G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic (13 page)

“Vlad, this is Visine. Visine, meet Vlad,” I said.

“Greetings,” Vlad said aloud.

Vlad’s voice sounds young, almost child like. Visine didn’t seem to pay it any mind. He was looking over the interior of the car, as if he was searching for something. Then, after a small grimace, he focused on the radio and it switched on, seemingly of its own accord.

“
Um Boss, your new friend is messing with my radio
,” Vlad said in my head.

“Any reason that you are trying to mess with my car?” I asked.

Visine’s attention continued to dance across the dash as he spoke to me.

“Sorry, my nanites instantly detected what I can only describe as corruption. There is something seriously wrong with the electronics in this machine,” he said.

“Hey, that’s not corruption, that’s dragoneering,” Vlad stated out loud.

“Dragoneering indeed,” Visine scoffed.

“Isn’t he cool,” I said.

“Care to explain?” Visine asked.

“Vlad’s a dragon spirit. I found him in one of the GHOST labs. He needed something large and organic to bond with or he would have died. So naturally I thought of my car. In addition to these fancy leather seats, the car’s body is made of some kind of experimental organic composite. The ultimate green machine,” I smiled.

“And apparently it’s spreading,” Visine stated.

“Just getting comfy,” Vlad said.

Visine didn’t appear amused, but I thought it was funny.

“Yeah, I guess he only needed the organic stuff to start. Slowly he is becoming the entire machine. My ghost in the machine, right pal,” I said.

“Right Boss,” Vlad replied.

“When you say found him?” Visine asked.

“Hey Vlad, why don’t you drive for a bit. Uncle Visine and I are gonna chat,” I said to my dash.

I could feel Vlad take over, the steering wheel turning of its own accord. I spun in my seat a bit, making it so that I could look at Visine as we talked without cranking my neck completely to the side. Then I explained the awesomeness that is my car.

“Like I said, it was one of the GHOST labs. I was walking by and I got this weird feeling like someone needed my help. Stepping inside I noticed this large black piece of skin,” I said holding up my arm.

The band on my arm looked like a leather bracer, only instead of cowhide, it was dragon. It wrapped firmly around my forearm, running from my wrist to about two thirds of the way to my elbow.

“I almost felt the skin calling to me. So I walked over and touched it, and that was when he asked for my help,” I said.

“How did he ask?” Visine questioned.

“I heard his voice in my head. He told me that they were going to destroy him. There was a general sense of foul play in the lab; a fact later verified when the lab guys were reprimanded. Whatever unorthodox technique they were using to capture his soul would have killed him instead,” I frowned.

“Killed him?” Visine asked raising an eyebrow.

“Destroyed his spirit or whatever. You know what I mean. In order to survive he needed something big and organic. The skin had been his vessel, the thing keeping him from being sucked into oblivion. But they had weakened his link so he needed something else to bond to and fast.”

“A living vessel to possess?” Visine asked.

“Yeah, but not anything sinister. He said it couldn’t be somewhere that a sentience already survived. He wasn’t trying to snatch my body or anything weird,” I stated.

Vlad let out a little snicker, causing Visine and me to pause for a moment and debate on whether or not we should comment.

“So you gave him your car.” Visine said.

“As I said, it was a perfect fit. A large amount of organic material and my car was big enough to give him some room,” I smiled.

Visine looked at the band on my wrist before responding, “He didn’t need much room before?”

“Again, a result of the process they used. He existed primarily on the ethereal plane or something before, but they brought his spirit here. So now he was stuck and needed something more significant to survive. So we both won. He got a cool car body and I got a new friend,” I smiled.

Visine looked like he was about to say something, then he quickly glanced at the dash and then back at me. I could tell he didn’t want to ask in front of Vlad. I had a pretty good idea where his mind was going. To be fair, he was riding in a possessed car at around the same time that magic wielding nut jobs were trying to kill him. He was allowed to be cautious. So I tried to answer what I assumed was his query.

“Look, I know this might seem a little odd. And I can see where you might worry. But you gotta trust my instincts on this one. Vlad’s on our side,” I said as serious as I could.

“Why you?” Visine asked.

“What do you mean?” I responded.

“I mean why were you the one to hear his call?” Visine questioned.

“Vlad tried to tell me that anyone could hear his call and I just happened by, but I have another theory,” I started, leaning over and lowering my voice as I spoke, “I think it’s because we are both dragons.”

Visine just gave me a look. The look made it clear that he thought I was nuts.

“Think about it. I was conceived in the year of the dragon,” I pointed out.

“Conceived?” Visine asked cautiously.

“Well technically I was born in the year of the snake, but if you go back nine months, to the time of conception, it was the year of the dragon. I know that’s not exactly how the Chinese zodiac works, but I think it should. Plus a Chinese dragon is basically a snake with legs, so it’s like I am a double dragon really. In every martial arts film, the spirit of the dragon, the essence of the dragon, whatever dragon, martial arts and dragons, they are linked. Heck, I was called the Black Dragon as a nickname. Can all of that really be coincidence? Or is it more likely that me and Vlad are spiritual brothers?” I finished.

Visine actually looked towards the dash, as if he was hoping Vlad might provide a voice of reason. And if that wasn’t scary enough, Vlad tried.

“Best to just nod your head and pretend you agree with him,” Vlad said.

“Hey,” I yelled at the dash.

Visine actually cracked a smile. I guess I joke around so much that it’s hard for people to know when I am being serious. But come on, my logic was sound right?

“He knows you so well,” Visine smiled, “How long has he been your car?”

“Feels like forever,” Vlad groaned.

Visine actually laughed out loud at that one. I wanted to argue, but I too had to chuckle. When we calmed down I responded.

“Almost two months ago now. For the first week he wasn’t able to communicate and I didn’t even know if I had succeeded in saving him. But then after that, he started talking and now I can’t shut him up,” I said.

“Ha, ha,” Vlad said.

Visine smiled again before getting a more serious expression on his face.

“Why not free him?” he asked me.

I frowned a bit. It was something that I didn’t understand. Vlad was an intelligent being and he didn’t deserve to be stuck in my car. But for some reason, Vlad refused to go anywhere.

“I have tried, several times. But he fights every attempt,” I said towards the dash, “He claims that it’s his job to watch out for me.”

“That’s right,” Vlad stated with pride.

“Dragons, what can you do?” I sighed, shaking my head.

“I see,” Visine said.

“So now we’re a crime fighting team,” I smiled.

He sat there a minute, clearly running all of the information over in his head. Then there was a slight nod, as if he reached a decision. He turned back towards me, looking me in the eyes when he spoke.

“Let’s hope you’re instincts are right,” he said before turning towards the dash, “It’s nice to meet you Vlad.”

“You too Visine,” Vlad replied.

With the introductions finished, we all settled in for the ride. Vlad continued to drive as I sat back and relaxed, letting my mind wander. Visine too seemed content to remain quiet and listen to the jazz that was playing over the radio. Traffic was light and we were making very good time. We took 270 to the beltway, down into Virginia and onto the GW parkway heading into DC. As we drove past the spot where Dirk’s body was found, I figured I better check and see if Visine wanted to stop. I looked over at him before I spoke.

“Did you want to stop and maybe look around or something?” I asked.

“No. I’m sure your people swept the scene,” he replied.

I nodded and didn’t say anything else until we got to GHOSTs HQ. I smiled at the Washington Monument as we turned into the underground parking garage. I remembered almost too late.

“Vlad stop!” I shouted.

Vlad locked up his brakes, causing the car to abruptly screech to a halt. Visine put up an arm in order to stop himself from being thrown into the dash. He immediately started looking around, his eyes searching for any hint of danger.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare everyone. Vlad makes the security system go nuts. If we pulled forward any further, the pillars around here light up like it’s Christmas. With my luck, we probably already set them off. We should get out here,” I said to Visine, “Vlad, wait here for a minute while I talk to the guards.”

Two security guards were hurrying in our direction as Visine and I got out of the car. They had their hands on their sidearms, but no weapons were out yet. Although my badge was clipped to my belt, it was my face that the guard recognized. He gave me an angry grimace before shaking his head at me. I was betting that he was one of the guards on duty the last time I brought Vlad in. I gave both guards my most friendly smile.

“Sorry guys, we were in a hurry, I forgot about the alarms. Can the car stay where it is or do you need me to pull it out of the garage completely?” I asked.

Guard number one, as I thus named him, glared at Vlad, a look of disgust covering his face. Guard number two shook his head in frustration and walked back towards the pillars, which were both glowing faintly yellow. He tapped one pillar a few times, shook his head, and tapped it some more. Then with a heavy sigh, he turned towards me and pointed to the far corner.

“Put the car there for now,” Guard Two said.

“Vlad,” I said with a nod.

He drove himself over to the designated spot.

“How long are you staying?” Guard One hissed.

“Not long,” I smiled.

“Because you should know that in order to have that creature in here, we have to lower the sensitivity on the system. So feel free to take your time as you compromise security,” One sneered sarcastically.

“Yes sir,” I smiled with a mock salute, “Although I’m not sure “creature” is the proper nomenclature. Perhaps Dragon-mobile would be more appropriate. I would have also accepted Car-of-Awesomeness,” I smirked.

I find it helpful to keeping smiling at angry people. Often, when they realize they can’t get a rise out of you, they calm down. Other times, it pisses them off more. I was pretty sure that my response was provoking the later. I can be such a pain sometimes.

“ID,” Guard One growled through a clenched jaw.

It was clear that he wanted to say something but was holding back. Whether that had something to do with me being ranked higher in the company or my intimidating good looks, I can’t be sure. But somewhere deep down, I was almost proud of him for trying to put his professional face back on.

Visine and I were scanned and our identification inspected. I noted that Guard Two actually stood up straighter and started throwing around “thank yous” and “sirs” after he checked Visine’s ID. I was shocked to see that he got through security just as fast as I did. After we stepped into the privacy of the elevator, I was hoping that I could find out why.

“Care to tell me how you got thru security so easily?”

Visine just smiled and remained quiet for the long ride up.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. We stepped out and made our way down the hall. Just as before, a trick of angles and lighting kept the receptionist desk out of sight until we were right on top of it. Mrs. No-Nonsense looked casually up from her work. I put on my charming smile, preparing to sweet talk her in to letting us see the boss. But before I could say a word, she looked at Visine and spoke.
 

“Mr. Lazarus, welcome to the DC office. You and Mr. Chang may go right in, he is expecting you,” she said with an unsettling friendly smile.

First security and now Mrs. No-Nonsense, I wasn’t sure what Visine had done to gain people’s respect, but it was clear that something was going on. I was hoping to get my answer as soon as we stepped into the boss’s office. As for the boss, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I killed three people and sent my team back to base without me. I could only imagine that I was about to be scolded. Dutton however didn’t even seem to notice that I was there. He stepped around his desk and approached Visine with a grimace upon his face. The two men locked gazes, and the tension started to build.

“It’s been a long time Lazarus,” Dutton said curtly.

“Yes it has Stan,” Visine snapped back.

They held their expressions for a bit, letting the tension build, before both men smiled and broke the façade. Shaking hands and clasping shoulders, they both laughed and nodded greetings to each other. Each of them spared a glance in my direction, obviously checking to make sure that I was fooled by the show. Frankly, I didn’t appreciate the air of mystery and I wanted to know what was going on. I directed my question to Visine, in an attempt to avoid pissing off the boss.

“Okay, what the hell is going on and who are you?” I asked.

Visine chuckled and Dutton glared. Apparently he didn’t like being interrupted in the middle of his reunion. I also might have raised my voice slightly. Let’s hope that I eventually learn to stop doing things like that. It was clear that Dutton didn’t appreciate it. I tossed my hands in the air, letting the frustration show on my face. I was waiting for Dutton to yell at me, but instead he took two deep breaths before turning back to Visine.

“Let me start by apologizing for Mr. Chang here. I assure you that his manners are not indicative of this organization,” Dutton stated angrily.