Dangerous, Diabolical

“Are you here for the investigation Mr Grahame?” I asked sweetly.

He’d returned to glaring and ignored me completely. “Stan, I need to talk to you outside.” Leo nodded in response. Stan? Of course, Leofstan. I watched them leave quietly, shutting the with a snick and standing behind it, before resuming their conversation as if the flimsy door had magical soundproofing qualities.

“I don’t trust her. If she came face to face with the Revenant, and one of his abominations and lived,” he stressed the word, “then either she’s more powerful than she’s letting on, or defending him.” Did moving to a corridor to gossip ever work for anyone?

“She’s ripped to shreds, he could’ve thought she’d be weak enough for an easy target.”

“Or the opposite.”Grahame reasoned. Interesting, so the dude in the store was the one hunting the magical community?

Whoever was under that hood was the whole reason the dead were rising, and the pesky council members were multiplying in the area. Willow was going to shake leaves loose when she found out I’d seen the mastermind behind it all in the flesh.

After a brief silence, Grahame dispelled it. “What are you not telling me? You saw what was left of the wolf shifter, if he didn’t have an interest before, he does now. If she’s packing power, he wants it.”

“So you’re saying Celandine is either his next victim, a case of wrong place wrong time, or she meant herself to be there.” Said Leofstan, the voice of reason. “It could be she was always going to be his next victim but my arrival caused the perpetrator to abscond. It was exactly like the other scenes, there was no presence of a magical signature.”

“Because there was never an attack!” Grahame argued.

Leofstan said “I gifted her with three of my bespelled amulets, the one of which alerted me to magical attack against her person, and a standard shield that could have easily deflected a few of his blows before shattering. Hence surviving until I arrived.”

Good theory, except Willow had the shielding one.

However, Grahame grunted in agreement. “And the third amulet?”

The conversation halted.

“A warning charm linked to myself, that I could trigger remotely,” Leofstan told him, omitting where it was now from the conversation.

“You seriously gave a civilian three A-class powered charms? Do you do this for the entire town?” He was almost shouting.

“It was bad Grahame. She had nothing!”

“Or did you see a damsel in distress and yet again you couldn’t help but show off?”

“And going by the situation we’re in, it worked out for the best, no?”

“Does that mean you’re going to visit every single dual-natured creature on our list and do the same? So when the murderer returns you’re left bereft of power and defenceless?”

Leofstan paused, considering before he formulated a proper reply. “How many other potential victims are in the area?”

Grahame audibly sighed. “You are not revisiting anyone.” His tone was adamant. “There’s a couple of creatures we’re aware of that aren’t registered. You can’t very well approach them if they’re not asking for our protection.”

“Tell me about them.”

“They’re reclusive in the community and travel alone commonly.” I drew my brows together. “There’s a young Selkie, a University student here studying, but lives with humans so you can’t approach them directly. Next is some kind of forest fae creature is also in the area. Works for a local gentleman’s club. Haven’t managed to make contact yet.”

Willow! I bolted up in bed. From outside the room window, I could see the moon was almost high enough to signal she’d be taking her smoke break soon.

“He’s going to be attempting to replace the wolf he lost tonight soon.” Grahame supplied. An image flashed in my mind’s eye of Willow, her eyes eaten by maggots, her limbs contorted into a half-tree form. Now that would ruin her work tips big time.

“They are all equally in danger. If you can monitor those for the week, I should be able to get Celandine to a point where she won’t be worth his time.”

“How?” The vampire snapped.

Leofstans voice was low when he answered “By teaching her to channel her power into something other than raw energy.”

The other man sighed. “I knew it. How much is she packing?” His voice was weary.

“Think… the incident of ’37,” Leofstan answered.

Grahame hissed. “That much?”

“Worse.”

He groaned. “For the love of all things holy, at least the town is still standing, they need to make testing mandatory.”

“It is what it is,” Leofstan replied resolutely. “Once she’s discharged, I’ll get her learning basics.” Basics? Me? My heart began to thump loudly in my chest.

“Absolutely not, we can bring in a skills instructor from the council. We need to stay on the case and put an end to this.” Overhearing this, I couldn’t help but pout. There was another long silence. “What now?”

“It’s impossible. The only other spell caster that would able to channel any potential overflow is Caesarius.” Leofstan confirmed.

“Fuck.” Grahame swore, and I sat up a little straighter. “Fuck it, Stan! That isn’t just worse than ’37. That’s…”

“Exactly.” Just what had happened in ’37 that was so bad?

Grahame asked; “but Caersarius? The head of the SPCC council?”

“So you understand the dilemma this causes?” Leofstan answered with a question of his own.

“Fine,” Grahame answered. “I don’t like it, but you train her, and I’ll keep an eye on the other two, for now.”

I heard clothes shuffling and assumed some kind of physical movement involved sealing the deal, then their footsteps headed back towards the room.

Trying to act natural I launched myself back into the pillows, pulling the blanket up quickly and causing my toes to poke out. I was in the middle of trying to right it when they walked back in.

“Hi!” I greeted in a rush, voice elevated.

“Stan, we will debrief later.” Grahame ignored me, speaking directly to his council partner, and in a blur he was gone, the soft breeze catching the wisps of my hair.

“Celandine, how are you feeling?” Leofstan quizzed.

To be honest, it wasn’t what I was expecting him to say. I was awaiting an initiation into magical training, ready to be whisked away. “Fine, I guess.” I wouldn’t mind a couple of steaks if he was offering.

“Excellent, I’ll speak to the doctors about getting you discharged in the morning.”

I waited for him to say anything else. He wasn’t forthcoming.

“Great.” I supplied. He gave a curt nod, tucking his hands in his trouser pockets.

“Indeed.” Leofstan agreed, rocking to his toes and back.

“Yep.” I gritted my teeth.

“Anyways, I better get going.” Was he joking? What about his conversation outside?

“Okay!” My perky traitorous voice agreed through my teeth. He gave another nod and retreated outside the door, lingering to hold it open.

“By the way, I’ll be at yours in the morning, we need to get your power until control. See you then.”

Not expecting him to choose that very moment, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Oh. Okay.” Oh, okay? I was glad the door was shut.