This choice: Infiltrate the Stellae only • Go Back...Chapter #76Hot For Teacher by: imaj   It doesn't take much effort to pretend to be rich.
Curt Straussler is seated behind the massive desk in his office as you enter, Frank and Joe tailing behind you. He narrows his eyes unhappily and mutters into the phone pressed against his ear. "Yeah, I have to go. Other pressing business," he growls. "I'll call you back." He puts the phone down. "What do you kids need now?"
You pout unhappily, the Chelsea part of you bridling at his brusqueness. "Frank, tell Jonathon's dad to be a little more polite," you complain. "Actually no, just take his mask off."
Curt stares at you levelly, his eyes brimming with hatred, but he does nothing as Franks steps forward and pulls the golem mask off. There's barely any perceptible change, as Curt goes from golem fake to slumbering original. Frank finishes the job by blowing a some knockout powder into Straussler Senior's face to keep him unconscious for longer.
"What are you going to do with him," asks Frank.
"Take him apart and store him," you reply with a shrug. You examine your nails carefully, they need a touch up. "I'll put him back together once we are finished. In the mean time, we need a Curt Straussler to hire this Kali Valentine of yours."
"Me," asks Frank.
"Yes you silly," you tell him. "I can hardly disappear, people would notice."
"Uh-huh..."
"Get to it," you instruct him. You open your handbag and fish through for a bottle of nail varnish. Perching on the desk, you slowly and carefully reapply the varnish. Around you, the process of switching from one Curt Straussler to another proceeds. Clothes are removed then donned. The original Curt is dragged away by Frank with Joe's help. You finish applying the varnish and coat your lips with a fresh layer of gloss as you wait for the boys to return. A few minutes later they arrive, now done up as father and son. "Much better," you say, clapping your hands together then hopping off the desk.
"Looks like Curt was holding out on us. I found out something interesting when I put on the mask," says Straussler Senior, presumably Frank under the mask.
"You're gonna want to hear this," adds Jonathan, who must really be Joe.
"Shut up Joe," growls the apparent Curt. Jon rolls his eyes in response "Fane's got an agent in Saratoga Falls."
"Fane?" The word is familiar, you're sure you've heard it before but you just can't place it.
"Come on," says Jon. "I'll explain all about it while Dad there calls Kali and try to persuade her to redecorate our house." You leave the office with Jon, walking back through the house towards the ball room. "So Fane," grins Jon. There's enough Joe in there under the mask to relish the opportunity to give a lecture. "They're this big conglomerate, or a big set of them. Very big and very complicated. They've got their fingers in so many pies it's hard to keep track of everything, but a lot of those pies are occult pies." You nod your head dumbly, finding it a little difficult to keep track of Jon's explanation. "Stars I'm hungry," he continues. "There's some pie back in Jon's, sorry my apartment. We should get some pie."
"Fane, Jon," you say impatiently.
"Sorry I get my metaphors in a twist when I'm hungry," he says by way of apology. His big wide smile suggests he isn't entirely sincere. "Fane are big on things that man wasn't supposed to know, they're like a multi-million dollar front for occult research. Which means that Fane and the Stellae's paths keep on crossing in a kind of if it wasn't for you meddling kids sort of way. Except they're the kids, but we're the ones meddling with them. I really need that pie."
"Concentrate," you say, your voice laced with frost. "Is this going to be a problem?"
"Problem, no. Opportunity, yes. It's an excuse to call in another Stellae. 'Kali' can make the connection," he explains, dropping exaggerated air quotes round the name. "She'll work out Fane are here. Then she can ask for help and we can pull in a new face for Frank as well. Hal is into hunting Fane in a big way, or depending on what they are doing here we could pull in someone like Nash or even John Reilly."
"Jon, Joe, whatever... I don't know any of these people," you pout.
"Oh, yeah... They'd all be good faces for Frank. Hal Swann isn't as senior as Kali, but he's close to Uncle Fyodor. That's the other Glundandran in the Stellae right now. With Hal and Kali, we'd be perfectly placed to watch Fyodor and Dad," he explains with boyish enthusiasm. "Nash and John both work in the archives, which is where we store all the dangerous trinkets and dinguses to keep them safe. I know you haven't thought that far ahead yet, but that's got to be your target once you get control of the Stellae. The knowledge contained there..."
"Is getting too far ahead of itself," you interrupt. You roll your eyes. "Honestly Jon, the breathy fangirl look does not suit your face at all," you scold, lightly swatting him. "You are getting too far ahead of yourself. We'll work out what to do once we get you into this Kali. She's more tolerable than you, right?" Jon makes a face. "The hurt puppy look doesn't suit you either."
"Aw c'mon," he pouts.
You reach the ballroom. Curt Straussler - the real one anyway - is already laid out on the dissection table. You bid Jon to help you set out the various masks and bottles that will act as the receptacles for the constituent parts of the man. When all is ready you sit in place beside and concentrate. Faint lightning crackles between Straussler Senior's body and the bottles and masks as you unmake him. A sharp clap of thunder rolls through the ballroom as he finally splits into pieces.
"That's a little weird," says the replacement Curt Straussler as you stand up. He must have slipped in whilst you were working. "Watching it happen to what I think is myself."
"I'll put him back together once we are done," you repeat. "If that makes you feel better."
"I'm not sure that it does," he replies.
"Well," asks Jon. "Spill it. Is she coming?"
The fake Curt's face shades red. "Fuck Joe. What is it with you that you want in her skin so bad?"
"I can't wait," replies Jon. He starts rubbing his hands up and down his body. "Oh, I'm gonna be inside Kali's skin." He casts a sly glance at the man who appears to be his father. The replacement Staussler Senior is, if anything, growing even more red. Jon bursts out laughing. I need to get my cell phone, so I can take a picture to immortalise this little scene.
"Frank, sit on him," you say in a bored tone of voice. There is a soft thump as Jon falls to the floor. He wriggles as if struggling against unseen bonds - which is exactly what he is doing.
"No fair, you caught me by surprise," he complains.
You motion for the fake Curt to continue. "Kali was reluctant at first," he explains. "She's very busy with a commission in LA, but as soon as I mentioned Saratoga Falls she was interested."
"She wants to know what happened to us," interrupts Jon. "She just needs an excuse to come. I bet Dad even told her not to come out here."
"Probably. And now we've given her the excuse she need. She'll pay for it with at the cost of her life," says Curt, his voice sounding tired. "Three days. She'll be here in three days. Then you get to have your perverted little wish Joe."
"We agreed to this," you tell him.
"She's the logical choice," says Jon, his tone more serious now. "And there'll still be a Kali Valentine afterwards."
"I know, I know. It doesn't make it any less..." Curt tails off.
*****
You check the dissection table again, making sure that everything is in the correct place. The sheet of metal is in the exact same state as the previous four times you checked it. "Where are they," you ask Joe, pacing impatiently around.
It's not really Joe, but rather his astral twin. The prodigy that lets him project, see and speak through a copy of himself. "One room further on since you last asked," he replies with a wry grin. The real Joe - who is disguised as Jon Straussler - is trailing after Frank - disguised as Curt Straussler - and Kali.
"Try and hurry them up," you tell him. To your surprise, you stamp your foot impatiently.
Ten minute pass. Ten long and slow minutes, each one lasting impossibly longer than the last. You lose track of the number of times you check the dissection table is set up properly, and the number of times you complain to the astral projection about how long it's taking. You just want this over and done with, and until you have Kali lying on the sheet metal unconscious the possibility remains that she will somehow escape the trap you have set for her.
Finally, the door opens and you get your first look at Kali Valentine. Your first impression is of an older, wiser and less bitchy version of Kendra Saunders. Surprisingly, she looks only to be in her late thirties, despite Joe's description of her as an older woman. The only sign of age is her greying hair which streaks white at the temples. What stands out most though, is the way she moves: She has a natural elegance that leaves the Chelsea part of you green with envy.
That poise flickers and vanishes as she sees Joe's astral twin. "Joseph," he voice quavers. "Is that you?"
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