"You should not have done that Sebastian, the only reason the Emperor indulges in your absurdities is because of you power" a female voice barked some where in the background. "What's done is done Aveline, I have little patience for the Empire or it's rules" Sebastian retorted. "As expected of the last of the Council of Magi, to arrogant, to powerful to understand the fears of the common man" the female barked back. "You should have erased her mind, or never bothered to break the taboos" the female voice lectured. "Your taboos are meaningless, intent and purpose, it is the mage who defines the magic, not the magic that defines the mage, besides from what I have gleaned there is something terible happening in this city, and I'm going to put a stop to it" Sebastian's deep voice retorted with a lecture of his own. "What of the girl then, if the Inquisition has there way she will be erased" the woman sighed in frustration. "I have already taken that into account, I will take her as my apprentice, they will not risk incuring my wrath. "Very well Sebastian" the woman sighed in defeat.

Elizabeth had woken to the sounds of Sebastian arguing with another woman, for once she wisely ignored her inquisitive nature and remained in bed. It was not hard for her to figure out that he had used a sleep spell on her, though the why bothered her, it was easy to imagine a being as powerful as Sebastian erasing her from existence to protect his secrets. She could not think of a good enough reason to risk becoming know as a necromancer by the rest of society, the Bureau would happily pull the strings of every mage in the Empire to kill said individual. Though from the heated discussion she could gather the man was no simple Bureau investigator.

Elizabeth tried to hide her being awake as the door suddenly opened as the pair stepped in side, "I know you're awake, now sit up" the woman comanded in a firm tone. She complied readily, the woman standing besides Sebastian looked out of place next to his highly fashionable suit. She had long blonde hair and wore a military style uniform, black trousers bloused into knee high polished boots, an officers coat worn open in a manner that emphasised the leather corset she wore openly. On one hip she carried an officers saber, on the other a large caliber revolver. "Elizabeth Blackwell, my name is Tabitha Short, you can hereby consider yourself sworn to secrecy in his Majesty, the Emperor of Tiberia's, service under penalty of death" the woman stated in a militaristic tone before doing an about face and walking out of the room.

Elizabeth stared at Sebastian dumbstruck by the imperial edict that had practically been yelled at her by a woman who's appearance was some where between that of an office and a harlot.

"I realize this may be difficult for you to accept, but you will find it a pleasant alternative to death" Sebastian spoke to her with a seemingly sad smile. "What did you mean by apprentice when you two were arguing, I've already graduated from the Imperial Academy of Magical Studies and Artifice" she inquired furrowing her brow. "Hahaha, those hacks couldn't teach a dog to urinate, my dear you will soon find that magic is far more powerful and terrifying than you have ever imagined, and you'll wield those powers as naturally as you breathe" he chuckled as he held out his hand to her. His smile was warm and infectious, she couldn't help but be swept up in his pace as she took his hand, "as long as you don't expect my to call you master" she chuckled.

After last night and this morning's encounter with his handler Sebastian could think of nothing more than breakfast and invited Elizabeth to join him. The two of them shared a spread of scrambled eggs, rye bread, a hearty vegetable soup, and a slice of aged cheese. She had only known the man for a little over a day and he had inviter her for a meal twice, were it not for the recent circumstances, she would think he was trying to court her. Part of her thought it was a shame he wasn't and instead decided to focus on the matter at hand.

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"What were you able to learn, I assume that's why you, returned to the scene of the crime" she had to forcibly pause before the last part to find the right words.

"One of the three victims was a man nammed Jacob, I believe he was either an arcane researcher or an artificer, he was working on something for his killers but couldn't stomach it any longer. What ever it was they are working on it involves planar beings, at least that is my guess. I was also able to determine that the murder was only an underling of the one's in charge" he explained as she absorbed every detail. She was impressed by the amount of information he had gleaned in a breif few seconds, even if it was gathered by a means she neither approved of nor understood.

Elizabeth thought for a moment, "I'll have the archivists pull any files and records with the names Jacob and have them focus on researchers and artificers when I return to the office, should narrow it down". "I'll trust your judgement in the search, I have to visit the office in a bit and introduce myself to your boss, though I'd rather not" Sebastian complained.

"What do you mean you lost him" Maxwell yelled at the two men before him. "Just like we told you sir we tailed him to the hotel, then he got a carriage to the pub, we saw him walk in but even after an hour he didn't come out so I went in just in case, and poof nothing" the man replied. "Urgh, just don't fuck up again, I want to know everything that goon from central does while he's in my district, now get out an find him" he yelled slamming his pudgy fist onto the desk. What ever central was doing was bad news for him, he didn't need one of their agents turning over any stones an finding pests. As far as everyone was concerned Tiber was a quiet city, and he needed it to stay that way, that murder case needed to be swept under the rug, easier to pin it on the usual suspects so the citizens could relax.

Sebastian hated Bureaucrats, he saw them as little more that parasites growing fat off the hard work of others. Always speaking but never saying anything of value, just platitudes and placation for the mindless masses. The current man incoherently rambling about the importance of cooperation between office branches and giving Sebastian's investigation his full support was a born and bred bureaucrat. Just being in the same room with the pudgy beady eyed man made him feel the need for a shower, or the desire to set the man on fire, either would have been fine with him.

"Were you able to discern anything from the crime scene" Maxwell inquired. "The murderer is likely a skilled mage, though I still have more evidence I need to look over" Sebastian explained dismissively. "I see, keep up the hard work, I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it soon" Maxwell kept any suprise he had deep down.

As Sebastian wandered around the office he took note of the various "talents", no one in particular seemed of note, there was only one other person whose power matched Elizabeth though they reeked of incompetence.

Elizabeth was flipping through a stack of files when Sebastian had found her, there were thirteen files piled on her desks of various thickness. "Find anything useful" he inquired. "Not yet, but I've at least got a list of addresses written down for us to check out, how was you meeting" she replied off handedly. "The man's a snake dipped in grease, I'd perfer never to have be in the same room with him" Sebastian replied eliciting a chuckle from her. "We've a long day ahead of us, I'll have a carriage brought around, you can read those files while we grab lunch" the man's stomach had to be a botomless pit, still eating on his dime had its perks. "Very well" she replied taking his offered hand.