The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The Next Day

Aboard Matthew Freeman’s Private Jet – Somewhere over the Mediterranean

With new evidence putting them right on the killer’s heels, the Knights of the New Crusade, bolstered by the presence of the youngest of the Three Sisters, Delilah, immediately set their sights on China, in the hopes that they can intercept the killer in time before he makes it to his next target, Madame Anni Li.

But tracking him down took a backseat for the moment as Valeria voiced her concerns regarding her Master, Bernard Jonas Jeffries, the Ascended One known as Balthus. Needless to say, the reactions the team had to her story were mixed at best.

“What are you saying?” Sharon asked, staring at Valeria.

“I’m saying that I called him and he knew exactly where the Collector was going and who he was after without me having to tell him,” Valeria responded, getting tired of having to repeat herself.

“Maybe he got the news from Mr. Winters,” Sharon reasoned, “I called him right after I called you…”

“And I called Jeffries right after you called me,” Valeria answered.

“So you’re saying he’s behind all this?” Theodore added.

“I’m not saying anything like that,” Valeria said, her hands up in a defensive posture.

“Then what are you saying?” Sharon asked again, with more anger in her voice this time.

“She can’t say anything but what she knows to be true…” Matthew interjected. Everyone turned to him. He had not said a word regarding the subject since Valeria relayed the story to him. “She’s still his Vassal. She can’t accuse him of anything, not openly. She can’t even tell us what she suspects, and chances are she probably can’t pin down any theories of her own as to why Bernard might do this. For as long as she’s her Vassal, she can’t take action against him or speak out against him.”

“So how is it that she’s able to tell us all this?” Kim asked.

“Well, simple, really. She’s not accusing Jeffries of anything. She’s not suggesting we do anything about it. All she’s doing is telling us what happened and what Jeffries said, and what we do with that information is our decision, so in a roundabout way, she’s not taking action or speaking against him,” Matthew explained.

Sharon leaned forward in her seat. “Sir Freeman, listen, I don’t think we should look too deeply into this. The only evidence that something is amiss is a suspicious phone conversation. We don’t even know if she’s telling the truth.”

“I believe she is,” Matthew said.

Valeria, a bit shocked, looked at Matthew, looked into his deep and sparkling eyes, and her expression softened.

“Sir Freeman, I beg you. Consider carefully what this means and any actions you take because of it,” Sharon implored. “just a day ago Valeria virtually accused YOU of having something to do with the deaths of de Vega and Deveraux!”

As Sharon said this, the entire team turned to Valeria, their eyes boring a hole into her head. Angel in particular took the revelation rather bitterly, chest heaving up and down and her face red with anger. Valeria looked away nervously.

“It doesn’t matter,” Matthew said softly.

They all turned to him, a look of astonishment on their faces. Perhaps the most astonished of all, was Valeria.

“You mean you can bring yourself to trust in her, after she practically accused you of killing de Vega and Deveraux?” Sharon asked in disbelief.

Matthew smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

“Why? HOW?!” Sharon exclaimed.

“I trust her. You all trust me, right?” Matthew asked.

Everyone nodded in response.

“Then I hope you’ll trust me to trust her,” Matthew said plainly.

“Even after she called you a murderer?” Sharon asked in disbelief.

“She didn’t call me anything,” Matthew said softly, trying to calm Sharon down. “She voiced her concerns, and that’s admirable. Besides, even if I did have anything to do with the deaths of de Vega and Deveraux, I wouldn’t be too ashamed about it.”

Theodore looked perplexed. “Why?” he asked.

“I didn’t particularly like what I heard about them, let’s just say,” Matthew explained. “Arrogant and abusive of their Vassals, of their Servants, and of their Power. On the night we were Anointed, I even heard Deveraux brag about how he and a group of soldier friends gang-raped a young German girl following Germany’s surrender in World War II. You should have heard him go off about how he took revenge on a policeman who arrested him for drug possession by raping the man’s daughter in front of him, before killing him in front of his daughter. Disgusting, really.”

Valeria bit her lip. She knew exactly what he meant, she thought to herself, recalling in vivid detail the sick spectacles that Bernard often orchestrated as his means of delivering his twisted form of so-called ‘justice’ to better men than him, all for some perceived wrong against him... Hubrick’s wife, to mention one.

“Are you saying you’re glad he’s dead?” Sharon asked.

“I’m saying I’m glad he’s gone and gone for good,” Matthew clarified, “and if the only way to make him stay gone is if he’s dead, then good riddance! There should be no room in the world for monsters such as him.” The other members of the team nodded in agreement.

Matthew stood, straightening out his hair. “If you’ll excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I am about to partake in some of the in-flight VIP entertainment, after which I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when we’re about to land, all right?”

He took one last look at Valeria and gave her a wink. Valeria blushed. She fidgeted uncomfortably as Matthew passed by her, a smile on his face. He brushed by her shoulder, and she twitched in a strange mix of guilt and gratefulness.

She looked to the faces of her teammates. They glared back at her, most of them still angry that she would ever think ill of Matthew. She looked away nervously.

It seemed so strange to her now that Matthew was the one defending her. After what occurred in New Mexico, and the subsequent disdain she had shown towards him during the Anointment, and even after she pointed a finger at him when Deveraux and de Vega were killed, he still defended her.

Sharon stormed angrily by her while the others turned away.

The silent treatment. Perfect, Valeria thought to herself.

Then suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She smiled and swiveled her head, thinking it was Matthew, but Kimberly’s face greeted her instead. Valeria’s smile vanished.

“So, you want to take a swing at me or something for accusing your Master of something he didn’t do?” Valeria asked.

Kimberly smiled, and Valeria looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Kim leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek. “It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, “trust me, trust Matthew.”

Kim gave her a short hug and then sauntered off.

Valeria looked out the window. Was that a tear running down her face? It had been so long since she had cried…but there it was.

In the back, Sharon walked up to Matthew, who was on the couch. She placed her hands on her hips and tried to look angry with him, while Kimberly came and sat beside him, putting her arms around his. Sharon curled her lips and pouted, her foot tapping away as she shot Matthew her best livid look.

“Uh-oh, am I in trouble?” Matthew joked.

Sharon didn’t respond. Matthew waited for her to say something, but when she remained silent he shrugged. “Well if you’re not going to get angry with me or scold me, then you might as well enjoy the show…” he said, tapping the empty space next to him.

Sharon shook her head and rolled her eyes as she plopped down beside him and Matthew’s stripper/flight attendants sauntered in from the back and the music began.

Eight hours later

Pudong International Airport – Shanghai, China

The Knights sat patiently, waiting for their ride to come. Except for Delilah, Matthew knew none of them had ever been to China, and even Delilah’s last visit here was well before the 21st century.

The team sat at one of the exit gates at the Pudong International Airport.

Sharon looked at her watch. They had been waiting for two hours.

“Dammit,” she muttered. She turned to Matthew to speak, “are you sure about this? You’re friends, I mean?”

Matthew nodded before answering, “I told you to be patient. They should be here any moment.”

“Who are these friends of yours, anyway?” Theodore asked.

“Well, the ones picking us up are named Crystal Xi and Sandra Wang. I think Zhao is more familiar with their original names, though, Xi Shi and Wang Zhaojun,” Matthew answered.

Zhao stood, recognizing the names almost immediately. “Si da mei nu?!” he asked.

“Yes,” Matthew answered.

“You wanna know what I heard? Blah blah, sha-this and sha-that—” Angel said. “Hello! We’re right here China-man! What are you saying?”

Zhao bowed down. “I apologize for my rudeness.”

Angel nodded. “It’s all good. So who are these girls anyway?”

Zhao answered. “They are two of the ‘Si da mei nu’, which means—

“The Four Beauties,” Theodore said. Everyone turned to him and gave him a weird look. He shrugged. “What? I studied a bit of Chinese Mandarin a few years ago, in Sacramento. I had some time to kill.”

“Four Beauties?” Sharon and Kimberly asked together.

Zhao nodded. “Yes. The Four Great Beauties are four women of Chinese history who were very famous for their great beauty and grace…most of their stories are based on legends instead of actual documents,” he explained, his heavy Chinese accent doing nothing to hide his great respect for them. He turned to Matthew and bowed. “How do you know these four, Lord Freeman?”

Matthew smiled as he always did. “They’re…friends.”

“You mean like friends, or FRIENDS?” Sharon asked, already knowing the answer.

Matthew winked but remained silent.

The ladies all giggled. Theodore shook his head in amazement and Zhao actually blushed, but remained silent.

Before long a white van pulled up. The passenger seat door opened to reveal a short but extremely beautiful Chinese woman with a pouty face in tight jeans and a white sweatshirt. The driver stepped out right after her, and she too was an incredibly beautiful woman, slightly taller with long flowing hair and a softer expression on her face, wearing a denim skirt, brown knee-high boots and a white turtleneck sweater. Matthew introduced the shorter, stern woman as Sandra Wang, and the driver as Crystal Xi.

After the short introductions, they piled into the van and drove off, Crystal at the driver’s seat and Sandra in the passenger side with Matthew between them, his arms slung around their shoulders. Sharon, Kim and Angel sat in the next row while Valeria sat between Zhao and Theodore in the back.

They made it to the outskirts of Shanghai in a little over an hour, avoiding traffic along the way.

“Where are we headed?” Sharon asked from the back.

“To a little place west of Suzhou, called the Guanwa Palace, which loosely translates to the Palace of Beautiful Women. Shouldn’t be more than an hour,” Matthew answered.

Angel couldn’t help but comment to the two women beside her. “Palace of Beautiful Women, eh? Sounds like Chico’s kind of place…”

Sharon and Kimberly giggled.

“I heard that,” Matthew said, causing everyone in the van save for Zhao to erupt in laughter.

One Hour Later

Guanwa Palace, China

The ‘Palace of Beautiful Women’ was part of a larger palace complex that had been cordoned off to most visitors, and the Knights found little in the way of security as they went in. Apparently, virtually every single member of the security staff were Servants of Azrael, and for the most part the section of the palace grounds the Knights headed for was largely isolated.

Though the outside architecture largely stuck to traditional Chinese standards of the time, and even the interiors were still virtually intact, a few modern amenities had been added since, such as air conditioning, appliances and modern beds.

As the staff led the Knights through the massive garden and courtyard and into the temple proper on the way to their rooms, Valeria gave a slight tug on Matthew’s coat, asking him if they could talk.

Matthew instructed the team to settle themselves, before he led Valeria to the eastern garden of the complex where they could talk in private.

“What’s on your mind?” Matthew asked as they slowly followed the stone path.

“What you said…on the plane. Did you mean it?” Valeria asked nervously.

“About what?”

“About me…”

Matthew stopped, prompting her to stop as well. “You mean about trusting you?”

“Yes.”

Matthew pondered his answer. “I guess so.”

“Why?”

He shot her a look. “That’s an odd question.”

“You know what I mean,” Valeria said, sounding slightly irritated and frustrated, mostly with herself. She looked away and sat down on a nearby stone bench. Matthew scratched his head and sat down beside her. Valeria looked up into the trees and the falling leaves before continuing. “I know something happened when you…did what you did to me in San Carenza. You changed me somehow. You made me see what I was…the monster I had become,” she looked down at her feet. “I’ve done so much bullshit as Balthus’ Vassal…”

“Most of which you did under his influence, under his orders.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I did them.”

“True,” Matthew said, taking a deep breath and choosing his words carefully. “Look, I know you’re probably confused. You’ve been under for so long that you probably don’t know which part of you is Balthus’ doing or which part of you is you…” Valeria nodded, but didn’t respond. Matthew continued. “But that just means that with the veil lifted, you’re free again.”

“Some freedom,” she said sarcastically, “I know what a terrible bastard he really is, but I still can’t act or say anything against him. Now I loath him, I loath myself for ever doing what he made me do, and I loath myself even more for knowing what a monster I’ve been. You should’ve let me be, Matthew.”

Matthew rubbed his hands together. “It would have been easier, yes. When we first fucked—I mean—when we first met,” she shot him a look and a smile, but didn’t interrupt, “your mind was so twisted and perverted that I could barely make right from left in there; that’s how badly Balthus screwed with your head. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to sort it all out. The only thing I could do was use that evil energy and turn it around, so it would be self-directed.”

Valeria gave a sarcastic chortle. “You mean you made me ask for every living thing to abuse and fuck me, is what you did.”

Matthew gave an embarrassed wince. “Well, when you put it that way it sounds so bad…”

“You jackass,” Valeria said in partial jest.

“Bitch,” Matthew said in kind as the two shared a nervous laugh. “But seriously,” Matthew added, “my point is, it did get sorted out. Somewhere along the line of trying to reverse all the evil, all the malevolence, all the cold-hearted malice, it came to the point of me just trying to turn it around and work against your mind…”

Valeria nodded. “You’re saying what happened to me…what you did…that was intended to be permanent, wasn’t it?”

Matthew shrugged apologetically. “Yes and no. Try to understand, I didn’t know which part of you was you and which part was Jeffries. As I said, his influence was too ingrained into you, much more than even Angel’s when I ripped out de Vega’s influence. It was pretty messed up in that head of yours…”

“So what happened?”

“Well, the way I figured it, the only thing to do was turn all that negative energy and make it self-targeted. I surmise that the natural course of what I did would have eventually led to you killing yourself…”

Valeria looked at him silently, a blank expression on her face. She opened her mouth to reply, but Matthew interrupted her.

“BUT—it didn’t work entirely as I thought, because your psyche, your personality, wasn’t completely lost. In fact, much of it ran opposite the lines of Balthus’ influence, and so when I forced his taint to destroy itself…what was left of your mind, was mostly you.”

Valeria nodded, a slight curve forming at the side of her lips. “So, you mean,” she began, but couldn’t find the words.

Matthew found them for her. “That’s right, Valeria. Much of who you were BEFORE Balthus is still in you. That’s what’s trying to come out. That’s where your conscience is now coming from.”

Then her brow furled. “But, I don’t understand. If you destroyed his influence in my mind, why is it that I still can’t go against his wishes?”

“You forget,” Matthew said, raising a finger, “that you got picked up after I jumpstarted your mind. The ‘damage’ to your psyche was a result of all that influence essentially devouring itself. As a result, Balthus had to undo what was still in there and basically ‘reboot’ you. If your brain were a computer, it’s similar to reformatting. You’ve basically been reset as if he had just dominated you, except you kept your memories and experiences.”

“So, the bottom line is, now I KNOW who I am, I KNOW what I want, I KNOW what I’ve been and hate it, I KNOW who Balthus is and I hate him even more, and now, I’m powerless to do anything about it,” Valeria shook her head. “I don’t know, Matthew, a part of me just wishes that you…I don’t know…”

Matthew reached out and held her hand, holding it tightly. “That, my dear Valeria, is certainly NOT the bottom line. The bottom line is, is that now you know who you are, what you want, what you’ve been and what Balthus is, so that means there’s HOPE.”

Valeria shook her head, “I don’t see any hope for me, Matthew.”

“I do,” Matthew said, leaning in and kissing her on the lips.

Valeria was initially taken by surprise, but eventually she found herself kissing him back with a great fervor. Before long her arms were around him and she was wrestling his tongue with her own. A few fleeting moments later, they parted, and she was breathing heavily. Matthew looked into her eyes and smiled at her, and Valeria blushed.

“When this is over,” Matthew whispered softly, “I promise, I’ll help you find yourself again.”

He stood, holding out a hand for her.

Valeria placed her hand in his, feeling his warm skin on hers. It somehow felt right. It was the first thing that Valeria felt was ‘right’ in hundreds of years.

“Come on,” he said, “they’re waiting for us.”

“Wait…” Valeria said, holding his arm.

“What is it?” Matthew asked, sitting back down.

“It’s about San Carenza. It’s about what Balthus ordered me and Blackwell to do,” Valeria said, biting her lip. Matthew said nothing. She took a deep breath, trying to find the words to say as not to actually speak against Balthus. “He ordered me to gather information on you, that much is true,” she explained. “He wanted to know what you knew about the Collector. But, he gave Blackwell another assignment.”

“Which was?”

“To bring you in for some sort of…experiment.”

“Well, I knew that…” Matthew started, but Valeria shook her head.

“It’s not what you think. We went after you because Jeffries convinced the Chief, Stanley Hubrick, that your special abilities might prove useful to the Agency. It was a legitimate reason, well, enough for Hubrick to want you in our custody. But I don’t think Jeffries planned to go through with that.”

“Right, because he was under orders from the Order of Kings to keep me alive.”

“He was, but I don’t think he meant to go through with that either,” Valeria said. “He told Blackwell to bring you to him, and him alone. It didn’t matter in what condition you were in, for as long as you were alive.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know…and there’s one more thing.”

“And that is?”

“He had three Vassals working with him in the Agency. Blackwell and I were only two of them. The third one was an Agent Devon Zane.”

“What does he have to do with this?”

“I’m not sure, but all I know is that he assigned Zane to some sort of special mission in Africa, just a few days before the San Carenza incident. He made mention of Mr. Gutambo, the Black Bishop, Zarastopheles.”

“So?”

“Well, we never heard from Zane ever since.”

“What does that have to do with what were doing now?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think straight. I know that there’s a connection somewhere, but I just can’t put my finger on it…but I KNOW that it’s important. It’s just that it’s taking a bit of time for me to make any negative assumptions against him.”

“It’s okay, it’ll take time, but you’ll get there.”

“Wonderful,” she said, the sarcasm in her voice obvious. “Time is something we don’t have.”

“Are you always this cynical?”

Valeria stuck her tongue out.

“…and mature?” Matthew added.

She crossed her arms over her chest. Matthew suppressed a chuckle. “Let’s get to our rooms. Dinner will be ready soon. Crystal and Sandra are great cooks, I guarantee it.”

“I’m sure,” Valeria added, as she accepted his helping hand as she stood.

At lunch, the Knights watched mesmerized as Crystal Xi danced for them, while Sandra Wang wowed them with songs and tales of Ancient China. Kimberly and Angel were particularly thrilled to hear their stories. They had lived in the Guanwa Palace for all this time, they said, keeping their existences secret.

After lunch, the Knights and Crystal discussed with Zhao exactly where and how they could find Madame Li. Sandra had brought out a map and some pins, which Zhao dutifully used to pinpoint several key locations around the city.

“She moves around far too often,” Zhao explained. “Even I usually never knew where she was going until we got there. She keeps several safehouses across Southern China, most of them in the vicinity of Shanghai. But, if she knows she is in danger, she will run to her secret safehouse in Beijing…north of here.”

“So how do we know where she is for sure?” Sharon asked.

“We have to check each of her private homes one at a time,” Zhao said.

“That’s loco!” Angel yelled, her eyes fixated on the number of pins. “Can’t you just call her and ASK where she is?”

“It has always been the rule,” Zhao explained, “that Madame Li calls you, never the other way around.”

“So we have to check these areas one at a time?” Kim asked.

“Yes.” Zhao answered.

“Crazy as it is,” Sharon interjected, “he’s right. The only way that the Order of Kings has ever been able to contact Madame Li is through a complicated code over the internet using a private server that Lancaster’s company provides.”

“THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU JUST USE THAT TO WARN HER?!” Theodore exclaimed, irate at the prospect of having to use echolocation in each place individually.

“Because of common sense,” Valeria answered tersely. “Balthus is part of the Order of Kings, remember? And if Balthus DOES have something to do with this, he’ll see whatever message we send and receive.”

Embarrassed, Theodore said nothing further.

“You could call Gerard, he must know her number,” Angel suggested to Sharon.

Sharon shook her head. “Too risky. Jeffries is one of the executive officers of Agency Alpha. He’s probably bugged Gerard’s phone.”

“Well, there is some good news, at least,” Kimberly said suddenly.

Most of them looked to her quizzically, but Matthew, Sharon and Valeria nodded, understanding what she meant. “If we have trouble finding Madame Li, then whoever’s after her will have trouble, too.”

They all nodded.

“Maybe we could split up,” Theodore suggested. “Delilah and I both have echolocation. We can find her faster that way.”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Sharon chimed in. “We can cover more ground.”

“All right, then,” Matthew said, “Theodore can take Zhao, Angel and Valeria. I’ll take Kim, Sharon and Delilah. Zhao, you can drive, right?” Zhao nodded in response. “All right. My team will take these sites…” Matthew said, pointing to the western eight pins, “and your team will take these,” he said, pointing out the eight pins to the east. “We’ll start at five in the morning, so we aren’t bothered by heavy traffic, so I want everyone to get a good night’s rest.”

They broke the meeting off and headed for their respective rooms.

Matthew stayed in the den and talked with Crystal and Sandra to catch up. By the time they finished, it was nearing midnight. He excused himself and made his way to his room, passing by the rooms of his teammates. A solitary light in one of them grabbed his attention. It was Valeria’s room.

Sliding the door open, he took a peek inside, and saw Valeria sitting up on the bed, looking at a photograph.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Matthew asked.

“Tried,” she responded.

Tilting his head, he asked “What’s that?”

“A photo of me, Blackwell and Zane…on our first day at the Agency,” she replied. “Blackwell and I had been Balthus’ Vassals for a long time then, but Zane was new,” she laughed, “you should have seen his face when Balthus revealed who he was and what he was. Poor kid looked like he was seeing a ghost…it’s a shame, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. For some reason, I just know that whatever mission Balthus had laid out for him…I just know he didn’t come back from it,” Valeria said, her eyes a bit teary. “If only we all knew just what kind of monster Balthus was…”

“Hey, hey, you’re not starting that again, are you?” Matthew said, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.

Valeria chuckled. “I’m sorry.”

Matthew tilted his head again, this time to get a better look at the picture Valeria held in her hand. His brow furled. “Sorry, dear, but do you mind if I…”, he asked, putting out his hand.

Valeria gave him the picture, which he took and squinted at. A look of concern flashed across his face, intensified by the dim lighting in the room. He took a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” Valeria asked.

“I’m sorry, dear. You’re right.”

“Right about what?” she looked at him quizzically.

“Devon Zane.”

“What about him?”

“I think he’s dead.”

Valeria stood, her hands over her mouth. “Are you sure?” She asked, exasperated.

“More or less…”

“How do you—”

“Because I was the one who may have killed him…” he interrupted. Valeria gasped, one hand over her mouth and the other over her chest. She shook her head slowly.

“No—nononono…” she said, falling back down onto the bed.

“Yes,” Matthew said, taking a deep breath as he said so. “I’m sorry, Valeria. He was the one I faced in San Carenza…he escaped, but with the wounds I gave him…”

They remained silent.

“So now what, chico?” Angel asked as she holstered her weapon, referring to Matthew’s jaw-dropping news.

“Yeah, where does this leave us?” Theodore asked with trepidation on his voice.

Matthew gave a raised eyebrow. “Calm down, Theo. Nothing has changed. Our plan is still to find Madame Li and warn her.”

“But still,” Sharon asked, “we have to at least tell Gerard.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Matthew said. “we don’t know what’s going on for sure, just yet.”

“Why didn’t you tell Gerard that you think you may have killed him?” Sharon added.

“Because I wasn’t sure,” Matthew explained.

“And I don’t get this…” Kimberly chimed in. “If you KILLED Zane, then how is he after Madame Li? Maybe it’s still him, healed back up and ready to go.”

“I thought so at first, but ever since Nice, I’m thinking it wasn’t him. When I joined with the Three Sisters and we felt his presence, he felt different from Zane, more violent, more enraged…but I can’t be sure,” Matthew said. “That’s what we need to find out. Look, everyone,” he said, as he strapped his gun holster onto himself, “what we do know is that the menace that the Three Sisters detected is looking for Madame Li, and every moment we waste second-guessing our superiors and each other is another moment wasted. We know for sure Madame Li is in danger. That means we have to warn her and protect her at all costs. We can sort out this mess after.”

They nodded in unison.

“Good. I want every one to move out. We make hourly progress reports to each other. We’ve all got enough cash for lunch and everything else we need. Avoid security checks, since we’re packing heat. Zhao?” Matthew called, “a minute, if you would?”

Matthew took Zhao aside and led him to the far corner of the driveway before whispering something into his ear.

“What do you figure that’s about?” Theodore asked as he was stepping into the van.

“I dunno,” Angel answered. “Maybe talking about strategy on looking for Madame Li.”

“I guess.” Theodore replied, sweat visibly rolling down his brow.

Valeria knew the look. She had seen it plenty of times before. Fear. “Stop worrying, Theo. I know it’s unsettling, but we’ll get through this.”

“You don’t know that…” Theodore said, climbing into the van.

Valeria rolled her eyes. Coward.

Ten hours later

“This is hopeless,” Sharon said, sounding absolutely exhausted and crestfallen, flipping her cellular phone closed.

“They haven’t had any luck either, huh?” Kimberly asked.

“No.”

“Well, we still have two places that we haven’t checked,” Delilah said, trying to keep her spirits up.

Matthew remained silent.

“Are you all right, Master?” Kimberly asked, the look of concern on her face apparent.

Matthew nodded but did not say a word.

“Are you sure?” Sharon asked as well, noticing he had been strangely cryptic all morning, saying very little, as if he were in deep thought. Sharon had never seen him like this. Kimberly had, though. Matthew looked as though he were still on that top step of the church stairs, when they met so long ago.

Kimberly placed her arm around him. “Is it about what happened in San Carenza?”

Matthew nodded slowly.

Kim hugged him tighter. “It wasn’t your fault, Master. You were defending yourself… Valeria doesn’t blame—”

“It’s not that—” Matthew replied a bit curtly.

“Then what?” Kim asked.

Matthew took a deep breath. “I mean it’s not JUST about San Carenza…it’s about what happened in Nice, too.”

“You mean what Valeria said about Jeffries?”

“Yes,” he said softly.

“I know how you must feel, Matthew,” Sharon added. “But even if she was telling the truth, even if Balthus DID have something to do with all this, who knows what kind of double agenda Valeria has? By your admission, you freed her will of some of Balthus’ influence. For all we know she might be trying to turn the Order of Kings inside out just for revenge. Hell, maybe she’s even doing that under Balthus’ orders, and she told us the truth so we’d trust her, and when our backs are turned she double-crosses us!”

Matthew’s eyes went wide. “Under orders from Balthus…under orders from an Ascended One…OF COURSE! A DOUBLE-CROSS! THAT’S IT!!!”

“What’s it?!” Sharon asked, jumping in surprise as Matthew screamed.

Matthew smiled, before turning to Sharon. “I need to make a call.”

“To who?” she asked, handing him her phone.

“You’ll see,” he said, smiling.

Matthew dialed. “Hello, Valeria?”

Valeria’s voice came in. “Hello, is that you Matthew?”

“Yeah. Where are you?”

“Uh, at an apartment building on the west side…it’s location number…15 on the map. Theodore says no Madame Li here either. We’ve only got one place left to check…”

“Don’t bother. We found Madame Li!” Matthew lied. Everyone in the van with him looked perplexed.

“Great! So you’re with her?”

“No, no. We just found one of her Servants. She gave me the address. We’re heading over there right now.”

“Excellent. Where is it?”

“Is everyone with you?”

“Huh?” Valeria asked, “why?”

“Just curious. Is the whole team there.”

“Yes.”

“Put Zhao on. I’ll tell him.”

“All right, give me a minute.” Matthew heard Valeria shouting Zhao’s name away from the receiver. Perfect, he thought to himself.

“What are you saying?!” Sharon whispered. “We don’t know where Madame Li is!”

Matthew placed a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet, giving her a wink for good measure. He mouthed the words ‘trust me’ with his lips, causing Sharon to roll her eyes. Zhao soon answered.

Matthew then proceeded to give Zhao instructions in Chinese. Then he asked Zhao to repeat the directions he gave to him.

When it was done, Matthew hung up.

“What the hell was all that about?” Sharon asked incredulously as she took back her phone.

“You’ll see,” Matthew replied. “Trust me.”

“I hate it when you say that,” Sharon snapped, causing Kimberly to giggle.

Matthew smiled and leaned over to the driver’s seat, and proceeded to talk to Crystal in Chinese as well. She responded and nodded, making a U-turn.

“Now where are we going?” Sharon asked.

“You’ll see,” Matthew responded. “Trust—”

“I GET IT.”

Thirty minutes later

Warehouse 111, Shanghai International Port – Shanghai, China

“What is this place?” Sharon asked as they made their way down from the van.

“Warehouse 111,” Matthew answered. “This was where Lancaster’s computer company shipped most of its products from. It’s been empty for a few years now, though.”

“What are we doing here?” Sharon asked. Suddenly, Crystal, who was driving the van, pulled away in a hurry, with Delilah still inside. Startled, Sharon turned and raised her hand to signal her to stop, but she was long gone. “What the hell!?!” Sharon yelled.

“Easy. I told her and Delilah to leave us,” Matthew explained.

“What?! WHY?! What’s going on here, Matthew?” Sharon demanded angrily.

“You’re about to find out.” Matthew said calmly. “Draw your weapon.”

“Excuse me?” Sharon asked suspiciously.

“Trust me, Sharon. If I’m right about this, you’ll need it…we all will,” Matthew said, and to prove his point he reached into his coat and drew out his .357 Desert Eagle. Without hesitation Kimberly did the same. “We need to prepare for a very special guest.”

“Shit,” Sharon muttered a curse, but all the same reached inside her own coat and pulled out her own handgun.

Inside the warehouse, Matthew instructed them to take hidden positions behind two empty shipping containers on either side of the building. At the far end of the warehouse were a folding table and metal chairs. Matthew checked to see if they had a good angle on every possible entrance to the building, but he somehow knew that if his plan went accordingly, the only entrance he needed to worry about was the vent directly above the table.

He closed his eyes and concentrated.

One hour later

The dark figure moved with silence through the docks, until it finally saw the warehouse. It looked about. No one was in sight. Security was flimsy. The sun was setting. It was the perfect time to strike.

Taking a little more precaution, it crept up the side of the building facing the water, to lessen the chances it would be seen. It peered into the warehouse windows. They were dirty and were almost impossible to see through, but the dark figure had no problem with that. Like a living shadow it crept along the wall of the building, its shape shrouded in darkness.

With bloodshot eyes it looked inside.

The Chinese woman was sitting there, quietly. The figure looked about. It saw no one with her. She sat at the table and did not move.

The dark figure knew that this was the woman Lord Balthus had instructed him to kill. All it needed to do was cut her open…devour her…and its failure in Paris would be forgotten.

It crept up onto the roof of the large building, cracking its neck as it nimbly made its way to the ventilation shaft. With one swipe of its limbs the metal vent was sliced in half, and soon the creature was crawling through it, silently stalking its next victim.

It made quite an effort to stay as quietly as possible. The dark shape’s master had warned him that this woman was no pushover…she was quick, agile, and deadly. The dark figure could make no mistakes.

As it crept along the tight confines of the shaft, it saw the light peering through at the grate at the end of the dark duct. It crawled up to it and peered down. There she was, sitting all alone.

The dark figure smiled. All it needed was one clear shot.

In a split second, it struck.

The shadow fell like demonic gust of dark wind. The shadow roared as it descended upon the hapless woman. “DIE!” it shrieked, unfolding its dark shape over her.

It had been too fast for anyone to see. From behind the two large shipping containers, Sharon and Kimberly froze to their spots. One second Madame Li had been in the chair, doing nothing, the next a huge shadow-like creature was about to envelop her, unleashing a demonic scream that shook them to the core.

But before it could carry out its malevolent plan, a flash of light blasted the shape backwards into the ground.

When the light subsided, Sharon and Kimberly saw Madame Li standing with a smoking gun in hand. A man seemingly made of shadow lay fifteen feet away, sprawled across the floor. Sharon and Kimberly quickly recovered from the initial shock, springing into action, coming out from their hiding places and training their guns on the creature.

The dark shade lifted itself up to one knee, laughing in a perverse and twisted tone that sent chills down Sharon and Kim’s spines.

“Today you die, Li…” it screeched, in a voice that sounded like metal against metal.

“Who sent you?” Madame Li asked.

“The Great BALTHUS!” it squawked, sounding like a thousand screaming children at once. “He wants your blood!”

Madame Li laughed. The creature fumed in anger.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Madame Li smiled wickedly. Suddenly her shape began to change, becoming fluctuant and wobbly. The creature looked on in disbelief as Madame Li slowly became taller, bulkier…morphing into another person entirely…morphing into Matthew Freeman. “I wonder how your Lord Balthus will react to seeing yourself fail yet again.”

The dark screamed, letting loose a mind-shattering sonic blast that sent the three Knights stumbling backwards. As the three were reeling, it cried out a blood-curdling cry of rage and terror, before catapulting itself against Matthew like a crazed creature. It threw one of its arms forward, taking the shape of a lethal lance, intended to skewer Matthew’s head.

Kimberly and Sharon yelled in horror.

But even as they stood helpless, faster than a blink of an eye Matthew swung his head, avoiding the deadly blade meant for his face. He threw a punch so quick and so powerful it moved the air around him, so intense in fact that when his fist made contact with the shadow’s face the resulting shockwave was enough to send Sharon and Kim stmbling back yet again, and it sent the creature flying backwards.

It landed in a heap twenty feet away from Matthew, its screaming and cursing eventually becoming unintelligible, mad raves of fury and hate.

Before it could launch a second attack, however, Matthew raised his gun.

Matthew’s eyes narrowed, his breathing and heartbeat slowed.

Then the creature saw Matthew’s eyes glow.

“NO! NOT AGAIN!!!” it screamed.

It turned to run, but it was too late. Matthew’s trigger finger pulled back, and the gunshot cracked loudly, sounding like a thundercrack in the middle of the warehouse. It was no surprise either, as the blast from the gun exploded in white-blue light, as the bullet burst out in a furious lightning bolt.

The lightning-enchanted bullet hit its mark, striking the creature solidly in the back of the head. “AAAAAH!” it screamed, in its horrifying voice that sounded like a million screaming voices.

Before it could act, another gunshot came, and this time the bullet that hit left a trail of smoke and fire. This shot came from Sharon Baxter, who had recovered enough of her senses.

Kimberly reacted next, her bullets glowing with lightning, similar to Matthew’s though not as powerful.

And then came the hail of lightning and fire as the three Knights emptied their guns, unloading their fire and lightning-enchanted ammunition into the creature. It screamed in agony, writhing in pain.

When the gunfire stopped, it had not stopped thrashing about the warehouse floor. It grabbed its head, convulsing and seizing in pain. Were the figure not so macabre and grim, the sight would have surely been more disturbing to watch.

The three knights approached him. Sharon couldn’t help but ask as she reloaded. “What’s happening to him?” she asked, obviously wondering why their bullets were hurting him much more than she had anticipated.

“My electricity attacks are designed to reach the nervous system,” Matthew explained. “Imagine the worst pain you could ever think of, coursing through your body, every single pain receptor and nerve in the nervous system firing nonstop. Then imagine it multiplied by a hundred,” he explained, as they looked down upon it.

“oh my god…” Kimberly said, almost unable to look.

“MAKE IT STOP!!! STOP!!! STOP!!! STOP!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!” It screamed, and Kimberly dropped her gun as she recognized a single voice among the thousands of others.

“a—adam?!” she said softly.

The creature looked at her, and where once there was shadow, now there were eyes…the eyes of Adam Blackwell.

‘CRACK!’ came the final gunshot, coming from Matthew’s gun. The lightning bolt hit the creature in the back of the head once more, and Blackwell finally stopped screaming as he dropped face first to the floor.

Adam Blackwell was dead.

Slowly but surely the shadow that seemed to enshroud him abated, and soon what was left was the broken body of Adam Blackwell, riddled with bullets, naked and lifeless on the cold warehouse floor.

Kimberly ran to Matthew’s side, crying.

“What happened to him?!” Kimberly asked, shielding her eyes by burying her face into Matthew’s chest.

Before he could speak, the doors burst open, and standing there were the other Knights, Valeria, Theodore, Zhao and Angel. As they entered they saw Matthew, Kim and Sharon standing over the lifeless body of Adam Blackwell. Valeria’s gaze traveled to that twisted face, still distorted into terror and fear, and she found herself reacting just as Kimberly had.

“Oh—oh no,” Valeria stammered.

“What the hell happened?!” Angel asked.

Sharon stepped forward and gave the corpse a couple of kicks. “We got him, that’s what happened,” she said, making sure Adam was dead. Sharon placed her gun back into her holster as she recounted the ingenious trap that Matthew had set for the creature, and how he used the shapeshifting abilities he received from Pandragore, one of the Ascended, to take the form of Madame Li and lure the killer in.

“I am impressed beyond words,” Zhao said, and the group nodded in approval.

“Are you all right?” Matthew asked Kim and Valeria.

Kim nodded quickly. “Yeah, it just—it just caught me by surprise,” she said, “but I’m okay now.”

“Me too,” Valeria answered, “there wasn’t much left of himself anyway after San Carenza…”

Matthew hugged them both.

“There’s still one thing I don’t understand, though,” Sharon said as she approached them.

“What’s that?” Matthew asked.

“Well, how DID you know this was where he would attack?” Sharon asked.

The entire team looked to Matthew for his answer. He shrugged. “Simple. Because someone told him to attack here.”

“WHAT?!” Kim and Sharon said simultaneously.

Matthew smiled. “Consider this: none of us knew where Madame Li was. Neither did Blackwell. The only thing we knew was a list of possible locations she could have been, and even then, the only reason why we knew of these locations was because Zhao told us about them. This warehouse,” he said, making a gesture to the building, “is MINE. It’s not one of Madame Li’s safehouses. So why would the killer think Madame Li? Because someone TOLD him to look here. To put it in simpler terms…we have a traitor in our midst.”

The Knights all looked at each others’ faces. Eventually however, most of them turned to Valeria.

“It wasn’t me!” she screamed.

“You’re Balthus’ Vassal!” Angel screamed. “You even tried to get us to go against Matthew!” She drew her gun. In self-defense, Valeria drew hers as well. Before long they all had their guns drawn screaming, save for Zhao, who had his chain, and Matthew, who raised his hands to stop them.

“Quiet!” Matthew said. “Fighting isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

“Agreed,” Sharon said solemnly. “But there must be some way to know who the traitor is.”

“Of course,” Matthew said, matter-of-factly. “I already know.”

“WHO?!” Angel asked excitedly, fully intent on blowing off Valeria’s head.

Matthew smiled.

He turned slowly.

And looked straight at Theodore Nehru Sharidi.

“ME?!” Theodore shouted in disbelief. “WHAT?! NO?!”

Matthew’s smug expression remained unchanged. Suddenly all guns were trained on Theodore. He put down his gun and raised his hands. “I didn’t! I swear!” he said, whimpering.

“Come now, Theodore.” Matthew said confidently. “We both know that’s not true.”

“I don’t know what they said or whatever, Matthew, but believe me, I didn’t sell you out,” he claimed, desperately.

“Well, let’s take a moment to look back on everything that’s happened here, Theodore.” Matthew said. “How did the killer know that we had already found the Three Sisters when we were in Nice, hmmm? Because YOU told him. That’s why he never made it to Nice, and instead went straight for his next target, Madame Li.”

“But Valeria told Jeffries about it too!”

“Yes, but she called Jeffries AFTER we did the Triangulation,” Matthew said.

“But Sharon! Sharon told Gerard that we had found them before the ritual! Balthus could have found out about it from him! You guys said it yourselves! He could have had Gerard’s phone bugged!”

“Yes,” Matthew admitted, “but that’s also where you screwed up next. We knew that Balthus was likely keeping close tabs on phone calls in and out of Winters’ office, but even while knowing that, you were ADAMANT about how we should call Gerard or use the Order’s private messaging service to locate Madame Li. Why? Because your man Blackwell couldn’t find her before we got here, so you needed us to find her for you. Once we did, you could contact Blackwell and have him come to take her out.”

“No! No! I just forgot that Balthus could have been listening in! I—”

Matthew interrupted him before he could continue. “And lastly, this warehouse. Zhao was the only one I told about this warehouse…and I told him over the phone, having him repeat the address back to me.”

“But everyone heard Zhao say the address back over the phone! Including Valeria!” Theodore exclaimed.

“Yes, everyone heard him. But Zhao and I were speaking in Chinese, Theodore…or more specifically, Mandarin. Tell me, who was it that once bragged that he studied a bit of Chinese Mandarin, because—for what was it? To kill a bit of time?” Matthew finished, the smile on his face never leaving.

Theodore fell silent. His expression of desperation quickly faded. He smiled defiantly and laughed. “Very good. I didn’t notice that I’d been dropping so many clues. You really got me.” Anger was written all over the Knights’ faces, which only caused Theodore to laugh even harder. “The look on your faces are absolutely priceless.”

“Why, Theodore? WHY?!” Sharon asked, her eyes narrowed into slits. Her gun shook in her hand as she quivered with anger.

“HA!” Theodore said. “Like I’d tell you, bitch.”

“Eres una marica!” Angel said, before shouting “Pendejo!”

“Oh, I’m so hurt,” Theodore said sarcastically.

“Go fuck yourself, cabron!” Angel replied angrily.

“Well,” Theodore said, scratching his head. “I guess there’s nothing left but to just kill you myself. Balthus wanted to do it personally, but I don’t think he’ll mind…” He bent down to pick up his gun, and without hesitation Sharon, Kimberly and Angel opened fire.

Nothing happened.

Theodore laughed. “I can become intangible you idiots! Bullets can’t touch me!”

“No,” Matthew said. “But this can.”

He winked, and all of a sudden Theodore dropped to his knees in pain. “OH GOD!!!” he shouted, his hands clamping over his head as he rolled on the ground. “NO!” he shouted. He leered at the Knights, before finally disappearing altogether.

“He’s turned invisible!” Sharon shouted, emptying her bullets in a hail of gunfire, hitting only the floor.

“Shit! I can’t target him if he’s invisible!” Matthew cursed.

“Use echolocation!” Valeria shouted.

“I can’t! He knows how to hide his aura! My echolocation isn’t powerful enough to—”

“HE’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!” Matthew heard someone scream. It was all the warning he needed. Drawing his gun he pivoted, charged it with electricity and fired. The lightning bolt struck something just five feet away, and they heard something heavy crumple to the ground. Theodore’s lifeless body materialized seconds later.

The knights turned to the doorway, and there stood Crystal and Delilah, followed by a tall and beautiful Chinese woman. It was Madame Anni Li, flanked by two dozen or bodyguards in suits holding AK-47’s. “Thanks for the warning,” Matthew said.

“Glad to help,” Delilah said, winking. “We did as you told us and made it to the last two locations we didn’t get to. We found Madame Li in the last one.”

Madame Li stepped past Crystal and Delilah, walking straight up to Matthew. She lowered her sunglasses. “Sir Matthew Freeman…I see that Gerard was right about you…” she moved closer, her face inches from his, “you’re team is…impressive. As are you…” she said, winking.

“Clean this mess up!” Li demanded, and four of her bodyguards bowed down and set to work, putting the two corpses in body bags. “Now let’s get out of here,” Madame Li said, turning around and walking to the door, “I’m famished. Dinner, Sir Freeman?”

“Absolutely,” Matthew answered.