Written in the Stars

Chapter One

She always had a meeting on a Sunday. No matter what. It was supposed to be a day of rest, but maybe as she didn't follow any of the religions that imposed that, she wasn't allowed one. She spent her time wandering through the stalls in this expansive marketplace, thinking about all the better things she could be doing with her time. From lying in and getting a full twelve-hours sleep - the correct amount - to terrorising small villages. Though of course she hadn't done the latter in centuries, not that she hadn't dreamt about it of course – and considered it. However, there really was no such thing as a small village anymore which made the task near impossible. Also, laws had been imposed that frowned upon such behaviour and she did like to think of herself as a law abiding citizen – not that she was one of course. She was also racking up way too many feuds. But she liked to imagine it was the first option and not the second that had stopped her from going through with it.

As Celeste walked the aisles, stopping to examine a stall every now and then, she imagined what her sister was doing at that moment. She was aware - or rather, was hoping - that the car was waiting for her, but beyond that, she had no idea what Astrid was up to. She could be doing anything. From networking to find a new buyer for their wares to trying to find a new restaurant for them to try. Option one was much more likely as she knew that Astrid was trying to make them some more money for their nest egg. They were looking at a European expansion and money was very necessary for that. At the moment, these two habits were the only ones that Astrid seemed to have, which was handy money wise and exceptional food wise. But maybe not relaxing wise. But that was none of Celeste's business.

Celeste continued her way through the market, greeting patrons and stall holders alike, purchasing a few things she knew they would need before week end. She had always liked to arrive early to her meetings, so that she could get a feel for who she was going to be dealing with and so that she could have the high ground if they arrived more than one second late. Occasionally, Celeste would stop at a stall that caught her eye, chat with the vendor and ask how business was. These were the few that she had loaned some money to their family in the past and so she liked to make sure they were still thriving. A few she stopped at to find out if they had the money they owed her. And if not, when it was going be with her. If they did, all was well and she even occasionally bought something off those stalls as a sign of gratitude – of course, it all depended upon how quickly they got her the money. And well, if they didn't have it? Then they had a death threat if this was her second request for it.

There was no third chance.

If it was the third request, then they would be dragged out from behind the stall and their necks would be snapped right there in the cavern. This was both a good way of preventing people from skipping out on payment and for encouraging those that could pay, to pay right there and then.

Also, it was an excellent show of power if she was ever needing one, which amongst these folk, she often did. And it was the least messy way of killing someone when she was wearing white. Which was a surprisingly frequent occurrence, considering her line of work. There was a careful power balance that had to be kept and if it tilted one way or another then things would begin to go wrong. The crime that wasn't controlled by her would go up and so she would have to threaten to only let a few select businesses in, which would make everyone unhappy.

Especially Astrid, who enjoyed the varied choices that the market currently offered and of course the huge amounts of money that it brought in for them. This market allowed for people to exist happily in an environment that wasn't out to kill them and unfortunately, before this was set up there had been nowhere else like it – in England at least. But that time was over and everyone was happy putting up with everyone else and coexisting that way. Of course, that was how issues had been dealt with for millennia until those who wished to persecute died out and the new, more accepting generation was left. But it was going to be a while before that happened. Celeste really hated modern medicine for that, people were living longer than ever and yet she wasn't seeing any benefits. And in her opinion, if something didn't benefit her then what was the point?

There was everything in the cavern. From the mundane to the spectacular. From recipes for soup, to freshly cut chunks of skin, human and otherwise (the smell was being kept under control, much to everyones appreciation). Everything anyone with a magical inclination would need could be found here.

At one stall there were some small bones - undoubtedly from a small fairy child - that were almost glowing in the gloom, and at another, a painting that was definitely an original Van Gogh - painted last month of course - not that Celeste didn't doubt there were more than a few places that did forgeries down here. It was after all, a black market.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of stalls who had been owing her money for the past few weeks who had shown up today and she could see on their faces that they didn't have it to give to her. One of them was the owner of her favourite stall and a longtime acquaintance. They both knew what was going to happen today and both were dreading it, although Celeste couldn't let that show on her face. She couldn't let them know she cared.

"Elise, do you have the money?" She asked, walking up to the stall with a straight back hoping against hope that she was wrong. But sadly, she wasn't, the girl shook her head and responded.

"No, Celeste, I don't. And I don't know when I will be able to get it to you either. Sadly, business has not been booming lately." They both knew that the last part of her statement was not true, but Celeste did understand that the family had debts to pay off and sadly this one wasn't at the top of their list. Death didn't matter much to Elise and so that was why she was the family member to show up that day.

"Please come out from behind the stall Elise." Elise did as she was asked and came out from behind her stall, glancing at her things clearly worried about the safety of her wares.

"I will ensure that your things will be kept safe until someone comes to collect you and them. No one will take your family's livelihood from this stall until your family can collect it themselves." She reassured her before gently resting her hands on either side of the girl's delicate head whilst Elise closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look into the eyes of her killer.

Celeste did it, refusing to let herself look away. Refusing to let herself close her eyes. She needed to see what her choices had done to innocent people and the only way to do that was to do these things herself. No one had taken this job from her and she would make sure that it would stay that way.

The crack of Elise's neck snapping echoed throughout the cave.

She let Elise's body drop to the floor before stepping back and saying, "Someone is to wrap her body and place it behind her stall and wait with it until a family member arrives to collect her." With that she stepped over the body and continued on, as if nothing had happened and she hadn't just taken yet another innocent life. She knew before days end she would most likely have to take another.

Celeste could see the witch she was here to meet with when all the lights went out. Even the candles floating low above them that were enchanted to only extinguish once the last person had left the cavern.

Then the ceiling started trembling, deep in the rock and at first nobody noticed. Then a few people started screaming. To begin with there were some small screams that were more out of shock than anything, but as the trembling turned into all out shaking, more and more people began screaming and they began to be of terror. The next thing they knew the ceiling above started collapsing inwards, taking out many of the stalls and those who couldn't defend themselves.

Thankfully Celeste was pretty much indestructible so she just continued walking, trying to find who was causing what was going on. There were a few people that she stopped to help but as the cavern continued falling for more than a couple of seconds there was only so much she could do until she reached the person she could see was causing it. They happened to be stood right next to the stand she had a meeting at anyway, but not the witch she was meeting with, which was a relief, but also too suspicious a coincidence. But when she arrived at the obliterated stall they were gone, as were all of their wares. It was as if they had never been there. There wasn't a trace of them left aside from the faint whiff of the magic that Celeste detested all too much. Upon this discovery, Celeste turned around and left. The only thought she had was to get to her sister as soon as possible.

***

Eventually the room stopped shaking, the dust cleared and those who could, got up to check on those who couldn't, old rivalries forgotten for a second as they were all brought together over the moment that would change everyone's lives.