The Knight's Circle... Part one.. Coming of The Darkspawn.

New Orleans, Louisiana, September 22nd, 1882.

There were several candles lit behind him reflecting off of the large looking glass in front of him, The light shinning back off of it was enough to blind and keep him off balance. Although he could not see, he could tell that both of his wrists and ankles were shackled to the wall, he was in chains in a dark room. there were at least three different voices that were conversing in whispers. the voices would trail off, and one by one the candles went out, and then on either side foot falls went by him at almost a frantic pace. He heard a female voice in an accent that he didn’t recognize yell back across the room.

“Remove the black cloth from the windows, it's coming out!”

Outside the window on his right, he could see up into the black midnight sky, as the clouds parted and revealed the most brilliant full moon that he had ever seen. he took a deep breath and waited to see what would come next, he waited for what felt like hours and nothing happened, it was then that he first heard the deep male voice instruct them to release the shackles. He felt a pair of hands gently grab his wrists, heard the rattle of chains, the metallic sounds of a key entering through the metal locks, a soft muffled clicking sound as the shackle on his left wrist came free, and then the right followed by both ankles. and then whoever had freed him retreated back into the shadows, and then there was silence for a time.

“Mr. Doolittle.  Please come this way, sir.”

They led him down a dark hallway into an even larger room lit with oil lanterns, one wall adorned with various maps of the western states, and on the other there were rows of books on shelves that were built into the walls themselves, above them hung a wood carving of a serpentine dragon coiled around a long sword beneath it were the words “Light into the darkness.”  There was a large wooden desk in front of three connected rectangular bay windows.  Standing in front of them was a tall, broad shouldered man with long black hair traveling down his back pulled into a queue. He wore a well tailored suit and had rings of silver and gold on every finger, and when he turned to face them, his dark blue eyes flashed with just the slightest hint of menace. He waved his right hand at the high back leather chair in front of the desk.

“Mr. Doolittle-do sit, make yourself comfortable. Please forgive the bindings, but we couldn’t be sure if you had been bitten by the spawn, exposing you to the full moon was the only way to be certain. You are not infected, so it would appear.”

His eyebrows arched slowly in surprised at the sound of his own name coming from the lips of a complete stranger. He slowly sat down in the leather chair, his eyes never leaving the tall, dark haired man towering in front of the bay windows.  A young oriental woman brought in a silver tray of two empty cups and two pots filled with what he took to be coffee and tea. He motioned toward the one that carried the aroma of coffee. The young oriental slowly poured the swirling dark liquid into the cup. His eyes returned to the stranger. He was talking to another shapely young woman with long dark raven colored hair, her facial features made her look exotic and mysterious. The tall man leaned forward toward him.

“Now then, Mr. Doolittle, to the matter at hand, please tell us how you happened into the encounter with the Darkspawn.” He said.

“Darkspawn?”

“The creature that you killed, Mr. Doolittle.”

“Wait-now that we’re asking questions here, how in the hell is that you know my name? and I don’t even know where in the hell I am- let alone who YOU are? and why was I being held prisoner?”

“Very well then. It would appear as though you have more questions than do we, so let me clear up a few things for you- and then you can clear up a few things for us. Fair enough?”

He nodded to the affirmative.

“Very well.  Mr. Doolittle my name is Constantine, I am the current leader of a secret society of hunters that started in Europe over 450 years ago called  ‘The Knight’s Circle.’  since our beginnings we are now across the entire world, hunting in secret-creatures of myth and legends, creatures that normal human beings aren’t even aware of. Creatures like the one you killed Mr. Doolittle, who stalk and murder the pure strains, they are called the Darkspawn. and they have existed here far longer than us.” 

He shook his head in disbelief at the thought of such things existing.

"And you somehow know who I am?"

“Yes, I- or should I say WE, know who you are, you-are Caleb Tristan Doolittle of Bristlecone Texas, you are an educated man and one of the best trackers in the entire western hemisphere. You were hired by the people of Pinewood to track down the creature responsible for killing off their livestock, not to mention the four people that it mutilated before you arrived. You took five men with you up into the mist laden mountain side to find it, and find it you did-just before it ripped apart your entire tracking party. But you-Mr. Doolittle, you didn’t back down, even when it attacked you, you fired your weapon striking it in the belly, but it didn’t stop, so you pulled out your knives and stood your ground cutting it several times before finally killing it with a fatal thrust to the heart. it did, however, manage to cut you in such a way that we couldn’t tell straight away if you had been bitten or not. it was our own doctor that stitched you up.”

“Wait-the Darkspawn?  The pure strains? This is all very confusing, and a bit much, I fear.”

“Can you describe the thing that you stabbed to death, Mr. Doolittle? do you remember what it looked like?”

“Well, when I first saw it, it was kinda dark outside, the only light came from the moon, it looked a lot like a huge wolf from a distance. There were four other fella’s with me when we tracked it up into the woods along the tree line, about a quarter of the way up the damn thing doubled back and ambushed us, it took four men clean off of their saddles and ripped them to pieces. I got a closer look at it then.”

“And was it a large wolf, as you suspected?”

“It had the head of a wolf, but different somehow, it almost looked part human, it reared back up on its hind quarters as it turned to face me. that’s when I knew this weren’t, no ordinary wolf, it ran toward me on its hind legs I pulled my gun and fired two shots into it. I think I hit it in the chest, but it didn’t even slow down. as it leapt up over the top of my horse I pulled my long blades and cut its belly open, it cut me pretty good as you know- but I knew if I went down I was a dead man for certain. It came again a few minutes later and went high, I went low and buried my blade with one thrust right into its chest, it took my first blade with it but still had the second, I buried it in its heart right next to the first on It's very next pass, it slid to a slow stop in the dirt deader than dead, That thing wasn’t a wolf.”

“You are correct in that observation Mr. Doolittle, so allow me to enlighten you, it was neither wolf nor man. what you killed was a very large lycan.” Constantine told him.

“A lycan?”  Doolittle's eyes raised in surprise.

“Yes. A human being that can turn into a wolf like creature, a shape-shifter if you will.”

In all of his years on this earth, to the very best of his recollection, Caleb Tristan Doolittle had never been rendered speechless-until now. Constantine rose from his chair and walked to the large bay window overlooking the town of New Orleans. Caleb Doolittle studied his every move carefully then. He leaned back in his chair, slowly raising his coffee cup to his lips. Constantine then turned to face him fully.

“Mr. Doolittle, not everyone can do what you did to the lycan. you have some extraordinary tracking skills, not to mention being quite handy with guns and long blades. We have our own personal train that will be leaving for San Francisco, California within the hour. we would very much like you to be on it with us when we leave.” He told him.

“Are you offering me a job, Mr. Constantine?”

“We have a small team on the ground in San Francisco, Mr. Doolittle. they have been on the trail of several of the darkspawn, being led by the spawn called Isabella, we believe that she will try to feed there, much as the lycan you killed tried to feast on your companions. we don’t have a lot of time to waste, Mr. Doolittle, what do you say?”

The tall blonde man rose to his feet, leaning forward cautiously to pick up his flat brimmed hat from the table-top. he slowly placed it on his head and looked back and forth at Constantine and then the young woman.

“I trust my horse is here as well?” He asked.

Constantine nodded.

“Alright. I have a few more questions, but I’m in.”

San Francisco California, September 25th, 1882.

From the time that she had stepped off of the train at union station anyone that had crossed paths with Isabella Dragomir knew that there was something unusual and off putting about her. The way her dark calculating eyes seemed to watch everything all at once, the demeanor in the way she carried herself even for a beautiful woman, gave her a strange menacing presence. It was just after 5:30 PM in the early evening when she first entered the Midnight Star Hotel and Saloon on Allen Street. She had picked him out almost immediately, he was kind of a short, plump, unassuming older fellow, with thinning black hair, he wore a wrinkled brown suit that looked old and more than slightly dirty. When he saw the beautful young woman staring at him, it made his spectacles steam up. His posture suddenly straightened and the very sight of this dark haired beauty made all of his problems seem trivial and petty. Avery Terrace up to that point, was having a very bad day, unknown to him, it was about to get much worse.

She slowly made her way across the smoke filled room, ignoring the raucous laughter of drunken cowboys, few even seemed to take notice of her as she moved up beside of him at the bar, but Avery Terrace on the other hand, couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She cocked her head to one side and slowly ran her forefinger down along his cheek stopping and his round plump chin. His lips pulled into a nervous smile as he lifted the whiskey glass to his mouth drinking it all in one gulp. He pulled out his handkerchief and began to wipe away the small beads of sweat forming on his forehead as she briefly pulled her gaze away. He pulled himself up straight, carefully searching his mind for just the right thing to say. He had to tread lightly as to not offend her.

“I. I- Don’t recall ever seeing you here before, are you new in town?” He asked her.

She nodded, but offered no response in return. He leaned forward slightly as she returned her eyes to meet his nervous stare. Slowly her own lips pursed into a seductive smile as she silently looked him up and down, he could feel the lump in his throat growing. Through great effort, he pushed his fear aside and with all of the boyish charm that he could muster- he somehow summoned the courage to offer to show her his room in the hotel upstairs. She nodded in agreement softly taking his hand as he led her across the room toward the stairs.  As they made their way to the upper floor a tall younger man entered the saloon behind them, his eyes quickly sifting through the smoke, looking for her. He moved through the crowd to the bar and motioned to the barkeep.

“A woman came in here a few minutes ago, dark hair, well dressed, she may have looked out of place, have you seen such a woman?”

“Yeah.” He answered wiping a whiskey glass, he nodded to the stairs. “She just went upstairs with Avery Terrace of all people.”

“What room?”

“Room number 25, second floor  all the way to the end of the first hall.” He smiled. “Your wife?”

“Not hardly.”  He answered, turning toward the stairs.

He had to be fast about it, he was almost running up the stairs in fact- pulling out his revolver at the same time, as he got to the top of the stairs everything seemed strangely quiet to him. He moved down along the darkened hallway until he could make out the muffled sounds of squeaking bed springs. He hurried his pace and when he reached  the door of room 25 he could hear the faint sounds of someone choking for air as though they were being strangled- or bitten.  As he kicked in the door; there was Avery Terrace lying on the bed. His throat was covered in blood, still making soft gurgling sounds as his eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling. And there was a half naked Isabella mounted on top of his now lifeless body feeding furiously, until she saw Aiden Claremont standing in the doorway with his weapon drawn. She turned and hissed at him, and with a speed that he’d never before seen, she leapt from the bed and through the closed window, send shards of broken glass in every direction.  

 

He fired five rounds at her, striking her twice as best he could see, but it didn’t even slow her down. He calmly walked around the bed and looked out the window into the cold rainy night.  In the hallway behind him he heard the frantic sounds of running feet as people clamored around the open doorway to see what the gunshots were all about. There were people standing in the hallway, trying to look inside to see what had became of Avery Terrace, some had seen but turned their faces away repelled by the horror of what had happened. There was shock, mass confusion, people coming, people going, some yelling for help while others  stood calmly shaking their heads in disgust. He covered the body with a blanket and turned to the barkeep who was pushing his way through the thinning crowd into the opened doorway. He looked at Aiden Claremont in shocked disbelief.

“Alert the local authorities. I’m going after her.”  He told him.

The barkeep nodded frantically as Aiden Claremont pushed through the thinning crowd. He made his way downstairs and pushed open the two swinging doors of the saloon and stepped out onto the wooden walkway. From around the side of the Midnight Star came a rider on horseback, the female rider pulled rein directly in front of him some thirty feet away. She motioned towards Claremont’s own horse and he silently nodded releasing the reins from the hitching post, he mounted up and followed her down the alley behind the saloon. His eyes raised to the broken hotel window and began to scan the ground in front of them, he turned in his saddle to look at Cassidy Blaise. She shook her head no but said nothing.  Isabella had all but disappeared into thin air. She looked up at the broken window and then back at Aiden Claremont, her eyebrows arched in question. He shook his head no.

“He’s dead Cassidy, I was a half of a step too late to stop her.” He said.

“I know this much Aiden, you did wound her, but I’m afraid the rain has washed a lot of the trail that she left behind away. She was headed east though, that much I know for certain.” She gave him an inquisitive look. “So what now?  Do we go after her?”

He studied the alleyway for signs of movement.

“No. We’ll never catch her now anyways. lets get to the shipyards, Singh will be arriving from India anytime now. That and Constantine’s train will be here by morning. We need to fill them in on all of the Spawn’s recent activity. We’ll come back here at dawn to try and piece together a trail.”

He raised his eyes slowly toward the clouds searching through the dark rainy skyline.

“She won’t feed again tonight.”

He came walking down the gangplank somewhere around 10:30 PM, The only bags that Mahavir Singh carried with him contained a couple of changes of clothes, A Spencer Rifle, two Kaiken’s and a Talwar sword that was constantly by his side. Cassidy Blaise had almost not recognised him without his usual turbin wrapped around his head. This time his long black hair fell freely to his shoulders, his clothing, while still very much indian seemed have a western flair to them. He seemed much more at ease than before he left New Orleans for India almost a  year and a half ago. They watched in silence as his animal, a large black muscular stallion was being led down the gang plank from the ship. Mahavir Singh turned to face Aiden Clairemont and Cassidy Blaise. He slowly walked toward them removing his black leather gloves.

“So what news do we have of the darkspawn my friends?”

“Isabella Dragomir.” Aiden Clairemont explained. “She was here and has fed on a man at the Midnight Star Hotel and Saloon some five hours ago, she fled the scene but I don’t believe that she was alone.” He said.

Singh’s eyes narrowed in concern, his stare never leaving Aiden Clairemont.

“Koda Kahn perhaps?”

“Either him or  that savage Kojo, we can’t be certain which at the moment, we never made visual contact with her accomplice, we only saw her, but we know that there was someone else with her.”

He stepped forward extending his hand to Mahavir Singh who smiled broadly as he shook his hand.

“So where are we off to then my friend?” Singh asked.

“We have to meet Constantine’s train at the station, he should be arriving very soon, we have to update him before we resume of search for Isabella. we suspect that she may have headed east towards Stockton.”

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