Page 59 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

CHAPTER TWO: ALL IS LOST

its calling is justified, and then exacts its emotionless retribution on Before her Durance, the deepest mystery that plagued
the perpetrator. Afterwards, it follows the urge to another location. Pearl Lawrence was whether the Dewey Decimal was categori-
Tensare does not question why it is sometimes called to act multiple cally better than the Library of Congress Classification Systems.
times in one town, nor why its next victim may be thousands of As a reference librarian, she was occasionally called upon to
miles away... Tensare does not ask. Tensare only acts. research some strange topics, but when the man that would
Tensare’s vengeance takes the form of a killing frost that become her Keeper sent her on a quest, she never imagined
drops its victim’s internal body temperature to a hypothermic where her delving would take her.
state, resulting first in unconsciousness, and then death. After exhausting every resource available to her through of-
Description: Tensare Custos’ human Mask is that of a ficial channels, Pearl could have legitimately told her Keeper that
nondescript older man: white hair, sharp features, and a pale she’d done all she could and came up empty. But the question
complexion. Onlookers perceive his movements as slow and became a personal challenge to her, her own questing beast, and
jerky — the arthritic amblings of a senior citizen. soon Pearl was taking long lunches, leaving work early, or call-
For those who can see past the Mask, however, Tensare ing in sick, all to venture into obscure historical literary archives,
Custos is something entirely different. The Elemental’s body bookstores, or private collections in search of her answer.
is formed of ice shards, tumbled together as if by an avalanche. Pearl lost her job, and eventually her husband, too, when
It bears a vaguely humanoid form; it has two arms, two legs, her spouse came to believe that her new obsession must involve
and a head with no apparent features. Its “voice” doesn’t origi- a paramour, an addiction, or both.
nate from its missing mouth; it’s created when the Elemental’s Sleeping in her car, gas tank on empty, Pearl’s thoughts of
various limbs grate and grind against each other whenever it suicide were more out of frustration at her inability to continue
moves. A flickering blue light emanates from the center of Ten- her research than because she’d lost everything. Then, one day,
sare Custos’ chest; it glows through the opaque and transparent a knock on the window revealed the man who’d lodged the
layers of its body, the source positioned deep below the sur- initial question, months before.
face. When hunting a victim, this shine brightens as the Killing The Keeper took Pearl out of her car, out of her life, out of
Frost comes nearer to its prey, and dims almost to the point of her world, and into an athenaeum the likes that human hearts
imperceptibility when retribution has been delivered. could only dream of. For the next day-after-endless-day, Pearl
Storytelling Hints: Tensare Custos has left all vestiges of researched what he requested, and continued to search for the
humanity behind. It no longer kills because it is the right thing answer to his original query. And while her ankles might have
to do, but because it feels the urge — the calling, as it refers to been bound by his three fine paper chains, it was Pearl’s curios-
it — and answers. Anyone — human or otherwise — that is prey- ity — her need to find the answer — that truly held her captive.
ing upon women may become the focus of Tensare’s calling. It wasn’t until Pearl discovered a stack of newspapers in one
Thus, hunters may encounter the Elemental through a variety corner of the library that her old life began to creep back into
of means. They could be hunting the same perpetrator that her thoughts. One contained an announcement that the child
Tensare is: a vampire that chooses only female victims, a spirit she’d left behind had been married, and one of the paper chains
possessing a woman, a witch trafficking in purloined lady-parts, snapped in twain. Another held the birth announcement of a
or a supernatural rapist. Or, the hunters may be investigat- baby that would have been her grandchild, and the second chain
ing Tensare’s own acts, trying to make rhyme or reason out of tore. But when she read the memorial notice for her estranged
what’s behind the strange deaths. husband, her tears melted the last of her bonds away, and she ran
The subject of Tensare’s vengeance can be changed to suit through the fae stacks and found herself in the back room of the
a particular story’s needs. It could just as easily seek revenge on library she’d once worked at so many years ago.
child abusers, those who harm animals, or those who perpe- Forty years passed in the real world while Pearl was away. She
trate hate crimes against members of a religion, race, etc. now looks years younger than the children she left behind. Pearl has
Tensare is affected by the Persistent Conditions: Amnesia moved to a different town, set up a small bookstore, and continues
and Obsession (Vengeance). to research the question her former Keeper set before her, in hopes
Pearl Lawrence of one day finding the answer that has eluded her for so long.
Description: Pearl’s human Mask is that of an African-Ameri-
Shhhh... can woman with glasses, and dark hair pulled back into a severe bun.
A painfully shy child, Pearl Lawrence found refuge in the She’s attractive, in a bookish fashion, although she doesn’t dress to
library, where tales of history and science were just as intrigu- accentuate it. Her cardigans and modest clothing would be just at
ing to her as fantasy and folklore. She was more at home with home on a woman several decades her elder. Pearl appears to be in
books than she ever was with other people, a trait she never her mid-30s, despite the fact that she was born almost 80 years ago.
grew out of. She’d known she wanted to be a librarian when Beneath her Mask, Pearl bears the weight of all of her
she grew up, well before she could spell the word, and that many years. Her skin is vellum-thin, with features that appear
desire never faded. The only real change in her life, from child to have been drawn on. More disturbing, however, is the fact
to adult, was which library she called home. She married a per- that no matter what direction she is viewed from, Pearl appears
fectly acceptable man, had two perfectly normal children, but to have only two-dimensions. Observers find that looking at
still felt more at home in the stacks than anywhere else. her is like looking at an ancient moving illustration.

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