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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3549766" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-sixty-six, “Sixteen Candles”, Thursday, June 15th, 4:00 P.M.The school day finally ended and Emily went outside with the others. Mrs. Kale had left again today, this time with Nakomo; and they both wore faces that didn't bode for good. Emily's own spirits were muted today and seemed to her the town's were too. There were a lot more parents there today than usual. Most of the kids usually ran shouting home, but today many of their parents were here to pick them up with pasted on smiles. She looked for her uncle and hurried to him. She asks, "What's happened today Uncle?"Shaw says, "Deputy Martin was involved with a shooting incident around an hour ago a block away from our house. One of the men who robbed Condon's Bank last January was back in town working at Madson's Hardware using a magical disguise. Martin went to arrest him and the man and his coworkers resisted." She replies, "Oh. That's not quite what I'd expected. But an arrest will be good for the Deputies chances to get elected, won't it?"Shaw replies, "It will help. At a minimum it will keep Frank Condon from saying anything bad about Deputy Martin in tonight's mayoral debate. That's a very good thing as there was some bad blood between the two of them before." She says, "The timing was lucky then." Emily walked quietly for a minute. "Are you ready for tonight’s debate Uncle?" He states, "Absolutely, since there are only four candidates instead of six to eight like the other debates Judge Isby has modified the format, allowing each candidate up to ten minutes at the beginning to explain their positions. I am fortunate that it will be done alphabetically so I will get to go last. I've been working on my speech for two days now, it should be well received."She says, "Since you go last people will remember your speech best, and since the extreme people go first you'll sound all the more sensible after they rant and rave," Emily smiled. "I'd like to come tonight if that's okay." Shaw replies, "Of course you can come, I want all of my family to be present. The coach from the Lazy-S will be arriving soon with Humphrey, Ellen and Tricia." She replies, "Oh, good! It gets a little lonely just the two of us sometimes."They walked a little longer as Emily hesitated. Finally she said, "Uncle, do you notice something... I don't know. Wrong feeling? Not with the election or anything like that, but kind of... unnatural? I thought I'd get used to how the earth here felt, but it still seems uncomfortable with itself. Does that make any sense?"Meanwhile, Kate arrives at the Lucky Lady. Minerva is sitting at a table in the corner of the room nursing a tequila when Katherine comes in. Jeff Mills is there with an anxious look on his face as asks Kate "Was it the monsters? I heard that the doctor was called for Jon Harker." As he is speaking Jake Cook arrives. Kate waved Jake and waits until he arrived to answer Jeff’s question.Kate says "It was vampires. Some had been hiding in Madsen’s store using magical disguises. One of the creatures was wearing Cole Rixton's face. We couldn't figure out how to make it shift back, but it's not him. I looked in the windows at the furniture store and Mr. Rixton is there working, but I could see the bite on his neck. I'm sure they've touched his mind. I went to see Mother Jimenez. She's doing a ceremony. In about twenty minutes she can tell us where every vampire and every Civateto in town is.""You could not figure out how to change his face back?" Jake frowns and looks puzzled. "Could not the Cole Rixton in the shop be someone else then? He does not have to be a blood sucker to have his face changed. We must be careful what we assume. Of course that could mean the switch happened long ago." He again seems lost in thought."Let's go join Minerva so I don't have to explain again." She led the men over to the table where they all sat and she briefly repeated what she'd already told them for Minerva. "The Rixton in the store was standing in sunlight, so if it isn't him it is at least not a vampire. The shop was locked up; it makes sense they would touch his mind, tell him to lock up and not see anyone, then steal his face. But I won't lock my mind to it. We couldn't find any sources of magic on the corpse wearing his face."Exhausted from trying to heal Harkins and casting spells Minerva sits rather slumped in her chair as she continues to sip her drink. "Well I suppose we won't know who is the real Rixton until we speak to Mother Jimenez and get into his shop. Nakomo is at home, but we could retrieve him on the way." Kate laid her hand on the other woman's arm for just a moment. "I'm tired too. But I'm more tired of all this going on. Let's finish it. Jeff, I don't know how you feel about it, but you'd be welcome to help." Jeff says, "I'm willing to help.”Jake comments, "Makes you wonder though, about Liza Brown and Derek Avery's murder. Was Miss Brown affected by the goddess of love during our times of undue influence? Or would she say that she left Cole Rixton because he was a different man than he seemed before?" He shrugs. "Maybe Jake is letting his imagination run wild. Whatever the case, be careful what you assume." Kate replies, "Sometimes an imagination run wild finds the truth, Jake. I will assume nothing. And I hate to throw myself in, but we are short help."Jeff suggests they go over and see what Mother Jimenez has to say. Minerva downs the rest of her tequila and stands. "Si, I would prefer to end this in the light of day. I will go and get Nakomo and meet you there." "Let's hope she tells us it's not as large a job as I fear it is." She stood up and led the others out of the Lady to Mother Jimenez’s small house. Jake shrugs. "I will follow you." Minerva explains the situation to Nakomo and they hurry over to Mother Jimenez’s.They waited a few moments for Minerva to join them with Nakomo before Kate knocked on the door. "Mother Jimenez? It's Mrs. Kale." The arrive at Mother Jimenez’s house at 4:30 P.M. It is situated in the eastern side of town, in a block of houses with shared walls, her abutting neighbors being Rufus and Anita Davis to the north and Cisco Halston, one of the Gay Lady's gamblers, to the south. They notice small amounts of smoke coming from the front windows.Kate sniffed the air, trying to tell if the smoke was ceremonial, or if it was a fire of a more sinister kind. "Mother Jimenez?" she called louder. "Come in" the woman's voice states. They enter and Kate notices that she has rolled up her sleeping mat and moved back the chair and table to make a large space in the middle of the room. On that she has marked off a three by five foot rectangle on the dirt floor. One of the three foot edges is closest to the door and a lit candle is along the edge of it. Around a foot inside the rectangle parallel to the candle on the edge is a large flowering plant that looks to be firmly rooted although it had not been there twenty minutes before.Another fifteen lit candles are also the rectangle. Most of them are in the far left hand corner, two of which are much fatter than the others with considerably larger wicks and quite a bit of flame. Those two candles are about half burnt down. Beside the furthest one are six other candles, three regular sized and three smaller. The other large candle is six inches closer with both a large and small candle beside it. A pair of smaller candles is towards the center of the rectangle. Another two, one smaller and one larger, are situated between the plant and the groupings of several candles. One more candle is to the left of them near the longer edge.Kate held her skirts carefully to make sure they didn't catch any flame. "I'm sorry I was insistent. We saw the smoke out the windows and I wasn't sure if it was from your ceremony or something else." Her eyes swept the scene on the floor, hoping that each candle did not represent a monster or people touched by them. "Thank you for doing this. Did you discover the monsters?"Before she can answer there is a knock on the door. They hear Chester’s voice outside. "Come in," Jimenez calls out. "The others are here." Chester pulls the door open and walks in. He removes his hat and says, "Good afternoon, Mother Jimenez. What's with all the candles?"She replies, "The two very large candles represent the Tlahuelpuchi. I am thankful there are just the pair of them, from the feelings I had sensed earlier I believed that there were more. The other candles represent the Civateto. The larger of these candles are the Greater Civateto, those linked to the pair of Tlahuelpuchi. The smaller candles are the Lesser Civateto, those who were infected by monsters who are no longer among us. The plant represents my home and the rectangle the town itself, with the candles proportional. The largest grouping of them is the building along South Street nearest to the cemetery, which is consistent with their wanting to be near the dead.”Chester exclaims, "The what and the what? Are you saying you know where the bloodsuckers are?" She replies, "That I am, Deputy Martin. The 'bloodsuckers' as you put it are known as Tlahuelpuchi. Their mind-controlled slaves are the Civateto." "Oh, my gods" a pale faced Minerva whispers "There are so many of them" "Most of them have only had their minds touched. We can free them by destroying the two who still exist. But how are we still living? They must know we've been hunting them."Jake stays near the edge of the door. He thinks to himself “This is bloody weird and this woman is a blasted lunatic no matter how powerful she may be.” He mentally shrugs. Well, so are vampires or whatever she calls them. He listens for another minute and cannot take it anymore. He slips out the door and goes across the street. In the alley he swaps his ammunition around. In his long barrel he places his remaining five magic rounds from Pierre and a single pyrotechnic round. He places six normal rounds in his fast draw deciding that he needs to visit Pierre very soon. He watches for his friends.Kate says, "We've been destroying the creatures, so there should be less. Who lives in the house next to Boot Hill?" Mills replies to Kate's question saying, "That's the Liberty Party Headquarters. And the other very large candle near it would be the building immediately east of it, Hamilton Fisk's House. Between those two buildings that accounts for ten of these sixteen candles."Kate replies, "Two places we can't even pretend to walk into on honest business. But Fisk should be visiting his new client Ike Clanton right now. Mills points to the pair of candles a little more than a foot away from the plant that are between the plant and large group of candles on the far end and says, "I believe you are right about that Mrs. Kale, I make that pair out to be around where the Jail is located."Kate asks, “Are we prepared to go? I am." Minerva replies, "Si, but it will not be easy. The slaves will try and prevent us from destroying their masters." Nakomo's eyes grow wide. "Do you think that we will have to kill some of the slaves? I don't want to kill innocent people." Kate replies, ""We'll do everything we can to avoid it Nakomo. And killing the creature should free them, so we just have to hold them off long enough. I can try to encourage the slaves to sleep, but I'm not sure it would overcome the vampires hold. I have a few other tricks that might keep them away while you do the hard business." Nakomo says, "I hope so. I really hope so."Minerva places her hand on his shoulder. "We all hope so Nakomo, but we will need a plan. Maybe we can lock them in one of the buildings or make a barrier of some sort. Kate turned to Jeff and said, "Somehow I imagined Fisk to be helping of his own free will. I hope it's not someone else at the jail who's been touched and not Fisk." Kate says, "Let's start at Fisk's while he's gone, then move over to the party headquarters. The only slaves we will have to deal with are the ones right there. Mother Jimenez, do you have any advice to offer? You have already helped so much, I hesitate to ask you to accompany us."Jimenez replies, She replies, "I cannot accompany you, I am needed here to keep the Elvan people safe from these monsters." Kate remembered her teacher's words about Mother Jimenez and her motives. "If we succeed, that will no longer be necessary, but I will not pressure you. Does anyone have some of the special ammunition for Jeff? We should follow these leads before they move somewhere else."Chester asks, "Is there any other way of breaking the hold the vampires have? If Fisk and the guy we have locked up are slaves, then Berg and the others need to know." Minerva answers, "I don't have the power to do it, nor the access. Mr. Harker used his smoke already, and he said Mr. Tomlinson was gone with Judge Isby. I think killing the master is the only way." Chester nods and takes a deep breath. "I see.”Minerva states, "Going together will draw attention to us. I will send Luna to fly over and check it out first so we know what we are dealing with." Luna sees considerable activity going on in the first floor of the Liberty Party Headquarters. The second floor windows are all drawn and shut. All of the windows and shades are drawn at Fisk's house next door so the owl cannot see inside.Kate states, "All right. But I suggest we not over plan. No plan survives contact with the situation. If Fisk has a front and a back door, I'd say we make noise at the front, draw some of them there, then slip in the back. We can walk over separately and from different directions." Minerva says, "O.K. Once we are in maybe we can bar the door and keep them out. While we finish our business. Just be sure we have enough stakes. and a very sharp blade help."Kate gave Jeff the stake she'd been carrying against a last resort need to defend herself. Nakomo speaks up. "I have been whittling more stakes." He hands one to each of them. Kate says, "If you're all ready, Jeff and I can head over first, then Minerva and Chester can come from the direction of the church. We can meet you behind Fisk's house. Ready Jeff?" Jeff indicates that he is ready. He suggests they come in from behind Baines butcher shop and the home of Ray Singer to get to Fisk's.Chester says, “We better get it done before sunset. Breaking into Fisk's home will mean the end of my becoming Marshall. What's got to be done has got to be done right. Let's go." Kate stopped. "Damn it. Chester, we need you to be able to get elected. Damn it! How can we make this legal for you?" Minerva states, "It is Chester's choice to make, Katherine. There are greater rewards than becoming Marshall to be gained by doing what is right. If the people of Promise city do not recognize him for the great man that he is, The gods surely will."Kate replies, "I know. But Chester is the only candidate who understands what actually happens around this town and recognizes the real causes, including supernatural ones." "Minerva shrugs her shoulders. "What will be, will be. Are we ready?" Chester says, "This is more important. If I don't go and something happens to any of you, then how can I live with myself. The election will just have to wait. I'll try to hide as much as I can." He shrugs. "If I lose, then things will be like they were a few months ago."Kate suggests, "Chester, if you want to run and talk to Marshall Berg before you meet us, please do." Chester says, "OK. Don't wait long. Who knows when Fisk will come back. I'm going to update him." "Thank you," Kate said again to Mother Jimenez. "Hopefully this will soon be over." She turned to Jeff and said, "All right, let's go." When Minerva and Nakomo leave the old woman's house, Jake follows them.</blockquote>

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