“Never negotiate without a stick.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Magnus***

This time I chose the grey SUV to drive to the place where the Veil was activated. It's not the most refined way to show up to a meeting between two clans, but I like to have some armour around me. The SUV was completely rebuilt by an Italian company which specializes in armouring private cars. I also added a little magic to the armour and the safety features. This time they can shoot a rocket at me and I wouldn't even flinch.

“It's strange. Now that I think about it, I've never met other residents inside your apartment complex. Though there are a lot of cars in the parking area.” Sely hums, musing over the thought.

“That's because there are no other residents and all the cars belong to me. The entire complex is mine. I bought it because of the view,” I answer the implied question.

She rubs her temples. “Why am I no longer surprised? Does your territory hold any other secrets which I am unaware of?”

It's my time to laugh. “A lot of them! Too much to be shared in a short amount time. You will learn about them piece by piece.”

I switch to a lower gear and allow the SUV to slow down. Whoever irritated the Veil did so in a place where no people are around. At least they had the presence of mind to choose a meeting place that can be reached by modern means.

Our destination is an area where my Veil would intersect with two others, so there is a large neutral area instead. The Veils are required to have a roughly round or oval shape. It's a problem of the spell which generates the Veil. It would be too much effort to create a Veil with the strange shape of a human country. Not that we Old Ones ever cared about that.

So the neutral spot which we are approaching now, is the area where my territory would overlap with the Italian Bacellos and the Slowenian Tsches. “I hope that we will be able to understand your parents? How old are they?” Some of the clan-heads are ancient, and for some reason, retarded enough to refuse to learn new languages. They bark in some ancient, guttural tongue and spoil every chance at having a decent round of insulting each other.

Sely's expression darkens. “I don't know. My mother never told me anything about herself, except for the fact that she is a Rhonu. And father is old. At least as old as your aunt. But don't worry. Both of them speak Akkadian.”

“That's good.” At least they know the international language among supernaturals. I shudder at the memory of grandfather Hatlix. I always had the silent suspicion that he was some kind of missing link between us and the dinosaurs. He howled and hissed and clicked like some animal, not bothering with any form of consonants. Without Dad, nobody would have had any chance of understanding him.

I hope I’ll never get that old. My brother even voiced the silent suspicion that Grandpa isn't speaking a real language, but uses some primeval way to convey his feelings. Something that was used before real language was invented.

The SUV leaves the forested area behind, reaching the height where trees yield their reign to grass and bushes. That's when I spot the three helicopters which had landed on a small plateau just outside the Veil.

Sely stretches herself to get a better view. To my dismay, the heavy combat gear on her doesn't allow for any deep insights. I insisted that she wears armour.

“I think the two in the centre are Cecilia and Gavin. The fifteen guards around them aren't all from the Hammons. At least nine are from our servant clans.”

“Servant clans?” I muse.

She blushes. “Sorry, I am used to calling them that. They are from the four smaller clans which were subjugated by the Hammons.”

I nod, not happy at the thought that their vassals are willing to lend a helping hand in offensive operations. “So how many Old Ones do we have to face in case of a war?”

“I am not sure of their actual numbers, but they can't have more than fifteen people per clan. Otherwise Gavin would have serious problems to keep them under control. It's still dangerous because they could unite and challenge the Hammons. So not more than eighty to ninety people all together. Halve that, because of the non-combatants. In addition, I don't think that everyone can fight. And they need people to guard their territory against neighbouring clans. I would say that those fifteen are everything they can send comfortably without weakening their own position.”

I slow down the SUV and stop it a few metres away of the Veil. “I am fairly sure that they could force their way through the Veil if they put their mind to it. But they will be weakened and easy picking on our side. Just remember that you are still not permitted to leave the territory.”

She clenches her teeth at the implied fact that she has limited freedom of movement.

Then we get out and approach the Veil, stopping two metres in front of it. The couple also moved forward and so I get my first look at Gavin and Cecilia. I can immediately tell that Sely's black hair comes from Gavin. He is tall compared to his wife. Sely’s blue-green eyes come from her brunette mother, who is a small woman with European and Hispanic features. Cecilia's shapely body combined well with Gavin's height, giving Sely the perfect proportions which I fell for. Annia on the other hand is more on her mother's side of the equation.

“Isn't your display of force a little poor to be counted as a welcoming party? Is that everything that's left of the Bathomeus? No wonder that you are hiding behind your Veil.” Gavin's eyes scan the mountain range, looking for additional threats.

“It's enough for the likes of you.” I show him my teeth with a savage grin.

Gavin tilts his head, considering. Then he dismisses me as unimportant. “We want our children back. And the artefacts. They belong to us.”

“I used them as an endowment. One might think that I get something for being wed off to another clan. It isn't my fault that they didn't take me in the end,” Sely replies.

I watch Sely's mother. She seems to be interested in everything, the bushes, the mountains, but not in our conversation.

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Gavin's eyes flash red in anger. “The Horus is priceless! I would never give something like that to a misbegotten female like you. It's enough. Cecilia, do it.”

The woman who looked like she wasn't paying any attention to the conversation directs her eyes at Sely. Then she speaks with power in her voice. “Come here, child.”

I purse my lips, offended by the fact that they would fall so low as to try that. Every female Old One has a limited amount of mental influence on her offspring. The experience of being on the receiving end is very unpleasant. That's why it's frowned upon to use this ability so blatantly. On top, it doesn't last long and also loses strength the older the offspring gets. Since the control is by no means perfect, it's very likely that children who are abused regularly by such means will stick a knife into their parent's backs sooner or later.

It's really not that impressive, except for stopping little children from doing something stupid. But in regards to controlling kids its every parent's holy grail. Especially if the kids are able to throw lethal magic at them and don't comprehend what they are doing.

Sely's leg twitches forward, but she stays where she is. From the corner of my eyes I notice her face turning red and a vein on her temple bulges as she fights the command. It's good that we didn't take Annia. The girl would have walked right to her mother’s side like a zombie. Cecilia must be really powerful if she still has that much effect on Sely despite her daughter's age.

“Who says that she is allowed to leave?” Reaching up, I close my hand around Sely's neck and send a small jolt of energy through her system to break the control. She visibly deflates and steps backwards, slightly behind me.

Gavin returns his attention to me. “She is mine. It's my decision to use her as I please. Or do you want to compensate me somehow for my losses?”

I decide to give in to my instincts. The wish to bite through his throat had grown ever since he dismissed me as unimportant. Maybe he hoped to spare his own forces by using his servant clans as guards, but that will cost him dearly. If I make his shortcomings obvious, then he might soon have his hands full with staying in control of his assets.

“Weakling.” I snarl at him, offering the ultimate insult to a clan-head. “You can't even keep your own children under control. Your own people are running away from you. And then you insult me by violating my territory and trying to assassinate me. Nobody enters my territory without my permission. I'll take your artefacts and your daughters as compensation. I'll allow you to leave now.”

Gavin steps closer. “You are so lucky that offensive magic doesn't work through the Veil, or I would teach you a lesson.”

“Aren't you the one who didn't learn his lesson? You sent eight men into my territory, and only one returned because he ran like a dog with his tail between his legs. How is he, Gavin? Was it bad for his health to force his way through the Veil by himself? He must have been scared witless to risk it.”

“These negotiations are obviously at an impasse. Ready yourself, child. Cecilia, we leave.” He turns around and walks back to the helicopters. “Yes, Gavin.” Cecilia stops her study of the pebbles on the ground to follow him. The guards also retreat.

Sely kneads her fingers. “That didn't go well.”

“As well as I expected. He even threatened me, so I don’t feel bad about what comes next.” I turn around and head back to the SUV, where I open the car's spacious boot. The helicopters are already speeding up their motors, so I have to be fast.

Sely watches me, gaping, as I pull out the large chest and open it. The Veil may stop offensive magic, but this is an item of pure physics.

“Is that a bazooka!?”

“Damn right you are! I was waiting to return them their favour with the rocket launcher!” Stepping around the SUV, I level the tube at the retreating Hammons. One of the guards screams, but I've already pressed the trigger. The rocket shoots out of the launcher, hissing towards the helicopter which is about to be entered by Gavin and his wife.

Warned by the guard, they throw themselves to the side just in time. The helicopter, along with its pilot, isn't as lucky and a rain of debris covers the area, combined with a huge explosion. Then the guards draw pistols and I've to pull Sely behind the SUV. The bullets pepper the car while I am reloading the bazooka.

Sely shakes me at the shoulder. “What the heck are you doing!? Now they will be on the warpath!”

“Pah! Do you really want to tell me that Gavin would've given up? He said I should prepare myself. I’ll certainly not lean back and wait for him to come up with a nasty plan. I was in war with them from the moment they entered my territory in force.” I arm the second grenade and take a quick peek around the SUV. Showing my head is immediately rewarded with at least a dozen bullets. The sound of the gunfire tells me that one of the fuckers brought an SMG.

When I stand up for the second shot, I aim over the SUV's roof. I am forced to fire quickly without knowing where Gavin is. Our guests pressed themselves into the remaining two helicopters and are lifting off while they empty their guns at my car. I pick one retreating machine at random and fire.

And suddenly the lights go out.

When I regain consciousness, I am on my back. Sely is slapping my cheek, calling my name. And I've a migraine. A bad one. “What happened?”

She holds up the small fragment of a bullet. Just a part of the tip. Amour piercing by the looks of it. “You took that in the forehead. We have to communicate better. You should have told me how to use the launcher. They were gone before I managed to reload. Though it would have been unlikely that I had managed to hit them anyway.”

I take the fragment and inspect it. It's a first that I got shot in the head. Isn't that normally accompanied with some form of memory loss? Maybe it happens only in cases of severe damage. “Why can't you use a bazooka? It's the only weapon which is sure to take down an Old One.”

“Because there are several types of those things. And I had other stuff on my mind than to train on all of them. Especially not some strange model from the second World War.” She pulls at my hand and helps me to my feet.

“I thought that it wouldn't be so bad to use up my leftovers on them. Restocking perfectly fine equipment isn't one of my favourite things to do. Who gives a shit about modern safety features?” I study the carnage. Two helicopters are destroyed, but there are almost no casualties. One wreck is on the plateau with us, the pilot's pieces all over the place. Another seems to have crashed a hundred feet further up the mountain. Sadly I don't see any casualties. “I guess it would be asking too much that I took out Gavin?”

She shakes her head. “I don't think so. Some survived the crash of the second helicopter and fled on foot. I couldn't do anything to stop them because I am caught inside the Veil.” Sely is surprisingly calm, given that I just tried to kill her parents. She didn't understate her relationship to them when she gave me her life-story. They aren't more than names to her.

“That's good.” I don't want her to pursue them.

“So what now,” She huffs.

I click my tongue. “Now we'll make some calls and pile up so much shit in front of Gavin's doorstep that he'll wish he never started this.”

Sely taps her fingernails on the SUV, looking at me with questioning eyes. There is no need for her to ask for further explanations. Her face says everything.

I simply answer the implied question. “First, we will call your mother's clan and inquire if they are happy that their former member is being mindwiped by her husband. Better to do this anonymously, because I intend to laugh at them. The more they are provoked the better. Then we will use Annia's supernatural.com to give the whole supernatural world an exact idea of what awaits their women if they marry into the Hammon clan or their allies.”

“What do you mean? Cecelia is mindwiped?” Sely's expression falters.

“Didn't you notice? The way she studied the scenery and was interested in everything other than the negotiations?”

Sely's cheek twitches. “She was always like that. Distant, focused on her own thoughts.”

I nod. “Right. Until Gavin told her to command you. And after she gave her command, she went right back to studying the pebbles on the ground. Because they are sooo interesting! That's no normal way to act. Maybe you never thought about it because you don't know her in any different way. You grew up with her. Did it never cross your mind that doll-Sely wasn't the first of Gavin's experiments? Maybe Annia and you aren't experiment one and two, but five and six? You said he already has four wives. Are any other women in his clan acting strange?”

She looks at me with a blank expression, then her eyes focus on the horizon in an attempt to recall every interaction she ever had with her mother. Suddenly her eyes flash red and her chin quivers with barely controlled rage. “Bastard! He is a bastard! Why I am so stupid! Why haven't I seen it? I've...”

Her hands fall to her sides. In an attempt to calm down, she exhales and inhales a few times. I give her the time to regain control. The last thing I need now is a raging Sely who tries to break the Veil in an attempt to hunt down her father. Finally, she turns around to get into the SUV. “We've to get away from here. The humans will be annoying if they find us with the helicopters and an antique rocket launcher in our boot.”

I nod and take the driver's seat. I don’t comment on the fact that my beautiful SUV looks very suspicious. Almost as if a dozen Yakuzas with various semi-automatic pistols and rifles decided that my car is an affront to the world. I am so glad that I chose the solid rubber tyres.