Dangerous, Diabolical

Waiting

From his wrist glinted the gold of a watch and around his neck several types of chain and cord. On his thumb sat a heavy set ring with a black stone, and I had no doubts that they were holding some kind of enchantment. Biting my lip, I considered what they’d look like on me; much better, of course. Tilting his head, he regarded me curiously.

“So you are Leofstan’s latest anomaly.” It wasn’t a question. The door snapped closed behind us. Grahame and Leo moved to take seats at the table. Instead of the dim musty smell of the building, a freshness rolled over the room. I glanced to check the door was truly shut, inhaling to try and identify where the source of clean air stemmed from. The room was too quiet for it to be the air-conditioning to be running.

“This is Celandine Doukas,” Grahame confirmed. My attention turned back to the room, the three men sat, all pairs of eyes on me. Grahame’s arms were crossed, as he slouched back in his chair, good. I’d had quite enough of him trying to wrap them around my neck. The bruises were starting to ache. Leo had chained his fingers under his chin, observing out of his peripheral vision. The centre man still openly studied me.

“You’re speaking to the head of the council.” Grahame supplied. Behind the vamp was a long console table, a black ornately carved box the colour matching the man’s ring.

“You may call me Caesarius.” The man added.

I ran the name over my tongue, certain it had never before passed my lips. He was as stocky as Grahame, but as tall as Leo, even from across the room there was an unarguable pressure emanating from him. This was the man they’d eluded to as being able to channel more magic than Leo when I was in the hospital.

I fought to keep my breathing even. My heartbeat threatened to speed up, and I desperately clung to the memory of being submerged in comfort under my duvet. An extra thump echoed and I shuffled onto the other foot to hide it. I didn’t know what powers he had, and considering the other two men in the room had tried to kill me recently, I needed to remain confident. They could treat me like prey, but I would not act as such.

“Sure.” I greeted, with a nod of the head, trying to act casual. Was I meant to shake his hand?

He merely blinked slowly at me, “I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to remove all of the magic from the room.” He was stern. “The enchantments in here are of a delicate nature.”

A smirk crept into the corner of my lips before I quashed it. I wasn’t sure how he’d noticed, but it was an impressive trick, unfortunately placing my mission to absorb all of the passive fae magic on hold.

“Thank you.” He acknowledged, gesturing to a seat. “Please join us.” And there it was again; I knew I’d never seen him before, but the gesture seemed so familiar. He moved with a controlled pace, slowly as if not to frighten, but sharp as if short on time.

“We have not met before, however, I do appear prevalently on a lot of SPCC branding, and may have been on-site during any possible visitations. We have likely met in passing.”

That was highly unlikely. If we’d met, I’d recognise his smell. Slightly musty like the headquarters, but the freshness of ironed cotton and running streams. Without breaking eye contact, I slunk down into the opposite chair.

Caesarius continued, “I am informed you are the root of many of our current problems.” I couldn’t help but throw daggers at Grahame. “And Leofstan, what have you done to your magic? You are unbalanced.”

The blonde man shuffled uncomfortably. “Nothing intentional.”

“The idiots have managed to create a linking channel.” My number one supporter informed him. Clenching my fist I pushed it further into my lap.

Leofstan immediately argued, “I have attempted to remove it, but Miss Doukas’s lack of training, combined with an unpredictable ability to channel magic has meant I cannot remove it unaided.” He didn’t look at me. “The latest attempt was not a desirable outcome.”

Caesarius clicked his pen. “Interesting.”

I’d sounded more interested on a double shift at work.

“I can detect your magic on Miss Doukas.” He gave a low hum as he thought. “You will not be able to part your magic streams alone, they have become quite comfortable.” Caesarius suddenly tutted, jolting back. “It would have been easier to remove if you’d kept your magics separate.”

“Yes. I am aware.” Leofstan sighed.

Grahame piped in, “Caesarius, we must explore the potential that the link is influencing more than just their sources. You know Stan is usually more careful than this.”

Leofstan looked away. Grahame had accused me of controlling him, right before he’d gone for my jugular earlier. If we were alone, I would’ve growled at the vamp. As it was, stuck in the room with not only crazy strong Leo but also the head of the SPCC, I had to be on my best behaviour.

“Yes, we should investigate the matter. Leofstan, you must find a way to restrict the flow until we can redirect the resources of the anomaly team to remove it.”

Leofstan nodded in reply but then paused suddenly. “I’m not sure it can be done.” For the first time since we sat, he looked in my direction. “Not by myself at least. And the team has yet to find a lead to quell the threat of the Spell-caster.”

Caesarius looked up sharply from his paper stack on the table between us. “You have never backed from a challenge before. I thought you’d be itching to find a resolution.” He turned a page over. “The data indicates we are no closer to stopping this case than we were after the first reports.”

“I believe removing me from the equation is the resolution for untangling the mess with Celandine.” He seemed to deflate a little. “All leads so far have been inconclusive.”

The head of the SPCC paused his pen above the paper, before slowly turning to stare at me. An itch began in my spine that turned into a shudder.

“She is category 37, no?”

“No,” Grahame answered quickly enough to cut him off. My heartbeat sped up slightly. “As I’ve stated before, we must be stricter in testing.”

“Hmm.” He replied. “Leofstan, where would you place her?”

Leo shrugged. “We’d need to test in a controlled environment. So far, I know she can channel enough to cause rips.”

The room grew cold. “Is this anything to do with the angry letter I received from the Unseelie court that one of my agents was trespassing?” Nothing had changed about Caesarius. He spoke in the same tone, he hadn’t summoned any magic and there wasn’t as much as a hair out of place. The oppressive pressure I’d felt standing across from him seemed to double, the atmosphere becoming thick and the oxygen leadened in the room.

Leo continued. “The amount of power I used caused a reaction in Celandines that led to a plane disturbance, and I was pulled into the Fae-Realm.”

The pressure of the room abated with a pop. The SPCC head scribbled furiously onto the sheet of paper, before becoming overly interested in me. He had deep, dark eyes; an abyss and made my teeth chatter. Caesarius asked, “Are you certain she can channel magic at a rate equivalent to yours?”

“More, maybe. I’m starting to believe that’s how my spell became unstable.” Leo quirked a brow challenging me to deny it. “It is of utmost importance I can set my team to research this as soon as possible.”

Caesarius nodded. “Miss Doukas, I will be placing you in a revised category of 3 for now, so that we can correctly address the needs of your magic appropriately.”

“Such as?” I snapped.

“You cannot be left to mingle so closely with humans, it is a danger to them, and us,” Grahame interjected as if it was common knowledge. “Ideally we place you under training within the SPCC to not only make sure your powers are controlled but also so it can contribute to the community effectively.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Celandine.” Leofstan interrupted gently. “You cannot.”

“The alternative is a termination.” Grahame supplied helpfully, smiling.

I should have left town the second Leofstan knocked on my door. “So I either die or become enslaved to the council like a zombie.” Neither of those were choices that worked for me.

“You will get paid Celandine,” Leofstan added.

I jolted out of my seat. “Screw you. It would’ve been easier if that stupid sorcerer killed…” I drifted off as the realisation hit me and I almost fell over from the motion. Dead people held no magic. I’d been asked not to pull magic from the room, but I could take it from Leofstan because we were linked.

“Die, and get enslaved,” I muttered under my breath.

“What?” Leo asked. There he stood, living, and kicking up a fuss our magic was linked.

My mind was reeling. If dead people no longer held magic, would reanimated people? If you had an army of the undead, filtering all kinds of different magic at once…

I could be anywhere and never run out of power. I’d be unstoppable.

Except some nut-job had already beaten me to it, killing and resurrecting people all over the show.

“People are conduits right?”

“Of magic? Yes.” Caesarius answered bluntly.

“And a large outpouring of magic makes a gate?”

Leofstan was ironing. “It would be impossible to generate that much magic. It’s only ever been done by a select few.”

“But theoretically, gates give you unlimited energy once open to other planes?”

“Where are you going with this?” Grahame quizzed.

“Say, if there were enough conduits connected to a single point, and there was no risk of the one-party draining the other dry…. Surely the ability to amass power would be limitless? Each person would be like a mini battery you could send out to recharge and drain as you needed.”

Both Grahame and Leo sat dumbfounded. Caesarius scribbled something on his wad of paper. Leo’s lips were slightly parted in astonishment. Grahame looked like he was stumped whilst doing a daily crossword. Slowly they turned to face each other.

“It’s so simple.” Leofstan began.

“Surely not.” Grahame scoffed.

“But it’s possible.”

Caesarius was watching me again as the other two began to bat ideas backwards and forwards.

“Does he have access to more than one gate type yet?”

“We can only estimate the total from reported deaths.”

I knew him, we’d met before, I just wished I could member.

“Leofstan, Grahame. My friends, please do act on this. As usual, let me know if you need further resources. We will meet in a few weeks to better understand where we are at, and how we might detangle the linking.”

We were dismissed.

The squeal of chairs moving signalled the SPCC men springing to action. As soon as the door was opened, I bolted for the exit. If I didn’t get some fresh air soon I was convinced I’d completely lose it. Whatever Caesarius was, I didn’t want to know and was grateful to be out of the weird filtration room. His oppressive atmosphere had made my bones ache.

“’Andine wait!” Leofstan called, his voice lost down the corridor. There was a slam as he tried to catch a door before it closed.

Staircase, staircase, staircase.

Grahame’s room, Leo’s room, lift room, corridor room, and meeting room. No more rooms! There! Following the little step icon I swerved the corner.

I’d always wanted to visit Germany or Canada. Now would be the perfect time. I was going to catch a nice little snack and carry on with my life far away from this mess.

“Celandine! Stop!” Leofstan shouted as I started jumping down as many steps as I could manage. He managed to grab my elbow over a turn, and we both stumbled to a stop.

“Let me go!” I snapped.

“I will not.” He replied calmly as I tugged. “Now that we assume the spellcaster is building an entire army of magical siphons, you are the last thing we need to give him on a platter.”

Scoffing I asked, “Or is it because you’re scared this link is more than just our magic?” Someone opened the door, saw us, and rapidly retreated when we both glared. “I was just sat in the same meeting as you, I heard it all.” With a sharp yank, his hand was dislodged, leaving me to gesture around the building. “From the start, I made it clear I wasn’t interested in anything to do with the SPCC.”

“But you understand how dangerous it is if you leave, for everyone else too.” He sat on a step heavily, so his head was level with mine through the railing.

Fists clenched, I took another step downwards away from him.

“Sorry Celandine, you’re not going anywhere this time.” He patted the step next to him. “Why would it be so terrible? You could achieve great things here.”

Because you’d kill me. Not that I was going to point that fact out. “I’m not like you.” I tried to move back another step, but he reached a hand through the bannister to hover at the back of my head.

“Of course not.” He agreed. “You’d be far less sporadic. Gently he added, “Besides… Maybe this link is affecting us in different ways than just our magic. There is no way to tell. Yet.”

I tried to take another step, and he gave me a tap on the back of my head.

“You were right in there,” I confessed. “I tampered with your spell by overpowering it,” My shoulders dropped into a shrug, “I wanted to know how it worked.” Chin firm, I looked up at him. “I didn’t lie, it wasn’t my intention for this to happen.” I threw up my hand, palm facing him. “But I don’t feel bad that it did.”

He said nothing, but his arm wavered slightly. “So you were given a powerful artefact from a random stranger, and your first thought was, ‘I’m going to blast this with magic?’”

I sighed. “Maybe the second thought.”

He dropped his arm, staring at me in complete disbelief. And then he laughed. The sound echoed down the stairwell as he leant back on the steps, trying to hold back another tide. Between wheezes, he gasped, “That’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.” He shook down his spine, eyes creasing at the edges as he grinned.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“Celandine, you might be one of the most impulsive creatures I’ve ever met. And when you are inaugurated in the SPCC, you are hereby banned from ever joining my Department in Anomalies.”

“Not happening.” I pointed out. Soirrinar’s Unseelie court was becoming a better option every minute.

“Come.” He stood back up. “Our drinks may still be warm, and Grahame and I have leads to follow.”

I pouted. “I’m not happy about this at all.”

“You don’t need to be. Alive is fine.”

* * *