---

Special Agent Marvin Garner was frustrated. After the fruitless search of that strange site just out of town he'd been stuck with the job of figuring out what happened there. Nobody really expected anything to come of it, but it was too strange to ignore. Especially after the press managed to get there before they could lock down the site. So far he had no clue what had happened. He was trying to figure out how to tie up this investigation and move on to something worthwhile when his old friend called him out of the blue with something he wanted to show him.

Now he was following that friend through the bowels of the local hospital where he worked. "Mark, would you tell me what we're doing here?" Marvin growled.

"You've got to see this! It's got to have something to do with what you're working on. It just has to!" Mark replied excitedly. That was as much of an answer as Marvin had been able to get over the phone, too. He still wasn't sure if he wanted Mark to have actually found something or not.

"Alright, alright, show me already!" he groaned. Mark had always been a real geek. Give him something new and interesting and he'd be dissecting it in a heartbeat and blabbing a mile a minute at the same time.

"It's right in here!" Mark said, throwing a door open and leading Marvin over to a bed with a sheet thrown over it. "Let me just get this sheet off." He carefully gathered up the sheet and removed it, revealing a roughly human shaped pile of coal black ash.

Marvin looked at the odd pile of ash and back at his old friend. "This is it? What's this supposed to be?!" he asked.

"This," Mark said with an extravagant gesture towards the bed, "is the late John Green!"

Marvin slapped his hand over his face and groaned, "And why did you pour his ashes out on this bed?"

Mark shook his head in exasperation. "I didn't! That's the bed he was in when he died. After his death I noticed his skin was turning black, radiating out from the wound that killed him. Within hours his entire body had turned that same black color, even his hair, eyes, teeth, and nails. Then he just…disintegrated! Nobody has ever seen anything like this before!" Mark explained.

Marvin frowned at his friend and growled, "Do you really expect me to buy this?! If you're going to play a joke on me, the least you could do is make it halfway believable!"

"Ah!" Mark countered, "but I have proof!" He stepped over to a table next to the bed and picked up a camcorder. "When I saw what was happening I thought it would be a good idea to have a recording. I have the entire process on here!" he said triumphantly.

Marvin took the camcorder doubtfully and played back the recording. It was a few hours of recording, so he skipped a lot, but it showed exactly what his friend said it would. "How did you do this?" he asked, assuming it was a fake.

Mark shook his head impatiently, "I didn't! That's a real recording! I didn't alter it in any way. You know me, I'm lousy with computers!"

Marvin mulled that over and had to admit that kind of tampering was well beyond his friend's ability. "I'm going to have to have this looked at." he said thoughtfully.

Mark nodded excitedly, "So you believe me now?"

Marvin held his hand up, "Maybe, okay? If our techs tell me this hasn't been tampered with, then I'll believe you. But let's assume I do believe you for the moment. What could cause this to happen?"

"Not a single clue! That's why I called you. From what I've heard, that deal outside of town has everyone stumped. Nobody knows how all that damage was done without making more noise, right? I figured two unexplainable events so close together in time and space had to be related in some way." Mark explained.

Marvin nodded absently as he looked at the human shaped pile of ash. "You might be right. If they are related, my job just got a lot more interesting."

---

 
To Be Continued…
 

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 65 »

---

Marvin dropped the camcorder off with a tech he knew to have it checked out. Afterwards he spent the rest of the day finding out everything there was to know about the late John Green. He wasn't remarkable, other than being universally disliked by just about everyone who ever knew him. He was the kind of guy who you might expect to die from multiple stab rooms in a room full of people without anyone seeing anything.

Other than that, the only thing of note was the fact he'd been fired for threatening a co-worker. A transgendered woman whom he later tried to rape. It was during the attempt he'd received the wound which killed him. The only person who seemed to have a particular gripe against him was the co-worker, but he couldn't see any way she could have done it. Even so, he decided to take a closer look at her. He started in the hospital by asking Mark. After some asking around Mark told him that her name was Sarah Kinsley, although her legal name was Sean, and she'd confused the doctors because she appeared completely female.

Further research revealed that she'd only been living as a woman for a few weeks and had started work as Sarah suddenly and without warning. How does one go from an apparently normal looking guy to a normal looking woman overnight, complete with a sex change? he wondered. He couldn't find any record of her going anywhere for surgery and there certainly wasn't any indication she'd had it done locally.

He decided to watch her while he waited to get word on the recording. He went to the hospital first thing in the morning and found she was being visited by three other people about the same age. He waited until she was released and then followed them out. Once he'd identified which car belonged to her friends he got in his own car and followed them home. He drove past once they'd parked and so didn't see Sarah disappear through her portal. He parked his car as far from where they'd parked as he could and still see them, and then used his binoculars. They were already inside the apartment at this point so he settled down to wait.

Shortly after he got settled the only male of the group came out and walked to a different apartment. A few minutes later the two female friends ran out in the same direction. He was in luck, in that he could see both apartments from where he was parked. They ran inside the apartment and didn't come back out for some time. When they did come out it was all four of them. He was just about to go when he noticed the door open again and a shadowy figure come out and lock the door before hurrying away. He quickly lost site of them and went to check on the license plate numbers on the car they'd arrived in and the car they'd left in.

He was looking over that information when he got a call from the tech who was checking out the recording. "Marvin, where did you get this?" the tech, James, asked excitedly.

"You know I'm not going to tell you that." Marvin replied.

James chuckled and said, "Okay, but wherever you got it from, it hasn't been tampered with. It's real!"

Marvin frowned and said, "You mean it's a real recording of a trick, right?"

"Maybe, or maybe not. Weirder stuff has happened lately." James replied.

"What do you mean?" Marvin asked.

"Oh come on, you must have heard?! There was that weird explosion or whatever that was on TV the other day. You know, melted, blasted hills? But that's just the most obvious thing. There's been all kinds of weird rumors lately, and I've heard that some psychics have suddenly gotten a whole lot more accurate! Some even got arrested, because the police thought they were involved in the crimes they were helping them with, but they were later proven to be innocent." James said.

"What does that have to do with some faked recording of someone turning to ash?" Marvin said.

"I'm just saying, it might not be faked!" James replied.

"Sure, James, and Bigfoot is real!" Marvin said with a laugh.

"Go ahead and laugh, but there's some weird stuff going on." James said.

"Whatever. You're sure the tape wasn't altered?" Marvin said.

"Yeah, I'm sure." James said.

"Okay, thanks James." Marvin said.

"Sure, Marvin." James said grumpily, and hung up. Marvin then called up for someone to retrieve the ashes of John Green for analysis. I don't believe in psychics, but there is something going on, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it! he thought.

---

 
To Be Continued…
 

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 68 »

---

The more Marvin dug into Sarah's background, the stranger her sudden transformation seemed. Many people seemed to think she'd always been a girl, while others seemed oblivious to how much she'd changed, even though they knew she had been a man! Between that and the strange death of John Green, Marvin decided that she was going to be the focus of his investigation for the time being. He rented an apartment on the top floor of the building across from hers and set up his equipment to record everything that happened there. Once it was set up he started it up and went out to find out more about Sarah Kinsley.

He also got information on her three friends. Michael Levins was a martial arts instructor at his mother's gym. He had gone to school with Sarah, then Sean, and been friends ever since. Jill Robertson was Michael's girlfriend. They'd met in college and had been living together for two years. She was an artist and lived off of the sales of her paintings, which were becoming quite popular. And Erica Keller was Sarah's girlfriend, who was about to begin her last semester at Harvard Law. None of them had any criminal record or any other questionable affiliations.

There was some suspicion that one of Sarah's coworkers had killed Mr. Green, so Marvin got pictures of all of them. There were too many to get in-depth information on quickly, but he could at least recognize them if they made contact with Sarah or her friends.

The most interesting information was from the lab. John Green's ashes weren't ashes at all! In fact, there was no trace of human DNA in it. The lab had been unable to identify the material so far, but were very interested. Marvin had to wonder what could have killed Mr. Green and reduced him to a pile of unidentifiable dust. He'd certainly never heard of anything that could do that!

He returned to his temporary home and went through the recordings he'd gotten so far. He was interested to see that the same shadowy figure he'd noticed before was hanging around again. In fact, it looked like they were inside the apartment at that very moment! He grabbed his laptop and headed downstairs. He found a bench and sat down to watch the feed from his laptop. Before long the door opened again and that same shadowy figure came out. Once out of sight of the apartment the shadows seemed to melt away, revealing one of Sarah's coworkers! This could be the person who killed Mr. Green! he thought as he dropped his computer off in his car and hurried over to intercept her.

He managed to get to her car before she could and 'invited' her to get a drink at the Starbucks around the corner. She was very reluctant to cooperate, so he had to resort to threats. He was sure she was holding back, but she did mention something that he'd noticed himself; the fact that everyone seemed to accept Sarah's transformation remarkably easily. He didn't ask her about Mr. Green just yet, since he could use her to get more information on Sarah. Besides, other than the strange way he died, he didn't really have any cause to arrest her for that. It was clearly a case of her defending Sarah and no jury in the world would convict her.

She did drop one bit of information, probably without realizing its importance. Sarah had missed a day at work right before her sudden transformation! He already knew that she went to school as a girl the following day, so whatever happened had to have happened after work that Thursday, or sometime during the Friday that she didn't go to work. He still couldn't see how she could have changed so much in such a short time, and was beginning to think she wasn't really Sean Kinsley at all, but had somehow taken his place.

Marvin sent Tiffany back to spy on Sarah, knowing full well she'd resist him every step of the way. Still, she might give something away, and he would be recording everything he could. He retrieved his laptop and returned it to his room. The recordings showed Tiffany, little more than a shadow as usual, going into Sarah's apartment. A little while later Sarah and Erica left with Tiffany close behind. She ended up stuck outside the apartment of Michael and Jill, but managed to get inside somehow. He wondered if she'd try to talk to them, but he was able to get a fairly good look inside the window from where he was. He could only see two of the people inside, but there was no indication that they knew Tiffany had entered, so he relaxed.

He went over all the information he'd gathered so far while occasionally glancing at his laptop screen. There was no evidence of any kind of explosives used at the site outside of town. The area was so rocky that they couldn't get any good tire tracks or foot prints, either. That place was a complete dead end. Still, John Green's death was very strange, and happening when it did, and where it did, he couldn't ignore it.

He glanced back at the screen again and saw that Tiffany was going back to Michael and Jill's apartment. He went back to his reading for a moment and then swung back around. Wasn't she just in Michael and Jill's apartment?! What's going on here? he thought. He opened a second video window and went back over the recording, but there was no sign of Tiffany ever leaving their apartment. Yet here she was, going back to it from Sarah's!

---

 
To Be Continued…
 

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 75 »

---

Marvin went over and over the recording that Saturday night, but there was no doubt about it. Somehow Tiffany had entered Michael and Jill's apartment and then somehow ended up in Sarah's apartment! She'd then gone to Michael and Jill's apartment alone. She wasn't there for very long, and then she left, got in her car, and drove away.

He was going over the tape one last time when he caught himself nodding off in the middle. It's been a long day, I'll take another look in the morning, maybe I missed something. he thought before going to bed.

However, in the morning he saw the same thing. Tiffany's beginning to look like an even more interesting subject than Sarah! And what was she doing in Michael and Jill's apartment alone? She's always focused her attention on Sarah before, and that's what I asked her to do, too. Could she have revealed herself to them to ask for their help? But then surely they'd tell Sarah about her, and she clearly didn't want that! Marvin thought.

After making a few calls he settled down to wait for Tiffany to appear again. He wanted to question her about the previous night's activities. He was still debating with himself about asking her how she got to Sarah's apartment without leaving Michael and Jill's when he got a phone call.

“Agent Garner?” his supervisor said. “Something happened not far from you last night. I want you to check it out.”

“Yes sir, as soon as I've talked to my contact here...” Marvin replied, but his supervisor cut him off.

“Not later, now! The media haven't gotten wind of this one yet, and I want to keep it that way. It's just three blocks east of where you are.” He snapped.

“Yes sir! What happened?” Marvin asked.

“Just talk to...Officer Alwin, he's at the scene. He'll have all the details for you.” he said, and hung up.

Great, now what?! Marvin thought irritably. He threw his coat on and hurried down to his car. It was a short drive, but he had a hard time finding parking, because of all the debris on the street. A large SUV was lying on its side inside the lobby of a bank. Glass, masonry, and other debris were scattered on the sidewalk and out into the street. There were also two streetlights down, one on either side of the bank. Finding Officer Alwin was easy enough, as he was putting caution tape up around the area.

“Officer Alwin?” Marvin asked as he approached. He noticed in passing that there were no skid marks on the road and the heaviest damage to the bank was actually a few feet up, making it look like the car had been airborne when it hit the bank.

“Who are you?” Officer Alwin asked absently as he strung the tape up. He seemed annoyed, and Marvin guessed that he'd already had to deal with plenty of curious people wanting to know what had happened, or just get a good look at the damage.

“I'm Special Agent Marvin Garner, I believe you're expecting me?” he said, flashing his ID when Officer Alwin looked up in surprise.

“Oh, Agent Garner, yeah, I was told you were coming. You're not going to believe the stories I'm hearing about what happened here. Can you believe that I've got three witnesses, none of them connected to the other, who all claim that some big bald guy picked up that SUV and threw it through the wall?! None of them look high, but they've got to be, right? I mean, nobody could throw any car, let alone a big SUV like that!” Officer Alwin said as he got back to roping off the area.

Marvin noticed there were three people, an older man, a young woman, and a teenage boy who were all waiting by a police cruiser. “Are those your witnesses?” he asked, pointing at them.

Officer Alwin glanced up to see where he was pointing and nodded, “Yeah, that's them. You want to talk to them, be my guest, but they've stuck to their stories like glue!”

“Okay, I think I will. Anybody asks, this was a simple car accident, okay?” Marvin said. Officer Alwin nodded. If this is for real then it has to be connected! It's too far to stretch coincidence. he thought as he approached the witnesses. He took them aside one by one, but they all said essentially the same thing Officer Alwin had. He took down their names, and instructed them not to talk to the press. They'd all agreed there was no one in the car, so Marvin took a look at it. There were no keys in the ignition, and all the doors were locked. He wrote down the license plate number and left.

He spent the rest of the day investigating the three witnesses and tracking down the owner of the SUV. He still had both sets of keys and had been on the other side of town when it happened and was very upset to learn that someone had taken his car for a 'joy ride' and flipped it into a bank, as Marvin told him. There had been no sign that the car had been hot wired, so it was looking more and more like the witnesses might have been telling the truth. As crazy as that sounded.

The older man was a retired Army Lieutenant with no criminal record. The teenager had been arrested once for shoplifting, but was otherwise clean. The woman was also clean. None of them showed any signs of using drugs. They were completely unconnected to each other, and had no reason to lie that he could find. What is going on in this town?! None of the people I'm watching now could have done this!

Marvin was sure all of these impossible events had to be connected, but he wasn't having any luck figuring out how. He'd gotten a sketch artist together with the witnesses, so now he had a face for this mysterious super strong man, but so far he'd had no luck finding out anything about him. He went to sleep that night frustrated with his lack of progress. And even more frustrating, he hadn't had a chance to question Tiffany!

Monday was an even more frustrating mess, as he was called away for another strange event just as he was finishing up his reports on the prior day's activities. This time it was reports of an angel flying down Main Street and healing a crippled woman! He thought it a joke at first, but there were plenty of medical records to prove that she was bound to a wheel chair and had no hope of recovering. And yet here she was, singing the praises of the angel who cured her!

He still would have ignored it, except that this 'angel' had been caught on camera! She turned out to be a fairly tall woman with very large white wings. The recordings, taken from three separate security cameras, clearly showed her landing, laying glowing hands on the crippled woman, and then flying off again. They also showed the woman slowly getting to her feet, though she fell back down shortly thereafter. She'd need physical therapy to learn to walk again, but there was nothing physically wrong with her.

This time he had an actual photograph to work with, but he found no solid leads on who she was. The press had naturally assumed it to be a hoax, so he was being careful to keep the fact there was video coverage a secret. The healed woman was making enough of a fuss without the press getting wind of that!

That evening Marvin was called in for a meeting with his supervisor, and the agent in charge of the field office that covered this area. At the meeting he learned that there was a rise, worldwide, in reports of paranormal phenomena. However, this town had the most significant occurrences so far reported, some of which had physical evidence to prove they weren't a hoax, where many others didn't. The agency was keeping track of all of these reports, but because of the number and significance of the events here, they decided to set up a headquarters for this effort right there, and put Marvin in charge of it!

---

 
To Be Continued…
 

---

---

After that meeting Marvin was incredibly busy. He was given an office in the local field office and assigned two other agents to work with him. He moved all his notes out of his apartment and brought his agents up to date on what had happened so far. They were understandably skeptical, but the video coverage of Tiffany and the 'angel' convinced them to keep an open mind. None of them really believed that any of these events couldn't be explained scientifically, eventually.

The older of the two, Agent Peters, he assigned to keeping track of Tiffany. He hadn't talked to her since he talked her into spying on Ms. Kinsley for him, so he asked Agent Peters to introduce himself and find out what he could from her. Meanwhile, he sent Agent Mason to continue trying to find someone who would recognize either the man who threw the SUV, or the 'angel'.

Once his agents were given their tasks he was left to sort through the paper work. He had reports to write, and more information in that he had to look at about other events seen around the area. There wasn't anything as obvious as the other two, until that afternoon.

He was just getting back into the reports after lunch when he got a call from the local police. They'd been instructed to inform him of any other 'odd' occurrences. This time nobody saw what happened, but there was a Corvette on the roof of the police station! Agent Peters was still trying to track down Tiffany, and Agent Mason was busy showing pictures around, so Marvin went there himself.

When he got there there was a crowd of police officers looking at the car in wonder and muttering amongst themselves. He wasted fifteen minutes just getting everyone off the roof so he could look around. All those police officers had eradicated any tracks there might have been. The car seemed undamaged, and he could find nothing else unusual about it or on the roof. He went back below and had someone check the car for fingerprints, not that he expected to find any other than the owner and probably several police officers. He also had the owner of the car tracked down, so they could find out where it had been before it somehow ended up on the roof.

Is someone playing with us? he wondered as he drove back to his office. There's no reason to put a car up there, except maybe to show that they can do it. A crane could do the job, but not during the day without being seen! So how did they do it?! When he got back to the office he wrote up yet another report on the car, adding details as they came in.

The rest of the day was without incident. Agent Mason reported that no one had recognized the sketch of the man or the photograph of the 'angel'. Agent Peters said he'd missed Tiffany, but the recordings indicated that she had entered Sarah's apartment openly. So, she did contact Ms. Kinsley! That changes things! If we can't intimidate her into helping us, we're not going to get anywhere! he thought.

---

 

By the time Marvin got to his office the next day there was already another report in for him. At exactly 7:05 am., every ATM machine in the city had suddenly ejected all the money in them! No sign of tampering could be found as yet, and no one was near most of the machines when it happened. So, like all the other strange occurrences in town, they had nothing!

He sent Agent Mason to investigate the ATM machine incident, but he knew he wouldn't find anything. He was convinced now that someone was playing with them; sending them running hither and yon fruitlessly. He just couldn't figure out why!

The only other thing of note that happened that day was when Agent Peters reported back that night to say that he had confronted Tiffany and Ms. Kinsley and Ms. Keller had come out to help her and threatened to call the police. He'd left and gone to her apartment to wait for her, but she never showed. It looks like Tiffany and Sarah are a dead end, at least for now. Just like everything else! he thought.

---

 

The next morning was far more interesting! The first he heard of it was when he turned on the news while he was eating his breakfast. A living flame shaped like a man was walking down Main Street, setting things on fire as it went!

---

 To Be Continued…
 

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 98 »

---

He couldn't get that news footage out of his mind. By the time Marvin had reached the scene the strange living flame had disappeared without a trace. No one knew what happened after it set the fire engine on fire. The firemen had scattered, and the cameras went dark. Everyone else on the street had wisely fled when it started spouting flames at the firemen. But the darkness on the cameras was too much like what he'd seen around Tiffany for him to ignore it. Either she and her friends were responsible for the living flame, or they'd gotten rid of it. Either way they were tied right back into the paranormal phenomenon that he was investigating.

He decided to try sending Agent Peters again, giving him instructions to try and talk to Tiffany alone.

In the meantime he had yet more paper work to do. He didn't have to worry about a cover story, at least, everyone had assumed it was some kind of publicity stunt gone bad. He finally got caught up with that around noon and went out for lunch. By the time he returned to his office there was a report in about a local psychic. She'd led the police to a kidnapped child. She also gave them a description of the kidnapper, which the child verified. The police were holding her on the assumption that she must be the actual kidnapper, or an accomplice to him. Marvin sent Agent Mason to look into it while he continued to think about his dilemma with Tiffany.

He was beginning to think that at least some of these events were real, not hoaxes. They were too numerous and widespread. And while he still believed that Sarah was involved somehow, he was sure that Tiffany had some kind of strange darkness related powers that she used to hide herself. Maybe it was Tiffany all along, and she simply made it look like Sarah was involved... he thought.

Marvin ended up spending hours after that helping Agent Mason clean up the situation with the psychic. Mason found the real kidnapper, and was able to prove that the psychic had no contact with him or the boy before she found him. The police were stubborn, though, and insisted she must have had something to do with it. Finally, they managed to convince the police that she was not involved. Once that was settled Marvin had a talk with the psychic.

"How did you find the boy, and describe the kidnapper?" he asked.

She shrugged, "I don't really know. I've always gotten glimpses of things before, but lately they've gotten clearer. This time I saw the boy being kidnapped and where he was being kept. I was never sure myself if I was really psychic or not, but I'm sure of it now. I don't know why things are coming so much more clearly now." She paused and looked at Marvin strangely before asking, "Why are you watching a shadow?"

That, more than anything else, convinced him that she might be for real. Ignoring her question, he said, "If you have any more visions like that one, please let me know." He handed her his card and returned to his car. He sat in thought for a moment before starting it up. He was about to return to his office when Agent Mason ran up to him.

"Sir, I just got a call! Agent Peters has been hurt!" he said.

"Where?" Marvin asked.

"The apartment of that woman you wanted him to contact." Mason replied.

Marvin nodded and headed over to Tiffany's apartment. When he got there police and an ambulance were already working. Michael and Jill arrived at the same time and Michael intercepted him, "What are you doing here?!" he asked angrily.

Marvin explained that he was just there for his agent and that seemed to mollify him. Since he knew that Peters was hurt, he headed for the ambulance first. As he'd expected, he found Peters lying on the ground being checked over by paramedics. He looked pretty bad. He asked the paramedics how he was doing and was told that he had broken ribs and a head injury. Seeing that he wasn't going to get any information out of him, Marvin went back to his car and got out his laptop. He'd had a similar setup to that he used on Sarah's apartment installed to keep track of Tiffany. He downloaded the most recent recording and played it.

He had to wonder what Peters was thinking, when he saw that he had searched Tiffany's apartment and then tried to drag her off by force. Then there was what appeared to be an accidental shooting, though Peters shouldn't have had his gun out in the first place. But what really got Marvin's attention was the blue light that shot from Sarah's hand to Peters' chest. His body was thrown twenty or thirty feet. So Sarah has some kind of ability, too! It must have been her that dealt with that fire creature, and Tiffany covered her. I'd better smooth things over, I might need these two in the future. he thought.

Marvin became worried as he approached Sarah and the others, as there was a large pool of blood underneath Ms. Keller. He apologized to them all for Peters' actions, and asked about Ms. Keller's injury. She woke and was very suspicious of him. He assured them that he had seen what Peters did, and what Sarah did, and that he wouldn't tell anyone about her. Then he asked if Erica needed the ambulance. She was the one who answered that question, though, by getting Sarah to help her to her feet. Keller, too?! he thought in shock, trying his best not to let his surprise show. Do all five of them have some kind of ability?

Erica remained suspicious of him and said they were done, so he gave Michael his card and left after asking to talk to them later. He returned to his office to write down a few notes and lock up, and then went home.

---

 
Friday was blissfully quiet, which gave Marvin a chance to go through everything he'd learned, and guessed, about Sarah, Tiffany and the others. He had no real evidence of any kind of ability for Michael or Jill, but Erica could clearly heal very rapidly. He knew Sarah had some kind of blasting ability, and suspected that her transition might not have been by normal means. Which brought up the question of whether she was completely female or not. Then there was Tiffany. She obviously had some kind of darkness related power that allowed her to hide herself and possibly the others. And if she'd killed John as he still suspected, she might also have some kind of life draining power. That would explain how he was reduced to ash.

One of Sarah's friends is probably responsible for all those distractions, but that can't explain all of them. The SUV, ATM machines, Corvette, angel, and fire creature are probably all distractions, but it's unlikely that the psychic would put herself in that kind of position on purpose. And she seemed as mystified by her abilities as anyone. Then there are all the other reports all around the world. Sooner or later there's going to be someone using one of these strange powers to commit crimes or harm someone. If Agent Peters is anything to go by, I'm going to have a hard time finding agents that can deal with all of this. And even those who can will be at a severe disadvantage. Maybe Sarah and her friends will be willing to help? Marvin thought.

As he thought he remembered that he'd asked the psychic to call him if she had any more visions. There had been other cases like hers all over the country and, probably, the world. He wondered if he should make contact with other psychics, but he was sure many of them were complete fakes and wouldn't be of any use. Marvin decided he'd put that idea aside until he was able to talk to Sarah and the others. Their abilities were clearly more advanced than anyone else, so they might have more information.

He visited Peters in the hospital, but he was still in no shape to talk. By the time he was recovered the investigation into his actions would be well under way. Marvin didn't think he'd have any trouble convincing Peters to keep his mouth shut about Sarah's ability, assuming he even remembered it. His doctored recording would show nothing to incriminate Sarah or the others, only Peters. He'd be glad to be rid of Peters and hoped his replacement would be better able to deal with the paranormal.

Saturday was equally quiet on the paranormal front, but Marvin was kept busy dealing with the aftermath of Peters' actions and injuries. He was still unconscious, so he couldn't be questioned yet.

Marvin had another meeting about his department after lunch. His superiors were concerned about Peters behavior, and Marvin said that he was going to need a replacement who was more open minded. Younger agents would probably be best, they all agreed. He also explained his suspicion that this situation was only going to get worse, and told them his idea of using psychics and any others that showed up to help him. He told them he'd met a couple of people who might be useful, but didn't say anything else about them. As he'd expected, they were only too willing to let him deal with it as he chose for now. Later on he knew there would be more questions, but for now they just wanted someone to keep a lid on it so people wouldn't panic.

After the meeting he tried calling Sarah to see if they were ready to meet yet, but there was no answer.

---

 To Be Continued…
 

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 112 »

---

There was still plenty of work for Marvin to do, so he decided to try again later. That was forgotten after a phone call a few minutes later. It was a friend of the psychic he gave his card to. Apparently some friends of her's were having trouble with someone who had managed to craft some kind of magic wand that shot fire. The wand had been destroyed, but the man who made it was on the loose.

She didn't know anything but his first name, but directed him to a magic shop whose owner is active in the magical community. Magical community? How do we not know about this? he wondered as he drove to the shop.

When he arrived he half expected to find magical symbols all over the building or something, but it was nothing unusual. Inside were books, candles, and various paraphernalia. He would have thought it was all a sham, if not for his recent experiences. Even so, he found it hard to believe much of it could be real. Surely everyone would know about it if this stuff really worked? he thought.

A young woman's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "Hi, how can I help you?"

"My name is Marvin Garner. Someone asked me to come here and talk to Charlotte?" Marvin said.

"Okay, she's over there at the register." she said, pointing further into the shop.

Marvin thanked her and walked over to where an older woman was standing at the register talking to a customer. He waited until the customer left and said, "Hello, I'm Special Agent Marvin Garner. I was told you might have some information on a...Nathaniel?"

The woman paled and looked to see if anyone was nearby before saying, "Yes, we need your help. He's been causing a lot of trouble, and we have reason to believe he is going to kill someone. Someone you know can help, but I don't know who she is."

"Someone I know? What are you talking about?" Marvin said in surprise.

She shrugged, "I don't know who it is, or I'd contact her myself. I just know it's someone you know, because you've been watching her." She looked over his shoulder and he turned to see the girl approaching that had directed him to Charlotte. "Tina, this is Agent Garner. Tina's my granddaughter."

"Hi." she said shyly.

"Hello Tina." he said, and turned back to Charlotte, "I think I know who you mean, but how is she supposed to prevent Nathaniel from killing someone?"

Charlotte shrugged, "I don't know. I just know she can."

"And how do you know that? How do you know he's going to kill someone, for that matter?" Marvin asked.

"Well, a friend of mine is a seer. She had a vision. If we didn't contact you, and this woman through you, then he would kill her. But if we do, she'll be safe. We don't know how she's saved, only that she is." Charlotte said.

"That's rather vague. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to talk to her. I've been planning on doing so anyway. I don't suppose, in return for this favor, that you'd be willing to tell me a little more about this seer?" Marvin said.

"I'll let her know you're interested in talking to her, but that's the best I can do. You must understand, people aren't ready to know that magic is real. And those with magical abilities are, at least for the most part, not strong enough to protect themselves from the fearful." Charlotte said.

Marvin nodded, "I can understand that. I've already helped the person you want to meet to keep their abilities a secret once. If your friend doesn't want to talk to me, I'll understand. But you should know that I'm in charge of a new division of the FBI charged with investigating paranormal phenomenon. I'm not interested in exposing people with abilities. In fact, I'm looking to make as many contacts as I can, as it's obviously only a matter of time until I have to deal with someone else like this Nathaniel. If you could give me more information on him, I could find him myself."

Charlotte shook her head, "Judging from my friend's vision, it's very doubtful that you would find him in time. But I'll let my friends know what you've said and perhaps they'll contact you."

"I suppose that will have to be good enough." Marvin said with a sigh. I guess it's understandable they're a little paranoid. I suppose I would be too, in their shoes. "Should I direct this person to come here?"

"Yes, I think that would be best." Charlotte agreed.

Marvin nodded and said goodbye to Charlotte, stopping to nod to her granddaughter on the way out. It looks like this woman may be something of a nexus for this 'magical community'. She, and perhaps even her granddaughter if she lives with her, may know a great deal. Better not to push my luck, though. They are an understandably skittish group.

He went straight to Sarah's apartment. As he was walking towards the door he saw a tall woman with silvery white hair wearing an odd outfit of a similar color to her hair come out. She didn't seem to notice him, but almost as soon as the door was closed she vanished! He looked all around, but there was no sign of her at all. Figures. Nothing's normal around this woman. he grumbled to himself.

---

To Be Continued…

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 113 »

---

Shaking his head, Marvin walked up to the door and knocked. He didn't have to wait long before Erica answered the door. She didn't seem surprised to see him, "Hello Agent Garner."

"Hello Ms. Keller. I'm sorry to disturb you, but I've been asked to talk to Sarah." Marvin said.

"Asked? By who?" Erica said.

"Apparently, you aren't the only ones around here who have...unusual abilities. A group of such people have asked for her help in preventing a murder." he replied.

"A murder?! What are you talking about?" Michael exclaimed.

Marvin shrugged, "I don't know all the details myself. The people involved gave me very little information. All I know is that one of their number went rogue and has been foreseen to kill another one. I know the would-be murderer's name is Nathaniel, but that's about it."

"Why would they want my help, or even know I exist?" Sarah asked worriedly.

"It's part of the vision of the murder. Apparently they already saw something about you and I in another vision. I'm fairly sure they don't know who you are or what you can do. Only that your involvement will prevent their friend's death." Marvin replied.

"Visions? You mean, like fortune tellers?" Tiffany said.

"Perhaps. Believe me, I wish I had more information for you. All I know is they want you to go to the magic shop and meet with Charlotte. Presumably she will have more information for you, or know who does." Marvin said.

"Okay, I guess we'll go talk to Charlotte. Where's the shop?" Sarah asked.

Marvin gave her the address and half turned to leave before turning back, "Please call me once you've dealt with this situation, will you? I'm not your enemy, and I think we might be able to help each other." With that said, he turned and left.

He thought about assigning someone to watch the magic shop, but decided that he needed their good opinion more than he needed what little information he might get out of it. Any more spying on his part would simply jeopardize that. He also doubted he would find out anything of value, since this 'magical community' had managed to remain hidden thus far.

Returning to his office he started going through the files of agents who had volunteered for the paranormal division. Most of them were young, in many cases this would be their first assignment. And that's exactly what he was hoping for. He wouldn't be running his division in a standard manner, so the lack of experience would be more helpful than hurtful.

By the end of the day he had narrowed it down to the three agents he wanted. He hoped to interview them within the week. If things continued to happen as they were he anticipated agent Mason and himself to be overloaded without the help.

Marvin discussed the potential new agents with agent Mason the next day, as he would probably be interacting with them more than Marvin himself. Mason seemed happy enough with Marvin's choices, and surprised that he was involved in the process being a rather new agent himself.

Mason is going to work out rather well. he thought. I hope these others handle this business as well as he is.

Marvin thought about going back to the magic store to talk to Charlotte, but decided that waiting until the situation with Nathaniel was taken care of would be best. Thinking of that, he gave what little information he had on him to Mason to investigate. Despite being told he wouldn't find him in time to help, he still wanted to try.

Marvin decided to approach things from a different angle, and went back through all the reports from the last few days to look for anything that might be connected with this Nathaniel person. Remembering what he was told about the fire throwing wand, he looked at every report of injuries involving fire in the last few days.

Most of them were easily eliminated as ordinary events, but one stood out. A woman was admitted to the hospital after an assault, but she had somehow suffered burn injuries to one arm in the process. A little research and he learned that she was the High Priestess of a local coven. This can't be a coincidence! That's got to be the coven that Nathaniel is supposed to be a part of.

He didn't have any trouble tracking Kerry, the woman who was burned, down. When he did he identified himself and asked her about her attack.

"Charlotte already called me about you." she said. "You can try to find Nathaniel if you want, but I doubt you'll get anywhere. I really don't know much about him, anyway. He's never even told us his last name, let alone given a phone number or address. I don't even have a picture of him."

"Will you at least give a description to a sketch artist?" he asked.

She shrugged, "If you want. I doubt it will do you any good. By the time you find him your friend should have already dealt with him."

He called for a sketch artist to talk to her, but he didn't have much more hope than Kerry. With so little information it was unlikely he would get anywhere. But he had to try.

---

To Be Continued…

---

« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 114 »