Chapter 11

After dressing and settling his bill with the clinic, Spector walked back to where he’d parked, relieved to see the Prairie Cat still there and unmolested. Damon set the autonav to take him home and started to relax. The quest had taken exactly twenty-four hours and it took Spector a little while to realize it was a new day.

Damon’s first hint was the odd sensation of not feeling any spirit presence. After so long of almost always having spirits summoned, the sensation was similar to not wearing pants. When he turned his conscious mind to check, he realized he had no spirits on hand. This late in the day, Spector considered skipping summoning any spirits. Then he reconsidered all the trouble he’d been through lately and the fix he’d be in without their back-up and he began summoning.

When the first attempt resulted in no spirit and a bloody nose, Spector almost decided to delay until after sunset. Instead, he lowered his expectations and tried summoning less powerful servants. The strategy worked and in short order, Spector had a full complement of spirits.

Next was what to do with the Prairie Cat. It was unlikely Mara wouldn’t notice it and question where it came from. Where could he park it without drawing unwanted attention? A campground? Truckstop? Neither appealed to Damon and he would still need transportation home, so he decided to use it to get home then send it away. On the way home, Spector developed the idea to program the autonav to circle the city several hours and then either return to his home or just wait for him to retrieve it with a phone call to the autonav. Letting the autonav drive, Spector reclined in comfort on the Cat’s leather couch. The thought occurred this was a great mode of transportation he could easily get used to so why not just send it to Joey’s for “legalization”? Arriving home, Spector unloaded the weapons and it contained and sent the Cat to Joey.

Damon let Mara know he was home and was told leftover dinner was in the refrigerator. He fixed himself a plate, nuked it and grabbing a Fizzykaf soda joined her watching the trideo. The reheated meal interested Damon more than the program, but he knew Mara liked it so he sat and mostly ate. He woke up in the dark, stretched out in the leather recliner, his mostly eaten plate of food set beside him on an end table.

Damon shifted his perception to the astral just to get a bit more light and reprimanded himself for dozing off without summoning more spirits after sundown. He got the chore out of the way in much easier fashion in the friendly confines of his own home. Spector went to his den. The walls were adorned with several jigsaw puzzles, rubber cemented to a cloth backing, lacquered, framed and hung. Spector opened a new 5000 piece puzzle and started putting it together by the light of a few candles gotten out for the occasion.

Working the puzzle,

, Damon considered other preparations he wanted to check off before attempting to bind the ally spirit. Before life got so hectic, Spector had few tasks to set his spirits to besides protecting him and mostly wasting them on chores. One of the jobs he had given them was erecting wards, astral barriers only select beings could pass through. Consequently, the den had a double-digit rating (on the Walker-Riggs Scale) ward surrounding it and another in a smaller space within the den. Actually, Spector and the puzzle he was putting together were currently within the smaller warded area, giving Damon three barriers to astral intrusions at the moment. He would want to remove the table and chair after finishing the puzzle, mounting, framing and hanging it. Summoning the spirit within this smallest ward might not contain it, but it should at least delay it wreaking havoc on the surroundings for a moment or two if Spector’s binding failed and he saw no reason to let the furniture be destroyed or used as a weapon in that eventuality. Of course, Damon would have his spirits on hand. Not only on hand but readied and on stand by. He figured eight great forms and one bigger regular form, since they were slightly easier to conjure, plus nine watcher type spirits. They may be about worthless, but if the binding went badly, they might tip the balance in his favor or at least contribute to the general melee.

Arming himself with his pistols, passed through Damon’s mind, but when he first contemplated what type of capsule rounds to load, he realized none would be effective. Loading them with regular ammunition or even explosive ammunition made him wince at the damage he might inflict on his surroundings plus the unlikelihood of them being very effective. The contemplated scenario left Spector rejecting the idea of firearms in favor of something more hand to hand.

he thought.

but he countered the idea of waiting with thoughts of what the spirit might do in the meantime. It could easily grow stronger. Maybe it would draw someone else’s attention and they would get it bound before him. But mostly Spector realized he did not want to delay acquiring something of such power and value.

It could go along with him on astral quests, maybe not immediately but after he had helped it become more powerful. Damon had taken along a spirit on the last quest but it had gone about as well as possible and there had been no need to call upon the spirit for help. A bound ally spirit could help him when it came to learning new spells, double dipping in a way, by going on astral quests to make them easier and less costly to learn. The Ally could act as a power focus, making it simpler and less dangerous to use most of his magical abilities. Maybe last, he wondered what it would be like to have a long term companion. Mara might resent his thought, and the ally might resent being considered an upscale pet, but Damon hoped the truth was something different but, truth be told, likely somewhere in between.