Kass shook her head. “She was cremated I think, why?”
“You’re thinking blood magic?” Amanda asked Wolf.
Wolf nodded. “While I was reading about methods to help Lily I came across some reports of witches sacrificing their own kin to extend their lifespan, often by faking their own death first to lure blood relatives back home.”
Kass shook her head. “I saw the autopsy report. She’s definitely dead. Heart attack apparently.”
“Maybe one of her creepy animal people jumped out at her,” Zephyr suggested with a twinkle in his eye.
“Maybe she saw your face,” Cat drawled back.
Amanda casually raised her beer glass to her mouth. “Weren’t those all just rumours the humans made up way back in the old days. About how witches were all evil because they ate their own babies in exchange for eternal youth and such?”
“Mmm, some of them were true though.” Wolf replied with just the slightest of smiles.
Amanda frowned and sipped her beer thoughtfully.
Indi, having finished her cocktail, helped herself to a glass of beer and then refilled Falco’s nearly empty one.
“Would it work then?” Amanda asked Wolf,
“Sacrificing blood relatives for youth?”
“Well for life, like in Lily’s case? When she’s already been necro’d.”
“Yeah, but it’s diminishing returns and you’re still only extending the turn.” Wolf frowned. “We went over this.”
“The relative part doesn’t help?”
Wolf shook his head. “Not enough and you don’t know where her father is anyway.”
Amanda sighed and nodded. She set down her beer glass, closed her eyes and rubbed her face. When she looked up again she said, “Coal knows about her.”
“How?!” Cat exclaimed. “How does he know about everything all of the time?”
“Magic!” Indi splayed her hands wide and grinned.
Cat remained unimpressed.
“I had another idea,” Amanda said. “Not for Lily, well probably not...”
“Definitely not,” Sirius interrupted firmly but quietly. Kass had noticed him hunch slightly at Amanda’s last comment, as if trying to curl into a defensive posture like a hedgehog. She wondered what it was that he seemed so opposed to.
“I was thinking about those kids in the house. Maybe if we just turned the clock back a little-”
“No.” Wolf interrupted. His slight smile vanished into a deep frown.
Amanda shut her mouth and looked across the table at him.
He stared firmly right back.
“It-” she started up again.
“No.” He repeated his earlier word but softer this time.
The rest of their conversation was finished with an exchange of looks until Amanda seemed to resign herself to a loss for now.
“Wait, are you talking about time travel?” Falco, who had only just caught on, asked.
Amanda met Wolf’s gaze again.
Wolf didn’t blink.
Between the pair of them, Sirius seemed to relax.
Amanda sighed and shook her head. With a glance at Falco she replied, “It doesn’t matter.”
"So, what are we going to do about Lily then?” Falco asked.
Amanda met Wolf’s gaze again. “Keep researching?”
Wolf nodded.
“Great plan. Truly astounding,” Cat remarked in a dry sarcastic tone. “This meeting’s been very productive.” She stood up and glanced toward the door.
“Wait!” Indi exclaimed. “You haven’t even heard what I found yet.”
Cat sat back down but she didn’t look much more enthused.
“So you know how I got all that data from the facility where we found Lily?”
A few nods of remembrance were had around the table.
“You mean the stuff you nearly died retrieving?” Wolf asked with an amused raised eyebrow.
Indi nodded. “That’s the stuff.” She brushed her collarbone gently with one hand. She still had the bruises around her neck, although they were pretty faded now. She’d spent the last week wearing a lot of turtlenecks and scarves. As if shaking off the chill the memory put in her she placed both palms face down on the table and in way too a happy voice remarked, “Well it was totally worth it.”
Kass could read straight through her. She figured a few of the others probably could too. But she said nothing.
Indi let her words sink in for a moment. But once Amanda and some of the others were starting to give her expectant looks she continued. “So it turns out that particular account belonged to the IT guy which is super fecking useful because he had documentation on a whole bunch of employees that weren’t listed on those other documents we found, like even some of their notes and personal files, and probably some stuff he shouldn’t have had, but good for us he did right?”
Cat tilted her head back and let out an exasperated sigh. “What was in the data Indi?”
“Well, that’s what I’m telling you.”
Anyone could tell that Cat was getting impatient but Indi seemed to be enjoying dragging the story out just a little too much.
Cat narrowed her eyes.
Indi grinned. She liked the attention. All eyes on her.
Falco gave her an ‘I know what you’re doing look.’
Indi glanced down at her cocktail as if contemplating going and getting another one before continuing.
She must have thought better of it. In between sips of beer she took them through everything she’d found in the decrypted files.
“So, let me get this straight,” Zephyr summarised once she’d finished, “The facility is owned and operated normally by the government of Mercy...”
“Well, a branch of government,” Indi corrected. “I don’t know how much the rest of their government knew about it.”
“...and one of the people in charge of the oversight of this facility, Argo whatshisname—“
“Mortimer.”
“—leased it out to another politician, our father of the year, Cornelius whatever—“
“Whipperton.”
“—What a name! Who used it to try and resurrect his dead wife and daughter. Have I got that right so far?”
Indi nodded.
“And pretty much everyone in the facility, including the soldiers who tried to kill us, were just fuel for his necromancy spell, except for a handful of scientists and Trevor, who, what was Trevor’s purpose?” Zephyr asked.
“Well, I think the scientists were also maybe supposed to be a part of it too. I don’t know. I’m not sure. That part wasn’t clear. They seem to have had their own motives anyway. Trevor was a materiokinetic with some experience casting necromancy spells. Apparently some of his victims he brought back to life over and over just so he could torture them some more.”
“Wait,” Cat interrupted. “Hold up. This high class politician and self-professed family man from Mercy, hired a serial killer to help him resurrect his family?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Indi nodded.
“Why not just hire a necro?”
“Disposibility maybe?” Amanda suggested.
“Then why hire Coal? Why us? That’s not subtle or disposable. Not to mention, the hundreds of sacrifices.”
“Probably required even with a necro,” Amanda replied.
“He probably couldn’t get this kind of power in Mercy,” Indi explained.
Amanda nodded and gestured at Indi in agreement.
Indi beamed.
“We’re distanced enough from Mercy,” Wolf added. No one will notice a couple of people disappearing from here. They might notice hundreds though.”
Cat frowned and looked at Amanda. She asked seriously, “Do you think Coal sold us out?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you think his actual agreement with Lily’s father was?”
Amanda shook her head again.
“Where do you think he’s gone? Lily’s father.” Sirius pondered aloud.
Amanda glanced toward him.
“Maybe he doesn’t know where we are?” Indi suggested.
Cat shook her head. “His deal was with Coal and if he knows where Coal is then he knows where we are.”
Still looking at Sirius Amanda said, “We should do a scrying spell for him.”
Cat frowned. “Why haven’t we done that already?”
Amanda glanced from Cat to Sirius, to Wolf, and then back to Sirius again. Finally she turned to Cat. “Because it requires Lily’s blood and I’m still not sure I want to do that.”
“Injuries can speed up zombification,” Wolf added for context. “Even something as little as drawing blood.”
“You don’t need blood though do you? From her I mean,” Kass asked. She’d seen scrying work with other bodily components, saliva, seamen, once an entire fingernail. However, the latter had only worked because ripping them off someone to find the rest of their family seemed to prompt them to remember their loved ones whereabouts, especially when they thought you were going to be able to find them anyway. The actual fingernail scrying attempt however had been a colossal failure. That’s why it had taken four nails. In theory scrying could be done without the subject’s DNA but theory didn’t always match up with practice. She’d never seen it done successfully but she’d seen it tried many times.
Kass didn’t really want to be recalling the details of the war tactics her ex-comrades had used over a decade ago though so she swirled her wine and tried to focus on the conversation at present.
Wolf sighed a little and rocked his head from side to side. “You could use hair as the information component but it’s not as effective.”
Amanda nodded. “We might try. Hair is easier and safer to get. Coal’s convinced the guy’s in Witchaven.”
Sirius did a double blink. Evidently Amanda had mentioned that piece of information to him yet. “What makes him think that?”
Amanda hesitated. “Well technically what he said was that someone who crawled out of the facility rubble is in Witchaven.” She shrugged. “But given the way the place went up, who else could it be?” She finished off the last of her current beer, and then refilled her glass.
“If he’s in Witchaven we should probably leave him there,” Kass remarked.
Cat frowned. “What’s the issue with Witchaven?”
“They don’t like witches,” Wolf answered.
“So? They’re humans, they’ve got no magic, and they can’t tell what we are,” Cat replied.
“Didn’t stop them doing damage back in the day,” Wolf said. “And they especially don’t like vampires.” He nodded at Indi.
“Or werewolves,” Amanda added giving him a pointed look.
“Yeah but I’m less noticeable. Don’t forget, before the great splice they used to burn redheads on sight. Rumour has it, Witchaven still has the occasional bonfire.”
Kass shook her head. “It’s not the humans that are the problem. It’s the HPL.”
“HP what?” Cat asked.
“Human Protection League,” Kass explained.
She frowned as Cat mocked her with a yawn. She added a little more information regardless. “They’re originally from Mercy, but they span wider than that these days and they have agreements in hundreds of regions. Anybody who harms a hair on a human’s head answers to them, doesn’t matter if it was accidental or if you just happened to be in close proximity when it happened. They are ruthless. They were set up after the splice to protect the humans who chose to remain here, and later also those who accidentally ended up here. They regularly monitor what’s happening in human settlements such as Witchaven.”
“Why do they call it Witchaven if it’s not a haven for witches?” Indi asked.
“Probably because it’s supposed to be a haven from witches,” Zephyr explained.
“Seems backwards to me.”
“You’ve just described most human settlements,” Wolf remarked. “Technologically speaking a lot of them are still stuck in the late 1600s. They haven’t progressed a day since the worlds were split.”
“Whatever you might think of them, Kass is right,” Falco said. “I’d rather go up against the aristocrats, the sorcerers, and Mercy combined, before I’d want to have to go up against the HPL.”
“You’ve dealt with them before?” Kass asked.
Falco nodded. “Briefly.” He took a swig of beer and then added. “More than once and I don’t much wish to repeat the process.”
“Anyway,” Amanda said between mouthfuls of her own beer. “I don’t think we need to head out there right away. If it is him he’ll likely stay put at this point. It could also be a human who was intended as one of the sacrifices but they're unlikely to go anywhere else either. I’d rather we saw this house thing tidied up and figured out what we’re doing about Lily first.”
“Hang on,” Zephyr interrupted. “Can we jump back a bit because I feel like there’s something very important that we haven’t discussed yet.” He turned to Indi. “Before the facility was leased you said they were doing experiments on people?”
Indi nodded and shivered slightly at the memory of what she’d seen.
“Does that not concern anybody else?”
“It’s concerning,” Amanda replied although she didn’t look very concerned at all.
“Mmm,” Falco nodded in agreement. “We have video evidence that Mercy was doing experiments on humans, witches, vampires, werewolves, even a chikari.”
Cat frowned. “Underground? I thought they needed sunlight to survive?”
“Probably had UV,” Wolf answered.
Falco continued. “None of that is going to go down well with anyone.”
“What do we do with all this?” Kass asked.
“Nothing,” was Amanda’s reply.
“Nothing?”
Amanda nodded. “The place is destroyed, they don’t know we were there. They don’t know about Lily. The less we get involved with any more of it the better.”
“You aren’t worried they’ll just start up again elsewhere?” Falco asked.
“Not if they need a splice hole,” Wolf said.
He caught Amanda’s eye and she nodded.
“It’ll take them awhile to get that place unburied. Plus most of those scientists are dead,” she added.
“People still deserve to know. Those people had families,” Falco reminded her.
“So did the scientists.”
He gave her a disbelieving look. “That’s beside the point.”
“Think of the political repercussions,” Kass interrupted in a quiet voice.
But it made Falco pause and contemplate. Then he sighed and nodded.
Amanda replied, “Maybe in a few months Indi can put the videos on the internet anonymously. If it makes sense to do so. But not right now. Not when it’s just happened and not with how everything is at the moment.”
Indi perked up at her name. Falco gave a resigned nod.
Everyone else remained quiet.
“Right,” Amanda glanced toward the back room, where a few people were starting to file through to. “I think that about covers everything for now.”
As if on cue, one of the freshers the barman had been talking about early, caught her glance and called out with a sneer, some seedily wriggling eyebrows, and a lick of the lips, “I hear you’re some kind of local legend. Ready for a thrashing?”
Amanda turned back to the table. With a grin she remarked, “I’m gonna enjoy this.” She slid off her bar stool and glanced at Sirius. “I’ll see you at home.” Then she grabbed her glass, one of the remaining jugs, and headed for the back room, where she handed over some money to the barman at the door.
The others watched her go.
“Dare I ask how she’s getting home later?” Cat inquired of Sirius.
“She said she’d phone.”
“Bullshit she will,” Cat replied.
Sirius shrugged. “Well she doesn’t have the car. She’ll probably just hire a horse from Lemmy’s.”
Indi frowned. “You can hire horses in town in the middle of the night?”
“It’s the Little Rock taxi service,” Zephyr replied. “You steer the horse where ever you want to go. Once you get there you let the horse loose and it finds it’s way back. They’re like homing pigeons.” He frowned. “I thought you’d used Lemmy’s before?”
“Yeah, once or twice,” Indi replied, “But not at like, the middle of the night.”
Wolf nodded. “He works weird hours. It’s if you want a horse at 8am you might struggle.”
Zephyr shook his head. “Nah, often his wife is up earlier in the mornings. They do shifts, or sometimes the son if he’s home visiting. I borrowed one at 9:30 once. The days are a bit random though. Sometimes they’re just shut.”
“It’s a smart idea really,” Falco remarked. In a different voice, and with a wide grin, he said, “But officer, the horse is sober.” He topped up his glass and then handed the jug to Zephyr who did the same, finishing off the last of the beer.
“Did you know it’s actually physically impossible to get a horse drunk,” Indi told them. “Their body metabolizes it too fast so the horse is always sober, even if it’s been drinking.”
“Thanks for that Indi,” Falco replied with laugh in his tone but fondness in the look he gave her.
“The police actually support the whole thing,” Wolf told him. “Since it keeps less cars on the road. Less cars, less chance of dragons.”
Cat scowled. “Until you get a dead horse in the middle of the road because the rider’s too drunk to steer properly.”
“Except that’s not an issue if there’s no cars,” Falco pointed out.
Cat narrowed her eyes further then in a sickly sweet voice she said, “That’s funny, I could have sworn I heard you say you wanted a ride home tonight?”
Falco swallowed. “You know what, on second thoughts, cars are great! They’re sleek looking and you can go from A to B in almost no time at all. They even double as a house when you’re on the move. I was named after one you know?”
“Mmm hmm, I know.” Cat’s eyes were still narrowed but she gave an amused smile.
“Laying it on a bit thick there aren’t you?” Zephyr asked.
Falco snorted in objection.
“Speaking of getting a ride home in a vehicle that doesn’t go 20 km an hour, are you lot ready to head off?” Cat asked as she got to her feet.
“Hang on,” Indi slipped off her stool. “I’ll just go to the bathroom.”
Cat rolled her eyes and sat back down. “You want a ride Wolf?”
Wolf shook his head. “I’ll run.” He got to his feet, stretched then after a nod of goodbye he headed for the door.
“Sirius?”
Sirius shook his head. “Got the car.”
“That thing still runs?” Cat raised an eyebrow.
Sirius nodded.
Falco turned to Zephyr. “You know we could go to the range? Shoot some shit?”
“Oh yeah,” Zephyr started to nod along in agreement.
Cat stared daggers at them. “I’m not dropping you off at the range after you’ve been drinking.”
“We haven’t had much,” Falco replied but he was obviously in a much looser state of mind than he had been when he walked in the bar.
“How would you even get home?” Cat asked.
“Mmm, good point,” Falco conceded having not considered that far ahead. “Another time then I guess.”
Zephyr nodded. Then after a moment’s though he said, “You know what does outdo cars though, teleportation.”
“Yeah if you can afford it,” Falco quipped back.
Zephyr sighed. “They could just build a permanent link.”
“What? Between the bar and your house?” Falco snorted.
Zephyr shook his head. “Or somewhere nearby. You know some of the bars up in the foothills give out teleportation bracelets.”
“Yeah, they also charge the equivalent of a new car for the drinks,” Cat complained.
“You don’t even drink,” Falco remarked.
Cat shrugged. “Pretty sure they charge for water too. The stuff here is free.”
“Yeah, and who knows where they get it from,” Falco chuckled.
“You know they had a murder out there recently,” Zephyr remarked. He was as bad of a gossip as Indi was.
Kass was about to ask him how he knew that when Indi returned from the bathroom.
“Ready to go?” Cat asked.
Falco, Zephyr, and Indi all nodded. There was a couple of ‘see ya's’ and ‘goodbye’.
“Good.” Cat nodded her head so they’d filter out before her. She glanced back to the table to say her own good bye then paused a moment as she registered who was being left alone together.
Sirius seemed to sense her thoughts and started to get up. Kass glanced at her watch and did the same.
Seeing they appeared to be leaving too, Cat turned and followed the others out. As the bar door swung open, Indi, Falco, and Zephyr could all be heard continuing their excited, slightly drunken conversation.