It seems that my being the target of Friday's attack was actually the best place to be. Sure, I was drained, but I wasn't hurt, not really. I was more scared about my family than I was about the thing getting me.
Jonathan's version of what happened was pretty much a case of trying everything in his arsenal to keep the thing at bay and just when he thought he was going to lose the thing walked away from the battle front.
From what I've been able to piece together, it got to Nathan's position and was going to press on to Bri when Nathan realized how it had gotten there.
Alan. There wasn't time to think and whether Alan was willing or being used didn't matter, he had to be taken out. Fortunately Tabs was carrying a tranq gun. If she hadn't I'm fairly certain she'd have used her sidearm. When Alan fell, the thing stopped.
That's when Nathan called me.
From there it was a question of getting Jonathan to target the phone and Nathan to throw it, hoping it would go after the sound of my voice. Once it was far enough away, Jonathan pumped what energy he had left into the phone… and the spirit.
Nathan's description was a bit terse and he was a lot more approachable after he had gotten a shower and a change of clothes… and a new phone.
From what I understand, the secondary attacker called the Blood Spirit to it when it looked like the whole mission was falling apart. I'm guessing it was an attempt to salvage something out of the attack.
For Bri the terror of what she was seeing, this thing coming after everything and everyone she knows… her big brother, his best friend, her uncle and his friends all fighting to protect her… getting hurt.
I know Nathan told me he'd 'awakened' in a claustrophobic attack. I was hoping things would be easier for her.
I know when we got back together Philip had to keep telling her 'Stand like a tree'
She seems to be doing better now. I'm trying not to dote but I think I need to hold her just to be sure she's all right.
Still… we did at least limp away from this one.
One thing I can say, we've learned a lot more about our enemies over the last week and a half than we have in the preceding months.
We can't necessarily trust everything Alan's told us, but I knew that before we knew he'd been compromised. I trust Alan with my life, I've done it in the past, but I'd be a fool if I didn't know that he was still playing his own game, and he wasn't sharing the play book.
He never did. He and Matthew always had their own shorthand between them and I was always… the little sister.
Most of the time they'd try and protect me, but truth be told more than once I've been nothing more than a pawn on the field that they'd set up.
One thing I do know: pawns do not do well in blood games.
Mom and the lodge gave Alan a powerful going over today. While they worked, Jonathan and Mario watched and Case profiled and Nathan did… whatever it is Nathan does. I just watched the old tells and trusted my instincts, but more than anything I noticed Bri noticing what he was doing.
I think hiding Christmas Presents is going to take on all kinds of new levels of interesting this year.
About Six months ago, maybe more the enemy (an indirect subsidiary with no *direct* links to Aztechnologies) kidnapped Matt's pregnant wife.
Their attempts to find and rescue her resulted in them running head long into our friends at Knight Errant. They found her but not before the baby had been born on February 27th. From my research on the Mayan calendar it is part of a 5 day period called 'nemontemi' - the Empty Days.
I know it means something but for the life of me I couldn't tell you. I think there's more research to be done. Like the fact that my brother's married… widowed…
About the same time shadows were tackling me and taking marrow samples, she was being sacrificed to Xipe-Totec, the rites of fertility - Tiaxaxipehualizti… April 9th… I checked.
Why couldn't they have just made us part of 'Etzalcualiztii' how bad can 'Eating Maize and Beans' be? But no… they have to drag the Millers into their world, and then get upset when we fight back.
I am so about tipping over this apple cart and keeping them from pretty much anything they've planned. I have to learn more about the Mayan Calendar, Blood Magic and how to fight it.
While I hate calling up Mario's ghosts, they're the ones that can help us here. We'll see how it goes.
We're a bit late, but we're in the game again.
I did a little research today and I'm really wishing that ATZ had kept with the Mayan ways of celebrating their holidays. The scheduled holidays were more about following a formula where holiday X involved the sacrifice of a grain based alcoholic beverage brewed from a specific combination and count of different grains.
Annoying if you're the brew master certainly but still…
Oh, and it would seem that whole 'Empty days' thing… it's considered a very bad thing. From what I've read it was the time of the year when the veil between worlds was very thin and it was the time evil gods tried to wreak havoc. I can only imagine what the enemy is trying to channel into my niece/nephew.
I am now on an indefinite leave of absence. I again tried to resign outright and was again denied. I am still doing the paperwork, but all the actual functional duties have been passed to Charlie for the duration.
This also gives me time to play this whole mess out on 3x5 index cards. I know the work can be done online but there's just something about physically seeing and holding the cards and arranging them that just… works for me.
There's no telling where this will lead but we're following it to the end.
Today was my day to avoid the long house.
While everyone checked Alan out their way, today was Nathan's turn. I know my brother and he is quite capable of pushing people and playing on their fears. It's what he's trained to do, and let me tell you he is really good at reading people, I think it's one of the aspects of Poltergeist.
Alan didn't stand a chance.
The only thing Jonathan would tell me was that Nathan was not pulling any punches and he was not going to play games when it came to Bri's safety.
I appreciated it, I really did, but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't waiting on the sidelines medical kit in hand.
They aren't brothers, I doubt they ever will be… but they are my brothers, and Alan is going to have to deal with it.
Alan should be happy, he has been verified as clear and tamper free-but he's not happy. I don't really blame him. Nathan can be pretty evil when he feels he has to be and… he felt it was necessary.
It would seem that Alan's displeasure has been extended to me since I obviously put Nathan up to it. How can I get him to understand?
Nathan does what Nathan wants and what he feels is necessary. We all do. None of us really take orders … except from Mom Walker. We'd take them from Dad Walker but let's face it-he doesn't order.
Alan is used to being Matt's backup and he's used to me doing what I'm told. Which-I haven't really done in a very long time.
If I took orders, Case and I would never have gotten together.
Case and me, that's another sore point with Alan. He's used to Case being a Fixer, a fed hiring him to do some less than kosher work. He's trying to figure out Case's angle and there isn't one-except for the usual keeping me from getting myself killed by being stubborn, but that's for totally selfish reasons.
If I could only get him to drop his image of us all and I don't know, reboot his thought processes.
I just don't think it's going to happen.
Thinking about it, we probably should have gotten Nathan his new phone before he interrogated Alan.
Copyright 2010 M.T. Decker