Duke sat up, finding himself in a strange yet familiar room. He stared up at the tapestries that hung on the walls but didn’t absorb the details. Suni was alive… How did no one tell him that she was okay? She was neither tied to his new destiny nor did Verlsa seem to think it was important information. Verlsa had been to his funeral, and she would’ve known if Suni was alright.

Ur was standing right next to him. Her hands were fidgeting together as she bit onto her lower lip. “You’re still not supposed to be here,” she muttered.

“And you’ve been meddling too much,” he replied coldly.

“What?” Ur looked off to the side. “No… No, of course not, but ah, hrm…” She fidgeted some more. “You must understand that’s it’s been a few thousand years since I’ve done any weaving myself. I’ve completely forgotten how everything will fall apart if you’re not careful, and I couldn’t pace myself last time you were here. I had to tie everything up at once and hope for the best.”

Duke attempted to push himself to a stand but realized that his arm was still missing. The videheart implant was doing its job of mending his wounds, and something sour was forming in the cracks of his teeth, but no arm. He let out an annoyed sigh as he struggled to get up, looking much like a weeble wobble as he did so.

“What exactly have you done?” Duke was aware of some of the ties she had made. Most obvious was Mauvori, but then there was Verlsa, Adi, and possibly a few others.

She cleared her throat nervously. “My role is to help prevent world-ending disasters, but there is a high probability that one will happen within this area anywhere from one to five years from now. I thought that perhaps I would use you to help lower the possibility of that happening by having you save Mister Atticus.

Not precisely you, but he was scheduled to die yesterday, and I needed Miss Verlsa there to negate his injuries. However, introducing you to him got Mister Phillip involved, and I never know what he is going to do since his tapestry is a complete mess, but he certainly was going to kill Mister Atticus. That’s why I needed you to hunt down that horrific creature in the woods in order to gain Miss Ah, what does she go by now? Windi? Yes, I needed you to gain her trust to make sure Mister Phillip would lessen his involvement, and secure a meeting between Mister Atticus and Miss Verlsa.

Oh, what else have I done..?” She tilted her head and tapped her fingers together as she thought. “I thought it best that Mister Kenelm were in the area as well, but he moved up his plans to convert humans to jiangshi, so those twenty-three children are now dead because of me.” She grimaced at the thought. “Feel quite horrible about that, especially since I will have to find someone new to run for mayor of Spokane in eighteen years time.”

“... I see,” muttered Duke.

Ur continued to fuss about. “I’m not quite sure how a barghest is involved either, but now there is one. That always happens whenever I weave.” Her gnarled fingers danced about the air as she weaved an invisible string. “Strange things start simply showing up where they weren’t supposed to be. Spirits are not of my realm, and I fear that some other power may have sent that because they know I’m being naughty.”

Duke stared blankly at her. “I haven’t told anyone about you. Is it perhaps the person who put my tapestry on my back?”

Ur immediately shifted behind Duke and began to fumble with his back. “It’s a possibility, but I have my doubts.”

He let out a sigh. At least he had spent the last of his strength getting his revenge, and he went knowing that Suni was somehow still alive. “I’m content,” he said after some thought. “I can rest peacefully, and my work for you is done.”

“Hardly. You still have to fix the little mess I’ve made,” muttered Ur. “That’s what I get for rushing and tying up so many new strings to you at once. Everything should calm down after that, but I’m afraid that I’ve done nothing but cause trouble. I must apologize for that.”

“Then what should I do?”

Ur finished her work. She hadn’t tied on any new strings and was only looking to read his tapestry to see what he had been up to. “Anything I tell you would be further meddling.” She stepped around him again and bowed politely.

Duke looked down at his stub arm and shook it about. “Perhaps there is some other topic of discussion that we can go over until I… Am I returning?” He was certain he was officially dead this time.

“Perhaps. It will certainly be awkward if you wake up and are still here.” Ur suddenly thrust her hand forward, smacking her palm against Duke’s forehead. The world about him faded black once more, and the last sensation he felt was his body striking the hard floor below.

***

The world felt like a cocoon. Neither warm or welcoming, but the kind where his body had melted apart and was slowly reforming together. It was a sensation that Duke had experienced before. As he wiggled his fingers, he could feel the dirt pass easily through them. It wasn’t as compressed as the last time this happened. He was easily able to push his way out of the shallow grave, and the twittering of morning birds could already be heard.

A surprised squeak was nearby, and Kenelm nearly dropped Wu Rensu’s head. “Someone’s up!” He called over Enid, who was the werewolf of his entourage. She picked up a briefcase and walked over, understandably keeping her distances from the vampire. “Don’t wait over there! Go on and give an introduction!”

“We have met,” she replied bluntly.

Duke rubbed at his eyes. The world was so blurry. “I am going to need new glasses,” he muttered.

“So it’s you!” Kenelm snapped his finger a few times. “Duke, yes. Hardly recognized you with all the dirt on your face.” He began to bobble Wu Rensu’s head about, so the jaw flopped open and shut. “This entire investment was a waste! Some hard worker I turned out to be,” he said in an overly fake Chinese accent.

Duke fought off the urge to end Kenelm’s life then and there. He was still exhausted. At least his arm had somehow reattached itself. There was a jagged line where the attachment was made, and the flesh resembled melted plastic and was greenish in hue. Nothing a sleeve wouldn’t be able to cover.

“I can’t seem to remember a thing of what happened last night!” Kenelm continued to bob the head about. “Maybe you could fill in the details?” The head was chucked behind him, and Kenelm gestured a set of fingers between Enid and Duke. Taking a knee, Enid braced the suitcase on her leg so she could open it up and pull out a bottle of elixir.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

She opened it up and handed it to Duke, who began to chug the entire thing. He was instantly feeling better. A moment was taken to relish in the warmth it gave him. Almost alive. It was almost like feeling alive.

He cleared his throat and shook his head to gather his thoughts together. “The majority of them woke up feral, with the exception of a girl named Elyse. We culled the unusable and were speaking with her with a pair of suits appeared. My glasses had been broken by that point. Unfortunately, I did not get a good look as a result, but one of them attacked us with golden energy, and I buried myself while Wu Rensu battled them.”

Kenelm sneered. “Such cowardice.” He then broke out into a grin. “I like it! You understood that the fight was futile, and took your opportunity to survive! That is initiative, and I will buy you a replacement suit as your reward! Enid, what do we know about these people?”

“One of the mages for SIA has control over lightning magic. I mentioned before that it was futile to convert so many at once. Even with the treaty in place, the tribes can do nothing to control the investigation of so many missing humans.”

“The experiments only work if they were all converted at the same time,” muttered Kenelm. “At least, that’s what I was told. We will have to cut our losses for now and change countries again.”

Enid offered a counterpoint. “It would be better to remain in the area for now. Anyone who leaves the area soon will immediately be a suspect.”

Kenelm pouted. “But there is hardly any worthy entertainment here.”

“Pardon the interruption,” said Duke as he raised a hand. “But why the interest in jiangshi?”

Enid’s ears twitched. “We should leave,” she muttered to the two.

She urged the two back to the car, where other members of Kenelm’s entourage were waiting. It wasn’t long before sirens were heard barreling down the streets. Kenelm let his boggart attendant explain the situation to Duke while they drove back to Auburn. Their reason for being here was indeed the creation and selling off of jiangshi.

They needed to experiment how long a jiangshi could last away from their homeland, and if distance played a part. For this, they needed several people of similar age to be converted at the same time. Then they would be given videheart implants, experimented on, and sold off.

Jiangshi surviving on elixir could be used as powerful servants. The supply of elixir could be used to keep them in line, they could kill someone and make it look like natural causes, and they were essentially immortal. Such a creature could be sold off for a high price.

The idea of it made Duke sick to his stomach. He had been warned that mithryn had no place in the world. There were organizations built to keep them hidden, and even demons didn’t accept them. They were all human at one time or another. Being murdered and sold off didn’t seem fair.

Duke was given a soft sweater and sweatpants to wear. While he was changing, he found the envelope of cash that Kenelm had given Wu Rensu hidden within his pocket. Whoever had buried him had gone through the effort to put his arm with him and give him cash. Maybe he wasn’t delirious during his talk with Elyse, and that was Suni.

He excused himself from the entourage, promising to return in the evening. There was the matter of returning Adi’s car, and at least seeing if there was anything he could do about the current situation. Duke doubted it. Everything in Adi’s life was due to Ur’s meddling, but it was better for the both of them that he didn’t mention the demon’s influence. Oracles seemed like nothing but trouble, and he didn’t want anything to do with them.

It was still early in the morning by the time he returned to Adi’s house. He had his own key, and let himself in. Janice was buried underneath a pile of blankets, but Duke didn’t care about that. When he entered the office, he noticed that Verlsa had moved a twin bed in. She was sleeping peacefully on it, and Duke tiptoed past her and to the computer.

Verlsa’s eyes fluttered open as Duke browsed the internet. She reached underneath her pillow, touched her gun, then changed her mind at the last second. “Where have you been?” Duke didn’t say anything. He merely pointed at the screen.

He was streaming in the local news. The anchorwoman was narrating over scenes of body bags being located up in a van. “Several of the students who went missing last Tuesday have been found dead at West Cedar Cemetery. The case is still ongoing, but tampered drugs are suspected to have played a major role in this tragedy. Police are asking for anyone with information to come forward at this time.”

Duke muted the video but continued to watch it out of the corner of his eye. “Twenty-three dead,” he muttered.

Verlsa looked between the screen and Duke. “What d-did… Duck-young.”

“Suni is alive.”

“Now isn’t the time to bring that up.”

“And yet I believe you have had plenty of opportunities to tell me,” he growled back. Verlsa didn’t have a response for that. She merely stared at him. “Suni is working as an agent for the SIA.” Her face twisted even more with surprise, and Duke looked away from her.

Verlsa pulled the blanket more over herself. “I’m not going to tell you anything until you tell me what you did to those kids.”

“I murdered them,” replied Duke, “but I was informed about their tragedy too late to prevent it. There was a group that sought to convert them to jiangshi, and I killed them one by one as they struggled to dig their ways free. The SIA arrived afterward, and I will be contacting Agent Pastor later with the information I have gathered.”

She studied him for a moment, wondering to herself if she should trust anything he had to say. “... I didn’t know Suni was working for SIA. I called her the night that you showed up, and she said that she didn’t want to see you. She seemed to know what happened to you, and she didn’t want anything to do with it.”

Duke also studied her, also wondering if he should trust her words. “... Alright.” He let out a sigh. “Let’s talk.”

“About what?”

“What are you doing here?”

Verlsa frowned. “I lost a job opportunity and needed the extra money, so I’m staying here while renting out my-”

“Don’t… Do not give me some well-thought excuse,” muttered Duke. “For years, all I have had from you is an address and a yearly Christmas card. Before that, there was that check you left behind to cover your half of the rent. I hadn’t seen you or heard your voice in over six years, and now you are here pretending that you need my help? Why is that?”

She looked away from him, letting out a fake laugh as she did so. “I’m not human.”

“And I’m dead,” he replied harshly. His tone did much to hurt her feelings.

“I’ve had to pretend that I was human my whole life, Duck-young. My body had started going all weird as I matured, and I freaked the fuck out. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want you to know.” She frowned all the harder as he gave her a stern look. “I wasn’t going to drag you into this world. It’s not a safe one.”

“And it would have been my choice if I had wanted to be a part of it or not. Instead, I was murdered and forced into it.”

“I had no way of knowing that you were going to die,” she hissed between her teeth. “I’m here because I really do need a place to stay while I rent my place out. I don’t know where I’m going yet, but I’m moving out of Washington. I like living as a human, Duck-young. I don’t want to get caught up with the demon court, or SIA, or DH, or any of that.”

Duke looked down at the carpet. “You’re here because you will be permanently cutting contact from me, and you wanted enough time to say goodbye.”

“... Yeah.”

He spun the chair towards the desk and began to tap away at the keyboard. “If you will excuse me, I need to research a few items of interest. I will be leaving sometime in the afternoon or evening. There are still some actions that I wish to take in this case before I am left satisfied.”

“Yeah, of course… I’ll go wake up Adi and tell him that you’re here.”

“Thank you, Verlsa.”

Duke waited for her to leave the room before he buried his face into his hands. He could barely make out the screen without his glasses, and it was a miracle in its own right that he managed to get here without crashing into anything. Though he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate even if he could see.

A part of him thought he wasn’t able to feel pain anymore, yet the only thing he could experience at this moment was agony.