Instant Recap: Using a combination of high tech and his psychic powers, Gavin opened a spy-window into a private meeting of the secret chiefs of the NWO. Baron Redshield’s guest Lilith introduced Kalianna, a rising young media star with jet-black skin but anomalous Nordic features. Speaking in cryptic terms she made a proposition involving the coming of the Jewish Messiah, which astounded the assemblage but won the approval of the Baron’s heir Shlomo.
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8. Gavin Meets His Match
As the kindred in the underground Command Center watched on the huge screen, Baron Redshield said: “Very well, Kalianna, I grant you the benefit of the doubt, though I echo the Rebbie’s warning that even this can be perilous for you.” She nodded in self-assured acknowledgement, and he proceeded: “Your entertaining spiels on the media are filled with redolent nuances for those of us who know the truth behind the veil. I believe I grasp your underlying message, and it could well be interpreted as paving the way for the coming of Messiah.”
Kalianna bubbled up in a joyful smile and said, “Oh, it’s so wonderful to have an audience that understands what I’m really doing! It’s been such a struggle ~ so many people don’t get it, or outrightly oppose it. But I always had faith that you were out there somewhere, and now… well, it’s like my dream has come true! I’m just so happy to be here!”
Shlomo (Sonny) Redshield evidently shared her joy, or at least was stimulated by it. He said, “Now that we’re behind you, at least conditionally, are there any new ideas or immediate plans you can lay on the table for us?”
“Yes indeed,” said Kalianna ~ “in fact I planned something in advance, because I was so optimistic that you would approve of me.” The “you” was overtly plural, but her seductive fix on Shlomo’s eyes had a singular implication. After a pregnant pause she said: “I know how to clear the way for the rebuilding of the Temple of your illustrious namesake.”
Both the Command Center and the Baron’s parlor erupted in sounds of astonishment. Mindy was sitting next to Gavin at the control panel, and she cried out, “Holy sha-MO-ly! The plot thickened pretty quick!”
Suddenly there came a chiming sound, not abrasive but insistent. The kindred looked around, then realized that it came from the speakers ~ the source was in the parlor on the screen. Some of the Baron’s guests looked alarmed, and his body stiffened in alertness. Gavin followed his gaze with the viewer, and they saw that a red light was flashing above the door of the chamber in sync with the chime. The light-disk was embedded in the forehead of a carved gargoyle guardian, forming its single eye. The Baron picked up a remote, clicked it to open the door, and across the threshold stepped a large muscular man in a business suit, holding a mobile device in front of him. “Begging the Baron’s pardon,” he said.
“Quite all right, Abrams,” said the Baron; “what’s happening?”
“There’s been a security breach, sir. This room is under enemy surveillance.”
“Oh my God!” said a man in the parlor.
“Whoa, the jig’s up!” said Spike.
“Can you fix it?” said the Baron to the guard.
“We can try, sir.” The Baron motioned him to a hassock, where he sat with the tablet on his lap, tapping furiously on the screen.
This action was mirrored by Gavin on his keyboard. “Maybe you should pull out,” said Mindy.
“Let me fiddle with it for a bit,” he replied. “If we can only see what happens next, it would be priceless strategic information.”
“I agree,” said Eric emphatically.
Gavin gave a quick, sharp hand-wave over his shoulder, then honed back in to his task. He said, “I just have to replex the aegis fast enough; then they might think that they fixed the breach.”
The next moment Abrams stood up and announced, “The security chief says that the software can’t fix it because it’s a psychotronic intrusion. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Damn, too slow!” said Gavin. “Three more seconds and I would’ve had it.”
Rabbi Shmerson said, “Perhaps I can be of assistance in this peculiar situation.”
“Ah!” said the Baron ~ “of course ~ you’re just the man for the job. Go right ahead.”
The rabbi got to his feet, took a couple of unsteady steps, and said, “Cursed arthritis! But no matter, the angels will heed me just as well if I’m sitting down.” He plopped back into the armchair, sat erect, and began making strange motions with his hands while chanting under his breath.
“What’s he doing?” Mindy asked Gavin.
“A Qabbalistic banishing ritual.”
“What, as if we were evil spirits?”
“To them we are ~ just as they are to us.”
“Think it’ll work?”
“Not a chance!” She saw that he was smiling behind the goggles.
“You sound confident,” said Saxon. “I hope you’re right!”
“Hang in, Gram, you’ll see.”
The rabbi’s voice got louder and his gestures more decisive; he was finishing up the rite. As he chanted “La olahm ahmennnn!” the image on the screen began to waver and fade.
“He’s got a good whollop,” said Gavin, “but we’re gonna top ’im.” He grabbed a joystick next to the keyboard, gripped it hard and swiveled it around until the view of the Baron’s parlor was again crystal clear. The kindred burst into applause.
With a self-satisfied smirk the rabbi looked at the guard and asked, “What was the result?”
Checking his tablet Abrams said, “With all due respect, Rebbie, the intruder can still see us.”
“What?!” The man in black unleashed a furious string of epithets in Yiddish, Hebrew, and gutter English. The kindred practically split their sides laughing.
“Shalom!” said the Baron harshly, and the rabbi spluttered into a brooding silence.
“Can I try a banishing?” asked Kalianna in a spritely voice.
The rabbi looked outraged but Shlomo said, “Are you good at such things?”
“She’s a prodigy,” said Lilith, “in magic and all other fields. The talents in one so young astound me. I suggest we fulfill our promise and give her a chance. We can consider this a trial for the larger project.”
“Well spoken,” said the Baron. “Very well, Kalianna, the floor is yours.”
Kalianna stood in the middle of the room. She was wearing a slit skirt which allowed her to mount a defiant posture as she set her feet on the carpet. She began to chant and wave her arms in fluid motions, like Tai Chi or ballet.
“Looks like she’s doing a different ritual,” said Mindy.
“She sure is,” said Gavin; “it has elements of the Qabbalah-based Western Trad, but with some interesting additions.”
“Is she calling the Hebrew angels, which are demons to us?”
“Yes, but also some Greek and Hindu deities that overlap with our own pantheon.”
Kalianna broke her pose and did a graceful 360° pirouette with her arms outstretched and her hands upright in the banishing position. Her palms crossed the screen exactly on its horizon-line and trailed nothingness behind, erasing the middle of the picture. Then the top and bottom halves became crisscrossed with jagged lines, and the image began to disintegrate. “Wooeee!” said Gavin, “she’s got a lot more Vril than the rebbie. Better give me a hand with the back-up.”
“Yes sir!” said Mindy, and instantly her fingers became a blur on the keyboard in front of her.
Gavin worked the joystick with one hand and the keyboard with the other, and the picture on the screen was restored.
Kalianna circled again, more slowly this time, chanting a seemingly random series of names from different traditions. “Hecate!” she sang, “Sekmet, Shiva, Hadit, Chakmool…!” Her palm crossed the screen, and she was chanting “Vishnu” as her face came around to the center of the picture. Suddenly she froze, and her eyes bugged out staring directly at the viewer ~ she was clearly astonished. Mindy glanced at Gavin and was shocked to see that he was too ~ his jaw had dropped beneath the goggles. She looked back and forth from him to Kalianna on the screen, and there was no doubt in her mind that they were looking at each other.
Then Kalianna’s face hardened into an angry mask. Mindy saw that Gavin was gritting his teeth, mirroring her reaction. Kalianna turned away, raised her hands to the ceiling, then brought them down and began another spin. Now Gavin began to chant too, in a loud voice: “OM Namah Ram Jaya, Savit Amor ~ RamaSavitUUUURRRRR!” It was grim and determined ~ like a battle cry, thought Mindy.
Simultaneously Kalianna was chanting: “OM Namah KaliMa, Mahadeva AAUUMMMMMM….” The palm of her hand came around to the center of the picture, and the screen went blank.
There were cries of anguish from the assemblage: “Oh no!”~ “Damn, we lost it” ~ “Hold on, maybe he’ll get it back….”
But after some frantic fiddling with the controls, Gavin sat back and said in a dark voice, “It’s dead.” He pulled off the goggles, turned around to face his kindred, and in stunned amazement said: “I didn’t think it was possible for anything in a body to do that!”