THE VROL TRILOGY (115 page)

As they walked across an expansive parking
lot, seeing their destination on the other side, they noticed
numerous children running about dressed in all manners of strange
clothing. Dispensing with the camouflage, Draagh pointed at what
appeared to be an adult who was dressed nearly identical to the way
he was before changing into denim jeans, a leather jacket and
boots, attempting to look like a biker, which he pulled off
spectacularly.

"Max, would you care to explain why that
human is wearing something similar to what I was, yet you found it
necessary to ridicule me?"

"Hey, Pops, something's not right here. It's…
oh wow! It's Halloween! Oh my god! We should have brought Liliana
along with us!"

"Um, are you sure that would be wise, Max?
She can use her skills and magic on any world now. I'd hate to see
crowds of unsophisticated normals running away screaming,
especially if she conjured one of her sharks and put legs on it,"
Bagatelle jested.

"I'd keep an eye on her in any case.
But anyway, Pops, every October 31
^st
it was like an unofficial holiday, when kids would dress up
as fantasy characters and go door to door, asking for
candy."

"Candy? That sounds delicious, but are we not
here for the much vaunted In-N-Out burgers?"

"Yeah, let's go and get them quickly. I'll
order extras for the whole family," said Max, as he conjured a
pocketful of U.S. currency.

Entering the crowded restaurant, the three
stood in line, with Bagatelle and Max looking like they were on
their way to a country bar, while Draagh looked as if he had just
arrived from the local biker bar just over seven kilometers to the
east. Bagatelle continually sniffed the air, enjoying the smell of
the food that was being prepared.

Finally making their way to the front
of the line, Max ordered twenty Double-Doubles without onions and
twenty orders of fries (ten of the orders in the
animal style,
minus onions). The
cashier hesitated and gave him an odd look, so Draagh leaned down,
his hulking frame (looking much bigger in his leather jacket)
casting a shadow on the youth.

"I believe he said twenty of each. You got
it, son?"

Bagatelle and Max looked at each other
totally surprised. While Draagh usually spoke with a slight,
indiscernible accent, he actually sounded like a
21
^st
century biker this time,
and it worked. Finding an empty table outside, the three looked
around. There was a line of cars, with all waiting to order their
food without even getting out and entering the
restaurant.

"This was one of the reasons why
obesity was such a problem in the
21
^st
. People never walked
anywhere once they could drive," said Max.

"And their vehicles. How could they avoid
hitting each other? They're totally land-locked - no vertical
capabilities whatsoever," commented Bagatelle.

"Yeah, G. That doesn't come for a few
decades. And even when it does it'll be a while before people
aren't falling out of the skies on a daily basis."

Bagatelle paid special attention to a group
of kids seated at a nearby table. They were all wearing what
appeared to be external corrective lenses, but the frames were
glowing. The youths were manipulating small devices in their hands,
and appeared to be playing some sort of networked group game, due
to the level of excitement that was coming from their table.

"I wonder what they're playing," he
mused.

"Oh yeah, online communications were
really big by this time. Twenty years ago everyone was getting on
what was called
The Internet
.
It was a totally big deal, access to online information, and it
grew quickly - almost exponentially. Unfortunately, it also caused
a lot of problems, as people started living vicariously through
online worlds and what-not. Kids stopped going outside to play,
couples stopped talking, and people lost communications skills.
Hell, at its worst, university graduates could barely function in
job interviews."

"But isn't that similar to what we do now? I
mean, we simply get information on personal consoles, but it's no
big deal - it's always there," said Bagatelle.

"Yeah, but here's the thing. Think
about it. Centuries ago there were hardly any roads. So, if someone
was going somewhere he would say
I'm going
to such and such place
on this
road
. Then later, when there were roads everywhere, no
one would say that, they would merely say,
I'm going to such and such place.
It wasn't a
big deal to walk on a road anymore. It's the same for us. We are
connected to an amazing data net, and hell, data net assistants are
near human in sentience. And further, my kind has Socrates. So it's
kinda like we don't have to say which road we're taking anymore.
It's just there."

"Wow. That's deep, Max," Bagatelle said
as he pulled a steaming burger up to his mouth that Draagh had just
delivered to the table. Sinking his teeth into the sandwich, he
relished the sensation as his canines sliced through soft buns, and
then twin, cooked patties of ground beef, accompanied by two layers
of cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and a mysterious
special sauce
. He chewed a bit, and then smiled
and dug in some more. Of course he had eaten
hamburgers
before, being from a thoroughly
modern world, but nothing like this one - it was unique. Lycans
could tolerate onions, which were closely related to garlic, but
vampire salubots freaked out when contacted by anything from the
genus Allium, which included onions, garlic, leeks, chives and
scallions. It was merely a negative chemical reaction. In any case,
lycans did not enjoy the vegetable, so the burgers were ordered
without onions

Draagh looked around as he hungrily
devoured his burger. It truly was one of the greatest creations of
the 20
^th
century. He watched
as numerous vehicles parked nearby, and people started unloading
bicycles. It appeared that a large group was going to ride their
mountain bikes at night. They were all wearing light-duty helmets,
which Draagh thought looked extremely silly, being as they would
serve absolutely no purpose or be of any protection in battle. And
to make it worse, the helmets had annoyingly bright lights
connected to them. But something was bothering him - something he
couldn't quite put his finger on. Max started getting an odd
feeling too, but put it off to the side as he conjured an infopanel
in the size and shape of a tablet computer, which was extremely
popular in that era.

"Hey guys, I gotta use the head. Be right
back," said Bagatelle, as the sun finally disappeared over the
hills to the west and the large mass of bike riders headed past the
restaurant towards the mountain to their north.

Max ate a few fries, but was using a cantus
to keep the food hot and fresh for their return to the castle.
Sitting for a few minutes, he felt a rumbling in his stomach. It
was an odd sensation that caused him to be a bit nervous, until
reality dawned on both he and Draagh at the same time.

"Oh crap, Pops. It's a full moon!"

The old mage quickly enveloped the two in a
camouflage field, causing a nearby couple to do a double take,
being as the entire table disappeared from sight.

"I have to get Bagatelle, like now!" Max
whisper-yelled.

"No, my boy. Stay with me. I'll need to give
you a healthy dose of electricity when you start to change."

"No you don't. I maintained sapience last
time, when I was in Hollywood. I know I can this time. We have to
get G before he-"

It was too late. People ran out of the
restaurant screaming, burgers and milkshakes flying all over, as
Max and Draagh looked through the large picture windows just in
time to see a phase 3 Luigi Bagatelle go through the wall that
separated the men's lavatory from the dining room, with tile and
sheetrock flying all over the place. Bagatelle jumped over the
counter and started eating all of the raw hamburger he could, which
was a lucky distraction for everyone else nearby.

"I'm on this," said Max, as he wantonly
forced a change to his assassin form, hoping that it would keep him
from going full phase 3. Jumping out from the protective
camouflage, Max burst into the restaurant but was too late, as
Bagatelle went through the northwest wall and straight for the bike
trail that the large group had been heading for just minutes
earlier.

"
Pops, he's
heading for the hills. I'm going after him. I'll nail him with an
electrocantus when I see him and we'll slip right
back
," Max said to his grandfather.

Max ran, as fast as he could, and
although that was faster than any human could go, it was still not
as fast as a phase 3 that ran on all fours. Tearing by a coffee
shop, he saw the entrance to a hiking area, smelling Bagatelle
along the way. Passing a sign that said
Borego Trail
, he nearly crashed into numerous
trees while trying to navigate the narrow, winding path.

This isn't gonna work. I
have to catch him. No other choice, I
guess
.

Max got to a sandy clearing and tried
something that he had yet to attempt. Concentrating, he shot his
arms out, which were followed by an immensely wide span of black
wings, but these were leathery, like a bat's, and not feathered.
Looking as he flapped them back and forth a couple of times, he
thought,
wow, now that's
cool
. Max then shot up into the air and headed north,
following the trail. Further up ahead, roughly a full kilometer, he
saw erratically moving lights on helmets and bikes flashing all
over the place, as the night riding group was working its way up
the trail. Then he detected Bagatelle, but the werewolf wasn't
chasing the group of bicyclists - he was off-trail, face to face
with a decent-sized mountain lion, which just happened to be out
for a leisurely early evening hunt. Max went to drop down onto the
cat, knock it out, and then shock the crap out of Bagatelle, but he
noticed something horrifying - his brother-in-law had a small girl
on the ground, in between his front legs. She was screaming and
crying so loud she had probably woken up the entire park. Shooting
down hard and fast, he landed with a thunderous boom, five meters
off to the side and blocking the big cat's only avenue of
escape.

"
G, can you
understand me? Are you there? Talk to me
!"

Max waited, hoping that by some sort of
miracle there was a piece of his brother-in-law in that massive
canine body. Then after twenty seconds of repeated growls back and
forth, he got his miracle.

"
Max. The
girl. I'm… protecting her. She fell off her bike. Parents
unconscious. Please help, don't know if I can hold on. Slipping
away."

That was all Max needed. He shot over and
lulled the cougar to sleep, and then ported it to a destination ten
kilometers back into the mountains. He then turned and saw
Bagatelle losing his humanity. The werewolf started to growl,
seeing Max as a challenge, so Max did the only thing he could. He
thought out an unspoken cantus.

Electrincantatio quassatio

Bagatelle went flying back into a tree,
landing unconscious. The little girl, roughly six or seven years
old, wearing a pink Hello Kitty bike helmet and white clothing
covered with reflectors and protective padding, sat stunned. She
had stopped crying out of sheer surprise, but then started again
immediately as soon as she saw Max in his terrifying
assassin form
, bat-like wings
stretched out wide.

"Shhhhh, gurlll. Ish ok. Where parentsh at?"
he asked, in the best English he could possibly manage through his
wolf-like mouth.

The little girl stopped crying and pointed
over to the trail, where two adults were pulling themselves out of
the bushes.

"Oh my god! There she is! Oh god, get
her!"

As the little girl's father climbed out
of bushes, he followed his wife's command and ran over to his
daughter. He bent over and picked her up, but when he lifted his
head the flashlight on his helmet shone directly on Max, who was
picking up a now normal (albeit naked) Luigi Bagatelle. Quickly
turning his head around, Max stared at the man, and not knowing
what to do merely said, "Trick or treat!", while attempting a smile
despite his near-fully formed muzzle. The father waved awkwardly,
and then turned around and mouthed to his wife,
"
Wow! You see that
costume
?"

Turning back around, the man saw nothing. The
awesome costume and the naked man had disappeared.

"Dammit! This is the last time we go on a
night ride! Do you understand me?" the mother yelled in a low
whisper.

"Awww, man. I never get to ride anymore!"

Neither parent noticed as little Violet
looked up at the sky, towards the north, watching an incredibly
large creature soar away.

Having quickly flown to Santiago Peak, at the
top of Saddleback Mountain, Max set Bagatelle down next to a
wireless communications tower and prompted him to
consciousness.

"
G! Hey bro,
wakie wakie! C'mon, man. Wake up. Pops, all is well. Got G, no one
was hurt - in fact, he was protecting a little girl from a mountain
lion and could think a bit
."