Bro. John agrees to come by, he offers to bring beer, he doesn't really trust you on beer just yet, you are American after all.

He's a half-hour away as you're preparing everything, getting ready for not doing too much this afternoon when the phone rings.

(Rapport 3) Krystal calls, and for a split second you worry over what's likely to be a fight over the events of yesterday.  Only this time it doesn't.  She's glad you are ok, and judging from the sound of her voice over the phone, you believe her.

The call is going so well, as you see O'Riordan's beat up old truck bouncing up the road, you ask her a question that's been on your mind.

We'll talk about coming once you get the house fixed up.  I know you, capable of doing the job, but you'll put it off without incentive.  So there's the incentive.  We'll talk about visiting once the house is in order.

As the old preacher tells you later, while knocking back beer and eating steak, it wasn't a "No" and that's a small victory at this point.

After discussing Krystal's phone call, I move the conversation towards somewhat more pressing matters.

I don't know if Sergei's told you anything about what happened yesterday at the warehouse, but both he and you have told me that you're cleared for it, so here goes.  Levy and I ended up taking down a, well, I still don't know all the terminology just yet, so I guess I'll borrow some from my kid sister's video games.  We took down a Black Mage yesterday and he'd called up some sort of demon.  I think I heard the blue guy or somebody else call it a walker?  All I know is that it kind of scares me.  I shot it in the face, hell, I blew half of his head off and he STILL kept cussin' at me and tryin' to do the same to me.  And right before he exploded and set the buildin' on fire, he vowed revenge on me.  So, I guess what I'm askin' is how much do you know about walkers and how serious of a threat is this?

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 2):

Never seen one, few have,from what I understand.  Walkers are often called demons, but that isn't accurate. They're creatures from somewhere else.  I think the term is Outside.  Outside what, I don't rightly understand.

Nothing from there is gonna be a slouch.  Some of that stuff is the very substance of nightmares.  But you held it off.  You drove it off from this existence.  It can return eventually, I don't know the rules.  But I can help if you need it.  Magic won't work right, but faith does wonders against them, almost like God never intended them to come here, and takes great personal offense when they do.

Let me ask around, I'll see what you can do to beef defenses, be ready.  But, shite, John, if yer gettin' nasty buggers like a walker so pissed they're holding a grudge about it, I'd say yer doin' something right.

I grin a bit, maybe even sheepishly:

I reckon that's what Marines do best, we grab 'em by the short 'n' curlies and twist 'til they're howlin'.  But seriously though, I'm not worried for myself.  I don't know how much this thing knows.  If he knows about Krystal and James, how can I protect them?

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 4):

Tricky. If you don't want the family to know, then special protections are difficult. You could get someone to watch over them, but that doesn't work well either.  Which leaves favors.  Contacts.  You can get well known, so connected everyone would be afraid of going after your family.

Or get a powerful member of the supernatural to owe you a favor.

Find someone strong enough to give them protection, not that I know anyone who fits the bill.

You think a leprechaun would be strong enough to keep a walker at bay?  And as for Krystal knowing, I'm still on the fence about that.  I'm not sure how she'd react to me moving from Bossier PD to Interpol's X-files division, especially once she found out that this stuff is real.

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 6):

A leprechaun? A real one? Rainbows and pots o'gold?  I have no idea. Seems to me though, a leprechaun isn't one for toe-to-toe brawlin' but sneaky, and probably able to run.  At least that one on the commercials can, otherwise he'd turn around and beat those little brats fer tryin' t' steal 'is lucky charms.  Hoodlums.

Yeah, I know an honest-to-God leprechaun.  And I can't believe that I just said that, looks like Williams is bucking for a Section 8...

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 8):

Long as you don't start wearing ladies' clothing, I think we're ok.  Faith, that's what you need here. That thing won't be back today, or tomorrow, we'll think of something.

Ha, so, in other words you're sayin' to shut up and grow a pair, right?  Ok, I think I can do that.  But, no battle was ever lost by having too much good intel, so I want to learn as much about my enemy as I can so I can be better prepared for him next time.  Any suggestions where I should start lookin' for information?

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 10):

If you want peace right?  This is a little out of my depth.  On the other hand, you work with Sergei Mikhailov, who left the KGB because it was too tame and started going after the supernatural world by himself.  If he doesn't know, he'll know enough contacts to get you in the right direction.