Thaumatology 08 - Ancient

by Teasdale, Niall

  The Ministry for Supernatural Affairs, the Greycoats, and MI5 were going through Special Branch and the Home Office searching for people under Raynor’s influence. Everyone was under suspicion. It was going to take weeks to interview everyone in both agencies, and MI5 were also working their way through the Army. Lorna was still staying at High Towers because John and Kate were on double shifts and she was lonely. Carter’s contacts in the government were saying that various high-level people were concerned that a greater penetration of supernaturals among the various agencies might have prevented such influence. Ceri had been horrified to discover that Special Branch had, quietly and without due process, locked every supernatural they had in the cells under New Scotland Yard. Raynor had worked on the nascent distrust normals had for supernaturals, amplifying it into full-on paranoia. It was genius, really. And it had shown up divisions in society which many had thought were long gone.

  Tonight, however, everything was good. Everyone was happy. The Dog Boys were in evidence and getting a lot more respect than they usually did from the other packs. The state of near constant warfare between them and the Marshwallers was entirely forgotten. A few moments of fighting together against a common goal and they were all friends. That had been enough to make Ceri giggle; it had been enough to make Alexandra laugh so hard some of her pack had been worried she would break something.

  The only person who was a little disgruntled about the whole thing was Alec. ‘Best damn fight since Remus,’ he muttered, ‘and I missed it!’

  ‘I’m sat here in a fur swimsuit and you’re worried about missing a battle?’ Cheryl countered, grinning broadly. She jiggled her chest at him across the bar to punctuate the question.

  ‘All I’m saying is, I could have had a good fight and seen you in an under-sized furry bra.’

  Cheryl looked down. ‘I am kind of hanging out of this,’ she commented, reaching up to adjust the cups a little.

  ‘Fairly standard procedure,’ Carter said, keeping his tone matter-of-fact. ‘The bras are all a size too small. It makes your breasts look a little bigger. Not that you really need it, but it was your idea so I thought you’d want the full treatment.’

  ‘She may not need it,’ Ceri commented, ‘but my boobs are appreciating it.’

  ‘I think it’s us doing the appreciating,’ Michael replied with a growl.

  Lily, walking back from one of her tables with a tray of empty glasses almost carelessly balanced in one hand, gave them both a bright smile. ‘I’m certainly appreciating.’

  Ceri giggled. ‘Boss, are you sure you didn’t get Lily’s size wrong. I’d swear that’s more than one size too small.’

  Carter’s lips twitched. ‘I may have gone a little smaller with Lily’s outfit.’

  ‘I like it,’ Lily said, putting her tray down. ‘Four ‘Banes, Alec, table six. Hey, do you think we could get Anita in an outfit like this?’

  ‘No,’ Michael replied flatly, though his lips were twitching and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

  ‘She would look like… a warrior goddess!’ Lily said, beaming.

  ‘We can’t,’ Ceri told her. ‘Much as I like the idea, the only way we could do it would be if we persuaded her Ray would love it, and then he would drown in his own drool, and I’m not willing to lose my martial arts instructor like that.’

  Lily giggled brightly. ‘You have a point.’

  ~~~

  It was close to midnight when three figures, two of them looking very tired, walked into the club. John and Kate were still dressed in work clothes, fairly standard suits, but Lorna was shrink-wrapped in a white, strapless sheath dress which showed off her exquisite body and, from the way she was clinging to her husband and his partner, she was wearing it for their benefit.

  Carter directed the two cops to sit down “before they fell down” and Lorna propped herself between them. Alec was placing glasses of whiskey in front of them before they even spoke; they looked like they needed it.

  Ceri scanned the room. Various wolves had noticed the vampire walking in; she knew they could smell her if nothing else. None of them seemed to be bothered by it, but Ceri glanced at Lily anyway.

  The half-succubus shook her head. ‘No one’s thinking about doing anything,’ Lily whispered.

  ‘Alexandra put the word around,’ Michael said, his voice low. ‘The vampires are cleaning house. They don’t represent a threat. We leave them be unless attacked, just like normal.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied, ‘but it’s nice to know it’s working.’

  Carter was being solicitous. ‘You look like you need about a month’s holiday, my dear Kate.’

  ‘Huh,’ the detective responded. ‘I thought telling some family that their teenage daughter had been used as a light snack by vampires was as low as it got, but this job really sucks.’

  ‘I have to concur with my partner,’ John said. ‘I did not join the Greycoats to play internal affairs to the rest of the police force.’

  ‘Learned anything?’ Ceri asked. ‘Correction, have you learned anything you can tell us? I mean, I still don’t understand how he could have infiltrated Special Branch so quickly.’

  ‘No, we can’t say much,’ John replied, ‘aside from “investigation is on-going,” and you know what that means, right?’

  ‘You don’t know?’

  John gave her a bleak smile. ‘However, the Chief did ask me to relay a message. Monday morning, nine o’clock, Greycoat Street. We’re doing a briefing for various personnel and politicians. Chief wants all three of you there.’

  ‘Nine?’ Lily moaned; she was really not a morning person. ‘We don’t need briefing. We were there.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Kate said. ‘You’re not being briefed, you’re doing the briefing.’

  ‘Part of it anyway,’ John added. ‘How you found Raynor and what happened during the fight. Oh, and also what you were able to figure out about the manipulation applied to Lowell and the soldiers.’

  Ceri sagged. ‘Sounds like awesome fun.’ She looked at Lily as the half-succubus opened her mouth to speak. ‘And no, I can’t do it on my own. If I’ve gotta get up that early, you’re coming with me.’

  Lily pouted, a lot.

  Kennington, June 10th

  It had been an unsettled June so far, to say the least, and the blazing sunlight which fell on the roof of High Towers resulted in an almost unheard of response from Lily. She actually got up as soon as she noticed the sun coming in the window, and was showered and sunbathing within thirty minutes of that.

  Ceri could feel contented, sun-warmed half-succubus as she climbed up through the roof hatch. It was a nice feeling and it seemed like ages since they had had time to just relax. She had put on a two-piece swimsuit, but as soon as she felt the sun on her skin, Ceri untied it and stretched out on her lounger in the nude. She knew full well Michael would not be wearing anything when he emerged and three little triangles of cloth seemed absurd rather than modest.

  And the sun was warm on her skin in a way she did not remember it feeling the summer before. She was changing; physically changing. The thought passed through Ceri’s mind that she was becoming less human. Lily had always been not quite human, her physiology a little different from normal. Her skin did not burn in the sun, she could not blush, her breasts really should have sagged more given their size and weight, but remained resolutely firm. They were tiny little expressions of her demonic heritage; to be expected really. They had been there definitely since she had hit puberty, but Ceri was changing. Becoming more… draconic?

  ‘Lil?’

  ‘Uh-huh?’ Ceri could tell Lily was not opening her eyes; she was not either.

  ‘Did you burn in the sun when you were a kid?’

  ‘That was a long time ago…’ Lily was quiet for a few seconds. ‘Maybe. I always liked the sun, but Mum used to make sure I wore sunblock. I remember getting a tan at one point. Then I got boobs and hips and my skin got paler.’

  ‘So, probably, until you hit pub
erty you were basically human?’

  ‘You’d have to ask Mum or Dad to be sure. I think she’d say I was a bit demonic and he’d say I was more human. Why?’

  ‘I was just thinking, I seem to be getting more draconic. I hit puberty a while ago though.’ It was her turn to pause for a second. ‘I was a bit later than some of the other girls, but nothing weird.’

  ‘I was second in my class.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘I can believe that.’

  Lily gave a throaty little chuckle. After a minute or so of silence she said, ‘You know, dragons are really big. They might go through puberty a lot later than humans.’

  Ceri winced softly. ‘Thanks, Lil, that’s really put my mind to rest.’

  ‘That’s okay. I like to be helpful.’

  Westminster, June 11th

  Rather than one of the conference rooms, DCI Barry had convened the meeting in what looked like a small lecture theatre. John had explained that it was used, mostly, for briefing large teams prior to a large operation. Today, however, it was full of politicians from the Home Office and Ministry for Supernatural Affairs, including both Malcolm Charles and Anthony Lorian, the Home Secretary. The remainder of the occupants were Special Branch, aside from Avery Sachs and a couple of others who Ceri was sure were MI5 too.

  The front row had been kept free for Ceri, Lily, Michael, and various Greycoats, including John and Kate, and one man Ceri had not met before. She figured he was another of the Special Advisors, because she was pretty sure none of the regular cops had been dead for fifty years or so. He projected an image of a thirty-something man with a muscular body and an angular face with a goatee. Ceri could see the slackening skin, starting to discolour, hung on a body which had lost enough flesh to be gaunt. She was glad he had chosen to sit on his own at the end of the row.

  ‘All right,’ Barry said from the front of the room, ‘let’s get this started.’ The murmured conversations around the room died away and he went on. ‘We’re here for a run through of what has happened recently. Everyone in this room has been vetted by our forensic practitioners, or was not subject to suspicion in the first place.’ Her brow creased slightly. ‘Mister Lorian, you have a question?’

  ‘How can you know that these people you say are above suspicion can be trusted?’ Ceri glanced around at the man. He was in his forties, but looked as though he had far too much on his plate between the crow’s feet and the worry lines. He was fairly thin; a look which probably did not help with the worried appearance. She got the feeling he had been questioned closely.

  ‘There are only three people here who fall into that category,’ Barry said. ‘Even my own detectives have been checked. Doctor Brent, Miss Carpenter, and Michael were responsible for Raynor’s death and Doctor Brent was the first to discover someone had been influenced. All of which makes it unlikely that they were under the man’s influence in the first place.’

  The only response the Chief Inspector got was a grunt, but he seemed happy with that. ‘Detective Inspector Radcliffe will now go through the evidence collected so far on Raynor’s infiltration into government departments.’

  John swapped places with Barry, pausing at the small lectern to take some notes out of his pocket and lay them out. ‘So far we have been through most of the upper ranks of the Home Office and Special Branch. I’m not exactly an expert on the magic used, but the reports from forensics indicate an extremely sophisticated use of memory alteration and emotion control. Evidence of such manipulations have been discovered and countered in more than eighty per cent of the people examined so far.’ He paused while the murmur of amazement went around the room. ‘No one in the Ministry for Supernatural Affairs or the Greycoats has been found to be affected, and the lower ranks of the Home Office and Special Branch seem less affected than the upper ranks. Raynor appears to have been highly selective in his choice of victims, even if the penetration has been high where required to meet his needs.’

  ‘What exactly where his “needs”?’ One of the Special Branch people. Ceri rolled her eyes; were they really that dense?

  ‘The manipulations were designed to promote distrust of supernaturals,’ John replied. ‘He wanted to be sure that anyone in authority was busy distrusting those who could help defeat him. Divide and conquer. The oldest strategy in the book.’ His gaze moved down a little toward Michael. ‘It helps that he was working on fears which we thought had largely worked their way out of society. We found the men responsible for firing on some of the Battersea pack. They had not been influenced in any way, they were just wound up and stupid. The RMP are investigating with an intention to prosecute since they had no reason to fire on the wolves and one died.’

  Ceri put her hand over Michael’s, feeling the tension draining out of him as she did so. ‘I told you we could trust the humans to deal with it,’ she murmured. He gave a curt nod in reply. In truth, it was still not certain that the men responsible would be held accountable, but at least it was a start.

  ‘We’re continuing to clear people,’ John went on. ‘Current estimates suggest we should have worked through the Home Office and Special Branch in about a week. From there… That’s up to our superiors.’ He looked over at Barry, who nodded for him to sit down, but did not stand up himself.

  ‘Doctor Brent, would you tell us what happened in Blackwall? And, if you would, explain to our colleagues what you learned about Raynor.’

  Ceri grimaced, but got to her feet and walked up to the lectern. ‘I don’t have notes or anything. I’ll tell you what I know.’ She paused to collect her thoughts.

  ‘Who exactly was this “Raynor,” Doctor?’ Lorian asked.

  ‘An Ancient,’ Ceri replied. ‘Vampires had to come from somewhere, right? Vampires are unusual among undead. The only other kind close to them are liches. From the research I did and from what I was told, Ancients are the precursors to the vampires we’re used to. They don’t rot. They are more powerful than normal vamps. Stronger, faster. I’ve witnessed that myself. More or less anyone they bite and kill is turned, while normal vampires actually have a moderately poor turn rate. And most of them are old. Raynor was turned in the Dark Ages. He belonged to some sort of blood cult. His aim was to turn as many people as he could into vampires and, basically, rule the world.’

  She paused, looking around. She could tell that some of the people in the room were having a hard time believing her. On the other hand, Raynor had been doing a fairly good job of doing just what she was claiming…

  ‘The idea for how to find him came from my boss, Doctor Tennant. We knew that he was having meetings, big gatherings of vampires. Political rallies, if you like. Vampires, like most undead, give off negative thaumitons and a large number of them in one place should be detectable. I worked out the spell, and the Battersea pack supplied the power I needed to work it. Once his gathering was located, we hit him with everything we had. The Battersea, Dog Boy, and Marshwall packs were the foot soldiers, but we had fae and vampire support. Raynor appealed to some of the younger vamps, but the older ones are quite happy with the life they have.’

  ‘And Raynor is dead?’ Sachs asked from the side of the room.

  ‘I saw him burn. I put a fireball between his shoulder blades as he tried to run. Michael, what was the final casualty list?’

  Michael looked up at her. ‘The Dog Boys took the worst of it trying to keep them in the gas works. Ten dead, three still wounded, but recovering. Most of the other wounded have recovered thanks to you and Alexandra.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘We were lucky. We shouldn’t have had to do that job, but we couldn’t trust the Army. They were busy killing just about anything supernatural they could find.’ She stopped, glad they could not see her clenched fists behind the lectern. ‘Any questions?’

  No one said anything and Ceri went to sit down. She had the feeling that she had just shamed a lot of politicians and policemen into silence. Good.

  Mayfair, June 12th

  Arabella smiled apologetically as
Ceri and Lily stepped through the door into the reception area of Demi-monde. ‘We’re a little short-staffed,’ the tall, elegant woman in a black, tightly bound corset dress said, ‘but it’s quiet since a lot of the members are only just returning to town.’ She held out her hands for their coats.

  Ceri frowned a little; even short on staff she would not have expected Arabella to be doing such menial tasks. Still, she slipped her coat off and handed it over, revealing the black, leather corset, short, black skirt, and thigh boots she had selected to wear tonight. Lily did the same, though she was almost entirely naked under her coat. Her six-inch heels were closed with small, silver padlocks, and she had on one of her collars, a black leather one with an O-ring at the throat and a padlock at the back. She had also selected star-shaped nipple shields, kept in place by a pin through her piercings. As usual, she looked exquisite, the perfect submissive.

  ‘We’ll go up to the library,’ Ceri said. ‘Would it be okay to have someone bring us a drink? Whiskey. One for Lily as well. She’s earned it the last week or so.’

  ‘Of course,’ the club’s owner replied. ‘Someone will be up shortly.’

  Nodding, Ceri walked through from reception to the main lounge, and then through to the central hallway. There was no one around that she could see. Of course there could have been someone sat in one of the chairs to the rear of the lounge and they would, likely, have been all but invisible. Still, the lounge felt cold and unloved, somehow, compared to the warmth it generally exhibited. Shutting down for a week had hurt the atmosphere. Ceri headed for the lift to go up to the top floor.

  The library was just as quiet; it was rare that they would find anyone up there anyway. Scanning down the shelves, Ceri found a copy of Hotten’s The Romance of Chastisement and pulled it from the shelf before continuing down to one of the quieter alcoves at the back of the room. There she sat herself down in one of the large, leather armchairs, propping her leg up on one of the arms so that she could balance the book on it. Lily slid smoothly to the floor in front of Ceri’s chair, her knees on a throw pillow.