Chapter 82

What did one do with a knife that was a gift from a God? The flute that Ken had received from Lea was displayed under a glass case he’d had specially made for it. He’d gotten pretty good at playing it, far better than he would ever have thought. He was still learning how to read notes from paper and put them onto the instrument, but he’d discovered a surprising talent for playing by ear. Fionna had laughed when he’d told her he thought that his inability to learn musical notation was limiting his ability to play.

“Trust me,” she’d said, “there’s many the musician who canna read paper. If ye have th’ music in yer blood, it’ll show in yer playin’ an’ I can tell, ye have it in yer blood.”

“I was never overly fond of music,” he’d replied. “It was something that I listened to on the radio. But I do really enjoy playing it.”

“Then don’t let t’ paper be a problem. Ye have a good ear. Use it.”

While it was true that he was far better than he had any right to be, Ken never went to sessions with Fionna and Cindy although they’d asked him to. Tina went on occasion, but he never did. For one thing, he was afraid of damaging the flute. He’d gone and purchased another one, a very nice other one, but it didn’t give him the same joy to play it as the one Lea had given him. So he played in the mansion and used Lea’s flute. And when it wasn’t in use, it was displayed in his study in a glass case. A correctly humidified glass case.

But what was he going to do with a knife? For as plain as it was, it was still a thing of beauty. The blade was of a dark metal and just over three and a half inches long. The handle was made of what looked like antler, worn smooth to fit perfectly in his hand. It even seemed well balanced for throwing, but he had no intention of finding out. Somehow it seemed profane to throw it. He wondered if he should put it in the vault down stairs, but that didn’t seem right either. In the end, he put it on the shelf where the case with the flute rested, intending to get a case made for it as well.

His hand had quickly healed, of course, but the cut had left a small, horn shaped scar. Ken thought it was odd that it had scarred since other cuts he’d gotten since he’d become Avatar healed without a trace. It didn’t bother him, but he figured he probably ask Lea about it at some point.

His mind ranged back to the previous night, when the first High Priest of the Circle had been created. Sensei had been overjoyed, and so had Ken. Certainly the ladies of the Circle were well pleased. Clearly the Zen Master had reconciled his beliefs with those of Lea and Ken knew the Circle’s chances of survival had greatly increased. Then he frowned as that thought re-echoed in his brain. Survival? When had he started thinking like that? Well, no matter. He knew Scott was still in the mansion, upstairs playing with Sally and Jane. He wondered if Scott would move in, or if, like some of the others, he’d stay where he was living now. He also realized that he should probably take him to the vault and show him some of the swords down there. Ken was sure he’d love to see them.

Ken settled down into the chair at his desk to use his computer and drink morning coffee. He liked the early morning silence of the mansion -- not that the place was noisy very often. But there was a stillness when everyone else was mostly asleep that appealed to him. Taking another drink of his coffee, he moved the mouse and nudged something. He frowned and looked over, seeing, to his surprise, the knife. He stared at it, sure that he’d put it on the shelf. Hmmm. He picked it up and put it back on the shelf, then returned to the computer, glancing suspiciously up at the knife every now and then. It stayed put.

Until he took his attention off it, at which point it ended up right beside his hand again.

Later that day, he found Gary in his workshop.

“Hey Gary,” he said.

The man grunted, deep in concentration. Ken waited until he finished and had his attention.

“What’s up?” Gary asked.

“I was wondering if I could get you to make a sheath for this,” he said.

“Huh,” said Gary, reaching for it. “That’s an interesting looking knife. Where’d you get it?”

“From the Horned God.”

Gary drew back as if the thing had burned him.

“From who?”

“The Horned God,” said Ken. “He and the Lady showed up last night at the ceremony. They wanted to watch Fionna become a Priestess and wanted to make sure I wouldn’t keep them from contacting her in the future.”

“Could you even do that?”

“I guess,” Ken shrugged. “The Lord wanted me to swear an oath not to bar them from her, so I did. Personally, I think there’s something else going on there, but I have no idea what. I’d ask Lea, but I rather doubt she’d tell me.”

Gary shook his head as he sat down.

“What?” asked Ken.

“Did you even listen to what we were just saying?” asked Gary. “Gods, Goddesses. What the hell happened to our lives?”

Ken sat down across from him.

“Are you having regrets?” he asked.

“No,” said Gary. “Annette and I are happier than we’ve ever been. I’m learning well ... magic, I guess.” Then he grinned. “And Goddess knows the sex is unbelievable. But you have to admit our lives aren’t exactly normal anymore.”

“No, they aren’t,” said Ken. “But they’re not boring either.”

Gary laughed and held out his hand for the knife. Ken gave it to him and he examined it.

“Wow,” he said. “This thing is really beautiful. And well balanced. You try to throw it yet?”

“Um, no,” said Ken. “I kinda think that’d be a little profane.”

Gary shrugged.

“I’ll make something for it,” he said. “How soon do you want it?”

“Well...” said Ken, thinking of the three times the knife had appeared right by his hand today, “if you want to make something fancy, I’m all for it, but for the moment, I just need something to carry it in. Something easily concealable.”

“You plan to carry it with you?” asked Gary.

Ken shrugged.

“Someone does.”

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” said Ron, as he hit his lights. “Did he not see us parked right fucking here?”

Nikki shook her head. People could be very stupid and this guy, well, he was very, very stupid.

She and Ron were sitting in their cruiser eating a snack when a mugger decided it would be a good time to snatch a purse. How he’d missed the cruiser -- one of only three cars parked on the entire block -- escaped her. Even after Ron hit the lights and told him to stop over the loudspeaker, the idiot took off. With the purse.

Nikki and Ron both got out of the car, Nikki heading over to see if the vic was okay while Ron took off after the mugger. The woman had apparently decided she didn’t want to stick around though, so Nikki took off after her partner.

She caught up with him as he was turning into an alley about a half a block away. Nikki used her radio to call in as they entered the alley. They might have stopped pursuit, but they caught a glimpse of the guy as he disappeared into an abandoned building.

“Shit,” muttered Ron, breathing somewhat heavily.

“Looks like it’s time to start laying off the donuts,” smiled Nikki, who wasn’t even winded.

“Whatever,” he said waving her off. Ron was in pretty good shape and didn’t really like donuts. “Let’s go get him.”

The door was mostly opened when they got to it, and glancing in showed that it was probably abandon. You never knew though, so they announced they were entering the premises. There was no response so the cautiously slid inside, entering a dim hallway filled with trash and smelling of piss and other, even less pleasant things. Straight ahead the hall split -- with a stairway on the left leading up while the right side continued on a bit with openings on the one side. It got darker the deeper into the house they went, since it was clear there was no electricity. They stopped and listened, trying to hear where the guy had gone. It wasn’t long they heard a noise coming from the floor above them. Nikki nodded to Ron, and they pulled out their guns, slowly going up the stairs.

The second floor was just as dilapidated as everything else they’d seen, but at least it was a bit more open, and Nikki caught sight of the guy just as he disappeared through an open doorway. She yelled for him to stop, but of course, he didn’t -- and she took off after him.

Something, some instinct, made her dodge to the right just as she entered the room, and the man waiting there missed his grab. Unfortunately, there was another man who hit her arms with a stick as she turned towards the first guy. She lost her grip on her gun as pain blossomed in her forearms. She didn’t stop though, and moved deeper into the room toward where her gun had skidded. She caught sight of yet another man who was trying to aim something at her. She sensed her partner coming into the room and shouted a warning, but couldn’t turn to assist because of the man in front of her with the weapon. She heard Ron respond, then heard a thump as someone went down. By that time Nikki had already closed with the third man.

He tried to jam whatever he was holding into her ribs as she went for him, but she blocked, and it went flying. She saw her gun on the floor and moved towards it, but suddenly two more men were in front of her. That was when something in the back of her mind recognized that none of these men were acting like street thugs -- this attack was too well coordinated.

The two moved like a team as they came for her, while she was tangled with the third guy. She hit him, a glancing blow in the throat and managed to shift him around and get him in their path, noting that they were both holding stun guns. Suddenly, it was like Nikki was in the dojo, sparring with Scott and Ken. She moved, much faster than anyone was expecting, and one of the men staggered from a hard kick to his thigh. He staggered as she pushed the man she still held further into him, managing to punch his wrist. That caused him to lose his grip on his Taser and it went flying. They both went down and she spun knowing she didn’t have a lot of time before they were back up. A quick glance showed her Ron was down by the door, but she couldn’t go to him because these guys were still coming for her.

She closed with the man in front of her, and managed to slip in a shot that dazed him. She hit him again, driving him to his knees, but then her entire body felt like it was on fire. One of the other men had recovered and was pressing the Taser into her back.

She should have been disabled right there. Should have gone down and been paralyzed as her body was shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity. Instead, she spun, grabbed the hand with the stunner and twisted, breaking the man’s arm and driving the still active stunner into his throat. He dropped like a stone.

The two other men recovered and came for her, but her foot flashed out, breaking the knee of the man she’d hit earlier. The final assailant tried for a grab, but she slipped his hold and, seeing her gun within reach, went for it. She was just bringing it up when he realized he was alone, and dove out of the room. She would have pursued, but Ron was down, so she went for him, dragging him out of the room, fumbling for her radio to call in an officer down. Her gun gripped more tightly, she headed back for the doorway. She’d get cuffs on the other two before they got away. Nikki blinked as she looked inside. There was no one.

“What the fuck was that all about?” asked Ron when she returned to his side.

“No idea,” she said. “I gotta call in, so just sit tight.”

“Fuck that,” he said, pushing against the wall to get up. “I don’t wanna sit in this piss hole waiting for backup we don’t need anymore. Let’s get out of here.”

They walked downstairs, Ron still a bit wobbly. Nikki saw the purse sitting on the floor in the hall and went to grab it. They made their way back to the patrol car just as another cruiser screeched to a halt, two officers getting out.

Once they got back to the station it took a while to sort through the mess and make their report. Nikki looked through the purse only to find it was completely empty.

“This is strange,” she said to herself as Burt annoyingly perched himself on the edge of her desk. She’d never really liked the way he looked at her and had the sense that if he got the chance, he’d be happy to fuck her -- willing or not. And since he was one of the low-lifes working for the Captain, she had the feeling that if he ever got the chance, he’d take advantage of it.

“What is?”

“Get off my desk,” she said in annoyance. “There’s nothing in this purse.”

“So?” he said, not moving.

“So,” she said, “there should be something in it. Lipstick, keys, papers, something. But there isn’t.”

“Punk cleaned it out before you got to him.”

“Yeah,” she said. “That’s probably it. Now get the fuck off my desk.”

Privately, she knew that was bullshit. If the thief had dumped the contents on the ground, she would have seen them, and if he’d been planning to take everything, he would have just kept the purse since it wasn’t all that big. As it was, it looked like the thing had never been used. She even found the price tag still attached.

If it had been anyone other than Burt she would have elaborated on her suspicions, but she didn’t. In fact, his asking about it only made the whole encounter seem even more wrong somehow -- although admittedly, that could have been her own prejudice speaking. After all, she knew he was a dirty cop, so pretty much anything he said made her suspicious.

Later that night, she sat back in her apartment, sipping wine. It was on nights like this she really missed Scott. Actually, she missed everyone at the Mansion. Still, it was best that until this whole thing got resolved, she stay away. If the Captain found out she was in tight with Ken, he might watch her more closely, or even try to use her relationship. And, of course, if they discovered she was onto them, it might make Ken and crew even more of a target -- although she thought that anyone going after them might be in for a surprise. It ever occurred to her that it would make her a target as well.

Nikki took another sip of her wine and winced as she reviewed what had happened today. Not the actual attack -- which definitely had a bad smell to it -- but her own actions. She knew that being disarmed so quickly had been a mistake. She also thought that after she called in the Officer Down, she should have tried to find more evidence. And how the hell had the two that she’d put down disappeared? She’d thought they’d been hurt too badly to get out so quickly and that over confidence had cost her. Hell, if they’d decided to make a run at her and Ron again, she would have been caught off guard. Yes, she’d allowed herself to become distracted, and that could have cost both of them.

A knock came at her door, and Nikki tensed. She reached for her gun -- she’d kept it close after coming home -- and stood up.

“Coming,” she said in a calm voice.

Bill had set up a camera for her so that she could see who was at her door before going to it. At the time she’d laughed it off as yet another tech toy, and never really used it. Now, she wished she had it up and running. Moving silently to the door, she stopped and listened; the knock came again.