An hour later they were on their way towards the ancients quarter. The place where people from Realms like her own Hellenic Realm and the Roman Republic lived. Helena would live here, among those from similar realms, if it weren't for the fact that a number of people wanted her dead. If nothing else her dress finally blended with the crowd, except for her witch's hat. And the satyrs, maenads, and centaurs here were distracting enough that nobody was even noticing Acedia. Unfortunately she didn't have time to reminisce. She had a lot to do and little time to do it before the conclave.

"I should have guessed that the fallen angel was important," she muttered. "We should have been investigating it as soon as I learned about it."

"Well, like, we didn't know about the other murders until just now. It still doesn't make sense either. I mean unless our killer wants a matched set," Camila said. The woman had dropped back into her usual speech as soon as they'd left the building.

"It might not even be related," Acedia muttered. "Fallen angels go on murder sprees for fun."

Helena paused, then nodded. "You're right. While it's foolish to assume coincidence, it's foolish to rule it out as well. For that matter it's very unlikely this is the act of a single person or group. We should treat it as two separate disasters until we learn more. Thank you Acedia."

Acedia folded her arms and looked away. "I just pointed out the obvious."

"Sometimes things are only obvious in hindsight," Helena replied. "And either way you figured it out first so you get to gloat. Or refuse to gloat."

The demon shook her head, but her frown seemed a little less harsh. Maybe she was relaxing a bit.

"Anyways we know now, and I got a job! Kinda," Camila said.

Helena glanced at her friend. "I can't complain because we need the money, but are you sure you want that job? I was ready to turn the place into a pig stye. And will they be willing to accept that you can't tell them everything? Because there's stuff we can't let out."

"If it comes down to you or the job I'm picking you," Camila said. "No worries." She gave her shrug. "And it's the best job I can get. I can't do a lot of stuff with this body. It's writing or lifting heavy things. And my best writing is art critiques."

"Art critiques?" What did that even mean? She knew about the play contests, but that seemed like something completely different.

Acedia raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that where you insult someone else's art to make a point of your own?"

"Only if you don't like it." Camila said. "If you like it you praise it to make a political argument. At least if you're doing a good critique. These days it's mostly about teaching rich people art history in a couple thousand words so they feel smart and cultured."

"You arrived here two months ago," Helena pointed out.

Camila chuckled. "And I only took a year of classes before I died. But that's what I have to offer. Outsider perspective! After all, I'm an outsider everywhere now."

The last words were light, but Helena felt the hurt there as well. She nodded slowly. Helena knew what it was like to be an outsider in your home. "I hope it works for you then."

She turned back towards the street just in time to see a woman in a brown robe hurrying down the street straight towards her. Quick reflexes allowed her to spin out of the way, but the oblivious woman sped right past her into Acedia. The demon woman wasn't as fast, and Helena winced as the two collided hard.

Helena and Camila moved forwards to pick the two up. The robed woman Helena lifted off the ground seemed still stunned, either from the impact or because she was looking at a demon. "Watch where you're going," Acedia muttered.

The robed woman bowed deeply. "Sorry! I'm terribly sorry, revered one!" Apparently the woman had been touched by the gods.

"Uh, just don't do it again," Acedia managed to say.

"Thank you for your mercy, revered one!" The woman replied before hurrying off.

Acedia shook her head as the woman moved back into the press. "Satanists."

"Wait, there-" Camila caught herself and shook her head. "Nah, I shouldn't be surprised. Of course there are actual Satanists. Anything I should know since we've got angels and fallen angels running around?"

"I don't know much," Helena admitted. "No true magician would bother with that nonsense, and I avoid those realms. From what my friends have told me, they don't have access to divine power, so they make up for it with summoned demons and numbers."

Acedia shook her head. "A lot of demons treat them like a joke too. Let them use bad rituals until a critical moment, then abandon them. It's kinda sad."

"That's pretty mean," Camila agreed.

"Strange that she was in this quarter though. Or maybe not. They won't have the same reputation here," Helena mused. She carefully tried to memorize the woman's thin face just in case they needed to track her later. A hair or something would have been better, but that would be breaking the rules. And that wasn't worth doing even if she had something more than paranoid suspicion. "Well we'd better hurry. The evening rush will start soon."

They continued down the streets, Camila guiding. The woman had a great sense for maps. Or maybe she could just see better over the crowds. "What are we looking for anyway? I figure Kilduff will have all the evidence, and even if he missed something the alleyway probably has been cleaned. Even the slums back home don't leave bodies lying around."

"I know," Helena lowered her voice a bit. "I'm going to ask the victim directly."

Acedia caught on immediately. "Necromancy. Uh, I guess I'm supposed to encourage this or something. But this isn't really the best time."

"Yeah seems like something you're supposed to do in the dead of night," Camila said. "Broad daylight in an alley seems wrong."

"I'm strong enough to do it, no matter the time." Probably should tell the full truth. "And I'm trying to make the spell weaker. People who died violently usually have aggressive ghosts. People who were murdered by a fallen angel probably will be even stronger. I'm certain I can keep it from hurting any of us, but if it's too powerful it might hurt someone in the area. Summoning it during the day should keep things safe."

Camila nodded. "Good enough! Though I don't know what the person who died will think about it."

"He shouldn't be too upset about that. He was from the Roman Realms so it's not like I'm going to be interrupting anything important. I just need to remember to call Hecate 'Trivia' and it should be fine," Helena replied. "That's one reason why I picked this spot to investigate."

"What's the other?" Acedia peered up the street. "That big batch of dark energy?"

Helena took a deep breath, letting the miasma coming off the place spin around her left hand. "Exactly."

Camila hopped up trying to get a glimpse. "I don't see anything there but a fountain. Looks like it's got a lot of rusty coins in it."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Not coins," Helena said as the fountain finally came into view for her. "Curse plaques. You write a curse on the tablet and throw it into the fountain. If the gods accept it, the plaque sinks. If they reject it, the plaque floats."

"And they use metal to help it along?" Camila chuckled. "Well that's one way. How many times has a plaque floated?"

Helena waved her finger in admonishment. "It happens sometimes. Remember there are actually gods involved. As well as magicians. My family uses cork."

"How is your family still alive with that much arrogance?" Acedia looked insulted for some reason.

"It's not arrogance," Helena protested. "We're just showing our faith. Besides we precast the curse part. We mostly just ask the gods for help targeting when we use that method."

Camila hummed in thought. "A lot of your magic stuff is figuring out how to target somebody isn't it? It's why you had to smack that guy to turn him into a chicken."

The jiang-shi woman was very perceptive. "Yes. That and making the spell safe. Hitting someone with an attack spell, no matter how weak, allows the curse to target the person and shows magical dominance over them. Slapping him would have worked as well. It's much easier to manage than the old method. Getting random people to eat something you offer them is hard when there's a market every few blocks."

"How terrible." Acedia didn't look sad at all.

"In any case the curses here should help me if things go wrong," Helena finished. She stood on her tiptoes to try to get her bearings. "Where's the next turn?"

Camila pointed to a block up the way. "There and then next left."

"Thank you." Helena let Camila lead them the rest of the way.

The alleyway was cramped but sparse. Not too surprising, a murder here would make people superstitious. But there wasn't the normal chill of death here. Perhaps the light of day concealed the dark deeds committed. Or perhaps the victim had been caught by surprise. Without terror and pain there wouldn't be much psychic distortion, and no lingering death curses. "This is the right place?" she asked.

"Yep. Right on the map." Camila flipped the map around so Helena could look herself.

"Good. I didn't want to go through the whole ritual in the wrong alley." Helena took off her hat and reached into it for her ritual goblet. "Keep an eye out so we aren't disturbed."

Camila shifted uneasily. "Lotta people looking at us strange."

"Looking is fine. Just don't let them break my ritual." This was another benefit of doing this spell during the day. People doing necromantic rituals during the night usually got the attention of the police. During the day she could take refuge in audacity. "Don't let anyone in until after I've summoned the ghost."

"I'll stand in the alley and let them trip over me," Acedia muttered. Helena was really starting to think all this travel was helping the demon a lot. At the very least her sarcasm had a little more bite.

Still she needed to focus on the ritual right now. She reached back into her hat and pulled out a flask of good wine. A single smooth motion filled the cup halfway. She left out the water, since her 'guest' wouldn't appreciate the ritual. From her pouch she added a dollop of honey, then she pulled out a thin sharp knife.

She grit her teeth and with a quick motion lightly slit her right wrist. She squeezed her hand in a fist, letting blood fall into the cup.

"Vixe Maria!" Camila rushed to her side, but fortunately didn't interrupt her. "Why the hell'd you do that?"

Helena frowned at her friend. "The spell needs fresh blood. You don't have blood and Acedia's won't work. Besides, we shouldn't encourage her to cut herself."

"That little cut will heal before you bleed out anyway," Acedia sighed. "It wouldn't have worked even if I was human."

"You both got issues." Camila swapped her disapproving glare between the two. It was amusing how overprotective she could get. "Next time maybe make a cut that's less disturbing?"

"I'll consider it. Now let me focus." Her friend grimaced but stepped back. Helena checked that there was enough blood in the cup before healing the wound. She wiped the remaining blood off her arm, then lit the rag she'd used on fire so it couldn't be used against her later.

She set the cup down on the ground then traced a double circle around it. She didn't bother with her own magic, instead tracing a prayer to Hecate between the lines. That would serve to both summon and bind the ghost, and if it failed she could use her own power to fix the mess. But she trusted her goddess in this.

The prayer completed, she began the summoning ritual. In the ancient language of Thebes she intoned, "Cornelius Gaius Maximus. I call on you. I offer you a drink. In the name of Hecate, who you know as Trivia, I summon you from the realms of the dead. Come to the realm of the living once more and speak with us."

As the calling finished the miasma in the area slowly began to spin around her offering. But it was strange. Ghosts were creatures of emotion, but there weren't any strong emotions here. Had she made a mistake? Or was the spirit so far gone a simple spell like this was too weak?

She was about to add some power to the ritual when a wisp of energy rose from the ground. First one, then another, lazily drifting together like the spirits on o-bon had. She stepped back and raised her defenses as the wisps gathered enough to form a face, but the ghost didn't bother to test her defenses at all. It just moved forwards to the cup and sipped at the bloodied wine.

"What power," Acedia whispered behind her with wide eyes.

"This ain't normal?" Camila asked quietly.

Helena shook her head, all the while keeping her eyes on the spirit. "No. But it's not me. Our guest doesn't seem to have any strong emotions. Which is pretty damn hard for a ghost. Especially one recently dead."

The ghost stopped drinking and Helena readied for a struggle, but it made no hostile movements. Instead it looked her in the eyes, it's dead white eyes strangely content. "I thank you for the drink, priestess of Trivia," it said in Latin. "However it would be wrong for me to overindulge even in death. Perhaps especially in death, for my life has little meaning now save for my virtues."

"Can you do that language thingy?" Camila whispered. Helena nodded and tossed a quick translation charm on the jiang-shi.

She then turned her attention fully to the ghost. "I am glad you liked the drink. If you would be willing, I would ask you some questions. We seek the man who killed you."

The ghost nodded, and again Helena was confused. Ghosts this young were never this calm about dying. "Priestess, no man slew me. It was a monster, horrific in appearance. It was made of flesh, but flesh strapped together by a madman, not sculpted by the womb. Its head was that of a bull, with horns of a goat, and it had wings like the carrion birds that tear at the liver of Prometheus. In the early evening as I returned to rest for an early waking it came upon me. I was slain with but a single blow. Past that I remember little."

A body of raw flesh? Helena wracked her mind for fallen angels like that, but she quickly gave up. This wasn't her field. She'd bother the priests and angels about it. Still it sounded strange.

"Sucks that you got murdered just because you wanted to get up early," Camila said lightly. "No good deed goes unpunished."

"There is bitter humor in it," the ghost agreed. "Perhaps my friends were right when they said I was devoted too much to moderation. But when I was alive I was strong and healthy for it."

Acedia leaned against the alley wall. "Gula would have been so upset with you."

The puzzle all clicked together. "Temperance. Of course." She focused on the spirit. "Tell me, did the monster seem to appear out of nowhere?"

"Yes. I was lured here by the gleam of something from within the alley, but I had not set foot within when the thing appeared behind me," the spirit replied.

Helena sighed and rubbed her hands together to try to gather her thoughts. "Thank you Cornelius Gaius Maximus. You may return now, or when you finish the wine. Your words have given us much insight into our foe."

"Thank you priestess of Trivia. May your words bring Justitia's judgment upon this killer." And with that the ghost was gone. He hadn't even finished off the wine.

"So... what exactly did we learn?" Camila asked.

Helena picked up the half full cup. "He was temperate. Abnormally temperate. And we had a fallen angel that acted just like the angel we were hunting." The pieces were just too similar to ignore. "If we assume the cases are related it's obvious. Someone's building a fallen angel, by murdering people that follow the seven virtues."

"Well. Shit." Camila's smile vanished. "And the massacres?"

"The fake angel is built out of steel and silver. This one seems to be built out of flesh and blood." Helena shivered thinking at how messy the process must be.

Camila shook her head. "Looks like we're gonna have to kick a lot of people in the head."

"It seems that way. Maybe we can get some help at this conclave." Helena glanced at the wine cup. There was no getting around it. She had to get rid of the stuff. "Here." She offered it to Acedia.

"What?" The demon stared at the cup.

Helena offered it again. "Someone needs to get rid of it. And Camila's probably not comfortable drinking blood." The jiang-shi's ill expression made it very clear Helena had guessed correctly. At least undeath prevented her from being really nauseous. "I understand if you don't trust me, but I figured I'd ask before doing the ritual to get rid of it."

Acedia hesitated then took the goblet. "Uh, thanks." The demon downed it in a single shot.

Camila shook her head. "I'm not sure if that was nice or really creepy."

"Both," Acedia said as she handed back the empty glass.

"Both," Helena agreed. "You should get used to that. Witchcraft tends to walk the line." She tossed the cup back into her hat, letting it fall though reality into the kitchen sink back in her apartment. "Now, let's get ready for the conclave."