















 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 BLOOD AND STEEL
   by Jack Hillman
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-





   Dan scrolled through the information on the computer screen
 looking for an interesting topic for his next article. Headings
 rolled past for different current events scheduled, political
 happenings, medical advances and strange things in the news. A
 heading caught his eye and he backed up the screen. "Increase In
 Serial Killings", read the title and Dan keyed the instructions
 to download the file. While the information transferred, he glanced
 out the window and found the view holding his attention.

   Stretched out on a lounge chair, a beautiful dark haired woman
 was adding to her suntan, protected only by a small bikini and a
 coating of oil. Dan's white cat, Murphy, was playing at the edge
 of the deck. Dan looked at the woman and again wondered why she had
 stayed with him. There was, of course, the obvious reason: she was
 from another dimension and was still learning her way around in this
 world. But that still didn't explain why such an intelligent and
 attractive woman like Thook was willing to spend her time with a
 cripple in a wheelchair.

   Dan turned back to the computer as it signaled the end of the
 download and continued his search, his thoughts still on Thook. There
 had been many changes in the past few months since she arrived. Dan
 no longer spent the majority of his time "hiding" in his house. He
 had taken Thook to the theatre, to sporting events, even bowling on
 one occasion (although Thook had trouble with the idea of rolling the
 ball down the alley and kept trying to launch it like a catapult).

   Dan was taking better care of himself, too. He shaved more
 regularly and paid more attention to what he wore, even if Thook
 found his taste in T-shirts with messages rather strange. His diet
 improved from a mixture of fast food deliveries and microwave packs
 as Thook took control of the kitchen. She had a flair for cooking,
 once she discovered the ease of an electric stove. But she still had
 trouble with the microwave and vowed never to touch it again after
 turning a roast into very tough beef jerky by overcooking.

   There had been changes in Thook as well. The scars from Duke
 Baraz's control gem faded as she lay in the sun, improving her tan.
 With no full sunlight in Albion, Thook was enchanted by the feeling
 of warmth and the changes in her skin tone. Dan had been adamant
 about her use of sunscreen and Thook did not object after she lay
 out one afternoon, ignoring Dan's instructions. The resultant sunburn
 left her with such a painful reminder that Dan tactfully refrained
 from comment.

   Thook was growing more assertive as well. Never shy by nature,
 she had grown up under the control of one or more of the elves of the
 Queen's court in Albion. She had a long habit of not speaking unless
 directly addressed and then only replying in short sentences at most.
 Now, she was not only speaking out more often but was asserting her
 own opinions and disagreeing with Dan on occasion. He was pleased in
 her personal growth but still had a fear she would leave as she grew
 more independent.

   Dan snapped back to the present as a pair of slightly oily arms
 slid around his neck, hand pressing to his chest. A quiet voice
 whispered in his ear as he caught the scent of sun warmed skin.

   "A silver penny for thy thoughts, milord," Thook offered as she
 pressed against his back.

   "Just wondering why you put up with me," Dan answered.

   Thook nibbled on an ear. "As I've said before, you are a warrior.
 I like warriors."

   "Yes, but . . ."  Dan started to say, only to find himself stopped
 by a pair of very warm and energetic lips.

   "You talk too much," Thook whispered as she slid into his lap and
 finished the kiss.

   Dan complied with the inevitable.

                                *  *  *

   Later that afternoon, Dan was back at the keyboard reviewing the
 information he had received. The file on serial killings got his
 attention since it was happening in his own area. It seemed the
 local authorities and the FBI were concerned about an increase in
 certain types of victims that were turning up dead all over the city.
 The one common factor was a mark on the forehead of each victim.

   "What's that about?" Thook asked as she set a plate with a sandwich
 on the desk. She had not as yet learned to read English but was
 intensely interested in what Dan did for a living. To her, the idea
 of earning enough to live on just by writing was totally outside her
 frame of reference. Not until Dan took her to the local library and
 she saw the hundreds of thousands of books and the hundreds of
 magazines available did she begin to grasp the potential. Plus, Thook
 was amazed at the ability of a little box to bring that information
 into a home.

   "They're having more problems with a serial killer in this area
 lately," Dan replied, reading the details. "It seems whoever it is
 that's doing this is going after more and more victims."

   "Serial killer?" Thook asked.

   "Someone who kills again and again rather than just once," Dan
 explained. "It refers to someone who kills for fun or to overcome
 some type of emotional trauma. This guy is killing people and taking
 different parts of the victims' bodies as souvenirs."

   "How do they know it's the same person?" Thook questioned. She
 had been horrified as she watched the daily news reports and seen
 the numbers of violent crimes. In the closed community of Albion,
 aggression was normal but killing was extremely rare.

   "He leaves a mark on each victim," Dan answered, pointing to the
 screen as the photo scrolled up.

   Thook stiffened. "I thought you said there were no more sorcerers
 in your world?"

   "What I said was none to my knowledge. Why? What's the matter?"
 Dan looked at her as she stared at the screen.

   "That," Thook said, shaking her head, ". . . is a sorcerer's
 mark. He places it on his victim to lock the soul into the body at
 death. By removing the soul, he can use its power for many different
 purposes. Does your box tell you what specifically was removed from
 each victim?"

   "Only in general: heart, kidneys, fingers or toes, in one case,
 apparently, an eye. Does that mean anything special to you?"

   "I need to know more. Can you get more detailed information?"

   Dan scrolled through the file. "I have a list of names of the
 victims. Would that be any help?"

   "Perhaps. If we can find a common factor among the victims I may
 be able to determine what the sorcerer is doing with his offerings."

   "Okay," Dan answered. "Give me some time to see what I can get
 here and I'll let you know.

   Thook rose from her chair. "I have something I wish to check
 while you do your work." She started to leave the room, Dan already
 lost in flying fingers on the keyboard, "Don't forget to eat," she
 added and smiled at Dan's absent nod.

   Two hours later, Dan took his first bite from a dry sandwich
 and sat back to review what he had found. There was a general
 outline that seemed to fit the victims. All twelve were young, under
 twenty-seven, college educated, employed in either high tech or high
 visibility business positions that required aggressive individuals.

   "Yuppies," Dan muttered around another bite.

   Oddly enough, the victims were both male and female. Most serial
 killers tended to stick to one sex, Dan recalled from his research.
 So what makes this case different, he wondered. All the victims were
 found at home, usually in their beds, and always nude. The police
 were working on an angle that maybe there was a pair of killers; one
 male, one female. Newspaper clippings indicated no visible cause of
 death other than the removal of whatever body part was taken.

   Oddly as well, all the wounds were cauterized, as if the organs
 were removed with a hot knife. And then there was the mark on the
 forehead. Analysis of the ink showed it was made with human blood!
 The papers were running ideas about why the killings were taking
 place that ran from black magic to little green men from space
 collecting their favorite food.

   Dan finished the sandwich with a gulp, put the printout on
 his lap, and went to find Thook. Rolling down the hall past the
 kitchen and family room without success, Dan found her in what
 they had started to call her "workroom". She was standing in the
 middle of a major pentacle, clasping a thin wand of ash wood.
 Murphy, Dan's cat, sat to one side of the pentacle, watching every
 move. Waiting patiently in silence, Dan admired the spandex outfit
 Thook used as her "work clothes". She had told him the tight clothing
 caused fewer reactions. Watching the swell of her breasts and the
 slow curve of hip and thigh, Dan wasn't so sure. Thook's breathing
 speeded up as she came out of her trance. She looked at Dan.

   "Your thoughts are disturbing," she said with a smile. "Can't you
 keep your mind on important things?" She walked over to her worktable
 and laid the wand in a holder.

   "I am," Dan said, watching her movements. Thook saw the direction
 of his gaze and smiled again.

   "What have you found?" she asked as they walked back to the
 kitchen. Dan reviewed the information and Thook nodded. "I thought
 that might be the case. Whoever we are dealing with is preparing a
 rejuvenation formula." Thook started pacing the kitchen like a caged
 cat, with the same grace and starkly feral attitude as Murphy on a
 hunt. "Before the elves left this world for Albion, some human
 sorcerers found a way to prolong their lives so as to match their
 elven friends. A young elf has yet to reach his or her third century
 and their human playmates were jealous of their long life. Certain
 elves even helped provide the victims, enjoying the suffering of what
 they considered to be cattle.

   Many of the high elves objected to this practice for various
 reasons." Thook glanced at Dan. "Not all elves have noble intentions.
 One of the greatest complaints was that with such a greatly extended
 life, human sorcerers might become a match for the elves and enslave
 them. Oberon King declared the practice forbidden to avoid the human
 peoples rising up and destroying the elves quickly rather than just
 pushing them out as they were already doing. All the sorcerers who
 knew the how to prolong their lives were gathered together and
 banished to Albion by Oberon King."

   Thook stared at her hands held in tight fists. "Either one of
 those has escaped or else someone with power has found the concealed
 writings of some sorcerer from your past. We must stop them. With no
 other sorcerer using the ley lines of this world, the lines of power
 that cross the planet, the energy available is immense." She looked
 at Dan. "Will you help me?" she asked timidly, a reversal of her
 aggressive speech. Thook was still unsure of her status.

   "What can I do?" Dan asked quietly.

   "I have checked the ley lines in this area," she answered, once
 more sure of her direction. "I need you to go with me to tell me
 where certain dead areas are located. Our hunter may be hiding in
 one of those. And we must hurry. If I am right, we have only until
 the new moon to complete our search, two days hence. On that night
 the spell must be cast to complete the potion and renew the
 sorcerer's power and youth. Only one more victim is needed to
 complete the formula and that one cannot be taken until just before
 the spell is cast. That is our only hope to trace the hunter."

   "You plan to set yourself up as bait!" Dan exclaimed.

   Thook nodded. "Time passes strangely in Albion by your standards.
 I have had many years to learn sorcery under many different teachers.
 The one who hunts will not expect to find another sorcerer and
 certainly not one as well trained as I. We will have the advantage."

   "Right," muttered Dan pessimistically. "Okay, let's give it a shot.
 What do we do?"

   "You must walk with me," Thook answered calmly.

   The flash of anger Dan felt was quickly smothered. He knew Thook
 was not referring to his disability. "What do you mean?" he asked,
 more sharply than he meant to.

   "We will leave our bodies and walk the ley lines. I have found
 several areas nearby where the lines of power do not reach and I
 cannot see. You must tell me where they are located so we may reach
 them on the material plane."

   "Okay, if you say so," Dan said uncertainly, willing to try but
 too firmly rooted in reality to agree too quickly. They moved back
 down the hall to Thook's workroom and she began to gather what they
 would need.

   "Leave your chair in the hallway, please," she said as she
 sprinkled powders in each of four braziers and lit candles at the
 cardinal points of the pentacle. She looked at him as she finished.
 He was sitting in the chair waiting.

   "How do you expect me to get from here," pointing at the chair,
 "to there?" Dan pointed to the center of the pentacle.

   Thook smiled and walked over to him. Reaching down, she easily
 lifted him out of the chair and carried him into the pentacle,
 gently laying him on the floor in the center of the lines. Dan
 watched Thook as she turned to gather her equipment. There was
 something to be said for living in a society that prized physical
 prowess, he mused. Thook looked down at him.

   "Ready?" she asked.

   "May as well, can't dance," he answered, levering up on his
 elbows to watch the proceedings.

   "Lay back, please," Thook said quietly, her lips beginning the
 words of a spell. Dan lay flat on the floor and watched her. Slowly,
 Thook moved her wand through a series of movements that resembled a
 martial arts exercise in miniature. Dan felt his eyelids growing
 heavy and between one breath and the next he fell asleep.

   When he opened his eyes, he knew only a few moments had passed.
 He saw Thook standing over him, wearing a long white robe, and
 vaguely wondered when she had changed clothes. She smiled at him and
 reached down, through his body, to his back and Dan felt an instant
 of burning followed by a surge into his legs. Thook grasped his hand
 and urged him to his feet. Unthinking, Dan stood, looking down at his
 body on the floor. That was when he noticed Thook standing next to
 herself, still wearing her spandex work clothes. He looked down at
 himself, noticing for the first time that he was wearing a full shirt
 of silver mail complete with gauntlets. He raised one gloved hand to
 feel the mail coif over his head. The Thook in the white robe spoke.

   "This is how I see you," she said, laying her palm on his chest.
 "You will be my protector as well as my guide." Thook grasped his arm
 and together they passed up through the house and out over the
 community of Long Swamp. Hovering in the air, Dan looked down at his
 own house, picking out lines of energy that marked the electrical
 wiring. But these tiny threads were dwarfed by an arrow of pure force
 that passed over the house and into the distance in both directions.
 Behind the house, they ley line disappeared into the woods. Thook
 gestured with one hand.

   "Where the Ley touches the hills," she said in a small voice
 that seemed to echo inside his head, "there was the doorway to
 Albion." She pointed out over the city. "Somewhere out there is our
 hunter. Shall we go?"

   Dan nodded and, immediately, they began to move along the ley
 line toward the center of town. Dan noted, as they passed over homes
 and offices, that they ley line seemed to glow or pulse as they
 passed each building, some more than others.

   "Do the people in those buildings draw from the energy flow?"
 he asked.

   "No, " Thook answered. "They feed the flow with the power of
 their lives. That is why it is so important we stop this sorcerer.
 With the right spell to tap the lines, he could drain the life energy
 from the world. If he didn't destroy it first."

   She began to point out places where the energy flow was lower
 and a few where it was missing entirely. To Dan, these places of no
 energy appeared almost black, making him wonder if his sight on this
 level was linked to the energy flow. Some of the places Thook pointed
 out Dan knew. In two cases, they were doctors' offices that had high
 tech imaging equipment surrounded by shielding of some sort. This
 apparently blocked the energy flow in both directions. One place
 Thook pointed out Dan knew was a machine shop that cut parts from bar
 and plate stock. When he explained this to Thook, she nodded.

   "So much cold iron disrupts the flow," she said. "No energy
 pattern would stay stable in such a place."

   The last place they checked was an old steel mill at the edge
 of town. Several areas were black to Dan's sight but the size of the
 dead spots worried him.

   "You could hide half a company of men in some of those dead zones,"
 he remarked. "Let's check them out further."

   Thook agreed. Since they had swept the entire town before going
 to the mill, she made a small gesture and they were back in the
 workroom, Dan looking up at her. Thook set the wand on the workbench
 and picked Dan up from the floor. He sighed as she put him in his
 chair. It had felt good to have legs again, even if only for a short
 time. As they moved to the kitchen to replenish low energy levels,
 Dan was surprised to see that it was dark. Since he had been able to
 see so clearly as they flew over the town, he thought it was still
 daylight. As they sat quietly, snacking on lunch meat and cheese
 without the bread (Thook had adopted some of Dan's bad habits), Dan
 considered what they had found.

   "Would the amount of iron at the old steel mill affect a
 sorcerer?" he asked between bites, feeding tidbits to Murphy in
 his lap.

   "Not really," Thook answered around a chunk of cheese. "Since
 the sorcerer is human, the iron would not harm him directly. All he
 need do is be very careful of the direction of his spells since the
 iron would distort their energy. What he needs is a spot of clear
 earth in the center of the area and he can cast whatever spells he
 wishes. The only problem is that he must use his own energy for the
 spell since the iron barrier cuts off the flow from the ley lines.

   "In effect," Dan said, "he has the perfect hiding place. He can't
 be found by another sorcerer if one should happen to exist and the
 old mill is fenced off to casual visitors. Anyone he finds on the
 grounds isn't supposed to be there and mundane accidents have
 accounted for a number of deaths at that place already." He finished
 his snack and wiped his hands on his pants. "Ready?"

   Thook stopped him as he started past. "We both need rest," she
 said. "The morning will be soon enough. Besides, do you not wish to
 inform your friend who enforces your laws?"

   "I think the cops would have a problem with the idea of
 sorcerer," Dan answered. "Let's check out the mill in the morning
 and maybe I can drop an anonymous tip."

   Thook nodded agreement and they headed for some rest.

   Early the next morning, Dan and Thook sat in Dan's van looking
 through the chain link fence that surrounded the old steel mill.
 The stark outlines of the steel girders that framed the buildings,
 visible where sheet metal plates had blown free of the walls, glowed
 red in the morning sun. Dan imagined they looked like newly forged
 steel, hot from the rollers.

   "Can we get closer?" Thook asked. "I can't tell anything more
 from this distance."

   "Maybe," Dan answered, pointing ahead to a gate in the fence.
 "It depends on if I can open that lock."

   They moved to the back of the van, Dan sliding into his chair
 and triggering the electric lift. He reached into a tool chest along
 the side wall and removed a small pouch. Dan rode the lift to the
 ground while Thook watched the process with interest.

   "How could anyone call you a cripple when you have such marvelous
 toys to aid you?" she said, as he closed up the van.

   "People have some strange ideas these days as to what's important."
 The note of sadness in Dan's voice stopped any further comments.
 Wheeling over to the gate, Dan examined the lock. Opening the pouch,
 he extracted two thin tools, inserted them into the key way and, with
 a few small hand motions, popped the lock open.

   "They didn't really plan on this lock doing more than slowing down
 the neighborhood kids," he commented as he opened the gate. "After
 you, milady," he said, bowing in the chair and waving Thook through.

   "Thank you, milord," Thook answered with a curtsy and walked
 through the gate into the old scrap yard.

   Carefully, the two made their way across the acres of concrete
 that surrounded the mill. Dan could recall, when the mill was open,
 when this entire area was piled high with scrap steel and other
 metals, waiting for the furnace to turn them into something functional
 once more. Now, with the shutdown of so many heavy industries, the
 worst hazard was small scraps of steel that would cut into the wheels
 of Dan's chair.

   "I hope we don't find anything," Thook said as she kicked a short
 rod. "With this much loose iron around, any spell I cast would bounce
 around like an arrow in a windstorm."

   "At least our quarry will have the same problem," Dan replied.
 He stopped the chair for a moment and picked up two overly large
 washers from the ground. The three inch disks felt good in the palm
 of his hand, like a talisman.

   As they reached the wall of the first building, they stopped,
 listening closely. The only sounds were the banging in the wind of
 loose sheets of metal on the sides of the buildings. They approached
 the doorway cautiously, until Thook stopped suddenly.

   "What's wrong?" Dan whispered, unable to see any problems.

   "I have been watching the energy flows," she answered. "With
 all this loose iron, the flow has been chaotic, as I suspected.
 But here," pointing to the edge of the doorway, "it strengthens and
 becomes patterned again.

   "An alarm of some sort?" Dan guessed.

   "Perhaps." Thook moved slowly. The ground in front of the door
 had been swept clean, down to the bare earth. Dan could see where
 plates of concrete had been removed to reveal the soil beneath.

   "Is it possible our sorcerer was creating a pathway through the
 dead zone?" Dan asked.

   "Yes, that's it," Thook exclaimed. "Here, look for yourself."

   She laid a hand on Dan's shoulder for a few seconds, and his
 sight changed. The cold, hard edges of the buildings faded slightly,
 becoming insubstantial. Overlaying the entire area, Dan could see a
 swirling mass of color he instinctively knew was ley energy. Over the
 concrete apron surrounding the building, the colors were a writhing,
 incoherent maelstrom of color that sank into a dead black near the
 building.

   As he looked at the doorway, the pattern of the colors stabilized
 in a circular area in the center of the doorway, becoming the lines
 of light he and Thook had followed in their search the night before.
 Oddly, the ley energy flowed through the door itself without being
 disrupted by the metal of the lock, bracing strips and hinges. Dan
 moved closer to the door and examined the metal. Taking out a small
 pocket knife, he scraped one of the hinges, removing the paint and a
 respectable sliver of metal.

   "Aluminum!" he exclaimed, looking back at his companion. "He's
 replaced all the ferrous metal in the door with aluminum."

   Dan could see the change in the ley energy as it reacted to his
 chair and the other ferrous materials he carried, swirling toward
 black without going through the door as it had been channeled. He
 wheeled back from the door and watched the energy pattern settle and
 pass through the door again.

   Suddenly, the doors slid open to each side with a crash and Dan
 was looking into the building. The floor had been removed and the
 entire area cleaned down to the ground. Standing in the center was
 a tall figure in a shapeless black robe with a mask over the face.
 Thook stepped into the doorway in front of Dan and the mask turned to
 follow her movements.

   "By the authority of Oberon King, I command you to surrender,"
 Thook shouted, her voice echoing through the building.

   The robed figure laughed: a dry crackling sound like a fire on
 wet pine wood. "Oberon has held no authority here for many years,
 child. I think you will be my final sacrifice."

   With a wave of his hands, the black sorcerer threw a web of
 glittering energy at Thook, who countered with a pulse of light that
 shattered the web. Thook attempted to fire darts of energy at her
 attacker, but the steel girders of the building deflected and warped
 the trajectories so badly the black sorcerer merely stood and laughed.
 Dan watched as the robed figure began to build a twisting rope of
 power that began to creep around both sides of Thook as she stepped
 into the doorway to lessen the distortion of the steel. He could see
 the energy flow build, so as to mesh into a cage surrounding his
 partner. Dan maneuvered to one side of the doorway.

   "Duck, Thook!" he yelled, and whipped one of the washers he had
 picked up at the sorcerer like a shuriken. By luck or providence,
 the iron ring struck an out flung hand, disrupting the spell and
 dissipating the energy in a huge flash. Dan, with his newly acquired
 witch-sight, was blinded by the glare, but he caught a glimpse of the
 sorcerer flung to the ground by the recoil. Blinded, eyes running
 with tears, Dan searched for his friend.

   "Thook, he's getting away. Stop him!"

   Dan could hear the sorcerer scrambling in the dirt and moaning.
 What worried him more was that Thook wasn't answering. Using the
 footrests of his chair like a blind man's cane, Dan moved back and
 forth across the area until he felt the left rest hit something soft.
 His sight still colored with flashes and made blurry by tears, Dan
 felt his way along Thook's body, checking as best he could. She was
 alive and breathing, but the backlash of energy had left her
 unconscious. Dan hesitated, looking over toward the sorcerer.

   He was gone, apparently getting away while Dan was searching.

   Dan sighed, set his brakes, and reached over, carefully pulling
 Thook into his lap, trying not to overbalance the chair. With her
 limp body belted to his, feet tucked under his flaccid legs, Dan
 carefully wheeled back to the van and placed Thook on the back seat.
 She had not regained consciousness and would not respond to any of
 Dan's attempts to wake her. Dan slid into the driver's seat and
 headed for the hospital, debating what he would do once he arrived.

   At the emergency room, the attendants were extremely helpful.
 The sight of a man in a wheelchair bringing in an unconscious girl
 evoked immediate response, and Dan found Thook whisked into an
 examining room almost before he began to give the carefully edited
 story he had contrived. Working with an explanation of "electrical
 shock", the doctors examined Thook, carefully checking her vital
 signs and looking for any additional injuries. Meanwhile, Dan paced
 back and forth in the waiting room; worried about Thook and worried
 about the sorcerer they had found. He turned as the doctor came out
 of the examining room.

   "Mr. Braden . . .," the doctor started, "your friend is still
 unconscious. We've examined her as well as we can so far and can
 find no injuries, broken bones or electrical burns. Are you sure
 it was an electrical shock?"

   "Not really," Dan replied. "I found her on the floor in the
 kitchen near the sink with the water running. There were several
 appliances nearby recently used. When I couldn't wake her I decided
 to bring her here. I didn't check further."

   "Well, at this point, all we can do are more tests," the doctor
 said. "We'll be taking her to x-ray in a few minutes and I've
 scheduled an EEG just to be safe. Maybe we'll know more after the
 tests come back from the lab." He turned and went back to the
 examining room, shaking his head.

   Dan watched him go and made a decision he had been reluctant to
 reach before. He wheeled over to the phone and called his friend at
 the police station.

                                *  *  *

   "What do you mean, you can't tell me how you found out?" said
 Sergeant Raymond. He was sitting in the waiting room, facing Dan as
 he sat in his chair. "You tell me you've found the serial killer
 we've been hunting for for weeks and I'm supposed to believe it came
 to you in a dream?"

   "Something like that," Dan answered quietly. He was uncomfortable
 talking to his friend like this, but his conscience wouldn't let him
 take a chance on the killer getting away.

   Raymond closed his notebook and looked Dan in the eye.

   "Okay, off the record. What really happened?" The sergeant had
 been after Dan ever since that prisoner had disappeared from the
 holding cell a few months ago. The official story was that he was
 released in error by a rookie on duty. But Raymond didn't believe
 that story either.

   "Dan, you and I have been friends since we were kids, not
 close, but close enough. I helped you out after your accident, when
 you set up the emergency call with the police dispatcher, just in
 case. I've helped you out when the neighborhood kids were vandalizing
 your place before they learned you would fight back." He chuckled, as
 he remembered the complaints from the parents when their "little
 darlings" had arrived home showered with butyl mercaptan. The "little
 skunks" lived up to their names for over a week, until the smell wore
 off. "Level with me, so I can help you."

   Dan sighed. "Okay, Jim, you asked for it. To begin with, Thook is
 sort of a witch." He watched for a reaction.

   Jim nodded. "Well, it fits with the weird name. And?"

   "So is the killer. When Thook saw what was happening with the
 killings, she recognized a pattern with some of the things she's
 learned over the years. She managed to trace several possible places
 the killer was hiding. We were out at the old steel mill when we hit
 the jackpot. Thook and the killer got into a battle of spells and
 when I threw a monkey wrench into the works, Thook got caught in the
 backlash."

   "That was dumb, taking on a proven killer by yourself," Jim
 commented.

   "We hadn't planned on a confrontation. Besides, would you have
 believed me if I told you what we found?"

   "Good point," Jim answered. "So now what?"

   "Well, for what it's worth, I think you guys need to check out
 the mill. I doubt the killer is still there after what happened, but
 you may get some leads."

   "Okay, anything else?"

   "Could you put a guard on Thook?"

   "Why?" Jim asked. "If you chased off the killer, why would he come
 after her?"

   "Because I think he wants Thook as his final victim," Dan
 answered. "It's just a hunch, but I think he wants Thook's power to
 add to his own."

   "Makes as much sense as any of this," Jim said. "What will you
 be doing in the meantime?" he asked, knowing Dan too well to assume
 he would be merely pacing the floor.

   "After I check on Thook, I'm going home to see if I can find
 anything that will help us track the killer. If Thook found him once,
 maybe we can do it again."

   Jim stood. "I'll set things in motion." He rested a hand on Dan's
 shoulder as Dan started to turn away. "Just one thing friend. Keep in
 touch this time."

   "As much as I can," Dan replied, smiling.

   "One of these days, you're going to have to tell me what really
 happened to that guy we picked up at your house," Jim commented.

   The two men shook hands and Dan headed for Thook's room. The
 nurse smiled as Dan wheeled in next to the ER bed. Thook was lying
 quietly, an IV drip connected to her right arm. Dan took her left
 hand in both of his and sat watching her for a while. With the traces
 of witchsight Thook had given him still working, Dan could see a
 faint glow around her body. It had the same look as the ley energy
 lines he had seen and Dan now understood Thook's comment about people
 feeding the energy lines.

   Suddenly, Dan felt a change. The monitors strapped to the
 unconscious woman continued their monotonous reports, but Dan felt
 a slight drop in the energy flow of Thook's body. Looking at his
 friend, Dan could see a pale green thread of energy float down from
 the ceiling and search along Thook's body, as if looking for a place
 to attach itself. Dan could feel the energy of Thook's body shifting
 to keep the thread away. Without knowing how, Dan was sure the killer
 was hunting for Thook, trying to drain her further or even kill her.

   As Dan watched, the thread stopped it's searching and a bulb
 began to form at the end, expanding into an eye. The eye turned
 slowly, scanning the body below. Then the unblinking orb turned to
 face Dan, examining him with the same cold appraisal. The eye turned
 away from Dan at last, looking around the room until the thread began
 to withdraw, taking the eye with it. As the eye disappeared through
 the wall, Dan felt a chill lift from the room. The nurse continued
 her duties without pause, unaware of the strange visitor. The
 monitors remained unchanged.

   "*Dan*."

   A voice echoed in his head. The nurse never reacted. She heard
 nothing.

   "*Dan. Help me*."

   Thook was calling him. Dan held her hand tightly and whispered,
 "What can I do?"

   In Dan's mind he saw pictures form in rapid sequence: the
 pentacle in her workroom; several jars of powder; Dan standing
 over Thook as she lay in the hospital, the shining armor she had
 envisioned glowing with power; the masked sorcerer they had seen in
 the mill facing Dan across her unconscious body. Dan thought he
 understood. The sorcerer was attacking Thook on that other level she
 had taken him to when they were searching the ley lines. Apparently
 she could protect herself somewhat but the backlash of the explosion
 had either weakened her too much or else left a link the sorcerer was
 using to try and capture her. Dan's strength was needed to aid in her
 defense.

   "Are you all right, sir?" the nurse asked, one hand on Dan's
 shoulder as he sat resting his forehead on the joined hands. She
 looked as worried about him as he was about Thook.

   "I'm fine, thank you. Just a bit tired."

   "Understandable," she answered. "Why don't you go home and get
 some rest. We'll let you know if there's any change." She patted
 his shoulder and moved back to her monitors.

   "I think I'll take your advice," Dan said, as he rolled out into
 the hallway. As he neared the exit, an officer walked through the
 door and nodded to Dan. Dan knew him by sight only but hooked a thumb
 at the curtained alcoves behind him.

   "She's in the ER," he told the officer. "Take good care of her
 for me."

   The officer nodded and headed for Thook's bed. Dan went to the van
 to drive home.

   Sitting in the hallway of his house, Dan felt the emptiness wrap
 around him like a dark cloud. He hadn't realized how much he had come
 to need Thook. And now there was a good chance she would not return.
 Murphy sat at the end of the hall, watching him.

   "It's time to go get her back, Murph," Dan said to the cat. "Keep
 an eye on things for me."

   The white cat sat and watched as Dan wheeled over to the
 workbench and selected three containers and a wand. Dan's hands
 seemed to know what to take without conscious thought on Dan's part.
 He wheeled around the outside of the pentagram, pouring the powders
 into each of the four braziers and lighting the candles at the points
 of the pentacle. Then, he moved his chair back out into the hallway
 and set the brakes. Unstrapping himself, but placing a strap around
 his legs, he slid to the floor and pulled himself to the side of the
 room.

   "Here goes nothing," Dan grunted, as he swung up into a
 handstand, his legs still strapped together and balanced carefully
 after bracing them against the wall. Dan hand-walked over to the
 pentagram, carefully placing his hands in the open spaces of Thook's
 tracery until he reached the center. Rolling off his shoulders, Dan's
 legs slapped painfully to the floor.

   "Getting out will be fun," Dan thought as he settled himself to
 the floor, pulling the wand out of his belt. He closed his eyes and
 relaxed and felt a surge of power sweep into his arms. He began to
 speak a spell he didn't understand and his hands moved through the
 motions he remembered Thook completing from his prior trip. Just as
 he slipped unconscious, he felt a pressure on his legs.

   When he awoke, he felt the same surge of power as he rose to his
 feet. He was again clad in shining mail but now had a sword belted to
 his side and a wide shield on his left arm. As he looked down at his
 body, he noticed Murphy lying across his ankles.

   "What do you think you're doing?" Dan asked the cat, rhetorically.

   Murphy lifted his head and rose from his body just as Dan had done.

   "My friend too," the cat answered as he began to swell in size
 until he reached Dan's waist. The huge white head looked up at Dan
 and Murphy yawned theatrically, showing glistening fangs. "Hunt now?"
 Murphy asked, his thoughts echoing in Dan's mind just as Thook's had
 earlier.

   Dan smiled and laid a hand on Murphy's shoulder. In a smooth
 motion, the two warriors rose through the house and into the air,
 over the town. At Dan's direction, they moved toward the hospital.
 The sun was just setting in the west. Dan could sense the new moon
 rising as the ley power shifted around the black disk on the horizon.
 As they reached the hospital, Dan experienced a sort of double vision.
 He watched people enter the ground floor of the building, some of the
 bodies holding a strange shadow of power. There was a sickly green
 glow around many of the visitors this evening. Dan watched the people
 enter and, by tracing the paths of the green glow, watched them move
 toward a specific room on the third floor.

   "Thook!" Dan exclaimed. "Come on, Murphy, she needs us."

   Dan began to move through the walls until he was in the third
 floor hallway. Sitting in front of one of the rooms was the officer
 Dan had seen earlier. The man never moved as the two warriors walked
 past into the room. Thook lay in bed, surrounded by a pale blue glow.
 The room was packed with dark figures, glowing green to Dan's new
 sight. At Thook's head, a figure stood with hands raised. Green light
 fell like slime from its hands and washed over Thook's shield. As Dan
 and Murphy entered, the figure turned and Dan saw the mask he had
 faced at the mill. The sorcerer gestured and the other forms in the
 room grouped together and pushed Dan and Murphy from the building and
 out onto the grounds, sliding down ley lines onto the grass. The dark
 forms mutated into hideous demons, walling the two away from the
 hospital as they guarded their master.

   "No!" Dan shouted as he drew his sword and advanced at a run.
 Murphy let out a roar and raced next to the silver warrior. They hit
 the wall of demons with a scream of anger.

   Dan felt the sword come alive in his hand as he put lost years
 of practice to use. Skills he had thought forgotten since his
 accident were remembered and the gleaming blade turned green with
 the ichor of demons. The shield moved to block the rake of talons and
 smashed back to break limbs and crush skulls. Beside the man, Murphy
 was a streak of white as he whirled and leaped, claws raking demon's
 backs as he used their bodies to propel himself from one to another.
 He paused occasionally to crush a limb or bite away a grotesque face
 with his powerful fangs and flattened his foes as he pounced from one
 to the next. Dan felt a tug in the lines of force and saw the demons
 regroup to keep between the warriors and the building.

   "They're stalling for time, Murph. We have to get to Thook."
 Dan wove his blade in a deadly web, pushing the demons back across
 the lawn and toward the building until they formed a woven wall of
 limbs that his sword could not cut. He felt his anger rise as he
 struck harder at the web of demons, Murphy at his side, now unable
 to reach the top of the heap that faced them. The cat used his feline
 speed to keep those demons still free from his master's back. Dan
 tried harder to break through the wall and bounced repeatedly. He
 stepped back from the wall, Murphy at his side, trying to find a way
 through, knowing that Thook had very little time. But the demons
 frustrated every move.

   Dan looked at the wall and thought of Thook. She meant more to
 him, he realized, than anyone ever had. The years of pain and
 humiliation after the accident came back to haunt him. The demons
 seemed to take strength from his pain. Murphy stood at his side,
 panting from exertion. Dan looked up at the sky, millions of stars
 twinkling to his ley sighted eyes, and suddenly smiled. He looked
 down at Murphy and laughed.

   "It is a beautiful day to die, don't you think?" he asked the
 cat and looked back at the demons before him. And in that instant,
 the warrior transformed.

   All anger gone, all emotion lost within himself like a wide,
 still pool of water, Dan became something new. Where before had stood
 a man now spun a sphere of power, glowing silver in the night. The
 sword became an extension of Dan's will, reaching out to touch demon
 after demon, exploding them into swirls of green emotion that was
 swept away on the wind. The sphere moved forward, through the wall
 without stopping and Murphy followed behind, claws raking at the few
 demons that escaped the touch of the sword. Only one or two demons
 remained as the warriors reached the building and those swiftly fled
 into the darkness.

   Inside the hospital, alarms were ringing and white clad
 personnel were running in all directions. The battle Dan and Murphy
 had been fighting had set off every energy sensitive device in the
 building. As Dan moved the sphere up to the third floor, he realized
 the officer was missing from in front of Thook's room. Dan passed
 through the doorway and was almost hurled back by a blast of energy
 from inside. But the sphere spun faster, deflecting the force, and
 Dan entered the room, stopping just past the doorway.

   To one side of the room, the officer was slumped against the
 wall, unconscious. A nurse lay slumped next to him. Murphy edged
 past Dan and moved toward the bed, watching the sorcerer carefully.
 The cat stopped as the killer laid the blade of a knife against
 Thook's throat. The knife shone red hot to Dan's ley sighted eyes.
 It was real on both levels, he knew. Around Thook's body, the sorcerer
 had laid a framework created from the green energy. Dan could sense
 it was waiting to draw the life from his friend as the killer was
 waiting to draw her power.

   "Give it up," Dan said calmly. "Your helpers are slain or fled.
 You are alone." He began to step forward.

   "Halt, or she dies," the killer spat. "One slip and her life and
 power are mine."

   Dan stopped and the sphere returned to man-shape. "You may take
 her life but you won't have time to take her power. I think we have
 a standoff." He leaned on his sword, balanced to move. Murphy began
 to growl deep in his throat.

   "Call back your beast," the sorcerer cautioned. His knife
 was poised to slice through the remains of Thook's shield at her
 throat. Dan could see sparks as the hot knife pressed against the
 blue armor.

   "Ease off, Murph," Dan said, watching the knife carefully,
 "For now."

   Murphy glanced at Dan and took a step back, remaining crouched
 low on the floor, watching for an opening.

   "You have interrupted my plans, fool," said the dark figure.
 "But I can easily rebuild what you have destroyed."

   "I doubt it," Dan replied. "Your followers are dead or gone
 and you've lost your anonymity. If you try to activate your potion
 again we will find you." Dan noticed Thook's eyes open slowly,
 watching the interplay.

   "Ah, then you know about the elixir. Perhaps we can make a deal. I
 will make you immortal in exchange for my freedom." The sorcerer moved
 the knife fractionally away from Thook, but not far enough as yet.

   Dan laughed. "You've got to be kidding. If your elixir gave
 immortality, you wouldn't be here, now, trying to renew the spell.
 Try this one: you give up to the police and I won't kill you." Dan
 glanced at Thook and saw her shield begin to glow a deeper blue. She
 looked from Dan to her captor and mouthed "Now".

   "Go, Murphy," Dan shouted and lunged toward the bed.

   The white giant sprang from the floor at the dark figure,
 knocking the sorcerer back against the wall as the blade swung free
 of Thook to intercept the beast, missing the swift feline. Dan grabbed
 Thook as power from the other plane to the material flared and dragged
 her across the bed, away from the dark figure.

   "Now we must stop him on this level," she said as her body
 slumped against the wall and her white robed form appeared beside Dan.
 "Look," she said, pointing.

   As the killer had struck the wall, the hood and mask had fallen
 away to reveal the wrinkled face of an old woman. No wonder the
 police had trouble tracing the killer. They had been hunting a man!

   Murphy had left the room. Dan and Thook quickly followed
 through the outside wall and saw the great cat in the distance,
 chasing the killer. Even on this other level, the old woman was no
 match for the feline speed of her pursuer. She had stopped and was
 throwing bolts of energy at the cat at he slowly moved forward after
 her, playing with her as he dodged everything she threw. His white
 fur was singed in spots but Murphy moved ever closer as the bolts
 became less frequent and weaker. Dan and Thook moved to flank the
 crone and the old woman shrieked in frustration as bolt after bolt
 was evaded by the cat or deflected by the armor of the other two.

   Soon, the three friends stood over a crumpled form on the ground
 and Thook moved quickly to contain their prisoner. She drew a crystal
 rod from beneath her robes and touched one end to the forehead of the
 old woman who disappeared with a wailing cry. Thook held the now
 glowing rod in front of her.

   "She's in there?" he asked, pointing carefully.

   "Part of her," Thook replied. "We will go to the hospital room
 and return enough of her spirit to her body to permit your police to
 deal with her by your laws."

   Together in spirit, the three adventurers returned to the
 hospital. In Thook's room, the hospital staff had returned her body
 to the bed. The old woman's body had been placed on a gurney and was
 being wheeled from the room with police guards flanking the transport.
 Sergeant Raymond was talking to the officer who had been by the door.
 Raymond was examining the mask and knife that belonged to the old
 woman. Thook slipped back into her body and sat up in bed, startling
 the nurse who stood nearby.

   "Sergeant, if you will return the old woman, I will awaken her,"
 Thook said to the surprised officer.

   Raymond glanced at the nurse, shrugged, and stepped out into
 the hallway to stop the gurney. As the orderly pulled the old woman
 to Thook's doorway, Raymond waited patiently. Thook walked over and
 touched one end of the rod that had appeared in her hand when she
 reentered her body to the wrinkled forehead. With a gasp, the old
 woman awoke and began to fight the restraints. She began to scream
 incoherently.

   "Yeah, right," Raymond said. "Don't let her out of your sight
 until I find out what's going on here," he said to the two officers
 with the gurney. Then he turned to Thook. "Do you want to explain
 this to me?" he asked. "And where's that boyfriend of yours? With
 this much excitement I figure he must be around somewhere."

   Thook glanced to the side of the room where Dan and Murphy were
 standing guard, their insubstantial forms clear to her ley sight.
 "Oh, he's around," she said with a smile. The two warriors left the
 room to return to their own bodies.

   Later, as Dan returned to the hospital by more conventional
 means, he wheeled into Thook's room as Raymond was trying for the
 tenth time to get a story out of the young woman. Thook was using her
 condition to play at too exhausted to reply, but they both knew it
 was a stall. When Dan rolled in, the girl's face lit up with a smile
 and Raymond grunted in reaction.

   "Now, maybe I can get some straight answers," the cop said, looking
 down at Dan.

   "Do you want the official version or the truth?" Dan asked his
 friend as he wheeled over, reaching out to take Thook's hand.

   "Better give me the official version for now," Raymond answered.
 "We'll save the truth for a beer and pretzels session."

   "Okay, here goes," Dan started. "The old woman we now know to be
 the serial killer entered the hospital in disguise and attempted to
 kill Thook. She knocked out your officer at the door and the nurse in
 the room; then tried to give Thook a fake tracheotomy as part of her
 black magic ritual. When she tried to complete the ritual, Thook woke
 up and in the struggle, hit the woman with a nerve punch. Thook
 fainted from the exertion in her weakened condition and came to just
 as you were wheeling the killer away. Thook woke her up with
 accupressure. The mask and athame will back up the black magic
 background and a search of her home should provide you with anything
 else you need."

   Raymond nodded, making notes. "How'd you know about the mask
 and knife?" he asked. "You weren't here when we took them away
 for evidence."

   Dan hesitated. "Ah, yes. Well. Would you believe I saw them at
 the mill the first time we ran into her?"

   "Yeah, right," Raymond answered, unconvinced. "It's a good thing
 this case isn't going to court or some hotshot DA would shoot holes
 in that story you could drive a truck through."

   Dan and Thook glanced at each other in surprise.

   "What do you mean? "Dan asked. "You've got her cold on attempted
 murder at least for what happened here." He nodded at Thook.

   "Cold is a good word. Five minutes after she left here, she
 went into cardiac arrest and they couldn't revive her. She's in the
 morgue under guard." Raymond stood and put away his notebook. "Well,
 for now that will be the official version." He pointed a finger at
 Dan. "One of these days, soon, I want the truth out of both of you."
 He nodded to Thook. "Try and keep this guy out of trouble for a
 while, will you?"

   "I shall try," she answered, squeezing Dan's hand.

   Raymond and Dan shook hands and the cop left. Thook lay against
 the upright back of the bed.

   "To borrow one of your sayings, now what?"

   "First we get you out of here and back home," Dan said. He
 hesitated, working on a decision he had almost made as he raced to
 the hospital with Murphy. Finally, he sat up straight, decisively,
 and looked at Thook.

   "Will you marry me?"

   Thook leaned over carefully and kissed him.

   "What took you so long?" she answered.


                                {DREAM}


 Copyright 1995 Jack Hillman, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 John is a freelance writer, who has been published in BLOODREAMS,
 ONCE UPON A WORLD, and GATEWAYS. He writes a bimonthly SF/F column
 published in THE MAGAZINE of SHAREFICTION, and his book reviews
 appear in POPULAR FICTION NEWS. As a contributing editor to ON THE
 RISK, he keeps track of "life."
 =====================================================================

