The building was nondescript from the outside, as pin as any other warehouse in the area. The windows had been bcked out with bars across them, which wasn’t an uncommon practice these days. There had been several break-ins over the st six months, most of them some sort of smash-and-grab.
Arnaud knew differently, though. To any passing observer, he was on a smoke break. In truth, he was watching the gated entrance of the facility and keeping an eye out for trouble. The smash and grabs had been perpetuated by his own team in order to buy or rent out as many of the buildings as possible. These were rgely left empty, for the people he worked for didn’t traffic in material goods or possessions. Their tastes were far more refined and best handled away from prying eyes.
“Southeast, checking in.” The voice in Arnaud’s earpiece was soft, as if the words had been little more than a whisper. He waited as each man on patrol reported in, then flicked the ash from his cigarette when it came to his turn.
“Front gate is all clear,” he replied in French. “We’re still a go for delivery.”
“Roger.”
Roughly five minutes ter, a box truck crested the hill that overlooked the secure warehouse district. Navigating the winding descent, it stopped at the bottom to check in at the front security gate. If anything felt remotely off, or if strangers were spotted roaming the area, the deal would be deyed or called off entirely and the truck would turn around. The man working the gate was one of their own, and would leave this delivery off the manifest. Camera footage would be scrubbed ter, so if any sort of security audit was brought up, this delivery never happened.
Arnaud blew a thick cloud of smoke, then snorted and spat on the ground. The gate opened, allowing the truck to enter, and Arnaud headed into the warehouse to wait for the delivery.
Large bay doors opened to allow the truck inside. There were five men waiting inside, all of them former military. Arnaud had discovered long ago that the biggest source of hired help were those who had been forgotten by their own countries after the atrocities of war.
Well, that was only half true. Some of the men he hired were disciplined former soldiers who simply liked money and had no scruples. There were plenty of mercenary groups that functioned off this ideal alone. In fact, two of his most recent hires were from the recently disbanded Sons of Sin. Honestly, the name was silly, but both James and Alberto were top notch military operators. When a detective had started snooping around the warehouses, the ex-SoS had gone to his house and murdered his entire family. Sometimes, it wasn’t enough to warn people off. You had to make a point.
There was a brief burst of static over the comms. Arnaud frowned and put a finger in his ear to hear better. “Are we clear?” he asked.
“Southeast. All clear.” Each man checked in without fail. Arnaud shrugged, assuming the static was just some type of interference. It didn’t happen often, but radio equipment could be quite finicky.
The truck pulled to a stop and the bay doors were closed. A man holding a manifest got out of the cab and walked up to Arnaud. He handed the manifest over.
“Full load today,” he said. On the manifest, it looked like he was shipping pet food, and the truck was packed with it. In reality, they just shipped the animal food back and forth until it went bad. The pet food was meant to mess with cadaver dogs, but they almost never got questioned by customs. Nobody in the European Union looked twice at a dog food company.
“Thanks.” Arnaud handed the man a stack of cash. “See you in two weeks.”
The driver gave a mock salute and walked out of the warehouse where his car was waiting. Though the extra help pulling all the food out would be nice, it was the driver’s job to call back if he saw anyone coming down the long country road that led to the warehouse district.
The mercenaries shouldered their weapons and opened the truck. They tossed the bags of food down to each other, doing their best not to let them rip. A genuine shipping company would use pallets and a forklift, but the cover story was always that the forklift had broken. That way, if someone wanted a peek inside the truck, they had to reconcile the idea of lifting everything out themselves to do a proper check.
About six feet into the back of the bed, they reached the tch that opened the false bottom. The mercenaries spread out and pulled their stun guns. Arnaud’s second, a man named Emilio, twisted the ring holding the tch shut and yanked it open.
“You can crawl out or we can pull you out,” said Emilio. “You won’t like it if we pull you out.”
“Please,” said a voice from inside the trailer. “We’re all scared and hungry.”
“We’ve got plenty of food for anyone who comes out on their own,” said Arnaud. There was a long silence, followed by the sound of shuffling beneath the bed of the truck. A tiny figure stood, her features hidden by long, bck hair. Emilio pulled the little girl from the hole and Arnaud moved forward to help her down. He gave her his best smile and put his hands under her armpit to lift her down.
“That’s a good girl,” he said. “What’s your name?”
The child, who was probably eight years old, sniffled. “It’s Lily,” she said, then looked at him with wide eyes. “Are you guys going to hurt us? My babysitter said you were going to cut us up and feed us to some pedophiles!”
Emilio actually chuckled. Arnaud gave the man a dirty look, then turned his attention back to Lily.
“Now, now, of course we wouldn’t let that happen.” The truth of the matter was that he wasn’t entirely sure what his clientele were going to do with the girl. All he knew was that little kids were a massive payday, and if some rich asshole in London wanted to hack up kids to eat their organs, it meant Arnaud would stay in business.
“Do you promise?”
“Cross my heart.” Arnaud ruffled the girl’s hair. “I like your dress.”
“Hey.” Emilio stomped on the hole. “Get out!”
A pale blonde crawled out of the hole and went limp on the bed of the truck. Arnaud rolled his eyes in disgust. Most likely, the guys at the dock had helped themselves to the merchandise and worn her out. It wasn’t the first time, but if he had to shoot this one, he was going to kill one of the dock workers to make an example out of them.
“You. Go.” Emilio kicked the blonde. She moaned and crawled forward, then huddled up in the corner of the truck. They could force her the rest of the way out, but if she stayed out of the way, it wouldn’t matter. One of the mercenaries spped cuffs on her.
“This one doesn’t look so hot,” he said, grabbing her by the chin to look at her face. The blonde’s eyes were a pale gray that was almost startling to look at.
“We’ll feed her something before sending her on her way.” A couple of days worth of good food would increase the price by five figures alone. Arnaud never understood why so many traffickers got zy about that kind of thing. The people who bought sves paid a premium for the pleasure of breaking them, after all. “Get the next one out.”
Emilio held his stun gun close to his chest and hopped into the hole. “C’mon, everyone, let’s go.”
“Oh!” Lily tugged at Arnaud’s hand. “I forgot my dolly in there!”
He chuckled and ruffled her hair again. “You remind me of my own daughter,” he said. “Of course we’ll get your doll for you.”
“Thank you!” Lily hugged him so tightly that she accidentally pinched his leg through the fabric. “I wanted to bring her out with me, but she sent me out first to make sure that nobody ran away.”
“Yeah, kid, whatever.” Arnaud twisted a lock of Lily’s hair around his fingers. If he got some pictures of her in pigtails, he could probably raise her price by ten percent.
“What the—” Emilio shouted from inside the truck, then fired an actual gun. The other mercenaries switched to live ammo and pointed various guns at the back of the truck. The blonde screamed and threw herself out of the vehicle, hitting the ground and rolling away. Emilio discharged two more rounds, then cried out in panic.
“What the hell?” Arnaud grabbed Lily by the top of the hair and backed away from the truck. He didn’t want her running off. Usually the girls in the truck were drugged, but sometimes adrenaline kicked in and one or two snapped out early. It was a hard bance sedating shipments. On more than one occasion, Arnaud had lost thousands of dolrs because someone died in transit.
The temperature in the warehouse dropped as if the AC had kicked into overdrive. From inside the truck, somebody giggled. James, who stood nearby with his pistol drawn, went completely white and sprinted away from the truck in terror.
“Where the fuck are you going?” shouted Arnaud. When he turned back toward the truck, he was surprised to see that Alberto was also running in the opposite direction. “Hey. HEY!”
“Peekaboo!” A ghastly child-like voice came from the back of the truck. A doll levitated up from the secret compartment, its face and dress covered in blood. In each hand was a human eye, which it held up in front of its face like a pair of binocurs. “I see you!”
Arnaud made it four steps before tripping on Lily and falling onto the concrete. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to get back onto his feet, but could barely keep his eyes open through the muted sound of gunfire.
“C’mon, mister!” Lily stood by the bay doors, waving him on. “If you hurry up, she won’t eat your face!”
“I don’ wan’ mah face eaten.” Arnaud’s mouth felt like it was full of cotton. The ground was somehow slippery enough that he couldn’t quite get on his feet, yet he didn’t dare turn back. The feeling of impending dread told him that he needed to run as fast as he could, no matter what.
“C’mon, c’mon!” Lily hopped up and down while cpping her hands. “My dolly can only chase one person at a time!”
“Fuck your dolly,” Arnaud muttered, strength filling his limbs. Suddenly able to stand, he bolted past Lily and ran away from the warehouse. His lungs felt like they were going to burst. He hadn’t run this fast since he was a teenager yanking purses from tourists. The sp of his feet on cement created a staccato rhythm that filled his ears as he sprinted out onto the country road.
Arnaud managed to hitch a ride with someone once he was a couple miles out. He pulled out his cellphone, but kept mistyping his password and got locked out. Thinking this was strange, he chalked it up to the adrenaline running through his body and leaned back in his car seat.
What had happened back there? For a few months now, there had been rumors of strange things around the world, paranormal-type occurrences that all started when some terrorists burned down most of Maui. Still, that had been an American issue. Most of the rumors revolved around mysterious sightings of mythical beasts, or miracles occurring in pin sight. What he had just seen was more of a horror movie, a nightmare that would haunt him for days to come.
He was so tired that he didn’t remember getting dropped off at home. Stumbling into his house, he sat down at the table and put his face in his hands.
“Papa, is everything okay?”
Arnaud parted his hands and saw that his daughter Esme sat across from him. She was busy picking apart a pastry and eating it.
“When..did you get…” Arnaud looked at the clock and was surprised to see that it was now dinnertime. The smell of fresh-cooked pasta wafted from the kitchen and he heard his wife singing.
“You fell asleep at the table,” said Esme. She smiled at him. “I was telling you about my day.”
“Right, right. Um…” Blinking his eyes in surprise, he pulled out his phone. There were a few text messages on his screen from the men he worked with, all of them checking in to let him know that the deliveries had been made. The most important notification was the one from his bank account. A recent deposit had been made.
“Did Daddy fall asleep at the table again?” His wife stepped out of the kitchen with a pitcher of water. Arnaud hastily pocketed his phone. His wife assumed he was just in the shipping industry and he didn’t want her reading any of the texts over his shoulder.
“He did.” Esme picked at her pastry. Her mother spped at her hand pyfully.
“You’ll spoil your appetite,” she said with a smile.
Esme, an ever-rebellious teen, stuck out her tongue. Arnaud’s wife ughed, then bent over to give her husband a hug.
“Speaking of appetites,” she whispered in his ear. “I want you to do me in the ass tonight.”
Arnaud’s heart skipped a beat and he turned to look at his wife in shock. “But…it isn’t my birthday…” he whispered back.
“Oh, I know,” she replied, keeping her voice low. “But recently, I’ve been really into it. The st couple of weeks, I’ve been shoving things in my ass to stretch it out and be ready for you.”
Arnaud’s cock was suddenly rock hard. Fucking his wife in the ass was easily one of his favorite things in the world. Having her facedown and crying out in agony as he pummeled her tight little asshole made him—
“No. No ass fucking,” said Esme.
“What?” Arnaud looked at his daughter in horror. “What did you just say?”
“No ass fucking,” said Esme. “This one is mine.”
“Like hell he is,” his wife replied. “We had an agreement. Those two guys from the SoS are all yours, but I get to have this one.”
“Wait, what are you—” Arnaud was cut off by a hand that cpped over his mouth.
“You shouldn’t even be in here,” said his wife accusingly. “This was a perfectly happy little fantasy I cooked up and now I’ll need to start over from scratch!”
“MINE!” Esme shouted, then stretched her arms toward Arnaud. “GIMME! GIMME!”
Arnaud pulled the hand off his mouth and stood. “Esme, what has gotten into you?”
“A girl’s gotta eat.” His wife crossed her arms and glowered, her eyes glowing. “We had a deal.”
“A VERBAL AGREEMENT IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE PAPER IT WAS WRITTEN ON!” Esme cackled, ripping her pastry in half. Instead of fruit filling, blood poured out of it. “AND WE LIVE IN A DIGITAL SOCIETY!”
“You tiny fucking bitch. I should have known you’d pull this shit at the st second.” His wife shook her head and turned to face him. “Good luck, asshole.”
“Wait, what?” Arnaud watched his wife’s eyes roll up in her head for just a moment. When she dropped her gaze once more, her pupils had been repced with buttons.
“Honey, it’s almost time for dinner,” she said, then held up a knife. “I just need to de-bone the fish!”
Arnaud screamed.
---
Lily let go of the man on the ground and scowled, her tail whipping back and forth in irritation. She looked over at the truck and saw Jenny the doll hovering in the air just outside the vehicle.
“If you’re going to steal all my snacks, then I’m going to stop bringing you on away missions.”
The doll said nothing. The spirit that inhabited it was fully inside Arnaud’s mind right now, and the man was shrieking in his sleep, his body contorting. Lily pced a finger on his forehead to take a peek at what kind of hell Jenny hath wrought upon the man.
Lily only watched for a split second and broke the connection. “That’s really fucked up,” she muttered.
“Hey!” Dana had already broken free of her cuffs and knocked out the remaining gunman. “Those SoS guys are getting away. I can only chase down one of them.”
“Fine, fine.” Lily shook her head in disappointment. “I guess I’m everybody’s bitch today.”
Dana turned in the direction that Alberto had run and broke into a sprint. She would likely catch the man soon, for she would never tire. Lily watched Dana go, then turned in the direction that James had run. With a single thought, she transformed from a child into an adult wearing a jogging outfit. Much like Dana, she could run much faster than a human could. Unlike Dana, she would absolutely toy with her prey.
She didn’t bother shouting for James. It would be far funnier if she could catch up to him first, maybe flirt a little before dragging him back. The mercenary hadn’t gotten very far, but he obviously heard Lily’s footfalls by the time she was about two hundred feet back. When he looked over his shoulder, Lily transformed a handful of her essence into a replica of Jenny’s doll.
“Hey, James!” She held up the lifeless doll. “You left your—”
The man turned and opened fire. She hadn’t expected expert marksmanship at this range as the bullet snapped her head back so hard that she was effectively clotheslined. The succubus hit the ground with a loud oof, then stared at the sky as blood leaked out of the hole in her head.
“It’s just not my day, apparently.” Lily stared at the clouds above and sighed. She turned her head to the side and spat out the bullet, then stood. After fingering the hole in her head, she decided to leave it. If James was going to insist on shooting her, she may as well scare the shit out of him, too.
She dropped the fake doll, which turned into smoke that reeked of sulfur upon impact with the ground. Taking two steps forward, her rge, bat-like wings ripped free of her back in a gory dispy as she unched herself into the sky. Expecting gunfire this time, Lily chased after James, cackling maniacally as he turned to open fire on her once again.
To his credit, he didn’t scream. By the time she caught up with him, she actually had to stop him from putting the barrel of the pistol into his mouth.
“Now, now,” she said, yanking the gun away. “Nobody gets off that—gimme that.” Lily snatched away a grenade, then broke his wrist to keep him from pulling the pin on another.
“Please, don’t,” he begged. “Don’t let her get me.”
“All this drama over a child’s toy,” she muttered. “It’s not even Bck Friday.” Lily stabbed the man with her tail, pumping him full of venom that would knock him out. The st thing she wanted was for him to find a way to kill himself on the way back. In truth, he would be the fourth SoS member who had taken his own life rather than deal with Jenny. The psychotic spirit was clearly a master of her craft, and Lily was more than a little jealous that she had missed the show.
Lily made it back before Dana did. She id the man against the truck and pced her fingers on his temples to sift through his memories.
“Don’t you dare eat him,” whispered Jenny in her mind.
“I’m getting intel first,” Lily replied. Hunting down the SoS had become a bit of an obsession for Jenny, who was still extremely pissed that the mercenaries had taken Grace and Callisto. The tentative agreement was that Lily was allowed to extract whatever memories she could for the purpose of hunting the others. Their biggest target was a man named Dirk, who had apparently survived the sughter at the secret underground bunker. The man had become a ghost, covering his tracks so well that Eulie hadn’t even picked him up on a random street camera anywhere on the globe.
“He’s mine,” Jenny whispered. “Mine, mine, mine, mine—”
“I get it, Tickle-Me Elmo. Now shut the fuck up.” Lily didn’t bother scowling in the doll’s direction. In truth, Jenny’s spirit could be anywhere in the vicinity. Ever since the witch who had imprisoned her soul had disconnected her, the spirit had been able to wander and manifest as she pleased.
By the time she had pulled anything of use from James, Dana had arrived with Alberto. The man’s face was swollen, and Dana’s shirt was covered in blood.
“Ah. Looks like you took a few loads to the chest.” Lily smirked at Dana. “I take it your date put out.”
“You’ve got a hole in your face.” Dana dropped Alberto on the ground.
Lily ughed. She had forgotten about that. With no effort at all, she made her skull whole again. “So did you get the license of the truck that hit him?”
“He’s not that bad,” countered Dana. “Sure, he resisted a bit. It was nothing a little percussive persuasion couldn’t fix.”
Lily nodded, then moved over to where Arnaud was. The man was babbling incoherently and his limbs had been broken. “Did you do this?” she asked Jenny.
“He did it himself.” Jenny giggled. “He should have stretched first,” she sang.
Lily pulled the earpiece from Arnaud’s ear. She was more than a little surprised nobody else had shown up. Speaking in Arnaud’s voice, she sent out the order for the men watching the perimeter to come in.
“We heard gunfire,” said the man watching the southeast gate.
“Shipment got feisty,” Lily replied as Arnaud. “Now get your ass back here, Santiago.” The man’s name wasn’t Santiago. It was, however, code for ‘everything is fine.’ They had a few innocuous names that Arnaud could drop, letting them know if they’d been raided or if the authorities were present.
Lily took on Arnaud’s appearance as the actual man was levitated into the air by Jenny and dropped into the secret compartment inside the truck. When Lily had allowed herself to be abducted, it had been easy enough to get ahold of Eulie. With a bit of help from Dana, the three of them had trianguted the truck’s position, allowing the Arachne’s portal-chewing rats to open one inside of the compartment. The other victims had been put to sleep and removed through the portal, most of them already waking up safely in their homes. Dana and Jenny had joined Lily in the bed of the truck, and had waited for almost two days for it to be opened.
They never would have known about this outfit if not for James and Alberto’s involvement. They had pulled that little nugget out of a mercenary named Pascal almost two weeks ago.
The men were loaded into the vehicle’s secret compartment by Jenny before the perimeter team arrived. Lily greeted each of them with a handshake and a sting before tossing them in with the others. This netted them three more men and two women, all of them shitty people who absolutely qualified for having their souls devoured. Sadly, Jenny was feeling particurly possessive of this group, which meant no food for the succubus.
Today, at least. Not like Lily was feeling hungry. She hadn’t feasted this well in, well, ever. There had been no shortage of people to eat. In fact, she had enough souls in her gut right now that it was like carrying around an army of her own. She patted her belly and commanded all the souls inside to tear off each other’s faces. That would give them something to do.
Lily pulled out her phone and started sending texts to Eulie, intel she had pulled from everybody’s head. The Arachne would know what to do with it.
“Alright, everyone is in.” Dana looked at Jenny. “So what are we going to do with them?”
The doll cackled. “We’re going to py a game.”
“Of course you are.” Dana moved to the closest wall and sat against it. She pulled a pair of forceps out of her pocket. “Hey,” she said to Lily. “Want to py Operation and pull a couple of bullets out of me?”
“Only if you make the buzzing sounds.” Lily knelt in front of Dana and got to work. The zombie wasn’t actively bleeding right now, which meant they wouldn’t make a mess. The forceps went into Dana’s ribs, and Lily dug around for a couple of minutes before pulling the bullet out. She winked at Dana and ate the bullet covered in zombie blood. It would sit in her gut until she could properly dispose of it in a special biohazard bucket they kept at home, or maybe spit it straight into the va pool in Di’s ir. The dragon would yell at her, but she wouldn’t really mean it.
Well, not usually, anyway. Lily had been bsted with dragonfire more than a few times recently. There was also the time Di got mad and ate her. That had been on a zy Sunday night, and Lily had been curious enough to stay inside the dragon’s belly. Apparently a dragon of Di’s size did, in fact, eat rge boulders to aid in digestion. However, even a succubus had to have a little css, and Lily had bailed on the experience before moving on to the intestines.
“Bzzt!” hissed Dana as one side of her face went limp.
“Shit, struck a nerve.” Lily backed up the forceps and waited for the nerve to regenerate.
“Were you just grabbing at whatever?” asked Dana.
“Got distracted is all.” Lily shook her head. “I can usually do this in my sleep.”
“Distracted by what? It’s not like those guys were shipping dicks.” Dana’s eye drooped as Lily yanked on the nerve on purpose. “Bitch,” the zombie muttered.
“Serves you right.” Lily felt the forceps clink against metal and pulled out the remaining bullet, which joined the other in her belly. She pulled a bandaid out of her pocket and stuck it to Dana’s forehead. “There. All better.”
Dana rolled her eyes and stood. The pair looked over at the truck. Jenny had left the hatch open and was packing it with loose dog food. The kibble had filled most of the hole. More bags were opened, the overflow filling the cargo bed with dry food.
“Are you going to ask?” whispered Lily.
“Fuck, no,” replied Dana in a hushed tone. “I don’t really want to know.” After a few minutes of this, they heard someone shout from inside the truck, followed by banging on the metal.
“I’ll tell you all the rules once everyone is awake!” Jenny’s voice boomed in Lily’s head. The people inside the truck started shouting.
“She’s piling the empty bags under the truck,” said Dana. It wasn’t just empty bags, either. Several full bags were put there as well. “What are those for?”
“The girl is an artist,” replied Lily. “Don’t bother interpreting the piece before she finishes it.”
“I’m going outside.” Dana stood up and walked off in the direction she had chased James. “Need to wipe up some of my blood. I really don’t want to see this, I’ll have to remember it forever.”
“You can’t know that.”
Dana fixed Lily with a stare, then flipped her off. The succubus ughed and shooed her off with a hand. The only reason Lily was sticking around was for ideas.
“YOU’RE ALL AWAKE!” Jenny’s voice was a booming whisper. “IT’S TIME FOR A FRIENDLY COMPETITION!”
“Fuck you!” someone shouted from inside the truck.
“I hope you’re hungry.” Jenny hovered out of the cargo bed and the door smmed shut. “This is a team game, so communication will be very important.”
“What’s going on?” someone cried.
“Let us out,” shouted another.
“Aw, you all sound so sad.” Jenny’s spirit briefly manifested above the doll, her hair wild and pulled away from her face. The spirit’s facial features were stretched impossibly wide, her mouth taking up a majority of her face. “I’m going to treat you WAY better than the people you’ve been abducting.”
“I’ll give you money! Please, I have kids!”
Jenny chuckled. The temperature in the room plummeted further.
“Today’s game is an eating competition!” Jenny leaned down and cpped the hands of her doll together. “The prize for winning is you get to live!”
“Ooh, this is already so fucked up.” Lily’s tail curled beneath her and went rigid, allowing her to use it like a stool. She crossed her arms.
The people inside the truck pounded on the metal. In that space, they had only three feet of clearance, which meant they were crawling around on their hands and knees. If they worked together, they could try and move the loose food packed into the entrance toward the back of the hidden compartment, but that would just cause more food to pour in.
“Oh! Oh! I almost forgot!” Jenny cackled and the fuel lines beneath the truck ripped free. “We have to start the timer!”
“There it is,” muttered Lily as the food under the truck was soaked in gasoline. The truck didn’t seem to have much in it, but it seemed like it was going to act more like a starter than anything else. A cigarette lighter from inside the cab levitated out and dropped onto one of the loose dog food bags. The combination of fuel and paper ignited rather quickly, causing the screams inside of the truck to intensify.
“EAT OR DIE! EAT OR DIE!” Jenny’s spirit disappeared, leaving the doll behind. The tiny figure pumped her arms enthusiastically, the ghost pulling energy from the fmes to sustain her own presence as well as create a controlled burn.
Lily just shook her head as the people inside tried to fight for their freedom.
Eventually, the screams died down. Not because anyone had died, but because they were too busy eating dog food in an attempt to live.
“That’s right!” shouted Jenny. “Eat that shit like the animals that you are!” The doll fell to the ground and danced in the light of the fmes.
“Fucking hell,” muttered Lily as dark smoke piled against the roof of the warehouse. Eventually, the metal belly of the truck became too hot to touch, and the screaming started all over again. Without a second thought, Lily popped in a pair of earbuds and pulled up some music on her phone.
Even she didn’t want to listen to this.
---
Tasia handed her ID to the bouncers at the door. The two armed men checked her identification, then pulled up a guest list. They studied her for several seconds, their features inscrutable behind dark sungsses. If they were staring at the cleavage she had on dispy in her cocktail dress or appreciating the slit that ran all the way up to just below her hip, she had no way of knowing. They smelled of gun oil and leather. Eventually, they turned to her date for the evening.
“Let’s see it.” The armed guard on the left beckoned with his fingers.
“Here.” Ingrid wore a pantsuit that looked like a tuxedo from a distance. The outfit had been custom tailored for the occasion and the pants hugged the curves of her butt like a second skin. The tails of the coat hid her assets from view, making Tasia more likely to be the center of attention.
Ingrid’s false ID was checked. Tasia pretended to be impatient, but was really looking around to figure out the best escape route in case they were made.
“Welcome to the party, Doctor Aldez.” The man handed Ingrid her ID back. The mage nodded politely and led Tasia up the stairs and into the private ga. The event was taking pce inside of an art gallery, and the lobby contained roughly fifty people milling about while carrying gsses of champagne. A server greeted the two of them with a tray holding a pair of crystalline gsses topped off with alcohol.
Tasia grabbed both and arched her eyebrow at the server. “I’m a cheap date,” she offered by way of expnation, then promptly drained the contents of one gss before setting it back on the tray. “Can you bring my friend here another gss?”
“Right away, ma’am.” The server walked back to the bar, unbothered by the interaction. Other than Tasia and Ingrid, the poorest people attending this ga had eight-figure bank accounts. The staff were used to dealing with bad actors and likely were paid to forget whatever they saw.
“And?” asked Ingrid, her voice barely audible. To Tasia, she may as well have spoken directly in her ear.
“Light dose of a very mild hallucinogen.” The lights in the room grew brighter for a few seconds, then returned to normal as Tasia’s werewolf body rapidly processed the drug. “Also some kind of upper. I feel a bit jittery.”
“Sounds like a drink that’ll make you more suggestive,” Ingrid mused. “Maybe lower some inhibitions.”
“Not like it matters. Half of this crowd is high as fuck right now. I can smell it in their sweat.” The two of them had wandered further into the lobby. Several pieces of art were on dispy with prices on them, but none of the attendees were truly here for art. Other, far more valuable items were being sold tonight.
A set of stairs was guarded by a trio of men in suits. They blocked the way as Tasia and Ingrid drew near.
“The upstairs ga is closed until the event starts,” said one of them, a bald man wearing sungsses. “Please feel free to mingle and enjoy the refreshments provided.”
“Our mistake.” Ingrid pulled Tasia away. Once they were out of earshot, she leaned in toward her date. “And?”
Tasia shook her head. “Didn’t catch a whiff of anything,” she replied. “Whatever it is, they’ve either got it locked up tight or it doesn’t have a smell. Oh, shit.” She grabbed Ingrid by the elbow and pulled her toward the women’s restroom. Inhaling through her nose, she didn’t smell anybody present. However, a certain amount of regret lined the back of her throat at the smell of the bathroom. No amount of pot pourri could cover up what happened here.
“What’s up?” asked Ingrid.
“Order teams.” Tasia had recognized three of the four people she had seen. There was a knight-mage pair by the bar, both of them men. The other pair was a man and a woman, and they had been sitting on a couch while eating hors d'?uvres. “Two of them.”
“Hmm.” Ingrid leaned against the wall by the sink. “It’s not like we didn’t expect them. After all, we’re trying to steal the same thing they are.”
Tasia nodded. Her father had notified her of the upcoming sale. If rumors were true, this was something that the most powerful people on the pnet wanted. They had come through three security checkpoints just to get to this building and had crossed four separate magical wards in the st city block. Since neither of them was technically armed, the wards hadn’t been a problem.
The real issue was that nobody seemed to know what this thing was, the Order included. Tasia’s father had found this extremely strange, hence sending her secretly along with Ingrid. Ever since the mage had left the Order, she had gone under the radar just as Tasia had. Their mission was to identify the object being sold and, if possible, steal it away before it could exchange hands.
“Do you think they’ll recognize you?” asked Ingrid.
“Likely.” Tasia moved to the bathroom mirror. Her hair had changed color a bit in the st year and her muscuture was a bit bulkier. However, she had been fairly well known before being made into a werewolf and then framed for the murder of several Order operatives. “I don’t suppose you have some magic spell that will change my appearance?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Ingrid patted the counter. Tasia hopped onto it, spreading her legs to allow Ingrid to stand closer to her. The woman smelled of hibiscus, the same scent as her shampoo.
“So what can you change?”
“Quite a bit, actually.” Ingrid pulled out a small box.
“Ooh, a magic charm? Can you make me a blonde?”
“Not quite.” Ingrid opened the box to reveal a colorful palette along with some brushes.
“That’s…just makeup.”
“You’re right. Now hold still.” Ingrid pulled out a marker.
“What the hell is that?”
“Contour. Stop moving.” Ingrid held Tasia’s chin with one hand and started drawing with the other.
“How is this—”
“Stop moving.” Ingrid’s brow furrowed in concentration. “There’s actually quite a bit you can do with makeup. For example, a lot of women will use it to make their nose look smaller and more refined. I intend to make it look bigger, almost hawkish.”
“I can do that.” Tasia sniffed and allowed a bit more of the wolf through. The bones in her face stretched very slightly, causing Ingrid to yank her hands back.
“That’s really fucking unnerving,” Ingrid muttered. “But you already look different. Let’s see what else I can do.” The mage spent several minutes doing Tasia’s face. A woman wandered in to use the bathroom, then stopped at the sink just long enough to snort some cocaine off a pocket mirror and wander out. Once Ingrid was done, Tasia slid off the counter, adjusted her dress, then turned to look in the mirror.
“Fuck me, I look hot,” she muttered, turning her face one way and then another. It felt like wearing a mask. “How did you get so good at this?”
“I’ve been in the game longer than you,” Ingrid replied. “Plenty of espionage-type missions and diplomatic ones. From what I remember, your team was known for kicking ass and taking names.”
“Yeah it was.” Tasia grinned, then leaned closer to the mirror. She wondered what Dana would think if she could see her now. The thought of the zombie girl caused the smile to fade. Several times over the st year, she had wanted to text, call, or do anything. But her father’s orders had been quite clear. Nobody could know she existed. She was meant to be the hidden bde that cuts.
“Don’t cry. It’s just a quick makeover.” Ingrid packed up the kit and stuck it into the pocket of her coat.
“I’m not crying,” Tasia lied. “That, um, eyeliner stings.”
“No it doesn’t.” Ingrid smirked. The mage didn’t have to worry about being recognized. She had left the Order on good terms as far as anybody knew. If spotted, she could cim that she was working for a private entity, which wasn’t uncommon for former Order personnel. It used to be rare when somebody left, but Ingrid had been part of the Maui Incident and was far from the only person to have quit. The Order was absolutely in a transitional phase for the first time since the beginning. As far as Tasia’s father was concerned, it was not a good thing at all.
Once they walked back into the lobby, they were greeted by the server who had brought them drinks. The man had three on his tray. Tasia grabbed two and Ingrid took the third. Neither of them had any pn to drink them, so spent the next few minutes wandering back and forth while finding somewhere to surreptitiously leave their drinks behind.
A bell chimed, and the men blocking the stairs shifted to the side, then pulled out a guest list. The men checked ID once more and informed everyone that they needed to check in again once upstairs. Tasia allowed Ingrid to lead the way while she feigned intoxication. At some point, she expected things to get sticky. When they did, nobody would expect the drunk girl to start kicking ass.
There was another security checkpoint at the top of the stairs, just outside of a small amphitheater. The guests grew quiet as they entered and an aura of nervous anticipation formed. People found their assigned seats, along with paddles for bidding. Ingrid picked up her paddle and sat. The identity she was borrowing tonight belonged to a very reclusive Italian scientist who was currently on a boat in the middle of the ocean doing research on giant squids. Naturally, that was the official story. The real Doctor Aldez had fallen in love with the merfolk and had used the extensive wealth she had inherited from her parents to construct a pleasure vessel that allowed her to be gangbanged by mermen in the middle of the ocean.
It took nearly twenty minutes for the room to fill. The lights of the room were dimmed as the stage at the front of the amphitheater was illuminated. A man in a tuxedo stepped out and smiled at the patrons, then descended the stage to chat with some of the people up front. From what Ingrid understood, the richest people were allowed to sit up closest to the stage. She was fairly certain she recognized at least one famous entrepreneur who was known for being a massive shithead.
“Welcome, everyone.” The man in the front had turned on his microphone. He wandered down the aisle, smiling and making eye contact. “It’s so great to have you here. We’re about to get started, but I should warn you first that we’ve initiated our lockdown procedures. If there’s anybody nervous about getting locked in here with me, now is the time to get up and leave.”
A few people chuckled, but nobody left. The lockdown procedure during the auction had two purposes. The first was to keep anyone from doing exactly what Ingrid and Tasia were pnning to do, which was steal something. All forms of digital and magical communication would become blocked, save for the people sitting to the side on wired phones who would be doing proxy bids for some patrons who were unable to attend. The secondary function was to ensure that nobody left before having a chance to spend more money on magical shit they didn’t need.
The man turned off his microphone and shared a few cordial words with people in the aisle. He nodded to a security team in the back, then jogged back up to the stage. “It sounds like we’re just about ready,” he said, then paused a moment to build the suspense. Once it seemed thick enough, he grinned. “For those of you who don’t know me…good!”
This elicited more ughter. Nobody knew the identity of the auctioneer, which was entirely the point. The man’s entire purpose in life was to get the highest price possible for the goods on sale while maintaining everyone’s anonymity, including his own. Most of the purchases being made fell into a gray zone, legally. The only reason for this was that magic hadn’t been properly legisted.
“All jokes aside, I will be your host for this evening. We will be looking at some collections that came in recently as well as some new items that I’m sure you’ll find very interesting.” The auctioneer stood quietly off to the side as the curtains behind him parted. A pair of women walked forward, pushing a cart with a vase on top of it. Tiny cracks had been painted into the gze of the vase, and a faint plume of smoke drifted from the top.
"Now don't let this first object's appearance fool you," said the auctioneer. "What collection wouldn't be complete without at least one verifiable haunted object?" The auctioneer moved close to the vase and held his hand over the top. "Now this one in particur is fairly special, because the spirit inside of it is actually not a troubled spirit!"
This caused muttering amongst the attendees. Ingrid actually leaned forward in interest.
"Now we know that possessed objects tend toward malevolent entities or spirits with unfinished business. This vase actually houses the spirit of a monk from the te 1600s. His daily meditations revolved around watching a flower grow in this very vase. When he passed, his unfinished business was that he had yet to discover inner peace. So what does that mean?" The auctioneer grinned. "As long as you keep this vase somewhere quiet, the spirit within will be content to meditate on the calm around him. But if you make some noise..." The auctioneer nodded to a man standing near the edge of the stage. The man pulled out a pair of cymbals and crashed them together. The vase wobbled at first, then lifted in the air as smoke billowed from the top.
"Be at peace, brother." The auctioneer picked up some prayer beads that had been next to the vase and wrapped them around the neck. The vase became inert and the muttering increased. "That's right, friends, we have a haunted object that requires very little upkeep, will not try to kill you in your sleep, and absolutely will perform for you and your guests. The opening bid is five million."
Several paddles went up, and the auctioneer's grin reminded Tasia of a shark. The price of the vase climbed until it finally sold for 27 million dolrs to a couple sitting near the back of the room.
"27 million for some haunted pottery." Tasia shook her head.
"Pottery that will do tricks for company," added Ingrid. "And isn't likely to possess your friends when you show it to them. Collectors take this shit very seriously."
"Shhh," someone whispered from behind them.
"Eat my ass," Tasia replied. This elicited giggles from an older woman sitting nearby.
The auctioneer waited for the vase to be pushed off stage and properly stored before the next item could be brought out. This time, it was a sacrificial dagger containing the essence of over a hundred souls. This one sold for less than the vase, which surprised both Ingrid and Tasia. The market for magical bdes was always fairly hot.
Speaking of magical bdes, two swords from the Order appeared for auction. The two teams from the Order actually got on stage to share the history of the bdes and demonstrate how they unfolded. Tasia had never heard of the Order parting with their magical swords before, and figured this was used to get their own operatives in pce, as well as make some money on the side. One sword sold for 200 million, while the other only sold for 110 million.
"Buyer's market on swords," muttered Ingrid. "Did you know that I heard they aren't making them anymore?"
"Why would they stop making them?" asked Tasia.
"Surplus." The older woman who had ughed earlier turned to look at them. "There are rumors that the Order has been losing members faster than it gains them. The only time they're ever for sale is if someone gets lucky and comes across a dead knight before the Order cleans up the scene. I have to imagine there’s a small storehouse packed with them, just waiting for the knights to wield them."
"You know your stuff," said Ingrid.
The woman nodded. "You don’t want to come to something like this without being educated. One of these swords sold about a year back for nearly 300 million. Was the first one on the market in over two decades, he absolutely paid too much. The guy who bought it was apparently a huge Star Wars fan. He used a charm to make the bde glow green."
Tasia clenched her fist so hard that her knuckles popped. The idea that the Order would allow someone to buy the weapon of a dead knight only to use it as a toy was simply--
Ingrid dug her nails into Tasia's thigh, then patted her affectionately. "Do you wish I had bid on one of the swords?" she asked, pying the role of Tasia's date. "I know how much you enjoy a good bde."
Tasia realized the older woman was still looking at them and ughed. "They're fascinating," she said. "But I'm past my sword phase, I suppose. I actually gave my st one to a close friend. She needed it more than I did."
"What would she even need a sword for?" asked the woman.
"Killing vampires."
This made the woman ugh. "You two are a hoot," she said, turning her attention back to the front.
Several more items came out, but Tasia paid little attention to them. Her thoughts had gone back to Dana. The zombie had been at the Maui Incident. Tasia had seen the videos and heard about her from Ingrid. Not even her father knew how close she'd become with Dana, and she regretted that things had ended the way they had.
After almost an hour, the group took a short break and were allowed to use the bathroom and drink some more. Tasia and Ingrid wandered the lobby for a bit until they were called back inside. This time, the tension in the air was palpable as the more interesting objects were brought out. Cursed objects, enchanted jewelry, all of them selling for millions of dolrs. Magical items were extremely rare already, and the art of constructing them was a closely held secret. The scarcity of the items now presented was generating visible excitement as the room readied itself for what could possibly outcss the items currently being offered.
The proxy bidders, who had rgely been quiet, were now very busy. Some bidding wars were among the proxies alone, and Tasia started to wonder if this mysterious object they'd been sent to investigate would ever be offered for sale.
"Alright, folks, our evening is almost over." The auctioneer cpped his hands together, his cheeks red with excitement. The man had done a masterful job at maintaining the energy in the room. "We only have three items left, and each one would make a worthy showcase on their own!"
The man waited for everyone to chat quietly for several seconds, then held up his hands for silence. A small cart was wheeled out with what looked like a birdcage beneath the cloth. "For your consideration, I present to you..." He ripped off the cloth, revealing a tiny figure sitting inside of the birdcage, its wings fluttering weakly as it stared out at the crowd. "A fairy!"
Several paddles went up in the air. Tasia could only watch in horror as the tiny thing sat back on its perch. Catching a fairy was not only extremely hard, but they hadn't been spotted in the wild for decades. While it was entirely possible that someone would purchase the being for companionship, it was far more likely that it would be treated well until it was healthy again and then killed and used for spell components.
"Darling, please." Ingrid dug her nails into Tasia's thigh again. "You're growling."
The woman in front of them turned and gave Tasia a sad smile. "It takes a certain mindset for this kind of item," she said. "I wouldn't fault her for being a bit upset about it. Perhaps you should buy it for her? Then she could set it free."
"I haven't seen anything I wanted," said Ingrid. "I'm still a new collector and learning about how to store and dispy stuff correctly. I kind of wanted that vase, but it was outside of my budget."
The old woman smiled. "You'll get there, someday," she said. “It’s not a race.”
The fairy went for almost 500 million dolrs and was wheeled off stage. The next item brought out looked to be a painting. The old woman in front of Tasia suddenly reeked of excitement.
"Now this particur item is extremely rare," said the auctioneer. "As you are well aware, many decades back, it was considered vogue by witches to abduct children and trap them inside of paintings."
This announcement caused quite the stir among the crowd. The woman in front of Tasia was practically rocking in her seat.
"Back in the te 1960s, a coven of witches took up a particur hobby of trapping children in paintings so that their loved ones could watch them grow old. As you know, they stopped doing this after a children’s author wrote about it in a book, and many of the paintings were found and destroyed. What I have here will both shock and delight you. Believed to be the st remaining painting with a child trapped inside, I present to you…” The auctioneer pulled the cover off. It was a cozy cottage scene with a water wheel in the back. An old man was kneeling in the front yard and crying. “Now much like a watched pot doesn’t boil, the figure in this painting will not move while observed. But leave the room for a bit and you’ll get to watch this poor soul live out their lonely, day-to-day existence until they finally die of old age and vanish. Now I will remind everybody here that…put your paddles down…” The auctioneer waited until the room settled. The woman in front of Tasia had practically leapt from her seat to bid. “There is no guarantee how much longer this individual will live. They were trapped as a child in the early seventies, which means…”
“300 million!” This came from a man in the back of the room.
“500 million!” This was from a couple in the first row.
“750 million!” shouted the old woman in front of Tasia.
The auctioneer chuckled. “Okay, okay. It seems like we have some true connoisseurs. Let’s start with the most recent bid and go up from there.”
The bidding became heated, and finally dropped to increments of a quarter of a million dolrs. Eventually, the old woman in front of Tasia won the final bid at almost 900 million dolrs.
“Congratutions,” said Tasia, trying to be nice. “What are you going to do with it?”
The old woman turned to Tasia with tears in her eyes. “Almost seventy years ago, the witches took my brother Bobbi and stuck him in that painting. Though it took almost every penny my family ever earned, I’m going to bring him home with me.”
“Oh.” Tasia smiled, more than a little pleased. She hadn’t expected that kind of story here. “Congratutions.”
The woman smiled, and turned her attention forward once more. People in the room were now actively chattering, and the auctioneer stood on stage, chewing the scenery as the anxious energy built. Tasia found herself sitting on the edge of her seat, wondering if her father’s intel was true. The two Order teams were equally intrigued, the four of them now studying the room. Were they pnning a smash and grab?
“And now for our final item of the evening.” The auctioneer grinned. “Now I know there have been rumors as to its identity and I want to assure you…the ones I spread are true.” The man turned to the curtain and nodded. The drapes parted, revealing four people blindfolded and holding poles with a suspended vessel roughly the size of a thermos between them. “Now before we begin, I must warn you. The actual object is not in the building for reasons you will soon understand.”
Frost had formed along the bottom of the thermos. The people carrying the vessel moved forward in lockstep until the auctioneer told them to stop. The item was now beneath a spotlight, steam rising from the top.
“I’m sure all of you are familiar with the Maui Incident,” he began. “Or at least as familiar as you can be. What you might not know is that there was confirmed…Otherness activity.”
The room went completely silent. Tasia could smell excitement, fear, and arousal from the attendees.
“During this event, a massive portal was opened and then smmed shut. Based on our research, several spatial portals had been opened across the isnd as well, though we know not the source. Regardless, when we have…outside activity and portals opening and closing, there’s always a small chance that something slips through.” The auctioneer pointed to the vessel. “We have, in an offsite facility, one of these creatures roughly the size of a medium dog. After several weeks, we were able to snip off a piece of the creature as proof of its existence for today’s auction, as well as for the safety of our personnel. Everyone in this room is aware that such a being is priceless and will require a top-notch containment facility whether you keep it alive or not. If such things can truly die, that is.. Now I would like to start the bidding—”
“Ten billion dolrs.” This came from one of the proxy callers.
The auctioneer frowned. “While I will happily accept the bid, I wish to prove that the goods are real before allowing any bids to be entered. After all, we are nothing without honor, right?”
Somebody raised a hand. The auctioneer considered them for a moment, then pointed to them.
“Is there a question?”
“More a concern.” The man stood. “I am absolutely fine with everything you have ever sold me. But if that’s really a piece of…well, I was wondering if you would allow me to leave the room. I don’t want the baleful eyes of those things on me for even a moment.”
“My friends. I assure you that everything here is safe.” He waved a hand at the vessel. “This device was designed for transporting hot nuclear material.”
“And yet, it leaks.” The man crossed his arms. “We can already see a containment breach.”
The auctioneer pondered this for a moment, then nodded. “We will be giving a demonstration in ten minutes. If anyone wishes to leave, now is the time to do so.”
The old woman in front of Tasia stood. “I’m not chancing anything,” she muttered, then winked at Tasia. “It’s not like I can afford it.” Surprisingly, that seemed to be the sentiment for most of the people in the room. Other than the Order teams, only a handful of people remained behind. When the room had been sealed once more, the auctioneer smiled again.
“You are about to see history, friends.” The auctioneer snapped his fingers and the people holding the vessel knelt on the floor. A fifth man came in briefly with a small towel, which was set between the vessel and the floor. A film of ice formed over the towel and spread out across the floor. “Now, before we begin, we do have a paid volunteer. However, if anybody present would like to look for themselves…”
The room was dead silent. Tasia briefly wondered if her werewolf biology would allow her to look upon a piece of such a creature, a being from outside time and space, without going insane. The rational part of her was screaming that she needed to run as fast and far away as she could. Her father had been right. This was absolutely not something that could be allowed to fall into anyone’s hands.
With no other volunteers, the auctioneer snapped his fingers and one of the security guards opened a door Tasia hadn’t seen. A young man dressed like a thug strolled in, stinking of beer and cigarettes.
“Hey.” He barely acknowledged the rest of the room, instead pointing to the thing in the middle. “So I just open the lid and look inside and you’ll give me fifty thousand pounds?”
“We signed a contract,” the auctioneer replied.
“And this isn’t a sex thing?” The thug scanned the room, his eyes briefly settling on Tasia. “Because if it is, I may be willing to negotiate.”
“Just take a peek,” said the auctioneer. “Nobody else in here wants to.”
“Rich pussies.” The thug grinned and walked toward the containment device. Somebody handed him a pair of gloves, which he took. Pulling them on, he stood over the vessel and put both hands on the lid.
“Easy money,” he quipped, then untched the sides and pulled it open. The lights in the room flickered, and for a moment, the thug was a healthy young man in his prime. When they came back on, the thug's skin hung loose from his body and was covered in dark splotches and sores. He fell back, blood leaking down his face. One of his pupils was now shaped like a ragged wound, and chunks of hair fell out of his head as he scrambled backward on his hands and feet.
“It’s inside my skin!” he screamed, writhing in agony. One of the blindfolded servants moved toward the vessel and tched it shut again as the thug wailed and then curled into a fetal position. He ranted about insects for nearly a minute before his words became useless babble.
“A single gnce of a piece of the creature can damage you permanently.” The auctioneer spoke quietly as security came and removed the thug. “There’s a rumor that a single drop of this creature’s blood contains more power than all the magical artifacts we’ve ever sold. For the man or woman who can figure out how to actually collect such a thing, you may be looking at immortality, or possibly more. This is a one-of-a-kind deal that is unlikely to ever come again. I will now start the bidding at fifty billion dolrs.”
“Fifty billion,” said the proxy bidder who had first spoken up.
“Fifty five,” said a different proxy bidder. The room remained quiet as the bids continued to climb between three of the proxies, and then eventually two. When the final bid of four hundred billion dolrs came in, the auctioneer had broken into a cold sweat.
“Are the assets…verified?” he asked, giving a hard look at the proxy. The woman working the phone gave him a silent thumbs up. The auctioneer cpped his hands together. “Sold,” he shouted.
The room erupted in appuse. Tasia looked at Ingrid in horror, then past the mage to where the other Order members were. The teams looked stunned, and continued to do so as the room was emptied. Tasia followed Ingrid into the lobby where drinks were being served and instructions for wire transfers were given out. The two of them made their way onto the street, the night air cold against Tasia’s skin.
“They captured one alive?” whispered Ingrid in horror. “How?”
Tasia shook her head and motioned that they should wait to speak. Their vehicle was brought around by the valet, and Tasia did a quick sniff for bugs while Ingrid checked for magical surveilnce. The car was clean, and they were several miles away before Tasia pulled the phone out of the glove compartment and called her father, then put him on speakerphone.
“Is it done?” Her father Alexandros didn’t bother with pleasantries. As far as anyone knew, his daughter had mysteriously disappeared some time ago and he had no contact with her. If someone was listening from his location, even a polite greeting may cause suspicion.
“It is not,” Tasia replied. “The item was not on site.”
“Where is it?” he asked. “What is it?”
“Unknown,” she answered. “As for what…it’s some type of Old One. A living one.”
“Was proof provided?”
Tasia gave a brief synopsis of what had occurred, perfectly aware that her father would see a simir report from the Order agents in attendance. However, he wasn’t likely to see such a report until his higher ups decided to share it with him and ask for his help. Right now, they still had a chance to make a move before the Order became involved.
“Four hundred billion dolrs.” Alexandros spoke softly, as if contempting the number like a lover. “That’s a lot of money to move. If you want to find the buyer, you need someone who can track that kind of capital.”
“Do you have anyone, sir?” Ingrid looked briefly at the phone, then back at the road. “Our current skillset for that type of investigation is severely cking.”
“Hmm.” Alexandros sighed. “I do, but it’s very likely that they will be tapped for the same job by someone else.” And by someone else, he meant the Order.
“So what are our options?” Ingrid looked at Tasia.
The werewolf took a deep breath in an attempt to overcome the icy sensation in her stomach. “I might know someone who can do it,” she said.
“Do they contract with our people?” he asked, being deliberately vague. “If they’re any good, they may be approached by us.”
“Even if she was, I don’t think it would be a problem. She doesn’t need the money and definitely isn’t a fan of your people. But she might be willing to help us if we expin what’s going on.” Tasia was thinking of Eulie, the Arachne. The girl was impossibly gifted when it came to computers and data, and might be able to track the money down. Considering the fact that the Order tried to hunt down and kill her mother several decades back, Tasia doubted Eulie was keen to do any work for them.
“How much do you trust her?” he asked.
“I would work with her again.” Tasia crossed her arms. “There’s a very real chance she’ll hear about what happened through her own spy network anyway. She wouldn’t see fit to interfere unless I asked.”
“Then you know what to do,” he replied, and disconnected the call. Tasia stared at the phone and licked her lips in anticipation. With her father’s permission to contact Eulie, she could at least leave a message for Dana. After a few minutes of trying to figure out the best message to send, she got carsick and had to stop looking at her phone. Groaning in frustration, Tasia fought the gentle lull of the road for a few more miles before dozing off in her seat.
It was nearly an hour ter that she woke up as they pulled into the drive of the safe house. Aurora, another former Order employee and refugee from the Maui incident, greeted them at the door and guided them inside. The native Hawaiian had taken the same offer that Ingrid had, and now did secret freence work on the side. The woman was amazingly organized, and had some simple meals ready for both of them.
For Tasia, this meant two massive steaks and over a pound of mashed potatoes. She rubbed her hands together as she sat at the table, only to get chased away by Aurora because she was still wearing her cocktail dress. The werewolf grumpily conceded to a wardrobe change before dining, pausing just long enough to shoot off a vaguely worded email in Eulie’s direction. The Arachne didn’t have any one specific way to get ahold of her, so Tasia hedged her bets and left the same message in multiple pces.
By the time she returned to the table, Ingrid was busy debriefing with Aurora, who took notes on a tablet. Tasia couldn’t help but notice that Ingrid was still in her party wear, and pointed it out.
“She’s not as messy of an eater as you are,” Aurora said with a stern gre. “I’m the one who has to clean those clothes, you know.”
“I’m not a messy eater,” said Tasia, promptly taking a giant spoon of mashed potatoes and spilling it on her hoodie. Aurora just tsked at her and went back to her conversation with Ingrid. A few minutes ter, Tasia’s phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket to see a text from an unknown number.
>New phone, who dis?
Frowning, Tasia replied. It’s Tasia, she wrote. Seconds ter, the phone buzzed.
>You sound hot, pls send nudes
Stunned, Tasia stared at her phone. Had she accidentally emailed or texted the wrong person? Uncertain what to do, she set her phone on the table and stared at it.
“Everything okay?” asked Ingrid.
Tasia nodded, then picked the phone up. Without a second thought, she lifted her hoodie and snapped a picture of her own breasts. Share these with Dana, tell her I want it doggy style, she wrote, then sent it. The phone rang seconds ter, and she answered it.
“Okay, that was entirely unexpected,” said Eulie. “Figured we’d circle around a bit until you sent me a selfie of your face.”
“Yeah, well…um…” Tasia noticed that Ingrid and Aurora were staring at her in horror. “It’s fine, guys. Just getting in contact with our…um…cyber expert.”
“Your cyber expert?” There was a hint of amusement in Eulie’s voice. “Have you tried turning it off and back on again?”
“It’s more complicated than that. Is this line secure?”
The Arachne snorted. “Secure enough,” she replied. “I’d ask where you’ve been for the st year, but figure there’s a reason you can’t tell me.”
“True,” Tasia admitted. “Things are—”
“Complicated,” Eulie finished. “They always are. You must have run across something pretty bad if you’re giving me a ring.”
Tasia took a deep breath and let it out. “You have no idea,” she replied. “What are the odds that you could track a multi-billion dolr transfer and figure out the sender’s identity?”
“I mean…I probably could,” said Eulie. “But I am in the middle of some other stuff right now. It would have to be pretty important.”
“Someone captured one of those things from outside time and space and just auctioned it off.” Tasia waited for a response, but didn’t get one. After several seconds, she cleared her throat. “Eulie? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” There was another long pause and Eulie chuckled. “I was pnning on multitasking, but maybe it’s time we get the band back together.”
Tasia let out a sigh of relief. “So you’ll help us?”
“Absolutely,” Eulie replied. An odd whooshing sound came out of the speaker.
“What was that?” asked Tasia.
“Just shared that picture with Dana like you asked me to.” This was followed by the clicking of a keyboard. “Alright, I’m ready. Tell me everything you know.”
Tasia gave Ingrid a thumbs up and started to speak. As she passed along the relevant information about what had occurred at the auction, a nagging thought bounced around in the back of her head like an errant bearing in a well-oiled engine.
Would Dana even care about her picture?
