Mission Debrief:
Expenses: 48 Lyra
Addendum:
Continuing from previous reporting.
When we adjourned to our bedrooms, it was early evening, the sun had just set and darkness settled over Neuchatel. Bjorn was sharing a room with Cornel, simply because it was too much effort to try and get one set up for him.
I made a call to Nachtrichter and reported in, but also gathered information on the persons of interest. Thank you for the research that you had already done and the momentary information that you had gathered on remaining elements.
I left to find Bridgette. I wanted to make sure that she understood what transpired, in some fashion or another. I also wanted to warn her. If there was treachery afoot, I wanted to make sure that she was safe. Especially if the Augury possessed ability to reveal if the Cardinal was the predator that she and Vadim had alluded to.
She wasn’t home, safely sequestered in the hills above the town performing her duty as the attendant to the Augury.
On the return to the proximity of the hotel, there was a pair of gentlemen moving along the docks. Their stride was purposeful and they tended to pull people into conversation as they came close enough. I felt a twinge. They were likely looking for us.
Blanka was sitting in the dining area when I returned. She explained that Cornel and Bjorn disappeared into a cab with the intent of going back to Habsburg Castle. The intention was to tend to Bjorn’s wounds, and make sure that he didn’t have more to worry about from the close encounter with the werewolf. It would be a long trip, but he would receive the best care there without question.
Blanka has been a dependable extension to the mission. I’ve been relying on her. She has reminded me that I never did well in social settings. To her, it is second nature and I draw on her experience in these situations.
Another pair of detectives moved into the hotel proper.
“We might need to make this more subtle.”
I nodded to her and tapped my head while looking at her hair. I hadn’t seen another match for her shimmering red hair in this population. If they knew to look for a redhead, she’d be obvious.
She understood, gave me a knowing smile, then walked off. I waited at some of the tables until a dark haired woman, wearing the most modern fashions, hair cut in a short in back, angled to longer in front parted in the middle. She was absolutely stunning. I felt a shiver as she looked at me and beckoned me over. Upon my skeptical approach, Blanka’s voice came out.
“How’s this?”
I gulped and clenched my teeth.
“Terrifying.”
She held her arm out and I looped through, bringing her to a set of tables on the patio. Across the way, I could hear the revelry of music and the peal of a violin come from across the water. The closer sounds of clinking of glasses and murmurs of conversations while sitting in the cool night air was intoxicating.
“I could get used to this.” I said.
“Oh. You do.”
She smiled simply, but the comment reminded me of her upbringing. There was an anguish to her privilege.
I changed the discussion focusing back on the mission. I laid out my thoughts and asked for her input. In interacting with this adult persona, all the pretense of speaking with a youth flitted out of my mind. I started to try speaking in code, but shortly into the conversation, the confused looking woman reached out a hand and patted my arm.
“This isn’t working.”
“Yes? Fine, I’ll speak plainly.”
I connected Leon, Aaron, and the Cardinal all together. We had a chance where we could get into the inner circle and get eyes on all of the players.
“You could make a donation. Wealthy people do it all the time to remedy some social sleight or to resolve their conscience. Sometimes to raise their standing in the church or with their peers. It’s a benefit of privilege. You did something that’s nagging at you? Donate to the church. Maybe you’ll get a brick with your name on it laid in the courtyard?”
Her disdain was palpable.
“I’ve still got 500 Lyra on me.”
“Oh, you’ll need more than that if you want to purchase a visit with the Cardinal.”
Blanka is incredibly aware of how money works. How it affects people. How money can be wielded as both a tool and a weapon. We devised a plan then and there to gain an audience. It was some time later that she grimaced and stood up and left. When she returned, she wore her normal self.
“Mom went to bed. I’m going to bed, too.”
I smiled at her and nodded. Then ordered another drink. I played through the scenario in my head.
If this didn’t work? Well, here’s to hoping I wouldn’t have to worry about that.
I rose my glass to fate. It’s something I wouldn’t have done just the day before. All the goings on with Bjorn and his musings of animal sacrifices and massive crows. I like the idea of fate. What comes, will come. There’s no avoiding it. If I were building my own pantheon, Fate would be the central figure.
The next morning came quickly. The ringing from the wake up call kick-started the gears in my head, setting the day in motion. I moved through my weapons, checking chambers and barrels, rubbing down my Henry rifle, then giving the Toro a quick inspection. I pushed the release and dropped the cylinder, emptying the bullets on the bed, and then inspecting each bullet as I slotted them in. I wasn’t going to need them just yet. It was the ritual itself that put me at ease.
I adjourned downstairs and saw Blanka sitting in the lobby, not in the restaurant where I would have expected. I nodded to her.
“Have you heard from the others?” She asked.
I turned to the desk and asked if there were any messages for me, giving the clerk my name.
“No, nothing, sir.”
I shrugged.
“I guess they’re dead. Want to get breakfast? Mimosas? We’ll make a toast in their names.”
“Don’t joke! What if something bad happened?”
I chuckled to myself. Something bad did happen. I had no doubt that Bjorn was doing better now, considering the encounter last night. Still, Blanka was inordinately shocked.
“Are you hungry or not?” I said with mock impatience as I turned into the dining area.
We settled into the morning routine. I read yesterday’s and today's papers, seeing some interesting stories. A jewelry heist, tensions in Clovia, and a picture of new fashions. The fashions were called out as Icenian. It looked uncomfortably odd, showing a lot more leg than I was used to.
I pointed them out to Blanka, with a chuckle, then I realized my mistake.
“Oh, that looks fun!”
She studied it briefly and slipped away. On her return, she slunk in with these incredibly short shorts sporting a fuller body and rounder face with a dark lacquered curl hanging between her chestnut brows. The fashion had this oddly full top which seemed meant to to counterbalance the abundance of leg. Fashion was always so strange to me. And, apparently, I was with a new random woman every day.
It was ridiculous. It took everything to keep myself from laughing out loud. It had moved from feeling uncomfortable to being downright ludicrous.
If it doesn’t affect the mission, it’s entirely permissible. Right?
We chatted back and forth, with her getting long glances from around the dining area. She soaked them in, but continued her engagement with me. There were also a handful of women mingled in the dining room whose eyes were focused on me. I could feel their anger. I avoided eye contact with their collective glares, maintaining my focus on Blanka’s slightly cherubic form ahead of me as we talked.
I explained what I had worked out as my plan.
“I can’t lie to save my life. However, I don’t expect that my need for relief from guilt will be far from the truth.” I grimaced at the admission.
Blanka’s persona furrowed a delicate brow.
“It better be convincing. What do you have in mind?”
“Like we discussed yesterday. I am there to buy solace. I need you along with me, though.”
“Go on?” She fluttered her eyes.
I deflated slightly and glared at her. She rolled her eyes and continued.
“Fine. What do you consider unattractive?”
“Skinny and sharp.” I said, perhaps too quickly.
She played it through in her head a few times, with her persona’s dark eyes rolling through various expressions as she conceived of the perfect guise.
I didn’t doubt she’d know exactly what to do.
It was just afternoon that we planned to walk to the church. There was no sign of Bjorn and Cornel, even as the sun hit its apex. Blanka had returned to her normal self for the walk. She seemed concerned.
“Perhaps we should leave a message?” Blanka asked.
“Oh. No. Let’s leave them in suspense.”
She furrowed her brow disapprovingly.
I reacted to her disdain.
“Really? When did an abundance of communication matter to you? You just like Bjorn.”
She shook her head, with a sigh.
“I can’t believe you sacrificed that pig without me.”
We arrived at the cafe that sat just below the church proper. She busied herself at a table and we ordered a light breakfast.
“I’m going to take a quick walk.”
Blanka nodded and pulled a book from her satchel.
I moved up to the church grounds and perused the area briefly. I needed to give myself some space from Blanka to collect my thoughts. The feelings I was dredging up for this moment were true and deep. I found myself reliving a past I had long since left behind.
The church grounds were peaceful. Footsteps echoed across the stone inlaid courtyard. A statue for the Augury stood some distance from the front doors of the church. A shiver went up my spine as I spied three wolves off to the side lingering under the trees. It took a brief moment to realize they were statues. It was strangely fitting for the situation at hand.
I returned to Blanka. She looked up from her book and I tilted my head toward the church. She nodded.
“I’ll be a moment.”
She collected her things and disappeared into the washroom in the cafe. I looked down, seeing a full plate, but stirred and scooted around into a convoluted mess. I couldn’t imagine how she wasn’t starving.
A woman emerged from the cafe. She looked like a rail with pointy shoulders and pointy elbows. Her gaunt face was severe as she leaned back on her heels and gave me a daunting look.
“Hello, my name is Veronika.”
Her lips parted and she winked. It was Blanka. I shook my head.
“What do you think?”
She was trying on a different voice, more Almanian, but didn’t quite pull it off. Her walk was still Blanka’s, too, but with this form, it looked like a practiced approach at trying to present herself as something she was most definitely not.
“Spot on. Unattractive to a ‘T’. I will never look at you the same way again”
A smile rippled across the thin lips. It didn’t look at all natural on that face. Then the smile quickly disappeared.
“Wait. Do you mean that?”
“Maybe.”
We moved into the courtyard and saw that there were two points of entry into the church. The front doors that overlooked the statue of the Augury. There was also a side door that I hadn’t noticed earlier. A small meditation garden with a solitary sheep standing near the back. I glanced behind me and saw the wolves off in the distance.
“Interesting,” I mused to myself.
We approached the back door and I knocked. After a moment a young, balding clerk came to the door and looked at us with a surprisingly genuine smile. He asked how he could help us and lit up as I explained my situation.
“Some time ago I married a woman that I loved dearly. Her family fell on hard times and it broke us apart. I still think on her. I wish her well, but I still feel that I need to make amends. I would like to make a donation in her family’s name.”
Blanka’s accountant facade, Veronika, chimed in, sounding severe, almost angry.
“I am Bani Elkind’s accountant. I will make the arrangements for payment.” She paused, waiting for a reaction.
It took a moment, but apparently he recognized my name.
I had no idea how much social capital I’d established with my travelogues. I poured my heart and soul into them, absolutely. It was a personal journey as much as it was anything else. It made me wonder if I should start it up again? If I have the chance to retire, that is.
The cleric opened his doors and brought us inside. I did a lot of hand wringing and pensive stares.
The thing is, it was a short distance to drop for me. Cassandra was the love of my life. Those feelings are still there, even though we went awry along the way. My heart hurt thinking about it and emotion quickly rose to the surface.
I, however, had never used it like this.
As we moved in, I saw a man walk from behind us, he dipped his fingers into a small round font and genuflected, then moved out toward the garden. A slight smell of distinguished cologne clung to him. I immediately recognized him as Aaron Paul from his description, one of the others caught in this web, either as a spider or as a fly.
Veronika stood over a ledger with the cleric. He was flipping through pages and Blanka was reading his face. As she perused the numbers. She glanced at me and pointed to a donation figure that I couldn’t read from where I stood. I could see the man’s pulse quicken in his temple, beads of sweat immediately formed on his bare crown.
He started bringing out paperwork, seeming short of breath. Blanka scrutinized and signed the document. She was terribly good at this.
“Would you like a visit with the Cardinal? Your need is great and he can provide a direct blessing to you.”
I nodded, grimacing with eyes brimming.
“You will have to stay here.” The cleric said to Blanka who blinked suddenly.
“No. She must stay with me. She’s involved in all of my affairs.”
He looked concerned then shrugged it off.
“That is fine. We will make arrangements.”
He turned away and proceeded down the hall. I saw Blanka’s head tilt with a smirk.
“All of your affairs?”
“Hush.”
We caught up, following him up a winding staircase. A knock on an ornate door and some shuffling and the door creaked open. The Cardinal was in the room alone, though there was a lingering smell of Aaron Paul’s cologne. He had been here recently.
The room itself was well lit, with windows looking down into the Castle walls and courtyard that surrounded the church. I remembered that these were the same spires I saw on my way to collect Monica Granger from Clovia.
He spoke at length with platitudes and examples of religious history where people sought solace in the church and were healed of those pains that you can’t plainly see.
I held the anxiety and sadness in my heart while he did. It felt like a shield as the words rolled out of him. He looked normal enough, but thoughts of Bjorn’s Skeller kept any assumptions at bay. There was ritual and ceremony, but I felt nothing from the proceedings. Words alone were supposed to have helped and, testing the tenderness of my heart; they didn’t.
Sure, the pretense was false, but it is very clear to me that I have some processing to do on the life, and love, that I had left behind.
After a while of speaking Cardinal Rolland, I felt like I was listening to a well-rehearsed process that, frankly, I was starting to tire of it. I decided to press in with a request.
“Cardinal, there is something I would like for you to do for me. One thing that Cassandra saw in this town was the amazing sense of community. These people all lived together with the intent of raising each other up. Even those on the outskirts were welcomed as friends and family.”
I reached deep, weaving this together was the only way I could get a reaction from him.
“I want a portion of my donation to go toward that help. Lifting the needy, feeding the stranger, and drawing this community together. Can you make sure that happens?”
I looked directly at him with those words.
There was a flutter of his eyelids. For the briefest of moments, I saw a shift in his expression. A flattening, disdain, maybe a little disgust rising then quickly fading away.
He put words to it that brushed past the commitment. His brief expression spoke volumes and his intent felt disingenuous. This was not the Cardinal. I guarantee that Bridgette, if she were here, would have recognized that as well.
The Cardinal settled back down completing his part of the task. I bowed deeply and thanked him. He called the cleric back in and we moved out into the hall. On the left, immediately outside of the Cardinal’s door was a man wearing a dark suit coat. It was well pressed, almost resembling a uniform. I felt a chill crawl up my spine. I recognized the threat immediately. It wasn’t just that he was expressionless, or that he was finely tuned for action. It was his eyes, deep, cold, and indifferent. I was glad I wasn’t meeting him in other circumstances.
Blanka’s persona moved ahead of me, as we followed the cleric back to his office. Once we got there, he started putting papers in front of my loyal secretary. She reviewed the papers and began to sign where needed. She seemed to know exactly what to look for.
I decided to feign a weak moment, letting the feeling of distress and sadness take hold.
“Veronika, I do not feel well. We will continue this tomorrow.”
The cleric was caught off guard by the comment, his eyes darted between us. Blanka assured him of paperwork, giving him a card with contact information scratched on it.
We moved out into the courtyard with the solitary sheep standing in the small green area. We wound around the side of the church and made our way back down toward the hotel. Blanka found an isolated place and returned to her normal form. We talked as we walked the remainder of the way. Blanka was pensive.
“That was unusual,” I started.
She nodded.
“While he’s got most of it down, there was a moment where I could see he was just playing a part.” I mused, then turned to her, “What did you see? You must have been able to perceive more?”
“I didn’t want to give myself away, but it was clear that there was a lot of magic at work in that room. I couldn’t reach too far as it would have drawn attention, but beyond some bright spots in his office, there was also another presence that seemed to be shrouded in illusion.”
I thought about the smell of cologne, but didn’t bring it up. We might have been in a more precarious situation than I had previously thought.
After speaking with Blanka, I knew we had to take action against the Cardinal. And, sooner, rather than later.
We returned to the hotel and found Bjorn and Cornel waiting in the dining area. Both were keeping themselves occupied. Bjorn looked a hell of a lot better than he did last night.
“Where were ya?” Bjorn gave me a perturbed look, “Ya didn’t leave a message.”
“Neither did you. I assumed you died and we had to go it alone.”
He scoffed.
Cornel sat off to the side, looking at the exchange between Bjorn and myself. He appeared oddly satisfied. He smiled easier and appeared to regard Bjorn with more respect, too. Their trip must have gone well.
We gathered closely around a table and began to share information on what we knew so far. Blanka had, at some point, procured a pack of cigarettes and offered them around the table.
It was clear to me that the Cardinal wasn’t who he appeared to be. The man, Aaron Paul, was a regular visitor to the Church. There were bodyguards of an unknown quantity who lived within the church. They were likely very dangerous. Considering Vadim had lost one of his men--a werewolf--to them, said a lot.
Blanka had started turning an odd color of green. I realized that she had been madly puffing through nearly all of the cigarettes she’d gotten her hands on. She’d slowed down and frowned as the sickness settled over her.
Ah, another of life’s lessons.
I pitched the idea that we enlist Vadim’s help to assault the church and depose the Cardinal immediately. The longer we’re here, the more trouble will come of it.
Ally with a band of werewolves? I found that Bjorn was surprisingly accepting of the idea. He still had a shotgun loaded with silver slugs. Perhaps that was all the assurance he needed? As it stood, everyone looked to me for the next step. This was the first time I could genuinely say that I was up for the task.
Our visit to Vadim was met again with a cautious outreach. He ascended his makeshift throne again while the four of us settled into seats to have an audience with the Gypsy king. Bjorn still bore his shotgun over one shoulder. The open defiance was taken in stride, with a glance and a slight smile from Vadim.
He asked about Blanka’s green tinge, and I explained the pack of cigarettes. He made a motion to a young boy off to our left, and he quickly bounced up and disappeared among the carts and wagons. The gorgeous Gypsy woman was more prominent this time, she stood behind Vadim, not being timid about where she put her hands.
The boy returned shortly with a small vial and offered it to the pallid Blanka. There’s an antidote for everything, apparently.
We spoke about our meeting with the Cardinal. I explained to Vadim that I agreed with him; that the Cardinal was an imposter. That I would suggest a temporary alliance to depose him quickly and completely. Vadim smiled at the suggestion.
“A temporary alliance? Surely, we are better friends than that?”
Vadim prompted others to pass around some bottles. He offered a drink to me, poured from the same flash as his. The smell of spices and spirits rose from the glass.
“Let’s resolve what we have in front of us now. If we are successful, I would heartily agree to a more permanent arrangement.”
“That’ll have to be enough for now. To our success!”
He raised his glass and tossed the drink down his throat. I sipped, taking a little more time with the bouquet of mulled spices rising above the sharp undertone of alcohol.
I explained the plan to Vadim. Just as the sun went down, I would approach--drunk and unruly--with my assistant, Veronika, trying to keep my temper at bay. I would gain access to the church with Veronika while everyone else would wait in the courtyard as close in as we lured the bodyguards out. Then we would deal with the imposter Cardinal and his stooge, Aaron.
Bjorn and Cornel exchanged glances with the mention of Veronika, but didn’t didn’t say anything.
There was a consensus on the plan with the Kalderari and another toast to success. We departed shortly after. Blanka looked considerably more healthy than before by the end of our meeting.
The church courtyard was empty in the late evening. Very few electric lights were in place here, so placing my Henry rifle in the bushes wasn’t an issue. Vadim’s men would linger in their forms with the wolf statues, which was more than fitting. I doubt we’d run into anything as timid as a lamb as our opposition in all of this, though.
Bjorn and Cornel parked down the road and started scaling the outer wall to get into the courtyard. I nodded to Blanka and she moved out of sight, taking on her Veronika form. This was getting to be extremely efficient. Blanka and I may have to settle on a series of persona’s that we could refer to by name.
Once she re-appeared, I started with my ruse, using Bjorn’s own bottle of Norse Vodka. I liberally splashed alcohol on my clothes, to get a lovely ripening effect. I stumbled around, yelling: forlorn and heartsick. I banged on the side door, the same we had moved into before. Blanka’s concern seemed genuine as my state deteriorated. Maybe I had slipped a little too comfortably into this skin.
The cleric from earlier opened the door to the scene, he was bleary-eyed and disheveled.
“Mr. Elkind? What…?”
“It didn’t work! I still don’t feel any better!” I yelled in his face, exhaling a misting of alcohol in the process, “Maybe… maybe, I can just give you the money now?”
Veronika pleaded with me.
“Please, Bani, leave the man alone! Let’s rest for the night and come back tomorrow.”
“No!” I shouted, “It happens tonight!”
The cleric’s head was spinning at this point, he waved us in and directed us to his office immediately.
“I … I need to speak to the Cardinal. Please stay calm, Mr. Elkind.”
He shuffled off, using the walls to guide him down the hallways without stumbling as he attempted to shake off his grogginess.
Blanka looked at me wide-eyed.
“This was the plan?” Blanka hissed, looking at me from the rail thin, boney form of Veronika.
“Kicking the hornet’s nest?”
I slurred a little as I whispered, maybe all of this pretending to drink was too close to actually drinking?
“Let’s just keep it up. We’ll get them outside and our friends can do the rest.”
I waited, shouting occasionally, rattling the bottle on the desk. I saw a shadow move into the hallway and wondered who was listening in. Against my better judgment, I moved out into the hallway and was met with the dead eyes of one of the bodyguards.
“Are you the cleric?” I said, slurring.
His eyes narrowed at me and I noticed there was a pistol in his hand. He raised it quickly and dropped the heel of it down on my crown. I immediately saw stars and felt blood flowing immediately from the wound.
I panicked.
“Don’t shoot!” I pleaded.
Then pulled my Toro and shot him point blank. The first struck true, the other impacted on the wall behind him. His aim dropped to me and he unloaded three rounds. I felt each bullet impact. My vision went red and I immediately began to gasp for breath. Blanka saw this from her position in the room, and used her abilities to confuse the man.
I opened the door and pushed him out into the courtyard, but before I could shut the door, he blinked off whatever was disorienting him and shot me just as the door was about to close.
Everything went black.
I was on my back. Shadows danced above me showing against the stars. Everything hurt. A halo of dark red strands shimmering against the electric lights was hovering over me dragging me backwards. Blanka stopped to rattle off a few shots. I took a deep breath and things took shape again.
I could see shadows descending into the courtyard from around us. One of those faces was the gaunt Cornel and beside him Bjorn raised the shotgun to his shoulder, but thought better than firing. There were other shapes, hunched and wolf-like. I could see the straining clothes of the Gypsies among the sprouted fur.
Everyone’s kept their promise. Well, except me. This could have gone better.
Blanka had used something on me to stabilize and then dragged me to safety while her spell was still affecting the man. At least, that’s what I could assume.
My holstered Henry rifle was handed to me as Bjorn and Cornel moved past to engage. I slung the holster, then took a prone position. I lined up a shot on the bodyguard that, I assumed, was the one who clocked me earlier. Revenge was all the solace I could muster. Cornel offered an arm and I moved up to the corner of the church. As the rest of the troupe closed on the garden, another bodyguard appeared from the doorway.
A few more shots rang out and then the two of them produced weighted and metal studded clubs and began to swing for maximum damage. One of the werewolves fell under a series of blows. I shuddered at the sound of its skull cracking as it released a brilliant red mist that bloomed under the electric lights.
I stumbled through the archway moving back into the sanctuary facing the door. Absolutely everything hurt. I could feel the pressure in my chest and my breathing was shallow and painful. A quick battle or a quick death; I almost felt like leveraging Bjorn’s Odin for this. At least it wasn’t Wednesday.
The guards were now toe to toe with ... I blinked to clear my eyes.
Now, this is where things got strange. I understand that Bjorn is a yet unknown quantity. He had a righteous indignation toward those werewolves, but then… he assumed the form of a bear, roaring and thrashing. He eviscerated one of the body guards. I could see the panic in their movement as the weight of the creature bore down on them.
I dropped prone along the wall, and leveled some shots at the remaining guard. Blanka was stunned by what she was seeing, too. She moved to the wall and took a low profile. Cornel was shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the beasts, having drawn a weighted club as well.
Behind us a shot rang out. I saw Cornel drop his weapon as a red mist blew blossomed out the back of him. Another shot laid him low and he was on the ground with blood flowing quickly out of him. I turned and saw some shadows in the front courtyard where we had just come from. I saw both werewolves and the bear-formed Bjorn turn and sprint toward the shots, leaving behind the broken forms of what was left of the two bodyguards and the gypsy.
I moved immediately over to Cornel and checked his vitals. I lifted him and tried to reposition so that he wouldn’t choke on his own blood, but it threw him into a series of sputtering fits. I repositioned him again and it settled. He was barely alive.
Blanka fell in by my side. I could see shock settle in over Blanka. I had to force myself to remember she was only sixteen.
“I don’t have the tools I need to stabilize him. Do you have anything that could help him?”
She reacted by producing a trauma patch. I had used these in the war, results were mixed, especially since it depended on my own skill. I positioned it as best I could over the two holes in Cornel’s torso and pressed it into place. The flow of blood ebbed and I could see a weak pulse in the blood vessels at his temple. He was stabilized, but extremely fragile. Blanka was wide-eyed.
All along, I could hear shots along with furious bellowing and howls on the far side of the courtyard. I looked back just in time to see the bear leaning into the body on the ground, it’s ribs pointing skyward. The half-man, half-bear stood on its hind legs and chomped down a large morsel. I shuddered at the sight. The two other hunched dark shapes seemed to be warily stepping back from the bear.
“Could you shut that door?” I said, speaking over my shoulder to Blanka.
Blanka didn’t respond. I turned and saw shock on her face. I followed her gaze and saw the Cardinal standing at the corner of the hall in his nightclothes.
I glanced back into the courtyard and saw Bjorn returning to mostly normal. It was hard to tell with the thin illumination from the lights. I took a breath to shout back to them, but then I heard an almost timid voice coming from the hallway.
“Are they dead? Oh, thank the Gods.”
I narrowed my eyes. Then glanced at Blanka who also looked a little puzzled.
“They have been watching my every move. Threatening me. They work for a man named Aaron Paul.”
He paused and looked at me and did a slight gasp.
“You are very, very hurt. And your man here?” He pointed to Cornel, “Do you need help?”
“Yes. That would be appreciated.”
“Let me fetch my supplies.”
I nodded. And, as soon as the Cardinal had permission, he turned and walked deeper into the hallway and I could hear him stepping up stairs. I looked wide eyed at Blanka, unsure of what just happened. Blanka was frozen in place.
“Can you tell Bjorn and the others to clean up this mess. Take the bodies. We can’t leave any evidence.”
Blanka nodded quickly and broke free.
“Oh, and tell Bjorn the Cardinal is here. The others should stay out of sight.”
I holstered my Henry rifle into the sling on my back, then pulled my Toro from the holster and tucked it under the unconscious Cornel. Bjorn came over, half of his clothes in tatters.
“Where is de Cardinal?”
“He went around the corner and went up some stairs.”
“And ya let him?”
“I’m not feeling capable enough to pick a fight.” Then I gave him an incredulous look, “A bear?”
“What’s dat?”
“You give the stink eye to those werewolves and you turn into a god damned bear?”
“Oh, dere’s a difference. This is power granted by Odin. It’s not a curse.”
I grimaced. It all looked the same to me.
“I’ll be back with de Cardinal.”
Bjorn moved toward the door and the Cardinal just stepped around the corner with a shallow wooden box in his hands. Bjorn moved to the side and the Cardinal stepped out into the courtyard.
“I’m out of my complement for today, but these might help.”
Bjorn moved in behind him and laid the Vindicator at the base of the Cardinal’s skull, prompting a moment of fury mixed with a moment of panic.
“I’m trying to help your people!”
“I don’t trust ya.”
I took the box from his hands and he did not protest.
He explained that the chocolates had medicinal properties. It would help stabilize you while in the field, not much healing, but enough to sustain if you were critically wounded. Another was a small round vial filled with a thick blue liquid with the consistency of honey that had divine healing properties.
I took one of the chocolates and felt very little benefit. I drizzled the blue syrupy substance into Cornel’s mouth. His face immediately flushed, and his eyes popped open.
“... the hell?”
He looked up, saw the Cardinal and then focused in on the rest of our faces.
Bjorn leaned into the shotgun a little, I could tell because the Cardinal responded immediately with a gasp.
“You’re gonna answer me a question. Who are ya really?”
The Cardinal’s face darkened.
“You come here to take from me. Who do you think you are?”
Again, there was the other self peeking through. It made my skin crawl as he shifted his countenance from a kindly man to a sneering predator. I had seen it briefly before, but now it was raw, perfectly clear malevolence.
“That doesn’t sound like the words of a man of de church.”
I raised the gun I had secreted under Cornel and leveled it at the Cardinal. I could hear Blanka respond in kind behind me.
“My friend asked you a question. Who are you?”
“You come here, to my house and you try to take this away from me. Usurpers. You want this for yourself? You’ll ...”
He bit back the words as Bjorn pressed the barrel into the back of his skull again.
“Let’s take him to his office,” I said, “Let the others clean up.”
“The police will be here any moment now. How are you going to explain yourselves?”, the Imposter hissed.
“I can just pull da trigger and hollow out yer head like a canoe. Now move it.”
The Cardinal clenched his teeth and then followed Bjorn’s verbal instructions making his way into the church.
I waved to the wolfen forms in the courtyard and shut the door after we moved inside.
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