Chapter 16 - X marks the Spot

Al digs out the bag from where she hid it. "Ramon was a monster hunter," she explains as she shows Eddard some of his belongings. Then she reaches for the glowing ball and takes it out. "Do you know what a fulcrum is? Maybe some way to destroy it."

As Melissa works on Johnny's arms, Eddard opens Ramon's bag and examines its contents. The birds outside keep thumping at the boarded window, with Logan and Al holding it in place just to be on the safe side.

Eddard looks excitedly at each item, then holds his breath in awe at the glowing Fulcrum trapped in the cage.
"Amazing... an object of great power... Ramon's knowledge of the arcane arts must have been truly advanced, if he found a way to hide it." He squints his eyes at the glowing symbols, "So... this is what Solomon wants. What he needs..."

He reads again and again the note left by Ramon, th warnings not to open the metal cage, and the urgent appeal to keep it away from Solomon Blake.

He starts musing out loud, "It sounds like Solomon could not guess where Ramon was hiding, while the man was alive... at his death, he broke in the old folks' home, as if Ramon's warding had ceased to protect him... that must have been this tattoo."

He looks at Logan and Alana and considers their predicament. "We cannot risk some of us being unprotected from Solomon... but maybe..."
He looks at Ramon's leather bag. "Melissa... can you tattoo on this leather?" he suddenly asks, pointing at the bag.


She stops her needle pen for a minute, frowns. "Er... sure. But why?..."

"Good! Logan, help me cut some strips out of this bag. I am hoping it has absorbed enough of Ramon's energy... and we must make sure some blood from each of you mixes with the ink! This needs blood..." he concludes, a little ominously.

"You guys in a cult, or something??" she asks, confused.

"No. Just trying to stay alive," he says, matter of fact.

The tattooist shakes her head, shrugs, then gets back to work on Johnny's skin, now almost finished.

"I like that idea much better!", Al says. "Some small scratch so we can get a few drops of blood shouldn't be a problem for my parents." She hugs Ripper again. "You hear that? Everything will be okay!" Then she turns back to Eddard. "But Ripper will also need protection. We have to make a collar for her as well because Solomon knows that she is a monster hunter."

"Hey, that's a lot of tattoos, people. It's gonna cost you extra." she says.

"Money is no object, right now, you'll get paid," he reassures her, while emptying the bag to find the most suitable part to cut strips from. "Sure, the dog too. Better safe than sorry. And young Benny too."

"Fine, but that doesn't make him a monster hunter!", Al insists. "Oh, and Anna has to get one too!" She turns to the stairs and calls: "Anna!"

The sound of shattering glass coming from downstairs surprises the Hunters!

As there's a commotion starting downstairs, Al has a brilliant idea. What are birds scared of? A scarecrow!

She rushes into Logan's parents' room and quickly finds a suit jacket that's far too big for her, a plain cloth bag and a hat. Unfortunately, not a top hat but rather a dark baseball cap but maybe it'll be enough.

She puts the bag over her head, slips into the jacket and tops it off with the hat, then sprints down the stairs making ghost noises and waving her arms around wildly.

Lock the door behind is and don't let anyone in until you're finished... Johnny yelled, bolting out the Monster Hunters' HQ right behind Alana. His forearms numb, yet prickly with pain and oozing blood, made for a bit of a sight. While Alana went for her approach, Johnny went for the broom he'd had earlier hoping to swat the attacking birds from the air that come near the stairwell leading up to the Monster Hunters'HQ.

Reacting on pure instinct Logan loads and fires at the closest bird.

Alana's startling apparition scares the bulk of the birds away from the staircase, where one pane of the window has been broken and some birds are flying madly around.

As soon as the Hunters push away the first wave of birds, another wave comes, entering the stairwell through the broken window.

In the HQ, Melissa and Eddard work frantically on the leather strips to tattoo.

Seeing (barely through the cloth bag) that the others are already fighting the birds, Al decides to instead birdproof the house. She finds a window that is under bird assault but hasn't been broken yet and tries to push the closet next to it so it covers the window and keeps it safe.

Johnny and Logan get a boost of confidence, seeing Al single handedly moving heavy furniture to block a window, despite her bizarre looking, ill fitting outfit!