing.
"Dude, just breathe. You look like you're about to pass out," Luke told him. Randy did as Luke suggested and breathed deeply. After several deep breaths, he finally was able to calm down, even though what he was staring at should have been little more than myth and legend.
"What are you?" Randy finally asked as he got to his feet.
"Sorry, bro, but I don't have time to explain. Let's just say that there's a malevolent entity out there that gets stronger with each victim it kills. With the amount of people it has already killed, broad daylight attacks aren't far behind. We need this to not only deal with it but also something else that's far worse," Luke explained.
"What could be worse than whatever that... thing is doing to people right now?" Randy wondered, his voice quavering.
"Imagine what it does to people, translating to the very land and environment we live in," Luke stated, keeping the idea simple.
"What the fuck did I step into?" Randy breathed, shivering at the thought.
"Not all is lost, Randall. There are those of us who can fight such entities, provided we have the tools to fight them. This is why we need your help," Felicitae/Amy stated, walking up to the man.
"How... how can I help?" Randy asked, a little color returning to his face.
"By letting us take that arm. We need it, if we are going to create ways to defeat and protect us from this entity," Felicitae/Amy replied. Gulping fearfully, but nodding at this little ray of hope, Randy turned to the corpse of the man and picked up the right forearm. He then walked over to where a bunch of spare bags were kept and grabbed one before he stuffed it in.
"I sure as hell hope that you'll tell me the complete story later!" Randy groused.
"Bud, you can count on that! Pay my place a visit after we're done, and I'll tell you everything!" Luke promised.
