The Teacher

Acquisition

"I don't know what that means." Father Dietrich said, waiting for someone to explain how Finn had pulled books off the shelf and yet the shelf was still full.

"Chronicles aren't kept for mundane people." Finn answered as she flipped through the last book she had pulled out, her eyes widening in realization. "Unless the mundane person in question was skipped."

"Skipped?" Bishop Garry asked.

"Sometimes, and we don't know why, magic potential will skip people in a genetic line. Her father was one of those." Finn stood up and looked at Father Dietrich. "Don't try to run or hide from me, it looks like you have reason to avoid me if you do. If I need to speak to you I will contact Bishop Garry and we can all go from there."  She nodded at the Bishop and glanced out the window as she turned to leave.

Still at least an hour before she had to be at the hotel to see Louise. She left the building with the books in her arm, the top one open to the genealogy of Gloria's family. Finn paused a moment to consider, and then shrugged. The books disappeared into her jacket pockets, altering their size as they did, and Finn walked back to the port-a-potty she had come in from. The house was still attached to it and she went inside. The books, as soon as she was in her home, faded from her jacket and she knew they would be back in the shelves of the library.

Gloria poked her head out of her room and waited. Finn blinked at her before asking, "Something you wanted to ask?"

"Did you kill anyone?"

"What? No! For the love of - how many times do I have to tell you I don't just kill?" Finn asked, exasperated.

"Hurt? Maim? Make 'disappear'?" Gloria asked and Finn shook her head as she walked to the stairs to her room, choosing to simply not answer. "You killed that succubus. You didn't wait to ask her questions." Gloria continued anyways.

"Use the chronicles child, a succubus can become lost in blood lust if they aren't careful. It's like alcohol to them, it does nothing for them really but it can be very addictive. She was so far gone I'm surprised she hadn't started to try to seduce the entire city." Finn changed her clothes and grabbed her purse, a small thing with just the barest of essentials in it and a magical, small, telescopic spear in case of emergencies. As she walked back down the stairs she caught Gloria's surprised look.

"What's that?" Gloria pointed to Finn's hip and Finn, on looking, could only see her purse.

"The purse?"

"Why do you have a purse?"

"What?"

"We went shopping and you didn't have a purse. Why do you have a purse for an interview?"

"Because my pockets aren't big enough for the amount of business cards I'll need if I hire her." Finn took the last two steps she could until she was blocked form moving by Gloria.

"Business cards?" Gloria seemed completely oblivious that she was blocking Finn from moving.

"My lawyer, my accountant, about thirteen people that will need to be informed I've hired a mundane human to work for me so they can watch and make sure she isn't harassed by any of the non-mundane people out there or babbling to other mundane people everything she knows about us. Banks that I work with." Finn thought about it and opened up her purse to glance through the business cards. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"Just to hire someone?"

"Well yeah, to hire someone who is mundane. Gotta do it right or the government will be after her for money laundering or something." Finn stopped and stared at a card she had pulled out. "Oh right." She tucked it back in. "Contract writer."

"Wouldn't your lawyer do that?"

Finn snorted. "Let's move shall we? I don't want to be on the stairs all day." Gloria jumped to move out of her way, blushing, and Finn stepped off the stairs. "The lawyer charges me more than the contract writer, and then more again after I find the fine print he put in that wasn't necessary and have him remove it. My contract writer only puts in what I tell him to."

Finn pushed open the door to the hotel lobby where a fantastic smell was wafting from the back room and Louise was standing wringing her hands behind the desk.

"Good morning Louise." Finn said, and Gloria glanced at the clock on the wall.

"It's not morning." She said.

"That clock is fast actually, by about ten minutes, so it is still morning." Louise pointed out, still wringing her hands.

"Something wrong?" Finn asked.

"I just got an email that the district manager for the hotel chain is coming. They want to speak to me about the financials." Louise fretted.

"Something wrong with the financials?"

"Just not enough income, but I can't afford to lose this place!" Louise wailed.

"Hmm. Neither can I for the time being. What time are they going to get here?"

"Any minute."

Finn spoke words into her purse and a moment later the hotel desk phone started ringing. Finn sat on the couch in the waiting room and indicated Gloria should sit as well. Louise finished booking a room, hung up and the phone promptly rang again, surprising her.

"Sometimes, hunting means baiting an area. Never know when an area could become useful for a hunt."

Three people in business suits walked into the hotel lobby and straight to the front desk. Despite Louise being on the phone and booking rooms, they started tapping the desk to get her attention. The smile she offered them died on her face when she looked up and saw who they were. Finn hid a smile behind a hand as a ring tone came from the pocket of one of the business people.

"Hello? What - " The man blinked in surprise and touched the arm of his partner to get her attention. "I'll ask her-" His eyes went wide and the blood drained form his face, making the woman beside him and the third person, a younger man carrying multiple tablets and leather bound note pads, reach for him to steady him. Behind him Louise hung up only to have the phone ring again. She eyed it warily a moment before she lifted the receiver.

"I don't-" The man swallowed as he was interrupted again by whoever was on the other end of the phone call. Finally he nodded and tucked the phone back into his pocket. He whispered, too low for Finn to hear, to the woman with him and they bustled out too fast to even wave at Louise.

Finn waited for the Hotel to finish getting booked for the next two months, smiling mischievously at nothing in particular.

"What did you do?" Gloria hissed at her.

"I had all my contacts book rooms here.  Most of them won't show up, but the money will still be good." Finn smiled at a very confused Gloria. "Been a while since I added to my investment portfolio, so I had my people buy me into the hotel chain. Not a majority, I don't need that kind of hassle, but enough that all of a sudden if I say I want a single hotel left alone the executives sent to shut it down will scurry away like little mice." She waved a hand in the direction the people in business suits had run off.

"What, are you a mafia boss too now?" Gloria asked.

"There are lines of similarity, but I don't do favours."

"You just did one." Gloria pointed out as Louise hung up the phone and stared at it, waiting for it to ring again.

"Did not. This was an investment." Finn argued as Louise walked around the counter.

"Did you do something?" She asked Finn. Finn stood up and waved the question away.

"Nothing much in the grand scheme of things." She answered, shooting a glare at Gloria when she opened her mouth to protest. "Now, let's discuss employment. You had questions."