The Elder Witches

by R.E. Packer

Chapter 22

  With the werewolves undercover around the city and Marvin and his team monitoring every data feed available, we met with the one person who had offered to help us from the start.

  The mansion was surrounded by an impressive brick wall topped with a wrought iron fencing making it look both elegant and forbidding. Security cameras were everywhere, scanning the property.

  We pulled up to the gated entryway. A guardhouse sat inside the fence where four men emerged armed with M4 assault rifles. I had to wonder how you got a permit for those in the city. One guard walked to the window with a smile on his face that never quite reached his eyes.

  I watched as he switched the safety to off on the rifle he was holding as he walked toward us. On a hunch I looked at the men with my Sight. They all looked the same, dark suits, dark glasses, polished shoes. But two of the guards had the green aura of vampires, and two had the yellow aura of humans.

  The vampire guard at the window looked in the car and waved us through without a word. He scanned the street in both directions until the gate was closed again.

  Once inside we were escorted to the door where a thin Asian man greeted us. He wore a black suite with tails, white gloves and had a sword strapped to his back, the handle of which we could see over his shoulder.

  “Good evening, the man of the house has already been summoned. This way please,” he said gesturing us inside.

  The summer green walls were richly decorated with art work, a statue of an angel stood just inside the door, and the floor was exquisitely veined marble. Footsteps announcing more guards, one human, one vampire. Reynolds stood behind them scanning the foyer area before stepping forward.

  “Forgive the extra security,” he said, “We have been on high alert since Marianna’s death.”

  “Ladies,” he said, nodding his head. “Mr. Hopewell,” the leader of the Green vampires said extending his hand. It felt like the marble flooring, hard and cool to the touch. He looked at Eros for a good few seconds before extending his hand to him as well.

  “Pardon my forwardness, I don’t think I ever learned what stake you have in any of this,” Reynolds said to Eros.

  “I am just repaying my debt to Wizard Gordon.”

  “Plus he thinks Gordo is the only one that can solve his otherworldly problems,” Maeve said.

  Reynolds raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. Mr. Hopewell has become quite the crusader for justice, I see.”

  Turning back to the witches, he bent from the waist into a full bow. His gaze dropped to the floor at their feet for a few seconds before rising.

  “My condolences, I know well what it is like to lose a loved one,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Gwen said a bit more tersely than I expected.

  We followed Reynolds through the mansion to the study. The rest of the house was finely decorated and furnished, about the exact opposite of my apartment. The vampire removed his jacket and draped it on the back of a chair. Under the tweed jacket he had twin .45’s in a custom holster at the small of his back. He also had a shoulder rig on each side holding two more pistols.

  “Some of our kind are very fond of more primitive weapons, like Alfred, the butler,” Reynolds said, seeing my interest. “I like to embrace the age we live in.”

  “Seriously, the butlers name is Alfred?” I said thinking about the Asian butler with the sword, that had looked anything but modern.

  Pictures of Vivian and more of the government were-agents were spread across the tabletop.

  “It seems Miss Tutino is more powerful than anyone thought,” Reynolds said.

  “— And crazy as a loon,” I chimed in.

  He scanned Gwen and Maeve for reactions; when he got none he continued.

  “Precisely, hence my original fear of this situation.

  I believe she now has her own fully funded supernatural hit squad, funded by the government and is somehow much more powerful than she used to be,” he said.

  “Do you have a plan for how to deal with her?” Maeve asked waving aside Reynold’s concerns.

  “We were going to just kill her, but it’s become more complicated now. She already has the plan in motion to mass produce the serum that killed Marianna.

  Our sources say that ORAB is awaiting for approval by the President to increase their manpower as well— the President has been very interested in this— he considers us weapons of mass destruction or some such nonsense.”

  With the information that Marvin gave us that Vivian had managed to have a meeting with the President— Vivian! None of it added up.

  “He thinks there is a potential to create their own weapons from us,” Gwen said drumming her fingers.

  “Which is utter rubbish,” Maeve said.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. We don’t really know how the science of what we are works. Is magic really something different than applied science? Probably, but look at the werewolf-like creatures they are creating. Are they resistant to magic like the werewolves, or your other… friend?” Reynolds said.

  “Yes, I think we all understand they think of us as a threat to them,” Gwen said.

  Maeve stood up pacing back and forth, lips pursed.

  “So, we have to stop ORAB and somehow destroy their weapons.”

  “We need to remove their source of information so this doesn’t happen again. That is the most important part of this,” Gwen said with a grimly which looked out of place on her.

  “Which means killing Vivian—” Reynolds said.

  “— Leave that to me,” Gwen said quietly.

  “I think it’s in our best interests to work as a team. You shall have the full support of the Green Conclave,” Reynolds said.

  “Let us get those bitches!” Eros said loudly enough to make everybody jump.

  I shrugged. “He’s been watching a lot of TV lately.”