“What do you mean you aren’t willing to make a new contract? We had a deal!”

“We did, Donovan. But things have changed.”

“What things?” Donovan demanded.

The amorphous face looked away from the communication dish, likely conversing with someone out of view. The morphling nodded and turned back toward the silver pool. “Our end of the bargain has been completed. You have used the dimensional gate twice to escape issues within your own realm. But there are fears it has hastened the instability of ours.”

Donovan scoffed at that excuse. “You have been using this ability to hop across planes of existence for millennia, and now you’re afraid of it? What changed?”

The normally unreadable morphlings were open books for Donovan, and he saw genuine concern in the waxy face. “There has been an increase in seismic activity in the upper realms. Some feel that this is a sign everything is going to collapse.”

Donovan tapped his fingers on his desk. Ever since he had run across the trapped morphling, Ixitil, he had known of the upper realms. Although labeling them that way was misleading. They were simply the planets yet to experience the collapse. He had leveraged that knowledge to move between these planes and contract these higher life forms. It was where most of his power came from.

“And what about my other contracts?”

“They are still in place. You will be able to summon your bound minions from whatever plane they hale from. But once summoned they will not be allowed to return.”

A one-way trip… He could work with that. Although he would need to ensure anything he summoned died here or was summoned far from California. It would not do to have his more dangerous summons learn about the limitation and take revenge on him.

“Fine,” he finally ground out, unable to do anything about it anyway. “What about more spies?”

“All realm travel from our world has been banned until our scientists come up with a way to stabilize our world. I am afraid you will need to find a new source of operatives. Now, I need to go.” The sending dish went blank after that curt dismissal.

If Donovan had been prone to outbursts of anger, he would have scattered the magical device across his study. Instead, he took a few deep breaths and covered the bowl of elemental mercury. The enchantments went dark as they were denied light.

Losing his spies was certainly a setback. Although he already had an alternative, if his son ever figured out how to give loose souls the ability to act outside of a magic circle. The fact that Lord Norman had figured it out was used as motivation for his son. But sometimes motivation wasn’t enough. He supposed he should just be happy his son managed to bypass the blood oath on his spells. But Donovan was never happy with half-measures.

He decided it was time to play the Kalia card as an additional incentive for his son. The fact that she was gone had been kept from him for this very reason. Knowing that she had gone over to Ashvale, would infuriate his son. Perhaps enough that he would finally focus enough to make a breakthrough.

As Donovan stepped outside his mansion, a car and driver were already there waiting for him. He stepped inside the luxurious limo and the door shut behind him.

Unlike some of the councilors, he preferred the old way of traveling when not heading toward the Council chambers. And despite the extreme waste of powering a car with mana, it was worth it. Especially now that former Councilor Sharina was back. Since she no longer had her council seat, it was easy enough to put her to work on keeping his assets powered.

She had lost all of her power base when she lost her seat, but that didn’t mean she was useless. Perhaps in time, the other members would agree to reinstate her, but he doubted that. Most of them were greedy little bastards who hoarded the little power they thought they had because it gave them a sense of control that was lost when the economy collapsed.

He had forced the Council to make an exception for the new Councilor of Mind Control. But that was different as she was not located in California and thus didn’t contend with their holdings. And the portal mage, that Sharina had recruited, took over her old seat. Although he wasn’t given any area of control like the other councilors. The seat had been given to him to tie him closer to the Council.

Soon the car arrived outside of Vincent’s house. Donovan stepped out and frowned at the state of the grounds. Weeds were poking up through bushes and it didn’t look like anyone had maintained the grass in weeks. Just because he was busy with his research, didn’t mean he should allow his servants to get away with this neglect. If this was Donovan’s estate, he would have fired every one of them and removed their souls as a lesson to their replacements.

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But this wasn’t his house. Managing it and the people who worked for him was meant to teach Vincent responsibility. That didn’t mean Donovan would let this disrespect continue though. If his son didn’t deal with them, then he would.

A rather hurried-looking gentleman opened the door and bowed to Donovan. “Apologies, Council Leader. Had we known you were coming, we could have prepared for your arrival.”

He eyed the man with distaste. After his son’s defeat at the hands of Lord Norman, Vincent had rid himself of all undead servants. That might account for some of the lack of upkeep, not that it absolved them of the state the mansion was in.

“Where is Vincent?” He asked pointedly, ignoring the man’s excuse.

“He is in the circle room, would you like me to fetch him for you?” The man asked nervously.

Instead of answering, Donovan strode past him and into the house. His frown only grew as he passed dusty hall after dusty hall. And there wasn’t another person in sight anywhere. As he neared the circle room, he could hear giggling through the open door.

He stepped inside without making a sound, his face taking on the business-like mask he presented during negotiations. His son lay naked on a blanket spread over the spell circle. And he wasn’t alone. There were at least five equally naked women around him. The giggling was coming from the one whose neck he currently had his face buried in.

Donovan cleared his throat and Vincent’s head whipped around. “Father! …I didn’t know you were coming by today.”

“Out,” Donovan said in a calm but authoritative tone.

The naked women gathered up what clothing they could and sprinted past him and out the door. Judging by their outfits, they were all maids.

He placed his hands behind his back after shutting the door.

“So this is how you wish to waste your time?”

“It’s just a bit of harmless fun,” Vincent responded as he dressed.

“Harmless fun… And what if one of those women becomes pregnant?”

Vincent shrugged.

Donovan blurred across the intervening space and backhanded his son across the jaw. His half-clothed son went spinning across the room and cracked his head against a bookshelf, only to crumple into an unmoving heap against the floor.

He let his anger settle for a moment before dragging the corpse back into the circle and activating it. Reviving his ill-mannered son meant there was one less maid to clean the house, but that was Vincent’s problem to deal with.

***

Vincent jerked awake with a surprised intake of breath and scrambled to his feet. “You.. you fucking killed me.”

“I did. And I will do it again if you ever take that flippant attitude with me. Now get dressed, we have important matters to discuss.”

After a bit, his son joined him in the study.

Donovan didn’t bother turning away from a book he was studying as he heard Vincent plop down in a chair and pour a drink. “You find this waste and excess acceptable?”

Vincent started to scoff before thinking better of it and changing it to a cough. “I am merely resting and recuperating. You haven’t let me leave here until I succeeded with your task.”

“Something Lord Normann could have done in weeks, I imagine.”

His son growled and the glass he was holding clinked loudly against the table. “I am nothing like that upstart bastard.”

Donovan chuckled and closed the book he had been reading before turning toward his son. “Obviously. If you were, perhaps Kalia would be with you.”

“What is that supposed to mean? What does she have to do with any of this?”

The hook was set, time to reel in the catch. “Oh, you haven’t heard? Your old flame has decided to warm Lord Norman’s bed.”

“What!” Vincent shot out of his seat, fury in his eyes. Although he was smart enough not to aim that anger toward Donovan.

“Can you really blame the poor girl? Lord Norman is quite the catch. The man built an entire kingdom and slapped his name on it. And what have you done? Other than debase yourself for a bit of self-gratification.”

“No, no, no, NO! He must have brainwashed her or something. Can’t you just go in and save her?” His son asked, looking at Donovan pleadingly.

Donovan scoffed, crushing Vincent’s dreams. “Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t. Why should I subject the girl to a failure? Someone who can’t even figure out simple spells. Maybe if you start pulling your weight again, I will think about removing her from the clutches of Lord Norman. Until then, I suggest you work hard not to lower my opinion of you anymore.”

He saw his son’s resolve firm up and the man nodded at him. “I will not disappoint you… Father.”

It was hard not to smile when he won. But Donovan schooled his face and nodded at his son in return. “You can start by figuring out his spies.”

Vincent brightened at that. “I have a theory. I think he’s using ghosts or some form of ghost to spy on us. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“And you’re sure they aren’t listening in now?”

Vincent shook his head. “They can’t get in past the wards. It prevents all undead from stepping inside.”

Well, that explained the living attendants. “And the Council Chambers?” Donovan asked.

“I believe the newer wards are sufficient to keep them at bay. But I won’t know for certain until I can test it with our own ghosts.”

Donovan plastered a fake smile on his face and patted his son on the shoulder. “I knew you had it in you, you just needed some motivation. I’m proud of you son.”

He could feel just how much impact that statement had on Vincent as the man stood a little straighter.

“Now I don’t want to get in your way, so I’ll be going now. I’ll come to check up on you in a week… if you haven’t already exceeded my expectations by then.”

“I won’t fail you, Father.”

“I know you won’t, Son,” He replied before exiting the study.

As soon as he was out of sight of Vincent, he let the fake façade of a proud father drop away. His son could never fail him because Donovan already saw him as a complete failure. He expected nothing would ever come from the boy and any small victory he received was just a bonus.

As he strode out of the mansion, past the crying but hard-at-work staff, his mind whirled with alternative plans to replace his spies. There were always other options. Although none quite as good. He turned toward Ixitil before entering the limo. “Have you made contact with the Empire yet?”

“Yes, Council Leader.”

Donovan smiled. “Good. I think it’s time I introduce myself.”