Paulus Hook
Hyne decides that everybody should weigh-in on what Archangel Gabriel told him – and what he’s agreed to do. He won’t “Order” anybody to take part. It’s strictly voluntary from here on in. This sort of an operation will make each participant a Vampyre target forever.
They gather in the upper floor living room area overlooking Manhattan – in the daylight, for a change. Even Hyne’s now full-time lawyer and Consigliere, Peter Xiang-Li, attends.
Lee takes time off from her latest Temple University Anthropological Department research project – tracing the original settlers of the Pine Barrens from 1660 – the date of “The Great English Restoration”. That was the year when Lord Evesham in England received the property from King Charles II as compensation for helping him defeat the rebellious Parliamentarian “Roundheads” during the English Civil War. Lee, specifically, is tracing the first waves of Quakers that sailed from England in 1675 – 1679 and settled the “West Jersey” areas of Salem, Burlington and Camden. These people then made their way into the Pine Barrens and established its famous Bog Iron foundries and glass factories.
Her Anthropology post-doctoral research project is an enjoyable diversion to scholarship now that she’s no longer fighting Vampyres. She and Hyne have decided that their son, Arkan, needs a stay-at-home mother. Brynne, their Aryan tutor and all-around oracle, home-schools Arkan under the ever-watchful eye of his professorial mother. Lee wants to “be there” for him. Especially during these years. Ultimately, Arkan will return to The Old Ones to complete his advanced studies, martial arts training and preparations for leadership. Child rearing is a multi-faceted process of developmental maturation to them; little is left to chance. The Old Ones believe that every young life is a precious part of their Hive and all young ones must do their part. When Lee and Hyne accepted help from The Old Ones, they agreed to this as parents. On balance, the benefits – and security – Arkan will enjoy in his lifetime will be worth it. The last thing they want for their son is to become a Vampyre hunter. He’s showing an aptitude for science and mathematics – perhaps he’ll become a teacher on some peaceful idyllic planet?
Hyne opens the meeting with a comprehensive presentation of what has happened – the significance of Pacta sunt Servanda and how Roman Catholic Canon Law is being corrupted to open the floodgates to child sacrifice and tear the religion asunder.
La Confrerie des Paladins – the Paladin Brotherhood – almost erupts into a shouting match of testosterone-laden oaths and suppressed profanity. All of them – Dirk Fremd, Xen Chen and Per L’Enfant – are offended and enraged. The very idea of bargaining children like cattle in some blasphemous contortion of Catholic jurisprudence makes them want to vomit. They look at each other, mouths open, as if they’ve lost their minds.
Dirk Fremd and per L’Enfant are the first voices to blurt out at the same time,
“How can this be?” “How did Church leaders fail to remove this deviant Cardinal in their midst?” “How was the Church outfoxed like this?”
Xen Chen just shakes his head in silent disgust.
Peter Xiang-Li is appalled. Although he’s not involved in the Vampyre-killing side of the business, he’s surprisingly vehement and ferocious in his reaction.
“They must all be killed. Every last one of them. I can shoot a gun. Let me help. I can act as bait – or some kind of decoy…”
A combination of disbelief and anger overwhelms everyone’s reaction.
Finally, Lee speaks up. As usual, she’s measured and deliberate. Focused as only a woman can be when those she loves are in real danger.
“I’m as disheartened as the rest of you about this. But the moment calls for clarity of thought and meticulous planning. I will coordinate with Peter’s cadre of computer hackers to breach the firewalls of government facilities we’re going to need access to in order get our hands on these bad hombres. This battle is going to be won on the planning table – the smallest details are going to determine if we succeed.
I agree with Peter Xiang-Li: We have to kill them all. Every last one of them.
But killing them requires us to be in the right place at the right time. We must know our enemies better than we know ourselves. Know their belief systems, their strengths, their weaknesses, their suspicions and their fears. Now is the time for study…now is the time for planning.
Now is the time for brains.
Let each of us contribute something. Let us rein-in our emotions and rage. Channel it into the Mission.
There are three scrolls we must find and burn in fire. We know who signed those scrolls. We know the tremendous monetary value the final package represents. We know that each signatory will be guarding their prize until the time of its surrender.
Where a man’s wealth is – there will his heart be also.
Rebbe Zvi-Mordechai Schnoorbrun will be at his synagogue in Brooklyn.
Cardinal Angelo Franchetti will be in Rome.
Chief Archon Belisarius will be – where Chief Archon Belisarius hides himself these days.
One thing, however, is certain. Our vengeance must be so unforgiving, so ruthless and so brutal that the Stag patch will forever invoke paralyzing fear and dread. We must stop them dead in their tracks. Take your cues from Attila the Hun on this one, guys – not Jesus Christ.
Three locations, Gentlemen. I suggest Brooklyn is our first order of business.
Agreed?”
Prospect Park Intermezzo
Their strategy is straightforward. Simplicity is the key.
Vampyre goons will be constantly watching Rebbe Zvi-Mordechai Schnoorbrun as he holds court at Congregation B’Nai Gibbor El, his Synagogue, at the corner of Nostrand Avenue and New York Avenues in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. It’s also his residence – 714 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. L’Enfant is using high-altitude and high-resolution drones to map the area and study its comings and goings. Paydirt isn’t long in coming.
Congregation B’Nai Gibbor El has a robust security presence – digital and physical. Cameras are on every New York City and Consolidated Edison light pole and traffic device that feed into “Private” databases having nothing whatsoever to do with NYPD or civil defense agencies. The Congregation has – surreptitiously or through bribery – managed to install and position its own 24/7 surveillance network in plain sight. There’s also some evening foot traffic that bears little resemblance to Hebrew worshippers. How does L’Enfant deduce this?
The Hebrew Faith prescribes a certain manner of dress – black frock coats, brimmed hats, side curls of hair down each part of the face called “Payot”, a specialized fringed sash worn around the waist called a “Gartel“. The dark figures that patrol the address after darkness falls are not wearing appropriate clothing – and are too tall, too lean, hooded and ominous to be Hebrew congregants. They’re clearly a Vampyre security detail protecting the Rebbe. Their habits, patrol routes and positioning are studied in detail. They are creatures of habit. They are, obviously, not devout Hebrews – and stand out like flashing red sore thumbs.
L’Enfant recognizes the digital security cameras and surveillance system that the Congregation is using – it’s an Israeli product that can be hacked by Russian military software. Expensive Russian military software. But cost is no object to La Confrerie des Paladins. On the final night before their Synagogue raid, he runs a Beta test. L’Enfant downloads the Russian hacking software that he bought – at an obscene markup – from a discrete Iranian vendor and triggers a short, sweet interruption. The drones instantly show intense activity in and around the Synagogue building – unmarked trucks frantically pull up and disgorge white lab-coated techies who swarm over the location, inside and out. L’Enfant reinstates the hacked surveillance after a brief outage. He shrewdly extinguished ConEd streetlights on three blocks of Nostrand Avenue contemporaneously with his test hack to make it look like ConEd was the problem. As soon as L’Enfant cancels his Beta test, not only do the streetlights come back on, but the white-coated techies leave the site. An unremarkable ebb and flow of life resumes at Congregation B’Nai Gibbor El in no time at all.
Sometimes Rebbe Schnoorbaum receives evening guests at his home. A handful of “Elders” of the Temple stop by on Tuesday and Thursday weeknights – probably to pray and debate Torah, their Holy Book. On those nights the visible Vampyre presence is reduced – they probably retreat back to a nearby building or watch-location. Hyne studies the drone footage and agrees with his men that the three floor stone commercial structure directly behind the Rebbe’s 714 Nostrand Avenue home and abutting his wildly unkept back yard – 556 Utica Avenue – is probably where the Vampyres have set up their secure safe house. 556 Utica Avenue is the site of Penrose Commercial Laundry Supply Company, a defunct business. Title searches done by lawyer Peter Xiang-Li, reveals that the real estate is owned by a shell corporation, probably a front for the Brooklyn chapter of La Cosa Nostra – the Italian Mafia.
It’s the perfect weak link for Hyne to exploit.
The place is nearly deserted, locked-up tight as a drum and dark. An ideal nest where Vampyres can repose during daylight hours or on alternating nightshift work schedules. Xiang-Li has also found out that NYPD has logged a noticeable increase in butchered homeless people within the immediate six-block radius of 556 Utica Avenue during the last three weeks. A curious coincidence – unless some cadre of bloodsuckers has got to feast on local blood so they can stay put and surveil Rebbe Schnoorbrun.
Hyne is convinced. Penrose Commercial Laundry Supply Company is hosting soldiers of a New York Vampyre Coven that are protecting Rebbe Zvi-Mordechai Schnoorbrun until he can hand over his cursed scroll to the Demon Azazel. That magic moment when Cardinal Franchetti and Chief Archon Belisarius can also hand over their scrolls, the components of the PACTUM BAALIS – THE PACT OF BAAL. Then Azazel can finally offer up their ultimate, three-part blasphemy to Lucifer – and destroy The Vatican and His Holiness, the Pope, forever.
Prospect Park is three blocks from Congregation B’Nai Gibbor El. The park is maintained by the New York City Parks Commission in partnership with a non-profit community organization, Prospect Park Alliance. The non-profit corporation was set up by Peter Xiang-Li when he was at Columbia Law School. His friends run it – and have made available a maintenance garage where Hyne has parked a panel truck full of equipment for the Synagogue assault. Guns, ammo, ropes, gear, grenades (smoke, stun and incendiary) – you name it.
Hyne is ready – but he makes one last-minute special request to Xen Chen to find some particular items that he wants in his “kit” for this job. A package of Duct Tape, three packages of long boot laces and “fatwood” fireplace starter sticks. Also, long campfire matches, an old-fashioned straight razor and a small bottle of olive oil. Finally, four long hooded black cloaks that closely resemble what the Vampyres wear in the drone footage. Everybody is going to blend in.
Hyne’s orders are simple: “Kill everything that moves – but leave Rebbe Schnoorbrun for me”. The Captain alone will interrogate him – and “convince” him to reveal the accursed scroll’s whereabouts. Then Hyne will kill him. He is looking forward to it.
La Confrerie des Paladins move out on a Wednesday at midnight – Ursus included. They drive across the bridge to Manhattan together, and cross over to Brooklyn. Prospect Park is deserted. They locate and access their panel truck and suit up. Their walk to Congregation B’Nai Gibbor El at the corner of Nostrand Avenue and New York Avenue is brief. Under the city streetlights, the neighborhood looks deserted – but they know better. Hyne leads his team a few blocks down Nostrand Avenue in the opposite direction and then up a side street, Linden Boulevard. They all double back to the building directly behind the Synagogue – 556 Utica Avenue, the site of Penrose Commercial Laundry Supply.
Their “Coms” come alive. Hyne’s wife, Lee and lawyer Peter Xiang-Li are manning the tech control center at Paulus Hook across the Hudson River. They have five high-altitude and high-resolution drones circling over the Synagogue and Penrose Commercial Laundry Supply building, all broadcasting a “Friend – Law Enforcement” signal code to nearby Kennedy Airport. As long as the drones don’t cross dedicated flight pathways in and out of Kennedy, the FAA radar won’t flag them as a problem.
LEE:
“Hey there, boys…we’ve got you clear as day on night-vision mode. Nice cloaks, by the way. Tres Satanique.
Synogogue looks dark – except for the third floor where the Rebbe lives. Lots of activity there. From the heat signatures it looks like four life forms inside a big library or study room…three Vampyres and one very fat human. Porky-Pig fat. And tubby Rebbe Mordechai likes to warm his fat ass by the fireplace at night.
Penrose Commercial Laundry Supply Building is dark – but I’m picking up six lower grade heat signatures – obviously Vampyres – moving between the second and third floors. Lower floor is clear. Enter in the back – there’s a rear cargo loading dock and double door setup. Just like what we saw in the New York City Building Code Enforcement blueprints my companion here, Peter Xiang-Li, pulled for us.
Once you get in, head up the first stairwell and take care of business. Plan to kill six Suckheads on the two upper floors. Check in again when you’ve cleared the nest. As soon as you signal us, we’ll kill all Synagogue security and surveillance systems.
Good Hunting.”
*NO PART OF THIS WORK PRODUCT IS AI*
Copyright, 2026 – Jon & Jedediah Croft
www.bogironfoundry.com
Email: vlchek1@gmail.com
