DAMAGED - A Bad Boy Romance (30 page)

“Sylphs,” a voice said next to him. “It’s one of the major air elementals. I wondered what form they would take. Mrs. Jehuti said I’d recognize them right away. Now I see what she was talking about.”

“So, what do we have to worry about this time?” Lilly said as she watched one of the cheerleaders do a complicated back flip in front of the others. “These seem harmless enough.”

“Like the ghoul cleaners were harmless?” Dion said. “Never underestimate the power of these elementals. You are not seeing their true forms, I will tell you that.”

“What do they look like in their natural state?” Sean asked, as he watched the tallest cheerleader jump up and land in a perfect pattern. “I’ll take them in this form any day of the week.”

“Gusts of wind. You wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from any cloud formation unless you knew what to look for. It’s why you see them in this version. They need some way to gain people’s trust and get inside the mall in a corporal form. And who suspects a cheerleader of doing anything bad?”

Sean expected all kinds of things from cheerleaders. None of which he ever thought would happen in this world. As far as he could tell, the girls who became professional cheerleaders only became more unapproachable as time went on. If they were stuck-up now, even the ones of such low caliber as his high school, he could only imagine the attitude they had at the professional sports level.

One of the cheerleaders accidentally let loose of a pompom and it flew across the floor. Sean saw where it went and quickly ran to grab it. The pompom landed behind the cheerleaders and no one else made an effort. For some reason, the audience was focused on the performance before them and nothing else registered. The cheerleaders continued their stunning display of gymnastic ability while the one who lost her pompom stood to one side and pouted.

Sean grabbed her pompom off the floor and held it up in the air for the lone cheerleader to see. She spotted him behind the rest of her team and swiftly bounced to Sean. She grabbed the pompom from him and plastered a kiss on his cheek.

Stunned, Sean looked at her in fascination. She was a blond girl with long straight hair tied in the back to keep it in place. He had never looked into eyes so blue or deep. Sean’s heart began to beat faster and he looked to see if Emily noticed what had taken place.

Although Lilly stood next to Dion, Sean could tell Emily’s attention was focused on the tall, dark elemental worker. It suddenly hit him she had been focused on Dion all day long. Why did she even want to take him along on this adventure? Oh, yes, she had told him she needed some back up, that was right.

It was always that way, he realized. Always the “friend” to the many girls he pursued in school. Always he had to watch the girl his heart burned for run after the latest bad boy and leave him in a minute. Even at his parents’ church, it was that way. How many of the girls he knew there were paired up with some gang member or motorcycle rider? Even his mother grumbled the church girls weren’t the little angels everybody assumed. Oh, they were angels, Sean knew, just not the kind his mother would approve.

“Thank you so much for grabbing that for me!” the cheerleader said to Sean. “I’d never have found it without your help!”

“Really,” he tried to say to her, “it was nothing, I just saw it and…”

She planted another kiss on him. “My name is Randi. What’s yours?”

“Sean. I’m with….” He turned to see Emily in a conversation with Dion on the other side of the line of cheerleaders, “…no one in particular. You said your name was Randi? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of your school before.”

“It’s a private one.” She stepped closer to Sean and made sure he could feel the warmth of her face near his. Her eyes were hypnotic. “Could you be a dear and do something for me?” she asked while squeezing his hand.

“What’s that?”

“Your friend Dion has something I really want. You seem pretty cool and could help me get it.”

“I don’t know….”

“You want my phone number? Maybe we could talk about it later. You drive? I think there is something playing at the ‘Mont’ tonight.”

Randi had referenced the local drive-in movie theater, locally known as a “passion pit”.

Suddenly Sean had all kinds of second thoughts. “Okay, maybe I can help you. What is it you need?”

“That map,” she whispered in his ear, her hand on his back. “I really need to get it for someone. I’ll be real grateful if you can get it for me.”

Meanwhile, Emily, Dion and Lilly were still observing the cheerleaders’ routines. Actually, most of the lower level of the mall was enthralled by them too. Dion expected the store managers to be on their phones right now with security with complaints, but something told him this was all part of a general plan. It fit in with the mall owners and their operations. Therefore, it was time to take some precautions.

He looked over and noticed a clear gemstone in a ring Emily had on her hand. “What kind of stone is that?” he asked her as he pointed to the ring.

“Topaz. It was a gift from my grandmother a few years ago. Why do you ask?”

“Can I borrow it for a few minutes?”

What were the odds? Emily had the one gemstone, which could be used for what he had in mind. She shrugged and handed it to him. Dion pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped the ring in it. What he needed to do could damage the ring and he didn’t need Emily mad at him.

Dion walked over to the line of cheerleaders who were still in the middle of their routine and stopped. They continued with their show, but fixed their attention on Dion. Even Randi, standing with Sean turned to look at Dion. Dion continued to stand in place.

Then he tossed the ring, still wrapped in the handkerchief, into the middle of the cheerleaders.

They halted the routine and focused on the bundle beneath them. One of the cheerleaders reached down and picked it up. The crowd continued to watch on in silence. Whatever hold they had on the crowd had yet to be broken. The cheerleader who picked up the bundle unwrapped the handkerchief from the ring and held it up.

The light from overhead flowed through the stone on the ring and reflected across the cheerleaders. Suddenly, the light increased in intensity and sparkle as the cheerleaders began to shimmer and change. While they stood in place, the girls faded from view. It took place over a minute with the cheerleaders losing their individual identity to the viewers until the space they occupied was empty.

The ring, held up by nothing, fell to the ground and plopped on the handkerchief. Dion walked over, picked the ring up and returned it to Emily.

The crowd began to thin out, unable to recall why they had stayed in the back of the mall, unable to remember what drew their attention in the first place. All they could remember was some kind of performance took place there, but now it was over. Soon, everyone was back to shopping and walking through the mall. The four friends remained in place with Emily sliding the ring back on her finger.

“What just happened?” Lilly asked Dion.

“The topaz. Sylphs are attracted to the gemstone for some reason. When I dropped it in their midst they all had to look at it. However, with their concentration gone, they no longer could keep up the appearance of cheerleaders. They had to return to their normal state or risk becoming bound to the ring. I think they chose the right course.”

Sean joined them again, but said nothing about the offer Randi made to him. He still noted the way Emily paid more attention to Dion than him. The cheerleader had given him a way to even things out. Perhaps he lacked the charisma of Dion and his superpowers, but there was still one card he could play.

They were interrupted by the sound of applause. They turned around to see the lone form of Edward clapping his hands together.

“Bravo!” he cheered. “Now that you got rid of them, what is your next move?”

This time he wore a cowboy shirt and blue jeans with a western style hat. A pair of pointy boots adorned his feet and a bolo tie was around his neck. To complete the ensemble he wore a pair of sunglasses. All of his jeans and jacket were decorated with imitation rhinestones, giving him the appearance of a rodeo clown.

“No lasso?” Lilly asked the little Englishman.

“They wouldn’t let me bring one. I was refused a horse too. Imagine this, a cowboy without a horse? How dare they?”

Dion was about to tell him it seemed a good idea when Edward cut him off.

“You do realize they will be back, don’t you? Also, they will have the same form. It worked well enough, but they won’t fall for the topaz ring trick a second time. I’m letting you know this because it will happen sooner rather than later.”

“I’m glad to see you are so fond of us, Edward,” Dion said. “Have you much experience with sylphs?”

“Not the elemental kind. But these are more difficult to deal with than anything I’ve ever encountered. They don’t like you and will do anything to keep you away from the Grandmaster. I suggest you prepare for them. And prepare well. They seem to have a way to mesmerize the uninitiated. They’ll make you all kinds of offers, but in the end it’s only to get what they want.”

“Why cheerleaders?” Lilly asked. “I can’t understand their reasoning.”

“Think about it,” Edward said. “The very image of innocence and beauty. Who would imagine them capable of anything sinister? In such a form, they can have and do anything they want. It was very little effort for them to hypnotize the audience. They could have picked everyone’s pockets and the audience wouldn’t have moved. The power of the cheerleader is immense, and they have found a way to turn it to their own benefit.”

The four nodded their heads in agreement. “They always did get the special attention,” Emily said with a little snark to her speech.

“Then you understand,” Edward said. He looked down at his belt buckle, which had a watch face mounted in it. “Alas, time is up and I have to go. Take care.”

And then he was gone again.

“He tends to disappear like that?” Sean asked them. This was the second time, but he was noticing a pattern.

“So far,” Dion said. “I guess we’re stuck with him for the time being. Anyway, we have a hobby shop to find.” He took out his map and consulted it. “It’s on the main concourse this time. Nothing too strange around it, but we can expect another appearance by our new friends on the way. Let’s go, but remain on your guard.”

They began to walk down the concourse in the direction of the hobby shop. As they left their former location, a lone security guard watched them go and made a report to the main office with a radio.

Chapter 5

“Yes, I am aware of them… very good, keep the four of them in sight I want to know every move they make…”

Officer Karanzen, sitting at this desk, placed the receiver from his radio back down on his desk. His security guards were doing their job today. There were four this time, but that only meant it would be easier to keep them all in sight. He had faith in his boys, they were all good men and fiercely loyal to him. Sometimes they made the occasional mistake, but it wasn’t something he could avoid. So long as they did their job with diligence, he was pleased.

This Dion and his family… he was different. Not a year since the mall was open and already a wild card to which he needed to pay attention. He couldn’t believe the kid’s grandfather had been his commanding officer in Korea, one of the few people who knew what happened at the Chosin Reserve. It was unnerving because he thought the man was dead. Yet, there he had been, big as life and in his face.

“You know,” the man who sat across from him, said, “they are not pleased. Not one bit. They expected you would handle this kid on the first day. Now he’s back and with what he came to get on the first day. All he has to do is the same stunt the next three days and we’ll all be cooked.”

“I tried to tell you,” Karanzen told the man, “this kid has all kinds of connections. It might have been nice if you’d have told me about some of them in advance.”

“It was a need-to-know basis,” he informed the officer. “We thought you could deal with him without us getting involved. Now we see that isn’t going to happen. We are forced to take a direct approach from here on out. Do you think you can handle his friends at least?”

“I’ve kept this place free and guarded from anyone who tried to cross it. No one in the country has a loss prevention record better than mine. Isn’t that good enough?”

“Not for
this
mall,” the other man said firmly.

The man who sat across from Karanzen wore a tailored three-piece suit with matching cuff links. His tie was silk and shoes Italian leather. He smoked with a cigarette holder, although he waited until leaving the building to light it. His name was Matt and he was the liaison between the daily mall management and the tower. The clock tower was where the mall builders had their offices, but no one was allowed inside it other than Matt. Most people didn’t even know where the door into the tower was located. He did. It wasn’t a door in the traditional form, but they didn’t need to know about that.

“So what do you propose I do?” Karanzen asked. “I can’t just grab that kid out of the mall without some kind of reason. I have enough problems with parents who think their darling little baby boy can’t possibly boost TV’s. You even show them the photos taken from the security cameras and they swear it’s someone else. The only thing I can do to stop him would be to ban the little punk from the mall. I can put out a notice to the guards that he or his friends are not welcome in the mall. Oh, we’ll have to deal with his family, but better that than the FBI if he comes up missing.”

“Just stay out of the way,” Matt told him. “We have this covered. All you need to do is have your men stay clear and let our people do what they need to do.”

“Fine. Just keep me informed as to what’s happening on the tower’s end. I don’t want any of my boys to be hit with something they don’t know about. You have some cleaners or even postmen show up and do strange things, I want to know about it. No reason to get my people injured interfering with an operation from the tower.”

“Don’t worry,” Matt said as he got up from the chair, “we’ll let you know before anything goes down.”

Karanzen watched Matt leave the room. There wasn’t much he could do. The man represented the people who controlled the mall. He suspected they were listening in on every conversation in this place. And there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it.

Still, he didn’t trust the secret masters of this suburban temple. Too many unanswered questions about their real motives. Sure, he had a decent job as the guardian of this abyss, but it wouldn’t be hard for them to find someone else. There were plenty of people with his abilities out there, some less advanced than him, sure, but they would be grateful for the opportunity to have this position. Any one of his security guards might think they could handle it as well.

Sometimes he was ready just to leave. Let the masters of the mall have someone else take over this place. The constant balance between keeping the shoppers happy and finding the shoplifters was too much for any one man, no matter what their background.

He thought for a few minutes and then decided to take a walk with a few of the guards. They needed to be brought up to speed as to what was taking place in the mall. Not all of his boys needed to hear about it, just a select few. The fewer, the better. They could have a few drinks after their shift ended and he could give them a heads up as to what was taking place. But first, he needed to meet with them, and then he could decide what to do.

Karanzen was outside the mall.

It was another fine day with hardly a cloud in the sky, which was fine for him as he needed a secure place to talk to his men and didn’t need any interference from the mall owners. That little jerk, Matt, was not what he needed right now. He had to deal with the official representative for the mall every week when he came by for a conference. Up until now, it hadn’t been much of an issue: show the suit some graphs, let him know how things were proceeding and go from there. He wondered how Matt came by his job. Was he related to the mall builders and owners? Did he have some family connection to them? He wanted to know, but doubted there was an easy way to find out.

After Matt left, he reviewed the security tapes and watched Dion and his fine-feathered friends enter the mall. He had to switch tapes constantly into the player to find the right ones. They only had a few of the bulky cameras located in the mall and there were still places they didn’t cover. The official reason was the enormous cost of the audiovisual installation, but Karanzen speculated there were parts of the mall the owners didn’t want taped. The tape recorders were expensive and few malls had them, he understood this, but why did they cover only a few parts of the concourse in each section of the mall? Why was there only one camera to cover the parking lots and why was it conspicuously aimed away from the clock tower?

He didn’t like reviewing the tapes here. Karanzen suspected they were watching him inside his own office. Sure, he could never find evidence of a camera of any type, but it was just like the owners to have something hidden he couldn’t locate. Given who opened the mall, he didn’t think they would employ a physical camera to watch him. They had other ways to observe their charges in the mall.

He looked down at the ashtray, which was made of a fine carbonite stone, and reflected the light in mysterious ways. It had the name of the mall and management company carved into it. He’s seen these things all over the mall. Funny, the management banned smoking on the inside when the mall opened. He couldn’t recall too many places with this rule. Why did they have these fancy ashtrays in every office and secure room in the mall? If smoking wasn’t allowed, why did they insist everyone display them as a token of the management’s esteem? He’d picked one of the ashtrays up one afternoon and examined it when these thoughts had crossed his mind. It sent a tingle through his hand and almost caused him to loose physical form. The ashtray was tied in with the mall builders, he was certain and it was not just a little token thing. Furthermore, when they were first issued, every place where they were sent was informed they were never to leave the mall and to be displayed in a prominent place at all times. There was even a section on the security log to check where the “mall ashtrays” were seen. A clothing store manager tried to take one home one night to show her family and had a phone call the moment she arrived home. She was informed the ashtray was mall property and to be returned immediately. She drove all the way back and returned the ashtray to her store. The next day her corporation terminated her and never gave a reason, but he was certain it had to do with the ashtray.

Karanzen saw the two guards walk up to him as he stood on the edge of the parking lot with a clipboard in his hand. He didn’t know how far the eyes of the mall management went, but if they could see him in the lot, he had an excuse to be there with the clipboard. They needed to police the lot and he could always say the guards were with him to look over the sewer inlets and check on the electrical conduits.

He cursed himself for his subservience to the mall owners. They’d found him just before he was ready to cross over and made him the offer. Now he was in their thrall. Sure, he could do the nasty little pestilence tricks to transform himself into a cloud of insects, but what did it accomplish? It scared the stuffing out of most of the miscreants he caught who needed a little demonstration of his power, but it left him in a vulnerable state. He never bothered to show the security guards what he could do. It wouldn’t impress them anyway. They were good men who happened to be some trouble when he found him. They were intensely loyal because they knew working for him was the only way they would ever keep a job. He had plenty of information that could put every one of them away for years.

One of his first hires thought he could lift something and no one would notice. Karanzen called him down into his office the next day and showed him, lined up on his desk, five “diamond” necklaces of the same appearance and quality.

“I just thought you should know, Amon,” he told the man. “I know what you took yesterday. Don’t worry about bringing it back because we’ve already taken it out of your locker and returned it to the case. It had no value, just like the ones you see here. They don’t leave real ninety-carat bracelets out in the open as you thought they did. They don’t even lock the case, so you didn’t get lucky. But they do watch who from the mall staff walks around and does his rounds. I just wanted you to know, because if I ever catch you doing it again I will have to let some federal people know where they can find you.”

Karanzen never had another problem with the man.

It reminded him of the last panhandler he’d dealt with in his former position.

Karanzen had been a security guard outside a store in the Washington District in Scipio. The Washington District was an old entertainment division in the city. At one time, it was very fancy and held a lot of restaurants and theaters. But the business had moved elsewhere ten years previous and the city was desperate to renovate it and get some tax money generated. As it was, the district was a tax sinkhole and the only people found inside it after dark were single men shopping at the disreputable stores, which lined both sides of the streets. Fights were common when the bars closed and shootings happened on a regular basis.

An older restaurant got it into its mind to hire him as a parking lot attendant and security guard for the weekend. Business was dropping off because people didn’t like to be hassled by the street people who lined the block every time the police car left to deal with another issue. As soon as the cops left, out would emerge the mentally ill and mendicants. The state hospital decided the year before to release many patients to group homes. Many had been patients for years. This was humane, but it meant many people were walking the streets that needed better care. Many people who babbled at the air.

Karanzen’s job was to make sure they left the patrons alone. He’s just finished his latest stint with a security guard company and hated the low pay. This job didn’t pay much better, but at least he wasn’t stuck riding around from one rabbit-tripped alarm to the next. At one point, he thought about mowing the weeds around a bus under his watch because he was tired of the animals using it as cover. They slipped under the gate where they would inevitable set off an alarm. The company who employed him didn’t care because they made extra money each time the alarm was tripped. He cared because every time an alarm tripped he had to haul rubber across town and respond to it.

For his latest position, most of the time he didn’t have any trouble. The street people would see him and scuttle away, to bother someone else for spare change. One look at his black uniform and silver badge was enough to send them in full retreat. Every now and then, one of the miscreants would stop at the edge of the block and yell. He didn’t care so long as they stayed away from his turf. After he’d ambushed one of them the first week he had the job, they stayed away.

This particular night he was on his way to work and was out of uniform. Karanzen would park in the back of the restaurant most of the time, but this evening he was forced to take a bus into work because he needed to get his car repaired. He had non-standard windbreaker jacket and pair of rumpled pants. His uniform he never wore outside of work and always kept it in the same locker room the cooks used.

He was on his way down the street to the restaurant, ready to start his shift when a familiar tone rang behind him. “Excuse me, sir,” the voice said, “I wonder if you could help me.”

Karanzen turned around to face a slovenly dressed white youth with a silver pendant dangling from his neck. The man appeared to be twenty years of age and was in bad need of a shower. Karanzen felt his blood pressure begin to rise. He’d seen this punk on the roam outside his place of work. The kid stayed far enough away from the parking, so he had no idea how Karanzen appeared up close. This was the reason for a very bad mistake he’d just made.

“I need fifty cents,” the man said to Karanzen.