Enid snapped awake. The cold water had felt like a slap across the face. Every part of her that was wet stung. She opened her eyes and there were three men and a woman looking down at her. Sun was streaming in from broken windows high above them. Enid couldn’t make out their faces the world was spinning around her. Mariana was also drenched. Enid felt a thin strap around her wrists. The pair were sitting on a bench.
How the fuck did this happen. Shit, I can’t remember ever feeling like this. Fucking amulet. Eyre I’m going to spank you so hard.
Her mind was clouded. She tried to remember where they had been. They had been walking.
“Wow you have to be the dumbest fuckers ever born.”
Enid regretted her words immediately as one of the men unleashed a punch that smashed into her cheek she could taste her blood and feel some of it running down her chin. Then one of the other men waved a gun in her face. It hadn’t been the first time she’d had a gun pointed at her, it was however the first time she’d had a gun pointed at her when she could actually get hurt.
“Might want to show me some respect bitch.”
Enid gritted her teeth. Mariana stopped struggling when she saw the gun. She glanced up at the window. Her face was throbbing. She could see her breath. She began to shiver. It was cold in here, not below zero, but as a pathetic mortal who was soaking wet she started thinking about hypothermia.
She’s trying to figure out what time it is, same as me. Was never good at figuring that out from the sun maybe she’ll have more luck.
“I’m sorry, you seem to have made a terrible mistake.”
“No, no mistake.”
He flashed her a picture of herself on his phone. Enid frowned.
“You’re not being paid enough for this.”
“You don’t know shit.”
Enid sighed and looked around she could see her school bag leaning on a post nearby.
“Look in the left side pocket of my bag.”
Mariana looked at Enid she spoke in Latin.
“Enid please be quiet. We will be fine soon. I will take care of this.”
“We don’t need you. Too bad you didn’t keep your mouth shut.”
He pointed his gun at Mariana and pulled the trigger. Enid didn’t really think before she shoved Mariana out of the way. The bullet burned as it entered her shoulder. Mariana was sprawled on the ground hands still behind her back. Enid saw she was tied with a zip tie. Enid gritted her teeth again to stop from crying out and just shouted.
“Fuck that hurt.”
Mental note: Don’t get shot when you’re in sunlight. It fucking sucks.
One of the men grabbed the one with the gun and spun him around. They started arguing. They were speaking Russian. Enid sighed.
“What are you doing, we need her alive. We can use the other one to keep her in line.”
The man who was talking took the gun and backhanded the one had shot Enid. Enid took a deep breath. And started to flex her wrists. Each small twist sent waves of pain through her whole body. She was used to pain, just not extended pain. She’d been shot, stabbed, burned, thrown through walls, electrocuted. Each one had hurt, but she’d healed quickly. This pain was something she hadn’t felt since she was a child being beaten by her father, the knife wound in her back. Her millennia of living hadn’t made her immune to pain, but she could live with it. Mariana seemed to indicate the sun was going to go down soon. Enid could live with that, but if the humans saw her wound close, she’d have to kill them. She really didn’t want Mariana to see that. Enid spoke in Russian.
“Look in my bag pocket. I’m not trying to be an asshole; I just want you to well and truly understand how fucked you are. So maybe we can come to an agreement where you four walk out of here in one piece and I go to the hospital and make something up about this bullet hole in my shoulder.”
The four looked at each other when Enid spoke in their native tongue. The big one opened the bag and looked at the ID. He showed the other four and they descended into an argument they used some Russian curse words Enid couldn’t translate. She could converse in the language but wasn’t fluent enough to convince anyone she’s a native speaker. Mariana looked up at Enid. Enid shrugged which caused pain to shoot through her arm. She winced. Enid looked up at the window. In ten or fifteen minutes it would be too late. She continued in Russian.
“I take it no one told you that you were being paid to kidnap an undercover cop. Look I get it, I used to be in the military, I cannot tell you how many times I was screwed over by intelligence. You had bad intel, you couldn’t make an educated decision. I really don’t want to blow my cover more then I already have, and you don’t want to deal with a police swat team. They monitor my vitals they already know I’ve been shot. They’ve likely already tracked my tracking device. They’ll be here in…”
Enid glanced up at the window.
“I’m guessing about ten minutes. The drones probably more like two minutes. So, your window to get out of here before you’re in a shootout with well-trained police is about five minutes.”
The one, Sergei, Enid had identified his name from their conversations leaned down. She could smell the cigarettes on his breath. She wrinkled her nose.
“I don’t think so, you’re no cop, you’re a kid.”
He raised his hand to hit her.
“Don’t try it.”
“What are you going to do little girl?”
He swung at Enid who raised her good arm and grabbed his wrist using his momentum and her leg to take him down. She stomped on his rib cage she heard cracks he started wheezing. She reached down and grabbed his gun with her good hand and pointed it at the one she had identified as their leader, or least the one they all listened too.
“Break your ribs and puncture your lungs bitch, because I got my zip tie undone. What’s it going to be, do I start shooting or are you running away now?”
Enid kept the gun leveled at their leader. The bullet wound in her shoulder was on fire. She heard the weezing stop beneath her foot and she looked down he was reaching for her foot. She kicked it under his chin slamming his head into the ground and she heard his neck snap. He wasn’t breathing anymore.
Fucking blood slaves. Waste of flesh.
“Who sent you? Seriously don’t reach for that gun.”
Enid shot and the woman went down. The bullet went through her forehead.
“Two of you, are dead. Do you really want to make it three?”
The leader of the group looked back at the window.
“Soon you’ll see who sent us and you will wish you’d stayed tied up.”
Enid laughed.
“Oh, I thought you were just idiots, now I know you were just working for an idiot.”
“You should not laugh; Our mistress is a goddess among man. She demanded your blood as sacrifice.”
“Hmm guess the police thing didn’t work then.”
“You are a fool you have wasted all the precious time you had left in this world.”
“You’re hopeless and I’m bored of this conversation.”
Enid shot him in the forehead then pointed the gun at the other blood slave and shot him in the head as well. She looked down at Mariana and shrugged. Mariana was looking up at Enid. Her eyes were wide, and she struggled to move away. Enid put the gun in her waistband and reached down pulled the knife from Sergei’s belt and cut the zip tie holding Mariana.
Hopefully she’ll get over it, it’s not like I didn’t give them a chance to get away.
“You, you shot them.”
“They shot me first.”
“Are you the police?”
“No, I was lying trying to get them to run away. How was I supposed to know they were umm, part of a cult?”
“How did you do all that?”
“Umm, I took karate.”
“Stop lying to me, please.”
Mariana’s hand went to her crucifix she started stroking it.
“Is this really the best time to have this conversation?”
Enid glanced back up at the window, she could feel blood dripping down her arm. Her blood loss had gotten worse with all her moving around. She was feeling light-headed. She wobbled and fell down leaning against the bench.
Anytime now sun.
Mariana rushed over and ripped Enid’s shirt showing the wound that was gushing blood at this point. She held her hands over it.
“You did all that with your arm like this? Do not worry Enid, I will keep you safe and I can save you.”
Enid tried to push her away. Knowing what she was about to do.
“I’ll be fine Mariana, we need to go before momma blood goddess wakes up. I’m not really feeling up to that meeting.”
“I can ask God to take away your pain.”
“I’ll be alright soon.”
Mariana blinked as the bullet popped out of Enid’s shoulder and bounced on the floor. Enid cracked her neck and stood up. Enid glanced down at the bullet.
Silver wow, brave.
“You healed.”
“Yes, which is what I was trying to stop those goons from seeing so I didn’t have to kill them, then they went and decided to be blood slaves.”
“You’re a vampire!”
“Yes. Now shush. I smell something.”
Enid could smell it now, there were a several pugmentia in residence in this ruined warehouse. Enid pulled the woman’s coat onto herself to cover up her wound. She leaned in and whispered into Mariana’s ear.
“Get out of here. I’m going to play dumb see what I can find out, but there’s no point involving you in all this business. We can talk later.”
Mariana shook her head no.
“Look the less they know about you the better, if you don’t want to leave go hide.”
Mariana vanished into the shadows just before a motley group of vampires strolled out of the sub floor. Enid stood over the bodies of the four blood slaves. Gun in hand. The vampires paused when they saw the carnage. Enid tapped her finger on the side of the trigger guard. Once they were within twenty feet Enid identified one of them immediately. Demon summoning fifty years ago. She frowned.
What an idiot.
“You will pay for that; How dare you harm my servants on my territory.”
“Lady, they harmed me first. What the fuck is this all about?”
Enid looked over the other four. One was wearing a blue suit, another looked like a street thug, another had glowing eyes and claws. The last shimmered in and out of existence. She could still perceive him. His power was too weak to conceal himself from a vampire her age.
“How dare you speak to me that way, kneel blood slave!”
Enid shot the one that thought he was hiding himself from her in the heart with the silver bullet from the gun. She watched him drop screaming in agony she could see his body start to sizzle blue flames crackling away from the wound in his chest. Wouldn’t kill him but he wouldn’t be waking up for a few years. He twitched and stopped moving.
“You give silver bullets to your goons? Wow.”
There were several hisses from the group. Enid held her hand to her side and shook her head hoping Mariana would get the hint.
“You dare harm one of your betters?”
Enid rolled her eyes and shot the one with the claws in the head. He went down hard screaming and twitching. She shook her head. He was going to need weeks to recover the whole time he’d be a drooling vegetable.
“Lady, do you really think my mistress would have a doppelganger that couldn’t take care of herself? I’ve just incapacitated two of you, killed all four of your goons who were hopped up on blood and the drugs are still wearing off if I wanted you down, you’d be down. Give me your message so you can save those two.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I will drink you dry rodent!”
Deloriss was hissing her fangs were out. The one who looked like a street thug grabbed her arm. He tried to hold her back but was obviously the weaker of the two. Enid using a very limited amount of her potential speed put bullet in each of her knees. Deloriss skidded across the floor she screamed and was biting and clawing at the air. She’d lost all sense of reason at this point. Enid put her foot on Deloriss’s head, she held it steady and took aim. Deloriss clawed at her leg and boot ineffectively.
“Now the question is: Do I her make a drooling vegetable or are one you going to stake her until she calms down.”
The vampire in the wife beater reached out and broke a leg off the bench and approached, he leaned down like he was going to stake Deloriss but then he started to blur and he stabbed Enid in the chest. The stake smashed splintering into a shower of wood when it hit the spot that should have been Enid’s heart. Enid frowned and smashed downwards with her pistol breaking through his skull. He fell to the ground Enid shot him twice in the chest with the silver bullets then reached up and pulled the stake out dropping it to the floor.
“What is wrong you people? Are you that stupid?”
The last standing vampire started to run. Enid grabbed the flailing Deloriss and threw her at him. They both went down and Deloriss’s screeching became muffled as she tore into him. Enid could see blood and chucks of flesh flying. She shook her head, grabbed the surviving piece of bench leg and slammed into Deloriss’s back. Deloriss’s victim was writhing in pain. Enid pulled Deloriss’s paralyzed form off of him. He started to try and claw his way along the ground away from Enid. Enid grabbed his leg and pulled him back. She flipped him over and kneeled on his chest.
“Let’s talk, like civilized people, hmm? Or I can shoot you in knees and throw you in a room with your very angry friend over there.”
He nodded.
“Let’s start with introductions, my name is Enid, I’m a blood slave who is older than the five of you together. In case you have any confusion about what that means: I can kick your ass. Now good sir, what is your name?”
“Keith. I’m one of the Lord’s council.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Councilor Keith. Who is the lord?”
“Daggon.”
“And who’s the crazy woman?”
“Deloriss, Daggon’s spawn.”
“Ah, and does the honorable Lord Daggon know about this little party?”
“No, he told Delorris to leave it be.”
“Did Deloriss or Daggon tell you who my mistress is?”
He shook his head.
“She is the empress.”
His eyes went wide. He started shifting. Enid could see him trying to figure out a way to get himself out of this whole situation intact.
“Did Deloriss say why she wanted to drain me dry?”
“She said that your mistress had crossed her in the past and she wanted your mistress to know she was still here and pissed.”
“Deloriss isn’t very smart. Is she?”
He shook his head.
“Well, I would very much like a meeting with Lord Daggon. Is your phone still in one piece? I’d really rather this whole mess be done with. I really need to keep up with my mistress’s business for me in town.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. Screen was cracked but it still seemed to be working. He went into his contacts and dialed a number. Enid tapped the gun on his chest impatiently. The phone picked up.
“Hi, it’s Keith, I…uh have a dignitary that is requesting an audience with the Boss.”
Enid could hear a woman speaking on the other end of the line.
“Sure, how about the thirtieth.”
Enid shook her head pushing the gun into Keith’s chin and flipped the safety off with her thumb.
“Actually, it needs to be tonight. As soon as possible.”
“Was that a gun I heard getting cocked? Do you need an assault team?”
Enid laughed softly.
“Err, no, just a meeting with the boss. But we’ll need a cleanup crew and transport. There were some casualties at the Fieldman safehouse.”
Enid heard keys being tapped on the other side of the line.
“Clean up and transport enroute. Eta fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Keith hung up the phone and Enid got off him and flipped the safety back on. He stood up and dusted himself off. He eyed Enid warily.
“Thank you, Councilman Keith. Sorry about the suit.”
He nodded and pulled on the bottom of his jacket before fixing his sleeves. Enid could still see the chunks out his shoulder and neck through the tears on the jacket.
Going to take a while for him to heal up.
Enid put the gun in her coat pocket and picked up her bag. She noticed Mariana’s was missing. She smiled. She couldn’t see her sister who was one of the few vampires older than her that were still walking around. Age had its privileges. Enid leaned against one of the posts. She heard tires squeal outside, a door slid open and booted footsteps. She sighed.
Why do they always make it so hard.
“Councilman Keith, you better put them on a leash or a lot more people are going tonight, and you’ll be the first one I target.”
He fixed his tie and hair and waited. Enid stayed there leaning on the pillar arms crossed. The shoulder wound a distant memory at this point. One of the doors was blown off its hinges and six people in body armor carrying assault rifles stormed in. They all took aim at Enid who remained where she was, she looked at Keith. Who looked like he was still pondering what to do.
“Down on the ground!”
Enid looked at the man who was yelling commands.
“No.”
Three of them rushed at Enid, one of them had silver handcuffs. Keith with a burst of vampiric speed intervened.
“Stop. She’s an honored guest.”
The assault team lowered the weapons quickly when Keith showed up.
“Get those four to safety, and dispose of them”
Keith motioned to his vampire companions and then to the four would be kidnappers. One of the assault team spoke into his radio and signaled an all clear. A woman in a black suit jacket, skirt and heels walked in.
“Councilman, your transportation is that way.”
The woman led Enid and Keith to a black late-model SUV. She opened the rear doors for the pair and got into the driver’s seat. Enid pulled her seat belt on. Keith didn’t bother, he opened the center of the seat revealing a refrigerated compartment. He pulled out a bag of blood and started drink it. Enid’s own hunger was clawing at her. She’d lost a lot of blood when she was shot. She fought her instincts to grab a bag and suck it down.
Will eat later.
“Sorry we don’t have anything for mortals in here.”
“It’s okay, I lost my appetite tonight anyway.”
“If I may ask, how old are you?”
“Have you never been told to never ask a lady her age?”
Keith laughed softly; the driver glanced back at the pair in the rear view mirror.
“I am about eight hundred years old. My mistress entered me into her service in 1247.”
“Amazing that a mortal mind that can hold up against so many years.”
“Memories fade. A human mind can’t handle the passing centuries like one of you can. Our brains forget details, faces, names.”
“Ah yes, quite sad for you then to be in such a position.”
“No, I live to serve my mistress.”
“And she hasn’t turned you in all these centuries. Seems like a poor treatment for a loyal servant.”
“I am but a servant, not worthy of such blood, I know my place. I serve a purpose.”
“I wish I could find help that loyal. Humans these days, they are so consumed with technology, or what’s in it for them.”
Keith leaned on the palm of his hand looking at the passing buildings.
“I am sorry Councilman, I did not want to harm any of you. I know where we servants fall in the grand scheme of things, but my mistress told me that I could defend myself if I was attacked.”
“Oh, pay that no mind. Delorriss was far out of line, and you were kidnapped and assaulted, that is against our laws. Especially for someone with a mistress of such status. Had I known I would have staked Delorris before we started the hold sordid affair and told Lord Daggon of her antics.”
“To be honest I thought the goons were just kidnappers who were after money or something. I am associated with someone who is involved in some criminal activities that do cause a few people some anger. I had no idea it was related to vampire business. I only killed them because they shot me and saw the bullet wound heal. My mistress drilled the covenants into my head.”
Keith nodded.
“If only the rest of our servants and associates were so discrete. Do you happen to know what your mistress did to get Delorris so upset?”
“Deloriss summoned a demon, my mistress killed the demon, then tortured Deloriss to find out how she discovered the demon summoning ritual."
Keith started to cough causing a small spray of blood as he choked on his beverage.
“Demon?”
“Yes, my mistress’s husband had sent a letter telling her to summon it. He is upset with her and wanted her to know he was mad.”
“So, she put herself into the middle of a lover’s quarrel between the Emperor and Empress?”
“Technically he’s just the crown prince. She hasn’t declared him Emperor yet. At this rate she won’t be doing that, seeing as he’s tried to kill her on a few occasions, and consequently me.”
“What is the empress like?”
“Well, she looks like me, obviously, she’s very wise, regal, kind of distant.”
“And her husband.”
“He looks Roman. Beyond that anything I say will be biased by my mistress’s opinion.”
“Well, what is the Empress’s opinion?”
“He’s a traitor to his family and his people and need to burn in the sun.”
“Mmm, so why is he still alive?”
“To execute him she’d need a majority vote from the imperial council, and currently they are all abstaining. I think they don’t want to get involved in their fight. It’s been going on for two thousand years you know.”
“What caused the fight?”
“I do not know. My mistress hasn’t told me, she just seems to hate him a lot.”
“Well, the stronger your love for someone, the more hate they can cause in your heart.”
Enid nodded her agreement.
“Thank you for being so open.”
“I love gossiping.”
“I love listening to gossip.”
Of course you do you self-serving prick. You’re just looking for ammo for your personal power plays.
“I do know that if someone were to turn up any info on spies, or servants of her husband she would reward them very handsomely.”
“What rewards has she granted in the past?”
“Oh, she has so much knowledge of vampiric powers. She has spent years hunting down different ones. And so many mystical secrets. Of course, there’s also wealth, mortal power and influence. You can’t imagine the power base she’s built up in the mortal world over the centuries. She has her fingers in everything. With a text message she make governments crumble, or companies rise. She’s very quick to reward loyalty and service. Of course, she’s also just as quick to punish.”
“Punish?”
“Oh, she has a terrible temper councilman. I recall this one time a vampire broke the covenants, she had her seers wipe out every single vampire in the city. There were like forty of them, all in one night. The rest didn’t have anything to do with the actual crime, but a few lied to her. And another time she attacked an entire templar keep herself. Killed every last living being inside to get at a vampire hiding there. The last time I was attacked she killed the vampire who did it, all of his spawn and blood servants. Then five more vampires just to make it clear that she considered an assault on me an assault on herself. She has little respect for the lives of vampires like you. She calls you Pugmentia. I’m told it means trash in Latin. I am actually pretty scared at what she is capable of now that the world is so connected and she has so much wealth and power. Truth be told I like these missions away from her, she’s grown scarier as time has worn on. She has less and less patience for young vampires or even humans.”
Keith started tugging on the collar of his suit.
“That is why I was so insistent I see the Lord as soon as possible. The quieter we can keep this whole thing the better off we all are. If she has to show up… Especially if she found out Delorris was involved after she let her go the last time. She is most definitely not known for being merciful. Delorris is very lucky.”
Enid gave a fake shudder. Keith swallowed another mouthful of blood. Shifting in his seat.
“Well yes, I’m sure we can find some way to make this all go away.”
“I hope so. I mean if the Crown Prince were to find out I was here; Oh she would be very angry.”
“I am sure we can keep this quiet. We don’t want to cause trouble, do we?”
The SUV pulled up in front of an office building. It was one of the skyscrapers that populated downtown Edmonton. The driver opened Enid’s door and Enid slid out and picked up her bag. Keith hurried to catch up and opened the door for Enid, who nodded to him and went inside. The security guard manning the front desk nodded to Keith and buzzed the pair in the ride up in the elevator was silent. The doors opened and after a couple of doors they were in an office with a woman manning a desk.
Pugmentia.
“Go on in, he’s expecting you.”
Keith held the door open for her. Enid walked in and was met by a larger black man, she could tell he was fairly old. His skin had an odd coloring to it, pigment slowly waned over the ages. She’d place him at about three hundred years old. He looked at Keith and frowned.
“You dragged me in here for an emergency meeting with a teenage girl?”
“Lord Daggon, I present to you the servant of her royal highness the empress.”
Daggon’s mouth opened and closed as he looked Enid up and down. Then he nodded.
“I’m sorry, how can the court of Edmonton serve her royal highness?”
“Well, it is how I can serve you Lord Daggon, your spawn attacked me today, I killed her four blood slaves and then incapacitated most of her group of vampires. But there was an assault on my person. That means there were laws broken, my mistress will be very upset by this. She told me very clearly not to bother you or yours while I was here on her business. I have done so and not interfered, but then Delorris interfered with my business. Violently I might add.”
Lord Daggon was very good at hiding his emotions. His face was a very stoic mask. There was the very slightest hint of a frown.
“That… That is very troubling news. Tell me councilman how were you involved in this?”
“Lord Daggon, I apologize for my involvement. Delorris threatened to have me removed from my seat if I dared not show up.”
“You should have come to me with this right away.”
“I did not know who it was she was having us hunt, Lord Daggon.”
Keith lowered his head.
“My spawn, what of her, where is she? Is she…”
“No, My lord, I staked her and she is alive, as are the vampires who accompanied her. She lost control when I shot her in the knees with silver bullets from this, her blood slaves had it.”
She placed the gun on the desk.
“Silver bullets? She had mortals using silver bullets?”
“Yes, My Lord. I assure you I did not know they were silver when I was using it, I thought it was only normal bullets. I would not have guessed any vampire would be foolish enough to give silver bullets to mortals. My mistress would never do such a thing.”
“What would you have me do as recompense for this terrible judgment on behalf of my spawn?”
“I am unharmed my lord, I only wish to be left to complete the tasks my mistress has assigned me your city unhindered by Delorris and her vendetta against my mistress. In fact I’d rather we just all forgot about this mess, my mistress doesn’t even have to know it happened. That would probably be the best outcome for everyone.”
“Yes, the Empress is well renowned for her… very uncompromising, but just enforcement of the laws.”
“Yes, and now that she’s Empress and has her fingers in everything in this modern world she doesn’t even have to leave Russia. I really don’t want to be the cause of that kind of trouble for you or your citizens.”
Lord Daggon nodded.
“Councilman, make sure that everyone who has seen this woman, no longer remembers seeing her, also ensure you keep your mouth shut. The Imperials have ears and if they hear about it the Empress will hear about it and none of us wants that, do we?”
Keith bowed
“It will be done Lord Daggon.”
Lord Daggon looked at Enid.
“I thank you for being so understanding about this unfortunate circumstance.”
Enid bowed as well.
“I am humbled by your wisdom Lord Daggon.”
I feel like I’m going to puke. Oh well, better to fake being a groveling sycophant then having to fight the black sun before we’re ready.
“I hope my spawn will figure out how powerful your mistress truly is after being thoroughly defeated by one of her mortal servants.”
“I hope so as well, my mistress would be very upset especially after she was so merciful the first time Delorris acted against her.”
Enid turned to leave.
“Hold for a moment, did you say the first time?”
Enid turned back towards Lord Daggon.
“Yes, were you not aware that Delorris has attacked her directly before?”
“I was not, tell me what else did my spawn do?”
“She summoned a demon and forced it to attack my mistress.”
“A demon? Is such a thing possible?”
“Yes my lord, I saw it with my own eyes. It was down in the valley in 1985. A full twenty feet tall with flaming wings and claws”
His eyes went wide.
“The warehouse explosion?”
Enid nodded.
“And you say your mistress was merciful?”
“My mistress had assumed it was yourself who had ordered her to attack her. After the letter you received from her husband. So, she sent Delorris to you with a message that she is Empress and the next time there is an assault on her person or property from anyone in Edmonton she would turn it into the next Soddem.”
Enid heard Keith gulp. Lord Daggon shifted in his seat showing more emotion then earlier in the conversation.
“No, I threw that out, I wasn’t about to get involved in a fight between the royal family. I cannot believe she was so stupid.”
“I apologize my lord I should have mentioned this sooner, it would have given some context for tonight’s events.”
“Now I see why you were so concerned about her finding out about the attack on your person.”
Enid nodded.
“Yes, my lord, I fear the damage she could do, after some of the things she’s had me acquire.”
“What kind of things has she had you acquire?”
“I shouldn’t say my lord.”
“Surely it isn’t anything to awful.”
“She had me acquire the locations and codes to launch several ICBM’s my lord. It was surprisingly cheap to do in Russia. I do know she’s still using people to maintain them.”
Lord Daggon’s jaw dropped.
Oh, the look on his face that’s classic. I hope the Black Sun hears about this conversation it will having him jumping through hoops.
“Did she happen to mention what she would do with them?”
“She did not my lord, she is quite capricious. I can rarely predict what her plans are, she doesn’t seem to think in human terms any longer. I guess that happens with age and imperials. Often times I feel like a I’m a pawn being moved all over a board. I have long since given up trying to figure out her schemes she’s often thinking ten or twenty years ahead, sometimes centuries.”
“What other kinds of things has she had you do?”
“Buy a noodle shop in Naha on Okinawa, send a shipment of toilet paper from Nigeria to Australia. Blow up a castle in Germany. Put a pamphlet under a door in the Vatican. Working as a doctor in Japan. It is all very random. Like I tried to explain I have given up trying to understand, I just do what she tells me.”
“What does she have you doing here?”
“So far going to high school.”
Enid shrugged. She had been doing this for centuries spreading rumors of the machinations of the mysterious Empress.
They are eating this stuff up. They’re going to spend decades trying to sort out the scary Empresses’ plans.
Lord Daggon nodded.
“Well, we will leave you to your task then.”
Enid bowed and left the office.