Sunrise on the Hudson – What a Difference a Few Weeks Make
Changes are incoming hot and heavy at Paulus Hook. It’s beehive of activity.
Hynes’ first addition is a 2-foot x 2-and-a-half-foot bronze plaque on the wrought iron entrance gate of the “Big House”. On it is an engraving of the iconic Monarch of the Glen Stag branded on a leather patch. Underneath are four cast letters: Hyne.
It’s Hyne’s idea. It’s his Trademark.
A middle finger to Vampyres everywhere and an invitation to “Come and Get me”.
Vampyres are many things – but they’re not stupid. And they’d be crazy to assault this stronghold. It’s too public, too teeming with activity and well-guarded. It screams weapons at every corner – electronic and kinetic. And oddly enough, Vampyres don’t seem to dig water or places close to water.
But that didn’t stop them from burning Hynes’ Limassol Cyprus beach house complex to cinders a few days ago. Two Spartan Security guards were killed – and Limassol Police found evidence of accelerant. They concluded that it was a professional Arson job and closed their file. Xiang-Li already has a Russian Oligarch on the hook for the land. That’s the eternal real estate market law in action: Location, Location, Location.
Dirk Fremd, Xen Chen and Per L’Enfant are all settled into their fully furnished penthouse digs at Exchange Place Tower. Hyne keeps them on a short leash, but the La Confrerie des Paladins – The Paladin Brotherhood – is ready to roll at a moment’s notice.
But this whole gameplan leads back to Hyne. He misses Lee terribly. Dinners are excellent (Lacas is back!!) – but most nights it’s just Hyne and Xiang-Li in his top floor kitchen and dining room overlooking the majestic Hudson River and Manhattan skyline. They listen to endless authentic vinyl jazz recordings and drink good wine from what remains of Simon Magus‘ still-impressively stocked cellar.
Xiang-Li has an endless supply of Chinese architects and contractors crafting alterations, repairs and upgrades in The Big House. All are paid cash. All do their work quickly, efficiently and precisely – and then disappear. Chinese-sourced weapons fill their armory. Paulus Hook is modern citadel – an island of impregnability that few government facilities can match.
Hyne’s intuition tells him that Xiang-Li has very deep and comfortable ties to the People’s Republic of China. When Xiang finally admits that truth to him, Hyne just smiles and embraces him. Xiang is a loyal friend – and loyalty means everything. Hyne accepts him for who he is, politics be damned. Besides, Xiang’s access in Beijing may someday come in handy. In the land of Paulus Hook, preparing for the future is priority number one.
Lee has “told him” – telepathically – she’s coming home “soon”. She’s not bringing an army to help him, but she’s bringing “goodies” – whatever that means.
She’s also bringing with her Brynne – an Aryan and teacher to home school her son and be their aux pair. Aryans are close allies of The Old Ones and have a long history of teaching their offspring. Their planet – Arcturus – is in the constellation of planets that The Old Ones have controlled for eons. Brynne is well-versed in Earth History, science and mathematics and will be Arkan’s “Sensei” or teacher of martial arts. She is also a fully qualified physician, dietician and cook.
Hynes’ new all-electric tactical watercraft is ready for its sea trials and – hopefully soon – Hyne will be at the helm. The builder – Norge Electric Boat Works – has a long history of supplying Scandinavia with electric vessels and has a partnership with Seimens and Tesla to incorporate the latest motor and battery technology into their designs. The specifications are extraordinary. Hyne’s expectations are equally so.
Until Lee returns, Hyne is putting his Vampyre hunting on hold. He needs to talk to her. It’s not that his ardor for the “Mission” has cooled – it’s more that the “Mission” itself has changed. His gut tells him something is wrong. Very wrong.
Uber-wealthy and high-end movers and shakers in the United States patriarch class now own most of the international corporations, high-tech start-ups, Hedge Funds, joint stock holding companies and Wall Street money printing machines. The financial makeup of the USA resembles a gigantic parasitic tic or leech colony – not a bastion of free-trade capitalism. Our politicians are bought and paid for – and international lobbies strangle all truly grassroots America-first ideas at birth. Our Constitutional system of government is so warped here that regardless of who you vote for, all you get are warmongering lunatics who laugh at you and keep feathering their nests full of dark money.
Most people are barely getting by. The vast majority of Americans are powerless, mindless cattle. A few bucks away from bankruptcy or technical insolvency and casting useless ballots in rigged elections. The American economy is crushing millions of people. Mental health issues are skyrocketing. Substance abuse – legal and illegal – is stratospheric.
Hyne thinks people are intentionally being degraded, impoverished and driven into hopelessness on purpose. Vampyres need blood – and the superrich need Adrenochrome. What’s the easiest way to get these things?
It seems that our wealthy overlords beat down mankind in every way possible – through inflation, high costs of living, degenerate social media sites, pornography and eroded morality. The financially astute classes reduce people to weakened, compliant bloodbags – living vessels to nourish Vampyres and enable the fiends to harvest the magic Adrenochrome that addicts and – ultimately – enslaves our monied royalty. The wealthy are dependent on Vampyres to supply what they crave – and common humanity are now just walking Adrenochrome farms and blood feedstock.
What if the world Hyne and his team are trying to rescue is running off its rails by design? What if some kind of deal for globally managed decline has already been struck?
What if the fix is already in? What if it’s all for nothing?
And what if the big players who decide Earth’s future want Hyne and his band of do-gooders eliminated, too?
Paulus Hook
2:00AM
Xiang-Li has already left the top floor for his bedroom three floors down. Hyne is cradling a Glenlivet scotch on the rocks, staring out over Manhattan and the Hudson River below when his iPhone news feed buzzes. It’s a Vatican Press Release.
The Press Office of the Holy See – the communications arm of the Vatican and Holy Curia or “Sala Stampa della Santa Sede” has issued the following News Release.
The “Corpo della Gendarmeria della Stato della Citta del Vaticano” – the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City State, together with the Swiss Guard and Italian Police have reported that the body found this morning in The Piazza San Pietro – Saint Peter’s Square – has been identified as Jacob Brugge, the leader of an elite team of Swiss Guards on special assignment for His Holiness, the Pope.
Jacob Brugge – a Lieutenant in the Swiss Guards – is from Gstaad in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland and joined the Pope’s Swiss Guards five years ago, after completing his training and service in the Switzerland Army Special Forces.
His Holiness the Pope mourns the passing of Lieutenant Brugge and will officiate at a private Requiem Mass for him, his family and Swiss Guards Unit in Saint Peter’s Basilica this coming Friday.
Lieutenant Jacob Brugge had been reported missing from the Swiss Guard Barracks next to the Porta Sant’ Anna inside Vatican Walls since last week when he failed to report for morning prayers, breakfast and lunch with his team members. Swiss Guards maintain strict schedules and routines that are never deviated from without special permission. Vatican and Italian Police officers are investigating the matter as a criminal homicide and will release further information when their inquiries are concluded.
Hyne reads and re-reads the Press Release – his curiosity piqued. Then he senses a presence behind him. He recognizes the feeling of this particular presence – and speaks to it without turning his head.
HYNE:
“You are not welcome here, Archangel.”
Hyne slowly rises off his chair and faces his intruder, scotch still in hand.
ARCHANGEL GABRIEL:
“Come, come, now…can’t we let bygones be bygones? It’s now Hyne – isn’t it? That’s a charming name for your new lease on life…”
HYNE:
“You are interrupting my peace and solitude.”
ARCHANGEL GABRIEL:
“Well, well. That’s not exactly hospitable, is it Hyne? No Glenlivet for me? Let us have a friendly drink. And share this marvelous view of the Hudson River and New York City.”
HYNE:
“You once told me that you were only an errand boy. Deliver your message now and be gone.”
ARCHANGEL GABRIEL:
“Perhaps I was tad harsh and abrupt when we last spoke. I should have chosen more conciliatory language…given your physical condition.”
HYNE:
“A tad harsh? I was crippled and you threw me under the bus. You now seek me out. Why?”
ARCHANGEL GABRIEL:
“I come to offer an alliance of sorts. Your Mission is of interest to the Heavenly Host. If you help us, perhaps we can put our differences behind us. Consecration may even be possible. You might once again earn Holy Grace and eternal Peace in Heaven”.
HYNE:
I see what this is all about. Your Roman Catholic Choirboy, Jacob Brugge was butchered…
After you turned your back on my crippled body – you consecrated Brugge as my replacement. Now you realize that Vampyre-slaying is harder than you thought. You realize that all your Holy Water, Gobbledygook and Crosses can’t get the job done.
You need a Heretic like me. A DNA-altered freak who can see in the dark and bench-press his own weight with one hand.
You’re a Hypocrite sent by Hypocrites.
No, Gabriel – I won’t work for your cabal. To the extent that you derive benefit from what I do in the future – consider it a gift. But I won’t serve on your team.
Now, leave me. And don’t come back. You and your kind are not welcome in my home”.
ARCHANGEL GABRIEL:
“As you wish.
All the same – in the spirit of good will – I leave you two items. A peace offering.
Goodbye, Hyne.”
And then it’s over.
On a leather chair to his left is Simon Magus’ Seax blade – his divine edged weapon, forged by Celestial blacksmiths from unique iron ore mined in realms lightyears away and engraved with carvings of Angelic Script. Neatly folded next to it is its back sheathe. Hyne slips on the sheathed weapon and marvels at its comfortable nestling between his back wing bones. He draws the steel – it gleams and shimmers in the moonlight streaming through his panoramic windows.
Hyne grins and throws it at a couch pillow. The knife bores into exactly what he has thrown it at – a small red square in the upper left corner. He throws it at the spine of a particular book in a bookshelf across the room – Dante’s Inferno. The blade splits the book binding precisely where he intended.
The Magician’s Seax is back in Paulus Hook!
Simon Magus’ mystical blade has come home. Home to the man who has inherited the mission and need of it. Ancient wisdom holds that when the warrior appears, his weapon will find him. There is something prophetic about this Seax appearing now. It’s an omen from beyond the grave. Somehow, somewhere his mentor is watching over him.
Hyne raises the weapon over his head like a Viking berserker facing the Allfather, Odin, and gazes far into the night sky.
His words are sincere.
“Thank you, Master. I will wield it with honor”.
Hyne is so preoccupied with the Seax that he barely notices something that was placed next to it. A soft-covered leather-bound book, obviously ancient and weathered – sized to carry in one’s pocket, about an inch thick. There’s Old English style, faded gold print on the cover.
“Le Grimoire de Simon Magus”.
Hyne opens it. Its parchment pages are all blank – except for a brief introductory paragraph handwritten on the inside. Under these words is a thin, silver stylus held in a small – well-worn – pouch.
“Write on the square area below with this stylus any topic you seek my insight on, and the inside pages will fill with my response. It is a bit of magic I learned at the Temple of Abydos in Egypt centuries ago. All that I know about life and the challenges I faced are contained in this slight volume. I hope my experiences will prepare you for the adventure ahead and keep you safe. Learn well and live a long, full life, my Son.
Sincerely,
Simon Magus”
*NO PART OF THIS WORK PRODUCT IS CREATED WITH AI*
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www.bogironfoundry.com
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