Jack Frost: Rise of the Fallen, #1

Part One

Wth!

Chapter One

When people escape disaster, they’ll tell you it’s because they have an angel watching over them from on high, until something happens to really turn their day to crap. Then where are the little fairies with wings? To have an angel assigned to you of your very own, you have to be extraordinarily good, someone who has been shoved through life's sphincter and come through it morally pure. If you have gone through all that, then what freaking good was an angel in the first place? That's like the paramedics showing up after you've gone through surgery without any anesthetic.

I knew long ago that I would never be one of those rare, perfect, long suffering, mythical saints who came out on the other side smelling like sweat, piss, and roses. I’m not without my own protection though, but not from on high. On the contrary, my protection comes from the deep south. He doesn't give a rat's backside how good I am, or if I put a smile on the face of the old lady next door on Friday nights. (Which doesn’t happen by the way, because she’s like ninety and that would be, well, really gross.) No, when people see him, they're tripping over each other and running into walls, just trying to get the hell out of his way. They don't even notice all the piss running down their leg. I’m Jack Spinelli and you’re not gonna believe what’s going on. I’m not sure I believe it myself.

When I was a kid, my old man watched me like a hawk. If I even looked like I was going to get into trouble, he used my face for a hockey puck. He was hard, mean, and if someone crossed him, deadly, but I think maybe somewhere deep down inside of him there was that one little spot where he was a complete prick too. My mom wasn't any different. She was the one person my dad never screwed with because if he did, she would have slit his throat and cooked his balls for breakfast. Don't get me wrong, together they worked great, but more like Butch and Sundance than Romeo and Juliet. That being said, as far as I can remember they never fought. They always talked and worked together like partners in crime. Literally, as it turns out.

After he died, I found out my dad worked freelance for one of the local wise guys. When he was killed, Mom freaked, grabbed me, a duffel bag full of cash and a nine millimeter hidden in a vent in our apartment, and we ran like rabbits with our tails on fire. I’d never seen my mom scared before that. Never. We were hiding in dumps and dives for days. Eventually we wound up hiding out in the back of an herbalist shop. We were there for a few weeks.

One day Xi, the lady that ran the place, had a problem with one of the local gangs. I was just a kid at the time, but I wasn't stupid. I could see what was going on. I had seen it in my own neighborhood. I had always assumed the gang gave Xi problems because she wouldn't pay for protection, but one of the gang members started to go beyond being a problem for the lady to destroying the place and attacking her. My mom came down from the apartment above the shop where we were staying and didn't waste any time jumping in feet first. She took out the little psycho's friends, breaking hands, elbows, and noses, then proceeded to beat the little maggot who had started the whole thing nearly to death. When she got done with him, I bet he was eating out of a straw for months, that is when he got out of traction. One of the little dirtballs slipped away in the confusion and grabbed Xi, putting a knife to her throat. I was there under the counter right next to them. He didn't see me when I came out and grabbed his arm with the knife and pulled it away from Xi. That was all the lady needed. Her hand shot out and she struck the little punk in the throat. He quickly forgot all about Xi and his knife, as his knees hit the floor and his hands wrapped around his throat, gagging and choking. After they cleared out, Xi put us in a car and took us to another hiding place with friends of hers. I remember her and mom fighting. She told my mom that she shouldn't have interfered because the gang members were nothing. My mom yelled that she wasn't going to risk anything happening to me. Xi shot right back that what Mom did put me in more danger. Then they began to fight even louder. By the time we got to her friend's place they had stopped fighting and hugged before Xi left us.

Several days later, my mom went out and never came back. It wasn’t long after that we found her in the bay with her throat cut. Xi came and got me, took me to her shop, and would not let me leave. She kept me hidden there for days, until one night she took me upstairs to another room in her shop. It was a small dingy room with an unfinished wood floor. People were waiting there. She said they were friends of hers, but they were all wearing robes and chanting with candles all around them. She made me sit on a chair in the middle of the room. One of the robed figures came forward and put something warm and oily on my head while another one put perfume on me. I was scared out of my mind thinking was I was going to be the main course or a sacrifice for Rosemary’s baby. That's the last thing I remember. I blacked out at that point. I woke up two days later feeling like I'd been a crash test dummy sandwiched between a truck and a brick wall. I checked myself out. Nothing was missing and I didn’t smell like pot roast, so I was pretty happy about that, but I noticed I did have a scar on my left forearm that looked like a Chinese character, a glyph, only it wasn't one. When I asked Xi to identify and translate it, she said it wasn't anything in the Chinese language, it was much older. The glyph was ancient from the time when Adam and Eve were prancing around naked, exploring each other’s fuzzy parts in the garden.

Over the next year, I learned the people at the ceremony were from all over the world. Some from Europe, one from Argentina, some from Russia, others from right here in the city, and even a couple of guys from Britain. They were part of some sort of Coven, but not like the ones you read about in books or see in movies. These guys were whole kinds of different. Over the coming years, I would learn more about them than I ever wanted to know, and I would eventually work for them.

The Coven wasn't made up of some kids dressed in black living in their mom’s basements, that considered themselves rebels against the system. These guys were heirs and present members of a magical organization that has watched most of recorded history happen. They controlled a majority of the magical world.

You see, Xi was never in any danger when her shop was invaded. She could have taken all those little punks out like they were made of paper mache. I found out she had known my mother since she was a girl, and she knew everything that went on in our lives. When I jumped out to save her, she had to act to save me, not herself. When my mom was found dead, she took me in, but she knew she couldn't be with me every second of every day, so she armed me with my very own guardian demon. They knocked me out, summoned the demon and bound him to me. This was not a possession. I still had control of myself. Someone possessed is just a meat puppet. The demon was not 'in' me, just bound 'to' me. Get it? When they bound us together, they made a link, so that if anything happened to me, the demon suffered it too, and if I died so did the demon. This kind of juice was not the same as some little ratbag wearing some black mascara and a nose ring who pulls a rabbit out of his butt because he fancies himself gifted and in touch with the mystical arts. No, if anyone else tried this, the demon would let whoever it was bound to suffer like someone with a million paper cuts drenched in salted lemon juice, until he decided he couldn't take it anymore, and gave up the connection. The Coven was well over two thousand years old. These guys knew what they were doing. They masked the demon's sight and perception to prevent the demon from hurting me. In other words, they made the demon care about me. It would sound cute if you didn't know that if they had slipped up, even a little, the demon would have eviscerated me, making me into a hundred and twenty pounds of meat confetti. Then it would have stomped everyone in the room.

Xi began to teach me, and not just about magic and the supernatural, which we called juice. I learned kung fu, taekwondo, karate, judo, and boxing. All kinds of stuff that would have been useful if I were going to star in a B martial arts flick. I also trained with people that worked with the Coven. I guess they wanted me to be well rounded. It was drilled into me to never ever call on the demon unless I had no other choice. If I were ever blindsided and about to die, then the demon would go on auto pilot, show up, and shred whoever was causing trouble.

Xi was a great mother, but she never let me slack on anything. I was pushed at everything in school and at home. If she caught me screwing around, she would kick my butt and then hand it to me on a plate. One day I asked my adoptive mother about learning another language, thinking it might be a good idea for me to learn Chinese. So, the Chinese lady that I lived with taught me Russian. Really? Russian? What the heck!

In all, I have been to parts of Europe, half of Central and South America, Viet Nam, Thailand, and Canada working mostly as a bodyguard for Coven members, and sometimes as a courier for items with a strong juice connection. A couple of weeks ago, I came home from a trip to Paris carrying a weasel for Xi. Now I ask you, what kind of juice does a freakin’ weasel have?

That's when everything went to hell. I walked into the shop and found my adoptive Ma dead. I guess you could say I kinda freaked out because I cradled her body crying for, I don't know how long. After that I tossed a chant to lock the place down until I could go through it. I knew I wouldn’t find anyone though. Anyone tough enough to take down Xi was not going to be dumb enough to wait around. I was about to contact Philippe, a Coven member and close friend of Xi’s, when he walked in with two other Coven members. They walked through my chant like it was a morning fog. Not many people could do that.

What happened? Philippe’s French accent had faded in all his years living here.

I don't know. I just got back, and I found everything like this. My voice was cracking as I gestured to the torn-up shop. I was working overtime to keep from shaking and breaking down.

"Where is Xi? He asked.

She's in the back.

What does she look like? Thomas asked. He was another Coven member. In regular life, he was a corporate CEO for some conglomerate. He ran a tech firm that for the most part flew under the radar but controlled a great deal of the companies in the technology field. He was quiet, spoke only when he needed to, and was always to the point. He was a stiff-necked prick, and he always made me nervous.

What do you mean, 'what does she look like?' She's dead! What is wrong with you! She was beaten and her neck was broken! I felt tears welling us again, so I bit down. When I said that, the three of them looked at each other. Thomas moved past them and to the back of the store. I started to follow.

No, you stay here. The third one said. Her name was Sarah, a housewife from the burbs. She was not wealthy or famous, but she was powerful. She was also kind. She frequently visited Xi and me.

What? Why? I said angrily. I had already lost my mom and dad, and from that time until now Xi had been my mother, and a good one too. I was scared, confused and really pissed off. I was ready to find out who did this, tie them down, and summon my bodyguard to let them experience a little hell on earth, before sending them south for a taste of the real thing.

Sarah put an arm around me, Jack, you need to trust me on this.

Thomas knows what he is doing. Philippe said. Thomas disappeared behind the curtain to the back, and I heard him start chanting softly. A hum filled the air and then I heard Xi's voice.

Ma's alive. I started to run into the back when both Philippe and Sarah caught me and held my arms.

Stay here. Sarah was kind but firm.

You can hear her as well as I can. Let me go! We've got to get her to help.

She is beyond our help now. Sarah said calmly.

What? Let me go! I struggled, but Philippe held me tightly while trying to calm me. Dammit!

Philippe held my arms and Sarah cupped my face in her hands. Listen to me, darling. Xi is gone and she won't be back. Thomas is questioning her body, trying to get whatever info he can.

Question her what?? What the hell are you talking about? Come on..., awe, dammit! I started to cry.

A moment later, Thomas came out, making sure the curtain closed behind him. He spoke to the other two, but in Russian. Now I know why Xi was insistent that I learn it. She said it was an ashishi demon and some humans.

Ashishi demon? What the hell? They're demons who specialize in assassination and they are not exactly known for working with humans, not that it isn't done. They can be harnessed and used for protection, kinda like a guard dog. It’s just extremely hard to do.

Philippe responded in Russian also. Ashishi use spotter demons. That means one was placed near here, but none of our alarms went off.

Sarah joined the conversation in Russian as well. They either hacked the alarm, or they summoned a particularly powerful spotter who could watch from a considerable distance and had the ability to see through our barriers.

Even then it would have had to have help to see through our barriers. Thomas added.

What do we tell the boy? Sarah asked.

Nothing yet. We don't know anything ourselves. I didn’t know Thomas well, but his voice was extremely tense and hard.

It was obvious that Xi hadn't told them she had taught me Russian. I wonder what else she didn't tell them. Clearly, she didn't want them to know, but why? Didn't she trust them? She saw Philippe and Sarah all the time, they were close friends. Especially Sarah. Whatever the reason, I had to get it together without tipping them off that I understood what they were saying.

Enough of this bull! Speak English and tell me what the hell is happening, or I’m going to play a scene from Tennessee Williams, a bull in the freaking china shop!

Calm down. Thomas said sternly but smoothly. We don't know what happened either, but I promise you we will find out. For now, we need to keep our heads and work together.

Screw you, Thomas. I'm through being calm. First my parents were murdered, and now Xi! I'm gonna find out who did this, and when I'm done with them...

Thomas cut me off. Do not defy us, son, and don't get in our way.

I returned the favor. I'm not your son! I jammed my finger at him. I was hers, and if you don't want any trouble from me, then stay the hell out of my way. I shook my arms free from Philippe’s grasp, locked eyes with Thomas, then walked into the back where Xi lay. I was just in time to see her body glow, turn to ash, then even the ash seemed to fade, like steam evaporating. What the hell did you do? I shouted out to them. There was no answer. I angrily pushed the curtain aside and stormed out to find they were already gone. The door had not even been opened. If they used a portal, I would have heard it. The only other explanation is they shifted between dimensions, it was called sliding, and that was some skilled juice.

I locked the door, turned the sign to closed and began to chant. This time I used something a lot stronger than a simple lock down. A small red light appeared on the seam of every door and window then split in two and parted, each running quickly around the seam of the opening, then fading and disappearing instantly. Then I summoned a pack of straw sprites. They were like fairies, only much smaller, hyperspastic, and really stupid. You give them a task and they’ll do it quickly, but if you're not precise they only do what you tell them in the most literal sense, and they will mess things up in a real hurry. Think of them like a bunch of coked out raccoons locked in a 7-Eleven overnight. They were the magic version of low jack. Something so beneath the Coven and their abilities, I doubt they would have thought of it.

I had them scour the place for any trace of the perps. Hair, blood, astral trails, and aura imprints. Anything with a life force, or nonliving object with a magical force, will leave an astral trail or an aura imprint. Anything they found showed up with a faint shimmering vapor of light. There were two aura imprints and four astral trails, nothing else. Two of the aura imprints matched two of the astral trails, so four people at least were in here before me or the Coven, and none of them were Xi. Now, the straw sprites started circling something and began to freak out. It wasn't an imprint or a trail, but whatever it was they were going crazy trying to follow it, but they couldn't. I freed them and sent them back to the ether, then I began to concentrate on the point in air they were circling. It was near where Ma's body had been found. I had a feeling as to what it was, but I wanted to prove it, and I wanted to know how it was done, so I could use the technique myself. I’m betting it was the exit point of the Ashishi demon.

I used a chant I learned from Ma to reveal trails people took when they were being tailed. I modified it with some juice I learned from my time at the Coven. The air pulsed a few seconds, then there was a pop like a firecracker that stung my fingertips. I modified the chant a little more, then applied a little more juice. A long cylindrical swirl began to appear in red, culminating in a straight, bright line. This ashishi didn’t just slide dimensions, it looked like he folded space somehow. The chant showed how the space was curling in on itself. Any other time, I would have said this was freaking awesome, but not today. I just wanted to track this thing, but what was I going to do if I found it? You don’t just walk up to a demon and say, ‘pull over and show me your license’, especially an ashishi demon. He'd grab you by the neck and use you for butt floss, but that's ok. I had an ace up my sleeve, my own little screw you to the demon world. First, I needed some stronger juice, the magic equivalent to a crowbar to pry that exit open before the trail faded.

I ran up the stairs in the back of the shop to our apartment above the store. I went into Xi’s room, something that had always been forbidden before. I couldn’t help feeling guilty for being in there with the intent to search it. I’m sorry, Ma. Forgive me. I said quietly. I stood in front of her dresser and began to go through the drawers. I moved everything gently and carefully. Ma was always very neat. She did not tolerate clutter or mess, especially from a mouthy teenage boy who hid fast food wrappers under his bed and left laundry all over the floor. Nothing there. I noticed after I looked in a drawer and pushed it back in, that the dresser didn't sit right. It was slightly cockeyed. I grabbed the sides of the dresser and pulled gently. It didn't come straight out, instead it pivoted. It was attached to the wall and a whole section opened like a door. I stepped into the room fumbling for a light switch and found it. This place looked like something a wizard from a movie would have used if he lived in the nineteen twenties, not a middle-aged Chinese woman who had eyes in the back of her head and could see everything I ever did.

There were scrolls in cubby holes, a bench along the wall with jars and boxes, and a bench-like table against the wall. Ma, why didn’t you ever show me this? If I knew Xi, then this room would be shielded by some pretty heavy juice, so I needed to be careful about tossing any chants in here… but then again, in all these years, I had no idea this room was here. The way the floorboards creaked in this place, I could hear a mouse sneaking out the back, but I never heard anything from this part of the apartment. I tossed a simple chant to turn off the light. Then another to turn it on. Whatever was on this room was gone now. It probably unsealed when she died.

A screeching sound reached me with a low rumble of wood-on-wood scraping. I looked towards the sound and saw a chair sliding across the floor. It bumped me in the leg and kept bumping me. Then it stopped and backed up slightly, almost like a dog waiting for me. I sat in the chair, then the door slammed shut, the light went out, and some candles lit themselves casting a shimmering glow in the room. I knew I wasn’t in any danger or Red would have shown up. Something flew off one of the shelves and into my hands. It was a wooden tablet hinged together, consisting of three pieces of wood. I opened it and saw ornately painted panels with a chant written on them in English in Ma’s handwriting. I read it out loud as she taught me. The closer I got to the end, the more the room rumbled. At the end, the air shimmered like heat rising from hot pavement and I could hear Ma.

"My son, I call you that because you are my son, Jack. When you hear this, you will already know that I am gone from this world into the next. I have tried to teach you and prepare you for what is to come, always fearful I would not have enough time. This room has always been shielded from you and the Coven, but now it is open, and its secrets belong to you. This is my inheritance for you. I love you, Jack. There is much I have never told you for your own safety, some of it because you were too young to hear it. Your mother and I grew up together, as sisters, in the same foster home. We were raised by a Coven member, a woman now dead for many years. Your mother had the gift but fell in love with your father and left. When your father died, she knew she would never be safe and eventually she would be found, so she brought you here. She didn’t want this, or your father’s life for you. So, she tried to keep you from it. I am sorry I left you, my son. I can only hope that I have prepared you for what is coming next in your life. To that end, I have helped to accumulate what is in here for you. The juice contained in here is immensely powerful. Enough to stand strong, even against the Coven.

What I tell you next is particularly important. Do not trust anyone in the Coven. No one, ever! Not Sarah. Not Philippe, no one! The Coven is not what they seem. There is a faction, and they are moving unseen. I believe them to be behind many things that have been happening. Start with the red scroll. Learn what is in this room. Do nothing to raise the suspicion or anger of the Coven.

Well, we can scratch that off the list.

Be quiet, and graceful.…

Yea, quiet and graceful, that’s me.

I know, none of these things are really you, do them anyway. One other thing, whatever you said to piss off the Coven guardians when I died, apologize to them! The guardians are the ones who came after I died. Do not rock the boat, it is not your time yet. You will need to learn the art of subtlety and subterfuge so don’t be a little prick. This faction of the Coven will not be brought down overnight.

Geez, it was like she was still here. I never should have doubted her. She always knew me.

I love you, Jack. I have always tried to protect you. Now all that I have to protect you is in this room. Learn it all well. Be safe and even though I know you don't want to listen to my warning, do it anyway. Goodbye, my son.

The candles went out and the overhead light came back on. I began to weep, then sob. I couldn’t stop. When it finally ebbed away, I just sat there and stared at the wall.

I don’t know how long it had been, but when I finally got up from the chair, I saw it was dark outside. I began to rifle around for a red scroll, but I couldn’t find any scroll that was colored red, or anything that was labeled ‘red scroll’. After I searched the room, I looked through Ma’s things. I searched through the bench on the other side of the room piled with junk. I noticed some pictures pinned to the wall just above the bench but ignored them and kept picking through everything. Still nothing. I was too tired and hungry to keep looking. I grabbed some noodles from the fridge. I suddenly realized they were the last ones she made, that she will ever make. I ate them slowly. After I finished, I searched for several hours more until I was so tired, I couldn’t see straight. The last thing I remember was hitting my bed.

Chapter Two

The next morning, I woke up still in my clothes, so I stripped and showered, then went back to searching for the scroll. I searched the whole shop and still nothing. I should have been working on the exit trail, but I was stuck until I could figure out the juice. Besides, it was probably too late by now.

I went next door to get some hot food because I didn’t feel like cooking. Ma and I ate here all the time. Lee, the old guy who ran this place, was a friend of hers. I suspected that sometimes he was more than that, but I never pried into her personal life. I sat there dipping my dumpling, looking at the fixtures on the wall when I realized just how freaking slow I was sometimes. The red scroll was not a scroll. It was a place, this place.

I walked to the back where Lee was working. Hey, I need to talk to you, if you have a minute.

Lee looked up from a pan he was working over, and everything drained from his face. He called in Chinese to one of his employees to take over for him and he led me back to a cramped little office. I know your mother is gone, Jack. I am deeply sorry. She was a good friend.

I found a message she left and….

He held a finger up to silence me, then he got up and turned the small mirror around to face the wall as he tossed a chant. The room went dark and quiet. It was like we were in a sound booth. Your mother and I worked together, off and on.

Do you know anything about what happened?

Xi asked me to teach you what I could. Return tonight after I close, and we’ll get started. He didn’t even wait for an answer. He spun the mirror back around and the room went back to normal. He went back out to the kitchen, leaving the door open for me. Ok, not what I expected, but he was brief and to the point.

Over the next several days, Lee trained me for several hours each night after he closed. I slept during the day, he worked. I don’t know how he did it. Compared to Lee, Ma's training was like a very formal and polite kung fu. Lee’s was more like a screw you, bottle upside the head, knee in the balls, style of street fighting. What Bruce Lee could do with a set of nunchakus, Lee could do with juice. Between Ma and Lee, they could have taken King Kong and duck taped his nuts to his knees and pushed him down a flight of stairs. If they were worried about what the Coven could do, then how the hell was I supposed to compete with them?

I picked up an order of dumplings and noodles from Lee’s place and was walking back to the shop when I noticed the door was open. A Lexus was parked on the corner. I looked around quickly as I stepped cautiously inside. Standing at the counter, thumbing through one of the Chinese herbal encyclopedias, was Thomas. What are you doing here? I asked him.

Just checking in on you. Making sure everything was ok.

I’m ok. What have you found out about Ma?

We are pursuing the matter.

Yea, looks like you’re making a lot of progress. I remembered what Ma said in her message, but I didn’t want to apologize to this pencil neck. He was so rigid it was like someone had shoved a dress mannequin up his butt and wrapped him in a suit. Besides, he was such a prick about what happened to Ma, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.

Jack, I know you’re upset…

Upset? No, Thomas, I am not upset. Upset is when you order pepperoni and extra cheese, and instead they bring you sausage with a used condom on it instead. I’m freaking pissed! I know you high and mighty types like your backsides kissed, but that’s simply not going to happen! You may have the power to squash me like a bug, but you just remember one thing. I've got Red. Touch me and he’ll stomp you into a greasy spot!

I didn’t come to fight with you. I didn’t even come to tell you what to do. I just want to make sure you are ok and to go over some things with you.

I’m just dandy. I ran my hand through my hair and leaned on the counter. Now what do you want to go over with me?

Thomas sighed and made eye contact with me. Screw him. Then he continued. When any Coven member dies in a situation like…

Like my mother? I threw it at him like a knife.

Yes. Like your mother. Then certain safeguards kick in. To protect the Coven and their families, there are chants that kick in and cover the incidents and fog people’s memories and recollections. People will remember Xi and they will already know she has passed but they will believe it was natural. That’s why you haven’t had to deal with customers, or the police, or any missing persons reports. There is also the matter of your mother’s will.

Will?

There really isn’t much to it. She left everything to you. The store, her personal belongings, and her money. Thomas spoke like a banker at an audit.

Money? Ma had money?

Quite a sum of it. She had over five million in several accounts, here and abroad.

What! Xi was the poster child of living modestly. She wouldn’t even buy me a computer when I was a kid. She made me work for the money to buy my own. Ya, maybe she wasn’t wrong about that. Ma was big on responsibility to yourself and your family. Ma wouldn't even buy herself a new car... How did she get all that money?

Some of it is from the Coven, the rest she accumulated on her own.

What was she into?

Thomas sighed, softly pausing a moment then went on. Xi was an honest woman. She earned that money healing people. Poor people, she healed for free or sometimes for even just a bowl of soup. Wealthy people, she charged based on their ability to pay. She also liked to play the market, however she wasn't much good at it. He smirked.

Yea, that sounds like Ma. I laughed. For a moment, I forgot what a jerk Thomas could be.

"She actually lost a lot on the market. I tried to convince her to let me handle her