No blurb yet but I do have a lead-in and an excerpt from my new work in progress:
There was something out to get Mark and unfortunately for him it wasn’t his ex, Leon - or Leon's new boyfriend, Rogan.
Because this something wasn’t human...
Rogan took out his Phonite scanner once he was inside of Mark’s apartment. He stood where the debris of the TV had been, gone now because he had gathered it up and taken it out to the bed of his truck in order to dispose of it properly. He turned the scanner on. It hummed and immediately started sending out its pulses of light to read the room.
He believed he would only need one each of the Polarization Array and Variance Sequencer which he had brought up with him piece by piece on his several trips taking out the various shards of the destroyed TV. Small spaces like this rarely needed more than that. It depended on the strength and size of the energy being dealt with and even though the building itself was large, typically the energy in a specific part of it was not.
But that wasn’t the case here. In fact, far from it. At least according to his readings.
They couldn’t be accurate.
“What is going on?” he murmured to himself, turning the scanner off and then back on again. “This has never malfunctioned before.” But to be fair, the scanner was rather old. He needed to deal with that and had been working on its replacement, a smaller, more powerful reader. Again, his own invention, he even used a new material he developed he liked to call dragon breath. It was a combination of mostly Crytonum and Ethorus with a sprinkling of common Pyrogen which was the reason for its name. The chemical make-up of the “breath" allowed the conductive Isorus, the liquid that detected the poltergeist type energy, to move more freely and therefore, function better. So much better than the Phonite in the scanner he now held. And age probably thickened the Phonite. It honestly could be the reason the reading seemed wrong. He wished he would have brought the new scanner with him and tried it, compare it to these readings because they were still off the charts. Maybe he still would.
And maybe he should call Anna.
The other thing Rogan should have done was to ask Mark if there had been any other incidences before this one, but he hadn’t. Since Mark had never mentioned anything, Rogan simply believed there hadn’t been. But with readings like this?
Unfortunately, the scanner also indicated his equipment should be positioned closer to the bedroom which was upsetting. He didn’t like that the negative energy suggested by not only his readings but what it was Mark saw just might be concentrated on Mark while he was sleeping.
But it didn’t matter.
Once he got enough arrays up here and was satisfied they had done the job of isolating and then holding the bundles of energy associated with that sighting, he would disperse it with a burst from his Duotronic Pulse Degenerator which would break it up and send it back into the universe where it belonged, and that would be the end of it.
Simple, efficient, and usually successful.
It took a few trips back to his truck for more equipment and then the better part of an hour to set it all up. But he was finally ready to turn on all his devices when the door opened, and Mark walked in. Rogan’s heart ramped up and he smiled, excited to explain his equipment and to have Mark witness how they worked. He couldn’t wait to brag that he had come up with the concepts himself and had scientific patents on all of them. “Hey there,” he called out to him, eager to see admiration in Mark's pretty eyes. “Just getting started.”
Except Mark appeared stressed and disheveled, his eyes slightly bloodshot as he took in his living room littered with wires and flashing gadgets, gizmos and contraptions. It was overwhelmingly sci-fi, yes, Rogan was well aware, and he was working on condensing some of the pieces and parts, like his scanner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a simple task, and his life rarely gave him the time necessary for it anyway. Still…
“What is all this?” Mark demanded.
“My… equipment.” His heart was doing more than just ramping up and being tongue tied was not him. This honestly should be easy, telling Mark about himself. He was proud of his accomplishments, that the world was just starting to take notice. Mark, however, did not seem at all enthralled. He seemed angry. Rogan was a little embarrassed now of all the room he had sucked up in the small space. He was suddenly seeing the mess he made in the living room through Mark’s eyes and it all seemed… archaic ― not the ahead of it's time, state-of-the-art equipment it truly was. “Um… I’m… I’m in the process of locating that―" he cleared his throat― "well, negative energy you saw last night to disperse it. Get―rid of it―I guess.” Then he thought about the possible size of what it was he detected. It wasn’t feasible, his readings had to be flawed. But he figured he still should ask if Mark had had any other kinds of paranormal experiences. “I do need to ask a question,” Rogan continued. But in that moment Mark took on a posture of extreme impatience. Intense irritation. What was going on? “Mark... wait. This is not… the question I was going to ask but… are… are you alright?” Mark was simply staring at him, anger in his beautiful eyes.
“Oh fine. I’m Peachy.” Mark smirked.
Peachy?
“So,” Mark huffed. “How do you propose to do that? How are you going to get rid of this… this negative energy?” He did air quotes when he said the last part, making it clear Mark was mocking him.
Rogan was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. Something was terribly wrong, but he pointed to one of his inventions anyway, deciding to ride out whatever this storm was. “This is a… well, I call it a Polarization Array. I have several of them set up all around the room.” He pointed to various spots. “It… they basically separate the good, or normal energy from the stuff associated with abnormal sightings or paranormal anomalies, like the face you saw last night. Once the energy is discerned, the array, for want of a better verb, captures and holds it.”
One of Mark’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Like Ghost Busters?”
“Ghost… no. Not like that at all, actually.” This was far from encouraging. Still, Rogan continued to walk to another small box sitting on the floor next to the bedroom door. “And this is my Variance Sequencer. Sometimes… well, we miss some of the so-called bad energy and this automatically adjusts the arrays to pick up on it so that anything that might not be attached directly to the main disturbance is captured too. Sometimes that residual stuff can later redevelop as poltergeists. We’ve… we’ve had that happen…”
“Impressive,” Mark deadpanned.
What the fucking hell was going on? “Mark―”
“I mean, that’s quite the story but then this is an amazing display of fake equipment. I should be flattered you would go to all this trouble just to get me into bed.” He glared at Rogan. “Tell me, were you going to actually have to fuck me to win the bet or was getting me all hot and bothered enough to climb into bed with you sufficient? But then ― there would have to be proof, right? How were you planning on doing that?”
“What? What the fuck are talking about? I didn’t―”
“Wait! Pictures! Of course. That’s it. Pictures would prove it, right? I get naked, you take pictures, because one of these things has to be a camera and wah-la! Bet won. One question. What would you have gotten if you um… how do I say this―got it done?”
“Mark―”
“Yeah, well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Not gonna happen, just so you know. Although, given all this, I have to admit, the rest of the story was looking pretty amazing. I will give you that.”
“What do you mean story? There is no story. Mark, what happened? What are you talking about?”
He stood there his eyes glassy. “Pack up and get out.”
“What? Wait…” Totally not the reaction he had expected. Confusion, maybe. Being overwhelmed and dazed, speechless, perhaps. But this all-out rage? Was this part of the paranormal energy in this place? Had it somehow affected Mark?
“You heard me. None of this―” he waved a quick hand toward Rogan’s equipment, “―ridiculous fantasy shit is going to wow me into believing you saved me so I fall right into bed with you.”
Saved him? “Again. Mark, please, what are you talking about?”
“I’m not stupid,” he yelled “I know all about your little bet with Leon. His cruelness I understand, but you? Which actually brings up another question. How the hell did you get me to see that face? Congratulations on that, by the way. Totally real looking.” He once again indicated the machinery around his living room. “And this? Same thing. It looks fucking real. Like out of some science fiction movie. All the sounds and lights, that―pulsey thing over there. Again, really impressive.”
“Mark, I seriously do not know what you mean. Leon has nothing to do with this and I don’t understand about the getting you into bed ―”
“It didn’t work. That’s all you need to understand.” Mark choked out as he dropped his gaze to the floor. Rogan’s heart broke for the expression of total defeat and rejection on the smaller man’s face. “I’m going to be gone for little while. I… I have to go pick up some stuff.” He shifted his gaze once more to again scowl at Rogan. “But when I get back, I want you and your hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo fucking circus gone.”
And he left. Before Rogan could figure out anything else to say. Not that Mark would listen. Fuck. Circus? He called what I do a circus? Rogan just stood there, his scanner in hand, wondering what the fuck had just happened. Mark had mentioned Leon, though. It obviously had something to do with that little fucker. He shook his head. But why would Mark believe anything that lying son-of-a-bitch had to say? It made no sense. He glanced down at all his equipment he had painstakingly laid out ready to combat this entity that had scared Mark last night, now contemplating having to remove it all again. What should he do? Continue? Use the time Mark was gone to at least make him safe until he could get to the bottom of what insanity must have taken place today?
No. He had to leave. He needed to honor Mark’s dictate even if the ‘why’ was a lie. Fortunately, experience told him what Mark saw last night, although scary, was still a harmless, unorganized, bunch of past energy that got stuck. The fact his scanner was reading something different, something far larger and more intense, scary for even him, simply had to be a mistake. In fact, it might be the energy wasn’t even here any longer. At least not in this apartment. That had been one of the issues with trying to rid larger buildings like this of paranormal activity. The energy tended to move around. His equipment might not even pick up anything within range to capture. So the anxiety he was feeling was not because of this, right?
Then what was it?
Because his heart hurt.
Fuck!
What could that whiny brat Leon have said to cause this?
One thing was certain. After he packed up, he would pay that little jerk a visit and he was going to find out.
