Chapter 9

Eric grinned. “No. That isn’t enough to get you to believe me. Don’t worry though, you will believe me in just a few minutes.”

Eric reached out and grabbed the man’s head. The man started to reach up to push Eric away. Then his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.

Nicole sighed. “Didn’t you agree that you wouldn’t torture him?”

“That wasn’t torture. I just gave him a copy of a copy of a copy some memories I got from a friend. Sadly the longer the memory is the more details are lost. Even short memories lose at least some details. Otherwise training new cultivators would be a breeze. It’s more than sufficient for this though. Every time I’ve used this technique in similar situations it’s worked. It will just take a couple minutes for him to wake up.” Eric said with a smile.

The ambulance finally arrived while they waited. Two paramedics rushed in and started checking out the men on the floor. “They don’t need medical attention.” Eric told them.

One of the paramedics looked up angrily. “They are all unconscious. What is happening here?” He asked.

Eric stared him down. “The people that need your help are back there. Once you get back there I’m sure you will agree that even if these men were dying they aren’t worth saving. Unfortunately my associate here won’t let me kill them.” He said gesturing to Nicole.

“I’m going to go take a look.” The other paramedic said. Getting up he went through the employees only door.

Less than thirty seconds later the first paramedics radio crackled. “Joe. Get back here now. I’m calling in more ambulances and the police. We have multiple severely wounded patients.”

Nicole started to head to the door but Eric reached out and stopped her. “There is nothing you can do back there. Seeing what is back there will have an impact on you though. For now I want you to be able to focus on cultivating and not on what was happening here. I’m sure eventually you will see and have to deal with worse. Today isn’t the right time though.”

“I’m a police officer. I’ve seen some pretty bad situations.” Nicole argued.

“Not like this you haven’t. Just trust me.” Eric said.

At that moment the man finally woke up. He screamed and fell out of the chair. After a few seconds he seemed to recover a bit. He looked up at Eric in fear. Nicole couldn’t help but feel shocked at just how scared and haunted he looked.

“How do I keep that from happening? I’ll do anything.” The man finally pleaded and then kneeled down in front of Eric. Apparently the memories Eric had given him had had a profound impact.

“It’s simple. Be a force for creation instead of destruction. What has been going on here is destruction. You can start by telling me the details of everyone involved.” Eric said.

Almost immediately the man started babbling. Nicole couldn’t help but feel shocked at just how effective Eric had been. Then she felt her blood run cold as the man mentioned a handful of people that she knew. Apparently there were still nearly a dozen people in the police force involved. Including a couple more detectives and the captain that was in charge of her police station.

It was nearly five minutes later before the man finally finished his list. “Is that everyone?” Eric asked.

“That’s everyone important. There are a few other low level people that I’ve only met once or twice. I don’t remember their names. There is also the clinetile.” The man said.

“If I turn this over to the police is there anyone besides those detectives and the captain that could interfere?” Eric asked.

The man nodded. “There are a handful of people. A couple of city council members and people in the attorney general’s office. They will try to make the investigation disappear.”

Eric turned to Nicole. “How would you suggest keeping them from interfering?” He asked.

Nicole thought about it for a moment. “Turn the information over to the chief of police and the media at the same time. It should be a big enough story that he will have to make sure it’s properly investigated.

“Sounds good to me. I suspect the paramedics have already called the police.” Eric told Nicole and then turned back to the man. “Meanwhile, you are going to head to the nearest newspaper and tell them everything that happened here. Once they are done with you I’d suggest that you turn yourself over to the police and cooperate with them.”

“Will that be enough to keep me from going to hell?” The man asked, clearly still distraught from the memory that Eric had given him.

Eric shrugged. “I’m not the one that decides. I do know that it will help significantly. This will still be marked against you. However, if you can live a decent life from now on, even if it’s in a jail cell, that should be enough to get you a second chance.”

“Thank you.” The man said and then scrambled to his feet and ran out of the bar.

“I have to admit, this is not what I was expecting.” Nicole said as she watched the man rush through the door.

Eric nodded. “Don’t get used to it. Mortals are weak and short lived. It makes them easy to manipulate or overpower. Even foundation cultivators make them seem like children in comparison.”

Nicole frowned. “Did you lie to that man? Is hell not real?”

“Hell is real and the memories I gave him of it are real. Or at least I’m as sure as I can be without going to hell. I just left out a bit of information. Practically everyone is given a second chance after their first life. Only someone truly evil continues along that path once they realize what is at stake. Not that they turn into goodie two shoes. They just make sure they don’t cross certain lines like this organization did.” Eric explained.

“What lines did they cross? I know you don’t want me to see but I would like to hear.” Nicole asked.

“They were torturing people for fun. And I don’t mean in some sort of kinky bdsm way. Torture of their victims to the point where I expect the few survivors will never fully recover. Both physically and mentally. Let’s just leave it at that.” Eric explained.

Nicole shuddered. Part of her couldn’t help but agree that the death of the detective and those officers had been deserved. There was no way that they didn’t know what was happening to their victims. At the very least detective Hill had probably investigated his partners enough to know what was going on.

“What now?” Nicole asked.

“Let’s get out of here before the police arrive. Me being involved in this while also having a warrant out for my arrest would just complicate things. What do you think will happen if I turn myself over to the police?” Eric asked as they headed out of the bar.

Nicole considered the question. “I’m not sure. From what you have told me you were previously insane. So you should be able to plead not guilty due to insanity. The question will be if the jury will agree. After that it will depend on if the judge and court decide that you are now sane. If you are then they will release you after the court case. Although how Lawrence Sterling died will also have some impact on the case. If he was attacking you and you killed him in self defense it should be an easy case. If you were the aggressor it could be a difficult case. Unfortunately I don’t know what the detective found. Do you remember anything?”

Eric shook his head. “I don’t even know if it happened. I just know there are half a dozen times I remember fighting monsters with a knife. It easily could have happened during one of those times. What is the worst case possibility?”

“Obviously they convict you of murder and sentence you to a lengthy time in prison. Death sentences are unlikely unless you are a serial killer. A life sentence is fairly likely if it was especially brutal. But you have already been diagnosed as mentally insane while not on medication. It’s way more likely they send you to a mental institution for an unspecified amount of time. Probably a minimum of a few years. Although it could end up also being a life sentence. It all depends on the doctors.” Nicole said.

Eric grimaced. “Not the end of the world but something I’d certainly like to avoid. Especially since I need to keep on training you and Valerie so that you can become cultivators.”

“I thought we were cultivators.” Nicole said.

Eric chuckled. “Nobody but a mortal would consider you a cultivator until you are past the journeyman realm. Even then only cultivators in the lower realms would consider you cultivators. At the very least you need to reach the foundation realm. Even then there are many that would consider that only the first step.”

“What do we do? You won’t be able to hide from the police forever. The doctors and nurses saw us together quite a bit. Eventually they will start questioning and following me and Valerie. Even if I was willing to lie to them I can’t imagine they wouldn’t find you soon after. It’s better to turn yourself into the police before they come and arrest you.” Nicole said.

Eric thought about it for a bit while they walked to the car. Once they were inside he turned to Valerie. “We were just discussing what I should do about the warrant for my arrest.”

“I’m probably not the person to ask for advice. Nicole knows way more about law than I know.” Valerie said.

Eric nodded. “What we need is someone with enough power to shield me. Someone that can get the police to either drop their charges or deal with the consequences of those charges.”

Valerie and Nicole both just stared at Eric waiting for him to continue. Finally Nicole broke the silence. “I don’t think either of us know somebody like that.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. You both mentioned an orphanage that you grew up in. I think that it is time we track down the owner.” Eric said.

“I suppose the owner would at least be rich. I’m not sure why you think they would have enough power to influence the police though.” Valerie said.

“They were teaching orphans cultivation techniques. Obviously that didn’t work. External cultivation doesn’t work in null zones. However, it does mean that they aren’t from this planet. I would be surprised if they weren’t involved in far more than just an orphanage.” Eric explained.

“Let me make a phone call. I requested access to the ownership records a couple of days ago but haven’t heard back yet.” Nicole said.

Eric couldn’t help but grin. Nicole may have some issues but she was efficient. He had mentioned he would like to meet the owner of the orphanage a couple of days before. Apparently Nicole hadn’t forgotten.

As Nicole talked on the phone Valerie drove them away from the bar. They could hear sirens approaching and none of them wanted to be at the bar when the police arrived. Hiding their involvement would be impossible. There were far too many witnesses, including the paramedics. That didn’t mean that they had to deal with the police right that moment. With luck they could meet the owner of the orphanage first.

Fifteen minutes later Nicole hung up the phone and gave it an angry look. “The orphanage records show that it was owned by a non-profit organization.”

Eric nodded in agreement. “What’s the name of the non-profit?” He asked out of curiosity.

“Guardian. Seems like a decent name for a non-profit that runs orphanages.” Nicole answered.

There were a number of organizations and groups that used the word guardian as part of their name. Eric had been hoping that the name would give him some type of confirmation that they weren’t from this world. Unfortunately guardian was a generic word that wasn’t unique to cultivators. It was curious that in this case they had used the singular instead of the plural word. There was also no mention of what they were the guardians of. Something that most groups liked to mention in their name.

“The contact information is for a law firm. They have a local branch, so I guess we can start there? Should I give them a call?” Nicole said.

Eric shook his head. “You said they have a local branch? Let’s show up in person. If we call them it gives them time to prepare.”

“Are you expecting trouble?” Valerie asked.

Eric shrugged. “I always expect trouble. Cultivators that don’t usually die young.” He said with a grin.